Photo by Alexander Grey/Unsplash
Part of the pelvic floor therapy journey includes what I like to call “homework.” Part of the homework included buying silicone dilators to relieve vaginal tightness and stretch your vagina. They can also help with desensitizing the area. The dilators get larger as you go through your therapy. I bought the Intimate Rose set and had to get to the largest dilator size.
Some fears came along with using dilators, like:
“What if it gets stuck?” (So far, I’ve never had one get stuck.)
“What if it hurts?” (They can be uncomfortable, but there are stretching exercises you can do. Your therapist can also help teach you to breathe in a way that will help open the pelvic floor up more. There are also medicines to help relax that area or numb the opening of the vagina. Nothing has worked great for me, but I continue to explore this.)
“Have you seen the size of that dilator?”
In the case of that last question, I’ve learned that it’s good to put the rest of the dilators away in a drawer where you won’t be stressing out about them and focus on the one you’re currently using. This will be less overwhelming. As you go through the therapy and progress to different-sized dilators, it’ll get easier physically because your lady parts have been stretching.
I found it using the dilators in my bedroom most comfortable and having my husband help. This gives us time to bond and for him to better understand this journey I’m on. But feel free to do what feels comfortable to you. At some point, I want to try using them in the bathtub. If you’ve found a particularly comfortable spot or position to use your dilators, feel free to comment below.
That being said if you find you have a lot of aversion towards using dilators, like I have had, don’t just push through. This can sometimes cause more damage. You might want to start with just getting used to seeing the dilators. My mental health therapist recommended that I start with the smallest dilator and place it in various spots in my room. This gives me the opportunity to see the dilators and get used to them. If they start to cause me a lot of anxiety just seeing them, then I can put them away. Then I reward myself with a piece of candy for the brave step I took.