My new pelvic floor PT prescribed self-dilation for my rectal pain. So far, it has helped a great deal. Although my BMs are still painful and bloody (probably due to my active internal hemorrhoids), I experience significantly less pain the rest of the day. In fact, I can sit normally sometimes, which is something that I haven’t been able to do for a whole year.

I called my CRS's nurse today to ask about something else that she wants to do: digital (finger) manipulation of the internal muscles. When I mentioned the self-dilation, she mentioned that the CRS is against that. I’m guessing it’s because the dilator can irritate my hemorrhoids, but I don’t know for sure. I’m extremely slow and careful with the insertion in order to try to prevent that. Given how much relief that I’ve had, I’m definitely not going to quit now.

Has anyone else done this with active hemorrhoids? Did it hurt (or help)? Same question for the digital manipulation.