Hi everyone
I've had my AF for approximately 2 - 3 months now but I've only really started to take things seriously in terms of fixing it when I discovered that I have a skin tag down there (my AF only really hurt when pooing but the pain would only last for 2 minutes max). My skin tag doesn't cause any pain or discomfort but I think it changes in size depending on how my AF is? Last night it was relatively small but then this morning after I passed a pretty hard stool, I bled the most I have ever bled (normally it's a tiny amount of pale red or at worst, a drop of bright red blood). Now my skin tag has swollen. Just wondering if that's normal and what helps to decrease the tag? Also has anyone found that their tag has disappeared completely/shrunk after their AF has healed??
Sorry for the large amount of gross info...I'm new here and I'm so anxious to get rid of the tag without surgery! Thanks :)

Yes, skin tags, or rather sentinels, can get inflamed. They can get bigger too. Mine isn't too big, but depending on the time of the month, can get kinda inflamed and sensitive.
please don't worry about TMI here. We've heard it all! lol :D
I did read of a guy on healthboards whose sentinel shrank away after he healed. I would love to hear of someone else who has found this. My CRS is frustratingly non-committal on the subject.
sounds like you still need to get your BM consistency under control. You need your stools to be soft like toothpaste to heal. Try fiber, fiber supplements like metamucil or benefiber. And/or try prunes, prunejuice or miralax, or MOM.
These are all popular tools on the forum for achieving a BM that doesn't need any pushing, let alone straining, to get out.
Hope you heal quickly!
-Tanya

Thanks for the tip, Tanya!
Yeah I'm still trying to work out what the best diet is to keep my BM soft. I'm taking metamucil at the moment and being really careful with my food. I might try some prunes with it as well.
I noticed my sentinel has definitely got smaller since yesterday (the consistency of the last 2 BMs were really smooth). I've also been taking a lot of sitz baths and applying fresh aloe vera since I had the plant at home already - I read somewhere that it helped a guy heal his AF. It's only been about 2 days but I'll let you know how the aloe goes!