Dilating is always hard in the first 3 or 4 months. I don't know what Suporn's post op dilating regimen is nowadays, but after my surgery (in late 2003), it was twice a day for 2 hours duration each time. I used to have to get up at 2:30 am to dilate before work, and then do another 2 hour session after work. It made for a long day, but I made myself stick with it, telling myself, that I didn't go through all of the hassles I went through to have SRS, only to lose depth and diameter, due "dilating being a hassle." With time, you can reduce the amount of dilating you need to do, as the vaginal tissue stabilizes. I went from 2 hours twice a day, down to two hours once a day at 6 months post op (which seemed like the lap of luxury to me at the time), to further decreases in frequency over time, to the point where one hour (10 minutes with a small Suporn supplied dilator, and 50 minutes with much larger sized dilator, made by a company no longer in business) every 6 to 8 weeks is plenty. Now the biggest problem I have with dilating, is that it's kind of boring. I usually read a novel on my Nook e-reader to pass the time while dilating.
People mention pain while dilating. For me it was very uncomfortable at times, in the early days, but I guess I received a healthy dose of perspective with regards to dilating pain, in my early weeks post-op, because I had to put up with much more extreme pain while dilating, than what the dilating caused me. I suffer from cluster headaches (a rare type of headache, which is considered to be one of the worst headaches you can get - the pain is considered to be worse than migraines, and childbirth, and on a par with what is experienced from a traumatic amputation [according to amputees, who also suffer from cluster headaches]), and I had the "good fortune" to go into a cluster headache cycle shortly after my SRS, that lasted for most of my recovery time, while I was in Thailand. It's no fun having a cluster headache attack that starts a short time after you commence with a 2 hour dilation session, and lasts beyond the end time of your dilation. Pain that extreme almost stops you dead in your tracks, and trying to deal with it literally becomes your world (I remember closing my eyes, breathing deeply, and in some cases moaning non-stop, or crying like a baby, while trying to endure a visit from The Beast, while dilating [at least I didn't scream like I've ended up doing during some cluster headache attacks]). I remember being so exhausted from fighting the pain from cluster headache attacks, that I basically staggered to the bathroom to clean up after dilating (occasionally with the cluster headache attack still in progress - they last from .5 to 3 hours time-wise), and then passed out after the attacks ended (unlike a migraine, you CANNOT sleep off a cluster headache attack - it's too painful to do so). I've been getting cluster headaches (I'm an episodic sufferer, and I'm overdue for another round of the headaches) since 1999. I wouldn't wish them on anybody. The pain from my cluster headache attacks eclipses any dilating pain I've ever experienced.
