Monthly Archives: November 2010

Improving Peyronie’s Disease Treatment Results

Posted on by Dr.Herazy

One small skill makes Peyronie’s treatment more effective

Several weeks ago I received a good question in an email from someone who had just started a Medium Plan for Peyronies treatment.  Even though he just started his Peyronie’s disease treatment plan he wanted to know if there was more he could do to maximize his recovery.  I thought to myself, “This is a man after my own heart.”

I replied that although it seems like an indirect way to reduce the Peyronie’s plaque, there is something that is most important in any recovery plan that is often missing.  This is the knowledge of where you are at the beginning of care, as well as the knowledge of how you are progressing during the course of your care.

To improve your Peyronie’s treatment results considerably, it is critically important to simply have the knowledge of where you are at the beginning of care and every point thereafter.

This information is vital to your recovery because without knowing where you are and how you are advancing, how will you know for sure you are doing the right thing or not?  Thus, knowledge is an important element of any therapy plan.  You must know what is going on – or not going on – with your Peyronie’s plaque in order to treat yourself most efficiently and effectively.  If you are only evaluating your curved penis you are making a mistake.

Because it is so essential to be able to recognize progress when it occurs, and to not fool yourself into thinking there is progress when it is not occurring, I made this a major topic of my book, “Peyronie’s Disease Handbook.”   In this book there is a large chapter devoted to measuring and familiarizing yourself with the minute details about your scar(s). If you think only in general and vague terms about your scar, you will never know for sure if you are making progress.  You can be discouraged if you think you are not making progress when your scar is actually making great improvement – only you do now know enough about your scar to recognize that improvement. That is a sad and sorry situation.   What a terrible tragedy to be so discouraged that you quit care, if you are actually making progress and don’t know it.

Unless you are fully aware of all the details about your scar, you are only guessing when you examine yourself after several weeks of therapy.  You will have to rely upon your memory and vague recollection of your scar.   This is not a smart way to approach a problem of such great importance.  Do not do this to yourself.

Better that you take the time to learn how to approach your scar and the treatment of your scar like it was very important to you.  You should set out to become the world’s leading authority on your scar. This makes a lot of sense.  You know from your own experience that your medical doctor is not paying too much attention to your problem, so perhaps you should be the one to take the time to be interested in what is going on with you.

If you are not sure about the exact details of your scar location, size, shape, density and surface features, shame on you!  You are failing yourself, and you are creating an opportunity for failure when none should exist.

Go to the PDI website and order the book, “Peyronie’s Disease Handbook.”

Pentoxifylline and Peyronie’s Disease

Posted on by Dr.Herazy

Pentox not researched Peyronie’s disease treatment

Pentoxifylline (often called simply, Pentox) is a drug that is sometimes used in medical Peyronie’s disease treatment.  The exact mechanism by which Pentox affects the Peyronie’s plaque is not at all understood.  But then, its use for PD is called off-label – meaning experimentally and without scientific basis since the drug was not intended or designed to be used in this way.  This is similar to the way that Viagra, Cialis and Levitra are prescribed for PD, even though this is also an irregular use of these drugs; Verapamil is used in a similar off-label manner.

Pentoxifylline is not a vasodilator; it affects the body by changing the shape of red blood cells while in the blood vessels by a mechanism that is not completely understood.  This change allows for improved flow into the smaller arteries and even capillaries of the body. For this reason it is commonly used for treatment of circulation problems in the arms and legs.  While being taken, the effects are experienced as though Pentox is a vasodilator but it is not.

Pentoxifylline is one of those drugs that have multiple off-line uses as determined by any adventurous doctor who is willing to experiment with his/her patients. This is good and bad at the same time.  Apparently pentoxifylline does so many things in the body that it can and is applied to many conditions – this is good, I suppose.  But because it does so many things in so many areas and systems of the body that Pentox is more likely to cause widespread and surprising side effects and new problems that new health problems can develop in those who experiment with it – this is bad.    It has been used in humans for a wide variety of inflammatory and fibrotic conditions; hence, it has been also used for Peyronie’s disease at times.   When it does seem to help PD, the mechanism is not understood, but could be related to blocking of the transforming growth factor (TGF)-1-mediated pathway of inflammation, thus prevents deposition of collagen type 1.

It comes as a tablet that is specially coated to prevent stomach lining irritation.  For this reason do not break, crush, or chew the tablets; swallow dosage whole. Do not stop taking pentoxifylline suddenly. It may take 8-12 weeks for any beneficial effects of pentoxifylline to be noted.

This drug is so new that there have been very few – maybe only one – studies of pentoxifylline for any use.  It has yet to be determined how much and how reliably pentoxifylline reduces plaque formation in later term or well developed Peyronie's disease.

Before taking this medication, let your doctor know if you have an ulcer of the stomach or duodenum, liver disease, any type of bleeding disorder or any type of surgery.

Lastly, because pentoxifylline increases the movement of blood into and out of all areas of the body, it increases how the body responds to some drug functions and reactions.  For this reason, if you are taking another medication along with Pentox you might notice that the other drug will begin to affect you stronger or differently than before.  Thus it might be necessary to adjust the dosage of these other drugs while you are taking pentoxifylline.

I have run across many men who were put on this drug and had no improvement of their PD, and experienced multiple side effects strong and bizarre enough that they had to stop usage – and this made their problem even worse.  These Pentox side effects include loss of appetite, nausea, constipation, headache, dizziness, anxiety or blurred vision may occur at first as your body adjusts to the medication.  More significant are the other side effects of chest pain, mental confusion, gastric irritation, difficulty breathing, or severe rashes that should prompt immediate attention of the prescribing doctor.  Also, pentoxifylline can be difficult to reduce once you are on it since rapid reduction can worsen any of the above side effects.

For information about the natural Alternative Medicine treatment of Peyronie’s disease please visit the Peyronies Disease Institute website.

Why is My Penis Curved?

Posted on by Dr.Herazy

Might not need to straighten your penile curvature

To answer this common question it is first necessary to know if this penile curvature is something you have had all your life, or if it is something that just appeared after being fairly straight all of your life; if it is an old or a new feature of your anatomy.  Usually there is little   reason to straighten your penis if that is the way you were born.  If a small curvature has not caused any problem in the past, it is not likely to be Peyronie’s disease and you should not treat it.

If you have had a curved penis all your life, then it is most likely due to a normal and natural variation of tissue in that part of your body.  The human body is often made with slight imperfections and variations, and this might be one of yours.   Just as someone might be born with one ear that is shaped differently than the other, or one leg slightly longer than the other, you might have a penis that is curved just because it is not made perfectly.

Inside the penis are three chambers of special tissue that have the ability to expand and become rigid when filled with blood.  If any of these three chambers is larger or smaller than the other two, or has some anatomical variation that prevents it from completely filling with blood, the penis will be distorted in some manner when erect.

This is rather common among men and is not in any way related to Peyronie’s disease and does not warrant treatment or concern.  So long as sexual function is not limited in any way the curvature is considered a normal variation that makes you a unique person.

On the other hand, if you have had a fairly straight penis all your life, and at some time later you noticed an unusual bend, curve, twist, or dent-like physical deviation during erection that was not there previously, then that recent change in your anatomy suggests the possibility of Peyronie’s disease.  This is especially true if the unusual bend, curve, twist, or dent-like physical deviation is accompanied by Peyronie’s pain and reduced hardness of your erection.  Confirming the problem of Peyronie’s disease even more would be your recollection of a recent accident or injury, or use of a drug that is known to have Peyronies as a side effect.

Straighten your penis sometimes unnecessary

Even though the distortion of your previously perfect penis can be very disturbing to a man, it is not the real problem of Peyronie’s disease.  While the curved penis gets your attention, it is the internal Peyronie’s plaque located in the tunica albuginea layer of the penis that is the real issue.  The way to straighten your penis is by eliminating the internal Peyronie’s plaque that is the cause of the curvature.  Having surgery to straighten your penis carries a high risk of failure and tragedy, and only creates the opportunity for more internal Peyronie’s scar tissue to develop as a result of the penis tissue being cut during surgery.  This is the reason so many men find that after having Peyronie’s surgery their curvature becomes worse; it is because of additional internal scar tissue that results from the surgical incisions.

This is why Peyronie’s Disease Institute advocates that Alternative Medicine first be used to eliminate the internal Peyronies plaque before penis surgery to treat Peyronie’s plaque is attempted.  For additional information about this process, please review safe and effective Peyronie’s treatment options.

Straighten Your Penis

Posted on by Dr.Herazy

How to straighten your penis naturally and gently

A common question about Peyronie’s disease treatment concerns restoring a curved penis to its prior degree of natural straightness.   The question usually is along the lines of, “If someone has Peyronie’s disease for over 10 years like me, do you think the problem has gone on too long to straighten your penis?”

The answer to that question is a simple. “No, probably not, and treatment is always worth a try. Even if you have had a curved penis for 10 years due to Peyronie’s disease, it is still worth the effort to try to straighten your penis.”

Notice, I did not reply that reduction of penile curvature was guaranteed or easy, or that it would necessarily be a total correction – I have replied that it is possible because this kind of thing can and does occur using the concepts presented on the PDI website.  No one can accurately predict if and how much progress a man can make with his Peyronie’s problem after any length of time, let alone 10 years.  But, I have worked with men whose PD is older than 10 years, and many were able to see change and improvement.  You will only know if it is possible to straighten your penis if you attempt to do so.

In my experience most men simply stop looking for Peyronie’s disease help after a year or two.  This seems to be about the time when they accept the defeat that the medical doctors feed to them.  After a while they read and hear so much negativity about recovering from their Peyronie’s penis that they eventually stop looking for fresh ideas and help.  They accept that there is no help and they do nothing.  For this reason I tend to communicate with men whose Peyronie’s disease is relatively recent, and they are still searching for answers; for this reason most of my experience is working with men whose PD is in the 3-24 month range.

Using Alternative Medicine to straighten your penis

Although the explanation is long and detailed, the basic idea for using Alternative Medicine to reduce the excess fibrous tissue of Peyronie’s disease that causes a curved penis can be simply stated:

1.    Determine the exact size, shape, density and surface qualities of your PD scar(s)

2.    Improve your diet to take in more nutrients that will assist healing

a.    Make needed dietary changes outlined in “Peyronie’s Disease Handbook”

b.    Aggressively and faithfully follow a broad based and diverse Alternative Medicine therapy plan of both internal and external therapies, as outlined on the PDI website

3.    Use the Manual Penis Stretching Technique© developed through research of the Peyronie’s Disease Institute.  Do not be fooled by the clever ads that promote a mechanical penis stretcher that attempts to force the correction you are looking for; they can be dangerous and can actually make your PD worse.  I have spoken to hundreds of men who learned the hard way that there is no easy way to reduce penile curvature.

If you do these things, in my opinion, you will stand your best chance to straighten your penis from the effects of Peyronie’s disease.  If you do nothing, if you sit around and wait for someone to develop a miracle drug that will magically solve all your problems for you, you will be waiting a long time and your life will slip away from you. If you use a mechanical penis stretcher you run the risk of injury to your already injured penis. This is why the best time to learn if you respond to your effort to straighten your penis is now; the sooner the better.