January 1, 2019 PDI Newsletter
Greetings to all PDI and DCI Warriors,
Welcome to this January 2019 Peyronie’s Disease Institute newsletter, and Happy Holidays to all! I trust everyone enjoyed a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and most recently a Happy 2019 New Year! We begin 2019 with really important information concerning both Peyronie’s disease and Dupuytren’s contracture treatment philosophy.
Each week we receive several more responses to the DCI Survey on the Variability of the Dupuytren’s Contracture Palm Nodule, which now totals just under 300 replies. This number is still too low to establish a definite conclusion about the variable behavior of Dupuytren’s contracture. However, the early survey trend shows that for 42% of people with Dupuytren’s contracture the palm lump goes through a cycle of slight to great structural variability during the early stages. This means that in slightly less than half of people with DC the fibrous lump becomes cyclically smaller or softer and then reverses to become larger or harder again over one or more sequences, or is completely eliminated.
Additional survey data collected over time may or may not change this 42% of respondents who report variability of their Dupuytren’s palm lump during the initial stages of the disease. If this number changes at all I will report this immediately to our DCI/PDI readership, but for the time being it has been running steady since the survey started about six months ago.
The value of the DCI survey is that it assigns an actual number to what has previously only been vaguely mentioned in the past. Most websites report that Dupuytren’s contracture has a changeable physical structure during the early developmental stages of the disease. However, I have never read specifically how many people experience this variability of the palm lump; it is reported that the DC palm lump will sometimes, or often, or occasionally get smaller and then larger in a recurring cycle before either disappearing without treatment or permanently worsening. Through this survey we are beginning to understand that almost half of men and women report this lump variability.
The importance of cyclic variability of the Dupuytren’s contracture fibrous tissue is that it represents an attempt toward natural healing, similar to what happens in Peyronie’s disease. Think of the cyclical reduction and then redevelopment of the DC nodule as being something similar to your car trying to start on a really cold day. The engine grinds and grinds, runs for a second or two – then stops. It sputters and rumbles a few seconds more – then stops. The engine is showing it is capable of doing what it is supposed to do for a very short time. If the engine did nothing – was totally unresponsive – you would not waste time trying to stat it. But if it at least starts and then stops, you are encouraged; if it can run and sputter for a short while, it is possible for it to spring into full action and run properly. So you help it along; you eliminate anything that might drain the battery by turning off all lights, radio, and heater in the car, and you jump the battery with another one. You help out the process in any way you can because the car has shown it is so close to running – just like the variable reduction of the PD or DC fibrous tissue. 1
In the early stages of Peyronie’s disease the fibromatosis of the shaft can partially or completely self-correct during the first 12-18 months after PD starts in 16-50% of cases, depending on the survey and research study being cited. This self-healing of Peyronie’s disease is the reason that standard medical practice dictates that no drug or surgical treatment is provided until after the PD tissue has proven it will not self-cure; the treating MD will do a “wait-and-see” to determine if the Peyronie’s disease will spontaneously self-repair without outside intervention.
By passively waiting to see if a patient will be one of those lucky men whose PD disappears without treatment, the medical profession every day clearly admits that normal human physiology has the capacity to heal Peyronie’s disease. This is the reason that PDI uses Alt Med to try to encourage and support normal human physiology.
Self-healing of Peyronie’s disease does not always happen, obviously. But it happens often enough for the MDs to wait-and-see if natural recovery will happen during the 12-18 months after PD begins. If the body could not truly heal Peyronie’s disease there would be no point in following the standard 12-18 month waiting period. Otherwise, what are the MDs waiting for?.
Our early Dupuytren’s contracture survey results suggest the same kind of self-repair happens in a similar percent of cases of DC, as happens for Peyronie’s disease. This information supports the idea that both conditions – Dupuytren’s contracture and Peyronie’s disease – might be helped by treatment that attempts to assist or support this natural healing process. This is wildly encouraging news for anyone with Peyronie’s disease who is thinking about using Alt Med to increase the ability to heal and repair PD. And now we are seeing a similar percent of findings for self-repair or alteration of Dupuytren’s contracture.
This early survey report should be encouraging to all who are working hard to help their Dupuytren’s contracture and Peyronie’s disease heal in the New Year.
If things are going slowly for you, and you feel discouraged, put that energy into something productive. Write me an email that describes what you are doing, and include questions about those things you do not understand about your problem. I will do the best I can to help you so that you get the kind of results you want.
Please contact me about your problem, or questions about treatment. Please send an email at info@peyronies-disease-help.com
There is a lot of good news and reports of progress being received from people just like you that will be reported in coming issues of the Newsletter.
Happy New Year to all PDI and DCI Warriors. Enjoy your holiday with those you love, and take care of yourselves. See you next month. Keep warm and stay focused on your treatment plans. TRH
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