January 1, 2012 PDI Newsletter
Happy New Year Greetings to all PDI and DCI Warriors,
Welcome to this January 2012 PD Institute Newsletter. I hope the New Year finds you and yours happy and healthy.
Seems like Old Man Winter is getting nasty after a mild start here in the Midwest. Hang onto your hats and put some wax on that shovel.
After receiving permission from the author, I once again share with you a short series of recent emails sent by one of your PD brothers. We will use the familiar and very popular format of presenting the simple exchange and blending of these emails so that they are more like a conversation. For those who are in our DCI readership, please simply apply the ideas and intent expressed here about Peyronie’s treatment and dosage to what you are doing for your Dupuytren’s contracture treatment.
Because we all use spam filters on our email accounts I had to edit the content of these emails from JXXXXX. He naturally and appropriately uses the word P_ _ _ S and S_X several times in his emails. If I used those words as many times as he does this newsletter would be sent to your spam and junk folders. To avoid this problem I have substituted the word SHAFT for the “P” word, and PERSONAL RELATIONS for the short “S” word.
You will see that JXXXX is a man who must deal with multiple contracted soft tissue problems in various parts of his body – Peyronie’s disease (shaft), Dupuytren’s contracture (both of his hands) and Ledderhose disease (both of his feet). These are in addition to other health problems, as you will soon read.
Read this series of combined emails like the back-and-forth discussion of two people talking when one occasionally interrupts the other to make an important point or answer a question. To understand the flow of the conversation, keep in mind that the text in black is from JXXXX and the text in red is from me.
Additionally, for those who are in our DCI readership, please note the history given by JXXXX in regard to two important areas. First, JXXXX reports having nine operations on his hands because of his Dupuytren’s contracture. I suppose this is why he is working so hard to avoid Peyronies surgery. While nine Dupuytrens surgeries is an unusually high number, please keep in mind that it is rather common for people to have multiple hand surgeries (usually 2-3 surgeries) with DC. I find that many people limit themselves to “just” 2-3 hand surgeries not because after the 2nd or 3rd surgery they are well and the Dupuytrens is finally eliminated or corrected, but because by the 2nd or 3rd surgery they finally come to understand they are just getting worse after each surgery; they simply refuse to have any more surgery for fear of more pain, more scar formation, more numbness, more weakness, and greater uselessness of the hands. So many people with Dupuytrens get started with these hand surgeries thinking they will actually solve their problem, and only learn later that Dupuytren’s contracture is never solved by surgery because the hand contractures will ALWAYS come back in time. (The same can be said of Peyronie’s surgery – the PD scar formation will come back in time.)
The second thing to notice in JXXXX’s comments is that he has had one finger amputated as a result of his multiple hand surgeries. It is important to keep in mind when thinking about DC surgery for the first time, that each operation removes a fair amount of tissue that cannot ever be replaced except by scar tissue. The nature of Dupuytren’s contracture is creation of excessive thickening and contraction of normal tissue to render it useless; when that same body part and tissue is cut on it will eventually produce more excessive thickening and contracture of the remaining normal tissue. If you have enough of these hand surgeries you will eventually run out of tissue and the only option left could be amputation. This is why it is so important to do all you can to avoid having that first surgery. DCI helps people in this important way and this is why we repeat this message so often since the common surgical results are so dismal. I hope all the PDI readers understand how this applies to them with their shaft problems.
Here we go:
On Dec 18, 2011, at 8:32 AM, Dr. T. Herazy wrote:
Greetings JXXXXX,
See below for comments…
Regards,
Theodore Herazy, DC, LAc
From: JXXXXXXXXX [mailto:JXXXXXC@XX.rr.com]
Sent: Saturday, December 17, 2011 5:34 PM
To: herazy@sbcglobal.net
Subject: Question
Sent: Saturday, December 17, 2011 5:34 PM
To: herazy@sbcglobal.net
Subject: Question
Dear Dr. Herazy,
I’ve been a subscriber to your website for a couple of years now, purchased the PD Handbook in early 2010, so I’ve seen the emails you’ve sent out to the “warrior’s” and can almost hear how you are going to respond to this, if in fact you do. But I feel I need to make my enquiry anyway.
Anyway you need to know I’m a 67-year old male of Italian decent. I have Dupuytren contractures in both hands and both feet, along with knuckle pad nodules on several fingers. This was first diagnosed in my early 20’s in my left hand and progressed throughout my life. I’ve had nine separate surgeries to both hands, and the problem just keeps reoccurring. One small finger has been amputated, my left ring finger required knuckle pin fusion due to the damage done over time, and I've have a couple of needed skin grafts. (You'd be interested in knowing that my hands are actually "open hand surgery" photographed in a medical textbook due the severity of my case.) After my last surgery, which was about five year ago, my therapist pointed to my feet and said the reason I’ve never had surgery on my feet is because I walk on them, and thus keep things stretched out. He said if I want to avoid future hand surgery, I needed to do the same with my hands. Not walk on them, but stretch them out daily, which I’ve been doing successfully ever since to a certain degree. Too bad no one told you this before your 1st hand surgery! You might have been able to avoid all of these problems. But this is the way of medical practice; they love doing the complex, costly and risky procedures to other people’s hands, and ridicule common sense treatment that is simple and inexpensive. I must shake my head how medical doctors are so bold and brazen when it comes to other peoples bodies, but when it comes to their own they suddenly become conservative.
Okay, now to the Peyronies.
From the very beginning, every doctor I’ve encountered regarding the dupuytren's asked me about my shaft. I never really knew why until about three years ago when I finally found out why. I gradually noticed a nodule at the base and topside of my shaft. At first I didn’t think much of it, then the bend upward started. My wife of course noticed it too. This is when I went on-line and started research, finding yours and other sites as well; purchasing a downloaded copy of your handbook. I had my doubts about your recommendations, did make some diet changes, but it got worse. This is because NO ONE THERAPY is going to make a difference to Peyronie’s disease or Dupuytren’s contracture. It is good that you made dietary changes, but it is essential to do a whole lot more than that to get ahead of these multiple problems you have. The dietary part of treatment is extremely important, but that by itself will probably not help the average man. You must aggressively throw a large group of different internal and external therapies at Peyronie’s disease to make a difference. How much therapy? Which therapy? No one can tell until you begin to do the work of treating yourself. Only then while you are working with your problem while using the group of therapies you have selected will you know how your shaft and hand tissue responds in terms of changes in the size, shape, density and surface features.
At the base of the shaft at erection it has became constricted like a tight ring, with a sharp upward bend. The “scar” became about the size of a thumbnail across the topside of the shaft at the base. It was fairly typical of pictures and drawings I observed. I also experienced a dull pain when erect; and it became painful during personal relations. Your description of the progress of your PD is fairly typical. I finally consulted my doctor about it. Not surprisingly he made the standard Vitamin E recommendation, and also prescribed pentoxifylline ER 400 mg, 2x daily. This had no apparent effect. I also take Varapamil to offset migraines. Again, as I mentioned above, it is essential to use multiple therapies – not just vitamin E. MDs are fond of suggesting vitamin E because of the good research reports that it was initially given, but they fail to know anything about how to use it correctly. If you follow the recommendations for using the vitamin E you will find on the PDI and DCI websites you will get much better results than if you use the inferior grade products sold at the average vitamin shop or drug store.
In July of this year I felt I needed to go on the attack, and started the enzyme therapy as your book advised. To be truthful I had read the on-line debate regarding the different brands and started off using Serracor-NK, later switching to Neprinol. In my opinion, the maker of Serracor-NK is far more skillful at writing articles about enzymes than it is in creating a quality enzymes product. Their endless debate and attack is meant to draw business away from Neprinol; if they took that time and energy to improve their product they would better off. In my opinion Neprinol is a much better product. Right away and immediately I started noticing the benefits, and they seem to be the same with both products. I continued with the Vit-C 400, but have added the Fundamental Sulfur, Acetyl-L-carnitine, PABA, as well as the Fibrozym and Nattokinase (along with the Neprinol), also applying Vitamin E oil with PMD DMSO. I recently obtained a copy of the stretching CD, and have now begun that exercise. Now you are getting into a level of treatment that should start to reap some good results for you. Small and occasional effort does not seem to get results; only when you get serious and are willing to mount a heavy attack do the good changes start to happen.
Where I’m I now?
The scar has been reduced by at least 80 to 85% in size. I can feel a small but short string of uneven pearl type nodules running from the “scar” to the base of the shaft along the top of the shaft ridge. You are probably describing the line of tissue known as the cavernosal septum; it is a thin line of tissue that is best felt along the upper surface of the shaft that runs from behind the head all the way back to the base. They may have been there before, but I did notice them. They could have been under the larger scar. Sometimes these scars do seem to overlap each other to some degree. I know that I had a similar formation in which three scars were layered half on and half off each other. My point is, they remind me somewhat of a dupuytren sheath I feel in my hands.
The constriction around my shaft when erect is now completely going, as is the sharp upward bend. However, the shaft now bends in an upward arch, not a sharp bend like it was before. This is probably due to the change and reduction of your scars. As the scars get even smaller and weaker you should continue to see reduction in their ability to distort your shaft. Please do not make the mistake of only paying attention to the more obvious appearance of the shaft. The distortion you see is only a poor reflection of the scars that you do not see. The physical condition of your scars is more important than the appearance of your curvature because the scars cause the curvature. Pay attention to the scars for changes in their structure. I suggest now that you have started a larger size treatment plan that you can start altering and shifting focus to 1-2 therapies to determine how much influence they have over your scar. In other words, if you increase your PABA or your Neprinol while keeping every other therapy the same, you must make note of what will happen to the size, shape, density and surface feature of your scars. You do this for 10-14 days WHILE MAKING NOTES about what you are doing and what you are observing in order to learn how to fine tune your plan. This is how PD is reversed. This is how success is earned. These poor guys who come to the PDI site looking for the one magic bullet will refuse to hear this idea. They could be helped if they would be willing to do a bit of work. Good for you that you finally got serious and started to do your plan the way that I suggest. Further, the pain and ache when erect and during personal relations, has almost completely subsided. This is so because the scars (in the tunica albuginea) are no longer large enough to press on the delicate nerve endings in another layer of tissue that sits right above it called Buck’s fascia. Sorry for the anatomy lesson.
At this point however, I feel like I’ve come to a plateau, and have stopped seeing progress. When your current plan stops being effective YOU HAVE TO CHANGE YOUR PLAN.
So, here’s my question:
Since I started the enzyme therapy I’ve seen gradual improvement, and the added therapies have also helped. However, I’ve not seen much change, if any recently. See above comments about increasing your plan in one area. I’m going to continue with the added stretching to my attack strategy, but with my history with dupuytren contractures, I’m wondering if this is a good as I can expect it to get? No, you can expect more. You have not yet started to put your plan into high gear. You are just getting started. I really do not like taking all this internal medication, It is not medication – not drugs. These are naturally occurring nutritional and enzymatic products. and wonder if I should shift to the less severe maintenance mode. That is your choice. I cannot tell you what to do. You are calling the shots. I am just giving you my opinions about PD treatment and you must decide what is good for you and what you should do to recover. There is also the cost factor, if this is a good as it can get.
One more thing: My wife in incredible; she is 16 years younger than me, and has been right there with me in support. During all this we’ve talked about it and I’ve researched about how to satisfy her, getting your book about personal relations performance and others. My 2nd book, “Peyronie’s Disease and S_x” has saved and improved a lot of marriages. It is loaded with a lot of information that would help any couple, but especially those dealing with PD. Thanks for the input. After all these years of marriage we discovered the G-Stop and other amazing things, and our personal relations life has never been better or as frequent. In fact, she says she really does not want me to lose the curve because of how it stimulates her. You probably recall the section in that book about the G-spot and how some women prefer men with PD just for that reason. But I would still like to see it lessen for other obvious reasons. Here is the danger: You do not know how great that curve will become in the future. That upward curve that hits he G-spot just right today might become so great that you cannot enter her tomorrow. I suggest that you get rid of the PD and get rid of the curve, so that you will always be able to have intercourse, and figure out other ways to stimulate the G-spot.
So that’s my question. I’m thinking I’ve reached a plateau of improvement, and wondering if my history of dupuytren contractures realistically prohibits me from progressing beyond where I’m currently at in dealing with this problem. No, your DC history does not necessarily condemn you from making further change and progress with your PD. The fact is that you have just started to really treat your PD in the correct way. Sure, you have spent time and money in the past doing what you thought was good PD treatment, but you were just wasting your time. Let’s do this: Send me a detailed outline of your current PD treatment plan and I will evaluate it for ways that you can consider to improve your plan. If that interests you just send it back to me and I will suggest things to do and ways to increase you plan to get more progress. The 80-85% reduction of scar size is nice. Congratulations. Now you need to concentrate on the remaining 15-20%. TRH
With regards,
JXXXX
On Dec 19, 2011, at 6:55 AM, Dr. T. Herazy wrote:
Greetings JXXXXX,
See below for comments…
Regards,
Theodore Herazy, DC, LAc
From: JXXXXXXX [mailto:JXXXXXC@XX.rr.com]
Sent: Sunday, December 18, 2011 10:40 PM
To: Dr. T. Herazy
Subject: Re: Question
Sent: Sunday, December 18, 2011 10:40 PM
To: Dr. T. Herazy
Subject: Re: Question
Dear Dr. Herazy,
First, thank you so much for your prompt reply and encouragement.
Second, fyi – I think I failed to say that I also purchased and downloaded “Peyronie’s Disease and S_x” as well. Yes, it was very informative and helpful. Glad to know you were helped. I get a lot of positive comments on that book because of how deeply and tragically affected couples often are by Peyronie’s disease. They do not see a way around their physical problems only because they do not have the experience of dealing with a 25 or 45 or 90 degree bend and no one to turn to for help. In their isolation they often make some bad decisions and faulty assumptions. They all too quickly assume that nothing can be done to help their problem of not being able to enter or pain or whatever it is that PD is doing to them. It seems that 95% of urologists turn a deaf ear to these special problems of intimacy that occur for PD couples during personal relations. My book clears up a lot of confusion and offers easy and helpful ideas for them to discuss and consider.
Okay, a couple of other things before I give you my current plan outline.
1) I’ve suffered migraines since my teen’s and have gone through various therapies and medications as my body has changed. Currently I’m on Topomax (topiramate 25mg), twice daily for migraines and it appears to be working. I’ve tried to reduce the dosage, but if I even break the dosage cycle I’ll get a migraine. I also take Varapamil once daily too. I was placed on Varapamil years ago for migraines, but it quit working. However, my doctor keeps me on it because of its blood pressure benefits at my age. I've asked him if I could discontinue it, but he said I shouldn't. Interesting that you have been on Verapamil for years, and that you developed PD anyway. I am sure you are aware that Verapamil is a commonly prescribed drug used for Peyronies treatment. You might suspect that a longstanding intake of Verapamil might have prevented you from developing this problem since it is used by some MDs as a treatment for PD.
2) I take a daily vitamin pack that contains vitamin C, E, and a whole bunch of the standard supplements. Years ago when I was going through various therapies for the dupuytren’s, one doctor put me on a mega vitamin program. It didn’t help the dupuytren’s The vitamins, minerals, enzymes and other nutrients we suggest for Peyronies or Dupuytren treatment are specific for these two related conditions. Taking a general range vitamin supplement would not give you what you need for either condition. but I noticed my general health improve. I went from an average 7 sick days a year to zero, and even went three years without a sick day at work. I rarely get a cold or flu, so I’m a firm believer in supplements.
I wanted to give you that additional background. Personally, I don’t like taking the Topomax having read some negative things about it. Yes, there are a lot of stories about lawsuits because of the growing list of side effects and problems associated with Topomax. But it does keep the migraines in check. Your migraines must be very bad for you to take the risk of using Topomax to control it. This always seems to be the case when taking these more powerful drugs; you must take a big risk to get any kind of reward. The same with medical treatment of Peyronie’s disease. It is fortunate for you that you are seeing results with the Alternative Medicine treatment of your PD.
For any increase in your current treatment plan I suggest you do not make all these changes or increases at the same time. Instead, select one of these changes and work with it all by itself for 10-14 days to see how it alone affects the size, shape, density and surface features of your scar. Within your current plan you can spend a lot of time and likely see some nice progress if you work at this diligently.
Here is current approach:
1. Neprinol – 3 tablets three times a day. One hour before meals Consider slowly increasing up to a total of 12/day by adding one/day to your current 9/day
2. Fibrozym – 2 tablets three times a day. One hour before meals
3. Nattokinase – 2 tablets two times a day. One hour before morning & evening meals
4. Fundamental Sulfur – 3 tablets three times a day. With meals.
5. Acetyl-L-carnitine – 1 tablet a day. With morning meal Consider adding 1-2 daily to your plan
6. PABA – 1 tablet a day. With morning meal Consider slowly increasing up to a total of 9/day by adding one/day to your current 1/day; one PABA daily is much too low to see results.
7. Vitamin A 400 IU – 2 tablets twice a day. With morning and evening meals
8. Pentoxifylline 400mg – 2 tablets a day. With morning and evening meals. I’m thinking of discontinuing this, and not refilling this prescription when the current bottle runs out.
9. Scar-X. – Once to twice daily. (I’m not consistent with this. I keep forgetting) Put the bottle out in front of everything else you are taking to remind yourself; carry it in your shirt pocket, or place a note on your computer monitor or bathroom mirror to get into the habit of taking your Scar-X. You make a big mistake to ignore this important therapy.
10. Unique-E applied with PDM DMSO. 3-5 times a week. Note: I first hit this nearly everyday, sometimes twice a day. But backed off for two reasons: 1) some discomfort, but mainly 2) offensive breath odor. I work with children and teachers (I’m a private school principal), and my wife said that she was noticing an offensive breath odor when I was using the DMSO. Reducing it stop that, but probably means it being less affective. Correct. I suggest using only once daily in the PM, after work hours. The breath problem is temporary as a person’s metabolism regulates the usage of it
11. PDI Stretching video – Twice daily 15 min’s morning and evening.
2. Fibrozym – 2 tablets three times a day. One hour before meals
3. Nattokinase – 2 tablets two times a day. One hour before morning & evening meals
4. Fundamental Sulfur – 3 tablets three times a day. With meals.
5. Acetyl-L-carnitine – 1 tablet a day. With morning meal Consider adding 1-2 daily to your plan
6. PABA – 1 tablet a day. With morning meal Consider slowly increasing up to a total of 9/day by adding one/day to your current 1/day; one PABA daily is much too low to see results.
7. Vitamin A 400 IU – 2 tablets twice a day. With morning and evening meals
8. Pentoxifylline 400mg – 2 tablets a day. With morning and evening meals. I’m thinking of discontinuing this, and not refilling this prescription when the current bottle runs out.
9. Scar-X. – Once to twice daily. (I’m not consistent with this. I keep forgetting) Put the bottle out in front of everything else you are taking to remind yourself; carry it in your shirt pocket, or place a note on your computer monitor or bathroom mirror to get into the habit of taking your Scar-X. You make a big mistake to ignore this important therapy.
10. Unique-E applied with PDM DMSO. 3-5 times a week. Note: I first hit this nearly everyday, sometimes twice a day. But backed off for two reasons: 1) some discomfort, but mainly 2) offensive breath odor. I work with children and teachers (I’m a private school principal), and my wife said that she was noticing an offensive breath odor when I was using the DMSO. Reducing it stop that, but probably means it being less affective. Correct. I suggest using only once daily in the PM, after work hours. The breath problem is temporary as a person’s metabolism regulates the usage of it
11. PDI Stretching video – Twice daily 15 min’s morning and evening.
I also take
12. "The Prostate Formula" with Saw Palmetto from Real Health Lab, for prostate health. – Twice daily with meals. Note: I’ve been taking this or a similar product for several years for prostate health. You should look at the two prostate formulae sold by PDI on the website. They are great products that get a lot of good reports, Prostate Supreme and Bio-Prostate.
I know from your writings and website that there are many more options still open. The above suggestions are ideas to work with now. If needed you can go into other areas and degrees of treatment as the need arises. These are offered to get you moving into a more aggressive direction.
Good luck with your current plan and let me know if you have more questions. TRH
But this is where I’m at for the moment. I truly appreciate your feedback. Again, thank you.
Regards,
JXXXXXX
Well there you have the little discussion between JXXXXX and me. I hope you found this issue of the PDI Newsletter interesting and informative so you can do a better job of helping your own PD or DC condition.
Let’s all hope that JXXXXXX continues to do well with his PD after he increases his plan, and that he even sees some progress with his hands and feet.
If you want to contact me about your problem, please send an email.
Happy New Year to all PDI and DCI Warriors. Enjoy your holiday with those you love, and take care of yourselves. Keep warm and stay focused on your treatment plans.
Regards,
Theodore R. Herazy, DC, LAc
