January 1, 2014 PDI Newsletter
Greetings DCI and PDI Warriors,
Happy New Year and a belated Merry Christmas to all.
It was August 2013 – five months ago – that I sent out the last monthly newsletter to my DCI and PDI readership. In that issue I explained I was going to devote all my time to completing another book on the topic of Peyronie’s disease treatment, and so the newsletters would be temporarily halted. I now smile that I optimistically wrote, “I anticipate that I can get all this done in about 5-6 months. Look for this new book to be available in the early part of Winter 2013.” Well, let me tell you how wrong I was about how much time and effort it was going to take to get this book finished! It will take many more months to complete this book, and I refuse to speculate about the completion time.
Part of the reason the new book has been delayed is that I have spent a considerable amount of time studying a large stack of recent research and current information about PD and DC treatment. As a result I find I must incorporate this new treatment information and several ideas into both treatment approaches. For this reason a few days ago I added CoEnzyme Q10 and L-Arginine to the lineup for both Dupuytren’s contracture and Peyronie’s disease treatment. With the number of therapies now available for use it would be wise to change the way these therapies are used together. Another reason for delaying the book is that I have been working on a completely different strategy to incorporate and combine the growing list of therapies. Look for this information to appear in the new book when it is finished.
Everyone should look at the information and ideas I now have on both sites about incorporating CoEnzyme Q10 and L-Arginine into your treatment plans.
Since I am very far behind in my writing schedule I decided to republish a few newsletters from the past several years to help people know more about natural PD and DC treatment methods. Many of you have never seen these old newsletters, and for those of you who have read them it might be good to review the information after all this time. With these old newsletters being recycled to the current DCI and PDI readership I think I will feel better that I am not neglecting my responsibility to educate those who need to know more about this important subject. Look for the PDI/DCI monthly newsletters once again.
Xiaflex as a Peyronie’s and Dupuytren’s treatment option
Before I present the prior newsletter, there is one current topic that I wish to briefly address. As most of you know Xiaflex was approved by the FDA in early December 2013 as the first approved drug treatment for Peyronie’s disease, after approving its use for Dupuytren’s contracture almost three years ago. Several of you contacted me in the past two weeks asking for my opinion about using Xiaflex for PD and DC. I wish I had more time and opportunity to discuss this subject in detail, and to pass along some of the conversations and information I am being given by men and women who have used Xiaflex in the last few months. But I can’t do that right now. Time will tell what kind of permanent response a person can expect from Xiaflex, as well as the risks involved with its use. Some reports sound good at this time, and others do not. Apparently not all Xiaflex injections cause problems; a lot depends on the skill of the doctor doing the injection.
Selecting a doctor to administer Xiaflex is a lot like selecting a surgeon to perform PD surgery. For this reason I suggest that anyone thinking about Xiaflex treatment should review the ideas I present in the post I wrote some time ago, Peyronie’s Surgery. This article will review how to go about finding the best doctor for you to use.
We all would like to think that the use of Xiaflex is just as simple and straightforward as the idea is presented to us: A highly skilled surgeon precisely and exactly injects just the correct amount of Xiaflex into the fibrous tissue – no error or spillage occurs in a textbook perfect procedure; no mistakes are made by the staff who mix and prepare the Xiaflex injection, and the doctor performs the procedure flawlessly. The results are absolutely as predicted because only the fibrous material is injected, resulting in a perfect procedure and a picture-perfect outcome. Only the DC cord or PD scar is dissolved, leaving the rest of the normal tissue unaffected and healthy. That is what we would like to believe would happen, because this is what we are told – and we would like to believe nothing bad will happen.
But the harsh reality that we all face, for either DC or PD treatment with Xiaflex, is that not all doctors have the same skill level or even interest to do a good job. The “good old boy network” is still working within the medical profession, and it tolerates incompetence, slip-shod work and poor ethics. Even surgical nurses participate in this conspiracy of silence to protect themselves. The best way to protect yourself from a bad Xiaflex outcome is to use the best doctor you can find to inject the fibrous DC cord or the PD scar. By following the steps and using the information in this post, you increase your odds of a better result with Xiaflex. Of course, the best way to avoid a bad Xiaflex reaction is to not use it all because you are getting good results with the natural Alternative Medicine approach like you find on the PDI and DCI websites. It all comes down to what you learn and the course of action you decide to take after talking to your doctor about these different options.
Now that I have had my little say about Xiaflex, please review the following information about natural Peyronie’s treatment from a newsletter written in early 2009:
The following is a long response I recently sent out to a very long and rambling email I received. It came from a fellow who was trying to treat his Peyronie’s disease with using only vitamin E.
In his email he asked many questions and made several strong negative statements in regard to treating his PD – that sounded like he had read a lot of medical material saying that all was doom and gloom in the PD world. One of his most pressing concerns was for me to give him some “inside information” about the best therapy that “really worked so I would not have to take all the other stuff.”
I thought I would simply present in this newsletter only my response to him, since his disconnected email had many misspellings and no punctuation. By skipping his email to me I will not have work to correct or unscramble it. I am sure every one will get the gist of my message to him.
Greetings, XXXXXXX,
Sorry to hear of your problem with Peyronie’s disease.
Yes, you are correct that some of the information on the PDI website has been there for a while without an update. The reason is simple: the information and ideas you see are fundamentally correct and they get results in those cases when it is applied aggressively and faithfully. All the new research reports and studies you find on the medical sites are indeed updated often – but all they tell you is the same thing over and over again about the new drugs that do not help PD. Personally, I think PDI is on the correct therapeutic pathway with Peyronie’s treatment, and our past and present effort is to fine-tune and improve our basic approach as we learn more and more about what actually works in the real world.
I am not much interested in groundbreaking theory and research – what we are doing right now seems to work pretty well, and my effort for the last few years is only to make it better with small modifications and occasional additions to the basic format of care.
The PDI website is updated and amplified here and there as new information appears that warrants any change. My interest is not in what is new, but in what works. My readers are tired of trying all of the heavily researched drugs and submitting to surgery, that are supposed to help – but somehow do not do what they are supposed to do. They come to PDI looking for something different, something they can understand, something that makes sense to them, that they can be in control of, to actually make a difference in their lives. Those who go about it the right way, often do just that. I get at least 10-12 positive reports of success for every one report of failure or lack of satisfactory success. That is a pretty good statistic that the medical profession cannot report. For this reason I will, at least for the time being, just continue doing what I am doing and let the medical profession catch up to PDI.
Many of the therapies we advocate – like vitamin E – are almost always used incorrectly. We attempt to correct the methodology and application for their use against the problem of PD. We find that when they are used in a more correct fashion, the results of treatment increase.
You tell me that vitamin E did not help you. Please do not condemn the use of vitamin E if you did not use it correctly. Your MD did not know enough about the subject to tell you how to use it effectively – there is no problem with vitamin E. Vitamin E is effective. It is the fault of the doctor who pushed you out his office without giving you the information we have available here for you. For this reason I would simply suggest that you avail yourself to this information and learn more about vitamin E and other effective therapies directly at the PDI website and from the book I wrote a few years ago, Peyronie’s Disease Handbook.
All individual alternative and complementary therapies that have been selected for use in our wide arsenal display favorable, but limited, success in treating PD, and all have their scientific merit explained fully on the website. Not any one of these therapies, or any other drug or surgical treatments for that matter, are effective in all cases to a sufficient degree to justify being called a “cure.” However, the PDI theory is that the combined use of these same therapies when correctly used together have a synergistic effect that none can achieve alone. PD is an extremely difficult and tenacious problem to treat, and for this reason PDI suggests that you apply the concept of “synergy” in any therapy plan you utilize. All of this is explained in depth on the PDI website.
There is no easy, simple or direct treatment of PD. From our experience it requires that the individual takes the time and effort to treat and improve his ability to heal and repair a dysfunctional immune system to achieve maximal ability to correct the PD scar. If you thoughtfully read the various essays found on the PDI website, I am sure you are aware of this concept and know that this approach is logical and direct to the problem you are confronted with.
If you are interested in a suggestion for increasing your ability to heal and repair your Peyronie’s scar, allow me to offer for your consideration:
- The book, “Peyronie’s Disease Handbook” is a good starting point. Easy, practical, logical things to do to avoid continual re-injury, and to improve your diet, and attitude about a lot of things. All information in this book is unique and approaches the question of living and dealing with PD from an entirely different perspective than that covered on the PDI website; the two are completely different. It is the only book written about PD to address the subject from the perspective of successfully living with and understanding the variability of the scar tissue that is central to the disease process. You can secure a copy for yourself on the website, and download it immediately. This is the most important thing to start with, but you need internal and external therapies to build yourself up for healing.
- Recently I completed the “PDI Manual Penis Stretching Method” CD that is a vast improvement over the brutal mechanical penis stretchers. Please check this out on the PDI website. I think this is the most important addition to the treatment of PD that I have made in the last five years. 80% of men have responded to this self-administered stretching therapy in a positive way. In the first six weeks it was available I have received nothing but positive comments, because it is safe, effective, direct to the problem, easily performed and economical.
- Any of the plans, Small, Medium, Large, will give you organization and broad coverage to your effort to strengthen your immune response, but you must actually use whatever plan you select. Diligence and tenacity are key. I would offer that the Medium plan is very good and offers a great balance of internal/external therapies, and includes the video instruction CD which itself offers another level of therapy that is unique and very good. The best treatment plan is the Large plan because it includes the Genesen acupuncture system (that I use daily in my office with patients). This is a very user-friendly little piece of high tech that you can use to add muscle to your effort. It takes time but is most important if you really want to get aggressive with your plan.
- Additional things not in the Large plan, of good science and value, are Quercetin-Bromelain and PABA, the Japanese herbs are very popular. Any would make a reasonable addition to your plan.
When you ask for “what really works” you show that you have not read any of the information on the PDI website. Not any one product works by itself; they all work together – this is called synergy. I suggest that you go to the PDI website to read more about the treatment philosophy that is behind the natural approach that is used. Spend some valuable time reading about what you want to do to help yourself.
Try not to obsess about your PD. Attempt to harness your dread and angst, and all your worry, into a positive effort to do something therapeutic for yourself. You are churning and stirring yourself inside for no good purpose, and probably weakening your personal resolve with thoughts of hopelessness and despair. Guard the thoughts you present to yourself. Slow down and put things in perspective. Turn all this fretful thought and energy from a negative direction toward the positive.
There is a lot you can do to help yourself recover from PD. There are no secrets or special ways to get it done; just study, patience and determination to be more stubborn than your PD problem.
Don’t procrastinate. If you are serious about taking control of your life, you will get going. It will make you feel better by just not feeling like a victim any longer.
Please keep in touch with me and good luck to you.
Regards,
Theodore R. Herazy, DC, LAc
So that concludes this month’s issue of the PDI and DCI newsletter. Everyone please stay warm and safe, and see you next month for another newsletter. Season’s Greetings to you all. TRH
