February 1, 2012 Newsletter
Greetings to all PDI and DCI Warriors,
Welcome to the February 2012 PD Institute Newsletter. I trust all my friends are warm and well as we settle into the deepening winter weather.
For those in our DCI readership, please simply apply the ideas expressed in these Peyronies treatment emails to what you are doing with your Dupuytren treatment.
1. Bromelain-5000
For the first time since 2005 a new internal therapy product – Bromelain-5000 from Douglas Laboratories – is being added to the PDI and DCI lineup. However, you will easily see that using bromelain, as found in Bromelain-5000, is not a new idea at PDI.
As you will remember, quercetin is a naturally occurring bioflavonoid with strong antioxidant activity. Quercetin supports and enhances the collagen structural network in the body. The theory is that in a deficiency of bioflavinoids the structural integrity of the collagen (scar) network is weakened, resulting in a poor quality scar matrix. To compensate, the body will make a larger scar because the material is of poorer quality. If the bioflavinoids are increased and the scar material is stronger and better formed any scar that is made will be smaller. Hence, supplying quercetin will result in stronger but smaller scar formation.
Now that we are supplying Bromelin-5000 in our PDI and DCI stores for your use, you have a powerful way to focus attention to bromelain therapy exclusively.
To introduce you to Bromelain-5000 in the month of February PDI and DCI are reducing the price of this new therapy product by 20%. Click here to purchase Bromelain-5000 at a special discount for this month only. The standard price for this product is $8.40 and we will charge $8 as our standard price. During February you can buy Bromelain-5000 for $6.40 each. Buy a few and save.
What is great about this economical DCI and PDI therapy is that it adds another dimension to the very important enzyme component of your therapy plan. You can do this at a cost that is much lower than most other enzymes.
2. Email conversation
Read this series of combined emails like a back-and-forth discussion between two people in which 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 you see in black is from PSXXXXX and the text in red is from me.
From: Dr. T. Herazy <herazy@sbcglobal.net>
To: 'PSXXXXXXXX <psxxxxxxxx@yahoo.com>
Sent: Monday, January 2, 2012 4:49 PM
Subject: RE: suggestion for JXXXX and a question for you.
To: 'PSXXXXXXXX <psxxxxxxxx@yahoo.com>
Sent: Monday, January 2, 2012 4:49 PM
Subject: RE: suggestion for JXXXX and a question for you.
Greetings PSXXXXXXX,
Please see below…
Regards,
Theodore Herazy, DC, LAc
From: PSXXXXXXXXXX [mailto:psxxxxxx@yahoo.com]
Sent: Sunday, January 01, 2012 1:14 AM
To: Dr. T. Herazy
Subject: suggestion for JXXXX and a question for you.
To: Dr. T. Herazy
Subject: suggestion for JXXXX and a question for you.
Hi Doc,
It's been a while, and between then and now, you've probably talked to so many guys that I am but a distant memory, but my situation must be nevertheless a familiar one.
I say that having just read your discussions with JXXXX where I find that he describes many components similar to my own PD condition. While it is true that his is much more severe than mine, nevertheless I am quite sure even without ever having personally met anyone else who suffers from these scars, certainly each one of us hates the disease with an equal passion,
It so happened that late last night I did a little online research for my cousin's son, a man about 40, who suddenly has developed very severe migraines.
Although the great majority of opinions I came across would be as familiar to you and JXXXX as they were to me, I did find something intriguing which I thought perhaps you might pass along to him.
My cousin's son has also had motor nerve involvement in his hands and feet on the affected side during the headache besides the sparkling vision and the other common symptoms.
As luck would have it, my wife's niece, a young physician in Cebu, called tonight to wish all a Happy New Year. I used the opportunity to mention the migraine problem with paralysis and she thought that angiography would be necessary to determine if indeed the man is having subarachnoid hemorrhaging. A typical CAT scan might miss something like that.
When she said that, I immediately recalled that last night I found a site which advertised a new, surgical approach which cauterizes arterioles in the affected region.
It's new enough that I thought your patient might possibly not have heard about it. Of course, make use of due diligence, always.
Another novel approach involves a neurostimulator implanted in the nape of the neck:
Thank you for this information. I will pass it along to JXXXXX.
As pertaining to my specific question: Like JXXXX, I have done just about everything, except one thing. No, actually, there is a great deal you have not done to successfully treat your Peyronie’s disease. You have just scratched the surface of what you can do with the PDI method of treatment of Peyronie’s disease. You have used only one version or line-up of the wide possibilities of therapy by using only one particular dosage level. This does not at all mean you have investigated the full potential of what can be done for your problem.
You have only used your plan in a somewhat static and limited way, and not in the dynamic and searching way to develop synergy that is recommended on the PDI website.
By slowly increasing dosages of your therapies you can create hundreds of possible treatment plans to influence the size, shape, density and surface features of your scar. Declaring that you have “’done just about everything” after using only the first or second combination of possible changes is short-sighted and unfair to you – and it is not the PDI way. In fact, most men who get great PD results will do see positive scar changes only after making 3-4-12 changes in their plan over a few months time. They start out just as you did, taking the dosages they see on the bottles of the different therapies they decide to use. They then make a slight increase in their plan after 10-14 days of treatment when they see no reduction of their scar; then after another 10-14 days they make another increase, then another, and perhaps another if their scar still does not respond. At some point as they increase dosage (or add a new therapy to the lineup) they notice the scar might be smaller, softer, differently shaped or rougher along the surface; they eventually notice a reduction in the scar as a result of these increases in their treatment dosage. Once this happens they stop making changes and continue with their plan in its most current form, and continue to monitor the scar for continued reduction. They keep that plan going for as long as it is making good improvement in the scar.
They do not get off a horse that is winning the race. But they do change horses if it is not winning. And they do not quit the race after riding only one horse – as you are suggesting.
As an example, consider the therapy lineup that I show you below:
1. Maxi-Gamma – 2/day
2. Vitamin C – 4/day
3. MSM – 8/day
4. PABA – 4/day
5. Acetyl-L-carnitine – 2/day
6. Scar-X – 2/day
7. Stretching protocol – 30 minutes daily
8. PMD DMSO – once daily applied with other topical therapies
9. Super CP Serum – once daily applied with other topical therapies
10. Unique-E oil – once daily applied with other topical therapies
Let’s say in this example that the man uses this group of therapies for two months and gets a 50% reduction of his scar and 25% reduction of his distortion. But because he was hoping for a complete reversal of his problem, he becomes discouraged and quits PDI therapy. He says to himself, just as you have, “’I have done just about everything’ and I feel discouraged because my scar is only 50% smaller and my bend is only 25% improved. This PDI stuff did not work for me – I wanted to be completely well and I have followed the PDI plan faithfully for two months and I still have a problem.”
The fact is in the above example this person did not follow the PDI plan because the PDI concept is that you make CHANGES TO YOUR PLAN IF IT IS NOT WORKING. How many changes? For how long? Changes to which part of my current plan? The answers to those questions are different for different people. The best and most effective plans are broad and have greater variety than smaller and less effective plan. So I suppose it depends on how badly you want to reverse your PD and return to being a normal man. It also depends on how confident you are in what you are doing and how well you understand the PDI concept. That is why I have written such a large website with so many examples of different ideas and information to help you gain confidence in your ability to heal.
I suppose it all comes down to either understanding and believing that your body can heal itself; belief that you can help yourself into being in the group of the lucky 50% of men whose Peyronie’s disease goes away on its own. When I had PD it did not heal by itself. For a while I was just as confused, desperate and discouraged as you might feel right now. I was so scared I was going to have to live with PD that I got super-busy and super-aggressive and worked with my three MD-partners at our clinic to create a new PD treatment idea that worked for me. This new idea also worked for patients in our Alternative Medicine clinic. And when I developed the Peyronie’s Disease Institute I found that it also worked for men who faithfully and aggressively followed their treatment plans as I suggested to them.
The fact is that by following the above plan of attack against PD with this slowly increasing dosage schedule, you would be only using one of a possible 100-200 other combinations of dosages that could be created by slowly increasing different parts of your therapy plan. If you stop treatment at this time you will have only scratched the surface of what you can do for yourself and you will be settling for much less than what is possible. Please do not make this mistake. It is by working with and experimenting with dosages that the real benefits of the PDI concept are discovered. If you want some help in figuring out the next step in doing this work, please let me know because I would be most happy to help you.
In my case the one thing not done is the stretching exercise. While I agree you should consider using the PDI stretching protocol because it is a great therapy, there is so much more you could be doing for yourself by simply juggling with the dosages of the above ten listed therapies. You miss a great opportunity and blindly avoid the heart of the most aspect of the PDI concept when you simply take the first course of therapy that comes to your mind and then do nothing else beyond that. What I suggest is that you get busy and experiment with your dosages while monitoring your scar for positive changes in the size, shape, density and surface features.
I'll be the first to admit that not being consistent has been a problem. Why swallowing a few handfuls of supplement pills every day should turn out to be such a daunting task, I don't know, but it is. I understand. I do not agree, but I understand. It might be a good idea if we talk a bit about this and I can help you in this way. Please let me know if that is of interest to you.
(Figure out a way to stuff Martini olives with them perhaps.)
OK, a pie in the face for being a sleepy old Joe.
With the stretching exercise it is far more than not trying hard enough. I gave up entirely. You must not give up on yourself. You must give your tissue enough time to respond to this therapy. You must try several – many – combinations of different dosages along with the stretching to learn what it needs to recover. You must be patient with yourself.
You must hate PD and what it is doing to deprive you of the full enjoyment of your life so deeply that you do not allow yourself to become discouraged. You must not allow yourself the luxury of quitting because you allow PD to win and ruin your life.
We talked briefly some time ago, and then you emphasized the importance of the stretching exercise, which I have indeed tried several times and abandoned those several times, since apparently I am doing something either entirely wrong or else something not exactly right, if you know what I mean. Again, if we can spend a small bit of time talking I can explain how to go about doing the stretching so it is more effective for you. I can also explain certain points that you might not understand fully. We can customize your stretching technique based on your distortion; this is the benefit of a phone conversation.
I will again review the instructions; but I wonder if you've heard this complaint before, and thought that perhaps what I am missing is obvious to everyone else. Frustrating that I should fumble on the one-yard line, because this isn't exactly pocket rocket science. (Sorry, I couldn't resist the joke), I am quite sincere in wanting to know the secret, because whatever will ultimately be effective, I haven't found it yet.
I am using, in addition to the usual supplements, about 12 Neprinol a day. And as I said, some days I just seem to forget to take the pills. And yes, you can lecture me even though I know better — that's what coaches are expected to do.
Here's an odd thing — although the anatomical distortions while erect have improved somewhat (enough to be very encouraging in the hope of eventually restoring normality) the scar itself seems larger. This really alarms me. Not larger, just more aware of them. I cannot help but notice that you say “seems larger.” Don’t you know for a fact? You must know for a fact in order to determine if your work is being successful. Apparently you have not taken the time to determine the exact size, shape, density and surface features of your scar. Otherwise you would not be in that unenviable position of guessing when you say “seems.” It could be that I just wasn't very good at assessing its size before. You must try harder to get this vital information all worked out clearly and accurately. When you finally know for a fact as much as you can about your scar from a structural standpoint you must write the information down and keep it for later reference as your therapy plan progresses. If you do not do this you will find that your memory will get hazy and you will be unsure about your progress – and this is a fatal problem for successful treatment.
The changes in some ways have been quite dramatic from an earlier period when I would have told you the scar was much smaller, pea-shaped, and now is more like a button on a Navy jacket. I am giving you my best impression. Earlier, the scar seemed to surround the urethra, and now it seems to be above it.
Happy New Year to you. Now let’s get busy. TRH
Thanks for everything and Happy New Year…
PXXXXXX
From: Dr. T. Herazy <herazy@sbcglobal.net>
To: 'PSXXXXXXXX <psxxxxxxxx@yahoo.com>
Sent: Friday, January 20, 2012 5:21 AM
Subject: RE: suggestion for JXXXX and a question for you.
To: 'PSXXXXXXXX <psxxxxxxxx@yahoo.com>
Sent: Friday, January 20, 2012 5:21 AM
Subject: RE: suggestion for JXXXX and a question for you.
Greetings PSXXXXXX,
See below for comments…
Regards,
Theodore Herazy, DC, LAc
Sent: Thursday, January 19, 2012 11:19 PM
To: Dr. T. Herazy
Subject: Re: suggestion for JXXXX and a question for you.
Many thanks for the thoughtful reply. At the time you wrote back (Jan 2) we had death in the family which has consumed both my time and energy in the days and weeks since. Sorry to hear that. Death seems to be the inevitable part of life that surrounds and whispers at us constantly, yet when it is at our door finds us woefully unprepared and fragile. Try to consider that death is not something that separates us from our loved ones, but in a curious and real way brings us closer.
Perhaps I might have written a little more clearly because I think we're pretty much on the same page.
I only meant to say that on the standard protocol, not allowing for all the permutations, which, frankly, had never occurred to me, Then that is my fault for not emphasizing this information to you. I apologize for not explaining that better. The therapy plan you follow should not be static for very long. You should change it every 10-14 days or so, depending on your results. You should demand some small degree of change from your scar at least in small ways as you get into the treatment of it.
Just like when you are fishing: A lazy fisherman stays in one spot and uses the same bait all day long while he “hopes” to catch a fish. The aggressive and knowledgeable fisherman demands some action from the fish. He knows he can make things happen if he approaches the fish in the right way. He changes locations, he moves the bait up and down from the surface of the water to the bottom of the pond and different levels in between; he works the shores and he goes into the deep water in the middle of the pond; he changes bait in many ways (from minnow to worm to grub to artificial baits of all types and colors); he reels the bait in slowly, quickly, or erratically. He increases his odds of success by trying many different things. He does not “hope” to catch a fish; he “works” at it. The knowledgeable and busy fisherman gets better results than the lazy fisherman. The same with Peyronie’s treatment. There are probably thousands of different combinations of things to do from the PDI website to help yourself. That seems to be a real problem in PD treatment: getting discouraged after using the wide list of therapies in only the most simple and direct way. Exactly. You must play with your therapies in all the possible dosage rates and combinations to get the best results. By using varying dosages and combinations of dosages with just three therapies you can probably create a hundred different possible therapy plans, and with four therapies many hundred different therapy plans. I have seen men work out elaborate charts and records to keep track of how they have changed dosages and combined therapies to finally learn what their body needs to recover from Peyronies disease. It is not ever easy but it is always tremendously rewarding to overcome PD in this way. I had followed all the supplement recommendations but never did much with the manual manipulation. The gentle manual stretching technique I developed a few years ago in a PDI research project is but one of the possible therapies that can be added to your mix of how to assist your recovery. It is so important because there is nothing else like it. And it is the only way to safely and directly address the contracted scar or plaque material from a focused and specific physical way – most everything else that is available is chemical therapy. Gentle manual stretching is important because it is uniquely physical.
For a while I wasn't even sure of the diagnosis, and I owe that to you because you had insisted that indeed a scar is there. You insisted I should keep trying, and finally, I found it.
How could I miss it? Well, for one thing, it turned out to be not where I expected it to be but near the base or root and not at the site of the actual manifestation. It is always a surprise to find that there is more than one scar present in the shaft. It is certainly possible to have a total of 2-3-4 scars – with two that are next to impossible to locate and two that are easy to locate. It would be natural to assume that the two you can find are the only ones that exist. But what if the two that are very difficult to locate are most responsible for the curvature or distortion you have? You would not be able to explain your bend based on the scars that you can locate. This is a fairly common situation. You have to be open to the possibility that you are not aware of all the scar formations you have.
When I did find it, I only felt its lateral edges which is why I said it was pea-shaped. Then later, when feeling around for it by pinching with thumb and two fingers of each hand, not just one hand, it felt like the button on an overcoat, even with a little dimple in the center. Did it change or did I discern more accurately? I cannot now say. I agree you would think I could clearly describe it. Maybe I am simply deficient when it comes to that kind of palpation. Locating some scars is an extremely difficult thing to do. After all, what kind of experience does the average man have in this area? Almost none. When you go scar hunting for the first time, it is basically a whole new skill you are trying to develop based on almost no past experience. I can help you locate your scars when we talk.
I would like to have a conversation. To tell you the truth, I am now close to the point where I have a little time as compared to before when the phone was ringing off the hook, meetings, letters, everything all at once. Excellent idea. I find that the men who take the time to speak to me are greatly surprised by how the spontaneous direction of an actual conversation leads to questions and answers that they did not expect. For the next 10 days my work week time is limited. How about this weekend? Saturday? I am in the Central time zone. How about sometime between 9AM and 11AM tomorrow, the 21st? Please give me a number to call and a specific time or tight range of times and I will do my best to respond. Estimate whether you want a 15-30-45-60 minute discussion and purchase that amount of time online today so I can get things lined up from my end.
By the way, I ask your permission to use this series of emails between us in an upcoming PDI Newsletter. I will protect your identity and privacy as I always do. Please let me know your interest in having your emails in the next newsletter. TRH
I'll wait to hear from you if you care to offer me some choices per time and date…
Thanks again.
PSXXXXX
Regards,
Theodore Herazy, DC, LAc
A few days later PSXXXXX and I spoke on the phone for 30 minutes and had a great conversation. We covered topics about gentle manual stretching of the shaft, several ideas to safely increase the dosage of the therapies he is now using, and different treatment options that he had not considered. It was a good discussion that we both enjoyed, and he said he was sure he was going to do better by putting that information into action.
Please re-read this newsletter again if you do not understand about experimenting with dosages to expand your Peyronie’s treatment plan for better results. Dupuytren and Peyronie treatment should not be static; treatment should change until your condition changes. If you have specific questions or problems about your treatment then make arrangements to talk to me and get answers so you can move forward toward recovery.
Please stay focused to your treatment plan, and give yourself time and opportunity to recover. If you are not seeing the kind of results you expect from yourself, please reach out to me for help. You will be surprised with the amount of information and ideas that can be provided. TRH
February 2012 Product Special
To introduce you to Bromelain-5000 in the month of February PDI and DCI are reducing the price of this new therapy product by 20%. Click here to purchase Bromelain-5000 at a special discount for this month only. The standard price for this product is $8.40 and we will charge $8 as our standard price. During February you can buy Bromelain-5000 for $6.40 each. Buy a few and save.
What is great about this economical DCI and PDI therapy is that it adds another dimension to the very important enzyme component of your therapy plan. You can do this at a cost that is much lower than most other enzymes.
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