July 1, 2018 PDI Newsletter
Greetings to all PDI and DCI Warriors,
Welcome to this August 2018 Peyronie’s Disease Institute newsletter. Here we are in the middle of a hot summer, thinking about cool relief.
This month we will review the second email response from JGXXXXXXX; his first email was in the November of 2017 issue. At that time he was just starting his large plan and had lots of questions. His email was selected for that newsletter because I wanted everyone to see his good examples of vivid and colorful word images and how he spent a lot of time trying to do everything correctly. I knew if he continued with his plan that way he would see reduction of his Peyronie’s disease scar tissue – and he has. There is a lot of valuable treatment information throughout this next email from JGXXXXX that should benefit everyone in our readership.
In this recent response, below, you will see that I suggest that JGXXXXXX telephones me about a new addition to the gentle manual stretching technique. Because he has an upward PD curvature, which is frequently related to scar tissue in the septum of the shaft, I wanted him to know about a new stretching technique specific to that tissue that has shown great promise. I encourage any man who is using the PDI gentle manual stretching method and has an upward curvature to also please arrange for a phone conference so I can explain how to approach this problem more effectively.
For those of you who are new to our monthly newsletters, please simply apply the ideas expressed in the emails below about Alternative Medicine treatment to what you are doing for your Dupuytren’s contracture of Peyronie’s disease. Since PD and DC are so similar in many ways, treatment is also similar; what can be done for one problem can also be done for the other.
Read this series of combined emails like the back-and-forth of two people talking while 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 JGXXXXX and the text in red is from me.
Greetings JGXXXXXXX,
See below for comments…
Regards,
Theodore R. Herazy, DC, LAc
Peyronie’s Disease Institute
Dupuytren’s Contracture Institute
From: JGXXXXXXXXX [mailto:jgxxxxxxx@XXXinc.com]
Sent: Monday, June 11, 2018 8:21 AM
To: Theodore Herazy <herazy@comcast.net>
Subject: Fwd: Update and questions
Dear Dr. Herazy ,
I have been on variations of the large plan now for about 10 months. It is good that you are experimenting with your plan that way. Keep looking for different combinations and dosages of therapies to see what works best for you. I am continuing on an email thread between you and I from back in September so you can see the progress that I have made. I know you have been hitting your plan hard and on a consistent basis, so I am not surprised you are reporting progress.
My basic scar that I described in September was like a three section peanut with edges like a wooden spoon. I also said that after time the left edge was starting to get rubbery. That edge has now separated from the main scar. Wonderful. In the past I have called this fibrous tissue separation by the name “fragmentation” which makes sense to me and describes pretty well what you mention. It is rather common for both the large and small fibrous masses to separate and fragment as the body begins to reabsorb the foreign PD tissue; this shows your plan is on the right track. Expect to see more fragmentation as time passes. It may be the total separation of the two cords at the base of the shaft I described months ago. It started out feeling like a very loose nylon guitar string. It now is very thin and flexible and feels as thin as a piece of monofilament fishing line. Nice imagery. Because you have taken the time to make those observations and careful notes about your scar at the start of your treatment you are now able to use those vivid word-images to detect very small tissue changes that would elude you otherwise. It extends from the base of the shaft to the glands where it separates into a small “y” of 1/4” lengths. Could this be a dorsal vein that I was unable to feel before because of the scar? From a strict anatomical basis the dorsal vein of the shaft is very near the surface and most of it is clearly visible. If you cannot see this structure you are referring to, then my educated guess is that what you describe here is not a vein; if it doesn’t look like a slightly elevated blue and torturous vein then it is probably not a vein. However, all veins bifurcate or divide frequently as they pass along the surface of the body, so this observation that the structure is “Y-shaped” is consistent with it being a vein. But I am not there, so I cannot comment with certainty. If so I think it is still good news since it is a noticeable change.
I had also described 3 pickle like bumps on the peanut shaped scar. Good word-images here. These three bumps were aligned and about .50 inches apart at that time. Over time I have developed a great many of these tiny bumps, all in a line from the base of the shaft to the glands. This structure now feels exactly like one of those beaded metal pull chains on a light bulb directly under my skin. When Francois Gigot de la Peyronie first wrote in 1743 about this strange problem of the male reproductive organ he described it as a series of beads like “a rosary” under the skin. Very close to what you are describing. It follows the exact center on the top of the shaft. Is it mirroring part of the structure beneath? Probably. Immediately under the top of the central portion of the shaft is the septum or a layer of tissue that separates the two chambers of the corpora cavernosae. This septum is a common site for Peyronie’s disease to develop and is the reason that the majority of curvatures extend upward. All of the bumps are evenly spaced over the length of this cord, and when I do gentle stretching, I can feel them separate slightly. This pull chain runs down the center of what “was” the three bump peanut, but is now more the shape of a Popsicle stick with an even width of .25 inches from the base to the glands. It still feels about as hard as a pencil eraser when I squeeze it from the sides.
I am beginning to think that this “pull-chain” may not be another individual strand. I now am visualizing this Popsicle stick as a long gable roof with the “pull-chain” as the ridge of the roof. Or the top edge of the septum that lies between the two large columns or chambers that make up the shaft. I am remembering your imagery of the bumps being like the nuts of an ice cream cone appearing as the ice cream melts. Maybe the snow is melting on my Popsicle roof, exposing the “pull chain“ ridge? Yep, that is how it often happens. Regardless, I now have three different structures to observe for change as I adjust my plan -the monofilament, the pull chain, and the overall Popsicle stick.
I have never discussed my deformity at all with you as I have been concentrating on the scar itself for all these months. I have however been monitoring it from the beginning. It was an hourglass or waisting deformity a third of the way up the base and a 45 degree upward bend. Ah, so you do have an upward bend. For this reason it is more likely that your septum is where tour scar tissue is located. At least half of the men with PD have an upward curvature. When an upward curvature occurs in Peyronie’s disease it is because there is scar formation in this mid-line septum or divider of the shaft. We need to talk. There is a recent modification of the gentle manual stretching technique that I have been working on with a few men that is showing real promise. I would like to explain it to you. It is too complicated to explain in an email that would require I would be writing for a long time to explain something we can cover in 5 minutes over the phone. Give a call, please; I think you will be happy you did. I monitor this by doing front and side photographs and measuring the angle using a clear protractor laid over the photograph. I record the angle and take note of the actual pivot point . The pivot point does vary from time to time. Up until this writing I have seen it recently vary from 42 to 20 degrees depending on the day and time. Yes. The size, shape, density and surface features (SSDS) of a scar can vary a lot from day to day and time to time – more than most people would believe. No wonder it drives the MDs crazy. The variability of your PD structure indicates the degree of tissue activity that is going on constantly in the PD scar. This is a great thing because this SSDS variability means that your scar is not static – it is not a dense dead lump of fibrous tissue (like a hunk of wood that must be cut out of your body) but a living and changeable thing that responds constantly to the environment you give it. That is why PDI suggests you give it an environment of vitamins, minerals, enzymes, stretching, US, DMSO, etc. that could help the body get rid of the lousy thing. On the rarest of days there is almost no angle. What a deal! That suggests to me your body is clearly showing it is capable of big scar changes. I predict what could happen, as your intense treatment continues, is that the “no angle days” will become more common, and they will last longer when they appear – meaning you will start to have “no angle for two days” and then “no angle for three days” and 4-5 days at a time and then longer. Eventually these no angle days are the norm for you and your curvature does not return; just like men who heal their own PD naturally. But it is the recurrence of the bend during the early stages of recovery that frustrates men because they look upon it as failure when it returns temporarily. They do not understand they must pass through this phase of brief regression as the improvement becomes larger and more permanent, until it is constant and no longer regresses. The rolling 10 day “average” Ah, “rolling 10 day ‘average’” I see now that you spend time in the stock market. of the angle has been slowly improving. The hour glass deformity is almost gone.
The reason for this writing is that with the latest progress in scar change, the curve has now started to worsen. The curve is now trending at a maximum of 52 degrees. Morning observations are the worst and the best is evening after stretching and US. About this same time that the curve worsened , that dull ache started to appear without any apparent reason. I am assuming that the changes of the scar are changing the structure that causes the curve, but for the worse. I know you warned about this in your book but it still is a little unnerving. In your experience is it common for the dull ache to come back on a regular basis without stretching after this many months? Yes, for sure a brief and temporary worsening of a curve can occur in maybe 5-10% of cases who are using the PDI method of Alt Med treatment as they improve; it does not happen to everyone. It is an easily explained phenomenon that is indeed unsettling. Think of the last time you made your bed. You put the top sheet on the bed and it was wrinkled. You walked around the bed and you pulled here and there to get the wrinkles out. Some wrinkles improved, but other new wrinkles appeared at new locations out of nowhere. It was like you were wasting your time and things were getting worse instead of better. So you pulled here and there again. Again, some wrinkles improved and one got worse. Eventually all the wrinkles were gone. Finally. Making the bed is a matter of eliminating all the different angles of pull on the sheet. As one area of wrinkling and tension is corrected, another area is allowed to exert control over the sheet and thus a new wrinkle appears. It is a process of getting all parts of the sheet lying flat with no abnormal pull or stress on it. Same with PD. The tunica albuginea is not a flat sheet laying on a flat mattress. In the male shaft the tunica albuginea is a series of two cylindrical sausage casings that form the septum where they touch each other down the midline of the shaft. Any part of the sausage casing can get injured and result in excess thickening, but it is the septum (where they touch each other) that is the trickiest area to treat. I see that you understand what is going on as the tunica albuginea responds to your self-treatment. As frustrating as it might be to see the curve come back temporarily, at least you know it is because you are improving your PD scar. I also was worried that I may have injured myself but have no recollection of anything happening. I am also evaluating diet history.
I am not going to be discouraged by this setback in the curve because the scar is changing.
When my doctor first diagnosed me with Peyronie’s, he said “I am afraid this is permanent.” Not what any guy wants to hear! He was speaking HIS truth. There are other truths and other ideas. Based on the current medical way of treating PD, PD is a permanent problem; the best they can do is to primitively cut it out (even though they know it will come back in time). Even Xiaflex is proving to be a disappointment in many ways in a surprising percent of cases. The current medical concept is that PD is unconquerable by any drug available and therefore nothing can be done to help you. It’s like a carpenter with only had a hammer in his tool box. When he comes across a loose screw he will have to hit it with the hammer. He is limited by his tools and attitude. But you have a different concept of self-treatment for PD. You know the body heals PD in about half of the cases, and you are doing everything you can to get your body ready to heal your tunica albuginea so that the curvature goes away. You have helped me prove this wrong and have given me hope by helping me “change” the scar. He now seems interested when I told him that the scar changes. Today will be my second physical exam since diagnosis and I plan on telling him of the recent changes in the scar to continue this education. Maybe he will listen to you, and allow himself to think a few new independent thoughts.
Thank you again for providing this service. It has really helped my mental well-being by letting me feel somewhat in control. As always I welcome any feedback. I know that your research is based on feedback from people like me. I plan to do a better job communicating going forward so that my experience goes into the collective knowledge base and will help others as reading their and your experiences have helped me! Keep up the great work you are doing. TRH
Thank you,
JGXXXXXXXXXXX
Well there you have it. JGXXXXXX is making positive changes to his PD scar tissue because he is aggressively working at it. I see others like him, and they usually do much better than average. Too many folks play, procrastinate and dabble with their DC and PD care. They lack focus and urgency with their self-treatment. JGXXXXXXX does not, and his results show the benefit. Try to closely follow the PDI and DCI treatment concepts. For almost 16 years now I have promoted these ideas because they work in a high percent of cases when done correctly. Try it.
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 get the best results possible.
If you want to contact me about your problem or questions about Peyronie’s disease or Dupuytren’s contracture self-treatment, please send an email at info@peyronies-disease-help.com
Stay focused on your treatment plan. See you next month. TRH
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