Einstein and Peyronie's treatment
We have all heard Albert Einstein’s definition of insanity: “Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” Well, I think this sometimes applies to the way some men conduct their Peyronie’s disease treatment plans.
I am reminded of Einstein’s famous quote each time I communicate with someone who wants to know why his Peyronies treatment is not getting results even though he is faithfully following it daily, for weeks and months at a time.
Please review the following email exchange between one of your PD Warrior brothers and me. You will see the writer had no idea about the size, shape, density or surface quality of his scars yet he was trying to treat himself with Alternative Medicine. Because he had no idea of where he was, where he had been, or where he wanted to go, he was easily discouraged and was not successful with his Peyronies treatment.
I will use the familiar method to keep the email question sent to me in black and my responses to him in red within his email so the information becomes more of a conversation between us.
Hello Dr. Herazy,
It has been a while since we talked on the phone when I asked for help getting started treating my Peyronies correctly. My name is BXXXXX, maybe you remember me. I am the student at the University of XXXXXXXXX who was in the bike accident and was hospitalized with a fractured pelvis. Three months later I was diagnosed with PD. I asked my doctor if he thought there was a connection between the accident and the PD and he said no. From my experience Peyronie’s disease is a fairly common outcome if you sustained direct injury to the penis shaft when your pelvis was fractured. Many men develop Peyronies disease after injuries that occur during sexual activity that are less serious than what you went through, so I am not sure why he would have said this. Also, your Peyronies could have started either from the injury to the shaft that took place during the bicycle accident, or from the catheterizations that took place during surgery or afterward. Because of my limited funds I settled on using a PDI medium plan plus PABA.
I thought because I am young and the injury was recent I would get over the PD fast. That is usually true for most men, but even some younger men take longer to recover because of overall poor health, stressful lifestyle, poor diet, genetic predisposition, or other reasons like drug abuse. But after two months I got discouraged and quit care for a few months. I was following the medium plan for two months and my curve stayed the same as far as I could tell, so I stopped doing everything. You made a few mistakes early in your care: 1. You did not contact me for ideas and advice about your treatment when you ran into a problem. You were in a totally new area of your life and you were trying to do it all by yourself when you have help available. Big mistake. 2. I looked up your records and you did not get “Peyronie’s Disease Handbook” that would tell you how to go about treating your problem. For this reason you used the phrase “my curve stayed the same as far as I could tell.” This means that you were not using the condition of your curve to tell you if your treatment was successful or not, and this is a big mistake made by people and MDs who have no idea how to approach PD treatment. The condition of the penile curvature is determined by the internal PD scars that affect the tunica albuginea. If you want the curve to go away you must get rid of the scars. All of your evaluation and attention should be directed to understanding and documenting the condition of the size, shape, density and surface qualities of each of your scars. Once your scars are reduced or eliminated you will change in the distortion pattern or bend that you have. 3. You were guessing about your care because you were guessing about your condition at the time you were treating yourself.
Before you go on a diet to lose weight you must at least measure your waist and weigh yourself so you know your situation at the start of your diet. If you do not measure your waist and weigh yourself, how will you know if your diet is working? If you are guessing about your weight, you will either quit a plan that is working because you do not know that it is working, or you will stay on a diet too long that is not working. If you know your exact waist measurement and weight you will be able to tell immediately when the diet starts to work – or not.
You will then be able to intelligently either stay on a diet that is helping you or change the diet if it is not helping you – all based on your knowledge of the situation. You must do the same with your PD treatment. Then I reinjured myself during sex Always be very careful during sexual activity and maintain control of the situation because it is you who will suffer most. All woman-on-top positions are dangerous because you do not have good control over her and she can bend the penis if she comes up too far and you slip out. When she comes back down again you will get your shaft bent. and my curve got even worse. I thought I had no choice but to start PDI treatment again since the idea of Peyronie’s surgery is out of the question for many reasons. Good thinking. Surgery is the last thing you want to do if you have PD. I have many posts on the PDI blog about Peyronie’s disease surgery that goes bad.
I am sorry to say that after ten weeks of faithfully No, you did not faithfully follow the PDI concepts of treatment. You think you did, but you did not. You tried to make up your own rules and they did not work for you. You cut a few steps out of the process and you wasted time and money guessing about your treatment. As a necessary step at the beginning you must determine the exact size, shape, density and surface quality of each of the scars you can find. Once you know that, then you can begin care. By applying or using whatever level of treatment you think would help you, you should frequently monitor your scar to see how they are responding to whatever kind of treatment you have chosen to use. To learn more about this process, please refer to chapter four of the “Peyronie’s Disease Handbook” and many blog pages that refer to this process. treating my problem I believe I have not made any changes with my bend or the pain I have, Again, it is not the bend or pain that is important – but it is the condition of the scar that is causing the bend and the pain that is important. All focus and attention should be on the scar that is causing all of the things you notice. although sometimes it is difficult to say. That is exactly the point I am making. It is difficult for you to say because you were guessing for four and a half months and you got confused and frustrated along the way. The two nodules on the top of the shaft are smaller some days, but it is difficult to know for sure. It is good that you can tell that they are changing, that means that your tissue will respond to your treatment if it is already responding to things that you are doing in your daily life.
For the last ten weeks this is what I take:
Nattokinase – 2/dose between meals
Fibrozym – 2/dose between meals
Vitamin E 400/400 – 3/day
Maxi-Gamma E – 1/day
Vitamin C – 1/day
MSM – 3/day
Scar-X – 2/day
PMD DMSO with Unique-E and Super CP serum – 1/day
PABA – 6/day
Massage and Exercise program – 4 or 5/week
There is nothing wrong with the plan you are following. The problem is that you are not sure your body is not responding to it because you have no baseline for comparison to judge progress. So, the job in front of you is to know exactly the size, shape, density and surface qualities of your scars, and to then see what you have to do to your plan to make your scars change from that baseline. It is that simple – and that difficult. More about that will be covered below.
If you are looking for my suggestions about what you might want to consider changing with your PD program:
1. Consider increasing your enzyme dosage; maybe even adding Neprinol into your plan.
2. You really should reduce the Factor 400/400 vitamin E for now
3. Consider increasing the vitamin C intake
4. Adding moist heat applications prior to your PMD DMSO treatment is always a good idea
5. Consider getting the PDI Manual Stretching video – it is an inexpensive way to add a very different level of treatment to your plan
6. Consider using the Genesen Acutouch pens – they are effective and often increase treatment results within a short time for many men
You do not want to follow all of these changes or additions at once; doing one at a time while monitoring your PD scar for positive changes is how it is done.
Putting these two different times I followed your system of treatment I worked for a total of about 4½ months and do not have anything to show for it. How do you know you have nothing to show for it? You could have a nice reduction of the size, shape, density or surface quality of your scars but you would never know it because you have not taken the time to learn how to document these important measurements.
Your system makes sense and I like the logic of it, but I do not know how to make it work for me. It is really not that complicated or difficult to make the system work once you get a few things explained to you. What changes should I make to my treatment plan to create more definite changes in my problem? All you have to do is to make some change – any change – to your PD treatment plan and check back in 7-10 days to see if there is any change in the size, shape, density or surface quality of your scars. If you see a change, then keep doing what you are doing. If you see no change, then change something else. It is as simple – and complicated – as that.
Since neither you nor I am smart enough to know ahead of time what your body needs to recover from PD, it is your job to try different things to learn first-hand how your scar will respond to whatever changes you decide to make.
Following the same ineffective plan for four and a half months is insane. If you are walking north and you really want to be going south, you must stop what you are doing and turn yourself around. Successful PD treatment is not a matter of popping a handful of pills into your mouth, hoping that something will happen. You must learn what it takes to make your PD scar respond favorably and continue to do that. You must be in control of your plan and understand your Peyronie’s plaque or scar behavior better than your MD – and that should be pretty easy. I can help you if you let me. TRH
Thanks for your time and help.
BXXXXXXX
I hope reviewing this email exchange was helpful.
It really is not a complicated process to figure these things out. I believe the problem is that most people are accustomed to going to the doctor and following orders; they are not accustomed to being in charge of their treatment. After men realize that their MD has no viable PD treatment to offer them, then they finally take on the challenge of taking control of their destiny and they start to see results.
