Drugs Can Cause Peyronie’s Disease
Prescriptions drugs that start Peyronie’s disease
The cause of Peyronie’s disease remains unknown. However, among the more commonly suspected causes are injuries as during intercourse, penile trauma as during a difficult catheterization procedure or surgery, genetic predisposition, or a problem of the immune system.
Because medical Peyronie’s disease treatment is also poorly defined, with no standard drug receiving formal approval, one must wonder about the drugs that are currently being prescribed by medical doctors for their Peyronies patients.
Several prescription medications list I want to do this! What’s This?
Peyronie’s disease among the potential side effects. While no formal research exists that proves these medications cause Peyronie’s disease, presumptive evidence and frequent patient complaints of strong association with these drugs supports these as possible causes.
- 1. Beta Blockers – These are the most common mediations in popular use that list Peyronie’s disease as a potential side effect. Beta blockers is a class of drugs used for various indications, but particularly for the management of cardiac arrhythmias, protection of the heart after a myocardial infarction (heart attack), angina pectoris, atrial fibrillation, cardiac arrhythmia, congestive heart failure, glaucoma, migraine prevention, mitral valve prolapsed, and hypertension (high blood pressure). They tend to diminish the effects of epinephrine (adrenaline) and other stress hormones in the body, thus reducing cardiac demands. If you have ever been treated for any of these conditions, and were treated with a beta blocker, this might explain a current case of Peyronie’s disease. Commonly prescribed beta blockers:
Acebutolol Alrenolol Atenolol
Betaxolol Bucindolol Carteolol
Carvedilol Celiprolol Esmolol
Labetalol Metoprolol Nadolol
Nebivolol Penbutolol Pindolol
Propranolol Sotalol Timolol
- Interferon – This prescription medication is used to treat multiple sclerosis, leukemia, and hepatitis. Its manufacturers list Peyronie’s disease as a possible side effect.
- Dilantin – This is a well established anti-seizure medicine, also reported by its manufacturers as a potential cause of Peyronie’s disease.
- PDE5 drug group (Viagra, Cialis, Levitra) – this is a group of inhibitor drugs that block an enzyme process of the smooth muscle cells lining the blood vessels supplying the corpus cavernosa of the penis. As a result of this influence, these drugs act to increase blood flow in the penis in response to sexual stimulation. The maker of each of these three drugs advises that men with Peyronie’s disease should consult with their doctors due to possible adverse effects on the penis.
The bottom line concerning all these drugs is that every one of them has side-effects and related ways of complicating the problem of someone who is already sick. Drugs should be used with great reserve and discretion, and avoided if at all possible.
Once PD is present and a man learns that there is no known medical treatment available, he should consider using Alternative Medicine for Peyronie’s treatment options. This is an option that the Peyronie’s Disease Institute has researched and developed since 2002, with considerable success.
Guide for Peyronie’s Disease Treatment
How to know if your Peyronie’s treatment is working
For those who do not have the book, “Peyronie’s Disease Handbook,” this post will be an introduction to the idea that to seriously provide Peyronie’s disease treatment it is absolutely critical for you to master of the physical condition of your Peyronie’s plaque. This handbook book presents in detail the necessary steps required to fully understand and accurately report all possible physical qualities and aspects of your Peyronie’s plaque or scar.
To use Alternative Medicine well to treat Peyronie’s disease it is necessary that you can accurately describe the current condition of your problem. It is not good enough that you know you have a scar somewhere down there, or that it is a “nodule” or “lump” or “band”, or that your shaft is “curves upward.” All of these are general and meaningless terms. They do not clearly and accurately say anything about the specifics of your current state. Worse yet, these terms are not objective or real enough to compare the condition of your scar from one time to another.
If you think about your Peyronie’s disease problem in these vague terms you would not know enough about your problem – now or in the future – to determine if your Peyronies is getting better or worse. Saying that your scar is “hard” or “soft” is like saying the weather today is “hot” or “cold.” These terms are very general and subjective, and mean very little. This means if someone said it was “cold on Christmas day,” in middle of summer it would not help him to know exactly how cold it was – he could not “remember” how cold that day was six months later.
Specific Peyronie’s treatment information
If you were looking for a new job and you were told you would be paid “money,” you would not be satisfied with that information. You would want to know how much money per hour, your total per week, how often you would be paid, what other direct and indirect benefits were included, and your vacation schedule. You would want details at the beginning of your employment so you would know later if you were being paid correctly on pay day. You would need details at the beginning to determine later if things were going correctly or not. The same with Peyronie’s treatment.
The other day I had a long discussion with someone who just finished reading my book, “Peyronie’s Disease Handbook.” I asked about his scars. He said the largest one was “3/4 of an inch and rather square-ish with somewhat sharp, not rounded, edges, rather flat, generally firm but with a little ‘give’ like the seat cushion of his car, and rough and bumpy like the backside of a carpet.” The other he said was a scar that was the size, shape, hardness and smoothness of a “grain of un-popped pop corn.”
I was very impressed! Not only did I fully understand the physical nature of those two scars, but I knew he knew for his future reference how to evaluate his scar as his therapy progressed. As he continues to make improvement he will be totally confident to identify all progress and changes he makes – or doesn’t make. He is on top of his problem and he will do a better job and make more progress than the man whose only recollection is that his scar is, “I don’t know, I guess it is just some kind of bump.”
Two months later he would be able to think back to the feeling of a grain of unpopped popcorn and know exactly what his small scar was like. If later by comparison the ¾ inch square of bumpy cardboard felt like a ¼ by ½ inch strand of overcooked pasta with a loose and rough surface like a pair of woolen socks, he would know for sure he was making progress. He would know for sure how to manage his dosage and his selection of therapies based on his confidence in the progress he was making.
You cannot possibly remember what “hard” or “soft” felt like one month earlier. Without vivid, exact and personal references that do not change over time you will not have to guess about your progress or lack of progress. Saying your scar is a “bump” or that it is ‘hard” is almost useless. Each description must be loaded with personal meaning that you can accurately refer to later so you will have no doubt if you are making progress or not.
Peyronie’s Disease Handbook
If you follow these instructions from the handbook you will be more knowledgeable about your problem than a medical doctor about the condition of any one patient’s problem. I guarantee it. With that knowledge you will be able to direct and control your therapy better than ever before.
The goal is to be a master of what is going on with your Peyronie’s disease treatment on a day to day basis, and to use that knowledge in such a way as to guide your diet and your Alternative Medicine therapy to your fullest success possible.
Good luck to you, even though after all, it is not really about luck, it is about hard work and knowledge!
Peyronie’s Sex Problems Can Be Helped
Sexual intercourse and Peyronie’s disease
The heat of a sexual relationship is a chemical (hormonal) reaction, and over time it can fade unless a couple takes measures to prevent that from happening. This is especially true when Peyronie’s sex difficulties must be dealt with.
Compounding the usual situation in which, over time, a couple will often experience their usual sexual heat cooling down to a comfortable glow. This is perhaps a sign of maturity of the relationship, indicating there is more than sex between them that keeps them committed and attracted to each other. Perhaps this is why some couples who deal with Peyronie’s disease sex problems actually improve their relationship, while others do not stay together.
Peyronie’s disease sex enhancing strategies
1. Let her lead you
Be the submissive one. Follow her lead. A University of Michigan study reports that female rats experience a dopamine (a pleasure and euphoria-inducing neurotransmitter chemical) boost only when they control sex. The critical point is that she is actually leading the sexual activity, not just conducting sex the way you like it to be done. If this means you both get your nails done – go for it. She will pay you back.
It seems that women really enjoy sex related to role-playing. It is reported in Men’s Health that 76 percent of women surveyed said would be interested in sexual role-playing in which the woman is in a position of authority and the man is the sexual novice she is instructing. Most popular fantasies: professor/student and nurse/patient.
2. Learn new moves
A new sex position is more than a new way to do the same old thing. ”Anything novel or exciting is likely to drive up the levels of dopamine in her brain,” says anthropologist Helen Fisher, Ph.D., author of Why We Love. Oxford University MRI scans found that learning any new motor skill – learning to ties a new knot, taking piano lessons, or some new sexual activity – stimulates the brain in the same way and the same region as those stimulated during orgasm. Therefore, a new sexual maneuver or activity will boost sexual activity and pleasure.
3. Games are fun for many reasons
Competitive games and situations in which there is a mild and healthy tension and sense of anxiety (as when competing in a game of chess or poker, or Trivial Pursuit)0 increases the dopamine levels outside the bedroom. This could increase sexual pleasure and interest in sexual activity because “Your brain can’t differentiate between the external anxiety caused by a novel situation and the internal anxiety caused by being attracted to someone,” says Victoria Zdrok, Ph.D., a clinical psychologist. “A boost outside of the bedroom can carry over for when it matters most.” This happens because competition promotes the release of the sex drive-boosting hormone, testosterone.
4. Start all over
Approach your sexual activity as thought it was your first date. “If you’ve learned how to pleasure her, it’s too easy to forget about foreplay and all the other things that keep sex fresh,” says Debbie Herbenick, Ph.D., a Men’s Health sex advisor.
To heighten the foreplay experience, do this: First, take a 3-day sex break to heighten sexual tension and anticipation. This will cause dopamine to collect in the brain. Next, spend an evening just necking like two teenagers, and keep your clothes on to increase the sense of anticipation. This will cause an increase of dopamine in the body without a way of release. Third, wait two days and spend another evening only touching each other sensually any where you want – except the genitals.
Then, wait another two days with no physical or sexual contact. The fifth step is to spend another evening using only your lips to stimulate and touch each other sensually any where you want – except the genitals. Without sexual release and continued sexual stimulation over this prolonged time period, your dopamine levels will be sky high. In addition both of your testosterone levels will be higher than usual, leading to explosive sex and heighten sexual sensations when you finally do engage in full wonderful sexual contact.
5. Massage message
Stimulate her body to increase her levels of oxytocin. This is the hormone that battles stress, increases sexual arousal, creates a bonding affect between sexual partners.
Physical contact – such as kissing, cuddling and deep muscles massage – unleash oxytocin in her body. The best time to do this is after sexual activity. The more time and tenderness involved in giving physical contact AFTER sex, the better your bonds will be. It is certainly possible for your relationship to improve in spite of your Peyronie’s disease.
6. Nostalgia has benefits in bed
Discussing the early part of your relationship, from the first date to your honeymoon, is not just an exercise in nostalgia. With the simple act of revisiting old memories when romance and sexual passion were fresh and strong will stimulate the hormone norepinephrine. This is a brain hormone that highlights and intensifies those sexual memories. “You’ll unlock her passion,” says sex therapist Laura Berman, Ph.D., director of the Berman Center in Chicago, “and intensify the new memories you’re making, too.”
When you use these simple and easy methods to stir hormone activity in the body the net affect will be to reduce your Peyronie’s sex problem. Add to that an aggressive and faithfully followed Peyronie’s disease treatment plan and you will find yourself feeling better about a lot of things.
Viagra, Cialis and Levitra Use with Peyronie’s Disease
Peyronie’s treatment using erection producing drugs
The erectile dysfunction and soft erections associated with Peyronie’s disease are sometimes treated with Viagra, an erection causing drug made by the Pfizer Pharmaceutical Company. The information about Viagra duplicated in this blog post is written by Pfizer about Viagra, in relation to Peyronie’s disease. The basic information presented by Pfizer is essentially true for other erection producing drugs, like Cialis and Levitra.
Here is the Viagra drug information from Pfizer, found their website. I have removed a considerable amount of technical Viagra information that does not apply to Peyronie’s disease to make it easier to find what you need to know. Notice the section below that I have put in bold and underlined.
PRECAUTIONS
General
The evaluation of erectile dysfunction should include a determination of potential underlying causes and the identification of appropriate treatment following a complete medical assessment.
Before prescribing VIAGRA, it is important to note the following:
The safety of VIAGRA is unknown in patients with bleeding disorders and patients with active peptic ulceration.
VIAGRA should be used with caution in patients with anatomical deformation of the penis (such as angulation, cavernosal fibrosis or Peyronie’s disease), or in patients who have conditions which may predispose them to priapism (such as sickle cell anemia, multiple myeloma, or leukemia).
The safety and efficacy of combinations of VIAGRA with other treatments for erectile
dysfunction have not been studied. Therefore, the use of such combinations is not recommended.
In humans, VIAGRA has no effect on bleeding time when taken alone or with aspirin. In vitro studies with human platelets indicate that sildenafil potentiates the antiaggregatory effect of sodium nitroprusside (a nitric oxide donor). The combination of heparin and VIAGRA had an additive effect on bleeding time in the anesthetized rabbit, but this interaction has not been studied in humans.
Use of any drug to assist erections in Peyronie’s disease
It is my opinion that any man who is undergoing Peyronie’s disease treatment is taking a huge risk to use any of these erection producing drugs because it has been my observation and experience in talking to hundreds of men about their Peyronies problem, that these drugs can injure the penis and actually start Peyronie’s disease, make it worse, or possibly delay or interfere with your effort to try to heal your Peyronie’s plaque. This happens because of the damage done by the surprisingly strong and uncontrollable erections these drugs can create.
With the use of these drugs it is possible that the forced erections they cause can place great internal stress within the penis that can injure the delicate tunica albuginea. The erections created by these drugs can be indeed super-erections, greater than what a man normally experiences.
I have had a number of men tell me they are convinced their Peyronie’s disease started after using Viagra, Cialis, etc. I am confident that at a later time we will start to hear reports about more side-effects of these medications. This should not be so difficult to believe when you can read for yourself that the drug manufacturer is already warning men in particular with Peyronie’s disease to be cautious about its use.
Peyronie’s disease aggravated easily
Super-charging an erection is not the way the body was designed to be used.
What if you could take a drug that would enable you to lift a ton of weight above your head and keep it there for an hour? Nice trick, very impressive, but your body is not built to take that kind of pressure to the muscles, ligaments, joints, bones and blood vessels. A trick like that would cause great damage to internal organs, your spine, blood vessels, all major joints, etc. Simply put, “It just ain’t natural.” Same with these erection drugs like Levitra and Viagra. The increased pressure created by these medications can be very damaging to the delicate tunica albuginea, and can result in or worsen a case of PD.
What would happen to your car tires if you happened to over-inflate them with 100 pounds of air pressure, even though they were built to take just 40 pounds of pressure? You would be running the risk of damage to the internal structure of tire, wouldn’t you? Of course. The same thing can happen if the penis is over-inflated and then given a “rough ride.” This is where the problems start, and this is what I want to bring to your attention.
Viagra, Cialis and Levitra are not a Peyronie’s treatment
It is very likely that the MDs who prescribe these medications to men with Peyronie’s disease will not agree with this thinking. MDs tend to favor a chemical “fix” to most problems, so you would tend to expect a natural and automatic prejudice from an MD to use drugs to solve most problems.
If you have taken Cialis or any other erection producing drug because it was prescribed for you, and you mention this information to your MD, what do you suppose he or she will say? Well, the first thing you must consider is that this information indicates that your doctor prescribed something for you that was not safe or appropriate. The natural reaction would be for your doctor to immediately defend her decision. That makes sense. It is not my intention to make trouble for your doctor, she was only doing what she thought was best for you. It is my intention for you to independently think about these things and see if they make sense to you, the owner of the penis that could become injured. Do more research on your own, then talk to your doctor. This way you are armed with both sides of the story.
It is my further intention to prevent you from injuring yourself further with these erection producing drugs.
A penis that is predisposed to Peyronies in the first place cannot tolerate the kind of stress that these erections drugs create. It is just like someone with asthma cannot tolerate dust, odors or smoke that does not bother other people. If you already have Peyronies you should do everything you can to avoid any kind of stress to this tissue, including avoidance of erection producing drugs.
I talk to a lot of men who are given a prescription for Viagra, etc. to help their sexual difficulty, and they instinctively know that this treatment does not make sense to them. Yet, they are tempted to use the drug because of the promise of improved sexual performance; besides, they are also tempted because they feel, “Heck, my doctor would not do anything to hurt me, maybe it is OK to do.” I would agree, your doctor would not want to hurt you intentionally. Yet, we all know that tens of thousands of people are hurt each year by drugs that are given with good intentions and bad consequences.
In addition, I have talked to many men who have reported to me that they used these erections drugs many times, maybe for several months, with absolutely no problem. The erections were “normal” and controllable, and everything was fine, and the sex was great. Then, one night, one time, they took that same drug in the same way, and they got an erection that was unbelievably hard and huge, and they thought they were going to explode. It scared the devil out of both partners. A few days or weeks later – a curved penis and Peyronie’s disease developed.
If you attempt to think independently and logically about what might happen to your Peyronie’s disease when these drugs are used, you should have no trouble understanding how this could work against you. If your doctor can convince you that they are perfectly safe, then you should do what your doctor says to do. Just remember, who that penis is attached to if a tragedy happens. Your doctor will shrug his shoulders; you will have a worse case of PD.
My opinion is that the use of Viagra and similar erection drugs could easily be worsening the very problem you are attempting to heal. The use of these drugs represents a calculated risk that you are taking, and you should be aware of it.
Please write a comment or question about this article if you want to know more about Peyronie’s disease treatment with Viagra, Levitra or Cialis.
Peyronie’s and Verapamil
Verapamil and Peyronie’s disease treatment
Verapamil is used in Peyronie’s disease treatment by injection directly into the Peyronie’s plaque or a topical Verapamil cream is applied to the skin over the Peyronie’s plaque. For more information about this method, see Peyronie’s disease treatment via direct drug injection.
Verapamil is a calcium channel blocker of the phenylalkylamine L-type. It works by relaxing the muscles of the heart and blood vessels. Verapamil is an anti-arrhythmic drug approved by the FDA in 1981 to treat hypertension, angina, cardiac arrhythmia, and recently, cluster headaches. No oral or transdermal Verapamil is approved for Peyronie’s disease treatment. Most used for Peyronie’s treatment is in the form of a topical Verapamil cream that is applied twice daily for many months.
There are many different companies that compete against each other with their own unique patented Verapamil formula, creating difficulty to know what to believe about the use of Verapamil for Peyronie’s disease treatment.
With so much competition among companies and unsafe practices of illegal companies, some even resort to making inferior and dangerous topical Verapamil cream products. As a result, Peyronie’s patients who use counterfeit Verapamil have reported:
- Changes in blood pressure, causing dizziness, fainting, heart beat irregularities, often requiring changes in other medications to become stabilized
- Severe skin irritation
- Skin burns and blistering
Peyronie’s Verapamil connection
As with many popular medications, the exact way Verapamil is supposed to benefit Peyronie’s disease is not entirely known. Keep this in mind when someone says they do not know how vitamin E or acetyl-L-carnitine or PABA helps Peyronie’s disease.
It is proposed that long term use of Verapamil blocks calcium from entering into the Peyronie’s plaque or scar. Another theory s that Verapamil increases fibroblast activity to make more collagenase that breaks down the Peyronie’s plaque or scar. However, calcium is an essential mineral that must have free access and movement in all tissues and hundreds of different normal and healthy chemical, enzyme and hormone functions of the body. The body needs calcium to function normally and healthfully, and it does not do well when it is blocked by a drug like Verapamil.
Peyronie’s disease and Verapamil side effects
When taken topically or orally for Peyronie’s, Verapamil can cause side effects that may impair thinking or abnormal organ function because of calcium metabolism interference. Care should be used when driving a car, operating dangerous equipment, or any skill in which mental alertness or memory is needed.
Verapamil and Peyronie’s disease warning
Men treating Peyronie’s disease with Verapamil must deal with extreme fatigue, loss of energy, blood pressure problems and skin reactions that often occur. Also, if Verapamil is stopped suddenly any side effect or problem for which it is being taken (like Peyronies) may become worse.
You should not use Verapamil if you are allergic to it, or if you have:
- Serious heart conditions, especially “sick sinus syndrome” or “AV block” (unless you have a pacemaker)
- Low blood pressure
- Recent heart attack
Personal experience with Verapamil and Peyronie’s disease
After attempting to treat my own Peyronie’s disease with topical Verapamil cream for eight months, my overall health suffered from weakness, fatigue, memory failure and low blood pressure caused by the Verapamil in my blood stream. However, worst of all, while using Verapamil my Peyronie’s disease worsened. The size of each Peyronie’s plaque increased and my Peyronie’s curve doubled.
Shortly after using Alternative Medicine to eliminate my Peyronie’s problem, I started the Peyronie’s Disease Institute with my MD colleagues I was working with at the time. With this organization I communicate with dozens of men daily about their problems with PD. Considering the information outlined above, it seems fewer and fewer medical doctors use Verapamil for Peyronie’s disease management.
Exact Therapy and Dosage for Peyronie’s Disease Treatment
Fine tuning Peyronie’s treatment key to success
Only you can determine what therapy to use or the exact dosage in your Peyronie’s disease treatment plan. Using the information found on the PDI website and “Peyronie’s Disease Handbook” as guides, each man must determine the specifics of his therapy plan for himself. To help you further, for your specific questions, I am always pleased to offer ideas and information about what I have learned since successfully treating my own PD in 2002 and the many hundreds of men I work with each year since then.
I can give you basic ideas and general suggestions. However, for the exact way to treat Peyronie’s disease it is important to remember that each case is different and must be worked out by each individual. There are no short cuts to this process.
Oh, I can hear you telling yourself right now, “But, I am not a doctor. I do not know about these things. This is too complicated. What do I do? How do I get started? I will never be able to do this!”
You can use any small or large group of therapies as a starting point. From this starting point you simply monitor and observe the response of your Peyronie’s scar to your treatment plan. The small, medium or large plan can all be modified to suit your thinking. Generally, the larger and more broad-based the plan, the better and faster it works to assist the healing process that you are attempting to promote.
Very often the starting point is based on personal finances and how determined a man is to be successful in his Peyronie’s treatment. Many men think, “I really would like to use all the different elements of the Large Plan. It makes sense to approach my problem from so many different directions, but I just can’t afford it right now. But, I can manage the expense of the Medium Plan.” Well, there is your answer.
You get the Medium Plan, you use it faithfully, you use it aggressively, and you monitor your scar for changes in the size, shape, density and surface qualities. If you notice changes in your Peyronie’s disease you simply stay with that plan. If you do not notice changes in your Peyronie’s disease problem after a few weeks of treatment you begin to make small changes in your plan until the size, shape, density and surface qualities of your scar(s) change. All of this is explained in great detail in the “Peyronie’s Disease Handbook.” Knowing the exact size, shape, density and surface quality of each scar is absolutely essential to your success in Peyronie’s treatment. If you do not have this book, get it so that you will know what you are doing as you advance in treating yourself – otherwise you are just guessing.
You must understand, I have absolutely no idea what is required for you to be successful in eliminating your Peyronie’s plaque. How could I? I do not know you. I have not examined you. You are not a patient of mine. But I can offer suggestions and ideas for you to use to guide your own therapy plan for the greatest success you can achieve.
What I think is not important in regard to selecting a therapy or dosage. For that matter, what you think is not important in regard to dosage.
What you determine by trial and error – and hard work – to create your successful plan using the dosage level necessary to make positive changes in your PD is what is important.
Every medical doctor alive practices medicine using the trial-and-error method in this way. If you are prescribed a drug for insomnia, the starting dose is just a good guess what might work for you. The doctor might tell you to take one pill two hours before bedtime. He or she will have you come back to the office after a few weeks to see how you are doing. If the drug is not working you will be given a different dosage, perhaps two pills three hours before bedtime. If that does not work, your prescription might be changed to include a second drug or further increases in dosage. This trial-and-error method of medical practice has been used for thousands of years and is time-tested. It is how you will also treat yourself to achieve the best success you can against your Peyronie’s disease.
Peyronie’s disease treatment dosage
Dosage is determined by the daily level of all therapies needed to cause favorable change in your scar(s). Of course if you are taking five different internal therapies (vitamin E, vitamin C, Neprinol, Acetyl-L-carnitine and PABA), and two or three external therapies (DMSO, manual penis stretching video, Genesen pens), each one must be individually determined. While you use all internal and external therapies in your total therapy plan you must monitor the size, shape, density and surface quality of your scar(s) to note at what dosage level changes begin in the scar material. It is as simple – and difficult – as that. That is why no clear dosage numbers are offered to you since everyone seems to use different internal and external therapies, in addition to doing them in different ways. In this sense, since each man is different, and each man follows a different plan, each man must determine what he must do to improve his scar behavior. Again, the procedure to determine scar size, shape, density and surface quality is explained in great detail in “Peyronie’s Disease Handbook.”
The correct dosage of any therapy product is not determined from a chart. The chart that you receive with your first order only tells you the average range of how most men take the therapies. Your dosage should be what you need to take daily to cause changes in your PD scar. The dosage for you is what you learn works for you. No one can tell you what you need to take. You have to determine that by your observation what makes the scar size, shape, density, and surface quality change.
If you run into a problem, you can always send an email with your question and I will do my best to guide you through it.
Using this system of self-guided treatment you stand your best chance to use Alternative Medicine to increase your ability to heal and repair the damage to the delicate tunica albuginea known as Peyronie’s disease.
Penis Doctors or Peyronie’s Doctors? – Take Your Pick
Doctors who specialize in Peyronie’s disease
When you think about going to a “Peyronie’s specialist,” you should understand a few things that could make all the difference in the world to you. You should also know that Alternative Medicine is your safest and most logical approach to Peyronie’s treatment – more about that at the end of this article.
Each month I am asked for the name of a few Peyronie’s doctors; someone who specializes in the treatment of Peyronie’s disease, in a particular part of the country or a specific city. My answer that I do not know of any such doctor always seems to be a surprise. Often a follow up question is posed in which I am then asked for the names of penis doctors, and again I give the same answer.
For anyone interested in finding a Peyronie’s doctor, first consider that Peyronie’s disease is known as “the doctor’s nightmare.” Notice, the name is not “a man’s nightmare,’ or “a curved penis nightmare,” or “a patient nightmare,” but “doctor’s nightmare.” This suggests how much doctors in general do not like dealing with Peyronie’s disease. The average doctor does not like to deal with the diagnosis and treatment of Peyronie’s disease, as well as the many valid complaints and exaggerated demands of both the men and women who must live with this problem. Frankly, we men with Peyronie’s disease are often a royal pain in the butt for an MD to deal with.
Peyronie’s specialists
Most often it is the urologists who come closest to the idea of being penis doctors or Peyronie’s doctors. But even they often want to avoid the many frustrations and long explanations that are a part of working with men who have Peyronie’s disease. I guess that 99.4% of men who are given a diagnosis of Peyronie’s disease have not once ever heard of it before it is dumped on them. That this condition exists is a total shock to the man who first learns he has the problem. And just like the denial phase of someone who learns of the death of someone, there is a denial phase when first being told that the reason for the penile curvature, pain, or strange lump is an interesting thing called Peyronie’s disease that has no known cause and no known medical cure – other than Peyronie’s surgery. This news creates a lot of denial issues in the patient that the doctor must take the time to explain away.
It is said that no one is happy while dealing with Peyronie’s disease. Another reason the doctor is not happy is because he or she has no standardized or accepted form of medical treatment to rely upon. Generally, there are four three basic approaches for managing this problem medically:
- Offer no treatment, but simply monitor the progression of the problem. Suggest the patient come back in six months to determine if the problem has deteriorated enough to warrant the risks of surgery.
- Offer the patient to either “try verapamil or cholchicine or POTABA for a while, although I have not had much luck with any of them, or you can always use some vitamin E if you would like.” This kind of low key and unenthusiastic recommendation is based on the fact that none of these approaches work, and the doctor knows it. The MD is put in a tough position because he or she cannot help PD, and this is a known fact from the start. Talk about a negative situation that only gets worse as the penis shrinks or sex becomes difficult as a curved penis develops.
- Suggest surgery right away.
- Go home, ignore it, and try to learn to live with it.
These four options all seem wrong to the thinking patient. Yet, the doctor feels obligated to offer some kind of treatment when none actually exists, and he knows ahead of time that the patient will be upset when nothing helps. Long explanations, distrust, and complaints will follow over a few office visits until the patient figures out the doctor really has no Peyronie’s disease treatment. The doctor knows ahead of time he will look incompetent and non-caring no matter what he does. Hence the term, “doctor’s nightmare.’
For all these reasons only a few medical doctors have focused on Peyronie’s disease treatment. Some of those who work in this area of urology are:
Thomas Lue, MD – Los Angeles, CA
Culley Carson, MD – Chapel Hill, NC
Lawrence Levine, MD – Chicago, IL
Martin K. Gelbard, MD, Los Angeles, CA
Sudhakar Krishnamurti, MD – Hyderabad, India
These doctors are essentially using the same drugs as any general practitioner or urologist, with perhaps maybe the surgery they perform being different in some cases. You need to understand that while these doctors can be called Peyronie’s specialists because they hold themselves out to being more interested in or spending more time in the area of Peyronie’s disease treatment and diagnosis, there is not that much different they can offer than the doctor down the street in your town. The great difference with these doctors is the number of people they see who have PD, so they will have more experience in this area.
For this reason when some calls to ask about a Peyronie’s doctor, I suggest they just contact a local urologist they have confidence in and stick with him.
Since there is no accepted standard medical treatment for Peyronie’s disease, and so many doctors suggest not doing anything for the first 6-18 months, I strongly suggest that a person consider building up his own ability to heal and repair the Peyronie’s plaque or scar. Information can be found at natural Peyronie’s disease treatment.
Potaba and Peyronie’s Disease Treatment
Potaba for Peyronie’s treatment based on PABA, a vitamin
PABA, or para-aminobenzoic acid, with a formula of H2NC6H4CO2H, is a white crystalline substance that is slightly water soluble. POTABA is simply PABA with a molecule of potassium added to it.
PABA has been referred to as Vitamin Bx because it is an intermediate step in the bacterial manufacturing of folate or folic acid in the intestinal tract. Some bacteria in the human intestinal tract, such as E. coli, require PABA for proper metabolism. Humans require folate since we lack the enzymes to convert PABA to folate, hence it is made available via the bacterial flora. Sulfonamide drugs are similar to PABA in their chemical structure, and their antibacterial activity is due to their ability to interfere with the conversion of PABA to folate by the enzyme dihydropteroate synthetase. In this way bacterial growth is restricted through folate deficiency without effect on human cells.
Medical use of Potaba (potassium para-aminobenzoate)
Potaba inhibits abnormal fibroblast proliferation, thus it can reduce formation of scar material early after injury. It is speculated that this POTABA anti-inflammatory activity is dependent on initial biotransformation that starts with granulocytes that are stimulated through the initial injury. It also inhibits abnormal fibroblast proliferation, acid mucopolysaccharide and glycosaminoglycan secretion that occur during the normal inflammatory process.
POTABA has been used to treat a variety of conditions characterized by chronic inflammation and fibrosis; this list includes scleroderma, dermatomyositis, morphea, pulmonary fibrosis and Peyronie’s disease.
A POTABA research study was conducted by Carson who retrospectively reviewed 32 patients who were treated with 4,000 Mg of Potaba three times daily, for at least three months and later were followed for an average of 14.4 months. Carson reported reduction of penile pain in 44% of those studied, plaque or scar size reduction in 56%, and improvement of penile angulation in 58%. Complete reversal of penile distortion and angulation occurred in 26% of those studied. The average interval to improvement was 4.2 months, and younger patients with a shorter duration of disease were more likely to respond to therapy. Even thought Carson’s study did not have controls, it suggests a possible role for POTABA in the medical therapy of Peyronie’s disease.
Unfortunately, the results of Carson’s retrospective and uncontrolled research were not reported as an intent-to-treat study. Further, the number of research subjects who started therapy but stopped because of severe abdominal symptoms prior to three months has never been disclosed.
Because of the expense of POTABA, the need to take POTABA three or more times daily, and frequent occurrence of severe gastrointestinal side-effects (burning pain, abdominal cramping, and bowel irritability0, make it very difficult for the average man with Peyronie’s disease to follow the treatment guidelines for even a short time. Yet in order to be effective, the length of POTABA therapy is variable, but sometimes lasting 12-24 months of active care.
Medical use of PABA
When a single potassium molecule is added to PABA, it results in what is called a potassium salt; this combination of potassium and PABA is called POTABA. It is used as a drug against fibrotic skin disorders, and as such it can be used in Peyronie’s disease treatment. PABA is also occasionally used to treat Irritable bowel syndrome to and related gastrointestinal symptoms, and in nutritional epidemiological studies to assess the completeness of 24-hour urine collection for the determination of urinary sodium, potassium, or nitrogen levels.
Despite the absence of any recognized syndromes of PABA deficiency in humans, many benefits are claimed for PABA as a nutritional supplement. PABA is said to improve fatigue, irritability, depression, weeping eczema (moist eczema), scleroderma (premature hardening of skin), a patchy pigment loss in skin called vitiligo, and premature gray hair.
Peyronie’s disease: POTABA or PABA?
The first Peyronie’s treatment work involved PABA, the vitamin. When this was shown to be successful, work was then done to show that POTABA, the drug, could be more successful. The interest is working with POTABA – the drug – was greater than with PABA – the vitamin – because the drug is more profitable and is easier to control use and distribution through the medical profession.
The reason PDI promotes the use of PABA for Peyronie’s disease treatment is because it has almost no side effects, is much less expensive to use, does not require a prescription and it combines well with other Alternative Medicine therapies.
For more information about the many ways to use Alternative Medicine to promote tissue repair and reversal of penile curvature, go to Peyronie’s Disease Institute.
Peyronie’s Disease Vitamin Therapy
Peyronie’s disease vitamin E treatment and other nutrients
There are many important nutrients – vitamin, mineral and amino acids – that should be used to improve and support the ability of the body to heal and repair the Peyronie’s plaque and help reverse the curved penis it causes. However, since starting this work in 2002, I have never heard of a medical doctor prescribe any supplement other than vitamin E. I think this says a lot about what MDs know about Peyronie’s disease vitamin therapy; their knowledge is limited, focused only to the obvious, and tends to not go beyond what everyone else is prescribing.
Vitamin E and Peyronie’s disease
The standard Peyronie’s disease vitamin E recommendation of the medical profession is to “get some vitamin E, and take no more than 400 IU a day.” Occasionally the dosage will be doubled to 800 IU daily of vitamin E by some doctors who think outside the box a bit. This is important to remember because vitamin E is essentially the only non-drug Peyronie’s disease vitamin treatment that is suggested to a man with Peyronie’s disease.
Vitamin E is available in both a synthetic form and a naturally occurring organic form. Which form you decide to use ultimately determines how much can be taken safely. There are eight different members of the vitamin E family. Four are known as tocopherols and the other four are tocotrienols. The most widely found vitamin E member is gamma tocopherol, which assists the elimination of nitrogen free radicals, as well as being an effective anti-inflammatory agent. Tocotrienols are primarily found in the skin and subdermis where they protect against UV and free radical damage. Tocopherols are found in the major organs. A balanced diet – very difficult to achieve these days – contains all eight members of the vitamin E family.
Because of costs and chemical stability, and because early research proposed it was the only member of the family to have biologic benefit to man, most vitamin E supplements contain only alpha tocopherol. This means most men on Peyronie’s disease vitamin therapy as prescribed by their medical doctor will receive only one of the eight members of the vitamin E family. Since the early days of vitamin E research (not so long ago in the 1950s) it has been proven repeatedly that the complete vitamin E family, stressing gamma tocopherol and tocotrienols in their natural and unesterified form, accelerate wound healing and minimize scar formation. For this reason I am most insistent that men using Peyronie’s disease vitamin E treatment use a high quality vitamin E product that is heavily slanted toward gamma tocopherol and all the tocotrienols, like Yasoo Health’s Factor 400/400.
If you are concerned about vitamin E safety issues, please read Peyronie’s Disease Treatment and Vitamin E that answers all dosage and safety questions.
The body is like a house
In order to build a solid house and have it operate well, it is necessary to have a wide variety of components available during the construction phase and during the long maintenance phase when the house begins to need help in the form of repairs.
During the construction phase, many problems would develop if all the builder had to work with were roof shingles, or just windows, or just doors. A wide variety of components are needed to make a good house – lumber of various widths, thicknesses and lengths, concrete, plywood, along with nails, dry wall, electric wire, and so many other hundreds of different things.
During the maintenance phase, many replacements and repair items are needed. If the home owner only had nails, or furnace filters, or pale yellow paint to work with, it would not help a bit if the problem was a leaky roof, a squeaky door, or a leaky faucet.
It makes sense that a wide variety of replacement and repair parts are needed for all the parts of a house. It also makes sense that a Peyronie’s disease vitamin therapy program has to also be broad and diverse. How does it make sense that all the problems of Peyronie’s disease are solved with just vitamin E?
Peyronie’s disease vitamin, mineral, and amino acid treatment
Peyronie’s Disease Institute uses a variety of different nutrients to satisfy the many needs of the body to have all the needed supplies to heal and repair the scar tissue in the best way possible.
Look at the list of different products that are suggested for use in the large Peyronie’s treatment plan. The list is long because the process is complicated. Of course, even the large plan does not contain all the nutrients that could be recommended to heal and repair the Peyronie’s plaque; PABA, acetyl-L-carnitine, quercetin, bromelain and herbs to stimulate the process are just some of the additional therapies that can be used.
Your house is large and complicated, but it is nothing compared to the body. When the body develops Peyronie’s disease it just does not make sense to attempt to fix it with vitamin E only. That would be like trying to fix a broken window with a screw driver. The screw driver might be a useful to remove some glass from the window frame, but other tools – and glass – will be needed for the repair to be done correctly.
For more information about successful Peyronie’s disease treatment.
Peyronie’s disease treatment via direct drug injection
Injections can cause Peyronie’s disease
Peyronie’s disease treatment using drug injection into the delicate tunica albuginea of the penis is a medical therapy that is fast loosing favor for treatment of the Peyronie’s penis. One of the reasons is the lack of good results, the other is that it has been shown that injections can cause or aggravate Peyronie’s disease in many cases.
I have personally communicated with hundreds of men whose Peyronies started after a series of penile injections that were undertaken for a variety of reasons. It appears the drug is not so much the issue that causes injury to the tunica membrane, but the repeated penetration and trauma that causes the scar material that eventually starts a Peyronies problem. However, it has also been shown that the presence of certain drugs can cause a chemical irritation to the tunica albuginea. So in this regard, drug injections could easily represent a double threat of injury to the tunica that results in Peyronie’s disease.
Peyronie’s treatment – “First, do no harm”
This blog post about Peyronie’s disease treatment using direct drug injections (Verapamil, cortisone, etc.) should hit home for a large number of you. Many men have undergone painful drug injections into the penis because their medical doctor thought it was worth the effort, and only found themselves with a new problem or worsening of their original Peyronie’s disease.
First I will simply copy an article, “Extracorporeal shock-wave therapy in the treatment of Peyronie’s disease.” This research discussion is essentially about Extracorporeal Shock Wave Therapy, ESWT (or ESWL as they call it here). This article comes from www.pubmed.gov under the reference number PMID: 15114750 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE].
What is important to note in our particular discussion is the area I have highlighted for emphasis. You will note from an earlier post about ESWT in Peyronie’s Disease Treatment Forum blog, this form of therapy has been fairly well abandoned by a large percent of doctors who used it for many years since these injections seem to cause more problems than it helps. The reason this information about ESWT (or ESWL) is included in this article about penile injections is that these Russian physicians make a very interesting comment while discussing ESWT that underscores the damage created by injections (of any kind) into the tunica albuginea.
[Article in Russian]
Neĭmark AI, Astakhov IuI, Sidor MV.
The authors analyse the results of treatment of 28 patients with Peyronie’s disease using extracorporeal shock-wave lithotripsy (ESWL) performed on Dornier U15 lithotriptor. A total of 2-6 sessions were made, maximal number–12. The efficacy was controlled by clinical indices and ultrasonic investigation (Doppler mapping of the blood flow). ESWL proved to be efficient in the treatment of Peyronie’s disease (PD), primarily, in patients with early disease before appearance of severe fibroplastic alterations. Less plaque vascularization by energetic Doppler mapping due to ESWL is an important diagnostic criterion of PD treatment efficacy. Conservative treatment is not indicated in marked deformities and plaque calcification, erectile dysfunction. Moreover, any injection into the tunica albuginea, especially complicated by hematomas (deep tissue bruising) may be a damaging factor which triggers fibrous inflammation. Such patients should be treated surgically. If the patient is interested in immediate results or is not interested in continuation of sexual life, the treatment is ineffective. Thus, ESWL is an effective, safe method of PD treatment but requires further study and accumulation of clinical experience.
It seems that the problems penile injections can cause is not that necessarily about the drug that is injected into the tunica, but the needle itself that is used to deliver the drug. An injection to deliver any drug, or sterile water, can cause injury to this delicate membrane. This sets off an inflammatory response that can result in significant Peyronie’s disease plaque or scar tissue formation for men who as so predisposed. Doing this once can be risky. Doing this up to a dozen times over a few months, as is often the recommended course of therapy, just multiples the opportunity for injury to mount on top of injury.
This Russian research team offers the opinion that the effects of such injection into the penile shaft causes such significant plaque development, that surgery is the best treatment option for the damage that it can cause. Obviously, I do not agree with that, since surgery can also cause more scar development. Their conclusion is that they find men who receive these injections often eventually are rewarded with a disturbed and discontinued sexual life.
Growing concern about injections for Peyronie’s disease treatment
This idea is brought to your attention to demonstrate there are many in the medical community who agree with the same position that I have taken for many years now. These doctors and I contend it is inherently risky, in fact, dangerous, to stick needles repeatedly into the penis for Peyronie’s disease treatment. Their logic concludes that any treatment that can start or aggravate the very problem it is attempting to treat, is not much of a treatment.
It is unfortunate that the medical community turns a blind eye to the direct observation of poor results, serious irritation of the tunica, and the solid logic that reputes injections as a form of Peyronie’s cure. Those who continue to inject their Peyronie’s disease patients, and bring these men farther down the road toward greater plaque development, must be desperate to look useful or just ignorant of how Peyronie’s disease often develops. It is so common for medical doctors to think only in terms of medicine and surgery, notwithstanding the tragedy that can often result from their limited thinking.
The Peyronie’s treatment concept of using non-invasive methods to increase the healing response of the body is a safer and more trustworthy Peyronie’s disease treatment than some of the aggressive medial schemes being promoted today.