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 of the penis is a medical therapy that is fast loosing favor. 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 a 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 disease treatment. 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 PDI 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.
Thacker’s Formula – Other Peyronie’s Treatment Questions
Thacker’s formula and other Peyronie’s disease treatment questions
Every now and then someone emails a question to me about Thacker’s formula. This legendary Peyronie’s treatment – called Thacker’s formula because of the Dr. Thacker who is said to have created it – uses Castor oil, DMSO and apple cider vinegar. Although I know the exact proportions to make this Peyronie’s treatment I will now give this information here because I cannot promote its use.
Along a similar line, I am sometimes asked if I know anything about an herbal Peyronie’s disease treatment (ginkgo biloba, echinacea), a micronutrient (Coenzyme Q, EPA), or an old home remedy (garlic, Castor oil, olive oil) that might be used as a Peyronie’s disease cure. They want to know what I would think about using the Thacker’s formula or other treatment, and why does this treatment not appear in the PDI lineup of therapies?
In order for any therapy or procedure to be included in the PDI lineup of 14 potential Peyronie’s treatments, it has to have either been applied specifically in treatment of PD in a series of scientific studies and proven at least 50% effective in several trials (even though it might have done poorly in others), or it must have demonstrated good success and acceptance within the scientific community for treatment of other unrelated health problems (acupuncture and homeopathy). With this simple criterion we establish some level of scientific credibility for those therapies in our PDI lineup, and further increase the possible effectiveness of therapy when several of these are united in a synergistic program of care.
There are probably some really good Peyronie’s disease treatment ideas that that could be actually very effective. But who among us wants to waste his time, effort, energy, money, and most importantly, his opportunity to get over his Peyronie’s disease by experimenting with theories that have absolutely no proven ability to influence the body to promote healing? I did not want to waste my time on theories of questionable merit, when I knew there were many available that had already achieved some level of success. This last group seemed to be a better place to look for answers, than chasing unproven ideas.
Edgar Cayce’s castor oil pack might indeed be an effective Peyronies’ disease treatment, but for one reason or another it has not been subjected to even minimal scrutiny for PD. The goal of recovering from Peyronies is too great to use an untried treatment, when there are so many others of higher credibility and logic to work with.
Thacker’s formula does not meet Peyronie’s treatment guidelines
PDI was started on the basis of using treatments of some level of known and proven merit, and uses this standard today to determine what additions will be recommended and used in future therapy plans. Rumors, stories, and speculation you read about on a Peyronie’s forum are not enough. Alternative Medicine employs early science to see through the maze of superstition and learn the truth of what may or may not work to regain health. These are the principles used to formulate the current Peyronie’s disease treatment strategies you have learned about. We are already working on the outer rim of established medical practice, but we must be careful to not go too far away from common sense and valuable scientific information that will help us achieve our health goals.
Usually, my suggestion for someone who wants to use such a new Peyronie’s treatment is to do it in combination with several other known and better proven therapies already in the PDI lineup. This way there is back-up treatment, and the total effort will create a therapeutic synergy. Never is it suggested to use only the one therapy of any type, proven or unproven.
So, if you are just adding in an extra type of therapy because you read about it on a Peyronie’s forum, I say, all the more power to your curiosity and sense of adventure, but please do not have that constitute the majority of what you do for yourself.
Try not to become so desperate that you grab at straws, and although I cannot be certain, I think that Thacker’s formula falls into that category. While there might not be any harm in using it, and in fact it might have some therapeutic value, I cannot endorse the use of Thacker’s formula because it is essentially untested and unproven in any meaningful way. There is a lot of good information about sensible Peyronie’s disease treatment, that have had good results in research testing, that I can offer if you need help with your rehabilitation program.
Peyronie’s Treatment Help Starts Here
Start Peyronies Help Right Now
Every day I talk to men who are have taken control of their Peyronies disease situation and are helping their PD when nothing else has helped them. They do it all of this with the information found only on this site.
What we propose at PDI is not so earth shattering or extreme in concept. We simply try to help you figure out why your Peyronie’s plaque did not heal or self-correct like the 50% of men whose Peyronie’s disease goes away on its own. If half of the men naturally “cured” their own Peyronie’s desease, why not you? That is all we are attempting to accomplish with our therapy concept. It is really not so far out as some of the other things you find on the Internet.
Three simple things to get Peyronie’s help:
1. Learn about your Peyronies problem. You were told nothing, or next to nothing, about Peyronies disease by the doctor who gave you the diagnosis. You are on the internet right now looking for answers, so get them in a special book I wrote, called “Peyronie’s Disease Handbook.” This book gives you all the information about day-to-day treating and living with Peyronie’s disease you will need. The information found in this book is different in many ways than the information on our website; there is no duplication of information between the book and the website. Another book that will help you tremendously is “Peyronie’s Disease & Sex” that covers all aspects of this complex subject. Get help through education.
2. Start the most aggressive therapy plan you are comfortable following so that you will get your best results. If you are interested in doing all that you can to help yourself, then perhaps you could consider using what is called the “Large (Best) Plan” for personal treatment. The “Medium (Better) Plan” is perhaps the most popular of the three plans. There is a “Small (Good) Plan” that is also well designed. It is very common for men to substitute Neprinol in place of the two smaller products, Nattokinase and Serrapeptase in any of the plans. These products and plans are found at http://peyronies-disease-help.com/buy.html All can be modified, by subtracting or adding, to suit your personal thinking about Peyronie’s disease treatment.
Or, you can design your own therapy plan using the information found on this website. You do not have to use any of these model plans, they are only examples – but they make sense and they have helped hundreds of men improve their Peyronies plaque and reduce the bent penis of Peyronie’s disease.
3. Stop being discouraged. Sign up for the Peyronie’s Disease Treatment Forum blog and get motivated, inspired, educated and reminded that everyday men around the world are actually beating their Peyronies problem using the Alternative Medicine methods of the Peyronie’s Disease Institute.
As you will soon see, the PDI website is full of exciting and helpful research information about Peyronie’s disease treatment you have never seen before. You will also see this site is different because it gives you the answers you have been looking for. But you must work along with the PDI guidelines in order to get the kind of results you will read about.
We strongly suggest you get all of your therapy products and supplements from PDI. The products we use have been selected after years of experimentation because they are special, and a prime reason for the results our customers receive. The PDI therapy concept and strategy are built around the therapy products available from PDI, and no others. Peyronie’s Disease Institute only uses what are called “pharmaceutical grade” products, which are of a higher quality and purity level, and pass rigorous tests to guarantee that what is on the label is contained in each capsule. Time and again we see that when men switch over to PDI products and follow our instructions, good things start to happen. Our therapy products have been used successfully in hundreds of treatment programs. Most people understand that it is a poor time to experiment and sample bargain products while they are attempting to repair a serious health problem like Peyronie’s disease.
With over 31,000 nutritional products available on the worldwide market, this subject is confusing. Many of them – more than you would believe – do not contain what they are supposed to contain. They have far fewer – or none – of the nutrients you need to do the big job in front of you.
PDI cannot answer your questions or help you with your therapy plan if we do not have knowledge, experience or confidence with “foreign” therapies. On the PDI website we clearly state, “Sorry, but due to the volume of emails PDI receives and with limited hours available in a day, we can only answer questions from PDI customers. Purchase your therapy products only from PDI so you have full access to the vast experience and careful assistance available to our customers. If you purchase inferior grade or questionable bargain products elsewhere, you will have to rely upon that source for whatever help you might need later.”
Please email me any questions you might have about treatment of PD with Alternative Medicine, I will be happy to help you in any way that I can. info@peyronies-diseae-help.com.
Peyronie’s disease treatment question
Common question about Peyronie’s treatment
Every now and then someone emails a question to me about an herbal Peyronie’s disease treatment (ginkgo biloba, echinacea), a micronutrient (coenzyme Q, EPA), or an old home remedy (garlic, castor oil, olive oil) that might be used as a Peyronie’s disease cure. Along a similar line, I am sometimes asked if I know anything about a legendary Peyronie’s treatment known as Thacker’s formula, what I would think about using the treatment, and why does this treatment not appear in the PDI lineup of therapies?
In order for any therapy or procedure to be included in the PDI lineup of 14 potential Peyronie’s treatments, it has to have either been applied specifically in treatment of PD in a series of scientific studies and proven at least 50% effective in several trials (even though it might have done poorly in others), or it must have demonstrated good success and acceptance within the scientific community for treatment of other unrelated health problems (acupuncture and homeopathy). With this simple criterion we establish some level of scientific credibility for those therapies in our PDI lineup, and further increase the possible effectiveness of therapy when several of these are united in a synergistic program of care.
There are probably some really good Peyronie’s disease treatment ideas that that could be actually very effective. But who among us wants to waste his time, effort, energy, money, and most importantly, his opportunity to get over his Peyronie’s disease by experimenting with theories that have absolutely no proven ability to influence the body to promote healing? I did not want to waste my time on theories of questionable merit, when I knew there were many available that had already achieved some level of success. This last group seemed to be a better place to look for answers, than chasing unproven ideas.
Edgar Cayce’s castor oil pack might indeed be an effective Peyronies’ disease treatment, but for one reason or another it has not been subjected to even minimal scrutiny for PD. The goal of recovering from Peyronies is too great to use an untried treatment, when there are so many others of higher credibility and logic to work with.
PDI was started on the basis of using treatments of some level of known and proven merit, and uses this standard today to determine what additions will be recommended and used in future therapy plans. Rumors, stories, and speculation you read about on a Peyronie’s forum is not enough. Alternative Medicine employs early science to see through the maze of superstition and learn the truth of what may or may not work to regain health. These are the principles used to formulate the current Peyronie’s disease treatment strategies you have learned about. We are already working on the outer rim of established medical practice, but we must be careful to not go too far away from common sense and valuable scientific information that will help us achieve our health goals.
Usually, my suggestion for someone who wants to use such a new Peyronie’s treatment is to do it in combination with several other known and better proven therapies already in the PDI lineup. This way there is back-up treatment, and the total effort will create a therapeutic synergy. Never is it suggested to use only the one therapy of any type, proven or unproven.
So, if you are just adding in an extra type of therapy because you read about it on a Peyronie’s forum, I say, all the more power to your curiosity and sense of adventure, but please do not have that constitute the majority of what you do for yourself.
Try not to become so desperate that you grab at straws. There is a lot of good information about sensible Peyronie’s disease treatment I can offer if you need help with your rehabilitation program.
Peyronie’s Cure is Where You Find It
Looking at Peyronie’s treatment differently
While it is generally agreed there is no such thing as a Peyronie’s cure, PDI has shown since 2002 that it is certainly possible to reverse Peyronie’s disease and penile curvature with Alternative Medicine when it is done in the correct way.
Peyronie’s disease is primarily concerned with the dreaded fibrous Peyronie’s plaque or internal scar material that can cause a variable degree of penile curvature, pain, sex problems, and reduced penis size. Any true Peyronie’s treatment must address the issue of the fibrous scar. Yet, when men are first diagnosed by a medical doctor they are told there is no known cause of Peyronies disease and no Peyronie’s cure.
Just because the medical profession does not have a drug as a standard Peyronie’s disease treatment, they have assumed the position there is no such thing as a Peyronie’s cure. For this reason MDs do not like to treat Peyronie’s disease. The average medical doctor, even a urologist, has few options for anyone with PD, other than Peyronie’s surgery – which often has poor results.
Peyronie’s disease treatment
The current accepted Peyronie’s disease treatment in a medical office is to do nothing for the first one or two years, while waiting for the Peyronie’s problem to either get better or worse on its own. This is the wait-and-see approach to Peyronie’s treatment is frustrating and irritating to any man who wakes up one morning with the curved penis of Peyronies.
While the medical establishment maintains there is no effective Peyronie’s disease treatment, the Peyronie’s Disease Institute has worked since 2002 using Alternative Medicine in a unique way that proves this is not true. There is a simple and direct method to for Peyronie’s disease treatment that is either misunderstood or overlooked by the medical profession. Those who follow the Peyronie’s Disease Institute treatment concepts sometimes even call it a Peyronie’s cure.
Daily I communicate with angry and defeated men who get no help from the medical profession, who are neglected and given no hope or information to help themselves with their Peyronie’s problem. Men speak of feeling like Peyronie’s orphans.
One of the basic questions of Peyronie’s disease treatment is this: “If my medical doctor says there is nothing that can be done for me, other than surgery, what does that really mean to me? For those who are comfortable with thinking independently, they must decide if there are options outside of medicine that the neighborhood MD does not know about, or even care about.
Natural treatment for Peyronie’s disease
The Peyronie’s Disease Institute was started in 2002 by Dr. Theodore Herazy after he successfully cured his own severe PD with Alternative Medicine. His early experiments with herbs, vitamins, minerals, enzymes and other safe natural remedies showed exciting promise for Peyronies help. Over the years he has guided and counseled hundreds of men each year through the treatment maze toward elimination of the scar and distortion of Peyronie’s disease. It is not always an easy assignment, and when it is done incorrectly or without needed gusto it falls short of the desired outcome. But when a man uses all of the tools available to him in a faithful and aggressive manner, the results can be dramatic and prompt. It is estimated that about 80% of men with Peyronie’s disease who follow a large plan according to the outline provided on the PDI website, see from moderate to great success in reduction of penile curvature and elimination of the Peyronie’s plaque material.
Even though the medical profession says it can’t be done – it happens anyway because the body knows how to heal itself. Using the PDI concepts, you will be able to assist and stimulate that natural healing response that some people call a Peyronie’s cure.
Peyronie’s Disease Treatment and Vitamin E
Peyronie’s Vitamin E Dosage
The usual Peyronie’s disease vitamin E dosage advice from a medical doctor will be to “take no more than 400 IU of vitamin E a day.” Sometimes this number will be doubled to 800 IU daily by some doctors who are more aggressive with their recommendation. All of this is of valuable interest because vitamin E is the most commonly recommended non-drug Peyronie’s disease treatment, and very often it is the only non-drug Peyronie’s disease treatment that will be discussed.
Since vitamin E is available in both a synthetic form and a naturally occurring organic form, which form you use determines how much you can safely take. Eight different members of the vitamin E family, four known as tocopherols and four known as tocotrienols, make up the vitamin E family. A balanced diet – very difficult to achieve these days – contains all eight members of the vitamin E group. The most widely found member is known as gamma tocopherol, which works to eliminate nitrogen free radicals and is a very effective anti-inflammatory agent. Tocotrienols are primarily found in the skin and subdermis where they protect against UV and free radical damage.
Most vitamin E supplements contain only alpha tocopherol because it was thought that only this single part of the family of eight is the most important for Peyronies disease treatment. In fact, most vitamin E skin products contain a small amount of synthetic dl-alpha-tocopheryl acetate. This means that they contain only one of the eight members of the vitamin E family in the less effective synthetic form. Only products which supply the complete vitamin E family and are particularly rich in gamma tocopherol and tocotrienols in their natural and unesterified form contribute to accelerated wound healing and minimized scarring. This is why PDI is most insistent on men using a vitamin E therapy that is heavily slanted toward gamma tocopherol and all the tocotrienols.
Peyronie’s and vitamin E controversy
Concern about vitamin E safety during the past decade or so has been due solely to bad publicity in this area, which is based on perpetuation of questionable research and misunderstanding about vitamins. Faulty research reporting and misinterpretation of findings are the same two reasons for the condemnation of vitamin E supplementation.
First, vitamin E confusion arises from a medical reporting that ignores details of a particular vitamin E study reported in the Annals of Internal Medicine. The problem is gross generalization or not understanding the vitamin E research study.
The Annals of Internal Medicine vitamin E report is presented in http://www.annals.org/cgi/content/full/0000605-200501040-00110v1 Review this information to verify what I report is accurate:
- Those who took part in this vitamin E research often combined vitamin E with various drugs while they were being studied. All potential and actual adverse drug reactions to these different drug combinations were not factored in or considered anywhere in the study results.
- All study participants were elderly people, already being treated for a variety of chronic diseases. The researchers report this as a strong complicating issue, and puts suspicion on all conclusions because these elderly and sick people are far more likely to be taking high doses of vitamin E. They readily admit it is inaccurate to generalize these findings of this group to a healthy, normal, average or younger age group population.
- This study contained too many variables. It evaluated many different research studies, all of them used different procedures and protocols such as different vitamin E dosages administered for a widely variable amount of time. They admit they evaluated and combined data from sources that originated and were collected in different ways; they went beyond comparing apples and oranges, they compared grapes and bowling balls.
- None of the studies reported took the time to report or differentiate chemical immense differences of natural and synthetic vitamin E.
- Within the scientific community the findings of the original research has been questioned and criticized.
Vitamin E safety
The Annals of Internal Medicine report states vitamin E has a relative risk of 1.05. A relative risk of 1.0 is actually a neutral finding. This 1.05 risk level is not clinically significant to establish an association between a fatal dose or use high dose vitamin like vitamin E. Consider that water might have a relative risk of 1.05 in certain situations.
Before taking higher doses of vitamin E for therapeutic benefit, consult a health professional first. Discuss your health concerns, possible vitamin E side effects, and what dosage of vitamin E might be best for you. Vitamin E may be deficient in some diets, especially very low fat diets. Most nutrition experts agree that taking vitamin E supplements is safe.
Vitamin E study limitations and problems
Here is a summary of this study presented by those who conducted this study:
The evaluation of high-dosage vitamin E trials in which more than 400 IU of vitamin E was used was often too small to establish accuracy of findings. This study should not have included elderly patients with one or more chronic diseases, yet they were the primary participants. It is not clear how to generalize the findings of this study conducted on ill and elderly people to a population of healthy adults. It is also not clear how to determine the exact dosage at which someone might be at risk of taking too much vitamin E based on this study using ill and elderly people.
In spite of these large obvious flaws and limitations, the conclusion of this study is that any dosage at or above 400 IU daily of vitamin E may increase mortality and should be avoided.
Secondly, misunderstanding and confusion exists over the many subtle differences between natural and synthetic vitamin E. The ultimate error is that natural and synthetic vitamin E will chemically react the same, and that is not true.
Problem #2 – Natural or Synthetic Vitamin E
Natural vitamin E is d-alpha-tocopherol, and synthetic vitamin E is dl-alpha-tocopheryl. Since the names of the chemicals are different you know the chemicals are different. As the chemicals are different, their reaction is also different in the body.
The Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients reports, “Natural vitamin E supplements outperform synthetic forms, according to a VERIS Research Summary. Results of recent studies suggest that natural vitamin E is more bioavailable and is retained in body tissues significantly longer than synthetic vitamin E. These studies show that previously accepted differences were underestimated and that the bioavailability of natural vitamin E is about twice that of synthetic vitamin E compounds.”
Vegetable oil, specifically soybean oil, is the primary source of naturally occurring vitamin E. However, synthetic vitamin E is manufactured from petroleum chemicals (yes, the same oil that comes out of the ground, used to make tar, motor oil and gasoline, often linked with cancer).
Doctors are very comfortable and familiar with prescribing synthetic chemicals. For this reason they are not hesitant to prescribe a synthetic vitamin. But, the primary difference scientists use to determine toxicity and function within the body is the molecular structure of a compound.
When taking levels of “vitamin E” above 400IU is found to be unsafe, it is because the vitamin E is synthetic and not tolerated well. All biomedical testing proves that within the human structure there is a strong chemical discrimination or preference between natural and synthetic vitamin E.
“Our studies suggest without question that natural vitamin E delivers at least twice the impact as synthetic E,” said Robert Acuff, PhD, Professor and Director, Center for Nutrition Research at East Tennessee State University. He concludes it is the natural form of vitamin E is obviously the one human tissue was designed to use. Margaret Traber, Associate Professor at the Linus Pauling Institute, Oregon State University, seems to discriminate between the two forms of vitamin E, reporting that the human body will retain the natural organic form of vitamin E, while rapidly eliminating the synthetic form in the urine and bowel.
It is my opinion that the human organism will tolerate much higher doses of natural vitamin E – provided by PDI and the Natural Complementary Medicine LLC website – and can tolerate much less synthetic vitamin E available found in lower cost and lower quality products. For this reason PDI only uses organic and natural vitamin E for use in Peyronie’s disease treatment plans. Using the kind of vitamin E we have available, many men use levels in the 800IU-1,200IU range while attempting to reduce their Peyronies plaque or scar.
For additional information go to the PDI website at vitamin E.
Treatment for Peyronie’s Disease with Drugs
Medical Peyronie’s disease treatment
Medical treatment for Peyronie’s disease is basically limited to simple reduction of pain and hope for some level of sexual function. Since no known medical treatment of Peyronie’s disease exists, several experimental approaches are used with only half-hearted enthusiasm by the average medical doctor.
Current experimental medical approaches used to treat Peyronie’s disease:
- COLLAGENASE – Currently being researched as an injection directed into the scar tissue to enzymatically digest and eliminate it. It is found that repeated injections into the penile tissue can cause Peyronie’s disease, and hence the long term outlook for this method is questionable.
- POTABA – This is PABA, a B vitamin, with a potassium molecule attached. PABA is a safe form of Peyronies treatment, but the addition of potassium to the B vitamin requires a large dosage often resulting in severe gastric pain and digestive problems.
- COLCHICINE – This is a standard gout medication that is used to treat Peyronie’s disease because it is supposed to reduce inflammation and scar formation. Not many reports of success are evident in the literature, and for this reason this drug is not a very popular Peyronie’s treatment.
- INTERFERON – A protein that is used because it is thought to disrupt the production and promote the breakdown of collagen. Of all medications used, this is the least popular Peyronies’ disease treatment.
- VERAPAMIL – A drug normally used to treat high blood pressure. Can be administered topically in gel form over several months, or is directly injected into the plaque in a series of 8-20 shots into the penile tissue. This drug, in either form, is also less popular than it was when first introduced several years ago due to poor clinical results.
- STEROIDS – This is the same common drug used for many conditions, basically because of its anti-inflammatory ability.
- RADIATION – In low dosage thought to reduce pain, and no other benefit to Peyronie’s treatment. Can lead to other problems of excess radiation.
- SURGERY – Because the body does spontaneously resolve about 50% of Peyronie’s disease cases without any treatment or medical intervention, surgery should not be considered for at least one or two years following onset of signs and symptoms of the disease. Peyronies surgery is used only in severe cases, because it is not uncommon for surgery to make Peyronie’s disease worse or lead to complications that are worse than the original problem.
Most men who contact the Peyronie’s Disease Institute have already tried one or more of the above treatments, and are still looking for Peyronie’s help. The philosophy to treat Peyronie’s disease is simply to treat the man who has the Peyronie’s scar so he is better able to eliminate and correct his own problem – just as happens with the 50% of men who spontaneously heal their own Peyronies scar without any help from anyone.
The basic approach used by the Peyronie’s Disease Institute is to use as many well-researched Alternative Medicine therapies as possible so as to support the natural healing ability of the body. This can be done with vitamin E and C, acetyl-L-carnitine, PABA, dietary guidance, gentle manual soft tissue stretching of the scar tissue, DMSO, copper peptides, and others. For more details click Treatment for Peyronie’s Disease and you will see how easy it is to take control of your future.
Peyronie’s penis
What causes curved penis?
Before I discuss what can be called a “Peyronie’s penis,” it would be good to mention the normal penile curvature of many men. Many men look for answers to “Why is my penis curved?” and eventually come to think they have Peyronie’s disease, when that is not the case. They think that just because they have curvature of the penis, that it must be a Peyronie’s penis, when it is not.
Normal penile curvature
A small degree of curvature of the penis is common among men and can be considered normal, as many men are born with this benign condition, commonly referred to as congenital curvature. Probably the single best and easiest way to determine is a curved penis normal, is to answer the question “Have you had this curved penis problem all of your life? When you were a small boy, was your erection bent?” If the answer is “yes,” then it is most likely your current problem is not a Peyronie’s penis.
It is most common for the curvature of Peyronie’s disease to cause a bend or distortion that is angular or abrupt, like a sudden bend in the road, while a congenital curvature is usually gradual and milder in degree, like a banana. Some cases of Peyronie’s disease will cause a gradual, mild, banana-like curvature, however. Because no case of Peyronie’s disease can be diagnosed on the basis of the appearance of the curved penis, a doctor must evaluate the condition for other signs and symptoms.
When a man has Peyronie’s disease the condition is characterized by an internal scar or plaque, or hard lump that forms within the substance of the penis. Congenital penile curvature will not exhibit this internal scar material. If the cause of the penile curvature is Peyronies, it will often appear rather suddenly, be accompanied by pain, be accompanied by some degree of lost penile length or girth, and cause a certain degree of erectile problem that has not been experienced before. Not all of these factors must be present for a diagnosis of Peyronie’s disease; the presence of the internal scar or lump is most valuable to make the decision.
Peyronie’s disease can cause pain, penile distortion and reduced sexual ability due to the presence of flat or cord-like internal lesions (scar tissue known as “plaques”) located on the top, bottom or sides of the penis within a thin but tough membrane known as the tunica albuginea. Although it is a popular notion that Peyronie’s Disease always involves curvature of the penis, the scar tissue sometimes causes other distortions like a bottle neck deformity, an hour-glass deformity, or divots or indentations or nicks, rather than the classic curvature.
How to fix penile curvature
Once it has been determined that a man has only a normal congenital curvature of the penis, it is still possible to help him using a few parts of the standard Peyronie’s disease treatment approach. He can use topical DMSO, Callisto topical vitamin E oil, Super CP Serum, and the gentle manual penis stretching technique developed by the Peyronie’s Disease Institute to make positive improvement safely and effectively once he knows he does not have a Peyronie’s penis.
Peyronie’s Disease Surgery
Surgical Peyronie’s treatment has many limitations
The Peyronie’s Disease Institute is not against Peyronie’s disease surgery.
The Peyronie’s Disease Institute is against the abuse of surgical treatment of Peyronie’s disease. Considerable surgical risk exists for any man with PD who has an operation to attempt correction of penile distortion. Adverse outcomes and worsening of the original problem are associated with even a small incision (or injection) made to a penis that already has demonstrated the tendency to create excess Peyronie’s scar formation.
The overuse and abuse of Peyronie’s surgery should be suspected when the treating doctor does not follow reasonable and conservative guidelines to consider a patient a surgical candidate. The man with Peyronie’s disease should fulfill these basic points:
- Severity, the most important indicator. The deformity must be severe enough to seriously interfere or stop sexual intercourse.
- Adequate time for healing and spontaneous recovery must be given. Usually thought to be from 12-18 months from the time of onset of PD.
- Non-responsive to a fair trial of medical therapy. In practice, many doctors attempt only one form of medical treatment. When that fails the patient is told surgery is the only other option. It appears that doctors know the poor results achieved by medication to make a difference with Peyronie’s disease that they are quick to want to skip this step and proceed to the operating room. When vitamin E is offered as a therapy option, it is done so reluctantly and with little hope for success. Further, no instruction is offered for the correct use of vitamin E, or information about the eight different members of the vitamin E family. Since no real help is offered to assure that the patient will use vitamin E correctly, it is no wonder that so many men fail. There is a large body of information available that can assure a man is more successful with vitamin E therapy for his Peyronie’s disease. Using the correct type of vitamin E, and using it correctly in conjunction with other forms of therapy that work synergistically with it, would only increase the chance of success.
- Stable and unchanging scar. This can mean changing for the better or worse. Since so few doctors, and the men with PD, even locate the PD scar, it is doubtful that this criteria is seriously considered.
Risks of Peyronie’s surgery
Surgery does not cure Peyronie’s disease. Because of the unique anatomy and physiology of the penis, the risks of surgery to this area are a little different than other tissues.
- Additional scar formation and possible worsening of PD. Because any man attempting a surgical correction of PD who already has massive scarring, must expect more scarring to develop as a result of that surgery. It is a known fact – seldom discussed with a PD patient before surgery – that surgery for PD will result in more PD, sooner or later.
- Loss of penis size. Extensive scar tissue that is severe and persistent enough to cause a deformity serious enough to justify Peyronies surgery, represents a large mass of internal scar tissue. Surgery will remove a large and irreplaceable loss of connective tissue and loss of elasticity of the tissue that is not removed. If it is not bad enough that surgical correction and return of sexual function cannot be guaranteed because of the possibility of complications, every surgical candidate must understand that there will always be a loss of length and diameter of the penis. Many men tell me that this secondary consequential loss of penis size is hardly discussed before surgery. Most men learn about the loss of penis size after it is too late.
- Incomplete straightening, no change, or worsening of the original PD deformity. Loss of elasticity, additional scarring, and damage to the veins of the penis that can occur as a result of surgery, can also reduce or prevent correction of the original PD problem.
- Loss of sensation. Due to anatomical location of important sensory nerves of the penis, PD surgery can slightly, or greatly, or totally, reduce skin sensation and pleasure associated with sexual activity. Temporary reduction of sensation is very common, and permanent sensory loss is less common.
- Loss of erection strength. Surgery cannot help but alter both the inflow and/or outflow of blood to the penis. By disturbing the pneumatic mechanism that creates an erection it is not uncommon for men to report either loss of erectile rigidity (hardness) or inability to maintain an erection (impotence) – and sometimes both.
If a surgeon has been attempting you to undergo PD correction surgery, and you were told the surgical outcomes are “good,” I strongly suggest you get a very clear and detailed explanation for what the surgeon means by “good.” You might think “good” means that you will be perfect again, that your PD will be gone, that you will feel like a teenager. The surgeon might be thinking that “good” means only a one or two inch loss of length, only a 50% chance of loss of penile rigidity, only a 50% loss of skin sensation, and restoring your curve from 90 degrees to only 30 or 40 degrees.
If your surgeon tells you these things are not true, and that surgical results are “excellent” and that you are worrying too much about such a safe and simple operation, ask the surgeon to put that in writing. Ask the surgeon to guarantee that the surgery will not result in impotence, loss of skin sensation, that you will have a completely straight penis, and that your PD will never return. You will not get that guarantee because no one can say what will happen to you as a result of PD surgery.
What is good for the surgeon might not be good for the man with Peyronie’s disease.