plication surgery gone wrong..ED. what to do next?

[FranzFan]

Hi Guys

I had a plication procedure at University College Hospital a few months ago, under the supervision of Dr Ralph, who i understand has a good reputation in treating Peyronies, albeit that he did not do the procedure himself. Prior to this i had a significant upward and leftwards curve of around 45 degrees which made sex difficult.

I am happy with the results of the procedure in terms of straightening the pens almost completely, but i am now really struggling to get an erection. It's been 7 weeks since the procedure so i should be back to normal by now. It looks as though i may have permanent ED.

My question is what do i do now? I've spent so long without a partner because of peyronies and now feel that i have no chance of recovery. I see my only potential option as being an implant, although i will have to save up a lot for this, don't know if it's even possible having already had a plication procedure, and feel no girl would want to be with a 25 y/o guy who has such a device. I wondered if anyone has been in a similar position and what they have done? Right now i see no future for myself and no reason to keep fighting this. It's desperate and horrible to feel i have nowhere left to turn.

[Arbalest]

I just wanted to say that you're not alone mate; I'm also 25 and live in England, and have been suffering from Peyronie's for three gruelling years as a result of undergoing experimental venous surgery. In my case, not so much of a bend, but a fairly catastrophic amount of size loss - which is rough psychologically. I also continue to have mild, intermittent ED, and use Cialis from time to time to help manage it.

My advice to you would be, try to be patient at this point as, in my experience, time-frames for post-surgical recovery are an imprecise science at best. Your body will heal at its own singular rate, and you might find that - even months later - you suddenly turn a corner with the ED. Obviously it's incredibly complex tissue, and the erectile response is the result of a bewildering interplay of factors, including psychological ones, so just keep calm and give it a decent chance to all stabilise. This must have been a horribly stressful period for you, and the fallout from that probably isn't helping. Bottom line is though, seven weeks is nowhere near long enough to be making any extrapolations about "permanence".

If, however, you give it all a fair chance to normalise naturally and find you're still coping with ED several months down the line, then THAT will be the time to start exploring practical options for dealing with it. We're both young, and the PDE5 inhibitors tend to work very well with our demographic. I know however, because I've felt exactly the same way, that the desire for the miserable ordeal to just be definitively "over" makes implants feel like the only viable long-term option, but it simply isn't true. If it ever comes to it, a lot can be achieved with VEDs and constiction rings, and oral and injection therapies. What's more, it's an ever-expanding field and, with regenerative medicine on the horizon, the options for therapy are likely to be very different by the time we're in our thirties.

As for being in your early twenties and feeling that no partner would want you, I can empathise there too. However, I can tell you that, following my ordeal, I've been fortunate enough to be with two incredible, sensitive partners - and I'm now engaged to the second girl. Strange as it might be, I've also had some of the best sexual experiences of my life AFTER having developed this condition. The bouts of ED and the fact I now posess what feels like a decidedly below-average-sized (and, to my eyes, deformed!) penis are pretty difficult crosses to bear, and I struggle with them every day, but if you find someone you can be honest with, and who actually cares for you and is willing to work with you, nothing is an obstacle. Finding the right person can be a bit of a lottery, obviously, and it might take a while, but - even if you do end up getting implanted - I wouldn't give up hope mate!

Anyway, I wish you all the best. I know you don't feel like fighting anymore, but that's irrelevant because right now you should be waiting. Clearly you've fought like a Trojan to get to the surgery stage, but now try to disengage as much as possible and relax. Grit your teeth, focus on other areas in your life, and give your body a chance to do its thing; you're young, so you're in a good position for wound-healing.

[Arbalest]

Also: just to relate a bit more of my personal experience, following the venous surgery I underwent (which unfortunately caused my peyronie's), I had total ED for about 4 months; no morning erections, no nothing. My surgeon kept telling me to be patient - obviously easier said than done - and that it would take up to a year for the tissue to recover properly, since it was so invasive. About mid-way through month four I suddenly started getting spontaneous erections that I could have knocked a wall down with. I know these are really different cases, but it just goes to show that it really can take a long time for erectile function to fully return after an invasive procedure (my surgeon said he knew of a few extreme cases where patients had suffered post-surgical ED for over a year before they started making progress)  - and that even a lull of several months doesn't necessarily reflect how it's going to end up.  

[FranzFan]

Thanks Arbalest for these kind and encouraging words. I agree i should wait a few months to see how things finally turn out.

But psychologically i am really, really struggling. I feel like i have no reason to live any more - rightly or wrongly that's how i feel, and it's a feeling that comes with hopelessness. I wonder how you, or others, have got through such moments? I have felt for a whole week like i don't want to be here anymore and that really concerns me.

[Arbalest]

I know exactly how you feel. I've been there countless times myself. Obviously, how we deal with such adversity is a really personal thing, but I'll tell you the few things I keep in my mind when I'm struggling. Through no fault of our own, life has dealt us a really difficult hand to play - REALLY f*****g difficult, but not impossible - and you can either let it destroy you or let it strengthen you, galvanise you, make you think more critically about the things in life that, for you, genuinely have meaning. People like us don't have the luxury of living life thoughtlessly, just drifting through having a nice time, and that's not necessarily a bad thing. I want to be able to look back as an old man and recognise how tough, how destructive this condition was, but see what incredible things I managed to do in spite of it - maybe even because of it. Ultimately, you have to ask yourself; does the fact that we are likely consigned to having more sexual difficulties than the average man (and almost EVERY man, over his lifetime, will eventually encounter some) render the entirety of our lives pointless and meaningless? Are there not things in life that are more valuable than being able to have an effortless sex-life?

I could have stepped on a landmine and had the whole thing blown off. As it stands, I can still have a family and can still, albeit with more difficulty, give and receive pleasure. Moreover, by a great stroke of luck, I was born into an age where medicine stands the best chance of eventually eliminating the problems associated with this dismal condition.

Wait it out, mate - from the sounds of things you stand a really good chance of coming through relatively unscathed. DON'T give up.

[hopeful7]

FranzFraz,

Dont give up!