New here, 28 years old from the US

[strat]

Hi everyone. Glad to have found this board as I'm really struggling with Peyronie's so far. I first noticed something was wrong about a month ago, after having vigorous sex with my girlfriend 2-3 times over 24 hours. I was a bit sore, but that's normal and happens to plenty of people. Especially since we have a big height difference and some positions she liked (or both of us liked) hurt a bit, but I never thought to stop or that I could disfigure my penis for life by continuing.

At first, I had some ED and flaccid pain. I thought maybe the Finasteride was to blame, or at least it may have been mentally messing me up so I came off of that and started getting frequent erections again 2 weeks ago, but noticed I was still sore. Then I noticed the plaque when flaccid and found Peyronie's via Googling. I have been freaking out ever since. Today was the first day I noticed curvature...probably 30 degrees upward. Immediately lost my erection and cried.

I have an annual physical scheduled for Tuesday and am trying to go ahead and book a Peyronie's specialist ASAP. I'm just devastated. I've always struggled with self-confidence and sexual confidence, and now I have this (and balding...no more finasteride) to deal with + breaking up with my girlfriend. Just can't believe it happened to me...at this age...and without an acute injury. I feel like my body is betraying me / I'm losing the genetic lottery on so many things. But wallowing won't help. Looking forward to learning more about this upcoming journey through this board.

[Stabler]

Hello and welcome to the forum!

I understand that you will be seeing your regular doctor for an annual visit but you will want to see a urologist that specializes in Peyronies for this. I have sent you a PM that will help guide you through the forum. Make sure you check out the Peyronies Survival guide as it has a lot of helpful information. There is also a list of specialist included that are listed demographically.

There is a lot of help here.

Stabler  

[Godisreal]

My friend, you have the absolute correct attitude. It's devastating to have these problems. Especially at a young age and when you don't even know how it happened. But I can assure you that if you stay calm and take action, ultimately you'll be fine. A lot of people, like myself, have only met with arrogant and poor excuses for urologists. Because of that, we had to take matters into our own hands. But it sounds good that you're about to meet an urologist, hopefully he will prescribe you both Pentox and low dose Cialis. If needed.
If you have an upwards curve, that explains the erectile disfunction. I have it myself, because of a hard scar on my front side. This is my biggest issue. I can neither maintain an erection or get one randomly.
And please feel free to ask questions about anything here on the forum, i'm happy to help you out man. There's no doubt we will get out of this nightmare one day.
God bless you  

[strat]

Thank you both — I checked the list of doctors and unfortunately there aren't many listed in my state, but some Googling seems to have found one doctor who really focuses on Peyronie's via his website and has very good reviews, so going to try for him first thing tomorrow. If not there are two other nearby Urologists who list Peyronie's as a clinical interest. Just want to get an appt in the next week or two so I can get on Pentox ASAP. This morning I hit the gym, got L-Arginine and Q10 today at the store, and went vegan. Gotta do everything I possibly can...feel like I'm fighting for my penis's life.

[Benjamin62]

I wouldn't cut out the finasteride all that quickly...
Some say it may have an affect... but I highly doubt it.  I've been in it since 1998... and although I recently (within the last 12 months) have a downward curve... I can think of several things that may have caused it.   And yes I still have a full head of hair  

[samsung]

Finesteride known to cause peyronie's, no?

[TonySa]

It's a side effect for some %, do you want to risk it?

[strat]

I wouldn't cut out the finasteride all that quickly...
Some say it may have an affect... but I highly doubt it.  I've been in it since 1998... and although I recently (within the last 12 months) have a downward curve... I can think of several things that may have caused it.   And yes I still have a full head of hair

I was on it for 4 years. When I first went on I had immediate side effects but who knows if it was mental or drug-induced, as I knew of the risks and was rightful spooked. I went off then slowly cycled up on it so I could trick myself and my body to think it was such a low dose it couldn't possibly have an effect. It worked. I took 1mg every day or two for years. But I occasionally still would have occasional periods of weaker erections / no morning wood or trouble getting it up. Then I would go back to normal and forget about it. But each time it would make me uneasy. The last time this happened was right before my Peyronies Disease symptoms showed up, and right before I needed to renew my prescription. I had also been reading more accounts of side effects continuing after coming off, or side effects starting after coming off Fin. With all of these things considered, I decided I couldn't handle the potential long term side effects, was tired of the embarrassment of occasional low-performance, and would rather ensure I had normal 100% function while I could...to get out while ahead and learn to accept baldness, or at least accept Rogaine/hair plugs as my options.

Unfortunately fate decided to give me a different / worse long term sexual health issue than Finasteride induced ED. But don't think I want to reopen that can of worms. I really need to learn to come to terms with balding, which is almost as hard as coming to terms with Peyronies Disease...shouldn't be a surprise that I'm looking to see a shrink for the first time in my life.

[Ajvine]

Hey man I am almost in the same train as you.

Gf left me (before I had any symptoms), I am losing my hair, body doesn't want to build muscle or gain mass no matter how much I eat, friends are in relationships and I don't have anyone close anymore, my freelancer job took a big hit and I've been forced to do Ubereats and similar stuff to attempt to pay bills (I was comfortably earning 4 times my monthly expenses and now I have finished my savings), got diagnosed with a kidney stone at the end of last year which I'm still battling with, turning 29 soon, and to put the cherry on top, I started seeing symptoms of this on December to start seeing a mild curvature last week or so.

I've cried at 4 am cursing my life away, but I am hopeful I'll find a solution to this and I feel that when I do manage to beat this thing, my confidence will be even higher than before.

I am about to go to my Urologist appointment, as I haven't yet been diagnosed with it. Hopefully I get some good news.  

Stay strong  

[Shafted]

Hi Strat,
7 months ago I woke up to an indentation and large palpable lump on the top of my penis.  I thought it was the end of my sex life, the end of my ability to have children, and what seemed like the end of the world.  Boy was I wrong!  Take a deep breath, and just know everything will be okay.

About a month into this disease I started traction and about 3 months in I started a ketogenic diet.  If I could do anything over it would be to start a ketogenic diet day 1.  Keto had an immediate impact on my overall health and what I noticed about 'my boy' is the plaques became extremely palpable and defined because essentially all inflammation was gone.  There is discussion around this being a metabolic disease and I am convinced of that, I digress.  I'm confident traction (I use the RestoreX device) has helped me maintain length and girth in the acute stage.  Finally, I just completed my first round of Xiaflex and have had some additional improvement.

Since being diagnosed with this awful disease, I've still had sex with my wife and have conceived.

What I have learned through this process is to stay positive, keep my eye on the prize, and everything will be okay.  Goodluck in your journey.