CCH/Interferon/Verapamil/Xiaflex Injections?

[FlatteningTheCurve]

Hi all,

I have been reading up on various studies that claim that injections of CCH, Interferon, Verapamil and Xiaflex all may lead to a decrease in curvature. This especially if combined with gentle and controlled traction, according to most studies.

What are your experiences with these, if any? Has anyone tried multiple ones? I have not found any comparative studies of the pros and cons of each one. Seems like they have similar potential for positive effects, only that the effects from Xiaflex are stronger and more likely overall.

I am also not sure which ones are available in Europe, just that Xiaflex is not.

Would be grateful for any input!

[AverageBloke]

From my personal experience, do not use verapamil. It only gave me more scarring and fibrosis.

[FlatteningTheCurve]

Thanks for sharing your experiences. May I ask how many injections you received and whether you did anything in combination with it, such as traction?

[AverageBloke]

I received 5 injections and no I did not use traction. Verapamil is the worst thing you could possibly inject into your penis. I began treatment with only a stable curve. I now have 5 indentations, narrowing from the base to mid section and inflammatory penile pain.

My advice to you would not to inject anything other than Xiaflex and make sure the doctor is very experienced with it.

[FlatteningTheCurve]

Update - I saw Dr Minhas at Imperial College Healthcare today. He seemed really good and focused on evidence-based treatments that could be options for me as I am relatively young.

Basically, he said neither surgery nor an implant should not be an option for me at this stage. Best would be to continue with Tadalafil, Pentox, traction and VED. No harm would come from this he said.

In addition, he recommended some kind of gel that you apply to the glans before intercourse in order to engorge it more, I have forgotten the name but will add it later. This would address one issue that I am facing, as I am still struggling with EQ at times despite the Tadalafil.

Finally, he said we could investigate Verapamil injections as that is the one option available in the UK for injections currently. He has an experienced colleague that can do it and he would share statistics of improvements, if any, in the patients that the colleague has treated so far. Verapamil injections together with the meds and traction/VED would be the most sensible approach for me, if I would like to do anything in addition to what I am already doing. I asked him about the risks of Verapamil and he said he does not know of an instance when the condition has deteriorated in one of his patients because of injections, but that the positive effects can sometimes be limited. This is not aimed at you AverageBloke, I am just reiterating what the doc said.

In my case, he said injections could be a possibility given the other side effects of grafting or plication surgery (reduced EQ and length etc.). In terms of Xiaflex, he said that no one seems to know what is going on with the manufacturer and why it was withdrawn from the market in Europe.

[AverageBloke]

You can type 'verapamil' in the forum search bar and have read through the hundreds of posts for yourself. Most often doctors claim that verapamil cannot make you worse but a lot of members here became worse after them. In my opinion, any injection into the penis is traumatic.

I hope you do get better, let us know how you go.

[FlatteningTheCurve]

Hey,

Yes I have done that and the experiences seem very much mixed on this forum, overall more negative than the statistics I have found in scientific studies. I will meet with this other doc who has treated a lot of patients with Verapamil and see what he says at least.

Arguably, any invasive form of treatment is traumatic, be it uncontrolled traction, surgery or injections. Every such treatment is associated with risks and none of them has a 100% success rate, this is indeed important to keep in mind. All I am trying to do is to acquire as much information as possible so that I can make as an informed decision as possible to improve my condition.