39, have had Peyronies Disease for 4 years, Primary concern: Girth & Erectile Rigidity

[mersault]

Hello all,

Happy to see a forum for the exchange of information.

I am 39 and I believe I acquired Peyronies Disease in January of 2020 during rigorous sex. Nothing struck me as super alarming during the first year or so, but I was only occasionally sexually active. I recall having good, normal sex during November/December 2020. For most of 2021 I was not sexually active, but I think this is when I started to notice issues.

I have an indentation on the right side of the shaft, slightly closer to the base than the head. Palpable nodule/plaque there, as well.

My two biggest problems are a reduction in girth (say of about 2cm erect, not sure how much flaccid, but definitely noticeable) and an erection that is less rigid than it used to be (let's call it 75-80% of what it ought to be). I can still have penetrative sex without issue, but it is nowhere near where it once was.

I understand that distress and depression are normal here. But I'm really aiming to keep the best attitude I can and put together a solid plan for tackling this problem. It isn't easy, of course - and some days are harder than others. I am single. This makes it a little harder to deal with - I often avoid dating and meeting women because I feel pretty inadequate and deflated about this condition. Also, I am a single/solo parent of a 9-year-old, so dating is already tricky with my limited time.

Anyhow! Enough with the wallowing - There are two big things I want to mention here:

1. I am enrolled at a very large, public research university, and so have access to academic/medical papers. I've downloaded a bit over 70 papers that seem relevant to the current state of research and treatment on Peyronies Disease, and I am poring over them currently. If anyone wants or needs access to full articles, let me know and I'll do my best to supply.

2. There are a lot of metrics floating around about curvature, length, pain, etc... But there is excruciatingly little data about effects on girth. Does anyone have information on the best practices/treatments for restoring/preserving girth?

I have a doppler scheduled with my urologist in 3 weeks and will know a lot more then.

Otherwise, nice to be here (given the circumstances, of course) and looking forward to carefully understanding the best way to treat and manage Peyronies Disease.  

[Mikel7]

Welcome Mersault to the forum and thank you for filling out your signature line. Please also download and read our survival guide -->Survival Guide .This will give you a better understanding of peyronies and it's different treatments.

If you study this forum and read the members personal experiences it will far outweigh any other information you come across. I am sure we already have any article that was published here in the forum. One thing to take note on is that most urologists are not qualified to really treat a man with peyronies. Yes they can say do this or that but they do not have the experience. Make sure that you are more educated with this disease than your Dr you pick. Also make a list of questions before your first Dr's visit.

Strength to you brother on being a single parent! It is a challenge just raising children these days with both parents. My mom was a single parent and raised me and my brother in the 60's and 70's.

Restoring girth is a challenging topic as two men are not alike in it's restoration. Some men have reported having success with VED therapy while others say that traction has helped. With peyronies there is so much mystery as to the how and why each man's healing response is. You must test each protocol to see if you receive any benefit. The problem with some men is that they want it NOW. They don't realize that this game plan is a long marathon and not a sprint. It takes time and patience with any treatment with peyronies. Adopt this mindset and you will have overcome a lot of metal anguish.

You should look into VED therapy and traction for you. Also how are your erections? Cialis will help with inflammation and provide the expansion needed to bring in fresh oxygen to your penis. Also have you gotten any preliminary measurements of your penis?
Hopefully you will be receiving an erect ultrasound as this  gives a better picture of everything inside. Take note though that some plaques are difficult to see and can be somewhat hidden on an ultrasound. Study the forum and keep worrying to a minium - it's good to have your here.  

Mikel7

 

[tiredstarling]

Hi Mersault

Sorry to hear about your diagnosis. I acquired Peyronies disease slightly over two years ago, and I am unsure if it was from rigorous sex with my partner, or as a result of the COVID infection/vaccine.

Two things in your post that resonated with me.

One is that I became very depressed about the issue, and withdrew from sex for quite some time with my partner, even though she was understanding about it. This created more problems than if I had just got over my ego and maintained our sex life (my condition has taken some length away and altered shape, but otherwise I am fully functional, and stable, which after reading some testimonials I should feel lucky). To reassure you, I think there are a lot of women who are able to look past the condition and work around it physically.

The other is push for all treatment options. I live in England and the NHS is terrible at dealing with this issue. They offered me plication when the condition worsened, but they wouldn't even discuss Xiaplex or incision and grafting because they themselves do not provide it (they are only available privately for more money than i can afford).

One drug that studies have shown dramatically reduces the growth of the lesions is a drug called Tamoxifen, which is typically used for reducing the size of breast cancer tumours, however is also used by bodybuilders. Had I known this during the acute phase I could have perhaps limited the damage as it is an easy drug to get off-prescription in England, as is tadanifil (sic). Now my lesion is stable, the horse has already bolted for that treatment.

I wish you all the best anyway.

Regards


Matt