Another new member... no pun intended

[Grommit]

Sorry for the subject title but if I don't make some jokes now and then about this situation, I may just lose my sanity.  

I am 39 years old and live in Belgium and was diagnosed with Peyronies about 6 months ago.  I had first noticed a slight discomfort during erection about a month before that and my penis suddenly curved quite noticably to the left when erect (15-20° or something to that affect).  Certainly not something you expect to see after 30+ years of knowing exactly where your penis was going to point.  Not even knowing there was such a thing as Peyronies I assumed it would just go back to normal since I hadn't experienced any type of injury or trauma that I knew of and thought that it couldn't possibly be anything permanent.  Well as you all have experienced, it did not go back to normal on its own.   I subsequently began mentally freaking out.  After having an examination and scan done, it was confirmed that I have a small plaque near the base of my penis on the left side leading to the bend that I still have today whenever I have an erection.

I eventually found my way here to these forums but the overwhelming amount of info about treatments and drugs and supplements wasn't very helpful in the beginning.  I was simply too distraught to focus on reading these forums as it felt like information overload and with all the "this works for me but it doesn't for everyone" type of stuff I was too easily discouraged, letting my bouts of depression get the better of me I suppose.  I did receive vitamin E tablets that my urologist prescribed but judging by what I've read here, thats a common thing to receive but does little to help on its own.  From what little I did manage to take away from these forums and the over the counter stuff I could find, I also started taking 1g of L-arginine and 200mg CoQ10 daily although I was and still am very sketchy on the best dosages (I am 1.91m and 78kg with no other health issues including blood pressure if that matters) and haven't been able to find the posts I previously read.  I didn't want to take too much of anything for fear of feeling sick but I have no idea if I am taking enough of any of those things since I haven't noticed any improvement in my condition at all.  

I have a new appointment tomorrow with my urologist because I had felt another plaque just above the first one a few weeks ago, but it now seems to have gone away.  I also noticed what I think is another very small hard spot on the right side of my penis but at this point I don't know if its really something or if I am just imagining it.  Everything is starting to feel like a lump or a plaque these days.

I definitely want to mention Pentox to my urologist as that seems to have helped quite a few people on this forum but it sounds like that can be hard to get in some areas and knowing Belgium, that could be the case here.  I've already accepted the fact that there really is no 100% cure for this, but still have a lot of hope that I can find something to help the slight discomfort and decrease the curvature if possible.  This whole ordeal has been pretty depressing and scary as you all surely know.  My fiancé has been extremely supportive but its not really the sort of thing I want to talk to her about on a daily basis so I finally decided to sign up here to have a place people can talk about it when they really need or want to as well as hopefully get/share some advice for treatments.

Anyway, if anyone has any advice on dosages and/or other supplements I would greatly appreciate it or if you could help direct me to some of the forum postings that I surely may have missed.  I'll keep trying to gather what info I can from these forums even though its a LOT to take in and may take a while.  If there are any other people in Europe that may know of a really good urologist, I would also appreciate any recommendations.  

Thanks for taking the time to read this.  Here's hoping we all make some good progress!  

[james1947]

Grommit

Sorry to hear about your Peyronies and wellcome to the forum.

You have not written if the 15-20° making some problems having a normal sex life or have some ED associated also to your Peyronies.
It will be good if you will take some printout regarding Pentox to your uro and to make everything possible that he will subscribe you. Pentox (Trental) is cheap and is the first line treatment according to some doctors also but mainly by the many forum members that had good results using it.

Regarding treatment the

1g of L-arginine and 200mg CoQ10 daily

is a good start and adding 2*400mg Pentox daily will help also.
Other medications may be added if you have ED problems and addition of VED therapy if you don't have nocturnal and morning erections.

Best wishes
James

[Grommit]

First of all, thank you for your advice James!  Secondly, I currently don't have any problems regarding ED and my sex life is still fairly normal.  My penis seems to want to bend at that spot upon insertion making getting started a little difficult at times but other than that and some very minor discomfort ("pain" just seems too strong a word at this point), things are alright.  My partner says she doesn't feel any discomfort on her end and doesn't notice any real difference at all.  Of course I don't want my condition to worsen for fear of it having a bigger impact on our sex life.  Its not always easy keeping my condition out of my mind so there is also the mental part on top of the physical, but I think I'm managing fairly well so far.  I do also get regular nocturnal and morning erections so that must also be a good sign.  

[james1947]

Grommit

I should say that your situation is good and I am happy for you.

I think you are in very early stages of the Peyronies and you should add as soon as possible the Pentox to your treatment.
My uro just back home from a seminar in Atlanta and he told me that today Pentox 400mg two or three daily is the first line for stopping the advancement of Peyronies. The biggest uro's from all over the world participated.

Take this information also to your uro to push him to give you a prescription.

[Grommit]

Well, I just got back from my appointment at the uro and got my prescription for Pentox.    

It didn't take much convincing and judging by his reactions to me telling him about this forum and the information I found about Pentox, it seemed as if he had no idea it was used to treat Peyronies Disease at all.  Probably a sign I should do some thorough searching for a new urologist.  I gave him a copy of the study I had printed off (http://dl.dropbox.com/u/12553596/pentox.pdf) and he recognized it as a very good source so I was happy about that.  In return he gave me a 3 month prescription to start.  Here in Belgium it goes by the name TORENTAL instead of Trental like I have seen on the forums and other places online but it is Pentoxifyllin in 400mg tablets just like everyone has been mentioning.  The cost was €20 per box of 60 tablets so I thought that was pretty cheap.  

In regards to my curvature, I think I underestimated it a bit but it hasn't gotten any worse since the first day as far as I can tell... more like + 30° but in any case I am hoping that adding Pentox will give some results in a few months time.  *fingers crossed*

[james1947]

Grommit

Stick to the Pentox and the supplements you are taking already but don't expect drastic changes in short time.
At least this treatment will stop the progression of the disease and may revers it also.

I am not sure you have to change your uro, at least he is open to new ideas (for him) and prescribed you Pentox.

Keep in touch, let us know how is going.

Good luck and

*fingers crossed*

James