young and confused

[nastyone]

     Ive been active in viewing this forum and making some posts, though I've yet to introduce myself.  Well, I'm 22 years old, and about 10 months ago began having pain and swelling after intercourse.  Being young and uneducated regarding these issues, I dismissed these problems, hoping it would go away on its own.  So, I kept having sex, and kept having pain, for a few months.  For some reason I didn't think things were serious enough to see a doctor about.  Not until this past July that is.  June and July I knew things weren't right, and began holding off on having sex with my girlfriend of 3 years.  I gave it a few weeks, things seemed to slowly get better, so again, I thought what the hell.  I had sex again, and I think this was my breaking point.  The swelling and pain that followed was severe, and is mid-shaft, starts right in the middle, and works its way around the right side and all the way under to about the middle of the underside of shaft. Around this area of swelling, the skin appeared darker or discolored as well as kind of dry. I went to a doctor within the next few days, he told me I only had an infection, and it was nothing to worry about. He prescribed me some antibiotics, and said the dry feeling skin was just literally dry skin cause by the swelling.  So I went on with antibiotics and vaseline he recommended. Again, things started to seem to be getting better.  And being in a very intimate relationship, its very difficult to just STOP having sex.  Things seemed to be slowly getting better in the inflammation aspect, and having faith in my doctor's advice, I had sex once again.  This was a huge mistake.  And this was also the last time I've had sex, about 3 1/2 months ago.  Since that last time, the dryness and discoloration initially worsened, but hasn't after abstaining. The inflammation and pain was worse than ever, just a constant aching pain.  I also noticed some deformity around this area of swelling, which is mid shaft, and wraps around the right to the underside about in the middle also.
    Since then Ive seen about 5 different doctors, one of them a uro, and 2 of them peyronies specialists.  Most of them useless.  I began taking l Arginine, fish oil, coq10, vit d, and Pentox by the end of august.  The one specialist that actually proved useful in giving me information the others could not, was Dr. Levine in Chicago.  The other specialist I saw just gave a physical exam causing me pain for days, and ruled it, likely early case of Peyronies Disease.  He said just take ibuprofen, and that everything else I was on won't hurt, but also he didn't think would help.  
    During my late October visit to Dr. Levine however, he performed an ultrasound and found some scar tissue, mainly on the underside of the shaft in the area of inflammation.  He said it's causing some "flattening', was his term.  Bloodflow and everything else was great.  He only recommended ibuprofen, Pentox, and l Arginine in my case, which seems very different from others visits.   But i guess every case is different.  And I still have no definitive diagnosis.  He said it could just an injury that's healing slowly, which I really hope is correct. Anyway, I'm still in pain, erections haven't changed further that I can tell, and I have a follow up appointment with him in January.  I'm hoping by that time to at least be pain free, but it doesn't seem likely, because of how long this has already been ongoing.  But because of his experience, I'm taking his advice  and finishing off my last bottle of coq10.  Pretty damn expensive anyway.  Levine told me to slowly start getting back into things, so me and my amazing girlfriend that's sticking with me through this have been limited to oral for now, but even that leaves me a little extra sore afterwards.  Trying whatever I can to stay mentally positive and physically erect.  Worst part of this is not knowing what the future holds.  
    Thanks to those of you who listened, hopefully I get some responses.
         Nasty

[Hawk]

 A very interesting story.  The part about skin dryness and discoloration is very UNlike Peyronies Disease.  I too wonder if you have a slow healing injury.  With Dr. Levine, at least you know you are in good hands.  I would closely follow his advice.

I would try adding ALC since it has helped alleviate pain in many members.  It was clearly linked to pain elimination in my case although my pain was only ever at a nuisance level and barely ever got to what one would even call "moderate pain".  There is no real downside to it so try it for 10 days and see if the pain is gone or diminished.  If so, it is a safe bet that it is also reducing inflammation and the chance of progression if it is Peyronies Disease.

[nastyone]

     Thanks for the response Hawk, and yes ive actually already tried ALC for a few weeks. I didnt really notice any real improvements, though its kind of hard to tell with things changing so slowly.  Maybe ill give it another try, for i dont think it can hurt anything.  Dr. Levine has been been the best doctor ive seen, not only just regarding this problem. Im just trying to take this one day at a time. Its been the most difficult few months of my short life. I just hope to eventually move past all of this.

[LWillisjr]

nastyone,
Dr Levine is my doctor as well and I was there in late October for my annual checkup/visit. He is one of the best and glad that you are able to go to him. I agree with Hawk that you might have both related and unrelated Peyronies symptoms so don't categorize them all together. Also be careful with oral sex as this can just as rough as vaginal sex.

[nastyone]

Yea when i saw levine he told me to slowly start getting back into things, whatever that exactly means. He even mentioned something about massaging. But i havent done that because with the amount of inflammation i have going on it doesnt seem like a good idea. Very gentle oral sex hasnt really caused me any more pain than gentle masturbation, both avoiding the injured area. I know erections can only be good, but if my case is just an injury that needs time to heal, it would make sense to me to leave that area alone as much as possible til it is healed, since that is what is normally reccomended for a penis injury. Im just kind of stuck in the middle whether or not any kind of physical stimulation, no matter how gentle, would cause this inflammation to go on for longer. This is my main goal at this point. Stopping the inflammation while keeping frequent erections.  Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks and Happy Thanksgiving