Stopping Cialis for a few days -- but should I?

[mjoas]

To make a long story short, it's been a little over two months since my symptoms started. I've seen many uros (if anyone wants a list of useless uros and sex medicine "specialists" in Massachusetts, mine is pretty extensive) and still no official diagnosis. However, I believe my symptoms (pain and inflammation, indents, sudden increased curvature, reduced overall size, ED) speak for themselves.

Okay, that aside, one uro has me set up to do a nocturnal erection test (three nights with bands on my penis). I have the machine with me now but it seems rather pointless (sometimes I still have nocturnal erections but they're uncomfortable, shorter and more curved than I've ever seen them, that's the real issue, doc!!).

But my main concern is stopping the 2.5 mg of Cialis I've been taking every day for a week or so now in order to get an "accurate reading" on this test. I'd stop for four days total which I fear won't help anything regarding my actual affliction. The cialis has really helped with bloodflow (even when flaccid, the end of my penis now gets really cold very easily) so I kinda don't want to stop.

Anyone have any thoughts? Maybe I should just forget this so-called test. After all, it's meant to determine whether the ED is "psychogenic"... which is ridiculous. I know this pain and indenting and curving isn't in my head!

Thanks for reading,
-m

[james1947]

mjoas

Stopping the 2.5 mg Cialis for 4 days is not too much in my opinion.
I would like to get your list of urologists.
Send me a PM and you don't want to post on the main forum.

James

[Norm]

You have a valid concern. I don t see stopping the Cialis for a few days hurting you. But I also don't see having a nocturnal study helping you, either. He is the doctor and knows things we don't. But I don't see it. It looks like he is going around the obvious to look for the obscure.
Norm

[nemo]

I wouldn't worry about stopping Cialis for a few days. If anything, it may allow your body to detox a bit and enjoy slightly increased Cialis efficacy when you restart (I believe periodically stopping the PDE-5s is actually a good thing).  

But I agree that the nocturnal erection test is pointless and likely very expensive.  I had one done a few years back by the Mayo Clinic in Phoenix. I KNEW I wasn't getting NTE's, but the doctor wanted to do the test anyway. I don't think I slept more than two hours - the constant movement of the bands (they sort of tighten and release automatically) was enough to keep me awake. The bill was several hundreds of dollars (my insurance network didn't include the Mayo Clinic, so I was paying out of pocket), so I took the machine back and never saw the doctor again.  Giant waste of time and money.

Anyway - if you have faith in this doctor, go ahead, it won't hurt you. But if not, use your best judgement - determining the frequency of your NTE's doesn't explain a dent, shortening or pain any way you want to look at it.

Best,
Nemo

[mjoas]

Well, I tried the thing and stopped after twenty minutes to a half hour. Where it says to place the bands is exactly where I've had pain, indentation, and possible scarring. They said the stupid bands wouldn't get too tight but it gets pretty damn tight once in a while!! The constant mini-adjustments the thing makes are pretty distracting as well but holy crap it does get tight sometimes. I've been so careful with my penis and now I've just constricted it repeatedly.

I wasn't experiencing much pain tonight and now I am, so I feel kinda stupid but I'm trying not to freak out about it or kick myself too hard. Because of the constriction, the cold penis phenomenon got majorly triggered. Not sure what to do in this scenario. Heat seems like a bad thing for inflammation but the cold penis thing also seems bad.

Anyway, just thought I'd provide an update. Yeah... this will cost me a couple hundred dollars for nothing. Hopefully it hasn't worsened anything. I'm trying to remind myself that people use traction devices so maybe twenty minutes of this constriction device isn't too bad.

[emasculated]

Don't worry it most likely did no damage. But give that thing back, look for a Peyronies Disease specialist. Don't waste your time with clueless urologists. I did that for 6 months.. it costs a lot of money...  

[skunkworks]

But my main concern is stopping the 2.5 mg of Cialis I've been taking every day for a week or so now in order to get an "accurate reading" on this test. I'd stop for four days total which I fear won't help anything regarding my actual affliction. The cialis has really helped with bloodflow (even when flaccid, the end of my penis now gets really cold very easily) so I kinda don't want to stop.

The reason why stopping Cialis might have a negative effect would be that lack of erections promotes fibrosis. However, the small period of time we are talking about here means that particular worry is not actually a worry at all.

I do not think the test your doctor wants is going to help you at all, but it won't hurt you. Did you tell him you still have nocturnal erections?

Do you still get erections at other times?  

[mjoas]

Thanks, emasculated. Will do.

skunkworks, for about 1.5 months I wasn't having much of anything down there. It's still very, very (almost not worth it) to induce an erection on my own, but recently I've been experiencing some very good (and some not as good quarter or half) nocturnal erections, and sometimes a few in a night, which would be rare for me even if this wasn't happening. Maybe it's the arginine? I'm grateful for them though, since I feel like they're stretching everything out and bringing much needed blood to the area. Though the dimpling and shortening and curve is strange to look out, it's still reassuring to see things are technically functioning.