Thoughts on Doc's Treatment Plan Suggestion?

[RhinoRy]

Hey guys...

Brief background: Married 30 y/o, noticed peyronies in January of this year. Two dents, directly across form each other mid shaft (hourglass). I think the antibiotic cipro may have contributed to me getting the disease. Anyhow, here I am 6 months later. I have no pain or erection difficulty. Doctor measured my curve to 22 degrees. I actually think it has stabilized somewhat after initially getting slowly worse. I am still fully functional and have a great wife.

My doctor is Dr. Stahl in NYC.

After meeting with Dr. Stahl (mentioned on this forum), he said  a few things that I thought were interesting. First he said, if I believe it to be getting worse that he thinks I should treat aggressively by doing Xiaflex now even if I am in the acute phase. He also recommended traction. I asked him about Pentox. He told me he prescribes it if people really want it but he said 1/3 of his practice is Peyronies and he thinks it has been fairly useless. He said there are only two studies on it done by the same person and he remains unconvinced. Given that he was mentioned on this board as a good doctor for this and that he said he has seen poor results with this, I decided not to use it.

He also said they could monitor me closely to see if I truly was getting worse and then we could proceed form there if that was in fact the case.

All that to say, if you were in my shoes, what do you think of his suggestion of starting Xiaflex now along with traction as a treatment plan? Honestly, some of the Xiaflex stories scare the hell out of me and I'd almost rather just stick with traction/ved and supplements and if it gets worse, let surgery be my last option. The injections don't excite me at all.

I know this is my decision but just wanted to get some input.

Thanks.

Currently taking:

Vit D 4,000 IU
Multi-Vitamin
ALC 1 gram/2x daily
CoQ10 100 mg/2x daily

How important is it to add Arginine?

[bummedout]

Rhino,

Why do you think Cipro caused your Peyronie's?

What did you think of Dr. Stahl?  I had a bad experience with him.

I'd say if it bothers you enough get the Xiaflex.  In my case it has continually gotten worse over the past decade because of the instability that was caused initially.  If you can fix it early on, you might have less of a chance of it getting worse.  Personally, I'm now strongly considering an implant which seems way scarier to me than Xiaflex.

Supplements can't hurt, but I also don't know how much they really help in curing.

Bummed

[LWillisjr]

Xiaflex is the current treatment of choice if you can afford. And yes we recommend traction of a VED usage along with this.

[NeoV]

That is a tough choice, I'm not convinced myself to go the Xiaflex route but it's certainly helped some guys. Not so much others. I will have to read up more about experiences here with it since I basically told myself I wouldn't do it. If my case got any worse I could imagine myself considering it however. Wish I had better advice. Perhaps try some supplements to improve your erections such as citrulline, ginseng, and pine bark. Keep up the traction and VED.

[RhinoRy]

So had an appt last night to discuss my treatment options...

It was a very helpful and insightful appointment. My doctor says that he has treated hundreds of men with Xiaflex... However, he told me he has never used it on someone with hourglass deformity. He said he would recommend Verapamil injections before Xiaflex for hourglass. Interesting. He also said Verapamil side effect profile is much lower... that was relieving.

We both agreed after discussing more thoroughly that VED and traction would be a good option to pursue. I will remeasure again in 4 months to see how it's going. I know it might take longer than that to see results but we'll see what 4 months brings.

Bummed... regarding the Cipro. Cipro is known to cause connective tissue problems and the fact that this popped up right after it happened makes me suspicious. Although, I do have to say that I also took flagyl and oral vancomycin for the c-diff infection I had. I noticed peyronies after taking all of these different antibiotics so theoretically, if a medicine did cause it, it could have been any of them. But if you were going to the casino and had to bet on one of those three causing it, you would bet cipro every day of the week given its side effect profile. I also found some threads on the forum of other guys who were suspicious that their peyronies was cipro induced.  

[bummedout]

So it actually wasn't Stahl that I had the bad experience with.  I was thinking of Mulhall.  I've been to so many doctors that I'm getting them confused now.  Sorry about that.  I did go to Stahl also though, and he also recommended Verapamil, which I thought was a little behind on the times noting how few people you hear having success with it.

I can understand how you think the Cipro might be suspect though Rhino.