Some weeks ago now I noticed a hard, painless lump developing in the palm of my left hand. I knew immediately what it was, as I have had Peyronies now for almost five years.

In the last few weeks, I have been experiencing intermittent, but sharp stabbing pains in the afflicted hand. Also, I get periodic tingling and numbness in the hand, especially at night.

The question I would like answering is this: is it worth seeing a doctor about this at this stage, as I know from my experience with peyronies that although there is no cure, in the early inflammatory stages, drugs such as Potaba are sometimes recommended. Personally, I am rather sceptical about anything halting its progress once it starts (again, my experience with peyronies is relevant here).

The big difference I have noticed with regard to the pain accompanying DC and PD is that in the former it seems to come and go regardless of whether my hand is at rest, whereas in the latter it is triggered by a specific event - i.e. an erection, due to damaged erectile tissue in the tunica which can no longer stretch in response to blood flows into the penis. I have never had pain when my organ is in its flaccid state.

John:

You are doing the wise thing to monitor this at the earliest stages and do what you can do prevent rapid advance. I've had nodules for about 25 years, slowly progressing but not advancing to contractures. I avoid vitamin C, take large quantities of vitamin E, take lecithin, use vitimin E oil, etc. I've avoided any injections in the nodules, preferring to deal with them as they are rather than risk aggravating the situation by the trauma of injection. Good luck to you.

Tom M

The vitamin E oil definitely makes it feel better. Whether it inhibits the progression, only a controlled study could establish. It may be that the benefit comes from just the oil, and the vitamin E doesn't do anything.

Sean:

I understand the science behind the published studies. I also understand that the literature only reflects what is measured across a cohort, and not individuals.

Reflecting on the many exchanges I have read between you and others regarding NA and surgery, I am even more convinced that what works for one does not work for all. I tried to make that clear in my earlier post. I believe there is some value in anecdotal statements regarding personal experiences. After all, your statements on your surgery are anecdotal. Please extend that idea to alternative treatments.

Blind tests that are inconclusive do not prove that there were no positive results. They only prove that, in the sample population sample, the total differences were not statistically significant.

I frequently review scientific articles in my field....biology. Beware of drawing conclusions about any study from an abstract as Sean does. Abstracts can be misleading. For example, Seans citing of Hurst and Badalamente states: "Most of these therapies have not proven to be clinically useful". Also: "enzymatic fasciotomy using collagenase injection has shown encouraging results." Some other therapies may be clinically useful as well, but we will not know until we have access to the entire article.