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Tamoxifen Peyronie's Treatment

Tamoxifen Peyronie's treatment may inhibit inflammation responses in Peyronie's disease. However, there is more serious health risk involved than in any other oral Peyronie's treatment.

In this article I will explain how Tamoxifen works, the benefits of using Tamoxifen as Peyronie's disease treatment, possible side effects, and references to scientific studies.

What Is Tamoxifen?

Tamoxifen is FDA approved treatment for breast cancer.

The female hormone estrogen can promote the development of cancer in the breasts. Tamoxifen blocks the activity of estrogen and as such can prevent / stop the growth of breast cancer.

How Does Tamoxifen Work For Peyronie's Disease?

Tamoxifen is thought to inhibit inflammation responses in Peyronie's disease.

Tamoxifen for Peyronie's should always be prescribed by a doctor. The recommended dosage is 20 mg twice a day, taken with food to minimize stomach upset.

Most reputable Peyronie's specialists recommend using Tamoxifen for Peyronie's for maximum period of 3 months.

What Are The Tamoxifen Benefits?

Tamoxifen has the convenience of a tablet and is available as generic drug. As such it can be low cost oral Peyronie's treatment option.

What Are The Tamoxifen Side Effects?

Tamoxifen tends to be fairly well tolerated but if not, then the Tamoxifen side effects can be severe.

The most common Tamoxifen side effects include gastrointestinal distress and hair loss (alopecia). Men who take Tamoxifen may experience headaches, nausea / vomiting, skin rash and impotence / decrease in sexual interest.

Some Tamoxifen side effects are more serious though and can risk your overall health, i.e. vision problems, bleeding and muscle weakness.

Is There Any Health Risk Involved
In Using Tamoxifen For Peyronie's Disease?

There is an overall warning for using Tamoxifen as it may cause cancer, stroke and / or blood clots in the lungs. These conditions are serious and may be fatal.

It is therefore vital that you advice your doctor if you have ever had a stroke, heart attack or blood clot in the lungs or legs.

You also need to be aware of Tamoxifen drug interactions, especially if you are taking any blood thinning medication. Always advice your doctor about all medication you are, or have been recently taking, before starting Tamoxifen Peyronie's treatment.

The Results Of Using Tamoxifen For Peyronie's Disease

The evidence for efficacy in reducing penile curvature, penis pain and plaque size are generally considered unconvincing. However, men in the early phase of the disease may see more improvements than those with more advanced disease.

Scientific Support For Tamoxifen Peyronie's Treatment

Scientific Tamoxifen studies have not shown any convincing evidence for its effectiveness. Study that evaluated the effects of oral Tamoxifen and placebo in patients with Peyronie's disease concluded:

This study did not show significant improvement in pain, curvature or plaque size in patients with Peyronie's disease who were treated with tamoxifen compared with those treated with placebo(PubMed - 1999)

While another study showed that Acetyl-L-Carnitine notably outperformed Tamoxifen in treating Peyronie's disease. See my article on using Acetyl-L-Carnitine as oral treatment for Peyronie’s disease.

My Personal Experience
And Opinion Of Using Tamoxifen For Peyronie's

I have no personal experience of using Tamoxifen for Peyronie's disease.

The limited results and the serious health risk means I personally would not opt for Tamoxifen Peyronie's treatment. I cannot see its worth the risk involved and feel other options are more promising, e.g. the Three Approach Nonsurgical Treatments recommended by Dr. Levine.




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Comments On This Article

  1. Dougk8 April 14th, 2014

    I am in my early stage of Peyronies, my doctor has prescribed for me Tamoxifen 20 mg twice a day in junction with Cialis 5mg thrice a day and then advised me to use a vacuum device for 20 minutes a day. His philosophy is we need to stretch the penis in the opposite direction of the fibrosis by making the penis in erection mode when using Cialis and relying on Tamoxifen to soften the mentioned fibrosis. My Peyronie is a bit rare, it hit me just below the glans which made only the head of the penis to bend.

    I read the article above and had to admit that I am now concerned by the side effect, my doctor did not mention them at all, he just asked my question about my heart and blood pressure, but never mentioned anything to do with the decrease of sexual interest nor hair loss, etc.

    If you are a doctor and able to advise me whether I go ahead with the prescribed treatment, I would very much grateful for you.
    Thank you for sharing your experience.

    • BirgirJuly 12th, 2017

      Dear Dani,

      Thank you for your e-mail. I want to start by emphasizing that I'm not a medical doctor (as stated on my website). I can therefore not advise you on medical issues, you will have to see your doctor for that. I can only advice you generally, as a "friend" and fellow sufferer. I cannot and should not tell you what treatment to have, I can only talk about the options I think worth exploring further with your doctor.All medication has some potential side effects. It is important to be aware of them in advance. Firstly, to be able evaluate the “benefit-risk-ratio”, i.e. do the potential benefit outweigh the potential risk. Secondly, to be able to recognize side effects quickly if you do experience them.

      As said in my article, Tamoxifen tends to be fairly well tolerated so for men in good health the risk may be relatively low. However, for those that experience side effects they can have quite severe reactions. So you may want to discuss this with your doctor prior to starting your treatment. Hopefully he can put your mind at rest but if you are not comfortable with using Tamoxifen after talking to him then there may be other options, e.g. Pentoxifylline.

      To my best knowledge Tamoxifen is not used much anymore to treat men with Peyronie’s disease (I have not heard from anyone before having Tamoxifen treatment). Of the doctors that I have interviewed only one is using it and Dr. Levine actually does not recommend using it.

      In my experience and based on my research I believe traction devices work better than penis pumps to correct penile curvature but pumps work better to improve erection quality. However, because of the location of your curvature you may not be able to use traditional or directional traction devices like Andropeyronie. However, you might be able to use Phallosan as it pulls from the glans, not from below the glans like the others do (hope this makes sense). Another thing you may want to discuss with your doctor.

      I hope this is of some help and I wish you all the best with your treatment.

      Kind regards,

      Birgir

    JG August 9th, 2017

    Good afternoon , I recently suffered a minor-penis fracture which made my "cured" PD return (damn!) . I had previously been treated with Xiaplex injections (3) each over 6 week periods. My specialist (David Ralph) in London recently put me on Tamoxifen for 6 weeks to hopefully reduce the internal swelling etc. After 3 weeks I can attest to the stomach / gastro side effects. Most unpleasant indeed.

    The plan is to use Xiaplex again if the Tamoxifen works....which after 3 weeks (20mg x 2 per day) shows very little success thus far. The internal swelling is still prevelant and tender. As an aside, of all the doctors I have seen (4) in 3 different countries (I have homes in 3 , so I've not sought out specialists) ALL are agreed that low testosterone / mild depression is the common causal thread in this affliction....

    • BirgirAugust 9th, 2017

      Dear JG,

      I'm very sorry to hear that your Peyronie's has recurred. That’s very unlucky. But good to hear that you are already taken action and you are in good hands with Dr. Ralph (one of the most experienced Peyronie’s expert in the UK).

      Many doctors are now looking at testosterone levels as part of their Peyronie’s treatment but not heard about depression playing part in this affliction before. Interesting!

      I wish you all the best with your treatment and hope you will not have to have more injections. I also hope you will keep us posted about your progress.

      Kind regards,

      Birgir

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Hello, I'm Birgir

This website is based on my experience of Peyronie's disease