ThailandBound wrote:I hear you. I get it. 8 1/2 months postop here.
I think not enough is said about how cycling is more than just a daily task or time-consuming nuisance.
It is physical therapy. Physical therapy hurts. When others write that the pain is a warning sign, i’ll differentiate here.
Pain that is very uncomfortable versus acute pain. An acute pain, stabbing and intense is not what we’re looking for. But the kind of pain that makes you breathe with slow determination and gut-clench a bit, that’s where it’s at.
Years ago i had a surgically repaired compound fracture of my elbow in a skydiving accident. After surgery i could barely flex my arm at the elbow. Only a few inches. 3 times a week i swallowed hard and went to a physical therapist for stretching of the elbow. At first it was just beyond the post surgical “set point” and as my therapist, a large amply endowed “Helga” type of woman put my elbow in the table and my wrist between her ample breasts….then LEANED in to bend the arm, i though i was going to die.
I wriggled around, cussed, and submitted to it. GRADUALLY the set-point improved, and she would go further and further with each difficult session. She knew the right pain level, and stopped short of acute and excruciating. But just barely. In time, i got 90% of motion back.
I took this experience into cycling my implant. There is a surgical capsule you’re trying to avoid, and length you’re trying to restore, on a penis that has had a corporotomy. Your dick has been traumatized and wants to recoil from it by trying to hide, shrink back from the trauma, and heal in its own way. You can’t let it. You must cycle.
I get it also that you’re supposed to follow YOUR doctors advice. So, do that. For what it’s worth, here’s my experience:
At 6 weeks, after being inflated 50%, i commenced cycling. Twice a day. I’d pump up to “uncomfortable” and leave it there for :30. If i couldn’t handle :30, i’d back off. Whatever it took to be both uncomfortable and able to handle the time without ACUTE pain. At the :30 minute point i’d do the Perito exercises and squeeze until i i got the gut-churning level of pain, short of acute. I’d literally set a timer and watch that fucker for a full :5 minutes. Rapping my knuckles on the table. At EXACTLY 5 minutes i could wait to press the relief valve. Twice daily.
Doing this i felt the tips pressing hard into the glans and in no way would i have been able to enjoy sex at this level.
Just like my elbow, the “set point” to 90% began to change over time. This is very subjective.
I still do the above to this day. The big difference is that i gained all my length back, plus some. Girthier than ever before. I can keep it at 90% for a full hour now, and it’s this level i have sex….without pain. My 90% now, at 8 1/2 months is bigger and much more comfortable than my 90% in the earliest days.
It also helps when i push it past 90% to max to get into a VERY hot shower and soak my dick in the hot stream. It helps.
There are those here who will advocate for a more gentle approach, but for me this aggressive approach has led me to a good place now.
Just like the therapy on my elbow and my own personal cycling regimen, the worst is over.
It will be for you too. Don’t forget the Ibuprofen or Tylenol. Some suggest taking it in advance.
ThailandBound hit the nail on the head, there are some guys that don't have a lot of pain but we did. I had very similar pain that ThailandBound had, it would get very painful right around the 20 to 30 minute mark when I would inflate to the max.
I did a variation with Perito's stretching exercises also. I would get in a very warm tub of water enough to cover everything. I would pump up to around 70 percent and bend my Dick up and down and side to side for about 5 minutes and then pump it up to the max and see how long I could last. This was on top of what the doc wanted me to do with cycling in the shower for 20 minutes twice a day.
As ThailandBound said, you are trying to get your Dick to stretch as much as you can before the surgical capsule becomes permanent.
Everything starting getting better at 4 to 6 months where I could go 45 minutes to an hour without tears in my eyes.
I'm at 22 months now and I can leave it inflated to the max for more than 1.5 hours without any discomfort, I haven't tired more time than that.
I still cycle every day in the shower to the max and I keep it inflated to the max while I shave.
I had talked to one of my FrankTalk friends the last couple of days on the phone and he had slacked off on cycling and then he tried cycling for an hour and he said it hurt like heck, so he's going to start cycling again.
The first time my wife and I had sex, it was painful and awkward. I tried pumping it up ahead of time, so I would be ready for foreplay and boy was that a mistake for me at 8 weeks, my Dick was throbbing the next day. I emailed my doc and he said just to take baby steps and don't overdo it. Believe me, it keeps getting better every week. I can now pump it up ahead of time, have foreplay, have sex and still not have any pain afterwards.
Good Luck,
Keep cycling,
Don't worry if the first time isn't great,
S-Works