Diabetes is a long term chronic disease that occurs when the pancreas (a small gland in your body) doesn’t produce enough insulin or your body is unable to effectively use the produced insulin. As a result, the sugar level in your body is increased. And you have a higher risk of several health issues like stroke and heart attack.
As per experts at the Best IVF clinic in Bangalore, diabetes cannot affect male fertility. However, the issues caused by diabetes can affect your fertility, if you do not control your diabetes for years. Here are some problems that can cause infertility in men:
Erectile Dysfunction (ED)
Erectile dysfunction is usually linked with diabetes. As a diabetic patient, you can feel difficulties to have or maintain the erection in your penis while having sex with your female partner. It happens with you due to reduced blood circulation in your genital organ area. You will face penile erection issues if you have diabetes for a longer period or you do nothing to control your diabetes. You have an increased risk of erectile dysfunction if you have high:
- Sugar level in your blood
- Cholesterol
- Blood pressure
Delayed ejaculation
Due to bad diabetic health, the nerves in your penis get damaged. And due to this, you can have ejaculation problems. Damaged nerves have a lack of sensitivity and it can affect your ability to ejaculate. You can have delayed ejaculation issues due to:
- Psychological problems like stress and anxiety
- Age
- Certain medication
Retrograde ejaculation
Neuropathy applied to treat diabetes can make you have retrograde ejaculation. It occurs to you when the nerves are unable to control the bladder muscles from closing at the time of ejaculation. As a result, the semen enters the bladder instead of getting out from your penis while having sex with your female or masterbation. It cannot cause any health issues to you. However, it affects your ability to make your female partner pregnant.
Reduced sperm quality
Your diabetes can lead you to have poor sperm quality. However, there is no bad impact on the motility of your sperm and fertility. As per the available studies, obesity has a direct link with poor sperm concentration. And due to this, you may not make your female partner conceive a child.
Hypogonadism (low testosterone)
According to a few studies, one out of 4 men with type 2 diabetes has low levels of testosterone hormones. If your testosterone levels are lower, you are highly prone to issues like erectile dysfunction, low sperm count, and low libido. And as a result, your fertility can go down and you could not become a father of a child conventionally.
Suggest to Read:- What are the chances of having twins through IVF?
What should you do?
You should live a highly active life and avoid the sedentary one. To be aware of your risk of diabetes, you should keep tracking your blood sugar level regularly. If you have diabetes, you need to control it so that it cannot turn into type 2 diabetes. Here are some useful steps that you should take:
- Take your medicines to control diabetes as per your doctor’s instructions
- Avoid foods that can trigger your blood sugar levels
- Be physically active. Go for morning walk or run for 30 minutes a day if you can’t do workouts of high intensity
- Meditate or practise deep breathing to manage your stress
- Stay away from smoking and alcoholic beverages
Conclusion
As a chronic disease, diabetes affects your general as well reproductive health. If not treated or managed well, it can lead you to have issues like erectile dysfunction, ejaculation problems, and poor sperm. And due to these issues, you can have infertility. By managing your diabetes and following a healthy lifestyle, you can keep your fertility unaffected.
