Diabetes - Causes Of Erectile Dysfunction: Mens Sexual Health

Content provided by the Faculty of the Harvard Medical School

Diabetes

Men with diabetes are twice as likely to experience erectile dysfunction as men without the disease, making diabetes one of the most common causes of erectile dysfunction. Diabetic men also confront this problem at younger ages than men in the general population. Both forms of diabetes — type 1 and type 2 — increase the risk. Among men with diabetes, erectile dysfunction usually develops gradually over a period of months or years. At first, the erection may not be as rigid as it once was or, perhaps, cannot be sustained. Sometimes erectile dysfunction is the first sign that a man has diabetes.

Diabetes can cause erectile dysfunction in at least two ways: It can harm the nerves that instruct the arteries in the penis to dilate, and it can restrict blood flow to the penis by damaging blood vessels. People with diabetes often have high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and high blood sugar — all conditions that can further impair blood vessels and blood flow.

Carefully controlling blood sugar can help prevent the vascular and neurological complications that contribute to erectile dysfunction. One study of men with diabetes and erection problems found that the worse their blood sugar control, the more their sex lives suffered.

Many men with diabetes can take Viagra and related drugs. Early studies found that these medications seemed to be less effective when erectile dysfunction was diabetes-related than when it had other causes. However, more recent studies suggest that's not necessarily true. In any case, other therapies — including drugs in injection or suppository form, vacuum erection devices, and penile prostheses — work well in men with diabetes.

Last updated:	September 05, 2008