Depression Raises Impotence Risk in Diabetics

The stresses of daily diabetes care and the management of your health can build until its explosive. You may feel alone or set apart from your friends and family because of all the extra work involved in maintaining your health and the differences in what you can and can not do at social events. You may turn down invitations from friends or family members to these social events so that you won’t have to “be different” in their presence.


If you face diabetes complications such as nerve damage, or if you have trouble keeping your blood sugar levels where they need to be, you may feel like you're losing control of your diabetes. Even tension between you and your doctor may have you feeling frustrated. All of these things can cause depression in diabetics. It is thought that of the five million men that have diabetes, half of them have depression symptoms.

Depression can get you into a vicious cycle. It can hinder good diabetes self-care. If you are depressed and have no energy, chances are you will find such tasks as regular blood sugar testing too much to handle. If you feel so anxious that you can't think straight, it will be hard to keep up with a good diet or you may just not feel like eating at all. This will affect your blood sugar levels as well.

Men who have had diabetes often experience various types of sexual dysfunction. Causes include high blood pressure, hardening of the arteries and a type of nerve damage called autonomic neuropathy. Now researchers report that depression is also a leading risk factor for impotence in diabetic men.

Erectile dysfunction, or impotence, as it is more commonly called, is the repeated inability to get or keep an erection firm enough for sexual intercourse. The word impotence may also be used to describe other problems that interfere with sexual intercourse and reproduction, such as lack of sexual desire and problems with ejaculation or orgasm.

It has been found that men with few depression symptoms and good control of glucose (glycohemoglobin A1C at or below 8 percent) had the lowest rate of impotence. Compared to them, men who had many depression symptoms and were on insulin therapy were three times more likely to suffer from impotence.

The researchers found that psychological as well as physical problems could contribute to impotence.
Some signs to watch for if you think you may have depression are loss of pleasure; no longer taking interest in things you enjoy. A change in your sleep patterns (unable to fall asleep or stay asleep), a change in your appetite (weigh gain or loss), trouble concentrating (can’t focus on TV or a book), a loss of energy (tired all the time), guilt (worrying that you are a burden to others), nervousness (you feel anxious and can’t sit still) and suicidal thoughts.

If you decide to try an antidepressant drug, talk to the psychiatrist and your primary care provider about the side effects, including how it might affect your blood sugar levels. Many people do well with a combination of medication and psychotherapy and can have a healthy and normal sexual life again.