Take it from someone who has had the disease for 51 years; keeping your
blood sugars under control is very important in maintaining a good sexual relationship. Many low blood sugar episodes (HYPOGLYMECIA) can have a devastating affect on sexual performance and relationship and each time you have one; takes that much longer to recover. This applies to women as well as men.
Sure there are mediciations out there to help you; however your diabetes always has the upper hand especially when you let it go out of control.
Had a low last weekend during the act. Talk about a MAJOR buzz-kill!! It’s certainly a topic that’s worthy of discussion, and sharing ideas. I guess we can’t stress enough - test before you plan on doing anything! And if need be, eat some M&Ms! (I hear the green ones are the best) before engaging in sex.
I can only imagine how embarrassing it would have been for me if I weren’t married. Ugh! The horror!
Darn right it’s worthy of discussion. Please have a look at this:
http://www.diabetesmine.com/2008/01/from-the-mailba.html
Best,
AmyT
Hello James:
Diabetes complications IMO are “basic damage control” 101, for any of us. We all do the very best we can to whatever degree that might be. I think of them all like a warship on fire.
I have never “let it” get anything… ever. In spite of my decades of very, very best efforts, I’ve got complicatons potentially with some awfully HUGE freakin teeth. Stupid tiny things that may or may not progress further… my zealous efforts to date have apparently “prevented” nothing… I’ve got em and not happy in the least!
Now lets get to the heart of the matter.
I ask openly how do you tell if your sex life is being effected by the “Diabetes” or whether it is LIFE that’s messing with your mind, and therefore effecting your parts??? Whether we’re talking about erection problems or orgasm, basic lubrication… whatever yours or my issues might be.
I ask is it important to distinguish the cause or merely RUN quickly to the doctor and go DOOOOOOOOOOOC think there might be a problem here??? What gives/gave you the clue… IHYO-IYHE
Stuart
I agree:) Control is the most important thing when it comes to diabetes:) Blood Sugar Control=Good Sex life:)
I was “single” for an awful lot of years, that mean my sugar was actually lousy (I just didn’t know???) to account for it [LOL]
Stuart
sex is exercise, follow same precautions
Hi Rainbowgoddess.
I’ve been T1 for 44 years. I recently discovered two things about my body. 1) my asthma is brought on by eating soy (which is used as a filler in EVERYTHING) and 2) low blood sugars will bring on an asthma attack. Joslin Diabetes Research Center has been doing studies on the link between asthma attacks and low blood sugars. Checking the bg’s before and after “the act” is probably your best bet. And check out the soy allergy issue - evidently it’s not the wonder food Americans have made it out to be. Since I stopped eating it my asthma is almost non-existent except when those lows come along.
Best,
Bob
Hello Steve:
Amen and may the sweat flow freely : 9
Stuart
Erectile Dysfunction (inability to sustain erection) is a very common disorder which most men face in there life at some stage for one reason or the other like high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, fatigue, stress, physical injuries, smoking and alcohol consumption. The exact reason can only be judged by a specialist and only then one should use the medicines prescribed. You can have the information on ED and ED related drugs on http://www.levitrabliss.com .
Levitra is a FDA approved drug and is used to cure erectile dysfunction in male. This medicine helps in treating impotency and ED disorders in men suffering from risky medical conditions like high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes.
As A T1 for 23 years now, I find it hard to make a clear distinction btwn. T1 and life in general. I truly deon’t mean to be so forthright,or in some peopeles minds distagusting…but before I had my hysterctomy, I used to think about (while still being very vigilent and responsible for my life) sex and food, sex and food. After surgery I found my self thinking about food, food and more food. I have always been lucky in that I have never had an Ha1c more than 7. Now I am 43 and quite frankly, don’t think enough about either one of those subjects…most likely.
I feel bad for you guys, in that it is more obvious the toll this and other factors take on our personal well being. I guess maybe you do the ole I’m just not in the mood, or whatever. No bitterness, honestly, I can just see how each sex struggles in these sensitive areas.
Just everybody out there struggling with these delimahs, you are not alone.
Cheers
Hmm… I found your post a little confusing. I think we all know that HYPOglycemia will kill an erection pretty easily, but I seem to recover just fine once my glucose gets back to normal. Also, “devastating” is such a big word. When I had a girlfriend I just said, “sorry babe… gotta get some juice” and though it was disappointing it wasn’t a “devastating” event.
It’s HYPERglycemia, over a long period of time, that can lead to more permanent problems.
Am I wrong in this? Or have others noticed that repeated HYPOglycemia leads to longer recovery times?
Best cross-training" I’ve ever done. Need to get into more of a regular workout routine, though…
Seriously, I’ve been a Type 1 for ca. 12 years and have only once had a hypo event interrupt a coitus event. Maybe I just got lucky…(bad pun intended). 
Mike
I don’t think your necessarily wrong, its hard to be when it comes to recovery of complications from Diabetes. In other words, i have come across several people in my life with Diabetes and my experiences from low or high BS are different in small ways from theres. Just like low blood sugar, which I don’t believe happens often for me, affects me tremendously when it comes to my sex life.
But on the same hand, when I exercise my blood sugar increases instead of decreases so I have to account for different things before I exercise.
Bottom line is that I am glad we all have the opportunity to discuss these types of issues as they are important to each and every one of us in some form or fashion.
There is a book called “Sex and Diabetes” by Janis Roszler. It was published by the ADA this year, I think. Janis has written three books for diabetics and she is also a CDE and an RD. I like her books. Janis also has her own diabetes website with a support forum and chat room.
my boyfriend is really cool about lows during the act. But i have also freaked some people out and we couldnt finish the deed. You also have to be careful of high bs because that could make sex not so great too. Learned that one the hard way.
not wrong you are right. I am women so im not sure about the erection part but i had problems when my bs is high instead of low.
I am glad I found this post. It was hard finding a place to talk about sex and having diabetes. I agree 100% with James! It is all about keeping your blood sugar under control. I have HYPERglycemia and I cannot get an erection with out the help of erectile dysfunction medications I still try to find the best alternatives for impotence. How many of you take meds for ED. personally I take levitra my doctor recommended it and said it is better than the other two, levitra helps free up the blocked arteries allowing blood to flow to the penis. These two sites have been helpful when it comes to Diabetes and Levitra www.levitra.com/diabetes.html and this cool support forum for Levitra and men whith diabetes http://www.edguider.com/. If anyone here also has the same issues as I go I would love to hear what you do to treat it and any information would help.
Thanks. Shiny
hmm…
I have spent some quality time with this issue over the last few years.
Really in the end control is the king. Especially for men, and ED. ED is generally caused by problems with the inability to synthesize NitricOxide, a gas that signals the smooth muscles to relax. It is made in the endothelial layer of the arteries. Low blood sugar episodes damage the layer. If you stop making enough NO you are in a lot of trouble fast, as it is also used to maintain good cardio health as well. There are actually fortunately it appears ways to fix, keep your sugars in range, excorsize, eat good food ( lots of greens ) and keep you cholesterol under control. Just like neuropathy it takes time to fix, but with enough focus it can be done.
High blood sugars increase the build up of glycoprotines on cell walls. This takes the elasticity out of arteries and veins. Not good, and I am not sure what the trick would be to get that back under control…
Supplements, can help a bit.
Yohimbe, pycnogenol and others are anti inflammatory and help boost blood flow, usually by increasing NO production. They are worth checking out… I have had pretty good luck with them.
How I got here?
Back in 03 I got Bells Palsy, a great weight loss program, since you start out not being able to eat and eventually just don’t want to. I lost about 40 lbs in 3 months. I was losing fast enough that keeping up with the dosage changes ( Regular and Lente Humalog ) was difficult. I had plenty of lows… In the end I was skinny, looked great and my blood pressure and cholesterol were great. But, some parts of me stopped working. I knew this was bad, and that it was bad for more than just recreational reasons. So, I started reading and trying everything. I am in lots better shape now but, a low blood sugar episode in the after noon can still ruin the evening.
Hypoglycemia will stop the motion in its tracks. But that’s what breaks are for I guess. It happens. It’s happened to me. As long as partner is understanding, shouldn’t be too much of a problem.