Reproductive Systems Are Greatly Affected by Diabetes

A woman’s normal reproductive system can be hindered from working correctly and severely damaged by diabetes. When a woman’s reproductive system is working properly, healthy egg cells are produced.

If the woman chooses not to conceive at the time, then a normal menstruation cycle occurs and the process will begin again the following month. If the woman chose pregnancy, when the egg cells are produced, they’re then fertilized within the fallopian tubes.

Once fertilization is complete, if all is well, the egg travels to the uterus and is attached. These steps depend on how healthy the system is. When the egg is viable and the system is healthy, then the end result will be a pregnancy.

If the reproductive system is impacted by diabetes, it can be hindered from working correctly. If enough damage from diabetes has been done, it can make everything from having a regular or normal menstrual cycle to ovulating to conception difficult or even improbable.

Some women have conditions as a direct result of diabetes that can completely stop their monthly cycle, so the reproductive system’s processes are interrupted. One of the many interruptions that can happen with the reproductive system when you have diabetes is that the disease can directly affect the hormones.

These hormones can also impact your glucose levels, so it can become a cycle that interrupts every reproductive process that’s supposed to occur. For example, the disease can affect the glucose that then affects testosterone in both men and women.

When a woman has low testosterone as a result of diabetes, not only will she lack sex drive, but she’ll also have trouble with other hormones associated with reproduction. A man’s reproductive hormones are also affected by diabetes.

When that happens, men will experience some of the symptoms of menopause when they have diabetes associated damage to their reproductive system. They can experience flashes of heat and can have the sweats.

They may also have fatigue or a lack of interest in intimacy. They may also experience mood swings as if they were experiencing a monthly cycle. The loss of testosterone can cause their breast tissue to grow and they can end up developing breasts.

They may also experience other signs of reproductive system damage such as gaining fat in the midsection. Men who have diabetes, especially if the glucose levels aren’t controlled, can face some or all of that list of reproductive problems.

However, one of the main issues that affects men with diabetes is erectile dysfunction. That’s because the disease can cause damage to the nerves or blood flow in the male reproductive system.

This can lead to weakness with erections. When they experience problems maintaining an erection, most men don’t realize that this can be a sign of uncontrolled diabetes. They’re also unaware that if they practice good diabetes management, the problem will resolve when the blood sugars are normalized.

Sometimes, if it’s extensive, the damage that’s already been done due to the diabetes cannot be reversed - but the good news is that getting the disease under control can stop the condition from getting worse. 

Diabetes can also cause other health issues in the reproductive organs of both men and women, which can sometimes greatly impact fertility. For women, one of the issues that diabetes is linked to is problems with the ovaries.

Without good ovarian health, it can wreak havoc on a women’s entire reproductive system. It can cause erratic or zero ovulation. Diabetes can lead to high androgen levels and it also cause arrested development of follicles.

This then causes the eggs that are released to be inferior. That’s followed by a further inability to conceive. Most women who have diabetes understand that if their disease is not well controlled, it can result in reproductive system problems - including limiting their chances of getting pregnant.

But what they and their partner may not realize is that diabetes can also damage the DNA in sperm, which can cause difficulty with conception. Many couples are unaware that high levels of glucose could be the root cause of the fertility issues they may be experiencing.

There’s a reason that diabetes affects male fertility. In a reproductive study, high glucose levels were shown to be the cause of damage within a man’s sperm DNA. This damage raises infertility odds.

In a healthy man, the body would naturally work to repair any DNA that’s damaged. But the body’s ability to repair its DNA is weakened when someone has diabetes. Because of this, the sperm cannot be made viable again.

So men who have uncontrolled diabetes can then be infertile. The study also showed that when the DNA is damaged by diabetes, if a pregnancy does somehow occur, there’s another risk.

This risk is a higher-than-normal chance of having a miscarriage. The study also showed that when men or women are obese, the diabetes can affect the ability of the sperm to reach the egg for fertilization.

Diabetes can also affect sperm density and the lower a man’s count, the greater the difficulty in conceiving. Diabetes doesn’t have to cause problems with the reproductive system and it doesn’t have to cause fertility issues. But unless it’s managed correctly, it will do just that and worse.