Hi there! Thank you for your question. Diabetes can also present with its complications. These complications can be divided to 2 categories; macrovascular (affecting the big organs such as the heart) and microvascular (affecting blood vessels and nerve or various organs in the body).

Examples of this complications includes:

• skin infections
• damage to the eyes where it will present with poor eyesight or detected during a visit to the optician (damage to blood vessels to the eye)
• erectile dysfunction (due to damage in nerves and blood vessels)
• kidney problems (patients will usually present with frothy urine)
• heart attack (diabetes increases the risk of heart attack)
• tingling sensation or numbness in the feet (due to nerve damage)

This also can cause unwanted cuts and bruises as the person is unaware of the accident. Besides the numbness, diabetes can also cause poor healing of the wound and cuts and this will eventually lead to infection. Erectile dysfunction is common among diabetic men.

For an erection to occur, men need healthy blood vessels, nerves, male hormones, and a desire to be sexually stimulated. Diabetes can damage the blood vessels and nerves that controls erection. Eventhough you have normal amounts of sex hormones (usually unaffected in diabetes) and the urge to have sex is there, you still may not be able to have a firm erection.

There are several ways to overcome this such as:

• stop smoking
• eat a clean and diabetic friendly diet
• exercise
• lose weight
• limit alcohol
• take your medications or insulin on time
• seek counseling or sex therapy
• vacuum pump
• intracavernous injection therapy (medication you inject into the base or side of your penis)
• intraurethral therapy (tiny suppository you insert into the tip of your penis before sex)
• penile prostheses
• oral medications such as Viagra, Cialis, Adcirca, Levitra, Staxyn or Stendra.

These medication are vasodilator and they help ease blood to your penis achieving a firmer and stronger erection. Consult your urologist to get a method most suited for you.

Please click on this link (DoctorOnCall) to talk to us privately online and discuss further about your symptoms and treatment needed. Thank you.