Diabetes Risk for Men

Men with diabetes face several health concerns, including increased risk of heart attacks and strokes and impotence (not being able to have or keep an erection).

Above the age of 50, the likelihood of having difficulties with an erection occurs in approximately 50-60% of men with diabetes. In men over 70, 90% have erectile dysfunction problems (link to diabetes and ED page)

Diagnosed and controlled, diabetes can be successfully managed to minimise its impact on health and well being. You can prevent or delay diabetes complications like damage to eye sight and nerve damage to fingers and toes. However many men do not realise they suffer from the disease. Around one third of the men with diabetes are not aware of their illness.

Diabetes Signs and Symptoms

If you find yourself with any of the following symptoms, it is important you visit your doctor or health practitioner and get tested for diabetes:
• feeling tired
• frequent urination (especially at night)
• being very thirsty
• weight loss
• blurry eyesight
• recurring skin, gum, or bladder infections
• sores that heal slowly
• dry, itchy skin
• loss of feeling or tingling in your feet

Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes

There are different kinds of diabetes:
• Type 1 diabetes is usually first diagnosed in children, teenagers, or young adults.
• Type 2 diabetes is the most common form of diabetes. People can develop it at any age, but it is often diagnosed in later life and is commonly found in men who are over weight and do little exercise.

What is Diabetes?

Most of the food we eat is turned into glucose (sugar) for our bodies to use for energy. The pancreas makes insulin, which helps sugar get into the cells. When you have diabetes, your body either doesn’t make enough insulin or can’t use the insulin it does make. This causes sugar to build up in your blood. Over the years, high blood sugar leads to problems like heart disease, stroke, blindness, kidney disease, nerve problems, gum infections, and amputations.

Diabetes-Related Problems in Men

Men with diabetes suffer more from some diabetes-related health problems than women. The American Diabetes Association reports that:
• In people who develop diabetes before the age of 30, men develop retinopathy (a vision disorder that can lead to blindness) more quickly than women.
• Having the main symptoms of peripheral vascular disease (pain in the thigh, calf, or buttocks during exercise) is linked to a two- to three-fold increased risk of coronary heart disease, stroke, or cardiac failure in men with diabetes.• Amputation rates from diabetes-related problems are 1.4 to 2.7 times higher in men than women with diabetes.