DIABETES

 Can Diabetes Affect Fertility in Men and Women?

If you have been trying hard to get pregnant for some time – you might have done a cleanse, started a fertility diet and stopped all the harmful habits like smoking, to no avail – it could be time for a simple blood sugar test to tell you what the exact problem is. The numbers of Type I and Type II diabetes patients have been rising over the years, and this has resulted in more scientists, researchers and doctor being encouraged to check whether diabetes can be a leading cause of infertility in men.

How Does Diabetes Affect Male Fertility?

Can diabetes cause infertility in males? The answer is that diabetes could be one of the causes of infertility in men. Having diabetes doesn’t make you inevitably infertile, although it could make you less fertile in a few manners. Diabetic men are frequently found to have a few sexual issues, like retrograde ejaculation and erectile dysfunction. This can result in problems while trying to conceive, and a loss of interest in sex after a few tries.

Also, the sperm quality of diabetic men has been found to be lower than that of a normal man. This was found in a study which compared the sperm quality between diabetic men being treated for infertility and normal men being treated for infertility. The results were astounding – it was seen that diabetic men have lower semen levels by almost 25% compared to their infertile non-diabetic counterparts, and the sperm within had a lot more DNA damage. Nuclear DNA present in the sperm of the man was 20% higher than that in the ordinary man, a lot more deletions in the mitochondrial DNA and so on.

How Does Diabetes Affect Female Fertility?

Diabetes of both kinds can cause infertility issues in women. However, the woman can get pregnant after proper glycemic control.

Staying pregnant is a different matter altogether. Diabetes can make it difficult for women to stay pregnant, especially if they have had the disease for long. Diabetes causes a lack of glucose control in the body, and this could make the implantation of the fertile egg in the uterus difficult. Also, diabetic women may be obese – this contributes to problems too. Fertility doctors have even said that women who have diabetes usually get pregnant every month when they are fertile, but there is no point since the egg is usually unable to implant within the uterus – this results in a miscarriage even before the pregnancy has started or the woman realizes she is pregnant. The chances of miscarriage in diabetic women increase by anywhere between 30 to 60%. There are other risks too, even if implantation has occurred – there is a higher risk of birth defects, the baby might be larger and an increased risk of gestational diabetes can prove harmful to the mother and the child.

How to Control Diabetes to Attain a Healthy Pregnancy

Type I diabetes requires medication and help from a doctor, in order to be conquered completely. However, type II diabetes is much easier in that way. Type II diabetes happens because the body does not produce enough insulin to get the blood sugar levels down, so you will have to try and bring the levels down in some other way. This can be done by leading a healthier lifestyle, which includes eating healthy, being the correct weight and exercising regularly to keep fit. Other common problems leading to inability to conceive are PCOS and irregular periods, both of which can be taken care of using a combination of medication and lifestyle changes