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In addition to the effects of diabetes on their health, patients affected by the disease can also be victims of sexual disorders, in connection with the complications caused by this pathology. What are these disorders? How to cure it ? The explanations of Dr Sébastien Doerper, head of the territorial health center and the sexual health service at the Luneville hospital center.
In addition to affecting blood sugar, diabetes, whether type 1 or type 2, can create intimate disorders. This would concern six out of ten diabetics, according to a study conducted by OpinionWay for Roche Diabetes Care France, with a group of 500 diabetics, including 56% men and 46% women, with an average age of 59.5 years.
What are the intimate disorders caused by diabetes and its complications?
Disorders caused by diabetes are far from uncommon. Indeed, nearly 60% of diabetic patients, all types combined, in a couple encounter difficulties in the intimate sphere, such as:
- a decrease in libido for 35% of respondents;
- erectile dysfunction for 32% of the men questioned;
- vaginal dryness for 27% of the women questioned.
If people affected by both types of diabetes are concerned, the study teaches us, however, that patients with type 1 diabetes are more concerned: 80% of them claiming to encounter this type of difficulty.
Good communication as a couple is essential
These intimate disorders concern the diabetic person but also, in fact, their life partner. Communication between the two members of the couple is therefore essential to discuss these difficulties.
The survey shows that the level of communication is generally good among the respondents:
- 76% of people with diabetes in a couple mention the subject;
- 68% even find it easy to talk about.
However, for 24% of patients in a couple, there are no exchanges concerning intimate life, which can lead to isolation or a loss of self-confidence.
The point of view of Dr Sébastien Doerper, head of the territorial health center and the sexual health service at the Luneville hospital center
“Diabetes is a pathology that affects physical health but also sexual health. And the latter, by extension, plays on other spheres of life: in the couple, but also on professional life… What I recommend to patients is to talk to their doctor about it if necessary. Physicians should also discuss the sexual health of their patients, although it can be difficult to talk openly about these topics. It is also important for doctors to have a network of professional sexologists to refer their patients to when needed.“.