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Relationships & Sexual Health

Relationships

Healthy relationships are an important part of good health and can help you manage your diabetes. Relationships act as your social supports. Social supports can include:

  • family
  • friends
  • colleagues
  • your community
  • your place of worship
  • your health care team
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How you talk and feel is important for a good relationship. To get the support you need, tell the people close to you how you feel. Below is a list of ways you can build healthy relationships:

  • Talk about your feelings openly and honestly.
  • View yourself as a person who has important feelings.
  • Do not assume that others know how you feel or think. People cannot read your mind. Tell them what you feel and need to get the support you want.
  • Use feeling words when you are talking, such as mad, sad, frustrated, and scared.
  • Use the word “I” when talking about your feelings such as, “I feel angry when you tell me what to eat” or “I feel sad when I cannot walk as fast as you”.
  • Be clear and direct about the help you want.
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Your Sexual Health

All healthy relationships need respect, sharing, and trust. In a romantic relationship, intimacy and sexuality are also important. Sexual intimacy is being physically affectionate with another person (using your body to show that you like someone).

Diabetes can cause problems with your sexual intimacy. These problems include vaginal dryness and erectile dysfunction, described below. Learn more about these common health problems and what you can do to improve your sexual intimacy.

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Vaginal dryness is a common symptom of sexual dysfunction. It means you are not able to produce the natural lubricant in your vagina. Vaginal dryness causes discomfort and pain during sex. It also causes trouble with orgasms and can lower your interest in sex. Talk to your doctor if you are concerned.

Vaginal dryness is two times as common if you have diabetes. Diabetes damages the nerves and slows blood flow ​to your vagina which causes dryness.

If you have vaginal dryness, there are still many ways to be intimate with your partner:

  • Use lubrication during sex. Lubrication will make sex more comfortable. Your health care team may suggest lubrication when you are not having sex too.
  • Explore parts of your body other than your vagina. Using other body regions allows you to have intimacy in other ways.
  • Talk to your doctor about depression, anxiety, and stress. Depression, anxiety, and stress cause changes in your interest in sex. Find out more about stress, anxiety, and depression »
  • Manage your blood sugar. High blood sugar can make you more likely to get a yeast infection. Yeast cells live in your vagina. Sugar causes more yeast cells to grow which leads to a yeast infection. In women with diabetes, the fluids in your vagina (vaginal secretions) contain more sugar. This is because you have more sugar in your blood. Yeast infections often cause itching or discomfort around your vagina. You may also notice a white substance that looks like cottage cheese, a bad smell, pain when you pee, and pain during intercourse. Talk to you doctor before you take medicine to treat a yeast infection. These medicines can change the way your other medicines work in your body.
  • Limit the amount of alcohol you drink. Drinking too much alcohol can cause nerve damage and dehydration (not enough water in your body) which can lead to vaginal dryness.
  • Try other ways to be intimate. You can be intimate by hugging, snuggling, touching, kissing, massaging, making eye contact, and holding hands. These other ways of being intimate allow you to be close with your partner.
  • Talk openly with your partner about any sexual problems. Even with the most loving couples, sexual problems can cause a strain on the relationship if you do not discuss concerns in an open and loving way.

Diabetes does not change your fertility (ability to conceive a child), but it can cause sexual problems. The most common problem is erectile dysfunction (also known as impotence). Erectile dysfunction is when you cannot get or keep an erection long enough to have intercourse. Diabetes causes erectile dysfunction because it damages the nerves and blood vessels in your penis.

With or without diabetes, it can be a challenge to have an erection, at times. Some factors that can make it hard to have an erection include being tired, stressed, depressed, or drinking too much alcohol. If you find it hard to have an erection at times, it does not always mean you have erectile dysfunction.

Erectile dysfunction is stressful and hard to understand. It can cause problems with intimacy and sex. If you have diabetes, you may not feel like having sex when your blood glucose levels are high.

There are many ways to improve intimacy with your partner. You can:

  • Manage your diabetes. Managing your diabetes will lower your risk of damage to the nerves and blood vessels in your penis. Avoid damage to lower your chance of erectile dysfunction.
    Find out more about how to manage diabetes »
  • Check your medicines. Some diabetes medicines cause erectile dysfunction, such as some tablets used to treat high blood pressure, depression, or stomach ulcers. Talk to your doctor about the medicines you are taking.
    Find out more about diabetes medicines »
  • Talk to your doctor about stress, anxiety, and depression. Stress, anxiety, and depression can make you lose interest in sex and make it hard to have an erection.
    Find out more about stress, anxiety, and depression »
  • Limit the amount of alcohol you drink. Drinking too much alcohol can make it a challenge to have an erection.
  • Stop smoking. Smoking narrows your blood vessels which will worsen your erectile dysfunction.
    Find out more about smoking and diabetes »
  • Try other ways to be intimate. You can be intimate by hugging, snuggling, touching, kissing, massaging, making eye contact, and holding hands. These other ways of being intimate allow you to be close with your partner.

If you have diabetes, you can improve your sexual intimacy to build healthy, romantic relationships:

  • Manage your diabetes
  • Check your medicines
  • Talk to your doctor about stress, anxiety, and depression
  • Limit the amount of alcohol you drink
  • Stop smoking
  • Try other ways to be intimate
  • Use lubrication during sex