My 21 year old boyfriend has type�1 diabetes, and we’ve been having trouble with sexual intercourse. There are moments when he can’t have orgasms any more, and its like it shuts off. He is really depressed and doesn’t want to talk about it so I am really concerned. Why is this happening? What should we do?

I am glad you are talking about it for him. It is known that men with diabetes can have difficulty with erections and orgasms. The reason for this is that the nerves that are involved with the sexual experience are involved with diabetes. The nerves are responsible for allowing the chambers within the penis to fill with blood and allow an erection. There are additional issues if your partner is also on other medications as some medications can also cause difficulties with erections and orgasms.

Viagra and other similar medications work by bypassing the nerves and directly opening up the chambers of the penis so as to allow erections. There is some evidence that orgasmic potential may be increased, but this is less clear. I would suggest you and your boyfriend contact his physician to talk about this.

JTL