Will a 28 year old male, diagnosed with type 1 diabetes 10 years ago, necessarily be impotent later on in life? If so, around what age will the impotence set in?

Impotence can occur in patients with both type�1 and type�2 diabetes, for a variety of reasons. Usually, we think of the problem occurring in individuals with the highest blood sugars and the longest duration of diabetes. Problems can occur after 10-15 years of diabetes, with or without over symptoms of diabetic neuropathy.

The most common reason for the problem in patients with type 1 diabetes is damage to the nerves involved in opening the sacks of blood in the penis that allow for the erection. The good news is that this can often be treated with medications such as Viagra.

In patients with type 2 diabetes or in all patients with kidney disease and diabetes, difficulty with erections can also occur as a result of poor circulation in the arteries that feed the penis. However, predicting the onset of impotence is a difficult thing.

JTL