Diabetes and family planning

AK is a 32 year old newly-wed man.  He was referred to GPSI Diabetes for very poorly controlled diabetes. He came reluctantly. As far as he was concerned, he felt great; he did not see the need to take care of his sugars. Furthermore, he was adamant that his diabetes should never interfere with his life, and having to attend an appointment was one example of the kind of interference that he did not wish to contend with.  He stated that he had been made well aware of the fact that having high sugars would cause considerable disruption in his life in the future. But he was willing to deal with that when that time came.

At the appointment he stated that he just wished to enjoy his lovely wife – and pursue their plans to have a family.  On further conversation, it was revealed that they had actually been struggling with conceiving. AK shared, enthusiastically, the good news that his wife had had an extensive work up and nothing serious had been found. AK was asked if he had had a work up – he said he hadn't. I asked if he could possibly be struggling with erectile dysfunction. AK looked surprised with this comment and responded quickly with “how do you know?”. We discussed how high sugars could effect erectile function. 

Today, AK is the happy father of a lovely boy – and he has beautifully controlled diabetes.