My husband is a diabetic patient. Does diabetes affect his fertility?

Anne

Poorly controlled diabetes can lead to neurovascular abnormalities that can interfere with erection, orgasm and ejaculation. A condition commonly seen in men with longstanding history of diabetes is retrograde ejaculation, in which the nerves responsible for closing the opening to the bladder during orgasm are damaged. As a result, the sperm are ejaculated into the bladder instead of out the penis. One sign of this is low semen volume, and urine tests can show whether this is occurring.

Medical therapy is rarely successful for retrograde ejaculation. However, sperm can be retrieved from the bladder and used for insemination or IVF, which often yields good results.