A study from Italy shows that more than 56 percent of diabetic men suffer from impotence, and almost all complain bitterly that it has destroyed something that is very important to them. The study also shows that most men who are impotent from diabetes are depressed. Impotence caused by diabetes can be prevented in almost all men whose bodies can still make insulin.
You can tell if you are at high risk for diabetes if you store fat primarily in your belly. Pinch your belly; if you can pinch an more than an inch of fat under the skin there, you are at increased risk and should get a blood test called HBA1C. Having high blood levels of triglycerides and low levels of the good HDL cholesterol that helps prevent heart attacks also increases your risk for diabetes.
Many doctors recommend that every man over 40 get a blood test called Prostate Specific Antigen to check for prostate cancer. Prostate Specific Antigen is made by prostate cells and is released into the bloodstream. Large prostates have more PSA, so a rise in PSA means that the gland is enlarging rapidly, which can be a sign of cancer or that the prostate is irritated by infection.
Several papers show that having to urinate frequently at night is often caused by low levels of antidiuretic hormone (1,2) and that taking that hormone can control this condition.
Infection is the most common cause of male infertility and that standard tests for infertility often do not find the infection. When evaluating a male for infertility, doctors check sperm count and sperm mobility. If a man's ejaculate contains fewer than 50 million sperm, he is infertile, and the most common cause of reduced sperm count is infection.
Several years ago I reported that the present treatment for male-pattern baldness is not very effective and that male pattern baldness may be caused by insulin resistance, and that a diet high in sugar and flour may cause irreversible hair loss.
Doctors do not need to biopsy every man with a high PSA screening blood test for prostate cancer. Most patients become infected from the procedure, 20 percent suffer severe pain, 10 percent require strong pain medicines, and 15 percent of previously potent patients report that they can't get an erection one month later.
Research has shown that most cases of swollen testicles do not need to be corrected by surgery. Swollen, painless testicles are usually caused by varicoceles, large veins full of blood on the outside of the testicles; or hydroceles, a sac of fluid around the testicles. Less common causes include infection or a tumor.
Three of 100 men suffer from Peyronie's disease, a bending of the penis during erection. The penis contains balloons that fill with blood to cause an erection. These balloons can develop a scar that prevents them from expanding normally during an erection, causing the penis to bend toward the scar.
