From: Ouko joachim omolo
The News Dispatch with Omolo Beste
SUNDAY, JULY 7, 2013
Following my today’s homily one of the Dispatch News readers has asked two questions: “Fr Beste thank you for your inspiring homily of today-I have two questions to ask, first is to do with second reading. Paul’s interpretation to the Mosaic Law is that we should interpret the law according to the environment and with time.
Now Humanae Vite that bar Catholics from using contraceptives, including condoms was written by Pope Paul VI in 1967 when HIV/Aids was not there-now that it is there and people are dying, why is the catholic church authorities rigid to lax the law so that people with the virus could use condoms to save life?
Number two, even though this one is not directly related to your homily but I would like if you can comment on it. I saw yesterday on Citizen TV that about two million Kenyans suffer from diabetes in Kenya and the number is expected to increase by 600 thousand by 2030. That even children are suffering from it, some born with and some acquire it later.
I also read somewhere that diabetes can affect your sex drive. If so can this lead to infidelity among couples? Is there treatments for people who have lost their sex drive due to diabetes, at least for the purposes of securing their marriage?
Answer
I am not in position to answer question one because I am not church authority. I am just a simple ordinary catholic like any others. Although there are individuals who think that the law should be lax in a case where one couple is negative and the other is positive.
Question number two. It is true that diabetes is a big health concern in Kenya. However, diabetes does not affect your sex drive, instead, it affects your erectile functions. A characteristic problem associated with diabetes is low blood pressure, which means that blood flow is sluggish, and in an organ that requires blood flow to become erect, that is a problem.
In this case, yes fulfilling marital right of sexual intercourse in many cases is a problem and this can lead to infidelity, also known in Kenya as mpango was kando. This is especially considering that couples are young and still need sexual fulfillment.
To remedy this, exercise is recommended. Exercise helps to increase blood flow to all parts of the body, and gets you healthier so that your body can better regulate itself. A change in diet helps too- reducing fatty and sugary foods keeps the diabetes and low blood pressure in check, further improving your health and your erectile functions.
One point must be made very clear here- sex drive is a big issue, not only in diabetes patients but may be also due to age. As a man gets older his sex drive diminishes. A man hits his sexual peak in his 20s, and after that, it’s downhill in regards to his sex drive, yet as a woman ages, her sex drive goes up.
Sexual problems as a result of having diabetes can affect both men and women. Although these sexual health problems can be fairly common among people with diabetes, they are often not widely discussed because sex is considered taboo in many societies.
Remember, if the nerves that supply the penis are damaged, even though you might have the mental stimulation to have sex, the message from the brain doesn’t reach the penis and it doesn’t respond.
If the blood vessels supplying the penis become narrowed, blood can’t flow in fast enough to make an erection and keep it. Another problem that can occur with the blood vessels is atherosclerosis. This is the name doctors give to hardening and narrowing of the arteries.
People with diabetes are susceptible to atherosclerosis as they are at increased risk of high blood pressure and/or high cholesterol. If atherosclerosis occurs in the arteries that supply blood to the penis, the blood supply may not be sufficient to achieve an erection.
Similarly, stress in a man’s life and other psychological factors, such as depression, can also cause erectile dysfunction. So, it’s often a combination of physical and psychological causes.
There are many options to help men with erectile dysfunction: treatments to help with the physical causes; and psychological training and counselling to help with the psychological aspects.
Although medicines taken by mouth, such as Viagra (sildenafil), Cialis (tadalafil) and Levitra (vardenafil), have been shown to be effective in treating erectile dysfunction in men with diabetes, if abused can lead to death.
Injection into the penis with the medicine Caverject (alprostadil) is also another treatment for erectile dysfunction. Penile implants are a type of surgical treatment that may be suitable for some men when other treatments have not been successful. Your doctor is the best person to advise which treatment would be most suitable in your case.
There is also problem in some men with retrograde ejaculation, a condition where semen passes backwards into the bladder instead of through the tip of the penis.
In men with diabetes, retrograde ejaculation can result from damage to the sphincter muscle at the neck of the bladder.
Raised blood glucose levels can damage the sphincter muscle and the nerves that control it, meaning that the sphincter doesn’t close properly and allows semen into the bladder.
Retrograde ejaculation is not harmful, and only needs treatment if you are trying to father a child. Controlling blood sugar levels can help, but couples trying to conceive may need to use assisted fertilisation procedures.
There is also a problem to do with testosterone deficiency, inadequate production of the male sex hormone- testosterone can cause decreased libido in adult men. Men with type 2 diabetes are at risk of testosterone deficiency, particularly if they are also overweight.
The sex problems experienced by some women with diabetes are the same problems that may be experienced by women without diabetes, namely: lack of vaginal lubrication; uncomfortable or painful intercourse; and loss of desire, reduced libido.
Just like other women, some women with diabetes may suffer problems with orgasm. If you are having sexual problems that may or may not be related to your diabetes, see your doctor there may be some simple things you can do to improve the situation.
Dryness of the vagina, due to a lack of lubrication or slow lubrication, can lead to painful intercourse for women. It is thought that nerve and blood vessel damage in diabetes contributes to this effect.
The problem is easily remedied by using a water soluble personal lubricant which should provide relief from discomfort during sex. Oestrogen creams or pessaries are sometimes prescribed to women going through the menopause or who have had the menopause, because the body slows down its production of oestrogen during and after menopause, leading to vaginal dryness. Your doctor will be able to advise the most suitable options for you.
Pain during sex can be due to yeast infections (thrush) as well as vaginal dryness. Women who suffer from poor blood glucose control are more susceptible to vaginal yeast infections, because the yeasts flourish in high sugar environments. Thrush can be treated with antifungal creams or vaginal pessaries.
It is to be noted here very clearly that losing interest in sex is not the sole domain of women with diabetes. Decreased sexual desire can be due to many factors, but one which does relates to women with diabetes is widely fluctuating blood glucose levels.
Poor control of blood glucose can lead to tiredness and a lack of interest in sex. Bringing blood glucose control back under control may help restore desire. Whether you’re a man or a woman, when you do have sex, always remember that sex is like any form of exercise-your muscles need glucose for energy. Afterwards, your blood sugar may drop.
Children who are born with diabetes are because diabetes can be hereditary. Majority of cases in the country can be attributed to unhealthy lifestyles which many Kenyans have adopted. Unhealthy diets and physical inactivity are two of the major causes of diabetes.
An alarm has also been raised over increased diabetes cases among pregnant women. That is why thousands of children are dying annually due to diabetes. Kenya is currently experiencing a rise in diet-related diseases as diabetes, cancer, kidney and liver complications.
Yet still, in Kenya today vitamin and mineral deficiencies continue to pose a major challenge to the health of our people. Currently, more than 80 per cent of children under-five suffer from vitamin A deficiency, which affects their immunity and exposes them to infections and diseases. Iron deficiency affects 43 per cent of children under five.
Fr Joachim Omolo Ouko, AJ
Tel +254 7350 14559/+254 722 623 578
E-mail omolo.ouko@gmail.com
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Real change must come from ordinary people who refuse to be taken hostage by the weapons of politicians in the face of inequality, racism and oppression, but march together towards a clear and unambiguous goal.
-Anne Montgomery, RSCJ UN Disarmament Conference, 2002