Kidney diseases impact patients physically as well as emotionally. It affects hormones, blood circulation, and overall strength and energy levels. One of the severe distressing impacts can be on male sexual functions. This is common in chronic kidney disease (CKD), particularly in end-stage renal disease.
Sex Hormone Abnormalities in Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD)
The organ system does not work or fails in isolation. With the development of CKD, the accumulation of physical imbalance disturbs the activities of other organs and tissues. CKD influences the mechanism of the endocrine system.
As the renal functions reduce, it may affect hormonal actions in many ways.
Hyperprolactinemia and hypogonadism are two significant endocrine disorders that may occur in CKD patients.
Hyperprolactinemia is an illness in which a patient has higher-than-normal levels of the hormone prolactin in the blood. In women prolactin is to triggers and stimulates milk production after childbirth, that’s why high prolactin levels are normal in pregnancy While in men, high prolactin levels can encourage galactorrhea, impotence (inability to have an erection during sex), and infertility. A man with hyperprolactinemia may produce less sperm or no sperm at all.
Hypogonadism happens when sex glands generate little or no sex hormones. The sex glands (gonads mainly the testes in men and the ovaries in women. Sex hormones regulates secondary sex characteristics, which includes breast development in women, testicular development in men, and pubic hair growth etc.
