What is diabetes insipidus and where does it come from

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

If you are tormented by irrepressible thirst and often want to go to the toilet, hormonal disorders may be to blame.

What is diabetes insipidus

Diabetes insipidus is a disease of Diabetes insipidus in which fluid imbalance occurs in the body due to its active excretion by the kidneys. In this case, a person must drink a lot, otherwise severe dehydration occurs, which leads to convulsions and loss of consciousness.

Why does diabetes insipidus occur?

Excretion of urine is regulated by Diabetes Insipidus antidiuretic hormone, or vasopressin. It is produced in the hypothalamus, a small area in the brain, and accumulates in the pituitary gland, a small endocrine gland. If the body loses a lot of water or does not receive it, vasopressin is released into the bloodstream, the renal tubules begin to retain fluid. For example, when a healthy person enters the desert and sweats a lot, this hormone prevents him from urinating to prevent dehydration. And if there is no vasopressin or it doesn't work, a lot of urine will still be generated.

There are many reasons for the pathology. They define the type of Diabetes insipidus diabetes insipidus.

Central

This is the most common type of disease in Diabetes insipidus. It develops if the synthesis of vasopressin stops in the brain. This can happen when the hypothalamus or pituitary gland is damaged after infectious diseases, head trauma, with brain tumors or after operations on it. But in every third case, doctors do not know why hormone production is disrupted.

Nephrogenic

This form of diabetes insipidus occurs because the kidneys do not respond to vasopressin. This ailment is of two types:

• Hereditary. It is transmitted by Nephrogenic diabetes insipidus to children from parents, more common in boys. Symptoms of the disorder appear during the first months after birth.
• Acquired. Nephrogenic diabetes insipidus occurs due to diseases: blockage of the kidneys with a stone, high blood calcium levels or low potassium concentrations, due to the intake of lithium preparations, as well as some antifungal agents.

Gestational

It is a rare form of diabetes insipidus that occurs during pregnancy with Diabetes insipidus. The disease is associated with the fact that the mother's antidiuretic hormone destroys substances secreted by the placenta.

Dipsogenic

This type of Diabetes insipidus occurs when the brain structures that regulate the feeling of thirst are malfunctioning. As a result, a person is constantly thirsty, and the kidneys are forced to excrete more urine. This often happens with mental illness, such as schizophrenia.

What are the symptoms of diabetes insipidus

The disease has several signs of Diabetes insipidus:

• Intense thirst. Cold drinks are preferred.
• Increased flow of urine. Normally, a person produces up to 2 liters of fluid per day, and with diabetes - from 3 to 20 liters.
• Frequent urge to use the toilet at night. Healthy people rarely wake up to urinate.

If suddenly a person does not have drinking water at hand, he has signs of dehydration dehydration. The skin becomes dry, nausea, confusion, fatigue, lethargy, dizziness occur.

The manifestations of diabetes insipidus and diabetes mellitus are very similar, but they are completely different diseases. We wrote about the reasons for the latter in this article, and you can find out about the symptoms here.

What to do if signs of diabetes insipidus appear

If a person noticed that he is tormented by constant thirst and often wants to go to the toilet, you need to contact a therapist. He will prescribe an examination or give a referral to an endocrinologist. The following Diabetes insipidus methods are used to diagnose diabetes insipidus:

• Glucose test. It is needed to make sure that a person does not have diabetes.
• Water test. Under the supervision of the medical staff, the person stops drinking for several hours. At the same time, its weight, the volume of urine are measured and analyzed. Sometimes synthetic vasopressin is given during the test to test how the kidneys are responding to it.
• MRI of the pituitary gland. An examination is necessary if a central form of diabetes insipidus is suspected.
• Genetic screening. It is carried out to search for the hereditary cause of the pathology.

How is diabetes insipidus treated?

With mild forms of the disease, you do not need to do anything, it is enough for Diabetes insipidus to drink more fluids. In other cases, the method of therapy depends on the type of diabetes Diabetes insipidus:

• Central. If a person has a tumor that makes less vasopressin, it is removed. Also, the doctor prescribes a synthetic analogue of this hormone.
• Nephrogenic. In this case, the artificial hormone will not help, since the kidneys do not respond to it. Sometimes a hydrochlorothiazide-based drug is used.
• Gestational. The doctor prescribes a vasopressin analog. But after giving birth, the disease usually goes away.
• Dipsogenic. There is no special treatment, a person just needs to limit fluid intake.