Not all diabetes have to do with sugar. After all, what is the insipid diabetes?
A diabetes mellitus – Known by many as Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes – receives full attention due to its growing global prevalence and lifestyle connection and autoimmunity.
Your less known relative – Diabetes insipid – Silently affects hundreds of thousands of people around the world, but it is a completely different condition, With no relationship with blood sugar.
Still, both forms share the same defining symptom: excessive urination.
In the most familiar diabetes mellitussugar accumulates in the blood because the body either produces sufficient insulin, or cannot use it properly. When this happens, excess sugar goes to urine, and this sugar pulls water from the body.
People with diabetes may notice that they need to urinate more often and in larger quantities than usual. Sometimes urine may even have a sweet smell. Legend has it that Hippocrates, the “father of medicine”, used to prove his patients’ urine to make the diagnosis.
What is the insipid diabetes?
O Diabetes insipid is very different from diabetes mellitus. As already mentioned, it has nothing to do with blood sugar.
The problem is first in a hormone called Arginine vasopressin (AVP)also known as antidiuretic hormone (ADH), which usually helps the body control the amount of water that retains or loses.
This chemical messenger, produced by the pituitary (or pituitary) gland, located at the base of the skull, acts as the body’s water conservation system.
When liquids are required – for example, in dehydration situations – AVP indicates the kidneys to reabsorb water instead of eliminating it through urine.
Sometimes this system fails And that’s where the drama comes.
Without enough AVP, or when the hormone does not work correctly, the kidneys lose the ability to conserve water. As much as you drink, the person continues constantly thirsty and dehydratedproducing large volumes of pale and diluted urine.
The problem is in AVP production. Hormone is actually produced in a region of the brain called hypothalamus before being transported to the pituitary gland, from which it is released.
When the thirst is out of control
As explained, there are several types of dismissed diabetes, but perhaps the most intriguing of all is the DipSogenic Diabeteswhere the center of the brain headquarters collapses.
Located in the hypothalamus, this control center can be damaged by tumors, trauma or infections, leading to a insatiable desire to drink water.
Excessive consumption of liquids then suppresses AVP production, creating a vicious cycle. Dangerously, this can dilute sodium in the blood, causing headaches, mental confusion and even seizures.
Symptoms of this condition can overlap with those of psychogenic polydipsia, where mental illnesses-particularly schizophrenia-lead to compulsive water intake. The consequences can be severe, as in a documented case where a Young patient suffered complications after consuming an impressive 15 liters of water a day.
Although it is often said that we should drink more water to prevent dehydration, constipation, kidney stones, among others, there is clearly a dangerous level. Sustained or inexplicable consumption of large amounts of water is not only toxic to the body, as it can be a sign of an underlying health problem.
The insipid diabetes reminds us that The term diabetes covers more than blood sugar problems. This other type of diabetes may be less common, but for those affected, the consequences of leaving the condition without treatment can be severe.
Anyone who experiences persistent thirst, excessive water consumption and frequent urination should seek medical care immediately. The cause can be sugar, hormones or something completely different.
