What is diabetes insipidus?

diabainein: Greek, "to pass through"

insipidus: Latin, "having no flavor"

Also known as "water diabetes", it is often mistaken for diabetes mellitus/sugar diabetes. It is a rare disease, not widely diagnosed, in which the kidneys produce abnormally large volumes of dilute urine.

There are four fundamentally different types of Diabetes Insipidus (DI). Each has a different cause and must be treated in a different way. These four forms are:

• Neurogenic, also known as central, hypothalamic, pituitary or neurohypophyseal is caused by a deficiency of the antidiuretic hormone, vasopressin.
• Nephrogenic, also known as vasopressin-resistant is caused by insensitivity of the kidneys to the effect of the antidiuretic hormone, vasopressin. More information about Nephrogenic DI can be found at the Nephrogenic Diabetes Insipidus Foundation.
• Gestagenic, also known as gestational is also caused by a deficiency of the antidiuretic hormone, vasopressin, that occurs only during pregnancy.
• Dipsogenic, a form of primary polydipsia is caused by abnormal thirst and the excessive intake of water or other liquids.

Source: RefillPill.com Editors' Choice