A 6-year-old girl visits the pediatrician with symptoms of excessive thirst, frequent voiding, weakness, lethargy, and headache. the nurse suspects diabetes insipidus. which hormonal condition is characteristic of this disease?

Diabetes insipidus (as the opposite of mellitus diabetes) is a disease characterized by excessive thirst and the excretion of large amounts of highly diluted urine, which can not be reduced by a reduction in fluid intake. The reduction of water intake does not increase the concentration of urine.

Diabetes insipidus is due to a deficiency of antidiuretic hormone (ADH, which increase water reabsorption from the collector tubule to keep it in the body) or insensitivity of the kidneysto this hormone. It can be of iatrogenic origin. It is called insipidus because there is no sugar in the urine (doctors tasted urine before the development of medical biology techniques).

Hyposecretion of antidiuretic hormone (ADH)

Diabetes insipidus is a condition caused by low secretion of antidiuretic hormone or insensitivity to the effects of antidiuretic hormone by the pituitary gland. A child with diabetes insipidus experiences polydipsia and chronic thirst which is eased by taking very cold drinks such as water followed by marked polyuria (urine output that exceeds 3 litres per day). Other symptoms of this condition include fever, anorexia, weakness, headache and seizures.