What is psychogenic polydipsia?
Psychogenic polydipsia is a condition in which patients have an uncontrollable urge to drink excessive water. The term polydipsia refers to drinking too much water and the term psychogenic refers to the fact that the desire to drink water stems from a mental disorder. Symptoms include increased thirst, increased urination, nausea, vomiting, confusion and seizures. Treatment of the condition relies on limiting the receipt of the affected patient to liquids. It is important to distinguish the condition from other diseases that may imitate it because treatment may vary. The reason why patients affected by disorder develop insatiable thirst is not well understood, but it is assumed that it stems from neurochemical imbalances associated with their basic psychiatric conditions. Patients with a condition usually a drink over 2.6 gallons (10 liters) of fluid per day.
Symptoms of psychogenic polydipsia may vary. Patients often try to hide the fact that they drink so much fluids so the other people around them may not notice that they take tolIk of water. If the condition takes place for a longer period of time, patients may develop a condition called hyponatraemia, an electrolyte imbalance in which the sodium concentration in the blood is too low. Symptoms may include nausea, vomiting, headache, confusion or even seizures. Other symptoms of psychogenic polydipsia include increased urination and psychiatric symptoms.
The process of diagnosing a patient with psychogenic polydipsia involves inducing detailed history, determining whether there are basic psychiatric disorders, learning, what drugs are of the patient, and performing laboratory tests. Patients of SEST often develop low blood sodium levels. They also produce a large amount of diluted urine. The diagnosis is confirmed by performing a monitored test of water limitation in which patients are forbidden to drink anything. If the sodium concentration in the blood increases after the prohibiting drinking patients, the diagnosis may be confirmed.
isImportant to distinguish psychogenic polydipsia from other health conditions that can cause similar laboratory abnormalities. Syndrome of inappropriate secretion of anti-diary hormone (SIADH) can also cause the patient in the blood to develop low sodium levels. In this state, however, there is usually a higher amount of sodium in the urine, and hyponatraemia is usually not immediately resolved when accessing fluids. Other conditions that may mimic psychogenic polydipsia include intoxication of ecstasy, pseudo -acyponatremia and hyponatraemia associated with exercise.