Polydipsia is a medical term meaning abnormally large (poly-) intake of fluids by mouth. That is, drinking (-dipsia). The fluid is usually water, though some people may think of alcohol because of the etymologically-related term dipsomaniac, meaning an alcoholic.

Polydipsia is almost always associated with dehydration due to polyuria (excessive urination), if the condition is prolonged beyond a few hours in those with functioning kidneys.

It is often, and characteristically, found in diabetics, often as one of the initial symptoms, and in those who fail to take their anti-diabetic medications or whose dosages have become inadequate. It is also caused by other conditions featuring osmotic diuresis and by diabetes insipidus ("water diabetes"), and forms part of the differential diagnostic tree for them, as well.

Psychogenic polydipsia is a rare psychological disorder sometimes described in patients with mental illness or learning difficulty. If the patient is institutionalised, close monitoring by staff is necessary to control fluid intake. While it is widely believed that psychogenic polydipsia is not found outside the population of those with serious mental disorders, it may occasionally be found among others in the absence of psychosis, although there is no extant research to document this other than anecdotal observations. Such persons typically prefer to possess bottled water that is ice cold, consume water and other fluids at excessive levels, and may be falsely diagnosed as suffering from diabetes insipidus (since the chronic ingestion of excessive water can produce diagnostic results that mimic mild diabetes insipidus).

Polydipsia is also a symptom of atropine or belladonna poisoning.

See also

• Water intoxication

Endocrinology | Symptoms

Polydipsie | Polydipsie | Troškulys | Polydipsie | Polydipsi | Polidypsja