Talk:Polydipsia

coffee or soda as a diuretic
"One who drinks nothing but coffee or soda can be easily misdiagnosed by a medical professional as psychogenic polydipsia, as they may be unaware they are consuming diuretics."

-I think this is a myth, as contrary to popular belief coffee is not a diuretic particularly, (at least, it doesn't cause dehydration.) Also the person would have to drink massive amounts for it to have any different results than those from drinking large quantities of water. The reason I know coffee is not a diuretic, and soda definitely isn't, is that those with kidney problems are not told to restrict it due to any dehydrating effect, like they are told to avoid alcohol.  The special, the random, the lovely Merkinsmum  00:00, 11 March 2008 (UTC)
 * According to caffeine it is a mild diuretic (according to both articles) and I've seen various sources which recommend against drinking caffenated beverages if dehydrated. Obviously decaffinated coffee and uncaffinated soft drinks are not a concern in relation to caffeine. You're probably right it's a small effect, unless perhaps you're having energy drinks all the time in which case you're liable to have problems due to the various other stuff anyway Nil Einne (talk) 17:51, 18 December 2008 (UTC)

psychogenic section
I have summarised this, because a large section was reproduced from its own article. Not sure if this is standard practice, so feel free to revert if it's wrong.:)  The special, the random, the lovely Merkinsmum  00:00, 11 March 2008 (UTC)

Numbers
How much is too much or indicative of some kind of illness, eg diabetes? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 193.167.107.251 (talk) 18:26, 9 June 2009 (UTC)

Diabetes
What exactly is it about diabetes that causes excessive thirst? I've been under the impression that excess insulin causes thirst and also retains fluid.--Snowgrouse (talk) 08:48, 24 August 2010 (UTC)

diabetes causes high blood glucose, which causes polyuria (with glycosuria), which causes dehydration, which causes thirst.

Incidentally (I don't know how to post this as a separate topic), the following sentence is almost certainly false (under "Causes"): "Zinc is also known to reduce symptoms of polydipsia by causing the body to absorb fluids more efficiently (reduction of diarhhea, induces constipation) and it causes the body to retain more sodium. So a zinc deficiency can be a possible cause." Individuals with polydipsia are NOT short of zinc! ... The mis-spelling of diarrhoea (or diarrhea) is alarming - who contributed this article? Tony (MD) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 190.80.121.248 (talk) 16:30, 19 November 2010 (UTC)

How Much is "Excessive"
The title says it all. About how much "compulsive" fluid intake (rather than recreational), would be considered abnormal? The fact that the article makes no mention of even a vague amount may result in a lot of people getting hysterical and attributing this as a symptom of a perceived disease. LiamSP (talk) 02:54, 18 July 2012 (UTC)

Cause: please add hyperparathyroidism
Hyperparathyroidism causes high calcium levels, which often leads to polydipsia and polyuria. Please add as it is not only diabetes that can cause such symptoms. In addition many medicines also cause polydipsia. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.14.116.131 (talk) 08:55, 10 May 2014 (UTC)