Difference Between Diabetes Mellitus And Diabetes Insipidus

Diabetes Mellitus and Diabetes Insipidus have few same symptoms. But the diseases are not at all related to each other. The only similarity is the first word of their name. These diseases give rise to different problems in the human body and have very different treatments. Let us understand the main difference between Diabetes Mellitus and Diabetes Insipidus.

Difference Between Diabetes Mellitus And Diabetes Insipidus

The important difference between diabetes mellitus and diabetes insipidus

Character	Diabetes Mellitus	Diabetes Insipidus
Symptoms	Diabetes Mellitus include increased blood sugar level, glucose in the urine, excessive urine, excessive thirst, excessive appetite.	Diabetes Insipidus includes the secretion of a large quantity of dilute glucose-free urine, excessive thirst, and dehydration.
Cause	It is caused due to insulin deficiency.	It is caused due to failure of Antidiuretic hormone or vasopressin secretion.
Glycosuria	Sugar is excreted in the urine.	Sugar is not excreted in the urine.
Blood sugar level	In this, there is a rise or increase in the blood glucose level.	In this, there is a normal blood glucose level.
Increase in Urine volume	In this, the volume of urine increases due to the osmotic effect of glucose.	In this, the volume of urine increases due to decreased absorption of water in renal tubules.
Urine Concentration	The urine concentration is normal.	The urine concentration very dilutes.
Cholesterol	The urine concentration rises.	The urine concentration remains normal.
Hunger	There is excessive hunger.	There is normal hunger.
Ketone bodies	Ketone bodies are present in blood and urine.	Ketone bodies are absent in blood and urine.
Volume of urine	Excessive volume of urine.	The enormous volume of urine.

Diabetes Mellitus

Diabetes mellitus is known as diabetes in simple words. This disease occurs when the pancreas is not capable of producing enough insulin to control the amount of sugar or glucose, in the blood.

Diabetes Insipidus

Diabetes insipidus is a rare condition that takes place in the kidneys. In this disease, the kidney produces a lot of extra pee. It has nothing to do with the pancreas or blood sugar like diabetes mellitus. Normally, kidney function to filter the bloodstream and make about a quart or 2 each day. When a person is suffering from diabetes insipidus, it’s more like 3 to 20 quarts, and it’s mostly water. This led to an extreme loss of fluid and makes a person feel thirsty.

Symptoms

Diabetes mellitus and diabetes insipidus indicate similar symptoms. But, the causes of these symptoms are different.

Exhaustion

 With diabetes mellitus, a person may feel tired or exhausted, due to the too high or low blood sugar levels.

While in diabetes insipidus, a person may feel extremely tired or drained due to dehydration. This may also occur due to the lack of electrolytes, such as calcium, sodium, potassium which get flushed out with all the pee.

Thirst

 With diabetes mellitus, a person may feel thirsty due to the presence of too much glucose in the blood. The body indicates to drink more water and flush out the sugar. While in Diabetes insipidus a person feels very thirsty due to the lack of so many fluids from the body.

Blur vision

With diabetes mellitus, if a person has too much glucose in the blood leads to blurry vision. While staying dehydrated for a longer period may lead to blurry vision if a person is suffering from diabetes insipidus.

Diagnose

Diabetes mellitus is diagnosed with a few blood tests. These tests include the fasting glucose test. In this test, a doctor takes out blood after you fast for at least 8 hours. While in the other test you don’t have to fast. This test is the glycated hemoglobin test. The scores in the report of this test will determine if your doctor may diagnose you with either prediabetes or diabetes.

The diagnosis for diabetes insipidus includes several ways as follows

Blood test

Instead of testing glucose levels like Diabetes mellitus, this blood test measures the sodium levels.

Urinalysis

This test shows the concentrate or dilutes the (watery) level of the pee. The doctor may also ask to collect the pee for 24 hours to track how much a person makes at that time.

Fluid deprivation test:

This test includes two types; a short form of the test can be done at home and a longer one is done in the hospital. In the short test, the person will stop drinking fluids at a certain time, often dinnertime. The next morning, the urine sample will be carried to the doctor.

While the longer fluid restriction test will be done in the hospital. A doctor will check the bodyweight of a person and take a urine sample. This will be repeated every 1-2 hours while you don’t drink fluids. The doctor will also check the blood pressure. These tests are done for one of three things to happen:

• To check the rise and drop in blood pressure, and the heartbeat speeds up when a person stands up.
• To check the person loses 5% or more of body weight.
• To check the urine is still not concentrated after 3 straight tests.

Treatment

There’s no cure for diabetes mellitus or diabetes insipidus, the person suffering from either of these diseases needs to manage them.

If a case shows type 1 or type 2 diabetes, a person usually manages the blood sugar level with medications or insulin shots. It needs to be checked daily to track the level and make sure it’s in a safe range. The most important part is to eat a healthy diet and do regular exercise to keep the blood pressure, body weight, cholesterol level down. Visit the doctor for regular checkups.

Treatment for diabetes insipidus depends on four types a person may suffer from;

Central

When the vasopressin in the body is not capable to manage symptoms, it is replaced with a synthetic hormone desmopressin. This synthetic hormone is available in the form of a pill, shot, or a nasal spray.

Nephrogenic

Diuretics(a drug used to get rid of excess sodium and water from the body) and aspirin or ibuprofen are the drugs available to help with symptoms of nephrogenic diabetes insipidus. The doctor will also check that the level of the calcium and potassium is balanced in the body. Sometimes nephrogenic can go away completely once treated well.

Dipsogenic

In dipsogenic diabetes insipidus, the problems with the hypothalamus and pituitary gland of the affected person extend to the thirst mechanism. In such cases, even though a person can stay thirsty even after losing a lot of fluid. Doctors suggest sucking on ice chips or hard, sour candy to trigger the urge of drinking fluid.

Gestational

Gestational diabetes insipidus occurs in the period of pregnancy. Doctors often treat this issue using desmopressin. Most women do not require this treatment after giving birth.