Originally posted by noahnoah:
anyone know wat is the above problem?
was told i might be carrying this diabetes insipidu.
Diabetes insipidus (DI) is a condition caused by the deficiency of or resistance to the action of anti-diuretic hormone (ADH), which is produced in the posterior pituitary gland and secreted via the hypothalamus (part of the brain).
The purpose of ADH is to prevent too much water loss through the urine by concentrating it. The hormone acts on the kidney tubules to re-absorb salt and water. If there is a deficieny of this hormone or if the kidney fails to respond well to the hormone, you will pass out alot of dilute urine, hence diabetes (passing out lots of urine) insipidus (insipid: plain, not salty).
There are many types but in general they fall into 2 groups.
Central DI is due to a deficiency of production of ADH, which can be due to many reasons, from a tumour to trauma eg. operation or head injury. Nephrogenic DI is due to a resistance of the kidney to the effect of the hormone. Some forms of nephrogenic DI are due to inherited mutations: perhaps that is what your doctor is suspecting. There are effective treatment of this condition by replacing the hormone or simply by consuming more water and salt.
As for medical fitness, if you have this condition (and it is proven by various lab tests), then chances are that you may be downgraded. The risk in the army would be heat exhaustion. Since patients with DI cannot concentrate their urine, they will lose excessive fluids and run a greater risk of heat injury. That is not a problem if you have plenty of fluids and salts but obviously that is not always possible in millitary operations.
You may find snippets of medical information at Road Health Centre forum below. I am posting this reply there as well in case others are interested.
http://www.sgforums.com/?action=forum_display&forum_id=2215
