Why does diabetes cause intense thirst?
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Why does diabetes cause intense thirst?
Sometimes simply knowing the "whys" in regards to your disease can make a big difference. Let's take a look at one of the many symptoms of diabetes: excessive thirst.
It's All About Glucose
The reason that diabetes causes excessive thirst is a bit scientific. When glucose reaches a certain concentration point in your bloodstream, your kidneys will stop being able to pull more glucose out of the water in your body.
This causes a chain reaction that leads to the build up of osmotic pressure in your kidneys. After this occurs your body really can't absorb water back into your bloodstream and, occasionally, the reverse begins to happen. Water begins to get siphoned out of your bloodstream. Because of this many sufferers of diabetes will slowly fall into dehydration.
Early Symptom
Excessive thirst is one of the earliest known symptoms for someone that is suffering from diabetes. Unfortunately it is a rather vague symptom and could mean any number of things. Typically the thirst symptom doesn't stand out in Type 1 and Type 2 sufferers until other symptoms have cropped up, as well. This makes targeting thirst as an indicator incredibly difficult, and should not be relied upon as a tactic to identifying diabetes.
Dehydration itself seems like a minor issue, but it really isn't. When your kidneys begin betraying you like this it will lead to a chain reaction of bigger and bigger issues that could lead to ketoacidosis, severely elevated blood sugar levels, and eventually death. Being aware of your symptoms is very important.
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