Intense thirst - Causes and Symptoms

Definition

Thirst is one of the main mechanisms by which the body compensates for fluid losses and regulates water requirements.

They stimulate the need to drink sweating, vomiting, diarrhea and bleeding.

Excessive thirst (or polydipsia) can be a symptom of dehydration, diabetes and kidney failure. Furthermore, it may depend on drugs and mental disorders (psychogenic polydipsia).

Polydipsia is one of the typical symptoms of uncontrolled diabetes mellitus and is often accompanied by polyuria, weight loss, increased appetite and weakness.

Diabetes insipidus, on the other hand, is characterized by large quantities of urine emissions, with an excessive increase in thirst and the need to introduce liquids. The cause is attributable to an alteration of the production or of the functioning mechanisms of ADH, the antidiuretic hormone produced in the hypothalamus. ADH acts at the kidney level, where it has the task of keeping under control the quantity of liquids to be eliminated with the urine.

Even chronic renal failure can manifest itself insidiously with excessive thirst, often associated with polyuria, fatigue, pallor and generalized edema.

Furthermore, an increase in the urge to drink is one of the side effects of some drugs, such as anticholinergics, thiazide diuretics and some antidepressants.

An intense thirst may depend on dehydration which results from excessive sweating, fever, vomiting and diarrhea. When, for example, you train intensely or it is very hot, the body reacts by sweating and eliminating liquids and mineral salts: thirst is a stimulus that urges us to maintain the balance between the water that is introduced and the water that is lost. The desire to drink compulsively can also result from the heat, from eating salty foods or from having drunk too much alcohol. In these cases, however, the stimulus is exhausted when drinking.