Dehydration and frequent urination

[paul80]

I've had this for a while. I need to drink a lot of water or i get dehydrated and i am constantly urinating. Even if i don't drink a lot i still need to urinate often. My doctor surgery has been really unhelpful in the past with my M.E, and they done blood tests in the past for the dehydration and they came back fine.

I decided to try again and try and get to see a specialist. I got a new GP and he insisted on doing the blood tests again and again he said they were fine. He tried to blame M.E and wanted me not to take it further but I told him i wanted to see a specialist. I just kept arguing for the specialist and he said he had to ask someone else and he would phone me back, but I'm betting they will refuse.

Am i wrong to want this investigated? He said he tested thyroid, diabetes, electrolyte imbalance. Isn't there other things i could get tested for by a specialist?

 

[halcyon]

I think you'll find you're in good company with that symptom. Indeed Ramsay even included frequent urination as a symptom in his ME definition. It appears to be part of the disease for some reason. With that said, no you're not wrong to want it investigated.

There are of course other possible comorbidities to worry about with frequent urination, among them are diabetes mellitus and diabetes insipidus. There are a number of tests that need to be ran for the latter in order to fully rule it out. See this page for information about workup.

I have my own theories about why this happens in ME. I believe it is in part caused both by inflammation (in the form of excess PGE2, which antagonizes the action of ADH in the kidneys ) as well as the body's response to the inflammation (cortisol, which also antagonizes ADH activity).

In the meantime, all you can really do is make sure to drink enough water (this seems to change day by day, but I drink 3 liters minimum a day) and include plenty of electrolytes as well.

 

[Sidereal]

The low blood volume (hypovolemia) that occurs in ME is a chronic problem and not the same as acute dehydration so the tests your GP ran would not detect that.

 

[optimist]

Sometimes, not always, it helps me to drink a glass of water with some salt.

 

[Tired of being sick]

The Cleveland Clinic will take care of what @Sidereal is talking about.

The test is called Hemodynamics...

 

[aquariusgirl]

Search Desmopressin, anti diuretic hormone diabetes insipidus

and richvank explained the biochemistry somewhere on this site...

Good luck getting desmo prescribed in England....if that is where u are.

Basically, you are totally screwed with this disease in the UK.

 

[Gondwanaland]

@paul80 if you want to run more tests I suggest uric acid and anion gap. If not, you could try measuring your urine pH at home with pH strips.

I have had frequent urination for 10 years (and also the lack of sleep it causes). Apparently in my case it was linked to high uric acid and high histamine.

When I tested my urine, pH was 4.5. Lab results for pH had been consistently low for the past years (~5). Uric acid around 6. Supplementing with magnesium oxide aggressively for one month and taking Saccharomyces boulardii did the trick. Also vitamin A for a short while. I personally don't supplement calcium because I was on blood thinners a few years ago.

 

[paul80]

Thanks everyone, that's really useful. The doctor told me today he will try something to test for diabetes insipidis. He told me to bring in 24h urine sample and to keep a diary, so i will try that and see where it goes.