Acute severe hyponatraemia secondary to polydipsia and associated herbal remedy use

A Subset of Primary Polydipsia, "Dipsogneic Diabetes Insipidus", in Apparently Healthy People Due to Excessive Water Intake: Not Enough Light to Illuminate the Dark Tunnel

Dipsogenic diabetes insipidus (DDI) is a subtype of primary polydipsia (PP), which occurs mostly in healthy people without psychiatric disease. In contrast, PP is characterized by a polyuria polydipsia syndrome (PPS) associated with psychiatric illness. However, the pathogenesis of DDI is not well established and remains unexplored. In order to diagnose DDI, the patient should exhibit excessive thirst as the main symptom, in addition to no history of psychiatric illness, polyuria with low urine osmolality, and intact urine concentrating ability. Treatment options for DDI remain scarce. On this front, there have been two published case reports with successful attempts at treating DDI patients. The noteworthy commonalities in these reports are that the patient was diagnosed with frequent excessive intake of water due to a belief that drinking excess water would have pathologic benefits. It could therefore be hypothesized that the increasing trend of excessive fluid intake in people who are health conscious could also contribute to DDI. Hence, this review provides an overview of the pathophysiology, diagnosis, and treatment, with a special emphasis on habitual polydipsia and DDI.

Acute Severe Hyponatremia Following Use of "Detox Tea"

A previously healthy 51-year-old woman presented to the ED with a one-week history of malaise, myalgia, unsteadiness, and an intermittent mild headache. Physical examination revealed neurological signs including a broad-based gait and bilateral low amplitude tremor. Laboratory testing of electrolytes revealed acute severe hyponatremia (115 mmol/L). Further, history-taking revealed increased urinary frequency following regular consumption of an over-the-counter detoxification tea product. The patient made a good recovery following admission to the intensive care unit. We identify similar cases in the literature and explore potential causal mechanisms. This case highlights the importance of enquiring about the use of supplementary health products when taking a history, and specifically identifies a growing number of reports of acute severe hyponatremia following the use of “detox teas”.

Hypophosphataemia: an important cause of collapse

We present a case of a 44-year-old man, civil servant, who presented to the emergency department (ED) following an episode of collapse. He was usually fit and well and while at work he had developed a headache with pins and needles over his face and subsequently collapsed. On arrival to ED, he had a Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) of 4/15. There was no history of note apart from being prescribed citalopram for depression. Laboratory investigations revealed severe hypophosphataemia (phosphate 0.19 mmol/L) and no other electrolyte abnormality. He was commenced on intravenous phosphate and his GCS improved to 15 within 4 hours. Further investigations revealed no cause for his severe hypophosphataemia and repeat bloods in clinic follow-up showed a normal phosphate level.