What is the difference between diabetes mellitus and diabetes insipidus?

Diabetes mellitus and diabetes insipidus are similar sounding names but these are completely unrelated diseases. Diabetes mellitus is associated with the glucose levels and functioning of the pancreas in your body, while diabetes insipidus is an uncommon disorder that causes an imbalance of water in your body. This occurs due to disruption in the fluid regulatory system of the body.

What is Diabetes Mellitus?
There are primarily two types of diabetes mellitus – Type 1 and Type 2.

Diabetes Mellitus occurs when the body is unable to produce insulin which is needed to control your blood glucose levels. Consequently, blood sugar levels increase.

Type 2 diabetes is much more common. It occurs when the body is unable to produce enough insulin or the insulin is not working as required in the body.

Gestational diabetes is another form of diabetes that occurs when pregnant women have high blood glucose levels due to hormones produced during pregnancy. If you are diagnosed with gestational diabetes duration pregnancy, it means you are at a higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes in future.

Symptoms of Diabetes
The following symptoms can be experiences in diabetes:

• Increased thirst and hunger
• Nausea and vomiting
• Blurred vision
• Infections
• Irritability
• Unexplained weight loss or weight gain
• Slow healing of wounds
• Frequent urination
• Fatigue

It should be noted that Type 2 diabetes may not show any symptoms in the beginning.

What is diabetes insipidus?
Some people may confuse diabetes insipidus with diabetes mellitus due to similar sounding names. However, these are two different conditions and are not related.

Diabetes insipidus is a disorder that causes an imbalance of water in your body. The imbalance causes intense thirst even after drinking fluids, and excretion of large amounts of urine. These conditions are called polydipsia and polyuria.

There's no cure for diabetes insipidus. But treatments are available to ease the symptoms such as thirst and reduce your urine output.

Diabetes insipidus occurs when your body is not able to regulate handling of the fluids. Generally, your kidneys remove excess body fluids from your bloodstream. This fluid waste is temporarily stored in your bladder as urine, before you pass it out.

If the  fluid regulation system is not working properly, your kidneys may store fluid and make less of the urine when your body water is decreased. This may cause the disease. The way in which the fluid regulation system is disturbed determines which type of diabetes insipidus you will get.

Symptoms of diabetes insipidus
The most common symptoms of diabetes insipidus are:

• Intense thirst
• Excretion of large amounts of urine

If the condition is severe, urine output can be as much as about 16 liters a day if you're drinking a lot of water. This is much more than what a healthy adult will urinate, which is an average of less than 3 liters a day.

Children and babies who have diabetes insipidus may show following signs and symptoms:

• Fever
• Vomiting
• Diarrhea
• Weight loss
• Crying
• Slowed growth