What is the difference between diabetes insipidus and diabetes mellitus?
You may have heard different words used for diabetes in some scenarios. Words like ‘mellitus’ and ‘insipidus’ can easily cause confusion. This probably has you thinking, what is diabetes mellitus? What is diabetes insipidus? Here’s a quick breakdown.
Diabetes mellitus is what is generally known as diabetes. For those living with type 1 diabetes, the body does not make enough insulin to control the amount of glucose in the blood. For those living with type 2 diabetes, the body becomes resistant to insulin and compensates by producing more, resulting in a “burnout” of the pancreas and loss in insulin production over time. The majority of people living with diabetes have diabetes mellitus. Diabetes mellitus includes both type 1 and type 2 diabetes.
Diabetes insipidus is a rare condition that is seen in people who have normal blood glucose levels but can’t properly concentrate urine through the kidneys. Diabetes insipidus makes it easy to become dehydrated, as the body lacks adequate electrolytes to retain fluids. This condition is often passed down through families, occurs as a result of major surgery, or is the result of kidney-affecting medications.
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