Is TCM effective in treating diabetes insipidus? Can it be cured?

The main symptoms of diabetes insipidus are polyuria, etc. Middle-aged men are more likely to suffer from this disease, and the reason is still unknown. Traditional Chinese medicine has a significant effect on the treatment of diabetes insipidus, but patients need to be careful to find a qualified traditional Chinese medicine practitioner and persist in long-term treatment.

Diabetes insipidus is an endocrine disease with polydipsia, polyuria and low specific gravity urine as its clinical characteristics. In 1910, Pronl first noticed that posterior pituitary disease could produce symptoms of diabetes insipidus. It has been found that diabetes insipidus is caused by insufficient secretion of antidiuretic hormone (ADH), but it can also be caused by a defect in the kidney's response to antidiuretic hormone. The former is called central or systemic diabetes insipidus, and the latter is called nephrogenic diabetes insipidus. The clinical name of diabetes insipidus mainly refers to pituitary diabetes insipidus, which is more common in middle-aged men.

TCM treatment of diabetes insipidus

There is no monograph on the etiology of diabetes insipidus in traditional Chinese medicine so far. A summary of clinical data and literature over the past 30 years shows that the main factors include insufficient constitution, improper diet, emotional distress, falls, trauma, and invasion of external pathogens.

Insufficient Endowment: Traditional Chinese medicine often blames excessive sexual activity or pregnancy for the insufficient endowment. For example, Qianjin Fang says about the cause of polydipsia: “When one is in the prime of life, one does not exercise self-restraint and indulges in lust, all of which is caused by excessive sexual intercourse.” However, clinical data have not yet found any case of diabetes insipidus caused by this. Pregnancy may be complicated by diabetes insipidus. According to foreign reports, approximately 2-6 out of every 100,000 pregnant women suffer from diabetes insipidus, and 58% of women with diabetes insipidus experience worsening symptoms after pregnancy. The reason is that the anterior pituitary gland is swollen due to congestion, which locally compresses the posterior pituitary gland and produces a large amount of antidiuretic hormone enzyme, which accelerates the degradation and inactivation of ADH. The sensitivity of the renal tubules to ADH is reduced. At the same time, the secretion of progesterone and thyroid hormone increases, which also maintains the anti-ADH effect. In essence, the load on the kidneys increases after pregnancy, and the regulatory function decreases. As stated in "Lingshu Benzang": "The kidneys are prone to disease and are easily damaged."

Improper diet Among patients with diabetes insipidus, most of them follow the doctor's advice to "drink more boiled water" due to illness, or drink a lot of refreshing drinks in the summer, which leads to habitual polydipsia, followed by polyuria, and symptoms of thirst and frequent urination. This is because long-term excessive drinking increases the renal tubular flow, destroys the hypertonic concentration gradient of the renal medulla, dilutes the body fluid to form a hypotonic state, inhibits the secretion of ADH in the body, and forms functional ADH deficiency. However, some of them suffer from psychogenic polydipsia syndrome, especially in women, and must be carefully identified.

Emotional distress is often a common cause of this disease. In clinical data, many reports show that patients are all caused by fear, depression, and tension. Fear hurts the kidneys, and thinking hurts the spleen. The spleen and kidney yang are deficient, and water is not distributed properly, resulting in thirst and frequent urination. In addition, liver qi stagnation can not only invade the spleen, but also cause water to lose its healthy circulation and imbalance in distribution. It can also turn into fire, and the heart fire is hyperactive and hot, which not only burns the stomach fluid, but also consumes the kidney fluid, causing the heart essence and blood to be consumed secretly. In addition, the liver's improper drainage affects the kidney's storage, so the fire burns on the upper body and the fluid is lost on the lower body, and the disease of upper dryness and lower consumption follows, which causes diabetes insipidus.

Traumatic injuries from falls are mainly seen in patients with head injuries or craniotomy. The brain is the sea of ​​marrow. If the sea of ​​marrow is damaged, kidney essence will be damaged, kidney yang will also decline, and it will be unable to control and control, resulting in diabetes insipidus. However, diabetes insipidus caused by craniocerebral trauma or surgery often presents a triphasic pattern, that is, symptoms often appear within a few hours after the trauma or surgery. Then it disappears, and diabetes insipidus reappears 7-10 days later. This is due to brain edema caused by surgery or trauma, which causes uncontrolled ADH secretion. As the brain edema disappears, the synthesized ADH is released and the symptoms are relieved again. The third phase of diabetes insipidus is caused by atrophy of the hypothalamic-pituitary tract, which can become permanent diabetes insipidus. When treating this type of diabetes insipidus, one must not be fooled by short-term efficacy, but must observe for a long time.