Primary polydipsia: a case report

J Nerv Ment Dis. 2013 Aug;201(8):709-11. doi: 10.1097/NMD.0b013e31829c50fc.

Abstract

Primary polydipsia (PP) is etiologically associated with physical factors and psychiatric disorders ("psychogenic polydipsia"). We present the case of a 28-year-old man with severe symptoms of polydipsia and polyuria. After a comprehensive physical assessment, the only finding was a lesion suggestive of pituitary microadenoma in the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan of the brain. A thorough clinical and diagnostic assessment and the administration of a wide range of psychometric tools revealed no major psychiatric disorder apart from chronic anxiety and mild depressive symptoms. Our patient's PP symptoms might be associated with a dysfunction of the thirst center, which is located closely to the neuroanatomical lesion found in the MRI scan. Given that the underlying pathophysiology of PP remains, to a large extent, unclear, we emphasize on the difficulties to distinguish between PP's subtypes.

MeSH terms

  • Adenoma / complications*
  • Adenoma / diagnosis
  • Adult
  • Humans
  • Magnetic Resonance Imaging
  • Male
  • Pituitary Neoplasms / complications*
  • Pituitary Neoplasms / diagnosis
  • Polydipsia, Psychogenic / complications
  • Polydipsia, Psychogenic / etiology*
  • Polydipsia, Psychogenic / pathology
  • Polyuria / etiology