Diabetes Insipidus Signs & Symptoms Explained | NCLEX® Quick Review

Let's walk through some key signs and symptoms to know for diabetes insipidus or DI for the NCLEX in your nursing school exams. So what you're going to see here because there's not enough ADH or the kidneys aren't responding to it, remember that ADH stands for antidiuretic hormone, which means there's less urination. But with diabetes insipidus, it's the opposite. There's not enough ADH or the kidneys aren't responding to it, which causes too much fluid to be urinated out. There's just not enough of that antidiuretic hormone. So here we have excessive urination, dilute urine because it is so fluid heavy. We have low specific gravity, excessive thirst. The patient could be super, super thirsty, have decreased skin tigger because they're so dehydrated, dry mucous membranes, decreased blood pressure and increased heart rate. That heart rate is just trying to keep that blood blood pressure up and keep the blood moving through the body to perfuse the organs. Then we could have fatigue, headaches, weakness and muscle pain as well. The patient could be very, very dehydrated because of all that excessive urination which leads to these signs and symptoms. If you're struggling with pharmacology in nursing school, be sure to check out the pharmacology study system inside the nursing SOS shop.