How to Test for Diabetes Insipidus

Though it may sound like diabetes insipidus is either the same as or related to the more familiar "sugar" diabetes, the disease is actually in no way related to that common form. Luckily the disease is relatively uncommon, but it is important to get tested for the disease if you find that you are urinating frequently and the urine remains relatively clear regardless of your diet.

Instructions

1. Have your doctor perform a typical urinalysis test. This test is designed to find just about any kind of chemical or substance in the urine and determine what levels are present. This test will be able to tell whether your diabetes is the more common type or if it is in fact diabetes insipidus by analyzing the protein, glucose and ketone levels in the urine.

2. Perform a blood sugar test to look for diabetes insipidus. Blood will be drawn and analyzed for the sugar or glucose content. Anything over 200mg/dL is considered abnormal, but this test will be performed several times to ensure the accuracy. This is primarily used to rule out the typical form of diabetes more than it is used to actually diagnose diabetes insipidus.

3. Undergo a fluid deprivation test. For this test you will be required to not drink anything for at least 8 hours before the initial test, and then you will only be allowed to drink twice the volume of the urine you expelled after the first period. You'll then be left without drink for another 4 hours. Doctors are analyzing the concentration of the urine through this test.

4. Retest the urine. This second test will be a closer analysis of the sugar composition of the urine. In order to completely rule of the possibility of a pre-diabetes condition the doctor must make sure there are no unusual traces of glucose in the urine.

5. Draw blood for a typical blood sugar test. Unusually high levels of glucose or other materials in the blood could alert the doctor to a condition of regular diabetes, while large levels of protein may indicate a diagnosis of diabetes insipidus.

Tips & Warnings

• Be sure to follow all the directions carefully, especially when participating in a fasting blood test or fluid deprivation test. Any "cheating" during the test will cause your results to be inaccurate, and can lead to misdiagnoses.

• Avoid smoking during your blood tests or fluid deprivation tests. The chemicals in the cigarettes can cause unusually high readings and may require you to undergo the tests all over again to verify the accuracy of the first results.