10. Excessive Thirst (Polydipsia)
So, you’re thristy. Very Thirsty. Drinking plenty of water should take care of that right? Normally, it should; but sometimes, despite drinking gallons of water, people still feel extremely thirsty, a condition known as polydipsia.
Polydipsia often comes with Polyuria or excessive urination, forcing people with the condition to make frequent trips to the bathroom to pee. Normally, adults pass about 3 quarts of pee daily. Patients suffering from polydipsia, believe it or not, can urinate over 5 times that amount in one day, depending on the amount of fluids they drink and the underlying cause of their excessive thirst.
The most common cause of polydipsia is Diabetes. The high amounts of sugar found in the blood of patients with Diabetes forces the body to pull water from the surrounding tissue in an attempt to lower the concentration of sugar in the blood. The more water pulled from the tissues into the blood, the more the kidneys produce urine; and the more they pee, the more dehydrated and thirstier they get.
So how does pancreatic cancer cause polydipsia? When the endocrine glands of the pancreas become involved, the production of insulin, the main hormone that controls the uptake of sugar from the blood into the tissues, becomes impaired. This results in the high concentrations of sugar in the blood, triggering the dangerous cycle that leads to dehydration.
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