Last Tuesday, September 11th I had my water deprivation test. The doctor told me to stop drinking (or eating) at 6am. I was also told to measure any urine output after that time (450 cc). I arrived at the doctor's office at 8am when they opened. I felt a little lightheaded and nauseous at this time. They took my blood and a urine sample right away along with my weight. They told me I needed to wait to go to the bathroom on the hour and they would also weigh me at that time. They would take my blood every 2 hours to check my sodium level. If it got above 145, they would stop the test. The first blood test came in at 143 with only being without water for 2 hours. The test would also stop if I lost 3% of my body weight (about 4 lbs). Each liter of water is about 1 pound. My urine output was a liter or more at 9am and again at 10am and still highly diluted (almost no color). At 10am they took two blood samples (one to test sodium and the other to check the concentration), and a urine sample to check the osmolality. At that point they stopped the test. He quickly gave me a water bottle which I downed in seconds (I ended up drinking 40 oz of water before I even left his office). My doctor told me in medical school they tell them this is basically a torture test for someone who has DI. I was in agreement. It almost felt inhumane. I felt lucky I only had to do it for 4 hours. I know someone with DI who had to do it for 10!!
After the test, my doctor said they had to wait for the blood and urine tests to come back to confirm diagnosis. He told me he does believe I have diabetes insipidus but he cannot medicate me until those tests come back. I was expecting to hear by Thursday or Friday but no such luck. I'm crossing fingers I will hear tomorrow for sure!
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