Answer
The cardinal symptoms of diabetes are abnormal serum level of blood sugars glucose, and sugar and ketone bodies in the urine-- in addition to frequent thirst. Though Mr. Hernandez suffers from thirst, he does not have sugar or ketone bodies in his urine. This rules our diabetes mellitus. The large volumes of urine voided, together with frequent thirst and dehydration-- but with no sugar or ketone bodies in the urine-- signal a diagnosis off diabetes insipidus. The pathogenesis/etiology of this condition could involve damage to the hypothalamus, the posterior pituitary , or both. In any of these cases, the amount of andtidiuretic hormon (ADH) secreted would be insufficient, and the kidney tubules would not reabsorb the normal amount of fliud; hence, the large volume of urine voided.
Work Step by Step
Mr Hernandez should be put under the care of an endocrinologist or a urologist with training in endocrinology.
