gynoceros

gynoceros t1_j6coseh wrote

Reply to comment by NefariousIntentions in ELI5: why do our bodies randomly act like we haven’t had water in days and that we need to chug a bunch randomly? by Serratedlily

Alcohol suppresses secretion of antidiuretic hormone, which is what keeps you from pissing away a bunch of your volume.

So by not making ADH, your body pisses way more than usual. That's how alcohol works, that's not a medical emergency.

If you've had symptoms since childhood and it's been worked up, that's also not an emergency.

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gynoceros t1_j6cddow wrote

Reply to comment by Morvictus in ELI5: why do our bodies randomly act like we haven’t had water in days and that we need to chug a bunch randomly? by Serratedlily

> stop you from dying a couple of years from now

I totally agree with you that American exceptionalism is a fucking sham but I've had patients go to the ICU the day they first got diagnosed with diabetes after they came in complaining of thirst, frequent urination, and fuzzy vision. And had they continued to ignore it, they wouldn't have lasted a couple of years. Maybe not even a couple of weeks.

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gynoceros t1_j6cbqgf wrote

Reply to comment by Morvictus in ELI5: why do our bodies randomly act like we haven’t had water in days and that we need to chug a bunch randomly? by Serratedlily

> many of them could still rationally decide not to get it because they can’t afford to miss a day of work.

I totally get that.

But what I'm saying is that if you leave sugars that high untreated, you're going to wind up wishing you'd only missed a day of work.

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gynoceros t1_j6c9v0d wrote

Reply to comment by [deleted] in ELI5: why do our bodies randomly act like we haven’t had water in days and that we need to chug a bunch randomly? by Serratedlily

> you might want to buy a glucose testing kit to see if you have diabetes.

Just come to the fucking hospital and don't dick around with that.

For real, most shit people come to the ER with is such bullshit but sugars causing polydipsia and polyuria (excessive thirst and urination) actually count as an emergency and aren't going to magically fix themselves if you just wait it out.

I get that healthcare can be prohibitively expensive in the US. But if you fuck around mulling over what to do with the "maybe I have diabetes" armchair doctor shit, you're just going to get sicker and sicker, possibly to the point of being in a coma in the ICU or even dying.

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