What causes excess night thirst? -Dr. Mahesh DM

The most common cause of excessive thirst is indeed diabetes. It can be either during the day time or during the night time. But any increase in thirst means that our body’s requirement of water has increased and the most common cause is diabetes i.e. high sugar. What are the other causes of excessive night thirst? The other causes of excessive night thirst could be what is known as primary polydypsia i.e. by nature we may have excessive thirst and drinks water and if it becomes a habit then excessive water drinking is just a habit like addiction. Second is what is known as diabetes insipidus in which the sugars are normal but the body requires more and more water because it is passed excessively in the urine. The other causes are sometimes in patients with hypercalcemia i.e. excessive calcium in the body and also increased production of thyroid hormone called hyperthyroidism can sometimes lead to excess thirst. And also urinary tract infections can also lead to excessive urine output and urinary thirst, i.e. increased thirst. So diabetes is the most common cause. But there are other causes like diabetes insipidus, hypercalcemia, and sometimes rarely hyperthyroidism which can cause excess thirst and hence have to be ruled out through appropriate investigations whenever we see some sorts of excessive night thirst.