Excessive urination and weight loss can occur in a number of medical conditions, but they are most classically associated with diabetes mellitus. This is a disease characterized by excessive amounts of glucose in your blood, and it can have serious health consequences. Therefore, if you are experiencing excessive urination and weight loss, you should speak to your doctor.
Excessive Urination
Excessive urination is defined relative to a "normal" amount of urine output that for most people is between 800 and 2,000 ml per day. Excessive urination may also be urination that wakes you from sleep--that is, you aren't wetting the bed, but you are waking up at night to go to the bathroom, whereas previously you were not.
Weight Loss
There are two general kinds of weight loss: intentional and unintentional. Intentional weight loss is weight you've lost while exercising or dieting. Doctors don't worry so much about intentional weight loss, as it can easily be explained by lifestyle factors. However, doctors do worry about unintentional weight loss, and they especially begin to worry when you lose more than 5 percent of your total weight unintentionally over a six- to 12-month period. This weight loss is even more concerning if it occurs with other symptoms, which may include excessive urination.
Causes of Excessive Urination and Weight Loss
A number of conditions can cause excessive urination and weight loss, but one very important disease that must be ruled out if you're experiencing these symptoms is diabetes mellitus. Diabetes is characterized by excessive amounts of glucose in your blood. This excessive glucose can attach itself to proteins all over your body, causing damage to your circulatory system that can eventually result in heart failure, kidney failure and nerve dysfunction. Excessive glucose also pulls inordinately large amounts of free water into your urine, causing excessive urination. Other causes of excessive urination and weight loss include certain drugs--for example, diuretics--and diabetes insipidus, which is a condition in which your brain and kidneys cannot effectively balance the amount of fluid kept in your bloodstream.
Other Symptoms of Diabetes Mellitus
Dehydration and excessive thirst, as a result of excessive urination, are two other common symptoms of diabetes mellitus. Rarely, the disease may be first diagnosed when a diabetic develops a condition known as diabetic ketoacidosis, or DKA. In DKA, a stressor--for example, a recent illness--greatly increases the amount of glucose in your circulation. However, your body cannot make enough insulin to handle it appropriately. This leads to massive dehydration, and can cause coma and death if not treated emergently.
What to Do If You Are Experiencing These Symptoms
If you are experiencing excessive urination and unintended weight loss, you should see a doctor. The diagnosis of diabetes mellitus is relatively straightforward, and usually involves a series of blood glucose tests. Treatment will depend on the cause of your diabetes. If it's type I diabetes, treatment usually consists of insulin. If it's type II diabetes, treatment usually consists first of lifestyle modification--for example, better diet and more exercise--followed by medications designed to lower your body's production of glucose.
References
- MedlinePlus: Weight loss - unintentional
- MedlinePlus: Urine 24-hour volume
- "Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine"; Anthony S. Fauci, Eugene Braunwald, Dennis L. Kasper, Stephen L. Hauser, Dan L. Longo, J. Larry Jameson, and Joseph Loscalzo; 2008
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