Psychogenic Polydipsia With Hyponatremia: Report of Eleven Cases

Psychogenic polydipsia is an uncommon clinical disorder characterized by excessive water-drinking in the absence of a physiologic stimulus to drink. The excessive water-drinking is well tolerated unless hyponatremia supervenes. This report describes 11 patients with psychogenic polydipsia and hyponatremia (ten men and one woman) who were collectively hospitalized a total of 70 times for treatment of complications of this disorder. This group differs from the classical patient with psychogenic polydipsia, ie, a hospitalized schizophrenic, in that none was institutionalized and there was a high incidence of chronic alcholism, (10), intractable hiccups (7), self-induced vomiting (6), and laboratory evidence for rhabdomyolysis (5).