8 year old with unquenchable thirst

[BoobiesToTheRescue]

Waiting for the doctors surgery to open in 10 mins.

But obviously my sign of diabetes but could there be a less daunting cause??

Too much salt?
Upset stomach?

Good luck OP, I hope it turns out to be nothing

I'd be thinking that too but of course could be other things e.g. bug, eaten something very salty etc. It'll be easy for them to do a urine test and hopefully rule diabetes out. Hope you get some positive news.

Thanks. He's had loads of viruses recently so that probably doesn't help.

No more salt in his diet than usual. The odd bag of crisps kind of thing.

Excessive thirst is a sign of diabetes as well as frequent urination. But like others have said it could quite easily be other things like a bug, eaten too much salt, or if they are very active it could just simply be thirst. You're right to get it checked out at the GP, they'll likely do a urine/blood test to find out. Hope it goes ok!

If he's has a virus recently then diabetes is a real possibility, it's how type one is typically triggered. Please don't panic, there's tons of support from both the nhs and juvenile diabetes charity (my friend moderates the message boards). If it's not well, that's good news, let us know.

Ok I've done a urinalysis (left over from when I was pregnant with his brother) and the glucose and ketones was negative.

That rules out diabetes doesn't it?

It rules out diabetes mellitus but not diabetes insipidus. You still definitely need to see the GP.

Ok thank you. I'm not so worried anymore but I'm on the waiting list for a call back from the GP

How did it go OP?

I missed the doctors call, twice. I was kicking myself.
I'm calling again tomorrow but I am reassured by the urinalysis.

I kept a really close eye on what he was drinking today and I noted that he hadn't had anything to drink for a couple of hours. Ordinarily I would remind him to drink but I waited to see what happened.
After a while he said he was SO thirsty again.

But of course he was because it had been a few hours since he had anything to drink.

In my book, that absolutely isn't excessive thirst at all.

I think he might have a dry mouth and his mistaking that for thirst, possibly something to do with this cold that he's got.

One possibly useful thought is if he's waking in the night to drink? Not doing so would give some reassurance...