If you have been in EMS long enough, you may well have encountered a patient with diabetes insipidus. Like many, you may have assumed that it is a variant of the common disease diabetes mellitus. Actually, diabetes mellitus and diabetes insipidus are totally unrelated other than the name. The term diabetes is derived from Latin (originally Greek) and means “to go through or siphon,” referring to a large amount of urine produced by the kidneys. The term melitus, in Latin, means “sweet.”
