Diabetes

There are two main types of diabetes - Diabetes mellitus and Diabetes insipidus.  Despite having a similar name they are unrelated diseases with different causes. 

• Diabetes mellitus, often simply referred to as diabetes, is a group of metabolic diseases in which a person has high blood sugar, either because the body does not produce enough insulin, or because cells do not respond to the insulin that is produced. This high blood sugar produces the classical symptoms of polyuria (frequent urination), polydipsia (increased thirst) and polyphagia (increased hunger).

• Diabetes insipidus (DI) is a condition also characterised by excessive thirst and excretion of large amounts of severely diluted urine, with reduction of fluid intake having no effect on the concentration of the urine. The cause is however different to that of diabetes mellitus.  There are several different types of DI, each with a different cause. The most common type is ‘central DI’, caused by a deficiency of arginine vasopressin (AVP), also known as antidiuretic hormone (ADH). The second common type of DI is nephrogenic diabetes insipidus, which is caused by an insensitivity of the kidneys to ADH.

Thus diabetes mellitus and diabetes insipidus both cause large amounts of urine to be produced (polyuria), and the term diabetes is derived from the Greek name for this symptom. However, diabetes insipidus is either a problem with the production of ADH or the kidney's response to ADH, whereas diabetes mellitus causes polyuria via a process called osmotic diuresis, due to the high blood sugar leaking into the urine and taking excess water along with it.

All the drugs, as well as the two illnesses on the website  – hypoglaecemia and hyperglaecemia are related to diabetes mellitus and are the ones causing the hallucinations and other spiritual experiences.  Hypoglaecemia is low blood sugar and hyperglaecemia is high blood sugar – both are caused by diabetes mellitus, which is more correctly a malfunctioning of the insulin system.