Primary polydipsia Alcoholism may cause physiological thirst since ethanol inhibits vasopressin, the hormone primarily responsible for water retention in osmoregulation. The following conditions should also be excluded: DI, cerebral salt wasting, pseudohyponatraemia caused by hyperlipidemia or hyperparaproteinemia, SIADH, mineralcorticoid deficiency, salt-wasting nephropathy, nephrotic syndrome, chronic heart failure and cirrhosis. Tobacco smoking is an often overlooked factor linked to hyponatremia, due to the ADH-releasing effect of nicotine, although this is usually limited to heavy smokers. One study suggested that around 70% of patients with self-induced polydipsia were tobacco smokers. Diagnostic tests for primary polydipsia usually involves the fluid deprivation test to exclude ADH
Medicine in China Medicine in China In China, most hospitals are run by the government. Physicians were previously quasi-government employees and with little freedom in the choice of the hospital to work with. In addition, decades of planned economic policy discouraged physicians from opening their own clinics, and the practice of medicine was generally non-private. While there are private clinics in China, many of the owners of those clinics do not have a western medical education. Most of these private practitioners practice traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). They learned a lineage-based medical system from their parents (mostly from their fathers), took imperial exams to