Polyuria, Polydipsia, and Polyphagia

Are you confused about what polyuria, polydipsia and polyphagia mean, and what you need to know about them in nursing school? 

 

In this video, I’ll break down exactly what polyuria, polydipsia and polyphagia are, and how they relate to the med-surg disorders you’re learning about during nursing school. 

 

 

Polyuria means excessive urination, polydipsia means excessive thirst, and olyphagia means excessive hunger. 

 

These 3 symptoms are sometimes referred to as the “3 P’s” and probably the most common disorder you’ll hear them associated with is diabetes. 

 

During diabetes, the body can’t use glucose for energy, so it uses fat instead. And this leads to a lot of extra glucose in the blood (hyperglycemia). 

 

So polyuria, polydipsia, and polyphagia occur as compensatory mechanisms to try to reduce the blood sugar level. 

 

In this video, I’ll go deeper into this concept of how the body uses polyuria, polydipsia, and polyphagia to reduce blood sugar levels. 

 

I hope you enjoy it! 🙂

Polyuria, polydipsia, and polyphagia. What the heck do all those mean and what do you need to know about them for nursing school. I’ve got those answers coming up! 

 

Hey there, friend! Christina here with nursingsos.com helping you get better grades in nursing school while also having more free time to spend with your family. So make sure to subscribe to this channel and click the little bell so you never miss out on any other nursing school tips and tricks that I’ve got for you. 

 

So you’ve probably heard these before: polyuria, polydipsia and polyphagia, they are also sometimes called the 3 P’s, but what do they actually mean? 

 

So “poly” (the first part of the word) means a lot or many. “Uria” refers to urine, “dipsia” refers to being thirsty, and “phagia” refers to eating. So putting those all together, polyuria means excessive urination, like the patient is really urinating frequently and a lot. Polydipsia means excessive thirst, like the patient is really thirsty just all the time, and polyphagia means excessive hunger, so the patient is hungry all the time.

 

Now what do you need to know about these for nursing school? 

 

The key thing you need to be thinking about when you see these 3 symptoms (polyuria, polydipsia and polyphagia) is – diabetes. 

 

In patients with diabetes, there is an increase in the amount of sugar in the blood, so the blood is just filled with sugar. So these three symptoms really make sense when you think about it. I mean what are the kidneys going to do when the blood is filled with sugar? They’re going to try to get rid of it. So they’re going to urinate, a lot. And that’s what leads to polyuria. 

 

The patient will also be extremely thirsty because their blood is telling their brain, “I’m drowning in sugar! Help!”. So their brain will then tell them to drink more fluids to help dilute the sugar. And that’s what causes polydipsia. 

 

They will also be really, really hungry because their body cells are deprived of their best energy source, which is glucose! Even though there is glucose in the blood, with diabetes, the cells can’t use it for energy, so their brain thinks they need more energy so it tells them to eat…and eat…and eat! And that’s what causes polyphagia. 

 

If you found this breakdown helpful, write LOVE in the comments below, hit that like button and make sure to subscribe and hit the bell so you don’t miss out on any other nursing school tips and tricks. 

 

Thanks for watching friend, now go become the nurse that God created only you to be. And I’ll catch you in the next video.