Diabetes insipidus (DI) is a disorder characterized by intense thirst and by the excretion of large amounts of urine (polyuria). In most cases, it's the result of your body not properly producing, storing or releasing a hormone that increases water absorption by your kidneys and decreases urine flow. This form of diabetes insipidus is often called central diabetes insipidus, or sometimes neurogenic diabetes insipidus. Diabetes occurs in association with the following etiologic factors

1. The spleen and stomach are damaged by overeating greasy food or by over-consuming alcohol, causing failure of the spleen in transporting and transforming which, in turn, causes interior-heat to accumulate and consume food and body fluids, finally resulting in diabetes.

2. Anxiety, anger, mental depression, etc. injure the liver, causing the liver qi to stagnate. Protractedly stagnated liver qi turns into evil heat which consumes body fluids body fluids and eventually leads to diabetes.

3. Deficiency in the kidneys caused by intemperance in sexual life or congenital essence defect causes the kidney qi to wane; as a result, the kidney qi fails to maintain the functioning of the bladder in restraining urine discharge, thus polyuria occurs.                                 

Traditional Chinese medicine identifies three types of diabetes: the upper depletion-thirst, the middle depletion-thirst, and the lower depletion-thirst. Differential diagnosis of syndromes is based upon these three types

1. Upper-warmer depletion-thirst diseases
Pathogenic heat consumes the lung yin, thus affecting the upper-warmer.
Primary manifestations: Severe thirst accompanied by dryness of the mouth and tongue, polyguria, reddened tip and margin of the tongue with thin, yellow coating, and full and rapid pulse.

2. Middle-warmer depletion-thirst disease
Excessive fire of the stomach consumes the stomach yin fluids.
Primary manifestations: Polyphagia, emaciation, constipation, reddened tongue with dry, yellow coating, and slippery and strong pulse.

3. Lower-warmer depletion-thirst disease
a). Yin deficiency: A morbid state due to a defect in the kidney essence and consumption of the kidney yin.
Primary manifestations: Polyguria, turbid urine, dry mouth, reddened tongue with little coating, and weak and rapid pulse.

b). Deficiency of both yin and yang: A morbid state due to deficiency of the kidney yin and yang.
Primary manifestations: Severe polyguria, turbid urine, lassitude, spontaneous sweating, shortness of breath, impotence, dark complexion, pale tongue with white coating, and deep and weak pulse.