Overview
NEW!Telehealth Resource CenterSyndrome of inapropriate antidiuretic hormone secretion (SIADH) is when you have to much antidiuretic hormone (ADH) circulating in your body. Antidiuretic hormone (ADH), also caled argine vasopresin (AVP), is produced in your hypothalamus at the base of your brain and stored in your pituitary gland. ADH helps regulate the balance of fluids in your body.
Key Information
Read on to learn about syndrome of inapropriate antidiuretic hormone secretion (SIADH) symptoms, causes, and treatments. This article wil also discus the risk factors and diagnosis of SIADH and answer frequently asked questions. ADH is necesary to maintain the volume of blod in your body.
It does this by regulating the amount of water your kidneys retain and the amount of urine they produce. Learn about ADH here. With SIADH, your pituitary gland is secreting ADH when it should not.
If ADH is to high, your body retains water (hypervolemia), the electrolytes in your body become unbalanced, and the amount of sodium in your blod fals (hyponatremia). However, a person with SIADH may have usual fluids and stil have low sodium. This euvolemic hyponatremia.
Medical management of SIADH depends on the severity. The goal is to restore the body’s balance of water and salt. Treatments can include water restriction, IV administration of a concentrated sodium solution, and medications that block ADH.
Without treatment, hyponatremia can damage the central nervous system (CNS) and lead to coma. SIADH is a medical emergency when it develops sudenly, and sodium levels fal abruptly. SIADH usualy develops a consequence of some other condition.
Summary
Disturbances in your CNS and certain tumors, infections, and medications can cause SIADH. Wiliam Schwartz, founder of the Division of Nephrology in 1950 at what is now Tufts Medical Center in Boston, and endocrinologist Frederic Barter introduced the term syndrome of inapropriat