A man has to drink 20 liters of water a day due to a rare disease (5 photos)

42-year-old architect Mark Wübbenhorst from Germany looks nothing no different from other people. However, the man has one "feature". He needs to drink 1 liter of water per hour. Otherwise, he has the classic signs of dehydration appear.





There is not much water

This man's name is Mark Wübbenhorst. At the moment he 42 years old, and he lives in Bielefeld. The man works as an architect has a wife and a child.

Outwardly, Mark is no different from other people, and if he admits to a stranger that he drinks 20 liters of water a day, then he hardly anyone will believe, but, nevertheless, this is the pure truth.

If a man does not drink for more than 1 hour, then he begins experience intense thirst. For this reason, he can't even sleep longer. a couple of hours. He usually wakes up 3-4 times at night, so that each time drink 1 liter of water.



Mark Wübbenhorst (far right) with his colleagues

Peculiarity

But what does it have to do with it? It's all about a rare chronic disease - diabetes insipidus, which Mark suffers from. If to speak in simple words, this disease prevents the production of a special hormone, regulating the removal of water from the body.

For this reason, the Wübbenhorst kidneys get rid of fluid with great speed - almost as fast as he drinks it. That is, his the body simply does not retain water, but immediately removes it from the body.



According to statistics, in one form or another with this disease affects about 1 in 25,000 people. Although it is usually not expressed as clear as Mark's.

- The largest amount of water I've ever drunk - it's 25 liters. Of course, my illness does not pose a threat to life if there is water at hand, but it significantly reduces the quality of life, - says the man.

Treatment

In general, diabetes insipidus is treated if doctors succeed in identify the cause and then eliminate it. But in the case of hereditary a form like that of Wübbenhorst usually requires lifelong therapy.



Mark was diagnosed with the disease at birth. His mother suffered from the same problem and therefore was mentally prepared for the appearance a child with diabetes, because the probability of this was about 50%.

Given that Mark has been drinking a lot of water since birth, in a sense, he resigned himself to his condition, but from hormonal He was forced to abandon therapy due to side effects.

Water reserves

Of course, such a feature of the organism requires Wübbenhorst carefully plan all your affairs and especially travel so that he enough water on the way.

- I always carry a bag of bottles with me. Still me I know in advance about the places where I can fill them, as well as about the toilets, because I need them almost every half an hour. Therefore, force majeure happens rarely. Once I was on a train and it stopped due to a breakdown. When my the supply of water ran out, I went and asked people for water. I'm lucky that they had it,” says Mark.



Mark Wübbenhorst and his monthly supply of water in the garage

In general, Wübbenhorst leads an almost normal life. He is engaged in horse riding, works and brings up a daughter who, to Fortunately, she was born without this disease. But if he does not drink water for 1-2 hours, then he immediately shows the classic signs of dehydration: fatigue drowsiness, headache and so on.

- Unfortunately, there is no universal treatment. At least at least in my case. Therefore, I perceive the disease as my feature. This is no reason to despair. There are people who are much harder than me - shares Wübbenhorst.