DIABETIC NOCTURNAL DIARRHEA

Abstract

Diarrhea in diabetic patients is always a troublesome and often a serious complication. Our purpose in this report is to describe a syndrome characterized by intermittent nocturnal diarrhea in patients with diabetes mellitus. In 1936 Bargan, Bollman and Kepler¹ reported 2 cases in which a tentative diagnosis of "diarrhea of diabetes" was made'and stated that no failure of pancreatic external secretion could be demonstrated. In their cases the administration of pancreatic extract did not correct the disorder. Joslin, Root, White and Marble² also have discussed the association of nocturnal diarrhea and diabetes. The first case of nocturnal diarrhea in this clinic occurred in 1912. Forty patients with this complication who had hospital studies and follow-up observations were selected for this investigation. The characteristic symptomatology of this syndrome is intermittent nocturnal diarrhea consisting of brown watery stools in a patient with diabetes mellitus. The intermittent character of the diarrhea