Hypernatraemic hypovolaemia with anaemia: an unusual presentation of primary testicular insufficiency

Abstract

Hypogonadal men may experience intense vasomotor symptoms, and vasomotor sweating can occasionally be associated with profound fluid losses. We describe a 37-year-old male, who exhibited persistent hypovolaemic hypernatraemia that was challenging to treat despite a continuous high fluid input (>4–5 L/day). He was noted to have drenching sweats and normochromic anaemia. He had recent traumatic head injury, which resulted in neurocognitive dysfunction, so pituitary function tests were done which showed primary hypogonadism. After exclusion of all other possible causes of excess sweating, hypernatraemia and anaemia, a trial of testosterone therapy was instituted. Sweating dramatically ceased within hours of his first testosterone injection, hydration status normalised within days and anaemia and neurocognitive function progressively improved with continued testosterone replacement. This case demonstrates how, in a susceptible individual, hypovolaemic hypernatraemia can arise from insensible cutaneous fluid loss through eccrine sweating, mediated by vasomotor symptoms of untreated hypogonadism. Although this scenario has not been described in the literature, we felt it needed to be shared with the wider medical community because of how the diagnosis and treatment utterly transformed this patient’s functional status and outcome.

Learning points:

• Hypogonadal men may experience intense vasomotor symptoms and vasomotor sweating can occasionally be associated with profound fluid losses.

• Whether or not there is also hyperosmolar hypernatraemia, clinicians should always consider the possibility of underlying hypogonadism in men with normocytic anaemia and excessive sweating.

• Androgen (testosterone) replacement in hypogonadal men can have a dramatic effect on vasomotor sweating and hot flushes.