Urine therapy

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In alternative medicine, the term urine therapy (also urotherapy, urinotherapy or uropathy) refers to various applications of human urine for medicinal or cosmetic purposes, including drinking of one's own urine and massaging one's skin with one's own urine. A practitioner of urine therapy is sometimes called a uropath^{[citation needed]}.

In the Indian ayurvedic tradition, urine therapy may be called amaroli. Another name is Shivambu Kalpa, taken from the title of the ancient text Shivambu Kalpa Vidhi. Here, shivambu can be translated as "the waters of Shiva", and refers to the urine.

Contents 1 History 2 Modern claims and findings 3 Trivia 4 Further reading 5 See also 6 References 7 External links

[edit] History

Promoters of urine therapy believe urine to have many preventative and curative powers. Some cultures have traditionally used urine as a medicine, especially India's, where it is prescribed by the Shivambu Kalpa Vidhi, which (among other uses and prescriptions) suggests massaging one's skin with aged, concentrated urine. In traditional Tibetan medicine, examination of the patient's urine is one of the main sources of information for a diagnosis.^[1]

The Koryak tribe of Siberia is reported to have used the Amanita muscaria mushroom as an entheogen, and to have drunk the urine of those using the mushroom in order to experience the effects themselves. Tribesmen who could not afford the mushrooms drank the urine of those who could; tribesmen drank their own urine in order to prolong the experience; and tribesmen on trips carried their own urine with them.^[2] They sometimes concentrated their urine by partially freezing it and ingesting the unfrozen liquid.^{[citation needed]} R. Gordon Wasson has theorized that the mythological soma of the Vedic was also Amanita muscaria.^[2]

The homeopath John Henry Clarke wrote, "…man who, for a skin affection, drank in the morning the urine he had passed the night before. The symptoms were severe, consisting of general-dropsy, scanty urine, and excessive weakness. These symptoms I have arranged under Urinum. Urinotherapy is practically as old as man himself. The Chinese (Therapist, x. 329) treat wounds by sprinkling urine on them, and the custom is widespread in the Far East. Taken internally it is believed to stimulate the circulation".^[3]

[edit] Modern claims and findings

Urine's main constituents are water and urea. However, it contains small quantities of many hormones and metabolites,^[4][5] including corticosteroids.^[6] Urea has been claimed by some doctors to have an anti-cancer effect.^[7] In addition, the other chemicals in urine might have some effect if ingested. In 1997, Joseph Eldor, of the Theoretical Medicine Institute in Jerusalem, published a paper suggesting that because cancer cells release antigens which appear in the urine, oral autourotherapy could spur the intestinal lymphatic system to produce antibodies against these antigens.^[8]

Despite these claims, there has been no research that has found urine therapy to be useful for any illness.^[9] However, human urine is normally sterile^[10], and drinking small amounts of one's own urine is unlikely to be seriously harmful.^[9]

[edit] Trivia

• Cameroon's Health Minister Urbain Olanguena Awono warned people against drinking their own urine, believed in some circles to be a tonic and cure for a number of ailments. "Given the risks of toxicity associated with ingesting urine", he wrote, "the health ministry advises against the consumption of urine and invites those who promote the practice to cease doing so or risk prosecution."^[11]
• Urinotherapy was in vogue recently to improve well-being or as a last resort in severe illness in the former Soviet Union and in some post-USSR countries.^[12]
• Former Indian Prime Minister Morarji Desai practiced urinotherapy.^[11]
• Urinating on jellyfish stings has been commonly believed to be an effective folk remedy. However, such a practice usually has no beneficial effect on the stings, and in some cases may even be dangerous.^[13]
• Urine contains many vitamins, hormones and nutrients that are essential to the proper functioning of human body.^[4] However, it also contains metabolic waste by-products and small amounts of toxins such as ammonia and formaldehyde.^{[citation needed]}
• Many cultures consider the practices of urine therapy to be repugnant, even to the point of being taboo.
• Major League Baseball players Moises Alou and Jorge Posada urinate on their hands in order to toughen them up and prevent calluses. This practice seems to contradict the claim of many urine therapists - that the urea in urine serves to soften the skin.

[edit] Further reading

• Shivambu Kalpa Vidhi, a part of the Damar Tantra
• Your Own Perfect Medicine, Martha M. Christy, Scottsdale, AZ: Future Medicine, 1994.
• The Golden Fountain: The Complete Guide to Urine Therapy, Coen van der Kroon, Scottsdale, AZ: Wishland Publishing, 1996.
• The Water of Life: A Treatise on Urine Therapy, John W. Armstrong, London: True Health Publishing Co., 1940s.
• Shivambu Kalpa: The Ancient Healing Way of the Self, by the Self, with Medicine of the Self, Arthur Lincoln Pauls, Ortho-Bionomy Pub., 1978.
• Shivambu Was Is and Will Be, Nila Sanghvi, Mumbai.
• " RAKSHANK" a book on extract of Urine Therapy written by Dr Rakshak Mal Lodha:- rakshakmal@gmail.com

[edit] See also

• Urophagia
• Urine in Medicine

[edit] References

1. ^ Health Through Balance: An Introduction to Tibetan Medicine, Yeshi Donden, ed. and transl. by Jeffrey Hopkins, Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Pub., 2003. ISBN 812081519X.
2. ^ ^{a b} The plant kingdom and hallucinogens (part I), Richard Evans Schultes, UNODC Bulletin on Narcotics 21 (1969), #3, pp. 3–16.
3. ^ A Dictionary of Practical Materia Medica, John Henry Clarke, London: Homoeopathic Pub. Co., 1900–1902.
4. ^ ^{a b} Urine Therapy, Jeff Lowe
5. ^ Clinical value of 24-hour urine hormone evaluations, Alan Broughton, Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients, January 2004.
6. ^ An Investigation into the Determination of Corticosteroids in Urine. I. The Determination of Corticosterone-like Substances, S. L. Tompsett, Journal of Clinical Pathology 6 (#1, February 1953), pp. 74–77. PMID 13034924.
7. ^ Urotherapy, fact sheet at the American Cancer Society.
8. ^ Urotherapy for patients with cancer, J. Eldor, Medical Hypotheses 48 (#4, April 1997), pp. 309–315. PMID 9160284.
9. ^ ^{a b} True or False: It's Safe to Drink Your Urine, fact sheet at epnet.com.
10. ^ Urinary Tract Infections in Adults, fact sheet at the National Institute of Health, publication no. 06–2097
11. ^ ^{a b} Cameroon threatens to jail urine drinkers, Jane Flanagan, Daily Telegraph, on line, article dated March 15, 2003.
12. ^ Understanding Patients From the Former Soviet Union, Linda Grabbe, Family Medicine 32 (2000, #3), pp. 201–206.
13. ^ http://archives.stupidquestion.net/sq6704.html

[edit] External links

• Urine therapy, Martin Gardner, Skeptical Inquirer, May-June 1999.
• Urine Therapy: Skeptic's Dictionary entry
• Urotherapy, fact sheet at the American Cancer Society
• Urine Therapy, Jeff Lowe
• Urotherapy for patients with cancer, J. Eldor, MD; originally published in Medical Hypotheses 48 (#4, April 1997), pp. 309–315.
• Urine Therapy: A Natural Alternative That Works, Martha M. Christy, Nexus Magazine 3, #2 (February-March 1996).
• Nothing unscientific about urine therapy, B. V. Khare
• The miracles of urine therapy, Abhishek Thakore, at Life Positive
• Shirley's Wellness Cafe on urine therapy
• Urine therapy: The simple use of ones own urine
• Urine Therapy at biomedx.com
• Kadzuwo, On Academic Reports, Urine Autovaccination
• Wonders of Uropathy at IndianGyan.com
• The Urineists: practitioners of urophagia & urolagnia (A Google group)
• Shivambu Yoga & Nature Cure Center