Urine Therapy

About

Urine Therapy, also known as Urinotherapy or Shivambu, is an alternative health practice of using human or animal urine for supposed medicinal and cosmetic purposes. The most well-known aspect of Urine Therapy is drinking pee, usually one's own, also known as urophagia. Other aspects include the application and massaging of urine onto the skin and gums, as well as soaking one's feet in urine. Online, Urine Therapy Facebook groups and subreddits are commonplace. On Instagram, users like Will Blunderfield promote Urine Therapy through Reels. The content is generally NSFW and likened to a fetish or a hoax by skeptics.

History

Urine therapy is said to have been practiced by ancient societies. In Ancient Rome, urine was notably used for whitening teeth.^[23] It has also been used in some traditional remedies in Mexico and Nigeria. In Islamic societies, the use of camel urine was practiced in some regions.^[1]

Despite this history, auto-urine therapy, or the use of one's own pee, wasn't popularized en masse until the 1940s when British naturopath John W. Armstrong started using urine to treat minor stings and toothaches, predominantly inspired by an interpretation of the Biblical passage "Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and running waters out of thine own well" from Proverb 5:15.^[22]

In 1944, Armstrong wrote The Water of Life: A Treatise on Urine Therapy,^[2] which has since become the leading document in modern urine therapy. The book was well-received in India where people found it similar to a section in the text Ḍamara Tantra called Shivambu Kalpa.^[22] Ḍamara Tantra is not found easily in its physical form. Most of the references to its importance and promotion of urine therapy resurfaced predominantly in modern texts written after Armstrong's influence.^[1] The most predominant and modern Indian urine therapy writer was named Raojibhai Manibhai Patel who promoted cow-urine therapy.

Online History

On January 15th, 2007, Redditor jstevoh shared a post^[3] that linked a science blog^[4] about "Dr. Jain's Cow Urine Therapy," a real after-shave product sold in the 2000s in Delhi, India made from cow urine (shown below, left). On February 10th, 2009, MSNBC^[5] published an article about a Bolivian woman who died from a urine injection from her friend as a form of health therapy. The story was published on the subreddit /r/WTF^[6] on the same day. On June 10th, 2009, a 4channer made a post to the /tv/^[7] board that included a Piracy, It's a Crime meme that read, "You Wouldn't Drink Your Own Piss" (shown below, right). In the thread, multiple 4channers chimed in about urine therapy.

In 2015, more serious discourse surfaced about urine therapy on 4chan^[12][13] with anons suggesting to "massage your injured foot with your own piss several times a day" and claiming "I was grossed out too at first, but this passed quickly when I noticed the effects it had on my health. I turned to urine therapy more or less as a last resort option… It didn't just completely cure the skin disorder I was struggling with my entire life, it also helped me regrow all of my hair when I was starting to go bald a bit. On top of many other health benefits: more energy, smoother skin, no more depressed feelings."

Online news coverage regarding urine therapy appeared en masse continuing into the 2010s. For instance, on August 16th, 2016, the South China Morning Post^[8] published an article about urine therapy being ruled illegal by the government.^[14] On August 28th, 2016, NBC News^[9] published an article on the rise of cow-urine therapy in India.

Urine Therapy Facebook Groups

On October 6th, 2011, the private Facebook^[10] group Urine Therapy: THE REAL UNIVERSAL REMEDY was created. Sometime in 2015, the private Facebook^[11] group Urine Therapy was then created. Among other groups, these two attracted users who shared experiences and advice about urine therapy.

In 2017, urine therapy content on Facebook became more prevalent. For instance, on May 7th, 2017, Facebook^[15] page Certified Health Nut posted a video in which they were in the midst of a seven-day fast of only drinking their own urine. The video received roughly 2,300 views in five years (shown below).

Screenshots from the urine therapy Facebook groups started surfacing elsewhere in 2017. For instance, on October 26th, 2017, Twitter^[16] user CIAGoFundMe tweeted a screenshot of a urine therapy Facebook user's post, earning over 30 likes in five years. On June 18th, 2018, Redditor JustANutMeg shared a screenshot to /r/insanepeoplefacebook^[17] of a dog being subjected to urine therapy by its owner, earning roughly 1,500 upvotes over the course of five years (shown below).

Continuing into the late 2010s, more videos surfaced on Facebook.^[18] On January 9th, 2019, Twitter^[19] user Skyear_ tweeted, "highlights from the 'urine therapy' facebook group," and earned roughly 15,700 likes in three years. The tweet included four screenshots of posts, mostly from 2018 that showed feet soaking in pee and drinking pee (shown below).

Once the COVID-19 pandemic started in early 2020, many urine therapy Facebook users preached the supposed benefits of urine theray in combatting coronavirus. On October 21st, 2021, Redditor evrenseven shared a screenshot from the group Urine Magic to /r/HermanCainAward^[20] that was about COVID and urine therapy (shown below, left). The post received roughly 6,300 upvotes in 10 months.

More screenshots surfaced in 2022. For instance, on August 3rd, 2022, Redditor StridentIceberg shared a screenshot to /r/cringepics^[21] that received roughly 1,400 upvotes in three weeks (shown below, right).

Related Memes

Will Blunderfield

Will Blunderfield is a Canadian musician, alternative men's health guru and self-proclaimed "Sex Kung Fu Coach" who specializes in yoga, semen retention, penis reflexology and Urine Therapy in which he drinks his own piss and semen for supposed health benefits. Blunderfield's Instagram Reels have drawn interest, curiosity and reposts across social media in 2022. He often appears tan, naked and shirtless with his hairy chest out, sporting a big beard and a bald head. He refers to his followers as his "yogis." He was additionally interviewed by Channel 5 With Andrew Callaghan. He's been active online since 2008 on his own website, YouTube, Twitter and Facebook, however, many of his accounts have been banned for violating community guidelines. He is also a prominent OnlyFans creator.

Bear Grylls / Better Drink My Own Piss

Better Drink My Own Piss is an image macro series featuring a photo of Edward "Bear" Grylls, the host of UK's wildlife survival series Born Survivor, also known as Man vs. Wild in the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. While some macros use captions parodying the ridiculous and oftentimes unnecessary stunts Grylls performs on the show, they typically focus on the consumption of his own urine.

Search Interest

External References