Drinking urine?

Codger_64

Codger_64

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No, no matter what you see on the TV or Youtube. Finally, a man with some wilderness medicine skills weighs in on this issue, Buck Tilton (founded the Wilderness Medicine Institute), who has a monthly column in Backpacker Magazine.

http://www.backpacker.com/community/ask_buck/132

Q.} Will drinking urine when no water is available allow you to survive longer? I have heard conflicting information.
Submitted by: Dan, Toronto, ON
A.} Let's take a step back from the pee bottle. Without water, you start dehydrating and your urine output decreases. In addition, your urine increases in the concentration of waste products (and that's why it gets darker in color). In short, there won't be much urine to drink, and what there is will be bad for you. The SAS Survival Handbook says it all: Never drink urine—never!
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It is noteworthy that he mentions the SAS handbook in his answer.

If you don't have a copy, you can read some of it HERE. The part about water is on page 44. Some celeb survival gurus evidently are not familiar with Lofty Wiseman's advice.

By the time you were dehydrated enough to drink it, it would be dark yellow from the ammonia compounds, salts and acids, and of little benefit, further stressing already stressed kidneys. Urine might be useful if you can distill it such as with a solar still.
 
After the hotel incident....I think it's safe to say that he drank fresh Lemonade mixed up by his camera man. :foot:

Good post...... now someone needs to let those who follow him know that it's not a good idea.
 
Does that mean I have to dump out the big foamy glass I just poured myself ??? All joking aside. That is a valuable piece of information and thanks for posting the link to the SAS...........There have been tails of survival though, for instance there was a guy in CA that was trapped because of an earthquake for 3 days and that was how he survived. Granted it was not days on end, but did this allow him to survive ??? I think in a situation where its life or death, your going to do it, even if it gives you a slim chance to survive. I think alot of it is mental. If you drink it, your will think since you had a liquid, you will be okay for awhile..........I am sure after the Haiti aftermath is over, you will hear tales of this also. You already hear that some of the survivors found did not have food or water for 7 days. Did any of them do this to survive ???........Soldiers during the Batan Death March did this to survive !!! In the end, you gotta do what you gotta do to survive. It might not be the healthiest thing, but if it gives you a slim chance, I think most woul do it without hesitation.
 
I'm honestly surprised if there is anyone with half a brain and with a tea spoon of survival/wilderness knowledge that did think that you can drink your own (or anyone else's) urine without doing more harm then good
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LUW said:
I'm honestly surprised if there is anyone with half a brain and with a tea spoon of survival/wilderness knowledge that did think that you can drink your own (or anyone else's) urine without doing more harm then good
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I think that is a part of the problem as I preceive it. Those shows go out to a wide audience, including some mighty clueless people. People with knowledge and/or experience see such advice as the B.S. it is. But that leaves a large number of young people and other inexperienced folks with the impression that the information given comes from an expert, and they should follow the example set. The result is (or could be) carnage for youtube "Jackass vs. Wild" videos.

While I don't care to bash celebs/gurus here in this forum, I do think that we, as responsible forum members (and a few who are actual instructors), have at least some obligation to present valid information on wilderness skills and survival as our research and experience dictates. Sometimes that takes refuting popular but false information out there.

Elephant dung squeezings? Is there a zoo nearby? Report back after the experiment please! A video would be even better! :D
 
What about using a filter pump on urine?
 
I could see being trapped in an earth quake as an exception to this IF you had the means to start collecting your urine from the first moment you knew you were trapped, but then didn't drink it until you were completely desperate. Make sense? Collect while your still hydrated and there is decent water content with the thought being that it may come to that point a few days later. I don't know, maybe I'm wrong??
 
THE PUNISHER said:
NOW WE KNOW.................:p
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I already knew.
I got the pee question so many times when I was teaching, that at the first of my classes I'd say:

"Let's get something out of the way--no, it's not a good idea to drink your pee. Yes, you can, but it's a waste product that only concentrates as dehydration sets in--so the risks outweigh the benefit."

And invariably I'd get this as a reply:

"So what do you think of that Man vs Wild guy on tv? He drinks his own pee."

And they get:

"He also jumps off of 100 ft cliffs into raging 30 degree water and drinks water from elephant poop."

They usually go:

"HE DRANK WHAT?!"

And then let me finish the class.
 
Would a solar still work?
 
CM>>

If you had the stuff to make one.
It should work, but it would take a long time and the amounts would probably be so negligable that the effort you expended to dig the pit and make the apparatus would have done more harm than just finding shade and not expending the energy.

Sadly, there are some situations that no amount of survival knowledge will get you out of.

Middle of the desert, no food, no water, no compass and nothing within three days' walk is pretty nigh one of them.
 
That is my best guess for gaining useful moisture from urine or poop. It works with plant material and damp earth. Here again, we have to carefully weigh the effort expended to the benefit gained.

Likewise the idea of construction of a campfire distiller. But having smelled the steam from a campfire extinguished with a "field expedient firehose", I'd have to be pretty desperate to try that.
 
KEmSAT-Survival said:
Sadly, there are some situations that no amount of survival knowledge will get you out of.

Middle of the desert, no food, no water, no compass and nothing within three days' walk is pretty nigh one of them.
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That's why I avoid those situations. I was watching "I shouldn't be alive" and it's amazing how stupid people are. Why the F would you go jogging 8-5' fro a 20' sheer drop? Why would you go out in the Grand Canyon with only 2 liters of water per person? Stupid S gets you in deadly situations.
 
Charlie Mike said:
That's why I avoid those situations. I was watching "I shouldn't be alive" and it's amazing how stupid people are. Why the F would you go jogging 8-5' fro a 20' sheer drop? Why would you go out in the Grand Canyon with only 2 liters of water per person? Stupid S gets you in deadly situations.
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Because you leave a note of where you're going to be & what time you'll be back. That way your family can call out the cavalry if you aren't back when you say you'll be.

2 litres of water is a pretty fair amount if you don't gorge like a camel. Which is also why you drink plenty of fluids before you get there. You may have to pee every 15 seconds, but your system will have a surplus of water.

Remember: 3 days without water. You can make it up to 3 days without dying of thirst if you play it smart. About the only place I know you stand a chance of not finding water in three days is the middle of the desert (my nightmare survival scenario). Even with the GC the Colorado River is there, and there a good chance you'll find water somewhere from a recent storm that flooded the canyon.


And yes, it most definitely is amazing how stupid people can be. Although, these days, it's starting to become less and less of a surprise when they find some treehugger dead because he thought Mother Earth would provide him the water he needed. He obviously forgot that she's the same hateful bitch who feeds babies to dingos, sissified nature nuts to grizzly bears, and kicks little birds outta nests into the mouth of waiting bobcats.



ETA:: on 2L of water>> If I'm not mistaken, there was a show where the esteemed Mr. Lundin gave a group of "students" 2 litres of water and they made it a week or so. Of course, he taught them where to find water and how to kill it.
 
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If I kill something, is drinking blood safe? I could prolly solar still it.
 
There is only two things a man can't do with out and can't make himself: water and air. Everything else you can make or even do with out for at least 2 or 3 weeks, including food. So wherever you go, whatever you do, be sure you won't run out on both air or water.

And one last thing about urine. If it was good you wouldn't be expected to through it out. Worry only to put it out, and once that's done, forget about it. It's useless for your direct survival, the same goes for poop.
 
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