To drink urine or not in survival situation?

[shootist16]

I was always under the impression that you should not drink urine as it will hasten dehydration. I was watching Man vs. Wild (I know, this guy does some really stupid stuff) and he drank urine. Was I wrong?

 

[ras]

Nothing seen on Man Vs Wild should be taken at face value, a lot of wrong info is demonstrated and it's all about ratings. BTW, there's a Man vs Wild thread already in progress.

 

[rebeltf]

Saw the same episode and rolled my eyes so far in the back of my head I couldn't see straight for an hour.

This is the same guy that stopped to eat quite dead zebra meat whilest running thru the bush...:barf:

His show is pure entertainment , I would take much of what he does with a large grain of salt.

Everything I have been taught from mentors and books is you are worse off drinking urine if dehydrated than you were in the first place.

 

[PbRx]

Urine is waste. I am surprised he didn't eat his stools when he was hungry, since that will fill him up.

 

[mete]

You could distill the urine and have pure water. This is what's done on spaceships !!

 

[Deerslayer71]

You could distill the urine and have pure water. This is what's done on spaceships !!

And on the movie water world. Opening scene. It's gotta be ok if it's on TV or in the movies. They're almost as good as the internet!

 

[pict]

I think drinking urine is counterproductive. It doesn't make sense to me to put back in what your body just used water to get rid of. Distilling urine, or seawater is a good thing and worth the effort. It seems to me that every time someone "survives by drinking urine" that they do so in spite of the practice rather than because of it. Mac

 

[mr_wilson]

Was this "urine" processed thru an expedient solar still; prior to ingestion?

If answer is no why not? ain't the show you fellas are speaking of here some sort of reality survival show on TLC, NG or the Science channel - do they not care to teach folks how to properly process urine into potable water?

Sorry don't watch much "commercial" tv....

 

[xinel]

hahaha of course you should and can. On the early sailing ships it was done regularly. On many a survival story I've heard from all over the world the people who would not drink their own urine would die and the people that did would live. If it comes to it though you should drink someone elses urine if possible. Sounds terrible but its better for you as you have already processed your own.

 

[FoxholeAtheist]

I'd say it depends on how "dark" the urine is. Sure, your body is getting rid of waste products in the stream, but as long as it's relatively clear, the concentration of waste is relatively low, and you could probably still derive hydration from it without worrying too much about re-doing the waste bits. On the other hand, by the time you're thinking seriously about drinking your own urine, it's probably dark yellow/orange.

That having been said, I hear that urine is relatively sterile.

 

[nitestocker]

well the truth is if you drink the urine it should be yours it came from your body so its safe and would not contaminate you i no it sounds sick but the man was right about surviving at sea story people have lived because they drank there urine the people who did not died and for the color of urine it will get darker with less water to filter it and yes it is waste but its still drinkable and the body wil filter it again so plug your nose and have a drink :barf:

 

[MG_Saldivar]

This post on Ron Hood's Survival.com board deals with this issue. For what it's worth, a member of that board with the username "Howard Wallace" offers this info:

I will now share some information from a book "Surviving the Extremes" by Kenneth Kamler, MD.

Dr. Kamler goes into the physiology of dying, and surviving, in extreme environments. Dr. Kamler is somewhat more credible that the TV actor referenced earlier in this thread.

1 - Salts in urine never become as concentrated as salts in the blood. Drinking urine causes a decrease, not increase in salinity of body fluids. (p 145) This is in sharp contrast to seawater, which is about 3 times saltier than blood. (p108) In order for drinking seawater to result in a net decrease in salinity you have to dilute it with at least twice as much fresh water. (as Thor Heyerdahl did in his Atlantic crossing on the Ra II)

2 - Urine does contain a high concentration of urea, and drinking it exclusively for long periods may damage the kidneys. (p145)

3 - Dr. Kamler documents 2 cases of almost unbelievable desert survival in which the survivors drank their own urine. One was Mauro Prosperi, who survived nine days in the Sahara and crossed 130 miles of desert after his water ran out. The other was Pablo Valencia, who survived 7 days in the Mojave after his water ran out. Valincia's urine dried up on day 5. Both these tales as well as the physiology of dying of thirst and overheating, are detailed in the desert chapter.

In the final analysis, although it is socially taboo, drinking urine may provide a means of surviving some otherwise unsurvivable situations. As Ron alludes, there may be a price to pay in organ damage.

Btw, Ron Hood offers some observations about Bear Grylls, too, based on Hood's work on the pilot ep ("Rocky Mountains").

 

[Triquetra]

I saw a show the other day on History or Discovery about some I believe American sailers who were shipwrecked somewhere in the middle east. They were sold into slavery and they survived going across the desert by not only drinking their urine but the urine from the camels. One guy even stole a little of someone elses urine when he was desperate. I can't remember all of the details but it was suppose to be a true story.

 

[SkunkWerX]

I actually listened to what he said.

It's a last resort kinda thing. Urine is 98% h2o.
It should be drunk "fresh", it comes out sterile, but, is suceptible to breeding bacteria, so, bottoms up!

I've said this before, many of us really cannot comprehend what we would be capable of doing if we were on the brink of dying.

This is a Live or Die kinda thing, not a day hike.
Fortunately most of us have never, and will never be in such dire straights that we have to think about eating raw meat, or drinking urine.
But, there comes a point, when you are facing death, that you have to consider the risks:
-Die in half an hour 99% assurety
OR
-Drink urine, live another 4 hours or more, and maybe get an upset stomach or gastric distress.


Before we poo-poo inmformation, do a google search or three.

Urine is mostly water, and relatively sterile. But this does not mean it qualifies for the recommended 6 - 8 daily glasses of H2O, and here's why: in addition to the water content, urine contains trace elements of hundreds of other things — from undigested alcohol to nitrogen and potassium, and sodium, which makes it such a salty drink. (By the way, the first pee in the morning is more concentrated; and the more water you drink, the more diluted it will be.) Urine could — in rare cases — also have some toxic substances in it, such as lead or arsenic. It can also contain trace amounts of drugs that the urinating person has recently ingested, though probably not enough to actually give the sipper any high or show up on a drug test (in case you were wondering).

I'm not into defending SurvivorMan or Bear, but more interested in fact from rumor or fiction.

With this said, they do warn that if you have certain conditions, like Diabetes, the threat of internal infection is increased, so keep your own health in mind. Also, if you are carrying infectious diseases, well, don't let others drink your pee....

-In Cameroon people are drinking urine "health drinks". :barf:

-There is a wave of people now thinking "Urine therapy" (drinking ones own urine) has some medicinal properties?

Do a Google search, lots of info out there, and it seems people aren't dying from it.

Me?? Yuck...pitooooeee! :barf:
But, if I'm ever lost in the sahara desert, well, you never know to what lengths you'll go to survive.

I draw the line at squeezing elephant dung for moisture.
Give me a .45 to the head if I'm that bad off.

 

[ras]

This post on Ron Hood's Survival.com board deals with this issue. For what it's worth, a member of that board with the username "Howard Wallace" offers this info: . . . big quote . . .

Btw, Ron Hood offers some observations about Bear Grylls, too, based on Hood's work on the pilot ep ("Rocky Mountains").

I found Ron Hood's post #11 in that thread to be much more credible. Read the entire thread, good discussion.

 

[muzzleup]

Drinking urine is not something I would consider,however, the S.A.S survival handbook says the urine is sterile and could be used to flush out dirty cuts. So, maybe as a very last ditch I might.

Ciao
:jerkit:
Ron

 

[rebeltf]

Yes , I suppose urine has it uses , I have heard urine will cure athletes foot..

Ok , maybe if I was lost in the desert I would resort to that , like the above poster mentioned , one does not know what one will do until one is in that position.

The thing is , he has a camera crew/guy with him , who is certainly not drinking any urine , so Bear's use of his own urine was for drama effect.
He could have waited till commercial then stole a swig from his buddies canteens.

 

[m_calingo]

I remember correctly there was a story some time back about a marathon racer who lost his bearings someplace in North Africa near the Sahara.

He only had a small (1liter?) bottle of water with him as he expected that was all he needed until he got to his next checkpoint. Unfortunately for him, he ended up going in the wrong direction.

Long story short, he was found, alive. Part of his survival was credited to his re-use of his...pee.

 

[btuner]

drinking urine = last ditch survival situation
and who cares if you get kidney or organ damage youll still be a whole lot better off than if you didnt drink it

 

[mete]

One use for urine - if you've been sprayed by a spitting cobra and have no other liquid to flush out poison -someone can urinate in your eyes to flush it out.I have read of someone doing that.