The first time I was exposed to the concept that the body makes its own medicine, it was through a friend who was introduced to it through an eastern Indian "guru" type of fellow. I thought it was interesting but a wacky kind of idea and I never thought about it again - until I came across a book. The book is entitled, "Your Own Perfect Medicine" by Martha Christy. She has an interesting story to tell. Ms. Christy was sick. Very sick. For a very long time. Pelvic inflammatory disease, ulcerative colitis, Chron's disease, chronic fatigue syndrome, Hashimoto's disease, mononucleosis. She had severe kidney infections, two miscarriages, chronic cystitis, severe candida, endometriosis, adrenal insufficiency, serious chronic ear and sinus infections, food and chemical allergies. And that wasn't the half of it. She had every conceivable medical test, her share of surgery, and drugs - plenty of them. Then she tried all forms of alternative therapy. Homeopathy, herbs, mega-vitamins and liv-cell treatments in Mexico. After traditional medicine failed to work, she and her husband spent over $100,000 trying to get her well with alternative approaches. Nothing worked. And then one day, her husband brought home a little book that told of how individuals had been cured of even the worst diseases with a seemingly strange and little-known natural therapy. Soon afterwards, she began the therapy herself. From the first day she began, she received almost instantaneous relief from her incurable constipation and fluid retention. Within a week, her severe abdominal and pelvic pain was gone. The chronic cystitis and yeast infections (internal and external) soon disappeared and her food allergies, exhaustion, and digestive problems all began to heal. After a few more months, her colds, flu, sore throats and on again off again viral symptoms disappeared. Her hair which had fallen out by the handfuls after her fifth surgery became thick and lustrous. Her weight normalized, and her energy and strength came back. After nearly 30 years of non-stop illness, Martha Christy was whole again. What was this therapy that she had discovered? What was this therapy that has helped seriously ill patients gain complete remissions from their afflictions? What was it that she actually did? Well, here it is. She orally and medicinally re-consumed her own urine. Whoa! Gag! She did what? That's what I thought when I first heard about this. But I also absolutely needed to know more. What I discovered is that urine is not the substance we think it is. In her book, Martha Christy explains what urine is.... In Layman's Language Urine is not, as many believe, the excess water from food and liquids that goes through the intestines and is ejected from the body as "waste". It is much different and much more. When you eat, the food you ingest is eventually broken down in the stomach and intestines into extremely small molecules. These molecules are absorbed into tiny tubules in the intestinal wall and then pass through these tubes into the blood stream. The blood circulates throughout your body carrying these food molecules and other nutrients, along with critical immune defense and regulating elements such as red and white blood cells, antibodies, plasma, microscopic proteins, hormones, enzymes, etc., which are all manufactured at different locations in the body. As the blood circulates, it passes through the liver where toxins are removed and later excreted from the body in the form of solid waste. Eventually, this now purified "cleaned" blood makes its way to the kidneys. When blood enters the kidneys it is filtered through an immensely complex and intricate system of minute tubules called nephron through which the blood is literally "squeezed" at high pressure. This filtering process removes excess amounts of water, salts and other elements in the blood that your body does not need at the time. These excess elements are collected within the kidney in the form of a purified, sterile, watery solution called urine. Many of the constituents of this filtered watery solution, or urine, are then reabsorbed by the nephron and delivered back into the bloodstream. The remainder of the urine passes out of the kidneys into the bladder and is then excreted from the body. The function of the kidneys is to keep the various elements in your blood balanced. When your body doesn't need something at a particular time, it is excreted - not because it is toxic or poisonous or bad for the body, but simply because the body does not need that particular element at the time. Medical researchers have discovered that many of the elements of the blood that are found in urine have enormous medicinal value, and when reintroduced to the body, they boost the body's immune defenses and stimulate healing in a way that nothing else does. A Nutrient Rich Powerhouse In 1975, one of the founders of Miles Laboratories, Dr. A. H. Free, published his book Urinalysis in Clinical Laboratory Practice, in which he remarked that not only is urine a sterile body compound (purer than distilled water), but that it is now recognized that urine contains literally thousands of compounds. Among the urine constituents mentioned in Dr. Free's treatise is a list of nutrients that will knock your socks off. Here's just a few... Alanine, Arginine, Ascorbic acid, Allantoin, Amino acids, Bicarbonate, Biotin, Calcium, Creatinine, Cystine, DHEA, Dopamine, Epinephrine, Folic acid, Glucose, Glutamic acid, Glycine, Inositol, Iodine, Iron, Lysine, Magnesium, Manganese, Melatonin, Methionine, Nitrogen, Ornithane, Pantothenic acid, Phenylalaline, Phosphorus, Potassium, Proteins, Riboflavin, Tryptophan, Tyrosine, Urea, Vitamin B6, Vitamin B12, Zinc/ Stories have been told of individuals who have both lived and died by being trapped in places without food and water for days. Those that survived did so because they drank their own urine, those that perished did not. The ones that died probably could not overcome the mis-informed thoughts that urine is a waste product of the body. It's not. It's just a substance the body secretes that contains elements not needed at the time. Despite what you may have been led to believe about urine, pharmaceutical companies have grossed billions of dollars from the sale of drugs made from urine constituents. Research is happening every day in labs attempting to isolate specific elements of urine so they can create new drugs and patent the substances. For instance, Pergonal is a fertility drug made from human urine. 1992 sales of this drug were reported at $855 million while it costs a patient $1400 a month to consume. Urokinase, a urine ingredient, is used in drug form and sold as a miracle blood clot dissolver for unblocking coronary arteries. Urea, medically proven to be one of the best moisturizers in the world, is packaged in expensive creams and lotions. Take the M out of Murine eye drops and what do you have? Yep. It's made from carbamide - another name for synthetic urea. A Powerful Healer To get some understanding of how urine can be such a powerful healing substance in and of itself, let's take a look at how urine therapy has been known to completely eliminate allergies. We read where researchers have discovered that allergic responses are caused by "renegade" white blood cells that inappropriately attack substances even when they may be no threat to the body. So it is the activity of these renegade white blood cells, called antigen receptors, that needs to be corrected in order to cure the allergy. In 1982, studies published by Dr. William Linscott (in Basic and Clinical Immunology) showed that when these antigen receptors (or renegade white blood cells) are reintroduced into the body, the body actually developed antibodies to these antigen receptors, and the antibodies then stopped the allergic response. Realizing that the urine of allergic individuals contains the allergy causing antigen receptors, researchers thought that to re-introduce the urine back to the allergic individual would mean antibodies would be produced which would then stop the allergic response. And that is exactly what happens. Allergies have been completely turned around with urine therapy. Using urine in this way to cure the allergy, is one form of isopathic treatment. You're using the same substance that is causing the allergy, to be reintroduced to the body to have the body manufacture its own antibody to it. If you grasp this point, you may be able to see the ability of this therapy to be used in just about any illness the body may experience. More Electrons for Your Body Most of the time when a measurement of any given urine sample's oxidation and reduction reading (the ORP value) is taken, it often shows the urine in a reduced state. Chemically this means that there are more electrons (the charge is reduced in the negative direction). We like to say that the flow of life moves on the flow of electrons. If there are a lot of electrons in the urine, then where are they coming from? Yep, from you. So if your papa ever said, child, you're pissing your life away--might there be more to that statement then meets the ears? Free electrons can be given to free radicals to fight oxidation so perhaps urine therapy also works along these lines. Something to think about. Or maybe it is just that things are better the second time around - they've already been processed somewhat once. Concepts From the Isopathic Thinkers To take this isopathic idea a bit further, let's come back to the theories of Guenther Enderlein and his biological perspective. As you'll recall, Enderlein developed remedies that were based on his observations that how we get sick is a function of the blood pH getting thrown off causing microbes in the blood to grow into pathogenicity. His biological remedies involved re-introducing the small colloids of life, or the protits, back into the body to mate with the pathogenic forms so they would de-evolve back into a non-pathogenic state. Mmm…. Now let's take this idea in relation to urine therapy and expand it to meet this biological framework. Urine therapy has been able to cure seemingly incurable disease states. Why is that? Well here's an idea. The colloids in your blood that are the protits/somatids, are very small particles. In fact they are so small as to be unfilterable by something like the kidneys. Though researchers haven't been looking, perhaps one of the invisible constituents of urine are these colloid particles that naturally just get passed through the kidneys out of the blood. When one consumes their own urine through the process of urine therapy, they are receiving a dose of these pure colloids. These biologically proceed to support the immune function, and possibly lead to taking the pathogenic microbes in the blood back down to apathogenic states. In this way, urine truly becomes the body's own perfect medicine. Now Enderlein's theories have never been proven using modern scientific procedures to verify his ideas, and at some levels has been completely dis-proven, but nevertheless people still believe them. Maybe the power of belief in this instance overcomes what factually may not be real. Open Minds Can Open Doors Don't take this therapy lightly. Multiple sclerosis, colitis, lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, cancer, hepatitis, hyperactivity, pancreatic insufficiency, psoriasis, eczema, diabetes, herpes, mononucleosis, adrenal failure, allergies and so many other ailments have been said to be relieved through use of this therapy. After you overcome your initial gag response (I know I had one), you may realize that there might just be something to this and if you are searching for health, this is an area to investigate. There are numerous reports and double blind studies which go back to the turn of the century supporting the efficacy of using urine for health. The recurring points to all of the medical research done to date on urine indicates that it is completely sterile. If it becomes contaminated it happens after it leaves the body. Urine is a by-product of blood filtration, not waste filtration. Urine contains compounds that are very specific to the individual from which it comes. It is antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral, antineoplastic (anticancer), anticonvulsive, and antispasmodic. It is totally non-toxic. With research that could fill volumes, you may be wondering why you haven't heard of this before. Well, urine is abundant (everyone has their own supply), it's free, and it can't be patented. Reasons enough?