Urotherapy

UROTHERAPY (from Greek uron-urine and therapia-care, treatment), treatment with urine. Urine as a therapeutic agent in folk medicine has been known for a long time. It was used as a compress in the treatment of burns, wounds, bruises, in inflammatory processes of the eyes, eyelids, etc. In particular, urine from pregnant women was used for therapeutic purposes even in ancient times. The method of treatment with whole urine began to penetrate into medical practice only in recent years, and the largest place in U. was occupied by the treatment with urine from pregnant women. In 1928, Zamkov, working on the Zondek-Aschheim reaction and noting the effect of pregnant women's urine on the reproductive apparatus not only of female mice but also of males, decided to test the effect of this urine on the human reproductive system in terms of reviving its functions. Later (in 1932), works on the same question appeared in the foreign press (Schildberg, Freud, etc.). Urine from pregnant women was previously used only for extracting prolan and folliculin preparations from it. For this purpose, it is subjected to complex processing with strongly acting agents, as a result of which some authors even doubt the identity of the preparations obtained in this way with normal hormones. The consideration just presented, as well as the low efficiency and instability of the preparations obtained from pregnant women's urine, prompted Zamkov to test the therapeutic effect of his preparation of pregnant women's urine on humans, which he called gravidan (from gravida - pregnant). Gravidan contains a whole range of hormones, and therefore is a polyglandular preparation. Among these hormones, one of the main ones is prolan. Standardization of gravidan is carried out precisely according to the prolan content using the Zondek-Aschheim reaction. In addition to it, gravidan contains the following hormones: 1) ovarian hormone - folliculin [discovered by Zondek and Braat]; the amount of this hormone increases with the progress of pregnancy; 2) thyrotropic hormone (Prahormon, hormonothyreine), which stimulates the activity of the thyroid gland (discovered by Paal); 3) hormone of fat metabolism (Anselmino, Hoffmann); 4) hormone of blood circulation (Bauer), studied in detail by Frey and Kraut and named by them kallikrein; causing dilation of peripheral vessels, it lowers blood pressure. In addition to hormones, urine contains a whole range of substances: urea, purine bodies, xanthine, hypoxanthine, guanine, uric acid, products of its oxidation (alloxan and parabanic acid) and protein, which even in negligible quantities is often an active substance. They all mainly affect the cardiovascular system. For example, urea in low concentrations causes acceleration of cardiac activity and increase in the amplitude of heart contractions on an isolated heart, while large doses slow down the rhythm and stop the heart. Creatinine acts like urea, but without accelerating cardiac activity; purine bodies act like caffeine. Xanthine and hypoxanthine slow down cardiac activity and reduce its amplitude; guanine has no effect on the heart but lowers the tone of the intestines. Uric acid and its oxidation products in large doses cause slowing of cardiac activity, in small doses, on the contrary, acceleration; guanidine increases blood pressure; protein even in negligible quantities causes constriction of vessels of the isolated ear. The role of these products in the overall effect observed after the introduction of urine and in particular gravidan is apparently not very great and is probably mainly of a sensitizing nature; for example, if urine is administered with adrenaline, the effect of the latter on the body becomes much more pronounced. At present, there are several preparations of gravidan, manufactured by the Urogravido-therapy Institute (Moscow), the Moscow Regional Clinical Institute, and the State Institute of Endocrinology (Moscow). Gravidan therapy is currently used in many pathological processes: in infectious diseases and convalescence from them (lobar pneumonia, abdominal and typhus, malaria); in ophthalmic practice (treatment of complications of trachoma, iridocyclitis, herpetic keratitis; also as an analgesic, reducing intraocular pressure, accelerating the healing of ulcers and as an anti-inflammatory agent); in polyarthritis, acute and chronic, of various etiologies; in urological practice (in impotence and inflammatory processes); in diseases of the cardiovascular system (as a regulator of blood pressure and pulse, as well as a diuretic); in bronchial asthma, catarrhs and stomach ulcers and colitis, especially spastic. Furthermore, gravidan is used in purulent surgery, especially in furunculosis, in purulent otitis and mastoiditis as a means of accelerating healing; in pediatric practice (rickets, hypotrophy) as a means of increasing tissue growth, as well as in disorders of the psyche (schizophrenia, cerebral arteriosclerosis, nervous exhaustion, depression, loss of mental capacity, etc.). In animal husbandry, gravidan is used as a means of increasing fatness, fertility and performance, as well as a therapeutic agent for various inflammatory infectious processes, in particular for hoof disease in deer and infectious abortion in cattle. Summarizing the data obtained from gravidan therapy, it can only be said so far that the human and animal organism reacts to the administration of this preparation by no means indifferently, and according to the opinion of the authors who used it, its effect is mostly positive. These positive properties manifest themselves mainly, according to these authors, in raising the general tone, improving the patient's well-being, restoring performance, sleep, appetite, and the appearance of euphoria. These signs are noted by them in the vast majority of patients. Also noted by the authors is a significant improvement in the healing of wounds and the reverse development of inflammatory processes. The course of infectious diseases in some cases, according to literary data, becomes shorter and milder, and during the period of recovery, the patient's strength is restored much more quickly. The effect of gravidan on individual systems of the body, according to the currently available literary data, is expressed as follows: the effect on the cardiovascular system is manifested in regulating blood pressure, pulse, diuresis and improving well-being. In the treatment of polyarthritis, mainly chronic and especially of endocrine origin, the authors note a very good effect in terms of disappearance of pain and restoration of performance. The effect on the gastrointestinal tract according to these data is also favorable: in spastic colitis, bowel movements are normalized and pains disappear, in ulcers and catarrh of the stomach pains also disappear, blood from stools disappears, mucus in gastric contents disappears, weight increases. However, no changes in the acidity of gastric juice are observed. In psychiatric practice in schizophrenia in cases that can give remission, this remission occurs much more quickly and is longer. Narcotics addicts tolerate the period of morphine and alcohol abstinence much more easily and more quickly get rid of drugs. It should be noted that in most observations, clinical improvements have been confirmed by laboratory blood and urine tests. In animals, in all the above cases, a highly favorable result has been obtained according to the observations of various authors at the bases of various Moscow and Leningrad veterinary and zootechnical institutes and laboratories. However, it should be borne in mind that in some cases a negative effect is observed after the administration of gravidan: excitement appears, sleep is disturbed, well-being worsens, palpitations and shortness of breath occur; in some cases, urticarial rash has even been noted. The dosage of gravidan cannot be considered finally established due to the fact that different organisms react to it in a highly different manner. Therefore, in each case, doses have to be individualized and changed in both directions, in accordance with the effect obtained. On average, the course of treatment lasts about 1-2 months, with injections usually made every other day. Doses - from 1 to 10 cm³; average dose - 2-4 cm³.