Please, we’re begging you, do not 'drink your pee' to avoid HRT

This story originally appeared on Them.

I regret to inform you that some cisgender women on TikTok are talking about drinking pee to avoid taking hormone replacement therapy (HRT) to treat symptoms of perimenopause and menopause. Yes, you literally read that correctly.

In the latest installment of cis people’s obsession with both regulating hormones and going to extreme measures to obtain them, some videos are now promoting the idea of drinking your own urine as a holistic remedy to hormone imbalance, as opposed to going to an endocrinologist who can prescribe HRT like estrogen. One video, which has since been widely stitched and recirculated on the app, shows two women who declare, “Day 1 of drink your pee, don’t do HRT,” before chugging the contents of a mug, which we can only assume is, well, pee, judging from the looks on their faces afterward.

For those who are not aware, there is zero scientific evidence that suggests drinking your own urine can regulate your estrogen production. Urine is a human byproduct, meaning it is filtered waste your body is expelling after liquid passes through your kidneys. Not only is it not medical treatment, and certainly not a form of HRT; science has shown it can also be dangerous to consume, causing dehydration and even kidney damage, per the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. Medical professionals have responded in horror to the trend, urging people to please not try this at home.

“I can’t believe it’s 2026 and I have to say this out loud,” Rachel Gelman, a pelvic floor physical therapist and sex counselor, said in a video responding to the trend. “Don’t drink your pee. If you don’t want to do hormone therapy, that’s fine, you don’t have to. But drinking your pee is not going to manage whatever symptoms you’re having or do something to protect you from whatever you think it happens from hormone therapy.”

Sadly, pee drinking is not the only symptom of a cultural shift away from what many Republicans have dubbed “overmedicalization,” per STAT News. This idea that too many prescription drugs and medical procedures are being prescribed and ordered has also dovetailed with some right-wing arguments against life-saving, gender-affirming care for trans minors. And yet, the MAHA crowd certainly seems fixated on some hormones, namely their own.

In line with the U.S. Secretary of Health Robert Kennedy Jr.’s “Make America Healthy Again” agenda, a constellation of wellness influencers, manosphere body hackers, and “MAHA moms” have promoted foods such as raw milk and red meat as natural “superfoods” — despite decades of well-established scientific research noting their health risks — all in the name of avoiding additives, clearing skin, and, yes, naturally balancing hormones. Some of the recent trends encouraged by the broader MAHA ecosystem with similar lofty goals of hormonal balance include eating raw organ meat (yup), receiving fewer vaccines, and encouraging cis women to stop any hormonal birth control in favor of “natural family planning.”

It is also worth noting that as some cis women drink their pee in a misguided attempt to skirt HRT, U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is pushing for a “High-T Department of War” in which service members over 30 will receive annual testosterone checks and be able to take HRT to to increase their testosterone levels if deemed necessary. This all comes after Hegseth said HRT for trans troops was too expensive.

Ultimately, hormone obsession has only increased as the right has gained more political power, impacting the way everyone ambiently thinks about them. And it’s hard not to suspect that MAHA’s hormone fixation has something to do with the current wave of anti-trans legislation and transphobic bigotry: Ultimately, this is a “gender alignment for me, not for thee” situation, often with specious and sometimes dangerous results, as anyone hospitalized after drinking raw milk can tell you.

We can’t tell you when there might be some return to trusting in scientific institutions that once kept us safe. What we can tell you definitively is that you should not drink your own urine.

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