GI cocktail

A gastrointestinal cocktail, known as a GI cocktail, is a generic term for a mixture of liquid antacid, viscous lidocaine, and an anticholinergic primarily used to treat dyspepsia.[1] The GI cocktail may also deceptively mask pain originating from the heart.[2]

There is a wide variety of GI cocktail recipes in use today. A very popular one is a mixture of Maalox, Donnatal, and viscous lidocaine, in equal parts.[3] A mixture of 10 ml Mylanta, 10 ml Donnatal and 10 ml viscous lidocaine is known as "The Green Goddess".[4] The efficacy of this mixture for the treatment of dyspepsia is generally considered superior to treatment with only any one of its components, due to their varied mechanisms of relief; however, a recent study found that a GI cocktail was no more effective in relieving stomach pain than an antacid alone.[5]

References

  1. ^ Paul Dickson (2004). War slang: American fighting words and phrases since the Civil War. Brassey's. p. 164. ISBN 9781574887105. http://books.google.com/books?id=qFgvCgiCpUsC&pg=PA164. Retrieved 27 November 2010. 
  2. ^ Anh Vu T. Nguyen; Dung A. Nguyen (2005). Learning from medical errors: clinical problems. Radcliffe Publishing. p. 47. ISBN 9781857757682. http://books.google.com/books?id=3EMWy_Hj9EYC&pg=PA46. Retrieved 27 November 2010. 
  3. ^ Richard J. Hamilton; Tarascon (2009). Tarascon Pocket Pharmacopoeia 2010 Classic Shirt-Pocket Edition. Jones & Bartlett Learning. p. 95. ISBN 9780763774394. http://books.google.com/books?id=vthDB5FyfYUC&pg=PA95. Retrieved 27 November 2010. 
  4. ^ Steven E. Diaz (15 January 2002). Blackwell's primary care essentials: Emergency medicine. Wiley-Blackwell. p. 84. ISBN 9780865425798. http://books.google.com/books?id=xl9th092jw4C&pg=PA84. Retrieved 27 November 2010. 
  5. ^ Berman DA, Porter RS, Graber M (2003). "The GI Cocktail is no more effective than plain liquid antacid: a randomized, double blind clinical trial". J Emerg Med 25 (3): 239–44. doi:10.1016/S0736-4679(03)00196-3. PMID 14585449.