G.I. Cocktail for Diagnosing Gastro Chest Pains from Hiccuping

So the hospital doctors needed to diagnose whether my chest pains were related to a Gastro problem.

To do this they have patients drink a G.I. Cocktail (Gastrointestinal Cocktail) which consists of Milk of Magnesia and viscous Lidocaine. The drink is thick and syrupy and tastes pretty bad. It is about half a cup of liquid and you just need to drink it down quickly and get it over with.

Within minutes of drinking the G.I. Cocktail my mouth and throat went numb, which is completely normal and is a function of the drink used to rule out potential cardiac problems.

They also prescribed two bags of saline solution to re-hydrate my body after 3 hours of gagging, and partial vomiting. In addition to the saline solution I was given an IV form of Prochlorperazine to treat nausea and Benadryl to counteract some of the symptoms of “restlessness” associated with the medication.

While the G.I. Cocktail helped with the severe chest pains I was experiencing as a result of the Acid Reflux, it did not do anything to relieve my hiccups. I was sent home from the ER three hours later in slightly less pain than I arrived in with a perscription for Prochlorperazine.

One thing I noticed in the ER is that both the nurse and the doctor did not seem to listen to what I was saying about how I felt. In their minds they were treating me for nausea and stomach problems when in fact I was suffering from gagging, with no nausea that felt more as though I was choking on a chicken bone. This feeling lead to the eventual vomiting, which was most likely a result of the nonstop Acid Reflux I was experiencing.