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Can Pepto Bismol Relieve Indigestion and Upset Stomach?

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Pepto Bismol remains one of the most popular over-the-counter medicines that my patients swallow.

They take it for all kinds of digestive distress.  Does it work?  Hard to say.  The elixir does have anti-bacterial and anti-diarrheal properties, but I suspect that there is a potent placebo effect at play also.  I personally think that these sales are largely the result of decades of brilliant marketing by the company.  We can all remember their television commercials in the days of yore when we would watch the pink liquid oozing down the esophagus and then gently coating the stomach creating a blanket of healing and protection.  What a graphic!  Many patients have internalized this marketing believing that this medicine is the fire extinguisher that can quiet their internal flames.  



Right out of the doctor's 'black bag'.

Patients are generally unaware of two important properties of this product. First, Pepto Bismol can turn the stool black.  Three or four times a year I receive frantic calls from patients with black stools who are scared that they are experiencing internal bleeding.  At times, a medical colleague refers such a patient to me wondering if a bleeding ulcer might be present, when the culprit is actually the pink drink. 

Secondly, Pepto Bismol is actually an aspirin product, which is not a medicine that most gastroenterologists recommend for stomach distress.  I have not yet met a single Pepto Bismol consumer who was aware of the medicine’s aspirin component.  Following this same therapeutic strategy, many of my patients drink apple cider vinegar – an acid – to combat heartburn which is caused by acid.  And many of them swear it delivers relief!

Healing is complex and extends beyond the boundaries of science.  We have all experienced this phenomenon and have witnessed it in others.  We simply cannot understand every pathway that leads to relief.  Those of us who are in the healing business need a daily tincture of open-mindedness and humility if we are to heal others.  This shouldn’t be too much for doctors to swallow.

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