Magic Mouthwash - the vague term for a concoction of ANYTHING
When I worked in retail pharmacy, a physician would write a prescription for “Magic Mouthwash” and the patient would hand over the prescription with this look of “magic.” This special blend of WHATEVER would be the cureall for their sore mouth and throat caused by thrush or radiation or any other mouth/throat pain condition. The physician rarely would include what he/she “thought” to be their special recipe. So, we would have to call and clarify.
“What would Dr. Doe like in his magic mouthwash?” I would ask simply.
“Magic Mouthwash?” asks the nurse, “I don’t know. What do you normally put in it?”
Sigh. “Well we could start with diphenhydramine, lidocaine, and nystatin all at a 1:1:1 ratio or we could do tetracycline and throw in some mylanta with the formerly mentioned ingredients at all different ratios. There are probably a 100 different magic mouthwashes out there. What is the doctor treating?”
And it would end up that I could pick whatever I wanted. That made me think… hmmm placebo effect.
So what exactly should you put in Magic Mouthwash?
The usual concoction contains equal amounts of viscous lidocaine and diphenhydramine for analgesia…and Maalox or a similar antacid to enhance coating of the ingredients in the mouth. Some also include nystatin to prevent or treat fungal growth…a corticosteroid to reduce inflammation…or tetracycline to prevent secondary bacterial infections.
Who knows if this stuff even works and is worth the money since we pharmacists usually tack on a compounding fee. I say get a prescription for lidocaine viscous and buy your own benadryl solution and mylanta and make your own… for less.
The magic concoction… Ages ago they used to take penis of newt, powder of sapling, syrup of magpie feces, hand of bat, tooth of hound, blend it all together and boil it for hours, and it would be the magical cureall for whatever someone went to the witch doctor for…
Its sort of the ancestry of the magic concoctions…
I have had the distinct opportunity to witness this from three sides to the triangle… a technician for a doctor who’s patient in their most pitiful voice “but doc, can’t you give me something??”… as an assistant in a retail pharmacy where the pharmacist gives the best ‘how-the firetruck (starts with f and ends with uck..)-am-I-supposta-know-your-magic-potion-if-ya-don’t-write-it-down…
And lastly, now myself as a patient… multi system symptoms, multi prior health concerns, multi country recent travel.. Everything points like Scarlett Fever, minus the part where I’m strep and staph free. The good doctor, at a lack of what else to do, prescribes the magic elixer… I am so relieved to be in my home country, where people speak a language and dialect that I understand. Where I can have a conversation with the pharmacist about whether swallowing the magical junk will cause hypotension, hypokalemia, or anything else.. I’m grateful to be at a pharmacy, where the pharmacist understands me.
I’m grateful to be in a country that knows what a pharmacy is… on the islands… in response to my question on where to get medication (English speaking island apparently, but most of our conversing is limited to Spanish nouns and verbs latin nouns and phrases, and discussion of body and workings in latin.) “wass dot mon. ooh-need-uhms med-oh-kaht-ohns. dem good dokta mon come-make med-oh-seens un-teel two-and-haff ooh-clook een afta-noons mon. ooh-need-uhms gets dem dere, but mon not no eend days. Not bees eerr, bees away
Is it pharmacologically acceptable to add island rum to the magic mixture during compounding? It’ll make the compound change from awful to terrible, but maybe you can serve it with a toothpick umbrella to place on the plunger of the oral syringe for a more festive look!
I’m off to hoist sails on the ‘placebo effect’ ship, take some painkillers, add more diphenhydramine until I’m at approximately enough to sedate a solid man…. And I’ll sail my ship into the sunset… If all works, maybe I’ll make a contribution to society tomorrow, I’ll stay home and give my doctor a break.
cutispharma makes a magic mouthwash kit. its called “first-mouthwash”. NDC: 65628-0050-01. everything is already measured out and ready to go. when the patient comes in, it takes 2 seconds to mix the ingredients together, shake and dispense to the patient. it is a godsend!
I just recently found this stuff in my medicine cabinet without any specified ingredients, but…
A few months ago I had a massive oral thrush that the military doctors and I could only assume came from the penicillin I was taking to overcome the persistant 104 fever. I don’t know if it was placebo or not, but the only way I could orally take food was immediately following rinsing with “magic mouthwash”. Even then, it hurt like hell…
Thanks a ton for this. I’m an ER transcriptionist, and when I heard the doc order it for the patient. . .I was wondering if it was a brand-name or not.
This is similar to another (probably way more necessary) item known as the “banana bag” that they dose all the passed out winos with. The main ingredient should be thiamine and potassium, but the rest is up to anyone really.
Cheers, and thanks again.
The lidocaine (or in mine - xylocaine) is the prime ingredient in it as it coats the throat and esophagus and makes the pain go away - pain as from radiation to the chest and neck, good ole’ 5-fu chemotherapy - try swallowing when more than a sip of water feels like swallowing a sharp rock! It’s hard to sleep with your entire esophagus on fire…. and the lidocaine at least gets you to sleep - don’t know how much good the other ingredients do. as for the “magic” part…. dunno who thought that up, my rx had the proportions of each ingredient spelled out and it was the pharmacy that put the “magic mouthwash” label on it (which made me laugh).
When I worked at a local walgreens, the mircle mouthwash was usually viscous lidocaine, benadryl (cherry flavor), nystatin suspension, and alot of the store brand of mylanta (creamy mint flavor). I still think it has to be pretty nasty but if it helps the problem go away, the bottoms up.
As a doctor, I have prescribed various Magic Mouthwash formulations. Recently I became the cancer patient, and used it myself. I used the Mylanta/Nystatin/Benadryl/lidocaine/hydrocortisone mix. When I had esophageal sores, I would use it before eating, and it made swallowing soooo much more comfortable! It does work!
I believe it does work but has oh so many different recipes and different names…
I’m not saying it doesn’t work… It surely does!
How long is magic mw good for after it’s mixed
After dealing with a sore throat for a week, I finally went to an urgent care clinic today as my doctor’s office told me they had no available appointments. Besides coming away with enough antibiotics and decongestant samples for the next five days, I also had a prescription for Magic Mouthwash. I left it at WalMart pharmacy at noon and was told do to the prescription backup from flu outbreak, it would take 5 hours to have it ready. I went back 5 and 1/2 hours later and stood in a pick-up line for about 45 minutes only to be told that the prescription had to be mixed and that because it was after 5, the doctors’ office would be closed and they would not be able to do it until Monday. I got the prescription back and tried to other pharmacies who both told me it would take 24 hours. At the 3rd one my husband wanted to know what the h— was in it and what the problem was that it was going to take so long. We had it less than 2 hours later. I don’t know what of the many combinations you say there can me that they used, but the first dose gave me the only relief I have had from sore throat pain all week. Thanks to my husband, CVS, and Magic Mouthwash.
We give our Mary’s Magic Mouthwash a 30 day expiration if it’s refrigerated. It’s Tetracycline, Nystatin susp, Hydrocortisone, QS’d with Benadryl Elixir. I actually had never gotten an order for ‘magic mouthwash’ until the other day. I’ve always seen it written as Mary’s Magic Mouthwash.
Have you ever had a GI cocktail? Lidocaine Viscous, Donnatol elixir, and Maalox. The lidocaine makes it the most vile tasting, snot consistency mixture I have ever choked down. They give it in the ER to see if chest pain is GI related vs heart attack (along with an EKG of course).
At 41 I’ve used Mary’s Magic Mouthwash for over 20 years and can report, for me, it’s a must in treating sore throats. There seems to be no explanation (per my doc) since all my blood work and throat cultures come back normal. All I can say is antibiotics only make my throat worse and the Mary’s knocks it out very quickly. My layman’s conclusion is I have either some type of immune problem, low iron level, or both. Oh, by the way, the HIV tests are negative as well.
Signed….Very Frustrated
All this confusion , all this lack of knowledge at the Physician level. Consider the expertise of the Pharmacist who straightens it out and makes it happen for the patient. and you object to a compounding fee? Should we do it out of charity?