Dr. Mark E. Benson M.D.

Introduction A GI cocktail or gastrointestinal cocktail is a mixture of liquid antacid, viscous lidocaine, and an anticholinergic agent. A GI cocktail is primarily used to treat dyspepsia.There are a wide variety of GI cocktail recipes nowadays. One popular recipe is a mixture of viscous lidocaine,...

As a firefighter, Wes Loucks received countless emergency phone calls throughout his 32 years of service for the Portland Fire and Rescue Bureau. After retiring, he received a personal call for help from his own family. His two grandsons were both born with cystic fibrosis (CF), a chronic genetic...

Rumors have been going around about a "bathroom card" for people with Crohn's and colitis that acts as an all-access bathroom pass, leading many to wonder if it really exists and, if so, how it works, and how to get their hands on one.Is it for real?For those with Crohn's and colitis, targeted ads...

A recent study, published in the journal Science, suggests that an individual’s past history of minor bacterial infections, as in the case of mild food poisoning, could add up a chain of events with age and lead to chronic inflammation and potentially life-threatening colitis (inflammation of the...

When it comes to the most persistent symptoms of Crohn’s disease, diarrhea is at the top of the list. However, this is not always the case for individuals coping with this chronic condition. Constipation is also an issue.The large intestine is responsible for reabsorbing water from foods that are...

What is Appendicitis?In order to understand whether the condition of appendicitis is a lifelong condition or not, we should first be aware of what the condition is about, which body part is affected and what the person suffering from appendicitis needs to go through. Because knowing all this will...