# tums **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 3, 2013, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tums/659990 "2013-06-03T01:48:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![matt357](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecd19e/32.png) [@matt357](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt357)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2013, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tums/659990/1 "2013-06-03T01:48:21Z")
Are there any medications like tums except they are a powder you mix with water or a liquid? ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2013, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tums/659990/2 "2013-06-03T02:01:19Z")
[Plop plop, fizz fizz, oh what a relief it is…](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alka-Seltzer) ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2013, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tums/659990/3 "2013-06-03T02:07:47Z")
There are various liquid antacids which are really suspensions of powder, such as Milk of Magnesia, and Gaviscon. You can also use sodium bicarbonate dissolved in water (which is the antacid component of Alka-Seltzer, as in **Thudlow Boink** ’s link). Tums themselves are calcium carbonate, I believe, which does not dissolve or suspend very well. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2013, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tums/659990/4 "2013-06-03T02:14:10Z")
There’s Mylanta which, as the joke says, is for people who think Tums taste too good to be real medicine. ---
**Author:** ![thicksantorum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/65b543/32.png) [@thicksantorum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thicksantorum)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2013, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tums/659990/5 "2013-06-03T05:02:46Z")
Tums + mortar & pestle. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2013, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tums/659990/6 "2013-06-03T06:02:46Z")
Baking soda - 1/2 teaspoon mixed with water. I find it works much better and faster than Tums. Plus, it’s trivially inexpensive. Edited to add: What njtt said! ---
**Author:** ![moriah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b2d939/32.png) [@moriah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moriah)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2013, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tums/659990/7 "2013-06-03T06:24:58Z")
What’s great about Alka-Seltzer is that if you feel nauseous, the Alka-Seltzer is either going to make that go away or stir up the pot, as it were… let’s get this over with. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2013, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tums/659990/8 "2013-06-03T06:31:48Z")
There are those “headache powders” that they sell down south, I think. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2013, 8:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tums/659990/9 "2013-06-03T08:11:39Z")
“Headache powder” is just aspirin powder, acetaminophen, and caffeine. Basically, it’s ground up Excedrin. It won’t help an upset stomach at all, quite the opposite in fact, as unbuffered aspirin will irritate the stomach. ---
**Author:** ![Dereknocue67](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/6de8d8/32.png) [@Dereknocue67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dereknocue67)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2013, 8:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tums/659990/10 "2013-06-03T08:20:41Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > There are those “headache powders” that they sell down south, I think. You may be thinking of BC Powder. The “BC” could be an attempt to make the consumer associate the powder with bicarbonate of soda (baking soda) yet it contains none as the primary active ingredients are Aspirin, Salicylamide and Caffeine. ---
**Author:** ![Turble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Turble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turble)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2013, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tums/659990/11 "2013-06-03T16:23:04Z")
Bromo-Seltzer and Brioschi are both antacid powders that you dissolve in water.