Chewable cimetidine versus chewable antacid in dyspepsia: which provides faster pain relief?

A randomized double-blind antacid-controlled study was carried out to investigate the speed of onset of relief from dyspeptic pain with a novel, chewable formulation of cimetidine in 80 patients with persistent dyspepsia. Inclusion and exclusion criteria were chosen to identify patients with an acid-related dyspeptic complex. After the ingestion of either 1 chewable cimetidine (200 mg) tablet or a chewable antacid tablet identical in appearance, dyspeptic pain was recorded by each patient every 10 minutes over a 1-hour period. The times for some improvement and for total disappearance of the pain were noted, as was the appearance of the next attack of dyspepsia. For both treatments, the median times for some improvement were less than 20 minutes and for total pain relief were less than 45 minutes. There was no statistically significant difference between treatments. The duration of pain relief was variable, but 13% of patients who had received antacid reported another attack of dyspepsia in less than 5 hours compared to none of the cimetidine-treated patients.