My friend moved to the US a few years ago. He recently came down with COVID and went to see a doctor. The doctor gave him some medicine and told him to drink lots of Gatorade.
While I understand the rationale behind this (he needs plenty of fluids and energy) doctors in my country would never tell patients to drink soft drinks. They usually tell us to eat soup and take some vitamins and such. So we were both taken aback by this.
So I was wondering if this is a common thing that happens or did my friend just come across an eccentric doctor?
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It doesn’t sound like the doctor prescribe Gatorade, it sounds like they recommended it. There are other electrolyte drinks like pedialyte can are much more commonly recommended, especially for children.
If you’re weak from covid, the electrolytes and sugar in Gatorade can be beneficial. Someone might not have the energy to heat up and eat soup or have the stomach for it.
Prescribed, generally no.
It was a recommendation for a drink while sick.
It was just shorthand for making sure they have enough fluids and electrolytes.
Sugar can be helpful while sick as well
Fluids and electrolytes are good when you’re sick. You probably shouldn’t drink Gatorade exclusively but it’s not going to hurt you for a few days of getting yourself back to health.
Vitamins are a scam and any doctor telling you to take them in the absence of an indication that you’re deficient in something is engaged in quackery. That’s what you should be worried about in yourcountry.
It’s a pretty normal recommendation for sick people to drink Gatorade. While I doubt that doctors would recommend that a healthy person drink such a sugary beverage, sick people need hydration and electrolytes.
Gatorade is a name brand that’s used generically a lot. Similar tp Kleenex… or Q-Tip… or Chapstick… or Band-Aid.
It means drink lots of fluids with electrolytes.
Gatorade is oddly recommended by doctors as a source of electrolytes, despite being a really poor source of electrolytes. It seems that doctors are not immune from marketing campaigns.
What do you expect them to prescribe? Can you imagine him recommending water, like out of a toilet?
Recommending someone drink gatorade is not prescribing it lol. It’s good to stay hydrated when you’re sick. I don’t like gatorade so when I’m sick I just drink a lot of water.
Gatorade is up there with a good chicken soup for restoring electrolytes. Plus it’s both cheaper and less horribly sweet than like Pedialyte. I usually get the sugar free version cause I don’t need the extra calories.
I doubt the doc literally said “you must drink Gatorade”, but much more likely said “stay hydrated and drink plenty of fluids. Gatorade works well for this”.
If the doctor said “Drink Brawndo. Brawndo’s got what plants crave. It’s got electrolytes”, depending on context, you either have the best or worst doctor in the US.
Doctor here. I don’t “prescribe” Gatorade but if I have a patient who is feeling weak because they are sick or have diarrhea / vomiting from gastroenteritis, I recommend a “BRAT” diet (banana, rice, applesauce, toast) and plenty of hydration (which can include soup) along with electrolyte solution.
Any electrolyte drink actually does a better job than just water and soup because it has a higher amount of sodium, potassium, and glucose to help replenish what gets lost from being ill or vomiting and diarrhea. This can include Gatorade, Powerade, Pedia-lyte or those “liquid IV” packs which you can mix in water.
The concept is based on ORS (oral rehydration solution) which is recommended by the WHO in parts of the world where IV hydration is difficult to do.
So I don’t think it’s ridiculous that a doctor recommended Gatorade. I’m sure doctors in “MyCountry” do it as well.
Gatorade isn’t a soft drink, it’s a sports drink with electrolytes. When sick you need fluids and electrolytes, and sugar for energy if not eating.
There’s a common drink called Pedialyte that’s for kids and only used when ill, not to drink in general. It’s just less sugary Gatorade and probably costs twice as much because it’s “medicine.”
Gatorade, pedialyte or other drinks were designed to restore electrolyte levels. Pedialyte contains electrolytes like sodium, potassium, and chloride, which are vital to many body functions, and a certain amount of sugar. When a person is sick, especially with illnesses that cause vomiting or diarrhea, these electrolytes can be lost rapidly, leading to dehydration.
Simply drinking water won’t replenish this. Fruit juices can be too sugary, and lack the electrolytes. Soup can help.
Proper hydration helps the body produce lymph, a fluid that circulates through the lymphatic system and contains immune cells. These cells help to fight infection. When the body is dehydrated, lymph production can decrease, potentially leading to an impaired immune response.
Hydrate but also drink pedialyte
My doctor often tells me to have the kids drink “Gatorade, pedialite, or other drink high in electrolytes” when my kids are ill.
Do you not understand the difference between electrolyte beverages such as Gatorade (Pedialyte, etc.) and soft drinks, or are you just stirring the pot?
Your friend’s doctor didn’t prescribe him Gatorade. He gave him some advice…which it sounds like he misunderstood. The reason drinking Gatorade is good when you are ill is because it hydrates you and restores your electrolytes. Soup isn’t going to help illness and vitamins, while great, aren’t a solution either. I think this stuff is common sense really.
What you describe is a doctor giving a recommendation to consume an electrolyte (sports) drink to combat dehydration. Gatorade is one specific brand of sports drink and perhaps the most common one thought of in that category of beverage.
Electrolyte drinks have a better balance concentration of electrolytes than you can obtain with consuming just soup and water while you are sick and so will rehydrate you faster than just consuming those thing. So some kind is commonly recommended for people with illnesses that can cause dehydration.
But recommending something is not given a prescription. A prescription is specifically a physical or digital communication to a pharmacist that you are legally allowed to purchase X drug or obtain X item from them.
It is not the 1800s anymore. The term “Soft Drinks” only applies to carbonated non-alcoholic beverages. Gatorade and other electrolyte drinks are non-carbonated and thus not soft drinks.
Gatorade isn’t really a “soft drink” (although it’s commonly consumed as such), it’s an isotonic sports drink meant for replenishing electrolytes, which makes it good for dehydration.
The doctor probably just meant “Gatorade” as a genericized trademark of any similar product. Pedialyte is basically the same thing but it is specifically marketed for medical use.
Lol
That’s less a prescription than a suggestion, but yeah it’s not uncommon to suggest an electrolyte drink like Gatorade or Pedialyte if a patient has a dehydrating illness.
(I’m not a doctor)
Note– a doctor “prescribing” something means the doctor has recommended a medication that is only available from a pharmacist, and is not available without doctor’s orders. A doctor would not prescribe Gatorade, because anybody can buy it anywhere without a doctor being involved. A doctor would not prescribe Tylenol, for the same reason.
Gatorade and similar sweet drinks are often used for short periods of time by people who aren’t feeling well enough for other foods.
Doctors will recommend drinking Gatorade or other sport drinks because they’re an easy way to replenish electrolytes. But you wouldn’t get a prescription for it- you don’t buy Gatorade at the pharmacy section.
For colonoscopy prep, my doctor recommended drinking a little bottle of stool softener with a big bottle of Gatorade.
It’s no more absurd that being told to eat soup. It serves both a subtle practical purpose and has placebo properties.
What do you mean by prescribed? Doctors will recommend people who are sick to drink gatorade cause it has a lot of electrolytes in it. Your body tends to lose a lot of electrolytes when you’re sick due to sweating, vomiting, etc. and gatorade helps with that.
Not a soft drink, soft drinks are exclusively Pop.