IV Vitamin Therapy: Your Questions Answered

 

Healthier skin? Check. Boosting your immune system? Check. Curing that Sunday-morning hangover? Check.

These are but a few of the health issues IV vitamin therapy promises to solve or improve through an infusion of various vitamins and minerals. The treatment, which has gained popularity over the past few years, has taken the once cringe-worthy experience of being stuck with a needle and turned it into a wellness regimen-must. It’s even got a long list of A-list celebrities — from Rihanna to Adele — backing it.

Yet, as is the case with most wellness fads, it begs the question of legitimacy.

Can this treatment really do everything from curing jet lag to improving sexual function — or are we falling victim to yet another craze that promises big health results without requiring us to put in much effort? Not to mention the question of safety.

To get the lowdown on everything from what happens to your body during a session to the risks involved, we asked three medical experts to weigh in: Dena Westphalen, PharmD, a clinical pharmacist, Lindsay Slowiczek, PharmD, a drug information pharmacist, and Debra Sullivan, PhD, MSN, RN, CNE, COI, a nurse educator who specializes in complementary and alternative medicine, pediatrics, dermatology, and cardiology.

Here’s what they had to say:

What’s happening to your body when you get an IV drip of vitamins?

Dena Westphalen: The first IV vitamin drips were developed and administered by Dr. John Myers in the 1970s. His research led to the popular Myers’ Cocktail. These types of infusions generally take anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour, and take place within a medical office with a licensed medical professional observing the infusion. While you’re undergoing an IV vitamin drip, your body is receiving a higher concentration of the vitamins themselves. A vitamin that’s taken by mouth gets broken down in the stomach and digestive tract, and is limited on how much can be absorbed (50 percent). If, however, the vitamin is given through an IV, it’s absorbed at a much higher percentage (90 percent).

Lindsay Slowiczek: When a person receives an IV vitamin treatment, they’re receiving a liquid mixture of vitamins and minerals through a small tube inserted into a vein. This allows the nutrients to be absorbed quickly and directly into the bloodstream, a method that produces higher levels of the vitamins and minerals in your body than if you got them from food or supplements. 

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