Consumers looking for safe and effective medical treatments to increase well-being are turning to IV hydration and vitamin therapy in significant numbers. Usually offered together, IV hydration and vitamin therapy offer the promise of immediately feeling better while also enjoying better long-term health. Whether you believe it works or not, the therapies are generally considered safe.
Every medical procedure carries with it some measure of risk. This includes IV therapies. However, the IV model for quickly introducing medications to the bloodstream has been used successfully for so long that most of the risks discovered early on have since been eliminated. Those that remain are minimal.
The Latest Wellness Craze
Fairness demands acknowledgment that IV hydration and vitamin therapy are the latest wellness craze. However, they are not new. The two therapies date back to at least the 1980s, when Baltimore physician John Myers began using a combination of hydration and a vitamin cocktail to treat a variety of clinical conditions.
Though no one really knows what Myers’ original cocktail consisted of, most modern formulas include vitamins B6 and B12, vitamin C, niacin, riboflavin, thiamine, magnesium chloride, calcium gluconate, and several other minerals.
Lone Star Pain Medicine offers IV hydration and vitamin therapy at their Weatherford, Texas clinic. They say the treatment is appropriate for some chronic pain patients suffering from fibromyalgia pain, migraines, and other conditions.
The Cocktail Is Safe
Getting back to the idea of IV hydration and vitamin therapy being safe, it all starts with the vitamin cocktail. Clinicians tend to use a cocktail similar to what was described earlier in this post. All the cocktail’s constituents are safe for humans. The key is making sure a given formula doesn’t introduce unsafe levels of any one vitamin or mineral.
Injuries related to the cocktail formula are rare. Whether or not you believe IV hydration vitamin therapy works, you are not likely to be injured by the vitamins and minerals injected into your bloodstream.
Other Risks Are Minimal
The two risks most people worry about with IV hydration and vitamin therapy are air embolism and thrombophlebitis. While both risks are associated with all types of IV treatments, they are also exceedingly rare.
An air embolism is essentially an air bubble that gets trapped in the bloodstream. If it is big enough, it can prevent blood from flowing to vital parts of the body. It can cause serious problems ranging from stroke to death. Again, this condition is rare specifically because doctors and nurses are trained in preventing it.
Thrombophlebitis is inflammation of a vein normally caused by a blood clot. In theory, the same condition can occur as a result of air embolism. But because air embolisms are so rare, so is thrombophlebitis related to intravenous procedures. The likelihood of a patient experiencing thrombophlebitis as a side effect of IV hydration and vitamin therapy is very slim.
An Easy Outpatient Procedure
IV hydration and vitamin therapy amounts to an easy outpatient procedure that can be completed in as little as 30 minutes. Patients come in, speak with the clinician, and are prepped for the procedure. They are hooked to an IV that administers the clinic’s vitamin cocktail. Once complete, the IV site is bandaged and the patient is free to leave.
IV hydration and vitamin therapy are generally considered safe because treatment cocktails are safe and the risk of complications is small. If you are interested in learning more about this therapy, rest assured you will find plenty of information online. However, don’t believe everything you read. Research every angle and then decide for yourself.
