Does hydration therapy work? Depends what you need it to do

Does hydration therapy work? For the fluid, yes. Saline in a vein reaches your blood faster than water you drink. Whether you'll feel any better than someone who drank the same amount is a separate question, and the research on that is thinner than the ads. Here's how we answer it in Flagler Beach and Palm Coast. Sometimes the answer is no bag.

What the fluid does, and one trial that tested it

Start with what dehydration is. The MedlinePlus medical encyclopedia defines it in one line: Dehydration occurs when your body does not have as much water and fluids as it needs. Getting that fluid back is the job. The only argument is about the route.

A randomized trial listed on PubMed put the two routes head to head. Eight young men sweated off fluid exercising in the heat. Then they got the same amount back in 20 minutes, either through an IV or by drinking it. The IV group's blood volume did come back faster. Then everyone went back out into the heat, and the authors wrote this: Despite a more rapid restoration of plasma volume, IV rehydration was not advantageous over ORAL rehydration in regards to physiological strain, heat tolerance, RPE, or thermal sensations.

The drinkers held up as well as the IV group. The drinkers were also less thirsty. Eight young men in a lab is a small study, and it's not a ruling on everyone who feels run down. If you can drink, drink.

Does hydration therapy work if water is staying down?

Mostly it does the same job a glass of water does, for a lot more money. MedlinePlus starts its own advice at the tap: Try drinking water or sports drinks that contain electrolytes. It also tells you to Drink more when the weather is hot or you are exercising.

A bag makes sense on the day drinking stops working. When fluid won't stay down, the same encyclopedia names the other route for the bad end of it: For more severe dehydration or heat emergency, you may need to stay in a hospital and receive fluid through a vein (IV). Note the word hospital. Severe dehydration isn't a home visit. A mobile IV is a wellness service. If you need medical care, Lisa will tell you so. Anyone who passes out or turns confused needs 911. MedlinePlus lists The person loses consciousness at any time. as a reason to call.

The vitamin part is a different claim

Bags with vitamins in them are a bigger promise. The evidence behind them is thinner. On a Cleveland Clinic Health Essentials podcast about IV vitamin drips, the guest is a functional medicine specialist, Melissa Young, MD. Her words: I still think there's a somewhat lack of medical evidence for efficacy. We would rather you hear that from us before you book than after.

So our menu says what each ingredient is, in plain words, and labels those lines as descriptions rather than medical claims. We can't promise how you'll feel after. So we don't.

Simply Hydrate or The Coastal Reset

Simply Hydrate is one liter of normal saline and no vitamins. It's the closest thing on the menu to what that trial tested. Pick it when the problem is fluid. A long day on the sand, a stomach that keeps sending water back, a trip that got ahead of you. Add to it, or leave it alone.

The Coastal Reset is Lisa's version of the Myers' Cocktail, and whether that blend does anything is a question with exactly one trial behind it. Seven ingredients: normal saline, Vitamin C, B-Complex, B12, Glutathione, magnesium and taurine. Pick it if you want the hydration, the B vitamins and the antioxidants in the same hour, and you have read the paragraph above about the evidence.

Pick neither if water's going down fine and you feel normal by lunch. Keep your money. Can't tell which day you're having? Text Lisa. The whole menu, ingredients next to every bag, sits on the IV menu page.

Who should slow down first

Dr. Young also names who needs extra care with IV fluid: But we also think about, some people need to be cautious of receiving too many or too much in the way of IV fluid. Heart and kidney trouble sit on her list, and so does this: So definitely certain types of heart disease, high blood pressure, you just have to be cautious. She also tells listeners to ask whether a place has a medical director.

With us, every first visit starts with the Good Faith Exam, included in the IV price for new clients. It is a 5 to 10 minute video visit with a licensed provider who reviews your history. If you aren't cleared, no IV runs and you aren't charged for one. The practice is physician supervised by Julia Lee, MD. Lisa checks vitals at the door before anything is opened. If the numbers are off, the bag waits.

Patty R. wrote about exactly that in her Google review. Her blood pressure was running high, “so Lisa did not rush or push forward with the IV.” Lisa came back later that day, then again the following day, and ran it once the reading was in a better range. That's Lisa doing her job. She's an ER and pre op nurse with more than ten years in the medical field. Her background is here.

Where we come

We come to you, and there is no travel fee anywhere in Flagler County. Palm Coast, Bunnell, Flagler Beach and Beverly Beach, which is its own incorporated town inside the county, all sit on that side of the line. Past the county line there is a travel fee, quoted before you book. The Palm Coast page walks through how a visit runs there.

Quick answers

Sources

• Kenefick and colleagues, Rapid IV versus oral rehydration: responses to subsequent exercise heat stress, a peer-reviewed randomized trial in Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 2006, listed on PubMed.
• MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia: Dehydration, the US National Library of Medicine, a government health agency.
• Cleveland Clinic Health Essentials: Is IV Vitamin Therapy Worth Trying? with Melissa Young, MD, Cleveland Clinic, a non-profit academic medical center.

This is general information, not medical advice for you. An IV is not a substitute for medical care, and your own doctor still comes first. If it feels like an emergency, call 911.