'Hangover clinic' shut down by health officials after customer gets sick

[Jabberwocky]

'Hangover clinic' shut down by health officials after customer who was given a drip was rushed to hospital with 'stomach pains and low blood pressure'

A hangover cure clinic has been shut down after a woman was hospitalised after receiving an intravenous drip at the centre.

iv.me Hydration Clinics' centre in Sydney was shut down by NSW Health after a patient ended up in the St Vincent's Hospital emergency room earlier this month.

NSW Health said the customer suffered a 'fever, abdominal pains and low blood pressure', the Sydney Morning Herald reports.

Discussions were underway with 'all involved with the clinic' as the cause of the illness is investigated, a spokesperson for the department said.
iv.me's Sydney clinic had only been open for about three weeks when it was closed.

The company is still taking bookings for its centre in South Yarra, Melbourne.

More than just a 'hangover cure', iv.me claims to have treatments that can: rebalance electrolytes, boost the immune system, fight aging and detoxify the liver, give energy boosts for people feeling fatigued, speed up a person's metabolism, and detoxify cells in the body.

'Delivering hydration and vitamins via the intravenous routes means you get 100% absorption of these essential elements,' the company's website says.

'We use the same fluids, medications and equipment that are used at the best hospitals.

'Intravenous vitamin therapy is a safe, effective and a minimally invasive therapy that is tolerated by most people.'

Prices for intravenous treatments start at $149.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, NSW Health Minister Jillian Skinner spoke out against people getting the intravenous 'treatments'.

'The claimed health and medical benefits of hydration clinics remain dubious,' Ms Skinner said.

iv.me Hydration Clinics director Shadi Kazeme blamed an unknown supplier of an ingredient included in its treatments for the incident with a customer earlier in February.

Ms Kazeme also said the Sydney clinic would reopen its doors in future, the Sydney Morning Herald reports.

Sydney's first hangover clinic, which is not linked to iv.me, opened in December last year.

'Hangover clinics' have become a trendy option in the past year or so, with people increasingly turning to intravenous drips as a way to fight off the consequences of a night out.

Daily Mail Australia contacted iv.me Hydration Clinics for comment.


Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...h-pains-low-blood-pressure.html#ixzz41VF6sDig

 

[Boku_]

It's mind blowing some of the medical fads that are around these days, If people aren't using peptides to lose weight they're I'Ving berroca, crazy as Renton the main character in trainspotting said "we would have injected vitamin C if only they made it illegal"

 

[Jabberwocky]

It's quite sad. If you don't want a hangover don't mix drinks and drink water inbetween and eat a big meal before bed. Can't be that hard.

 

[.:Holy::Toast:.]

It's quite sad. If you don't want a hangover don't mix drinks and drink water inbetween and eat a big meal before bed. Can't be that hard.

I'll generally always get a hangover even if I take all the usual precautions.
Feeling shitty after taking drugs is just something that comes hand-in-hand with consumption of certain drugs.
Now if they could invent something that ACTUALLY cured stimulant comedowns...
They wouldn't be able to take my money fast enough

 

[manboychef]

I'll generally always get a hangover even if I take all the usual precautions.
Feeling shitty after taking drugs is just something that comes hand-in-hand with consumption of certain drugs.
Now if they could invent something that ACTUALLY cured stimulant comedowns...
They wouldn't be able to take my money fast enough

qft

 

[weekend addiction]

I've gotten IV fluids in the hospital and its a beautiful way to end a hangover without involving other drugs. I mean obviously some cocaine and Xanax would bring you back but then your just adding to your problems. I would love to go but that's way to expensive Xanax and coke is actually cheaper.

 

[cj]

There is no way I would pay 150 dollars for a saline IV.

 

[spacejunk]

It's a symptom of a ridiculously affluent culture that these companies existed in the first place, to me at least.

If it weren't in such bad taste, i would recommend their customers head over to the supervised injecting rooms in King's Cross instead...
Once they get a taste for what goes on there, they'll never worry about a hangover again.

But honestly - shutting down these places is no great loss to the community.
It is rather reactive and predictable to say that they promote (or normalise) binge-drinking by suggesting a saline drip will cure a hangover, but i think there is an element of truth to that claim.
As governments and other authorities never tire of telling us - drug use has consequences.
Hangover is just one short-term consequence of drinking alcohol. There is no way around that, or the other effects of drinking - be they health related or social.

It's not so much the business model or the service provided that i specifically have a problem with - it's more the pseudo-medicalisation of this binge-drinking culture.
Having a nurse comfort you and say "there there" while you recover from the night before seems like a company profiting off enabling people's drinking problems.
I can't help but feel their customers' time and money would be better spent seeking treatment and counselling for their problematic drinking.

And is it just me, or are the use of IV lines generally frowned upon when it comes to recreational drug use? Why should this be any different for drinkers?

I will happily support this company - iv.me - when they start offering ketamine infustions and high-dose DMT shots.
That's a dodgy medical company i could give my support to

 

[One Thousand Words]

This is nothing new, nurses have been IV'ing saline on a Sunday since I was 18. Time is money and I'd happily pay to avoid dying in bed all day.



I had a mate who stopped breathing one night when we were on a bender ($2 Jugs of beer and $3 buckets of spirits will tend to do that). We noticed in the cab and rushed him to hospital. Stomach pump and IV drip had him good as new the next day. Meanwhile the rest of us were hung over as fuck and in need of sleep from worry.

 

[JessFR]

I've gotten IV fluids in the hospital and its a beautiful way to end a hangover without involving other drugs. I mean obviously some cocaine and Xanax would bring you back but then your just adding to your problems. I would love to go but that's way to expensive Xanax and coke is actually cheaper.

I've had the same experience. Only if I were so inclined to do this id just get the equipment at a cost of maybe $10 and do it myself. All the supplied are legal and can be purchased in Australia anyway, so this place was a rip off at best. Not to mention all that bullshit they advertised that definitely wasn't true.