BOISE, Idaho — While walking around Treefort a few weeks ago, you might have noticed a new type of wellness treatment — hydration IV therapy. The line was steady for most of the weekend, where people could get IV treatments for headaches, fatigue and even assist with their hangovers.
“We really kind of came up with the idea because we saw a need for IV hydration and vitamin therapy services outside the hospital setting here in our community,” founder Ryland Mauck-Duff said.
Elevated Hydration is an Idaho-local company, and has an IV drip specialized for you. A nurse will evaluate what you need, then give you a drip specific to your situation.
“It's definitely a unique kind of niche medical service. It's also new to the mainstream areas. It's been happening in small subsets of our country for a while now and even internationally,” Mauck-Duff said.
“Some people will come in for immunity drips because of a high dose of Vitamin C, or those drips also help with allergies. We give a lot of different B vitamins that help with energy, and magnesium,” Registered Nurse Susan Lahart said.
Critics say this new trend of wellness IV treatmentsdoesn’t work and are not considered medically necessary, specifically when not recommended by a doctor.
This Harvard blogwritten in 2018 states, “if you’re able to drink fluids, that’s the best way to get them. If you’re too sick to drink and need re-hydration, you should get care at a medical facility.”
According to the Elevated Hydration website, there are many benefits to IV therapy. It states, "IV therapy can aid in recovery, prevent and improve dehydration, boost energy, alleviate hangovers, help with altitude sickness and promote overall well-being."
Lahart, at Elevated Hydration in Boise, says it's hard to eat the correct diet to get enough of certain nutrients.
“It's really hard to drink enough water to get you hydrated if your dehydrated. You have to remember that everything dehydrates you. Walking outside in the heat, just working dehydrates you and so unless you're drinking a lot of water it's hard to stay routinely hydrated,” Lahart said.
“Obviously it's a new kind of concept, IV hydration so I encourage people to kind of do their own research around it,” Mauck-Duff said.
Elevated Hydration first opened in Sun Valley in 2018 and expanded to Boise just last year.
“The overall encompassing concept of it is to optimize your overall health and well-being. Getting a liter of fluid infused kind of helps your rehydration status and rehydrates you. Then of course there's vitamins that we add and that type of stuff so a lot of those benefits are like energy to immune benefits and all of that stuff around general health and wellbeing,” Mauck-Duff said.
To learn more about Elevated Hydration, click here.
