AIBU to have been shocked of the selling of IV drips in our shopping centre.

[Trialanderror02]

Hi
bit of background my DD has intestinal failure, and so requires IV nutrition via a central line every day for 14 hours. This has landed us in many tricky dangerous situations over the years. Her IV nutrition bags are for fluids / vitamins / micro elements / metals / glucose. This bags are yellow fluid not usual IV saline bags.
We were shopping yesterday for pyjamas in Westfield’s and I was shocked to discover in a pop up seating area with IV stands and 2 women taking selfies attached to these exact looking IV bags, apparently this is a thing 🙈 I looked at the “ menu “ which literally looked like a cocktail bar menu. You could design you own IV bag by adding certain elements for more money etc.
Am I behind the times to be shocked about this casually being sold in the middle of a shopping centre ?
One of them is called a party drip.

@SchrodingersImmigrant

There's a huge difference between a subcutaneous injection and insertion of an IV line, though, in terms of what can go wrong with actually inserting the pointy bit.

Sorry. I didn't meant as the injection part only. More of the "do you know what's really in it and do you know it can't make you sick".

Oh, I'm not so sure about that. I'm allergic to one of the makes of Vitamin D. No idea what's in it that's different (as I'm not allergic to nuts, which was their first thought), but I have a full blown reaction to it, and my mother found out in hospital (as did the entire ward when they had to provide emergency treatment) that she's severely allergic to Potassium as prepared in iv bags.

I would also be questioning in where these bags are being made up ?
This is a pop up shop in the court hall of a shopping centre.
You can but a basic bag then can request things to be added. Where are they adding these things.
Ours are made up in completely sterile environment.

Christ, I'm just getting normalised to the sight of people getting their eye brows threaded in the middle of shopping malls ( though I also remember being shocked when folks were getting their feet nibbled by little fishes! ) I am, perhaps, easily offended.

@theld let’s not forget the infection risk to.
Especially if they are offering glucose in the bags with added elements being made up there and then.

That's appalling. And dangerous.

To the poster who said that nurses refuse to put drunk teenagers on an IV so they couldn’t avoid a hangover - I trust what you say about clinical need prevailing. But to take pleasure in calling yourself a “mean nurse” (even if partly in jest) doesn’t really paint you in a very good light. I’m not suggesting that NHS resources should be used to prevent people from enduring the consequences of their actions. But the tone of your post sounded as though you and your colleagues actually took pleasure in the (non-serious) suffering of young people. And that really isn’t nice. Stupid people, misguided people, drunk people. They still all (or mostly all) deserve compassion.

@LizzieMacQueen I was the same with the fish the thought made me gag 🤣

I agree @WhereverIGoddamnLike tbh. As long as it’s not taking meds from someone who needs them then let stupid people do as they please.

It’s horrifying. I also saw this idea getting rejected on Dragons Den, and didn’t think that there would actually be many takers!

I hope it becomes banned before someone dies.

And to the OP - you are absolutely not unreasonable to be shocked by this. It’s appalling.

How grim. It’s bad enough seeing people have their teeth whitened in shopping centres.

[quote WhereverIGoddamnLike]@Trialanderror02
I dont understand your annoyance and constant "but we use them to keep her alive" mantra.
So? Are the people paying for these IV treatments preventing your daughter from getting hers to keep her alive? No. They arent.

This isnt a one or the other scenario. Your daughter still gets the treatment she needs. Other people can pay to have a drip which they may or may not need, and may or may not feel any benefit from. That's up to them. It's not affecting your daughters treatment in any way.[/quote]
Sorry, I’m also confused why you keep mentioning it’s keeping her alive and why that’s relevant to your post.

Tapping into people's sudden health concerns no doubt, same as the amount of adverts on TV now for hand sanitizer and face masks.

Would I personally want someone whose qualifications were negligible to stick a unknown fluid into my body in a shopping centre where I can't be sure of hygiene practices? No I wouldn't but then I don't think I'm their target market.
It just reeks of people whose Instagram markets themselves as an "influencer" who will do fuck face selfies whilst hooked up
No thanks!

It's a snake oil. Like detoxing by sticking colour changing plasters on your feet is.

There is no medical benefit to IV fluids for a hangover over simply drinking fluids.

IV fluids should be given in a medical setting and/or for genuine medical reasons and this irresponsible practice should be banned. I'd be worried about Air embolisms caused by "Chantelle who is, like, a totally qualified in, like, nutrient replacement therapy cos she totally did an online course with her start up pack and everyfink!"

@Oniumty maybe it’d hate to understand if your not in the situation. It’s not a well known illness like many. However the effects are devastating so seeing it used as profit and fashion accessory in a shopping mall is just hard for us as for us it was life or death.
Also when it became popular in America there became huge shortages in the ingredients for the people who required it.

I would imagine that although there might be no direct link in terms of supply of bags that for the OP these bags represent serious medical treatment required for a life threatening illness in her DD and it feels bizarre and offensive that other people see it so differently as just a casual hang over cure.
I can imagine why she would find it more shocking than others to see it on offer in a shopping centre.
I think I would find it hard to see myself as my association would be with very very sick people in hospital.
In the end it is up to stupid people if they wish to take a risk for no reason but regulation does exist to save stupid people from themselves and from being commercially exploited by charlatans and this certainly seems to be a loophole.

As a cancer survivor and on behalf of people like your daughter this disgusts me. These vain idiots doing this and taking selfies want to pray that they never need hooking up to an iv drip to basically stay alive.

We also spend months worried and still are about the effects of covid on the recourses first these bags.
It’s slightly daunting as a parent when you get a box of just in case fluids sent to your door then told that admission in to hospital or Hospice might be needed if production due to sourcing things in the pandemic is an issue.

Not quite the same, but I had IV iron not too long ago at the hospital (NHS) I would definitely have it again, private clinic or something if I feel I need it again and can't have it on NHS. It did wonders for me.
Not in the middle of Westfields though! Probably.

If you are deplete in iron to a level where a iron infusion is needed then I twist would make you feel better.

Several local nurse-owned 'clinics' that provide cosmetic procedures in the UK also provide (totally unnecessary) vitamin and other spurious substances for tonics and 'top ups' administered through IV. I think some of the advertising would get the nurses into trouble with the NMC but couldn't bring myself to complain though it seemed thoroughly unethical to me. As does them administering 'unecessary' cosmetic procedures to teenagers and women in their early twenties though I recognise the people purchasing these are adults.

So wrong on so many levels!

On another note, you may want to name change for anonymity after this as I’ve just seen this exact post on a group on fb so others may also.

Yes very low in iron

I’m surprised you’ve only just seen them, they’ve been around in Westfield for ages. They’re not new either, the Made in Chelsea lot all used to advertise it on their Instagrams a few years ago.