What new dystopian hell is this?

[CircleofWillis]

Drip bars!

I walked past one yesterday and was shocked into stopping and staring at people lounging, chatting to friends and browsing on their phones with an IV in their arms. It was nearly full as well.

Apparently it delivers vitamins to the blood stream or muscles, bypassing the gut.

Didn't IVs use to be for serious medical intervention? How has that morphed into something cool?

I feel so old.

A friend who lives in HK regularly posts pics of her having them. Never seen one in the UK. Would bet they're a waste of money and fraught with risks.

That is basically what an IV is. Saline solution.

Vibrators were invented because doctors tired of having to manually stimulate female patients to cure "hysteria" but these days they are advertised on TV

Hang on…what?! 😳

Fuck that!

Nope, still happens!

I have a couple of friends who do this after a big night out. Apparently completely cures a hangover. I've considered it but too nervous.

It’s not high in salt. Saline is 0.9% salt which is isotonic and ok for most people. But there are risks. The risk of cardiac overload for example. You can’t just give iron to anyone as it can be really harmful.
I would tempted tbh! Even though I know it’s all crap but I’d love to try it out!!!

Why have some random put an invasive line into your body for a vitamin boost or hangover cure. It’s not different to eating nutritious food or taking some vitamins etc. if your body doesn’t need it. It becomes waste.

There are risks from having a cannula/needle inserted. From having too much fluid. It’s not regulated? So god knows what’s actually in the bags/drip. Bonkers.

ive heard the old stories about doctors using IVS for hangovers ( basic glucose type bag) but not seen or heard in my career of over 15 years. I’ve seen them help teens who have got drunk and admitted for intoxication.

Some people have a medical need for things like iron and b12, but lots of people just seem to be doing it to be trendy.

Just drink lots of water and take vitamin tablets, job done?

The best drips I've ever had were B vitamin ones. I had severe hyperemesis in both pregnancies before the drug Cariban came into use! They don't call B vitamins the energy vitamins for no reason😉. One of the doctors who administered one of those IVs to me told me she had a patient once who had a severe allergic reaction to it. So its not just the obvious risks like infection, over hydration etc. that can occur. Op you obviously don't have a medical background as there are different kinds of IV solutions including ones that have sugar added like IV dextrose!

There are always people with more money than sense looking for the latest health fad

Sadly, yes - though I hadn't realised these were still a "thing"

Actually I do have a health background and have worked in hospitals but am not involved in medical care. I did think all IVs including dextrose ones were saline based.

They've been around for yonks. Crazy.

I haven't heard of this but so much could go wrong, someone messing about with your veins. Even for a simple blood test I've ended up bruised to bits, my veins are so skinny and when I give blood they usually have to fetch the most senior phlebotomist to sort out a vein!

There are a few in the big shopping centres in London, where shop and pitch rates must be eye watering. I hardly ever see anyone actually using them though, so I can't see how they are making a profit. I do wonder how many are genuine businesses and how many are just fronts.

YANBU OP

And the NHS will have to pick up the tab when everything goes pear shaped.

How do people know what exactly they are being injected with FFS?

Not necessarily true
Technology of Orgasm

Easy enough to see how a drip might improve a hangover, since it's due to dehydration. But making this a social occasion? Can you at least have a drink and nibbles with your IV?

Reminds me of the Bunuel film where, world upside down style, people sit together on toilets and then disappear into a cubicle to hastily scoff some food. And the smalltalk is about the ever increasing amount of waste in the world - knock-off of a conversation on overpopulation. Good director, Bunuel.

Other than that, see above, fool and money etc. Hopefully nobody gets accidentally hooked up to a bag of cleaning fluids.

Wtf?! I’ve never heard of them! But would definitely avoid!

Perhaps if the NHS wasn't so shit people wouldn't be tempted to try and improve their health by non conventional means.

I'd totally go for an iron, vit B12 and vit D infusion. But if the NHS was halfway functional I wouldn't need to go to a drip bar for one.

I'd be worried about cleanliness and cross contamination

You must have to be medically trained to insert a cannula and start a drip. Even student nurses can't legally start a drip.

Eh - they've been a thing in London for a few years now. Stupid expensive for something of no benefit, but I can see the appeal for trendy types.

A lot safer than some more mainstream "bars" I've been in!

I've not seen a drip bar, but I did recently come across this concept for the first time. It was in Poland at something like a private diagnostic centre - I was having blood tests done privately (long list of mostly hormones issued by an endocrinologist). I saw that they had vitamin drips on offer and indeed the lady after me was in for one. From the conversation, I think she'd had a lack of something previously.

I'd totally go for an iron, vit B12 and vit D infusion. But if the NHS was halfway functional I wouldn't need to go to a drip bar for one

Good try, but no. No need for IVs

Vit B: You can have a sublingual pill or liquid

www.hollandandbarrett.com/shop/product/holland-barrett-b-complex-sublingual-liquid-60002871

Vit D: same or absorb liquid transdermally

Iron: Red meat or liver

Cheaper than £30 all in, and sold from vetted companies