Is IV Vitamin Therapy Worth Trying? with Melissa Young, MD

Podcast Transcript

John Horton:

Hello, and welcome to another Health Essentials Podcast. I'm John Horton, your host.

In today's fast-paced world, the wait to absorb vitamins and minerals after swallowing a pill is just too long for some folks. So to speed things up, they're going a different route. IV vitamin therapy, where a needle prick and steady drip deliver a high-dose cocktail of nutrients right into your bloodstream. This approach has taken off as a wellness trend in recent years. Of course, it has raised some questions, too, which is why we ask functional medicine specialist Melissa Young to join us today. Dr. Young is one of the many experts at Cleveland Clinic who pop into our weekly podcast to chat about interesting things people are trying to boost their health. Now, let's find out whether the benefits of IV vitamin therapy might make it worth getting poked.

Dr. Young, so glad to see you again. It's always a good day when you stop by.

Dr. Melissa Young:

Oh, thank you for having me again. We always have a good time and hopefully are informative as well.

John Horton:

Well, they always are informative, and we have covered some pretty interesting topics during your visits here. But today's on IV vitamin therapy, it might be near the top of the list for me. I got to say, I'm stunned by how much this has taken off in the wellness world.

Dr. Melissa Young:

It has. I mean, IV vitamin therapy has just exploded. It's also, I think, growing in popularity alongside the wellness industry. Different things driving that are definitely the consumer and increased consumer health awareness, much more steep rise in chronic disease. And then, people are looking for preventive approaches, more holistic approaches to medicine, root cause medicine. So I think that's part of that growth that we're seeing.

John Horton:

Yeah. Well, let's dive in. And I guess, for starters, for those who aren't familiar with IV vitamin therapy, can you give us a basic rundown of what it is and how it's being used?

Dr. Melissa Young:

Sure. And so, I mean, most simply, IV vitamin therapy is using these IV vitamin drips that deliver direct nutrients like vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, as well as hydration, so fluid, into the patient's vein. So it goes pretty quickly into cellular use rather than going through … we take oral vitamins and have to be absorbed and takes a little bit longer. And there's issues related to absorption, which we can talk about for some people. So it goes right into your bloodstream and into the cells.

John Horton:

Now, I thought I remembered when this first started off, it was really used a lot as kind of like a hangover cure. Is that kind of one of the things that kind of drove this and now it's kind of expanded on?

Dr. Melissa Young:

Well, actually, some of the origins of the IV vitamin therapy are from John Myers. Back in the 1950s, he created the Myers cocktail, which was this combination of minerals and B vitamins to help with energy and mental clarity. So that's kind of the origins. But I mean, I think one of the iterations of its use has been to help with hangovers. And even though there's nothing that's going to cure a hangover, certainly, potentially hydration and maybe some nutrients might help some.

John Horton:

Yeah.

Dr. Melissa Young:

But it's not a cure.

John Horton:

All right. Well, yeah, the only cure is not drinking at all. So at that point, you're a little too far past that. But as far as then, just the wellness part, what are the kinds of benefits there? And why do people embrace that approach?

Dr. Melissa Young:

So I think there's a lot of claims about IV vitamin therapy. And there are some studies — there's no definitive proof — and we're still looking for high-quality studies, but it can help boost immunity, it can improve energy, potentially mental clarity. Some athletes or people who really are very active are finding it might be helpful with fitness recovery. So I think those are some of the key areas in terms of the wellness focus that people are looking for for IV vitamin therapy.

John Horton:

This is going to be a silly question, but I mean, is there kind of like a recipe that goes into your IV vitamin bag? So you might go in there and say, "Hey, I'm looking for this energy boost," and you get the zippy bag as opposed to, "I'm looking for immunity,” and I'm going to get the don't get sick bag. I mean, can you adjust it that much?

Dr. Melissa Young:

So yes, I think there's ways to focus on what someone is trying to accomplish at a particular time. And so there's iterations of that Myers cocktail. And then there's been expansion since then, like you were saying, focus on immunity for a particular person and particular day, energy. So more or less of some of the nutrients, vitamins or antioxidants for that condition. Yes.

John Horton:

And I'd imagine, too, like you had said, there's the speed of getting these vitamins and nutrients in your system is just way faster if you go this route, correct?

Dr. Melissa Young:

Correct, and obviously, there can be pros and cons to that. But I think for most of the people who are, say, doing this generally for wellness, I think, or very common things that people are searching this out for is fatigue is a big one, so I think there could be a benefit to getting that, bypassing the gut and just really going right into the cells to help with energy production.

John Horton:

Well, and I'd imagine, too, that the dosage … you can be a little more accurate if you're putting it right in as opposed to putting it into your, like I said, your gut and that whole digestive system. And you don't quite know what's going to come out of that.

Dr. Melissa Young:

Correct. I mean, depending on digestion and absorption, you may not get all the benefit of the dosing of an oral nutrient that you take. And we certainly can talk about other reasons we might want to use IV vitamin therapy, but definitely digestion absorption issues, that fast absorption utilization. And we can appropriately use higher doses of some of those nutrients if needed.

John Horton:

So it sounds like the pros list here, we're going to get our ledger set up, is that you can maybe boost your vitamin intake, you can get a very accurate dosing by doing it this way. The absorption is way quicker, so you kind of get an immediate boost or effect, and it's just kind of helping with fluid intake. Is there anything else that we're kind of missing there?

Dr. Melissa Young:

Well, I think those are the main benefits in supporting immune health. But I think it's important to know some of the reasons in addition, say, just to wellness that we might use it. Most people are not aware that in the U.S., we have population-wide nutritional deficiencies and insufficiencies. We're seeing a lot of imbalanced diets for many reasons. We're busy. We don't always get all those … the protein and fruits and veggies in that we should every day. But I think it's interesting, I see in my practice a lot of digestion absorption issues, which can be related to dietary restrictions relative to food sensitivities or very specific diets like vegan diets.

It's important to know you can have a very balanced vegan diet if you're working on that. So it's not like you have to have an IV with these specialized diets. Also, gosh, as we age, there's age-related changes in absorption of nutrients, genetic variants and need for nutrients, and I'm seeing more and more GI disorders. So things like celiac disease, inflammatory bowel disease are going to impact how well you digest and absorb your food and nutrients.

John Horton:

So if you're doing this as a true wellness thing because you want to get these nutrients in and these vitamins, how often do you need to do it? Because it seems like it's a rather immediate effect, and I don't know if you want to go do this every day. So how often do you need to do it? What's kind of the timing here?

Dr. Melissa Young:

Usually, a series of IVs is probably going to have the sort of best effect if we're using it for things like fatigue and headache and muscle cramps, things like that. I have seen people with one IV really have improvements and don't necessarily need further treatments, but usually, it's a series. And it's one of those things as well, it's important to know it takes about an hour.

John Horton:

Oh, wow. That long?

Dr. Melissa Young:

So you could be sitting for a little while, yeah.

John Horton:

Yeah.

Dr. Melissa Young:

But I think certain conditions like fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome, and there've been some studies, a little bit mixed in the literature, but some have shown some benefit … these are conditions that we don't have a lot of great treatments for. So it's not unreasonable for some to explore whether this might be helpful.

John Horton:

Yeah. So it sounds like then, you're saying a series of them. This isn't something you would do where you're going to schedule it monthly or weekly, for long term.

Dr. Melissa Young:

I'd say, for most people, that's an option for some, depending on their goals. So some people have chronic health issues that they do see symptomatic benefit with a regular treatment and they might do something once a month. Some of the drawbacks that we should talk about is the expense. So these are expensive. They can run anywhere from $150 up to some of these specialty drips, like for NAD, more longevity and energy production in the cells can, gosh, be $800 to $1,000.

John Horton:

Wow.

Dr. Melissa Young:

So these are not things that the average person is going to be able to do, like, as you said, on a weekly basis.

John Horton:

Yeah, definitely.

Dr. Melissa Young:

It's maybe a series.

John Horton:

You can count ... I was going to be out anyway because of the getting poked, but to be honest, if it's $800 a pop, then that's going to do me in, too. That seems like a pretty big con. And I know we've kind of been talking about the pros, and I've been doing this podcast long enough to know there's always that other side of the ledger. So what are some of the other cons to this sort of treatment?

Dr. Melissa Young:

Well, I think an important one is with all these, kind of almost IV clinics or IVs as part of spas, there can be a lack of regulation and oversight. So I think it's important to ask good questions about, is there a medical director? How closely do they oversee the formulas, oversee the administration of the IVs? I still think there's a somewhat lack of medical evidence for efficacy. I think we always want to look at the balance of medical literature and medical evidence with the clinical response we might see. So talking with your medical provider to balance that out for you and decide if that's appropriate is important.

But we also think about, some people need to be cautious of receiving too many or too much in the way of IV fluid. So patients with cardiovascular disease or kidney disease. As usual, we always want to be more cautious and avoid in pregnancy. And too high a dose of vitamins over too long a period of time can lead to toxicity. So because it's natural doesn't always mean it's benign. There's remote risk of infections at the catheter site, remote risk of these emboli. So we just, we have to be aware of the possible risks and make sure we're choosing the right site to have these done and checking with your medical provider — and it may be an integrative or functional medicine provider with experience in this area — is this right for you?

John Horton:

Yeah. And I was going to ask, is this something that's available at hospitals? I mean, can you go in there and have it done? It seems like it's often talked about as more of these kinds of side places, the little wellness clinics that kind of pop up and might not have the, like you said, the medical background that you might want to get something like this.

Dr. Melissa Young:

So not typically offered in the way we've been discussing it at hospitals. I do know that, say, migraine clinics are going to be more apt to offer, say, IV magnesium for the migraine and headache patients. But not in the way we've been talking about, where we're focusing on, say, just patients may have fatigue, they may have headache or asthma, that may be benefited from these IV vitamin drips. But it's not covered under insurance for the most part, and it's going to be a private clinic.

John Horton:

Now, I'm sure there's people who swear by these, as you always see with these sorts of wellness trends, but it does seem like maybe people should have a little bit of caution going into it. I mean, you're putting something right into your bloodstream, and that always should kind of raise some red flags as to what you're doing.

Dr. Melissa Young:

Absolutely. And in working with patients for a long time, people also have different sensitivities, and we're thinking about even things like antioxidants, glutathione, vitamin C that we're giving intravenously, that can affect people differently. And you want to be working with a clinic, again, overseen by a good medical director who knows to start low and slow with dosing. So it's really important that you're checking with your medical provider about whether this might be appropriate for you, and then finding the right location that has good oversight.

John Horton:

If you go and ask your doctor whether this is a good idea, I mean, it sounds like that's one of those, it's going to be hard just to give a yes answer because there's so many unknowns when you go in there and what's in the bag, who's giving it to you, all of that.

Dr. Melissa Young:

Yeah. And I think there's levels, like you said. So I think the average primary care physician probably won't have experience in this area. Your functional medicine physician, your integrative physician is going to have usually more experience with the use of this, who it's going to be more beneficial for, what precautions to use, and may be able even to refer you or recommend a local clinic that they know does an appropriate job in overseeing those IVs.

John Horton:

Yeah. Well, and from what you said before, too, it also sounds like there are certain groups who should really maybe avoid this, like if you have a heart condition. What are some other groups that might want to stay away from it?

Dr. Melissa Young:

So definitely certain types of heart disease, high blood pressure, you just have to be cautious. Pregnancy. You want to be careful if you have chronic kidney disease. And the other piece is, people who are on medications, there can be interactions with some of these higher-dose vitamins that are being used. So you want to make sure it's appropriate for you and always be cautious. People think because things are natural that there's no potential harm, and that's not true.

John Horton:

So if you go to one of these establishments that are doing it and you start bringing up the, "Hey, I'm taking this medication or that medication," and they don't have great answers, should you take that as a hint that maybe you should pass on it?

Dr. Melissa Young:

Yes, absolutely. And always be an advocate for yourself. If it doesn't feel right, you're asking them about their medicines, your history, and you're not getting a very concise answer that makes sense, I would say that's not a ... time to leave and reconsider that.

John Horton:

A lot of times, do people kind of turn to this sort of therapy just because they feel like they're maybe out of options, or they're just looking for answers to fatigue or something else where they can't seem to get over a hump?

Dr. Melissa Young:

I do think so. I agree with you there. I think there's the group that really is trying to look for optimal health and feel the best they can be and they're active and they want to … can they do even better in terms of their health? And then, there's a large segment of the population who, they just, they've tried different things and they're not necessarily working, they don't feel well, and they're looking for something. Can that be helpful in helping them feel better and improve their health?

John Horton:

So kind of taking all the stuff that we've talked about, because we've kind of talked about some pros you might get from it, we just went over a lot of cons, to be honest, so when you kind of break it all down, I mean, is this something worth trying?

Dr. Melissa Young:

I think it depends on the individual and it depends on your health issues, and do you have a reputable location to go try this. So as we had talked about a little before we started, I have some personal and clinical experience in this area. And again, we have to look at, remember, some of the limited data. But I know for me, if I'm feeling rundown or I feel like I'm coming down with something, I'll go and get an IV drip and some vitamin C and some vitamins, and clinically, I've had good responses. So it's made a difference for me in the more functional integrative world. For patients in some of the categories that we've been talking about, clinically, I've seen some benefit here.

So I think it's that balance of working with that provider who has the experience in this modality and working with patients, is that appropriate for you? Is it safe? Guiding in the type of nutrient bags that you're going to get. I think there has some clinical efficacy, but I worry about the average patient who doesn't have any of that guidance, is not working with a functional or integrative doc with experience, who doesn't necessarily know what they're getting into.

John Horton:

Yeah. Well, and it sounds like you should absolutely not use this as a substitution for maybe a prescribed treatment.

Dr. Melissa Young:

Absolutely. I think that's most important. I always talk to my patients about the best of both worlds and also keeping people safe.

John Horton:

Yeah. Now, you mentioned that you've done this and that you've seen some benefit from it.

Dr. Melissa Young:

Yep.

John Horton:

So if somebody was going to try this and give it a whirl, what are some things they should look for afterward that, A, it's working, or B, and maybe this isn't the thing for me.

Dr. Melissa Young:

So what you'd look for is, did you get a little boost of energy, a little mental clarity? Sometimes, that can come as you're actually getting the IV. Sometimes, it comes a day later. Sometimes, also, a series of a couple makes all the difference, and some of that benefit can last. But I have also experienced personally, and with patients, where too high a dose was started, it was pushed, the IV was pushed a little too quickly and you don't feel so well. So you can have some nausea or dizziness. And so that's where we know either we don't want to do that again or it really needs a big adjustment in dose and how quickly the IV is allowed to run.

John Horton:

Yeah. Is there something people should look for when they're looking for a place to do this, like some sort of accreditation? Or is it just kind of a gut feel when you walk in and you look around and talk to the people there, whether or not this is a reputable place?

Dr. Melissa Young:

To my knowledge, there's no accreditation yet, maybe.

John Horton:

Yeah.

Dr. Melissa Young:

But referrals from your integrative functional physicians can be helpful. Looking for a clinic that has a physician that is truly overseeing patient care, whether it's appropriate for you to receive these IVs, what the IV should be. Hopefully, they are checking blood pressure and your vitals, meaning your pulse and blood pressure and breathing rate before, during and after those IVs. So medical oversight, I think, is really important. Common sense, make sure it looks clean, make sure everyone's had their blood taken, they are going to wipe the area with alcohol. Make sure they're doing those proper things that you would expect.

John Horton:

Yeah. No, that all makes total sense. And it really sounds like you should trust your gut when you go into one of these places as to whether or not it's a place where you want to have this done.

Dr. Melissa Young:

Yeah, I agree, for sure.

John Horton:

So bottom line then, and looking at all this then, what should people think? If this comes up, is this something you should look at doing? Is it just a personal choice and you just got to make a determination on your own? What's your elevator speech on this?

Dr. Melissa Young:

Sure. So I mean, I think for … we have to remember that for the average person, we have to go back to the basics, good nutrition, sleep, stress management. You can't have health without starting with that. So without that, even the IVs are not going to make a big difference. I think-

John Horton:

…it's not magic. It's not going to solve all your problems.

Dr. Melissa Young:

...absolutely. I think for the patient who has the finances to explore it and is looking to either improve health, or the most common things are boost immune health, to help with energy and mental clarity, and they have the OK from their doctor, I think it can be worth exploring. But don't forget those basics because most people want to bypass the basics to go to the fancy stuff.

John Horton:

Yeah, yeah.

Dr. Melissa Young:

Does that make sense?

John Horton:

It does. And I got to be honest, I'm probably more of a basics guy. The needle part does me in.

Dr. Melissa Young:

A lot of people don't want those IVs. You can get bruising at the site. It hurts going in, but usually once it’s in, it doesn't hurt. But you've got all those little subtleties. Yeah.

John Horton:

All right. Well, Dr. Young gave us, as always, a lot to think about, and it really is just an interesting topic, and I appreciate you sharing so much with us.

Dr. Melissa Young:

Thank you so much for having me. It's always a pleasure.

John Horton:

While pumping vitamins and minerals directly into your bloodstream may sound efficient, uncertainties remain about IV vitamin therapy. Talk to your healthcare provider about whether it's something you should consider before taking that needle.

If you liked what you heard today, please hit the subscribe button and leave a comment to share your thoughts. Until next time, be well.

Speaker 4:

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