I Went to Philly’s New IV Therapy Lounge to Cure My Hangover

After a bar crawl in South Philly, a few Advil Liqui-Gels weren't going to cut it.

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On Monday, Be Well Philly told you about the brand new IV therapy lounge in Center City that wants to cure your hangovers. Well, I didn’t make it through the week without needing to schedule a visit.

I was a judge for Wednesday night’s South Philly Christmas Crawl Throwdown, a Christmas decoration contest/bar crawl hosted by Pistola’s Del Sur. We went to six Passyunk Avenue bars, and throughout the night, I consumed Budweiser, Dallas Sucks beer, a shot of tequila, a rum-spiked cider, and some other stuff that I can’t quite remember. Just for the record: This is not the way I normally drink.

Nevertheless, I woke up on Thursday morning feeling the pain. I was a bit nauseous, my head was in a fog, I had a slight headache accompanied by sinus pain. This was a textbook hangover.

So I made my way over to Philly’s new IV therapy lounge, City Hydration, for the $179 Hangover Relief IV treatment.

The office is on the 14th floor of 1315 Walnut Street, in the rear of a chiropractic practice. The vibe is very much your friend’s comfy-cozy condo as opposed to medical office. There are plants, a sofa, reclining leather chairs, and lots of pillows.

I was greeted by owner Christie D’Arcy, who has worked as a nurse for the last 12 years. She’s been doing IV hangover therapy on a concierge basis for a while now (it’s $45 on top of the regular fee to have her come to you for that concierge service, assuming you’re within five miles of Center City) and decided to open the lounge for walk-ins and appointments.

D’Arcy had me complete a waiver on my phone, which included a brief medical history. Then, she got me comfortable, made me some herbal tea, and hooked me up to an IV. I hate needles as much as the next person — more, really — but D’Arcy managed to get the needle into the back of my hand with just a pinch. Removing the medical tape later that day was at least ten times more painful.

The hangover IV liquid is yellow, thanks to a bunch of Vitamin B. There’s also saline to combat dehydration, the antioxidant glutathione, anti-nausea drug Zofran and anti-inflammatory drug Toradol. It took about 45 minutes for my body to absorb all of the contents of the hangover IV bag. There really wasn’t anything unpleasant about it. The only unusual thing was the distinct taste of vitamin B in my mouth.

The effects were pretty immediate for me. My headache and sinus pressure were alleviated quickly. The nausea more or less went away by the time the bag was done. The most notable thing was a real jolt of long-lasting energy, thanks to the B-complex in the bag.

At $179, it’s not cheap. But when the alternative is laying in bed all day with the blankets pulled up over your head, it’s more than worth it.

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