Move over supplements and vitamin pills; wellness and beauty care are getting straight to the point these days.
The latest in inner wellness and beauty treatment is working from the inside out by way of I.V. or intravenous infusion therapy—and Blaine County has a host of businesses where you can replenish your body, fight ailments, target specific needs, or help with that Sunday morning hangover.
“I.V. therapy has long been used in the hospital setting to rehydrate patients and treat various conditions,” says Ryland Mauck-Duff, BSN, RN and CEO of EXTEN IV, formerly known as Elevated Hydration, located in Ketchum and Boise. “In the elective setting, like our drip lounges, it has been around for a number of years but has certainly grown in popularity over the past couple of years and is new to many areas.”
Ryland has seen much growth and awareness in the I.V. therapy realm, which he credits to conversations around its benefits hitting the mainstream and celebrities raving about their I.V. drip experiences. For example, Gwyneth Paltrow, actress and the woman behind the modern lifestyle brand Goop, has celebrated her experiences with anti-aging, regenerative I.V.s, and the like and recently shared its benefits alongside her ongoing struggles with long Covid.
This New-Age wellness trend isn’t that new. Blaine County offers I.V. therapy from businesses like EXTEN and Sun Valley Ketamine Clinic and others.
As opposed to a vitamin or supplement that must be digested before it gets absorbed into your body, allowing the benefits to take hold, I.V. goes straight to the source: your bloodstream.
Performed by a medical professional, I.V. therapy is like an expedited wellness boost and can be hyper-targeted to individual needs. So much so, the popular treatment is used to combat a little imbibing over-indulgence and become popular post-parties. Think of a bachelor party brunch and hydration I.V. session to close the weekend. And while those benefits are an added plus, drip therapy is also celebrated for helping wane symptoms for certain illnesses while helping with inflammation.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported in June 2022 that nearly one in thirteen adults is currently experiencing “long COVID,” defined as symptoms lasting three months or more after contracting the illness. Vitamin-based intravenous therapy is one way some are working to alleviate these symptoms.
Hydrating with IV infusion therapy offsets the effects of “long COVID” / Photo Courtesy of EXTEN IV / Halsey Pierce
“There are many benefits to I.V. therapy including rehydration, boosting energy, aiding individuals’ natural immune system, muscle recovery and performance, alleviating hangover symptoms, altitude illness treatment/recovery, and just helping individuals’ general health and well-being,” says Ryland. “We have drips formulated to meet most individuals’ health and wellness goals.”
At EXTEN IV, patrons receive treatments in the lush and cozy drop lounges, as Ryland and team call them, and can pick from a host of services and I.V. types like the energy-boosting Myers Cocktail with fluid, vitamin C, magnesium, B-5, B-12 and B-Complex, or a skin-focused cocktail designed to detoxify your body and optimize cellular and skin health. Drip prices start at around $125 to $275 per session.
“It’s a great asset to most individuals’ health and well-being,” Ryland says. “There are still individuals who are unfamiliar with the idea of receiving an I.V. outside the hospital setting or have a fear of needles. We help alleviate both those (fears) through education, using hospital-grade supplies and only staffing registered nurses in our lounges. For those looking to try I.V. therapy, we encourage individuals to look for clinics that have all those and do their own research.”
Shanna Angel, the owner of Sun Valley Ketamine Clinic and a CRNA for more than 30 years, offers some vitamin-based I.V. therapy, but their specialty may be a little less mainstream: Low-dose ketamine therapy. A dissociative anesthetic, when used in low doses, ketamine can be used for the treatment of depression, anxiety, pain management and other ailments. Her clinic is the first I.V. ketamine infusion therapy clinic in the Wood River Valley and helps ease mental health challenges with its unique I.V. treatments.
“Ketamine I.V. therapy has become incredibly popular in the United States and England because we see some incredible success, especially in people who have resistance to antibiotics,” Angel says. “It really can change their relationship with anxiety and depression.”
To utilize Sun Valley Ketamine Clinic’s services, clients must have a diagnosis of anxiety, depression or a struggle where this treatment would be of benefit, Angel explains. She says this is because of her licensing and a bit of the new popularity of ketamine therapy. The uses, however, could benefit just about everyone, she says. “Everyone has trauma that could benefit [from this therapy],” Angel says. I use it for prolonged grief, end-of-life care, and more. I have also used it for seizures, addictions, and alcoholism. It helps with understanding their worth, which they didn’t see before.”
The first studies on ketamine therapy came out in 1999 at Yale University. In 2010, Angel says, clinics started to pop up. She opened her Sun Valley clinic in 2019.
“In my practice, ketamine is a dissociated drug,” she says. “At a certain dosage, you are dissociated from your body and that image of yourself. You can call it the spiritual or the mythical response. Ketamine provides that. It provides people with a space where they are not depressed, not anxious. It does also help with pain. It allows them to see the possibilities of living.”
Whether by way of vitamin infusion, help with depression or in hopes of keeping your skin young and vibrant, the I.V. therapy movement has infused Sun Valley with a host of new wellness opportunities to explore. For more information, visit: sunvalleyketamineclinic.com and exteniv.com.