IV therapy is a long-standing treatment for dehydration, malabsorption, and other conditions that can threaten your health. In the past, you needed to visit a hospital, urgent care, or doctor’s office to receive the benefits of IV therapy. By that point, most patients were sicker than they should have been.
Now, places like Ahwatukee Ketamine Clinic and Drip Lounge in Phoenix, AZ offer the benefits of IV therapy to patients seeking to boost their wellness before their condition worsens.
IV infusion therapy can help almost anyone who is experiencing fatigue, lacking mental clarity, or feeling unwell. The universal benefits of IV therapy are why setting up an IV drip is one of the first treatments a patient receives in the hospital.
How can one treatment offer so many advantages? Bioavailability. Here’s why that matters.
What Is Bioavailability?
Bioavailability is the percentage of a drug or substance that enters the body’s systemic circulation. In other words, bioavailability refers to how much of a drug or nutrient is actually absorbed and used by the body.
By definition, intravenous (IV) therapy offers 100% bioavailability since the nutrients are administered directly into the bloodstream.
Since oral medications must make it through the digestive tract before releasing into the bloodstream, they’re subject to a phenomenon called “first-pass metabolism,” which describes the reduction of the concentration of the drug before it reaches the bloodstream.
Why Is Bioavailability So Important?
Many people take vitamin C when they feel like they’re coming down with a cold. However, the bioavailability of oral vitamin C varies greatly depending on which supplement you take, when you take your vitamin C, and whether you take it on an empty stomach.
Once oral vitamin C makes it through your digestive system, it gets picked up by transport proteins that bring it to the bloodstream. However, sugar can block the vitamin C transporter, interfering with its absorption.
IV therapy eliminates all of these challenges. Since the nutrients are infused directly into the bloodstream, you don’t have to worry about not receiving their benefits.
While bioavailability is among the critical benefits of IV therapy, its advantages don’t stop there.
How Saline Benefits IV Infusion Therapy
The human body is made of up to 60% water, making hydration essential. When your body doesn’t have proper hydration, the effects can be immediate, including symptoms like:
- Fatigue
- Headaches
- Nausea
- Lightheadedness
- Muscle cramping
IV therapy uses saline, a combination of sterile water and salt that naturally matches the saline in blood plasma.
Saline is used in IV infusion therapy instead of water to prevent hyponatremia. In this condition, the sodium in the body becomes diluted, and the cells begin to swell excessively. Saline allows for adequate rehydration without the adverse effects of using water alone.
By infusing saline into your bloodstream, you can efficiently replenish your body’s fluids and electrolytes without putting excess pressure on your digestive system.
When you try to replenish your body’s fluids by drinking too much water, your body can struggle to keep up and flush more essential nutrients from your body as it processes the extra liquid.
Instead, by infusing saline alone or with nutrients, you can rehydrate, flush toxins from your system, and still retain the critical vitamins and minerals your body needs to function at its best.
IV Therapy Offers Immediate Benefits
Symptoms can creep up on you when you lack the essential vitamins and nutrients your body needs. Over time, you’ll slowly start to feel more tired, find yourself more susceptible to illness, or feel like you’re less sharp mentally.
IV therapy’s bioavailability allows your body to restore its nutrients quickly. As the IV infuses saline and your custom cocktail of nutrients, you’ll feel the effects fast — sometimes before your infusion is complete.
Patients often receive IV infusion therapy and enjoy the benefits that day, with higher energy levels, clarity, and even better sleep.
IV Therapy Is Preventive
While many patients seek out IV therapy for its immediate benefits, the treatment also provides your body with the tools it needs to prevent illness and keep operating at peak performance.
Maintaining the right balance of nutrients in the body allows your system to fight off infection, recover faster, and improve overall health.
IV Therapy Offers Mental Health Benefits
Certain vitamins and minerals directly impact your mental health. For example, B vitamins support the production of neurotransmitters, such as dopamine and serotonin, along with the hormone melatonin.
B vitamins are so crucial for mental health that the body has dedicated transport proteins to actively move them through the blood-brain barrier.
As a result, a deficiency in B vitamins can cause you to struggle with mood, motivation, and sleep, among other concerns. B vitamin deficiency is prevalent, affecting a significant proportion of the population.
Experience the Benefits of IV Therapy Today
While sometimes the need for an IV infusion is clear, like when you’re recovering from a stomach bug and need a nutrient boost, other times, symptoms of vitamin and mineral deficiencies appear gradually. You might suddenly realize you’ve been tired for weeks or that you can’t seem to remember anything lately.
Regardless of when you recognize that you need IV therapy, you have options to restore your health. Ahwatukee Ketamine Clinic and Drip Lounge in Phoenix, AZ, offers several IV infusion therapy cocktails designed to have you looking and feeling your best.
If you’ve wondered about IV therapy to restore your body’s nutritional needs, schedule an appointment today to learn how you can restore your health with IV therapy.