Hi world, Lara here, and like many of you I enjoy getting on Instagram. In the last several months, the more I've watched my fave reality star and celeb's IG stories, the more I've noticed a recurring theme: I.V. infusions.
If you, unlike me, don't spend a large amount of time during the evening staring at your phone screen watching reality TV stars on Instagram get I.V.s put into their arms after a night of drinking, you might be confused. So let me explain. I.V. Wellness is a new-ish trend that involves a certified nurse putting a literal I.V. drip into your arm. These I.V. drips are often infused with vitamins that are supposed to "cure" hangover symptoms or just, in general, improve your overall state of wellbeing.
Me being the investigative journalist that I am*, I decided to go get this very thing done in my very own arm so that I could report back to you on how it made me feel.
*I am not a journalist, obvs. But I watch a lot of reality TV and recently one of the New York housewives created her own I.V. drip???
So I headed alllll the way to Santa Monica (I live on the east side of Los Angeles, support me) to Infuse Wellness, which offers wellness injections, I.V. therapy, and red-light therapy.
Here's a picture of what it looked like right as I walked in, so you can really feel like you were there with me.
Once I got inside, it was time to take a look at the menu which sort of looked like a menu you might find at a restaurant or cafe but instead was for what you wanted to inject directly into your bloodstream, baby! Here's the menu for the wellness injections (i.e.: shots?? but not of vodka):
But since I drove all the way to Santa Monica on the 10 freeway, I opted for the full-on experience of an I.V. therapy since that's what I kept seeing the celebs on Instagram get. For reference, here's a look at the price tags associated with these I.V. drips:
I opted for the "Classic Cocktail" mostly because it sounded like the most straight-forward one and because I definitely wasn't hungover like the girls from Vanderpump Rules, sorry. Here's what my personalized I.V. room looked like:
It was a nice cozy little room, and there was a TV on the wall in front of me armed with Netflix and Hulu. After careful consideration, I decided that The Office paired best with an I.V. infusion.
Once I got in the room and got the TV all set up, the certified nurse at Infuse Wellness began numbing the area of my arm where the I.V. needle would be inserted and I got to hang out and take this selfie. It was cool.
I'm not like a huge fan of needles — honestly, who is? — but I have seven tattoos and I have a couple of chronic illnesses that have required more than a few run-ins with needles over the years. The whole thing lasted all of two minutes and was painless. Once it was in, they began the I.V. drip of vitamins and minerals into my body.
If you've ever had an I.V. you know that there is a certain sensation when the liquid in the I.V. begins to enter your bloodstream. This particular sensation felt slightly warm. It wasn't uncomfortable, it just felt weird.
After about 10 minutes of watching The Office and trying not to stare at the needle in my arm, the team at Infuse Wellness asked me if I wanted a red-light therapy mask on my face. I said yes, obviously. So for the rest of my session I closed my eyes and relaxed with my face under a red-light therapy mask as I heard the voices of Michael Scott and Dwight Schrute in the background. More relaxing than one might think. I fell asleep.
Here's a selfie I took immediately after the I.V. drip finished and I took the red-light mask off. I was feeling relaxed as hell.
And here's a picture I took about an hour after the I.V. drip finished. As I went about my day, I definitely noticed that I had more energy. But I'll be honest, it wasn't life-changing or anything. I felt more energetic that afternoon, but the next day I woke up feeling the same as I always do. It could be because I have a chronic illness, or it could be because I.V. wellness is just another craze where one size definitely doesn't fit all.
Infuse Wellness provided the I.V. drip to BuzzFeed free of charge, but we were under no obligation to write about the experience.