First Intravenous Drip Bar Opens In The Valley

By Alexandra Olgin
Published: Friday, November 15, 2013 - 2:14pm
Updated: Friday, November 15, 2013 - 3:46pm
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(Photo by Alexandra Olgin-KJZZ)
The Drip Room in Old Town Scottsdale.
(Photo by Alexandra Olgin-KJZZ)
The oxygen bar offers nearly pure oxygen with different aromas.
(Photo by Alexandra Olgin-KJZZ)
An intravenous drip bag full of vitamins at the Drip Room.

A "drip bar" in Old Town Scottsdale is putting a new spin on taking your vitamins. The Drip Room offers customers vitamins through an intravenous feed.

The main treatment room has six massage chairs with an intravenous pole next to each where consumers get their vitamin drips, and in the middle is an oxygen bar of tubes filled with bubbling multicolored liquid.

Shirley Kelly is the co-owner and registered nurse at the Drip Room. She explained the drip is not just a hospital IV bag in a fancy setting. There are several treatment options choose from. Kelly said one of the most popular ones is the extreme party drip.

“Last weekend we had party in here, girls from out of town. They came in literally looking like the show 'The Walking Dead,'" Kelly shared. "The hair stuck to the head, they weren’t speaking. One girl was actually a little bit nauseous. We gave them the drip, and they left laughing and smiling," said Kelly.

The hangover cure is just one option. There is a hydration drip, energy drip, mega vitamin drip and an oxygen bar. Kelly said getting vitamins directly into the blood stream is the fastest way to get nutrients with the highest absorption rate but integrative medicine.

Dr. David Katz said injecting vitamins into the blood stream is not necessary.

“You can adjust the level of nutrients in your bloodstream with what you put in your mouth. We are put together to do exactly that. I think this is just a fad," said Katz.

Katz said the digestive process acts as a filter for vitamins. Kelly said the Drip Room only uses water soluble vitamins, which means any extra will be excreted through urine.

Kelly said before doing any treatment every patient has to give a medical history, and most clients are overall healthy just looking for a supplement. And that is one thing the doctor disagrees with. He said people should only seek treatment if they are having a medical problem.

“Again I believe in technique, but if you’re going to use it as medicine, use it the way all medicine gets used for the right reason, at the right time," said Katz.

Katz does similar treatments for patients with certain medical conditions. The Drip Room says they operate similar to a doctor’s office, meaning the medical professionals performing the treatments are licensed by the state of Arizona.

 

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