In a decade and a half of work holiday parties, I’ve seen (and heard about) a lot. Intra-office hookups (juicy). Public vomiting (icky). Reality TV star antics (tabloidy).
I don’t want to be the reason people gossip, but I did need to get The Post’s money’s worth at the open bar at our holiday party this Wednesday.
That’s because I had an appointment bright and early the next morning to test out a wellness trend that’s meant to be the ultimate hangover cure — and what was the point if I wasn’t actually feeling the consequences of a wild night out?
With more and more employees returning to the office full time — including at The Post — we’re back to the pre-pandemic days of having to drag yourself to your desk the day after drunken festivities.
And while there are plenty of hangover cures that people swear by — including caviar, kombucha and handfuls of vitamins — you couldn’t call any of them foolproof, especially when used the morning after.
But the one method that’s had near-universal rave reviews are IV drips, in which a mix of vitamins, electrolytes and sometimes medication are delivered straight into your veins.
So are these really the secret to looking bright-eyed and bushy-tailed at your 10:30 a.m. meeting with the big boss after having five to six glasses of pinot grigio and belting out “Pink Pony Club” the night before?
How do hangover IV drips work?
Certain supplements can absolutely help with symptoms like headache, nausea and fatigue. Several studies have linked B vitamins, vitamin C and magnesium to less severe hangovers.
But the problem with simply popping a supplement is dosage — and if your hangover includes nausea, keeping pills and powders down can be tough, too.
“The truth is, once you’re feeling crappy the next day, the amount of different vitamins … I don’t want to say it would be impossible to get in orally, but it’s just an exorbitant amount,” Dr. Zeyad Baker at New York City medical concierge practice Baker Health tells The Post.
An IV bypasses your stomach and delivers a more concentrated form straight into your bloodstream.
“They’re not being swallowed, going into the gut, being partially digested by the liver and partially filtered by the kidney — and then compromised and delayed and partially absorbed,” Baker explained. “This is direct, immediate.”
Of course, a drip’s not as easy as drinking electrolytes before bed (which, for the record, Baker recommends doing too) — and they cost quite a bit more than Pedialyte. The hangover treatment is $299 at Drip Hydration, $295 at Peach IV, and a whopping $595 at NutriDrip.
Baker Health charges nonmembers $300 for its Baker’s Cocktail, or just $150 for members (who pay a monthly fee of $17).
Which ingredients are most effective?
First and foremost, everything in your IV is delivered via saline, which isn’t just filler: All that water is super hydrating, and the salt does wonders for replenishing electrolytes.
“Alcohol is a natural diuretic,” Baker explained. “It does a lot of cellular damage … When you’re throwing [drinks] back, you’re going to the bathroom and peeing a lot, and you’re almost always dehydrated.
“So the saline, the fluid itself — which is the preponderance of what you’re getting — is hugely impactful.”
Then there’s the vitamins and minerals. Search for “hangover drips” and you’ll see similar ingredients — vitamin C, B complex, magnesium and calcium gluconate chief among them.
Drinking causes inflammation, which can lead to symptoms like a pounding headache — so vitamin C’s anti-inflammatory properties can help set things right.
Both vitamins C and B help your liver break down acetaldehyde, a toxin that can cause nausea, vomiting, headaches and exhaustion. B vitamins also give your energy levels a boost and help fight brain fog.
And magnesium helps with sleep, recovery and stress relief. “The vitamin B kind of pushes you up — but the magnesium makes sure that you’re optimizing your rest state,” Baker explained.
Calcium glutenate, meanwhile, can replenish lost calcium, which can help with muscle cramps and feelings of weakness.
How fast does it work?
Baker said patients usually feel the difference within an hour or two of finishing — and the benefits last for one to two weeks.
Those benefits include an immunity boost, which is more important than you may realize.
“When you’re hungover, when you’re run down … You become much more susceptible to that cold in the elevator or on the doorknob that typically wouldn’t affect you at all, because your immune system is compromised,” Baker said. “And that’s where the vitamin C helps with that take that edge off.”
So … does it work?
From the way I wobbled home Wednesday night — with my coat unzipped despite temps in the low 30s — it was pretty clear I wasn’t going to feel great Thursday morning.
Drinking electrolytes before bed headed off a morning bout of scromiting (phew!), but I for sure was not at my best when I woke up. Besides a mild headache, I was really tired, even though my Oura ring clocked over six hours of sleep.
I lazily took a Lyft to Baker Health’s UWS office, which is a holistic primary care practice that also offers yoga classes and vitamins. I was all too happy to sink into the comfy chair in their IV suite when I got there — and while I’d brought my laptop and planned to work during my infusion, I was definitely struggling to concentrate.
The whole thing took about 45 minutes, and I was already feeling a bit more upbeat by the time I got to the office around 9:30. Over the next hour, I was able to bang out a bunch of tasks and was feeling more and more “normal” as time went on (I think the bacon, egg and cheese I inhaled helped a bit, too).
And by that 10:30 meeting? The big boss asked the room who was hungover — and I could truthfully say I wasn’t.
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