Philadelphia’s New IV Therapy Lounge Wants to Cure Your Hangovers

City Hydration’s cozy new lounge. Photograph by Casey D’Arcy.

If you went to the hospital for alcohol poisoning or severe dehydration, you probably wouldn’t bat an eye if the doctors hooked you up to an IV to get you back into balance. That’s normal, right?

Nowadays, you don’t have to check yourself into the ER to get intravenous therapy. Instead, you can sit back in a trendy lounge and read a magazine, all while having your blood vessels pumped full of vitamins. While this may sound like something you’d see on Keeping Up With the Kardashians, I assure you it’s a real thing — a real thing you can do right here in Philadelphia.

City Hydration is the latest IV therapy clinic to bring the trend to Philly with a hydration-focused line of treatments. On the menu, there’s the “Cold and Flu,” which consists of normal saline, vitamin C, zinc, and glutathione; there’s the “Jet Lag and Fatigue,” which consists of normal saline, B-12, B-complex, and vitamin C; and then there’s the “Health Maintenance and Energy,” which consists of normal saline, B-complex, magnesium, calcium, and vitamin C.

Related: I Went to Philly’s New IV Therapy Lounge to Cure My Hangover

Then, of course, there’s the “Hangover Relief” — an IV cocktail of normal saline, B-complex, glutathione, Zofran, and Toradol. The last two ingredients are anti-nausea and anti-inflammation drugs, which we can only imagine come in pretty handy when your world is spinning post-margaritas.

But while all this sounds awesome, we had to ask: Is it safe?

The good news is it sounds like founder Christie D’Arcy knows her stuff. She’s been a nurse for 12 years, some of which time she spent in a neuro intensive care unit, some of which time she spent as a traveling nurse, helping out in emergency rooms and intensive care units across the country. After seeing IV therapy lounges popping up in other cities, she knew she wanted to bring one to Philly.

“This city is filled with people that would benefit in so many ways from infusions,” says D’Arcy. “This city works hard, plays hard, and should have a chance to recover quickly. I see infusions as that chance.”

For concocting the IV infusion “recipes,” D’Arcy worked with City Hydration’s medical director, as well as a pharmacist. Before you can hop into the hot seat (or shall we say, lounge chair, complete with heating blanket), however, you’ll have to sign a waiver.

“This waiver not only thoroughly explains the risks but it also allows them to disclose their health history for me,” says D’Arcy. “Before I infuse them, it allows me to make sure they are a good candidate for infusion therapy.”

If a client has a history of cardiac or renal issues, those are things that D’Arcy flags when determining if the IV infusions are a good idea. So, is it safe for everyone else? Well, the waiver that D’Arcy uses does outline risks — but we’re also taking comfort in the fact  that City Hydration isn’t afraid to turn people away if their medical histories don’t look like they’d jive with the treatments.

While you can go to D’Arcy’s cozy new lounge for the IV treatments, she also likes to do house calls, concierge-style. She’s even up for doing bachelor and bachelorette parties, should the group need a little help recovering after a weekend of partying.

So what’s it cost to get a hangover remedy delivered directly to your veins? At City Hydration, “Hangover Relief” costs $179 — which is on the upper end of the treatment costs, while cheapest treatment, the “Standard Hydration,” goes for $65.

City Hydration is now open at 1315 Walnut Street, Suite #1403.

Correction: City Hydration is located at 1315 Walnut Street, not 315.