So, you had one (or two, or three…) too many drinks last night. Your stomach is dodgy, your head is sore and you have a presentation at work in a few hours. Luckily, hope is not lost. New Yorkers can call an in-home recovery team, aptly named The Hangover Club.
In as little as half an hour, The Hangover Club’s certified medical professionals will have you feeling brand new with the help of a nutrient-rich IV drip that pumps about a liter of fluid back into your dehydrated body. Sound too good to be true? Co-founder and Medical Director of The Hangover Club Dr. Maurice Beer (yes, that’s his real name) explains the science behind it all.
What sparked the idea to create The Hangover Club?
It started with [co-founder] Asa Kitfield. At a bachelor party, Asa’s friend, who is a physician, prescribed him an IV. Asa was pretty impressed by the effects of it—he had never recovered more quickly from a hangover. So he started to do some research online looking for physicians who had experience with IV therapy, and he came across my name. I practice functional medicine and have been using various forms of IV therapy for many years. We talked about the idea of bringing something that was primarily available only in doctors’ offices to a larger population. It seemed like a positive, productive thing to do.
How do the IV treatments work?
Well, a lot of times drinking disturbs one’s electrolyte balance, fluid balance and puts a bit of stress on the liver, which has to detoxify the alcohol. The IV provides our clients with electrolytes, B vitamins and other nutrients that can help people’s thought processes clear up. As you may know, alcohol is a diuretic, so that’s why when you drink a bit more than usual, you often run into the bathroom. The IV is a nice, quick way of supplying not just the liquids, but also the electrolytes that are contained in the liquids.
The Hangover Club has different hangover levels: The Classic Hangover, The Super Hangover and the Mega Hangover. How do you know which treatment you need?
There are different kinds of hangovers. There are hangovers for people who have more digestive problems— nausea, vomiting, just not feeling well. In other hangovers, people have a headache and general achiness. Then there are the hangovers where people feel foggy and unclear. We have a process where somebody calls in for an IV and either a nurse practitioner or physician can speak to the client over the phone. We go over basic medical history, allergies, medications, weight, age and exactly what their symptoms are. From there, we help them choose one of our three options for the IV therapy, write the prescription, sign off on it and that goes to the nurse who’s going to deliver the package to the patient—usually within an hour to an hour and a half of the call.
Are there any side effects?
We like to call them side benefits. We actually haven’t seen much in the way of side effects. People will come in with one problem, and they’ll return after we give them the nutrients, and say, “Oh, not only did my headaches get better, but my energy is better, and I’m sleeping better,” and all sorts of things like this.
Can you call the Hangover Club for things other than a hangover?
Absolutely. The plan for our future is to expand to other areas that are more supportive to help people who want to enhance their health overall. We have a health and wellness drip that we designed that can provide improved energy, allow people to detoxify more efficiently, boost their immune systems and help them recover more quickly from viruses, migraine headaches and even asthma. The plan is to expand IV treatments into other areas to make them available in high-end spas around the city, and perhaps at some point, set up our own IV therapy center.
Any notable clients?
Sure. We’ve treated a few movie, music and NFL stars, but I can’t disclose who they are. A lot of the people we take care of are in the financial business, so they’ve been out late at night doing whatever they do to the morning. Then they have to get up at six o’clock in the morning and be ready, sharp and focused for work. This treatment helps them get back to themselves within 20 to 30 minutes of planting the IV.
