Detox ritual: narcologists called the dangers of IVs to cleanse the body

Hard everyday life and holidays for narcologists

Experts note that the demand for anti-hangover droppers is breaking historical records. This coming winter, drug clinic owners expect new demand records “for the entire history of the Russian alcohol rehabilitation market.”

If you enter, for example, the phrase “drip from” into a search engine, the following sentences will appear in descending order: alcoholism, blood pressure, Covid, stress, hangover, binge drinking, fatigue, acne. They are trying to cure you of all this at home. Most of the proposals, as usual, are for withdrawal from binge drinking. Patients are promised express help, relief within an hour and a half, reliable results and prices from 4,000 per IV to… No one even tries to voice the ceiling amounts. The drips, as clinic staff assure, contain a whole mix of useful components: in addition to saline solution (which, in fact, provides detoxification), it may include sedatives, antidepressants, vitamins, microelements, sleeping pills, antiemetics, nootropics, etc.

The clinics we called are having a busy time right now: they barely have time to accept applications from clients. And if you introduce yourself in full form, at the other end of the phone they immediately answer: “I don’t have time, I’m accepting applications,” “It’s inconvenient to talk, clients are on the line,” “We’ll call you back as soon as we can.” Nobody, of course, ever called back.

However, when we introduced ourselves as potential clients, the employees were much more polite. In one of the emergency drug treatment clinics, the MK observer was told that they have a range of droppers: from the simplest to the elite, even “VIP”.

– How are they different?

– Quality, degree of purification, composition. Some contain hepaprotectors, cardioprotectors, and vitamins.

– And how much do they cost?

– The cheapest – 4200 rubles.

– And the most expensive ones?

– Hard to tell…

– But I would like to understand what expenses to expect?

– The doctor always has 4-5 droppers with him, there are double ones, they cost 6200 each. He himself, on the spot, after examining the patient, will decide what is needed. But if you find it expensive, he will offer a cheaper option. Or maybe a hospital is 6900 per day.

On the eve of the holidays, the number of mobile teams, says our interlocutor at the other end of the line, has been increased: demand is growing like a snowball. And on the weekends, the crews work steadily at increased speed.

It’s better to “drip” in a clinical setting

Professor of the Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatic Pathology of the RUDN University Yuriy Sivolap notes that the increase in demand for droppers to reduce the manifestations of alcoholic hangovers or withdrawal from binge drinking indicates an increase in alcohol consumption in the country:

– In all countries, with the onset of the pandemic, that is, around the spring of 2020, alcohol consumption rates began to increase – in the USA, Canada, EU, UK and Russia too. In Britain, as soon as quarantine measures began to be introduced, that is, restaurants and pubs began to close, the rates of alcohol purchases in supermarkets immediately increased (alcohol took the leading place in growth in the structure of the receipt at the cash register). And on American university campuses, alcohol consumption also began to grow – primarily among less fortunate students. We can definitely say that if our demand for IVs is growing, this clearly reflects the increasing demand for medical services related to alcohol consumption.

– Can we say that such IVs are a reliable form of help?

– They help some patients and bring relief to their condition. But we must take into account that the capabilities of a doctor visiting at home are limited: he does not have a laboratory, or an electrocardiograph. Up to 80% of cases of alcoholism treatment in Western countries are carried out on an outpatient basis, but this still involves a patient’s visit to a clinic with laboratory equipment to take blood tests, conduct a cardiogram, and, if necessary, X-rays and MRIs. Alcohol abuse is associated with high associated medical risks: for example, silent myocardial infarction, intestinal bleeding, acute alcoholic pancreatitis and dozens of other life-threatening conditions for the patient that need to be recognized and require appropriate equipment.

– How do doctors who make house calls decide which IV drip a particular patient needs?

– I think rather average approaches are used here. We must understand that droppers can play the role of a psychological effect, a kind of placebo effect, because patients have the idea that they “cleanse the blood” and influence addiction. Actually this is not true. Elimination of binge drinking and facilitation of alcohol withdrawal are not within the scope of IV drips. Only medications that are prescribed in the form of tablets help with this: these are pharmacological analogues of alcohol that mitigate the complications of alcohol withdrawal. There are two such complications – alcoholic epilepsy and alcoholic convulsions, which can occur on average 2 days after stopping drinking alcohol, as well as delirium tremens (also known as delirium tremens). Sometimes both happen together. If a person experiences their first seizure in their life, alcohol psychosis is likely to follow. And a dropper won’t help here: completely different drugs are needed here. And if there is serious abuse, the patient drinks for many days, in large doses, or has a history of episodes of alcoholic seizures or delirium tremens, the risk that they will recur is very high. In such cases, people must be treated in a hospital: these are life-threatening conditions.

– But if you take a manager who got drunk at a corporate party, and in the morning you need to be in shape. Will IVs help?

– It is necessary to separate the concepts of “hangover syndrome” and “withdrawal syndrome”. If a person drinks for the first time in a long time, and drinks a lot, the alcohol in the body begins to oxidize to acetic addehyde, which accumulates in the blood, causing severe discomfort and other signs of intoxication. This is a hangover syndrome, and here an IV can help because it will remove toxins. So, with a high probability, the IV will put this manager back on his feet. But if we talk about binge drinking, then drips play more of a decorative role: this is a ritual that patients and their relatives like, but does not help mitigate alcohol withdrawal or prevent complications of its use. In general, droppers won’t do any harm here, but if you are addicted, you also need medications.

– What side effects can develop from IVs?

– There may, of course, be individual intolerance to the components of the drug, allergic reactions. Sometimes doctors get carried away with volumes, which can even lead to cerebral or pulmonary edema. In any case, before placing an IV, it is necessary to evaluate cardiac and renal function, so it is advisable to carry out such manipulations in a hospital or on an outpatient basis, but in a medical facility under the supervision of doctors.

– Of course, you shouldn’t do this yourself?

– In no case!

The body is not a toilet

The fashion for IV drips to strengthen the immune system and restore the body has begun to gain momentum amid the pandemic—clinics report an increase in such requests by at least a third. And some bloggers promote detox drips on their social networks literally as a remedy for everything.

Clinics promise that after the drip you will lose weight, become younger, cheer up or, on the contrary, calm down, cleanse your skin or liver, restore your joints and nervous system, improve your memory and generally find a good mood. Many are not deterred by either the high prices (detox droppers cost an average of 5-7.5 thousand per “piece”) or the composition of the droppers. The story of the Sechenovka student, who last year injected herself with some dubious immunomodulator and then died, has already begun to be forgotten.

And although many private medical clinics praise such IVs in every possible way, other doctors honestly say that this is just business and nothing personal. “Installing IVs for health with any medications, and especially vitamins, is just a way to make money for those who install these IVs. You just need to remember – all vitamins, amino acids, microelements must enter the body through the mouth, and not through a vein. Then you can live longer, and not die from complications in the prime of life,” says Lev Averbakh, a doctor from St. Petersburg.

Therapist Yuri Kiselev calls prescribing vitamin drips to a person “for performance, beauty, health and removal of toxins” as a marker of “hell incompetence and/or hellish unethicality”: “If a person has an anxiety disorder, then one should treat the anxiety disorder, and not indulge painful whims “

“Today, for naive citizens, many private and public clinics, as well as beauty salons, offer beauty droppers with vitamins, amino acids and antioxidants. I’m not even talking about the proposal to remove all parasites from the body and about getting rid of waste and toxins that are not in the body. These droppers promise an anti-aging effect, the so-called anti-aging effect. But this is nothing more than marketing and disregard for people’s health, and I would add that this is pure quackery and deception of gullible citizens who are greedy for advertising something that does not exist. As for the IVs for cleaning, doctors note that the body is not a toilet to clean,” writes the TG channel “Evidence-Based Medicine.”

Lev Averbakh admits that none of the doctors knows exactly what “cleansing the body” is: “There is no such term in medicine. Everything that is offered in this format has nothing to do with evidence-based medicine. The body itself knows what, how and when to “cleanse”. This is a self-regulating system that “cleanses” itself. For this, our body has resources and even special organs formed in the process of evolution: kidneys, liver and, of course, the intestines, in which billions of bacteria live that support our health. The body needs to be “cleaned” mainly only in case of poisoning. Excessive use of cleansing procedures can lead to dehydration, disruption of water-salt balance, and loss of microelements and vitamins. Any detox program will definitely not help you, they can only make your wallet lighter. If you want to clean something, you better clean the pan.”