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Drinking as much alcohol as you can possibly stomach is all fun and games until you wake up the following morning with a hangover. The severe headaches, sensitivity to light and sound, nausea and vomiting — some of us here know the feeling all too well. No one likes the morning after a night out. But if we’re so sick of hangovers, why don’t we just stop drinking? Sure, avoiding alcohol is the ultimate solution to ending hangover woes. But it’s easier said than done, so we’ll do you one better. Thanks to new developments in medicine, you can cure your morning-after sickness and get hangover relief with IV therapy.  Why Do Hangovers Happen?  Before we dive into IV therapy and how it cures hangovers, you first need to understand why a hangover happens in the first place.  Alcohol is primarily made of ethanol, a product of yeast fermentation that triggers various different effects on the body and mind. Ethanol enters the bloodstream, penetrates the brain barrier, and interacts with brain cells. It suppresses the neurons in the brain and slows down its natural process. As a result, our brains get a little wonky, which of course, translates to how we behave when intoxicated, i.e. disorientation, slow responsiveness, slurred speech, etc.  Dehydration is also a consequence of excessive alcohol consumption because ethanol is a diuretic. When you drink, you are forced to take more bathroom breaks than usual. But what you are evacuating in your urine is not alcohol but water. This causes dehydration, which eventually leads to other hangover symptoms such as dizziness, headaches, and lightheadedness.  What is IV Therapy?  IV therapy is the process of supplying the body with vitamins and nutrients directly into the bloodstream by means of an intravenous line. They do not go through the digestive system, and can immediately be accessed and used by the body’s cells, which means the results kick in pretty quickly!  That’s good news for people suffering from hangovers. IV therapy can provide almost immediate relief from common hangover symptoms and get you back feeling alert, alive, happy, and well. How Does IV Therapy Cure Hangovers?  The recipe for curing a hangover involves three ingredients: rehydration, detoxifying, and restoring lost nutrients. Naturally, hangovers go away over time once we have completed the recipe and have supplied our bodies with whatever it needs to recover from alcohol consumption. But this can take a while and hangover symptoms can last an entire day or two.  IV therapy can provide immediate hangover relief and complete the recipe for recovery within 30 to 60 minutes post-treatment. Through an intravenous line, an IV drip pushes lost water, vitamins, and nutrients into the bloodstream while also flushing out toxins and cleansing the body.  As the body’s cells begin to access and use the nutrients from the IV drip, our organs are able to resume regular functionality. They begin by addressing hangover symptoms and rehydrating the body to relieve any nausea, vomiting, headache, or other symptoms.  In the least amount of time after an IV treatment, we will be restored and back to feeling normal — as if we didn’t just chug that glass of beer the previous night!  Seek IV Therapy to Say Goodbye to Hangovers  Hangovers are a pain. They have a knack for making us promise to ourselves that we’ll never drink alcohol again — but we always end up doing it a second time. Although we can take the hard route and stop drinking once and for all, we can also opt for a more ideal and realistic solution for hangovers.  If you want to know more about IV therapy, schedule a consultation with our doctors today or even get mobile IV treatment for your hangovers.

Chronic pain is hard and uncomfortable to live with, and often, it seems like there is no cure for it. Over-the-counter painkillers don’t work, topical treatments don’t provide instant relief, and it’s starting to feel like you’ve run out of options. But there is a treatment that you might not have considered yet — IV therapy. Proven to have provided relief to many sufferers of chronic pain, seeking IV therapy treatments can help mitigate your pain levels and promote a more comfortable life.  What is IV Therapy?  IV therapy is a means of supplying the body with vitamins and nutrients it needs to function optimally. By attaching an intravenous line to an individual with chronic pain, they receive essential nutrients such as B vitamins, calcium, magnesium, and vitamin C directly into their bloodstream instead of the digestive system. That way, the body’s cells can utilize them immediately to aid bodily functions.  IV therapy is a painless procedure, except for the initial prick of the needle to attach the intravenous line. Taking over an hour for it to deliver the perfect dose of essential nutrients, many chronic pain sufferers say that IV therapy helps them relax while waiting for the results to kick in. There is also no downtime or side effects associated with it.  Who Should Get IV Therapy?  Chronic pain can be caused by a variety of underlying issues, such as inflammation, muscle or nerve damage, or a prior illness, disease, or injury. Regardless of the cause, IV therapy can help ease pain and discomfort. Anyone experiencing chronic pain should seek out IV therapy and talk to a doctor about creating a treatment plan to provide long-lasting relief.  How IV Therapy Helps With Chronic Pain  Chronic pain may be caused by the lack of essential vitamins and nutrients in the body. Since the body’s organs are not getting enough of the resources it needs to reduce inflammation and fight damage, it translates into pain or discomfort.  Through IV therapy, the body is supplied with enough essential nutrients it needs to function optimally. The organs in charge of fighting inflammation and relieving pain are improved and their functions are enhanced, therefore allowing the body to better ease and recover from chronic pain.  IV therapy is also customized for each patient, depending on what they need to relieve their pain. A doctor will provide a consultation and run some tests to determine the root cause of the patient’s discomfort and then recommend a specific IV therapy treatment to address it.  For example, if inflammation is the cause of your chronic pain, your doctor may customize your IV therapy to boost your immune system so that your body is supplied with what it needs to heal inflamed areas. Chronic pain caused by muscle damage, on the other hand, will need an IV therapy treatment that delivers magnesium to encourage muscle regrowth.  IV Therapy vs. Pain Medications: Which One is More Effective?  The first instinct when pain or discomfort starts is to take a pain reliever. But over-the-counter medications aren’t the best solution for chronic pain, especially if it is recurring. Our bodies can get accustomed to pain relievers over time, causing them to be less effective or even stop delivering their benefits. Pain medications can also cause side effects and do more harm than good when used too frequently and for too long.  IV therapy is a safe and more effective alternative. It is often administered with the guidance of a physician, so you can rest assured that you’re getting what you need and what your body can handle.  Get Started With IV Therapy  It’s high time to start considering IV therapy for chronic pain relief. If you want to explore its benefits or try out an IV therapy session, speak to our doctors today.

Losing weight can prove to be an incredibly difficult feat. It takes hard work, perseverance, and discipline to stick to a balanced diet, an exercise routine, and an overall healthy lifestyle. And despite these, it can take some time to notice results. Several people want to lose weight. But it’s a long commitment that many are not prepared to make. They want to see results fast. And from this rose all these trending weight loss hacks, diets, and seven-minute exercise routines. Others also resort to medical procedures such as liposuction, an invasive surgical procedure that eliminates excess body fat.  While liposuction sounds like a good option, it does have drawbacks — the biggest one being its invasiveness. Liposuction is done by licensed surgeons who cut through the skin to remove excess fat. As a procedure that requires surgery it can cause certain complications and more so requires a long recovery period and not to mention a large investment.  For those who are not ready to go under the knife and invest in a highly invasive weight loss procedure, the good news is that there are other options. Liposuction has its alternatives that are less invasive, less expensive, and similarly as effective.  Alternatives to Liposuction  There are three less invasive procedures that can yield relatively the same results as liposuction. These include cool sculpting, lipo laser, and strawberry lipo laser.  Cool Sculpting  Cool sculpting is a good alternative to liposuction that does not involve surgery. In fact, it is non-invasive and safe, taking only 35 minutes per session. The procedure is done by a doctor, who uses a patented CoolSculpting applicator to swipe through target areas, such as the tummy, legs, arms, or even jaw.  From its name, it’s pretty obvious that the applicator will be cold. Its purpose is to freeze fat cells and kill them for your body to process out later on. Because your body will need time to eliminate dead fat cells from your system, cool sculpting can take a while before the results show. Generally, you’ll lose weight a few weeks up to two months after the treatment.  However, that’s not to say that it’s not effective. Cool sculpting has been shown to eliminate up to 23% of body fat after every session. With its proven effectiveness, short procedure time, and non-invasiveness, it’s a good option for those who want to lose fat easily. However, it may not be recommended for people with skin conditions or disorders that cause blood clots. Learn more about the differences between cool sculpting vs strawberry lipo laser. Lipo Laser  While lipo laser does involve a certain level of invasiveness, it’s very minimal and requires only a local anesthetic. The recovery time is also short, taking only a couple of days for the incision to heal. But to be safe, strenuous physical activity is discouraged for about 3 to 4 weeks after the procedure.  When you undergo a lipo laser treatment, a doctor will numb the target area where you want to lose fat with anesthesia. They will then make small incisions on the skin and insert a laser, which will liquefy the fat. Then, a cannula will be inserted into the incision to suck the fat out. Because of its minimal invasiveness, there can be minor adverse effects, such as swelling or bruising. Although this sounds a little scary at first, lipo lasers are much safer compared to liposuction, as long as it’s done by a licensed and experienced doctor. Strawberry Lipo Laser  If you’re still concerned about the invasiveness of a regular lipo laser and aren’t keen on trying the cool sculpting procedure, there’s still the strawberry lipo laser treatment option. Unlike its general counterpart, this FDA-approved treatment does not require making incisions on the skin.  Instead, a stronger but safe laser is used above the skin’s surface, targeting the areas where you want to reduce fat. The laser hits fat cells and opens up the skin’s pores, allowing your body to release stored fluids, such as water, glycerol, and fatty acids. Without these fluids, fat cells beneath the skin will shrink, an effect that you will notice almost immediately after the treatment.  It’s recommended, however, that you complete about eight sessions of strawberry lipo laser to get a significant reduction of fat cell size. But because it is non-invasive, does not have side effects, and requires no downtime, the frequency of treatments should not be a cause of concern.  The only limitations are for pregnant women, people with pacemakers, tattoos in the targeted areas, hypertension, kidney or liver disorders, and cancer.  Lose Weight Fast and Safely  There are a lot of weight loss hacks and diets surfacing, however, not all of them are guaranteed safe and effective. The best way to lose excess fat is to turn to professionals. Get medical advice and ask our doctors about liposuction or its alternatives today. 

Living a healthy life that is free from any ailments, disease, or illness is dependent on various genetic factors and lifestyle decisions. Some of the most common include getting the recommended 7 to 8 hours of sleep daily, drinking at least 8 cups of water a day, eating a well-balanced diet, and taking time to engage in physical activity. Everything that we do on a daily basis contributes to our overall health and wellness. And with that, good medical care should be able to target every area of a patient’s life and recommend habit or lifestyle changes to foster improved health. This is what is referred to as functional medicine.  Functional Medicine: An Overview  When asked “what do doctors do?”, the usual answer is that they treat illnesses or disorders and assist in patient recovery. This is the traditional route to healthcare, where doctors identify problems in a patient’s body and implement focused treatment plans to alleviate them.  Traditionally, doctors view body organs as artificially separated. For example, if they diagnose a problem with a patient’s liver, every treatment or procedure will revolve around liver treatment. Often, without considering the other parts of the body and how they contribute to liver health.  But a problem with the liver can point to various other issues, such as the patient’s diet, metabolism, etc. Different parts of the body communicate and work together — and the failure of one can create effects in other body parts that it’s intertwined with.  This calls for a more holistic approach to healthcare, which doctors are beginning to refer to as functional medicine. Instead of treating body parts and organs as separate from each other, functional medicine considers the body as a whole, identifying how different factors affect each other and diagnosing the root of an illness or disease.  Functional medicine takes lifestyle factors into consideration, including the patient’s diet, stress levels, hormones, toxins, and lifestyle changes, in order to create a treatment that targets each area of life. This approach to medicine is prevention-focused instead of treatment-focused, meaning that it doesn’t only treat pre-existing conditions, but overall helps a patient foster better health and wellness to prevent problems in the long run.  In short, functional medicine is about transforming lifestyles, supporting the body’s ability to heal, and supplying its unique requirements through habits and lifestyle changes.  What Functional Medicine Requires From Doctors  Doctors need to shift from traditional healthcare to a more holistic functional medicine approach to help a patient live healthier lives and prevent illnesses or diseases. It requires a change in mindset and thinking outside the bounds of traditional treatments and medicine.  Instead of focusing on the patient’s condition, functional doctors should put all the pieces together, perusing the body’s connected systems and treating the whole person — not just the illness itself. It requires realizing that not every patient is the same, which may call for unique courses of action from person to person.  A practitioner of functional medicine asks the following questions when treating a patient:  Why does the patient have this condition?  Is it because of factors such as their weight, hormones, toxins, stress, or diet?  Is this condition linked to other parts or functionalities in the body?  Aside from direct treatments, what changes can the patient make to prevent the condition from resurfacing?  By adopting a more functional mindset, doctors can better prevent problems from recurring and promote overall health and wellness that lasts.  Experience Functional Medicine at Elevated Concierge Health and Wellness The doctors at Elevated Concierge Health and Wellness are functional medicine practitioners who provide an individualized approach to healthcare and offer a personal experience for each patient. We look not only at the illnesses or disorders themselves but take an initiative to find and address their root cause and optimize your health from the inside out.  Experience a more holistic approach to healthcare with Elevated Concierge. Schedule an appointment today.