In case you’re asking about IV therapy meaning, it’s important to know that it refers to a method of delivering medications, fluids, nutrients, or blood directly into the bloodstream by injecting them through a tube called a cannula into the vein.
Now, let’s discuss 5 of the most important IV therapy questions and answers.
1. What are the Benefits of IV Therapy?
After we’ve learned IV therapy meaning, it’s important to note that delivering substances directly into the bloodstream is the fastest way to gain their benefits because the body absorbs them immediately after delivery, bypassing the digestive system.
So, if we compare the absorption rate for IV route to oral route, we find that it is 90 – 100% for IV therapy and 20 – 50% for the oral route.
So, you can notice that the benefits of IV therapy include fast absorption, high efficacy, and no chance of digestive-system side effects.
2. When IV Therapy is Used?
Many cases are treated with this therapy, such as:
Severe Dehydration
Especially if the patient vomits whatever fluid he ingests, in such cases, he must be treated with IV fluids and electrolytes.
You also can benefit from IV hydration even if you’re not dehydrated since an IV drip of amino acid or another similar nutrient can give you a strong energy boost to serve as a healthier alternative to caffeinated beverages that contain high amounts of sugar.
An amino acid IV drip helps your body convert fatty acids to energy and build muscle protein.
Severe Pain
Especially if oral painkillers are not working well with the patient.
Anxiety
When given intravenously, magnesium sulfate helps reduce anxiety symptoms while promoting a sense of relaxation. It also gives the same effect when used in some other forms of therapy, e.g., Epsom salt.
Magnesium sulfate has many calming properties, such as the following:
● Relaxing muscles
● Reducing blood pressure
● Promoting good-night sleep
Malnutrition
In malnutrition cases, the patient must be treated with IV nutrients since they’re absorbed at a higher rate.
IV vitamins are also used to treat some deficiencies caused by certain disorders that affect nutrient absorption in the digestive system or keep the patient from eating well, such as Crohn’s disease, celiac disease, and colon cancer.
Blood Loss
This might happen, for example, after car accidents; and blood units must be administered intravenously as soon as possible to save the patient’s life.
Some Disorders and Diseases
Such as chemotherapy for cancer and IV antibiotics for severe infections.
Obesity
Believe it or not! One of the important benefits of IV therapy is helping with weight loss by injecting supplements that promote weight loss directly through the vein. These supplements include:
● Carnitine. An amino acid that converts body fat to fuel, so it increases energy and helps the body get rid of extra fats
● Alpha-Lipoic Acid: A strong, powerful antioxidant with metabolism-boosting properties
Toxins Accumulation
This therapy can provide the body with strong antioxidants that help with cleansing accumulated free radicals and other toxins.
The most important antioxidants used for this purpose include:
1. Vitamin C: This vitamin neutralizes free radicals in the body to keep them from damaging cells, it also protects cells and boosts the immune system’s function
2. Glutathione: This antioxidant may cleanse the liver of toxins that could damage its cells, and one of the many other functions of Glutathione is lowering oxidative stress
3. What are the Main Types of IV Therapy?
When we talked about IV therapy meaning, we mentioned that it’s a kind of therapy that delivers fluid substances directly to the bloodstream by injecting them into the vein. All types of this therapy do the same but in a different speed and manner. Here are the 2 major types:
IV Drip
This type of therapy delivers fluid substances, whether they are electrolytes, nutrients, medicines, or any other material, slowly through the vein.
First, a plastic tube called a cannula or catheter is inserted into the vein by a needle, which the doctor or nurse removes once the cannula is in.
Then, the fluid substance is delivered directly into the bloodstream by the cannula. This process might take around 45 – 60 minutes and delivers, on average, around 250 – 1000 ml of fluid.
And depending on the patient’s condition, he could spend this time reading or watching TV.
IV Push
This type of therapy is done more quickly as it might only take 15 – 20 minutes, during which around 30 – 60 ml of fluids are delivered directly to the bloodstream via a cannula.
You may think about it as administering an injection slowly.
4. In What vein is IV Therapy Administered?
The forearm is the most common site for inserting cannulas for IV drip and IV push. Sometimes, other sites are used, especially if the patient’s forearm veins can’t tolerate injecting needles.
In such cases, the back of the hand, the foot, or the neck might be a good candidate for inserting a cannula.
However, other types of this therapy require inserting cannulas in other veins, including the central venous catheter, which is inserted into one of the veins in the chest.
5. Are there any IV Therapy Complications?
Now let’s end these IV therapy questions and answers by talking about IV complications:
As with all kinds of treatment, this IV form of treatment could cause some complications. Aside from complications of the administered fluid substances, this therapy could cause infections on the site of the cannula, vein collapse or swelling, blood clot formation, as well as other complications.
Iv therapy is used to treat many diseases and disorders as it delivers fluid substances at an absorption rate that reaches 100%.
References:
1. https://www.bouncehydration.com/blog/iv-therapy-benefits
2. https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/iv-therapy
3. https://ivboost.uk/about/what-is-iv-therapy-definition-benefits-types/
4. https://www.verywellhealth.com/iv-therapy-5216194#toc-conditions-treated
5. https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/intravenous-injection#sites
