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Headache? Hangover? Feeling Blah? The Drip Lounge Has The Cure In The Bag

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — From hangover recovery to an instant pick-me-up – and this new type of clinic is promising it fast.

At The Drip Lounge, friends who come in aren't looking to have lunch. They are getting IV drips, or intravenous infusions known as "cocktails."

"Yes. We have various cocktails. Some for energy. Some for weight loss," Medical Director Alexis Martin said. ���Some are nothing more than saline and vitamins. That's our dehydration cocktail."

Over the past two years, places like The Drip Lounge have popped up all over the country. In Newport Beach, The Hydration Room opened late last year.

These walk-in IV drips can cost anywhere from $130 to up to $195 or more, depending on the location and the request.

Not everyone is sold on the trend.

"There's absolutely no magic about getting your fluid by IV," said Mark Morocco, professor of emergency medicine at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center. "We use it every day on probably 85 percent of our emergency patients in the E.R, but for a very specific reason. We give it to folks who are dehydrated; they can't take anything by mouth.

"We're not going to stick you with an IV… if you can drink water through your mouth. That's the way you were designed to do it, and that's the best way to give it to you," Morocco said.

Martin says that in a perfect world, people would get everything they need in their diet, but his patients tell him that's not always possible.

Krystal Hines, a mom who works late into the night as an event planner, is one of those patients.

"I'm pretty bad about taking vitamins and taking care of myself, and this is kind of a quick fix for that," Hines said.

For other patients, it can be something as simple as going out and having too much alcohol.

"You feel something while you're sitting here. You actually feel it impacting your body, which is nice," patient Chris Smith said.

As for risks, Morocco said there's probably no real danger, other than a small risk of infection.

"If you've got a lot of money and you want to do it, I don't have any problem with you doing it," he said. "But I just want people to understand that they can do the same thing at home drinking a bowl of chicken soup."

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