“IV vitamin therapy improves your health.”
Wellness-clinic IV vitamin drips have not been shown to improve health in people without a deficiency or a medical condition.
For most healthy people, a wellness IV drip costs money and adds procedure risks without a proven health payoff. Hospital IV treatment for a diagnosed problem is a different thing.
If you are thinking about an IV drip because you feel run down, ask your doctor whether a deficiency or another cause should be checked first.
Safety note: Wellness drips carry real procedure risks. Severe infections, including deaths, have been reported from poorly sterilized equipment. Drips can overload the body with fluid in people with heart conditions or high blood pressure, and drips with magnesium or potassium can cause abnormal heart rhythms or muscle weakness. Fast infusions can cause light-headedness or fainting, large doses of thiamine can cause a severe allergic reaction, and high doses of vitamin B6 can damage nerves.
Talk to a healthcare professional if: you are pregnant or breastfeeding, or have kidney disease, high blood pressure or a heart condition, and are thinking about an IV vitamin drip; or you have felt tired or run down for weeks and want to know whether you have a deficiency.
Reviews find no high-quality evidence that IV vitamin drips help people who do not have a deficiency or a medical condition, and the one placebo-controlled trial of the popular Myers' cocktail found no clear difference from a placebo drip. Confidence is limited because very few studies have tested these drips.
Wellness-clinic IV vitamin drips have not been shown to improve health in people without a deficiency or a medical condition. In a small trial of the Myers' cocktail in adults with fibromyalgia, people felt better with both the vitamin drip and a plain IV fluid placebo, with no clear difference between them.
IV treatment in hospitals and clinics for a diagnosed problem is a different thing. Doctors give IV vitamins for a few serious conditions, such as diseases that block nutrient absorption and cause severe vitamin loss, Wernicke's encephalopathy (a brain disorder from severe thiamine shortage) and critical illness. Wellness drips are promoted to reduce stress, boost energy or support immunity, with the claim that the vein route works faster than pills. Putting a vitamin into a vein does raise blood levels quickly, but that alone is not proof of a health benefit.
- Intravenous vitamin injections: where is the evidence? Drug and Therapeutics Bulletin. 2023;61(10):151-155. DOI: 10.1136/dtb.2023.000006. PMID: 37640530
- Ali A, Njike VY, Northrup V, et al. Intravenous Micronutrient Therapy (Myers' Cocktail) for Fibromyalgia: A Placebo-Controlled Pilot Study. Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine. 2009;15(3):247-257. DOI: 10.1089/acm.2008.0410. PMID: 19250003. PMCID: PMC2894814
- Shane-McWhorter L. Intravenous Vitamin Therapy (Myers' Cocktail). Merck Manual Consumer Version. Last updated July 2025