IV Therapy

IV therapy and why it’s important.

Ok, scratch that… IV is not just “important,” it’s essential! It can make THE difference in treatment for a myriad of reasons. I love intravenous therapy and I’m going to explain why from the holistic perspective, and from my personal experience working with it in the clinical setting.

I work with people who struggle with their emotions, with anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, insomnia, etc. This means that I’m also facing GI problems. Never have I met a patient struggling with anxiety who didn’t also have some kind of screwed up digestion. Constipation is at the top of the list, followed closely by lack of appetite and gas/bloating. The obstacle here is that absorption of supplements or medications might not be optimal, efficient, or even a decent option.

This is where I opt for IV therapy because I can totally bypass the gut! Injectables are not affected by the stomach or intestinal absorption problems. This means that a patient can start feeling better sooner while we work on the GI symptoms and healing the root cause.

In addition to getting straight into the vein, the total amount of infused nutrients or medications is available to the tissues. The nutrients are available for immediate use. We don’t lose any from stomach acid degradation or loss in the urine or feces. The nutrients are forced into the cells by means of a high concentration gradient.

And what’s really powerful is higher doses of nutrients can be given than would be possible by mouth without intestinal irritation.

IV therapy provides 100% of the nutrients to your body needs to:

• Boost energy levels
• Improve anxiety and depression
• Enhance mental clarity and cognition
• Lesson or eliminate tapering symptoms during withdrawal
• Combat fatigue
• Improve immune health and inflammation response
• Detoxify the body from free radicals

As a doctor of naturopathic medicine, I often look for holistic modalities first and one powerful method I use is IV. IV nutrients, when done properly, appropriately, and safely, can bring someone down from mania, take away cravings, restore energy, and reduce anxiety. One bag can last days. To me, this is magic!

This content has been written by a licensed Naturopathic Doctor.

Julia Britz

Julia Britz is a licensed naturopathic doctor who received her training from Bastyr University in San Diego, CA. She specializes in supporting people who are struggling with mental health issues such as anxiety, OCD and eating disorders; as well as a chronic illness like autoimmunity and mold toxicity. Her passion for working with individuals suffering from these lonely conditions is that she too was a “hopeless case”, but got better.

Dismissed by doctors, she was told over and over there was nothing else she could try beyond pharmacotherapy, and so was inspired to create myocddiary.com, a site dedicated to documenting the daily life of OCD and related disorders. Through this project and holistic therapies, she found new levels of wellness, and in 2014 did a TED talk called “MyOCDdiary: an imperfect story.”  

She utilizes natural and integrative modalities including targeted amino acid therapy, peptide therapy, micronutrient therapy, NAD+ and IV therapy, botanical medicine and epigenetic analysis. Dr. Britz listens to her patients and respects where each person is on their healing journey. She understands that each individual has unique needs and she is passionate about finding creative ways to support them and optimize their health. She is passionate about the work being done at ATMC, by the healthcare team and the residents, because true healing happens when we all heal together. 

In her personal life, Dr. Britz loves to paint, go backcountry camping with her siblings, bake and explore ghost towns. Originally from Las Vegas, she now enjoys living in Arizona with her adorable cat, Icky Thump.