Middle Tennessee summers are hot and long, and the days that go wrong tend to look the same: a boat on Percy Priest, a festival lawn, a tournament weekend, a Saturday of yard work. You come home burned, headachy, drained, and well behind on fluids. An IV addresses the last part. It does not un-burn skin, and there is a version of "too much heat" that is an emergency, so that comes first.
Read this first: heat exhaustion versus heat stroke
Heat exhaustion is heavy sweating, weakness, dizziness, nausea, a headache, and cool clammy skin after time in the heat. The treatment is to get cool, get out of the sun, and get fluids in. That is a situation an IV can help with, once you are somewhere cool.
Heat stroke is different and it is a 911 call. Go to an emergency room or call 911 now, and do not book a drip, if any of these are true.
- Confusion, slurred speech, agitation, or unusual drowsiness after time in the heat.
- Fainting, a seizure, or trouble staying awake.
- Skin that is hot to the touch, with or without sweating, and a body temperature that feels or reads very high.
- A racing heart while sitting still, fast breathing, or vomiting that will not stop.
- Very little or no urine for many hours.
- Any of the above in a child, an older adult, or someone with heart disease. Heat illness in an infant or child is always an emergency, and we do not treat anyone under 18.
While you wait for help, move the person somewhere cool, take off extra clothing, and cool the skin with water and a fan or ice packs at the neck, armpits and groin. Do not wait to see whether a mobile IV can come; heat stroke damages organs by the minute. An IV is elective wellness care and we are not a substitute for emergency care.
Sunburn itself needs to be seen when it blisters over a large area, blisters on the face, hands or genitals, comes with fever, chills or confusion, or shows signs of infection later such as spreading redness, pus or worsening pain.
What is actually in it
The Sunburn and Heat Recovery Drip is $219 and contains:
- IV fluid and electrolytes: the base, one liter. Sweat takes water and salt with it, and this replaces both.
- Vitamin C: an antioxidant and the co-factor your body uses to form collagen
- Zinc: an essential trace mineral that takes part in many enzyme reactions, including those involved in wound healing
- Vitamin B-complex: the group of B vitamins your cells use to turn food into usable energy
- Glutathione: an antioxidant your body produces that helps protect cells from oxidative damage
What it does, and what it does not do
What the drip does is restore the fluid and electrolytes a day in the heat took out of you, through a vein, in about an hour. If you have been sweating for hours and then drinking beer or not much of anything, that deficit is real and it is the part of feeling awful that an IV fixes.
What it does not do is heal the burn. Vitamin C, zinc and glutathione each have a defined role in the skin and in how cells handle damage, which is why they are in the bag, and that is a different statement from "this drip makes a sunburn go away faster." A sunburn heals on its own schedule. We have not measured whether this drip changes that schedule, so we do not claim it does.
For the burn itself, the usual advice stands and it is free: cool showers or compresses, a plain moisturizer or aloe once the skin is cool, an over-the-counter anti-inflammatory if you can take one, more water than you think you need, leave blisters alone, and stay out of the sun until the skin has recovered.
Who books it from us
- Someone home from the lake or a pool day, sunburned and drained, who wants the fluid deficit fixed today.
- Someone on a festival weekend or a bachelorette trip who spent a day in the heat and has another one tomorrow.
- Someone who worked outside in a heat wave and is behind in a way water alone is not catching up with.
If the heat part is the whole problem and the skin is fine, the Hydration Drip at $139 is the same liter of fluids and electrolytes without the vitamins. If nausea is the loudest symptom, the Nausea Relief Drip at $199 carries prescription nausea relief.
Who this is not for
- Anyone 17 or younger. No exceptions, and a parent's consent does not change it.
- Pregnancy. Possible, but your obstetric provider signs off on elective IV hydration before the visit, so tell us before you book.
- Heart failure, significant heart or valve disease, kidney disease or dialysis. A bag of fluid is a real volume load and the right answer may be less, or none. Tell us before you book.
- Anyone 60 or older. IV fluid volume is capped at one liter every two weeks with no extra-fluid add-ons, so mention your age range when you book.
- Anyone taking a water pill, lithium, an ACE inhibitor or ARB, metformin, an SGLT2 medication or a blood thinner. All of these change what is safe when you are dehydrated. Bring the list.
- Anyone on chemotherapy, steroids or medication that suppresses the immune system. Any fever needs urgent medical review, not a drip.
How a visit works
You book a time, a Nurse Practitioner reviews your intake, and a licensed nurse comes to your home, hotel, rental or campsite address. That review is a history review, and for some visits a brief video check-in: it is a screen, not a diagnosis, and it cannot rule out heat stroke. The bag runs about an hour once the line is placed. It is $219 flat, travel included across most of our service area, and if your address is farther out the exact amount is shown before you pay. IV hydration in Nashville shows what is bookable today.
A&M IV Co. is a Nurse Practitioner-owned mobile IV practice based in Brentwood, serving Nashville and Middle Tennessee.