The Injectables

Could vitamin injections solve all your health worries?

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So, which arm will it be?” asks a nurse, smiling. I’m sitting in a soft clinic chair surrounded by signs about hygiene and piles of magazines. I offer my left arm for sacrifice, and she decides on a faint, barely-there blue vein – I wouldn’t make a good drug addict – and guides in a small needle. I wait for a sharp pain (it doesn’t eventuate) as I watch the chilled liquid, hanging from a bag, drip slowly down a long clear tube until it disappears into the cannula now firmly taped to my arm.

I can feel it work its way around my body: I feel a chill, then heaviness on my chest, making me more aware of my breathing. This is normal, apparently. The liquid drips so slowly that I’ll be here for a few hours, and as I sink into the seat I look around at who else is getting this new, apparently breakthrough treatment offered by the Ageless NAD+ clinic in Bondi Junction.

One is a female executive who’s furtively texting on her phone. Sitting next to her is a young football player, sore after his last game. When he’s not sleeping, he leans over to talk to a pretty yoga teacher who is having the IV treatment for the second time. Lastly, there’s a quiet man in his 30s.

You could be forgiven for thinking that we’re all sick, clinging to the needle and its elixir for life, when it’s quite the opposite. The five patients sitting here today are all relatively healthy.

We are here to experience an emerging IV treatment called NAD+, which stands for nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide. In a nutshell, studies have shown that NAD+ can improve cognitive abilities, such as alertness and mood, and also generate a feeling of wellbeing. Furthermore, it has been found to be incredibly effective against addiction and cognitive ageing.