This latest wellness trend says it will cure your hangover. What’s the secret?

Shawna Smith remembers hitting her parent’s house at the lake on the weekends with friends.

She remembers the long nights of drinking and waking up on Saturdays and starting over again with Bloody Marys.

The former ER nurse also remembers her epiphany: “If we just had banana bags, we would all feel better in like 30 minutes, and we could just rally and go again.”

Now, Smith, a TCU nursing school alumna, knows what college students really need.

Smith and her business partner Traci Shortt opened their wellness center, The Liquid Frog, in a little house just outside TCU’s campus a year ago.

They provide services like Botox, STD treatment and tests for strep throat and COVID-19, but the most popular service? An IV to cure your hangover.

“Flush out those toxins and Feel Better Fast!” the website’s advertisement for the treatment reads. “This IV cocktail will assist with hydration, fatigue, nausea, headache, general body aches and symptoms associated with a hangover.”

IVs as hangover treatment are one of the latest health and wellness trends, said Jesus Chavarria, an assistant psychology professor at the University of Western Ontario, who specializes in the mechanisms driving addiction and factors that lead to alcohol use consequences.

There are few answers for why hangovers happen, Chavarria said. But when you are hungover, it often relates back to how your body breaks down alcohol. Symptoms like nausea, vomiting and a red glow may be attributed to a chemical called acetaldehyde that your body produces as it breaks down alcohol. Drinking also causes an inflammatory response that can cause aches. Another factor may be a lack of sleep, as well as dehydration.

An IV is a fast-acting method that helps with hydration, Chavarria said. Research for whether it is as effective as drinking water is mixed, but Chavarria said an IV may bypass the icky feeling of drinking water when you’re hungover and having it splash around your stomach. The electrolytes, medicine and vitamins in IV bags might help too, though Chavarria said that research is mixed too.

“IV hydration is quick,” Smith said. “You cannot consume orally with water or Gatorade the amount of fluid that you need to be rehydrated as fast as what an IV can do.”

And then there’s the placebo affect if you pay a lot — Chavarria said he’s seen some places charge upward of $400 and $500 for hangover IVs.

At The Liquid Frog, Smith said the college student crowd usually comes in on Fridays after Thursday night mixers. Those who are out of college come in for the cure on Sundays so they can head back to work on Monday feeling brand new.

Regardless of who comes in, the procedure is the same. A member of The Liquid Frog’s staff — which is made up of people who have emergency room experience and includes a nurse practitioner and medical director — will check your medical history and hook you up to an IV bag. Smith said most people who get the treatment feel better instantaneously.

“People feel better after half the bag and then after the whole bag, they’re like, ‘I’m ready to go drinking again,’” she said.

Most hangover IV treatments are done in one of the shop’s back rooms in the span of 35 minutes to an hour. Two black massage recliners sit next to each other in a room with purple curtains. A gray basket of blankets rests in another corner in case the IV makes patients cold. There’s also a TV.

A mini fridge in the center’s front room contains water bottles and Gatorade. A candy bowl sits atop that fridge. Sometimes, getting an IV can create a metallic taste in your mouth, Smith said. The candies can help.

Hangover IVs aren’t just offered at The Liquid Frog. There’s Replenish IV Hydration & Vitamin Therapy on the south side with a $189 IV formulated for hangovers and migraines. Formula Wellness Center in Crockett Row has a $185 Hangover Relief IV.

The Liquid Frog keeps its audience in mind, and offers treatment for $159. TCU students and faculty get 20% off.

But say you don’t have the money for an IV treatment. What’s the next best option?

Not drinking as much sticks out as the obvious answer. But humans are humans, and sometimes they party too hard.

Chavarria recommends avoiding darker alcohols like red wine, brandy and whiskey because they contain chemicals that can make hangovers worse. He also said drinking water as you drink alcohol helps with hydration and can help you drink less.

Sleeping in doesn’t hurt.