Our columnist swaps vitamin pills for a trip to the Elixir Clinic...
We’re forever being told that the future of beauty lies not in what you put on your skin, but what you put in your body. The market is awash with innumerable powders, potions and pills, all of which promise to ‘reveal your inner beauty’.
Trouble is, how do you know they’re working? So much of the language surrounding the range of benefits supplements provide is so vague. ‘Can help’; ‘may improve’; ‘studies have show’ - you know the sort of thing. All designed to guard against disappointment and exonerate manufacturers from responsibility towards the consumer.
And besides, all those pills are such a bore. I take enough prescription medications every day to have any will for more. Which is why I decided to try intravenous vitamin infusions. And the result, I have to say, has been remarkable.
I have not had a single cold this winter. At one point that horrible chesty cough that was going round made a play for me, but I saw it off in just a few days, and it never got anywhere near the antibiotic stage.
Mostly, though, people keep telling me how well-rested I look. Who knows, perhaps they’re just being kind to an old lady (I turn 50 in April). But in any case I feel good: less tired, not so achey in the joints, more perky in the mornings. I no longer have an irresistible urge to slump on the sofa in the evenings, or take a nap in the afternoons. I’m walking faster, thinking faster. I feel energised in a way I haven’t been for years.
My skin, which is always dry and dehydrated, seems to be less so - and my nails and hair are growing like weeds.
I’ve had three ‘infusions’, all courtesy of the Elixir Clinic in Wigmore Street ( www.theelixirclinic.com ). It’s very straightforward: they pop a line in, hook you up to a bag and leave you to have a nice snooze while the goodness seeps into your veins. Apparently some people feel the effects immediately, although I can’t say I’m one of them. I tend to notice a difference after a couple of days, certainly appearance-wise. But there is a spring in my step as I leave the clinic.
They offer a wide range of cocktails, from a basic multivitamin and hydration, (£100), and ranging all the way up via the post-party (£120), Detox (£280), Immune boosting (£200). Adrenal Fatigue (£350) and others to the VIP, a mixture of the anti-oxidant and anti-ageing cocktails (£407).
If you’re tired or run down or, like me, just a bit ancient, I can’t recommend this enough. They’ve served me very well this winter - the first in a long time that has passed without any nasty bugs getting the better of me.
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