I got a vitamin IV drip after a festival to see if it would sort me out

The day Glastonbury finished, Millie Mackintosh instagrammed a picture of her and Hugo Taylor in her Chelsea apartment, with drips leading from their veins up to little saline bags on hooks. Millie captioned it: “Post Glastonbury recovery before a busy week!!! #revivme @RevivLondon“.

This encouraged a mixed reaction from Millie’s followers and the press. The Daily Mail made allusions to their “recovered” romance, whilst @kirstcorbett commented: “What happened to everything in moderation then recovering with water, rehydration salts, a decent meal and a Monday off #realworldproblems #howtheotherhalflive”.

So, after a weekend spent in the scorching heat at Secret Garden Party – with the glitter still clinging to my hair and bands still clamped around my wrists – I headed to Knightsbridge to see what it was like.

We walked up the discreet stone steps and entered the grand lobby, complete with marble floors and a vintage motorbike. Two pristine girls with their hair pulled back into a tight ponytail directed us downstairs to Reviv, where we were met by Gary.

Gary is a retired Senior NHS Ambulance Officer. He explained to us that every member of their team has a medical background (and that not all clinics like this do). He talked us through all the different treatments – I was to have the MultiBoost Vitamin Infusion.

So I filled out a form detailing my entire medical history – which made me feel a bit like I was signing my life away – signed it, and passed it back to Gary.

Next, he showed us into the mixing room. The IV bag is made up of saline solution for rehydration, vitamins B and C and other energy boosting elements.

The vitamins and the Glutathione, Gary told me, will make my skin clear and my hair shiny.

Gary injected the various vitamins into the saline bag to combine the solution together, and hung it up. I then had a full medical check-up, where my blood pressure, oxygen levels, height and weight were taken.

I hadn’t yet mentioned my needle phobia, which was creeping up on me bit by bit. However, I was graceful and composed as he added a compression band to my arm, ready for the needle.

Gary then inserted the cannula – that’s the little plastic tube that enters your vein – removed the needle, secured it in place and turned on the drip.

We asked Gary about the clientele who come in: Sinita, Nathan from Geordie Shore, George Shelley, Caggie Dunlop, Binky Felstead, Jamie Laing, Boris Becker, Naughty Boy, Anthea Turner – the list goes on.

Gary said that not many clients come in to cure a hangover – it’s more about “wellness” and rehydration. The Reviv spa attracts people who are working around the clock and going out in the evenings, who use it to cure tiredness and keep going.

They have full first aid to hand, defibrillators for resuscitation, everyone who works there is medically trained and they’ve performed over 40,000 treatments. They also have a concierge service where they go to hotels and apartments (for £200 extra in cost), saying that peoples’ “privacy is valued”. The process from bag to bloodstream can vary from 20 to 40 depending on the size and structure of your veins.

Reviv was founded by Dr. Johnny Parvani, the company’s CEO, in 2010. Gary said he repeatedly saw hungover people being treated with IV drips by medical students the morning after a heavy night. It launched in Vegas and now has 12 clinics across Europe and America, with one in Asia and Africa.

It was time to remove the drip. Mine took 32 minutes – which Gary wrote on the front of my treatment pack as if it were my lap time, saying: “Welcome to the Reviv Club”.

Gary applied a compress to my arm, and we packed up. The experience was really nice but to be completely honest I was pretty sceptical. Having had little sleep over the weekend I still felt foggy and lethargic. At best, the instant effects could be described as feeling a little less dehydrated. Gary told me it could take between half-an-hour and seven hours – I was hopeful the effects would kick in.

I got back to the office, and I really wanted to feel better or different, or anything really. The weekend had caught up on me and I was pretty grumpy all day. My afternoon was pretty uneventful, but at around 5pm I started to feel a little lighter.

I got home stripped and made my bed, put on and hung two loads of laundry, cooked dinner and lunch for the following day, caught up with my housemates and had a glass of wine – all in about two hours.

The next morning I woke up and it was like clouds had cleared. I normally wake up feeling foggy and dehydrated, cursing myself for not drinking more water.

I felt like I had complete clarity – I knew exactly what I had to do that day and felt like I had a little ball of energy in my stomach. I took down my washing, packed up my gym stuff and headed out of the house. I was going to get the bus but decided to walk instead – you get the idea.

It’s not cheap. Their treatments range from £29 for a B12 shot up to £350 for a Royal Flush – a “Deluxe Infusion” of two litres of vitamin packed saline akin to the elixir of life.

You could say it’s all placebo – I thought the same before. What could this drip do that 2 litres of water and some hefty vitamin tablets can’t? But the day after a festival, you’d never normally catch me doing housework, cooking and walking where I could get a bus.

If I were as rich as Millie Mackintosh, I’d get it every fortnight.