Bar/fly: Hangover Heaven, Las Vegas

Jason Burke calls his business a medical practice on wheels.

Let Hangover Heaven undo the ugly, write Julie Jacobson and Ken Ritter.

The idea is to bring relief to tourists with stomach-churning wooziness, headaches and body pains - symptoms that could ruin an entire day in Sin City.

A bus called Hangover Heaven rolls down Las Vegas Boulevard as visitors on the ugly side of alcohol are helped by doctor and board-certified anaesthesiologist Jason Burke. He checks an intravenous fluid bag that drips a saline and vitamin solution into Bryan Dalia's left arm. "I did two bachelor parties, back-to-back," Dalia says, as he recalls a night of gambling, dining and drinking martinis. Now he has a Las Vegas wedding to attend.

"How are you doing now?" medical technician Debra Lund asks. "Better," Dalia says. "My palms aren't sweating anymore. I don't have that, like, cold-sweat feeling anymore."

Dalia was one of the first patients of the mobile treatment bus for tourists who drink in all the nightlife Las Vegas has to offer. For a fee, they get a quick way to rehydrate, rejuvenate and resume their revelry. "I'm starting to feel great," Dalia says. "This is really very cool."

Burke calls his business a medical practice on wheels, something like a physician with a mobile home offering X-rays, MRIs or mammograms.

"I don't think that Hangover Heaven is promoting drinking. I'm not eliminating hangovers," Burke says, as he moves between patients seated on plush benches in the retrofitted, full-sized tour bus. "The goal of the business is to get people back to their vacation. I'm decreasing the length of time they're going to be hungover."

Burke says his goal is to arrive within an hour at the caller's hotel.

On the bus, treatment can take less than an hour for a US$90 (NZ$134) basic IV of saline solution, B vitamins and vitamin C. A premium package, $150, includes two bags. For an extra fee, Burke will bring treatment to a hotel room.

Burke administers the prescription anti-inflammatory Ketorolac or Toradol for pain and Zofran, also known as Ondansetron, for nausea.

Acid heartburn can be treated with over-the-counter ranitidine. Patients get a shot of the anesthetic Lidocaine to numb the skin before the IV needle is inserted.

"For the most part, it sounds safe," says Dr Daliah Wachs, a family practice physician and medical talk show host based in Las Vegas. "But this is kind of gutsy. He's taking a risk."

A patient could have an allergic reaction, Wachs says, or fail to fully report their medical history. For people with pre-existing conditions, Toradol can affect the kidneys, and Zofran can trigger abnormal heart rhythm. There could also be complications for people with oesophageal or stomach ailments from chronic alcohol abuse.

Still, Wachs says, emergency-room physicians and clinic doctors have, for decades, provided hangover sufferers with IV drip "banana bags" - so named for their yellow colour.

"I think many doctors are kicking themselves because they didn't think of this first," she says.

Burke says he uses small doses of the drugs.

"This is a professional medical practice. We take a medical history," he says.

"I'm not a cowboy. I'm not going to grab someone off the street ... without knowing their medical history."

Prospective customers are advised not to drink alcohol for two hours before treatment, and can't arrive drunk. Walk-ups are turned away. Pregnant females are also declined.

Word of mouth is already spreading. Passenger Cameron Byrd, a tourist from North Carolina, marvels at his hangover recovery. "My friend just texted me and said, 'I feel like death'," Byrd says, before responding with a solution: "We're on the hangover helper bus."

- AAP