Lewis County residents can now receive alternative medical treatments in the form of intravenous (IV) vitamin infusions and more at Centralia’s Evexia NW.
The business, located at 1639 Kresky Ave., had its ribbon-cutting ceremony with the Chehalis-Centralia Chamber of Commerce on April 27.
Owners Jenn Brown, a nurse practitioner, and Barb Hooper, a registered nurse, opened the business to give area residents more choices over the kind of medical care they receive.
“We are here to provide people with options that they may not be able to get at their primary care office,” Brown told The Chronicle Tuesday. “Whether it be to add to the therapy that they are receiving from their physician or whether they’re just looking for a different option, a different route, we are here so that we can provide that.”
Evexia’s IV infusions are cocktails of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants that Evexia NW owners say can help with migraine management, illness recovery, inflammation, allergy symptom relief, athletic dehydration, the management of chronic fatigue and more.
“There wasn’t any place … where people could get IV infusions between Portland and Olympia, and I felt like (we) really needed that,” Hooper told The Chronicle. “Your body only absorbs 25% of vitamins when you take pills. If you do an IV, you get 100% of the nutrients right into your bloodstream.”
And the treatments can help a number of people in varying life situations, Hooper said.
Take those fatigued by travel or jet lag, for instance. Brown said the company’s Immunity Booster transfusion of vitamin C, selenium, zinc, B complex and B12 vitamins can help with travel fatigue, but also give folks more of a fighting chance against all the germs and conditions found in differing environments.
Those looking for inflammation relief don’t have to rely solely on offerings like ibuprofen. Instead, an infusion of antioxidants can bring the pain and swelling down, Hooper said. Her mother has had inflammation in her ankle for many years, she said, and has seen no real relief from it. After one infusion, the swelling went down to almost nothing within a couple of days. By the time she took a second infusion, there was pain relief for the first time in years.
Those suffering from allergies can take an infusion of vitamin C, magnesium and B vitamins, and can also receive a steroid injection. Hooper said her husband took this allergy relief transfusion, and his prolific springtime phlegm reduced considerably.
Evexia’s IV vitamin infusions range in price from $110 to $159, and take between 45 minutes and an hour to administer, which Brown noted could easily be done on a lunch break from work.
Since Brown is a nurse practitioner, she can prescribe the infusion therapy after a consultation during which a person’s medical history is discussed, before the customer is hooked up to an IV in the center’s heated massage chairs.
The second primary function of Evexia is to offer bioidentical hormone replacement using what Brown called the “biote method.”
“Bioidentical hormones are either estradiol or testosterone that are the same molecular structure as what your body produces,” Brown said. “So bioidentical hormone replacement is a much more natural approach to hormone replacements. So testosterone for men (and) estradiol and possibly even testosterone for women. … And so, basically, that is a way of balancing hormones, which decreases our risk for illness and disease processes.”
Bioidentical hormone replacement is often used by people suffering from symptoms relating primarily to aging, such as fatigue, brain fog, difficulty building muscle mass or even losing weight, Brown said. For women, the process can improve symptoms related to menopause, and for men, andropause.
While the process is typically associated with older folks, people as young as their mid-30s could benefit, Brown said.
“The biggest thing that most people come in seeking out bioidentical hormone replacement for is fatigue and just overall saying something’s just not right,” Brown said. “So we start with a big panel of bloodwork, and then they come in for an office visit, and again I review their medical history and then go from there.”
Evexia also offers blood panels, Botox, chemical peels and more, with Brown and Hooper already considering an expansion of those services.
“We don’t do iron infusions yet — we’ve been getting a lot of people asking about that. So we are looking into that, but there’s just a lot more monitoring and restrictions that come with that. We just have to make sure that we’re doing that safely,” Brown said.
Evexia does not bill insurance, but costs for some services can be reimbursed through some insurance providers and folks can sometimes use health savings or flexible spending accounts, depending on the provider.
For Brown, her interest in the business’ offerings came a while back and hit on a personal note.
“My purpose, personally, started a long time ago. I had some hormone imbalance issues, so that’s kind of where I got interested and became very passionate about bioidentical hormone replacement,” she said. “And then, through that journey, and getting my nurse practitioner, I was a little bit frustrated doing primary care, knowing that there were other things that we could provide for people, but we were really limited in that conservative setting.”
Evexia can be reached by phone at 360-880-0457, email at EvexiaNW@gmail.com or online at https://www.EvexiaNW.com.
Store hours are from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays and from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturdays. Evexia is closed Sundays and Mondays.
