The first question we get about NAD+ is rarely “what is it?” It is “what dose should I start with?” That tells you something about how this molecule has entered the conversation: people have already read about it, heard a podcast about it, or watched a friend swear by it, and now they want practical guidance. So let’s give it. At SMooth Solutions Medspa, an NAD+ injection in Naperville comes in two doses, 50mg and 100mg, and the choice between them is provider-guided rather than a menu item you pick blind. This article explains what NAD+ does, why we deliver it as an injection rather than a long infusion, how the two doses differ in practice, and what you can realistically expect.
What NAD+ Does in Your Body
NAD+ stands for nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide, and it is not an exotic supplement ingredient so much as a piece of basic cellular machinery. It is a coenzyme found in every living cell, and it sits at the center of two jobs your body never stops doing.
The first is energy production. When your cells convert food into usable energy, NAD+ acts as a shuttle in that chemical process, accepting and donating electrons over and over. Without adequate NAD+, the energy assembly line slows down. The second job is cellular maintenance. NAD+ is consumed by enzymes involved in DNA repair and in regulating how cells respond to stress. Every time those repair systems run, they spend NAD+ to do it.
Here is the detail that drives all the interest: NAD+ levels decline with age. That decline is well documented, and it has led researchers to ask whether restoring NAD+ could support energy, cognitive performance, and healthier aging. That question is legitimate. The answers, so far, are incomplete, and we will be straight with you about that in the expectations section below.
In practice, the clients who ask us about NAD+ tend to fall into a few groups. Some are in their forties or fifties and have noticed their baseline energy is not what it was. Some are high performers chasing mental clarity through long workdays. Some are simply interested in doing what they reasonably can for healthy aging and want a provider who will not oversell it. All three are reasonable places to start the conversation.
Why We Offer Injections, Not Infusions
If you have researched NAD+ before, you have probably seen clinics advertising IV infusions that run two to four hours. So it is worth being clear up front: SMooth Solutions offers NAD+ as an injection only. There is no NAD+ drip on our IV menu, and that is a deliberate choice, not a gap.
The honest comparison goes like this. IV infusions deliver larger doses of NAD+ in a single session, and for some people that is exactly what they want. But those sessions are long, because NAD+ infused too quickly commonly causes flushing, nausea, chest tightness, and cramping, so the drip has to run slowly. They are also expensive per session, and the time commitment makes a steady ongoing protocol hard for most people to sustain.
An NAD+ injection takes minutes. There is no infusion discomfort to manage, because the dose absorbs gradually from the injection site rather than hitting your bloodstream all at once. You do not sit tethered to an IV pole watching a bag drain, and you do not need to block out half a day or arrange your schedule around a session. You come in, receive the injection, and leave. The cost per session is meaningfully lower, which matters because NAD+ is not a one-and-done service; the whole logic of supplementation is regular repetition. For clients in Naperville, Plainfield, or Downers Grove who work full schedules, a visit they can finish before a coffee gets cold is a protocol they can actually keep. That trade, smaller individual doses in exchange for consistency you can maintain, is one we think favors the injection for most people. If your research convinces you that only high-dose infusions will do, we would rather tell you plainly that we are not the right fit for that specific service than talk you out of your own conclusion.
The 50mg vs 100mg Question
Now the question you came here with. Both doses contain the same NAD+; the difference is how much your body receives per session, and the right starting point depends on you. Think of the two doses less as a good-better ladder and more as two settings on the same tool, matched to different people at different points in their protocol.
Who Starts at 50mg
Most first-time clients start at 50mg, and we would generally rather start you there than higher. The reasoning is simple titration logic, the same approach used across medicine: begin at a moderate dose, see how you respond, and adjust from evidence rather than guesswork. NAD+ injections are well tolerated at both doses, but responses vary from person to person, and starting at 50mg lets you and our medical team learn your response without overshooting. It is also the sensible entry point if you are new to wellness injections in general, if you are smaller-framed, or if you simply want to test whether NAD+ earns a place in your routine before committing to more.
When 100mg Makes Sense
The 100mg dose typically comes into play in two situations. The first is clients who have completed a run at 50mg, tolerated it well, and want to see whether a higher dose moves the needle further. The second is clients with prior NAD+ experience, sometimes from infusion clinics elsewhere, who already know how they respond and are looking for a more efficient way to continue. Even then, the decision is made with our medical team, not by picking the bigger number because bigger sounds better. More is not automatically better with NAD+, and dose escalation without a reason is not how we practice.
How Protocols Usually Run
NAD+ is generally used in a protocol rather than as a single visit. A common structure is a loading phase, with injections spaced closer together for the first several weeks, followed by a maintenance phase at a lower frequency once you and your provider have a sense of your response. The specifics are individualized: your schedule, your goals, your dose, and your response all shape the plan, and the plan can change. We revisit it with you rather than locking you into a subscription-style routine that ignores how you actually feel.
Your first appointment includes a screening conversation with our medical staff. We review your health history, current medications, and what you are hoping NAD+ will do for you, then set a starting dose and cadence together. After that, visits are brief, and check-ins along the way are how we decide whether to hold your dose, adjust it, or space sessions out. If at some point the protocol is not earning its keep, we will say so. Keeping a client on a service that is not helping them is not a business we want to be in.
What to Expect, Stated Plainly
This section exists because NAD+ marketing has gotten ahead of NAD+ science, and we would rather lose a sale than mislead you.
What is solid: the biology. NAD+ is genuinely central to cellular energy production and repair, and the age-related decline is real. Injections deliver NAD+ without a two-hour time commitment and without the infusion reactions that come with running it intravenously.
What is early: the human outcome research. Studies on whether supplementing NAD+ produces measurable improvements in energy, mental clarity, or markers of aging in healthy adults are still limited, and results so far are mixed and preliminary. Many of our clients report feeling clearer and less fatigued during a protocol, and we take those reports seriously, but client reports are not clinical proof, and we will not present them as such.
What we will not promise: that NAD+ reverses aging, extends your life, or fixes chronic fatigue. Nobody can honestly promise those things today. NAD+ injections are a wellness service intended to support your goals; they are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. If a clinic tells you otherwise, that should lower your trust, not raise it.
If that candor sounds like the kind of guidance you want, a virtual consultation is the easiest next step. You will talk through your goals and health history with our team, and we will tell you whether NAD+ makes sense for you, and at which dose, before you spend anything.
A Physician-Supervised Practice, Which Matters Here
NAD+ sits in a corner of wellness where quality control varies widely between providers. SMooth Solutions Medspa is a physician-supervised medical practice. Every client is screened by medical staff before their first injection, dosing decisions follow the titration approach described above, and NAD+ is one of eight vitamin injections on a menu that also includes twelve IV drips, so our recommendation can be “something else fits you better” when that is true. We serve Naperville and the surrounding communities, including Oswego, Lisle, Aurora, Bolingbrook, Plainfield, Downers Grove, and Wheaton, with a second location, SMooth Skin Studio, in Oswego for clients on that side of the river.
Start Your NAD+ Protocol
SMooth Solutions Medspa 1867 Bay Scott Circle, Suite 111, Naperville, IL 60540 Phone: 630-381-8952 SMooth Skin Studio: 1510 Douglas Road, Oswego, IL 60543
Call us or book a virtual consultation to talk through the 50mg vs 100mg question with our medical team.
NAD+ Injection FAQs
How long does an NAD+ injection appointment take?
Minutes, not hours. After your initial screening visit, a typical injection appointment is quick enough to fit into a lunch break, and many clients schedule them on the way to or from work. This is the biggest practical difference from NAD+ infusions, which commonly run two to four hours per session and require you to plan your day around them.
Does an NAD+ injection hurt?
It is comparable to any intramuscular injection: a quick pinch, sometimes mild soreness at the site afterward. The flushing and nausea people associate with NAD+ come from rapid IV infusion, not from injections, because the injected dose absorbs gradually.
How many sessions will I need?
There is no universal number, and be wary of anyone who quotes one without meeting you. Most protocols involve a loading series over the first several weeks, then maintenance at a lower frequency. Your dose, response, and goals shape the plan, which is set and adjusted with our medical team.
Should I just start at 100mg to get better results faster?
We usually advise against it. Starting at 50mg lets us learn how you respond before increasing, which is standard titration practice. If 50mg is well tolerated and you want to explore more, moving to 100mg is straightforward. Skipping the learning step buys you little and tells us nothing.
Is NAD+ FDA-approved?
NAD+ wellness injections are not an FDA-approved treatment for any condition, and we will not tell you otherwise. They are a wellness service, administered under physician supervision with individual screening, intended to support goals like energy and healthy aging rather than to treat disease. If a provider anywhere markets NAD+ as an approved therapy, take your questions, and your business, somewhere more careful.
Can I combine NAD+ injections with other services?
Often, yes. Some clients pair an NAD+ protocol with B12 injections or schedule injections alongside an IV drip visit for hydration or immune support. Bring your full wellness routine to your consultation and we will map out what fits together and what is redundant.