![[dr. bob]](/dr-bob-sm.gif)
Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 5 of 5. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by don_bristol on June 3, 2004, at 12:38:08
What is the fastest way of getting a tablet taken orally to be absorbed?
Sometimes I may be late taking a tablet.
I am assuming that the tablet is mostly absorbed after it has passed through the stomach but maybe I am wrong in assumption. I am thinking of sleeping tablets like Ambien or Sonata or perhaps a benzodiazepine. Also of mood meds like Parnate. And also tablets for non psychological needs like reducing blood pressure.
Below are some off the cuff thoughts. Maybe someone can advise. Thank you.
Don
-----
My first guess is that the fastest way to get the tablet absorbed is to take it almost on its own on an empty stomach. To help swallow it maybe a sip of oil? But how will the stomach know to enpty itself if a teeny-weeny little thing like a small pill is in there? The stomach probably won't even notice it.
Then I thought it is best to take the tablet with some water. But how much .. a few sips? ... half a glass? ... a pint? ... two pints? Too much and the pill get be diluted, won't it?, and the stomach may take longer to empty itself of a pint or two that of a smaller amount.
Then what about drinking milk with the tablet instead of water? Will the stomach empty itsef faster on milk than on water?
What about a few bites of food just to give the stomach something to be getting on with? What food? Something solid like a slice of toast or a biscuit? Or something liquid like soup?
Any info welcome!
Posted by jlbl2l on June 3, 2004, at 15:47:50
In reply to Fastest way to absorb a tablet taken by mouth?, posted by don_bristol on June 3, 2004, at 12:38:08
Don,
If it comes in tablet form, you can place it under your tongue (this is called "sublingually")
and let it dissolve slowly (depending on your saliva), making sure to move it around in different positions so the drug absorbs equally throughout the blood vessels under the tongue - you want the blood vessels to absorb it directly into the blood stream - that is the goal... similar to an injection almost. this is common with vitamin b12 supplements because they have such poor bioavailbilty when taken orally.this is assuming it tastes tolerable, most meds dont, klonopin brand name for example has a mint-like taste so its bearable...most taste terrible i'm afraid....and some take awhile to break down as well, and it also depends on the size of the tablet, but usually, this works very well.
An empty stomach can be good for some meds, but read your prescription sheet or bottle or check rxlist.com and type in your medication. check what effects the bioavailbilty of the medicine (such as food - it usually gives percentages of the exact interactions food or no food will have), for example, i recently found out that if i take Aleve (naproxen sodium) with neurontin at the same time, it increases neurontins bioavailbility in the stomach by 12-15%! I tried it and it does indeed make 1 400mg pill more powerful, so i can reduce my dosage for neurontin...
As for capsules, you have more limited options. you can pull them apart (As LONG as they are NOT sustained release or EXTENDED release - SAME with tablets!) slowly pull them apart by the ends and the powder will come out, you can place this under your tongue like i said above, but be aware the taste will probably be bad, thats usually why they are in capsules.. this is harder to do, and requires practice (pulling caps apart and getting all the powder in your mouth sublingually without making a mess and then holding it there for quite a bit, and swallowing the stuff that doesnt get absorbed..yuck! - but it can work i have done it with neurontin, safely)
If its a sealed gelcap, there isnt much you can do, except check the bioavailbilty/interactions online, the best resource being rxlist.com - which gives extensive information on drugs...
Another thing people dont utilize (and one of the BEST IMO), is simply gatorade..... thats right.....gatorade. take your medicine on an empty stomach with lots of gatorade....the reasoning behind this is because gatorade is rapidly absorbed with its sugars/electrolyes and distributes whatever is in the stomach (your tablet/capsule) at the same time along with it directly into the bloodstream, sort of like a sugar high. gataorade is a GREAT carrier for many drugs. I have used it numerous times and it comes in handy, i always rec. it as a first line option for absorption.
YET another option is to increase your stomach acid so it breaks down quicker... This is simple. There is supplement called Betaine HCL Hydrocholride) This is stomach acid in a pill form, but its a supplement and inexpensive. Take this about 10-15 min before you take your medicine and your stomach acid will dissolve things quicker. (Keep in mind this may also "hurt" (not damage) your stomach if its empty of food and such...)
Finally, as for milk/water/oil's that is all a bioavailbilty issue (well, water really isnt..unless you dilute it insanely) so you would want to look at rxlist.com for that info or just look on your prescription or the information sheet that came with it - if it says take with food, it probably means that it inceases the bioavailbilty, then again sometimes its just to "buffer" any stomach pains (acid etc..) related to the med, so i would check rxlist.com as well.
Hope this helps, i study bioavailbilty of meds a lot, especially recently, and how to reverse tolerance, which i believe i have found several successful methods recently (with my experimenting with neurontin, i have found how to re-regulate receptors that are up or down regulated) so for all the benzo people (and others) out there, I may be able to help though im still just "reserching" the up and down regulation of meds, we all know time is a variable with many..
My email is jason@triplecow.com if anyone would like to discuss anything further.
Hope this helps!
kind regards,
jlbl2l
Posted by don_bristol on June 4, 2004, at 19:26:52
In reply to Re: Fastest way to absorb a tablet taken by mouth?, posted by jlbl2l on June 3, 2004, at 15:47:50
JBL, thank you for a useful posting. Among the many different suggestions you discuss, I note that your preference seems to be for Gatorade. And you also seem to like using Betaine HCL.
These may not work for me as one of my needs is to take and absorb a sleeping tablet quickly. I take Ambien at night before going to bed but sometimes (or even frequently) I wake up too early in the morning and am unrested. So I then take Sonata or much more rarely I might take another Ambien. At that point I don't want to wait around getting ever more awake while the Sonata tries to put me back to sleep. So I would like to absorb the Sonata as quickly as possible.
If I take Gatorade then I am going to have to worry about sleeping with sugar on my teeth and the acid formation causing plaque and all’ Plus acidty from the carbon monoxide dissolevd in the water and the effects of all that stuffUgggh. Perish the thought.
In fact I had been thinking along the lines of Gatorade but what I had alighted upon was an Oral Rehydrating Solution as recommended by the World health Organisation. The WHO have several variants but nearly all contain sugar and salt although I think there is a ‘rice flour’ one too but it seems harder to get the ingredints and to ake it. You refer to this possinbility in you thse next few paragraphs below.
But whatever the liquid is: water, ORS or Gatorade I still feel that a relatively tiny tablet may get left behind in a puddle (so to speak) inside the stomach. I wonder if there is a case for adding some solid food like a sweet biscuit or a plain cracker.
So after trying all those options, maybe it is a matter for me to try the sublingual route. You seem to speak highly of it. Would it work for most meds? What about meds that simply dont cross the skin of the mouth into the blood? Any usual suspects?
All for now! Kind regards to you.
Don
---------------------In reply to Fastest way to absorb a tablet taken by mouth?, posted by don_bristol on June 3, 2004, at 12:38:08
Don
If it comes in tablet form, you can place it under your tongue (this is called "sublingually") and let it dissolve slowly (depending on your
saliva), making sure to move it around in different positions so the drug absorbs equally throughout the blood vessels under the tongue - you
want the blood vessels to absorb it directly into the blood stream - that is the goal... similar to an injection almost. this is common with
vitamin b12 supplements because they have such poor bioavailbilty when taken orally.
this is assuming it tastes tolerable, most meds dont, klonopin brand name for example has a mint-like taste so its bearable...most taste
terrible i'm afraid....and some take awhile to break down as well, and it also depends on the size of the tablet, but usually, this works
very well.
An empty stomach can be good for some meds, but read your prescription sheet or bottle or check rxlist.com and type in your medication. check
what effects the bioavailbilty of the medicine (such as food - it usually gives percentages of the exact interactions food or no food will
have), for example, i recently found out that if i take Aleve (naproxen sodium) with neurontin at the same time, it increases neurontins
bioavailbility in the stomach by 12-15%! I tried it and it does indeed make 1 400mg pill more powerful, so i can reduce my dosage for
neurontin...
As for capsules, you have more limited options. you can pull them apart (As LONG as they are NOT sustained release or EXTENDED release - SAME
with tablets!) slowly pull them apart by the ends and the powder will come out, you can place this under your tongue like i said above, but
be aware the taste will probably be bad, thats usually why they are in capsules.. this is harder to do, and requires practice (pulling caps
apart and getting all the powder in your mouth sublingually without making a mess and then holding it there for quite a bit, and swallowing
the stuff that doesnt get absorbed..yuck! - but it can work i have done it with neurontin, safely)
If its a sealed gelcap, there isnt much you can do, except check the bioavailbilty/interactions online, the best resource being rxlist.com -
which gives extensive information on drugs...
Another thing people dont utilize (and one of the BEST IMO), is simply gatorade..... thats right.....gatorade. take your medicine on an empty
stomach with lots of gatorade....the reasoning behind this is because gatorade is rapidly absorbed with its sugars/electrolyes and
distributes whatever is in the stomach (your tablet/capsule) at the same time along with it directly into the bloodstream, sort of like a
sugar high. gataorade is a GREAT carrier for many drugs. I have used it numerous times and it comes in handy, i always rec. it as a first
line option for absorption.
YET another option is to increase your stomach acid so it breaks down quicker... This is simple. There is supplement called Betaine HCL
Hydrocholride) This is stomach acid in a pill form, but its a supplement and inexpensive. Take this about 10-15 min before you take your
medicine and your stomach acid will dissolve things quicker. (Keep in mind this may also "hurt" (not damage) your stomach if its empty of
food and such...)
Finally, as for milk/water/oil's that is all a bioavailbilty issue (well, water really isnt..unless you dilute it insanely) so you would want
to look at rxlist.com for that info or just look on your prescription or the information sheet that came with it - if it says take with food,
it probably means that it inceases the bioavailbilty, then again sometimes its just to "buffer" any stomach pains (acid etc..) related to the
med, so i would check rxlist.com as well.
Hope this helps, i study bioavailbilty of meds a lot, especially recently, and how to reverse tolerance, which i believe i have found several
successful methods recently (with my experimenting with neurontin, i have found how to re-regulate receptors that are up or down regulated)
so for all the benzo people (and others) out there, I may be able to help though im still just "reserching" the up and down regulation of
meds, we all know time is a variable with many..
My email is jason@triplecow.com if anyone would like to discuss anything further.
Hope this helps!
Posted by sl on June 6, 2004, at 10:24:08
In reply to Re: Fastest way to absorb a tablet taken by mouth? » jlbl2l, posted by don_bristol on June 4, 2004, at 19:26:52
> JBL, thank you for a useful posting. Among the many different suggestions you discuss, I note that your preference seems to be for Gatorade. And you also seem to like using Betaine HCL.
I personally would recommend against anything increasing acid in your stomach, it's a lovely way to get heartburn and over a long period of time possibly real damage to your stomach or esophagus.
> If I take Gatorade then I am going to have to worry about sleeping with sugar on my teeth and the acid formation causing plaque and all’ Plus acidty from the carbon monoxide dissolevd in the water and the effects of all that stuffUgggh. Perish the thought.
*heh* Who said you had to take it AFTER you brush your teeth?? Or if you do, use a good mouthwash, Plax or something that you hold in your mouth for a bit before you spit it out.
> In fact I had been thinking along the lines of Gatorade but what I had alighted upon was an Oral Rehydrating Solution as recommended by the World health Organisation. The WHO have several variants but nearly all contain sugar and salt although I think there is a ‘rice flour’ one too but it seems harder to get the ingredints and to ake it. You refer to this possinbility in you thse next few paragraphs below.I've taken that stuff, the Oral Rehydrating Solution....they contain sugar and salt because those are things you need if you're low on electrolytes. They're meant for situations where you need rehydrating AND replacement of lost electrolytes.
> But whatever the liquid is: water, ORS or Gatorade I still feel that a relatively tiny tablet may get left behind in a puddle (so to speak) inside the stomach. I wonder if there is a case for adding some solid food like a sweet biscuit or a plain cracker.
Sure. But I don't think the stomach works that way. I'm pretty sure it's not like the bladder, where when it's full it gets emptied and starts again.
> So after trying all those options, maybe it is a matter for me to try the sublingual route. You seem to speak highly of it. Would it work for most meds? What about meds that simply dont cross the skin of the mouth into the blood? Any usual suspects?
It wouldn't work with time release. :P
Also: Ask your pharmacist! They often know what the best way is....cuz it's not the same for every type of med. That I know for a fact.
Hope That Helps,
sl
Posted by don_bristol on June 6, 2004, at 12:24:59
In reply to Re: Fastest way to absorb a tablet taken by mouth?, posted by sl on June 6, 2004, at 10:24:08
One other complication I woul dhave is that if I get up from bed to take my sleeping tablet with some water/gatorade/ORS/etc and then go straight back to lie down in bed then I am guess the stomach contents empty more slowly than if I was standing upright.
Maybe the presence of food would help force the stomach to work harder?
Or maybe I should stay standing for a bit longer.
Or maybe it makes no difference. Who knows?
This is the end of the thread.
Psycho-Babble Medication | Extras | FAQ
Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.org
Script revised: February 4, 2008
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/cgi-bin/pb/mget.pl
Copyright 2006-17 Robert Hsiung.
Owned and operated by Dr. Bob LLC and not the University of Chicago.