I've had a lot of requests recently for information regarding Volumetric Dosing. Instead of replying to all of the threads individually, I thought I would just make a dedicated thread to the process. I believe it's an important skill for any person who uses drugs regularly.
What is Volumetric Dosing?
Volumetric Dosing is a process by which we are able to modify the potency of a given substance to suit our needs. See, pharmaceuticals, as we all know, come in predetermined dosing units. The most common way that a person might modify the strength of a given substance would be to break a pill in half or into quarters. Still, we are limited in what we are able to do simply by breaking tablets into pieces. Volumetric Dosing allows us to produce our own dosage units. With Volumetric Dosing, a person can make infinitely smaller dosage units if needed.
The Process
- Oral Syringe with Milliliter Units on the side of the barrel
- A vessel for containing the solution
- Water, preferably sterile, especially if keeping the solution for extended periods of time
Let's say a person has an 8mg Buprenorphine tablet. This is a common request in the forums, so this will be our example. This person is doing a slow taper and they want dosing units of 0.25mg. How do we accomplish this? It's easy. This can be done with tablets, films or anything soluble in water.
Crush the tablet into a powder in the bottom of your vessel. This could be a drinking glass, for example.
Take your oral syringe. Draw up 8ml of water. Squirt this water into your vessel with your crushed Buprenorphine tablet. Mix until everything is in solution (mixed up). You now draw this solution back up into the syringe. You now have a solution in which each Ml contains 1mg Buprenorphine. We arent' done yet though, as we need to go smaller still.
Draw up 8ml more of water. Squirt this into your vessel containing your solution and mix again. Now, in your vessel, you have a solution in which each Ml contains 0.5mg Buprenorphine. Repeat this process a third time and you will now have 24ml total of solution. Each Ml now contains exactly 0.25mg Buprenorphine as desired.
When you're ready to take a dose, you simply take your syringe, draw up a single Ml of your solution and squirt it under your tongue. It will be absorbed as usual. In fact, having the drug already in solution will make the sublingual absorption process even faster.
As you can all see, this process allows us to make infinitely smaller units of dosing. This is incredibly useful for people needing to do slow tapers like our example here. This process can be performed with any drug that is water soluble; the majority of drugs out there that are commonly used are going to be water soluble.
If you end up needing to perform this process with a substance that is not soluble in water, like most Benzodiazepines for instance, you just have to determine the correct vehicle for the substance. Some substances are soluble in Alcohol or Propylene Glycol and so on. The process is just as easy once you determine the correct vehicle for your substance.
Furthermore, this is not very "clinical" or "scientific" but you can probably make an effective solution of a Benzodiazepine using only water. You just have to agitate the solution each time you use it. I hope this helps. Anyone with questions, feel free.
What is Volumetric Dosing?
Volumetric Dosing is a process by which we are able to modify the potency of a given substance to suit our needs. See, pharmaceuticals, as we all know, come in predetermined dosing units. The most common way that a person might modify the strength of a given substance would be to break a pill in half or into quarters. Still, we are limited in what we are able to do simply by breaking tablets into pieces. Volumetric Dosing allows us to produce our own dosage units. With Volumetric Dosing, a person can make infinitely smaller dosage units if needed.
The Process
- Oral Syringe with Milliliter Units on the side of the barrel
- A vessel for containing the solution
- Water, preferably sterile, especially if keeping the solution for extended periods of time
Let's say a person has an 8mg Buprenorphine tablet. This is a common request in the forums, so this will be our example. This person is doing a slow taper and they want dosing units of 0.25mg. How do we accomplish this? It's easy. This can be done with tablets, films or anything soluble in water.
Crush the tablet into a powder in the bottom of your vessel. This could be a drinking glass, for example.
Take your oral syringe. Draw up 8ml of water. Squirt this water into your vessel with your crushed Buprenorphine tablet. Mix until everything is in solution (mixed up). You now draw this solution back up into the syringe. You now have a solution in which each Ml contains 1mg Buprenorphine. We arent' done yet though, as we need to go smaller still.
Draw up 8ml more of water. Squirt this into your vessel containing your solution and mix again. Now, in your vessel, you have a solution in which each Ml contains 0.5mg Buprenorphine. Repeat this process a third time and you will now have 24ml total of solution. Each Ml now contains exactly 0.25mg Buprenorphine as desired.
When you're ready to take a dose, you simply take your syringe, draw up a single Ml of your solution and squirt it under your tongue. It will be absorbed as usual. In fact, having the drug already in solution will make the sublingual absorption process even faster.
As you can all see, this process allows us to make infinitely smaller units of dosing. This is incredibly useful for people needing to do slow tapers like our example here. This process can be performed with any drug that is water soluble; the majority of drugs out there that are commonly used are going to be water soluble.
If you end up needing to perform this process with a substance that is not soluble in water, like most Benzodiazepines for instance, you just have to determine the correct vehicle for the substance. Some substances are soluble in Alcohol or Propylene Glycol and so on. The process is just as easy once you determine the correct vehicle for your substance.
Furthermore, this is not very "clinical" or "scientific" but you can probably make an effective solution of a Benzodiazepine using only water. You just have to agitate the solution each time you use it. I hope this helps. Anyone with questions, feel free.
- not a "train smash" as I rectified the mistake by just taking the balance .... I misread the syringe and saw of the 5ml I took 40mg instead of 30mg (there was 1ml of air which I didn't see initially, so I just took the rest and am updating this with the above questions as there was still sediment in the small clear glass I used (as a vessel) and before attempting again I just had to ask. The title does have the word "idiot" in it so I don't feel that bad. 
