Sublingual Benzos (why it works?)

[Herbal~Jah]

So I know a lot of people on Bluelight like to sublingual their benzos (Xanax, Valium, etc..) and was wondering... If benzos are NOT water soluable then how do they absorb under you tounge? I ask this b/c we all know benzos don't work snorted so why do they work sublingually? shouldn't something that works sublingually work insuffalated as don't they both have the same membranes for absorption of the drug (benzo)?

I've always wondered this...

 

[sekio]

The reason BZDS and other poorly water soluble drugs can be absorbed sublingually is because they actually have a trace of water solubility, and as you hold them on your gums they will diffuse through to the blood vessels on the other side. In addition they have affinity for the fats that form cell walls.

 

[doorknob]

Diazepam still has a solubility of 50ug per mL in water, so would take 200ml to dissolve a 10mg pill.

 

[emkee_reinvented]

What is naturally in the saliva besides water is a guess for me. But I can imagine there some oils in there maybe or in the benzo tab. And besides watery things I assume oils can be taken up sublingual so maybe that's part of the reason it works? Just theorizing a bit.

 

[Herbal~Jah]

So yeah, the question still hasn't been answered really... Why do benzo's work (supposedly) sublingually and not snorted?

 

[JessFR]

It better not be placebo, I don't want years of tasting bitter chalky crap to have been for a myth.

 

[RobotRipping]

in terms of actual sl administration 200ml is a shit load to do. I find anything over .5ml is a bit too much to sublingual, considering half of it goes all over my mouth and i can taste some of it hitting my throat. I wonder if getting .5ml of etiz/pg liquid in my gums will still absorb though? i can kind just use it like mouth wash sometimes, without spitting it out of course.

 

[sekio]

Why do benzo's work (supposedly) sublingually and not snorted?

because you can hold them next to your mucosa with sublingual administration, but you cannot reliably hold the benzos inside your nose.

 

[Rorthron]

As sekio pointed out they're generally quite lipophilic, so they can travel straight through the cell membrane without the need of a solvent to first dissolve them.
Also it's not the case that benzo's "don't work" insufflated, they do - just, unlike a lot of drugs, not any better than taken orally so you might
as well just eat it.

My experience with other substances administered sublingually is that the process works rather well even if they are water insoluble. 25I-NBOMe or 5-MeO-DMT in freebase form are (in my own subjective opinion) stronger than their water soluble salts. One way to use them is to dissolve the substance in ethanol and use an 1/4 ethoh/water mixture for administration. The absorption process is very fast and effective.

 

[Hammilton]

If you handle lead long enough, enough will pass through your skin and kill you.

You're wondering why a saliva suspension of a drug that's not water soluble will pass through the thin skin under your tongue and into the veins clearly visible through that thin skin?

It seems pretty simple to me.

 

[Rorthron]

If you handle lead long enough, enough will pass through your skin and kill you.

You're wondering why a saliva suspension of a drug that's not water soluble will pass through the thin skin under your tongue and into the veins clearly visible through that thin skin?

It seems pretty simple to me.

My guess is that in fact water insoluble compounds actually may have another route for entering the circulation. Nitroglycerin is absorbed sublingually at minute dosages of 500 ug and has minimal water solubility.

Lead poisoning is a poor example, as the levels of lead in the blood build up. And does so very slowly and poisoning get established at very low dosages. If I hold a piece of lead for 2 hours in my hand there is 0% that I will develop lead poisoning, although if I manipulate that lead for 2 hours every day for 1 year, there is a significant risk in getting it. Yet, as you probably know, it is not by manipulating lead that the vas majority of lead poisoning cases occurs.

 

[AlphaMethylPhenyl]

You're wondering why a saliva suspension of a drug that's not water soluble will pass through the thin skin under your tongue and into the veins clearly visible through that thin skin?

It seems pretty simple to me.

But then it won't pass through the skin of the nose and into the bloodstream while some drugs will. This doesn't have to do with fat-solubility, right?

 

[Herbal~Jah]

It seems like taking benzos sublingually is still a mystery the BL community.... Placebo? Does the benzo have to be made specifically by pharma company for the benzo to be effective sublingually? Who knows?

PS - Anyways don't pretty much all Benzos have a 90% BA orally? The only time i find myself considering taking a benzo sublingual is if I just got done eating a big meal and have a full stomach, b/c taking benzos on a full stomach is pretty much useless - mid-as-well just throw the benzo down the drain. ha 8)

 

[sekio]

It seems like taking benzos sublingually is still a mystery the BL community.... Placebo?

Uhm, no, it's not a mystery either.

You put a benzo tablet against your gums. A *small* amount of the BZD dissolves into your saliva and then crosses over to the blood vessels on your gums or under your tongue. Then since that little bit of dissolved drug is being swept out of your mouth, more drug can dissolve, & you have a tablet that releases itself into your blood stream, as long as there is a *tiny* amount of water solubility, it's all good.

The reason people use sublinual/buccal BZDS rather than snorting them, is cause it's easier to hold a tablet in your mouth rather than hold BZD powder on your sinuses. Absorbtion can be rather hit-and-miss...