Sublingual administration

[Krsna108]

So I have some 5htp capsules which I want to take sublingually by emptying the capsule contents and putting it under my tongue as I have read that it's much more effective this way. My question is will it work, will the 5htp be absorbed? Because it is not specifically designed to be taken sublingually as a capsule I'm wondering if the powder will dissolve under tongue? Thanks

[YiQiu_Hu]

What's the dosage and brand?

[Red_Star]

I use sublingual B12 spray daily.  It does take around 5 minutes for B12 to reach the brain. Something I found out dramatically after 3 weeks without B12 (have autoimmune pernicious anaemia).  I would assume you need the proper sublingual form of a product for proper absorption.  

[Paxiled]

Again, though, the key is, what are you treating?  B12 is known for being very useful when taken sublingually, but if you have a persistent problem as you do it really doesn't matter, you need the B12 all the time.  The form of the B12 is more important.  Look, we all get our nutrients, all things being equal, by eating.  Digestion starts with saliva, but finishes in the digestive tract.  Unless we have a defect this obviously works as humans are still around.  The main benefit of taking anything sublingually is it gets into the system more quickly, and for some things, better.  But tryptophan is something being taken to make something else, which is serotonin which requires more than one nutrient to make.  There is no evidence that depressed or anxious people have any less serotonin than anyone else.  5-HTP usually takes a few weeks to start working, and you have to find the dose that suits you.  That's because of the nature of depression.  B12 is a whole other animal altogether.

[Paxiled]

There is no benefit to taking this sublingually that I know of.  Generally the reason you take anything that way is to get it into your system as quickly as possible or because saliva is beneficial to absorption.  With 5-HTP, it takes some time for your system to react to it assuming your body finds it necessary to have more coming in -- if it doesn't, it just evacuates it.  The same thing is true when you take medication targeted at serotonin, though they work quit differently.  It just takes the brain some weeks usually for the brain to adjust to the new serotonin regimen.  Amino acids are usually best taken apart from food because the digestive process can make them harder to absorb.  Remember, this drug needs to get past the blood/brain barrier for it to work.  I'd just take it as directed.  And remember, sublingual substances are either in liquid form or something that dissolves under the tongue.  This capsule isn't designed that way.  

[Paxiled]

Sorry, said this drug.  While 5-HTP isolated from a plant certainly isn't the natural way to get tryptophan into your body (eating food is), it's still not classified as a drug and doesn't act at all like antidepressant drugs in that the brain still uses it in the way it naturally uses tryptophan combined with B-6 to manufacture serotonin.  Oops.

[Krsna108]

Thanks for the answer, I read that if swallowed as tablet that it is a lot more difficult for the serotonin to get to the brain. But if taken under tongue it is absorbed quickly and gets to the brain. So I just wanted to know if the powder in the capsule would dissolve properly under the tongue? Or just stay there and do nothing? There is sublingual 5htp which is specifically for taking under the tongue but I have capsules at the moment , I have emptied them and tried it but I'm not sure if it works

[Paxiled]

I already answered you -- not sure what you're looking for.  Take as directed, this isn't something you need to get quickly to the brain, it doesn't work like that.  Perhaps what would help you is to do some study on how the brain uses serotonin.  This is, as I said, something that usually takes some weeks to even begin to work, so how does speeding up the process help that?  This is a long-term treatment for anxiety and depression, not something that will work right away.  It might not work in any case.  The most important thing is to buy from a good company that you can trust to make a good supplement, but your body is going to do with it what your body believes is necessary.  Again, this isn't B12 where you can force feed it to get a short-term burst of energy.  This isn't a virus that needs immediate treatment.  This is an adjustment in the amount of serotonin your brain will get and you're hoping it will utilize it over time, not just now.  But here's a suggestion because you're going to do what you're going to do, which is fine -- try taking it in both forms and see if you notice a difference.

[Rmmm]

I have a lot of personal experience with this. Yes, taking 5-HTP sublingually is very effective and extremely rapid. The blood vessels under the tongue go directly to the brain and the 5-HTP crosses the blood-brain barrier instantly.  (Tryptophan is a chemical step back and is not as effective. The industrial SSRI chemicals have a totally different action; they take weeks to work and are no where near as effective as 5-HTP. They also have all kinds of nasty systemic side effects and take weeks or even months to clear. Studies have repeatedly found them to be largely useless, so l don’t know why they’re still being prescribed.)

You should feel the effect from 5-HTP in less than 5 minutes. In fact, it is so effective that I would not use anywhere near the typical 50mg or 100mg caps for sublingual. You only need a few mg. You’ll risk down regulating your serotonin receptors if you blast your brain with those kinds of high doses.

[Paxiled]

Anyone reading the above post should know it's factually inaccurate on all counts.  SSRIs definitely work differently -- obviously.  5-HTP is a metabolite of tryptophan that the body uses in combination with Vitamin C, B6 and other co-factors to manufacture serotonin.  SSRIs target certain serotonin receptors while ignoring others and inhibit the enzyme that breaks down used serotonin so it washes longer in the targeted receptors.  So yeah, and yeah again, all antidepressants can take a while to work.  The brain has to get used to working in an unnatural fashion.  On the other hand, they certainly do work.  While no individual SSRI works hugely better than placebo in studies, there are a lot of antidepressants out there so you can find one that you absorb well and that works.  You do have to deal with side effects and they are very hard to stop taking, so I'm not telling anyone to go out and take them if you don't absolutely need them.  But they do work, so I have no idea what the above post is referring to.  Do they cure depression or anxiety?   No.  We don't know what causes those disorders so we obviously can't cure them with medication.  The only way 5-HTP would cure them is if the cause were a lack of serotonin production, which would be great but for the fact that nobody but Eli Lilly has ever claimed that serotonin has anything to do with why people get depressed or anxious.  So 5-HTp is also not a cure.  It also doesn't work as quickly, or as often, nor is it as strong.  That's why it's safer to use, but it too has side effects -- it can also cause increased anxiety, sedation, etc.  While it's not as hard to stop taking, it isn't that easy either if you've been taking it for awhile.  Finding the correct dosage isn't that quick, and it also takes a while to start working -- for some it might take months.  You will not, therefore, feel anything from 5-HTP in 5 minutes.  You in fact shouldn't feel anything from it for a few weeks.  You might get a sedation effect from it fairly quickly if you're using it for sleep, but not for anxiety or depression, which are very difficult disorders to treat with any form of treatment.  The only known cure for them is therapy or they just go away the way they came, in mystery and wonder.  For most it's a long fight and for many one that is never won.  The only reason tryptophan isn't very effective for most people is that it doesn't cross the blood/brain barrier very well.  5-HTP does that better.  But taking it sublingually bypasses a good part of the digestive process and is usually taken for things that need to be chewed to be effective or that you want a quick short burst of energy from -- for the former think DGL or zinc lozenges when you're sick, for the latter think B12.  But if you're in it for the long haul because you suffer from a disorder like depression or anxiety, seriously, who cares if it takes a little longer to get into your system and is fully digested?  It's going to take time for your brain to respond anyway, that's just how serotonin works.  And if you suck on it at a time your B6 and C have flushed from your system, it won't do anything at all.  Do your homework, folks, and beware of people peddling miracles -- with mental illness we just don't have them.