Ask Larry:

Your Question: Do you compound LDN (Low Dose Naltrexone Hydrochloride) sublingual drops?

I have been taking one 3mg pill at bedtime for 10 years. The last 5+ years I have had increasing stomach and gastro issues. When I stop the LDN pills, those side effects seem to be much less of an issue in a matter of a few days.

I was going to ask my doctor to prescribe the drops instead and wanted to ask you, what would be comparable to the 3mg or maybe 3.5mg pill if it were in the sublingual drop and how he should prescribe?

Larry’s Response: Naltrexone Hydrochloride is soluble in water and has a decent shelf life – around 60 days. And, it tastes terrible.

We can make a solution that delivers approximately 0.5 mg in every drop; 3 mg would use 6 drops, 3.5 mg would be 7, and so on. I say “approximately” because there’s no accurate way to guarantee the volume in a single drop. It varies by temperature, the thickness of the solution, and how hard a person squeezes the bulb.

I do not have information about the dose effectiveness of a sublingual drop vs. an oral capsule. If the drops are held in the mouth – not swallowed – the absorption is probably higher than when the dose is swallowed and subjected to the digestion process in the gut.

• Yes, we can make it.
• The actual amount dispensed per drop is an estimate.
• We don’t know the exact equivalence between a dose absorbed through the lining of the mouth and one that’s swallowed.
• The solution tastes terrible.

Having said those things, it would still probably be a reasonable approach because even wide dose variances are not significant when the overall doses are so low (3mg or so).