Hello again from the Compound Lab!
I’ll be continuing the discussion on hormone replacement therapy (HRT), so if you missed the previous weeks’ posts, I’d encourage you to read those first.
Last week we talked about HRT creams; this week I’ll cover the oral options—capsules, troches, and sublingual drops!
Capsules are extremely popular for HRT. They are versatile and can accommodate just about any dose or combination of HRT ingredients. Plus, they’re easy to take. They are a bit pricier than creams, but many of our patients are okay with the small premium in exchange for the convenience capsules offer.
Troches may be a dosage form you haven’t heard of before. They aren’t very common anymore, even in the pharmacy world, but they do still have their uses. I like to describe them as a cross between a gummy and a lozenge, and they are taken by mouth. They are generally dissolved under the tongue or between the cheek and gum. They can also be swallowed whole like capsules, but this may decrease their absorption.
We have two main bases we use for troches. One is more of a chocolate consistency, while the other is more like a soft, rapid-dissolving cough drop. Hormones are generally bitter and bad-tasting, but our troche bases reduce bitterness and can have custom flavors added too (my personal favorite ones to work with are butterscotch and mango-passion fruit).
Lastly, sublingual drops work very similarly to troches (sublingual just means “under the tongue”) but are liquid instead of solid. Like troches, sublingual drops can also be flavored—although they are absorbed faster than troches, so you may not need any additional flavoring. Unfortunately, the smaller size of sublingual drops does mean that larger HRT doses may not be possible with them.
If any of these options sound interesting to you, we’d love to talk!
As always, we're available in the lab Monday through Friday, 9am to 5pm. Or you can email me anytime at brandon.ladage@belewdrugs.com. We’d love to hear from you!
Until next time,
Brandon
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