How do the strips really work. I mean the primary factor is that they actually work. Your body recognizes the difference. You can feel the effects. Regardless of what someone tells you or scientific facts, at the the end of the day what matters is the fact that “IT Works” To get a better handle on questions that you might receive, I have included some terms from Web MD to explain the areas where the strips are placed and pass through 1. Digestive Tract 2. Buccal Mucosa 3. Sublingual
Digestive Tract
Obviously the strips are digested through the digestive tract as well. They go through the normal process of digestion just like any other liquid or solid we put into our body. One part of that process is the first-pass effect.
The first-pass effect (also known as first-pass metabolism or presystemic metabolism) is a phenomenon of chemical metabolism whereby the concentration of a chemical is greatly reduced before it reaches the systemic circulation.
After a chemical is swallowed, it is absorbed by the digestive system and enters the hepatic portal system. It is carried through the portal vein into the liver before it reaches the rest of the body. The liver metabolizes many drugs, sometimes to such an extent that only a small amount of active drug emerges from the liver to the rest of the circulatory system. This first pass through the liver thus greatly reduces the bioavailability of the drug. Alternative routes of administration like suppository[dubious – discuss], intravenous, intramuscular, and sublingual avoid the first-pass effect because they allow drugs to be absorbed directly into the systemic circulation.
The four primary systems that affect the first pass effect of a drug are the enzymes of the gastrointestinal lumen, gut wall enzymes, bacterial enzymes, and hepatic enzymes. Source Web MD
Buccal mucosa
is mucous membrane of the inside of the cheek. It is non-keratinised and is continuous with the mucosae of the soft palate, under surface of tongue and the floor of the mouth. Source Web MD
Sublingual
Sublingual, literally ‘under the tongue’, from Latin, refers to the pharmacological route of administration by which drugs diffuse into the blood through tissues under the tongue. Many pharmaceuticals are designed for sublingual administration, including cardiovascular drugs, steroids, barbiturates, enzymes, and increasingly, vitamins and minerals.
The principle behind sublingual administration is simple. When a chemical comes in contact with the mucous membrane beneath the tongue, or buccal mucosa, it diffuses through it. Because the connective tissue beneath the epithelium contains a profusion of capillaries, the substance then diffuses into them and enters the venous circulation. In contrast, substances absorbed in the intestines are subject to “first pass metabolism” in the liver before entering the general circulation.
Sublingual administration has certain advantages over oral administration. Being more direct, it is often faster, and it ensures that the substance will risk degradation only by salivary enzymes before entering the bloodstream, whereas orally administered drugs must survive passage through the hostile environment of the gastrointestinal tract, which risks degrading them, either by stomach acid or bile, or by the many enzymes therein, such as monoamine oxidase (MAO). Furthermore, after absorption from the gastrointestinal tract, such drugs must pass to the liver, where they may be extensively altered; this is known as the first pass effect of drug metabolism. Due to the digestive activity of the stomach and intestines and the solubility of the GI tract, the oral route is unsuitable for certain substances, such as salvinorin A. Source Web MD
