Diazepam (Valium)
A long-acting benzodiazepine used for the short-term treatment of anxiety and insomnia. It is also used to relieve the symptoms of alcohol withdrawal and to treat status epilepticus (repeated epileptic seizures), convulsions associated with fever in children, and chronic muscle spasm. Diazepam is also used to relax patients before operations or uncomfortable diagnostic procedures.
It is available, on prescription only, as tablets, an oral solution, an injection, suppositories, or a rectal solution. Some proprietary preparations of diazepam cannot be prescribed on the NHS.
Side effects: include drowsiness, light-headedness, confusion, shaky movements, and unsteady gait (especially in elderly people), amnesia, dependence, and paradoxical overexcitedness.
Rare side effects include headache, vertigo, gastrointestinal upsets (such as nausea or constipation), blurred vision, changes in libido, difficulty in passing urine, rashes, and a fall in blood pressure. Precautions: diazepam should not be taken by people who have respiratory depression, severe breathing problems, or severe liver disease, and it should not be used for treating depression, chronic psychosis,
phobias, or obsessional states. Diazepam should be used with caution in people who have lung disease or a history of alcohol or drug abuse and by women who are pregnant or breastfeeding.
Interactions with other drugs:
Isoniazid: increases the effects (including sedation) of diazepam.
Rifampicin: reduces the effects of diazepam.
Ritonavir: increases the plasma concentration of diazepam, causing profound sedation; these drugs should therefore not be taken together.
Diazepam Rectubes (rectal solution); Rimapam (tablets); Stesolid (rectal solution); Tensium (tablets); Valium (tablets or injection); Valclair (suppositories).