Anxiety & Depression Treatment

Valium belongs to the family of benzodiazepines. The medicine is manufactured by Roche and brought to market under the following brand names: Valium, Seduxen and Apozepam. Valium can be used as an anxiolytic, and an anticonvulsant. It can help to relax the skeletal muscles. It can also be used as a sedative. Due to these properties Valium is used to treat sleeplessness and anxiety, muscular cramps and even epilepsy. Valium is being increasingly used before medical procedures like endoscopies because of its property to lessen tension. Valium is also used in the treatment of amnesia.

Dosage

Dosage of Valium administered should be based on various factors like the medical state of the patient and the age of the individual. This would ensure providing the maximum efficiency. The dosage of Valium administered to adults for insomnia would be about 30 milligrams a day as tablets. These tablets would be taken just before bed time. At the same time, to treat anxiety or panic attacks, Valium could be taken as tablets or as injective. For children of 12 years or below, the Valium dose is kept at a minimum to start with, based on the child’s body weight. It could also be given in the form of a rectal suppository. But children below six months of age should not use Valium.

Side Effects

The side effects of Valium are not too serious or fatal. Common side effects are drowsiness, muscle pain, lack of coordination, instability, tiredness, depression, and difficulty with reflexes. Most of the benzodiazepines cause similar side effects as these, and they do not require any treatment.

Other side effects like nervousness, irritation, stomach trouble, headache, sexual problems, and violence may also be caused in some patients. If these symptoms occur it means that the Valium dosage might have to be altered. Valium interacts with drugs like barbiturates and antidepressants. So if the patient has been administering any of these drugs the medical practitioner should know of it. Valium is not advised if the patient has an alcoholic history or if he had been on drugs in the past. This is because Valium can effectively aggravate the depressive results of alcohol and other sedatives. As such it could lead to dangerous situations if an alcoholic was to be treated with Valium.

There are a few more medicines and drugs that may interact with Valium, like anti-psychotics, ranitidine, and tobacco. Food stuffs that cause acidity and acidification of the urine might cause quicker absorption of Valium, thus eliminating it. This causes a drop in Valium levels and so the treatment might not be as effective as it should be. Food items that are alkaline could cause also your urine to become alkaline the result of which means that a slower absorption of Valium occurs, and the valium drug levels and effect on the body increases beyond control.

Withdrawal

If Valium is taken for more than six weeks at a time physical dependence could result. This would lead to withdrawal syndrome when Valium is discontinued. To stop Valium medication, the drug is slowly weaned and is not abruptly stopped. It takes two weeks or so to slowly reduce the dosage and come off the drug.

 

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