About me:I´ve been so busy travelling that I have not been able to post for quite some time (more than 4 year...
Member since:26.05.2001
Reviews:311
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Review rated by 47 Ciao members on average: very helpful
This review received a counterstatement by a party concernedRead Comment
Valium is something that probably everyone has heard about but many may not know the significance of it's usage and effects, whether in the positive or in the negative.
Valium is a brand of company called Roche. The only ingredient is a drug called Diazepam. Other brands are also available and they all contain exactly the same formulation ie. Diazepam.
Diazepam is most commonly found in tablet form. However it is also available in capsule, liquid, suppositories and injection forms.
It belongs to the group of drugs known as benzodiazepine and it has a wide range of uses. It helps to relieve nervousness and tension, will relax muscles and promote sleep. It can also be used as a muscle relaxant in the treatment of alcohol withdrawal and the relief of epileptic seizures.
My experience with Diazepam began after I had a car accident two years ago in West Africa. Due to that accident I broke two ribs, ruptured my chest muscle, cut my head and broke my front tooth.
I was prescribed first and foremost a medication called Dyclophenic Acid tablets (Dyclophenac), which was to reduce the intolerable pain that I was suffering from immediately after the accident. Even after taking these tablets I was still in severe pain and found it extremely difficult to sleep because any small movements would send a chilling pain straight through my chest. My doctor thus prescribed diazepam tablets to be taken three times a day. 5mg in the morning, 5mg in the afternoon and 10mg at night.
I went through with this dosage for one week and started reducing the dosage on the second week by discontinuing with the 5mg in the afternoon.
What I can say from personal experience is that this drug did help me tremendously in sleeping. It is basically a tranquilizer and thus induces a very heavy sleep. This basically numbs the nervous system thus allowing you not to experience your pain.
However after 3 weeks of taking diazepam my doctor recommended that I try to discontinue them and see how I felt and if I experienced any sleeping problems. That very night I could not sleep. Nor could I sleep for the next night. Basically my body had become so addicted to diazepam in just three weeks.
I worked in a pharmacy in West Africa for 2 years and I know that if I gave up and tried not to fight this addiction it would overwhelm me and I might be addicted for a very long time to come. Also knowing fully well that now was the easiest time to try and break the chain and the longer I waited the more difficult it would become to break.
I therefore persisted and withheld my temptation to take diazepam. On the fifth day, after discontinuing it, I got an almost perfect sleep.
Overall I can only say that diazepam does have its positive usages, as in my case, but the problem with this drug is that it is so easy to get addicted. My advice would be to try your best not to take this over long periods of time and make your fears, about addiction, known to your GP. It may be possible that he could prescribe something less powerful and therefore less effective, but at the same time less addictive and overall more beneficial to you. After all you wouldn’t want to get over one sickness to find yourself overwhelmed with an addiction of sorts.
So all of you out there who use Valium (Diazepam) please be careful.
I hope you have fully recovered from your accident. I agree with your op, I have been prescribed Valium but have only used it twice becuase I'm worried about getting addicted. Thanks for your review. K x
28.03.2004 22:46
I hope you have fully recovered from your accident. I agree with your op, I have been prescribed Valium but have only used it twice becuase I'm worried about getting addicted. Thanks for your review. K x
31.12.2001 03:34
A very informative read. Hope you are much better now.
26.12.2001 12:18
What an horrible accident you had. Hope you are better!!