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  3. VALIUM In the 1960s, Valium was launched around the world as the new miracle pill. It was prescribed for dozens of ailments,

VALIUM In the 1960s, Valium was launched around the world as the new miracle pill. It was prescribed for dozens of ailments,

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问题                          VALIUM
    In the 1960s, Valium was launched around the world as the new miracle pill. It was prescribed for dozens of ailments, including stress, panic attacks, back pain, insomnia and calming patients before and after surgery. Four decades later, many are questioning why the drug is still so popular, given that doctors and drug addiction workers believe Valium, and drugs like it, create more health problems than they solve.

    Valium-a Latin word meaning "strong and well"-was developed in the early 1960s in the United States (US) by Dr. Leo Sternbach, a Polish chemist working for pharmaceutical giant Hoffman-LaRoche. Approved for use in 1963, Valium quickly became a favourite among mental heath professionals and general practitioners. Valium was the most prescribed drug in the US between 1969 and 1982. At the peak of Valium use in the 1970s, Hoffman LaRoche’s parent company, the Roche Group, was selling about two billion Valium pills a year, earning the company $US 600 million a year. Valium quickly became a household name, the drug of choice for millions of people, from the rich and famous to the stressed executive and the frustrated housewife.
    These days Valium is still a popular choice. From 2002-2003, 50% of prescriptions for diazepams (the generic name for Valium) in Australia were for Valium. Almost two million scripts were issued for diazepam in 2002, costing consumers and governments more than $13 million.
    Diazepams belong to a class of drugs known as benzodiazepines, which include tranquillizers to ease anxiety and hypnotics to treat insomnia. Valium and other benzodiazepines were marketed as fast acting, non-addictive and as having no side effects. Initially benzodiazepines were considered to be quite safe, especially compared to other drugs on the market. For example, barbiturates were also very toxic and a small overdose would be fatal.
    One of the great advantages of benzodiazepines over their predecessors was that even if the patient took many tablets, they would get very sick and go off to sleep, but they wouldn’t die. It seemed too good to be true. And of course it was.

    Some doctors began to observe alarming facts about benzodiazepines which weren’t well known during the 1960s and the 1970s, and which are still true today. They were addictive, even in small doses; they could be safely prescribed for only a very short period; and the body adapted to the drug within a week, which usually led the user to take higher dosages or an increased number of tablets.
    In addition to this, what wasn’t well known until the early 1980s is that a much larger group of people had become dependent on these benzodiazepines, including Valium, by taking the normal dose. Although they were only taking 2 mg three times a day, doctors observed that within a week they were becoming dependent. Moreover, they were becoming very ill if that dose was reduced or withdrawn.
    Because the withdrawal from benzodiazepines is brutal, doctors continue to prescribe the medication for fear of the patient’s health during withdrawal. Doctors believe that there is no point in refusing to prescribe the drug until the patient is prepared to stop. Valium has a long half-life, which means that it takes 30-plus hours for the body to get rid of half of the daily dose. As a result, withdrawals from Valium are just as difficult as withdrawals from other drugs, including alcohol. Patients who are withdrawing can have fits for five or six days after they have stopped taking Valium, which is one of the big Asks. It usually takes the body five to seven days to detoxify from alcohol and less than a month for heroin compared to withdrawal from Valium which can take up to six months.
    Many doctors believe that Valium gives people false hope and argue that while many patients feel better when they initially begin taking the drug, the feelings are short-lived. In the case of benzodiazepines they should only be taken as part of an overall examination of the patient’s lifestyle.
    Guidelines have been developed to support the appropriate use by doctors and patients of Valium and other benzodiazepines. Doctors need to talk about what is causing the stress and suggest possible alternative treatment options. The flip side of the coin is that consumers need to take ownership of the medicines that they are taking. They should talk to their doctor about the impact the medication has on their health. This also helps doctors to help manage their patient’s health. The emergence of concerns over the use of Valium, originally hailed as the wonder drug of its day, is a warning for us all to be cautious about the newer drugs. What it all boils down to is that doctors and patients need to monitor the use of all medicines-this includes prescription medicine as welt as over-the-counter medications.
    (Source: The Weekend Australian, Saturday 26 July 2003, "Anxious and Addicted" by Clare Pirani. Copyright." used with permission.)
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