Easily recognized as a little white pill with a trademark V, Valium (along with its generic version, diazepam) has been one of the most frequently prescribed medications in the world for the past half century. The first blockbuster benzodiazepine medication, Valium proved a safer, stronger, and more effective treatment for anxiety disorders than similar drugs in the 1960s, and it is still widely used today.

Benzodiazepines are quieting medications that slow down the central nervous system and affect chemicals in the brain that may become unbalanced and cause panic, insomnia, or anxiety. Valium was the second such drug to be invented by the Hoffmann–La Roche pharmaceutical company and, once approved in 1963, it quickly outsold its weaker, less effective predecessor. Diazepam was the top-selling pharmaceutical in the United States from 1969 to 1982, with peak sales of 2.3 billion tablets in 1978. In contrast to narcotics and barbiturates, Valium is much less dangerous, and relatively few deaths have been attributed to Valium alone.

However, Valium can be abused, and it is habit forming. Prescriptions tapered off as awareness of the drug’s dangers grew, although it is still widely prescribed. Benzodiazepines are also frequently prescribed for insomnia, although a newer class of drugs called nonbenzodiazepines—which tend to cause fewer side effects and less of a hungover feeling in the morning—have become the recommended first line of treatment for sleep-related problems.

Valium may also be used to treat agitation, shakiness, and hallucinations during alcohol withdrawal; to relax patients before surgery; and to relieve certain types of muscle pain. Alcohol and other sedative medications should not be used at the same time as Valium, and people with glaucoma, asthma, or other breathing problems; kidney or liver disease; or a history of depression or drug addiction may need a dosage adjustment to safely take Valium. Accidental falls are common in older people who take Valium because they may feel the drug’s effects more strongly.

ADDITIONAL FACTS

  1. According to the World Health Organization, diazepam is an “essential drug,” necessary to meet the needs of a basic health care system.
  2. Neurologists have begun prescribing diazepam for the treatment of certain types of epilepsy and for a rare disorder called stiff person syndrome.
  3. Valium has earned the nicknames Executive Excedrin, for its popularity among corporate types, and Mother’s Little Helper—after the 1966 Rolling Stones song—for its use by harried middle-class housewives.