Medicine & Health Products

Diazepam is mainly used to treat anxiety, insomnia, and symptoms of acute alcohol withdrawal. It is also used as a premedication for inducing sedation, anxiolysis or amnesia before certain medical procedures (e.g., endoscopy).

Intravenous diazepam or lorazepam are first line treatments for status epilepticus; However, lorazepam has advantages over diazepam including a higher rate of terminating seizures and a more prolonged anticonvulsant effect. Diazepam is rarely used for the long-term treatment of epilepsy because tolerance to the anticonvulsant effects of diazepam usually develops within 6 to 12 months of treatment, effectively rendering it useless for this purpose. Diazepam is used for the emergency treatment of eclampsia, when IV magnesium sulfate and blood pressure control measures have failed. However, benzodiazepines such as diazepam can be used for their muscle relaxant properties to alleviate pain which is caused by muscle spasms, caused by various dystonias, including blepharospasm Tolerance often develops to the muscle relaxant effects of benzodiazepines such as diazepam. Baclofen or tizanidine is sometimes used as an alternative to diazepam. Tizanidine has been found to be equally effective as other antispasmodic drugs and have superior tolerability than baclofen and diazepam. Benzodiazepines do not have any pain relieving properties of themselves and are generally recommended to be avoided in individuals with pain.

The anticonvulsant effects of diazepam, can help in the treatment of seizures, due to a drug overdose or chemical toxicity as a result of exposure to sarin, VX, soman, lindane, chloroquine, physostigmine, or pyrethroids Diazepam is sometimes used intermitently for the prophylaxis of febrile seizures which occur as a result of a high fever in children and neonates under 5 years of age. Long-term use of diazepam for the management of epilepsy is not recommended; however, a subgroup individuals