Diazepam Dosage

Diazepam is one of the earliest drugs in the benzodiazepine a class of medications that has many uses. One of the primary things to know about this whole class of drugs is that they are more alike than different, and that the withdrawal syndrome after prolonged use can be very severe and even life threatening.

Benzodiazepines were first introduced in 1955 and are used to enhance the effect of gamma- aminobutyric acid (GABA), which is thought to help with relaxation. It is used to treat anxiety, epilepsy, inducing coma and amnesia in major surgeries. This class of drugs is also abused for recreational effects.

Diazepam dosage varies a great deal depending on the indication. Some patients use doses as low as 1mg, but a typical diazepam dosage is 5 mg, and is often used two or three times daily. With prolonged use considerable tolerance to the sedation and anxiolytic effects of diazepam often occurs, and higher doses are sometimes needed in these situations. For prevention of alcohol withdrawal syndrome in alcohol dependent patients much higher doses are sometimes required.

During life threatening situation like delirium tremens or benzodiazepine withdrawal, a titrated diazepam dosage might be given orally or even intravenously to control the symptoms. After stabilizing the emergent situation a gradually taper of the diazepam dosage may be prescribed. Diazepam is a fairly long half-life benzodiazapines and this is used to advantage sometimes in tapering off shorter acting drugs in this class to try to avoid withdrawal.

See a related post on Diazepam side effects and share your knowledge about dosages in the comments.