For example, Valium is meant to be ingested and metabolized orally and then processed through the stomach and gastrointestinal system. The way a person takes Valium can also influence the rate at which a dose can prove lethal. The same is true if Valium is mixed with alcohol, another depressant substance. They also can lower body temperature to dangerous levels, leading to coma, a lack of oxygen to the brain and brain damage, or death. Mixing these substances can then slow down the heart rate, breathing, and blood pressure. Food and Drug Administration(FDA) issued a warning about combining benzodiazepine drugs and opioids, as this combination can be lethal.īoth Valium (Diazepam) and opioid drugs (including prescription painkillers, cough medications, and the illegal drug heroin) are central nervous system depressants, which means they will act to slow down autonomic and life-sustaining functions. Benzodiazepine overdose rates are on the rise, and most fatalities include another drug or alcohol as well. Factors Influencing Diazepam Overdose and Lethal Doseīetween 19, overdose deaths involving a benzodiazepine drug like Valium jumped sevenfold, per the Chicago Tribune. That being said, it is possible to overdose on Valium, and the consequences of doing so can include coma, brain damage, and death. It takes a lot of the drug to overwhelm the system and create a toxic effect. Valium is difficult to overdose on when taken as directed, by itself, and in regular doses.
Higher doses than this, combining Valium with other substances, or taking the drug in a way other than as intended can all increase the odds of a life-threatening overdose. Valium is generally prescribed to be taken in doses between 4 mg and 40 mg per day, with doses not typically exceeding 10 mg at a time. Valium is a long-acting benzodiazepine with a half-life of up to 48 hours, which means it can be active in the body for a few days. Diazepam is fat-soluble, which means it is stored in the body’s fat cells and released during a specific time. It comes in 2 mg, 5 mg, and 10 mg tablet formulations that are meant to be swallowed and digested through the gastrointestinal system. Valium is prescribed to manage symptoms of anxiety for short periods. sought treatment in an emergency department (ED) in 2011 because of an adverse reaction to diazepam, the Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN) publishes.
The active ingredient in Valium, diazepam, is one of the most prescribed and abused benzodiazepine medications.
At present the most common combination of antidotes against soman, consisting of obidoxime and atropine, as well as a prospective combination containing oxime HI-6 and atropine should be supplemented with diazepam not only to prevent centrally induced seizures and tonic-clonic convulsions but also to increase the ability of such antidotal therapy to eliminate acute lethal toxicity of soman.The National Institute on Drug Abuse(NIDA) published in 2016 that 10,684 Americans died from an overdose involving a benzodiazepine drug. At the same time, the addition of diazepam to the antidotal therapy does not change the difference in the efficacy of the antidotal therapy in dependence on the selected anticholinergic agent or acetylcholinesterase reactivator.
In the case of employment of anticholinergic agents with prevailing central effects, such as benactyzine, biperiden, or scopolamine, the addition of diazepam will not significantly influence the therapeutic efficacy of the antidotal therapy regardless of the selected aetylcholinesterase reactivator. The obtained results show that addition of diazepam to the basic antidotal therapy increases the ability of the antidotal therapy to eliminate acute lethal effects of soman if it includes atropine as an anticholinergic agent regardless of the employed type of acetylcholinesterase reactivator. The efficacy of the basic antidotal therapy of acute intoxications by soman evaluated in this way was compared with the effect of an antidotal therapy enriched with diazepam, a drug with anticonvulsive action. Experiments on male rats examined the effect of a basic antidotal therapy consisting of various types of anticholinergic substances and reactivators of acetylcholinesterase on the lethal effects of the highly toxic organophosphorous compound soman by means of determination of the medium lethal dose of soman in 24-hour survival of experimental animals.
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