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From: carter@gatech.UUCP (Carter Bullard)
Newsgroups: net.med
Subject: Re: Valium
Message-ID: <12595@gatech.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 17-Mar-85 23:19:48 EST
Article-I.D.: gatech.12595
Posted: Sun Mar 17 23:19:48 1985
Date-Received: Mon, 18-Mar-85 08:05:32 EST
References: <271@ttidcc.UUCP> <191@bbnccv.UUCP>
Organization: School of ICS, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta
Lines: 45

> If you look at the number of doses of Valium prescribed versus the number
> of cases of abuse, not to mention addiction, it is vanishingly low.  This
> seems to be forgotten in the rather sensational stories one often hears
> about drugs.  Therapeutic doses of Valium don't cause physical addiction.
	
	I can't agree with these statements.  Addiction is not a
	dose dependant type of behavior, that is the amount one takes at a
	given time doesn't appear to influence the level or intensity of a
	persons addiction to the particular drug.  Don't confuse the properties
	of addiction with that of tolerance.  Many addicts do inevitably move
	toward higher doses due to tolerance, but the process of addiction
	development is not dose dependant.

> Like almost any minor tranquilizer or sedative, prolonged high doses can
> cause physical dependence.  Given to a person who has an "addictive
> personality", that is, prone to abuse drugs, you'll see problems. Prescribing
> any drug indiscriminately and without supervision is bad medicine.
> 
	All of this is ok except the "high doses" part, (and this minor
	tranquilizer biz, and this almost any sedative).  You can easily 
	become addicted to 5mg tablets of valium by taking them 3-4 times 
	a day for about 2-5 months,  and this is not an unusual therapy 
	for general anxiety.  A few people have become addicted to a drug called 
	Librax, which is an ulcer medicine that contains rather small amounts 
	of librium.

> Used appropriately, Valium is a safe, useful drug.  That includes all the
> readers here who have used it for muscle spasm or even (horrors) mild
> anxiety.  They needn't worry too much about Jerry's scare story, which
> describes hard-core abuse.

	This use of the term hard-core here is, in my opinion, misleading 
	and very reminescent(sp?) of popular myths about alcohol abuse.

	I can't get down on valium, part of my graduate thesis in pharmacology
	was on valium's effect on postnatal brain development and responsiveness.
	And I must say that valium is very interesting, but I can't give
	as cavalier an opinion as the one above with regards to long term
	valium use.

-- 
Carter Bullard
ICS, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta GA 30332
CSNet:Carter @ Gatech	ARPA:Carter.Gatech @ CSNet-relay.arpa
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