首页
登录
职称英语
VALIUM In the 1960s, Valium was launched around the
VALIUM In the 1960s, Valium was launched around the
游客
2024-01-09
32
管理
问题
VALIUM
In the 1960s, Valium was launched around the world as the new miracle pill. It was prescribed for dozens of ailments, including stress, panic attacks, back pain, insomnia and calming patients before and after surgery. Four decades later, many are questioning why the drug is still so popular, given that doctors and drug addiction workers believe Valium, and drugs like it, create more health problems than they solve.
Valium-a Latin word meaning "strong and well"-was developed in the early 1960s in the United States (US) by Dr. Leo Sternbach, a Polish chemist working for pharmaceutical giant Hoffman-LaRoche. Approved for use in 1963, Valium quickly became a favourite among mental heath professionals and general practitioners. Valium was the most prescribed drug in the US between 1969 and 1982. At the peak of Valium use in the 1970s, Hoffman LaRoche’s parent company, the Roche Group, was selling about two billion Valium pills a year, earning the company $US 600 million a year. Valium quickly became a household name, the drug of choice for millions of people, from the rich and famous to the stressed executive and the frustrated housewife.
These days Valium is still a popular choice. From 2002-2003, 50% of prescriptions for diazepams (the generic name for Valium) in Australia were for Valium. Almost two million scripts were issued for diazepam in 2002, costing consumers and governments more than $13 million.
Diazepams belong to a class of drugs known as benzodiazepines, which include tranquillizers to ease anxiety and hypnotics to treat insomnia. Valium and other benzodiazepines were marketed as fast acting, non-addictive and as having no side effects. Initially benzodiazepines were considered to be quite safe, especially compared to other drugs on the market. For example, barbiturates were also very toxic and a small overdose would be fatal.
One of the great advantages of benzodiazepines over their predecessors was that even if the patient took many tablets, they would get very sick and go off to sleep, but they wouldn’t die. It seemed too good to be true. And of course it was.
Some doctors began to observe alarming facts about benzodiazepines which weren’t well known during the 1960s and the 1970s, and which are still true today. They were addictive, even in small doses; they could be safely prescribed for only a very short period; and the body adapted to the drug within a week, which usually led the user to take higher dosages or an increased number of tablets.
In addition to this, what wasn’t well known until the early 1980s is that a much larger group of people had become dependent on these benzodiazepines, including Valium, by taking the normal dose. Although they were only taking 2 mg three times a day, doctors observed that within a week they were becoming dependent. Moreover, they were becoming very ill if that dose was reduced or withdrawn.
Because the withdrawal from benzodiazepines is brutal, doctors continue to prescribe the medication for fear of the patient’s health during withdrawal. Doctors believe that there is no point in refusing to prescribe the drug until the patient is prepared to stop. Valium has a long half-life, which means that it takes 30-plus hours for the body to get rid of half of the daily dose. As a result, withdrawals from Valium are just as difficult as withdrawals from other drugs, including alcohol. Patients who are withdrawing can have fits for five or six days after they have stopped taking Valium, which is one of the big Asks. It usually takes the body five to seven days to detoxify from alcohol and less than a month for heroin compared to withdrawal from Valium which can take up to six months.
Many doctors believe that Valium gives people false hope and argue that while many patients feel better when they initially begin taking the drug, the feelings are short-lived. In the case of benzodiazepines they should only be taken as part of an overall examination of the patient’s lifestyle.
Guidelines have been developed to support the appropriate use by doctors and patients of Valium and other benzodiazepines. Doctors need to talk about what is causing the stress and suggest possible alternative treatment options. The flip side of the coin is that consumers need to take ownership of the medicines that they are taking. They should talk to their doctor about the impact the medication has on their health. This also helps doctors to help manage their patient’s health. The emergence of concerns over the use of Valium, originally hailed as the wonder drug of its day, is a warning for us all to be cautious about the newer drugs. What it all boils down to is that doctors and patients need to monitor the use of all medicines-this includes prescription medicine as welt as over-the-counter medications.
(Source: The Weekend Australian, Saturday 26 July 2003, "Anxious and Addicted" by Clare Pirani. Copyright." used with permission.) [br] *
选项
答案
increase
解析
转载请注明原文地址:https://tihaiku.com/zcyy/3346781.html
相关试题推荐
Asequenceissymmetricallydistributedarounditsarithmeticmeanm,andthenu
Theprocessofnuclearfission______requirestheuseofareactorcore,aroundw
Aroundtheworld,thebicycleisafavoritemethodoftransportation,espe
Aroundtheworld,thebicycleisafavoritemethodoftransportation,espe
Thousands,perhapsevenmillions,ofpeoplearoundtheworldareafflictedwith
Thousands,perhapsevenmillions,ofpeoplearoundtheworldareafflictedwith
Thousands,perhapsevenmillions,ofpeoplearoundtheworldareafflictedwith
SomemedievalEuropeanpainterssawiniquityallaroundthem:theyfeltthatthe
Aroundstrangers,Raviappeared(i)______;butoncehewaswithhisfriends,his
Notinga(i)______ofrobinsaroundhishome,thebird-watcherwonderedwhethert
随机试题
"ResourcesandIndustrialisminCanada"Whilethemuch-anticipatedexpansion
Duetothegreatdifficultyinbusiness,hedecidedto______thepaymentofthe
有人建议,中国所有的博物馆都应对中小学生免费开放,使他们有更多机会获得广博的知识。(access)Itissuggestedthatprimaryan
Fatherhoodisgoingtohaveadifferentmeaningandbringforthadifferent
患者,男性,25岁,因腰部被刺后伤口待续溢出淡红色液体,血压100/70mmHg
下列人员需在招股说明书上签字的是( )。 Ⅰ董事 Ⅱ监事 Ⅲ董事会秘书
一住店客人未付房钱即想离开旅馆去车站。旅馆服务员揪住他不让走,并打报警电话。客人
如果在总行之下设立若干机构,形成以总行为中心的银行网络系统,则该商业银行组织制度
在建设工程进度监测过程中,定期召开现场会议属于()的主要方式。A.实际进度与计划
铜止水带焊缝处的抗拉强度不应小于母材抗拉强度的( )%。A.50 B.70
最新回复
(
0
)