Information on the Anti-Anxiety Drug Diazepam

By: Mike Argiro Click author's name for more of his/her articles

The Side Effects

Diazepam has been a very successful drug and has contributed significantly in treating patients with various ailments. Having said that, we must also be aware that the drug has its side effects and we should guard against them, and if something seems wrong we should be able to contact our doctor before it is too late.

Common Side Effects

The drug has a few common side effects, which can generally be ignored, but if the problems persist and continue to bother, it is advisable to check with a doctor. The common side effects include drowsiness, slurry speech, unsteadiness or impaired coordination, dizziness, somnolence, suppression of REM sleep, nausea, impaired balance. While the list is long, a couple of things should be understood. This is not a complete and comprehensive list, so there can be, and there are other side effects. It is also true that a patient who is taking the drug might suffer from only a few or perhaps none of these side effects. Since these are very common side effects, there is not much to worry about during the initial stages. However, as we have said earlier, that if the problems persists it is better not to neglect.

Less Common Side Effects

There is a set of side effects that are less common but patients under the drug have shown symptoms of these. Not necessarily serious, these side effects should also be reported to the doctor if the problems persist over a period of time. These less common side effects are cramps in the stomach or abdominal pain, blurry vision or other difficulties in sighting things, decrease in libido and sexual ability, constipation, diarrhea, feeling of dryness inside the mouth accompanied by increased thirst, headache; muscle spasm, problems while urinating, trembling or shaking; unusually tired or weak.

While these are less common, these are not necessarily that serious. But it is always better to seek the opinion of your doctor. Don’t panic, but get a check up done if the problem persists.

Rare Side Effects

There have also been reports of side effects from patients under Diazepam medication that are extremely rare and must immediately be notified to a doctor. These side effects would include irregular heartbeat, often quite fast, as if the heart is pounding against the ribs, lack of memory or amnesia, especially of events that have happened recently, deep sense of depression. These are serious side effects and should be tackled immediately. There are other such rare side effects. These include disorientation, delusions (which can lead to people thinking up things that are imaginary and the belief is so strong in them that it is difficult to make the patients believe otherwise), behavioral changes, often showing aggressive traits and sometimes even bizarre conduct, hallucination, low blood pressure, rashes on the skin, ulcers in mouth, convulsions, etc.

Most of these side effects subside after modifying the dosage or stoppage of the medication. However, some patients have even shown withdrawal symptoms after the cessation of the drugs. So that should be taken care of too.