Valium is a medication prescribed for anxiety, insomnia and seizures. It is a long acting benzodiazepine which produces feelings of intense calm and has a sedative effect. Valium causes chemicals like dopamine to be released in the brain. Dopamine can be used by the brain as a reward to reinforce beneficial behaviours. This can lead to changes in the brain that encourage you to continue the behaviours that release dopamine. This is how a Valium addiction develops.
Long term effects can be permanent and life threatening. They range from memory loss and breathing difficulties through to heart attack, coma, impaired cognition and psychosis. Most overdoses from Valium occur when the drug is mixed with other central nervous system depressants like opiates and alcohol – the respiratory system is suppressed with deadly results.

