Diazepam is used to treat anxiety, insomnia, and symptoms of acute alcohol or opiate withdrawal. It is also used as a premedication for inducing sedation, anxiolysis or amnesia before certain medical procedures (e.g., endoscopy).

Diazepam has a broad spectrum of indications (most of which are off-label), including:

Treatment of anxiety, panic attacks, and states of agitation.

Treatment of status epilepticus, adjunctive treatment of other forms of epilepsy

Treatment of neurovegetative symptoms associated with vertigo.

Treatment of the symptoms of alcohol, opiate and benzodiazepine withdrawal

Short-term treatment of insomnia.

Treatment of tetanus, together with other measures of intensive-treatment

Adjunctive treatment of painful muscle conditions

Adjunctive treatment of spastic muscular paresis (para-/tetraplegia) caused by cerebral or spinal cord conditions such as stroke, multiple sclerosis, spinal cord injury (long-term treatment is coupled with other rehabilitative measures)

Palliative treatment of stiff person syndrome.

Pre-/postoperative sedation, anxiolysis and/or amnesia (e.g., before endoscopic or surgical procedures)[9]

Treatment of overdosage with hallucinogens or CNS stimulants.

Adjunctive treatment of drug-induced seizures, resulting from exposure to sarin, VX, soman (or other organophosphate poisons; See #CANA), lindane, chloroquine, physostigmine, or pyrethroids

Emergency treatment of eclampsia, along with IV magnesium sulfate

Prophylactic treatment of oxygen toxicity during hyperbaric oxygen therapy.
Used in the treatment for irritable bowel syndrome.
Used to treat pain resulting from muscle spasms caused by various dystonias, including blepharospasm.

indiactions

Diazepam was the second benzodiazepine to be invented by Sternbach of Hoffmann-La Roche, and was approved for use in 1960, in 1963 it’s improved version, Valium, was released and was incredibly popular (It also helped Roche to become a pharmaceutical industry giant). It is two and a half times more potent than its predecessor, chlordiazepoxide, which it quickly surpassed in terms of sales. After this initial success, other pharmaceutical companies began to introduce other benzodiazepine derivatives.

Benzodiazepines gained popularity among medical professionals as an improvement upon barbiturates, which have a comparatively narrow therapeutic index, and are far more sedating at therapeutic doses.