Valium is the best known trade name of diazepam, the best known of a class of drugs called the benzodiazepines which began to be used in place of barbituates in the early 1960s. From 1969 to 1982, it was the best selling drug in the United States. It has many clinical uses - to treat anxiety, insomnia, seizures, muscle spasms, alcohol withdrawal and even withdrawal from other benzodiazepines. Valium and its related drugs tend to be both more effective and safer than the drugs they replaced. It can be administered orally, intravenously, intramuscularly, or through a suppository. It rapidly diffuses through the body's tissues. As such, it often must be avoided by nursing mothers. Valium works by binding to molecules that control the firing of neurons and inhibit this function. Valium has sid