Flurazepam
Pronunciation:flur-AZ-eh-pam
Chemical Abstracts Service Registry Number:17617-23-1. (Hydrochloride form
1172-18-5)
Formal Names:Dalmane, Paxane
Type:Depressant (benzodiazepine class).Seepage 21
Federal Schedule Listing:Schedule IV (DEA no. 2767)
USA Availability:Prescription
Pregnancy Category:X
Uses.Flurazepam has become one of the most common benzodiazepine
class compounds in medical use around the globe. One reason for its popu-
larity is flurazepam’s high therapeutic index, meaning the dose needed for
medical action is much smaller than a fatal dose, making accidental poisoning
unlikely. Caregivers mainly use this long-acting drug to help people sleep,
and it has been used experimentally to reduce sleepwalking.
Drawbacks.Flurazepam often leaves people groggy the next day, impairing
their mental abilities (including memory and accuracy of perceptions). Such
problems can decrease after weeks or months of using the drug, but in one
experiment users never achieved normal performance while taking fluraze-
pam. Researchers find that volunteers may be unaware of the trouble they are
having. In contrast to those typical findings, experiments using healthy college
students found no effect on performance the day after taking a nighttime dose
of the drug.
Laboratory tests of users demonstrate impairment in reaction time, eye-
hand coordination, making decisions, and maintaining attention. All those
skills are relevant to operating an automobile. Twelve hours after taking a
nighttime dose of flurazepam, volunteers drove a test vehicle. Researchers
conducting the experiment concluded that such drivers were much more likely
to have a road accident than controls who received a placebo. Bolder experi-
menters had drivers take a car into actual traffic the day after ingesting flur-
azepam, and drivers had trouble keeping the car aligned in the proper lane.
An experiment using a driving simulator also showed people to have trouble
driving the morning after using flurazepam.
Users tend to be more accident prone in general, not just behind the steering
wheel of a car. A case report tells of a person’s muscular discoordination