Quazepam
Pronunciation:KWAY-ze-pam (also pronounced KWA-ze-pam)
Chemical Abstracts Service Registry Number:36735-22-5
Formal Names:Doral, Dormalin
Type:Depressant (benzodiazepine class).Seepage 21
Federal Schedule Listing:Schedule IV (DEA no. 2881)
USA Availability:Prescription
Pregnancy Category:X
Uses.Insomnia is one of the main medical conditions treated by this drug,
which also has anticonvulsant properties. The compound has been found use-
ful to counteract insomnia actions of some psychiatric medicines. Although
one insomnia study showed doses losing some effectiveness over time, pa-
tients continued to sleep better for 15 nights after dosage stopped, an im-
provement not observed when people stop taking some other antiinsomnia
drugs. Similar findings have come from other experimentation. Antiinsomnia
drugs commonly have “rebound” effects in which insomnia temporarily be-
comes worse than ever when dosage stops. Little or no rebound is observed
with quazepam, perhaps because it is eliminated rather slowly from the body.
A study noted that quazepam not only reduced anxiety among insomniacs
but that the decline in anxiety continued for 15 days after dosage stopped.
The drug has been tested against other substances used against insomnia:
triazolam,temazepam, andflurazepam. In some respects triazolam was six
times stronger than quazepam, but researchers judged quazepam as superior
to triazolam and temazepam in aiding sleep. In animals quazepam produced
brainwave measurements that resembled normal sleep more than flurazepam
did. Flurazepam leaves people groggier than quazepam the day after bedtime
use. In contrast to flurazepam, quazepam slows mice without making them
physically discoordinated. Still another advantage of quazepam is its relative
safety; in one experiment a particular dose of flurazepam killed animals, but
four times that amount of quazepam left animals apparently unharmed—and
still larger doses caused sickness but not death. One group of experimenters
was unable to find the LD50 (lethal dose 50) of quazepam. “LD50” is the
amount of drug that will kill half the animals receiving it; the researchers
could not find a dose producing fatal poisoning in more than 10% of the
animals. Other experimenters, however, report success at achieving LD50. An-