Mother's Little Helper

What a drag it is getting old

Kids are different today
I hear every mother say
Mother needs something today to calm her down
And though she's not really ill
There's a little yellow pill

She goes running for the shelter
Of her Mother's Little Helper
And it helps her on her way
Gets her through her busy day

- The Rolling Stones "Mother's Little Helper"

In 1966, The Rolling Stones released the song “Mother’s Little Helper,” which is about a mother needing the “little yellow pill” to get through the day. The little yellow pill was "Valium". Fast forward to 2011, Mommy and Daddy call Valium..."Audrey's Little Helper".

I've been taking Valium since late March and let me telling you about my experience chasing "little white rabbits".



Back in February, the neurologist talked about various drug therapy to help with my spasticity but didn't think I needed to start anything yet. A week later, I had a really bad night and was really irritable, which makes me very stiff. So Daddy spoke with the neurologist and got a prescription of Valium (diazepam 5mg/5mL solution) to use when needed when I got irritable. At first, Daddy and Mommy didn't really want to use it because they felt guilty they were drugging me and knocking me out. But I had a couple of really bad nights where I couldn't control myself and kept Mommy and Daddy up for hours. So reluctantly they tried it one night for their own sanity (no they didn't take it)...WOW...I slept like a baby that night!



Mommy and Daddy only gave me one-third the prescribed dosage and I was still a bit groggy the next day but to their surprise, I was really limber and loose. I was able to move my arms and legs much more freely. Daddy wondered if it was just the anxiolytic effect of Valium or something else, so he did some research on Valium and spasticity.

Daddy explained to me that in 1957, Hoffmann-La Roche introduced the class of tranquilizers known as benzodiazepines, with Valium (diazepam) and Rohypnol (flunitrazepam) being the best known members. Valium got the nickname "Mother's Little Helper" because overstressed British housewives in the 1960 and 1970's were using it to help them get through their boring, repressed lives. Rohyphol (aka "Roofies") were introduced to the US in the 1990's and became known as the "date rape" drug.

If you want the bottom line (like Mommy does), then skip down to the section IN SUMMARY, if you don't want to scientific explanation of how Valium helps me.



Benzodiazepines are commonly used for treating anxiety, insomnia, seizures, muscle spasms and alcohol withdrawal. Basically it calms people down and makes them more relaxed...which what I experienced. How it works is that all benzodiazepines act by enhancing the actions of a natural brain chemical, GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid). GABA is a neurotransmitter, an agent which transmits messages from one brain cell (neuron) to another. The message that GABA transmits is an inhibitory one: it tells the neurons that it contacts to slow down or stop firing.

Since about 40% of the millions of neurons all over the brain respond to GABA, this means that GABA has a general quietening influence on the brain: it is in some ways the body's natural hypnotic and tranquillizer. This natural action of GABA is augmented by benzodiazepines which thus exert an extra (often excessive) inhibitory influence on neurons (Fig. 1).

Fig. 1. Diagram of mechanism of action of the natural neurotransmitter GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid) and benzodiazepines on nerve cells (neurons) in the brain

(1,2) Nerve impulse causes release of GABA from storage sites on neuron 1
(3) GABA released into space between neurons
(4) GABA reacts with receptors on neuron 2; the reaction allows chloride ions (Cl^-) to enter the neuron
(5) This effect inhibits further progress of the nerve impulse
(6,7) Benzodiazepines react with booster site on GABA receptors
(8) This action enhances the inhibitory effects of GABA; the ongoing nerve impulse may be completely blocked

The way in which GABA sends its inhibitory message is by a clever electronic device. Its reaction with special sites (GABA-receptors) on the outside of the receiving neuron opens a channel, allowing negatively charged particles (chloride ions) to pass to the inside of the neuron. These negative ions "supercharge" the neuron making it less responsive to other neurotransmitters which would normally excite it. Benzodiazepines also react at their own special sites (benzodiazepine receptors), situated actually on the GABA-receptor. Combination of a benzodiazepine at this site acts as a booster to the actions of GABA, allowing more chloride ions to enter the neuron, making it even more resistant to excitation. Various subtypes of benzodiazepine receptors have slightly different actions. One subtype (alpha 1) is responsible for sedative effects, another (alpha 2) for anti-anxiety effects, and both alpha 1 and alpha 2, as well as alpha 5, for anticonvulsant effects. All benzodiazepines combine, to a greater or lesser extent, with all these subtypes and all enhance GABA activity in the brain.

As a consequence of the enhancement of GABA's inhibitory activity caused by benzodiazepines, the brain's output of excitatory neurotransmitters, including norepinephrine (noradrenaline), serotonin, acetyl choline and dopamine, is reduced. Such excitatory neurotransmitters are necessary for normal alertness, memory, muscle tone and co-ordination, emotional responses, endocrine gland secretions, heart rate and blood pressure control and a host of other functions, all of which may be impaired by benzodiazepines.

IN SUMMARY...Valium binds to receptors sites in the brain and enhances the inhibitory activity of the neurotransmitter GABA, that tells neurons to slow down or stop firing, which reduces the amount of tone or spasticity of my arms and legs. Basically it allows me to release and move more freely.