Valium: Mother’s Little Helper | 3

American Innovations

Wondery

Steven Johnson, History, Kids & Family, Education For Kids, Science

4.6 • 4.1K Ratings

🗓️ 20 February 2020

⏱️ 41 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Within 10 years of Valium’s introduction, people are starting to realize it’s not quite as harmless as they had been led to believe. Patients are building up a tolerance to it, taking stronger and stronger dosages, and experiencing withdrawal symptoms when they quit. Women, who have been prescribed Valium at twice the rates men have, spearhead the fight to increase regulation.

When former First Lady Betty Ford announces her own addiction to Valium, the public outcry against the drug finally causes the government to act. They hold days of hearings and tighten up the rules around prescribing the medication, but more importantly, Valium’s reputation is severely damaged.

But decades later, doctors start to wonder if the backlash went too far….

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, prime members, you can listen to American innovations
0:03.6	ad-free on Amazon Music, download the app today.
0:07.0	It's 1972 in the emergency room of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.
0:20.0	Tracy Pierce, a young woman in her mid-twenties, doubles over in pain, clutching her stomach.
0:26.0	Her face is pale and sweat drips down her forehead and soaks her red hair.
0:31.0	She groans loudly as a sharp, stabbing pain shoots through the right side of her abdomen.
0:37.0	I know it hurts, honey. That appendix isn't really angry right now.
0:41.0	A nurse gave Tracy pain medication a few minutes ago, but it hasn't kicked in yet.
0:46.0	I just need to complete this medical history for the doctors and then we can get you into surgery, okay?
0:53.0	Tracy inhales deeply, breathing through the pain and nods her head.
1:00.0	The nurse raises her clipboard and reads the next question.
1:04.0	Once the last time you ate, Tracy clenches her jaw as another stab of pain hits her.
1:10.0	Breakfast, around eight o'clock. I only had a piece of toast.
1:15.0	Do you take any medications?
1:17.0	No, no, I'm a well-valued, everyone takes that right.
1:21.0	And how often do you take it? I don't know, about four or five times a day.
1:26.0	The nurse raises her eyebrows and writes it down in the chart.
1:29.0	Okay, I got everything we need. Sit tight. We'll get you into surgery as soon as we can.
1:35.0	A few hours later, Tracy wakes up, post-surgery. Her throat aches and her abdomen is numb.
1:42.0	She blinks, trying to remember where she is. A man takes her hand.
1:48.0	Hey there, sleepyhead.
1:50.0	Tracy turns and sees her husband sitting next to the bed.
	...

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