Midazolam

Midazolam is a medication that can be used as a sedative before or during surgery or a medical procedure. The medication works by enhancing the calming effects of a certain brain chemical, causing sleepiness, reducing anxiety, and relaxing the muscles. Because midazolam is very fast acting, it is particularly useful for anesthesia because it can help start the anesthesia process by relieving anxiety and causing memory loss. Some potential side effects of the drug include nausea and breathing problems.

 

What Is Midazolam?

Midazolam (Versed®) is a prescription medication approved for use as a sedative, anxiety, or anesthesia medication; the drug is used before or during surgeries, medical procedures, or dental procedures. It is also used to sedate people on respirators in intensive care units.
 
(Click What Is Midazolam Used For? for more information on what the drug is used for, including possible off-label uses.)
 

Who Makes Midazolam?

Brand-name midazolam was made by Hoffmann-La Roche, but it is no longer manufactured. Fortunately, there are several companies that make generic midazolam.
 

How Does Midazolam Work?

Midazolam is part of a group of medicines called benzodiazepines. Benzodiazepines have several effects on the body, including:
 
  • Reducing anxiety
  • Causing sleepiness
  • Relaxing the muscles
  • Stopping seizures
  • Impairing short-term memory.
     
All benzodiazepines can have these effects to some degree, depending on the specific benzodiazepine that is being taken. They work in the brain by enhancing the effects of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), a brain chemical that is naturally calming. GABA can slow down or stop certain nerve signals in the brain. This is why midazolam and other benzodiazepines are known as mild tranquilizers, sedatives, or central nervous system depressants (CNS depressants).
 
Because midazolam is very fast acting, it is particularly useful for anesthesia. It can help start the anesthesia process (called anesthesia induction), relieving anxiety and causing memory loss (amnesia). In fact, many people who use midazolam for "conscious sedation" during a procedure are awake for the entire procedure but remember nothing, often believing they were "out" the whole time.
 
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Written by/reviewed by: Kristi Monson, PharmD; Arthur Schoenstadt, MD
Last reviewed by: Kristi Monson, PharmD;