Versed and Memory Loss: What Users Say

• Fri...
• Taken for 2 to 5 years
• December 12, 2019

For Light Sedation "Although I have also enjoyed Versed, I'm writing this as a witness to what my friend went through. My buddy dislocated his arm for the second time. After learning about Versed and memory loss, he asked to be knocked out. The doctor refused and rather insisted on Versed with plenty of Demerol. The drugs were given, and my friend laid comfortably until it was time. The doc and helper started trying to put his arm in. That's when the screaming began! While under the drugs, my friend was communicating (yelling/crying) with the doctor, begging him to put him out. He even told the doctor, 'I'll remember this.' It was a lengthy, painful struggle, but the arm finally popped in. My friend then quickly fell asleep. Once he came to, he didn't remember a thing! Witnessing that, I've had disturbed feelings about the drug."

• MCa...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• February 26, 2020

For Light Sedation "My dad was given Versed during a colonoscopy at the VA, and he never recovered his memory. He was absolutely independent prior to the Versed. He was robbed of the rest of his life because of this drug."

• JDS...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• April 27, 2017

For Light Anesthesia "I blindly accepted this poison for my first cardiac catheterization and first colonoscopy. It did nothing during the procedures. I remember everything and felt everything. What it did do was make permanent changes in my ability to remember things - especially names. Since then, I'm also frequently searching for common words. I list Versed as an allergy now so it'll never be used on me again."

• She...
• March 23, 2017

For Light Anesthesia "Had Versed for cataract surgery. OK post-surgery but woke up from nap afterward with uncontrollable emotions, terrifying. It's 3 1/2 months later and I'm still having occasional flooding of anxiety and depression. Also had memory problems for 2 months. Horrific experience, I will never be given this drug again."

• Ser...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• December 22, 2020

For Light Anesthesia "It is my goal in life to get this awful drug off the market. I was given way too much of this, and I am permanently disabled with chronic depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Do your research on Versed, and you’ll see what I mean, and always tell an anesthesiologist that you don't want it so they don’t give it to you. They also try to lie and say it’s a pain reliever, it’s not. All Versed does is remove your memory, and unfortunately, sometimes that is permanent."

• Bar...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• September 15, 2015

"Midazolam (a/k/a Versed) has no pain-relieving properties. It's given-generally without patient consent-because it reduces anxiety, makes patients compliant/obedient to orders, and causes memory loss (same effects as Rohypnol, date rape drug-they are both benzodiazepines). Great if that's what you want, and your doc has discussed this with you beforehand. However, there are many people who have been given Versed without their consent and who have been very upset about the memory loss (see VersedBusters, nomidazolam, etc.-an internet search for side effects of Versed or midazolam will yield a lot of hits). For both surgeries, I had no anxiety yet was given Versed without my consent. I question why an amnesiac drug is administered when a"

• Bio...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• April 20, 2018

For Light Anesthesia "Told the anesthesiologist not to give me Versed because it made me nauseous. I had been meditating and was very relaxed on the operating table awaiting my hip replacement. Suddenly, I became afraid, paranoid, and the last I remembered was trying to get off the table. I had prolonged amnesia, nausea, hiccups for 24 hours, and I cried and was anxious for a week afterwards. My records show I was given Versed despite telling them not to."

• Joe...
• June 5, 2019

For Light Anesthesia "Was given this Versed prior to a minor 30-minute procedure. I “came back” in mid-conversation, realizing my body and brain had been operating without me. Felt like a robot that had been following commands with no free will; bizarre and unsettling experience. For hours after I got home, I’d find myself somewhere in my house doing something and not know how I got there. I tried to finish a book and ended up reading the same chapter over and over again. I had noticeable memory loss for two days and then didn’t feel totally back to normal for about a week. It felt like I was slowly recovering from temporary brain damage. I had to go back for a follow-up to re-hear the results days later for what I’m told was actually the 3rd time I’d been given them. The staff and doctor were also acting awkward around me, and I had a vague feeling of dread and embarrassment. Not worth it."

• Ann...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• August 28, 2019

For Light Sedation "I had a port surgically implanted in my shoulder in March 2016. They used Versed and fentanyl. I never fell asleep and remembered everything, including each cut of my skin, the implanting, and felt every stitch pulling. Only the lidocaine was effective to tolerate the procedure. On 09/26/2019, I had a 15-20 minute procedure to take a large amount of bone marrow from a large bone that runs horizontally across the low back. Again, they gave me Versed and fentanyl. The Versed did nothing to sedate me or make me sleep. I was fully awake and aware of everything. Again, lidocaine was used at the incision site, and I believe the fentanyl helped me because, although I felt most everything, I was never in any excruciating pain. Since I was fully coherent, walking and talking, they let me go home right away. Twice now, I was given Versed for sedation, but it did not work, and I have no memory loss. In 2005, it worked for a colonoscopy, but not these last times."

• Mou...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• September 8, 2019

For Light Sedation "My husband has some mild short-term memory loss after taking Neurontin 2 1/2 years ago. Last summer, he had several procedures needing light sedation in which Versed has been used. It has been effective for unawareness of the procedures themselves, but after each dose, his memory loss seems to be progressively worse. We will be talking with his PCP about this, and with any future procedures, he will request no sedation or a different medication."

• Anonymous
• Taken for less than 1 month
• January 5, 2023

For Light Sedation "My brother had surgery (first time) when he was 59. They used Versed as a light relaxer prior to putting him under completely. When he woke up, he'd lost memory. He forgot how to do certain things at his job, eventually got lost trying to get to a job he'd worked for over 15 years. He lost years of past memories and some short-term. He was forced to leave his job, was too young for Social Security, had to fight for years to get disability, can't drive."

• Mha...
• April 6, 2015

For Light Sedation "I had a total knee replacement three weeks ago, and Versed was used as an amnesia drug while they prepped me, etc. I barely remember anything for the next two and a half days, had short dreams, one in which I was painting, and when I woke up, my hand was up and moving like I had a paintbrush. I don't remember eating a thing in the hospital to this day. My friends who visited told me I had chicken, etc. When my mom and friend came to visit, we were watching television, and I asked her who she found to hang her big screen TV on the wall. She didn't, we were in the hospital. I called my best friend at 3 a.m. to ask her if she could come and get me at a friend's house, I was in the hospital. I'll never have this drug used on me again, ever."