Thursday, April 06, 2006

People who had never gambled before suddenly were losing thousands of dollars at casinos sometimes more than $100,000. Men who had been content with just once-a-week sex began having sex three and four times a day. Few began to overeat, gaining 50 pounds in just a few months. What did all these people have in common besides their irrational behavior They were all taking this type of medicine, called dopamine agonists, to treat Parkinsons disease. Most of these people were taking a specific dopamine agonist pramipexole (Mirapex). This started coming up at doctor appointments, the patients or their family members started bringing it up. Most of the patients suffered problems of gambling generally but over half of our patients also manifested other compulsive behavior like hyper sexuality or compulsive overeating. It started out as a interest, but then we found case reports that showed there might be some connection between this compulsive behavior and a particular type of medication. When people stopped these medications, the compulsive behavior would go away. Read further...