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Parkinson's Drugs Increase Addictive Behaviors
July 12, 2005

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Research Summary

People given dopamine agonists like pramipexole and ropinirole to battle Parkinson's disease were more likely to gamble compulsively, drink more, increase their spending, and become "hypersexual," researchers said.

The Telegraph reported July 12 that researchers from the Mayo Clinic found that some patients who had never gambled before or only gambled occasionally began to gamble heavily after taking the drugs. And of the 11 patients studied, six also developed other addictive problems.

One patient lost almost $200,000 gambling in the six months after starting treatment.

"It's a very rare side-effect and reversible if you get off the drug," said Eric Ahlskog, who treated the patients involved in the study. "But you have to make the association." In all cases, compulsive gambling stopped within months of drug therapy ending.

The research will be published in the Archives of Neurology.

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