Click here to read about some of the people we've helped.  We're here to help you, too. Get four essential health reports by joining our e-news community.

Four FREE health reports for you

Register now for our vital and insightful health updates, and get four free health reports to help you live more healthily.

First Name:Email:


Parkinson's: Drugs turn sufferers into compulsive gamblers

Dopamine agonist drugs seem to have a very strange effect on sufferers of Parkinson’s disease – they become compulsive gamblers.

More than 7 per cent of sufferers who take the drugs develop the compulsion, a problem that afflicts just 1 per cent of the general population.

Gambling isn’t the only compulsive behaviour pattern triggered by the drugs.  Patients are almost as likely to become compulsive shoppers or they become hypersexual.

The gambling problem is even more prevalent among younger patients who take the drug, or who take a dopamine agonist and levodopa together.

Doctors are concerned that the many internet gambling sites make it too easy for their Parkinson’s patients to lose a great deal of money.  If family or friends suspect the patient is gambling, the doctor can change the prescription to just levodopa or some other drug.

(Source: British Medical Journal, 2007; 334: 810-11).


E-news broadcast 26 April 2007 No.354 [Subscribe]

Click here to comment on this article or read other people's comments.



WDDTY Blog Speak

Parkinson’s drugs come under scrutiny - Levodopa’s ability to reduce the distressing symptoms of early-stage Parkinson’s disease has earned itself enough street cred to become the first-line...

Parkinson's: - A low-calorie diet could reduce your risk - Our diets play a significant role in our longterm health. It's an obvious thing to say, but scientists often remind us that the type of food we eat m...

Parkinson's and sinemet - Two years ago my husband, now 58 years old, had moderate Parkinson's and held down a job. Then the medication he was taking, Sinemet, congested his l...

Parkinson's disease - Q:How successful are some of the new therapies for Parkinson's disease? I've just heard that doctors are experimenting with transplanting fetal brain...

Diet for parkinson's disease - I have recently been diagnosed as having Parkinson's disease, so I am naturally very interested in anything that may help keep it under control, espec...

Heartburn drug: parkinson's link - The drug metoclopramide, used to treat heartburn and more serious stomach conditions, can bring on Parkinson's like symptoms and possibly the disease...

Parkinson's disease - The orthodox treatment for Parkinson's disease is L-Dopa, an amino acid. But for this to work, a co-enzyme called NADH is essential. NADH is formed f...

Allergies: Link to Parkinson’s discovered - The millions of sufferers of allergies are up to three times more likely to develop Parkinson’s disease later in life, new research has found.