Healthy Skepticism Library item: 3882

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Publication type: news

Parkinson's drug link to gambling probed-newspaper
Reuters 2006 Mar 19
http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=healthNews&storyID=2006-03-19T054004Z_01_N1955686_RTRIDST_0_HEALTH-PARKINSONS-GAMBLING-DC.XML

Notes:

Ralph Faggotter’s Comments:

“Medical researchers are investigating suspicions that drugs prescribed to treat Parkinson’s disease could turn patients into compulsive gamblers…”

So, if you take Ambien with your anti-Parkinsonian medication, does this raise the possiblity that you might drive to a casino in a hypnogogic trance, gamble all night, return to bed ,wake up in the morning remembering nothing, and wonder where all your money has gone??

Full text:

Parkinson’s drug link to gambling probed-newspaper
Sun Mar 19, 2006 5:39 AM GMT167
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Medical researchers are investigating suspicions that drugs prescribed to treat Parkinson’s disease could turn patients into compulsive gamblers, the Washington Post reported on Sunday.

Scientists at the Food and Drug Administration have found a strong association between pathological gambling and the drugs, which boost the level of dopamine in the brain, according to the newspaper.

Dopamine, a chemical naturally produced in the human body, plays a key role in the way the brain controls movements. A shortage of dopamine causes Parkinson’s disease. But the chemical is also associated with addictive behaviors such as drug use and pleasurable experiences such as sex and food.

Researchers, according to the Washington Post, are looking into the possibility that drugs for treating Parkinson’s are turning “some patients into obsessive pleasure seekers.”

But the article also said no firm links have been made between dopamine enhancers and compulsive gambling.

Some patients have filed lawsuits against drug manufacturers, citing lost jobs and gambling problems.

Pharmaceutical firms such as Germany’s Boehringer Ingelheim have toughened warning labels on drugs as the company investigates reports, according to the newspaper.

But Eli Lilly and Co., noting the lack of scientific consensus, raised the possibility that gambling problems in Parkinson’s patients could be related to more legalized gambling, the newspaper reported.

© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.