Impulsive sex, compulsive gambling linked to Parkinson’s drugs

[quaoar]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11901902/

By Shankar Vedantam
The Washington Post

Updated: 1:06 a.m. ET March 19, 2006

When Wayne Kanuch received a diagnosis of Parkinson's disease in 1993, the last thing he imagined was that the drug prescribed to treat his illness would turn him into a compulsive gambler and put his libido into overdrive.

Kanuch's marriage ended in divorce, partly as a result of the sexual pressures he placed on his wife, and he began losing fortunes at the racetrack. He was fired from his job at Chevron for trolling for dates on the Internet while at work, and he quickly went bankrupt.

"I contemplated suicide a couple of times," he said in an interview last week. "Everyone was blaming me, and I was looking at the mirror and blaming myself and asking why I could not stop."

New evidence unearthed by scientists at the Food and Drug Administration, Duke University and other centers suggest the reason Kanuch could not stop is that the drug being used to treat Parkinson's boosted the level of dopamine in his brain. Researchers are looking into the possibility that dopamine, which is associated with a host of addictive behaviors, may turn some Parkinson's patients into obsessive pleasure seekers.

[Dr Ron]

1. Does Bill Bennett have Parkinson's? n/t

[lapfog_1]

3. I think he has too much dopamine in his brain

which probably explains why he is such a mean dope as well.

[Trillo]

2. This reminds me of a book I read years ago

Life Extension by Durk Pearson and Sandy Shaw.

They were experimenting with some of these medicines, there are probably newer drugs out now that it's some 30-years later. One they mentioned was typically used for Parkinsons.

[pitohui]

6. they mentioned the libido enhancing effect

don't recall they said anything abt gambling but legal gambling was not widespread in that time

[depakid]

4. Researchers have known about this for quite some time

And it sounds to me like the both the drug companies AND Bush's FDA dropped the ball on the postmarketing surveillance again.

Of course, you'd never know that from reading the Post's article....

http://science.box.sk/newsread_print.php?newsid=4664

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/08/12/1060588388201.html

[pitohui]

5. they've run this story before

a bit dishonest of msnbc to put v. minor tweaks on a story run months ago and claim it's news

[Nihil]

7. Don't suppose it has anything to do with ...

... the "so what" syndrome that many terminal patients will
encounter? (A.k.a. "I've never tried *that* before and as I'm
going to die soon anyway ...").

[pitohui]

9. no definitely not in my experience

i've known a number of parkinson's patients (i'm sorry to say i met them all in casinos) and there is no "so what" syndrome, they are not terminal and can live for many, many years, it is not an automatic death sentence and their quality of life doesn't immediately vanish w. snap of finger. i played w. some of them for a number of years and only stopped playing w. them not because they died but because i stopped playing in little blackjack and dice tournaments that attract the senior crowd

altho it can be a lesson in patience to play dice w. parkinson's patient, what it taught me is never write off your elders, you'd be amazed at how long they can meet some pretty tough challenges

[LisaL]

11. Parkinson's is not a terminal disease.

Well, it's terminal in a sense that we all are going to die one day.
Including those with Parkinson's.

[RaRa]

8. Very ironic given what they've recently learned about the disease

namely, that people with a risk adverse personality are more likely to develop the disease.

[dolo amber]

10. That would explain why Michael J Fox and Janet Reno

were shooting craps and fucking in that casino... :shrug: