Mirapex controls tremors, causes odd adverse reaction
July 30th, 2008 joshua
The Chicago Tribune recently reported on a Parkinson’s disease sufferer on the drug Mirapex. Although the drug worked at controlling the tremors associated with the often-crippling condition, another odd side-effect occurred.
The Tribune reported Tammy Rothwell of Westfield, N.Y., took Mirapex and it alleviated nearly a quarter-century of debilitating muscle tremors. However, the typically frugal, or at least careful with money woman began compulsively gambling and spending.
Rothwell spent $200 a day on scratch-off lottery tickets. She’d buy lots of 100 tubes of lipstick on a single purchase.
She told the Tribune, “I knew that I could not do anything about it. I had no control whatsoever, and I’m a control freak.”
The largest study of the effects of dopamine agonists was recently completed and found that 13 percent of patients taking the drugs experience similar side effects to Rothwell’s. Others also reported gambling, heightened sexual desires, compulsive eating and spending as unusual behaviors during treatments from these drugs. Dopamine agonists are sold on the U.S. market under the brand names Mirapex and Requip.
These compulsions are said to cease after the drug treatments stop.
