Is Mirapex associated with gambling?

July 12, 2005

Linking Mirapex with gambling?

“A Mayo Clinic study published Monday in July’s Archives of Neurology

describes 11 other Parkinson’s patients who developed the unusual

problem while taking Mirapex or similar drugs between 2002 and 2004.

Doctors have since identified 14 additional Mayo patients with the

problem, said lead author Dr. M. Leann Dodd, a Mayo psychiatrist.”

That doesn’t sound like robust data to me. However, that doesn’t stop the legal eagles from pouncing: “California attorney Daniel Kodam, who filed the lawsuit last year, said he’s spoken with more than 200 Mirapex patients who developed compulsive behaviors, including excessive gambling, sex and shopping. He is seeking to have the complaint certified as a nationwide class-action lawsuit. A similar suit has been filed in Canada, Kodam said.”



Related posts:

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  3. Non-medical news of the day
  4. Sorry doesn’t work all the time
  5. Mayo Clinic for all?


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{ 30 comments }

1 Anonymous July 22, 2007 at 4:53 pm

Hi,
I’ve been on Mirapex since 1999 and I have not been able to stop eating!! No matter what diet I have tried I cant loose weight. My mom has always thought the mirapex was the problem….I am DEFINITELY eating compulsively!! Help

2 Anonymous October 22, 2007 at 7:35 am

Good Morning, I have been on Mirapex since Jan 1999. I have been taking 1.5 three times a day the entire time. I have had 10 new cars in that time. I have spent thousands of dollars on internet slots, and scratch off tickets. What I am most concerned by is my disregard for time and being timely. I am also shocked at my need for risk.

3 Anonymous November 14, 2007 at 1:15 pm

Since beginning Requip for severe Restless Legs Syndrome, my sex drive has increased exponentially. I have left my husband and slept with 6 men in the past 11 months. I have tried to reduce the dosage, but the RLS worsens to the point of being truly incapacitating (because I literally cannot sleep at all). My father, who had Parkinson’s, took Mirapex and also was obsessed with sex. These drugs are extremely hazardous and health-care providers are unlikely to realize it because these subjects are so taboo.

4 Anonymous March 26, 2008 at 7:46 pm

I too have sufferred a gambling problem after taking Mirapex. It stopped after about 2 weeks off the drug. Is there, in fact, a class action suit that I can join? I also have recently been diagnosed with Fibromyalgia. I am wondering if this is a result of long term Mirapex use? Anyone else see this connection?

5 Paul Hunstad August 8, 2009 at 1:03 pm

This is not surprising and it isn’t anything peculiar about pramipexole (Mirapex/Sifrol). Any drug which stimulates the D3 dopamine receptor has the potential to induce compulsive behavior. I believe D3 is associated with reward and pleasure-seeking.

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