| Curious 2005-07-25, 10:10 am |
| Old News
"Jo" <jocohen@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:GamdnW2wrNkRTn7fRVn-uQ@comcast.com...
> FYI from Jo: I believe this will have implications for both TS and OCD
> research?
>
> Parkinson drug may cause compulsiveness
> ROCHESTER, Minn., July 13 (UPI) -- Eleven Parkinson's disease patients
> reportedly developed compulsive gambling behaviors after taking the
> drug Mirapex, prescribed for their illness.
>
> Mayo Clinic researchers said nine men and two women with Parkinson's
> disease developed compulsive gambling and other compulsive behaviors
> after taking Mirapex, a drug manufactured by the German pharmaceutical
> company Boehringer Ingelheim, the Wall Street Journal reported.
>
> One of the nine men reportedly lost $100,000 while gambling, while
> other patients developed compulsive sexual conduct. All had been
> taking Mirapex to treat Parkinson's disease, a degenerative disorder
> that causes loss of nerve cells in a region of the brain called the
> substantia nigra.
>
> Parkinson's disease is believed related to the substantia nigra's
> insensitivity to the neurotransmitter dopamine. Mirapex (pramipexole)
> is believed to exert its therapeutic effect by changing the D3 class
> of dopamine receptors.
>
> Researchers said within a month of stopping treatment with Mirapex,
> the compulsive behaviors stopped.
>
> The full Mayo Clinic study is to appear in the Archives of Neurology
> in September, but an online version is currently available at the
> Archives of Neurology Web site.
>
> Copyright 2005 by United Press International. All Rights Reserved.
>
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