A new report revealed a connection between drugs used to treat movement disorders and a side effect that causes “deviant” sexual behaviors.
Patients reported feeling “shame” and being “mortified” by their own behavior after side effects from dopamine agonist drugs led to dangerous impulses including sex addiction and even pedophilia.
The BBC spoke with nearly two dozen women who said the drug, taken to relieve their restless leg syndrome (RLS) “ruined their lives.” The outlet also cited reports by drugmaker GSK which learned of the link in 2003.
“While there is no explicit reference to this side effect in patient leaflets, the UK medicines regulator told us there was a general warning about increased libido and harmful behaviour. GSK says a risk of ‘altered’ sexual interest is also referred to in the leaflets,” the BBC reported.
“Some of the women who described being drawn to risky sexual behaviour told us they had no idea of what was causing it. Others said they felt compelled to gamble or shop with no history of such activities,” the report continued, adding that the GSK report cited one man “who had sexually assaulted a child while taking the drug for Parkinson’s.”
“The only way I could describe it is it was just deviant,” a woman named Claire told the BBC after being prescribed the dopamine agonist drug Ropinirole following pregnancies and developing RLS.
She reportedly would regularly “cruise for sex” flashing her chest “at any man she could find” while wearing see-through clothing.
“There remains an element in your head that knows what you’re doing is wrong, but it affects you to the point that you don’t know you’re doing it,” she said.
According to the BBC:
A class action was brought against GSK in 2011 by four sufferers of Parkinson’s disease – the BBC has learned. They said Ropinirole led to gambling debts and broken relationships.
They also complained that despite a link between such behaviours and the drug having been established in medical studies as early as 2000, GSK had failed to include any warnings in its product literature until March 2007. The class action was settled but GSK denied liability.
Two men who were prescribed Ropinirole for Parkinson’s disease were listed in the 2003 report that noted their “deviant behaviour.”
“In one, a 63-year-old-man sexually assaulted a seven-year-old girl, leading to a custodial sentence. The documents said the perpetrator’s libido had increased significantly from the start of his treatment with Ropinirole and his ‘libido problem subsequently resolved’ after his dose was reduced,” BBC reported. “In the second case, a 45-year-old man carried out ‘uncontrolled acts of exhibitionism and indecent behaviour’. His sex drive was reported to have increased prior to being prescribed Ropinirole but his urges ‘intensified’ after the treatment.”
Ropinirole was reportedly prescribed for more than 17 million treatments and went through “extensive clinical trials,” GSK told BBC, saying the drug had a “well-characterised safety profile.”
Since the 2003 report, GSK said prescriptions now list “altered or increased sexual interest” and “behaviour of significant concern” as side effects.
