If restless legs keep you up at night, the cure might make you restless in other ways.
According to Glaxo Smith Kline, maker of Requip, side effects reported by patients include “an unusual urge to gamble or increased sexual urges and/or behaviors. If you or your family notices that you are developing any unusual behaviors, talk to your doctor.”
Ongoing lawsuits against Glaxo Smith Kline ? and the maker of the related drug Mirapex ? claim plaintiffs have blown between $250,000 and $14 million in online or casino gambling while on the drugs.
A Mayo Clinic study involving 529 Parkinson?s disease patients who took Mirapex, eight developed gambling addictions. For most patients, the gambling behavior improved after they stopped taking Mirapex.
The Food and Drug Administration approved Requip (ropinirole HCl) to treat moderate to severe Restless Legs Syndrome in 2005. The drug was first approved forParkinson?s disease in 1997 and it sold more than $500 million in 2006. The drug increases the amount of the neurotransmitter dopamine, associated with motor activity, motivation and reward, sleep, mood, attention and learning.
Side effects initially reported includes nausea, headache and vomiting ? while some patients reported falling asleep or fainting during the day and visual auditory or sensual hallucinations. Since then, small, subjective studies have reported other interesting urges.
According to the FDA, restless leg syndrome affects about 10 percent of the population.
The disorder is marked by tickling or tingling sensations and an urge to move the legs, especially during periods of rest or inactivity.
Dave Krausman, a former Johns Hopkins University sleep researcher and inventor of sleep monitoring products for restless leg, said he doubts the unusual urges are caused by the drug.
“It?s a subjective kind of situation,” he said. “I really don?t know if they can prove anything. These subjective drug studies just report any side effects the people provide them.”
Medicated to gamble?
» Austin, Texas: Retired Dr. Max Wells claimed Requip made him a habitual high roller at Las Vegas casinos where he lost 14 million in less than a year.
» Phoenix: Brian Hearn, 59, claims he lost his retirement savings ? nearly $250,000 ? gambling on the Internet.
Source: yourlawyer.com
