Patients often not warned by doctors
The BBC has reported that patients taking medication for restless leg syndrome were not warned about potentially devastating side effects, including gambling abuse and risky sexual behavior. One of the 20 women who spoke to the BBC for a piece on Tuesday said that she ended up getting herself into ￡80,000 ($103,000) of gambling debt.
a class of medications called “dopamine agonist” drugs
The woman, Sue, said her physician did not tell her that the two medications she was prescribed, a class of medications called “dopamine agonist” drugs, could come with side effects that cause compulsive behaviors. They were not prescribed at the same time; when the doctor prescribed the second one, Sue mentioned that she had been experiencing gambling behavior that she had not had before.
Things got worse once she started on the second medication and she ended up with ￡80,000 in gambling debts.
“The effect on my family was horrific – it was life-changing money to lose,” Sue told the BBC. “But at the time I didn’t know it was no fault of my own.”
Man wins lawsuit
While this sort of problem does not happen with most users of dopamine agonist drugs, Sue and the other 19 women who spoke with the BBC are certainly not the first to have serious issues. Others have experienced compulsive gambling problems, specifically.
In 2015, for instance, a British man named Philip Stevens, started taking Roprinirole to treat restless leg syndrome, one of the symptoms he had from a recent multiple sclerosis diagnosis. It soon caused him to develop a gambling problem, a side effect he was not warned about.
Stevens would place small bets on horse races on occasion before he started on the medication, but afterward, he found himself waking up in the middle of the night, whipping out a mobile betting app, and dropping wagers on anything and everything. His compulsions expanded into shopping and even fishing trips.
I am not the same person as I was pre-Ropinirole.”
“The things that I once enjoyed that became obsessions, such as fishing and horse racing, are now joyless because, with each one, a sense of guilt overcomes me. I am not the same person as I was pre-Ropinirole,” he said in a lawsuit against his doctor.
It was not until 2021 that a different doctor asked Stevens if he had any compulsive behaviors. When he confirmed that he did, the doctor told him to stop taking the drug. Unfortunately, the withdrawal hit him hard and he developed psychoses and hallucinations. He has been recovering ever since, but it all took a hard toll.
In late December 2024, Stevens won his lawsuit and was awarded ￡70,000 ($91,000).
Compulsive behavior a frighteningly common side effect
According to the UK’s National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), between 6% and 17% of restless leg syndrome patients who take dopamine agonist medications experience impulsive behaviors as a side effect. Regardless of where it falls in the range, that number is huge – a side effect is considered “common” if it occurs just 1% of the time.
The BBC explains that such drugs mimic how dopamine works, helping regulate our movement. Many are also familiar with dopamine as the hormone that our bodies release when we experience something enjoyable, hence the term “dopamine rush.”
muting the part of our brains that understands consequences
What happens sometimes with dopamine agonist drugs, though, is that they over-enhance the good feeling while muting the part of our brains that understands consequences, leading to compulsive behaviors.
One woman who spoke with the BBC said she engaged in risky sexual behavior, such as going out early in the morning, flashing men, and looking for sex, even though she was married.
“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.”