Parkinson’s drugs led to gay sex addiction claims father
A father-of-two with Parkinson’s disease may be awarded damages in France after he turned into a gambler and a thief with uncontrollable homosexual urges because of drugs prescribed for his treatment.
Didier Jambart, 47, is suing for €400,000 (£287,000) after being prescribed with dopamine agonist drugs, which he claims led to severe mood swings.
During his highs he turned to gambling and accumulated debts of €130,000.
He began to steal from his family, friends and neighbours to support his addiction and even sold his young son’s toys.
Mr Jambart also began looking for partners on gay internet sites to invite back to his home.
But in December 2004, he tried to kill himself – the first of three attempts.
“I could not have told this story even several months ago without breaking down,” said Mr Jambart, according to The Observer.
“I know of other dreadful examples here in France, including someone imprisoned as a result of their compulsive gambling, and of women who ended up prostituting themselves in mobile homes because of their sexual obsessions.”
According to Phillippe Damier, head of the neurology department at the Nantes CHU hospital, it was evident that Mr Jambart was suffering from a dopamine agonist disorder.
“As soon as we saw him we knew immediately it was dopamine agonists,” he said.
Mr Jambart was immediately put on different medication and the side effects disappeared.
“Without that, I would have killed myself or have ended up in prison,” he said.
But Mr Jambart’s case is not an isolated incident.
There are similar cases in Britain, the US and Canada with claimants saying that they experienced alarming side effects from the drugs which affect up to 15 per cent of those taking them.
Dopamine agonists are in several drugs which are commonly prescribed for Parkinson’s sufferers.
In Britain, two claims for compensation were filed last month by two individuals suffering from Parkinson’s who say that they became addicted to gambling after being prescribed Mirapexin, a type of dopamine agonist.
