Drugs for Parkinson’s may cause sexual addictions, NHS warns

SUFFERERS of Parkinson’s disease are in danger of developing compulsive sexual behaviour caused by drugs used to treat it, official guidance has warned.

New NHS guidelines, due to be released next month, include impulse control disorders for the first time, stating that health professionals should discuss the potential for dramatic changes in behaviour with the “family and carers” as well as the patient.

The move comes after growing evidence that the drugs can lead to secret gambling or shopping addic- tions, which have been shown to destroy people’s relationships and financial security, and, in extreme cases, have led to criminal convictions.

The Nice guidelines have emerged as one woman in her late 60s reveals how her life was torn apart when her partner suffered from hypersexuality – a focus on sexual feelings and thoughts – after taking dopamine agonists.

About 127,000 people in the UK live with Parkinson’s, a progressive brain disease that causes uncontrollable tremors, slow movement and impaired speech. Studies suggest about five to 10 per cent of those taking common drugs have an impulse control disorder.

The side effects are most likely with dopamine agonists, which mimic the effect of dopamine in the brain to suppress symptoms, but can occur with other drugs used to treat the disease.

Prof Richard Walker, a consultant physician and one of four doctors who contributed to the new guidelines, said that when the first instructions were written in 2006 the evidence surrounding impulse control was only just emerging.

He said: “The key thing is to make sure that the relative or other half is informed as the people themselves actually quite enjoy it so they don’t see it as a problem.”

The guidelines also state that patients should be asked about any change in behaviour at review appointments, with Prof Walker noting that awareness can be the first step to controlling it.

While welcoming the disorders guidelines, some of those impacted have warned that they may not go far enough.

Juliet – not her real name – said her life “flipped over in a moment” because of her partner’s treatment.

“What is hard is that there are so many women my age who are affected and it is not something that they feel able to talk about, so it just keeps getting swept under the carpet and nobody realises just how difficult it is,” she said. “It makes me wonder how they can keep on making and prescribing these drugs.”

She has decided to share her experience after astrophysicist and former Durham University lecturer Dr Jeremy Richard Allington-Smith was last week given a suspended sentence for possessing child pornography because the court heard his medication had caused his hypersexuality.

Juliet and her partner had been together for four years when he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s.

He started taking the dopamine agonist drugs but after about three years as the dose increased his behaviour began to change.

He started to become increasingly sexual and began sunbathing naked, trying to persuade her to wear revealing clothes, and even asking his pilates teacher if he could take the class in the nude.

Juliet feared opening text messages as he would often send explicit images and she had to buy her own computer to avoid his pornography habit.

She tried to confront him, but the “open and honest” man she fell in love with had become secretive and even accused her of “being a lesbian”.

The final straw came when her partner sent her daughter, who is in her 20s, an “awful” text message asking if he could take pictures of her in a bikini.

They went to see the Parkinson’s nurse and his medication was stopped.

She decided to stand by her partner, but one day she came home to find that he had moved out, leaving a note saying he “hated what the Parkinson’s had done to him”.

Suma Surendranath, from the charity Parkinson’s UK, said that, for the majority of patients, the drugs have a positive impact and that those who feared they may be suffering side effects should not stop taking their medication immediately but see a medical professional.