# Compulsive Gambling, Sex Linked to Parkinson's Drugs **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 13, 2005, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/compulsive-gambling-sex-linked-to-parkinsons-drugs/312288 "2005-07-13T03:05:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2005, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/compulsive-gambling-sex-linked-to-parkinsons-drugs/312288/1 "2005-07-13T03:05:52Z")
[http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/07/0712\_050712\_parkinsons.html](http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/07/0712_050712_parkinsons.html) “Scientists at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, have found that certain drugs used to treat Parkinson’s disease can cause patients to become addicted to gambling. The drugs, called dopamine agonists, also have been found to boost patients’ appetites for sex, food, and alcohol.” How bizarre. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2005, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/compulsive-gambling-sex-linked-to-parkinsons-drugs/312288/2 "2005-07-13T03:06:59Z")
Dang it, meant this for MPSIMS. Could somebody report this please? ---
**Author:** ![Duke\_of\_Rat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Duke\_of\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke_of_Rat)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2005, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/compulsive-gambling-sex-linked-to-parkinsons-drugs/312288/3 "2005-07-13T03:36:11Z")
I bbet ya $20 I ccould get llaid if I wwasn’t so ddamn hhungry. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2005, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/compulsive-gambling-sex-linked-to-parkinsons-drugs/312288/4 "2005-07-13T13:14:21Z")
Moving thread from IMHO to MPSIMS. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2005, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/compulsive-gambling-sex-linked-to-parkinsons-drugs/312288/5 "2005-07-15T02:23:38Z")
This is pretty good evidence against the theories some have that drugs cannot affect the mind ($cientology). ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2005, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/compulsive-gambling-sex-linked-to-parkinsons-drugs/312288/6 "2005-07-15T20:01:21Z")
Guess I needs to be looking for a shakey woman… ---
**Author:** ![The\_King\_of\_Soup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a87d85/32.png) [@The\_King\_of\_Soup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_King_of_Soup)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2005, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/compulsive-gambling-sex-linked-to-parkinsons-drugs/312288/7 "2005-07-15T20:37:07Z")
> [@Doctor Jackson](#): > > Guess I needs to be looking for a shakey woman… Just don’t get confused and pick up a Shaker woman by mistake. I wonder what the mechanism for this is – a brain that hasn’t gambled doesn’t know that it’s fun. Were these patients just by chance pulling the handle on a slot machine when the drug took effect and their dopamine receptors lit up, and instantly formed the association? So far it’s gambling, sex and liquor, but some of these patients must have been doing something else when the drugs kicked in. Is there no one out there who’s changing the oil filter on their car twenty times a day, or developing a hundred-dollar a week knitting habit? ---
**Author:** ![Duke\_of\_Rat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Duke\_of\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke_of_Rat)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2005, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/compulsive-gambling-sex-linked-to-parkinsons-drugs/312288/8 "2005-07-15T20:47:26Z")
It says dopamine affects the pleasure and reward centers. It could be that changing oil isn’t as rewarding as making 12 passes at a craps table and knitting isn’t as pleasurable as getting drunk or laid. I’ve never knitted, so I could be talking out my ass. I change my own oil and admit I do feel a little smug joy in knowing what took 15 minutes would have cost $27.50. I’d still rather get drunk or laid.