Mirapex - Two Victims - Same Horror Story

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http://www.opednews.com/articles/genera_evelyn_p_060221_mirapex___two_victim.htm

 

 

February 21, 2006

 

Mirapex - Two Victims - Same Horror Story

by Evelyn Pringle

 

http://www.opednews.com

 

 

Mirapex - Two Victims - Same Horror Story

 

In mid-2001, Joe Neglia went on a cruise to Alaska and that trip

marked the beginning of his downward spiral into hell. The ship had a

gambling casino on board and according to Joe, he was " instantly and

savagely hooked on the slots. "

 

A major problem arose when he came back ashore. " When I returned from

the cruise I began hitting the local casinos, " he recalls, " there were

three within 25 minutes from my home. "

 

" I hit them every day, " he said, " frequently all day for two full years. "

 

The daily gambling binges continued for two full years because that's

how long it took for Joe to find out that, Mirapex, the drug he had

been taking for Parkinson's disease, had turned him into a compulsive

gambler.

 

Jim Sweet recounts a similar version of basically the same tragic

tale. He began taking Mirapex in December of 1998.

 

" A couple of months later I found myself on my computer a lot, " he

says, " bidding in auctions on stuff that I didn't need. "

 

Next Jim then turned to gambling online, " running up thousands of

dollars in credit card debt. "

 

Like Joe Neglia, Jim never had a gambling problem before taking Mirapex.

 

As the dosage of the drug was increased, Jim's compulsive behavior

increased. Over time, he reveals, " the gambling addiction escalated to

include casinos, race track betting, lottery, and more online betting. "

 

" I went through a living hell for over three years while on Mirapex,

with a drug induced gambling addiction, " he recalls.

 

For those unfamiliar with this controversy, as remarkable as it may

seem, recent studies have shown that Mirapex is indeed the culprit

here. On February 15, 2006, United Press International, reported:

" Parkinson's disease patients who take anti-tremor drugs are at

greater risk of becoming pathological gamblers, " based on a study by

Duke University and three FDA scientists. The study is discussed in

the February 2006, Archives of Neurology.

 

The patients were drawn from an FDA database of more than 2.5 million

adverse drug reports dating back to 1968. The analysis of adverse

effects found that the strongest association of gambling was with

Mirapex. Five other anti-tremor drugs also showed elevated risks but

Mirapex accounted for 58% of the reports.

 

The study is the second in less than a year to link Mirapex to

compulsive gambling and the latest findings are consistent with

earlier research conducted over the past several years.

 

In July 2005, a study conducted at the Mayo Clinic, was published in

the Archives of Neurology, and identified 11 Parkinson's patients who

developed a compulsive gambling problem while taking Mirapex or

similar drugs between 2002 and 2004. Since the study was published, 14

additional patients have been identified with the problem, said Mayo

psychiatrist, Dr M Leann Dodd, the lead author of the study.

 

Although a few patients took similar drugs, Dr Dodd said most of the

gamblers were on Mirapex. They included a 68-year-old patient who

gambled at casinos and lost more than $200,000 over 6 months, a

patient who lost more than $60,000, and a 41-year-old computer

programmer who took up gambling on the internet, and lost about $5,000

in a few months. All of the patients stopped gambling within a short

time after treatment with the drug was discontinued.

 

According to Dr Dodd, Mayo Clinic doctors now ask patients on the

drugs whether they have taken up gambling. Those patients who have are

switched to different drugs or doses, and the result is often

dramatic, " like a light switch being turned off when they stopped the

drug, " Dr Dodd told the Associated Press on July 12, 2005.

 

Two of the patients who were switched to another drug required

additional psychiatric treatment to quit gambling and one patient who

withdrew from the program committed suicide after a relapse into gambling.

 

The study above, means that 1 out of the 11 patients committed suicide

due to this problem, but according to Joe, " Most of the reporting on

this situation has missed the real story. "

 

" There have been many suicide attempts, " he reports, " with God only

knows how many of them successful. "

 

" There have been countless bankruptcies, lost businesses, ruined

professional careers, emptied retirement accounts, " Joe says.

 

The gambling has devastating effects on families. " There has been a

horrible toll in wrecked marriages, personal trust and relationships,

and familial estrangement caused by this drug, " he reports.

 

And Joe would know. He was a highly respected government employee

trusted to work on intelligence-related issues for 25 years before he

retired in 1999.

 

" I held an extremely responsible position, with a Top Secret

clearance, at the Defense Department, " Joe recounts, " and this drug

turned me into a lying, thieving, duplicitous lout for two full years. "

 

The FDA and drug makers have known about the gambling side effect for

years. In the August 2003 issue of Neurology, Dr E Driver-Dunckley, Dr

J Samanta, and Dr M Stacey published the results of a study in an

article entitled " Pathological gambling associated with dopamine

agonist therapy in Parkinson's disease. "

 

That study found extreme cases of compulsive gambling in nine out of

1,884 patients, with 8 using Mirapex and one patient on the drug

pergolide, another dopamine agonist drug.

 

In addition to Parkinson's disease, Mirapex is also prescribed for a

condition known as " restless leg syndrome. " Dr Jay Van Gerpen, a

neurologist and movement disorder specialist from Ochsner Clinic

Foundation in New Orleans, told Healthday Reporter at the time, that

he wasn't surprised by this study's findings.

 

" Medicines for Parkinson's disease may elicit unwanted side effects

relating to mood and personality, " says Van Gerpen. " These medicines

are extremely useful, but they may produce unwanted effects. Dopamine

agonists can be associated with changes in personality, such as sexual

inappropriateness, and changes in sleep cycles. Patients need to be

aware of these possibilities, " according to Healthday on August 11, 2003.

 

In August of 2003, the Stacy report hit the news and may have saved

Joe Neglia's life. As soon as he learned the cause of his problem, he

immediately stopped taking Mirapex and amazingly he stopped gambling

within one week.

 

" I tried to lower the dose, " Joe explained, " but the gambling

restarted. " Next he switched to a different dopamine agonist drug but

the gambling started again.

 

In late February of 2004, he quit all dopamine agonists entirely, and

has not gambled one red cent in nearly two years. " There is simply no

compulsion to gamble anymore, " he says.

 

" Only upon stopping the drug, " Joe says, " did I return to my old,

responsible self. "

 

The gambling problem that developed out of nowhere always seemed

bizarre to Joe, because from 1977-1980, he was on assignment in

England and had easy access to all forms of gambling, including slot

machines, and gambling seldom entered his mind.

 

" I probably gambled all of $20 over the three years I was there, " he

notes.

 

Despite studies reporting on this situation from 1999 onward, Joe says

the drug makers sit on the sidelines and claim there is no link

between the drug and compulsive behavior.

 

" Their favorite tactic, " he reports, " has been to blame Parkinson's

disease for this behavior, claiming it's not the drug itself. "

 

" That's baloney, " Joe says, " there have been countless cases

demonstrating that when use of the drug is stopped, the behavior

stops, end of story. "

 

If anything, Joe says the problem is underreported, " because of the

embarrassment factor. "

 

Boehringer did revise the warning on the Mirapex package insert in

2005 to include compulsive behavior as a potential side effects

claiming it has received " rare " reports since the drug was approved

for use by the FDA in 1997.

 

However, in response to the latest study, the drug maker told UPI, " it

was investigating the relationship " if any " between its drug and users

developing compulsive behaviors. "

 

Mirapex is one the top-selling Parkinson's drugs. The product had

annual sales of approximately $244 million for the twelve months that

ended in July 2005, according to sales data from IMS Health, a

pharmaceutical information and consulting firm.

 

How much money did Joe lose? He would rather not dwell on that point.

" Lets just say I lost a lot of money, " he says. " I am solvent again,

but way behind of where I was pre-Mirapex, " he adds.

 

This is where Jim Sweet's story varies a bit from Joe's. After

gambling took over Jim's life, he ended up living out of his car most

of the time, because he couldn't be trusted at home. " I would pawn any

thing of value, " Jim reports.

 

" I was like a drug addict trying to find my next fix, " he says. " I

didn't want to gamble, I needed to gamble, " he adds.

 

He tried to stop by going to Gamblers Anonymous and counseling and

even checked into psychiatric hospitals, but nothing helped.

 

Finally, at the end of his rope, in the fall of 2002, Jim spoke to a

psychiatrist who was obviously familiar with the problem, because he

told Jim he suspected a drug induced addiction caused by the Mirapex.

 

" He took me off the drug, " Jim recalls, " and after the drug was out of

my system, I stopped gambling. "

 

Just like that, Jim's urge to gamble was gone and he could think

straight again.

 

" It was like a weight being lifted off my brain, " Jim says, " I was

myself again, able to relax, read a book, watch a movie, and spend

time with my family. "

 

Jim lost over three years of his life to Mirapex, and so did his

family. " It is only by God's grace that I am here today, " he says,

" alive with my wife and kids by my side. "

 

In December 2004, Jim and his wife, Kris, got to tell part of their

story on Good Morning America. " Right after that airing, " Jim says,

" Pfizer and BI put out a warning on their product literature, although

they buried it on page 17, " he adds.

 

Since getting their own lives in order, Jim and Kris have communicated

with hundreds of other people who have gone through the same horrible

nightmare.

 

" I have made it my mission to get the word out and help those that are

still in the dark about these devastating side effects of Mirapex, "

Jim says.

 

" Now, the drug companies need to make things right by compensating

those of us that have suffered so much, " he says, " and by putting out

warnings of the clear and present dangers of the potential compulsive

behavior that Mirapex can cause. "

 

Joe and Jim are both suing the drug makers for failing to adequately

warn patients about the gambling side effects.

 

Injured parties seeking justice can find more information at: Lawyers

and Settlements

 

By Evelyn Pringle

evelyn.Pringle