Didier Jambart: "medicine made me gambler, thief and gay sex fiend'

UglyBolloxFace · 02-02-2011 04:44PM #1

Parkinson's drugs 'made me gambler, thief and gay sex fiend'

The Observer, Sunday 9 December 2007
Article history
A French court is set to award substantial damages to a 47-year-old father-of-two with Parkinson's disease who was ruled to have been turned into a gambler and thief, with compulsive homosexual urges, by the drugs he was being treated with.
Didier Jambart, a French defence ministry employee, has been suing for damages of €400,000 after being prescribed with dopamine agonist drugs in a case that is being closely studied by lawyers representing Parkinson's sufferers in Britain, the US and Canada. Like Jambart, they claim that they were provided with minimal information about the disturbing side effects, estimated to affect up to 15 per cent of those taking the drugs.

'I could not have told this story even several months ago without breaking down,' said Jambart. '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.' He ran up gambling debts of €130,000 while stealing from his family, friends and neighbours to fund his obsession. He even sold toys belonging to his two young sons.

Dopamine agonists, which mimic the mood chemical dopamine, are used in several branded drugs commonly prescribed for Parkinson's, a debilitating disease which affects some 120,000 people in Britain. In most cases, they successfully counter symptoms which include muscular tremors and slowness of movement.

But within a year of starting his medication, Jambart felt the first signs of what he calls 'a state of Jekyll and Hyde'. During the highs he began placing horse racing bets on the internet. But in December 2004, he made the first of three suicide attempts. The next year he began trawling gay internet sites for sexual partners whom he invited home.

'As soon as we saw him we knew immediately it was dopamine agonists,' said Philippe Damier, head of the neurology department at the Nantes CHU hospital. Jambart was given different medication and his disorders disappeared. He said: 'Without that, I would have killed myself or have ended up in prison.'

Bids for compensation in Britain were launched last month by two Parkinson's sufferers who claimed to have become gambling addicts after being prescribed Mirapexin.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2007/dec/09/france.health

So what do you think about this? I'm understanding the chemistry behind it, but to be honest a part of me thinks he just decided to go off the rails and then blame it on the pills.

prinz · 02-02-2011 04:51PM

Why gambling and homosexual urges?

Duggy747 · 02-02-2011 04:52PM

Sounds to me like he was just taking ecstasy. :pac:

Monty Burnz · 02-02-2011 04:53PM

prinz wrote: »

Why gambling and homosexual urges?

Fiddled with his brain chemistry somehow, presumably.

UglyBolloxFace · 02-02-2011 04:55PM

Monty Burnz wrote: »

Fiddled with his brain chemistry somehow, presumably.

Interesting. So does that mean that homosexuality is due to brain chemistry imbalance?

Jesus, I think AH has actually made a slight break through in the world!

(and no, this is not sarcasm, it's a genuine question/query)

prinz · 02-02-2011 04:59PM

Monty Burnz wrote: »

Fiddled with his brain chemistry somehow, presumably.

I can understand brain chemistry fiddling but it's odd that there seems to be a pattern towards gambling and sex in particular in a number of the cases mentioned. If they said people doing uncharacteristic things fair enough, it's just odd that the same chemistry fiddle would lead a range of different people into gambling. It would be interesting to know if they were gamblers before starting the medication and it just caused them to gamble larger amounts and reduced inhibitions or something.

chin_grin · 02-02-2011 05:00PM

So in other words made a French man even more French?

Sacre Bleu! What 'ave we done?

Also I'd like to add.

A little from Didier a little from Didi-B?

AnonoBoy · 02-02-2011 05:03PM

Yeah the eh..... whatchacallit dopeymean agonist drugs made me gamble and ride lads too.

Can I get in on some of this lawsuit action?

Crucifix · 02-02-2011 05:08PM

Parkinson's is caused by the death of dopamine receptors related to movement. Many treatments work by boosting the dopamine response. The pleasure of gambling is also caused by a release of dopamine which makes you feel good, so on these drugs the intensity of that pleasure is amplified. I've only heard about it in relation to gambling though, not stealing and sex

strobe · 02-02-2011 05:29PM

Crucifix wrote: »

Parkinson's is caused by the death of dopamine receptors related to movement. Many treatments work by boosting the dopamine response. The pleasure of gambling is also caused by a release of dopamine which makes you feel good, so on these drugs the intensity of that pleasure is amplified. I've only heard about it in relation to gambling though, not stealing and sex

Happens with sex, eating, exercise, basically any behaviour that gives you pleasure. When you anticipate a 'reward' whether that is a blowjob, a batter burger, a win on a horse or a winning a game of chess your brain releases dopamine. It's your brains way of driving you to seek things.

The fact that this guy is saying it made him want gay sex just means it made him want sex and he decided for himself to do other dudes. The fact that it made him steal is just because he enjoyed stealing already, liked the buzz of it and the dopamine agonist just made the buzz he got off it stronger. If he had not been into fukking guys and stealing the drug would not have made him seek these things out in particular.

smk89 · 02-02-2011 05:29PM

UglyBolloxFace wrote: »

Interesting. So does that mean that homosexuality is due to brain chemistry imbalance?

By the same token heterosexuality is a brain chemistry imbalance.

prinz · 02-02-2011 05:31PM

smk89 wrote: »

By the same token heterosexuality is a brain chemistry imbalance.

Maybe it is. The difference is if someone had come along and said they found a drug which could 'turn off' homosexual urges there'd be an outcry.

flyton5 · 02-02-2011 05:33PM

Why didnt he just cheat on his wife? He would've got the same chemical release. Sounds to me like he just got caught in the act trying a nice bit of strange and made up this cover story. Fair play if he gets away with it...

bluto63 · 02-02-2011 05:41PM

strobe wrote: »

Happens with sex, eating, exercise, basically any behaviour that gives you pleasure. When you anticipate a 'reward' whether that is a blowjob, a batter burger, a win on a horse or a winning a game of chess your brain releases dopamine. It's your brains way of driving you to seek things.

The fact that this guy is saying it made him want gay sex just means it made him want sex and he decided for himself to do other dudes. The fact that it made him steal is just because he enjoyed stealing already, liked the buzz of it and the dopamine agonist just made the buzz he got off it stronger. If he had not been into fukking guys and stealing the drug would not have made him seek these things out in particular.

So by that, the drug did not make him into a gambler, thief and sex fiend. The traits existed already, just the drug emphasised them, no?

enda1 · 02-02-2011 05:50PM

Parkinson's suffer - sex fiend?

Well I'd say he'd make a fine vibrator anyway :P

D'Agger · 02-02-2011 05:55PM

Bookies in France will be delighted he won 400k I suppose

Didier Jambart: "medicine made me gambler, thief and gay sex fiend'

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