Pill-Rolling the Dice

There's a report that 9 out of 2000 Parkinson's patients on a dopamine agonist with levodopa engaged in pathological gambling. The rate seems only slightly higher than the general population, and the coincidence of Parkinson's and retirement home casino in the elderly community may be contributing. But the patients were cured once their meds were changed.

Neurology continues to fascinate; while this levodopa/gambling link is not nearly as strange as the Lesch-Nyhan behaviors, it's pretty intriguing. I wish I remembered more about dopamine in assessing rewards and risks.

The study was initiated by a doc who saw two of the nine patients in the same week -- meaning I should get to work on this X-linked deafness / eye-color finding.