The Living with Parkinson's Tip of the Day: 15-20% of people starting a dopamine agonist will develop an impulse control disorder

Persons with Parkinson’s who are started on dopamine agonist therapy have a very high rate of developing an impulse control disorder. This rate may be as high as 1 in every 5 to 6 individuals started on this type of pharmacotherapy.

Impulse control disorders include inappropriate behaviors such as shopping, gambling and hypersexuality.

We recommend that every person and caregiver with Parkinson’s be warned about this potential complication and that a monitoring plan be constructed and implemented on the day that therapy is initiated.

Care-partners need to be actively involved in the monitoring plan, as in some cases the person with Parkinson’s may not have the necessary insight— and may in some cases even “like the behavior.”

Failure to implement monitoring plans can have terrible consequences with large financial losses and also breaking up of marriages.

Read more in the book Living with Parkinson’s.

Michael OkunOctober 5, 2020

The Living with Parkinson's Tip of the Day: 15-20% of people starting a dopamine agonist will develop an impulse control disorder

To read more on Indu Subramanian M.D. she does live interviews of experts in Parkinson’s for the PMD Alliance. She is one of the few doctors in the world trained in both Parkinson’s disease neurology and in integrative medicine.

To see more on our blog by artist Jonny Acheson MD check out his website at JonnyAchesonArt.com. Jonny is a physician in the U.K. who also has Parkinson’s disease.

Dr. Michael S. Okun

Hot Topics in Parkinson’s Disease

The Living with Parkinson's Tip of the Day: 15-20% of people starting a dopamine agonist will develop an impulse control disorder

To read more on Indu Subramanian M.D. she does live interviews of experts in Parkinson’s for the PMD Alliance﻿. She is one of the few doctors in the world trained in both Parkinson’s disease neurology and in integrative medicine.

To see more on our blog by artist Jonny Acheson MD check out his website at JonnyAchesonArt.com. Jonny is a physician in the U.K. who also has Parkinson’s disease.

Dr. Michael S. Okun

To read more on Indu Subramanian M.D. she does live interviews of experts in Parkinson’s for the PMD Alliance. She is one of the few doctors in the world trained in both Parkinson’s disease neurology and in integrative medicine.