French man sues Glaxo, claims drug made him a cross-dressing exhibitionist gay sex & gambling addict

[Amerigo Vespucci]

Man claims Glaxo drug made him ‘gay sex addict’

By Agence France-Presse
Monday, January 31st, 2011 -- 1:59 pm



A French father-of-two is to take GlaxoSmithKline to court on Tuesday, alleging the British firm's drug to treat Parkinson's disease turned him into a gay sex and gambling addict.

He also became a compulsive gay sex addict and began exposing himself on the Internet and cross-dressing. His risky sexual encounters led to him being raped, his lawyers said.

The behaviour stopped when he stopped taking the drugs in 2005 but by then he had been demoted in his defence ministry job and was suffering from psychological trauma resulting from his addictions, his lawyers said.

The plaintiff is seeking a total of 450,000 euros ($610,000) in damages from Glaxo, which he accuses of selling a "defective" drug, and from his neurologist for having failed to properly inform him about the drug.

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/01/man-claims-glaxo-drug-gay-sex-addict/

[piratefish08]

1. nope - those are about the only side effects NOT on the list.

Constipation; dizziness; drowsiness; fatigue; headache; increased sweating; lightheadedness; loss of appetite; nausea; sore throat or flu-like symptoms; stomach pain or upset; tiredness; vomiting; weakness; Severe allergic reactions (rash; hives; itching; difficulty breathing; tightness in the chest; swelling of the mouth, face, lips, or tongue); anxiety; blood in the urine; blurred vision; chest pain; confusion; decreased coordination; fainting; falling asleep during the daytime or during normal activities (eg, conversations, eating); fast, slow, or irregular heartbeat; hallucinations; impotence; joint stiffness or pain; nightmares; numbness or tingling of the skin; severe or persistent headache or dizziness; shortness of breath; swelling of the arms or legs; uncontrolled muscle movements.

[Myrina]

3. ... all so they can prescribe you a dozen other drugs to offset ...

... the side effects. Interesting how they create that self-enriching cycle, eh?

[originalpckelly]

5. I wouldn't be surprised that there isn't even a real Parkinson's disease.

They just want your money.

:sarcasm:

[Myrina]

7. roll eyes

Yawn.

[originalpckelly]

4. You have to understand that those side effects don't all occur in everyone...

all at the same time. And, in addition, hypersexuality and compulsive gambling are known to be side effects of this drug, though the official prescribing guidelines may not have been updated to include this.

[SharonAnn]

2. There are drugs that cause gambling addiction as a side effect.

[hunter]

6. Once upon a time I took a prescription drug that made me psychotic.

There wasn't any point in my decline where I thought it might be the drug. I simply slipped further and further away.

Unfortunately the drug was effective for the problem it was prescribed for so I managed to keep taking it faithfully until I was living entirely in my own reality. When you are driving along and the cars next to you become the feet of giant robots shuffling along, something is wrong -- most especially when you don't see anything unusual about that. I was avoiding the robot feet just fine and getting to where I wanted to go. (Ironically, the worst car accident I was ever in happened when my head was perfectly clear. Go figure.)

I was in college then and my English professor noticed my odd behavior and walked me to the Student Health Center where they immediately wrote it off as a mishap with street drugs and shelved me away quietly with the drunk and drug kids to sleep it off, which is what they did in those days. After a few hours they did figure it out it wasn't simply a bad trip and I recovered quickly once my prescription was changed.

There are drugs that can change one's behavior and perceptions as an unwanted side effect just as there are drugs that are used to treat depression, OCD, and other mental illnesses.

The pharmaceutical companies are always reluctant to disclose adverse side effects that might cut into their profits. Sometimes the only way to get their attention is with a lawsuit, especially when government regulators are not doing their jobs.

There's no way to tell from a news report what's happening here, but I think this guy's claim is plausible.