Addiction to apomorphine: a clinical case‐centred discussion

ABSTRACT Aim  To report the case of a patient, who in the context of an anti‐Parkinsonian therapy, developed addiction to apomorphine. Methods  Clinical case description. Results  Apomorphine is a dopaminergic agonist that acts directly on D2 receptors. It has been used in alcoholism, male sexual dy...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Addiction (Abingdon, England) England), 2006-11, Vol.101 (11), p.1662-1665
Main Authors: Téllez, Carlos, Bustamante, M. Leonor, Toro, Pablo, Venegas, Pablo
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Addiction
Addictive behaviors
Adult and adolescent clinical studies
Antiparkinson Agents - administration & dosage
anti‐Parkinsonian drugs
apomorphine
Apomorphine - administration & dosage
Apomorphine test
Biological and medical sciences
Dopamine Agonists - administration & dosage
Drug addiction
Drugs
Female
Humans
Medical sciences
Middle Aged
Morphine Dependence - etiology
Parkinson Disease - drug therapy
Parkinson's disease
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychopathology. Psychiatry
Toxicology
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Summary:ABSTRACT Aim  To report the case of a patient, who in the context of an anti‐Parkinsonian therapy, developed addiction to apomorphine. Methods  Clinical case description. Results  Apomorphine is a dopaminergic agonist that acts directly on D2 receptors. It has been used in alcoholism, male sexual dysfunction and with diagnostic and therapeutic purposes in Parkinson’s disease (PD). Conclusions  The present work describes the case of a woman with PD who developed a loss of control over the consumption of apomorphine that resulted in a significant impairment of her functioning. PD patients with high frequency develop different psychiatric symptoms. Conversely, anti‐Parkinsonian drugs also generate psychiatric symptoms that can be experienced by the patient as pleasant sensations (‘alerting’, ‘awakening’, ‘activating’, hypomania and hypersexuality). In spite of this, addiction to these drugs in patients with PD is a very rare phenomenon. Currently, the prescription of apomorphine has been extended to patients with erectile dysfunction, which may increase the prevalence of addiction cases or of severe psychiatric symptoms.
ISSN:0965-2140
1360-0443
DOI:10.1111/j.1360-0443.2006.01580.x