DISCOVERY OF THE MONTH:DRUGS?

It’s got to be worth a gamble


While many of us might like to take a flutter now and again, there is a breed apart branded by doctors as ‘pathological gamblers’. And they’re developing a drug for them.


To find out if you are a pathological gambler, you must meet five of 10 possible criteria, such as having a preoccupation with gambling, a need to gamble with increasing sums and a history of unsuccessful attempts to stop.


Doctors have been testing two SSRIs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors) fluvoxamine and paroxetine on a small group of gamblers, seven of whom reported improvements. Another drug, naltrexone, was also found to be effective among those with a “strong gambling urge”


(J Am Med Assoc, 2001; 286: 141-4).

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Written by What Doctors Don't Tell You

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