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Drugs causing sexual incontinence?

33 replies

lcakethereforeIam · 26/07/2025 13:09

Most read story on BBC news when i noticed it

'My dad started spying on my mum' - the drugs causing sexual urges - BBC News https://share.google/jgZmuRy4Q8y0eryQd

Many of the cases we have now learned of involve the exploitation of women and children. These include:
A man who was convicted of child sexual offences after abusing a child
An octogenarian who says he has become addicted to pornography including bestiality and child abuse images
A father of three children who said the drugs left him needing to have sex up to seven times a day - and caused him to walk out on two marriages when partners could not satisfy him
All three men said they had had no previous history of such sexual behaviour before taking the drugs. They also said they felt profound shame about their behaviour but believed the medication helped their conditions.
Other men the BBC spoke to said they did not want to take themselves off the drugs because the medication had led them to discover new sexual interests - which are legal and consensual - and because they enjoyed their increased libido.
One married grandfather in his 60s has begun crossdressing and has entered into online relationships with men. Another man says the drugs disinhibited homosexual feelings he had not previously explored.

My thoughts are all over the place. How commonly are this family of drugs prescribed? How common are these side effects? Apparently they're prescribed to all ages, both sexes. What effect do the have on women who are prescribed them. Apart from being at risk from men who are taking them, do women exhibit sexually risky behaviour that could put them in danger?

I can understand people wanting to maintain access to the drugs if they relieve symptoms of really unpleasant conditions. But am I alone in thinking that the side effects might also be rather enjoyable. Perhaps relieving the symptoms is an excuse to keep enjoying the side effects. Although perhaps not always.

Then there's me wondering if the urges actually came from nowhere or if they're just disinhibited to do what they've thought about doing anyway?

Finally, will this be the new 'rough sex' defence? 'M'lud, I wouldn't have raped that child except I was on these drugs'. I don't believe any drugs can remove a person's agency. Unless they're really far gone with something like dementia. They may make the intrusive thoughts harder to resist but giving into them is still a conscious act.

A headshot of Sarah, looking straight at the camera with a serious expression. She is wearing an oat coloured top and earrings with her hair loose. She is sitting in a living room, there are wooden shelves behind her.

'My dad started spying on my mum' - the drugs causing sexual urges

The prescribed medication, taken for movement disorders, can have extreme side effects.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cpqnpryxvrro

OP posts:
BadSkiingMum · 26/07/2025 14:22

@WomenShouldStillWinWomensSportsIsBack That must have been pretty scary and awful to go through. I had read an earlier BBC article about women affected by the 'restless leg' syndrome drug.

Looking at the wider issues, if a man rapes someone while under the influence of a drug than their victim has still been horribly harmed and traumatised, regardless of the motivation of the perpetrator, plus possibly made pregnant in the case of a woman. But nobody wants women taking a drug putting themselves at risk either...

In terms of drug research, this isn't my area but I am not sure that drugs can yet be tailored to only target one type of impulse or function in the brain, as any type of neurologically active drug always seems to come with significant side-effects. The example that springs to mind is SSRIs for depression, which are also reported to have a 'numbing' effect on the range of emotion experienced by patients.

NICE has recently banned new prescriptions of sodium valproate for people who have epilepsy, due to significant harm to unborn children. Patients are only allowed to stay on it if there is no alternative available. So it can happen but even then it seemed to take a very long time from research first showing there was potentially a problem. That period of time during which sodium valproate was being knowingly prescribed despite high risks is the next big drug scandal...

myplace · 26/07/2025 14:21

One of the women affected, if I remember correctly, was putting herself in significant danger, and it wrecked her marriage. She was cruising bars.

It’s an awful side effect. Awful when people are endangered by the medication, worse when they become predatory towards others.

But without the supervision of someone knowing what to look for, people will be at considerable risk.

MarieDeGournay · 26/07/2025 14:16

WomenShouldStillWinWomensSportsIsBack · 26/07/2025 13:42

Didn't you read the full article? The lack of proper detailed warning is literally part of the problem they're talking about. These drugs are being passed out and the warnings aren't being given despite the fact it's a known issue. I've been on one of the drugs in the article and I can assure you they bloody do have the side effects these people claim they have. And I'm a woman. I had to come off it damn fast because it put me at risk.
What we should be doing is looking at what, specifically, this drug is doing to cause these side effects and use it in research to create a drug for people who idiopathically have these problems and eliminate the problems for them and the wider benefit of society.
You seem hell bent on making this the fault of the men who are affected by these shit medications instead of holding the drug companies responsible for knowing and not adequately warning people or maybe not fudging the research and releasing a drug with these sort of side effects and making a better one instead.

Show quote history

In fairness, the NHS guidance says to call a doctor or 111 'now' and get help if you start feeling any serious side effects, incl

  • you start binge eating, gambling or shopping uncontrollably or have an unusually high sex drive – these are signs of impulse control disorder.
These are listed as 'serious' rather than 'common' side effects so they must be, by definition, unusual and they need immediate attention.

So the problematic behaviours listed in the OP were unusual, serious reactions to the drug, and should have been reported and dealt with straight away, as the NHS guidance instructs.

parietal · 26/07/2025 14:16

these drugs are very precisely targeting reward centres in the brain and changing people's fundamental desires. there really are some major philosophical questions about how much a person's actions are their own when on drugs like this.

I agree with the article that there should be much clearer warnings about side effects and much closer monitoring on these drugs. just like women taking certain meds have to be v careful to avoid pregnancy, so anyone taking these neuroactive drugs needs to be v careful that their behaviour and personality is not being changed.

WomenShouldStillWinWomensSportsIsBack · 26/07/2025 13:42

lcakethereforeIam · 26/07/2025 13:11

This is the NHS page

Side effects of ropinirole - NHS https://share.google/oPhRN6TCH1EwC4VgH

Nothing explicitly about 'urges'.

Didn't you read the full article? The lack of proper detailed warning is literally part of the problem they're talking about. These drugs are being passed out and the warnings aren't being given despite the fact it's a known issue. I've been on one of the drugs in the article and I can assure you they bloody do have the side effects these people claim they have. And I'm a woman. I had to come off it damn fast because it put me at risk.
What we should be doing is looking at what, specifically, this drug is doing to cause these side effects and use it in research to create a drug for people who idiopathically have these problems and eliminate the problems for them and the wider benefit of society.
You seem hell bent on making this the fault of the men who are affected by these shit medications instead of holding the drug companies responsible for knowing and not adequately warning people or maybe not fudging the research and releasing a drug with these sort of side effects and making a better one instead.

BadSkiingMum · 26/07/2025 13:22

I read the article and felt quite uneasy. Like you I worry there is the possibility that drugs could become an excuse. But also the disastrous effect on family relationships if someone begins behaving in this way.

But aren't some of these urges already latent in human beings, especially men? We know what happens to women in war, disaster zones and hostage situations. The veneer of civilisation can be quite thin.

YouCantProveIt · 26/07/2025 13:17

Yes it’s well known - although these are extreme cases. Parkinson’s itself can also lead to disinhibition. It’s really tough.

OP posts: