Gastric ailment drug can cause Parkinson's-like symptoms: Doctors

GURGAON: A drug commonly used to treat gastrointestinal ailments can potentially cause symptoms resembling Parkinson's disease if consumed for a long period, doctors have warned.
They made this observation after treating an 80-year-old woman who was brought into the emergency ward with severe weakness and rigidity. After tests, they realised that the woman had been prescribed Levosulpiride for gastric problems a long time ago and continued taking the medicines."She had other symptoms such as tremors too. Unbeknownst to her, the side effects of this drug can mimic Parkinson's. Over the past few years, we have identified 15-20 cases of Levosulpiride-induced Parkinsonism," said Dr Praveen Gupta, DM (neurology), director and unit head (neurology) at Fortis Memorial Research Institute in Gurgaon.
Discontinuing the drug or reducing the dosage often alleviates these symptoms, doctors said.