Simon Bent is a successful playwright who lives in London. He is married and has a 25 year old daughter.

Simon Bent’s story

I first noticed that my handwriting changed and I was finding it difficult to make notes in my note book. I was always very slow in brushing my teeth, doing up my buttons and cutting my meat.

I had a play on at the Bush Theatre where one of the characters had an undisclosed illness. During rehearsals, the actor who was playing that part joked that he had based the character on my movement. I was shocked by the conversation, but seeing this actor on stage, giving a performance based on me as a character, made me realise that something was wrong and prompted me to see my doctor.

Diagnosis

My doctor did all sorts of tests for arthritis and rheumatism. In May 1998 he finally sent me to the Movement Disorder Clinic at the Hammersmith hospital. They literally diagnosed me in five minutes. I had Parkinson’s disease.

I was in shock. At first, I told only a couple of good friends. I could not tell my family. I did not want to tell them until I was ready and had come to terms with the diagnosis. It was a profound thing; I was only 39 years old and I had to learn to live with it.

Medication

I did not take any medication for the first few months, as I was able to do my daily activities and my work. But after a while, things started to be more challenging and I had difficulty coping with every day tasks.

In January 2000, I therefore started taking Dopamine Agonists. However, the medication was very powerful and had a lot of side-effects. I became extremely paranoid and after a few months I was unable to leave the house. So the doctors changed my drug to Cabergoline in August 2000. I had had such an extreme reaction to the first medication that they were very cautious, and built me up very gradually to a level that was going to be effective.

As the dosage level increased, I grew more and more paranoid, thinking people were going to attack me. I also began to develop a desire to gamble, started to eat a great deal of chocolate, and spent a large amount of time trying to fix computers, even though I did not have any experience at doing this.

Gambling

It all started with scratchcards.  I bought one or two at first, but then I was buying so many that my friends began to joke that it must be my retirement plan. I used to get up earlier in the mornings in order to buy scratchcards from various newsagents. Some days, I was so driven to gamble that I spent my entire day going from newsagent to newsagent.

Then I discovered internet gambling. I opened an account to buy lottery tickets and to play virtual versions of scratchcards. I spent night after night on the computer while my wife was asleep. I was also gambling from work when no one was looking. I was spending thousands and thousands of pounds.

It was horrific when I realised what I had gambled away.  I nearly lost everything and my house nearly got repossessed.

Return to reality

I tried going to Gamblers Anonymous. At first I refused to believe that the stories I heard were relevant to me, but eventually I had to admit that I suffered similar problems.  I thought I had turned into a gambling addict; it never occurred to me that my gambling might be connected to the medication I was taking and nobody ever warned me that it could be a side effect.

I was admitted to the Queen’s Hospital Neuropsychiatric Ward for two months when I started to have suicidal tendencies. It was at this point that I discovered that my behaviour might be linked to the Dopamine Agonist. They took me off all the medication and put me on Levodopa. The impulse to gamble then stopped and I have not gambled since.

I now realise how supportive and understanding my family and friends have been during this time. I nearly lost everything: my marriage; my work; my confidence.

Decision to take legal action

My life is now back on track, but due to the emotional and financial impact that the pathological gambling has had on me and my family, I have made the decision to take legal action.  Like others who believe that they have experienced this as a side-effect of taking a Dopamine Agonist I have appointed Leigh Day & Co solicitors to seek compensation on my behalf.

Moving forward and enjoying life

For now, Levodopa is keeping my symptoms and the disease under control. I feel better now than I have felt for years. I am enjoying my family and I have a lot of projects. I am working on a film for the BBC and I have got a play opening in the West End.