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I swear, Doc, it's the medicine you gave me

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A 51-year-old married father of two is suing GlaxoSmithKline, saying a Glaxo drug he took gave him some rather unusual side effects.

Didier Jambart of Nantes, France, started taking Requip (ropinirole), which is used to treat Parkinson’s disease -- a disorder of the nervous system that affects movement, muscle control and balance -- in 2003.

We have all seen those cheesy drug commercials. You know the ones where some poor sap is barely squeaking through a bleak existence but through the miracle of modern medicine his life is dramatically changed. (Cue announcer and large dog of choice and actor cheesing at camera while a list of pretty unsettling side effects are listed, including stomach cramps, loss of appetite and my personal favorite, seizures.)

I researched the known side effects for Requip, which Jambart was taking. According to drugs.com, the most common include: Constipation; dizziness; drowsiness; loss of appetite; nausea; sore throat or flu-like symptoms; tiredness; vomiting; weakness.

I know you are wondering now where I am going with this. Well, Jambart alleges that Requip gave him an even stranger side effect: It turned him, he says, into a gambling and gay-sex addict.

I bet his pharmacist did not include that in the list when Jambart picked up his prescription.

I wonder if the drug has a similar effect on gay people. Forget “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” We can just hand out Requip and turn our military gay boys into a bunch of gambling, strip-club hounds.

I have taken prescription medication before, but it never drove me to the slot machines or cruising the Kit Kat club.

Jambart alleges that he also became a “compulsive gay sex addict and began exposing himself on the Internet and cross-dressing.” Holy garter belts, Batman!

In the immortal words of Rick James, “Cocaine is a hell of a drug,” but if he and other groups like Parliament had gotten a hold of this gender-bending medicine, the 1970s culture might have been radically different. Grace Jones might have become a father.

Jambart stopped taking the drug in 2005, but by that time, he alleges, he had already been demoted from his job and was suffering psychological trauma. I’m sure he was traumatized to wake up broke, penniless and your entire wardrobe resembling a cast from “RuPaul’s Drag Race.”

I am not a doctor, and I know many of you take prescription drugs, but if you find the man in your life acting strangely, I offer Professor Locs’ Top 5 signs his medication could be having gender-altering side effects:

5. Instead of mowing the lawn in his usual cargo shorts and T-shirt, he is wearing hot pants and a halter-top.

4. He returns from having his locks done, but instead of them hanging loosely on his shoulders they are pinned into an ornate up-do.

3. He gets into a heated argument at choir practice because he insists on having the coveted role of lead soprano.

2. You ask him to stop by the store for some feminine products and he comes home with two boxes -- one for you and one for him.

1. You get a text saying he wants some alone time and wants you to wear a sexy number. You emerge from the bathroom and face an awkward moment as you realize you are both wearing the same Victoria Secret ensemble.

***
Professor Locs, aka Charles Easley, is an educator who explores race, class, gender, sexuality, media and popular culture with humor and insight. Click here to read his blog.

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May 22, 2012
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