Pathological gambling in a patient with Parkinson’s disease and valproate response

Abstract

Sodium valproate is a well-known antiepileptic agent with multiple mechanisms of action such as sodium channel blockage and gamma-aminobutyric acid activity induction. Despite its well-described anxiolytic and mood stabilization effects, its mechanism of action in pathological gambling is not clear. However, it has been reported as an effective treatment option in pathological gambling for patients without Parkinson’s disease (PD). We presented a male patient with a diagnosis of PD suffering from pathological gambling as an impulse control disorder due to antiparkinsonian drugs who did not respond to drug adjustments but showed complete improvement with sodium valproate, without any worsening in PD symptoms.