[caycep]

the weird part - impulse control disorders is a well described side effect of the "synthetic" and selective dopamine agonists (pramipexole, ropinirole, rotigotine) developed in the 80's and 90's for PD. It doesn't happen to everyone but seems to affect patients who have some sort of pre-existing obsession or compulsion that was more or less under control prior to the medicine. The odd part is that levodopa (basically good ol' dopamine) does not have this issue...

[meowface]

I'm confused by what you're trying to say. The article repeatedly stated that levodopa has been observed to create higher impulsivity.

I imagine any pure dopamine agonist can be prone to creating an impulse disorder if you take a sufficiently high dose.

[caycep]

The impulsivity seen in patients only happens in the synthetic, and possible more "selective" dopamine agonists that work more with certain dopamine receptor subtypes. Whereas, levodopa, which is a dopamine precursor and presumable not selective at all (ie. works on all receptors) do not have the impulsivity effect, or at least as dramatic, on these same or similar patients.