My shopping addiction hijacked my life. Now I realise what caused it
Sally Gardiner, a children's author, developed a severe shopping addiction that led to over £500,000 in debt, which she now attributes to dopamine agonist medication prescribed for Restless Legs Syndrome. Despite her successful literary career, the medication triggered compulsive spending and behavioral changes she did not understand at the time. Her story is part of a broader pattern reported to the BBC, where patients experienced serious impulsive behaviors due to the drug's unacknowledged side effects.
- ▪Sally Gardiner spent over £500,000 due to a shopping addiction linked to dopamine agonist drugs prescribed for Restless Legs Syndrome.
- ▪She was prescribed the medication to treat a condition that caused chronic sleeplessness, especially during menopause and after divorce.
- ▪The BBC has collected hundreds of similar reports linking dopamine agonist drugs to compulsive behaviors, including shopping, gambling, and hypersexuality.
- ▪Patients often did not connect their impulsive actions to the medication, and many felt their symptoms were dismissed, especially women.
- ▪Sally sold her home and moved into a smaller flat, but continued spending compulsively, even hiring an expensive interior designer.
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My shopping addiction hijacked my life. Now I realise what caused it Just nowShareSaveAdd as preferred on GoogleNoel Titheradge,Investigations correspondent andEmma Barnett,Presenter of Ready To TalkBBCSally Gardiner says she will live with the consequences of the spending for the rest of her lifeWhen children's author Sally Gardiner's career first took off, friends assumed her extravagant spending was a byproduct of her newfound success.Lavish spending sprees included a £3,000 bathtub, prints by English pop artist Peter Blake, and trips to Parisian boutiques.Sally was in her early 40s when her debut book was published, setting her on a path to sales of 2.5 million copies and major literary prizes such as the Carnegie Medal."Suddenly, I am in a different place," Sally says, "and for the…
Excerpt limited to ~120 words for fair-use compliance. The full article is at BBC News — UK.
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