Think before you answer this question. It is not as simple as it appears.

By definition, a patient is a person receiving medical treatment. To be a patient therefore means to be actively engaged by the medical system in some way. But when, if ever, does a person with a chronic illness like PD stop being engaged by the medical system? That is, when does someone stop being a Parkinson's patient?

Much has been written about the possibility of compulsive behavior in some young people taking dopamine agonists. Gambling and hypersexuality have gotten a lot of press because they are glitzy and attention-grabbing. A person in the grip of compulsive gambling can rapidly bring financial ruin to the family. Hypersexual behavior can lead to unrelenting demands of a partner, affairs, unprotected encounters and compulsive indulgence in pornography.