Increased writing activity in Parkinson's disease: a punding-like behavior?
We report a 32-year-old male patient with early-onset Parkinson's disease who exhibited abnormally increased writing activity. The patient displayed a disabling and pronounced increased writing activity, filling up to 10 pages or more per day in a notebook, and spending more than 12 h writing. In general, there was not much meaning in most of the writing, though there was a particular preference in tabulating the names of various sport and TV personalities. The writing activity gradually diminished following treatment with quetiapine hydrochloride, an anti-psychotic agent, at 25 mg/day. Although the pathophysiological mechanism underlying the increased writing is unclear, we believe it should be regarded as a form of punding or stereotyped behavior that has been suggested to be associated with dopaminergic therapy in Parkinson's disease.
Miwa
Hideto
H
Department of Neurology, Wakayama Medical University, 811-1 Kimiidera, Wakayama City, Wakayama, Japan 641-8510. h-miwa@wakayama-med.ac.jp
Kondo
Tomoyoshi
T
D000328:Adult; D014150:Antipsychotic Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage; D003987:Dibenzothiazepines / Q000008:administration & dosage; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000503:physiopathology*; D000069348:Quetiapine Fumarate; D013239:Stereotyped Behavior; D014956:Writing
D014150:Antipsychotic Agents; D003987:Dibenzothiazepines; D000069348:Quetiapine Fumarate