A young man who took painkillers after a go-karting accident firmly believes the drugs have made him gay.
While some would say you can’t turn gay, 23-year-old Scott Purdy disagrees. He claims he used to be a hot-blooded heterosexual who loved nothing more than dating women before he started taking painkiller Pregabalin.
Scott started taking the drug, also known as Lyrica, to treat pain caused after he broke his foot in a go-karting accident.
However, Scott believes the painkiller did more than numb his agony, he claims he quickly lost his sexual attraction to women and broke up with his girlfriend of six months when prescribed Lyrica earlier this year.
In Scott’s own words:
I noticed my libido for women had gone and I was wanting male attention.
I was with a girlfriend I had been with for around six months. I had never been interested in men. When I was younger I was a little bit curious but…
A couple of weeks after I started taking it I turned around and said I didn’t find her physically attractive anymore. She knew I was taking Pregabalin.
I said to her, ‘I don’t really know what’s happening to me and I told her I like men and I just can’t be with you.’
She was relatively understanding, as understanding as you could possibly be.
While Pregabalin or Lyrica is primarily a medication used to treat epilepsy, pain associated with the brain, and generalised anxiety disorder it does have common side-effects, which include a loss of libido.
Scott, who isn’t particularly annoyed at his swing in sexual orientation, merely wants to raise awareness of the drug and its rather drastic side effects.
He continued:
I just think people should know about this. If anyone gets prescribed this in the future, I think they should know what this medication can do.
It took me a while to realise what it was. I stopped taking it for a few weeks and that desire for men just left.
But I’m on it now; I’m very happy. I want to keep on taking it because it makes me feel happy about my sexuality. It’s made me feel very open. It’s liberating.
I had been taking it for a few weeks and I have come to the realisation that when I take it I want males.
It did come as a shock to people. I posted it on Facebook. I didn’t tell them the reason why but I just said to them, ‘I’m open; I’m gay.’
Not one for wasting time, Scott’s even got a date with a guy lined up in the near future.
He explained:
Currently I’m talking to this lad on Plenty of Fish and in a couple of weeks I’m going up to see him. He’s in London.
It’s really what I’m craving right now. I want to be with him right now.
I feel if this has happened to other people and I’m not the only one I would be outraged but in a sense not be because if I had known this was a side effect before I would not have taken them but now I’m happy.
I’m not angry because it’s made me who I am.
Each to their own Scott, each to their own. So long as you’re happy!
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