What would you do if you found out you would? (I ask as someone whose great-grandfather, great-uncle, and grandfather all had Parkinson’s.)
I’ve avoided any testing because, as far as I know, there’s nothing preventative to be done. I’d love to hear otherwise. I’ve broached the subject with my last two primary care physicians and both advised that there was no point in knowing.
If you know for certain, then you might do things you otherwise wouldn't.
E.g decide to have children or not, plan a will. Live life to the max. Potentially get a head start on treatment if one were ultimately available, even if super experimental and maybe even not working in the end.
Honestly, there are many reasons to know beforehand and not a lot of reasons to not know.
Things like deciding when to retire. You might want to retire earlier and spend time doing things instead of waiting to retire to get maximum retirement payout.
There's quite a few big decisions to make, no? Preparing financially, making plans for when you're going to retire or what to do before, whether you want to have kids and put them through this, and so on.
If I found out I had a degenerative disease at the very least I'd opt for an egg or sperm donation and not delay having kids. You probably don't want to be in declining health while they're growing up.
no, so that they don't have a high probability of having a disease because I'd not be passing it on. How did you read anything else into that statement?
There are lifestyle factors that are supposed to slow the onset and progression. Granted most of those, like exercise, are supposed to be things we do anyways.
I think if you find out young enough you can probably try to follow a different trajectory in life. Maybe abstain from stuff like finding a partner, having kids, buying a home or saving for retirement. Make plans to end up in circumstances where you're eligible for MAID and just vibe until you're ready to use it.
Seriously, it has long been understood that people who smoke have dramatically lower levels of parkinsons. It comes from the neuroprotective properties of nicotine. You don't have to become a smoker, you could theoretically use any of the other forms (vape, gum, patch)
Nicotine is wonderful. 2mg and 4mg lozenges are readily available, you don't have to take up smoking to get it. It's excellent for many, many things: cognition, focus, appetite control, positive habit formation, etc.
You don't have to smoke cigarettes to get nicotine. Using a patch just gives you nicotine in a very safe way, and nicotine itself isn't particularly harmful.
I'd encourage you to just search google scholar for "nicotine and parkinsons" there are dozens and dozens of studies. It's been well established for decades now, as it stood out, especially in the past, that cigarette smokers weren't developing parkinsons as expected. Here is a recent meta study though:
There have also been numerous studies that have found that starting nicotine once symptoms begin is too late, with little or no effect. It is hypothesized that there is some critical point that once crossed, nicotine no longer has an effect. Parkinsons is believed to slowly develop over years or decades, and nicotine stunts this early progression.
I’ve avoided any testing because, as far as I know, there’s nothing preventative to be done. I’d love to hear otherwise. I’ve broached the subject with my last two primary care physicians and both advised that there was no point in knowing.