If nothing else, it could allow you to make different decisions in your life. If my mind is going to be gone in 10 years, I'm sure as shit not saving for long term retirement anymore.

> If my mind is going to be gone in 10 years

Parkinsons affects motor control, not mental functioning. The point still stands -- if I got a diagnosis I would be less likely to embark on learning to play the piano, and I'd start educating myself on the disease.

EDIT: I'll correct myself. It primarily affects motor control, but late in the disease it can affect cognition.

Lewey Body Dementia is common with Parkinson’s

"if I got a diagnosis I would be less likely to embark on learning to play the piano"

Perhaps counterintuitively, doing something like learning to play the piano could potentially slow the progression of fine motor skill impairment. Same with things like Tai Chi, dancing, exercise in general...

Every case is different , but Parkinson’s is often associated with severe dementia that can manifest fairly quickly. I saw this happen to a close family member unfortunately.

My friend's grandmother's hand started shaking badly eating soup and she got bedridden due to a fall in their home, 1 year later she started calling her daughter "nurse" because she didn't recognize her and passed away not too long after due to heart failure. I really hope they will find a treatment to this disease eventually.

I think "primarily" is overstating it. You don't just keep on truckin' with diminished motor control. It is degenerative and causes dementia

But what if you’re a false positive? What opportunities dis you forgo by choosing a path based on incorrect foreknowledge?

As someone who is somewhat older and had a medical scare, I am going to say I wish I had done everything always as if I am going to die in a year.

I can't really think of any significant short-term interests I have, I think if I (relatively young) was told I was going to die in a year, or otherwise decided I should heed this advice and live that way, I'd spend the year in depression. Or at best just closing out investments, selling things, etc. to make it easier for family to deal with. I just can't imagine thinking Oh right now's the time for that (quick) 'experience' I always wanted (because what?) - I could travel and eat & drink very well perhaps, but I think I'd just find it futile.

And yes I'm well aware this applies inductively to all of life, it's just somehow better if you don't know the value of N.

> I could travel and eat & drink very well perhaps, but I think I'd just find it futile.

I tried that and found it absolutely depressing and futile. Quick experiences never did anything for me or my family. But just doing what I like/want to do only (which not everyone can; some people seem to like/want things that cost a lot of money) is what I should've done for the past 40, not only the past 20 years is what I mean. Maybe dying next year is stressful for most, so make it 5 years; is that better? Or 7 as the article says?

> I wish I had done everything always as if I am going to die in a year.

But euthanasia as a non traumatic form of death unlike suicide, is still prohibitively expensive.

Crowdfunding steals your privacy.

Science steals your privacy, and can keep you alive for longer.

So are you not over rating life somewhat?

Alas, decisions need to be made today when hindsight is only available tomorrow.

> If my mind is going to be gone in 10 years, I'm sure as shit not saving for long term retirement anymore.

But hopefully if you could get a Parkinson's diagnosis seven years prior to symptoms, you'd be able to save some money to keep from becoming a burden on your family later on.

There's other ways to avoid becoming a burden, but yes that would be worth planning for.

I don't believe any disease modifying interventions exist which would suggest no, from a purely medical patient perspective at least.

There are some candidates advertised as promising but I'm not sure how much stock I have in this. This isn't my area of expertise but disease modifying therapies for neurodegenerative diseases have been touted as being "around the corner" since I was a first year medical student.

If we could diagnose before actual Parkinsonian symptoms emerge, studying and developing preventative strategies and pharma will be a lot easier.

Parkinson's is funny in that sometimes what initially presents as Parkinsonian symptoms could develop into something like MSA over a span of 5 or more years. If this person were in a clinical trial for pure Parkinson's, it would sort of mess things up...

For insurance companies, yes.

To medicine, generally? Yes, because we could enroll patients in trials to look at prevention/delay of symptom onset. To patients right now? No, and probably a net negative, because the psychological harms from knowing what's coming would cause greater harm than the benefit of planning.

Probably only for research at the moment.

I expect people will look into why eye scans work and how to make them work better.

I also expect them to use this to catch potential Parkinson's patients early and see if they can find out more about early stages of the disease. Maybe they'll find something that works even earlier than eye scans.