There's a long-running joke, but I have never found any humor in it.
it goes like this:

"The GOOD news is that you don't die from Parkinson's.
The BAD new is that you don't die from Parkinson's."

"Parkinson's" is not often written on death certificates, unless it says "Cause of death: Complications from Parkinson's." Such complications include injury from a fall, renal (kidney) failure, choking, pneumonia, and any of a number of vital functions that would probably have not occurred had you not had the disease.

I have lived with this monster for 20 years. Now, I could be said to have a positive attitude about having PD, but there have been times along my journey that I have "wished" I would just die. That is not me talking, but rather it could be the depression brought on from mixing and messing with the chemicals in my brain causing an imbalance. Knowing that PD has caused this deadly attitude, I try to focus on that very fact. If we give up hope, we may fall into a deep hole that we are unable to climb out.

The medications I take aren't like an antibiotic for Strep throat. There is no germ that has invaded my body to "kill". The meds also are not like a diuretic to rid my body of escessive fluid. If PD is caused by an excessive substance in my body, we do not know about it. The fact is, we do not know why we start losing neurons. Nor do we know what to do aboout the fact that our brain stops producing dopamine - the chemical medium for creating an environment conducive to allowing signals from the brain be able to "jump" from synapse to synapse in split second timing.

I liked the article mentioned here because it has been the catalyst of my involvement in advocacy. And as Kinsley pointed out, you get paranoid knowing that more than half of those who are diagnosed with PD will get dementia. That is what I fear most. It bothers me somewhat that there may come a time when someone has to help me "go potty," but it bothers me a lot that there may come a time when I do not know the purpose of a potty.

I already knew that Hitler was thought to have had PD. And there are times, I'm sure, that I have a tendency to go off half-cocked like Hitler. But generally, I am a sensitive, be-kind-to-others type person. I would not like to be restrained with handcuffs and shackles due to aggressive behavior, but I would hate it even worse to not know that I was harming someone.

As we age, the retrieval process of the mind gets more sluggish in general, but keeping those circuits open and active (in my opinion and according to some research) surely must impact that speed of recalling your friend's phone number. And although I lose items (like I lost my iPhone just prior to attending Unity Walk in NYC this past weekend), I have never been unable to distinguish where I am, or WHO I am.

I do not like having Parkinson's, but there are far worse situations. I am convinced that based on the individual cocktail of meds prescribed to help our limbs move fluidly, it can dull our senses or slow our comprehension. And it definitely plays havoc with our mood swings. But I know that willfully harming ourselves to escape our situation should not even be on the list of possibilities. However, based on how I feel today and knowing how caregivers interact with one who has dementia or Alzheimer's, I might have written in my last will and testament that if I ever do not know who or what I am, to hang a sign around my neck that says, "Please do not feed me."