Pretty near everybody here amongst would agree that pre-DX is probably right up there with as much trouble as this disease is gonna give us up till we find our own special "Parkinsonized" demise. This often occurs as cardio-pulmonary problems, where these two necessary organs give out early due to generalaized muscle failure, where muscle control by the autonomic nervous control is spared as long as possible (PWP shouldn't smoke).
However the end is a long way from where you are standing, depending a lot on your age of onset and years already transversed. There IS such a beast which could be said to be "variable degrees" of PD. These could describe the onset of a mild form of PD at an advanced age, to a "crippling" form of the disease in a very young person. AS the disease evolves, our track through this personal diss of our easness readily describes to our inner mind, the "degree of our suffering, and where you are headed, what insults PD will heap on you. It's delivered as a package of symptoms that you are, every now and again, forced to reach into and pick another one out. The real "lucky ones" are those who "only" have PD to worry about, but to some, "only having PD" can be a vast understatement of their real index of health and ability to function,
What some of the "really bad" cases of advanced younger PWP experience is nothing less than an open season on PWP for scorn and ridicule by society.
As a group of similarly affected people, I would be interested on how far "our" differences with "the PD clueless" affect you emotionally. I am "bugged" by this perception a lot, but it's partly because I am vain about maintaining appearances instead of just accepting that time is ticking ever onward, and pretty soon it's going to be assisted living for me, even though I will still have some appearance of being "relatively young and able" at my peak times. I go outdoors only to do some food shopping, but this is particular, peculiar "paranoia" i have myselfs have to deal with, with both thumbs pointing accusingly at the sinemet bottle. I have fallen down and dragged by a regular "American size" food cart, and, basically "drag myself around" when I'm out in public.
Who feels only "mildly affected"? Are you in, what you believe to be your "honeymoon period" (just post-DX and responding well to medication). Are you suffering badly, but find that your "stiff upper lip" is somewhow expected and / or imposed upon you. Or are you just so unaffected that you aren't reading at this blogg at all? Who can say having PD is like being forced to walk around all day feeling two or more G's of force on every square in of your body, sometimes? All this pitching about and falling? Just weak and in pain all over, all day long.? Bugged out from drugs that are the ONLY thing that you have found to relieve your symptoms so that you can put on an outward appearance of "false-normality"?
I am finding that having PD allows one a better understanding of a lot of things most people in this world will never have to deal with. This really is a crazybad disease. Can't anybody do something better for us than what we have? Please? Somebody?