Dealing with the thought, “Parkinson’s will get worse”

Imagine if we knew the time and date of our death? It would rule our lives; we would watch the countdown to oblivion instead of living a life. We are going to die but not knowing when or how gives us the freedom to live.

The prognosis of Parkinson’s dictates that my movement will get worse because the underlying loss of nerve cells in my brain is not challenged by current treatments; the consequences of this loss, reduction of dopamine levels, is countered by taking dopamine in tablet form.

The thought, “my Parkinson’s will get worse” is like a negative mantra that plays over and over in my head. It attempts to throw me into the future and prevents me living in the present; like a rabbit caught in the headlights of the future. But nobody can predict the course of my disease or what “worse” will mean for me. Like knowing we will die but not knowing when, knowing the prognosis of Parkinson’s but not the precise details gives us the freedom to live now.