Extensive information is available on this website about the nature of Parkinson's Disease. Further information has been made available through access to my Google Drive store here Patients these days are used to asking: "What's my diagnosis? ... What's the problem getting one?"  These are questions of key importance, but with regards to neurological conditions, such as Parkinson's, they are some of the most difficult to get answers to. Why is that?  First and perhaps foremost, there is no simple chemical or biological test for many neurological disorders. Most are dependent on a careful survey and recording of the patient's history and presenting features distinguishing one disorder from another -- the differential diagnosis. One schedule for such a survey is available here  Such a differential diagnosis often needs to be done over a period of time, with regular reviews during that time period. The future status of a patient, likewise, can often be difficult to predict and doctors might not want to unnecessarily alarm a patient by giving an incorrect diagnosis when an alternative condition is a possibility. This happended in my own case where a neurologist gave an initial tentative diagnosis of "Benign" Essential Tremor as a possibility -- A questionnaire of use in differentiating PD from Essential Tremor is available here.  I should note that the doctor making this initial diagnosis was not e "Motor Disorders Specialist"  -- ideally a neurologist who has specialized in disorders such as PD should be involved. This is not in the area of New Zealand where I live. Hence, there is a need for patients to educate themselves about the nature of the disease so that they may effectively communicate and negotiate with their providers about how their needs might be best met. Information on the symptoms of PD is available using this rating scale here, and in this folder  here. See the introductory overview video here. Any such questionnaires are initial guides only and need correct interpretation by an appropriately-trained medical professional.

Treatment for Parkinson's Disease needs to be broadly focused with information coming from various members of a multidisciplinary professional team. Very valuable information about your symptoms and general ability to live with the disease can be provided by your family and support network. The "Gold Standard" treatment for PD is levodopa - something that can be given to help increase the brain's supply of L-dopamine. However, particularly if you're young when first diagnosed (less than 60 years old) you might be given a variety of alternative medications to help the body increase its production and / or effective use of the dopamine it is producing. Additional medications, or additional forms of  therapy should also be part of your treatment plan -- see this page of my site here.

Firstly, people do NOT die merely as a result of their having the disease; although having the disease can increase the likelihood of other forms of death, e.g., death by choking due to aspiration of food or liquids. More specifically, in recent years researchers have divided those with PD into three groups and studied the characteristics and outcomes for eac of these groups:
* AR -- Akinetic/Rigid -- also called PIGD, due to their presenting with Postural Instability                and Gait Difficulty, characterized by stiffness or inflexibility of the muscles
* TD -- those whose presentation is mostly Tremor Dominating other symptoms
* MIX -- those whose presentation involves a mix of symptoms, with no prevailing motor                   features
In a recent study (Assonga et al., 2018) which looked at patients "de novo" -- newly diagnosed, and free from previous PD-drug treatment (and thus limiting the possible range of causes of their outcomes), it was found that patients diagnosed with akinetic-rigid usually show a faster disease progression and are at higher risk of developing disability and dementia. On the other hand, progression of the tremor-dominant form is slower and associated with less cognitive decline, visual hallucinations, and depression.
Cognitive decline has, furthermore, been found to occur in the majority of patients who have been studied for long enough. Thus, whether or not someone will need institutional care depends only in part on their motor symptoms, and largely on their non-motor symptoms -- such as cognitive decline, hallucinations/delusions -- and on how long they have suffered from this illness compared to other illnesses.  

In another recent study, Bäckström et al (2018) found that

see also  Bjornestad 2017

Overall, though, the news is not good, with, in England at least, the great majority (more than 80 per cent (Darweesh et al, 2018) of people dying in hospitals or hospice centres. However, in recognition of this, Darweesh and colleagues argue future efforts should be focused on providing resources for vulnerable elderly Parkinson patients, avoiding unplanned hospital admissions and out-of-home deaths as much as possible. Possible solutions include a community-based network of specifically trained allied health therapists, personal case managers for Parkinson patients, dedicated Parkinson nursing homes, and improved centralised support services from university clinics to regional community hospitals aimed at facilitating optimal wide-scale care delivery.  In New Zealand, we are nowhere near approaching this delightful situation. Moreover, I would see a lifestyle for people with PD would involve a health and well-being, self-managed, rather than just a health-team illness focus, such as described by Hoisington (2018), herself someone with PD: 

* Five to 10 hours of light and hard exercise per week.
* Fifteen to 20 hours of mental-stimulation activities per week. 
*An ADA house (one that meets standards set by bodies such as the Americans with Disabilities Act and close enough to receive support from family. 
* Decreased stress, a healthy diet, and doing fun things.
As has been said (Franklin et al, 2017), the importance of patient's self management is effective only if this is within an overall supportive structure.

When first experiencing difficulties with something you feel might be Parkinson's Disease your first source of information should be your usual medical practitioner. PD is heterogeneous in presentation and is very difficult to diagnose as its symptoms and developmental course can be similar to a range of other disorders. Your usual medical practitioner will have a lot of the information about your past health and current circumstances that will be invaluable in "puttting the pieces  together". He will refer you to a trained medical specialist who can provide furher information and he should then refer you on to other professionals specialists in their own fields who can help you in the variety of areas in which you might be having difficulties.
A variety of additional sources of information is listed on this page of my site  here

You should discuss this with the various members of your health team.  One "pre-existing condition" that can slightly increase your chances of getting PD is diabetes.  Diabetes and  Parkinson's Disease are thought to share some of the same etiological bases (Athauda & Foltynie, 2016; De Pablo-Fernandez, 2018); and so at the same time some anti-diabetes drugs are being re-purposed  to assist in the  treatment  of this disease (Durães et al., 2018).Unfortunately, members of your health care team might lack some of the information you need.  I'm an insulin-dependent diabetic and I've found my need for insulin has been very much reduced since starting levodopa, but no member of my health care team has been able to advise on this. PD is a low-prevalence condition in the population generally, and combining that with another health condition must reduce its prevalence so much it's not yet become the focus of much research. For further references on this topic of diabetes-PD inter-relationships see the bibliography.

Other conditions likely to accompany PD, at some stage, include depression, often preceding, but also frequently being seen accompanying the disease. It has been observed that those suffering depression prior to being diagnosed with PD, and being treated with tricyclics have not required levodopa medications until later than those treated with other antidepressants (Collier, 2017).

Support, stimulation, 

Sexuality and intimate relationships -- Bhattacharyya & Rosa-Grilo (2017)
Taken together, SD in PD includes a remarkable range of symptoms and conditions that often require a multidisciplinary approach regarding assessment, investigation, and treatment.