Ozzy Osbourne Reveals He Has Parkinson's Disease
From Rolling Stone:
Ozzy Osbourne revealed Tuesday that he is battling Parkinson’s disease in an interview on Good Morning America.
The singer received the diagnosis last February after a string of health setbacks, including a near-deadly staph infection and a fall that damaged his nervous system. He’s treating the disease with medication. Ozzy said that he felt guilty holding back the diagnosis from his fans.
“I found out I have a mild form of … what is it?” the singer asked his wife, Sharon, in the interview. “PRKN 2, which is a form of Parkinson’s,” she said. “There’s so many different types of Parkinson’s. It’s not a death sentence by any stretch of the imagination, but it does affect certain nerves in your body. It’s like you have a good day, a good day and then a really bad day.”
Someone I love (no it's not Michael J Fox although Back To The Future will always be a favorite..) has Parkinson's and he handles it so gracefully and with such a great sense of humor (& I often have my head so far up my own ass) that sometimes it's easy to forget how difficult, scary & frustrating life with the disease can be.
Ozzy's type, PRKN 2, can be slow in progressing and symptoms include rigidity, bradykinesia (slowness of movement), and resting tremors (hands/fingers, legs shaking when everything else on the body is at rest). And I think a common misconception is that it's just physical and mostly involves shaking, but Parkinson's can effect the mind and mess with emotions, cognition, sleep and more, too.
I can only imagine how people handle anxiety over symptoms & the future, but there's lots of strong folks out there taking it on every day. I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy, and that says a lot seeing as I still blog about the Dodgers stadium guy who threw peanut shells on me every 10 blogs or so about a decade later.
Thankfully a lot of progress is being made & medications & treatments are being developed that make a huge, positive difference.
And as for Ozzy?
Ozzy said that talking about the disease made him feel as though a weight had been lifted. “I feel better now that I’ve owned up to the fact that I have a case of Parkinson’s,” he said. “And I just hope [my fans] hang on and they’re there for me because I need them.” He called his fans his “air.”
He added that he cannot wait to get back on the road. “I ain’t done yet,” he said. “I ain’t gonna go anywhere yet.” He’s scheduled to return to North American arenas for another leg of his No More Tours 2 tour this spring, beginning with a show in Atlanta.