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the prince of darkness says he is coming back. ozzy osbourne, 73, intends to go on tour after a hard few years that saw him revealing a parkinson’s diagnosis , facing multiple surgeries for a serious injury and battling symptoms of depression.
“i reached a plateau that was lower than i wanted it to be,” osbourne said in an interview with the guardian . “nothing really felt great. nothing.”
osbourne was diagnosed with parkinson’s disease in 2003 but kept the news private until january 2020, after a 2019 fall caused him to cancel an upcoming tour . the fall exacerbated a previous injury from a 2003 quad biking accident and required rather significant surgery to stabilize his neck and back. doctors positioned 15 screws into the singer’s spine, but over time these screws began to slip, causing more damage to the bone and leaving osbourne in excruciating pain.
the singer turned to medication and therapy — something he never would have done as a child in england, osbourne previously explained on his sirius xm channel .
almost half of patients diagnosed with parkinson’s will also experience symptoms of depression, according to parkinson’s canada .
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most cases of depression are considered “nonmajor,” and are generally more mild. however, even mild forms of depression can have a significant impact on how the parkinson’s progresses, leading to faster physical deterioration, greater cognitive impairment and increased mortality, according to a review published in current neurology and neuroscience reports . the combination can also lead to more stress on caregivers, increasing rates of burnout.
osbourne is confident about his future. he appeared at the closing ceremony for b irmingham’s commonwealth games, performing iron man and paranoid with black sabbath guitarist tony iommi. osbourne also said he is driven to go back on tour, in support of his new album patient number 9, released earlier this year.
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emma jones is a multimedia editor with healthing. you can reach her at emjones@postmedia.com or on instagram and twitter @jonesyjourn .
