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Hiding Parkinson's

David Plummer talks about living with Parkinson’s disease.

'When you are first diagnosed it is a bit of an axe falling. You are very conscious of telling people. I told very close family and friends and a couple of work colleagues. In social situations I will hide it.' David Plummer, who is a 48 year old sufferer of Parkinson’s disease joins Jeremy and the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½'s resident doctor, Sarah Jarvis to discuss the stigma surrounding Parkinson's.

Of the 127,000 people in the UK with Parkinson's, 40% feel the need to keep it a secret.

David Plummer was 40 when he was diagnosed with Parkinson's and he now helps sufferers come to terms with the disease. It has not stopped his work as a wildlife photographer.

David thinks he had the disease 7 years prior to official diagnosis. A trigger point for him was a twitching arm and tremor under nervous conditions. It took 6 month to get a full diagnosis.

Dr Sarah Jarvis discusses diagnosing Parkinson's through a combination of testing for tremor, poverty of movement, and rigidity. It is not just old people who get the disease.

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Duration:

4 minutes