The Medical Casebook of Adolf Hitler: His Illnesses, Doctors, and Drugs

by Renate Heston, Leonard L. Heston, Renate Heston, Leonard L.;Heston

Book Overview

All New Expanded Edition with Important New Data Remarkable. The definitive book on Hitler's health.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 081282718X
• ISBN13: 9780812827187
• Release Date: January 1980
• Publisher: UNKNO
• Length: 190 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.

Customer Reviews

A Professional Analysis that dispels many Myths

This is a professional level "work up" of Adolf Hitler's medical situation from about 1936 and Hitler's eventual suicide at the end of WW-II. In the background of this analysis is his family situation, his childhood development, his record as a soldier and WW-I war hero, his lost years as a young loner and artist in Vienna, his stunning (and unaccountable) rise to power from out of nowhere, and his leadership of the German Republic throughout the war. Then in the foreground, the primary focus of the analysis is: the general state of both his physical and mental health throughout his reign, his relationship to his personal physician (an eccentric character named Dr. Theo Morrell), and the drugs used to treat his various illnesses. The gist of this well-documented, carefully written and rigorously defended piece is that, notorious claims to the contrary, Hitler's mental and physical health, sexual habits and family background were normal in every respect -- that is until he met and allowed Dr. Morrell to become his personal physician. After that, his health began to unnecessarily get very complicated and gradually turned decidedly for the worse. The single exception to this tableau of normality is that Hitler's parents, apparently through the incest of his grandparents, were biologically related. However, this genetic fact as far as can be determined, had no discernable medical consequence on the Nazi leader's life. The bulk of the book is devoted to two aspects of Hitler's health that developed during the early part of his reign and one of which continued throughout the rest of his life and which was treated in direct collaboration with Dr. Morrell: Hitler had recurring, intense but sporadic abdominal pain that eventually led to jaundice. Over a period of about ten years, Morrell treated these symptoms with a combination of Multaflor (bacteria from the feces of a Bulgarian peasant), and Vitamultin (Morrell's own concoction of vitamins, herbs laced with amphetamines). And while the Multaflor appeared to be harmless enough, the amphetamines laced Vitamutin was soon augmented with a full daily regimen of intravenously injected amphetamines. The dependency naturally required that the doses be gradually increased over time with the predictable consequences of toxicity and its attendant side effects, tremors, cardiovascular problems and a whole host of psychological aberrations. Soon (also predictable) the treatment became worse than the illness and took on a life of its own. The over use of, an over-dependence on amphetamines had drastic consequences for both Hitler's mental and physical health. The authors' best medical judgment is that Hitler was actually misdiagnosed and all along had been suffering from gallstones, a well known and easily treatable ailment at the time. And had he been under competent medical care, could have been cured quickly and without any lasting side effects. This however, did not occur. Morrell, for his own reasons of gree

Was Hitler a tweaker? Find out!

This is one of the most fascinating books I have ever read. The Hestons are the absolute authorities on this subject....this book is referred to in many other texts about Hitler. He had a lot of strange medical problems and an even stranger doctor in Theo Morrell. So did he have Parkinsons? Syphilis? Was he addicted to methamphetamine? Was his freaky doctor poisoning him? Read this and see!

Unsolved Mysteries

I would recommend you this book, if you are a student of the medical science and/or if you are interested in "the unsolved mysteries" of WWII. Anyway, you should have some basic knowledge of biochemistry and human genetics to take advantage of this book! Always remember: the truth is somewhere out there ... Ich empfehle dieses Buch denjenigen, die Medizin studieren und/oder ein Interesse an den ungelösten Geheimnissen des 2. Weltkrieges haben. Um den Inhalt des Buches besser bewerten zu können, sollte man über Grundkenntnisse der Biochemie und Humangenetik verfügen! Tja, die Wahrheit ist irgendwo da draußen ...

One of many alcohol or other drug addicted despots

Adolf Hitler was variously diagnosed as bipolar, schizophrenic and paranoid schizophrenic. He was also diagnosed as having had Parkinson's disease. Yet Hitler had none of these disorders: he was an amphetamine and barbiturate addict. This marvelous little book, which reads like a medical mystery novel, slowly dismantles every other explanation for Hitler's increasingly reckless behavior. We can conjecture that he may have triggered barbiturate addiction long before amphetamine addiction. However, the reader is left with no doubt that injections given to him by the doctor without whom he "could not live," Dr. Morell, included large quantities of amphetamine, beginning by 1937. (Because Hitler can be seen moving his hands back and forth on his upper legs in a way consistent with amphetamine use, called "stereotypical behavior," in 1936 Olympic Games videos, use likely began a bit earlier.) The authors offer numerous clues to addiction. When injections, widely believed to be multi-vitamins "specially compounded for the Fuhrer," ceased on occasion, Hitler experienced severe depression, a common symptom among newly abstinent amphetamine or cocaine addicts. He engaged in all-night monologues with an endless repetition of stories, along with increasingly disorganized thinking and confused syntax. As the authors point out, the latter would not be expected of someone considered to have been a supreme orator. His mood swings became more volatile, paranoia increased (a common side effect of amphetamine addiction) and, while early on he accepted blame for tactical errors, he developed a tendency to project blame onto others, a classic indication of addiction to psychotropic drugs (those capable of causing distortions of perception and memory). Intravenous injections of the "special compound" increased from one to as many as five daily. While intravenous amphetamine use has the same effect as injecting cocaine, it is much longer lasting: the half-life of amphetamines is twelve times longer. He took barbiturates every night during WW2, no doubt needed to offset the effect of amphetamines to allow for sleep. Hitler also used narcotics from 1938 onward, in particular, Eukodal, an early version of Percodan. A potent mix of drugs such as this has adverse effects on a person's personality, thinking, perceptions and, consequently, behaviors (which I describe in my book, "Hidden Alcoholics"). Over-confidence and intoxication with his early successes, common to early-stage addiction, fuelled a propensity to risk-taking and impulsive behaviors. As his use progressed during WW2 he experienced tremors, often attributed to Parkinson's disease. However, heavy amphetamine use mimics Parkinson's, probably because the neurotransmitter dopamine is affected by both.(Interestingly, Yasir Arafat was also diagnosed by some to have this disease; if we look at Arafat's pupils, however, in almost every photograph they are big as the moon--a classic physical indication of amph

Most believable presentation of Hiter's psychopathology.

There are many theories as to what made Hitler the way he was, especially the apparent personality changes after about 1942. These include psychoanalytic theories, Adlerian theories, as well as theories of diseases including encephalitis and Parkinson's disease, etc. The Hestons discuss the pros and cons of all of these theories, and then offer one of their own. They are very thorough in their reasearch and presentation and give a very compelling case for their theory. Albert Speer, in introducing the book states that, after comparing their study with his own notes on Hitler, he believes their theory to be accurate.