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

Leonard L. Heston (Author), Renate Heston (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1980

Nothing so much as my own descriptions from that period convinced me that Professor Heston and his wife have come to the correct conclusion.--Albert Speer

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Starting in the early 1930s, Adolf Hitler began experiencing episodes of sharp, cramping pain in his right upper abdomen. The pain appeared shortly after meals, and when it did, Hitler would usually leave the room. Sometimes he returned `after the spasm had passed', as Albert Speer described it, and sometimes he did not return at all. `After every meal the pain begins!' --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 190 pages
• Publisher: Stein & Day Pub; 1980 Edition edition (April 1980)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 081282718X
• ISBN-13: 978-0812827187
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,617,256 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Most believable presentation of Hiter's psychopathology., February 18, 1998

By 

Mary Lou Derksen (South Dakota) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Medical Casebook of Adolf Hitler: His Illnesses, Doctors, and Drugs (Hardcover)

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.

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of many alcohol or other drug addicted despots, December 10, 2004

By 

Doug Thorburn (Northridge, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Medical Casebook of Adolf Hitler (Paperback)

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 amphetamine addiction.) A stereotypical behavior very common to amphetamine addicts, an incessant scratching (the description offered by amphetamine addicts is "bugs are crawling under their skin"), began by 1943.

The fact that no one figured this out until the first hardback printing of this book in 1979, 34 years after Hitler's death, provides some of the most damning evidence ever of how completely unaware biographers and historians are of the role of addiction in determining the course of events. They don't look for it because they don't know it's relevant. In my first book, "Drunks, Drugs & Debits," I wrote that someday historians and biographers would view their subjects in a new light when looking through the lens of alcohol or other drug addiction. Judging from the treatment of Yasir Arafat even after death, there is still a long way to go.

The only flaw in The Medical Casebook is that barbiturates are only mentioned in passing, explaining that Hitler didn't take them in large enough pharmacologic doses for addiction to have occurred. However, the mix of drugs, the fact that drugs potentiate each other in remarkably potent ways (two plus two equals ten) and continuous use strongly suggests that this addiction intertwined with amphetamine use to create the most reviled monster in history. It is an irony of history that Hitler chose never to drink because of the vile effects that alcoholism had on others, in particular his violent alcoholic step-father.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great book.., June 26, 2002

By 

anna (Vienna, Austria) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Medical Casebook of Adolf Hitler (Paperback)

Although I have little interest in or understanding of this particular subject (medicine, health & illness, etc.) it is quite interesting for me inasmuch as it pertains to the Fuehrer. I was struck by the way the authors treated "Patient Hitler", presenting the facts in a clear and unbiased way.
The book is brief and offers the reader clear-cut medical data and explanations, sans negative commentary and personal prejudices, which I found pleasantly refreshing.
It was particularly insightful reading which drugs Hitler was given and how he reacted to each one. I also found their remarks about Hitler's mental state--especially throughout the last year of his life--of great value historically.
All in all it was really a quite fascinating read.