Adolf Hitler's descent into drug addiction, extreme hypochondria and possible Parkinson's disease is examined in a television documentary that claims to shed new light on the Fuhrer's condition. Hitler's mental and physical health deteriorated greatly toward the end of World War II, according to medical notes taken by his physician, Dr Theodor Morell, and he became dependent on injections of methamphetamine, morphine-based painkillers, and other substances to keep him going from day to day.
The makers of "Hitler’s Hidden Drug Habit, which airs Sunday on Britain’s Channel 4, said it would "provide fresh insight into the extent of his demise based on new analysis pf the diaries. "Using [Morell's] records we show how Hitler, the man, was simply not up to the job of being the Fuhrer," said J.B. Waddell, the production company behind the documentary. It will also contain rare footage showing Hitler with a severe tremor. A neurologist tells the filmmakers that this is evidence that Hitler was in an advanced stage of Parkinson’s disease.
Hitler’s meth habit has previously been examined by experts. Writing a paper for the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh in 2005, Dr Derek Doyle said: "There is no doubt that [Morell] gave intravenous glucose and Pervitin (methamphetamine) to Hitler on any occasion when he needed a boost, and especially before his famous ‘rabble-rousing speeches to assembled thousands of devotees."
