Parkinson's led to Hitler's defeat, expert says
VANCOUVER (CP) --July 27, 1999--Parkinson's disease affected Adolf Hitler's
mental
functions and probably led to his defeat, starting with the Battle of
Normandy, says an American neurologist.
Hitler's disease was a carefully guarded war secret, said Dr. Tom Hutton,
who will present his findings Wednesday to 2,400 delegates at the
International Congress on Parkinson's Disease.
Hitler's shaky hands and other motor control symptoms of the disease were
well concealed but "it now seems apparent that Hitler also exhibited
cognitive deficits of Parkinsonism toward the end of World War II," he said.
Hutton is a Texas doctor who treats Parkinson's patients and has a passion
for studying how neurological disorders have affected historical figures. He
said up to 40 per cent of Parkinson sufferers will lose executive
decision-making functions and become mentally inflexible. Hutton's study of
Hitler is published in the current Parkinsonism and Related Disorders, an
official journal of the World Federation of Neurology research group.
Hutton and co-author, psychologist J. L. Morris, are associated with the
Neurology Research and Education Centre in Lubbock, Tex. They said their
study points to Hitler's Parkinson impairments as "arguably determining the
outcome of the Battle of Normandy."
"Allied forces invaded Normandy on June 6, 1944," Hutton said in the study.
"German defenders called for reinforcements . . .. Hitler refused.
"The request was slow in even getting to Hitler due to a sleep disorder
common in Parkinsonians consisting of insomnia followed by daytime
somnolescence."
The Germans mounted a counterattack but it was too little, too late.
"Hitler's slowness to counter attack at Normandy may have been secondary
tomental inflexibility and difficulty in shifting concepts due to
Parkinsonism," Hutton said.
"This reduced the effectiveness of the Axis powers to conduct the Battle of
Normandy and impacted the outcome of World War II."
The Bulgarian Belladonna plant was the treatment of choice at the time for
tremors and Hitler is believed to have been prescribed that, ostensibly for
his abdominal gas.
Now neurologists have several drugs in their arsenal to help reduce such
symptoms and to replace the chemical messenger called dopamine in the brain.
In Parkinson's disease, the loss of dopamine gradually and progressively
impairs muscle movement.
In a five-year study to be released today, a drug called ropinirole
hydrochloride (ReQuip) is said to cut the undesirable side effects such as
twitching and jerking associated with other standard treatments such as
levdopa.
CP 0228ES 27-07-99
--
Judith Richards, London, Ontario, Canada
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