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| -Short Attention Span Theater- |
| Hitler's bowel poblems may have contributed to his defeat |
| 2007-10-31 |
| No, really! Guests at the Berghof, Hitler’s private chalet in the Bavarian Alps, must have endured some unpleasant odors in the otherwise healthful mountain air. It may sound like a Woody Allen scenario, but medical historians are unanimous that Adolf was the victim of uncontrollable flatulence. Spasmodic stomach cramps, constipation and diarrhea, possibly the result of nervous tension, had been Hitler’s curse since childhood and only grew more severe as he aged. . . . Hitler’s stomach problems may even have played their part in his losing the war, thanks to this shadowy figure of Dr. Morell, an incompetent quack who took over Hitler’s medical care in 1937. . . . To the irritation of other Nazi doctors, Hitler then proceeded to swallow any of Morell’s advice, no matter how hair-brained, for the next eight years. For example, to combat recurrences of the volcanic stomach problems, Morell plied him with a remedy called “Dr. Köster’s Anti-gas pills,” which contained significant amounts of strychnine – and Hitler often took as many as 16 of the little black pills a day. The sallow skin, glaucous eyes and attention lapses noted by observers later in the war are consistent with strychnine poisoning; another ingredient in the pills, antropine, causes mood swings from euphoria to violent anger. Even more peculiar were the injections of amphetamines that Morell administered every morning before breakfast from 1941, which may have exacerbated the erratic behavior, inflexibility, paranoia and indecision that Hitler began to display increasingly as the war ground on. Between the strychnine and the antropine and the uppers, it would explain a lot. And there was a barrage of other supplements -- vitamins, testosterone, liver extracts, laxatives, sedatives, glucose and opiates, all intended to combat the dictator’s real or imagined ailments. After the war, U.S. intelligence officers discovered that Morell was pumping Hitler with 28 different drugs, including eye-drops that contained 10 percent cocaine (up to 10 treatment a day), a concoction made from human placenta and “potency pills” made from ground bull’s testicles. . . . So Hitler was a junkie, with gas. Wonder how many of the world's other egomaniacal, whacked-out tyrants (I'm lookin' at you Chavez! And you, Kimmie Boy! Saddam!) and tyrant wannabees (*cough* Soros! *cough*) are/were junkies as well? |
| Posted by:Mike |
| #5 He was also a vegetarian. What kind, I don't know; vegan, lacto-ova, etc. A vegetable diet can be gaseous-particulary if there are a lot of beans. He was one drugged out dude. |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2007-10-31 17:17 |
| #4 In the 1970's the National Lampooon did a spoof on this very subject. I wonder if any of the guys who wrote the piece have seen this now. |
| Posted by: no mo uro 2007-10-31 17:05 |
| #3 And Napoleon lost at Waterloo because his hemorrhoids were so bad he had to screw his nerve to the sticking point just to mount his horse. But unbalanced intestinal fauna or severe food sensitivities aside, I agree with Penguin on both counts with regard to Herr Schickelgruber. I s'pose we can be grateful his doctor worked so hard to kill him, though... |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2007-10-31 16:19 |
| #2 Sorry folks, but you can't blame the Fuhrer's gastro-intestinal problems on stress. Studies done in the United States on Stress and GI problems show that GI problems CAUSE stress. Not the other way around. To blame his GI problems on nervous tension is pseudo-science. It only could have contributed to his defeat if it caused him to declare war on the US on Dec. 8 or violate the Soviet Nazi Pact. There wasn't a damn thing he could have done after 1943 to win the war. No decision he could have made would have changed the outcome. Now Braxton Bragg, besides being an assh*le, had problems there as well. That may have something to do with his temperance during the siege of Chattanooga. |
| Posted by: Penguin 2007-10-31 14:26 |
| #1 Excessive Hefe Visen? |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2007-10-31 13:54 |