Jürgen Drews: Pop star is fighting with a nervous disease

The pop star Jürgen Drews (76) also has to struggle with the pitfalls of getting older. that he was mainly concerned with his memory and that he suffered from a nervous disease. His forgetfulness has increased in recent years: “Of course it increases with age. Anything that doesn’t interest me is gone immediately. I once said among colleagues: ‘I think I’ll get dementia.'”

Sometimes terms, names and places would no longer occur to him, then he would need a keyword and only then would the memory be back. When his driver takes him to a performance location, for example, he often doesn’t even know where he is. This is no longer important to him. Nevertheless, he went to treatment to detect a possible brain disease at an early stage.

Suspicion of beginning dementia has not been confirmed

“I took a dementia test at the neurologist. I wanted to know if I was prone to the disease because my mother had signs of dementia at the end of her life,” says Drews openly. Fortunately, the suspicion was not confirmed with him. However, the doctor diagnosed him with a nervous disorder. He suffered from a so-called “peripheral polyneuropathy”: “The nerves no longer do what they should.”

That is why he does without his “Drews pirouette” on stage, for example, which had become very shaky due to the illness: “The Jürgen Drews of the past will no longer exist!” How long he’ll be giving concerts at all, Drews can’t say exactly: “I used to have to go on stage to prove myself. I wanted to cure my fears that way.” But today he no longer needs it. “If I stop, I’ll just be gone,” says Drews.