Elvis Presley and Colostomy?

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I found this article today on Boston Herald. Interesting!

Elvis Presley, the King of bacon, banana, and peanut butter sandwiches, didn't die of a heart condition. He succumbed, on the toilet, to chronic constipation.

That's the word from Presley's longtime friend and personal physician, Dr. George Nichopoulos, who said The King's insides were All Shook Up - and not in a good way.

"We didn't realize until the autopsy that his constipation was as bad," Nichopoulos, author of the new book "The King and Dr. Nick," told Fox News. "We found stool in his colon which had been there for four or five months because of the poor motility of the bowel."

Elvis suffered from a hereditary condition called bowel paralysis, Nichopoulos said. Presley's colon was 5 to 6 inches in diameter, which is about twice the size of the average person's. It was 8 to 9 feet long, where a normal one is 4 to 5 feet, the doctor said.

Nichopoulos said Presley refused to undergo a colostomy, the normal treatment for his condition at the time.

"He thought he was really a man's man and he thought that this was a sign of weakness and he wasn't going to be weak," Nichopoulos said.

"He would get embarrassed," the doctor continued. "He'd have accidents onstage. He'd have to change clothes and come back because of the way we were trying to treat his constipation."

But, Nichopoulos said that, had Elvis gone ahead with the surgery, he might have lived far longer than he did.

"If they had done the colostomy then, he'd probably still be here."

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beyondpar

I agree with you, J Maree. First things first, I thought the colon was between 7-9 ft in the normal person. And as far as taking narcotics, here is my opinion and experience on that one. I once broke my back in 1996 and was on Vicodin for months. I didn't have one bowel movement in 35 days. It's what happens when consuming large amounts of narcotics (major league constipation), of which I was with a broken back, leg, and spinal fusion. As far as Elvis' lack of motility, I'm guessing it was just due to too much consumption of the prescribed illegal narcotics his enablers gave him. Oh well.

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Mike

I think Elvis's doctors killed him.

Lobster
Too much? You can never have too much! Well, twenty years ago when I was young and immortal maybe. *

*That is a complete lie and never happened. If it did ever happen, there was always a third person present who can testify that it didn't happen, which it didn't (and even though it didn't happen, which it didn't, Billy Idol's 'White Wedding' played loud and a credit card and a mirror are a very good combination when getting ready to go out on Friday or Saturday night (so I am told))
Tiggy

I usually don't put much stock in celebrity gossip, but if there is any truth to these claims, I have to say it isn't terribly surprising. If Elvis was indeed dependent on narcotics, I'll bet that the long-term abuse of those medications could have given him a serious case of chronic constipation. I can't imagine living (or dying) like that.

 
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bikerboy

The Duke's colon weighed 45 pounds when he died, which I always thought was a lot until I went in with a perforated colon in Aug 08. My large intestine weighed 80 pounds. I spent 32 days in a coma. When I woke up, the first thing I said was, "What the f is this thing on my stomach and who in the h is going to take care of it?" It seems funny now, but I'm happy with my bag. I spent 4 months at home and back to work as a welder on Navy ships. I have more fun now than before and put many miles on my Harley now.

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