# Elvis' fatal heart attack **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 22, 2001, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elvis-fatal-heart-attack/94688 "2001-11-22T01:19:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![USCDiver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uscdiver/32/354_2.png) [@USCDiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/USCDiver)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2017, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elvis-fatal-heart-attack/94688/61 "2017-07-10T15:06:38Z")
> [@Mavic\_Chen](#): > > Well, I’m not a doctor either but I can tell you a story. I was in the A&E at my local hospital with AF, it’s something I get now and then and it usually takes a shot of flecanide to clear it. Anyway, after being in there a couple of hours I really needed to take a leak so they brought me a plastic bottle. Straining to pee in there with the doctor watching snapped me back into normal heartbeat nicely. So in my experience Elvis straining on the toilet would be a good thing for him if he was in AF at the time… Straining (the valsalva maneuver mentioned above) can provoke lowered blood pressure and lowered heart rate. It’s a possible fix to Atrial fibrillation and other supraventricular tachycardia rhythms. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2017, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elvis-fatal-heart-attack/94688/62 "2017-07-10T16:27:10Z")
[QUOTE=PastTense’s LINK] The next day he was clearly “out of it” and had to be driven back to Memphis to recuperate. [/QUOTE] This makes me highly doubt this account. Why would Elvis drive from LA to Memphis? He owned several planes. ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_Door](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@Bill\_Door](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_Door)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2017, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elvis-fatal-heart-attack/94688/63 "2017-07-10T16:36:31Z")
> [@USCDiver](#): > > Straining (the valsalva maneuver mentioned above) can provoke lowered blood pressure and lowered heart rate. It’s a possible fix to Atrial fibrillation and other supraventricular tachycardia rhythms. True, but isn’t it possible for the switch from afib to normal sinus rhythm to dislodge an existing clot? Anytime I was electrically cardioverted they had me take a course of anticoagulants beforehand to ward off heart attacks and/or strokes. The valsava maneuver did work for me sometimes, but obviously not every time, because why else the electroconversion? ---
**Author:** ![USCDiver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uscdiver/32/354_2.png) [@USCDiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/USCDiver)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2017, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elvis-fatal-heart-attack/94688/64 "2017-07-10T18:50:32Z")
> [@Bill\_Door](#): > > True, but isn’t it possible for the switch from afib to normal sinus rhythm to dislodge an existing clot? Anytime I was electrically cardioverted they had me take a course of anticoagulants beforehand to ward off heart attacks and/or strokes. The valsava maneuver did work for me sometimes, but obviously not every time, because why else the electroconversion? Yes, if the afib has been there long enough to allow clot formation (atypically felt to be more than 48 hours) however those dislodged clots rarely enter the coronary arteries (to cause a heart attack). More more common to head (hehe) up the carotids to cause stroke or more rarely further downstream to cause renal infarcts or ischemic limbs. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elvis-fatal-heart-attack/94688.md?page=3)