# Has a healthy person ever been killed (internally) by constipation? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 14, 2010, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-a-healthy-person-ever-been-killed-internally-by-constipation/536042 "2010-04-14T06:54:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2010, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-a-healthy-person-ever-been-killed-internally-by-constipation/536042/1 "2010-04-14T06:54:49Z")
Inspired by multiple factors, including a particular X-Files episode I had reason to remember recently. I know straining on the toilet because of constipation can trigger heart attacks, strokes, aneurysms, etc. But most of the victims I hear of are elderly people or those with histories of such things. Could such a thing happen to a healthy person? To clarify that, could all your brain blood vessels be fine, and one pops (or a stroke happens or whatever) just from the strain of constipation alone? I don’t suppose it’s all that likely, considering how common constipation is, but one does wonder, especially when you think about all the, uh, effort that it causes. (Well, I suppose medically, almost anything is possible. If so, replace all “coulds” above with “how likely is it.”) ---
**Author:** ![anson2995](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c77e96/32.png) [@anson2995](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anson2995)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2010, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-a-healthy-person-ever-been-killed-internally-by-constipation/536042/2 "2010-04-14T11:53:00Z")
Constipation can lead to a bowel obstruction, which in some cases could require surgery. If untreated it could be fatal. ---
**Author:** ![simple\_homer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@simple\_homer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simple_homer)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2010, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-a-healthy-person-ever-been-killed-internally-by-constipation/536042/3 "2010-04-14T12:57:36Z")
Isn’t that how Elvis died ? Straining on the toilet ? ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2010, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-a-healthy-person-ever-been-killed-internally-by-constipation/536042/4 "2010-04-14T14:11:21Z")
> [@anson2995](#): > > Constipation can lead to a bowel obstruction, which in some cases could require surgery. If untreated it could be fatal. A four year old boy that went to our church died suddenly from a bowel obstruction. It was very sad. He complained about not feeling well for a day or so but, by the time he collapsed, he didn’t even make it to the hospital before he was gone. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2010, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-a-healthy-person-ever-been-killed-internally-by-constipation/536042/5 "2010-04-14T14:21:07Z")
Sure is. Caused a heart attack. It’s a fairly common way to die. Elvis was a heart attack waiting to happen. Grossly obese and a heavy drug user. > [@simple\_homer](#): > > Isn’t that how Elvis died ? Straining on the toilet ? ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2010, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-a-healthy-person-ever-been-killed-internally-by-constipation/536042/6 "2010-04-14T14:37:28Z")
I’m not sure that meets the OP’s criteria though. the question refers to a healthy person. Obviously a bad heart could be pushed over the brink by . . .er . . . pushing. But could a person pop a blood vessel in the brain or lungs (Anywhere else that could be fatal?) just from straining? ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2010, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-a-healthy-person-ever-been-killed-internally-by-constipation/536042/7 "2010-04-14T15:34:49Z")
I had a friend who was born with a distended colon (I don’t know if that qualifies as “healthy.”) Because of that, his feces tended to collect there, eventually impacting, leading to bowel obstructions, leading to unfortunate consequences. What actually killed him, at the age of 36, was having a heart attack during surgery to straighten out his colon. ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2010, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-a-healthy-person-ever-been-killed-internally-by-constipation/536042/8 "2010-04-15T03:28:06Z")
Yeah, I should’ve excluded stuff like bowel obstructions, in which the stool plays a direct role. I was more interested in indirect stuff, like the aneurysms and strokes and such. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2010, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-a-healthy-person-ever-been-killed-internally-by-constipation/536042/9 "2010-04-15T11:17:24Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Elvis was a heart attack waiting to happen. Grossly obese and a heavy drug user. Overweight? Yes. Grossly? No. [Film of his last concert tour,](http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-9129388628925882674#) filmed on June 19 and 21, 1977. He died on August 16. ---
**Author:** ![Perciful](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b38774/32.png) [@Perciful](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Perciful)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2010, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-a-healthy-person-ever-been-killed-internally-by-constipation/536042/10 "2010-04-16T22:52:15Z")
Walloon, Thanks for the video. Elvis didn’t look bad at his last concert. His face was a lot less bloated and he had lost weight. Elvis did die straining on the toilet because his drug of choice caused severe constipation. [poop report](http://www.poopreport.com/Intellectual/Content/Elvis/elvis.html) ---
**Author:** ![janeslogin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@janeslogin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/janeslogin)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2010, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-a-healthy-person-ever-been-killed-internally-by-constipation/536042/11 "2010-04-17T22:39:40Z")
Last week was a news story about an infant being taken to the hospital because his “vitals” were going bad quickly. It turned out he was constipated. I was curious at the time. Can constipation cause the vitals of a healthy adult to go bad? Quickly? I found nothing about it in a few minutes of Googling. ---
**Author:** ![Triskadecamus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b19c9b/32.png) [@Triskadecamus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Triskadecamus)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2010, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-a-healthy-person-ever-been-killed-internally-by-constipation/536042/12 "2010-04-17T22:48:25Z")
Oddly enough, one person was killed **externally** by constipation! It wasn’t his own, of course, but of the elephant that he was caring for. The solution to the problem was an enema, which the unfortunate man was giving to the elephant when the problem ended suddenly, burying the man in elephant poop, and smothering him. Internally, I don’t know of any. Tris