It Doesn't Matter if Elvis Presley Had Ehlers Danlos

After the 2022 biopic starring Austin Butler and the recent film Priscilla, Elvis Presley reentered the public consciousness. Some people have begun speculating on Presley's health, saying he may have had Ehlers Danlos Syndrome.

[@duryaya]

Dr. Forest Tennant who is an addictionist and internist who has spent most of his medical career treating and researching intractable pain,was able to get special access to Elvis's medical history as an expert witness in Presley's wrongful death case, and he believes Elvis had : Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, and I was just reading Lisa Marie autopsy,and it totally sounds like EDS,i come from a long line of undiagnosed EDSers ,i was dx at 45, and i got it from my dad, all my 3 children are dx EDS and ASD .

[@duryaya]

And I hope people talk more about Elvis and EDS,bcs it's not a rare condition,but is rarely Dx,and who knows maybe if his daughter had been Dx earlier she could be still alive, and also bcs EDS and autism are linked,and many of us are undx ,and being autistic in an NT world is very hard ,even harder when u r in pain ot feeling like u r dying every day, so the autism suicidal rate are almost double than nt ,plus many udx medicate themselves ,like Lisa Marie used to smoke a pack a day ,bcs nicotine helps with POTS, so yeah I want EDS to be more talked about ,and sadly sometimes is until famous ppl are dx.wiith ,that we can get more research and awareness.

[@jakepepper2279]

If you are interested in what Elvis might have been like as a person, simply google his little known friendship with a guy named Gary Pepper. As for people that still trash the man, the negative stories sell. A lot of people were, and still are jealous of Elvis. All the fat shaming and criticism of his drug addiction was done to cut down and hurt Elvis fans. The same crap just gets repeated over again. And as for his ex wife, she was certainly not perfect herself. Elvis could never write a book about her, and give his opinions of how she treated him in the relationship. Elvis had a very noticeable stutter, especially when he was nervous.

[@hive_indicator318]

Yes! Even if diagnosing a corpse was helpful, how is "EDS led to drug addiction" a positive representation? Is that how they want to be seen?

[@infoskrimp420]

one persons story doesn’t represent us all. plenty of people with the diagnosis have struggled with addiction. I have no issue with my disorder being talked about across the board including the social and mental implications; ways we try to escape pain, how capitalism effects it, etc.

[@theangrytiredzebra]

Because he was in so much pain...

[@emcrolls]

EDS is oddly specific guess. I disagree about speculation based on public data after a public figure has died. Public speculation about the deadI (other than public outing of personal/medical records) does more good than "harm to a dead person. I agree about ending Stigma. It doesn't matter if he were, medically Disabled if thats used to imply the "Mitigation " for destructive behavior. The inference that medical disabilites contribute causally to "bad" (poor moral) choices contributes to pathological ableism weaponized against the living.

[@infoskrimp420]

I don’t agree. I think it allows an expansive understanding of how disability and ableism and medical bias and capitalism connects and effects one another. Disabled people aren’t immune to addiction and the obstacles we face can often lead to addiction. I don’t see it like you do. Also addiction isn’t a moral or personality flaw, it is possible for everyone.

[@infoskrimp420]

truly disturbed by your inference that substance use is a poor moral choice 🙄

[@emcrolls]

@@infoskrimp420 substance use has nothing whatsoever to do with morality. Substance use or other coping mechanisms should never be framed as value judgements

[@emcrolls]

my whole point is pathologizing Disability is damaging. Conflating substance, use of any kind with any morality or belief only compounds harm.

[@infoskrimp420]

@@emcrolls then what the heck are you referring to in your original comment when you say “bad (poor moral) choices” ?

[@welshrose]

As a massive elvis fan ive looked into this myself (a zebra myself ) and i can see signs of elvis being a zebra he was definitely hyper mobile and took a lot of pain meds just look at him he shows a lot of hyper mobility

[@infoskrimp420]

so interesting, i’m not a big elvis fan myself but my gram who we realize now passed down the EDS had tickets to the portland maine show he was gonna play before he died!

[@samduncan5472]

It’s problematic that Forest Tennant published his medical records in his book, but if you read it over it’s very obvious Elvis had some type of EDS, it’s not really speculation.