“They had a similar four-year period of degenerative health, and that’s interesting because she did not take the same medication as he took”. Hoedel also writes that Elvis was racked by disease in nine of the eleven bodily systems which were present since his birth. Elvis is seen as less or more than human, like an image, and he’s been reduced to this rock’n’roll guy who died in his bathroom from taking too many pills. That’s not enough for a man who culturally shifted our universe. It’s not accurate and it’s not enough. Elvis was a sick man who hid a lot of his weakness to fill concert venues and support his family. By examining his flaws and health issues, maybe we can start to see his humanity again.”
Hoedel believes that, over the years, Presley’s public image has been muddied by the dense amount of discourse on his life. She said: “Elvis shifted our universe culturally like no one has before and he deserves to be treated like a historical figure, like Henry Ford or Thomas Edison, but instead he gets weighed down by sensationalism, and that keep us from the truth”.
Among the numerous illnesses that debilitated Presley, there existed Alpha-1-antitrypsin deficiency, immune deficiency and insomnia. Hoedel acknowledges that many writers have written these illnesses off as being the result of prescription drug abuse, enabled by his controversial doctor, George C. Nichopoulos. However, she claims that these long-standing illnesses are not solely explained by drug dependence.
“His health issues were varied but he hid them so well that over-medication is all we remember now,” Hoedel argues. “It became a problem, but why was he taking them in the first place?”
She explained: “Dr. Nick is a controversial figure. From my research, he was always trying to…
