In ‘Game of Thrones’ Tywin Lannister, lord of Casterly Rock and hand of the king of Joffrey I of the Baratheon house , died sitting in the bathroom and everyone verified that the popular saying that stated that “he was so rich that he shit gold” is not it corresponded with reality . It is true that the cause of his death did not have to do with his intestinal transit but with a crossbow bolt , but the head of the Lannisters would not be the first to die on a porcelain throne.
The feces are the remains that remain after the digestion of food and that the body cannot take advantage of , so they are carried through the large and small intestines until they are expelled through the anus. This action is one of the most necessary bodily functions for a living being and many highlight the feeling of liberation they feel after having evacuated. Even with everything, there are many myths and urban legends about the act of defecation and one of them is that you can die in such an unseemly situation, pooping .
Indeed, there is a small possibility that the act of defecation could lead to a death, but this would only occur in very exceptional situations and in the presence of two mandatory circumstances . The first of these is having suffered a serious vascular accident or heart failure. The second is having problems going to the bathroom that include dry or very hard stools (acute constipation).
When we are in a situation, we unconsciously use the so-called Valsalva maneuver to inhale deeply and hold the air while we try to exhale, thus causing an expansion of the lungs that push the diaphragm and abdominal organs and these in turn exert pressure in the pelvis . It is precisely this pressure that causes the stool to be expelled. Holding your breath in the lung cavity and straining your abdomen cause alterations in blood flow that can cause the heart and brain to receive less blood than they should and cause dizziness or fainting (defecatory syncope) . Something similar happens when, when trying to lift a great weight, the blood concentrates in the thorax and a stroke occurs.
The first case of a death in these conditions was registered in Norway in 1968 and, according to the statements of Elvis Presley’s personal doctor in ‘ The King and Dr. Nick ‘, the king of rock could have died of a heart failure derived from the effort instead of being overweight or drug problems as is often claimed. Indeed, the risk of dying while pooping exists but the probability is quite low and can be controlled with some basic care and precautions . A healthy lifestyle and a balanced, high-fiber diet are two of the easiest ways to prevent constipation .
Problems digesting and evacuating the waste generated by the body can be very annoying and harmful to health in extreme cases. If the stool is too hard and dry, it can cause a megacolon (excessively swollen colon) or so-called fecal retention , in which the non-evacuated stool acts as a stopper and causes it to accumulate.
