Dying (lying) patient: signs before death

Man's life path ends with his death. This should be prepared, especially if the family has a bed patient. Signs before death each person will be different. However, the practice of observation indicates that nevertheless it is possible to single out a number of general symptoms that foreshadow the proximity of death. What are these signs and what should be prepared for?

What does a dying person feel?

A lying patient before death, as a rule, experiences mental torment. In common sense there is an understanding of what is to be experienced. The organism undergoes certain physical changes, this can not be overlooked. On the other hand, the emotional background also changes: mood, mental and psychological balance.

Some have lost interest in life, others completely closed in themselves, others may fall into a state of psychosis. Sooner or later, the condition worsens, a person feels that he loses his own dignity, often thinks of an early and easy death, asks for euthanasia. These changes are hard to observe, remaining indifferent. But you have to put up with it or try to ease the situation with medications.

With the approach of death, the patient sleeps more and more, showing apathy to the world around him. In the last moments there can come a sharp improvement in the condition, reaching the fact that a patient lying for a long time tends to get out of bed. This phase is replaced by the subsequent relaxation of the body with an irreversible decrease in the activity of all body systems and the attenuation of its vital functions.

Lying patient: ten signs that death is near

At the end of the life cycle, an elderly person or a lying patient is increasingly feeling weak and tired due to lack of energy. As a consequence, he is increasingly in a state of sleep. It can be a deep or a nap, through which voices can be heard and the surrounding reality is perceived.

A dying person can see, hear, feel and perceive things that do not actually exist, sounds. In order not to upset the patient, this should not be denied. Loss of orientation and confusion may also occur. The patient becomes more and more absorbed in himself and loses interest in the surrounding reality.

Urine due to a malfunction of the kidneys darkens to almost brown with a reddish tinge. As a result, edema appears. The patient breathes more quickly, it becomes intermittent and unstable.

Under the pale skin as a result of the violation of blood circulation, dark "walking" venous patches appear, which change the location. First they usually appear on the soles of the feet. In the last moments of the limb, the dying person becomes cold because of the fact that the blood, cast from them, is redirected to more important parts of the body.

Failure of life support systems

There are primary signs that appear at the initial stage in the body of a dying person, and secondary signs, indicative of the development of irreversible processes. Symptoms may have an external appearance or be hidden.

Disorders of the gastrointestinal tract

How does a recumbent patient react to this? Signs before death, associated with loss of appetite and changes in the nature and volume of food consumed, are manifested by problems with the stool. Most often, against the background of this, constipation develops. For a patient without a laxative or enema, it becomes increasingly difficult to empty the intestine.

The last days of life patients spend, generally refusing food and water. Do not worry too much about this. There is an opinion that dehydration in the body increases the synthesis of endorphins and anesthetics, which to some extent improve overall health.

Functional violations

How does the patient's condition change and how does the recumbent patient react to it? Signs before death, associated with the weakening of sphincters, in the last few hours of a person's life are manifested by incontinence of urine and feces. In such cases, it is necessary to be prepared to provide him with hygienic conditions, using absorbent underwear, diapers or diapers.

Even with an appetite, there are situations when the patient loses the ability to swallow food, and soon water and saliva. This can lead to aspiration.

With severe exhaustion, when the eyeballs fall heavily, the patient is unable to completely close his eyelids. This acts depressingly on others. If the eyes are constantly open, the conjunctiva should be moistened with special ointments or saline solution.

Respiratory and thermoregulatory disorders

What are the symptoms of these changes, if the patient is a recumbent patient? Signs before death in a weakened person in the unconscious state are manifested by terminal tachypnea - against the background of frequent respiratory movements, dying wheezes are heard. This is due to the movement of the mucous secretion in the large bronchi, trachea and pharynx. Such a state is quite normal for a dying person and does not cause him suffering. If there is an opportunity to lay the patient on his side, wheezing will be less pronounced.

The onset of the death of the brain region responsible for thermoregulation is manifested by jumps in the body temperature of the patient in the critical range. He can feel sharp hot flashes and sudden cold. The limbs are cold, the skin becomes swollen with sweat.

Road to death

Most patients die quietly: gradually losing consciousness, in a dream, falling into a coma. Sometimes about such situations they say that the patient passed away on the "usual road". It is generally accepted that in this case irreversible neurological processes occur without significant deviations.

Another picture is observed with agonal delirium. The movement of the patient to death in this case will take place on a "difficult road". Signs before death of a bed-patient who has embarked on this path: psychoses with excessive excitation, anxiety, disorientation in space and time against the background of confusion of consciousness. If there is an explicit inversion of the wakefulness and sleep cycles, then for the family and relatives of the patient this condition can be extremely difficult.

Delirium with agitation is complicated by a sense of anxiety, fear, often turning into a need to go somewhere, to run. Sometimes it is a speech disturbance, manifested by an unconscious flow of words. A patient in such a state can perform only simple actions, not completely understanding what he is doing, how and for what. The ability to think logically for him is impossible. These phenomena are reversible, if in time to identify the cause of such changes and to stop it by medication.

Painful sensations

Before death, what symptoms and symptoms in a bed-ridden patient testify to physical suffering?

As a rule, uncontrolled pain during the last hours of a dying person's life rarely increases. However, it is still possible. The patient, who is unconscious, can not be informed about this. Nevertheless, it is believed that pain, and in such cases, causes painful suffering. A sign of this is usually a strained forehead and appearing deep wrinkles on it.

If, when examining a patient without consciousness, there are assumptions about the presence of developing pain syndrome, the doctor usually prescribes opioids. One should be careful, since they can accumulate and after a time aggravate an already grave condition due to the development of excessive overexcitation and convulsions.

Giving help

A lying patient before death can suffer considerable suffering. The relief of symptoms of physiological pain can be achieved by drug therapy. The mental suffering and psychological discomfort of the patient, as a rule, become a problem for relatives and close family members of the dying person.

An experienced doctor at the stage of assessing the general condition of the patient can recognize his initial symptoms of irreversible pathological changes in cognitive processes. This is primarily: distraction of attention, perception and understanding of reality, adequacy of thinking in decision-making. One can also notice violations of the affective function of consciousness: emotional and sensory perception, attitude to life, the relationship of the individual with society.

The choice of methods for alleviating suffering, the process of assessing the chances and possible outcomes in the presence of the patient in individual cases can itself serve as a therapeutic tool. This approach gives the patient a chance to realistically realize that they sympathize with him, but they perceive him as a capable person with the right to vote and choose possible ways of solving the situation.

In some cases, a day or two before the alleged demise, it makes sense to cancel the intake of certain medicines: diuretics, antibiotics, vitamins, laxatives, hormonal and hypertonic drugs. They will only exacerbate the suffering, to give the patient an inconvenience. You should leave painkillers, anticonvulsants and antiemetics, tranquilizers.

Communication with a dying person

How to behave family, whose family is a bed patient?

The signs of impending death may be obvious or conditional. If there are the slightest preconditions for a negative prognosis, it is worthwhile preparing for the worst. Listening, asking, trying to understand the patient's non-verbal language, one can determine the moment when changes in his emotional and physiological state indicate the imminent approach of death.

Whether the dying person will know about it is not so important. If it understands and perceives, this facilitates the situation. Do not give false promises and vain hopes for his recovery. It must be made clear that his last will will be fulfilled.

The patient should not remain isolated from active cases. It's bad if you get the feeling that something is being withheld from him. If a person wants to talk about the last moments of his life, then it is better to do it quietly, than to ignore the topic or call foolish thoughts. A dying person wants to understand that he will not be alone, that they will take care of him, that his suffering will not be affected.

At the same time, relatives and relatives need to be prepared to show patience and provide all possible assistance. It is also important to listen, give utterances and say words of comfort.

Medical evaluation

Do I need to tell the whole truth to relatives whose family is lying sick before they die? What are the signs of his condition?

There are situations when the family of an incurably patient patient, being in ignorance of his condition, in the hope of changing the situation, spends, in the literal sense, the last savings. But even an impeccable and most optimistic treatment plan may not yield results. It will happen that the patient never rises to his feet, does not return to active life. All efforts will be wasted, waste will be useless.

Relatives and relatives of the patient to provide care in the hope of a speedy recovery, quit their jobs and lose their source of income. Trying to alleviate suffering, they introduce the family into a difficult financial situation. There are problems of relationships, unresolved conflicts on the basis of lack of funds, legal issues - all this only aggravates the situation.

Knowing the symptoms of inevitably approaching death, seeing irreversible signs of physiological changes, an experienced doctor is obliged to inform the family of the patient about this. Informed, understanding the inevitability of the outcome, they will be able to focus on providing him psychological and spiritual support.

Palliative Care

Do we need help to relatives whose families are lying sick before they die? What are the symptoms and signs of the patient suggesting that they should be treated?

Palliative care for the patient is not aimed at prolonging or shortening his life. In its principles, the statement of the concept of death as a natural and legitimate process of the life cycle of any person. However, for patients with an incurable disease, especially in its progressing stage, when all treatment options are exhausted, the question of medical and social assistance is raised.

First of all, it is necessary to apply for it, when the patient no longer has the opportunity to lead an active lifestyle or there are no conditions in the family to ensure this. In this case, attention is paid to alleviating the suffering of the patient. At this stage, not only the medical component is important, but also social adaptation, psychological balance, peace of mind of the patient and his family.

A dying patient needs not only attention, care and normal living conditions. It is also important for him psychological relief, relief of emotions, connected, on the one hand, with the inability of self-service, and on the other hand, with the awareness of the fact of the inevitable imminent death. Prepared nurses and doctors of palliative clinics own the subtleties of the art of alleviating such suffering and can provide significant help to terminally ill people.

Predictors of death according to scientists

Why wait for relatives who have a sick patient in their family?

Symptoms of the death of a person "eaten" by a cancerous tumor were documented by the staff of clinics of palliative care. According to observations, not all patients showed obvious changes in the physiological state. A third of them had no symptoms or their recognition was conditional.

But in the majority of mortally ill patients, three days before death, a noticeable decrease in the response to verbal irritation could be noted. They did not react to simple gestures and did not recognize the facial expressions of the person in contact with them. The "smile line" in such patients was omitted, there was an unusual sounding of the voice (grunting of the ligaments).

In some patients, in addition, there was hyperextension of the neck muscles (increased relaxation and mobility of the vertebrae), non-reactive pupils were observed, patients could not close the eyelids densely. Of the obvious functional disorders, bleeding in the gastrointestinal tract (in the upper sections) was diagnosed.

In the opinion of scientists, the presence of half or more of these signs can be very likely to indicate an unfavorable prognosis for the patient and his sudden death.

Signs and popular beliefs

In the old days our ancestors paid attention to the behavior of a dying person before death. Symptoms (signs) in a recumbent patient could predict not only the demise, but also the future prosperity of his family. So, if the dying person requested food (milk, honey, butter) and her relatives in the last moments, this could affect the future of the family. There was a belief that a deceased person could take with him prosperity and luck.

It was necessary to prepare for a near death, if the patient trembled without obvious reasons. It was believed that this death looked into his eyes. Also a sign of a close withdrawal from life was a cold and pointed nose. It was believed that this is his death that holds the candidate in the last days before his death.

The ancestors were convinced that if a person with a deadly illness turns away from the light and most of the time lies face to face with the wall, he is on the threshold of another world. If he suddenly felt relieved and asked to shift it to his left side, then this is a sure sign of an imminent death. Such a person will die without pain, if you open the windows and the door in the room.

Lying patient: how to recognize the signs of impending death?

Relatives of the dying patient's home should be aware of what they can face in the last days, hours, moments of his life. It is impossible to accurately predict the moment of death and how everything will happen. Not all of the above symptoms and prizes before the death of a bed-patient can be present.

The stages of dying, as well as the processes of the origin of life, are individual. As hard as it was for relatives, it must be remembered that a dying person is even more difficult. Close people need to have patience and provide the dying person with the most possible conditions, moral support and attention and care. Death is the inevitable outcome of the life cycle, and it can not be changed.