

Knowing the pattern of ordinary dying and recognising its stages, helps companions to understand what they’re witnessing, to feel less afraid of unlikely complications and to have the confidence to send for help if medical attention is needed to address symptoms and so to enable ‘safe’ dying. A few minutes later, the heart will stop beating as it runs out of oxygen. Because they’re unaware of their mouth and throat, dying people may breathe heavily, noisily or through saliva in the back of their throat, yet without apparent distress.īreathing moves from deep to shallow and from fast to slow in repeating cycles eventually breathing slows and becomes very shallow there are pauses and, finally, breathing ceases. Unconscious people’s breathing follows automatic patterns generated by the respiratory centre in the brain stem. We don’t know how much sense music or voices make to a dying person, however. After a long and tiring day of classes, I sat on the campus bus as it rode me back to. Recent research shows that, even close to death, the unconscious brain responds to noises in the room. Why You Should Stop Saying 'I Want To Die' In Times Of Stress. We have no proven way to investigate what people experience during dying. There may be periods of restlessness or moments of confusion, or just gradually deepening unconsciousness. Internal organs function less as blood pressure drops.
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What happens in your final momentsĪs dying progresses the heart beats less strongly, blood pressure falls, skin cools down and nails become dusky. It’s important to know that unconsciousness isn’t usually caused by the medications, but by the dying process itself. Skin patches, syringe pumps, or even suppositories can be used. If the dying person is relying on regular medications to keep any symptoms at bay, then now is the time to switch to medications that don’t require the person to be awake to swallow them. On waking, people report having slept peacefully, with no sense of having been unconscious. What looks like sleep, though, gradually becomes something else: dipping into unconsciousness for increasing periods. Sleep usually recharges our energy and can be part of recovery but, at the end of life, sleep gradually makes less impact as the body winds down towards dying.Ī dying person spends progressively less time awake. Many of us have experienced profound weariness caused by illness: the ‘can’t get out of bed’ state of severe flu, or overwhelming tiredness as we recover from surgery. This is normal: spoonfuls of ‘tastes for pleasure’ may still be welcome when meals have become too much to manage.ĭying people consistently lack energy. Medical support is sometimes needed to make dying (or giving birth) as safe and comfortable as possible.Īs dying approaches, most people lose interest in eating and drinking. Also like birth, the speed of the process can vary from person to person.

Like giving birth, dying is a bodily process with stages and recognisable progression. What does dying feel like? A doctor explains what we know
