05/05/2023
Pain is unique to each individual. There is no one dose, one kind, one method that fits all. End of life pain management requires time and experimentation to reach a comfort level. Closeness to death itself also affects how medications will be responded to. The closer to death the less circulation there is to distribute the medication throughout the body.
In those days to weeks before death the person is not eating or drinking or they are taking so little fluids we believe they can't possibly be comfortable. This is the time the body is shutting down, letting go of its hold on this life, dying. No food, no water in the last days of life is perfectly normal. That is how we die. It is not uncomfortable or painful to not eat or drink at this stage. It is actually uncomfortable and disruptive for the dying person if we force food and water in the days to weeks before death.
This is a short explanation about a complicated subiect.
Watching someone we care about in the dying process is frightening, stressful and generally misunderstood.
Knowledge reduces fear but it is generally after the fact that we begin processing and asking questions.
