It’s true that death can be painful for some people.
No one knows exactly what someone’s final moments will feel like.
The gradually increasing periods of unconsciousness someone experiences as they are dying may feel like going to sleep.
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There may also be periods of wakefulness and confusion or disorientation.
Pain may or may not be part of the process.
This article discusses how end-of-life pain may be experienced and described.
Tomas Rodriguez / Getty Images
Does Dying Hurt?
Dying doesn’t always hurt.
The amount and throw in of pain there is at the end of life can differ.
The specific diagnosis and cause of pain are factors.
So are treatment, support, and the person’s own unique experience.
Up to half of all people withcancerexperience pain.
What Causes Pain at the End of Life?
It can make other symptoms, likeshortness of breathand anxiety, much worse.
Emotionally, pain may cause you or your loved one to be irritable.
Pain also can disrupt more practical matters.
For those left behind, the memory of the dying process will remain.
If your end-of-life memories include watching your loved one’s uncontrolled pain, it can result inprolonged grief.
Reporting Pain Is Important
Healthcare providers need to understand your pain before it can be treated.
Knowing how to communicate the jot down and level of pain is key.
Questions about your pain are likely to include where it is and when it happens.
The impacts on your quality of lifeeating, sleeping, and talkingall need to be considered.
Don’t wait to be asked about your pain or that of a loved one.
If healthcare providers don’t ask, tell them.
You or your loved on may be asked to rate your pain on a scale of 1 to 10.
That said, the pain scale makes it easier to rate and treat levels of pain.
Specialists who treat pain are familiar with widely used guidelines when they are dealing with end-of-life pain.
For example, the World Health Organization (WHO) created a model for treating pain.
It is designed like a ladder, with the simplest step first.
If this step is not effective, your team can move to the next one.
Still, they may be used along with traditional approaches to pain control.
Drugs to control pain are more effective when they are given on a regular schedule.
Reasons for Undertreatment
Pain can and should be treated well at the end of life.
They have to do with choices about accepting the drugs, behavioral priorities, or even practical matters.
This pop in of healthcare team is highly skilled in pain management and comfort care.
It typically includes medical professionals, along withsocial workersand chaplains.
Palliative care aims to improve quality of life and limit suffering at any stage of illness.
They are less likely to be hospitalized and have longer survival times than those who do not.
The care is covered underMedicare Part Bfor inpatients and outpatients.
You also can have hospice care in your home, or at a hospice facility or nursing home.
Ask your healthcare team about these options.
You also can search online using thepalliative care provider directorymaintained by the Center to Advance Palliative Care.
You canfind a hospice care providerthrough the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization database.
Coping With Pain
Your emotional and spiritual needs play a role in managing pain.
Being there, touching them, holding their hand, and helping with care can make a difference.
Talk by phone or through online platforms, too, if you cannot be with them.
A social worker can help with family communication, advance directives,funeral planning, or managing healthcare paperwork.
)This can reduce anxiety that seems to be making the pain worse.
Summary
End-of-life pain is quite common.
In fact, most people living with cancer in its advanced stages will experience pain.
The 1 through 10 pain scale is the best way to tell your healthcare team about your pain.
Don’t hesitate to do so, even if they haven’t asked you about it.
People have a right to pain control, as defined by WHO guidelines.
Speak up if you are in pain.
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National Institute on Aging.Providing care and comfort at the end of life.
2015;19(4):473-9. doi:10.1002/ejp.569
World Health Organization.WHO’s cancer pain ladder for adults.
Kelley AS, Morrison RS.Palliative care for the seriously ill.N Engl J Med.
2015;373(8):747755. doi:10.1056/NEJMra1404684
American Cancer Society.What Is an advance directive?
