One of the most common hospice drug is haloperidol, if will cause people to hallucinate and sometimes a stable dose will ease it. If the patient is in the midst of a drug titration, this will cause these altered visions. Its not the lovonox. Another drug that can cause it is Ativan.
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mahala21091 wrote on carm's wall
Well, she has been having hallucinations and speaking wierd things, and has been tired alot
5 Comments-
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carm
about 7 years agoMahala,
I am sorry for your loss. I know these times will move slowly for you and seem an endless ache in moments of darkness. However, hers is now timeless joy in the brightest of lights and all that separates you now is the day of hunger and the hour of thirst. You both want the same and soon your desires will be in sync once again. My best to you in this your personal grief, Carm RN.
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mahala21091 asked a questionNon-Hodgkin Lymphoma (NHL)
My mom is not eating well, and hospice is saying shes weak and in the 1st stages of dying.
4 answers-
carm
about 7 years agoMahala21091,
I work in oncology and end of life care. This is from the "Gone From My Sight" pamphlet. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to write. Best of luck to you, Carm RN.Excerpts from the “Gone From My Sight” handbook.
Each person approaches death in their own way, bringing to this last experience their own uniqueness. What is listed here is simply a guideline, a road map. Like any map there are many roads arriving at the same destination, many ways to enter the same city.
Use the guideline while remembering there is nothing concrete here; all is very, very flexible. Any of the signs in this booklet may be present; all may be present; none may be present. For some, it will take months to separate from their physical body, for others only minutes.
Death comes in its own time; in its own way.
Death is as unique as the individual experiencing it.If the following signs were to be put on a time table, we could say these changes begin one to three months before death occurs. The actual dying process begins within the two weeks prior to death. There is a shift that occurs within a person which takes them from a mental processing of death to a true comprehension and belief in their own mortality. Unfortunately, this understanding is not always shared with others.
Summary Of Guidelines
One to Three Months:
Withdrawal from the world and people
Decreased food intake
Increase in sleep
Going inside of self
Less communication
One to Two Weeks:
Disorientation
Agitation
Talking with the unseen
Confusion
Picking at clothes
Physical:
Decreased blood pressure
Pulse increase or decrease
Color changes, pale, bluish
Increased perspiration
Respiration irregularities
Congestion
Sleeping but responding
Complaints of body tired and heavy
Not eating, taking little fluids
Body temperature, hot/cold
Days or Hours:
Intensification of one to two week signs
Surge of energy
Decrease in blood pressure
Eyes glassy, tearing, half open
Irregular breathing, stop/start
Restlessness or no activity
Purplish knees, feet, hands, blotchy
Pulse weak and hard to find
Decreased urine output
May wet or soil the bed
Minutes:
“Fish out of water” breathing
Cannot be awakened. -
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jhale17
about 7 years agoMarhala21091,
When my wife was in hospice I used the pamphlet that “Carm” recommended as a guide; the pamphlet entitled “Gone from My Sight” was available in the lobby of hospice. The hospice that I used had a social worker that was very gracious in counseling me on the dying experience. Both of these, as well as the hospice home care services, were a big help to me.
My wife’s condition was terminal pancreatic cancer. During chemo treatments her common duct would close up and require a stent to open it up. This happened four times and each episode took her near death.
Each time the procedure was to go to the hospital to re-stent, then to in-hospice for a week and then she was sent home with in-home hospice care. Hospice would stabilize my wife to the point she could come home until another episode occurred and then it started all over again. Eventually they could not re-stent again and my wife required a few weeks in a twenty-four hour nursing care facility instead of coming home.This routine may not apply in your mom’s case but should it happen know that it works well.
I am holding you in my thoughts.
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Drug or Chemo Therapy (Chemotherapy)
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Drug or Chemo Therapy
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