End-of-life nurse reveals ‘one sign’ someone is close to death that most people ‘don’t believe’
An end-of-life nurse has revealed the 'one sign' someone is close to death that most people 'don’t believe'.
Hospice nurse, Julie McFadden - who goes by @hospicenursejulie on TikTok - is based in Los Angeles, and has spent years working in palliative care.
She regularly shares content to educate people on what can happen during the end of life and has recently shared some of the most common behaviour she notices with patients.
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Taking to social media, Julie explained a little more about the process known as 'visioning' and why it's nothing to be 'scared' of.
"Here's one sign that someone is close to death that most people don't believe happens," she began.
According to the nurse, the phenomenon usually takes place 'a few weeks to a month before someone dies'.
Julie explained: "If they're on hospice, they will start seeing dead loved ones, dead relatives, dead pets.
"This happens so often that we actually put it in our educational packets that we give to patients and their families when they come on hospice so they aren't surprised or scared when it happens."
Julie revealed that there's quite a lot of mystery surrounding the process, called 'visioning'.
"We don't know why it happens, but we see it in definitely more than half of our patients," she shared.
The nurse went on to state that this is not simply a matter of 'low oxygen in the brain' which causes patients to 'hallucinate'.
"This is definitely not true, because when it does happen, most people are alert and oriented and are at least a month from death, so they don't have low oxygen," she noted.
But how does the patient feel when this takes place?
Well, Julie assured that it's 'always comforting' to them, adding: "It's never scary.
"Again, we don't know why it happens, but we do see it very often."
The hospice nurse has previously noted a handful of warning signs that could indicate a person is near to death, including phenomena known as the 'death stare', the 'death surge', the 'death reach', 'terminal agitation' and a slightly more scary-sounding one known as the 'death rattle'.
Julie previously exclusively told Tyla about why the 'death rattle' is 'nothing to be afraid of'.
It happens because we have a metabolic system in our blood chemistry that works together to make us 'breathe normal'.
However, at the end of life, that starts changing and it changes how we breathe, which Julie says is 'like a metabolic response'.
"But no one knows that, so they think their loved one is gasping for air, which is not true," she adds.
Julie explained that this 'death rattle' is actually called terminal secretions.
She told Tyla: "It's like a gurgling noise.
"That's just a little bit of saliva that's basically in the back of their mouth that the breath is going over with their mouth open, so it's causing this gurgling noise.
"People often think their loved ones are drowning on fluids, but they are not - it's very normal and very to be expected."
If you have experienced a bereavement and would like to speak with someone in confidence, contact Cruse Bereavement Care via their national helpline on 0808 808 1677.
Rhiannon Ingle