The topic of death has been fascinating humans for as long as we can remember. Whether we are worried about what comes next, or whether there really is an 'afterlife', others worry about what happens before we pass away.
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A hospice nurse called Julie McFadden took it upon herself to educate families about what happens before and after death on her YouTube channel. Today, we are looking into the strangest phenomenons that happen in your body as you die, but also how to look after someone who is dying.
The body releases fluids
As nurse Julie explains the stomach and sphincter both produce fluids which help to break down our food as they go through the digestion process. While someone is dying, this process is slowed down but organs still produce fluids. When a person dies, their sphincter opens up, which is why when people die, they can experience bowel movements, such as vomiting or pooping.
Nurse Julie goes on to talk about 'foamy saliva'. While there is no scientific explanation on the subject yet, nurse Julie explains it could come from the back of the throat as a sort of 'terminal secretion', but most of the time it comes from the stomach fluids. She explains to patients' families:
If it's really bothering your loved-one, or it's a lot of fluid, always sit their head of bed up. If they're laying down as it's happening, you want to sit them up quickly. You can also turn them over to their side and that fluid will start coming out of their mouth.
Nurse Julie's goal is to educate families
Nurse Julie McFadden started her career as an ICU nurse before moving on to hospice care. This is where she learned about several 'deathbed phenomena', and was told to 'educate families about them', as they were mostly not widely known. She explains in her YouTube video that she didn't believe in some of these phenomena before she started actually witnessing them in her hospice patients before they passed away.
In her YouTube video, she explains:
Unfortunately, in this end-of-life journey, we don't always have exact answers. That's why I like to make these videos that are kind of generally speaking, so you just know that this could happen, and your main goal is to continue to keep your loved-one clean, safe and comfortable.
Read more:
⋙ Visioning: Hospice nurse explains this common phenomenon which happens weeks before dying
⋙ Terminal lucidity: Hospice nurse explains this common phenomenon that happens right before you die
⋙ Hospice nurse reveals ‘almost everyone’ sees dead relatives before they die
Source used:
YouTube: The Process of Death and Dying
