Customer question:
How long does dying take, and what is the time course? Anonymous customer's question
Pharmacist's answer:
Dying can be associated with deterioration over a long period, during which waves of complications and side effects occur, such as in some cancer patients. Usually, about one month before death, energy, function, and well-being deteriorate significantly. The patient visibly wobbles, and everyone realizes that death is near.
But dying can also take place differently. Sometimes, the condition of a patient who is in the hospital undergoing aggressive treatment for a severe illness suddenly worsens, and it turns out that he is dying only a few hours or days before death. But today, it is becoming increasingly common to die with a slow decline in performance over a long period, perhaps with episodes of severe symptoms. This is how neurological diseases proceed, e.g., Alzheimer's, as well as emphysema, liver failure, kidney failure, and other chronic diseases. Severe heart damage incapacitates patients over a long period and occasionally causes severe symptoms, but usually, life is interrupted suddenly by a heart rhythm disorder (arrhythmia).
Knowing the probable course of the disease allows the patient and relatives to make plans. If death from arrhythmia is likely, they must be prepared for it at any moment. For cancer patients, the deterioration before death is usually a warning to some extent that the last days have come.
Interesting reading: Body signs of dying - last signs!
