Palliative care is a specialised field of medicine that focuses on improving the overall quality of life for people who are living with serious illnesses. Palliative care is offered at any stage of a serious illness, from early diagnosis and treatment through advanced disease. It’s not just about relieving pain but also about providing emotional support and promoting wellness by addressing all aspects of an individual’s health.
It helps in the treatment of cancer.
Palliative care helps in the treatment of cancer. Palliative care can reduce cancer symptoms, such as pain, nausea and vomiting, etc., caused by the disease itself or its treatment. It can also help you cope with living with a life-limiting illness.
Palliative care helps reduce cancer treatment’s side effects (chemotherapy). Side effects such as fatigue and loss of appetite can make it difficult for someone undergoing chemotherapy to carry out their normal daily activities, which may affect their quality of life.
Palliative care helps to reduce the pain of cancer. If you have advanced cancer, then your doctor should prescribe medication that is appropriate for you but if they do not then they should refer you on to another healthcare professional who can prescribe suitable medications which will help control your pain levels.
Helps to fight depression.
Depression, anxiety, and pain are all common and distressing symptoms in palliative care patients. Depression is often seen as an emotional reaction to a terminal diagnosis, but it can also be caused by the physical symptoms of pain, nausea, or fatigue.
By identifying your patient’s needs through assessment and talking with them about their priorities for treatment, we can help you to manage these symptoms effectively by using methods such as:
- Pain medication (e.g. paracetamol) – this will not cure cancer but helps to make life more bearable for your patient;
- Antidepressants – effective treatments for depression include SSRIs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors), tricyclic antidepressants like amitriptyline or nortriptyline which work by increasing levels of serotonin in the brain; they may also be prescribed alongside other medications such as sleeping pills if required;
- Anti-nausea drugs such as ondansetron which reduce feelings of sickness associated with chemotherapy;
- Antipsychotics like risperidone – these target dopamine receptors in order to reduce psychotic symptoms such as hallucinations or delusions caused by certain types of cancer treatment.
It helps with a serious illness of pain.
Palliative care can help with pain management. If you or a loved one is receiving treatment for cancer, you may be concerned about the amount of pain that might occur during the process. Pain can be difficult to manage since it’s often not visible and there’s no way to tell how much someone else is suffering. The good news is that palliative care can help people with cancer manage their pain so they can live more comfortably until they die peacefully.
Conclusion
Palliative care is a great way to improve the quality of life in patients with serious illnesses. It can help you feel better while you are dealing with your illness, and it will give you the support and care that you need during this time.