Palliative Care
what does it mean?
Palliative Care is a specialized form of care focused on improving the quality of life of patients suffering from serious illness and on relieving the stress and symptoms of the disease. It is based on the patients needs, not the prognosis.
It is different from the curative treatment that the individual might need for the disease itself that focuses on curing the illness.
For optimum benefit of the patient, often, palliative and curative treatments are employed simultaneously.
who needs it?
Serious illnesses are frequently accompanied with anxiety, uncertainty, anger, stress and distressing symptoms. To improve the Quality of Life of patients who go through this, Palliative Care is highly beneficial and therefore necessary.
Palliative Care holds great value in conditions like Cancer, Congestive Heart Faliure (CHF), Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), Kidney Disease, Multiple Sclerosis (MS), Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) Alzheimer's, Parkinson's , Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) and so on.
Aspects of Palliative Care
There are a variety of approaches and many aspects of Palliative Care. We, at Dear Zindagi, follow our own set of principles and the aspects that we focus on and help improve are listed below
Palliative Care
Physical
Emotional
Emotional
Symptoms such as pain, fatigue, loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, sleep problems and breathing problems. For these distressing symptoms, certain medications, physical therapy or nutritional modifications are helpful.
Emotional
Emotional
Emotional
Anxiety, irritability and anger associated with these conditions need to be addressed to give way to positive emotions that in turn improve the quality of life. This emotional aspect of Palliative Care can be taken on by personal attention, counselling and support groups.
Spiritual
Emotional
Spiritual
The suffering and distress of patients is largely alleviated when they are touch with the spiritual aspect of life and questions that have arisen are answered. For this, activities like indivdual and group meditations, spiritual discourses and group discussions of various faiths are employed.
social
social
Spiritual
Patients may find it challenging to communicate to their loved ones and caregivers about what they are going through. This can further worsen the emotional aspect of their life. For this, organizing regular contacts with loved ones, caregivers practicing active listening and making sure that they are comfortable are all small things that help.
mental
social
mental
Sleep problems are frequently seen in these patients, as mentioned earlier. This may be due to anxiety or physical disturbances. This in turn leads to increased stress during the day time and reinforces the problem, leading to a vicious cycle. Medications and meditations are helpful. Relaxation techniques and breathing exercises also prove to be beneficial and are employed.