Hospice care nurse reveals why being DEHYDRATED makes death 'more PEACEFUL' - and helps to 'cause less suffering' for dying people

A hospice nurse has revealed fascinating insight into the way end of life carers can make death more 'peaceful' for patients: by keeping them dehydrated.  

Julie McFadden, from Los Angeles, California, often shares information and tips about end of life care - and in a recent YouTube video she opened up about one of the lesser-known aspects of death. 

'It is a fact that being dehydrated causes less suffering at the end of life,' Julie, who has 1.4 million followers on TikTok said in a recent video.

Julie specified she was referring to only people who are at the end of their life, explaining that hospice or palliative patients should not be getting IV fluid, because it could have painful side effects. 

Hospice nurse Julie McFadden, who often shares information and tips about end of life care, revealed why being dehydrated can lead to a more peaceful death

Julie specified she was referring to only people who are at the end of their life, explaining that hospice patients should not be getting IV fluid, because it could have painful side effects

'If you were to place an IV and start pumping fluid into that body that is shutting down it's not going to do what you'd think it would do,' she warned.

Julie explained that in a relatively healthy person, intravascular fluids will hydrate them and make them feel better. However, if a person's body is in the process of shutting down, these fluids will actually result in something called 'spacing'.

'[The fluids] will seep out of their vascular system into their third space, which is usually in their legs at first,' she explained. 'So you'll start seeing their feet and their legs swell up.'

'Eventually their heart cannot handle this fluid, so it's trying to pump this fluid but it can't do it, so then it starts backing up into their lungs which causes respiratory distress,' she said.

However, she said that only applies to being intravenously rehydrated, and drinking water won't have the same effect. 

She continued explaining that when someone is no longer eating and drinking their loved ones are obviously worried about them, and being dehydrated very common.

However, she said, they shouldn't worry about them being dehydrated as the less fluid they get, the better they're going to feel because their body goes into something called ketosis - which is a good thing.

'[This] releases endorphins really to make you feel good and dull pain,' Julie explained. 

Julie said in a relatively healthy person, intravascular fluids will hydrate them and make them feel better. However, if their bodies are shutting it will result in someone called 'spacing' 

READ MORE: End of care doctors reveal the most common things they hear from patients in their final moments

'This is something we want to happen in the body because it actually makes them feel better,' she continued. 'This can be a really difficult for families to understand or even want to believe.'

Julie said from her experience of working as a hospice nurse, people still insist on giving their loved one hydration at the end of life, but eventually stop when they see the effect it's having on their bodies.

She used an example of a woman who was in palliative care, recounting she was alert and awake but receiving TPN - nutrition through a central line - because she couldn't eat or drink.

Julie said the the more nutrition and TPN she received, the more her abdomen and legs were swelling.

'She'd be really uncomfortable every visit, she would say "oh I just wish I could walk around and move but I can't because my legs are so swollen, my abdomen s so swollen and it was because she was in a body that was not working as it should be."'

Julie said she explained this to the woman and told her she can stop the IV fluids and nutrition to decrease the pain and swelling.

'[It wouldn't] fully go away, but definitely decrease enough so you wouldn't be in so much pain and so uncomfortable,' she said. 'For her it was a lesser of two evils because if she did stop the nutrition she may die sooner but she'd be more comfortable.'

Julie recommended always be talking with and working with a medical professional about what's best to do, depending on the situation.

'Knowing all of the options [and] knowing more about your situation and being educated will make you a better advocate for yourself and for your loved one,' she said.