What Are the Symptoms of a Bedridden Elderly Person Nearing the End of Life?

The symptoms of bedridden elderly patients at the end of life include indifference and lethargy, irregular breathing, slow and weak pulse, incontinence, cold and damp skin, etc. Here are the details:

As patients enter the terminal stage, their mental state gradually turns into indifference and lethargy. They become less responsive to the outside world, unable to distinguish between day and night, and unable to recognize the people around them.

Patients' breathing generally becomes shallow or slow, or sometimes shallow and rapid. Irregular breathing patterns may also appear. Later on, they may develop mandibular breathing with long pauses or tidal breathing. Once the breathing pattern changes, breathing becomes difficult, with patients often breathing through their mouths. Eventually, their breathing stops.

While healthy individuals usually have strong pulses, the pulses of terminally ill patients become short and irregular, slow and weak, with disrupted rhythms.

It is commonly said that people at the end of life clear their bowels, which actually means that the sphincter function has been completely lost, resulting in uncontrollable urination and defecation.

The gastrointestinal function has weakened to the extreme, and patients are unable to eat or drink independently.

As patients near the end of life, their skin temperature drops, becoming damp and cold. Even skin mottling may appear. From a Western medical perspective, the appearance of mottling indicates the entry into a DIC state, where the blood no longer flows, signifying the end of life.