A palliative care nurse has revealed the six “unimaginable” things that happen when someone is on their deathbed.
Julie McFadden41, is a Los Angeles-based registered nurse who specializes in palliative care and has built a follow up on social networks of millions sharing ideas to help destigmatize the process of “death and dying.”
The author and health expert, who previously revealed the ‘scary things’ that happen when you take your last breath, took to YouTube to once again speak out about the phenomena surrounding death and confessed that before witnessing these wild things she She herself felt “uncomfortable” sharing them.
Julie explained that patients often experienced “terminal lucidity,” “hallucinations,” “death stares,” and more.
A palliative care nurse has revealed the six ‘unimaginable’ things that happen when someone is on their deathbed.
Julie McFadden, 41, is a Los Angeles-based registered nurse who specializes in palliative care.
At the beginning of the clip, she explained that she never saw any of these six things while working as an ICU nurse and only started seeing them when she moved into hospice.
She admitted: ‘There are many deathbed phenomena and I have seen them all, let’s analyze them. I want to be clear that this doesn’t happen to everyone, but it happens enough that I like to educate about it.
“As an ICU nurse, I will say I didn’t experience these things, then coming to hospice and becoming a hospice nurse, I was educated about it and told to educate families about it, which I originally I felt uncomfortable because I had done it.” I’ve witnessed it myself and it’s really hard to believe that these things really happen.
“But little by little, as the years went by and I started seeing things more and more, it became clear that I definitely needed to educate people about this because it happens so often.”
Julie began by explaining that the first thing that happened at the end of life was terminal lucidity.
She described this as an “explosion of energy” experienced by a patient who was on the brink of death, adding that it happened “very often.”
The nurse admitted that it was unclear why those who were about to die had such energy, adding that you should simply “enjoy” the short time with your loved one.
She continued: “Just enjoy it and hope that maybe they die shortly after because that’s the trick with terminal lucidity, it seems like someone is going to die very soon and suddenly they have a burst of energy.”
She has spoken again about the phenomena surrounding death and confessed that before having witnessed these wild things herself, she felt ‘uncomfortable’ sharing them.
Julie began by explaining that the first thing that happened at the end of life was terminal lucidity.
“Maybe they have a great day, suddenly they’re hungry, suddenly they can walk, suddenly they’re very alert and oriented, and shortly after, usually a day or two, they die, so that can be the hardest part is if you’re not prepared for it, if you don’t know what’s coming you may think they’re getting better and then they die, which can be very devastating.’
The second thing that can happen to your loved one who is near death is a “vision.”
Julie described this as having “hallucinations” and added that this phenomenon was “the most talked about.”
He noted that patients often saw people who had spent “weeks before their death.”
“I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes over and over again,” the nurse admitted.
Julie advised her to “just move on” if she sees her loved one having a hallucination, before revealing that if someone was “visioning” then they were “a month away from dying.”
‘Number three, this is really crazy: people choose when they are going to die. I’ve seen some extreme cases of this, people who just say, “Tonight I’m going to die, I know it, I can feel it,” and they do it. There is also a time when people wait for everyone to arrive in the city or enter the room, arrive at the house, whatever it is, and then they die,” the nurse explained.
The fourth thing is known as “range of death,” according to Julie.
She explained: ‘It’s when the person is lying in bed and raises their hand in the air as if they are looking at someone or looking for someone to hug or shake their hand. They often hold their hands up for a long time.
The second thing that can happen to your loved one who is near death is a “vision.”
‘[It’s] like they’re seeing something we don’t see and they’re reaching out to someone we can’t see.
Julie then mentioned that “the number five is the death stare,” and explained that the death stare and death reach often “go together.”
“Usually it looks like someone is looking into the corner of the room or off to the side of the room, basically staring at something, but if you snap your finger in front of their face or try to say their name to snap, “If they we get out of here, they won’t,” he said.
The last wild thing the nurse saw is known as a “shared death experience” and is “most shocking,” according to Julie.
He explained: ‘A shared death experience is when someone who is not dying feels, sees or understands what is happening to the person who is dying.
‘It’s as if the dying person gives you the feeling of what is happening. There may have been times when that’s not a good thing, but in my experience and all the stories I’ve heard, it’s usually a good feeling.
‘From what I experienced, it was a very good feeling. It was like the person was giving me these feelings of freedom and joy and telling me it was okay and I basically couldn’t believe how wonderful it was again.
“At that moment, I was shocked, I didn’t know what was happening, but I discovered that this is called a shared death experience.”
This is not the first time Julie has spoken about death and what she witnessed when someone was dying.
Last year, he dove into “end-of-life visions” and how disturbingly “logical” the exchanges around them can be.
“Usually they are functional and logical and ask me, ‘Why do I see my mother dead?’ “Do you see her?” she said.
Later this year, Julie will also publish a book titled Nothing To Fear, billed as a “comforting and informative guide that demystifies our journey to the end of life.”