If your doctor isn't listening, talk to the nurses. They see more and usually have a good sense of what's happening. Hospice workers, too, are experts on physical comfort, and a good doctor will respond to a hospice worker's recommendations. Second, pain medication may induce grogginess or unconsciousness when a patient wants to be alert. Dying patients may choose to be alert one day for visitors, and asleep the next to cope with pain.
Studies show that when patients control their own pain medication, they use less.
This condition is not an inevitable part of dying but can and should be treated. In fact, untreated depression can prevent pain medications from working effectively, and antidepressant medication can help relieve pain. A dying patient should be kept in the best possible emotional state for the final stage of life. A combination of medications and psychotherapy works best to treat depression. Force-feeding a dying patient could make him uncomfortable and cause choking.