Hospice nurse explains the biggest misconceptions about what happens to someone’s body when they’re going to die
Gerrard Kaonga
Featured Image Credit: TikTok/hospicenursejulie
Hospice nurse Julie McFadden has done her best to address people’s fears when it comes to dying and has highlighted the many experiences she has had as a hospice nurse, including one of the biggest misconceptions about our bodies.
While some people simply prefer not to think about death, others will flat out admit they are scared of dying.
But Julie has turned to social media to help people deal with their fears surrounding death.
Working years in healthcare and a hospice, Julie has made multiple videos revealing some of the most fascinating aspects of death and old age.
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The medic has amassed more than 1.5 million followers on TikTok and written a book sharing her insights into death and dying.
While Julie is hoping to educate her followers, she has also indicated she hopes to shift the attitude towards end-of-life care.
Speaking to PEOPLE, she said: “I want to change the way we look at death and dying. I want to decrease fear around death and dying through education, and I think we just need to make it less taboo.”
She added that one of the common associations with death is pain due to how it is often depicted in movies or television but has also said that the reality doesn’t always align with this.
She said: “Diseases that you're dying from can cause pain, so if there's pain, it's because of the disease you're dying from.
“But the actual body shutting down, knowing it's going to die, that part isn’t painful.”
In one of her recent videos she noted that due to her years in healthcare she learnt that the body naturally has mechanisms to help it come to the end of its life, and that we have huge misconceptions around those mechanisms.
She explained that as the body realizes it is dying it will ‘naturally turn off the hunger and thirst mechanisms in the brain’ so that an individual doesn’t feel as hungry and thirsty. This ultimately means an individual may sleep more.
She added that she has seen plenty of individuals die rather ‘peacefully’ despite the assumptions that it is often a painful experience.
She continued: “I've had plenty of people on hospice who didn't have any medication and died very peacefully.
“Don't get me wrong, I'm not anti-medication here, but there's a misconception that everyone dying needs morphine."