Note: These senses are lost before death 2023

Losing a loved one and witnessing someone’s departure can be excruciatingly agonizing. But have you ever wondered what the deceased must experience? How does one experience when death is imminent, and which senses do they begin to lose? A specialist in palliative care from Stanford University recently deciphered the same. Continue reading to discover the order in which dying patients lose their faculties.

Experts noted in the book Palliative Care Perspectives that a terminally ill patient loses appetite and hydration first, followed by speech and vision. Hearing and touch are the subsequent senses to be lost.

After losing the ability to communicate, it is difficult to describe what a dying person feels, according to the expert. Survivors of a heart attack report seeing a white light and vivid images rushing before their eyes.

Is it equivalent to entering a coma?

According to doctors, this is not the same as a coma, which is a state of unconsciousness but rather resembles a dream state. Some patients may even compare it to a typhoon approaching and rising waves. Gradually ascending higher and higher, they may convey a passenger to their seat. Patients may also lose their sensibilities as part of the process of active dying that leads to death.

The white light experience is also believed to be caused by an increase in brain compounds. This occurs because some portions of the brain may perish, whereas others, such as a portion of the visual system, may go into overdrive. Patients begin to perceive a white light or a void as a result.