Improve Quality of Life with Early Palliative Care

24 Apr Improve Quality of Life with Early Palliative Care

Discover how starting palliative care early after a serious illness diagnosis can significantly improve quality of life through better symptom management, emotional support, and clear communication. Learn why waiting isn’t necessary.

Receiving a diagnosis of a serious illness is life-altering. It brings not only physical challenges but also emotional, social, and spiritual hurdles for both patients and their families. Amidst navigating treatments and facing uncertainties, the focus on quality of life can sometimes feel secondary. However, there’s a specialised field of medicine dedicated to maintaining it throughout the illness journey: palliative care.

Crucially, accessing this support early, much sooner than many people realise is possible, can make a profound difference. Let’s explore why early palliative care is so beneficial and how it helps people live better, even while managing a serious condition.

What is Palliative Care, Again? (It’s Not Just End-of-Life Care)

Before diving into the “early” aspect, let’s recap. Palliative care is specialised medical care focused on providing relief from the symptoms and stress of a serious illness. The goal is to improve the quality of life for both the patient and their family. Key points include:

• Symptom Management: Expertly treats pain, nausea, fatigue, shortness of breath, anxiety, depression, and other distressing symptoms.
• Holistic Support: Addresses physical, emotional, spiritual, and practical needs.
• Team-Based: Involves doctors, nurses, social workers, chaplains, and others working together.
• For Any Stage: Can be provided at any age and at any stage of a serious illness.
• Alongside Curative Treatment: It can, and often should, be given alongside treatments meant to cure or control the disease (like chemotherapy, radiation, surgery).

A common misconception is confusing palliative care solely with hospice care (which focuses on comfort when curative treatment is no longer the goal). While hospice is a type of palliative care, palliative care itself is much broader and can begin much earlier.

The Power of Starting Early: How Early Palliative Care Boosts Quality of Life

Integrating palliative care soon after a serious diagnosis, rather than waiting until symptoms become severe or treatment options narrow, offers significant advantages:

• Mastering Symptoms Sooner: Early intervention means symptoms like pain, nausea, or fatigue can be managed proactively and effectively from the start. This improves comfort, enhances daily function, and can even help patients tolerate curative treatments better with fewer side effects.
• Nurturing Emotional & Mental Health: A serious diagnosis often brings anxiety, fear, and depression. Early palliative care provides prompt access to counselling, coping strategies, and support systems. Addressing emotional distress proactively helps patients and families build resilience and maintain mental well-being.
• Clearer Communication & Informed Choices: Navigating complex medical information and making difficult decisions is challenging. The palliative care team excels at facilitating clear communication between the patient, family, and other doctors. They help clarify goals of care based on the patient’s values, ensuring treatment decisions align with what matters most throughout the illness trajectory.
• Supporting the Whole Family: Serious illness affects everyone. Early palliative care recognises this, offering resources, education, and emotional support specifically for caregivers and family members right from the beginning. This helps reduce caregiver stress and burnout, improving the entire family’s ability to cope.
• Smoother Healthcare Navigation: The healthcare system can be fragmented and confusing. The palliative care team often acts as an extra layer of coordination, helping to streamline communication between different specialists and ensure care is seamless and less overwhelming.
• Focusing on Living Well Today: Early palliative care helps shift the focus from solely fighting the disease to living as fully and meaningfully as possible despite the illness. By managing symptoms and providing holistic support, it helps patients maintain independence longer and continue engaging in activities they value.
• Potential for Better Outcomes: Some studies suggest that patients receiving early palliative care alongside standard treatments may experience not only better quality of life and fewer symptoms but also sometimes even live longer. This may be due to better symptom control leading to fewer complications or better tolerance of life-prolonging therapies.

Taking the Step: Accessing Early Palliative Care

If you or a loved one has been diagnosed with a serious illness (such as cancer, heart failure, lung disease, kidney disease, neurological disorders like dementia or ALS), don’t wait for a crisis to ask about palliative care.

• Talk to Your Doctor: Ask your primary doctor or specialist if a palliative care consultation would be appropriate now.
• Request a Referral: You can specifically ask for a referral to the palliative care team.
• Availability: Palliative care can often be provided in hospitals, outpatient clinics, and sometimes even at home.

Live Better, Starting Now

Facing a serious illness presents enormous challenges, but you don’t have to face them alone or wait until things feel unbearable to seek comprehensive support. Early palliative care provides an essential layer of care focused squarely on improving and maintaining your quality of life from diagnosis onwards. It’s about ensuring that, alongside medical treatments, your comfort, dignity, and personal goals remain central to your care plan, helping you live as well as possible, every step of the way. For personalised assistance, reach out to us at https://angelwingshospice.org/contact-us/