Palliative care is focused on improving the overall wellness of people with serious illnesses. It addresses both the symptoms and the stress of living with a chronic illness. It may also involve support for loved ones or caregivers.
Since it’s based on individual needs, palliative care can be quite different from one person to the next.
A care plan might involve one or more of the following goals:
If you have a serious or life threatening illness, you can ask about palliative care at any time.
There’s a common misconception that you have to wait until your illness is in a later stage or terminal to get palliative care. In fact, a number of studies suggest that palliative care is most effective when started early, closer to diagnosis.
A 2018 review Trusted Source of people with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) recommended early use of palliative care, which improves both quality of life and overall survival.
Similarly, a 2018 meta-analysis found that people with advanced cancer lived longer and enjoyed a better quality of life when they received outpatient palliative care.
Palliative care has also been shown to reduce depression and other mental health conditions. The authors of a 2017 studyTrusted Source found that people with advanced cancer who also had symptoms of depression benefitted the most from starting palliative care early.
Your loved ones are also likely to benefit if you receive palliative care, which can help them access resources and support to cope with your illness.
Palliative care can be an option for many conditions. Some of the most common conditions where palliative care can be especially helpful are:
It depends on where you live. Palliative care has become more accessible in recent years, but it’s still not available everywhere.
Depending on where you live, you might have more than one option as to where you can receive palliative care. Some options may include:
Talk with your doctor to find out more about the palliative care options that are available to you and where you can receive care in your area.
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