Signs of dying

When my husband died (more on that some other time) he heard the death rattle, and said to me "is that the death rattle". I assured him it was not, because, how is it possible a dying person can know this and say this. Boy was I wrong. He died about 1/2 hour later.

There are many symptoms that occur that indicate that we are approaching our death. One of the most well-known is the death rattle. The death rattle is a sound that is produced when air moves through mucus that has accumulated in the throat of a dying person after loss of the cough reflex and loss of the ability to swallow. This is a very common symptom, though it does not always occur prior to death. The death rattle does not cause any discomfort to the patient, however, family members frequently find the sound distrubing

My mother could be dying, although a year ago she had a dream she had died, so I don't think she is following the guidelines.

She was always one to do her own thing.

I found a site with passive and active signs of dying.

click here for complete list

Signs of the Active Phase of Dying

• inability to arouse patient at all (coma) or, ability to only arouse patient with great effort but patient quickly returns to severely unresponsive state (semi-coma)

• severe agitation in patient, hallucinations, acting "crazy" and not in patient's normal manner or personality

• much longer periods of pausing in the breathing (apnea)

• dramatic changes in the breathing pattern including apnea, but also including very rapid breathing or cyclic changes in the patterns of breathing (such as slow progressing to very fast and then slow again, or shallow progressing to very deep breathing while also changing rate of breathing to very fast and then slow)

• other very abnormal breathing patterns

• severely increased respiratory congestion or fluid buildup in lungs

• inability to swallow any fluids at all (not taking any food by mouth voluntarily as well)

• patient states that he or she is going to die

• patient breathing through wide open mouth continuously and no longer can speak even if awake

• urinary or bowel incontinence in a patient who was not incontinent before

• marked decrease in urine output and darkening color of urine or very abnormal colors (such as red or brown)

• blood pressure dropping dramatically from patient's normal blood pressure range (more than a 20 or 30 point drop)

• systolic blood pressure below 70, diastolic blood pressure below 50

• patient's extremities (such as hands, arms, feet and legs) feel very cold to touch

• patient complains that his or her legs/feet are numb and cannot be felt at all

• cyanosis, or a bluish or purple coloring to the patients arms and legs, especially the feet and hands)

• patient's body is held in rigid unchanging position

My mom has the problem with build up of fluids in the lungs, but not really any of the other stuff.