Is this person under Hospice Care? Once a person cannot swallow liquids, the body begins to shut down. Every organ in the body requires fluid. Check this person's DNR. In daddy's case, he asked for no IV's. We respected that and he only got what little he could swallow. Popsicles, tiny sips of water and the blessed morphine. After a few days of this, his kidneys shut down and death was less than 2 days away. I am glad he went w/o pain. IV's at this point just prolong the suffering. You should have a dr on board with this, they should be guiding you.
Sheran, whatever you do, don't force someone to take food/liquids if they don't want to. If you notice the person coughs right after taking a slip of water or a small bite of food, that is aspiration meaning the food/water is going into the lungs, which isn't good. Depending on the age of the person, there are exercises physical therapy can do to help out the throat.
If you can, and the patient is able to go to the doctor, tell the doctor what is going on.
Check this person's DNR. In daddy's case, he asked for no IV's. We respected that and he only got what little he could swallow. Popsicles, tiny sips of water and the blessed morphine. After a few days of this, his kidneys shut down and death was less than 2 days away. I am glad he went w/o pain.
IV's at this point just prolong the suffering. You should have a dr on board with this, they should be guiding you.
If you can, and the patient is able to go to the doctor, tell the doctor what is going on.