Why do some patients get better a few hours or a couple of days before dying?

Called “last ray of light” in Chinese, the improvement of many terminally ill patients It’s still something science hasn’t been able to explain.

There are only hypotheses about this phenomenon recorded by many doctors in hospitals around the world.

A few days or hours before death, some people show an increase in their lucidity and their ability to interact with the environment. In particular, as some studies have shown, in those who suffer from it Dementia or Alzheimer’s.

THE secretion of adrenaline and other hormones in a stressful situation (it would be imminent death) is one of the most accepted explanations.

However, given the difficulties in carrying out scientific verifications, some experts question the existence of the phenomenon.

Why do some patients get better a few hours or a couple of days before dying?

A study conducted by scientists at the University of Virginia (United States) in 2009 revealed that 43% of those suffering from Alzheimer’s had an improvement one day before his death; 41% appeared to improve one week earlier and 10% between eight and thirty days.

Although the sample size (49 cases) is not significant to draw in-depth conclusions on the issue, it leaves the field of hypotheses open. ON terminal lucidity or “last ray of light”.

For his part, an article published on the site MentHealthof a psychological clinic in Murcia (Spain), describes terminal lucidity as an “increase of ability to speak and understanding what is happening around them, as well as a decrease in (the patient’s) fatigue and pain.

The publication adds that “although it is not entirely clear why this improvement occursit is believed that it may be related to changes in brain function and the production of certain hormones in later life.

The alarm system in acute stress situations, such as adrenaline secretion, may be activated in agony phase become aware of what is about to happen, according to some authors.

From MentHealthhowever, he questions this last hypothesis: “the most important point against this theory “The fact is that some patients with dementia-type illnesses suffer from such physical deterioration that it is difficult to believe that there really is a hormonal or metabolic reserve that is activated in the face of imminent death.”

Although many doctors, who do not have a emotional relationship with patients, say they have observed this improvement, some experts believe that terminal lucidity exists because family members want it to exist.

“That is, it would act as a sort of placebo effect, predisposing people to look more deeply at any signs in the patient that might indicate their miraculous recovery, as part of the mourning phase of denial”, we read in the article from the Murcia clinic.