Hospice nurse who's watched thousands of deaths shares three things she'd never do
A hospice nurse has shared the three main things she would never do in her life after seeing many people's final moments and caring for them in their last days of life.
The curtain comes down on every life at some point, but as a hospice nurse Julie McFadden has seen more lives ending than most and knows how a person's body reacts as their health fails them.
She's even written her own book, Nothing to Fear: Demystifying Death to Live More Fully, and shares YouTube videos on her channel where she explains the things people might not know about palliative care and shares what happens after death.
After all, most people don't experience a person's last days alive very often and may not know what appears to be distressing but is a normal part of the process, like the noises a person can make in their last day of life.
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Recently she shared her experiences of caring for people as they died and what it had taught her about what not to do in life, saying it had given her three main things she'd encourage people never to do.
Drinking in excess
Tackling a major health myth, Julie said the idea of 'drinking in moderation' on a daily basis had been floated as a possible healthy habit, but warned that it had actually been 'clinically proven that it is it is not good for your health to drink daily'.
Julie had previously described herself as a 'high-functioning alcoholic' who has been sober for several years now.
She said: "I know I'm sober, so I'm a bit partial. But even if I wasn't sober, I would say drinking daily or not drinking daily, but when you do drink, you drink excessively."
"That is because our liver is a beautiful organ that does a lot of stuff for us. And when it's not working, it's bad.
"I've seen enough people die alcoholic deaths, meaning from liver cirrhosis because of drinking, to know that it is not good. It is not good. And it is preventable."
The good news she had for people was that if they quit drinking or stopped doing it so much their liver could recover, whereas a lengthy time drinking would cause liver damage which affects an organ that is vital to our bodies working 'normally'.
Smoking or vaping
This is a two-for-one but the basic principle is the same and the hospice nurse said this is a piece of advice 'everyone says'.
It's still entirely valid though.
"Not many people smoke anymore, but a lot of people vape. And vaping is just as bad," the nurse said.
"Why? Why would I not do that? One, there's it affects more than just the lungs. It affects your whole cardiovascular system. Your whole cardiovascular system does a lot of things.
"Even if you don't get emphysema, COPD or some kind of lung cancer or lung disorder you will have cardiac issues. You will have thinning of the lining of your arteries and veins, you'll have circulation issues.
"There's just a lot of things that come along with smoking and vaping, okay? And watching people die from those diseases isn't pretty."
Julie said a person could have a 'peaceful death' from these things thanks to hospice care but she warned that not being able to breathe properly was never going to feel good.
Riding motorcycles
This one comes not from her experience as a hospice nurse but her time working in a trauma ICU, as she warned people not to drive motorbikes, quad bikes or pretty much any vehicle where you're exposed and could fall off at any point.
She said: "Helmet or no helmet. No bueno. Okay."
Julie warned that she'd seen 'so many deaths' and 'so many accidents' from people riding these things whether or not they were wearing a helmet that she decided it was just not something she'd do.
Wearing a helmet could be the difference between life and death in a motorbike crash but it sounded like the nurse had seen enough injuries from people that she just wanted nothing to do with them at all.
Joe Harker