Your Care

This video will provide patients and caregivers an overview of palliative care: what it is, how it interacts with their ongoing care, the holistic interdisciplinary team approach, and how taking advantage of this service can bring comfort, confidence, and strength while living with a serious illness.

This video will give patients and caregivers key information on accessing palliative care: where they can find it, how to gain access to it, how it is paid for, and whether it is covered by insurance.

This video will help empower patients by explaining 'goals of care' and the importance of developing these goals for one's palliative care treatment. It will teach patients and caregivers the role of family meetings and the importance of open and honest communication and taking into account one's values, wishes, and beliefs in palliative care.

This video will explain to patients the benefits of palliative care to the physical symptoms of their illness and side effects of their treatment: including pain, shortness of breath, nausea, fatigue, and insomnia. It will also emphasize that it is important to speak up about one's needs so that patients can get the most out of their palliative care.

This video will explain to patients the connection between dealing with a serious illness and common psychosocial and emotional concerns. The video will explore the impact and management of both conditions like depression, anxiety, delirium, and agitation. It will also stress that the strength that comes from faith can be powerful for some patients living with serious illness.

As part of its ongoing educational efforts to increase the public's understanding of palliative care, CAPC has released a video animation that defines and explains what palliative care is and how it supports people facing serious illness. This video - among the first of its kind on this subject - compares people facing serious illness to a bridge that needs support. While a serious illness may weaken the foundation, the palliative care team provides that necessary layer of support. Major funding for this campaign is provided by the Cambia Health Foundation.

Dialed In, a podcast series from the VA National Center for Ethics in Health Care, is designed to help Veterans and their families as they face difficult ethical decisions about healthcare. This series was compiled to address common issues around palliative care including life-sustaining treatments, informed consent, advance directives, and choosing a health care agent. © VA National Center for Ethics in Health Care

Palliative care is a way to improve quality of life for a person who's being treated for a serious illness. It is a type of medical specialty. To palliate means to ease the symptoms of an illness.

As more and more people survive longer, we are seeing new problems develop from the cancer or its treatment. These problems are called late effects.

This guide can help you know when to start hospice, how to choose hospice, and how to get ready for home care.

Shortness of breath (dyspnea) is common in people with serious or advanced illness. It makes breathing difficult and uncomfortable. Read on to learn more.

You have a loved one who's receiving care at the end of life. You've been helping to make your loved one comfortable. As they move into the final stages, this sheet can help you find ways to help your loved one die with dignity.

When people begin to think about their own or their loved one's death, many spiritual and ethical issues arise. This is can be a hard topic for the family and caregivers to talk about. They should listen and help sort through these issues.

Although we can never predict exactly when a terminally ill person will die, we know when the time is getting close by a combination of signs and symptoms. Not all of these signs will appear at the same time, and some may never appear at all.

Hospice is made up of a team of caregivers who specialize in end-of-life care. This team often includes healthcare providers, nurses, social workers, counselors, home health aides, and trained volunteers. Here are some details to help with end-of-life care.

Watch this video to learn how treatment for chronic pain can include several different options such as medications, therapy and lifestyle changes.

Watch this video to learn about different chronic pain management options to help relieve symptoms so you can function better in your daily activities.

Watch this video to learn about the medications that can provide relief to those who suffer from chronic pain, the importance of taking these medications only as prescribed, and how to store potentially addictive opioid pain medications safely to avoid any accidental overdose.

Chronic pain can make working, sleeping and socializing with family and friends a challenge, but there are things you can do that can provide relief. Watch this video to learn about how lifestyle changes, such as stress reduction, exercise, healthy eating and getting enough sleep can improve your ability to enjoy everyday activities.

This video is a patient story about Cee Cee, who has fibromyalgia.

If you're dealing with CRPS, you know how frustrating it can be. You hurt, and you don't know why. You feel like you should have healed by now, and no one can tell you why you aren't getting better. Although there's no cure for CRPS, there are things you can do to get some relief.

People who suffer from chronic pain that lasts longer than 3 months, endure more than just the physical symptoms related to their condition. Being in constant pain can cause you to lose sleep and become stressed or depressed, but there are ways to cope. Watch this video to learn how medication, therapy and the support of family and friends can help.

Pain management is the careful use of treatments to reduce pain. Every person has a right to have relief from pain. The main goal of pain management in hospice is to improve quality of life. Pain management can also help improve a person's physical and mental functions.

Chronic means ongoing. Pain is called chronic when it lasts over a long period of time, at least 3 months. Here's what you need to know.

"Pain affects your life. Your sleep, mood, activity, and energy level are all disrupted by pain. Being tired, depressed, and out of shape makes the pain worse and harder to cope with. So a pain cycle"" begins. """

Exercise can help lessen pain. In some cases, exercise may help treat your underlying problem. Here are some tips to get you started.

Medicines can help you live better with chronic pain. You may use over-the-counter or prescription medicines. It can take some time and trial and error to work out the best treatment plan for you.

"Both the brain and the body are involved in the pain response. The brain ""reads"" the pain signals from the body. This means that your mind has some control over how pain signals are processed. Mind-body therapies may help change how your brain ""reads"" pain signals. "

Chronic pain includes pain that you feel regularly, even if it comes and goes. Your healthcare provider will work closely with you on a plan to manage your pain. But it's up to you to put this plan into action.