Many don’t realize that palliative care can begin at any age or any stage of an illness, and therefore they don’t receive the full benefits of early palliative care. These benefits go beyond symptom management—they include emotional support as well. Those who receive palliative care earlier also report a higher quality of life, enabling them to spend more precious time with those they love.

At Lower Cape Fear LifeCare, we’ve dedicated decades to helping those in Southeastern North Carolina and Northeastern South Carolina through the entire facet of services, from palliative care to hospice. Our team, composed of doctors, nurses, social workers, chaplains and volunteers are ready to provide the care you need at this point in your journey. We invite you to learn more by contacting us.

In this article, we’ll review seven benefits of early palliative care and how they can help you or someone you love.

7 Key Benefits of Early Palliative Care

1. Improved Symptom Management

Many who are facing the challenges of life-limiting illnesses need relief from symptoms such as:

• Pain
• Fatigue
• Nausea
• Anxiety
• Depression
• Breathlessness

Our healthcare team has extensive training to best support those experiencing these challenging circumstances. Remember, we always put your and your family’s needs first… we are here to serve you.

2. Improved Quality of Life

When you aren’t struggling with the symptoms of a chronic disease, it can devastate your quality of life. Palliative care goes a long way to restoring it through symptom control coupled with medical and psychological support.

3. Support for Mental Health

Facing a life-limiting illness is an intense situation, and it brings up a flood of emotions. Palliative care provides counseling and social support to ease this burden.

4. Help With Complicated Medical Decisions

We’ll expand upon this a little later in our article, but studies show that those who have early palliative care are also more likely to engage in discussions and take proactive steps with important advance directive documents. Through palliative care, we can also provide guidance on navigating treatment options and goals of care.

5. Coordinated Care Across Providers

When you’re facing a serious illness, you’re working with an extensive list of specialists assisting with every aspect of your care. It can be challenging to ensure that these groups communicate and maintain consistency in treatment regimens.

At Lower Cape Fear LifeCare, you can rest assured that we will continuously provide coordinated care across your providers.

6. Support for Families and Caregivers

Through early palliative care intervention, we can provide education, counseling, and respite for those who are facing the intense challenge of caring for someone with a life-limiting illness.

This is because at Lower Cape Fear LifeCare, we serve the whole family. Our services extend beyond immediate needs; we offer grief care and bereavement support groups to help you and those you love.

7. Reduced Hospitalizations and Emergency Visits

By being proactive, you can reduce hospitalizations and emergency visits. This is because early palliative care reduces the likelihood of a medical crisis. It also has the added benefit of helping manage these health issues at home whenever possible.

How Does Early Palliative Care Improve Symptom Management?

While early palliative care is well known for easing physical symptoms, research shows its benefits reach further, into emotional and social well-being as well. Research studies make it clear that the benefits of early palliative care extend beyond the physical, it also provides psychological and social benefits.

In fact, one clinical trial found that advanced cancer patients who obtained early palliative care not only had a better quality of life, but they had improved mood compared to those who only received standard treatment for their disease.

This trial looked closely at 350 patients with lung and gastrointestinal cancer, some of whom received standard treatment and others had standard treatment plus palliative care.

The result?

The benefits of early palliative care extended to many facets of their lives. Not only did they have symptom relief, but they experienced emotional well-being.

What Specific Serious Illnesses Can Benefit From Early Palliative Care?

Any serious, life-limiting illness can benefit from early palliative care intervention. When most people hear “palliative care,” they think of those with cancer. In actuality, there are many diagnoses that qualify you for palliative care.

These include (but are not limited to):

• Liver disease
• ALS
• COPD
• Kidney disease
• Multiple sclerosis
• Stroke
• Heart disease
• Dementia

How Soon After a Diagnosis Can You Start Palliative Care?

Palliative care can begin at any age and at any stage of an illness.

Take the First Step—You Don’t Have to Wait: Contact Lower Cape Fear LifeCare Today

We’ve discussed the benefits of early palliative care and how they can help you or someone you love. The earlier you start enlisting the help of our healthcare team, the sooner you’ll have access to targeted pain control, symptom management and other services.

For decades, we’ve made hospice and palliative care services accessible to communities in Southeastern North Carolina and Northeastern South Carolina. Just contact us to get started.