Hospice for Multiple Sclerosis Patients in Los Angeles

Reasons Why Multiple Sclerosis Hospice is Important and When to Consider It

Multiple sclerosis is a chronic neurologic disease that affects the central nervous system. It is characterized by the immune system attacking the protective covering of nerve fibers that protects them, thus causing problems in communication between your brain and the rest of your body. Symptoms of MS may include muscle weakness, fatigue, pain, and difficulties with coordination and balance. As a person with MS continues to weaken, it may be time for him or her to seek hospice care specialized in the treatment of symptoms of their disease and maximizing their quality of life.

Importance of Hospice Care for Multiple Sclerosis Patients

Dedicated Care for Special Needs

Multiple sclerosis may be associated with a variety of other physical and cognitive complications. The hospice professionals in Los Angeles have wide-ranging competencies necessary to help with such complex needs through customized care programs, including pain management, mobility support, and cognitive therapies that are so crucial as the disease progresses.

Emotional and Psychological Support

The psychological burden of MS on patients and their families is enormous. There are counselors and social workers in hospice care teams that provide very necessary psychological support to help patients and their families come to terms emotionally with the illness.

Access to Specialized Resources

Some of the best medical facilities in the country, providing specialists for neurodegenerative diseases, are based in Los Angeles. The choice of hospice care in this location makes special resources available to them that may well be unavailable elsewhere, often raising the level of care provided.

Comfort to Families

The hospice teams take responsibility for all the day-to-day practical care, affording relief to the family. On the other hand, relatives are able to support quality time with patients more easily, no longer constrained by the demands and stresses associated with the provision of care.

Quality of Life

The goal of hospice care is the comfort and enhancement of the quality of life for patients with end-stage multiple sclerosis by minimizing discomfort and allowing more days that are joyful and full of meaning in a familiar, home-based setting.

Increasing Awareness of MS/Hospice Care Integration

Complex Symptom Management

The symptoms of MS are highly variable among sufferers and can range from muscle spasticity to neuropathic pain, fatigue, and bladder dysfunction. Symptom management in hospice care will be provided as appropriate for the individual. This is able to go a long way toward reducing discomfort and improving daily functioning.

Nutritional Expertise

Nutritional management also plays a significant role in controlling the symptoms of MS. This is the reason why dietitians are part of the hospice care that offers an individualized dietary program to meet the specific nutritional needs in maintaining the symptoms of MS patients. These nutritional needs have to be satisfied for energy maintenance.

Continuous Medical Care

The patients in hospice care have medical surveillance continuously. This is because, with continuous monitoring, changes in the condition of the patient are promptly disposed of, and this level of attentiveness, while at home, is difficult to achieve without professional help.

Spiritual Care

Many patients approach the end of their lives seeking peace through spiritual or religious fulfillment. Many hospice services have spiritual care providers who can help both the patient and family investigate these needs and derive comfort in what may otherwise be an arduous time.

End-of-Life Planning and Support

One of the major things associated with hospice care is facilitation related to end-of-life planning, including discussion of living wills, power of attorney for health and welfare, and the patient's wishes regarding resuscitation and life support. This helps the patient's wishes be carried out and alleviates the burden on the families in critical moments.

Understanding When It's Time for Multiple Sclerosis Hospice Care

The transition to hospice care is a very important decision that must be made for families faced with multiple sclerosis. Following are some of the key indicators that it may be time to consider hospice care:

• Progression to Advanced Stages: When the symptoms of multiple sclerosis have advanced to such a stage that curative treatments no longer alleviate or improve the quality of life.
• Increasing Frequency of Hospitalizations or Emergency Care Visits: The need for continuous and intensive care is the leading purpose of hospice care. Frequent hospital visits are a sure sign that the patient's health has begun to decline to the extent that closer, more specialized treatment is required.
• Physician Referral: Neurologists and primary care physicians commonly refer patients to hospice based on their experience with the client's current health status and progression of the disease.

Benefits of Hospice Care to Los Angeles Multiple Sclerosis Patients

Some of the benefits of hospice care for the patient with multiple sclerosis and their family include the following:

1. Expert symptom management Since this is an area of complex symptoms with which hospice teams are so familiar-such things as pain, spasms, and fatigue-they will work closely with the patient's primary care team to develop an individualized care plan that addresses those specific symptoms.
2. Counseling and emotional support for the patient and the family: A considerable undertaking in hospice care is giving necessary emotional support to patients and their families. Living with MS is both physically and emotionally difficult, but knowing that a team is there for support can make quite a difference.
3. Times of Operation: It is available at any time of day and night for emergent needs and concerns, allowing the assurance that the patient and family needs and support are available at any time.
4. Assistance with Activities of Daily Living: The hospice teams provide assistance with activities of daily living, including bath attendants, dressing, and medication management. Such support eases the burden off the relatives who serve as caregivers, allowing them time to engage in meaningful contact with their loved ones.

Understanding Hospice Eligibility

They would have to meet the criteria for entering hospice care, which typically involves limited life expectancy and a decline in the patient's general health. This could be assessed as appropriate for the patient by a healthcare professional, either from primary care or neurology.

Hospice care can help with some invaluable support and comfort for the sufferer of multiple sclerosis in the town of Los Angeles. The hospice teams may help the person with MS to live life as fully as possible by managing the challenges of the disease with symptom management, emotional support, and symptom management. Such specific care during this period of time is provided to the patients and their families with the selection of the appropriate hospice provider. Contact us today to arrange your free in-home consultation.