Hypoxia and Medicine

What causes the horrible jerking in a dying person?

is it the dehydration? And is is as horrible to the person as the people watching them die, if they are so heavily medicated?Or is it the medication that makes them constantly jerk? 3 days before my Mother died her legs and arms jerked and she didn't sleep. But she couldn't talk.It only stopped about 30 seconds before she died.Was it the disease that killed her or the dehydration? Was it painful to die of dehydration? mesenteric ischemia was the diagnosis.

Public Comments

1. Well, I know that Jerking in a dying person is caused by Rigor mortis. Rigor mortis is one of the recognizable signs of death (Latin mors, mortis) that is caused by a chemical change in the muscles after death, causing the limbs of the corpse to become stiff (Latin rigor) and difficult to move or manipulate. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rigor_mortis
2. I watched my dad die. The nurses explained before they turned the machines off that his limbs would move as they relaxed. Also wind moves through the intestines. This not rigor mortis; that happens a couple of hours after the person has died - the body stiffens. I'm not sure what caused your mum to die but it was probably a mixture of the ischemia and dehydration.
3. i am so sorry to hear about your loss. i used to work in a nursing home and ive never seen that so i dont think it was from dehydration. most of the dying people i took care of didnt drink water for many days before they passed on. maybe it was a side effect of the medication, or the disease, or just plain muscle spasms.