Symptoms other than pain

Abstract

Common symptoms in life-limiting illness include pain, fatigue, anorexia, nausea, constipation, and dyspnoea. These may be due to disease or disease progression, treatment side effects, an intercurrent acute problem, or comorbidity. Patients with life-limiting illnesses often have multiple comorbidities and might be on many medications. Effective treatment always depends on making as precise a diagnosis as possible (e.g. pharmacological management of nausea and vomiting is guided by the presumed mechanism). Symptoms can also herald an emergency (e.g. sepsis, delirium, spinal cord compression), when the patient’s frailty, likely prognosis, and own values and wishes need to be taken into account in planning management. Individualized assessment and decision-making are vital.