Anxiety is normal at the end of life as a person contemplates their own death or struggles through the stages of dying. This is commonly expressed as agitation, worrying, sweating, stomach upset, nausea, sleeping problems, shortness of breath, and heart palpitations.3
Counseling and therapy can go a long way toward easing anxiety. Medications like antidepressants, anxiolytics, and benzodiazepines can also be prescribed.
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As a body starts to shut down, it no longer needs as many calories and nutrition to function at such lowered levels. Although it is normal for people to refuse food and drink near the end of life—either because they have no desire for it or find the effort of eating or drinking to be too much—it can still be upsetting for families.4
The important thing to remember is that when someone is dying from a terminal illness, a disinterest in food is natural and does not really speed up the process of death.