Eating Dinner while on machine

[Vt Big Rig]

I am still working full time so we do dialysis in the evening. I am questioning the following:

Rather than rushing through dinner and then getting on machine I would like to connect, get running and then eat dinner while connected. My issue if we do that is obviously the post treatment weight will get skewed by what I eat. I treat for 3 1/2 hours so I really do not want to wait until finished since that is already darn close to bedtime.

Any ideas other than weighing the food every meal.

Vt Big Rig

[justagirl2325]

My husband tried this when we first started home-hemo.  We thought getting him hooked up and off earlier in the evening would be easier on my schedule.  However, eating supper while hooked up to the machine caused him to get sick everytime (low BP, nauseaus, actually threw up once).  We were told to limit the food while on dialysis to a light snack.  Mind you, we use a Baxter AK96.

It was really tough on the schedule. I work and do not get home until 6:00-6:30, I cooked while he set up machine, he ate and our goal was to get him on by 8:00, which meant off at midnight, cleanup and in bed around 1:00 am then up at 6:30 am for work.  They wanted him to do this 6 nights a week.

We switched to nocturnal, every second night, with him getting on at midnight and off at 6:00 am. 

[talker]

While I cannot offer any advice here, will say though, that it is interesting that you are allowed to eat a full meal.
Our center recently put the kibosh on any food during dialysis, except for diabetics.
The why of it, when I inquired, was Medicare rules.
Fact or fiction, not interested in chasing it down.
Blood pressure and digestive actions are considerations during the dialysis process.
Hope you find your answer.

[Vt Big Rig]

Thank you. While training I ate lunch a couple of times and did not experience any issues. Granted it was smaller meal.

But nocturnal is only every other day! We wanted to look into that but locally they do not offer it for home patients

[Simon Dog]

NxStage was recently approved for home nocturnal, and clinics are just starting to catch on.    You have to push on your MD to get this.   I found a local NxStage operated clinic that already offers home nocturnal.  I told my doc I was willing to wait a few months while he gets the procedures in place, but if he is not going to offer it, I would like to consider transferring - and coming back to him if he ever offers nocturnal.   I really didn't want to transfer, since he (and his RN) are fantastic, but the lure of shifting 17+ hours of hose time into nocturnal hours is strong.

His response was "competition is a wonderful thing", and he has promised a specific go-live date with nocturnal.

In-center nocturnal is not that appealing.   The time is typically 8PM-4AM +/-, and many clinics have you "sleep" (if you can call it that) in a dialysis chair.

[willowtreewren]

My husband and I worked 10 hour days while he was on dialysis. We would come home and I would immediately start dinner while he was getting things set up. Then, while dinner was "simmering" I would stick his needles and get his run started. Once he was running, I would serve him dinner and we would eat "together." Then we could hit bed as soon as his run was over so we could get up early the next day and head to work for our 10 hours, followed by the four hours of dialysis each night.

It was a grueling schedule, but we kept it up and were thankful for the life that we could live because of NxStage. My husband was never interested in nocturnal.

He is 4+ years post transplant now and doing well.

Aleta

[cbatsea]

We were told NOT to eat a large meal while running....but it doesn't seem to bother my husband.  If you are small, or have LOW blood pressure, it may affect you, as blood will rush to your stomach to help digest a meal. 
If it bothers you, don't do it.  If it doesn't drop your blood pressure, what's the harm?

[Michael Murphy]

I bring a small box of strawberries to dialysis,  I eat them right after I am put on.  Small finger food, tasty, and it holds me to lunch.  I get on at 5:30 AM for four and a half hours.  CMS does not want non diabetics eating but specifically ban terminating a patient for eating.

[PrimeTimer]

I bring a small box of strawberries to dialysis,  I eat them right after I am put on.  Small finger food, tasty, and it holds me to lunch.  I get on at 5:30 AM for four and a half hours.  CMS does not want non diabetics eating but specifically ban terminating a patient for eating.

Fresh strawberries in the morning sound so delicious, a real "wake-me-up" food! MMM! I have strawberry preserves on my toast every morning. Good healthy snack before breakfast.