Should Dialysis Centers Allow Food and/or drink?

[RichardMEL]

litigation!? Holy crap what is this world coming to??? When did (some) people stop being responsible for themselves and decide to blame others. For crying out loud! I reckon if I eat food on dialysis and I am aware of potential issues (like bp dropping etc) then I take that risk and should deal with the reprocussions not jump on and sue the freaking unit because *I* decided to eat!! Ridiculous IMHO!

[okarol]

Just eat after you leave. That way it's not their problem. You're driving home and are so hungry you have a snack in the car. Now your digestion kicks in and you crash into a tree.

[kimcanada]

I have no idea why this question is ticking me off so much... Gawd I need a kidney!

[kitkatz]

It tick you off because it is a direct conflict with patient autonomy.   We are for the most part grown ups and allowed to do as we please until we get to the dialysis center.  Then it is rules, rules, rules and it sucks!

[kimcanada]

Thats it!!!!  Even today I had to get rude to get them to up my dry weight, for christ sakes, I know me better then any other of the 600 billion people on this earth..


Pass me a sandwich Kit 

[monrein]

Okay, here goes.  Did I ever tell you guys about the dialysis dinner parties I used to have when I was on home hemo many years ago?  Well, I like cooking and I was teaching and doing dialysis at home in Wolfville Nova Scotia.  We had been used to having dinner parties on a regular basis but then D interfered a lot since I did 5 hour sessions  X3 weekly.  Not sure how it happened but we soon started a regular thing, maybe every two weeks, I'd prepare a nice dinner and some modified renal friendly things for me, then I'd hook up and we'd all have a great meal with no dishes for me to do since clearly I was busy. LOL.  These dinners were usually for about 6 people maximum  and we had an enormous kitchen which is where I did D.  Everyone sat at the table but I was able to join in and the time passed really quickly.  In three years I never choked, vomited, passed out, died or sued anyone but I did follow some strict precautions.  I never got drunk or even had any alcohol at all whereas if I were in a food-free clinic I might well have to take up booze to maintain my generally sunny disposition.   

I also used to do some extra remedial tutoring for some of my students during the first two hours on D.  My department chairman allowed me to count three hours a week of this at home time as three of my regular weekly  office hours and students could drop in then if they needed to.  No cell phones back then and the students always found talking in French on the phone harder than in person anyway, so those little "visits" were also good time passers. 

[kimcanada]

wow monrein, you mean you could chew as good on the machine as you could off the machine...   wowsers!  what next, the skies the limit!

P.S.  Wolfville is beautiful

[jessup]

wow monrein, you mean you could chew as good on the machine as you could off the machin e

[nursewratchet]

So the past couple of treatments, when I have ate anything my blood pressure has dropped. I haven't had this problem before and am wondering what snacks people bring to dialysis or eat during treatments at home? I always thought that eating raised blood pressure. Maybe I am eating to much, although usually its a sandwich and an apple.

  Eating will drop the BP, because when you eat, the blood is diverted to the gut to aid in digestion.  That is why some clinics don't allow it. 

[Chris]

litigation!? Holy crap what is this world coming to??? When did (some) people stop being responsible for themselves and decide to blame others. For crying out loud! I reckon if I eat food on dialysis and I am aware of potential issues (like bp dropping etc) then I take that risk and should deal with the reprocussions not jump on and sue the freaking unit because *I* decided to eat!! Ridiculous IMHO!

Think in this day and age it has gone to blame everyone else except yourself. Forgot where I heard that from originally, but has ben used by many now. Maybe George Carlin?

[Ang]

people should  be  aloowed  to  eat   and  drink  as  long  as  they  are  responsible  about  it.

[cherpep]

When I was in clinic, I was on dialysis for 6 hours - right after work.  I'd pick up something sensible on my way there, and have a light dinner after being hooked up.  I couldn't get off work before 6:00 pm, and there simply was not enough time to eat before hook-up time.  I couldn't schedule a later hook-up time, because I had to get some sleep before getting into work early in the morning.  So, eating during dialysis only made sense and was necessary.  The clinic was very understanding with all of us, because everyone there during that time had pretty much the same issues.   There was one guy there that would order a pizza and eat the entire thing.  That would kind of bother me, because I as trying to be sensible, and that pizza smelled good!  But, I'm a grown-up, and could get over it.  Not that big of a deal, but when he'd break out the potato chips....

[Rerun]

No More Free Coffee**

I got the last word!          

[Zach]

No More Free Coffee**

I got the last word!          

No soup for you!

[mikey07840]

I am disappointed in the direction that the other thread went. We should be able to discuss and disagree on topics while still being polite, reasonable and respectful.

[okarol]

Stick to the topic and we'll be fine.

[Wattle]

I have no idea why this question is ticking me off so much... Gawd I need a kidney!

It's ticking me off too and I am a home patient. Ok I am on PD but that is still dialysis. Currently I am sitting at my desk drinking a cup of tea and nibbling on a few dry biscuts. ohhh and doing dialysis!! I am doing an exchange. It's the same every afternoon.

I believe as adults we have the right to decide when to eat a snack. I would not last sitting for hours without a snack. (maybe thats another problem        ) 

I can understand saying no to pizza deliveries or KFC but most people would be reasonable with what they bring in.

When I go in for an iron infusion they always get me a drink and a few sandwiches. And that makes me one happy camper!   

[skyedogrocks]

When Rob was in-center, he could never eat on the machine, it made him sick.  However, his center allowed people to eat.  He had awesome Nurses and Techs, still visits his old center to see how everyone is.  It would suck for him to eat at 9:00 pm, then go to bed.  Being a type 1 diabetic, his sugars were nutty.  Especially since he leaves the house at 5:30 am and wouldn't get home until 9 or 10 pm after a session. 

Now that he does home dialysis, he is able to eat on the machine.  Which he does eat his dinner on the machine on most work nights.  The center that his home hemo nurse is at doesn't allow food or drink at the station.  I asked why and she said it was a health code violation.  I said hmmm, then why do I see a nurse at the station sipping coffee?  She had no excuse for that.  I told her that it was crazy to expect a person not to have anything on the machine, especially in the winter!  The heat is so dry and what if you have a freaking cold and need to drink or suck on a cough drop?  I told her I wouldn't put up with that and I doubt my husband would.  Thankfully he doesn't need to worry about that, but still. 

[thegrammalady]

I'm against bringing any food or drink into the center.  I have had to kill 9 ants at my seat in the past 3 weeks, one of which was crawling all over my permacath!  Also, what I see being brought in, such as Cheetos, Jack in the Box, Burger King, dark sodas, etc., are simply not good for us due to high sodium and/or phosphorus content.  If I can arrange my eating schedule around my dialysis, I don't see why everyone else can't.

 

i get up at 4am to be ready to leave the house at 4:30 my on-time is 5:30. i can't face food at that hour, never could. however by 6 am i'm hungry. if my center didn't allow food i would be sick by 10 am when i would be able to eat again. no one and i don't care who you are is allowed to make me sick! i take breakfast, some protein and fruit. and i eat my breakfast. some people bring things that i wouldn't consider renal friendly but that's their choice. the center staff are not our keepers and don't have the right to tell us how or what we should eat. even the dietitian can only make suggestions and believe me i've heard some really weird ones. we are not children and shouldn't be treated like it.  diabetics often don't have the choice of when to eat, a no eating at dialysis policy puts them in danger.

[G-Ma]

What aggrivates me more than anything is hearing a tech say "God, I'm thirsty", and walk over to a counter in full view of all of us, pick up a Big Gulp (48 oz cup) and drink.            and we are not supposed to eat or drink.  Friday I crashed big time and asked for a packet of salt in warm water and charge nurse said "Oh we don't have any of that here"..... I just want to push all the buttons myself and enter all the info so I know what's going on but nooo, can't do that either.              

[twirl]

thegrammalady
we must have the same hours
I tried to eat that early --- right after 4am and it did not go over well
plus I have the lap band and should eat very slowly
this just sucks

[monrein]

Twirl, can you get a letter from your lapband doctor that would state that you need to eat very slowly.  Not large quantities or anything but if there are medical reasons perhaps your clinic will see reason.  Just a thought. 

[thegrammalady]

thegrammalady
we must have the same hours
I tried to eat that early --- right after 4am and it did not go over well
plus I have the lap band and should eat very slowly
this just sucks

 

try getting a "note" from your doctor stating that you are "required" to eat small amounts of food every 2 hours. the center can't really ignore medical requests. you might also remind them that ignoring your doctor's orders, and it doesn't have to be a neph. open them to legal action. of course do all this in writing to the head of the center, they won't be able to ignore you.

[RichardMEL]

I wanted to post this to the other thread but obviously can't. It's relevant here though...

I spoke to my primary nurse about this issue yesterday and she said something interesting that I don't think anyone else has covered. As NurseW says, eating drops your BP because the blood moves around your body to aid digestion. My primary (who was all for eating on Dialysis incidently) made the point that in the US and probably other places they tend to run for shorter sessions (eg: 3-4 hours) at higher pump speeds up to 500 and thus eating would have a bigger effect on the body's system with the movement of blood and fluid around the body. Down here (and I think in the UK too) we run at slower pump speeds for longer sessions (I do 5 hours @ 350 and I'm on the highest speed they'll allow) and thus the effect of eating is less. My nurse suggested because of the shorter sessions and higher pump speeds in the US that might be what is causing some to be sick and some centers to ban food.

She however was all for it (of course she was eating one of my musk stick candies when she said this!! )

[pelagia]

RM - That's consistent with a point made in the article I posted yesterday in this thread:

"A point that may be made by individuals on the con-side is that eating during dialysis may lead to less-than-desired Kt/V results. They hypothesize that, when blood is shunted to the digestive organs and away from the systemic large vessels, clearances are affected. This implies that the circulating blood in the digestive organs reduces the amount of available blood to be circulated through the dialyzer, and therefore diminishes clearances."