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I have worked in a inner city chronic center many years ago and a few pt's would bring food with them and if it was a snack it was ok. If they ate a big hoagie yes they would vomit. In the hospital where i work now the pt.s are not allowed to eat on the machines. This opens up a whole other topic in the acute setting, esp if their diabetic, they really do need to eat before coming down to tx, which means we have to wait until breakfast is served and that really puts us behind.

I, too, have not had positive experiences with patients eating while on the machine. Being in the hospital setting, our patients are already "sick" with something. Adding a BP shift to the gut to digest food while trying to dialyze does not make someone feel better! One of our newer nephrologists pushed me to allow patients to eat. In a moment of weakness, I agreed for a patient who had been NPO for a procedure earlier in the day. Needless to say, we were unable to remove the fluid we needed and had to spend time cleaning up emesis. I made sure the nephrologist witnessed it! We do not allow food while on the machine and rarely allow water or coffee due to the fact that most of them are in fluid overload and need to be told "no" on fluids for a change.
There was a recent article out supporting patients being able to eat on the machines, but there is no way it was written by someone who currently practices.