have you been on a special diet while in hospital?

the NHS hospitals dont cater for low residue diets, they have for diabetes,vegetarians and stuff like that but no low residue diets, I battled last time I was in of what I could have on the menu as everything dish on the menu had something on I couldn't eat!

My hospital gives me a low residue diet. It has quite a bit of variety too. And yes there is a little sheet that you pick what you would like to eat. It has like 3 main course choices, with your choice of sides and drink and dessert. I am due to have a knee replacement this summer, and have already discussed with the Ortho doc my diet. Good post Ivy!

When I was in the hospital about 2 months ago, I was on a clear liquid diet for a day, then moved to a low residue diet. The low residue diet actually had a decent amount of options and wasn't bad at all - I was impressed. :)

When I am in the hospital, they usually don't let me eat anything.

When I start to eat stuff, then they start filling out discharge papers.

Logistically, then, how do they do it?

Do you have a special menu sheet for each diet (or, in Croatia, for each medical condition)? Or is all this stuff programmed into the computer and does it automatically reject anything it thinks is unsuitable for you? Or do the nurses arrange all this and decide what works for you and what doesn't?

As you can probably tell, I'm sitting in on the hospital meetings about this. The staff have all sorts of information about what works at a bureaucratic & kitchen level, but not much info about what works and doesn't work from the patients' point of view, and that's why I'm asking: I'd like to be able to sound informed at the next meeting and be able to speak from more than my own experience.

At our hospital, there seems to be a basic menu for everybody, and they just remove from your plate anything you're not allowed to eat. A person on a special diet gets pretty hungry and cranky after a day or two of so little food!!!!!

Ivy.

NPO = Nil By Mouth?

NPO is short for the Latin words nil per os, which means nothing by mouth.

Ivy,

In my case, someone from the dietary staff has come up to my room to go over my food selection for the next few days with me (this was when I was in the hospital for something other than CD, but so that the CD was taken care of). They asked about what I could and couldn't eat. Even though I told them I could tolerate some dairy, they would end up pulling it from my tray. I'm guessing that it was a computer program and then a staff member pulling it because you would get your menu sheet back with the non-allowed item crossed off and the other items checked off.

When I was in for CD related trouble it was even stricter policy. I can tolerate Ensure and boost, but they wouldn't allow those either. I had to have the non-dairy alternatives, which are not very appealing at all. But over all it was the same policy, someone from the dietary staff would come up and discuss the options with me while I filled out the menu. As far as I know it is the same menu for the entire hospital and then the just add in for anything special if they have to. I have also been in one of the major hospitals in Boston and it was a similar situation there. Same menu for the whole hospital, pick and choose. Someone came and discussed what you could have and how to help you. My room mate at that hospital had CD and Celiac and they were excellent at making sure she had what she needed on her menu, but it was a bit of the same old thing day in and day out. We were there for a week or so and she had the same thing over and over, so not much choice, but it was diet compliant.

I do not have the hospitalization exp that many others have. I've been hospitalized 3 times. 2 for major flares, 1 for surgery. At both flares, I wasn't eating anything solid. My GI was okay with me eating anything that would go down so I lived off tomato soup. They had it at the nurse's station and they would microwave it all day long for me. I was starving, but couldn't eat. They didn't even bother with food service, if I remember right.

For my surgery, it was nothing but ice for 3 days, then liquid only for a few days. Again, the nurses found tomato soup for me and then I moved to a liquid/mushy diet that the food service did that was broth, jello, yogurt, etc. I ate very little.

My surgeon told me that as soon as he ordered a full diet for me, my insurance company would want me gone =) We did do full diet the last 2 days but I was scared to eat anything solid until the night before I went home.

I found that in both hospitals, they were very willing to help anyway they could. Plus I also had family/friends willing to bring stuff.  

mbw, what happened if you forgot to phone the kitchens in time? Would you not get a meal?

Yep, the lack of dietitians is something they're aware of here, too, and are trying to address. It's a problem, innit, esp on weekends.

I've had the Weetbix problem too! They seem to dole those out as the default breakfasts here, unless you specify something different. Yuck.

Another question: do you have a choice of, say, vegetables, with your meals, or do you just have to take what's provided? This can be a big problem for a lot of us, I'm guessing, as there's a lot of difference between a peeled carrot and some beans.

Ivy.

At my hospital (part of a HMO) they either have the dieticians come up and help you select, or sometimes I just get the sheet and pick what items I want from main course, side, drink and dessert. We actually have pretty good food at the hospital I go too and it generally agrees with me pretty well.