#705 Episode Full of Grace

June 22, 2022Scott Benner

Grace has type 2 diabetes... or does she?

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DISCLAIMER: This text is the output of AI based transcribing from an audio recording. Although the transcription is largely accurate, in some cases it is incomplete or inaccurate due to inaudible passages or transcription errors and should not be treated as an authoritative record. Nothing that you read here constitutes advice medical or otherwise. Always consult with a healthcare professional before making changes to a healthcare plan.

Scott Benner 0:00
Hello friends, and welcome to episode 705 of the Juicebox Podcast.

On today's program, grace is with me, she is shining light on the Facebook page. And her episode is a great look into what a diagnosis can look like when the doctors aren't quite sure what's happening. So we're going to hear Grace's story. And at the end, I'm going to tell you what grace just told me the other day. So this is many months after it's been recorded, and grace has some answers. I'll share with you what she's learned. Also, Grace has a really weird job, in my opinion, and somehow it's oddly connected to an episode a couple of days ago, but not really anyway, you'll see. While you're listening today, remember that nothing you hear on the Juicebox Podcast should be considered advice, medical or otherwise, always consult a physician before making any changes to your health care plan. Becoming bold with insulin, we're doing what grace does for a living. Where do you find out?

This episode of The Juicebox Podcast is sponsored by Dexcom and Dexcom makes the Dexcom G six continuous glucose monitor, you may be eligible for a free 10 day trial of the G six and you can find out@dexcom.com forward slash juicebox. Today's episode is also sponsored by in pen from Medtronic diabetes, would you like an insulin pen that does more than regular insulin pens? Well, if you do, then you want the in pen from Medtronic diabetes in Penn today.com. That's where you go to find out more. Don't forget to take that survey AT T one D exchange.org. Forward slash juicebox. All you have to be is a US resident who has type one, or is the caregiver of someone with type 110 minutes later, you'll be done with a survey. And you will have helped people with type one diabetes and supported the Juicebox Podcast.

Grace 2:29
Hi, I'm Grace, and I'm a type two diabetic as far as I know. And I'm an adopted mom, colon hydrotherapist. And I'm here to talk about poop.

Scott Benner 2:41
Nice. I'm only excited because no one's ever started off an episode like that. Well, let's, let's figure out a few things first, how old are you? 58. What do you mean, you think you're type two?

Grace 2:59
Well, I'm not making what's the word? I want to say? I'm I'm not making very much insulin. Okay. So I'm at the low end of a C peptide.

Scott Benner 3:15
And so you've had a C peptide test?

Grace 3:18
Yes. It was like 1.2 1.1 to one point, something like that. But I don't know if I'm Modi or not. I did do I paid for it myself because my endo didn't want to. She didn't see any point in me taking an antibody test. So I went paid for that myself and I do not have the antibodies. And then I tried to look into Modi testing. And from what I could see. It's like $2,500. And so

Scott Benner 3:50
I'm already confused. Hold on a second. So your doctor wouldn't just send you for a test.

Grace 3:56
No, she didn't see any point. She's like you either need insulin or you not. Oh, and I think that they're just, you know, I'm older. I've had it for a while. So I think she's just you know, in her head, she's pretty clear that that's what I am.

Scott Benner 4:14
A low level of C peptide can mean your body isn't making enough insulin and may be a sign of one of the following conditions type one diabetes, Addison's disease, liver disease, a high level of C peptide can mean your body's making too much insulin, it may be a sign of type two diabetes, insulin resistance, Cushing syndrome or a tumor on your pancreas. And where was yours at?

Grace 4:37
1.12 I believe it's right at the low end at the low end. Yeah, cuz I think like a point eight is type one from the test range that I had. Oh,

Scott Benner 4:48
yeah, I'm looking. I'm trying to find out right now. To see. Okay, so you took the test had a low range, but doesn't that More indicate type one and type two. I mean,

Grace 5:05
I would think,

Scott Benner 5:07
all right, second

minus ad thresholds denoted by Oh, I don't understand all this enough to talk about it threshold with fasting blood shoot really should be considered above 80 and below 250. Type Two diabetes over 250 under ad type one. Moody unlikely under ad and what was your skim?

Grace 5:41
1.12?

Scott Benner 5:43
Okay, so in our intermediate insulin secretion, is that level? If I'm reading this correctly, almost I don't know eight. All right, so hold on, we have to start over 1.12 Is that were you fasting?

Grace 6:04
Um, I don't think so. I don't, I don't really recall.

Scott Benner 6:09
Okay, so if you're not fasting, it changes. Under point two, type one. I think I'm reading this, right. This is this is why this is also confusing. And your doctor won't help you figure out more, whether you're type two or moody and he, the doctor just says it doesn't matter.

Grace 6:31
Yeah, just basically, if you need insulin, you need insulin. So what the deal was, is that for the last couple of years, because I was diagnosed like 30 years ago with type two, so for the last couple of years, I was at the point where I could only eat once a day, without my sugars going into the foreign five hundreds, okay, so that I was eating once a day, and trying to restrict my food to keep myself from having to go to the ER fees. And so the last endo never tested even never even did a C peptide. And so, that should at least she did, and that's why I got put on insulin. Okay.

Scott Benner 7:18
So you're for you're being treated as a type two, you're using insulin at meals and you're wearing a pump, right. Okay, so your so your, what's your Basal rate?

Grace 7:31
I've got four of them. And hang on, I will tell you, okay. One moment, please. From midnight to 6am, and 1.9, and from 6am to noon on 1.3 to 4.5. And then four to midnight, and point eight.

Scott Benner 7:58
Interesting, it's very interesting. I don't know why it's interesting, but I'm incredibly interested by it. And so, because I've never spoken to a type two who uses an insulin pump before?

Grace 8:09
Well, isn't that interesting? It is. Can I tell you how I got the pump?

Scott Benner 8:13
I mean, did you buy it legally, I hope? Oh, yeah, I

Grace 8:16
did. I didn't even know what a pump was, what it did, how it would be beneficial. And I started listening to the podcast, and you're like, you know, omnipod.com/juice box or whatever. And so I just did that. And then the next time I went to my doctor, she's like, I got your insulin pump. Like they sent me the demo. And I was like, I don't know if I want this or not or whatever. But Omni pod in my case. Like when I filled out the information, got in touch with my doctor, it all went through my insurance. Everything was approved. I went into a follow up with my doctor and she said, Well, your pumps ready. I'm calling it in, and I'm like, I didn't even know I was going to do it. That how

Scott Benner 8:58
magical my Lincoln. Yeah. Well, and you could have said, I mean, I'm assuming at that point, you could have just said I'd really don't want this if you didn't want it and that would have been fine, too.

Grace 9:09
Yeah, but it was intriguing, you know, because I had been listening to podcasts for a while.

Scott Benner 9:13
So you want to give it a shot? Yeah. Alright, so I'm sorry. Tell me again. How long have you had type two?

Grace 9:20
I was diagnosed. To the best of my recollection. I was diagnosed in my early 30s. And the year after the Oklahoma City bombing, I was in that. And so I don't know if like the trauma from that had anything to do with it. I gained 100 pounds in the year after the bombing. And I was diagnosed at the same time with type two and hypothyroid

Scott Benner 9:51
were you incredibly impacted by the bombing?

Grace 9:55
Yeah, I was. I was not in the Murrah Building, but I was like as the crow flies a block away,

Scott Benner 10:02
okay, did you Would you consider you had like traumatic impact from it?

Grace 10:07
Oh, yeah. Yeah,

Scott Benner 10:12
I gotcha. Well, that would be something, wouldn't it? But you also found out you had hypothyroidism? Where was that then being treated?

Grace 10:20
No, I found out at the same time that I was diabetic and had hypothyroid. But did

Scott Benner 10:25
they give you a thyroid medication? Yeah. How well did that treatment go? Did you have results that were reduced your your?

Grace 10:37
Oh, that was a kind of like your wife. That was a many year long fight. And I don't feel that I was. So I'm 58 now and that's when I was 32. Ish. And I want to say that my thyroid was not optimized until probably around 2017.

Scott Benner 11:02
Wow. Because I just looked up that bombing happened in 95. So it took 22 years to get your thyroid straight. Have you considered going to different doctors?

Grace 11:13
I have been to different doctors. This is probably my third or fourth. Endo.

Scott Benner 11:19
Interesting. Interesting. The endo is handling the thyroid.

Grace 11:25
Yeah, now well, they have been Yeah.

Scott Benner 11:27
Okay. And is your TSH, lower now? What is it now? You know?

Grace 11:34
I could look it up, I want to say it's probably around a one or two. But there's a big difference. I was like, consider myself self a thyroid patient advocate for a lot of years because I was so angry about all of it. But I want to say it's between a one and a two. But there's a definite difference when like being in range, obviously doesn't mean anything. But when you feel optimized? You can you can feel it.

Scott Benner 12:05
Yeah. Do you have any hot or cold tolerance problems?

Grace 12:09
I'm not really I have like a little bit of cold tolerance, but it's not from the thyroid because I have neuropathy in my leg. Oh, so I have it from that.

Scott Benner 12:19
Gotcha. When did you start managing with insulin? Just recently,

Grace 12:23
a year ago? I think it was on November 13 of last year.

Scott Benner 12:28
How long? You've been listening to podcast?

Grace 12:30
Since about that time. Right? Okay.

Scott Benner 12:33
So the podcast made sense to you and you started changing things or?

Grace 12:39
Yeah, I somebody I was in a different Facebook group. And somebody just mentioned Juicebox Podcast as I was like scrolling through I saw it. And I was like, it was one of those people that like, how do I even listen to a podcast? Like where is that? How do I get it? You know? And I figured it out and been listening pretty much since the beginning of since I started being on insulin.

Scott Benner 13:03
I think it's pretty impressive that you learned how to listen to a podcast considering before we started recording, you didn't think to turn up the volume when you couldn't hear me. It's a pretty impressive story now. It is in context. Well, okay.

Grace 13:20
Oh my gosh, so.

Scott Benner 13:21
So prior to a year ago, what was your one say?

Grace 13:27
I've had the ones that I can remember, I'm so mad because we just moved a year ago. And my old I keep everything not like a hoarder. But I have this one box that has all my taxes in it from the first time I ever started working when I was 18. All my lab results from the first time that I couldn't remember collecting lab results. And that got thrown away. So that was a little frustrating. But from what I can remember, I had a onesies that were like six, five, this is in the last five years 657585 10 Four when I was diagnosed, but back in the 2000s, early 2000s. I can remember when I was allowed to test my blood sugar that it was in the three and four hundreds.

Scott Benner 14:21
Was it does it sound like to me? I mean, does it it sounds like to me I'm wondering if you think the same like over the last five years, things were progressively deteriorating.

Grace 14:30
Things were progressively deteriorating. And I don't know if this has anything to do with it or not. I've been kind of researching. But in 2013, my husband at the time committed suicide. And so after that experience, I started experiencing a lot of things the the thirst like really Intense muscle cramps. And I, you know, I didn't really think anything about it at the time. But looking back now, I feel like that was like probably a hit to my body as well. So I don't know, do you have

Scott Benner 15:16
any other autoimmune issues?

Grace 15:20
No. And I really don't know a whole lot about my family. My sister had thyroid issues, she had nodules, and she had half of her thyroid, one side of her thyroid removed when she was 18. And the other half of the other side remove and she was 21. And other than that, the only thing that my family that I'm aware of that may possibly be autoimmune is that there is Alzheimer's on my mom's side.

Scott Benner 15:48
Okay. But you think that two big traumatic events might have kicked two of your problems in may be maybe, or at least the timing anecdotally lines up? Yeah, yeah. But you don't? Do you think you have type two diabetes?

Grace 16:09
I really don't know. I find it odd. It's not a common thing that I'm aware of. And I haven't really looked into it that much that people like, get type two, and then their pancreas is burnout, and they need to be on insulin, because a lot of times from what I'm reading is that they're so insulin resistant, and they're making a lot of their bodies producing a lot of insulin, but they can't use it. And so they get on insulin, but that's not the case with

Scott Benner 16:37
me. Yeah, you're just confusing. I'm hoping that by being on somebody might hear this and, and reach out to you.

Grace 16:45
Yeah, every doctor says I'm a complicated case. Yeah, that sounds

Scott Benner 16:49
to me like they don't know what they're doing. Yeah. I think somebody who understood it wouldn't find it complicated at all. Yeah. Oklahoma.

Grace 16:58
I don't know. I just talked like I am. From California, and I was in Oklahoma for 24 years and I'm in Wisconsin,

Scott Benner 17:07
Wisconsin. No kidding. A my brother's here right now. He just flew here from Wisconsin like 36 hours ago. Say bring your deer. He did not bring anything.

Grace 17:20
I'm alignment kugels. He's a boy. He

Scott Benner 17:22
flies very light. He barely comes with the clothes he's wearing. Okay. Why did you want to be on the podcast?

Grace 17:33
Well, I wanted to talk about what I never hear other people talk about, which is what I refer to as the other side of gastroparesis, because when you have slow motility, and you have trouble eating and what have you, for many people that also translate to slow transit of the colon, and then people have trouble going to the bathroom.

Scott Benner 17:59
So you have gastroparesis? How long have you had that?

Grace 18:03
I was diagnosed with that in 2004.

Scott Benner 18:09
How did it present?

Grace 18:11
It presented were all of a sudden, I could not eat and I started throwing up anything that I ate. And it was to a point where even if I tried to just like eat yogurt, and nothing else, like I was trying to find like was there one food that I could eat that I wouldn't throw up? And even if I tried to eat a little bit of yogurt or whatever, I would just throw up everything I ate.

Scott Benner 18:41
Okay? top line, gastroparesis is also called delayed gastric emptying. It's a medical disorder consisting of weak muscular contractions of the stomach, resulting in food and liquid remaining in the stomach for a prolonged period of time stomach contents, thus, exit more slowly into the duodenum of the digestive track. Anyone who just heard me say duodenum correctly. You're gonna want to thank Grey's Anatomy I don't know what it is. I just not to say it. And, and that happens to people with diabetes because of its like neuropathy almost just happening in your stomach. Yeah. Of the

Grace 19:22
vagus nerve.

Scott Benner 19:23
Yeah. Okay. Did you manage your type two at all for the years prior to all of this? How did you take care of it?

Grace 19:35
Here's the deal is that like, a lot of people I hear on the podcast, I didn't get any information like somebody gave me a picture of a plate. Like I think this was right around the same time that they very first came out with nutrition labels on food. And so they were big about the quote unquote the plate of food and You know, just the same picture that they still show today that looks like, you know, a five year old could understand it right? And so, that's about all the information that I got. And I did get test strips and stuff on occasion. But there's, for type two in my case, there was no quote unquote, management it was, you have diabetes, take a pill. And to me, it'd be like the same thing. Like you have hypothyroid take a pill or you have high blood pressure, take a pill, and that's that. There's, there was no focus. What's your blood sugar doing? How often are you getting high? Whatever, it was just like, you know, eat right and exercise and take this pill. And and that's that, I think.

Scott Benner 20:52
How long did you do that? For?

Grace 20:57
Good Lord, the math.

Scott Benner 21:00
Like decades?

Grace 21:02
Yeah, like three?

Scott Benner 21:04
And when you say eat, right, what did that mean to you?

Grace 21:09
Um, I just tried to eat quote, unquote, healthy, normal, get your vegetables in normal, just regular everyday stuff.

Scott Benner 21:19
I'm trying to figure out what that means to most people. Like, if, if I said, you get your vegetables in, and then you said, Oh, I can eat brussel sprouts, if I sprinkle brown sugar on top of them. And then, you know, like, that's how some people think of vegetables sometimes, like They load them up with. They just make them delivery systems for other stuff.

Grace 21:40
It has. It's been i Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt you. Go

Scott Benner 21:43
ahead. No, I was gonna say is it's it's a very similar thing to when people talk about their blood sugar ranges. And they'll say, Well, I got I got low, so I ate something. And they think that their interpretation of low is everyone's interpretation of low. And they believe that means that that's the correct interpretation as well. But I still hear people talking about how they treat their blood sugar's at 100. Right? I was at 100. And I needed to get up, I'm like, Oh, I think you need to get it down still, but okay. Right. You know, and so there's this, this disconnect between what people mean, and how they present what they're saying, you know, I, I ate well, but if we kept talking, what I find out that that meant that when you went to McDonald's, you got the chicken, like,

Grace 22:29
at that time, possibly, but it's my food has fluctuated so much over the years. So, when you're first diagnosed, or when I was first diagnosed with diabetes, like, I never had to watch anything I did before ever, right? So then you just kind of start learning and you know, be the best you can at certain times, whatever, try to, quote unquote, eat whatever was healthy at the time, which has gone through different things. I mean, back then it was like a low fat thing, whatever. And so over the years, and I don't really remember them coming back to me and telling me you need to try harder, you need to try harder, you need to try harder or anything like that. So you feel

Scott Benner 23:16
hard me? How did you feel physically? Did you feel okay? Or did you did you live a life where you felt like malaise and tired and stuff like that?

Grace 23:27
Um, I feel like the malaise and tired thing and that might have been kind of the thyroid thing, because it's felt like there was a big onset. I felt really terrible. Like I felt kind of normal. It right before the bombing and that year after like gaining 100 pounds in a year, and not knowing where it's coming from or why it's happening.

Scott Benner 23:51
That really sounds like your thyroid. Yeah, that I'm sure that it was. Did you significantly change your activity or eating life? No, yeah, that sounds like the fire right to me.

Grace 24:02
Yeah, I wasn't doing anything any different. So obviously 100 pounds on your frame makes you feel you know, horrible in a lot of different ways earlier,

Scott Benner 24:11
you 15 feet tall. It probably wouldn't be good for you. Wow, that's crazy. I don't think I've ever popped my lips before on the podcast, but I just did it just now. I went wow. Wow, I have you lost the weight since then.

Grace 24:30
Um, it's gone. It's gone back and forth. I've since then, I had lost 125 pounds. And the last 50 of that was because I got sick and was throwing up my food, right. And then right after I lost that 125 pounds, and I was down to like 125 And I got to keep that off for about three months. And I guess because of the weight loss and they were trying to figure out what I was throwing up and everything was before the gastroparesis diagnosis. They decided in their infinite wisdom that I had adrenal failure, okay, because I was losing my hair and stuff because I was losing the weight so fast. So they put me on cortisone pills and told me that I needed to stay on them for the rest of my life where I would die. But I didn't find out till two years later, I think it was that the doctor never even did the proper test to determine that I had Corazon failure. And so I was taking it when I didn't need it. And that put 80 pounds on me gave me drug induced Cushing syndrome, and put 80 pounds on me within like six months. And that's, that's a hard deal to get off of. Yeah, great. So yeah, that's not fun.

Scott Benner 25:54
Wow, you you have run into a number of doctors that haven't helped you along the way. That's terrible. Okay.

Grace 26:05
All right. It wasn't the most compliant patient because of that for a long time.

Scott Benner 26:09
Tell me about that. You mean, did you notice that they weren't valuable to you? And then that didn't make you listen?

Grace 26:14
Well, especially the thyroid doctors, because I felt like that was a big injury with the, with the being on the cortisone and stuff, there was a whole host of problems that came along with that. And so when I would go to a new thyroid doctor, and they didn't want to do like the full battery of test or what have you, I was just like, angry walking in the door, you know, ready to go out? I've had doctors tell me if you're not going to take Synthroid. And that's what I'm going to give you that I don't even want you as a patient. And so I've just like, had to walk out the door before. And so you know, it's it's a frustration,

Scott Benner 26:55
I tried to tell people that that that lovely woman that I had on to do the thyroid episode, Dr. Benito, she was awesome. She's a diamond. And the they're very hard to find, yes, really, really difficult to find someone that can thoughtfully manage your thyroid levels. Not a not an easy, not an easy lift, finding people like that. I'm sorry, because it sounds to me like you were just having thyroid issues. And then they started dumping on like cortisol on to, you know, cortisol into you. And then that just made everything worse and, and masked. And they thought they were treating something. So probably everybody stopped looking at the real issue. Yeah, yeah. And you didn't have the internet back then either. No, right. Huh. Jeez, can you tell me something good?

Grace 27:43
Tell me something good.

Scott Benner 27:45
I'm looking. I'm looking to move this the other direction? Yeah.

Grace 27:50
Where did we want to go with this, you won't go back to let's talk about the pooping thing.

Scott Benner 27:56
I was gonna say, you mentioned poop. And I mean, we're halfway done already. So like, what do you do for a living?

Grace 28:03
I'm a colon hydrotherapist. Now,

Scott Benner 28:05
how do you get into that, and I don't mean to get into

Grace 28:09
that. Get into that because you're sick. So what happened with me besides the the throwing up the food and stuff, and I was on a predominantly liquid diet for, I want to say about a decade, just because I couldn't process solid food very well. And so I had trouble passing food. And in forums and stuff on the internet, people talk about that, but it's not something people really want to talk about not being able to go. So what I kind of wanted to put out there for people is just my story and things that helped me, because I was at a point where the doctors were giving me a gallon of MiraLAX every Friday night to try to go. So it was like doing a colonoscopy prep every Friday night. And so I would go and then that stopped working. And they've had me on a bunch of different laxatives that start working and they have me on some newer drugs Linzess ama teas and my glucose is 123 and it's beeping at me. And those didn't work. And the only way that I could get stuff out was like those old grandma like red rubber enema bags. I was doing. I go to work, come home, cook dinner, clean the house and then I go to the bathroom and I would they hold like one and a half, two quarts, something like that. And I was doing anywhere from one to 15 of those a night, every single night and succession trying to get something out of me. And my stomach would blow up like eight inches like I'd have to bring different clothes to work to wear because I just couldn't get stuff out. And so that was a weird way to live and they wanted to But when they diagnosed me with gastroparesis, and I couldn't go to the bathroom, it had gotten to the point where they wanted to give me a feeding tube and ostomy bag. And I didn't want to go that route, the ostomy bag really scared me. And so I just decided to go. I was like, if I can't eat, then I can't eat. And I'll just like, try to get nutrition any way I can. And so I'll just like, make my own juice and just juice and just be on a liquid diet and live like that. And I did that for a couple of months. And that changed a lot of things in a positive manner for me, but it did not help me go to the bathroom. And so it wasn't until, like 2017 that I tried colon hydrotherapy. And that worked. And I did quite a few sessions of that. And what that did for me, because the last the last five years from like, let's see 2012 to 2017. And I got to the point where I never even had an urge to go anymore. It was just completely absent. And so I started doing colon hydrotherapy, just out of desperation, which is basically kind of like a half hour enema. And after I did a number of those, probably like seven of them in a fairly quick order. It like, kicked in the peristalsis. And my colon and I started going to the bathroom every day.

Scott Benner 31:30
Alright, so hold on one second. How does this work? Now in my cartoonish mind, we just pump the water in my mouth, and then it just blows out the other side? I'm sure that's not what happens. So the water goes in your butt. Is that correct? How much how much water in your butt.

Grace 31:49
It can be up to 12 gallons. That being said, it doesn't all go in at once. It's a process. Like if I did an enema with just one of those bags that only gets like your rectum. And so with colon hydrotherapy, it goes in your rear end, and it goes throughout the entire large intestine, and just cleans everything out and evacuate everything out there.

Scott Benner 32:16
So this is not much different than if your ear is clogged and they get water behind your ear and fill up your canal and then it pops out the wax.

Grace 32:23
Mm hmm. Got it?

Scott Benner 32:25
Are there any reasons why a person wouldn't want to do this? Is it dangerous?

Grace 32:31
I'm not dangerous, per se. There are some contraindications for people with diverticulitis. People that have had any recent surgeries people with Crohn's and Ulcerative Colitis.

Scott Benner 32:51
So anything that's going wrong back there? Mm hmm. Yeah. So like, Yeah, okay. And you don't want to block your butt? Like, right there. Right.

Grace 33:01
Right. Or if there's, you know, any kind of bleeding or infection or anything in there. You don't, you know, like, you want to have a healthy column? Because I don't know. I don't know if that spreads it around. Or, you know what I'm saying? But

Scott Benner 33:15
how do you figure that out before you fill her up?

If you're using insulin, knowing what your blood sugar is doing is monumental. Is it going up? Is it going down? How fast is it doing that? Maybe it's steady? Is it 96? Or 150? Is it to 10? Or 183? Well, you don't want to check all the time with a meter. And even if you did, even if you had a great meter, like the Contour Next One. That meter just gives you a look into a moment, right? I tested my blood sugar at 9pm. And it was 140. Great. That's good news. I know my blood sugar's 140. But is it moving? How fast is it moving Dexcom can tell you that with the Dexcom G six dexcom.com forward slash juice box, use my link. And you may be eligible for a free 10 day trial of the Dexcom G six, you can find out what I'm talking about how great it is to know the speed, direction and number of your blood sugar at a glance. I will pick up my phone right now. It's an iPhone, but you could do this with an Android as well. I see my daughter's blood sugar is 130. At the moment, it's very steady. Actually. We just did a pump change recently. And we're just kind of bringing her blood sugar back down. You know how after a pump change, you might need a little more insulin here and there. Anyway, you know about that point is we're watching it right now. We're making boluses that are thoughtful and we're moving your blood sugar back to where we want it. This is all made much easier in my opinion by the Dexcom G six again, Dex comm.com forward slash juice box you will not regret checking out the Dexcom I'm gonna head right now to N pen today.com I n p e n t o day the microphones blocking my keyboard.com in pen today.com Oh, look at that. Here's the website, nice graphics, little video running very nice. Here's what you get within pen, you get an insulin pen. That's what you need, right? If you don't want a pump, and you want an insulin pen, wouldn't it be nice if it did some things for you? Not just the little Jabby thing with insulin in it, but had some other stuff? Like how about if it had a dosing calculator, or carb counting support a digital logbook? Or the ability to remind you when you needed a dose of insulin? A dose reminder, you say that sounds wonderful. How could it insulin pen do that Scott? Well, that pen that said insulin pen, the ink pen connects to an app on your smartphone. Oh, wait a minute. Technology you say That's correct. That app gives you a look at your current glucose level. dosing calculator, active insulin remaining glucose history reports, Activity Log dose history meal history. And of course, we just said current glucose. All right there on one screen connected to your insulin pen. Now you're interested, hear it in your voice? Yes, I hear your voice in my head. No, I'm just kidding. I don't hear you. But anyway, hey, listen, here's a little offer that in Penn has. Now this is only available to people with commercial insurance, of course Terms and Conditions apply. But you may pay as little as $35 for an NPN because Medtronic diabetes doesn't want cost to be a roadblock to you getting the therapy you need. And within Penn's access program, you may pay as little as $35. In Penn today.com, links in the show notes, links at juicebox podcast.com to Dexcom. In Penn, and all the sponsors in pen requires a prescription and settings from your healthcare provider, you must use proper settings and follow the instructions as directed, or you could experience high or low glucose levels for more safety information visit in Penn today.com.

Grace 37:26
For myself, or other people just

Scott Benner 37:27
talking about you Yeah, I don't know how they're viewed. Okay. Like, did you go to a doctor and say, Hey, I'm thinking of blasting my butt full of water. And I went off, it's okay.

Grace 37:36
No, that was just kind of like, that was kind of like an internet thing. And just meeting

Scott Benner 37:42
other people who had had success with it. Yeah, I say, okay. All right. So you did it. And not only did it help it help, I mean, because he was probably very relieving to get everything out, I would imagine. And then you started going more regularly on your own?

Grace 37:57
Yeah, I didn't go for predominantly I like I might have an urge once a month to go for, like the first. I don't know, seven years or so. And then like the last five years, I didn't have any urge at all. And then I did this several times. And then I was able to start going on a daily basis. I didn't always completely empty but at least I got stuff out. Yeah. And I didn't find out until this year, when I moved to Wisconsin, that I've had several operations for endometriosis. And evidently, there's a thing that they can do. My doctor my gastro referred me to it is called visceral mobilization. And that is where they just feel on your stomach and they press down. It's a form of massage, and they could feel adhesions. And I had severe abdominal adhesions. I've had five abdominal operations. So all of my insides are also besides the gastroparesis, all of my insides are stuck to each other. So it's kind of like if you went in your gut and like somebody put a spider in your gut, and it weaved a web over everything. So stuff couldn't move.

Scott Benner 39:10
Can they fix that? Well,

Grace 39:13
they're supposed to be able to fix it, like they go in and they break it up, they just press on where they feel the tightness, and they release those adhesions. And I was like, Oh, am I going to bleed internally or like what's happened and if you're, I call them the gut rep. Or if you're ripping stuff up inside of me, and he said, there's not very much blood tissue and that kind of stuff. And he said, it's kind of like if you took scotch tape and wrapped it around your hands with the sticky side out and then rubbed it on the carpet, and then tried to stick the tape back together. But unfortunately for me, they also told me I just found this out. The endometriosis doesn't necessarily stop when you get all your woman parts cut out, which I had done. You got a hysterectomy? Oh yeah, when I was 32 Um, so I guess that can still keep growing regardless. So for me, instead of being able to get the massage and and get the adhesions tore out, I have to do it for maintenance. And that made that also made a huge difference in being able to go to the bathroom and or have your belly

Scott Benner 40:18
massage. Uh huh. Yeah, it's done by a doctor is done

Grace 40:23
by physical therapist. My, my gastroenterologist referred me for it.

Scott Benner 40:28
Does it hurt while they're doing it? Yeah.

Grace 40:32
It's not really bad. It's not anything that like, lays you out or stops her stops you from doing your daily business or whatever it kind of feels like after you're done sore, like if you had done a like a hard, hardcore workout, like core workout. Do you have to go to the bathroom right after he finished? No, no. Okay, now, but after he started ripping stuff apart in there where everything was stuck together. I was able to go from like once a day to sometimes three or four times a day.

Scott Benner 41:03
Interesting. How often do you do the massage?

Grace 41:07
I still have to get it probably once a week, once every two weeks just because I'm kind of messed up inside. So

Scott Benner 41:16
does your insurance companies that do hate mail?

Grace 41:19
Well, my insurance company this is interesting. So I happen. I still got stuff growing in me and causing these adhesions, endometriosis, or whatever is still growing in there and causing issues. And so insurance wants you to get better. They want you to progress or they if you don't progress, then they don't want to continue covering your treatment. So I had to go outside the insurance. And I have to pay cash to get this done. Because the insurance will not allow me to do it for maintenance. Oh, yeah. So it's just you know, it is what it is. Jesus. Why would that? I don't know, why did they sometimes cover some insolence and not? And what you know what I mean? It's just

Scott Benner 42:09
intermediary. So this is interesting, because it is like an inflammation condition, but it's not characterized as autoimmune.

Grace 42:15
No, yeah. And I looked at it's interesting. Yeah, nothing with me as autoimmune. They all say I'm a complicated case.

Scott Benner 42:24
Yeah, that doesn't seem comforting at all. Grace, you've taken me a number of different directions. I know. It's causing me not to be able to find my, my, my North here. My compass is just spinning in circles. Are you okay? Yeah. Generally? Good. You think of yourself as being well?

Grace 42:49
Well, as well as I, you know, it is what it is. But yeah, for the most part, I will tell you, you know, and I've mentioned this probably on the Facebook group before, but I've had such a weird thing from all the different doctors and so many different things that the doctors didn't know what to do with or whatever. And I went through a period of time where I really didn't like, have any hope about things. And my quality of life was kind of down and the podcast from everything I've been through in the like, the last 30 years was the the only thing that gave me not only hope, but like tangible hands on experience that actually made a difference. I'm glad. Yeah. It was huge. Because I was like, once they told me that the diabetes thing with the insulin thing, I was like, I don't want nothing else. I can't hang him, you know? Yeah. And now it's not like that big of a deal.

Scott Benner 43:55
Well, you're a one seat. So you, you came into the group like a wrecking ball, like in a like a delightful, sparkly wrecking ball. You were just like, I'm here. I love this podcast, like you were very, super excited. I appreciate it, actually. And so you're just saying that you got management tools from the podcast right at first? Absolutely. Yeah. And that was a big change for you a big difference.

Grace 44:16
It was huge change because I didn't, anytime I had hope in the past for something. There was never any resolution, there was never any, like, how to go forward, how to find somebody to help me or how to help myself. You know, it was just like a bunch of roadblocks and dead ends until the podcasts, okay? Because I really didn't know how I was going to deal with the insulin because in other groups, I had run across things where people were just, it was fear based, you know, and the advice you get was fear based things like don't ever drive a car if you're under 100 or you know, just craziness and then I found you and I found the Facebook group and it just It really helped. I mean, my last one was a 6.0. And was it really? Yeah, so I started out 10.4 A year ago and then I was a 6.0. I had got down to a seven I think it was on MDI. And then I switched to the pump and that pump to the Omni pod, and it's, I'm glad expect to be probably in the fives next time

Scott Benner 45:30
and you're managing that well with gastroparesis too.

Grace 45:33
Yeah, and I guess it's, I guess it's a, you know, a combination, because there's gastroparesis, and then there's the adhesions, because the guy that did my massage, he's tells me things like, I didn't know any of this, that your stomach has to turn, like a quarter of a turn every so often to digest your food. And my stomach was attached to my ribcage and attached to my diaphragm. So it couldn't move at all. So that has, so there's like a complication between, you know, and then all the rest of my organs are like that.

Scott Benner 46:11
So you definitely have gastroparesis, but additionally, the endometriosis and the scarring is making things worse. Yeah, got it. Jesus. Is there any? Now it's a stupid question. It's got nevermind. I never.

Grace 46:29
I love the stupid question.

Scott Benner 46:30
No, it's such a bad question. I'm not going to ask it. I know the answer already. And so does everybody else. Like just I don't even know why it popped in my head.

Grace 46:39
Okay, I can, I can eat I've been able to eat better since I've been getting the colonics and eaten better since the visceral mobilization massage. So it's made not only has it made a difference in the output, but it's, I'm not on a predominantly liquid diet anymore.

Scott Benner 46:56
Yeah, so you're eating solids, but, but you're still using the colonics to make sure that you're clear. Yep. And you give them to yourself, right?

Grace 47:06
Well, I can now yeah, now. Now that I'm doing it for a living, you know, it was it was, this is how it can be for some people. So if you're, like, if you can't go at all, and nobody can help you, and it's severe enough that you have to get it, then you know, you I'm talking about myself. If I was having a really bad flare up, and things weren't moving, it could cost me anywhere from four to $700 a month to go to the bathroom. So it was more than my mortgage. Oh my gosh. So that's why I and I had an opportunity to buy a business. So I did.

Scott Benner 47:47
So I have to ask you a couple of questions that are gonna be silly. But I need to know these things. After we put the water in, don't come back out the tube.

Grace 47:59
Hey, well, the tubes really small like the one I have the tubes really small the size of a pencil. So it just goes in and the water shoots in and then the waste in the water come out around it all that happens all at the same time to where it's like a giant reclining toilet. Okay, so it just goes down out the sewer.

Scott Benner 48:21
I'm going to Google hydrotherapy chair, right? Is that what I want to do? To see a picture?

Grace 48:30
Google colon hydrotherapy open system?

Scott Benner 48:34
colon hydrotherapy? Open Look at this. Hold on a second. Okay, do people generally are they super embarrassed the first time?

Grace 48:56
Some people are I get a lot of people that come in because they're they're having issues or they're severely impacted and what they give them at the hospital doesn't work. So they come in to see me to, you know, get stuff out. So I have people that are excited to do it. I have people that are mortified. You know, it just kind of runs the gamut. I have a lot of sick people. And then I have a lot of people that just are kind of, for lack of I don't know how to say this politically correctly, but they're like health freaks. Right? Right. And I call them my little moon children. Like they like to come in and get it done when the moon is full and whatever, you know.

Scott Benner 49:36
Alright, listen, I don't question people. I but I have questions for you. What's the weirdest thing you seen? It's a hemorrhoid. Right? A huge one. What is the

Grace 49:45
I don't the way that that chair is designed. I don't see people's parts. Wait, like the one that I have. The one that I have is the nozzle is self inserted. So somebody lays down on This, they insert their own nozzle, and then they cover up with the drape and then I walk in. So I don't see any of that. There's another system where the nozzles bigger and it has an intake and outtake. And then you kind of turn on your side and that one the person actually like inserts into you and holds it in there the whole time. So there's that's called a closed system. And I don't do I don't have that one. Well, I don't I don't see anything other than what's coming out. There's a clear tube that you can see what's coming out of you.

Scott Benner 50:31
How strong is the exhaust fan in the room? I mean, is it like a jet engine? Oh, there's

Grace 50:36
no odor at all. Wait, stop

Scott Benner 50:38
it. There's no odor. How could there not be any odor dust and the poop will come out?

Grace 50:43
It does. But it's encased in water and it goes straight out and into the sewer. So there's no smell. You? Yeah, your poop

Scott Benner 50:51
adjacent? You're not really? Yeah. Well, that's a strong title for this episode. It really is. Oh, I just thought for certain your most of your day was spent like ah,

Grace 51:05
but no, it's just like, like, it's just like being on a big recliner. Like if you were just going to sit back and hang out on your phone and just relax. That's kind of like what it is, except for their stuff going on? How long does

Scott Benner 51:20
it take the process? How do you know when you're done? I guess clear water.

Grace 51:25
Yeah, pretty much clear water. It goes by time it's like on the average, it's like 35 minutes. And you can kind of see when it gets to the end because it'll change from like stool into little pieces of food like where the small intestine releases its food into the large colon. It's like little pieces of food because it hasn't turned into poop yet. And then the water can change color on some people too. Like instead of brown it'll be yellow green or kind of a yellowish green. And that's like the digestive enzymes and the bile that are fed through with the food and

Scott Benner 52:00
what was my next question? Has anything ever come out that surprised you Matchbox car.

Grace 52:06
There are stories. Now I haven't personally seen this. But their stories. So the the gentleman that invented the device that I use, told a story of two different people in their 40s. And that one of them passed a Barbie shoe and one passed a Lego that they had when they were kids. So I don't know where that would stick in you and like why would not show up in a colonoscopy or something unless they never had one. But that's that's the only stories that I've heard.

Scott Benner 52:37
All right. No chunks or anything. Um, so for people.

Grace 52:43
Nothing other than what would regularly come out.

Scott Benner 52:46
Nothing that comes out where you're like, wow. Nothing like that. No, okay.

Grace 52:51
It's just pretty normal.

Scott Benner 52:53
I got you. What if I know you're not a physician doing this? Right? Like so? No, absolutely not. Yeah. What if like, you see blood, you tell him like, Hey, I saw blood?

Grace 53:02
If I did, I would, I would stop it and refer them to their doctor, but I never have like, they have to fill out a questionnaire and all of that. And as far as they know, they have to be, you know, healthy and not have any complications.

Scott Benner 53:14
insurance doesn't cover this as a cash business. And it's good. Is it going well for you? Are you like? Like, are you like, wow, I'm glad I started this like not only for your own personal like sanity, but like financially? Is it going? Well?

Grace 53:28
It's okay, I just do it part time. And if I did it full time, maybe it'd be better, but it's fine. Yeah.

Scott Benner 53:34
out of your garage, though, right? Away hilarious. By the way, if you were like,

Grace 53:40
it just made me smart. They kind of do that sometimes. In Michigan, Michigan. Yeah, I've had some people in Michigan tell me there's this thing called a Woods method. And people get like a five gallon bucket like from Menards and put it on a big piece of board. And then the people lay like kind of on a massage table. And there's like, an enema tube and they just do it like, like that. And like my device is FDA cleared. But you know, their standards, we have to adhere to one stuff, but I guess people get desperate or people just do things on their own sometimes. And so that's the thing. The woods method you could look that up.

Scott Benner 54:21
I'm not drawn to do this very frequently. You hear on the Juicebox Podcast should be considered advice, medical or otherwise, please, always physician before making any changes to your healthcare plan or sticking anything in your butt. Like think that's really important to say. I think you're gonna be the first one to get to different. I'm gonna have to say but in your disclaimer when I when I edit this show. I want to say this right now. I don't know if any of this is a good idea. Okay. And Grace is lovely. But she can also be a kook I have no idea. Right grace?

Grace 54:54
Well, yeah, I can absolutely be me. I am.

Scott Benner 54:57
Yeah, I'm just saying I'm not telling you to put water in your mouth. But, but grace is just telling you what helped her. That's all I just need to be clear about that. Because it sounds insane. And at the same time, I can understand how it might be valuable except you're it really is. Your it's for when you're in a situation where you just don't have another answer. It's not like you can just keep ignoring it till your stomach explodes, or you have to do something.

Grace 55:22
So, but you're either doing it yourself. I mean, you know, if you get to a certain point, you're either doing it yourself or seeking out somebody to do it for you. Yeah. Because it has to it has to go somewhere. And you're not going to hear a lot of people talk about this, but I guarantee you, it's a it's a thing that people do more than I think it's a thing that people suffer with not being able to go that nobody talks about. Yeah. And it's, it's kind of a mortifying thing. Like, even if you're not, like at a place to get it done. But if even if you're at home alone, doing it, there's nothing more more more, more more terrifying than, like trying to get stuff out of you. Because you can't like there's no shame after you deal with that for a long period of time.

Scott Benner 56:09
Great. You're gonna get me to say something here that I hold on. Let me let me get myself ready for this. Metamucil has changed my life in the last couple of years. Yeah, okay. But it can't just be me because there's a Metamucil shortage right now.

Grace 56:28
Well, and I will tell you that sometimes that works. And then some people that are impacted by it makes it worse. Yeah, it can make it worse. Yeah, if things aren't moving, and then you put something in there like that. It can make it worse. And I've gotten in flux from both of them. I've done better off when I've had fiber and then I've like, shut down when I've had fiber. So

Scott Benner 56:47
Right. Yeah, I'm not saying I'm just so right here. I shouldn't say this to people because I don't want anybody to know the truth. But there's a Metamucil. You want the OG Metamucil was sugar, but no flavor. It's like, it works so much better than, like the orange stuff that they make or like the flavored stuff, it is not easy to learn how to drink the first couple times. It's tough, you know, because you're basically somebody basically took dried weeds and put it in a glass of water. And it liquefied long enough for you to get it down. Like seriously, if you put the stuff I use in water, mix it up, and don't knock it back immediately. If you wait 30 seconds. It starts to like gel. And like you know, it's Yeah, starts to take shape. Like so you need to get it in quick quick. Know what the spoon but oh, god that just turned my stomach. I can't believe that's the first thing that made me nauseous in this conversation. But because I know what it looks like, I guess. But like when you go to the stuff like even the orange stuff. It's different. Like it just isn't as good. It just and you can't buy it anywhere right

Grace 57:59
now. I did not know there was a shortage on that.

Scott Benner 58:03
And I'm saying I know COVID and all and you know, we a bunch of people went home and didn't come back to their jobs and stuff like that like that. I understand. But I'm telling you like something like that for there to be a shortage says to me that a lot of people buy it.

Grace 58:19
Well evidently sell it or unless unless they're having a shortage making it.

Scott Benner 58:23
Yeah, but still. Yeah, you know what I mean? Like, how much how many people have to buy Metamucil before you can't find better? And I'm talking about like, legit, like, like, you know, like they're selling it on like eBay like it's like the black market. Really? I wouldn't lie about something like this. I have no reason. You gotta like, I'm gonna tell you that. You can get a big jug of it for 19 bucks, usually. And I just usually order it from, you know, the guy that made the books, Jeff Bezos, right. I usually just get it from him. Does everybody remember that? Amazon started as a bookstore. Anyway. Oh, I

Grace 59:06
didn't run. I didn't know. Are you serious? Oh,

Scott Benner 59:09
I know everything. This is why the podcast is fantastic. Jeff Bezos Bezos, Bezos pieces, who cares? I don't really care. He started Amazon as a bookstore. The first thing Amazon killed was like Barnes and Noble

Unknown Speaker 59:25
really Yeah.

Scott Benner 59:28
And now it's a place I get Metamucil and other things like when I need a microphone I just go on in mean like what am I going to do? So So you go on there on there. Oh my god. What am I 57,000 years old? You go on there the internet the thing I went on the box and I told it

Grace 59:48
Amazon sound water come up my nose when you just didn't.

Scott Benner 59:51
Listen, water comes out all your holes. So let's not be surprised by that grace. So, you know, just now I thought I am funny

I don't even know if I'm funny. I just think my brain is working too quickly. So anyway, this this Metamucil unflavored, like, with sugar, you can't even find a listing for it right now and I know its course, with sugar unflavored that's the one that legit works, right? Like, you put it in. And the next time you go to the bathroom, these beautiful little poos, let's call them nerds, okay, or turn, whatever you wanna call them. I have a glistening sheath across them as if God wanted them to come out of your butt. Right? You just wait till you go. You wait till your body says I have to go to the bathroom. You go, okay body, and then you walk over to the bathroom. You seat yourself, and then this will happen. No, no big deal. It's over. That's it takes two seconds. I'm going to tell you right now, I've never done this. I promise you. But I'm not 100% Certain you have to wipe when it's over. Like that's how well it goes. Right? They just come like flying out. They're self contained. It almost looks like somebody packaged them for you so they could come out. Absolutely legit. It's, well,

Grace 1:01:14
if I can find it, maybe I'll never

Scott Benner 1:01:16
find it. Because I bought it up completely. You black market Metamucil. There's a very, I finally found, like the picture of it on the Amazon. I've been talking the whole time so that I could find the picture. So everything I just said I was making up while I was Googling, and there's no ability to purchase it right now. No price on it. My wife a trip in trying to prove that she she loves me because we've been married a long time. So I can't be certain you know what I mean? Right? I know, I know. Like, just be here because like the bills get paid. And she's like, Yeah, it's easy, you know, but um, but she has a like a thing set up on her phone. Every time it comes back into stock, she jumps on and buys me one. We are now overpaying for it by 100% to get it Oh. And that's 28 ounces used to be $19. Now 28 ounces is $40. And until you've pulled with it and food without it. You're not going to know how valuable it is like she I'm very cheap grace, I think that comes across on the podcast. Like I'm incredibly, like, I hate spending money in a way that's hard to put into words. You know, like I'm wearing a t shirt now that I think is from the 70s. And so she gets embedded than he was I found a Metamucil for you. I ordered it. I was like, Oh, she was the only one I got an alert. And I jumped right on. And she I was like, thank you. When will it be here? And she told me the date. And then we you know, kind of went back to our business. And then she goes, You didn't ask how much it costs? And I said I don't care. Oh, yeah, I was like, I don't I don't I honestly don't care what you paid for it. Like if you if you sold one of the children to get it. I mean, maybe I'd start getting concerned around there. But if you could have got a case for it for like Arden, I would have made the swap easily. It just, you know, like it's that it became that important in my life. And I don't know what's up with my system, you know, or how I eat or how I don't eat or whatever. I mean, let me be honest, I had a vegetable once in the 80s. Okay, right. So I don't eat a lot of vegetables. And I realized I could, you know, I could probably help that. You know that way, but I don't have it in me. I'm like a 12 year old I eat like a child. So I don't I don't want I don't want your damn vegetables. I don't know why. I might say I was like they have a roach. I'm literally a child in my mind. I don't like the way vegetables feel in my mouth.

Grace 1:03:44
Yeah, I heard you say that.

Scott Benner 1:03:46
I'm not kidding about it. Grace. I didn't just say it to be funny. At Green Bean makes you feel like you've just grabbed my uvula. And like pulling on it. You're like vomit vomit now vomit. It's a green bean, you know? So, I mean, I can cook them. I'm happy to make them for people. I'm not bothered by them. I don't care about the smell. Submitted I go in my mouth. I'm like that I make the noise that I assume you make when you work. They

Grace 1:04:16
probably did it Mike or somebody try to talk you into yeah brussel sprouts or something

Scott Benner 1:04:24
that he didn't send me the recipe. Oh, you know where he's at right now. He's on a he's taken to Texas. He went down to Texas. He's driving around to hit the top 50 barbecue joints in Texas.

Grace 1:04:36
I know. I saw that like last night. I was like in that a tray. You

Scott Benner 1:04:39
better get some brussel sprouts too or

hey this is what the podcast is coming through. We're now shouting people out directly, just one person at a time. But no, seriously, I what I'm trying to say is I know how important it is to go to the bathroom. I clearly don't have any of your problems. And just the loss of Metamucil. In my life, like, I mean, you should have saw me. I was in like, I was in the kitchen. And I was like, Oh, I'm out of Metamucil. I didn't know that happened. And, you know, I've only got a couple more spoonfuls left. And I just like, you know, like a spoiled person. I just pull out my Amazon app, and I go to order it. And it's like, they don't have it. And I'm like, no, no, wait, we wait. Yeah, that's gotta be wrong. And then I just drove immediately to Walgreens, and then to CVS and then the Rite Aid and then I just started driving down the street to different and I it nowhere.

Unknown Speaker 1:05:32
Just that trip, man. Yeah, it's a trip

Scott Benner 1:05:35
trip and me right up on the toilet. It's what it's doing. So yeah, I mean, it's just that I know how important it can be. And I don't have all the medical problems you're talking about. So I have a really hard time even imagining what's happening to you. It sounds terrible. Like, I'm not gonna lie to you like it's a sad story.

Grace 1:05:51
Like it's hard. It's, it's, it's a horrible way to live. I mean, it's better now. And thankfully, I found stuff that helped out but you know, yeah,

Scott Benner 1:05:59
good for you. But well, wait a fight for yourself, because you could have given up a number of different times. Oh, yeah. Is there anything we didn't talk about that you wanted to talk about?

Grace 1:06:11
I don't really, I don't really think so. I think that we kind of covered everything and probably more than I even intended to cover, right?

Scott Benner 1:06:20
Listen, you should be covering those people's butts in.

Grace 1:06:23
Hey, they're covered. They got a lovely drape. It's sky blue. Is that disposable? That's right. Oh, abs everything's. I gotcha. Could you imagine if that stuff I could think back in the day that it they used to have to like autoclave it, like dental instruments and stuff because everything had to be sterilized right before it was plastic,

Scott Benner 1:06:43
you know, I'm saying disposable. Like, secondhand too, but my but right? That seems wrong. Did you claim I remember getting a tattoo and I was like, you clean that, right? It's like, Yeah, I'm like, and I'm looking at him. Like, he looks high. Like, I trust this guy.

Grace 1:07:03
I feel like a lot of them look like that.

Scott Benner 1:07:06
I'll tell you a beautiful tattoo. But you know, she drank vodka through the entire thing. And there's a moment where you're like, I'm making a poor decision right now. I know.

Grace 1:07:14
Right? Exactly. A permanent one or semi permanent. I guess you know,

Scott Benner 1:07:18
the only thing I really I thought this was great. The only I'm a little disappointed you were getting ready to talk about how terrific I was. And I cut you off. And now I'm regretting that part. Oh,

Grace 1:07:28
well, you are terrific.

Scott Benner 1:07:29
I'm just teasing.

Grace 1:07:33
I can expand on it. I don't know.

Scott Benner 1:07:35
You're really your your joy online. So thank you. Oh, well, thank

Grace 1:07:39
you. Yeah,

Scott Benner 1:07:40
no kidding. You really you add something to the to the site. It's it's hard to put into words. But there are people that come to mind when I think about that. That are and you're one of them. So I you have great enthusiasm, like you'll like like, we'll post something in the middle of the night. It's like a five year old episode. And like this episode, so good.

Grace 1:08:02
They're also good. I just, I don't know, they didn't get me excited. And they keep me. I'm glad to keep me wanting to keep I mean, I want to go for it anyways, because I want to be healthy. And I'm 58. And if there's complications, I don't like have time to play around. Right. But it's, it's wonderful. How did

Scott Benner 1:08:21
you? I appreciate that. How did you think this episode went? Do you think somebody will like this one?

Grace 1:08:27
Well, somebody out there might, you know, you never know, because it's such a private thing. You know, you never know who's dealing with what so I just figured I'd put it out there and say a couple of things that helped me in case somebody else is suffering because it's a real quiet thing. It's, it's like such a private thing. Like even for my business. To get somebody to put a review up, like five star, nobody, I mean, unless they're like, you know, like, this is their health thing in life or whatever, you know, like they're like super clean, healthy eater, but uh, you know, I do this just because, but for people that are sick and stuff, they don't even want to click like a five star button or whatever, because they don't want their name associated with the fact that they had this done like that. Anybody that now

Scott Benner 1:09:15
I hadn't considered that, but I'll tell you is a person who who has a podcast with like, you know, four and a half million downloads, and only 1000 reviews, but, but in email in private emails, like there are people who will say this, and you should question all of them. You should question me when I say it too. But I mean, I hear from 10 people a day. And at some point in hearing from them, the the concept of you've saved my life comes up in like some wording or another and it took me seven years to get 1000 reviews for my podcast. Really? Yeah, it's not some it's so it's hard for people to do in general is what I'm saying. Like forget that. It's about they can't poo You know what I mean? And I'm now you're making me wonder how many people don't want people to know that they have diabetes? And what?

Grace 1:10:06
Well, I don't know that it's that Scott because it's like, you know, twice a day I hear, you know, on the podcast and, you know, leave a review, whatever, right? It took me a year, I didn't find out till last week, how to leave a review on iTunes,

Scott Benner 1:10:24
and nobody anymore.

Grace 1:10:28
I know. That's why I got it. And I was like, I got an Apple phone because it works better with all the, you know, the Omnipod, and the dex and all of that. And I was like, it also works better with iTunes, because we can't get on iTunes with an Android. Right? And so I got on there. And I'm like, well, where's iTunes? Like, there's a place for it, you know, and I put it in the podcast, and it just came up like on an Apple app. And I was like, now I'm all confused. I don't know how to leave a review. I don't know what's going on. Yeah.

Scott Benner 1:10:53
On an iPhone, you just people problems gonna say you sound like you're 1000 years old, right? Just stop touching the buttons and listen to me, grandma. Okay, so it's Apple podcast is the native app that's on iPhones. Yeah, it's a real good app. And it's a solid way to listen to a podcast. So you open that up and searched for the show and follow the show. They used to call it subscribe. It also doesn't help that they change the wording all the time used to be No, subscribe. Now it's follow. And you follow the show? And then I think you scroll down and you can read it.

Grace 1:11:24
But like, yeah, I just yeah, just finally found that. Yeah.

Scott Benner 1:11:28
And it's fine. Like, look, I'm not gonna lie to you. Like, if you don't like the show. I mean, don't read it, please. Like. But, I mean, that would be weird. I mean, there's plenty of things that I've tried that I don't like, and I don't spend time running around making sure people know, I didn't like it. It I think that's a specifically strange decision to make. But whatever, you know, it's fine. I always just say to people, like, if you like the show, and you can say something about it, that you think will help other people want to listen, right? They can, you know, have the same experience, like leave a review. And you know, and then the truth is that I have that I get to use the reviews. It's like social media posts. And, you know, because I mean, or, or the other benefit is when people go to the app, and they're trying to make that decision, like, should I listen to this, they're going to scroll and look at the reviews. You know,

Grace 1:12:15
I'm really shocked that you said you have what around 1000? Yes, shocks me,

Scott Benner 1:12:19
it will sell well, it's not that easy to I actually, it's a really big number, like I'm proud of it. It's just it's hard to get people to like even like as an example, right? The What can I say? As an example here? Oh, okay. All right. T one day exchange. It's a great example, right? There's this short survey, if you're from the US, and you have type one year from the US and you're the caregiver, or someone from type one, you can take this survey in less than 10 minutes, that really is beneficial for people living with type one diabetes, and it'll help the show like, like, no, like, let me just be clear, I will get money if you complete the survey, right? And people are always like, the PAC is so valuable. So I mentioned it, and I have to generate four clicks to that link, just to get one person to finish the survey. And so and that's a good number. Like if you talk to people who do that kind of business, one in four, like, like a one in four completion rate is, is insane. It's a really great number. But that's how hard it is to get people to do things. And I understand it, too. I mean, there's things I supposed to do yesterday, I didn't do either, like I'm not coming down on people for it. I'm just saying it's the nature of, of the situation. So yeah, you having trouble getting a review, I think is normal, and then compounded by, like you said to people probably don't want to be associated with it.

Grace 1:13:50
Right? You know, that's private thing,

Scott Benner 1:13:52
which is a shame a little bit too. It's the same reason. I have so much trouble getting Type Two diabetics on the show. I think it type twos are not very public about diabetes. It's interesting, if you think about it, like there's a vibrant community around type one diabetes, but it doesn't exist around type two. And those people could help each other so easily. But you can't get them to talk.

Grace 1:14:15
It doesn't exist. I made a post about this one time, but I feel like it doesn't exist around type two, because they're such How do I put this, there's such an emphasis on there's a negative connotation that they brought it on themselves. And that even if the people don't internalize it kind of a shameful or whatever, it's like it's put on them. And like for me, something happened in my beta cells a long time ago. And you know, over time, and I see that a lot of times that that's where it starts for type twos is that there's some kind of beta cell issue that they're not functioning normally or whatever. And everybody just, like puts it on it that it's your fault, you got diabetes, because you ate a Snickers bar, you got diabetes, because you gained whatever amount of weight or there's something physically going on inside the body. Right? You know, and

Scott Benner 1:15:21
shame because you're right, because I'm guessing that the fear is that people are gonna think I did this to myself, I'm a slob I'm, you know, they're gonna think I'm overweight, they're gonna think all the things that people think when you hear type two diabetes, right? Like the things that people that pop into people's minds. I'm not saying that they're right, I'm just saying that that's what happens. And you don't want to be associated with that. And so you keep it to yourself. Right? And but the problem is, is that by keeping it to yourself, you don't let the information get out, that could help you really manage better Live better avoid things that you're dealing with now, you know, etc, etc. So

Grace 1:15:56
well, the other part of that, though, is that we're not taught any type of management, we're not taught how to make it better other than go home and eat right, like, I wasn't allowed to test my blood sugar. So they would give me enough strips. For one time a day, I could test and you weren't allowed to test more than that. And I had to fight with my insurance to be able to be tested to be able to test four times a day. If you're testing one time a day, you don't know what's going on with you. You don't know how to manage anything. Nobody talks about CGM. So I mean, that's just now becoming a thing for type two is like being aware of what's going on. Like we weren't allowed access to our bodies to know what is going on. So how are we supposed to do anything about it. And to that end, I have a friend that is a patient of the VA. And he's a type two, he is only permitted to test with one strip one time a week, and that's how they manage type two.

Scott Benner 1:17:02
i He's in the eights, that's terrible. It does some times strike me that the like, just what you just said, like, the biggest obstacle with helping people with type two diabetes is, is that if they have an eating schedule for their life, that's, that's not valuable for their health, just saying to somebody eat better, and get out of here. Like if they could just eat better magically, I think they would have done it on their own already, they wouldn't have waited to have diabetes, you know what I mean? Like, so if that's really the person's problem, like, right, and you just saying it to them doesn't fit. It doesn't matter if it's even the eating, like no matter what it is that people have built up. I don't know what to call it. Like, there's, there's just the way their life works, right? It's a rhythm, it's how it goes. Maybe they have trouble separating themselves from sugar or whatever they're, you know, they can't stop smoking, like, you know what I mean? Like, you don't mean like looking at a smoker and just going, Hey, you're gonna get lung cancer stopped smoking? Well, they go home and they go, I don't have lung cancer yet. So maybe it won't happen, and I'm not gonna stop smoking. And then they'll get lung cancer, like I literally have lung cancer might as well keep smoking like it's a it's the way people's minds tend to work. And then the medical community, knowing full well, you're not going to stop smoking when they tell you to says stop smoking, and then that they act like that absolves them. Yeah, I mean, like, well, I've done my part, I told the guy not to smoke. Well, yeah. But everyone knows not to smoke man, like no one, you know, it doesn't help anybody. You know, I wonder if I wonder if the thing that doesn't help type ones is that the immediacy of a bad outcome exists? It's not it's not take care of your type one diabetes, or maybe you'll get lung cancer, or maybe your type two diabetes will progress to blah, blah, blah, it's, Hey, you're gonna take care of this right now? Or three days from now you're going to be in a coma? Right? Yeah. Maybe that's the only thing that that that pushes people past their human? I don't know.

Grace 1:19:05
And it begs the question for the type twos beings, they don't, they tend not to test for them extensively, you're not allowed to see you're not allowed to see a picture of what's going on, like you're with type one. So you're not allowed to see what's going on through blood sugar, you're not allowed to see any trends. It's just, you know, pop in here twice a year and will tell you, quote, unquote, if you're good or bad, and not all type twos are overweight, and not all type twos eat like crap. And so it's like, how many type twos are misdiagnosed. And, you know, we see this all the time in the type one community because they're not allowed to even see what's going on with them in any way, shape or form. You know, and then they're blamed for it.

Scott Benner 1:19:55
I completely agree. You are making a lot of sense. I, Mike, I can't say enough. I think you're terrific. I I appreciate you having this long winding and confusing Lee. I have no I've never once thought of having hydrotherapy but now I'm like, I would probably try it once just to try it. Just to see what's up and see what happens. Like it. You see what comes out, right?

Grace 1:20:21
i Oh, yeah. And you can't see it too. Yeah.

Scott Benner 1:20:24
I also, I think, I think a lot recently about like, my, my gut biome, you know, and if I shouldn't, like, we just had it tested for our kids. And they're both taking, like, supplements right now to adjust their, their gut health. Like, each of them had a different kind of thing. So that's, yeah, so they're taking it now. I don't know enough about it yet to speak about it, you know, thoughtfully on here yet, but art is taking something right now that literally is like, I think it's smashed up poo in a capitalist. And, and she's like, she's so funny. She's just like, she said, in the jar, when they're all when all the all the capsules are together. It let me just be clear grace. It's and I was like, well, there you go. You take one out, it just smells like she goes, You know, it's funny. Together. They smell like, but when you just get one of them. It just smells like bad cheese. That's what she said.

Grace 1:21:25
That's hilarious. Just like, just like took a breath. When you said bad cheese. I was like, Oh,

Scott Benner 1:21:32
she's like, I can get that down, no problem. And that she takes no trouble at all. And she only has to do it for like 60 days or something like that. To try to make a change. Like like we're trying to figure out if she has like leaky gut, like she has acne that we can't impact for some reason. Right? Right. And and, and we did this through Addy through Dr. Benito. She sent out their samples getting the kids to get stool samples was hilarious. And that it was they weren't they weren't excited to do that.

Grace 1:22:03
That's funny. So they

Scott Benner 1:22:05
did that. And then they both got their reports back. Kohl's was Kohl's, I think there's like two things. Kohl's, like, you know, pop in once a day. And Arden's taking three. And that's, that's it when I said we're going to try it for 60 days and see if things that they've had complaints about in the past. Clear. It's worth it. That's fascinating.

Grace 1:22:24
I'd like to hear the results of that. She's that doctor is just she's really saying

Scott Benner 1:22:30
I think I'm going to do it myself so that I can talk about on the podcast better. Right, you know, because then because I know how my body works. So I'll be able to thoughtfully say like, this is what was happening before I did this thing. Here's what they told me. I did the treatment. Here's what happened afterwards whether something worked or not. Right, so I think I'm gonna do it like next year, like in the in the new year. Not around Christmas. I don't poop on cardboard at Christmastime.

Grace 1:22:56
No, that wouldn't be so hard. It would be the most festive thing to do.

Scott Benner 1:23:00
The hard and fast rule for me. Great. All right, well, I really appreciate you doing this. I thank you so much for coming on the show.

Grace 1:23:08
Oh, you're very welcome.

Scott Benner 1:23:18
A huge thanks to Ian pen from Medtronic, diabetes and Dexcom for sponsoring this episode of The Juicebox Podcast. Don't forget that you can go to in pen today.com to check out the pen and dexcom.com forward slash juice box to see about that free 10 day trial of the Dexcom G six oh what if you're eligible go looky looky I also want to remind you to go to T one D exchange.org. Forward slash juice box, take the survey. And of course, I want to thank grace for sharing her story. And if you wait till after the music, I'm going to tell you what Grace has learned about her health

head over to the place where I met grace, the Juicebox Podcast Facebook page Juicebox Podcast type one diabetes. Okay, here's my update from grace. I want to thank Isabel who also helps me with the Facebook page. She got this information for me from Grace yesterday because I was not feeling well. And I wasn't up to it. As of last week, Grace's diagnosis of gastroparesis, endometriosis, abdominal adhesions, all stand a new addition last month, she has epi exocrine pancreatic insufficiency. And this is the big one. I would do a little drumroll here, but I gotta be honest with you. It's very late and I'm not up for it. Grace is type two diagnosis has been changed to type one diabetes. Thank you so much for listening. I'll be back very soon with another episode of The Juicebox Podcast.