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Podcast Episodes

The Juicebox Podcast is from the writer of the popular diabetes parenting blog Arden's Day and the award winning parenting memoir, 'Life Is Short, Laundry Is Eternal: Confessions of a Stay-At-Home Dad'. Hosted by Scott Benner, the show features intimate conversations of living and parenting with type I diabetes.

#1178 Two Old Scotts

Scott Benner

Scott Has type 1 diabetes, celiac, asthma and more.

You can always listen to the Juicebox Podcast here but the cool kids use: Apple Podcasts/iOS - Spotify - Amazon MusicGoogle Play/Android  -  Radio PublicAmazon Alexa or wherever they get audio.

+ Click for EPISODE TRANSCRIPT


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 welcome to episode 1178 of the Juicebox Podcast

Okay, so Scott is 55 years old not me, Scott Scott, who you're going to listen to today on this episode with me so two old Scott's that's why we call it that he's 55 years old he has type one diabetes celiac asthma Raynaud's Gilbert's vitiligo, he's a marathon runner. Today we're going to talk to Scott about his life and some things that he's worried about, not the least of which is how newly diagnosed people are under informed. Nothing you hear on the Juicebox Podcast should be considered advice, medical or otherwise, always consult a physician before making any changes to your healthcare plan. T one D exchange.org/juicebox. Take the survey help type one diabetes research to leap forward you need to be a US citizen. Have type one diabetes or be the caregiver of someone with type one. The survey should take about 10 minutes to complete. You can do it from your phone or your tablet. You could probably do it while you're sitting on the toilet because it doesn't really take that long. He won the exchange.org/juice box but don't sit too long you'll get hemorrhoids.

US med is sponsoring this episode of The Juicebox Podcast and we've been getting our diabetes supplies from us med for years. You can as well. Us med.com/juice box or call 888-721-1514 Use the link or the number get your free benefits check it get started today with us med this show is sponsored today by the glucagon that my daughter carries. G voc hypo Penn. Find out more at G voc glucagon.com. Forward slash juicebox do this episode of The Juicebox Podcast is sponsored by ag one drink ag one.com/juice box. When you use my link and place your first order you're gonna get a welcome kit, a year supply of vitamin D and five free travel packs.

Scott 2:24
Hi, my name is Scott. I live somewhere in the Midwest near the mountains. I have type one diabetes. I was diagnosed in June of 2020. My doctor actually called me while I was mountain biking to tell me that I probably should eat less carbs for a few days. So they figured out what was going on. No family history whatsoever. But I have five other autoimmune disorders.

Scott Benner 2:46
Wow. which one came first.

Scott 2:50
I was diagnosed in my teens with Go Bears, which is you know, it's benign that my father actually had it. That's how I why I was tested for it. And then I have slight hands of arthritis. But it's I don't take anything for it. That was diagnosed when I was in my 20s. And then I got Giardia from drinking contaminated water in the woods one time and my doctor gave me blood tests for all this the medicine you have to take for it. My liver function was really weird. So I spent months in and out of tests before they finally decided I had celiac.

Scott Benner 3:28
Okay. And how old are you then? Cheese?

Scott 3:31
2000. So that was in my 30s. Okay, like 32 I have I've had asthma my entire life, which could be considered autoimmune to some extent because that's, you know, it's just inflamed inflammation. Yeah. And then was diagnosed in 2020 with type one. Did you ever DKA No, nothing.

Scott Benner 3:50
Okay, hold on. So I actually think this doesn't happen very frequently. I should have a sound effect. But I don't know anyone's ever said Gilberto's before to me. So common harmless liver condition in which the liver doesn't properly process bilirubin. Yep. Do you do anything for it? No,

Scott 4:09
the only the only effect it has on my life because I can't donate blood.

Scott Benner 4:14
Well, listen, that's not been. Exactly. He did a couple of things to get me out of responsibilities. That'd be alright. Wow. Okay, but how did how did you avoid type one for so long? You're like, uh, you don't I mean? Yeah,

Scott 4:29
it's so funny. So my wife's a nurse, a very, she has like, all these letters after her name on her badge and stuff. So she's, she's done some crazy stuff. And when I was diagnosed, she was actually at work. And I texted her my, my labs and she goes, type two, and I'm like, I have no idea. I mean, all I had was the lab. All I had was my glucose was like, 600.

Scott Benner 4:52
Yeah. What's your body style like Scott?

Scott 4:55
I mean, I'm a distance runner. Okay. Yeah.

Scott Benner 4:59
Is that why when she was like type that type to doesn't make sense to her she thought

Scott 5:03
nor did it to my my son. My pa is actually also a runner and I've run with her like around town, which is hysterical. We didn't know each other till so we moved here I never we moved to where we live now and I had never established a doctor here. Like a permanent doctor, I had gone to a group of doctors for you know, just do the checkups but did not have a specific position. So I made an appointment with this person just for you know, I had these weird symptoms. Um, I felt like my mouth was on fire. Like all the time, I couldn't eat anything with hot peppers in it. And I love hot peppers. I absolutely adore spicy food, and I couldn't eat anything. And that's why I went to the doctor.

Scott Benner 5:45
Did you ever figure out what that was? Yeah, it's as

Scott 5:48
soon as my blood sugar got back to normal. I was back to guzzling. Siracha like it's water.

Scott Benner 5:54
Oh, my goodness. That's interesting. Again, it's kind of your like a like a, like a virgin delete here. Yeah, no, no, I mean, you just saying so many things I've never heard before. I'm delighted, which I'm sorry that your medical maladies are delighting to me. But I mean, I've had a lot of conversations. I don't hear a lot of people say stuff that's different sometimes, you know, in this part of the conversation, so that's interesting. So you couldn't handle spicy food while your blood sugar's were high. Yeah.

Scott 6:20
And, like last night, I had rice we had we had Thai food last night and I went way overboard. And you know, when you go way overboard, obviously your pump fails or your pump site fail. So I was like 250 and like I could literally feel my mouth burning and I'm like, This isn't fair.

Scott Benner 6:40
That's quite the deterrent actually, isn't it? I can't I get when my bloods are good. I or my mouth will go on fire. But that's it, man. That's what else you got going on, that people don't know about? Like, is there any other weird stuff happening? No,

Scott 6:54
no, I think that's about oh, and I'm gonna say it wrong. I always do my doctor last meet vitiligo, vitiligo.

Scott Benner 7:01
Oh, it's, yeah, it's been a Lago. I spent the last week of my life with my wife mocking me pretty openly, because I'm enjoying the television show, Mayor of Kingstown. And I've been saying it a lot in the house. I'm like a child. And she says, it's, you're saying the word incorrectly? And I was like, is it not? Kingstown? And she says, no, no, the other word. So I said of, because I was screwing around by that. And she goes no mer, you're saying Merong. You're saying like ma Ra? And I was like, Yeah, and I was like, Mayor, and she goes, Nope, wrong. And I'm like, Mayor, and she's like, nope, and now it's now it's an Abbott and Costello routine. Like I'm like, mejor. And she goes, that's weird. And I was and so anyway, this goes back and forth. Then she gets frustrated with me. And then I think it's not even just frustrating. I think she looks at me and thinks I probably shouldn't have made another human being with him. I feel like I feel like that's where it is. Anyway, this went on for days because I like, like a Heiser. I don't know if you want to get it but I blew my way through two seasons of that show because I was enjoying it so much. So I've been talking about it for like two weeks. And anyway, I don't know how to say the word so don't feel bad about that a Lago which I only know because Michael Jackson had it. If you take insulin or sulfonylureas you are at risk for your blood sugar going too low. You need a safety net when it matters most. Be ready with G voc hypo pen. My daughter carries G voc hypo pen everywhere she goes, because it's a ready to use rescue pen for treating very low blood sugar and people with diabetes ages two and above that I trust. Low blood sugar emergencies can happen unexpectedly and they demand quick action. Luckily, G voc hypo pen can be administered in two simple steps even by yourself in certain situations. Show those around you where you store G vo Capo pen and how to use it. They need to know how to use G vo Capo pen before an emergency situation happens. Learn more about why G vo Capo pen is in Ardens diabetes toolkit at G voc glucagon.com/juicebox. G voc shouldn't be used if you have a tumor in the gland on the top of your kidneys called a pheochromocytoma. Or if you have a tumor in your pancreas called an insulinoma visit G voc glucagon.com/risk. For safety information. It's very important to me that the supplements I take are of the highest quality and that's why for the past number of years, I've been drinking ag one. Unlike many supplement brands. Ag one is researched and developed by an in house team of scientists, doctors and nutritionists with decades of experience in their respective fields. Taking care of my health shouldn't be complicated and ag one simplifies this by making it so that there aren't a million different pills and capsules. For me to keep track of just one scoop of ag one mixed in water every day, and I'm on my way, ag ones ingredients are heavily researched for efficacy and quality. And I love that every scoop also includes prebiotics, probiotics, and digestive enzymes for gut support, as well as vitamin C and zinc to support my immune health. I've partnered with ag one for so long because they make such a high quality product that I genuinely look forward to drinking every day. So if you want to replace your multivitamin, and more, start with ag one, try ag one and get a free one year supply of vitamin d3 que two and five free ag one travel packs with your first subscription at my link, drink ag one.com/juice box that's drink ag one.com/juice box, check it out.

Scott 10:51
I was in a research, a research trial for a COVID vaccine. And I got to be really good friends with some of the PIs that work for the research hospital. And they have me at the top of the list they said which means I might have a chance for a study they're doing with some new topical and light therapy and all that. So I'm hoping to get into that.

Scott Benner 11:15
Wait a minute. So that's for the vitiligo Where do you have it on your what do you have it on your body?

Scott 11:19
My hands, my face, really all over? So like, I have scars on my legs because I fall a lot. And every time I get a cut on my leg, it leaves like a white line that never never read pigments. That part does. I mean, it doesn't bother me. I told my wife all the time that it would be nice not to look like a tattooed freak for a little bit. And she laughs because that that nobody notices that. You know, everybody notices.

Scott Benner 11:44
Well Are you are you incredibly Caucasian.

Scott 11:47
I can get a tan with a flashlight. So okay, it's and and I live in the high desert. So I'm in the sun a lot.

Scott Benner 11:56
So is it it's interesting, like so your skin tone is? I don't know how to do this. Are you like Italian like that? That kind of skin tone?

Scott 12:06
No, I'm mostly German and Eastern European. So okay, if you put me in a cave for a year I'd be pasty white. Yeah, probably

Scott Benner 12:14
be able to see through you. I got I there's European and my kids from my wife. And more Italian from me. And they tan well, but they they go to translucent in the wintertime. It's it's pretty interesting. Really is oddly interesting how, like pasty they get without the sun. That's your whole life. The vitiligo or no? Yep, that's been well,

Scott 12:40
I mean, I so I was like 19. And it's kind of funny. I was a bartender and hair halfway down to my button. My mother hated it. My mother thought that I look like a hippie. And I guess it was 21 I was driving home to see my mom. And I just literally stopped the haircut place, like halfway in the middle of Pennsylvania, and got it all cut off. And when the lady cut it off, because you have gray hairs, and I'm like I do not I'm 21 or 22 or whatever it was and she's like, No, but you pull one out. And that's when it started. That's when I noticed that that I started losing pigmentation and within a year I you know, I was partially gray and within like five years I was completely and totally gray and had patches all over and every doctor I went to went yep, that's what it is. It's

Scott Benner 13:26
always encouraging when they do that. We were at a we were we were at a doctor or Arden was getting she had a lot of shoulder pain. She got a like a steroid injection in her shoulder, right. She had like some inflammation, I guess and and it was fascinating how quickly like he put the injection that went away immediately was crazy. But not the point like while we were there. She's like, you know, I'm pretty bendy. Like Arden's not like super flexible, but she's got, like flex to her. And he's like, ah, that's probably that ILS Dan Lawler. And we were like, yeah, we've we've considered that that could be that we don't know, she doesn't have a diagnosis or anything like that. Bah, bah, bah. And he goes, Yeah, there's nothing I can do about that. He just he just said it. Like, you're gonna want to let that one go. He's like, you can exercise and stuff. And then he just sort of stopped talking. I was like, what a lovely bedside manner you have, sir. Okay, so your autoimmune stack up as you get older. Now your mom and dad don't have any autoimmune stuff or they don't have diabetes.

Scott 14:27
My dad had Go Bears and that is the only thing we know about as far back now I did have an uncle who this would have been like, in the 50s or 60s Probably had celiac because I always remember it's Bill never drank beer. That was the whole family knew this like never offer bill a beer because he'll get sick.

Scott Benner 14:45
Oh, no kidding. And that was that. Yeah. And I

Scott 14:49
also remember him when we go to would go to their house. Like he would eat steak and potatoes. And that was literally the only two things he would eat was was was red meat and potato He knows how long do you live? Not long like 60

Scott Benner 15:05
The way you giggled Scott was almost like devious. No, we got him Don't worry. No, I mean, yeah, because I mean, there's a couple of other nutrients you need.

Scott 15:16
You kind of want to balance that meant maybe have a salad once a week

Scott Benner 15:20
or whenever throwing a vitamin even. Yeah, but yeah, that's it. Your dad was the Go Bears and nothing else and maybe an uncle with celiac blade just all jumped on you now. Do you have kids? Yeah. Did they have anything?

Scott 15:31
I have a 22 year old, a 25 year old and 28 year old and we made them all do trial net. We had them all tested for celiac. When I was diagnosed. Nothing, absolutely nothing. And I'm good with that.

Scott Benner 15:47
Geez, did you grow up under a powerline? Or something like that?

Scott 15:51
By train track? Does that count?

Scott Benner 15:52
I don't know if it does or not. I just remember those stories about people whose homes burned near power lines, then they turned into Spider Man or something like that? Yeah, which of these things has the biggest impact on your life?

Scott 16:05
Probably the celiac because it just minutes. I live in a place where we're like, even the breweries have tons of gluten free selections. It. It's amazing how much like gluten free beer I can have. But like getting, I can't stand gluten free pizza. I just I don't like the the texture and the taste. And so it makes it hard to work in sales. I should note that I so I go out with customers and take them to dinner and stuff. And so the celiac really impacts that because I don't want to like, oh, yeah, I have to eat gluten free. Let's go pick this place. Or I'm diabetic. Let's go pick, you know, someplace that's low carb or something like that. So the celiac makes it hard to sometimes to you're

Scott Benner 16:53
gonna say you're a bummer in the car. Like, let's get pizza. Now, we want to Chinese. I want my blood sugar to be high all night. No, what about

Scott 17:03
these conversations? Yeah, I'm sorry.

Scott Benner 17:04
What's it like in a bit in a because that's a real business setting. That's even beyond business. Because it's not like it's not like the people sitting around you in a cubicle or the the people you work with every day. Like when you have to sit down at a meal and give yourself insulin. Does that come with a description every time when you meet a new person? Yeah,

Scott 17:24
so I'm running loop. And I work in a very, very high tech field. So I work with a lot of people who are programmers and software guys and AI and all that. And I always chop loop and the pump and the CGM and talk about you know, the fact that we're running pirates or not pirated, unapproved code and all that. So it's a great icebreaker with some people like that. I've had people who have literally built lube for their the one guy built it for his nephew.

Scott Benner 17:52
After seeing it with you. Yeah. That's pretty cool. All right. So cool. So I mean, you're an older you get me you're in your 50s. I was just thinking about this this morning. The the lessons that come with being older, about like patients, I was thinking a lot about patients this morning, and how, like when I was young patients felt like apathy. But that doesn't feel that way anymore. And, you know, I'm assuming you've learned along the way that none of this matters. So, you know, it's just tell people who cares. If they don't like it? What are you going to do? I wouldn't imagine it's ever gotten in the way of business, right? Like nobody's ever like curled up and been like a like that. Right?

Scott 18:30
That my last job. I had a meeting on Tuesday at 11am, every other Tuesday. And I would I would have to prep for that meeting. Because it was that was my biggest customer. And like, I would hear from my management on a routine basis that this customer leaves, so do you. And they were unhappy, and I was getting so that they are the reason I left my old job because I was under all this pressure and I was getting no support. And I just Life's too short to hate your job and I hated it. So I left and then bit every Tuesday I would have to prep for this meeting, I would have to take a unit of insulin, like 15 minutes before the meeting because I would spike and I would I would go from you know a flatline of 90 with no carbs whatsoever. 280 in 20 minutes, meaning just the stress of it. Yeah, that is the only thing that I could possibly come up with it. The diabetes impacted my work, okay.

Scott Benner 19:26
I used to hate ordering my daughter's diabetes supplies. I never had a good experience. And it was frustrating. But it hasn't been that way for a while actually for about three years now. Because that's how long we've been using us med us med.com/juice box or call 888721151 for us med is the number one distributor for FreeStyle Libre systems nationwide. They are the number one specialty distributor for Omni pod dash, the number one fastest growing tandem distributor nationwide, the number one rated distributor index. com customer satisfaction surveys. They have served over 1 million people with diabetes since 1996. And they always provide 90 days worth of supplies and fast and free shipping. US med carries everything from insulin pumps, and diabetes testing supplies to the latest CGM, like the libre three and Dexcom G seven. They accept a Medicare nationwide and over 800 private insurers find out why us med has an A plus rating with the Better Business Bureau at us mad.com/juice box or just call them at 888-721-1514 get started right now. And you'll be getting your supplies the same way we do. Yeah, you know, it'd be beeping, while these people are already like pissed about something that's not nothing you can really do about because you're just you're just in there like you're a mediator, right? And that's scenario. Like they're mad about something that's not you're doing it's the business and now you have to go in there and explain to them why they shouldn't be mad.

Scott 21:06
Yeah, I was the designated apologize or

Scott Benner 21:10
is that on your CV? Is your business making people upset? Scott can handle it. Started tap dance and singing a song at the same time, right is what it feels like? i Yeah, yeah, yeah, no, I almost know what you mean, I didn't before I had this job. But now I I'm in a weird position where the value of the podcast to advertisers is something that some of them just intrinsically understand. And some of them don't get at all. Like it works. But they don't know why. And they want it to be trackable. And you're busy explain to them. That's not really how this works. Like, I know you want it to work that way you want it to be person A clicked on this thing, they bought that thing, it came through my link, you can attribute that to me, I have value. And that's literally, you know, that's the business side of my life. Except that there are plenty of things that people go into doctors offices, and they're like, Hey, give me a one of these. Or the doctors like do you need a blank? And they go yeah, I'll take blank because they might not even think it's because they heard on the podcast, but it is. And that's not trackable for me. Yeah, some of them really get it actually a lot of them get it, and a few of them don't. And having meetings with those people. That's what it feels like. It feels like I'm tap dancing on the head of a pin, singing a song and juggling at the same time and trying to get them to see something that they don't understand. And it's it's a ton of pressure, because it's a diabetes podcast. Like there's not a never ending list of people who are super interested in advertising. You know what I mean? Like, it's, I hate the pressure, honestly, I wish I could just make the podcast and not think about that. Or they would just agree that I'm fantastic. And just send the ad revenue, and I'll do the ads for him. You know what I mean? So that'd be nice. But I take your point, I would. It's nice that you were in this situation to get away from that. I don't want to make it sound like I'm like burdened or anything like that. I make a podcast, Scott, you don't I mean, like might be after I do this with you, I'm gonna have lunch with a friend, and then I'm gonna get my hair cut later today. So I'm not like, it's not the worst thing in the world. Anyway, I'm gonna get to your diabetes in a second. But I'm interested in you having to go to basically your adult children and telling them they have to get a medical procedure. So was that met easily with them? Were any of them like, I don't want to do this here to talk them into it.

Scott 23:44
So I have two mini me's The one is the anxiety ridden bundle of nerves, me and the other one is the sarcastic and rude me. And the bundle of nerves is the boy and the sarcastic one is the girl and the boy said, I'll do it. But I don't like needles. And the girl said I swear to God, if I get diabetes, because of you. You're you're going to the what was it? Oh, she said you're going to the county nursing home, not the paid one.

Scott Benner 24:16
There you go. Even the anxiety Scott, I think might be a little like, I'm not going to tell you anxieties autoimmune because that would be silly. And I'm not a researcher. But I do think that after having so many conversations, I don't even know how to put it but I think there are things that run in that river. You know, like how many people have I spoken to who are like, Oh, I have a bipolar uncle. I'm like how many people would type one have to say that to you before you go play? That seems like more than a coincidence. And you know, or the even just allergies. I had terrible allergies when I was younger, like really bad. And they've gotten better over time. Oh my but my son got blasted with them when he was is like a senior in high school. And they've gotten better over time. But he's always like a like a little sniffy when you say him or something like that. You don't I mean, yeah, I

Scott 25:11
am this time of year just the dust here is crazy. And when the the wildfires are really bad No, we escaped so the central part of the US escaped most of the the Canadian model file fire smoke this summer, like it always back East. And that's really weird. But when we get the Utah fires and stuff, it's absolutely terrible. Here, I ran a half marathon and air quality that was kinda sketchy. Like afterward, looking at the news, we probably shouldn't have been running. But I spent like a week using an inhaler because of it.

Scott Benner 25:42
Really, just from running out doors in that. Yeah, yeah,

Scott 25:47
it was a bad day. Like, it's funny. I picture shows up on my Facebook memories all the time. And it's like, you can't even see the sun. It's just like this blur in the sky. There

Scott Benner 25:57
were days here where it was dark during the day. Yeah, and yellow. Like, the sun couldn't get through at all. And the sky was dystopian, but like, no kidding. Like, I'm not over exaggerating. And it you couldn't see, sometimes you couldn't see down the street. And that was from Canada, and I'm in New Jersey. And it was just, it was not a thing that happens around here. So it took it was really off putting hard to breathe. You go outside, you couldn't get a deep breath. Like you know, you cough it was really something else, actually. Bye bye

Scott 26:31
have to wait for you to release some of the Canadian ones that you Canadian people that you interviewed this summer to see if you're blaming them for oh, I

Scott Benner 26:38
blamed them all heartily. And I know Canadians that I would text personally, and tell them that I don't know what you're doing up there. But please pull it together. I said, if this was America, we'd have this handled by now. I don't know if we would have or not, by the way. I just you know, like, come on. And so you're saying that your, your level of I don't know, like tolerance for that changes by the like, in the year? Or is it more about the dust in the air?

Scott 27:06
It's more about the dust in the air. It doesn't help that I have two very, very dogs and a cat. And, you know, any normal person without with bad allergies would probably start by not getting a couple of dogs and then you know letting them sleep on the bed with you.

Scott Benner 27:19
Yeah, no, that's a bad decision. I'll tell you right now my son loves our dogs. i If he ever gets ones and adult Arby's I'll be stung. There's one of our dogs if he touches it, he he can't even touch the dog. Oh, you know, and my wife has gone through bouts of that through the years where she could wrestle with the dog. There was no trouble down though I can't touch it back to its better again. And it's actually difficult as a parent and as a husband. Because there's part of me, it's like, I should take this dog for a walk and not let it come back. Because it's like, this is a really terrible for my family. And there's part of me that's just like, I don't maybe dogs just don't belong in a house. You know? It because this is it's more than they can handle. For sure. You know, I get like, sometimes I'm like, is it bad for everybody? I don't know. I don't think I'm gonna turn people off on having a pet but I take your point. I don't know why the hell you would do that. I was like your Do you like my dogs now? Well, hey, listen. I like them, too. You also like pizza, but you stopped eating it? What are you gonna do put pizza in the dogs in the same box and put them in the garage? Yeah. But it is. Pizza is good. It's terrible. Sorry. I'm really sorry.

Scott 28:35
You were talking about what affects me the most. I hear you talk about your pizza recipe. I would love to do that. I love to cook. I'm actually fairly competent at it too. I would love to cook pizza like you You made but you just can't make gluten free pizza like that. It doesn't

Scott Benner 28:52
work. You need the gluten. Actually, it's what you need. It's all about that mean when you learn to make the dough there's nothing to dough by the way. It's like flour and salt water to me yeast. But when you really like go dig down deep and learn about what makes a good pizza dough. It's all about that building of those those gluten molecules in there. And that's what makes it fluffy and crispy and airy and everything you're looking for. So yeah, it sucks, man. I'm sorry. There's so much good. Like if you told the story about your whatever uncle or whatever, the beer guy that couldn't drink beer. And obviously that's a really long time ago. I'll be before it sounds like he was before a factory farming. Yeah, right. But now there's so many people are affected by it. It really does make you wonder like, what's on the wheat? Like, is it something they're spraying on the wheat that's like, causing it more like I don't know, obviously. But the the incidence has gone up so much over the last few decades. It's just seems crazy to me. Honestly.

Scott 29:52
It's amusing to me that my wife and kids love to poke fun at me like we'll go to a restaurant and be like, hey, the spread is good. You want some? Or you know, they did this to me all the time. And we all laugh and joke about it. My wife went to the doctor yesterday for some stomach issues she's been having. And the doctor told her he wants her to go gluten free for a month. And she came home almost in tears. And I'm like, I don't I feel bad for not that bad. She

Scott Benner 30:19
upset because of the gluten or because of the crap she thought she was going to take from you. No,

Scott 30:25
no, no, because of the gluten. So she was she's like, she never met a carb. She didn't like she has she and the dogs have breakfast cookies every morning, which sounds terrible. But they have these the best coughs I mean, you

Scott Benner 30:41
want to tell her to go on we go V because she just wouldn't care about food at all. And then that would fix that I because we had we made something for dinner the other night and it just went poorly. I bought the wrong. It's a long story. I'm not going to bother you with it. But I bought the wrong meat. I usually get it into one place. I got it another place, went to eat it. And we were immediately both of us were like, This is terrible. Now we've been cooking all day. And we just like swallowed hard and threw in the garbage. And I was like, I'll go get a pizza. It was just a knee jerk reaction from like my life before being on weight loss medication. And then we got the pizza. And both of us took a couple of bites here like we don't want this is terrible, like so heavy and greasy. And like nobody like really. It's very interesting how that those GLP medications just tell your brain like I don't want this. Like I'm not telling your wife to do that for that reason. But I'm telling you if she was using that she wouldn't give a crap about those breakfast. Things. She wouldn't care at all. It's fascinating. I was explaining it to my, my dentist yesterday. He's like, how's this working? And I said, Well, I think I might have a GLP deficiency because as soon as I started taking it, I started losing weight. Well before it even like caloric restriction could have helped me. But I just said I'm like my brain is not my brain never tells me I'm hungry. And my stomach never tells me I'm hungry. And so I need to an even when I'm incredibly hungry. It just feels like oh, it would be nice if I had a meal. Like that's the extent of the pressure I get from it. I think they're going to do more testing. And I think you're gonna see type ones get GLP medications in the future. Yeah, I'm talking to a couple of people. Eventually I'll have some of them on the podcast, who are experiencing a significant decrease in the amount of insulin they need. And they're a onesies are going down their blood sugars are more stable. They're using the GLP medication for weight, but it's actually working so well in other places. Anyway, that's not what we're here to talk about. I have a question about Raynaud's. How does that present for you?

Scott 32:47
Mostly after exercise? Like, if it's below about 60 degrees, my hands will get like completely numb. And there have been times that I literally had to go so come and water because it gets painful. And you know with vitiligo, my hands were already mostly white, but they turned like like a corpse white, like printing paper white. I've had people stopped me and asked me if I was okay, because I looked at my hands were so white,

Scott Benner 33:18
like a stranger.

Scott 33:20
I ran a I think it was half marathon. And at the end, I was just like bent over catching my breath and the medical staff came come over and they looked at me like are you okay? And I'm like, Why? Why are you asking? And they started pointing my hands and they're like, your hands are really really white and like, Oh, it's just we're not don't

Scott Benner 33:39
worry, I have a lot of autoimmune issues. I I like that you said corpse white. That's not a color you're going to find on a on a wall paint ever, I don't think but it does paint a picture doesn't it? So numb or cold? Both

Scott 33:54
so I can I can like it'll get painfully cold and then it'll get numb and then it'll get painfully cold again and then it'll get numb.

Scott Benner 34:03
And there's no way to warm your hands. Right? It's just

Scott 34:07
it goes away. You know after 1520 minutes I draw my hands in my pockets and put gloves on and it goes away. As

Scott Benner 34:14
you're sitting here talking about I'm squeezing my hand I'm like why am I squeezing my hand while I'm doing this? A couple of weeks ago I went to touch by type one Orlando and I spoke at their event beautiful event really terrific. It was all day Saturday. I flew home early Sunday morning to be with my I was like oh I don't want to miss the whole weekend with my wife so I'm going to take an early flight to get home. That was a mistake. Here's why it was mistake 6am Flight had to be up at three o'clock in the morning in the hotel didn't go to bed till 10 o'clock at night the night before got up was exhausted like you know middle of the night Uber to the to the airport, get there and then my flight gets pushed back an hour and a half which is just has nothing to do with the story but is incredibly frustrating because you started thinking I could have slept till four o'clock. And anyway, we finally get on the flight. It's this as you might expect on a Sunday morning. A very sparsely you know, but distributed flight. There's people in seats here and there. And before we take off, stewardess comes up, and she just makes the announcement. Listen, there's enough people on this flight, you guys can all have your own row, just feel free to get up and move. So I go to another row, I'm on a very low budget airline because it goes to an airport very close to my house. And so I'm like, Alright, I know that the seats are basically concrete with a piece of paper overtop of them. But like, whatever, you know, like, I'm going to land 15 minutes from my house. So this is the thing I want. So I go into the row and I'm like, I'm exhausted. I'm gonna lay down and I lay across the three seats, I just curl up on my right side, like a baby and I go to sleep. In my cozy Earth joggers, by the way, in case people are wondering, cozy earth.com Use the Africa juice box to save 40% And I'm laying across the thing. I hope they're, I hope they're still get relaxed or six months from now this comes out, I pass out Scott like, I'm gone. And I am awoken by my right hand asleep. Like that's what wakes me up like how painfully my right hand is asleep. And I'm so tired. I just flip over. And I go back to sleep. I sleep for another like 90 minutes. And when I wake up, my right hand is still asleep. I was like, that's weird. But I had no idea about time like I had been so like, sound asleep. I didn't know. Anyway, I'm getting my bag. I'm getting off the plan. I'm shaking my hand out in the parking lot. I'm shaking my hand, I get my car. I'm like what is happening? And it is now three weeks later, and I still have numbness on my right hand. I think I slept on the metal rail, right on my elbow where that nerve passes through your elbow, like near like where I guess people would call it like your funny bone. And I think I damaged the nerve in my arm. I think I was that passed out on this hard thing. So it's getting better very, very slowly. And the internet. Please don't laugh of me. If you're listening. The Internet tells me this could take months to go away. Yeah, yeah. So I'm not like going to a doctor because I have like full, like strength and range of motion, all that stuff. And it does seem to get better as time passes, but incredibly slowly. So and my point of telling you that is that every day, I'm bothered by it. And I can't imagine what would happen if I went for a run and my hands were freezing cold I'd be I mean, I would find that upsetting. But I guess you're used to it. It's weird, though

Scott 37:30
I don't seem to have the problem skiing, or like hiking, or it's just that it's it seems to be just after some sort of strenuous activity.

Scott Benner 37:39
Yeah, I'm gonna definitely end up with a problem as I get older because I have a lawn mower that I sit on and my arms are out in front of me. And if I do that, in the cold, my fingers go numb. And they actually a doctor told me they think it's the where the nerve passes through my shoulder. That gets pinched. And I was like, well, can they do anything about that? And he's like, oh, there's an incredibly difficult surgery you could try. It's like, nevermind, I guess maybe I'll just get a different lawnmower or, you know, whatever. But yeah, you love it when they're like, Oh, it's a surgery. It's really hard and like, thanks. But anyway, this thing with my elbow, and my hand is it's hard not to be concerned every day. Like, you know, just When water hits it, and it feels weird. Like, it feels like my half of my arm and half of my hand like the skin on top is like half asleep. I don't know another way to put it. Have you seen a doctor about this? I looked on the internet, Scott. And the internet said to me. Yeah, that's the same thing. I also called My shoulder surgeon. Because I thought that maybe it was emanating from my shoulder. He of course was like that's not your shoulder at your neck. I'm like, Dude, it's definitely not my neck, it might be my elbow. And he said, well, listen, if it persists, and I was like, right, he said, Go see a doctor and I was like, what kind of doctor and he said two different kinds. You can either see a psychiatrist or a neurosurgeon or neurologist, and I was like, alright, neurologist, I understand loosely I'm like a psychiatrist. He said they have access to drugs that actually impact nerve pain. So apparently there's something that psychiatrist prescribed for something else. That also helps nerve pain and I was like Alright man, I'm gonna believe you but I'm also gonna go with I think it's gonna go away. So as long as it continues to get better, I'm not going to think anything of I'm just going to let it go. I think I've given myself two months and then I'm gonna go to a doctor. You think that's too long it doesn't get worse like I can sit and work all day at my desk doesn't change. So I don't know it's I probably should go sooner Is that what you're telling me? It's it's amusing

Scott 39:53
because we're talking about my my discovering ahead diabetes story about how I The Burning Man thing, but I for like four or five weeks I had been drinking we, it was June, and it's hot here. And we've been hiking all over just tons of hiking, no one hike, I took a two liter backpack of water or two liters, like a Camelback style backpack with two liters of water and drank it all, and then tried to get my wife to give me hers before that, but I did the same thing. I'm like, I'm gonna, I have this this thing I'm concerned about, but I'm going to I'm going to set a timeframe it's going to be like, if it's not better in two weeks, then I'll go to the doctor.

Scott Benner 40:33
Well, the internet said that my this nerve thing could last of the six months. I won't let it go that long. But, you know, I mean, also, where am I getting the neurologist from, and you know, I'm gonna go to a neurologist held my hands asleep, and I know, he's gonna be like, Oh, that'll go away. I'm just gonna be so angry. But I also think about, I shouldn't maybe I shouldn't say this on the podcast, not like big stuff like not like your blood sugar being 300 every day or something like that. But these little things. I also do like a cost benefit analysis in my head about how long I think I'm going to live. Mike, can I just deal with this until it's over? Salad feels to me sometimes. I mean, and Madison thinks about things that way too. Like, if you need a hip or a knee, they're going to tell you wait as long as you can. But we can't wait too long to get too old. But we need to wait long enough that you'll never need it again. Because you can't you the next time this hip goes out, you'll be too old for the surgery. Like so that is I mean, partly our bodies are what they are, and they're not just eminently fixable all the time. This is some bullshit. I'm not gonna lie, the amount of it feels really weird. Like just sitting there, my path, my hand tingling, and not tingling enough that you're like, stop just enough that the world feels different. And anybody who's had their hand goes sleep knows what I'm talking about. But anyway,

Scott 41:55
I busted my thumb up on a snowboarding on some feature. And I went to the doctor after three weeks of agony. And the doctor said, Well, we can cut it up and, and fix all this stuff inside of it. Or you could take Motrin for another two, three weeks and just live with it. And so my left arm doesn't look like my right thumb, because I was not having having my hand and the cast for six months, because my thumb felt weird.

Scott Benner 42:18
You know, we're gonna have to call this episode to old Scots, because I just had toe surgery. And I will gloss over it because I think I've mentioned it on here, but I just woke up one morning, I'm embarrassed over a year ago, and maybe longer than that now. And my toe hurt a lot. And I know, in my mind, I was like Kelly's like, Did you stop it? Did you I have no recollection of anything happening to my till I went to bed, it was fine. I woke up and felt like somebody was stabbing my toe. And I'm like, this will go away, then it didn't, then it got worse. And then there'd be good days and bad days. And I was like maybe there's a bone chip in there. And like someday, like, you know, I'm like telling myself all kinds of stories. Then I get into the position where I have to fly unexpectedly, to go say goodbye to my mother. And as me and my youngest brother Rob are like trying to get through like the Chicago airport. He's like, dude, do you need a walker or something? And I couldn't like I couldn't walk. I was like walking on my heel, like running through the airport on my heel. I was like, Oh, crap, I'll go to the doctor. So I went to urgent care because I was like, just do an x ray. And it'll probably show like a bone ship or something. And then I can take it to a real doctor and get it taken care of. Like, that's what I thought. And so sure enough, she actually isn't she goes, Oh, it looks like a little bone shipped off here. I was like, and then I felt like a genius. I was like, I knew this is what happened. And she goes looks like it's settled in the knuckle here. Blah, blah. I took the film to a doctor. He goes, Oh, yeah, it looks like you have some arthritis in this knuckle. We'll clean that out and we'll be fine. I was like, great. I woke up from the surgery he goes wasn't arthritis. I was like, wait, what he was, like, takes a lot of fraying in there. And I'm like, what? And he goes the ligament not the ligament. The other thing. Crap. Fiber says something doesn't matter. That something was all frayed away. He goes anyway, I had to give you microfracture surgery. And I was like, why? And he's like, Yeah, we poked like, countless holes in the bone, a cartilage. He's like, so that hopefully the cartilage will grow into the holes and kind of reattach your toe. And I was like, seriously, then he's like, Yeah, I'm like, Okay. Like, I thought he was cleaning out a knuckle and taking out like a bone chip. And I'm like, how does that happen? He goes, No, no, you probably heard it. At some point. I was like, okay, so yeah, the cartilage was just fraying in my toe. And it was my big toe and it wouldn't bend and I couldn't drive off it. So I couldn't walk Okay. And boy, I'll tell you, that writes your brain about what you're in control of, you know what I mean? Like that little thing in there is broken like I'm now hobbled, like legitimately hobbled and in a significant amount of pain, I took a fistful of over the counter drugs to get through that flight. Anyway, it actually seems to be working, it's getting better all the time. And the pain is very minimal. So hopefully this works, because if not Scott, they're going to fuse my toe. And I'm like, they're gonna want now it's okay, we just go to the knuckle, we fuse the bone together. I was like, that's the fix? Like, where the hell are we? Anyway, that's where medicine is for your toe. for yourself. You don't use medication for asthma symptoms, or just an inhaler? Or is it and is that prescribers over the counter? It's

Scott 45:52
it's a theater, although it's a script, and I haven't used it. I haven't used it at all this summer. Like I said, we had a very, very low smoky summer here, and I'm really happy with

Scott Benner 46:03
it. You don't need it to run. No, no,

Scott 46:07
I, it's kind of funny. I ran a small race down and done by Colorado Springs. This weekend. It was only a 10th of a mile for 24 hours. And the dust was really bad down there. And I thought, Oh, I didn't bring my inhaler. This is going to stink really badly. But I had no problems whatsoever. Thank goodness.

Scott Benner 46:30
Hold on one second. I am looking at. I'm getting a live. I'm moderating my Facebook group live. So somebody looks like they've jumped into the group. And they're trying to scam people. And Isabelle knows I'm recording. And she wants to make sure I want to do what she wants to do.

Scott 46:52
Yeah, so it's just one of those. I trust her judgment. Yes.

Scott Benner 46:55
Yeah, I think she's just because she's gonna have to ban the account. And she's like, I want to be sure before I do this. Okay. That's what we're gonna do. I have a whole life that no one knows about. She just, she just typed by to me about the account, not to me. So I'll say thank you still recording? Yeah, it's, it's a real world, like a whole job moderating that group. It's so big. You're in it. I know, I work because I recognize name from it. But there's this thing, like, the bigger the group gets, I think the more valuable it gets. It's amazing how well it works for people, there's no time of day in a 24 hour day, you can ask a question and not get responses, which is amazing. But once there's that many people, and it's that active, then the members look like fish in a barrel to people who are either scamming or selling. And they'll very artfully try to make what they're doing seem legitimate, or caring or whatever. And then they get you then they DM with you, and then they take your money. So it's hard to

Scott 48:05
work in a space that does content moderation, not what you're doing. But on a similar vein, and I see it all the time in all of these groups where someone comes in and goes, Look at the shirt I just bought, or look at this thing I just bought. And you look, you click on their profile, and they they joined five minutes ago. Yeah.

Scott Benner 48:24
Oh, there was a I've said this before. But it's worth saying, again, a coordinated effort to sell shoes. And it was fascinating how well it was coordinated. One account, by the way, could all be the same person like I would have. Like, there's no way to know what you're dealing with. But one account says, I have diabetes, and I'm having foot pain. And I'm looking for a shoe. That's all it asks for. It needs help. And then real people come in and give help, while along the way. And other accounts will come in and say, Oh, my doctor gave me these and check them out because they really worked. And then they'll have a third account, come in and say I use those two. Then the first account says, I'm going to give these a try. And then they appear to be having a real conversation. And then before you know it, other people in the thread start buying the shoes too. By the time that all got broken down by one of my moderators who figured the whole thing out Stephanie, she like, sniff the whole thing out like Columbo. I think we learned that there were like six accounts that were all on this one shoe scam, just to make everybody feel like it was a real conversation. It's good business to like, I mean they're making money off of it. And

Scott 49:39
it's chose the wrong side of this. I sit in much spammers all day long. Constantly 24/7 I think these people are idiots I could I could get around me.

Scott Benner 49:48
I could do a much better yet. Well that is the other problem is often where they're easy to catch is there. They don't have a grasp of the English language usually, which is what makes it easier to like you know, like I'm a pirate like that kind of thing. And like it's easier, but when they, when they do when they can speak English well and use phrasing correctly and stuff like that. It's hard to find sometimes, I've often thought the world is lucky, and I'm a good person. I don't know if you've ever had this feeling. Because I could, I could definitely rip people off if I needed to, like I would, I could see how it could be done. Like, that's what you're saying, like, I could get around this if I needed to. I don't have any, like ill intentions for people. But if I did, I mean, my God, like there's, you could, you could do this all day long. Just little little, like scammy things all day long. You could you could do nothing but print money doing that. And that's what's happening. It's everywhere. So anyway, we keep it out. And it's a lot of work. And I hope people appreciate it. Because there's times it's like, one o'clock in the morning and I'm getting texts, like we have to do something about this. We can't leave this set, like I want to sleep, and you kind of can't. So anyway, alright, Scott, why did you want to come on the podcast? I mean, we've only been talking for 45 minutes, so now's probably the time to ask you.

Scott 51:07
Mostly I just You had reached out about people who are diagnosed as adults. find it fascinating watching basically the just found out crowd or the community. Oh, yeah, I was diagnosed, I've been in the hospital for a week, what do I do? It pains me to know and that these people were getting out of the hospital and asking what to do, because I think I mentioned I was actually mountain biking when my doctor called to tell me I had diabetes. So I wasn't in the hospital. But I came back. It took a little bit to find an endocrinologist, like a week. And I basically just ate salads for a week because I didn't know what else to do. And that's what my wife said to do. So I did that. Yeah, I got him with the Endo. They gave me some information. But, and she's a great fit. Don't get me wrong, I loved her. She was the best endocrinologist I've ever met. Then she moved, and they got another one. And she's just as good. So I have this really great care team, I have an RD. And I see these people jumping in the group like, what's the carb? What? How do I take insulin like these, these, these supremely basic questions seem to be not covered well by the medical staff. And that's, that's what led me to, that's actually how I found your podcast was one of the other, you know, just the typical type one groups on Facebook, or were just driving me nuts with the sheer volume of this and misinformation.

Scott Benner 52:29
It's it's tough. Jenny and I are prepping a series right now that's aimed at doctors. And so the the idea behind it is, we're going to talk to doctors about what they should understand and what they should be telling people. And at the same time, we think the information will serve as education for the patients about what they should be expecting from their doctors, right. So it should, it should serve two groups, you should see like the massive amount of information we've pulled together from, from patients from people listening to the podcast are like, here's what my doctor doesn't know, or here's what I wish they understood. And we pulled that all together. And then we're going to kind of reverse engineer it and try to basically teach doctors how to take care of diabetes through a podcast, because I'm out of ideas about how to like, I'm, I'm past hoping it's gonna get better. Because it just isn't like the way the medical system is set up. And the way they're taught in school, they just don't know. And they're never going to and no one's going to change it. So I figured if this podcast helped people to live better with diabetes, maybe we could help doctors to understand it better. And I think it's big enough now that it's time to take a swing at that. So anyway, it's something we're going to be working on through the end of the year and the beginning of next year.

Scott 53:45
Is it going to be on the different podcast format? Or is it going to be part of the Juicebox? Podcast?

Scott Benner 53:50
Oh, no, it'll be it'll be right here. But I also have toyed with the idea of launching it as a separate podcast, too. But the problem there is is that is that making anything popular is is actually it's impossible. It just it is. And when something becomes popular, it's as much luck as it is anything else. So I've got the IRS already. I figured we put it here and let people the only thing I can't decide is are people going to be have the nerve to give something like that to a doctor. Oh, I did. Yeah. Yeah. So I think maybe yes, and I think a lot of doctors listen to this too. So hopefully, that'll be a way that it can happen. But I can't I can't take it anymore. Either. Like it's just frustrating for an adult or a child or a parent to like be put into a situation where they have this difficult to manage thing that could be explained to them and nobody explains it to them. And then you learn that they're not explaining it to them because they don't understand that either. Then you have these conversations with people and see how their lives unfold when they don't have that information. It's unconscionable. So, I mean, somebody's got to try to do something And I tried for a couple of years, and I'm sure this will pop up. When Jenny and I talked about it, I tried to get speaking engagements, you know, there are organizations that, you know, have the ear of the medical community. And every time they contact me, they want me to come on, and they want me to come to their thing and speak. But they want me to be like, you know, the famous guy from the podcast, like, give some light hearted, like, they just want to draw people in. And I want to say something, and I tell them, here's what I'd like to talk about. And they go, yo, we can't have you out to talk about that

Scott 55:30
over and over. And they would, would lose their minds. Well, you're not

Scott Benner 55:34
a doctor, and you're not going to come here and tell everybody they're doing it wrong, is what I was told once, one time, a more reasonable person said, I wish I could have you come do that I would get fired if you showed up and spoke about that. So that's when I was like, this isn't gonna they're not gonna fix this. So like, maybe I'll take a shot at it. I mean, the podcast is spread, right? It helps people with diabetes, they find each other, maybe that'll work the same way. I don't know. But it's worth a shot. And at the very least, even if doctors ignore it, it will teach people listening, what to expect. And so it'll still be really valuable for listeners. Anyway, that's my idea popped in my head in the shower about six months ago.

Scott 56:14
I think it's a great idea.

Scott Benner 56:16
Thank you, I have all my best thoughts in the shower.

Scott 56:18
I see people jumping in all the time, like, Hey, I saw my doctor said, you know, take this many units for this many carbs. And it's not working, what should I do? And the number of people who simply don't understand that this is their life, that if they, if it's not working, fix it, you know,

Scott Benner 56:36
try something would be a good first step. And then well, then the other problem is, there's there's factions, oh, yeah, different than any other life, right. But we had it the other day in the Facebook group. This woman's kids had diabetes for three weeks, you know? And she's like, Hey, rice, what's the deal with rice? You know, and she's like, you know, how do I do this. And they're, you know, overwhelmingly in my group, like, genuinely, overwhelmingly, it was a very popular thread where people came in and gave all kinds of different great thoughts about how to Pre-Bolus or how to, you know, change to a different rice. We do that we basmati rice here, because it's easier to Bolus for, or how to do extended boluses how to cook. Like, people started talking about cooking things, then cooling it and reheating it. So it doesn't have the same impact, like just tons of great information. But it only takes one person who's got a, you know, something they want to say. And they're like, don't eat it. That's what you do. Don't eat it. And I'm like, That poor lady's kid has had diabetes for three weeks. Even if don't eat it ends up being the right thing for her. That's where you want to start by scaring the hell out of her and her kid. Like you don't you mean? Like, why? Why is then there's the older people have type one diabetes, I just, I don't eat those things. And I'm like, Have you tried the Pro Tip series? It won't help? No, it will. But okay, so okay, you're old enough, you decided you can't eat rice, that's fine, then you have to kind of like moderate the conversation so that it's clear that there would be another way, just and not offend that person, which I had to do with a couple of older women that were in the group. I was like, Look, you should try this. I think maybe you'd find that if you timed your insulin differently. I don't have time for that. Okay, good. But at least now the people reading it can see that there. They might have been wrong. And there might have been another way. But if that's the decision they make, by the way, Scott, I don't care if you decide just to cut out rice, like God bless whatever. I don't really care how people eat at all. But then it's just It's always, it's always one person. One. Like, bro, sciency I only eat elk meat that I kill myself. You know, like that vibe. And you're killing yourself and the insulin is killing you and carbs are killing you. And I'm like, Oh, my God, man, calm down, like go live like that if you want to, but don't What are you doing to this woman? So then I tried to have a conversation with that person knowing by the way, when it starts Scott, I'm going to be as thoughtful and open to this man's ideas about how to eat as I can. But I know that by the time this day ends, he's going to leave this group. But I still have the conversation because it's worth letting people watch the conversation happen. And in the end, it works. The lady says I'm going to go try the Pro Tip series. I'll be back. I'll switch to basmati rice. I'm going to try the cooking and cooling process for you know, I think some people do it with potatoes and stuff like that. So we got all the good information to her. And I told her and if you one day, you just want to eat low carb because you can't figure all this out, then that's up to you. You should do that. But don't not understand how insulin works and just give up on the third day. You know what I mean? Like because that's going to lead to something bad because you know, pizzas really good and it's Gonna be a problem at some point. And if that kid goes to college man, good luck being low carb and a college on a college campus. I don't know how the hell you're gonna do that.

Scott 1:00:07
I can't even imagine it. I can't. I think that we we push people into disordered eating habits. We being diabetics push others into disordered eating habits instead of fixing the problem of good eye cream balls too early, too late, too little too much. Should I have extended Bolus? What do I do versus I'm just not going

Scott Benner 1:00:26
to eat? Yeah, I think it's a 10% greater risk of having an eating disorder if you have type one diabetes, and it doesn't matter if you're going to forget the science behind it. I've talked to a lot of people with diabetes, a lot of them have eating disorders like so. And it's, in my opinion, based on my experience, it's because of this. It's because they don't want their blood sugars to get high. And of course, they don't want to and they don't want to use insulin in a way that makes them low later. And of course, you don't want to do that. And they have no like we've discussed for the last hour, nobody's taught them how to do it. So they're doing it all wrong, their blood sugars are ping ponging all over the place. And yes, eating no carbs will put an end to that, it'll cause you to use less insulin, less insulin will mean fewer spikes, fewer lows. 100%. Right. It also means you're eating steak every day, or something like that, you know, or for the rest of your life. And I'm sure there are low carb people that will hear this and I go, there's plenty of good. So I'm sure there is there's plenty of great stuff you can eat. It's lovely. It's also expensive. Some people can't afford it. It's also a big idea some people can understand. And whether you're eating carnivore or keto or somewhere in between, you still need to understand how your insulin works. So let them understand the insulin, then they can apply it to whatever eating style they want. Because this is America, and I'm not their mommy, and they can eat whatever they want. There are plenty of people who eat stuff that I'm like, Hey, here's how you Bolus for this, that I also think I wouldn't need that. If I was you, that does not look good for you. You know, I'm not them. To act like you can make people do anything, because it's what's right, or what's good for them is ridiculous. Like, I don't know how long you have to be alive before you can figure that out. You know, if it was as easy as telling people the right way. First of all, that would infer that we know the right way. But if it was that easy, then the whole world would work great. Because we would just tell everybody what to do. And it would all be fine. Except that's not how it works. So you're going to ignore that. And then let them have poor health for their whole life. Like, why? Cuz you know what I mean? Because you think eating a carnivore is the way to go, like, or whatever, like I don't, I just don't get that whole thing. I don't understand that feeling that you can bend the world to your will. It's just because it's quote unquote, right? It doesn't make any sense to me at all. But anyway, apparently, it makes sense to a few people. And then I get into a, you know, I get into a thing with those people, because they're just attacking and defending their position. And I, I try very hard to stay open minded to see their position, explain what I think the bigger picture is. And then eventually, at the end of the day, they think I'm tall, and then they leave. So it's, but every time it happens, Scott, I think, Oh, this is my day. I don't want this to be my day. But it's gonna be and and then there we are. I'm sorry. I went off on the thing that I apologize when

Scott 1:03:15
I was diagnosed with celiac. And I came home from the doctor and we lived in this this town of like 600 people in the middle of the Allegheny Mountains. And I went to the grocery store, which you know, small town grocery store you've been, you can look up and go in and I'm trying to find something to eat that's gluten free. And I mean, I had done some research on the internet. I knew, you know, certain things. And I went and I'm like, Well, I'm getting ice cream because I deserve ice cream. And I pick it up and they look at the label and one of the ingredients is way and I hadn't stuck it like it's stuck in my head that I couldn't have way that way was a wheat product. I don't know what made that connection, but it did. Threw the ice cream back in I grabbed a bag of Fritos and went home and I'm sitting on the couch pouting and my wife comes in she goes What's the matter? I go, I can have ice cream it has way and my whole family to this day mocks me for that.

Scott Benner 1:04:08
I can see you eating the Fritos I don't want these freedom. Exactly what it was stupid freedom's stupid.

Scott 1:04:18
But I think I think that happens to a lot of people is they get something that's factually wrong in their head and they run with it. They it's like instead of shopping to look at the flag, they're caring and to see if it's right, they just take it as a standard barrier and run down the field.

Scott Benner 1:04:35
I want to be completely clear, a lower or low carb diet will make type one diabetes management easier. It will 100% Eating cleaner foods will stay away from processed foods will cause more complex carbs are going to be more difficult. Like I'm not telling you that but it's not impossible. It's just the thing you need to understand. You deserve the opportunity to understand it before you make a decision about a thing. You're never going to eat again for the rest of your life. And it that's just, that's my take on it is that everybody should understand how to use insulin, and then take that knowledge out into the world and do whatever you want with it. I don't care, like you just but you should have a basic education before you start making lifelong decisions. That's all. And I think that for some reason, the way people eat becomes very tribal. And they very much defend it. I've talked about it before I understand if you're, you know, a person who has diabetes, who struggled and went low carb, and it feels like it saved your life. Like I understand that completely. And I would probably proselytize about it too, if I if I had that feeling. But I'm going to tell you that if you would have met me before that and tried those pro tip episodes, you might not have done that. And you still could have, but it might not have been your only decision at the time. So that that's all that's all I'm saying. But trust me that gets bent all the time, like I see online, like he's a carb pusher, like, oh my god, I'm a carb butcher. I don't give a crap what people eat. As a matter of fact, I don't think you should have that many carbs. It's, you know, a reasonable amount, that's fine. But you find yourself in a day where you're having 300 carbs, 500 carbs. I don't I don't know. I wouldn't do that if I was you. But I'm not you. So I don't care what you do. I don't know why more people. What's that?

Scott 1:06:20
Somebody posted the loop graph the other day asking your question about something and the 135 carbs on board and I went, I have not eaten 135 carbs in a day. In 10 years.

Scott Benner 1:06:35
Oh, there are days where Arden's just like, I'm stunned by how much insulin she like needs for some times. Like it's usually around her period, that kind of stuff. When she gets I think cravings for things aren't and could have like three meals a day, and each meal could be 50 or 60 carbs. And well, yeah. And then that's, that's

Scott 1:06:53
not that much. I mean, my wife goes to Starbucks and comes back with a drink. And I think it's probably 150 carbs. Yeah. All the time.

Scott Benner 1:07:02
But that's a great example. Like Scott asked me if I think your wife should drink that. I do not believe she should know, I think that's probably a mistake for her overall general health. But if she's going to and she has diabetes, I'd like her to be able to do it without a 350 blood sugar that lasts for two hours and ends up with a low.

Scott 1:07:20
I tell people this all the time. I don't I eat low carb, low ish carb. Like, if we go out to we I was out with some friends a couple of weeks ago, and I got a burger with no bun. Because celiac and french fries and they were making fun of my my halfway keto halfway, not keto dinner, but I don't eat carbs in the morning, very rarely, because we get up and get moving, I get a few hours of work done. And then I go run. And I know if I have more than a half unit of insulin on board, when I go for a run, I'm going to have to do drastic things like I'm going to have to like eat 20 or 30 grams of carbs. So I don't crash because it might go from about 10 to one or 10 cars per unit to about 100 carbs per unit.

Scott Benner 1:08:08
When you're exercising. Yeah, yeah. It's

Scott 1:08:12
so funny. My own that that. So I ran 30, almost 34 miles on Saturday. At that race, my g7 freaked out in the middle of it. And I was running this perfectly flatline at number for like an hour and a half and all of a sudden it beeps and says hey, you're too 20. And I'm like, No, I'm not to 20. I know this, I fooled around with it, tried correcting it a couple times. It didn't work her place that which the warm up on the new sensors is everything. To me. It's beautiful. So I've eaten a whole lot of carbs to correct the insulin that that was given to me when it thought it was 200 but wasn't. But at the end of the day, after 10 hours, I had used less than 40 units of insulin total.

Scott Benner 1:08:52
It's over on that. Yeah,

Scott 1:08:53
yeah. And I eat a lot of bananas.

Scott Benner 1:08:56
The way the variables impact is fascinating. I mean that. I mean, obviously that's a lot of running. But Arden has been doing a couple of all nighters in a row. And like clockwork, she's getting low at like four o'clock in the morning. And it's just it's from her sleep being off. Yeah. Oh, yeah. That'll kill me. Yeah. And so it's an it's fascinating. And then of course, you're exhausted and your sleeps off, and you're low. So like, last night, I had to wake her up. I had a hard time waking her up last night. And like, I was sending, like, find my iPhones, like I left my bedroom, so I wouldn't wake my wife up because I was like calling. And I got to the point where I was looking at her blood sugar, and I'm like, I'm gonna have to call her roommates. And I'm like, she's gonna be pissed about that. But I tried not to and I but I, as long as I could, but with Nightscout I could see she still had enough insulin on board. This was going to be problematic. She wasn't going to float at 60 and she didn't she went down to 50. And then it was like 48 And I'm like, okay, like, that's it. Like, here we go. And I woke everybody up and she sent me an angry text, you know, don't bother my roommates and I just sent her a text back. I said, Arden, I waited as absolutely long as I could this was necessary. You know, you need to drink a juice. And that's it. And actually remotely, I changed her target from where it is to like 110 for the rest of the night, so it wouldn't happen again. And oh, people are like, how do you do that? I did it with Nightscout. She's using Iaps. I don't have time to explain it all to you right now. Actually, I don't have time, Scott, because I have to go to a lunch thing soon. But I did all that. And she woke up this morning, and I got a text from her at like 10 o'clock, she should have been in class. She goes, Dad, I slept through my class. I'm so sorry. Like, you know, I'm gonna have to do a couple of things. Because I'm behind and I'm exhausted and I need to catch up. And I just told her, like we even talked about last night, like she's not mad about last night. She wasn't mad, then she just shut her blood sugar was low. It's four o'clock in the morning, and she was frustrated. And I just told her one of those things that like, you know, I've learned like, through being old, I just told her. I said, like, just remember, be flexible. Like, rearrange your to do list so that it reflects what's you know, most important now? Don't look backwards. Don't worry about anything that you feel like you're putting off. I said, You're a smart person. You'll do the right thing. Just keep going. That's it. And I hopefully that's what she'll end up doing. But yeah, she tried to burn the candle at both ends for a couple of days. And it just, it made everything hard for so yeah, anyway, those variables like running or not getting enough sleep or whatever. They're, they're tough on you, Scott, I apologize for doing this. But I gotta ask if there's anything else that we missed, because I have to

Scott 1:11:36
go in a minute. Oh, no problem. No, I had a great time. Thank you. Oh,

Scott Benner 1:11:39
me too. We're definitely calling this to old Scots. Yeah, is a perfect name. Although I imagine you're like, you know, in amazing shape. And I'm just still trying to get there. And I'm using medication. It sounds like you're running to do it, but good for you. If it's therapy. Well, you know, I didn't want to say because you seem like such a nice person. But I believe anybody that runs this much is is exercising their their thoughts. Oh,

Scott 1:12:06
my, my shrink look. Well, I would agree with you all day long.

Scott Benner 1:12:10
That's all fine with me. I don't know where you were, however you think comes out. Listen, if you think comes out with extra healthy. Fantastic. You know, one

Scott 1:12:19
quick story, please. You got all these please, please. So it was at the grocery store yesterday, I just had like three or four errands to run. But I'm like trying to do between meetings and stuff. And I got run into the grocery store. And I'm grabbing the things and for whatever reason my blood sugar goes from 116 to 50. In the 10 minutes, I'm in the grocery store. I've had tumbling issues, that's probably what it is. But I get up to the camera and I'm standing there and I'm like I because my blood sugar was so low. I forgotten everything that I needed. I'm standing there with two six packs of Diet Pepsi. I can't operate the machine. I can't do anything. So I grabbed a package of gummy lifesavers, and I'm not talking a small package. I'm talking like, you know, the big roll by my cigar. Yeah. And I'm shoving them into my mouth while waiting in line at the checkout. And the woman comes over she goes, Are you okay? And I'm like, why? She goes, You're sweating really bad. I'll be fine in a minute. I couldn't she had to ring me out at the self checkout. I couldn't do it. Yeah,

Scott Benner 1:13:09
that's crazy. How quick did it come over? Get 10 minutes? Oh,

Scott 1:13:13
yeah, if even I mean, I literally walked in the store and was was suddenly confused.

Scott Benner 1:13:17
And that's you wearing a fairly adept algorithm that is taking you're taking away insulin trying to stop that from happening to you like that. And it still can happen after I managed Arden last night, got her awake and got her to do everything. I looked back at how long that algorithm had been trying to stop this low from happening. It had been trying for like four hours to avoid this moment. You just stop and think if that's not an algorithm then for the last four hours, she's getting a unit of insulin an hour as her basil on a on like a standard pumping system. And she would have needed I mean, instead of like a small little quick 15 gram juice box that took a 50 and turned it into a 95 for the rest of the night. I mean four units. I mean, she would have needed like 40 carbs to fix that maybe more and something more substantial than juice. So anyway, this stuff's amazing. We're lucky to have it I got to jump off scot I'm so sorry. Oh, no

Scott 1:14:16
problem. Thank you.

Scott Benner 1:14:17
Of course Hold on one second for me. A huge thanks to us med for sponsoring this episode of The Juicebox Podcast. Don't forget us med.com/juice box this is where we get our diabetes supplies from you can as well use the link or call 888721151 for us the link or call the number get your free benefits check so that you can start getting your diabetes supplies the way we do from us med. A huge thank you to one of today's sponsors. Ag one drink ag one.com/juice box. You can start your day the same way I do with a delicious drink of ag One thanks also to G voc glucagon. Find out more about Chivo Capo pen at G voc glucagon.com. Forward slash juicebox. you spell that GVOKEGLUC AG o n.com. Forward slash juicebox. If you're not already subscribed or following in your favorite audio app, please take the time now to do that it really helps the show and get those automatic downloads set up so you never miss an episode. Thank you so much for listening. I'll be back very soon with another episode of The Juicebox Podcast. That Juicebox Podcast is full of so many series that you want and need afterdark s gotten Jenny algorithm pumping bold beginnings defining diabetes the finding thyroid, the diabetes Pro Tip series for type one, the diabetes variable series mental wellness, type two diabetes pro tip, how we eat. Oh my goodness, there's so much at juicebox podcast.com. Add up into that menu and pick around. And if you're in the private Facebook group, just go to the feature tab for lists upon lists of all of the series. always free. Always helpful. The episode you just heard was professionally edited by wrong way recording. Wrong way recording.com


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#1177 Ask Scott And Jenny: Chapter Nineteen

Scott Benner

Scott and Jenny Smith, CDE answer your diabetes questions.

•    What should I do if I miss my MDI basal dose?

•    What should I do if I inject the wrong insulin?

•    What should my kid be doing in the event of a school lockdown?

•    Of the latest advancements in diabetes ‘cures’, which one do you find the most intriguing?

•    Should people be on statins if their lipids numbers are ok?

You can always listen to the Juicebox Podcast here but the cool kids use: Apple Podcasts/iOS - Spotify - Amazon MusicGoogle Play/Android - iHeart Radio -  Radio PublicAmazon Alexa or wherever they get audio.

+ Click for EPISODE TRANSCRIPT


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 1177 of the Juicebox Podcast.

Today, Jenny and I will be answering listener questions in another episode of Ask Scott and Jenny. 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. When you place your first order for ag one with my link, you'll get five free travel packs and a free year supply of vitamin D. Drink ag one.com/juice box. If you have type one diabetes, where are the caregiver of a type one and a US resident? I'd love it if you would please go fill out the survey AT T one D exchange.org/juice. Box this survey helps move type one diabetes research forward. It's very simple for you to do. You'll know all the answers to the questions. It won't take you much time and you'll be helping T one D exchange.org/juice box. If you're looking for community around type one diabetes, check out the Juicebox Podcast private Facebook group Juicebox Podcast type one diabetes. Don't forget when you use my links you're supporting the show. So look right there in the show notes of your podcast player or at juicebox podcast.com and make the clicky. This episode of The Juicebox Podcast is sponsored by us med U S med.com/juice box or call 888721151 for us med is where my daughter gets her diabetes supplies from and you could to use the link or number to get your free benefit check and get started today with us met. Today's episode is sponsored by Medtronic diabetes, a company that's bringing together people who are redefining what it means to live with diabetes. Later in this episode, I'll be speaking with Mark, he was diagnosed with type one diabetes at 28. He's 47. Now he's going to tell you a little bit about his story. And then at the very end of the episode, you can hear my entire mini interview with Mark. To hear more stories from the Medtronic champion community or to share your own story. Visit Medtronic diabetes.com/juice box and check out the Medtronic champion hashtag on social media. This show is sponsored today by the glucagon that my daughter carries G voc hypo Penn. Find out more at G voc glucagon.com. Forward slash juicebox. Jenny and I have recorded an entire episode before we hit record. So we should there's part of me that thinks that one day I should just like wine Jenny up and want to let her talk. And then we should just record that. But

Jennifer Smith, CDE 2:55
we're back. Katherine caffeinated me,

Scott Benner 2:58
Danny, we are back to do an ask Scott and Jenny episode which we have not done in a hot minute. Let me see if I can tell you when the last one happened. But while I'm looking you consider this. What should I do if I miss my MDI Basal dose?

Jennifer Smith, CDE 3:19
Oh, that's a really good question. And I like that that's actually an injection question. We don't get a lot of No, we don't we don't get a lot of them. And I think that there are definitely a lot of people still doing MDI that have great questions. I wish more people would ask them. Yeah. But yeah, so I mean, it does depend. So you know, if you miss, let's say, you're taking your Basal insulin in the evening, you wake up in the morning, you're like, Oh, my goodness, I missed my Basal insulin, right? Me You could down dose your Basal insulin by taking some in the next morning when you wake up, right? Okay, if it's well beyond it, let's say you take your Basal insulin in the evening, and you realize at one o'clock in the afternoon that you missed your Basal insulin. And that's why blood sugars look strange, right? At that point, you are beyond taking that Basal dose, even a portion of it. And what you may end up needing to do is just manage with more rapid acting insulin, right, we're gonna need to cover correct, you may need to even increase a slight amount the amount of insulin that you give, or your carbohydrate or your mealtime coverage, because you're missing that baseline. So you could expect your rapid acting insulin doses to try to be making up for that missing background. You can even see this when you're when you're trying to do Basal testing. Yeah, and you're evaluating and you're seeing well, when I don't eat a meal, my basil causes my blood sugar to go up where it shouldn't. That is a basil deficit. But when you do eat a meal, it looks like everything is perfect. That means that your rapid is covering some of what the Basal should actually be covering.

Scott Benner 5:04
I have a couple of thoughts here in questions too. So there are older and newer infill Basal insulins too so like older like love Amir Lantis, newer like Joseba and what's the other one to

Jennifer Smith, CDE 5:17
jail basic lar. Okay.

Scott Benner 5:19
So they work on so that the knock on the older ones love Amir Atlantis are that they don't really last 24 hours sometimes so you'll even get he'll hear people splitting insulin so I can say that Arden us love Amir, but I'm out of okay, I'm out of the old ass basil game at this point. But if I missed Arden's love Amir at 8pm. And she woke up at 8am. And I was like, oh, hell, I missed it. That's too long at that point you think?

Jennifer Smith, CDE 5:50
Or something like and that's, that's great that you brought up the kinds of insulin for love Amir Yes, it's too long, essentially. Love Amir, for the most part who you those who used it found essentially that they did need to dose it twice a day. Yeah, we thought it was a you split it too. Yeah. So you know, have you missed it at 8pm by then you've missed the window of its most beneficial time period. So if you're going to dose again at 8am, go ahead and just dose with what you dose normally,

Scott Benner 6:17
and just start over like now we just do it at 8am. Now,

Jennifer Smith, CDE 6:21
well, if you just said you were dosing twice a day? Well, we wouldn't. That's why it was yeah, my

Scott Benner 6:25
scenario, I would, I would have just given her half at 8am. And then back again at half at 8pm. But for people who were doing it every 12 hours, or every 24 hours, excuse me, now they're 12 hours behind, and it probably didn't work up to the to the 24 hour mark to begin with. So, I mean, you could if it was live from your Lantus, you could just say, Oh, I guess we do our basil in the morning now and do it right like and start in the morning? Or would you have lows that day from that

Jennifer Smith, CDE 6:51
deal? With love Amir with love Amir, I think that that would have definitely been okay to navigate that way again, because for for most people who had been using it, it was definitely a 12 hour. So they took it and then they took it again, within 12 hour time periods, you miss one dose, you're kind of like over it, you just wait until the next 12 hour dose. If you were more of a Lantus user, though, which is definitely longer lasting, and most people got at least 20 hours of action out of their Lantis, or saw it start to sort of peter out by 18 to 20 hours, right? Yeah. So therein lies the question, you know, you miss it into the next morning, now you're 12 hours into missing your Basal insulin, you could take some how much you could take a quarter, you could take a third of what your total dose had kind of been a helping hand in a helping hand and then essentially take it again at the next you know, the next time period or downplay that a little bit to kind of just coast you through the overnight without being too low. Yeah.

Scott Benner 7:55
And then I guess, be careful for like that 36 hour period that you're not seeing. By the way, I'll point out that in episodes about splitting and so on, you very firmly came down on the side of not splitting Lantis

Jennifer Smith, CDE 8:07
for the most part. Yeah, I Lantis is it's definitely longer than a 12 hour action. So if you're going to split it, you really have to be kind of cautious. I've seen some people with tinier doses, do well potentially splitting it because they get the heavier dose in a time of day where they really need that background insulin for whatever the reason, and then maybe they just need a hint more to nudge them over into that. Let's say you can take it at breakfast and at dinnertime right? heavy dose in the morning, it covers behind the majority of the activity and the variables of the day. But the overnight, they need just a hint more of it in order to not run high overnight or to graze up before they take their morning dose. So you might see something like, you know, eight units in the morning and maybe a unit and a half in the afternoon or the evening time. Right. But that's not the typical for

Scott Benner 9:02
that. And to go to the more modern insolence, they actually seem to lap that 24 hour period, right. So

Jennifer Smith, CDE 9:09
ya know, yeah, and I think you're just gonna say essentially that if you take it and you missed your dose, you may have up to about 36 hours.

Scott Benner 9:19
You might get some coverage in there. Yeah, you might. Yeah, if you did that, say you Mr. CBOE and you waited the whole 24 hours to shoot it again and you just managed on the you know, with fast acting until you got back to your tear tear injection time. Do you think the next day would look a little resistant to or do you think you'd be back to good after you injected it? If you take insulin or sulfonylureas you are at risk for your blood sugar going too low. You need a safety net when it matters most. Be ready with G vo Capo pen. My daughter carries G voc hypo pen everywhere she goes because it's a ready to use rescue You pay for treating very low blood sugar and people with diabetes ages two and above that I trust. Low blood sugar emergencies can happen unexpectedly and they demand quick action. Luckily jeuveau Capo pen can be administered in two simple steps even by yourself in certain situations. Show those around you where you storage evoke hypo pen and how to use it. They need to know how to use Chivo Capo pen before an emergency situation happens. Learn more about why G vo Capo pen is in Ardens diabetes toolkit at G voc glucagon.com/juicebox. G voc shouldn't be used if you have a tumor in the gland on the top of your kidneys called a pheochromocytoma. Or if you have a tumor in your pancreas called an insulinoma. Visit G voc glucagon.com/risk. For safety information.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 10:52
You should be back to fairly good after you injected it assuming that the dose that you had been using before missing a dose was pretty good. Okay. Yeah.

Scott Benner 11:03
All right. So the first thing that came to your mind, it's a good conversation, but the first thing that came to your mind was manage it to your next injection time with fast acting insulin. Okay, so is there a one to one thing they're like if I like if I'm injecting? I don't know. 10 units of true SIBO? Is there an amount of fast acting every couple of hours that would like kind of keep me in the game? Not really

Jennifer Smith, CDE 11:30
not really we would what we would usually recommend is with mealtimes depending on where your blood sugar is, right? And possibly where it's trending again, the beautiful thing about having CGM now is you can actually tell how things have been being held without a piece, you know, behind that would normally be there. Okay? So if you're rising, coming even into a mealtime, you can think ahead and say, well, the rise means I'm probably missing at least half a unit of insulin, give or take person, you know, sensitivity versus resistance. And I've not even like eaten or Bolus for my meal time yet. I need to nudge this up minimally. And I'm going to be conservative about it because I'm not quite sure how much more I need behind this. Okay, right.

Scott Benner 12:13
What's your timeframe for I forgot my 6pm You know, Basal insulin injection, but it's only 730. Just throw it in then. Right? Absolutely. How far away from that six before you can just go hell and just do it. I mean, I know. Three, four hours, maybe I would

Jennifer Smith, CDE 12:30
say four hours, quite honestly, like if you're normally dosing 6pm. I mean, a lot of people take evening Basal insulin, it's like eight to 10pm. Typically, unless they've been told to take it with dinner or around dinnertime. It's usually like

Scott Benner 12:43
more why I think of it that way. Because it was because Arden was so small, it was part of the safety like oh, shoot it near a meal. Plus, you're giving her a needle than anyway. So it's not as that's kind of how we used to think about it.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 12:55
Yeah. Okay. But yeah, if you are normally dosing it at 6pm, and you remember at bedtime at 1030. Darren I missed, you know, go ahead and take it at that point. Absolutely. And then just back it up the next day,

Scott Benner 13:09
where your thought is that because if you forget it at 10, if you remember to you're not awake at 2am to remember it. So unless you wake up in a cold sweat and go oh my god. Right. Yeah. All right. That's okay. I appreciate that. And that was good. Yeah. Well, let's stick with this theme for a second in the inside of the theme a little bit. What should I do if I inject the wrong insulin? So I've seen

Jennifer Smith, CDE 13:32
this so many times. And you know what, it seems to be more of an err on the side of I was supposed to take Basal insulin. And I injected 30 units of rapid insulin, instead of taking my 30 units of Basal insulin. That's the one that I see. 99% of the time

Scott Benner 13:51
never goes the other way. I was making a two unit correction. And I use basil instead of my fast acting. Right, right. It's almost like you just said like this giant dose, even if you're a little kid, you don't you mean like, you know, three units of you know, is is a giant though. So in case this isn't clear to everybody, some of the most, I find interesting and heartfelt posts I've seen on Facebook, or somebody who jumps on and says, Hey, I just shot 20 units of Novolog instead of 20 units of Lantis. And I'm MDI and it's in and what do I do? And I always think what a great opportunity to understand how insulin works. I never say that out loud. Right? Because they're usually running in circles like a chicken without their head.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 14:41
You're not just like, hey, just sit watch what happened.

Scott Benner 14:46
wonder like, you know, like, so for my money. I do the math. I just say, you know, I shot 20 units of insulin. My insulin to carb ratio was one per this. That's how much food get to eat now, maybe add some fat, some ice cream, what a great time for a milkshake to, like, you know, that kind of stuff.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 15:06
Ya know, and that's it depends, you know, if you have a fairly aggressive insulin to carb ratio 20 units might not be a terrible amount, despite not necessarily wanting to add extra food. Yeah, 20 units might be something you can clearly take care of and navigate and manage that problem, right? If you however, usually take one or two units to cover a meal of 30 grams worth of carb, why units is a whopping dose

Scott Benner 15:34
your insulin glucagon time, then, yes,

Jennifer Smith, CDE 15:37
that's that's glucagon time. Or it may even be potentially that with enough sensitivity, you may end up actually just needing to go to the emergency department to be able to say, You know what, this is what I did. I definitely know that I'm going to need a glucose drip, I know that you're going to need to navigate this because I can't eat enough that I see often with kids, where they just their tummy is so little. They can only take so much juice. Sure.

Scott Benner 16:04
Yeah, there's there's no yeah. And yeah, I actually it wasn't making light of it. It's usually it's usually adults, but like, you know, that I see are like, ah, but I've actually managed one of these through, personally. So a girl, I don't remember her name anymore, came on the Facebook group and said, I just did this and she was in a panic. Yeah. And she's home by herself. She was in her early 20s. Right. And then the first comment that came to the Facebook group was call 911, which I think sent her spiraling. By the way that's, that's always like, you know, you always get one or two people are like, Oh, I know, you asked for what color is the sky, but I'm going to call it tell you to call 911 instead, and like, you know, like, so she starts panicking. I can see her panicking. And I just said, Give me your phone number. And I called her and I was like, Hey, what's up? And she was she was upset, or Yeah, I mean, she was panicked. And with good reason. What I did was I said, Alright, look, you know, what's your insulin to carb ratio? It's interesting that she went, I don't know. Oh, so I was like, you know, many people don't know stuff like that. They're like, I just usually do about this much for dinner and like, blah, blah, blah. So I said, Okay, I picked something that I knew how many carbs are in it. I was like, how much would you have Bolus for this? Yeah, that you really like firmly understood. And I said, Okay, so we're gonna put your like insulin to carb ratio at like, one unit for 15 carbs. And she's like, okay, and I said, Well, how many units did you shoot? And then she told me, and then we did the math. And I said, alright, well, you get to eat 125 carbs right now. Like, you know, and then I was like, let's but then she was like a healthy eater. So then that wasn't that easy. You don't I mean, I was like,

Jennifer Smith, CDE 17:40
I might get the honey nut cheerios out.

Scott Benner 17:43
That crap. And I'm like, Oh, God. Okay. So like, I was like, I might Hi, header, open the refrigerator. And we just went through it. Like, yeah, shelf by shelf, line by line, we open cabinets, we found enough stuff. At one point. I said, even if we don't find anything, don't worry. I was like, there's a five pound bag of sugar in the house somewhere, we'll start eating that, don't worry, we'll have it's gonna happen. We're gonna be okay. You know, I said, well mix sugar with water. There's all kinds of things we can because they didn't keep a lot of juice now, so she didn't have a lot of stuff. And she got through it. She was okay. Yeah. So

Jennifer Smith, CDE 18:13
in that instance, in terms of the portion that it might need to take somebody, again, with a stomach capacity to handle sometimes small, heavily packed carb types of foods are often a little bit better, you know, people think juice first, right? But it was also think despite being kind of panicked at that point, you have to say, well, am I like pretty stable right now or where is my blood sugar, you know, my sitting already at like 72. And if you are, okay, we need to get some quick something because it's a rapid acting insulin, and it is going to start working pretty quick, right? Whereas if you're sitting at 180, you've got a little bit of wiggle room there to navigate. And you may actually progress through rather than sitting down to the bowl of 125 grams of whatever it is gonna be, you

Scott Benner 19:02
know, that's not as clear thought to some people as you might think, because a lot of people see 180 and pick almond range. Like, you know, they don't think about the way you and I think about I'd be like, well, we've got 100 points to play with here. And yeah, also, the thing you said about juice, you can get you sick, really easy like that, like that nauseous feeling in your stomach, really, I can't do this anymore. And a big Bolus will burn through a fast acting carbs very quickly to like if you put in, you know, 10 units that aren't for anything and like you said, you've only ever put in two units for your biggest meal in your whole life. drinking juice isn't going to do crap it's going to be it's going to be like Jenny and I tried to stop like a NFL running back. We're gonna be like, Hey, don't don't do this. You know, that's gonna be the end of it. Right? Yeah. For two seconds. dense foods slowly digesting stuff. That's the kind of like, think about those foods that when you eat you always end up bolusing more for have a little of that at this point. Yeah. Oh my gosh. And then, but you said go to the moon. Wanna see room if you're, and I agree with that. But you can't just get in the car and drive to the emergency room. Because before you get there, it's me you in about 15 minutes. If you're lucky, I would imagine it

Jennifer Smith, CDE 20:10
right. If you are the one and you're alone, as this young woman that you are helping was clearly, that's probably not the best idea, especially considering she was very worried about what was going on. It's better to actually get to at least a stable enough place with enough carbs to be able to get to the potential of an emergency department to be able to help again, only as the last and kind of need. And, again, what's the goal between in there? It's glucagon. Yeah, we have glucagon that absolutely can be used in the case of need, you

Scott Benner 20:45
gotta have it with you. By the way, she did not have that either. She didn't have that she couldn't reach her parents. Like it was like a dumpster fire of like, bed, you know, variables for Oh, lo food in the house. Like the whole I don't know, I'll never forget, like, also never forget feeling panicked about it, because everybody was like, just do this. And I'm like, somebody's got to actually help her. Right? Like, you know what I mean? Like, she can't, she was panicking. And she was young. And she was by herself. And I was like, I'm gonna, like, just call me or I'll call you or whatever.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 21:12
And that's what she needed. Rather than reading and reading and reading the 50 comments that came in, I got worried about that. Yeah, you start to go down this and instead of doing your reading, start

Scott Benner 21:24
wondering which one of these is the right thing to do? Yeah, correct. Yeah, so just

Jennifer Smith, CDE 21:28
like one person to take into you need that verbal, that human connection, which is by the

Scott Benner 21:33
time we were done, she was eating bread, obviously, keep bread, that's good. Some bread? We're gonna I that's what I did I mix bread jam on their bread was sugar and peanut butter. And like, anything like that, like I kind of I kept hitting her like fast and slow digesting carbs at the same time. Anyway, honey is

Jennifer Smith, CDE 21:49
a pretty packed one to honey and maple syrup. From the standpoint of the content of car, I mean, a tablespoon of honey is like 17 grams of carb. And maple syrup is even heavier. Yeah,

Scott Benner 21:59
that's a consideration to like bulk of food. Like, I feel like this has been said, but it's worth saying, again, you can't just start with like, I'll eat grapes, like because you're gonna fill up before you get to the car number you don't I mean, like, you need some that's gonna hit you really? Like. And by the way, once you get through that, three hours after you've injected it, let's start over again. You know what I mean? So, right, yeah, just trying to stay alive at that point. diabetes comes with a lot of things to remember. So it's nice when someone takes something off of your plate. US med has done that for us. When it's time for art and supplies to be refreshed. We get an email rolls up in your inbox says hi Arden. This is your friendly reorder email from us med. You open up the email. It's a big button that says click here to reorder. And you're done. Finally, somebody taking away a responsibility instead of adding one. US med has done that for us. An email arrives, we click on a link and the next thing you know, your products are at the front door. That simple. Us med.com/juice box or call 888-721-1514 I never have to wonder if Arden has enough supplies. I click on one link. I open up a box. I put the stuff in the drawer. And we're done. US med carries everything from insulin pumps, and diabetes testing supplies to the latest CGM like the libre three and the Dexcom G seven. They accept Medicare nationwide, over 800 private insurers. And all you have to do to get started is called 8887 to 11514 or go to my link us med.com/juicebox. Using that number or my link helps to support the production of the Juicebox Podcast. Right now we're going to hear from a member of the Medtronic champion community. This episode of The Juicebox Podcast is sponsored by Medtronic diabetes. And this is

David 23:57
Mark. I use injections for about six months. And then my endocrinologist at a navy recommended a pump. How

Scott Benner 24:04
long had you been in the Navy? Eight years up to that point? I've interviewed a number of people who have been diagnosed during service and most of the time they're discharged. What happened to you?

David 24:13
I was medically discharged. Yeah, six months after my diagnosis.

Scott Benner 24:17
Was it your goal to stay in the Navy for your whole life? Your career was Yeah,

David 24:21
yeah. In fact, I think a few months before my diagnosis, my wife and I had that discussion about, you know, staying in for the long term. And, you know, we made the decision despite all the hardships and time away from home, that was what we loved

Scott Benner 24:34
the most. Was the Navy, like a lifetime goal of yours. lifetime goal.

David 24:39
I mean, as my earliest childhood memories were flying being a fighter pilot, how

Scott Benner 24:44
did your diagnosis impact your lifelong dream?

David 24:46
It was devastating. Everything I've done in life, everything I've worked up to up to that point was just taken away in an instant. I was not prepared for that at all. What does your support system look like? friends, your family care givers you know, for me to Medtronic champions community, you know all those resources that are out there to help guide the way but then to help keep abreast on you know, the new things that are coming down the pipe and to give you hope for eventually that we can find a cure. Stick

Scott Benner 25:12
around at the end of this episode to hear my entire conversation with Mark. And you can hear more stories from Medtronic champions and share your own story at Medtronic. diabetes.com/juicebox. Jenny, this one's interesting. I always have a weird feeling when I see people worried about this, but it happens all the time. So let's talk about it from a technical standpoint. Oh, okay. What should my what should I be doing? What should my kid be doing in the event of a school lockdown? My first thought is always what I told Arden was turn off all your alarms first. I was like, because you're gonna get upset, your budget is going to shoot up and we don't need a beacon going off over your head if there is actually a person wandering around your school with a gun. I mean, I guess that is part of it hot like you got to quiet your stuff. Your technology? Yeah, I

Jennifer Smith, CDE 26:03
I was actually going more from the what should you have on your person was

Scott Benner 26:07
thinking you'd go that way. So I went this way? Yeah, yeah, no, or the easy

Jennifer Smith, CDE 26:10
to grab bag, right? It's almost like the the T one D to go kind of bag that you have next to your, you know, garage door or in the back of your car or whatever. It's got packed with like everything. And I think at school for any age kid, especially maybe the the high school age, even middle school where they're probably more so taking care of themselves. They don't have a checkpoint really, right. And so they need to be ready to grab something and run and go wherever they're being told to kind of come together. Right? Yeah. But the alarms that's a that's a great one.

Scott Benner 26:46
I mean, so what we did for Arden was like you said in younger ages, they don't leave a room, usually they stay in a room, they do everything in the room. But once she started moving around room to room, we stocked every room with a few juice boxes, and some snacks fast acting, you know, sugar and something a little more substantial. Something that was you know, is all, like wrapped in a package wasn't gonna go bad the whole year, like that kind of thing. Right? We also started to notice, there were times of day she was low and times a day she wasn't. So we would ever more heavily stock some classrooms than other classrooms. But that's my first thought is, this isn't something you do in the event of this is something you do ahead of time. You know, my pain? Yeah. So I would have each classroom have some stuff in it. Now the the insulin part, I hear what people are saying, because I've watched them have these conversations online. What if this goes 12 hours? What if this goes two days? Like, you know, that kind of thing? I mean, I don't know how you're supposed to plan for that. You can't have insulin in every room? You know what I mean? Like, no, I am a big fan of the kids carrying their stuff on them, right? You know, your controller for your fear pumps, you know, glucagon should be with you not in the nurse's office, you should be in the nurse's office too. But with you, I think you will also start going into like survival mode. Yes. Maybe, you know, dial back your Basal a little bit. If you're on a pump, like, keep out of a low situation, you know, like nothing wrong with 150 blood sugar for 12 hours while you're sitting on the floor, if that's what's gonna happen. Correct. Do you have any other thoughts about that?

Jennifer Smith, CDE 28:19
No, I mean, it is it's a, it's a really, really good question. Honestly, I don't have any other thoughts, I guess, I would say to maybe in terms of what you're talking about, and how you had stocked your daughter's sort of school rooms accordingly. I wonder if also discussing with your school? Where is the place that in an emergency, you would bring the kids right? Or where does her grade go compared to the other grades? Evacuate the kids, if they evacuated them to a safe location or something like that? You need to know where to stack extra beyond the classrooms that she would normally be in she or he would normally be in?

Scott Benner 29:01
Yeah, this is not diabetes related. But I'm interested if you have you spoken to your boys about this, have you ever talked to him about something like this? They're pretty young, but

Jennifer Smith, CDE 29:09
they're pretty young, but they have their schools have done age appropriate education and about what it would mean, if there was somebody in the school that wasn't supposed to be there. That's kind of how it's addressed to be less scary, right. And they've done drills. I mean, that's the schools at least the ones that my boys have gone to, they've done drills, almost like a tornado drill or, you know, something like that to say, this is where we go, this is what we do. The all of those kinds of things are typically practiced Unfortunately, these days. I mean, the most that I had when I was little was like a tornado and a fire drill.

Scott Benner 29:48
Yeah, stop, drop and roll and sit on your desk so that they'll find your body under the desk. And I'll tell you what, I've told my kids now they've both been through high school already. And I will say The caveat is they mostly were in a school with one level. Okay. But the high school did have two levels. I very clearly told them, run to a window, jump out the window, zigzag to the tree line find your way home. That's pretty much what I told him. I was like, Do not sit around waiting for Mrs. What's her name over here to save you? Like she don't know what to do. Okay, she barely understands English. And she's teaching it get out of the room. I says, I swear to God, if you're on the first floor, up on the countertop window, open out the window, zigzag into the trees, get the hell out of there. Like I that's probably not the right thing to do. But I swear to God, that's what I told both of them. And I wasn't kidding. Like, one time they looked at me like really? I'm like, Yes, run away. Run. The hell, you don't have to be faster than everybody just the bare. joking matter. But Jenny? Seriously, like, that's what I told him. I was like, get the hell out of the building and run. So

Jennifer Smith, CDE 30:58
if you can, I mean, in certain circumstances where you're not quite sure where the trouble is coming from? Is it still outside the school? Is it in the school already? Can you hear noises? What I mean? It's it's just a completely unknown. Yeah, yeah. Right. So I don't even know if all schools have windows that open? Well, listen,

Scott Benner 31:18
if it doesn't throw a desk out the window, then follow along, after I'm doing like Get the hell out of you, you know, in, but back to the diabetes portion of it. You can't have insulin everywhere. No, you just can't. So if you have a pump one, I think my my best thought is you go back to very low settings, so that you don't go into you know, you don't waste your insulin, Oh, yeah. And don't go low. And just try to stretch it out as best you can. Yeah, and have food and have food wherever you are. That's my thought. I would even say, if you got into a dire situation, and you didn't have food, and the time really started going on, you know, your kids should probably know how to like Temp Basal off for a while, let their blood sugar rise a little bit, put it back on again, like I mean, it all depends on how much you want to like, talk to them about this stuff, honestly, you know,

Jennifer Smith, CDE 32:10
correct and what and at what age, I guess an age appropriate way. And depending, as you just said, on what they know about their system, do they know enough to be able to go in and these should be things you've practiced ahead of time ahead of a very emergent situation, you should have practiced how to suspend a pump, or how to set a temporary rate or how to take the algorithm off and go back to manual mode so that you can actually do some of these manual kinds of considerations. And some of them, you know, you might have an eight year old who's really awesome and can do all of these things, understandably. And you might not.

Scott Benner 32:46
I also want to say I just did a quick googling. This is a number from November of 2023. I hate to say this, but the odds of a child in the US being killed in a school shooting are one in 614 million. So I mean, it's sad for the people that happens to of course, and obviously but I mean, I think if you're planning on this one, you're you've run out of things to plan for. He's kind of my opinion. But anyway, let's find something more upbeat of the Oh, Jenny. Oh, we're talking I just realized we were saying just realized we're talking about diabetes. When I said that I looked down. I see the word gastroparesis. I see LDL and I'm like, what upbeat things are gonna be here. I'm gonna pick the one up b thing. Okay. Have the latest advancements in diabetes cures, which is in quotes? Which one? Jenny, do you find the most intriguing? Oh,

Jennifer Smith, CDE 33:42
I think the most intriguing for me are the insulins that are the smart insulin type. That's very intriguing to me. Years ago, I attended a I attended a technologies and scientific advancement, sort of presentation in which a gentleman presented on something that he was calling smart insulin. And it worked almost like a thermostat. It was injected once a day, it covered basil and Bolus insulin needs. And it turned on and off based on the glucose level in circulation. So it was it was something that in terms of, you know, navigating, you don't necessarily need even a pump at that point, right. So that type of science is very interesting to me, because outside of a true a true cure for solving the issue. Something like this would, it would definitely take care of a lot of the variables that most people are trying to navigate around. It's not the baseline understanding. That's so difficult. Yeah, it's the navigating all the little individual day to day things that could impact what you know about insulin action for you All right. So that one definitely. And then I think the other one, it's similar, it has to do with insulin, but it's more the encapsulated beta cells. You know, the the, the person who receives them actually doesn't have to have the immunosuppressive drugs that are most typical when you get a transplant. of sorts. Yeah. Right, in order for the body to not get rid of them and see them as foreign. And that's the encapsulation component of it, is to prevent the body from seeing it as foreign. Yeah. That also,

Scott Benner 35:32
so that one was on my list of like bear attacks is one of the, like, one of the companies, but actual, like, beta cells, like inside of a pack of bubble wrap. Yeah, that they put under your skin and your, your immune system can't see through the package to see that there's somebody else's cells in there. So they're working, but they can't get attacked. That one's been they've been at that one for a while. And I have had someone on this podcast, who was in a double blind study. Oh, so they did not know if they were actually having it or not. But she said that by the time they removed it, she was sure she was actually she had it in her insulin needs were pretty much gone. Wow. So yeah. And isn't that crazy, though? She was in a study. So it was working. And they took it out of her and

Jennifer Smith, CDE 36:19
they took it out? You're like, no, no, I'd say that's where I'm like, I find my own island somewhere, you know, where I live, she

Scott Benner 36:25
she was lovely. She's like, I love helping research, I was like, I would have run away, I would have been like, you aren't not taking this back. For me. I wouldn't give you my TiVo back. Definitely not getting this cloud DVR, you can't have that back. You're not getting back my back. So I was gonna say that one as well. And again, I think it's important, we talked about this stuff to say I first started hearing about this, like 15 years ago. So like, don't, you know, don't start saving your nickels up for it just yet. And that is going to be the next part of it is and you can see what GLP is right now. The people with the best insurance are the people who are hooked up or the people of cash are going to go first. And he is going to be for the first week and a half. So just you know, don't get too excited. I will throw in tz yield. Because yes, I've interviewed people from that company a number of times, and they've never said it. And now Sanofi owns it. So I'm not talking about you, Sanofi, I'm talking about the people I spoke to spoke to before who worked at prevention bio, I could always hear in their voice. This is what we're using it for now, to kind of like hold off the diagnosis. But we really wonder if there's not more to it than that. The IG so that to me, was really interesting. In that same vein, one of the prevention bio, Francisco Leone, he said to me, I would love there to be a vaccine for hand Foot Mouth. I was like, what? And he goes, well, so many people are diagnosed with type one after getting Coxsackie virus. I wish there was a Coxsackie vaccine. Because I think if we could slow down people from getting coxsackievirus maybe we could put off people getting type one diabetes, the percentage that we're going to be affected made me cry, because my kid had coxsackievirus when she was two, and then she got type one diabetes. So I'm a he's talk and I'm crying. I'm like, it was a good idea. You know?

Jennifer Smith, CDE 38:15
That must have been the one that was it was a while ago you to him because he came up with the idea of its application in autoimmune disease not specific to type one initially. Yeah, he was looking at something else if I remember correctly, right. Yeah.

Scott Benner 38:30
So if you want to pick through my brain that to me, like it's nice that somebody's trying to stop type one or something like that. I think that if you want to push mankind forward, you got to figure out why our bodies react oddly to things and figure out how to stop that. Yeah, that's absolutely the bigger problem. There's a gentleman on the show today. sarcoidosis, which is an autoimmune coisas. Yeah, had to have his colon removed. And the sarcoidosis is still going after him in different places in his body. You know,

Jennifer Smith, CDE 38:58
quedo, Asus is one of those that affects each person who has it differently.

Scott Benner 39:04
Ya know, it's it's a, it's a hell of an interview. I think it's like, it's in the 1100s. Maybe. But my point is that that's an autoimmune issue. Yeah. Whether you have hay fever, or you get hives, and you don't know why, or your body's attacking your thyroid, or your pancreas or anything, that's the thing. I mean, I think we should be dropping everything and looking at that, because that fixes everything else, you know what I mean? Among

Jennifer Smith, CDE 39:28
many other things, what should we be looking at? And what should we be doing in our world? Rather than looking for aliens in the outer space? Listen,

Scott Benner 39:36
if we don't get hit by a comment, I think 500,000 years ago from now, we're gonna have all the answers we need. So I'm hoping a actually, I mean, you know, let me be serious here because we're kind of coming up on the end here. Yes. I think if you want to hope for something, hope that AI can get to the point where it can run these tests and get smart enough to break them down because much like everything else in the world, what slowing us down is us. We're only so smart, we only, you know, we only work nine to five, you might have to live a whole generation of people to get an idea weeded out of education to get back to somebody focused again, like you want a computer running and re running and running and re running and go and hear, hear hear, like, I think, you know, if you know, that would go much quicker, I'll use as an example. I don't know how many people track stuff like this, in a Tesla in a car, they have self driving, a lot of cars have self driving now, but Tesla's is pretty far ahead of the rest of them. And one thing that that company did was they built their own supercomputer, just to look at the data from self driving to teach self driving, how to get better, to get better. That's what you need for health care. You know what I mean? You need something smarter than us running and rerunning ideas over and over again, I think that's actually the thing you should be hoping for. Yeah.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 40:59
And then maybe it's interesting, because I, if you had something like that, pointing out exactly what some of the things we know about health care and longevity, and overall body systems and how to keep yourself healthy. Maybe people would take it better from a computer algorithm instead, in terms of pointing out, Hey, if you do step one, step two, step three, and do this in your life. You don't have to take XY and Z pills, because you can already solve this without putting money out of your pocket. Right? So maybe they would take it better.

Scott Benner 41:36
Yeah. Also, if you thought that at the end of 60 days of taking vitamin D, you'd actually feel better. But that's not what happens. You take it one day, you don't feel any better. Right?

Jennifer Smith, CDE 41:46
Right? Historical data that maybe would be compiled by a system like this, you would read it and you would say, Oh, I understand. I

Scott Benner 41:53
have to do this for 60 days. Jenny, listen, I'm now months and months and months into a better health regimen. Because of the GLP medication. I'm actually absorbing my nutrients now in my in my my vitamins and everything. Before I think I was taking them they were just like, kind of flushing right through.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 42:10
You had expensive poop essentially,

Scott Benner 42:12
I am expensive, not half the workforce. But But that's very funny, but I am. I'm gonna tell you now, my energy is such that sometimes at night, I think I'm not even tired. Like the end of the day comes and I'm like, I can keep going. Like, I'm like, I go to bed. But I lay there. I'm like, What could I be doing? Yeah, I'm gonna close my eyes and go to sleep. But if I wanted to get up, I could do something for two, three more hours. I'm like, Okay, it's crazy. Like, I know that some of that's weight loss, but I actually think I'm taking in these, you know, this stuff now. All right, we have like, a couple of minutes left, is that right? Yes. This might end up being with a called tickle your with a feather? I don't know if you know that phrase or not? Because I think this is a bigger, bigger thing than we can tack on a couple of minutes. But I am very interested in this conversation. Should people be on statins? If their lipids are okay. Oh, we can't do it now. Right? Maybe the next test Scott and Jenny. I

Jennifer Smith, CDE 43:11
like to tickle with a feather. It's called tickle my

Scott Benner 43:15
eyes of the feather because then you think oh, the next time this asks any chumps on they'll talk about lipids and then I'll go back to it. Yeah, it's like, it's my, it's my own who shot Jr. Which nobody understands? Yeah,

Jennifer Smith, CDE 43:26
I feel like I can be very honest, in terms of what my perception from a medical like physiology standpoint is with that, I hold nothing to any company or whatever. And if you have a healthy lifestyle, and you have healthy intake, and you have healthy lipid numbers, and all of those types of things, you are not the population that a lipid or that a statin is going to be beneficial for you. In fact, there are multiple reasons that you probably shouldn't. Now, I know somebody is going to beat me up about this. I don't care, quite honestly. But these are, these are medications that are to begin with their band aids. They're meant to fix something that isn't quite right in your body. Many times it's lifestyle. Truly, right. And there's a whole there's a whole like host of navigating things. And if you really do your research, and you really look at where funding comes from, you will find the reason

Scott Benner 44:37
Are you saying that if I manufacture a statin and I get insurance that covers that and if you have diabetes, then what's the phrase I'm looking for? Everything looks like a nail if you all you have is a hammer. So, so the doctor goes I was told to give people a diabetes statins.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 44:56
Thank you for saying it. Sure. Go 100% Like, I am not 100%. Like I said, there,

Scott Benner 45:04
you might need them. There are people who need them to get correct. Yeah, there are

Jennifer Smith, CDE 45:08
people who may need them. But the bulk of people, the bulk of people who are being prescribed them, they don't need them. They don't need them. And there are a whole host of reasons around the world of people who have diabetes, that they are 100% prescribed, even to those. And a lot of people question they say, Well, I told my doctor, I'm healthy. All my numbers are in range. I've never taken this before. Why are you prescribing it? Oh, but it's preventative. Those

Scott Benner 45:38
are the people I'm talking about, then to tell you listen, but it's preventing me from one from in case, this happens one day, maybe? Yeah, no, it's I think it's preventing you from being able to afford a cup of coffee because you're buying the statins. Now, listen, I have long not answered this question. Because I'm not a doctor. And I have no idea. And I know it's gonna get confused, because there are some people who need statins. Okay. Right. But yes, I think that what happened was, is they became prescribed bubble and covered by insurance if you have diabetes, and so it becomes whisper down the lane. And before you know it, we're five years into it and a doctor's handouts that it's like, like candy, and they don't even know why it's just what we do for people with diabetes. You know, and

Jennifer Smith, CDE 46:21
a lot of them do. I mean, a lot of them know the baseline of what they've been told about prescribing it, it is called preventative medicine, right? I mean, the other one that very similarly, our blood pressure meds for people who come in who again, healthy lifestyle, healthy intake, all of their, you know, their lipid panel looks lovely. Their blood pressure is nowhere near needing treatment, and they're taking it anyway because they have diabetes, and they've been told to take it because it's preventative. Yeah, just let's

Scott Benner 46:50
say Jenny's not walking around with her man wearing a condom 24/7 They put it on when they need it. Oh my god be so uncomfortable. That's so funny. We'll talk more about that in the next one. And here's a little highlight for people in the next one. We're going to answer this one and the next one, too. Hey, Scott, I've listened to your episodes on GLP and your diaries about your weight loss. Well done. Congratulations. I know you said that you think that GRPs or meds like them will become much more frequently used for people with type one can you please go into more detail about why you think that? Oh, and then this one I'm hearing rumblings about them potentially causing gastroparesis. They cause gastroparesis on purpose. They slow down your digestion on purpose, which is called guest or gastroparesis, just not in the way you're thinking of it if you have type one. Okay, so we'll do that when going down

Jennifer Smith, CDE 47:38
digestion definitely is different. In terms of what's happening right then having actual gastro paralysis

Scott Benner 47:46
caused by type one as a side effect of type one diabetes. Oh, look at this. I've heard Jenny competing in an Iron Man. Oh, there's gonna be plenty of stuff next time. All right. Thank you

Jennifer Smith, CDE 47:55
to half so I want to clear that to half Ironman. They were not full Ironman.

Scott Benner 48:01
Oh my god that you're more worried about than getting yelled out about the statins. Like I don't need to hear from those Iron Man people Jesus.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 48:10
I think

Scott Benner 48:15
a huge thanks to us med for sponsoring this episode of The Juicebox Podcast. Don't forget us med.com/juice box. This is where we get our diabetes supplies from you can as well use the link or call 888-721-1514 Use the link or call the number get your free benefits check so that you can start getting your diabetes supplies the way we do from us med. A huge thank you to one of today's sponsors, G voc glucagon, find out more about Chivo Capo pen at G Vogue glucagon.com forward slash juicebox. You spell that g VOKEGL. You see ag o n.com. Forward slash juicebox. Mark is an incredible example of what so many experience living with diabetes, you show up for yourself and others every day, never letting diabetes to find you. And that is what the Medtronic champion community is all about. Each of us is strong, and together, we're even stronger. To hear more stories from the Medtronic champion community where to share your own story, visit Medtronic diabetes.com/juicebox Don't forget, we still have Mark's conversation at the very end. It's a terrific kind of mini episode about 10 minutes long, that goes deeper into some of the things that you heard Mark talking about earlier in the show.

If you're not already subscribed or following in your favorite audio app, please take the time now to do that. It really helps the show and get those automatic downloads set up so you never miss an episode. Thank you. So So much for listening. I'll be back very soon with another episode of The Juicebox Podcast. The diabetes variable series from the Juicebox Podcast goes over all the little things that affect your diabetes that you might not think about travel and exercise to hydration and even trampolines, juicebox podcast.com, go up in the menu and click on diabetes variables. Right now we're going to hear from a member of the Medtronic champion community. This episode of The Juicebox Podcast is sponsored by Medtronic diabetes. And this is Mark. I

David 50:34
use injections for about six months. And then my endocrinologist and a navy recommended a pump. How long had

Scott Benner 50:40
you been in the Navy? Eight years up to that point? I've interviewed a number of people who have been diagnosed during service and most of the time they're discharged. What happened to you?

David 50:50
I was medically discharged. Yeah, six months after my diagnosis. Was

Scott Benner 50:53
it your goal to stay in the Navy for your whole life? Your career? It was Yeah,

David 50:57
yeah. In fact, I think a few months before my diagnosis, my wife and I had that discussion about, you know, staying in for the long term. And, you know, we've made the decision despite all the hardships and time away from home, that was what we loved the

Scott Benner 51:10
most. Was the Navy, like a lifetime goal of yours? lifetime goal.

David 51:15
I mean, as my earliest childhood memories were flying, being a fighter pilot,

Scott Benner 51:20
how did your diagnosis impact your lifelong dream?

David 51:23
It was devastating. Everything I had done in life, everything I'd worked up to up to that point was just taken away in an instant. I was not prepared for that at all. What does your support system look like? friends, your family caregivers, you know, for me, the Medtronic champions community, you know, all those resources that are out there to help guide the way but then help keep abreast on you know, the new things that are coming down the pike and to give you hope for eventually that we can find a cure.

Scott Benner 51:48
Stick around at the end of this episode to hear my entire conversation with Mark, and you can hear more stories from Medtronic champions and share your own story at Medtronic diabetes.com/juicebox. The episode you just heard was professionally edited by wrong way recording. Wrong way. recording.com


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#1176 After Dark: Broken Picker

Scott Benner

Marie is 37 and has a daughter with T1D. We'll discuss a physical altercation between Marie and her ex and much more.

You can always listen to the Juicebox Podcast here but the cool kids use: Apple Podcasts/iOS - Spotify - Amazon MusicGoogle Play/Android  -  Radio PublicAmazon Alexa or wherever they get audio.

+ Click for EPISODE TRANSCRIPT


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 1176 of the Juicebox Podcast

Today's episode will be available without the curse words taken out for Apple podcast subscribers only. Today I'll be speaking with Marie who is the mother of a child with type one diabetes. And we're going to talk about her are we going to talk about today Oh geez. physical altercation with Maria and her ex that took place in front of their child. Oh, goodness. Okay, well, this isn't after dark. Please remember while you're listening 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. If you have type one diabetes, or you're the caregiver of someone with type one, please fill out the survey AT T one D exchange.org/juice. box when you complete the survey, you're helping to support type one diabetes research right there from your phone. Check out the Juicebox Podcast private Facebook group that now has 48,000 members in it Juicebox Podcast type one diabetes on Facebook. Don't forget ora.com/juicebox Get a free 14 day trial. Keep yourself safe online with aura au r a.com/juicebox.

Podcast. Today's episode of The Juicebox Podcast is sponsored by these three fine companies. First up, cozy Earth cozy earth.com use the offer code juicebox at checkout to save 40% because the Earth is where I get my sheets, my towels, my sweatpants, my T shirts. All the companies that I have all the quality companies that I have, I should say come from cozy earth.com use the offer code juice box at checkout to save 40% The pod is also sponsored today by the contour next gen blood glucose meter. This is the meter that is on my daughter right now. Wherever she is. She's got this with her contour next one.com/juice box actually, I think she's on a beach right now. So none of us are going to be feeling bad for her. But she's got a rock solid meter with her contour next.com/juice Box. Today's episode is sponsored by Medtronic diabetes, a company that's bringing people together to redefine what it means to live with diabetes. Later in this episode, I'll be speaking with Jalen, he was diagnosed with type one diabetes at 14. He's 29. Now he's going to tell you a little bit about his story. And then later at the end of this episode, you can hear my entire conversation with Jalen to hear more stories with Medtronic champions. Go to Medtronic diabetes.com/juicebox or search the hashtag Medtronic champion on your favorite social media platform.

Marie 3:00
Hi, my name is Marie. And I have a daughter that is now six years old. Who has type

Scott Benner 3:05
one diabetes. How old was your daughter when she was diagnosed?

Marie 3:09
She had just turned three. Okay.

Scott Benner 3:13
Is there any other type one on your family side or on her father's family said?

Marie 3:19
Nope. None.

Scott Benner 3:22
How about other autoimmune issues?

Marie 3:26
Not that I know of I don't think so. Celiac

Scott Benner 3:29
thyroid, nothing like that. So nobody knew what they were doing how to get present.

Marie 3:38
It was kind of when my husband and I separated. She went to go stay with my mom. for like a week or two. I got everything settled. And my mom started noticing. Like she's drinking a lot. You know, she's paying a lot, stuff like that. And she had like a rash, which I later found out was because of like the sugar, you know, through her urine or whatever. So I'm like a little bit of a helicopter mom. So as soon as she got back, I called the pediatrician and I was like, This isn't right. Something's not right. She looks skinny. Like she's got circles under her eyes. i This is what she's doing. And they basically were like, how fast can you get here?

Scott Benner 4:19
Really? Well, yeah, that's good. Nobody. Yeah. Nobody pushed you off, like happens. Did she end up with a UTI from that or no, no, no,

Marie 4:28
I was very lucky. Like, she wasn't in DKA. She didn't have any kind of UTI or anything like that. It was a besides the emotional aspect. It was kind of a smooth, I guess. Diagnosis. Yeah.

Scott Benner 4:45
Medically, there wasn't a lot of extras. She wasn't even in DK look at you. Congratulations. That's a good catch.

Marie 4:50
Thank you.

Scott Benner 4:52
There's a thing you didn't think anybody would ever congratulate you on but that's, that's well done. Artem was on death's door when we figured it out. And so It was an it remains a thing that you I feel badly about like even, I mean God like 17 years later, like, how did we miss this for so long, like we knew something was wrong with her. And we were like paying attention to it and everything, we just never put it together. And when we intersected with doctors, you know, the right answers didn't come back. And so it just took longer. But you got that quick. Plus, you were super focused. Because you're also probably very, like, heightened, I would imagine at that point. Right? Yeah. Yeah. That's interesting. What made you want to come on the podcast?

Marie 5:35
I feel like, my story might be similar to some other people's story of, you know, separation, or not being able to really depend on the other person who's supposed to be helping you with half of at least 35% of what's going on, when you have a child that has type one diabetes.

Scott Benner 5:58
So how long were you married?

Marie 6:01
Six years?

Scott Benner 6:02
And did the separation sneak up on you? Or was it something you saw coming?

Marie 6:08
It was definitely coming, it was just not a healthy situation, there was like, you know, he has, he's an alcoholic. And so it was just a lot of buildup. And I just got to the point where there was like, a physical altercation in front of my daughter, and I just felt like, you have to start saving money, you have to get yourself out of this situation. And it just kind of once I felt secure, and being able to leave I just left.

Scott Benner 6:36
So you made a decision that you were going to leave because of that. Everything that led to it. But that kind of pushed you over the edge. And when you think to yourself, I have to save money. How long did it take to accomplish that?

Marie 6:49
So this was actually right before COVID. You know, so those, those six weeks of being stuck in that house was just every day, like, you gotta go, you gotta go, you know, and so it just took me from probably March. And then in mid September, I just called my mom, I was like, it's happening, I have an apartment, like, I don't want the kids to be in the middle of this. So I just, you know, will you help me out. And of course, my mom was completely on board, because she had been seeing a lot of those things like, you know, having to stay home all the time not being able to have people at my house because of fear of what would happen or how he would be or, you know, stuff like that.

Scott Benner 7:35
So seven months, it took you to collect yourself to get out. Yeah. And can you give me some context for how he would be what does that mean? Just

Marie 7:45
like, very aggressive, and, you know, does, he doesn't know what the point of stop, like, I'm, I'm drinking to enjoy myself, I'm drinking to, like, socialize with friends, or, you know, just in a setting or every so often, it was every single day, you know, and it would be like a soon he would start at work. And then he would come home from work, and he would stay up, you know, he would usually come home around 233 o'clock in the morning, just because of he works in a restaurant, he's a manager. And so it would be on home at three o'clock in the morning. And then I'm staying up until 738 o'clock in the morning, drinking, you know, where I'm like, You need to go to the room, I gotta get kids ready for school and like, you are not okay. And it was just like a daily thing.

Scott Benner 8:36
Did it start at a certain point? Or was it when you look back, it was the always drinking. So

Marie 8:42
I think that it just progressively got worse. And at the beginning, it wasn't really that bad. I didn't notice it. Until I was already like, a year down the line and the marriage and it just got increasingly worse and worse and worse and worse. You know?

Scott Benner 9:00
Are you separated from it long enough now to look at it and wonder, was it anxiety alcoholism, like stress? Like, do you like do you know what kind of facilitated it?

Marie 9:11
I think that he just is addicted to drinking, he's addicted to alcohol, and that's just his vice, you know, maybe like a little bit of escapism?

Scott Benner 9:24
Would you call your life like comfortable? Was it difficult, like taking the drinking out of it, like trying to just try to paint a picture, right? No,

Marie 9:34
I mean, he has a great job. You know, he works really hard. I will never take that away from him. He's a hard worker. He works in a very high stress environment. So maybe it was a little bit of stress. And there's a lot of pressure in that environment and from the people that he works for and things like that. But you know, he provided for us you know, it was never like we're struggling. We can't pay bills, you know, things like that. We had what we needed. It was not bad in that aspect of life. I don't

Scott Benner 10:06
know how to ask this next question, so I'm gonna probably get it wrong. But this episode is sponsored by Medtronic. diabetes, Medtronic diabetes.com/juice box. And now we're going to hear from Medtronic champion Jalen.

Speaker 1 10:19
I was going straight into high school. So it was a summer heading into high school was that particularly difficult, unimaginable, you know, I missed my entire summer. So I went, I was going to a brand new school, I was around a bunch of new people that I had not been going to school with. So it was hard trying to balance that while also explaining to people what type one diabetes was, my hometown did not have an endocrinologist. So I was traveling over an hour to the nearest endocrinologist for children. So you know, I outside of that I didn't have any type of support in my hometown.

Scott Benner 10:53
Did you try to explain to people or did you find it easier just to stay private?

Speaker 1 10:58
I honestly I just held back I didn't really like talking about it. It was just it felt like it was just an repeating record where I was saying things and people weren't understanding it. And I also was still in the process of learning it. So I just kept it to myself didn't really talk about it.

Scott Benner 11:12
Did you eventually find people in real life that you could confide in. I

Speaker 1 11:17
never really got the experience until after getting to college. And then once I graduated college, it's all I see. You know, you can easily search Medtronic champions, you see people that pop up and you're like, wow, look at all this content. And I think that's something that motivates me started embracing more. You know how I live with type one diabetes? To hear

Scott Benner 11:38
Jay Lin's entire conversation. stay till the very end. Medtronic diabetes.com/juice box to hear more stories from the Medtronic champion community. Fine. Did you feel loved aside of the drinking? Like? No, no. Okay. No. Got it. How many kids?

Marie 11:59
Altogether we have? Three, but they're only one is our kid together. Okay,

Scott Benner 12:07
so you have a baby with somebody else. You have a baby with him? He has a baby with somebody else. He has a baby with you. Yes, got it. Which ones? I'm just gonna say did you take all three? Are you couldn't do that? I imagine.

Marie 12:19
No, I just have my two your two

Scott Benner 12:23
natural children. Okay. So you weren't there? Like, mother?

Marie 12:29
Know her mom, his his other child's mom is? She's amazing. And she's, you know, she's a great mom.

Scott Benner 12:37
Gotcha. Did you guys work together in the restaurant? A

Marie 12:40
long time ago, probably like 12 years ago. That's and that was before he was a manager. That's how we met. Tell

Scott Benner 12:46
you what is it? This is kind of weird. But I this comes up a lot on the podcast, working in restaurants kind of a party, right. Like after work. I think

Marie 12:57
it really just depends. You know, I think a lot of times when you're in the restaurant industry, there is so much stress. And you're it's kind of like a people pleaser. You're trying to make other people happy, other people happy. And so a lot of people do go out to unwind after they get done working. And I think it's just a an acceptable thing. In that industry.

Scott Benner 13:21
Gotcha. Okay. Well, I'm sorry for all that. That's obviously terrible. Nobody deserves that to be their situation for sure. One last weird question. When you make the decision to leave, but it takes seven months to collect money and, and resources. I'm assuming that entire time you don't want him to know this is happening because of what you've mentioned. So are you just pretending? Do you have to keep intimacy going? Like what is that seven months? Like?

Marie 13:49
There was there hadn't been intimacy for a long time. Okay. All right. So it was not a pretending thing. And it was we barely saw each other. So it was kind of like strangers passing in the night kind of situation. And we didn't sleep in the same room and it was never, and we hadn't for three years since my daughter was born. So it was just a it was wasn't even about faking it or having to not let him know that something was happening. He was completely oblivious. Oh, because he was focused on work and drinking and that was his routine.

Scott Benner 14:26
Gotcha. You didn't have to pretend because he wasn't looking. Yeah, gotcha. Anything about the baby being born that threw him off or was he liked that prior? The podcast is sponsored today. By the place where I kept my oh gosh, my sheets, my towels, some of my clothing. A lot of the things that I stay warm are comfortable with cozy earth.com I'm wearing a pair of cozy Earth joggers right now. I've recently gotten another pair in a different color. I sleep on cozy Earth sheets. They're so comfortable and soft. In temperate, temperate, meaning I've never hot or cold, which is really saying something because my wife loves to turn that giant fan on, but they keep me nice and warm without making me like sweaty or moist. You know what I mean? You want to be moist while you're sleeping. And then of course, the waffle towels, I use every day to dry off of my bits and parts. After I've showered cozy earth.com use the offer code juice box at checkout to save 40% off of your entire order. I'm not saying 40% off of one item, I'm saying 40% off of everything you put in the cart, cozy earth.com use the offer code juice box at checkout. The contour next gen blood glucose meter is sponsoring this episode of The Juicebox Podcast. And it's entirely possible that it is less expensive in cash than you're paying right now for your meter through your insurance company. That's right. If you go to my link contour next one.com/juicebox You're going to find links to Walmart, Amazon, Walgreens, CVS, Rite Aid, Kroger and Meijer. You could be paying more right now through your insurance for your test strips and meter than you would pay through my link for the contour next gen and contour next test strips in cash. What am I saying? My link may be cheaper out of your pocket than you're paying right now, even with your insurance. And I don't know what meter you have right now, I can't say that. But what I can say for sure is that the contour next gen meter is accurate. It is reliable. And it is the meter that we've been using for years contour next.com/juicebox. And if you already have a contour meter, and you're buying test strips doing so through the Juicebox Podcast link will help to support the show.

Marie 16:51
I think he really wanted a son. And I really noticed the difference when we found out that it was going to be a daughter. He was very he was disappointed right off the bat. You know, now he loves her more than anything, I'm sure. But he I just that's when I really noticed a change in our relationship and how he kind of interacted. Interesting and the family environment. Yeah.

Scott Benner 17:16
So the drinking was the entire time you were together? Or it was too Can I ask you like, I'm not? I hope this comes off. Right? I'm sure. Why'd you marry him? Because

Marie 17:29
it wasn't always that bad. You know, like, He's the funny guy. He's, he's got a big heart, you know, just not, not for me. And so like, he's the guy that everybody jokes around with, and he's, you know, very likable. But I also think that that is some of his narcissism and things like that, you know, he, it's not really fooling people. He's just not always like that, you know, the

Scott Benner 17:57
drinking was more, like socially acceptable. And then it just kind of got worse and been worse. And this is not something you did. I have to ask you did the other mom, did she try to tell you before you married him? No, no, no. Maybe that would have been nice. Maybe you guys can start a group and tell the next girl.

Marie 18:20
I would have been very appreciative if I would have known. But then I wouldn't have my daughter. And that would not be I wouldn't be sad.

Scott Benner 18:28
Yeah. Life's interesting, isn't it? Okay. Yeah. So, diabetes comes, I'm gonna guess you're on your own dealing with it. So

Marie 18:36
basically, we were in the hospital because it was like a Thursday. So we ended up being in the hospital until the following Tuesday. And not because there were like medical things going on, but simply just because the doctors were in in all weekend. And we couldn't be discharged until we sat down with the endocrinologist of the hospital to make sure that we knew everything and, you know, things like that were were good. But, you know, he wasn't there, he would show up for 30 minutes, an hour a day, and then leave. And so I was there by myself, you know, learning how to do everything, figuring out numbers, you know, learning how to Pre-Bolus and having those nights of just like, just being really sad. You know, I remember leaving the hospital to go pick up her prescriptions at Publix and just standing in line, bawling my eyes out because I couldn't fathom the life that she was going to have. And I was alone in it. You know, there wasn't a supporting character that was there to help me. And it was, you know, just trying to figure out how I'm gonna figure this out. In the long run,

Scott Benner 19:46
right, Marie, I make notes while I'm talking to people. And you know, the word I wrote down like 35 seconds ago.

Marie 19:53
No,

Scott Benner 19:54
I wrote down a loan. Because that's what struck me right away. Is that you're already three years into this knowledge that he's not really a partner, and you're not happy with your relationship for good reasons, your marriage is a mess. And now there's this next burden on you, that's totally going to be on you. Because you already saying it's not going to be him. And yeah, then you're worried about your daughter on top of all that. And that's, that's definitely a feeling of being alone and separated from happiness. Like, you know what I mean? Like, it feels like it feels like somebody comes along and cleaves away any chance to be happy and just like, moves it off to the side, like, that's not yours anymore. And that that's a you need a person to talk to, and that's time did you go to your mom,

Marie 20:45
I talked to my mom a lot. You know, my mom is a good support system for me, especially during that time. But, you know, she lives 700 miles away, you know, so, I'm in this town pretty much by myself, I don't have family here. And it's very much like, I don't have people that understand how my life is changing, you know. And so it was just like a combination of like, I'm finally free of this life that I had been living and the secrets that I have been keeping. And now, it was like a glimpse of freedom, you know, and I don't mean to put it that way. But it was because now you're chained to, you know, we were MDI for a long time. And so just shots and figuring that out. And for a three year old, you know, it's hard having to get shots, and yeah,

Scott Benner 21:39
no, I remember. Yep. Did you move there to be with him? Is that why you're far from your mom?

Marie 21:46
No, after I finished college, my mom lived here. And so I moved here to be closer to her, you know, I lived with her to kind of pay off student loans while I was working. And

Scott Benner 21:58
then she was like that. Then she bugged out and left. No,

Marie 22:01
she got married to this amazing guy who was in the military, and they were stationed in Germany for three years, they had just moved back. Right before she was diagnosed. And so but you know, then he was stationed in a different place. So, so

Scott Benner 22:20
she moves around a little bit. How old are you? How old? Are you?

Marie 22:25
37.

Scott Benner 22:26
Okay, your voice sounds younger. And so it was, it was making me look at you. You're like, Oh, now, you're very well, which it's? I asked. I mean, for everybody listening, but honestly, I asked for me, because now that you're 37 it's easier on me. I don't even know another way to put that. I have these conversations. I had one recently with a girl was like 26 and had a baby and she was dealing with postpartum and everything. And it was her age was breaking my heart as much as the story was. Yeah, so finding out your 37 alleviates some of my anxiety. So thank you for having me. She knows how to get into it. You know what I mean? Been through a couple of rodeos? Oh, yeah. No kidding. Hey, so when do you think you'll date again? 2094. Maybe because

Marie 23:18
I don't know. It's been a long time. And I am very much just enjoying living my life for my kids right now. You know, if

Scott Benner 23:28
I was you, I wouldn't even get a male cat. What do you think of that?

Marie 23:33
Like, oddly enough. Oddly enough, I've kept my daughter alive for three years with this. And so she's been begging me for a cat. And we just got a little baby kitten. So hopefully I can keep both of them alive. And

Scott Benner 23:44
again, I'm just saying I'd stay away from boys and their stuff until I I don't know, I'd vet a guy. Like, he'd feel like, oh my god, he feels like he was going into the CIA. If he was dating me again, if I was, you know. We've done background checks. We need blood every three days. Yeah.

Marie 24:03
There's an interview process. And Oh, for sure. No

Scott Benner 24:08
kidding. It's gonna take at least a year to get through this. Yeah. Can I ask you a weird question? When you're in college, and you're young, and you're imagining your life? Did you think something like this was your lot? Like, did you think you were going in this direction? Like, or is it? Does it completely blow your mind that this is your story?

Marie 24:27
Um, honestly, and I don't mean to sound like a Debbie Downer or whatever. I have gone through a lot of hardships from a young age. And so sometimes it almost seemed like I would never get out of that, you know, it was just like a cycle of, you know, bad decisions or, you know, losing my brother or you know, it just the hits like kept coming. And so, it almost seemed like I wasn't ever going to have that like Dream Life for that dream, family or anything like that. Okay,

Scott Benner 25:04
so it just does that sound doesn't sound weird at all because I mean, listen, I've spoken to a number of people at this point. It's either your, that's your path. And you're almost it's almost a self fulfilling prophecy. Or it just like a car accident comes out of nowhere. And it's like, I don't know, he was like, such a great guy. And he was the captain of the lacrosse team and blah, blah, blah. And then one day like, it goes, like one way or the other normally. So I'm sorry, what happened to your brother?

Marie 25:34
He passed away when he was 20 years old. I was 23.

Scott Benner 25:38
Oh, that's terrible. I'm so sorry. Yeah. Yeah, it was very hard. You have other siblings? No. Hard for your mom to imagine.

Marie 25:50
Immensely hard for my mom. Yes.

Scott Benner 25:53
Well, alright, my home was everybody take a breath for a second. Did anything good happening in the last three years? Like it's?

Marie 26:01
Um, yeah, I have two amazing kids. They're very smart. They're self sufficient. You know, I'm blessed with this as well. I won't have a third kid because the third is gonna be a bust for sure. Like, I have great, great kids.

Scott Benner 26:17
Got lucky in one spot. You just got to kind of hold on to that. Like, let's not stretch that out. I do understand that. Yeah, no kidding.

Marie 26:24
It's the best part. So good for you.

Scott Benner 26:26
Okay, so each said she did MDI in the beginning, obviously, how long did that go for?

Marie 26:31
I want to say it was the summer we're in 2023. So we did that for over a year, and three or four months, because maybe longer because we had only been on Omni pod for about six or seven months before we went to the five. So it was kind of, we did it for a long time. And that had a lot to do with like, you know, her dad didn't want her to be on a pump. And, and I think that was more like, it was just hard for him to figure out how to work it or to go to a class or you know, and that's part of his alcoholism and, and stuff like that. But yeah, we did it for a long time. Does

Scott Benner 27:14
she see him now?

Marie 27:17
No, she has not. He tried to drive with her drunk in a car. And we had a huge altercation. You know, and so he has a no contact order with her.

Scott Benner 27:33
Wow, that's something that alcohol is Yes. Really something else? Isn't it addiction in general. But it's very, very sad. Yeah. Because there's no way he's, there's no way anybody in there is in their right mind and thinking like this will be okay. You know, like, when you're making a decision like that you're not? I mean, you're not the you're not the one making the decisions anymore. In this case, the

Marie 27:57
I think the alcohol is that is the drive driving force for sure.

Scott Benner 28:00
Let me say this. I'm sorry. That's the case. And at the same time, I'm glad it happened. And she's okay. And you were able to like to kind of separate because something bad was gonna happen at some point. I mean, I don't think being like, blackout drunk, watching your six year old and having to give insulin is a recipe for longevity. So or success. Yeah, no, I think I think that was gonna go bad. Real quickly. So maybe it's nice that nice is probably the wrong word. But maybe it's good that something happened that allowed you to, to create that separation there, too. Yeah,

Marie 28:34
that's also sad for her at the same time, because she doesn't get to see her dad.

Scott Benner 28:38
No, I know. That's what I was thinking. Oh, geez. I don't know. I hopefully that's one hell of a cat you got there.

Marie 28:47
She's pretty cute. She's pretty cute.

Scott Benner 28:49
Cats got a lot to do.

Marie 28:52
Yeah. And honestly, I'm very blessed because I do have a great group of friends that have no qualms no fears about helping me with her learning everything that they can to support me or to support her, honestly, and take care of her. And so there's always a silver lining, and it's made me build a tremendously amazing community around me and my children. So

Scott Benner 29:21
yeah, listen, I don't know if this is valuable for you or not. You're pretty young still. But my mom, I just laugh because I said you're pretty young. So yeah, I feel well feel but you're still pretty young. And my mom had a hard life. My dad wasn't an alcoholic, but the rest of the story, you know, fits pretty well. And she just passed recently she was 81. And no, oh, thank you. And I can tell you that watching her fight through all of that stuff, was a gift for my brothers and I so you You'll see you keep doing the things you're doing and your daughter will wake up one day a fully fledged adult, look at your old somewhere and be like that lady was like a tough broad, get an amen. And and it'll help her. So it'll help her. It'll help her in her own life, and it'll help her with your memory when you're gone. And like all that other stuff. I know, I'm not I'm not killing you yet. But I know you got a couple more years,

Marie 30:24
but that'd be able to get her the 18 at least

Scott Benner 30:27
Yeah. I mean, she won't look up and just think like, oh, yeah, she did make croissants for us on Fridays. Like, she's gonna see somebody who, like, who fought through a lot of stuff to help her. It's gonna mean something to her, by the way, not right away. She's going to be terrible to you for a number of years.

Marie 30:43
I already know, I have prepared myself. I already know. On the other side, my mom told me that you get it back tenfold. So I'm like, Oh, great. Yeah, I,

Scott Benner 30:54
you know, I used to think that was something when I was younger, and I watched like women, like kind of snicker when their daughters had kids that were trouble, you know? And then, and now that I'm older, I'm like, Yeah, I can see what the satisfaction comes from that. Like, it's not because you want your kids to have trouble raising their kids, because you remember when they were giving you crap? So well, okay, so you moved off of MD, once, he didn't have a say anymore, you were able to go to even that, like, let's dig into that for a second. What's that like for you to want to make a decision for your daughter's health and to have a person who you know, should not have a say in it, other than you know, that he is a sperm donor, basically. And he's got opinions that are counter productive for her health, but you've got to be in that conversation. And he gets to say, like, talk about that a little bit. So

Marie 31:43
I basically made the decision on my own. And this was before, he wasn't allowed to see her. And so I took the class, I got her on it, we did our pod of, you know, sailing, and still doing shots. And I was like, you know, this is gonna get better, this is gonna get better for both of us, you know, and I remember taking her to her dad's house and dropping her off and sitting in the living room, and trying to explain to him, you know, this is how this works, this is all you need to do. And him losing his mind and being like, we're not doing this. I don't want to curse but like, we're not doing this. I'm not doing this. This is not what is the best thing for her, you know, I don't want to do this, and just her sitting there. And like it, it was sad for both of us, because we're both seeing this, a little bit of freedom, you know, a little bit of less stress and more consistency in numbers and her feeling better and a little bit more control with those numbers as well. And it was just one of those things that was like, well, listen, you can either get on board, or you can, you know, not see her, you know. And so we kind of did that for a while, but it wasn't very much longer before. That wasn't the case anymore.

Scott Benner 33:13
I'm imagining the two of you coming into the situations already tense you already No, this is not a thing that goes well talking to that probably. Yeah. And you have all this, like, these gains that you've made, right? You've you figured things out, and they're getting better. And now you're it's almost like you're going for permission from the last person on earth who should have a say in it. And, you know, and, and I don't mean like, I know, people can hear that and think but he's just father, he has a lot of sight. And I'm like, I get that. But I mean, if you're not listening to the circumstances, you know, yeah, he's the last person that should have some input. And, and then you it's just the feeding, and she's only little but she understands. Right. Yeah. She,

Marie 33:55
you know, when they're, and I'm sure that you had the same with art and like they kind of grow up a little faster than they really should have, you know, and they're around adult conversations with the doctor and talking about things and explaining things to her. You know, I'm, I've always been very, I don't sugarcoat things for either my kids, I just, I try to be as honest with them as I can. I don't lie to them about things. And so she always since this has happened has understood more than she should you know

Scott Benner 34:31
what alcoholism in his family?

Marie 34:33
I would say absolutely. Yeah. Okay. Yeah.

Scott Benner 34:37
Gotcha. Do you worry about it for your kids, or for your daughter?

Marie 34:41
I do, you know, but I also see my mom, who when I was younger, was an alcoholic. And after my brother passed away, it was really hard. But you know what, my mom is almost 15 years sober and it's the best gift that she ever gave to herself. Ultimately, it's the best gift that she ever gave to me to her grandkids, you know. And so, I think that it is possible. And I think that, you know, it scares me for them. But I grew up watching that. And now, you know, I don't like drinking all the time, I'm not wanting to just sit at my house and and drink when there's nobody there or anything like that, you know. So I think that it also helps you to see what you don't want to do. Right? Or you don't don't want to be like, Yeah,

Scott Benner 35:30
I don't drink, right. And I can't take credit for it, it just isn't a thing I do. It's not a decision I made or didn't make or anything like that. And there's this liquor store at this intersection where I used to live, and he'd get stopped at the red light. And it just felt like cars were streaming in and streaming out and it just never stopped. And as a person who doesn't drink you're like, I don't understand, like, what? Why could all these people like, what are they going to do with all this? Booze their body? Like, like, like beer stores as people constantly in and out cases of beer, and it just, it doesn't make any sense to me. And then to hear the story about your ex who it only makes sense to him. You know what I mean? Like that, that looks like the sun rising and setting to him. It looks perfect. And that's his

Marie 36:21
day, buy a 24 pack, drink the whole thing, and then leave to go get more, you know, and the same night. And so it's Yeah, that's exactly what it was.

Scott Benner 36:31
Does it feel like, even though I don't imagine this is what it is, like, I'm trying to take both sides here in my head. Like, what if i What if I was an alcoholic? I don't think I would think this but from your perspective, this it feels like he chose 24 cans of beer over loving you and and his daughter? Yes.

Marie 36:50
Yeah. Right. I mean, being an active member of a family, you know, going to school functions, even with his daughter, you know, I was the one you know, waking up and going to school and helping out, you know, and he couldn't, he would sometimes go. But you could tell like he was either really hungover, or he was not really there. You know, like, I'm ready to go. You know, it's like,

Scott Benner 37:15
uh, you know, expectations. This might seem like it's off the path for a second. But I think we, we kind of can do our children a disservice by presenting to them that life is going to be like some perfection wrapped in a bow. And when you really get into life, like I just did an interview with Arden, I did my third interview with her the other day, and it's not out yet. But we were sitting here talking and, and she said something like, life's boring. And I was like, what? And she goes, yeah, she's like, can you just do the same thing over and over again? And I was like, right, and she wasn't saying it, like, what was me, you know, when to throw myself off a bridge. Like she was just like, she's like, you know, it's, it's not running to softball all the time and 15 friends around you and every time you look up, you're at a movie or having a party or something like that, like it's, it's going to school and and washing your clothes and making dinner again and again and again. And she's like, it's boring. And and I thought, I'm glad she knows that. Because if you're expecting everything to feel like mainlining heroin all the time, then when it isn't. You can say well, what's the point? Yeah, the point is going to the school function or hanging out with your kids or, you know, leaning on you and watching something stupid on television after a long day or something like that, like that. That's the point. The points like human connection. And if you don't see that, then it could seem I can see how life would seem just stark. And yeah, and you'd want to alter yourself. Because your constant. If you're not taking joy out of what life really is, then existing in It must be painful. I'm getting I'm thinking. My son said he's been away for nine months. Now. I months. He got a job at Christmas last year. But he had to basically move across the country to take this job. The experience was he needed that. And it was really good. So we had to do it. But he moved to a city where he doesn't like he knew one person and she moved like two weeks after he got there. And so he he moved to a place where he didn't know anybody. They moved him up in the company enough that his schedule changed from all the people he came in with. So all the new hires had the same schedule, but they kind of gave him a different job. And so now even the people he sort of knew a little from being hired at the same time with them. He was not on the same schedule with them anymore. Yeah. And he's only got to work there for a year so He's almost done. But he said to me the other day, it He called me and we're FaceTiming. And he goes, what do people do after work? It felt like a four year old asking me a question. Like, he's like, I don't understand, like, what is life? Like is what it felt like he was saying to me, and because and the reason he can't figure it out right now, it's because he's disconnected from people. So he's doing a task, he's coming home. Now, to his credit, he's gone out and found people like in public to play basketball with and you know, he's taking care of himself, and like he's doing the right things. But I don't know that moment. Murray, where he just said, like, what do people do after work? I was like, I felt like saying, I'll be right there. I'll just live with you until you're done with a job. And then we can come home. Like, you know what I mean? Like, I'm like, I'm on my way. I'll quit my job. I'll be right there. But it's also really good for him. But it's only good for him because he's handling it. Well. Yeah. Because he could be saying, what do people do after work? And then seeing if he can get through a 24 pack? Yeah, yeah. And you can't take credit for being either person. Like, it's, it's just, it's just who you are, I guess, and how you would react to that situation? No matter what. It's sucks. Yeah.

Marie 41:15
It's almost like you have to be stimulated in some way. Or, you know, have that like, not high. But you know, that thing that picks you up? Yeah,

Scott Benner 41:25
no, point, all the things that people do to busy themselves. Smoking, food, drinking. You know, even even when you see people go like the other way, they're like, I'm going to exercise. But we all know, like, there's everyone lives in a town where some like, incredibly skinny person is running. 24/7 Like that's just a person who I think really wants to drink but doesn't like alcohol. Like you don't mean like they're they're looking for. I'm not saying you can't go jogging. I'm saying that, like anything you do to access is a to me a sign of you trying to distract yourself, you know, in one way or another

Marie 42:02
trying to feel fill the void of of something. Yeah. The only

Scott Benner 42:06
thing that feels the void, in my opinion is like human connection. So yeah, that's all anyway, I can see that. Yeah. Okay, sorry. We should talk about diabetes for a second. No, you're fine. Why? No, I'm fine. But like people listening might be like, this is the diabetes podcast I listened to. So she went to Omnipod. Dash. Is that right? And how long did you dash before you went to five? Because I heard you say five in there.

Marie 42:35
We went to five. I think it came out. October of last year or August, maybe?

Scott Benner 42:42
Maybe you want to say August? September? You right in there. Yeah.

Marie 42:47
So we were on dash from about February of last year until August of last year.

Scott Benner 42:55
Okay. So you switch to pumping. But as soon as Omnipod. Five was available, you moved to that? So she's using a Dexcom G six right now as well. Okay, how do you like the algorithm?

Marie 43:06
Well, honestly, I'll be brutally honest. Yeah. When we first started, I loved it. Because I felt like it was tighter, you know, it was had a little bit more control is a little bit more aggressive, which is I, I'm a I'm a watcher. I'm like watching these numbers, I'm trying to figure out how we can get this lower, or, you know what I did wrong this time. So I don't do it wrong the next time. And so I felt for the first three months, it was great. It was awesome. But then it was like, at a certain point, it started like letting up little by little, little by little. But she also started school. So it was kind of like, days at home with me would be tighter. And then when she was at school, it's also learning those things, too. And they're little, a lot actually more lenient, and like, letting things go and I'm calling the nurse. Like, we got to do something about this. And, you know, that's a whole nother episode and in itself, but so I liked it at first, and I found myself being the crazy person that resets it, because I, it starts to get too loose for me. Yeah, so we've reset a few times. And it's always great when it first resets. And I think it's because it's going on those base numbers, which are a little more aggressive. And then it starts letting, letting letting up letting up. So it's, yeah, it's kind of an in between. It's

Scott Benner 44:33
tough, because I mean, the algorithms in general, first of all, I mean, what's already one see,

Marie 44:39
the last appointment we had, it was a six, six. That's

Scott Benner 44:43
pretty great. Does she have lows very frequently. So

Marie 44:46
I think that visit, we were at a 1% low, which was good. And I was very happy with

Scott Benner 44:52
that. Yeah. I mean, it's tough because, I mean, we talked about Omnipod five because you're using it But I don't think it matters which one you're using. They all work within, within reason. They they work similarly. And you see, you know, it's sometimes some meal spike, and they don't do as good a job as bringing them back as you would like. And they're not perfect, but they're amazing. You know what I mean? Like, it's it's really interesting. I've, for me, it's about sleep. Like, are you sleeping safely and feeling comfortable while you're sleeping? Because that's a big deal. You're only three years into it, but trust me 10 years from now, if you're not sleep, yeah, that first

Marie 45:34
couple of nights. I'm like, Oh, my gosh, I slept like through the night. What is this? Like? This is amazing. Yes, it's magic. It was. And I like saw myself being so refreshed. And everyone's like, you're in a great mood. I'm like, I slept.

Scott Benner 45:50
Great mood. My brain is working at over 40%. You don't know, normally when you're talking to me, I'm shutting off.

Marie 46:00
Oh, I'm asleep walking with my eyes open like, it's, it's not. But if I could make that number 110 Lower, like that target range or that target? That goal right there? I think it would be a lot better. That is a little. I think that gives like a little bit too much leniency for me you want it?

Scott Benner 46:21
Yeah, yeah. So you'd like to see it. So you know, I was talking to somebody two days ago, who's on control IQ. And, you know, they were talking about how how much they love control IQ and how well it works, etc. And then I said, What's your agency around like six to six, three? And she goes, No, it's five, something and I said, How are you doing that she was I have all the settings made very aggressive. And I was like, Oh, okay. And I thought, Oh, she found a way to work within what the system was willing to do. And I don't know if that's like for, like with Omnipod. Five, like, I would say if you see a spike in a meal, like I would Bolus again, you know what I mean? Like, yeah, you kind of need to keep showing that thing. Like, this is what our total daily insulin is not what I want. Yeah, yeah. And so should be. It's just, it's, I don't know, it's one of those strange things. I'm not telling you that the the algorithms all shouldn't have lower targets, and be tuned to doing that. I wish they would. I've said a million times. I don't know why you can't just say, you know, listen, I want to use the beginner, intermediate or pro level, like, you know, just flip a switch in there and say, Look now, like, let's target 90 And, and be more aggressive, or I want to target 110. Like, do that or higher or lower whatever. Yeah, but I mean, I would

Marie 47:45
do 80. That would be my 85. Somewhere in there. That would be fine with me. That's your goal?

Scott Benner 47:50
Yeah. Well, I mean, I don't know if we'll ever get to that or not like any. They won't. Yeah, the retail systems if it will do that or not? Yes. Still, though.

Marie 47:59
And their doctor doctor is very, like, she's the doctor that she's a great doctor, don't get me wrong. They're amazing. I love their office, but they're like, you know, you're at 110. At this time, I think you should go up to 130. And I'll change it while I'm in the office. And then I'll go home and change it back. Hire, you want to hire especially at night, and she's like, my, your daughter is so young. That like 110 is is is cutting it close. I don't know. What are you talking about? Lady? I'm good with that. Why does she think that? I don't know. But she's also like, if your daughter's 250 At night, don't stay up correcting that, you know, you need to get some sleep don't stay up correcting that. I can see where you're correcting that over and over again. And I'm like, I'm not hanging out at 250. Yeah, she's not for me. Yeah. And she's like, Yeah, but if you're not sleeping and you're not resting, then you're not good for her. And I was like, I don't care about me. I care about her when she's 24 years old. You know, looking back and being like, my mom didn't take care of me the way that she should have. She did not do everything she could you know, so I still stay up and do it. And every time we go to the doctor, it's like, let's raise these numbers. Let's let's make this like, this is a little borderline and I just go home and change it back

Scott Benner 49:16
where you don't look crazy in the the appointment, right? She doesn't think she's saving your life or something like your hair is not going in six directions and you're like, hey, everything's fine. Nothing like that.

Marie 49:24
No, no, nothing like that. They just know who I am. I'm gonna sit there and make sure that you know, yeah, I'm like one one ad diagonal arrow. I'm like, nope, let's do it. Let's

Scott Benner 49:34
talk too much. Is your doctor married?

Marie 49:37
I don't know. She is a little. She's an older lady. And she's, I don't exactly know where she's from. I think she might be German.

Scott Benner 49:46
How old? Is she in our 60s?

Marie 49:48
I would say

Scott Benner 49:49
yeah, you might need a younger doctor. There are

Marie 49:54
no younger doctors in this town. I see. Honestly, I spend more time with The educational nurse, I love her. But even she sometimes is like, listen, you're getting a little low at nighttime, like she's going to bed when she's 80. And that's not okay. You need to like, raise that nighttime. Why is

Scott Benner 50:12
that? Not okay? Is she getting lower than 80?

Marie 50:16
She Yeah, but I'm okay. As long as she's not under 70. You know what I mean? Like, I'm fine with that. It doesn't bother me. You're telling

Scott Benner 50:23
me that you're keeping her blood sugar between 70 and 80 when she's sleeping and the dot, and it's not going lower than that. And the doctor wants you to change that. Yeah,

Marie 50:32
like, I think last night, she got to 93. And then she came right back down and glided on, you know. And so, if we had a doctor's appointment this morning, it probably would have been like, that's not like, I'm not comfortable with that. And you shouldn't be comfortable with that. Because if something happens, you know,

Scott Benner 50:49
those people don't know what they're talking about.

Marie 50:52
It's a little stressful, because I'm always I'm trying to fix it. I'm the fixer. And they're like, You need to let out the reins a little bit.

Scott Benner 51:00
Its stability is what your goal is. If you're stable at 80, then what's the point? Like? Why? Why would we prefer to be stable at 110? I wouldn't. Yeah, they're mixing apples and oranges. Like, I don't want you falling, like below a number and getting low. Like, I'm not saying that. But there's no reason to believe that an ad is going to fall. If your settings are good. They don't know what they're saying. It's interesting. Yeah. Okay. Well, it sounds like you're doing fine. I would just crying.

Marie 51:28
I mean, I got breakfast down to a science. So I felt like if I've mastered cereal and oatmeal and pancakes, then

Scott Benner 51:37
you're probably Yeah, just you know, this penguins from that Madagascar movie, like this smile and wave just smiling life, just like I heard you. Thanks. Just can I get all the prescriptions,

Marie 51:47
change it, and I go back, I go home, and I change it back.

Scott Benner 51:51
Thank you. Appreciate it. I just need the There we go. Thank you. I go, I got my prescriptions. I'm out of here. Well, listen, I'm sure they just don't want a crazy low to happen. But I mean, how many times do you have to show them stability and an ad? Before they go? This lady seems to know how to accomplish this. You don't I mean? Yeah.

Marie 52:12
You know, it was really interesting, because there was a point there where I was going in and they're like, Well, how do you do this? Like when she's having pasta? Like, because we eat pasta? We rice? Like, I'm from Miami, like we eat rice in this house. And so she's like, Well, how do you not have that spike? And I'm like, well, first of all, I cook it and then I pull it off. And I microwave it, which breaks it down a little bit. But I also I'm like really aggressive on that dose. And I'll give her a little bit before she starts eating. And then I'll give her more after because I already know what's gonna happen, you know? And so they're like, you microwave,

Scott Benner 52:50
what you don't understand, like, instead of telling you what they think, why aren't they asking you what you think? Because you're the one that appears to know how to do it.

Marie 52:57
Yeah, well, they did. They're like, why do you microwave it? And I'm like, it just it breaks it down a little bit and makes it not have such a hard hit, you know? And they're like, and I'm like, I do the same thing for pasta. You know, I cook it I call it off. I put it in the microwave. And for some reason, you know, we just don't have that. Oh, it's not.

Scott Benner 53:15
There's no real scientific reason why that works. Yeah. Did you hear Jessie's episode where she talked about that? Yeah, yeah. Glucose goddess, right? Like, yeah, you can I think potatoes. A lot of different starches, like cook them, cool them reheat them. They don't hit you the same way.

Marie 53:32
Yep. Which is great. Yeah.

Scott Benner 53:35
Like, you should say, like, you know what, I heard it on a podcast. How was it? You don't know about it? Like, come on. Well,

Marie 53:44
after when we were in the hospital, we had this incredible nurse and her name was Alex and I will welcome Leila use her name because she was incredible. And she just sat me down one night. And she's like, Listen, this is the podcast that you need to listen to. This is going to save your life and your daughter's life. This is going to help you. And you know, she started telling me tricks. And you know, if she wants to treat before bedtime, give her some sugar free strawberry ice cream with peanut butter. And like, this is how this is going to affect this, you know, and she just was so amazing. But she pointed me straight in the direction of the podcast. And so our first doctor's appointment, I was like, yeah, like I've been listening to this podcast, and they're like, What? Like, you have to listen to it. Like what are you talking about? You've got to so it's like a revelation

Scott Benner 54:31
of she's listening. I really appreciate that. That's wonderful.

Marie 54:36
Revelation is like one so she knew what she was talking about. Gotcha.

Scott Benner 54:40
Hey, can I get a t shirt that says the revelation on it because I think that would be very funny and appropriate. And

Marie 54:47
I think I think you've earned it.

Scott Benner 54:50
I mean, as soon as I leave this room, good Tom, my wife and I would like her to refer to me as the revelation from now on.

Marie 54:58
You might get a funny look, but go

Scott Benner 55:00
I'm not gonna you know, funny like she did tell me to go by oh my gosh, she's gonna say, did someone on that podcast say that to you? Because they don't know you? You're an idiot. And I'm like, Okay, I gotcha.

Marie 55:15
No, of course not. Yeah, by

Scott Benner 55:18
the way, this is an after dark episode, I think because of all the drinking. I think I'm going to call it after dark revelation.

Marie 55:23
Hey, I'm good with that. Are you? Good? Hilarious.

Scott Benner 55:28
Oh, my gosh. Are you okay? Yeah, I'm fine. You're fine. I

Marie 55:35
have moments of stress. But you know, I tried to just roll with it. Yeah. Because it's, I'm doing it on my own. So there's no other option, but

Scott Benner 55:46
I'm good. Yeah, that was not convinced, at all. Everything's fine. Thank you for asking. It felt like a movie where you're on a bridge and I come up and I'm the cop and I get out of my patrol car. You go you Okay? And you go, Yeah, I'm fine. Absolutely fine. Everything's okay. You can go about

Marie 56:07
your business. Right? Just leave me here.

Scott Benner 56:11
I don't I almost got it all worked out. But like, do you take time to take care of yourself?

Marie 56:16
My mom would say no, I go to the gym Monday through Friday. And that hour of time, hour and a half is is my time. And I feel like that is where I really work out a lot of stressors or things that are getting to me or you know, that's that's the time that I would rather spend on myself because it just clears my mind running. I just takes me to this peace level of a little bit of serenity. And like, in that moment, so that's how I take care of myself.

Scott Benner 56:49
Oh, that's excellent. By the way, be careful some of those gym boys. Like you don't I mean, like,

Marie 56:54
oh, no, I am the only weirdo in Florida right now wearing a hoodie and like sweatpants and that's that's how they don't talk to me. Cuz I'm not I'm not the cute dress girl with the makeup on.

Scott Benner 57:06
Good. Let's keep the gym boys away from you. That's right. We don't need that. I feel like you have a poor track record and you will definitely find one who's jacked up on testosterone and something else.

Marie 57:18
It is a known joke. My pickers broken like I faulty, completely faulty picker. So there's a memory.

Scott Benner 57:26
We can't We can't call it revelations. Now. It's broken picker. God damn it. You ruined my title. It's okay. I'm actually writing it down in case you're wondering, broken picker is hilarious. That's your title. They're done. Plus, I realized the violations is a Bible like thing. And maybe people would not think that's funny. You have a broken picker?

Marie 57:53
Yes, I'm not. I'm not good at that.

Scott Benner 57:55
How do we fix your picker? Just

Marie 57:57
stay single by myself. Is

Scott Benner 58:01
that why don't why don't you just play worked out with? It's worked out? Well, I've stayed away from guys and nothing's gone wrong. Why don't you go out into the world? Pick a guy and then pick one you would never go with and then ask the one you would never go without. That's probably how you should do it.

Marie 58:18
It seems like a great idea. But you know, that will just be a mess. And something always happens. Yes. There'll be a serial murderer or something. Yeah, like the Ted Bundy is that are completely normal all over the place and they're secretly killing people and stuffing them in your,

Scott Benner 58:35
your in the trunk. You're bound. And you're like that King Guy on that goddamn podcast. No, it try a quiet guy. Now he's getting ready to cut my arm off. So and eat it. So? Well. There's always I mean, I don't know. I don't know. It just it seems like I also think Look at me, I'm flustered now because I know when my wife leaves me, which has got to happen at some point. When that happens. I'm gonna be by myself for sure. Although my daughter's like you're my daughter goes, dude, you're such a catch. For some lady whose kid has diabetes. She's like, you'll be fine. Don't worry about it.

Marie 59:19
They're gonna be lining up. No heads try for somebody to help me with this. I don't have to stress on myself.

Scott Benner 59:26
That's all you want. I can do those things. Don't worry. Let's go. You're gonna get insulin. Oh, yeah, man. Don't worry. It's good. That's right. That's right. But no like, but I also think like, a guy called you young earlier, but at the same time, like it's no joke, right? When you find when people get into their late 30s The people leftover can sometimes feel like the ones that they just couldn't find a match or didn't like it feels weird, right? Doesn't it feel like you're? This is gonna sound wrong, but doesn't it feel like you're shopping like on the, like the leftover rack. It's

Marie 1:00:03
kind of like, these people are single for a reason. And it's not because they're, they're good. People are like that they're the catch. They're the ones who people have tried and been like, yeah, that's not that's a no go.

Scott Benner 1:00:19
Oh, hell is not where it's at. That's right. That's right. But you're also

Marie 1:00:25
I know. And you know why? It's because my picker is broken. And I've spent too many years with people that I shouldn't have been with. I feel like I might have been picked up a long time ago. But instead, I always wanted to be with the fun one and the crazy one, and

Scott Benner 1:00:42
this is a problem, there's a problem. That's the problem. When I was younger, my mom was like, you know, somebody's gonna love you. Like, you're so kind and blah, blah, blah. And I was like, that's not how girls pick. I don't think that's how this works. But okay, thanks, Mommy. That's right. And then we'll like talk privately. It's, and those you've heard guys say, like, just be mean, they like it better, which is obviously ridiculous. But also not like you will attract a certain person just being. And yeah, that sucks. But, you know, nobody's looking to nobody's like looking for me, Marie, who's like, I cut the lawn every week, you know, they mean? Like, are

Marie 1:01:23
you kidding me, that would be, I would be fine with that. I want somebody who's gonna be nice to me, and treat me good. And treat my kids good. And that's all I really care about right now. But I also feel like just being where I have been focusing on my kids focusing on, you know, making their life everything that it could be, I would never trade the last two years and for anything, because it's made me realize who I am. It's helped me to find out how to be the best mom for them. And really, just pour everything that I have into them and not into somebody else that will distract me. It's not worth it. That's

Scott Benner 1:02:02
excellent. I'm happy for you about that. For sure. I think you just gotta find another guy who also has a broken picker, and then you guys would probably be perfect together.

Marie 1:02:13
Maybe he exists, maybe. I mean, I

Scott Benner 1:02:15
gotta be honest with you. I don't see why we don't start a dating app right now called Broken picker. And it's just people with like, this story. Like, I always pick the wrong person. I always pick the wrong person. I never know which one to pick, and then let the algorithm put them together. I think it really would work. Yeah,

Marie 1:02:31
except for dating apps or the death of society. I feel like Yeah,

Scott Benner 1:02:35
but I mean, you're older. Now. You don't have time to go out and like, you know, they mean, pop up your caves or whatever girls do it. And like, it's a lot of work. It's like you're not going out and like foreign shields again, ever. Right?

Marie 1:02:49
Meet me on the soccer field, then we'll see what happens. That's how I see it.

Scott Benner 1:02:52
If you think I'm attractive while I'm screaming at a referee, you're gonna love me.

Marie 1:02:59
That is so true. Okay.

Scott Benner 1:03:02
That's hilarious. All right. Well, I really do appreciate you doing this with me. I'm wondering if there's anything we didn't cover that we should have?

Marie 1:03:08
I don't know. I feel like we've covered a lot. I

Scott Benner 1:03:12
took you all over the place. You did really good. That's fine. Yeah. Yeah, I can even feel it sometimes. When people are like, you ask such good questions. And I was like, I bet you people wish I asked two questions in a row that's felt like they went together. But, but I thought this was fascinating. Oh, yeah. And it really is. I think what you said in the beginning is very true. You are not nearly the only person by the way, man or woman like this could handle Yeah, yeah. For sure that this has happened to and you. I mean, I don't know if you're proud of yourself, but you took care of this quickly. I know that doesn't seem like that. Probably but you recognize the problem. tried to make it work. assessed, it is not fixable, and got the hell out? All within a few years. That's that's pretty cool. You know what I mean? Like that. That's, that's good work by you. So yeah, no, of course not. It's a I mean, you could have been there 20 years trying to, you know, coming up with excuses. And that kind of stuff. I shouldn't talk like this. My wife's gonna hear this and be like, yeah, why am I making excuses?

Marie 1:04:18
Or like, stay together for the kids stay together for the kids? Like, yeah, right. I don't want my kids to think that this is acceptable acceptable to treat somebody that way or acceptable to accept being treated that way you're such

Scott Benner 1:04:30
a harsh example to like your your situation is it's over the top you do you know that like, did you have like, like, now that you're away from it? Do you see that your life's not the same like adrenaline fueled, like crazy ride that it used to be? Did you not know it was back then? Or did you know?

Marie 1:04:48
I was in it. So I mean, I knew like, and it was like, Oh, it's 230 He'll be home soon. Like, this is this is not good. You know? So it was every day. And that's not Have a takeaway from you know, how hard he worked. And I know that he loves his kids, I just think that he has to find that balance of or say to himself, like, I am an alcoholic. And I cannot drink, you know, and I think his pride is too much to admit that or to change how he is,

Scott Benner 1:05:20
if he was able to do that, if he was able to get sober, Would you welcome him back as like her dad and everything.

Marie 1:05:27
I mean, he's still her dad, he'll always be her dad, you know, but, I mean, that would be my ideal. I want her to have a sober dad, you know, and he can be an amazing dad. And I know that, you know, and it's just, he's got to figure out like, which thing is more important to me. And I'll be honest with you, it's coming up in December, when he'll be able to see her again. And my anxiety is like, all over the place, because I don't know what that's gonna look like, because I've been in control of this situation, at that point will be a year and eight months, you know, so it's, I hope that he's getting it together and doing the things that he needs to do and that the court recommended that he does so that he can have a relationship with her. That

Scott Benner 1:06:14
would be ideal. Yeah, of course, do you not know if those things are happening or not? Do you have no contact? No,

Marie 1:06:19
he has no contact with me or, or her because of the situation that

Scott Benner 1:06:24
happened. So he knows he could be sober right now you wouldn't know it. I

Marie 1:06:30
wouldn't know it. I pray that He is, you know, I want that for my daughter urinate

Scott Benner 1:06:34
months. Now, suddenly, he's gonna be back again, and you're worried he's gonna be that same person, or worse. That's terrible. Well,

Marie 1:06:44
he's very resentful, and so I just know that it's gonna be a rocky situation, at least for a while.

Scott Benner 1:06:53
So yeah, that sucks. I I'm sorry. For you. I am, I hope. I hope it is the best outcome it can be. And if it's not, I hope you continue to handle it the way you've been because you're doing a great job.

Marie 1:07:05
Yeah, thank you.

Scott Benner 1:07:06
I appreciate that. Of course. It's sincere. I mean, I've only talked to you for an hour but you know, you're very together and, and thoughtful about this. Thank you. Yeah. Unless you're hiding something. Are you hiding anything? Tell me No. No. You imagine? I try not? You told me so many things about your life. You writing something like I don't know what it could be.

Marie 1:07:30
Maybe I'm a serial murderer. You've got people

Scott Benner 1:07:33
locked in the basement? Maybe? My gosh. Alright. Well, Maria, thank you so much. Can you hold on for a second for me? Absolutely. Thank

Marie 1:07:40
you. Thanks.

Scott Benner 1:07:47
Arden started using a contour meter because of its accuracy, but she continues to use it because it's adorable and trustworthy. If you have diabetes, you want the contour next gen blood glucose meter. There's already so many decisions. Let me take this one off your plate. Contour next one.com/juice box. Huge thanks to cozy Earth for sponsoring this episode of The Juicebox Podcast cozy earth.com use the offer code juice box at checkout to save 40% off of your entire order. Jalen is an incredible example. With so many experience living with diabetes. You show up for yourself and others every day, never letting diabetes define you. And that is what the Medtronic champion community is all about. Each of us is strong and together, we're even stronger. To hear more stories from the Medtronic champion community or to share your own story visit Medtronic diabetes.com/juicebox And look out online for the hashtag Medtronic champion. Thank you so much for listening. I hope you enjoy my full conversation with Jalen coming up in just a moment. If you're living with type one diabetes, the afterdark collection from the Juicebox Podcast is the only place to hear the stories that no one else talks about. From drugs to depression, self harm, trauma, addiction, and so much more. Go to juicebox podcast.com up in the menu and click on after dark. There you'll see a full list of all the after dark episodes. Thanks for hanging out until the end. Now you're gonna hear my entire conversation with Jalen don't forget Medtronic diabetes.com/juice box or the hashtag Medtronic champion on your favorite social media platform.

Speaker 1 1:09:34
My name is Jalen Mayfield. I am 29 years old. I live in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where I am originally from Waynesboro, Mississippi. So I've kind of traveled all over. I've just landed here in the Midwest and haven't left since.

Scott Benner 1:09:49
How old were you when you were diagnosed with type one diabetes?

Speaker 1 1:09:52
I was 14 years old when I was diagnosed with type one diabetes

Scott Benner 1:09:56
15 years ago. Wow. Yes. Okay. 14 years old. Are you like, do you remember what grade you were in?

Speaker 1 1:10:01
I actually do because we we have like an eighth grade promotion. So I had just had a great promotion. So I was going straight into high school. So it was a summer, heading into high school

Scott Benner 1:10:11
was that particularly difficult going into high school with this new thing?

Speaker 1 1:10:14
I it was unimaginable, you know, I missed my entire summer. So I went, I was going to a brand new school with, you know, our community, we brought three different schools together. So I was around a bunch of new people that I had not been going to school with. So it was hard trying to balance that while also explaining to people what type one diabetes was,

Scott Benner 1:10:34
did you even know? Or were you just learning at the same time,

Speaker 1 1:10:37
I honestly was learning at the same time, my hometown did not have an endocrinologist. So I was traveling almost over an hour to the nearest you know, pediatrician, like endocrinologist for children. So you know, outside of that I didn't have any type of support in my hometown.

Scott Benner 1:10:55
Was there any expectation of diabetes? Is somebody else in your family have type one? No, I

Speaker 1 1:11:00
was the first one to have type one of my family. And do you have children? Now?

Scott Benner 1:11:04
I do not know. Do you think you will one day, still

Speaker 1 1:11:07
gonna validate. But right now, I've just been traveling books at all my career myself. So

Scott Benner 1:11:12
what do you do? What's your career? Yeah, so

Speaker 1 1:11:14
I am a marketing leasing specialist for a student housing company. So we oversee about 90 properties throughout the US. So I've been working for them for about

Scott Benner 1:11:22
eight years now. And you get to travel a lot in that job. Yes, I

Speaker 1 1:11:27
experience a lot of travel. It's fun, but also difficult, especially with all your type one diabetes supplies, and all your electronics. So it's a bit of a hassle sometimes.

Scott Benner 1:11:36
What do you find that you absolutely need with you while you're traveling? diabetes wise,

Speaker 1 1:11:41
I have learned my biggest thing I need is some type of glucose. I have experienced lows, whether that's on a flight traveling, walking through the airport, and I used to always experience just being nervous to ask for some type of snack or anything. So I just felt, I felt like I needed to always have something on me. And that has made it my travel a lot easier.

Scott Benner 1:12:02
So growing up in the small town. What was your initial challenge during diagnosis? And what other challenges did you find along the way?

Speaker 1 1:12:13
Yeah, I think the initial one, I felt isolated, I had no one to talk to that it was experiencing what I was going through, you know, they were people would say, Oh, I know, this is like hard for you. But I was like, you really don't like I, I just felt lonely. I didn't know you know, people were watching everything I did. He was like, You can't eat this, you can't eat that. I felt like all of my childhood had been you know, I don't even remember what it was like for life before diabetes at this point, because I felt like that's the only thing I could focus on was trying to do a life with type one diabetes, when

Scott Benner 1:12:47
you found yourself misunderstood? Did you try to explain to people or did you find it easier just to stay private?

Speaker 1 1:12:54
I honestly I just held back I didn't really like talking about it. It was just it felt like it was just an repeating record where I was saying things and people weren't understanding it. And I also was still in the process of learning it. So I just, you know, kept it to myself didn't really talk about it was I absolutely had to,

Scott Benner 1:13:12
did you eventually find people in real life that you could confide in. I

Speaker 1 1:13:17
think I never really got the experience until after getting to college. And then once I graduated college, and moving to an even bigger town, that's what I finally found that was people where I was like, Okay, there's a lot of other people that have type one diabetes. And you know, there's a community out there, which I had never experienced before, is

Scott Benner 1:13:38
college where you met somebody with diabetes for the first time or just where you met more people with different ways of thinking. So

Speaker 1 1:13:44
I met my first person with diabetes, actually, my freshman year of high school, there was only one other person. And he had had it since he was a kid, like y'all once this was like, maybe born, or like right after that timeframe. So that was the only other person I knew until I got to college. And I started meeting other people. I was a member of the band, and I was an RA. So I was like, Okay, there's, you know, there's a small handful of people also at my university, but then, once I moved to, I moved to St. Louis. And a lot of my friends I met were like med students, and they were young professionals. And that's where I started really getting involved with one of my really close friends his day, he was also type one diabetic. And I was like, that's who introduced me to all these different types of communities and technologies, and which is really what helped jumpstart my learning more in depth with type one diabetes.

Scott Benner 1:14:35
Do you think I mean, there was that one person in high school, but you were young? Do you really think you were ready to build a relationship and around diabetes? Or did you even know the reason why that would be important at the time?

Speaker 1 1:14:46
I didn't know you know, I honestly didn't think about it. I just was like, Oh, there's another person in my class that's kind of going through the same thing as I am but they've also had it a lot longer than I have. So they kind of got it down. They don't I'll really talk about it. And I was like, Well, I don't really have much to, like, connect with him. So sorry, connect with him on. Yeah,

Scott Benner 1:15:06
no. So now once your world expands as far as different people, different backgrounds, different places in college, you see the need to connect in real life, but there's still only a few people, but there's still value in that, right?

Unknown Speaker 1:15:18
Correct.

Scott Benner 1:15:19
What do you think that value was at the time?

Speaker 1 1:15:22
I think it was just what making me feel like I was just a normal person. I just wanted that. And I just, I needed to know that like, you know, there was other people out there with type one diabetes experiencing the same type of, you know, thoughts that I was having.

Scott Benner 1:15:37
When were you first introduced to the Medtronic champions community? Yeah.

Speaker 1 1:15:42
So about two years ago, I was, you know, becoming more I was looking around and I noticed stumbled upon the Medtronic community. And I was like, this is something I really, really, I kind of need, you know, I said, I, all throughout these years, I was, you know, afraid to show my pump. You couldn't, I would wear long sleeves, like, didn't want people to see my CGM, because I didn't want people to ask me questions. And you know, I just felt so uncomfortable. And then I noticed seeing these people really, in the Medtronic community just they embraced it, you could see them, they weren't afraid to show it. And that was something I was really looking forward to.

Scott Benner 1:16:17
How was it knowing that your diabetes technology is such an important part of your health and your care? And having to hide it? What did it feel like to have to hide that diabetes technology? And how did it feel to be able to kind of let it go,

Speaker 1 1:16:30
I will refuse to go anywhere, like, I would run to the bathroom, I just didn't want to do it in public, because I felt like people were watching me. And that was just one of the hardest things I was trying to overcome. You know, I was fresh out of college, going into the professional world. So you know, going out on work events and things like that. I just, I just didn't think I just didn't think to have it out. Because I was so afraid. But then, once I did start, you know, embracing again and showing it that's when the curiosity came and it was actually genuine questions and people wanting to know more about the equipment that I'm on, and how does this work? And what does this mean? And things like that which meet, it kind of inspired me? Because I was like, Okay, people actually do want to understand what I'm experiencing with type one diabetes.

Scott Benner 1:17:15
What did you experience when, when the internet came into play? And now suddenly as easy as a hashtag, and you can meet all these other people who are living with diabetes as well? Can you tell me how that is? Either different or valuable? I guess, compared to meeting a few people in real life?

Speaker 1 1:17:32
Absolutely. I think if you look back from when I was first diagnosed to now, you, I would have never thought of like, you know, searching anything for someone with, you know, a type one diabetes. And now it's like, it's all I see, you know, you can easily search Medtronic champions, and you see people that pop up, and you're like, wow, look at all this content. And I think that's something that that kind of just motivates me, and which is how I've kind of came out of my shell and started embracing more and posting more on my social media with about, you know, how I live with type one diabetes. And I think that's something that I hope can inspire everyone else. What

Scott Benner 1:18:06
was it like having more personal intimate relationships in college with type one?

Speaker 1 1:18:11
I think it was kind of hard to explain, you know, just, for example, like, no one really knows, it understands, like what a logo is. And I think that was a very hard thing for me to explain, like I, you know, it can happen in any moment. And I'm sweating. I'm just really like, not all there. And I'm trying to explain, like, Hey, this is what's going on, I need your help. And I think that was something that was hard for me to, you know, I did talk to people about it. So when this happened, they were like, oh, you know, what's going on with your mate? I'm actually a type one diabetic? This is what's going on? I need your help. What about?

Scott Benner 1:18:49
Once you've had an experience like that in front of someone? Was it always bonding? Or did it ever have people kind of step back and be maybe more leery of your relationship? After

Speaker 1 1:19:02
I would tell someone I had type one diabetes after some type of event or anything, they were kind of more upset with me that I didn't tell them upfront. Because they were like, you know, I care about you, as a person I would have loved to knowing this about you. It's not anything you should have to hide from me. And that was a lot of the realization that I was going through with a lot of people.

Scott Benner 1:19:19
Okay, let me ask you this. And now we talked about what it was like to be low, and to have that more kind of emergent situation. But what about when your blood sugar has been high or stubborn? And you're not thinking correctly, but it's not as obvious maybe to you or to them? Yeah.

Speaker 1 1:19:33
So I also I go through my same experiences when I have high blood sugars, you know, I can tell like, for my co workers, for example, I didn't really talk to you know, when I go out backtrack, when I visit multiple sites for work, I usually don't announce it. And so sometimes, I'm working throughout the day, I might have snacks, forgot to take some insulin, and my blood sugar is running high and I'm a little bit more irritable. I'm all over We're the place. And I'm like, let me stop. Hey, guys, I need to like take some insulin and I'm sorry, I'm not I didn't tell you guys, I'm a diabetic. So you may be wondering why I'm kind of just a little bit snippy, you know, so I like to make sure I do that now going forward, because that's something I noticed. And it was kind of hindering me in my career because I was, you know, getting irritable, because I'm working nonstop. And I'm forgetting to stop, take a step back and focus on my diabetes, right? Hey,

Scott Benner 1:20:26
with the advent of new technologies, like Medtronic, CGM, and other diabetes technology, can you tell me how that's improved your life and those interactions with people? Yeah, I

Speaker 1 1:20:36
can. I feel confident knowing that it's working in the background, as someone and I always add what you said it, I have been someone that's really bad with counting my carbs. So sometimes I kind of undershoot it because I'm scared. But it allows me to just know that, hey, it's going, it's got my back if I forget something, and I think that allows me to have a quick, have a quick lunch. And then I'm able to get back into the work day because it's such a fast paced industry that I work in. So sometimes it is easy to forget. And so I love that I have that system that's keeping track of everything for me.

Scott Benner 1:21:09
Let me ask you one last question. When you have interactions online with other people who have type one diabetes, what social media do you find the most valuable for you personally? Like? What platforms do you see the most people and have the most good interactions on?

Speaker 1 1:21:25
Yeah, I've honestly, I've had tremendous interactions on Instagram. That's where I've kind of seen a lot of other diabetics reach out to me and ask me questions. I've commented, like, Hey, you're experiencing this too. But I've recently also been seeing tic TOCs. And, you know, finding on that side of it, I didn't, you know, see the videos in different videos. And I'm like, I would love to do stuff like that. But I just never had the courage. So I'm seeing people make, like, just the fun engagement videos now, which I love, you know, really bringing that awareness to diabetes. Yeah.

Scott Benner 1:21:54
Isn't it interesting? Maybe you don't know this. But there's some sort of an age cutoff somewhere where there is an entire world of people with type one diabetes existing on Facebook, that don't go into tick tock or Instagram and vice versa. Yeah. And I do think it's pretty broken down by, you know, when that platform was most popular for those people by age, but your younger people, I'm acting like, I'm 100 years old, but younger people seem to enjoy video more.

Speaker 1 1:22:21
Yes, I think it's just because it's something you see. And so it's like, and I think the one thing and obviously, it's a big stereotype around diabetes is you don't like you have diabetes. And that's something I always face. And so when I see other people that are just, you know, normal, everyday people, and I'm like, they have type one diabetes, just like me, they're literally living their life having fun. That's just something you want to see. Because you don't get to see people living their everyday lives with diabetes. And I think that's something I've really enjoyed.

Scott Benner 1:22:51
What are your health goals? When you go to the endocrinologist, and you make a plan for the next few months? What are you hoping to achieve? And where do you struggle? And where do you see your successes, I'll

Speaker 1 1:23:02
be honest, I was not someone who is, you know, involved with my diabetes, I wasn't really focused on my health. And that was something that, you know, you go into an endocrinologist and you get these results back. And it's not what you want to hear. It gets, it makes you nervous, it makes you scared. And so I personally for myself, you know, I was like, This is my chain, this is my chance to change. I know, there's people that are living just like me, everyday lives, and they can keep their agencies and their blood sugar's under control. How can I do this? So I go in with, you know, I would like to see it down a certain number of points each time I would love for my doctor to be like, Hey, I see you're entering your carbs. I see you're, you know, you're not having lows. You're not running high, too often. That's my goal. And I've been seeing that. And that's what motivates me, every time I go to the endocrinologist where I don't dread going. It's like an exciting visit for me.

Scott Benner 1:23:50
So you'd like to set a goal for yourself and then for someone to acknowledge it to give you kind of that energy to keep going for the next goal. Yeah,

Speaker 1 1:23:58
I feel as a type one diabetic for me, and it's just a lot to balance. It's a hard our journey. And so I want someone when I go in, I want to be able to know like, Hey, I see what you're doing. Let's work together to do this. Let's you don't want to be put down like you know, you're doing horrible you're doing it's just, it's not going to motivate you because it's you're you're already fighting a tough battle. So just having that motivation and acknowledging the goods and also how we can improve. That's what really has been the game changer for me in the past two years.

Scott Benner 1:24:34
Jalen, I appreciate you spending this time with me. This was terrific. Thank you very much.

Unknown Speaker 1:24:38
Absolutely. Thank you.

Scott Benner 1:24:40
If you enjoy Jalen story, check out Medtronic. diabetes.com/juicebox the episode you just heard was professionally edited by wrong way recording. Wrong way. recording.com


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