#1700 That About Sums It Up

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Shannon returns to discuss perimenopause, GLP-1s, and Hashimoto’s. She and Scott navigate the challenges of raising a teen with T1D and ADHD while preparing for adulthood.

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

Scott Benner (0:00) Hello, friends. (0:01) Welcome to the Juice Box podcast. (0:03) From my family to yours, I want to wish you a happy holiday.

Shannon (0:17) Hey. (0:18) I'm Shannon, and I was on that episode 500 and something, that crazy mom from Texas, and this is my update.

Scott Benner (0:29) This episode of the juice box podcast is sponsored by Skin Grip, durable, skin safe adhesive that lasts. (0:36) Your diabetes devices, they can fall off easily sometimes, especially when you're bathing or very active. (0:43) When those devices fall off, your life is disrupted, and it costs you money. (0:47) But Skin Grip patches, they keep your devices secure. (0:50) Skin Grip was founded by a family directly impacted by type one, and it's trusted by hundreds of thousands of individuals living with diabetes.

Scott Benner (0:58) Juice Box podcast listeners are gonna get 20% off of their first order by visiting skingrip.com/juicebox. (1:09) While you're listening, please remember that nothing you hear on the juice box podcast should be considered advice, medical or otherwise. (1:17) Always consult a physician before making any changes to your health care plan or becoming bold with insulin. (1:31) This episode of the Juice Box podcast is brought to you by my favorite diabetes organization, Touched by Type one. (1:39) Please take a moment to learn more about them at touchedbytype1.org on Facebook and Instagram.

Scott Benner (1:45) Touchedbytype1.org. (1:47) Check out their many programs, their annual conference, awareness campaign, their d box program, dancing for diabetes. (1:55) They have a dance program for local kids, a golf night, and so much more. (2:01) Touchedbytype1.org. (2:03) You're looking to help or you wanna see people helping people with type one, you want touchedbytype1.org.

Scott Benner (2:10) Today's episode is also sponsored by Tandem Mobi, the impressively small insulin pump. (2:16) Tandem Mobi features Tandem's newest algorithm, Control IQ Plus technology. (2:21) It's designed for greater discretion, more freedom, and improved time and range. (2:26) Learn more and get started today at tandemdiabetes.com/juicebox. (2:31) Today's episode is also sponsored by the Eversense three sixty five.

Scott Benner (2:36) The Eversense three sixty five has exceptional accuracy over one year and is the most accurate CGM in the low range that you can get. (2:44) Eversensecgm.com/juicebox.

Shannon (2:47) Hey. (2:48) I'm Shannon, and I was on that episode 500 and something, that crazy mom from Texas, and this is my update.

Scott Benner (2:56) This is what it was wait. (2:57) Hold on. (2:58) I'll just yo. (2:59) Actually, it was called crazy mom from Texas.

Shannon (3:01) It was. (3:02) Because I you nicknamed me crazy mom from Texas.

Scott Benner (3:05) I can't I don't remember why. (3:06) Do you remember why?

Shannon (3:07) Oh, I do. (3:08) Oh, I do. (3:09) Oh, I I do. (3:10) Yep. (3:10) Do you want me to tell you

Scott Benner (3:11) that? (3:11) Want you to tell me what I what you said that made me comfortable enough to call you crazy when I don't know you.

Shannon (3:17) No. (3:18) No. (3:18) No. (3:18) No. (3:18) Okay.

Shannon (3:18) Well, I guess I should I should clarify that a little better. (3:21) Technically, I said it first, and you just ran with it. (3:26) So it's okay. (3:26) I can own my level of crazy. (3:28) But way back when, and honestly, I couldn't even tell you the year, but it's been a minute.

Shannon (3:32) It's been several years that we did this episode. (3:35) And my husband and I were on a night away in a hotel when my father-in-law was watching Nathan, my type one diabetic at the time. (3:44) And it was supposed to be, like, just us stepping away because life was just with type one diabetes was just insane. (3:50) And I had hit a breaking point with type one. (3:53) And I was like, let me message this random guy who runs a podcast who's, like, famous in the type one community.

Shannon (3:59) Let me ask him for help. (4:00) And so I did. (4:02) And you responded actually shockingly fast. (4:05) And I was like, hey. (4:06) I'm this crazy mom from Texas.

Shannon (4:08) I need help, and there you are.

Scott Benner (4:10) Well, I am what a story where I sound lovely. (4:12) That's really the kinds of stories we need.

Shannon (4:14) Yeah. (4:14) Yeah. (4:15) No. (4:15) No. (4:15) You actually were very lovely.

Shannon (4:16) You helped and helped us bowl us for Chick fil A and, you know, it was it was it was great. (4:22) And

Scott Benner (4:22) Wait. (4:22) Wait. (4:23) You said something a second ago. (4:24) It was probably just a slip of the tongue, but you said my type one diabetic at the time. (4:28) He doesn't know

Shannon (4:28) At the time. (4:29) No. (4:29) I know. (4:30) That didn't I realized after I said that.

Scott Benner (4:31) Yeah. (4:31) He hasn't been cured,

Shannon (4:32) hasn't he? (4:32) Type one. (4:33) Okay. (4:33) He hasn't. (4:34) No.

Shannon (4:35) I wish, but no. (4:35) He's still type one.

Scott Benner (4:36) Shannon's back on the show to say she's found the cure. (4:39) This is awesome.

Shannon (4:40) Oh, sorry. (4:41) I wish I really wish that was the case. (4:43) I didn't want people No. (4:44) He's I didn't want people who

Scott Benner (4:46) were paying attention to, like, get get the wrong idea. (4:48) That's all.

Shannon (4:49) I know. (4:49) Sorry. (4:50) No, I was I think I was on the track of saying, and he was around well, he was nine when he was diagnosed. (4:54) And I think he was around, like, maybe 10, 11 at the time. (4:57) And I went to start to say the age, like, 10 at the time, and it just came out wrong.

Scott Benner (5:00) I know what happened. (5:01) It's okay. (5:01) I'm just teasing you. (5:03) What are your thoughts? (5:04) Will we be able to call this one still crazy in Texas when we're done, or or have things gotten better?

Shannon (5:09) Oh, no. (5:10) Things have gotten better. (5:11) I mean, I still own my level of crazy, but I'm not we're not in Texas anymore. (5:14) We moved to East Tennessee, So I can still be the crazy mom from East Tennessee or Tennessee or whatever.

Scott Benner (5:19) Crazy move to Tennessee.

Shannon (5:20) Yeah. (5:21) Yeah.

Scott Benner (5:21) Why is it important to tell me it's East Tennessee?

Shannon (5:24) Oh, well, I guess, I mean, Tennessee well, I think well, they separate Tennessee, obviously, into West, Middle, and East here. (5:29) This is I've learned this since

Scott Benner (5:30) Oh, they do that?

Shannon (5:31) I've moved here. (5:32) So yes. (5:32) So, like, in Middle Tennessee is, like, Murfreesboro. (5:35) I think, like, East is obviously where I am. (5:38) West is what's on the other side?

Shannon (5:40) Not Knoxville, the other one. (5:41) I always forget. (5:42) It's on the other side. (5:43) Is that it's on the West Side.

Scott Benner (5:45) I don't know.

Shannon (5:45) It's escaping me right now. (5:46) It's escaping me right now.

Scott Benner (5:48) My brain is busy going Tennessee. (5:51) Tennessee. (5:52) So soon it's gonna start singing with that song. (5:55) So you moved from Texas to Tennessee. (5:57) You brought some of your crazy with you, but it's not as bad as it used to be.

Scott Benner (6:00) How long has your son had diabetes at this point?

Shannon (6:03) Seven years. (6:04) So he was nine when he was diagnosed, and he is now 16.

Scott Benner (6:07) Wow. (6:08) How does that make you feel?

Shannon (6:09) Oh my god. (6:10) It makes me feel old. (6:11) It's a different level of stress. (6:12) I guess I'll say that. (6:13) Like, I don't I worry differently now.

Shannon (6:16) Is that he's only got, like, a year and a half left of high school and then what? (6:20) You know? (6:20) It just it's a whole new level of, like, worry, concern. (6:24) So this so that's why I say the crazy is still there.

Scott Benner (6:26) Is there some ADHD with you or with him? (6:28) I forget.

Shannon (6:29) He has ADHD. (6:30) My husband's ADHD, but I probably have a touch of the ADD.

Scott Benner (6:34) Oh, just a touch of it? (6:35) Mhmm.

Shannon (6:36) Yeah. (6:36) A touch. (6:37) Yeah.

Scott Benner (6:37) Smattering. (6:38) How does it show up with you? (6:40) How does it show up with your son?

Shannon (6:42) School is a struggle for him, and it always has been, but diabetes has made that extra hard. (6:49) For me, it's just, like, focus. (6:50) I just noticed that now as I've gotten older and, like, this lovely perimenopausal phase, I've just noticed the ADD has just, you know, just the tension has kind of just gotten worse, but it definitely shows up in his blood sugar.

Scott Benner (7:03) Okay. (7:03) How old are you now?

Shannon (7:04) 45.

Scott Benner (7:05) 45. (7:05) It's upon you, the the change? (7:07) It

Shannon (7:08) is is upon me. (7:09) Mhmm. (7:10) Absolutely.

Scott Benner (7:10) How long have have you been, in the fight?

Shannon (7:14) I don't know. (7:14) I would say 40 was the downhill point. (7:17) Like, that's when it kind of all started. (7:19) And then definitely the last two years since we moved, and I don't know if it's, like, stress or or what. (7:24) But

Scott Benner (7:26) Sweaty? (7:26) Yeah. (7:27) Trouble sleeping? (7:28) Weight? (7:29) What's how's it getting you?

Shannon (7:30) Well, so I have Hashimoto's also. (7:32) I joke that in our family, it's, the Russian roulette of autoimmune diseases. (7:36) Which one are you gonna get? (7:37) And so mine is Hashimoto's. (7:39) And yeah.

Shannon (7:40) So, yeah, that definitely doesn't help with the weight. (7:43) I started taking the semaglutide shot, so that's helped.

Scott Benner (7:46) Awesome. (7:46) Have you lost the how long have you been doing the GLP?

Shannon (7:50) A year. (7:51) Just about a year, and I've lost 20 pounds, which I I'm not a I'm five three. (7:55) I'm not a large person. (7:57) I just wanted to get back to I really only need to lose, like, 20 pounds, but I just couldn't. (8:01) Like, I exercised every single day.

Shannon (8:03) I used my Peloton, and I just I couldn't it was just a pound here, another pound here, another pound here. (8:09) Kept coming. (8:10) And so yeah. (8:11) It just it would no matter what I did and I don't eat unhealthy, I need to drink more water. (8:16) That's my fault.

Scott Benner (8:17) But I'm laughing because I pulled out a cup this morning and I was like, I'm gonna fill this with water and then I didn't. (8:22) Can you tell me how much you weigh? (8:23) Is that too much?

Shannon (8:24) Yeah. (8:25) Well, now, I weigh one twenty two.

Scott Benner (8:27) One twenty Yeah. (8:29) Where you wanna be or getting close? (8:31) Yeah.

Shannon (8:32) Yeah. (8:32) No. (8:33) That's right. (8:33) That's I think that's perfect for me. (8:35) Like I said, I'm five three.

Shannon (8:36) So you put it on and there's not a lot for not a lot of places for it to go. (8:40) Yeah. (8:41) And so it just it was really starting to get to me. (8:44) So, you know, 20 pounds over two years.

Scott Benner (8:48) How would you say the GLP helped? (8:50) Was it with in your head? (8:52) Was it in your stomach? (8:53) Was it other ways?

Shannon (8:55) The food noise, for sure. (8:58) And then everybody talks about that, but, like, you're just hungry all the time. (9:02) I'm not as hungry anymore. (9:05) Mhmm. (9:05) But I will say and I don't know if everybody's like this or if this was just me.

Shannon (9:09) It is not a quick fix. (9:10) Like, it took me two months to lose five pounds. (9:12) And I was like, I'm not giving up. (9:14) I like I said, I was already for a year, I was already exercising and eating right, trying to drink more water. (9:21) But and I nothing.

Shannon (9:23) Like, I lost nothing. (9:24) And finally, I was like, I don't care. (9:25) I'm just gonna try this. (9:27) And, yeah, it just it just makes you not as hungry.

Scott Benner (9:30) I've been hungry once in, like, the last four months, I think. (9:33) And it's because I missed my shot. (9:35) I I talked about it recently on an episode. (9:37) I was driving home from somewhere, and I was like, god. (9:39) I think I'm getting sick.

Scott Benner (9:40) My stomach hurts. (9:41) And then it took me

Shannon (9:42) a turns out

Scott Benner (9:43) you're hungry? (9:43) Literally, it's like, oh god. (9:44) I'm gonna get sick. (9:45) Was like, have to go somewhere two weeks from now. (9:47) I hope that doesn't happen.

Scott Benner (9:48) And then, it then it hit me. (9:50) I was like, oh, I'm not sick. (9:51) This isn't nausea. (9:52) I'm hungry. (9:53) I didn't realize.

Scott Benner (9:54) I haven't felt hungry in so long. (9:56) I didn't I didn't really know what it was like. (9:58) So Yeah. (9:58) Yeah. (9:59) So I ate something and then remembered that I didn't give myself the injection.

Scott Benner (10:03) Where do you keep your TSH?

Shannon (10:05) Oh, I just had that drawn. (10:07) I just saw the results. (10:08) They just came in yesterday. (10:09) I wanna say it was, like, 1.5. (10:11) I will say, honestly, like, everything is in range, but I don't feel any better.

Shannon (10:15) I'm exhausted all the time. (10:17) And they're just like, I don't know.

Scott Benner (10:19) Well, have you have you asked the doctor about adding a Cytomil t three to it?

Shannon (10:23) So, yeah, that I was. (10:24) I was on oh, I'm on Synthroid now, and I was on liothyronine. (10:28) One of my physicians, like, put me on that because they said because and I also had a hysterectomy. (10:32) So they're like, oh, you had a hysterectomy, and you're over 40. (10:35) You can't convert the three to the four.

Shannon (10:36) I'm like, okay. (10:37) Whatever. (10:37) So they put me on the lyrothyronine, but just a small dosage of it. (10:41) And I'm I never felt any different. (10:42) I still don't.

Shannon (10:43) So then we moved here. (10:45) I will say the medical system, I think, overall, at least here, is, like, ten years behind. (10:49) So my PCP was like, why don't you just try the Synthroid and just see if that makes a difference? (10:54) I'm like, fine. (10:55) At this point, like, what is it?

Scott Benner (10:56) Shannon, stop. (10:57) They they were giving you t three but not t four?

Shannon (10:59) No. (11:00) Just the Loud Thyroid. (11:01) And that the

Scott Benner (11:02) I don't know that name. (11:03) Are you saying levothyroxine? (11:05) What what are you saying to me?

Shannon (11:06) No. (11:06) No. (11:06) No. (11:07) No. (11:07) Levothyroxine.

Shannon (11:08) So I call it Synthroid. (11:10) It's just easier to say.

Scott Benner (11:10) But Yeah. (11:11) Yeah.

Shannon (11:12) But the well, I can't find it now. (11:15) But no. (11:15) It's I don't know. (11:16) Liothyronine. (11:17) I thought it was the four.

Shannon (11:18) I thought that's what it was.

Scott Benner (11:20) Well, I'm trying to figure it out.

Shannon (11:22) I'd have to Google it.

Scott Benner (11:23) Yeah. (11:24) Liothyronine sold under the brand name, like, Cytema. (11:26) Okay. (11:26) Cytema. (11:26) You were taking Cytema.

Shannon (11:27) Oh, okay.

Scott Benner (11:28) But but this was the generic of it?

Shannon (11:30) Yes.

Scott Benner (11:31) And you took how much? (11:32) Would they give you? (11:33) 0.25?

Shannon (11:34) I should've asked me all those questions, wouldn't you?

Scott Benner (11:36) I mean, you know, you came on the podcast, not me.

Shannon (11:39) Yeah. (11:40) No. (11:40) Sorry. (11:41) Five mics.

Scott Benner (11:42) Oh, you were doing five, not two? (11:44) Okay.

Shannon (11:44) Yeah. (11:46) And seventy five of levothyroxine.

Scott Benner (11:49) And so your TSH is where they like it. (11:51) They hit you with the Citamen. (11:52) The Citamen didn't change anything for you.

Shannon (11:55) No. (11:55) And I even tried to double it. (11:57) I tried to I was like, let me try it for a little bit. (11:59) And I took 10, so I took two of the liothyronines.

Scott Benner (12:02) What are you, the nutty professor?

Shannon (12:04) I was like, listen.

Scott Benner (12:05) I wonder what two of these would do.

Shannon (12:06) It'll be fine.

Scott Benner (12:07) Honestly, if you took two of them and you didn't feel anything, I I that's pretty telling, actually. (12:13) Hey. (12:13) How's your vitamin d? (12:14) How's your iron?

Shannon (12:15) They checked both of those, but that's probably been closer to a year ago that they checked it. (12:20) My vitamin d is usually always low, but I've been really good about taking one every day. (12:24) Good. (12:24) So it's it's back in. (12:26) But and the iron, no.

Shannon (12:27) I never have a problem with, like, iron or my red blood cell count. (12:31) Like, I never have a problem with that.

Scott Benner (12:32) Do you happen to know where your fur tin is? (12:34) I know that's a weird question.

Shannon (12:36) You know, I will say they drew that because when I went to her, was like, draw it all. (12:40) I don't care. (12:40) Figure out why I'm so tired. (12:42) And because I remember you talking about that. (12:44) Like, you have to get infusions.

Shannon (12:45) Right?

Scott Benner (12:45) I don't anymore. (12:46) GLP fixed it.

Shannon (12:48) Oh, did it?

Scott Benner (12:48) Yeah. (12:49) Because my I think listen. (12:50) I'm guessing because, I have absolutely no medical background. (12:53) But I'm guessing what happened is as my digestion slowed down and things sort of going through me correctly, I'm actually now absorbing the nutrients that I'm eating. (13:02) So I have not had an iron infusion since I've been on a GLP.

Shannon (13:07) Interesting.

Scott Benner (13:07) Mhmm.

Shannon (13:08) Mhmm. (13:08) Well

Scott Benner (13:10) But I know you don't know it off top of your head, but go back and look at it at some point. (13:13) Okay?

Shannon (13:14) Yeah. (13:15) I know it was in range, whatever that is.

Scott Benner (13:16) Please don't worry about the range. (13:18) If your ferritin was under 70, like, you that might be your answer right there for being tired, especially and the lower it gets, they're still gonna tell you it's in range.

Shannon (13:28) I wrote that down. (13:28) I'll go back and look. (13:29) I'll log into that.

Scott Benner (13:31) Check into it. (13:31) Just I mean, it's worth looking into.

Shannon (13:33) Yeah.

Scott Benner (13:34) Like, because you're exhausted constantly?

Shannon (13:36) All the time.

Scott Benner (13:37) Yeah. (13:38) It's been your whole life or just recently?

Shannon (13:40) No. (13:40) Just since I was diagnosed with Hashimoto's, which was only been, like, four years ago.

Scott Benner (13:45) Okay. (13:45) Who else in your family has it?

Shannon (13:48) My dad has hyperactive thyroid. (13:50) They had hit he had his irradiated, and he also has type one.

Scott Benner (13:53) Okay.

Shannon (13:54) And his sister, my aunt, has type one. (13:57) My mom passed away of scleroderma, which is another autoimmune disease. (14:01) It's a terrible one.

Scott Benner (14:02) Wow.

Shannon (14:03) And I think I think that about sums it up.

Scott Benner (14:06) That about

Shannon (14:06) But yeah.

Scott Benner (14:06) That about sums it up. (14:07) Could be the episode title. (14:09) Yeah. (14:10) Alright. (14:11) Well, I would tell you, obviously, to keep after it.

Scott Benner (14:16) Like, don't try not to give up if you can because that tiredness really will it'll climb on you and you won't you know what I mean? (14:23) Changes so much about your life and you don't realize it until it's too late and then you're nasty and, you know, you're change changing your relationships and the quality of life and everything else. (14:34) When you think of a CGM and all the good that it brings in your life, is the first thing you think about, I love that I have to change it all the time? (14:41) I love the warm up period every time I have to change it? (14:44) I love that when I bump into a door frame, sometimes it gets ripped off.

Scott Benner (14:47) I love that the adhesive kinda gets mushy sometimes when I sweat and falls off. (14:51) No. (14:52) These are not the things that you love about a CGM. (14:55) Today's episode of the Juice Box podcast is sponsored by the Eversense three sixty five, the only CGM that you only have to put on once a year, and the only CGM that won't give you any of those problems. (15:08) The Eversense three sixty five is the only one year CGM designed to minimize device frustration.

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Shannon (16:42) Yeah. (16:43) I def I know I definitely see that. (16:45) And I thought, like, when we moved here, it'd be okay because I was switching to days. (16:48) I wasn't gonna do nights anymore. (16:49) Was like, I'll feel better.

Shannon (16:51) And that didn't really change very much, and it just seemed to, like, the older I get. (16:55) And then now I have a desk job, so I don't work bedside anymore. (16:58) And so then I was like, okay. (17:00) It's less stress. (17:01) Well, that wasn't it either.

Shannon (17:02) So, you know, it just it I I definitely see that it does. (17:06) It affects every aspect of your life.

Scott Benner (17:08) Hard to see it happening. (17:09) Yeah. (17:10) But it really, really does. (17:11) What else could we get you to try? (17:14) Here's a question.

Scott Benner (17:14) Have you had the COVID?

Shannon (17:17) Not recently.

Scott Benner (17:18) Is there any chance you have long COVID?

Shannon (17:21) Did I have what COVID?

Scott Benner (17:22) Long COVID?

Shannon (17:24) I don't know. (17:26) I had COVID. (17:27) I think it was last year. (17:28) Like, it was last I had the last time I think, actually, last time I had COVID was last December, so almost a year ago that I know of, that I was for sure tested.

Scott Benner (17:37) Yeah. (17:37) I mean, I don't know. (17:39) Long COVID's pretty specific of fatigue, post malaise, crashes after activity. (17:44) You ever get, like, real active and then it ruins you for a couple days?

Shannon (17:48) No. (17:48) No? (17:48) Mm-mm. (17:49) Okay.

Scott Benner (17:49) It's probably not that then. (17:50) But your menstrual cycles, well, you wouldn't know that they're they're dying anyway.

Shannon (17:55) Yeah. (17:55) Well, I don't know.

Scott Benner (17:56) Okay. (17:56) Alright. (17:57) Wait. (17:57) You had a hysterectomy?

Shannon (17:58) Oh, yeah. (17:59) You didn't yeah. (18:00) I well, I had said that at one point, but yeah. (18:02) Okay. (18:03) I said that was the beauty of having a hysterectomy.

Shannon (18:05) What's that? (18:05) That'll disappear. (18:06) Anymore.

Scott Benner (18:07) Tell me what made you wanna come back on the podcast.

Shannon (18:09) You had posted something about an update on one of the Facebook pages. (18:13) Like, if you had done a podcast or something like that, I don't I don't remember your wording. (18:18) And I had commented and I was like, oh, hey. (18:21) I was a crazy mom from Texas. (18:23) And I I don't remember what I said.

Shannon (18:25) Somebody replied back on the foot and said they would love to hear an update from me, and I was like, why? (18:31) But okay. (18:32) Sure. (18:32) I enjoyed talking with you. (18:33) It was fun.

Scott Benner (18:34) You made an impression on somebody. (18:35) Isn't that nice?

Shannon (18:36) I I guess I did. (18:38) So

Scott Benner (18:38) Somebody who was like, oh, I'm crazy too. (18:40) This is very comforting.

Shannon (18:42) Exact exactly. (18:43) If I can help one person.

Scott Benner (18:45) If I can

Shannon (18:45) help one.

Scott Benner (18:45) Okay. (18:46) So we're back. (18:46) So let's figure out what's happened since then. (18:48) I think we'll we'll start with you're worried about your son getting older and leaving for school and kinda work backwards. (18:55) So he's what at what point in high school now?

Shannon (18:58) He's a junior.

Scott Benner (18:59) What about him makes you worried?

Shannon (19:02) Nathan's a challenge. (19:04) I mean, he super sweet and funny kid. (19:06) I mean, he's hilarious. (19:07) But the ADHD and he's and he's 16. (19:12) I'm on I don't know.

Shannon (19:14) I assume this is normal for a 16 year old. (19:17) He just struggles with like, we'll go out of town with some friends for the day. (19:21) Like, we like to go to Gatlinburg, things like that for just for the day because it's literally, like, an hour away. (19:26) Mhmm. (19:26) And we'll leave him here, and he almost went to DKA one day.

Shannon (19:30) And because we were chipping with some friends, and I was like, Nathan, change your sight. (19:33) Nathan, change your sight. (19:34) Like, this isn't right. (19:35) I'm watching your sugars climb. (19:36) Nathan, he's like, eventually, did.

Shannon (19:38) And then there was something wrong with that one. (19:40) And I'm like, change it again. (19:41) He's like, no. (19:42) I don't want to. (19:43) I'm like, change it again.

Shannon (19:44) I don't really care. (19:44) And then that one was bent. (19:45) By the time I got home, his sugar had been high for, like, I don't even know, six hour. (19:50) His ketones were high. (19:51) He was about ready to throw up.

Shannon (19:52) It was just I was like, Nathan, like, come on, kid. (19:55) You know?

Scott Benner (19:55) Functionally, what happens there? (19:57) Is he unable to focus enough to do it? (20:00) Is he resistant, trying to exert some sort of, you know, singularity? (20:06) Like, what what's going on there?

Shannon (20:07) I think it's a little bit of both. (20:09) Like, resistance, I don't want to. (20:10) You know, I'm I'm busy. (20:11) It was a weekend. (20:12) You know?

Shannon (20:12) He was playing games or watching a movie or whatever. (20:15) It was doing something he wanted to do. (20:16) He didn't wanna stop. (20:17) I think that's part of the ADHD. (20:19) Like, I don't I don't wanna stop.

Shannon (20:20) I want to do this even though this is pressing at the moment. (20:24) Like, I don't want to. (20:25) And then, yeah, I'm I'm fine. (20:27) I've already given myself insulin, and, you know, I changed it. (20:30) He did.

Shannon (20:31) He changed it, like, twice, but I had to change it the third time when I got home because the second one was bent again. (20:36) And, you know, he felt like literal ass, and I told him, I said, go into my cabin and get the Zofran. (20:43) He got out the Pepto and took that. (20:45) I was like, well, that probably didn't help. (20:48) So it

Scott Benner (20:49) Did it occur to you to, like, do an injection?

Shannon (20:52) Oh, yeah. (20:52) He he did. (20:53) He had given himself. (20:54) I told him. (20:54) I was like, give yourself.

Shannon (20:55) So he he wasn't completely void of insulin at the time, but it still wasn't near enough. (20:59) You know? (21:00) He did. (21:00) I told him I was, like, seven units here, five units there, and he was doing shots in between. (21:05) I was like, we just changed the site.

Shannon (21:06) Mhmm.

Scott Benner (21:07) Is he by himself in that in that day?

Shannon (21:11) So no. (21:12) We usually have, my brother-in-law lives with us currently temporarily and then my father-in-law will come over and stay. (21:18) And so

Scott Benner (21:19) There were people there?

Shannon (21:21) Yeah. (21:21) Yeah. (21:22) Yeah. (21:22) Yeah. (21:22) There's adults.

Shannon (21:23) If he if he needed help, he he could have said I needed help, but he wants to do it himself also.

Scott Benner (21:28) Tell me a little bit about how the cannulas get bent.

Shannon (21:31) So we have our own process that, like, we put the infusion site in the freezer, and I, like, I will swear by this, is that I don't know. (21:39) I assume the physics is it makes it cold enough so when you insert it, it doesn't bend. (21:42) And it 98% of the time, it works beautifully. (21:46) But sometimes, he doesn't leave it in there long enough, so it's not quite cold enough. (21:49) Or he lets it sit out too long while he's, like, priming it or whatever.

Shannon (21:53) And then it it kinda warms back up. (21:55) And so and then I have also noticed when he inserts it, instead of just pushing once on the outside and then pulling it back off, then that's how it gets bent. (22:03) Because he sat there and, like, pushed on the applicator too many times, and that little, like, plunger will go in and out, and it will bend the cannula when he pulls it back out.

Scott Benner (22:11) Wanna say, first of all, I've never heard the freezer thing, and I I can't where did you hear that from?

Shannon (22:16) It's my claim to fame. (22:17) So, like, when we started on the t slim, like, a long time ago, I had a friend who had read that you put them in the in the refrigerator. (22:25) Well, like, I'm impatient, so the freezer's faster. (22:28) So that's why she said that, you know, put it in the refrigerator, it gets it cold and it won't bend. (22:33) So I just use the freezer because like I said, it's faster.

Scott Benner (22:36) I feel like it's incumbent upon me to say that I don't know if that's okay or not.

Shannon (22:39) So I mean

Scott Benner (22:40) Yeah. (22:41) I appreciate your ex sharing your experience.

Shannon (22:43) So he Do at your own risk.

Scott Benner (22:45) Yeah. (22:45) So he did the thing. (22:46) Does the ADHD come in there? (22:48) Like, you're saying he's pushing the the button too much or whatever. (22:50) He's pushing the applicator too much.

Scott Benner (22:51) Is that even him being impatient?

Shannon (22:53) Oh, for sure. (22:54) I'm sure of it. (22:55) Yeah. (22:55) Yeah. (22:55) Put or he puts it on too fast.

Shannon (22:57) He doesn't pull it straight back out, you know, because it's got that needle. (23:00) And if it's you pull it, like, if you pull it to the side, you're gonna bend it. (23:04) You you have to be push it on, pull it straight back off. (23:07) And

Scott Benner (23:08) That usage doesn't lend to his the way his brain works. (23:11) This happened a lot, or was it just a random thing that happened that day?

Shannon (23:14) No. (23:14) No. (23:14) No. (23:14) This is just a random thing. (23:15) This doesn't happen all that much because I'm generally there helping him with the sites and just, like, making sure.

Shannon (23:21) We we started a TikTok three or four years ago, and so, like, most of our content is this. (23:26) And so that's how I end up. (23:28) I'm just end up around him most of the time. (23:30) And so I ensure that, like, we put it in the freezer. (23:33) We do the process, all the things.

Scott Benner (23:34) Is this part of your nervousness because you know you're not gonna be around him?

Shannon (23:39) Oh, yeah. (23:39) Yeah. (23:40) Oh, yeah. (23:40) Some of it's controlling, I'm sure.

Scott Benner (23:43) Is he thinking of going to college?

Shannon (23:46) No. (23:47) He wants to go we have a technical school out here. (23:49) He wants to do heavy machine operator.

Scott Benner (23:51) Oh, that's perfect for somebody who can't concentrate.

Shannon (23:54) Yeah. (23:55) Yeah. (23:55) Yeah. (23:55) Isn't it?

Scott Benner (23:57) How'd that crane fall off of that bridge? (23:59) I don't know.

Shannon (24:01) Thanks for bringing that up. (24:01) I appreciate it.

Scott Benner (24:02) No problem. (24:03) Nathan got bored.

Shannon (24:04) I mean, I'm I'm really proud of him that event that now he has, like, at least picked something. (24:09) So he was at when we moved here, we put him in a small private Christian school, and we thought smaller class sizes. (24:15) He struggled in school. (24:16) He was diagnosed right before COVID. (24:18) And then then following year, COVID hit, and he was home he was home that fifth grade year.

Scott Benner (24:23) Yeah.

Shannon (24:23) He fell so far behind. (24:25) And, like, we tried desperately to catch him back up. (24:28) And so we thought, okay. (24:30) Smaller Christian school. (24:31) He got made fun of constantly for two years at that school, and he was on the edge.

Shannon (24:37) I I mean, he was threatening to beat kids up in the bathroom. (24:39) He was getting made fun of so bad. (24:42) And so finally, this year, we're like, alright. (24:43) I'm done. (24:44) This isn't this isn't any better.

Shannon (24:45) And we put him in the local public school, and they have tracks there that he can do. (24:51) And so he picked the, mechanic track.

Scott Benner (24:53) Okay. (24:54) Well, that's awesome.

Shannon (24:55) So I'm I mean, I'm glad I'm proud of him. (24:57) I'm glad he's found something that he likes, and that is it's motivating him.

Scott Benner (25:01) What would those kids pick on him for?

Shannon (25:03) Oh my god. (25:04) It was so bad. (25:05) I mean, they called him Diabito, which I know sounds really stupid, but it drove him crazy. (25:11) And this one kid who had a rough home life was going through a lot, just, I don't know, picked on Nathan. (25:19) It was they would mess with his devices, and that's one way to send that kid over the edge.

Shannon (25:22) I don't know if that's all type ones, but mess with his devices. (25:25) He will send you through the roof. (25:28) So they were taking his phone, and, you know, now we're in the days of they can't have phones at school. (25:33) And I know that doesn't apply to our kids, but he I know he knows he can have it, but then they all look at him. (25:39) And so it's just drawing attention that he doesn't want.

Shannon (25:42) Oh,

Scott Benner (25:43) that sucks.

Shannon (25:44) Yeah. (25:44) It's probably weird. (25:45) Was best. (25:46) I don't know. (25:47) Little punk kids.

Scott Benner (25:48) No kidding. (25:49) No. (25:49) So alright. (25:50) So you gotta move to a better place. (25:51) You found something he's enjoying.

Scott Benner (25:52) That's awesome. (25:53) Do you think he'll live at home for a while, or do you think I mean, do you think he's gonna, like, graduate from high school and just be gone, or do you think he'll be around for a bit?

Shannon (26:00) No. (26:01) I think he'll stay because here you get and Tennessee gives them two years of free, like, community college, and the technical college is included in that. (26:11) Nice. (26:11) And so, yeah, it's a huge benefit. (26:15) And so, no.

Shannon (26:16) I think it's, like, thirty, forty five minutes away from us here, and so, no. (26:20) I know he'll stay here through that.

Scott Benner (26:22) So what are you worried about then? (26:23) It sounds like he's not gonna be there he's gonna be there for four or five more years, it sounds like.

Shannon (26:27) Oh, probably. (26:28) But, you know, you still look like I don't know. (26:30) Is it just a mom thing? (26:31) Like, I look at it, I'm like, I feel like my time is getting shorter. (26:34) He's eventually going to be out on his own.

Scott Benner (26:37) No. (26:37) I understand the overall feeling of, like, you know, like, I only have so much time to get him to a place. (26:43) Is that how

Shannon (26:43) it feels? (26:43) Yes.

Scott Benner (26:44) Yeah. (26:44) Yes. (26:45) And you're not having a lot of success.

Shannon (26:47) No. (26:47) He doesn't wake up either. (26:48) I'm I need to get him that sugar was that Sugarpixel thing?

Scott Benner (26:51) Customtype1.com/juicebox. (26:54) I think I make a couple bucks if you buy one through that link, everybody. (26:57) I'm just saying.

Shannon (26:57) Do I do I get a discount?

Scott Benner (27:00) Well, I just said I get a couple bucks you don't get. (27:03) I mean, you get the sugar picks. (27:04) You get the sugar picks.

Shannon (27:06) Yeah. (27:06) Great. (27:06) Yeah. (27:07) No. (27:07) I I keep looking at them.

Shannon (27:08) I was like, I thought about it for Christmas, which I know that's a great Christmas present.

Scott Benner (27:12) But Yeah. (27:12) He'll be thrilled. (27:13) Awesome.

Shannon (27:14) Listen. (27:15) It's something unique.

Scott Benner (27:17) It's like the diabetes version of getting underwear for Christmas. (27:20) Like, awesome. (27:21) Just a sugar pixel. (27:22) Actually, I have one right here if you want it. (27:25) No.

Scott Benner (27:26) Yeah. (27:26) No. (27:26) I'm not giving it to I think I'm gonna use it for some, but I just

Shannon (27:30) That was rude.

Scott Benner (27:31) I'm sorry.

Shannon (27:32) Just take it. (27:35) You just dangle it like carrot. (27:36) You just yanked it back.

Scott Benner (27:38) I

Shannon (27:38) was like, wait.

Scott Benner (27:38) Are you serious? (27:39) Yeah. (27:39) I wanna goes to East Tennessee. (27:41) How am I gonna get it to you?

Shannon (27:42) It does. (27:42) No. (27:42) It does. (27:43) I'll pay to ship it.

Scott Benner (27:44) I actually don't know if I have I have one that's set up. (27:46) I'm wondering if I was sent to or not. (27:48) No. (27:49) I don't remember anymore. (27:49) I do know for sure that I'll get a couple of bucks if you buy one through my link, which again is customtype1.com/juicebox.

Shannon (27:55) Juice box. (27:56) Got

Scott Benner (27:56) it. (27:57) I wanna tell you something. (27:58) That's such a lovely thing because I it's not a thing I asked where they offered it to me, and I was like, yeah. (28:03) Sure. (28:03) Actually, I said no a couple of times.

Scott Benner (28:05) Just to all of you who think I'm, like, greedy. (28:07) I was like, no. (28:08) I'm like, I don't need that. (28:09) It's fine. (28:09) Like, I'll share your link.

Scott Benner (28:10) It's no big deal. (28:11) Like, I love the guy that runs the company and and and John. (28:14) I'm like, you know, but it's fine. (28:15) He goes, no. (28:16) He's like, you know, you're getting the clicks.

Scott Benner (28:17) Just take the money. (28:19) And I was like, okay. (28:19) Great. (28:20) So every once in a while, like, $25 will pop up on, like, my Apple Cash App card. (28:25) You know what I mean?

Scott Benner (28:26) Yeah. (28:27) Do you use your phone to pay for things?

Shannon (28:30) No. (28:30) Not really.

Scott Benner (28:31) Wrong with you? (28:31) Everyone, what is wrong with you?

Shannon (28:33) Well, I mean, I use PayPal,

Scott Benner (28:35) but No. (28:35) I mean, like, at the grocery store, like, you pay with your phone.

Shannon (28:38) No. (28:38) No. (28:39) I have a Samsung. (28:40) And, I mean, I have my credit card on there.

Scott Benner (28:41) I'm just trying to with your Samsung phone too?

Shannon (28:44) You can. (28:45) I can.

Scott Benner (28:45) You should do it. (28:46) It's awesome. (28:47) No. (28:47) That's not the point. (28:48) The point is the point is is that I have a number of cards.

Scott Benner (28:51) Like, I have, like, my bank card. (28:52) I have a credit card that's, a personal credit card. (28:56) I have a credit card for the, you know, for the business. (28:58) Like and and I have, like, a little cash card, and it gets loaded with, like, when I make a couple bucks from Custom Type one. (29:05) Every once in a while, I'll go to pay for something, and there'll be, like, $20 there.

Scott Benner (29:09) I'm like, oh, and it feels like I get something for free. (29:11) And then I think and then I have this, like, lovely moment where I I think of all of you. (29:15) And that's just a strange thing to say, but, like, sometimes I think, oh, I just got, like, you know, a gallon of milk and a stick of butter and, you know, a loaf of bread for free because everybody's so supportive. (29:25) And it feels nice, and I remember all of you, and I I I leave with my free milk. (29:29) Anyway It's nice.

Scott Benner (29:30) Yeah. (29:30) None of that's getting you this sugar pixel I may or may not have here. (29:33) But

Shannon (29:33) Okay. (29:34) It's fine.

Scott Benner (29:34) We did a giveaway at the thing we were at. (29:36) I think we gave, like, 10 of them away at Friends for Life, John did. (29:41) It was really nice. (29:42) Did you see that on our on what they call the social media?

Shannon (29:46) I I saw you were at Friends for Life, but, no, I don't think I saw.

Scott Benner (29:49) Yeah. (29:49) It was nice. (29:50) This is not the point either. (29:52) So please don't get that. (29:53) Just give them that, like, normally, don't get that as a Christmas present.

Scott Benner (29:56) My god. (29:58) So what what does he say about all this, Shannon? (30:00) Do you go to him and say, hey. (30:02) Listen. (30:02) I'm here's where I think you need to be.

Scott Benner (30:04) We, you know, we need to make some steps to get you there, or is that not how the relationship works?

Shannon (30:10) We have a very joking relationship. (30:14) You know, I don't I don't know how else to explain that. (30:16) Like, I mean, him and I are very similar personalities, and, like, we'll just go back and forth. (30:22) But most of the time, like, we're just laughing and cracking joke. (30:26) Mhmm.

Shannon (30:26) And so I think a lot of the times as far as, like, parental goes, and I'm like, I have to be like, okay. (30:31) Stop. (30:31) Like, I know you're joking, but I need you to do this. (30:34) And and so sometimes that kinda get that boundary kinda gets pushed. (30:38) Like, I can be completely honest and say that, like Yeah.

Shannon (30:41) I do give him way more. (30:43) Give him an inch. (30:44) That kid takes a mile. (30:45) So

Scott Benner (30:46) Have you ever tried? (30:47) And may I suggest trying, like, going out together by yourselves, maybe to a lunch or something, sit quietly somewhere and say, look, you know, just be you know, before the food comes out, you know, have a couple things I wanna talk to you about. (31:00) And, you know, and and say, these are I think should be goals. (31:04) I think we're doing great. (31:05) I think, you know, you're moving forward, etcetera.

Scott Benner (31:08) But I think we need to set some, you know, set some new goals and work towards them together because this is gonna become really important. (31:15) You're you're not gonna live here forever, and I don't want you to have to rush or feel pressured. (31:18) So I'd love to take this next four or five years and just make sure that, you know, by the time you're done living here that you, you know, you can take really great care of yourself and and be serious with them for a minute.

Shannon (31:30) Yeah. (31:31) No.

Scott Benner (31:31) Try it. (31:32) So and you'll get a lunch if nothing else. (31:34) Yeah.

Shannon (31:35) I know. (31:35) Right?

Scott Benner (31:35) What would you get at lunch? (31:37) Like a BLT with a fry, maybe?

Shannon (31:39) I don't know about a BLT.

Scott Benner (31:41) Wait. (31:41) No? (31:41) What what would you get? (31:42) Like, if you is there a diner near you? (31:44) First of all, I'm thinking about a diner.

Scott Benner (31:45) Is there a diner available?

Shannon (31:47) Oh, there is. (31:47) Yes.

Scott Benner (31:48) What would you get at the diner?

Shannon (31:50) Oh, I always get this sounds so boring, but I always get their chicken salad, like like salad mixed greens with chicken on it.

Scott Benner (31:57) Oh, I thought you're gonna say, like, a chicken salad sandwich, but no. (32:00) Like a

Shannon (32:00) No. (32:01) No. (32:01) No. (32:01) Like a salad with grilled chicken on it. (32:03) That's nice.

Shannon (32:03) Oh, they have these things here called Cheddar Oh my god. (32:07) They're amazing.

Scott Benner (32:07) Cheddar rounds?

Shannon (32:09) Cheddar rounds.

Scott Benner (32:10) Cheddar rounds. (32:11) What the hell are cheddar rounds?

Shannon (32:13) They're like tater tots, kind of, but they they're kind of, like, the shape of a quarter and, like, thicker. (32:19) So that way around, and they have cheese in them.

Scott Benner (32:23) Oh my god. (32:24) Is there a need to put cheese in something like that? (32:26) Delicious. (32:26) Isn't it already awesome? (32:27) Fried.

Shannon (32:28) Oh, no. (32:29) No. (32:29) It makes it better. (32:30) And dip it in some ranch. (32:32) Oh my god.

Shannon (32:32) So I always get side of their cheddar rounds with my salad. (32:35) So, you know, it balances.

Scott Benner (32:36) Well, I Shannon, I think we we've hit on something here. (32:38) This is really great news. (32:39) You're not really gonna have to wait or worry about five years from now. (32:42) You'll probably have a heart attack and be gone. (32:44) So

Shannon (32:45) I get a small order of cheddar rounds. (32:47) I told you I don't eat that bad. (32:49) I eat really well with some cheddar rounds, though. (32:52) Okay?

Scott Benner (32:52) You just told me you got deep fried potatoes with cheese inside of them.

Shannon (32:55) I don't get them often. (32:57) We don't go there that long.

Scott Benner (32:58) I'm just eating it. (32:59) So okay. (32:59) So you're

Shannon (32:59) judge me.

Scott Benner (33:00) I'm not just oh, look at these cheddar rounds. (33:04) Look at this. (33:04) They're very common. (33:06) I mean, at least the the Google found them. (33:08) No trouble.

Scott Benner (33:08) Pat's sudden service? (33:10) What does that even mean?

Shannon (33:11) Pals. (33:11) Pals. (33:12) Pals to pals.

Scott Benner (33:12) Oh, you know this.

Shannon (33:14) Yeah. (33:14) I told you it's Tennessee. (33:16) I mean, East Tennessee, specifically. (33:18) I don't know if there's pals other places, but, yes, we have pals everywhere. (33:21) I'm and I shouldn't say this on a podcast, but I'm not a huge fan of pals.

Shannon (33:25) Mhmm. (33:26) But cheddar rounds. (33:28) That's it.

Scott Benner (33:31) Sorry. (33:32) It made me laugh. (33:33) Are there a lot of them in Tennessee, Virginia?

Shannon (33:36) Yeah. (33:37) Yeah.

Scott Benner (33:38) My god, Tennessee. (33:39) They sprinkle them on you like like fairy dust. (33:42) They're everywhere.

Shannon (33:44) Yeah. (33:44) They're everywhere. (33:45) Yes.

Scott Benner (33:46) Wow. (33:47) What don't you like about it?

Shannon (33:49) The burgers are just kind of greasy, so I don't really like that.

Scott Benner (33:54) Do better, pals.

Shannon (33:55) Yeah. (33:55) But, I mean, everybody here loves it, and maybe that says something. (34:00) Uh-huh.

Scott Benner (34:00) Are they trying to the Pal's logo, are they trying to rip off the Bob's Burgers logo a little bit with the color and the and the font? (34:12) I

Shannon (34:14) don't know. (34:14) That's above my pay grade.

Scott Benner (34:16) Don't know Bob's No.

Shannon (34:18) I don't even know Bob's Burgers.

Scott Benner (34:19) Oh, Arden would be so disappointed if you don't know about Bob's Burgers.

Shannon (34:22) Bob's Burgers Yeah. (34:24) Logo. (34:25) I can Google it.

Scott Benner (34:26) See the color scheme and the

Shannon (34:27) They have these on their I don't know if you can see it online, they have these big burgers or big hot dogs that they sit on top of their restaurant. (34:36) And on my way to work every day, I drive down this, like, country Road, and there's just random pals hot dogs sitting on the side of the road that, like, somebody must have bought, and they just leave it there in on their property. (34:46) So

Scott Benner (34:47) First of all, I just wanna say I didn't mean ripped off. (34:49) Is it an homage to Bob's Burgers is what I should have said? (34:52) We're pretty far away from the point, but I think you should take the kid out, sit him down, and, like, talk to him. (34:57) I mean, you got other kids?

Shannon (35:00) Oh, yeah. (35:00) I have a 19 year old.

Scott Benner (35:02) How did it go with that one when you had to talk about important things? (35:06) God, did you not talk to him about anything?

Shannon (35:08) No. (35:08) No. (35:08) No. (35:09) No. (35:09) I do.

Shannon (35:09) I'm just thinking. (35:10) I mean No. (35:11) No. (35:12) We do. (35:12) He's just he's a very different kid.

Shannon (35:13) He's very quiet. (35:15) He doesn't say a lot. (35:16) It's like pulling teeth when you're talking to the older. (35:19) But he's still here too because he's going to school. (35:21) He is going for criminal justice, and he wants to go to the police academy, but you have to be 21.

Shannon (35:26) So he's 19. (35:27) So Okay. (35:27) He's here getting his associates in criminal justice. (35:30) So they're just very different kids. (35:32) Yeah.

Shannon (35:33) So Nathan, you kinda gotta, like, beat it into him. (35:35) You know?

Scott Benner (35:36) Because he forgets or because he's not concentrating? (35:39) And what do you do to manage his ADHD, if anything?

Shannon (35:43) Really? (35:43) Yeah. (35:43) No. (35:44) Nothing. (35:44) He's not on anything.

Shannon (35:45) He doesn't really like to take it. (35:47) And the point was is like, okay. (35:49) Well, we always told him that medication was a tool. (35:52) It is just a tool in your toolbox to help you focus, but you still have to put in the work. (35:56) That was the other part that a lot of his was choosing and behavior.

Shannon (35:59) Like, yeah, he was struggling paying attention, but he was also not helping the situation because he just didn't want to. (36:04) He hated school. (36:06) And so just pumping him up full of medicine was not what we wanted to do either. (36:10) Nobody wants to do that. (36:12) And then if there's no difference, like, he was still failing.

Shannon (36:16) And I was like, then what's the point? (36:18) So now he's got all a's and b's. (36:21) And, I mean, he's in a public school, so that might say something. (36:24) But Mhmm. (36:25) He's doing good.

Shannon (36:26) He's happy, and he's passing. (36:28) And so that was kind of I'm like, okay. (36:32) Well, that was the deal is if you stay, b's are higher. (36:35) He's working on getting his driver's license. (36:37) He has his permit.

Shannon (36:38) He has a car that's currently sitting out there that he can't drive yet, so he's gotta stay passing. (36:44) And that's kinda what we're working towards. (36:46) And so he seems to be working for that now. (36:49) So I'm hopeful we'll stay on that.

Scott Benner (36:50) You have two boys? (36:52) Mhmm. (36:52) Okay. (36:53) What about your husband? (36:54) Does he have any, sway over the kid?

Scott Benner (36:56) My dad would've just threatened me. (36:58) Did does your does your husband have a vibe? (37:00) What's he do?

Shannon (37:01) Yeah. (37:01) Oh, yeah. (37:02) Same thing.

Scott Benner (37:02) Threaten him. (37:03) She just do it. (37:04) Oh, yeah. (37:04) Okay.

Shannon (37:05) Just do it. (37:06) Yeah. (37:06) Listen to your mother. (37:07) Yes. (37:07) Yeah.

Scott Benner (37:08) Listen to your mother. (37:09) Hey. (37:09) If you don't do what she says, she's gonna complain to me. (37:12) So I need this to stop right now. (37:13) Is that about the vibe?

Shannon (37:15) Yeah. (37:15) Yes. (37:15) Pretty much. (37:16) Because then he gets tired of hearing it. (37:18) Because, you know, we we've had a battle with sneaking food.

Scott Benner (37:20) He's Oh.

Shannon (37:21) Doing much better with it. (37:22) Yeah. (37:23) That was a that was a huge deal back then when we originally talked. (37:26) And then we'd go back and forth where he would swear, I'm not sneaking. (37:29) I'm not sneaking, and we find out he was.

Shannon (37:31) And it was just a constant, especially on I mean, on any pump, really. (37:35) Like, we had a stint on the Omnipod five, and it just wasn't working because he was sneaking food. (37:40) So with any pump like that, it's just a struggle. (37:43) But he that was our main thing is I would find something he's sneaking, and I would go to Mike, and I'd be like, I'm gonna kill him. (37:49) I'm gonna kill him.

Shannon (37:49) And he would be he's like, I got it. (37:51) He would go in there.

Scott Benner (37:52) So it's not like he's sneaking food. (37:54) He's sneaking food and not bolusing for it.

Shannon (37:56) Oh, yeah. (37:57) Yes. (37:57) And I'm like, why?

Scott Benner (37:58) So, yeah, when you ask him now, what does he say?

Shannon (38:01) He says he doesn't know. (38:02) And I'm like, we don't restrict. (38:05) Now there might be times where we're like, not right now. (38:08) Like, your blood sugar's 200. (38:10) You know, we need to get it down.

Shannon (38:12) We'll have ice cream another night. (38:14) Or, like, you know, or can you eat these sugar free popsicles? (38:17) Or things like that. (38:18) We might be like, not now, but not ever. (38:20) So we're not restricting it.

Shannon (38:21) So Yeah. (38:22) That's why I'm like, I don't understand why. (38:24) Like, I'm just asking you to get what you want, and I bought these fancy scales that he can zero out the plate or the bowl and weigh it and scan the barcode and all the things, and it'll tell you exactly how many carb. (38:37) And

Scott Benner (38:37) You don't wanna do that?

Shannon (38:39) Yeah. (38:39) I'm like, I've given you all the tools. (38:40) I'm asking you to bolus. (38:43) Pick what you want, weigh it out, or measure it out, and bolus.

Scott Benner (38:47) I can't imagine Arden using that scale, by the way. (38:50) Like, I know what you're trying to do. (38:52) I'm sure it's cool to you. (38:53) You're old. (38:54) You think anything's cool that has electric in it.

Scott Benner (38:56) But, like, it's

Shannon (38:59) Two things. (39:00) Appreciate that. (39:01) You're old too.

Scott Benner (39:03) I didn't say I wasn't old. (39:05) I'm just saying that you I'm just saying you have, like

Shannon (39:09) I just thought I'd throw that out there.

Scott Benner (39:10) Yeah. (39:10) No. (39:11) No. (39:11) Yeah. (39:11) I appreciate that.

Scott Benner (39:11) Like, really, just hit me hard while I'm trying to trying to help poor Nathan here. (39:16) And, I I guess what I mean is all the time I hear people say, I made an app. (39:21) It's gonna help people with this. (39:22) We have a scale. (39:23) I'm like, none of this is gonna help anybody.

Scott Benner (39:25) Like, it's not in mass. (39:27) Like, there are gonna be people who have the scale and love it. (39:29) And if you're one of those people, calm down. (39:31) I'm sure you love your scale. (39:32) I'm sure it works awesome.

Scott Benner (39:33) And that's fine. (39:34) But most people aren't gonna do that. (39:37) Like, right Yeah. (39:37) Like, what helps most people is I mean, I I hate to say it, but I put it all on that podcast already. (39:43) Like, just you know, you gotta just do a couple of things.

Scott Benner (39:46) Right? (39:46) You gotta make sure your settings are right, understand how your food's gonna hit, pre bolus your meals. (39:49) That's pretty much the whole thing. (39:51) Yeah. (39:51) I haven't said this in a long time, but, I mean, the rest of the podcast is for fun.

Scott Benner (39:56) It's timing and amount. (39:57) That's the whole podcast. (39:58) The the podcast should be eight seconds long. (40:00) It should be like, hey. (40:01) Get the timing and the amount of your insulin right.

Scott Benner (40:02) You'll be fine.

Shannon (40:03) I've I've heard it. (40:04) I've heard it a time or two.

Scott Benner (40:05) Of course. (40:06) Of course. (40:06) And so to me, your goal is simple. (40:09) It's we're gonna let everything else go, but we're gonna pre bowls for food. (40:16) It's the one thing we're gonna focus on.

Scott Benner (40:18) Like, don't give him anything else to focus on. (40:21) Just have him pre bolus his meals. (40:23) And I bet you that changes things. (40:25) Like, what's his a one c like and his variability? (40:27) Where is he at?

Shannon (40:28) So his a one c stays between five four, 5.4, 5.3, somewhere in there, like, low fives. (40:37) We still have an issue at school. (40:39) I don't know if I've asked him, and we've tried to talk about it. (40:44) But from about 8AM, Monday through Friday till about 02:30, he stays over 200. (40:51) I've had to let some of it go.

Shannon (40:53) I've raised his settings. (40:53) He has a whole different school profile than he does for home because the home one is not near enough.

Scott Benner (40:58) Sucks because he's sitting around a lot. (41:00) What do you think it is? (41:00) Also, no one's listening anymore because you said 5354 and everybody's like, oh, this lady is crazy and they shut the podcast player off.

Shannon (41:06) Why? (41:07) Why? (41:07) What You're

Scott Benner (41:08) over here complaining like, this is it's upside down. (41:10) Nothing's gonna be okay. (41:11) Everything's a mess. (41:13) I mean, the kid's probably gonna die soon. (41:15) What's this a one c?

Scott Benner (41:16) It's a 53.

Shannon (41:17) 53.

Scott Benner (41:18) You are crazy. (41:19) No wonder I called you crazy last time.

Shannon (41:21) I told you I can own a level of crazy, but listen. (41:24) Let me let me say this.

Scott Benner (41:25) Go ahead.

Shannon (41:26) He used to be high fours, and I was obsessed with keeping him between 80 to 90. (41:32) Now how freaking realistic is that? (41:33) It's not. (41:34) So I've come a long way because now I look at it. (41:37) Well, now I'm on my phone, so I can't really see what his sugar is.

Shannon (41:39) But he was before you connected. (41:41) He was two thirty.

Scott Benner (41:43) I'm sorry. (41:43) I've been laughing the whole time you're talking. (41:45) You used to be four what? (41:47) Four eight?

Shannon (41:49) He was, like, four eight.

Scott Benner (41:50) What was he eating?

Shannon (41:51) Four point eight. (41:52) No. (41:52) We were compensating with Lowe's because he was sneaking. (41:55) So I was constantly carrying insulin at him. (41:57) So yeah.

Shannon (41:57) No. (41:58) No. (41:58) He we he had, like, crazy Lowe's. (42:00) That's the only reason his a one c was so low.

Scott Benner (42:02) And what about now?

Shannon (42:03) Now we are better on the Lowe's. (42:05) It's just most of the time, it's like dinner boluses sometimes where, you know, all boluses, and then I'm like, k. (42:11) Get what you want, Nathan. (42:13) And then, of course, inevitably, he comes back, and he wants more, and he wants this, and he wants that. (42:17) And I'm, like, throw and I'm like, or

Scott Benner (42:18) He's hungry. (42:19) He's growing.

Shannon (42:20) Yes. (42:21) And so then he sometimes I'm like, oops. (42:23) That was too much. (42:24) And so it's usually it's usually a food bolus miss.

Scott Benner (42:28) What's his percentage of time under 70 now?

Shannon (42:30) Oh, for Lowe's, you mean oh, just it's a low percentage.

Scott Benner (42:34) Is it 5%, 4%?

Shannon (42:36) No. (42:37) I would say less than that.

Scott Benner (42:38) Two one?

Shannon (42:39) Yeah. (42:40) One or two?

Scott Benner (42:40) This is an honest to god five four. (42:42) He's not achieving it with a bunch of lows. (42:43) It's offsetting the

Shannon (42:45) Correct.

Scott Benner (42:45) Okay.

Shannon (42:46) Correct. (42:47) It's the highs though that are like I mean, like I said, Monday through Friday, and I kid you not. (42:51) And he's he's 200, 300. (42:53) And I'm like, what are you doing? (42:55) He's like, it's English, mom.

Shannon (42:56) And I'm like, it can't be English, Nathan.

Scott Benner (42:58) Could is he bad at English? (43:00) Maybe he's, got the adrenaline. (43:02) Don't know. (43:02) He a hot girl in English or a hot guy? (43:05) Don't know if your kid's a guy or not.

Scott Benner (43:06) You see what I'm saying?

Shannon (43:06) I heard there was a girl. (43:07) No. (43:07) No. (43:08) No. (43:08) I heard there was a girl in a class.

Shannon (43:09) And I but he he doesn't wanna tell me all the details about which class she's in. (43:15) But I'm like, it's gotta be anticipation for the girl kid. (43:17) And he's like he's like, I don't know, mom. (43:20) So he's like, no. (43:21) It's English.

Scott Benner (43:21) Okay. (43:22) So so when his it's English. (43:25) I don't understand commas, it makes me very upset my blood sugar goes up.

Shannon (43:28) Yes. (43:28) It does.

Scott Benner (43:29) Yeah. (43:29) Okay.

Shannon (43:30) I think it's more about dumb.

Scott Benner (43:32) I think it's more about this girl.

Shannon (43:33) But That's what I say.

Scott Benner (43:34) It happens every day, no fail?

Shannon (43:36) Every day.

Scott Benner (43:37) Yeah. (43:37) Why don't you bowl us for it?

Shannon (43:39) Oh, we do. (43:40) And so, like, for breakfast, I thought, okay. (43:42) Well, let's stick with easy stuff for breakfast. (43:45) So he does, like, sausage and eggs or and just and or egg. (43:49) And he'll bowl us for the eggs, like, 10 grams of carbs for eggs.

Scott Benner (43:52) You're making

Shannon (43:53) me hungry? (43:53) Like, two. (43:56) Sorry. (43:57) So he'll eat, like, two eggs and bolus 10 for or he'll like, three sausage links and bolus 10 for them.

Scott Benner (44:03) Yeah.

Shannon (44:03) And he's fine. (44:05) So at set off the top of my head, I'm trying think what his settings are. (44:08) 06:30 or seven. (44:09) I raise his bowl his, sorry, basal from 1.1 to 1.8. (44:14) So, like, two hours before he spikes, I'm giving him a a lot more insulin.

Shannon (44:18) And I lower his correction factor in the t slim to, like, one to 20 when he's normally, like, one to 25. (44:23) And 08:00, like clockwork. (44:27) He's, like, straight r up, like, 01:50. (44:29) Then he's double r o up, two thirty.

Scott Benner (44:32) Is there a chance he's eating something else on the way to school? (44:34) Is he, like, the sausage just suck,

Shannon (44:35) but this thing No. (44:36) He says they get free breakfast and lunch, and I told him, I was like, I need you to stop with the breakfast

Scott Benner (44:41) because he's making it worse. (44:41) Two breakfasts?

Shannon (44:42) Well, but he was bolusing for them. (44:44) But I said, hey. (44:45) Can you, like, cut back on the can we not do the breakfast? (44:47) Like, you can bolus for the lunch at school, but can we not do breakfast? (44:50) And he said, fine.

Shannon (44:51) So he says, no. (44:51) He's only been eating the sausage or the eggs

Scott Benner (44:53) at home.

Shannon (44:54) And then

Scott Benner (44:54) That second breakfast, he's bolusing while he was eating, you know, if you're Oh, yeah. (44:59) If you're lucky. (44:59) Right. (45:00) So that's the arrows up thing.

Shannon (45:02) But now he's not.

Scott Benner (45:03) Two things. (45:04) First of all, someone should congratulate you because you you obviously really understand this diabetes thing. (45:10) So good for you. (45:11) No. (45:12) It's seriously obvious that you threw yourself into it.

Scott Benner (45:14) You have a lot of understanding about it. (45:16) And I get that you're having what they might call it, about what you think is, like, the loss of this thing that you accomplished, I'm I'm guessing. (45:24) So So you're doing a great job. (45:26) You're probably, I'm guessing, feeling a little bit of a loss. (45:29) Like, you, like, accomplished this thing.

Scott Benner (45:31) I'm gonna share with you, Sean. (45:32) I had had the same feeling because I know if we do the thing and the thing and the thing and we do it like I say to do it, I do it the way I know to do it, that your a one c is boom. (45:42) It's right here. (45:43) Five five. (45:44) We're all done.

Scott Benner (45:45) That's how I see Arden, like, my whole life. (45:47) Right? (45:47) If she'd shut the hell up and do what I told her, she'd have a five five. (45:52) Right? (45:52) But that's not really how things work, and you don't want them to work that way.

Scott Benner (45:56) Like, at some point, that kid is gonna live by himself. (46:01) Yeah. (46:01) That hot girl is gonna do something stupid and say yes to him. (46:05) And then the next thing you know, like, her life's gonna be ruined and they're gonna live together and and, like Oh,

Shannon (46:10) stop. (46:11) I need you to stop.

Scott Benner (46:12) You know it's gonna happen. (46:14) Right? (46:14) You hope it's gonna happen. (46:15) Oh

Shannon (46:16) my god.

Scott Benner (46:16) Look how happy you are with Mike. (46:18) Don't you want that for Nathan?

Shannon (46:19) Eventually. (46:20) Yeah.

Scott Benner (46:20) See? (46:21) Okay. (46:22) So that's all gonna happen one day. (46:24) He needs to have that time think about it like this. (46:28) Wouldn't you rather him have a two thirty blood sugar now where you're around and can continue to help guide him so that one day when he'll never tell you his blood sugar ever again, you know that he knows what to do.

Scott Benner (46:44) Right?

Shannon (46:45) I hope he doesn't ever not tell me his blood sugar.

Scott Benner (46:47) Well, yes, you do.

Shannon (46:49) I'm kidding. (46:49) Yeah. (46:49) No.

Scott Benner (46:50) I know.

Shannon (46:50) Yeah. (46:50) You don't want I'm gonna follow him until the day I die.

Scott Benner (46:53) Yeah. (46:53) Because I'll tell you what. (46:54) If he's 40 years old still telling his mom his blood sugar, those kids from the Christian Academy are gonna find him and pick on him again.

Shannon (47:00) Yeah. (47:01) They are.

Scott Benner (47:01) Yeah. (47:01) They're gonna be like, hey, mama's boy. (47:03) How's it going?

Shannon (47:04) Absolutely. (47:05) I know.

Scott Benner (47:06) Colonoscopy yet? (47:07) Because we're 50. (47:08) I

Shannon (47:11) know that's the goal. (47:12) I understand that.

Scott Benner (47:14) Yeah. (47:14) Who knew those Christian kids were so mean? (47:16) Are they all Christians, or it's just a Christian school? (47:18) Like, is your kid a Christian?

Shannon (47:20) Me yes. (47:20) But it's just a Christian school.

Scott Benner (47:22) Oh, so it could have been anybody in there.

Shannon (47:24) Yeah. (47:25) And that yeah. (47:27) I know you pay tuition, but usually, in our experience, the schools that we had gone to prior to that, you know, they usually have some sort of rules, and they don't generally tolerate that kind of behavior. (47:37) Usually, this place didn't tolerate that kind of behavior.

Scott Benner (47:40) So I can't tell you how disappointing I find it that there are non Christians in a Christian school. (47:44) Why are they calling it a Christian school? (47:46) Like, it would be like if I went to an Indian restaurant, they were like, here, would you like a cheeseburger? (47:49) I'd be like, this is a fucking Indian restaurant. (47:51) Like, what are you doing?

Scott Benner (47:52) I want Indian food. (47:53) That's why I'm here. (47:54) I don't know. (47:55) Nevertheless Yeah. (47:57) No.

Scott Benner (47:57) So back to being serious. (47:59) I love your ADD. (48:00) It makes it so easy to talk to you.

Shannon (48:01) Thank you. (48:02) I appreciate it. (48:04) I always like to consider myself I blame my husband, though, for the kids. (48:08) It's not me. (48:08) It's him.

Shannon (48:10) I'm like, this is you right here. (48:12) This is you.

Scott Benner (48:12) Oh, the ADHD thing?

Shannon (48:15) Yes.

Scott Benner (48:15) Oh, well, didn't you realize it when you were dating him?

Shannon (48:18) That he had ADHD?

Scott Benner (48:19) None of you girls look at us and realize that our kids are gonna be like us and then make better decisions? (48:25) How does this not happen?

Shannon (48:25) No. (48:26) I don't know. (48:27) But I look back now, and I was like, I'm like, oh my god. (48:30) These are you and your brother. (48:32) You know?

Shannon (48:33) Okay. (48:33) So, like

Scott Benner (48:34) Sean, let me explain the world to you. (48:36) You're all all you ladies. (48:37) You're in charge. (48:39) You get that you have all the fun, soft parts. (48:41) You make all we'll do anything you say.

Scott Benner (48:44) If you're filled with, like, self doubt, don't be. (48:46) Go pick the exact guy you want and go for that. (48:49) You'll get him easy. (48:50) What were you, like, giving in? (48:51) You're like, oh, this one seems dippy, but whatever.

Scott Benner (48:54) Like, I I don't know. (48:55) And but I'm sure Mike's nice. (48:56) I'm not saying that. (48:57) But, like, you you guys are in we'll do anything that we're told in exchange for sex. (49:03) Do you not understand?

Shannon (49:04) I don't know that all guys are like that, though. (49:06) I think What

Scott Benner (49:07) are you talking about?

Shannon (49:09) Yeah. (49:09) I don't know. (49:10) I don't think I mean okay. (49:11) Don't get me wrong. (49:12) I love my husband, but he's he's stubborn.

Shannon (49:14) He's gonna do it his way, come hell or high water, you know.

Scott Benner (49:17) I'm just You're doing like it wrong. (49:18) Maybe.

Shannon (49:20) I mean

Scott Benner (49:22) I'm comfortable saying if you made me a reasonable attractive woman, I could set my life up the way I wanted it. (49:29) That's all I'm saying.

Shannon (49:29) I mean, I'm kinda committed to this guy,

Scott Benner (49:32) you know.

Shannon (49:32) I mean, it's a lot of work to retrain him.

Scott Benner (49:35) Well, it doesn't sound like you did a great job the first time.

Shannon (49:37) Just wanna say. (49:37) Apparently not. (49:38) But I don't wanna do it again.

Scott Benner (49:39) So Oh, god. (49:40) Can you imagine? (49:42) Arden's like I know I've said this on here before. (49:44) Arden's always like, if mom dies Kelly loves what when she says that in front of her, she'll say, when mom dies, I see you with an Indian lady. (49:52) She says it to me all the time.

Scott Benner (49:53) Nobody understands why or where it came from, but she says it the time. (49:56) And I'm like, okay. (49:57) Whatever. (49:57) That's fine with me. (49:58) And I was like, Kelly, I'm sure you won't die first.

Scott Benner (50:01) And, like, you know, everybody makes a face and everything. (50:03) But the truth is is when Kelly dies, I'm out of this. (50:07) If Kelly Riddle passed away before me, like, you think I wanna get involved in this again?

Shannon (50:11) Oh, no.

Scott Benner (50:12) No way. (50:13) No way. (50:16) Way. (50:17) I maybe would find a sad lady who is in the same situation I was in. (50:21) I'd say, listen.

Scott Benner (50:22) Like, once a week, you wanna bump our genitals into each other? (50:26) We don't need to talk or even, like, like each other. (50:29) Like, just get another lady in that situation. (50:30) She'd probably be like, yeah. (50:32) Why not?

Scott Benner (50:32) You know what I mean? (50:33) Like, we do it like that. (50:34) Or maybe prostitution. (50:36) I don't know. (50:37) But, like, I'm not No.

Shannon (50:38) Don't do that.

Scott Benner (50:39) What? (50:39) Don't do that.

Shannon (50:41) Don't do that.

Scott Benner (50:41) It's legal in Vegas. (50:42) Why do think all those old guys moved to Vegas?

Shannon (50:44) Oh, no. (50:45) Do you know how many diseases? (50:47) No.

Scott Benner (50:47) No. (50:47) I'm joking. (50:48) Obviously.

Shannon (50:49) Yeah. (50:49) No.

Scott Benner (50:49) Do I seem like they're going to a prostitute kinda guy to you? (50:52) No. (50:52) No.

Shannon (50:52) No. (50:53) No. (50:53) No. (50:53) No. (50:53) That's what I'm just saying.

Shannon (50:54) Like, I don't

Scott Benner (50:55) get that. (50:56) Trying to make the bigger point of, like, I don't wanna get involved with, like, another relationship. (51:01) So, I mean, I put so much effort into this one. (51:03) It didn't go that well. (51:04) Like, she's very difficult.

Shannon (51:11) She's very difficult.

Scott Benner (51:12) I'm very difficult too, I imagine.

Shannon (51:15) Yeah.

Scott Benner (51:15) I wouldn't know, though, because for my personality, I'm perfect.

Shannon (51:18) You're great. (51:19) I know. (51:20) That's what I say.

Scott Benner (51:21) I get along with me. (51:22) Awesome.

Shannon (51:23) Just fine. (51:24) What

Scott Benner (51:26) are you gonna do to help yourself be a little less crazy, use these next few years in a way that's, you know, valuable for you and for him, and put him in a position where he is gonna be comfortable taking care of himself and you're gonna be comfortable that he's okay?

Shannon (51:43) What am I gonna do?

Scott Benner (51:44) Mhmm.

Shannon (51:45) That's a good question. (51:47) No. (51:47) No. (51:47) No. (51:47) I mean no.

Shannon (51:49) Well, I mean, we're continuously working on it, and I will sit down and have a serious conversation with him. (51:56) Yeah. (51:57) And it's not that we don't talk. (51:58) Like, I don't wanna that sounds bad. (52:00) It's not that we don't ever talk about serious things.

Scott Benner (52:02) I don't think he's locked in a closet and you pull him

Shannon (52:04) out to feed him or anything like that. (52:05) Yeah. (52:05) No. (52:05) It's just, you know, I I don't know. (52:07) Sometimes life and just busyness and things just kinda get in the way.

Shannon (52:10) But no. (52:11) I mean, we do absolutely talk and and set but it's it's not ever, like, we set a specific a specific time apart and just been like, okay. (52:19) This is what we're gonna do, and that's what we're gonna talk about it. (52:21) It's more of, like, I'll walk in there, and I'm like, hey. (52:24) We need to talk.

Shannon (52:24) We need to fix this. (52:25) Like, it's not it's not I

Scott Benner (52:27) said to Arden recently. (52:28) I'm like, hey. (52:28) We should go out and get lunch. (52:29) And she goes, oh god. (52:30) Are you gonna bring up my thyroid medication?

Scott Benner (52:32) I was like, probably. (52:33) And she goes, I don't wanna go to lunch then. (52:35) I'll feel trapped. (52:36) And I was like, too bad. (52:37) That's the only way we're gonna have this conversation.

Scott Benner (52:39) I bring this up, and I'm not the I'm not calling you out. (52:41) I'm not trying to make you feel bad, Sean. (52:43) I'm trying to point out to everybody listening that what you just said is the truth. (52:47) Life. (52:48) Right?

Scott Benner (52:48) No one it's nice to say, and we can all go read a book by some crunchy lady who tells you, like, the right way to live and everything like that. (52:57) Like and and she's not wrong. (52:59) The crunchy lady in the book's right. (53:01) But that's not what happened. (53:03) Right?

Scott Benner (53:03) And so I Yeah. (53:04) Saying, I think you have to thoughtfully set some time aside to have an actual conversation where we're not joking around or he's not playing a video game or he's not looking at his phone or you're not mad at Mike or, like, whatever else is going on and sit and just say for five seconds, look. (53:19) I love you. (53:20) I know you're a great person, and you're gonna be fine, but there are some things we're gonna have to do. (53:26) We don't wanna leave this to chance.

Scott Benner (53:28) We do not wanna be, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it kinds of people. (53:33) Like, let's figure out where the bridge is, how to get across it, make a plan so that when it comes up one day, you just breeze across and everything's fine. (53:40) I think that we all believe it's just going to happen in the normal course of life. (53:46) But what I think is that the normal course of life stops those things from happening. (53:51) That makes sense?

Shannon (53:51) Oh, absolutely. (53:52) Yeah. (53:52) Yeah. (53:53) No. (53:53) I agree completely.

Shannon (53:55) I will say, and this is maybe somewhat unrelated but slightly related, we do send him to camp every summer, and he does and I've listened to all your Sweeney one. (54:03) We send him to Sweeney, and I will say that it's it's made a huge impact on him. (54:09) And it's time away for him that I'm not, like, hovering over him. (54:12) And don't get me wrong. (54:13) I do call the med staff, and I'm like, hey.

Shannon (54:14) How's the sugar? (54:15) And then that's it. (54:16) That's it. (54:16) I call, like, once once a drive. (54:17) And then I'm like, I let it go.

Shannon (54:19) And he's on his own, and he even says to me, he's like, I feel free there That, like, I still have diabetes, and it doesn't go away. (54:26) Like, he obviously can't get away from diabetes. (54:28) But when he goes there, he just feels like it's less of an a burden.

Scott Benner (54:33) Good.

Shannon (54:34) And so it gives him his own space. (54:36) He has his own friends there, and, like, they help him. (54:40) And, you know, sometimes coming from other people or he's met counselors or people there that have made an impact on him. (54:47) And, you know, it's different than just mom or dad. (54:50) You know?

Shannon (54:51) So he's only got two more.

Scott Benner (54:53) He's only got two more years where he can go to camp?

Shannon (54:55) Yeah. (54:56) Yeah. (54:56) Because then he ages out.

Scott Benner (54:57) That's okay. (54:57) I mean, that's still they're great experiences. (54:59) And, let me interject right here because you brought it up. (55:03) I will be giving away four more places at Camp Sweeney this coming year.

Shannon (55:08) Oh, that's great.

Scott Benner (55:09) Yeah. (55:09) Free trips to Camp Sweeney, which is what? (55:11) They're almost three weeks long. (55:12) Right? (55:13) The camp?

Scott Benner (55:14) Yeah. (55:14) I think it's a savings to the person who wins the giveaway of, like, over $4,000. (55:20) And I made possible by our good friends at Asensia Diabetes and Camp Sweeney. (55:26) Camp Sweeney offered some slots at a discount, and I was able to talk to a a lovely man that I've worked with for years at Contour, the Contour Next Gen. (55:36) Contournext.com/juicebox.

Scott Benner (55:38) Support them by get a meter for yourself because they're gonna cover the difference for every kid. (55:44) Anyway, I'm I'm excited to do that because I sent some kids last year. (55:48) I had one on the show already to talk about his his experience there. (55:52) I think for the right person, camp is an overwhelmingly positive experience, with a lot of a lot of, forward looking value. (56:01) So, thanks to Kontoor and Cam Sweeney, and and I just want to say that.

Scott Benner (56:06) You'll be hearing about that soon, I think.

Shannon (56:08) Yeah. (56:09) Yeah. (56:09) Yeah. (56:09) Yeah. (56:09) No.

Shannon (56:10) I mean, it's it's been great, and it's a break. (56:14) I don't mean this in a bad way, so don't come at me, but it's a kind of a break for us too. (56:18) Because as as caregivers, it's overwhelming. (56:20) And sometimes there there's caregiver burnout, and so it's you know, he's having a blast. (56:25) So I know he's in a great place.

Shannon (56:28) And then Yeah. (56:29) We can kind of, like, breathe for a minute. (56:31) And he can he's even said the same thing that, like, he feels like he can breathe. (56:35) Like, I I don't know. (56:37) I don't it's just it's a great not a crazy

Scott Benner (56:39) lady there telling him about his diabetes all

Shannon (56:41) the time. (56:41) No. (56:41) Yeah. (56:41) Listen. (56:42) Okay?

Shannon (56:43) It's my job, and I do it well.

Scott Benner (56:45) It does sound like you do it well. (56:46) Also, I wouldn't come at you for saying that you need a break from your kids. (56:49) Everyone needs a diabetes or not, like everybody needs a break from everything sometimes. (56:54) You know? (56:54) Especially Yeah.

Scott Benner (56:55) Yeah. (56:55) Parenting is such a deal, really. (56:57) Right? (56:58) Because you get you get this little thing, and you love it, hopefully. (57:01) And then Yeah.

Scott Benner (57:02) You know? (57:02) And it's cute, hopefully. (57:03) And and, you know, you think it's cute even if it isn't. (57:05) So that's, like, a nice benefit of of nature.

Shannon (57:08) I know. (57:08) We we all think no. (57:09) When Noah was born, god bless him, he had the biggest cone head, my oldest, and he was jaundiced. (57:14) And so, like, my friend helped and did, like, newborn pictures for him, and I thought it was the cutest thing ever. (57:20) And I look back, and I'm like, you look like a yellow Oompa Loompa.

Scott Benner (57:23) They think that's, nature that keeps you from killing it when it first comes out. (57:27) Yeah.

Shannon (57:27) Yeah. (57:27) It does. (57:28) And I'm like, why did I do that to you? (57:30) I should have never done those newborn pictures. (57:31) Like, you you looked terrible.

Shannon (57:33) I should have waited until you weren't so jaundiced.

Scott Benner (57:35) But no. (57:36) But that's a great point. (57:37) Like, anyway, everyone loves their kid. (57:38) Everything's it's gonna be great, And it it generally is. (57:41) But our lifestyles here and and, you know, all over the world, it doesn't really matter.

Scott Benner (57:45) Like, your lifestyle leads to repetition and responsibility or strife, whatever your life ends up being. (57:53) And you never get to put the actual kind of effort into parenting that you want. (57:58) And so that instead of you know how I say, like, if you just put a little bit of effort into diabetes in the right places, it'll stop you from, you know life's like that too, but, like, again, good luck getting that accomplished. (58:09) Just like good luck with the diabetes part. (58:11) Like, you have to be so purposeful about it to get it done.

Scott Benner (58:16) And then what happens? (58:16) You get older, you get more tired. (58:18) Last night so I haven't slept well the last couple nights. (58:22) Apple screwed up my podcast, so I've had to stay up into the middle of the night to post it every night for you guys. (58:28) You're welcome.

Scott Benner (58:28) So I'm not mad at you. (58:30) I'm mad at Apple, not you. (58:32) And so I'm exhausted, like like, really genuinely exhausted, but still get up and do my job and be a person and do all the other stuff. (58:39) And yesterday, Cole's super excited. (58:42) Like, the three of us, Cole, Arden, and I are watching a TV show together, and new episode's out.

Scott Benner (58:48) Cole's like, hey. (58:48) I'm gonna go get a shower, come back down. (58:50) We're gonna watch this. (58:51) I'm like, right on. (58:51) Like, I got all my stuff done.

Scott Benner (58:53) I work on this dumb podcast till, like, eight, 09:00 at night every day. (58:56) So I'm like, I'm I'm almost finished with what I'm gonna do. (58:59) And, like, we all, like, Arden's studying for midterms. (59:02) Like, we all kinda, like, go to the sofa. (59:04) Arden's studying for midterms.

Scott Benner (59:05) That that dog is there. (59:07) And I'm there. (59:09) Cole's like, he can hear the shower shut off. (59:11) I'm like, oh, Cole will be down in a couple minutes. (59:12) I just fell asleep.

Scott Benner (59:14) I was like, unbelievable. (59:16) 09:00. (59:19) And I'm saying, you want me to be a dad? (59:21) I can barely stay up.

Shannon (59:22) Yeah. (59:23) Know, I go ahead. (59:24) Past nine. (59:24) I I know. (59:25) 09:00, 09:30.

Shannon (59:27) I'm out.

Scott Benner (59:27) Point is terrible. (59:28) Going on. (59:30) The stuff the really important stuff is the is the first stuff that gets dropped, and that's why you have to be more purposeful about doing it. (59:36) So for all of you, not just Shannon, like, you gotta have these conversations. (59:39) You gotta find time, and you can't just slip them in where they fit.

Scott Benner (59:43) I think that's where you end up with, hey. (59:45) Come here. (59:45) I gotta tell you something. (59:46) You gotta bolus. (59:48) You know what I mean?

Scott Benner (59:48) Like, that's not how you wanna have that conversation. (59:52) That's all. (59:53) Absolutely. (59:53) Everyone go be perfect. (59:54) It'll be fine.

Shannon (59:56) Yeah. (59:56) You'll be fine.

Scott Benner (59:57) I'm not by the way, I'm not saying I'm perfect. (59:59) I'm saying good luck trying to find perfection. (1:00:01) But there's some, like, small decisions that we could all make that would make these things go easier, I think. (1:00:06) Yeah. (1:00:07) How'd we do?

Scott Benner (1:00:07) What are you thinking about this?

Shannon (1:00:10) No. (1:00:10) I think it's good.

Scott Benner (1:00:11) You felt okay this conversation?

Shannon (1:00:13) Yeah. (1:00:14) Yeah?

Scott Benner (1:00:14) Do you see how I, like, lovingly pivoted from prostitution to sending kids to camp like it was nothing?

Shannon (1:00:21) Nothing. (1:00:21) Yes. (1:00:22) No. (1:00:22) I appreciate that because I don't know how you ended up there, but that's fine.

Scott Benner (1:00:26) Well, I like to think I'm open minded, but I'm sure people listening are like, well, you probably have ADHD, you freaking idiot. (1:00:33) Do you not see connections between things that you find sometimes other people don't see?

Shannon (1:00:38) What do you like like that? (1:00:39) Like, the prostitution? (1:00:40) Or no?

Scott Benner (1:00:41) No. (1:00:42) I no. (1:00:42) I don't know. (1:00:43) Like, I was talking to, I was recording yesterday with this lady, and she's like, I'm scared. (1:00:49) As we were starting, she's like, I'm nervous, and I'm afraid I'm gonna be scattered.

Scott Benner (1:00:52) And I was like, I don't care. (1:00:54) Like, I I'm just like, I I said, to me, being serious, like, I think if you do a podcast in time order or you follow, like, a bullet list, I think it's boring. (1:01:04) I don't think it's entertaining, and I don't think people would listen to it. (1:01:07) Right? (1:01:07) And I also think that if we sat down and every word that came out of our mouths for an hour was completely about diabetes, again, I don't think anybody would listen to it.

Scott Benner (1:01:16) So, you know, I think of this more as eight small conversations in an hour that are tangentially related to each other. (1:01:25) Mhmm. (1:01:25) And to me, that's that's consumable. (1:01:30) You know what I mean?

Shannon (1:01:30) Like No. (1:01:31) I agree. (1:01:31) And I think, like, I think personality wise, it's just I think it depends. (1:01:36) Like, I have a good friend who can do that, and she can like, I'll tell her something. (1:01:40) And again, like, you said, like, eight different conversations, and I can tell her something, and she can pull, like, so what you're saying is and I'm like, oh my god.

Shannon (1:01:46) How do you do that?

Scott Benner (1:01:47) Yeah. (1:01:47) No. (1:01:47) No. (1:01:47) No. (1:01:48) That's just how I like it.

Scott Benner (1:01:49) So I don't think we had a scattered conversation at all. (1:01:51) And I don't think it's strange to pivot from one thing to another. (1:01:54) I think it's all good. (1:01:55) Also, I wanna be clear about something. (1:01:57) I I think Shannon's right.

Scott Benner (1:01:58) I don't I don't think you should visit, a sex worker. (1:02:01) And at the same time, I I was just sort of trying to make the point that I don't know that I wanna build another deep relationship with them. (1:02:08) I don't know if I could do first of all, may I be honest? (1:02:11) Think I'd be too devastated to do it, honestly.

Shannon (1:02:14) Been with this person for how long? (1:02:15) I'm Mike and I will be married twenty five years this coming May.

Scott Benner (1:02:19) Yeah.

Shannon (1:02:19) And so, I mean, that's a long time.

Scott Benner (1:02:22) Yeah. (1:02:22) I started bothering Kelly when she was, like, the 19, and I think I got her to start dating me when she was, like, 20. (1:02:28) And, I mean, I saw she's pretty old. (1:02:31) So I we've been doing this for a while now. (1:02:33) There's so much of my life and my thoughts and everything is so, like, intertwined into who she is.

Scott Benner (1:02:38) Like, if she just disappeared, like, the idea that I could just turn to, like, you know, some nice Indian lady because Arden told me to and be like, hey. (1:02:46) Like, why don't we just, like, start going? (1:02:48) You know? (1:02:49) You, you know, I just I don't know how I was supposed to do that. (1:02:52) Like, I don't know how I'd walk through life and not remember Kelly every step of the way.

Shannon (1:02:55) She does Arden doesn't say why Indian. (1:02:57) I'm

Scott Benner (1:02:58) just mention why. (1:02:59) No. (1:02:59) Just that she sees me with a nice Indian lady. (1:03:01) So Okay. (1:03:02) Yeah.

Scott Benner (1:03:03) I mean, I'm up for whatever.

Shannon (1:03:04) Yeah. (1:03:05) No. (1:03:05) No. (1:03:05) No. (1:03:05) No.

Shannon (1:03:05) I'm just I was just curious, like, why that? (1:03:07) Like, you know?

Scott Benner (1:03:08) I don't know. (1:03:09) I think maybe I could ask her sometime. (1:03:10) Yeah. (1:03:11) She's never once said, like, a French lady or this or that. (1:03:13) Like, she's always just like, you know, that's it.

Scott Benner (1:03:17) I don't know. (1:03:17) I I I guess I should ask. (1:03:19) So I guess that'd be a good follow-up question.

Shannon (1:03:23) Of all the things.

Scott Benner (1:03:24) I guess that'd be a good follow-up question why you're saying, this person may because maybe I should be on the lookout. (1:03:29) Maybe I should be trading Kelly in. (1:03:32) You know? (1:03:33) On a can you imagine if Kelly heard me say that, she'd be like, please please give me away. (1:03:37) That would be awesome.

Shannon (1:03:39) I think we all think that. (1:03:41) I'm like, go ahead.

Scott Benner (1:03:41) You know, it's isn't it funny too? (1:03:43) Like, I do think everyone feels that there's an underlining vibe there. (1:03:47) But, you know, the minute you're away from your husband for a little while, don't you miss him?

Shannon (1:03:52) Yeah. (1:03:52) Of course.

Scott Benner (1:03:52) Yeah. (1:03:53) Nah. (1:03:53) It's really interesting.

Shannon (1:03:54) Even though he drives me nuts sometimes. (1:03:56) I'm just like, you know? (1:03:58) Okay. (1:03:58) Why

Scott Benner (1:03:59) do you move the other Texas?

Shannon (1:04:01) Well, Texas was getting really crowded and really expensive. (1:04:05) And my my like I said, my mom passed away four years ago. (1:04:09) My dad still lives on Miami, and we had always tried to move back closer east. (1:04:15) I don't wanna go to Florida or Miami. (1:04:16) It's just it's oh, I can't see me there.

Shannon (1:04:19) Yeah. (1:04:20) And so just to be closer, instead of a twenty four hour drive from, you know, from Dallas, it's, like, 14 here. (1:04:26) And so we found some land. (1:04:28) My, Mike's brother and his dad live here. (1:04:31) And so it was just we found the land, and then I was just ready to leave the job that I was in.

Shannon (1:04:39) So Mhmm. (1:04:40) I found this one, and then, yeah, here we are. (1:04:42) We built a house.

Scott Benner (1:04:43) I tried to get Kelly to move the other day, and she's like, no.

Shannon (1:04:46) She's like, no.

Scott Benner (1:04:47) I was like, please. (1:04:49) Please, let's get out of here.

Shannon (1:04:51) Yeah. (1:04:51) So

Scott Benner (1:04:52) She won't listen to me. (1:04:53) It's fine.

Shannon (1:04:53) Well, we bought 22 acres and it's I mean, it's a huge change from just the little, like, house that we lived in outside of Dallas. (1:05:02) And so yeah. (1:05:02) And we're 22 acres. (1:05:03) We have, like, 50 chickens. (1:05:05) Mike just went and bought three pigs.

Shannon (1:05:07) So we get those in November. (1:05:09) It's it's been

Scott Benner (1:05:11) Are you working from home?

Shannon (1:05:12) Today, I am. (1:05:13) But, no, I I have the flexibility, luckily, that I can, like, five appointments or whatever. (1:05:18) I can work from home. (1:05:19) But, no. (1:05:19) Most of the days, I go to office.

Scott Benner (1:05:21) Do? (1:05:21) We're making fun of him. (1:05:22) It sounds like he's, he's slinging it here. (1:05:24) How can he afford 22 acres? (1:05:26) What's going on?

Shannon (1:05:28) So well, we bought it before we moved here and then, you know, slowly started paying it down, and then we put a house on it. (1:05:34) So but he is in education. (1:05:37) He is a math instructional coach. (1:05:40) I had to think about

Scott Benner (1:05:41) that. (1:05:41) Really?

Shannon (1:05:41) So yeah. (1:05:42) Yeah. (1:05:43) So he helps math teachers for our local school district.

Scott Benner (1:05:45) No kidding. (1:05:46) And that pays enough to get 22 acres somewhere and put a house down?

Shannon (1:05:49) I mean I mean, listen. (1:05:51) Tennessee does not pay well. (1:05:52) I'll tell you that.

Scott Benner (1:05:53) The wrong job. (1:05:54) Well, wait. (1:05:54) Is it cheap to build in Tennessee? (1:05:56) I'm on my way. (1:05:57) How's the humidity?

Shannon (1:05:58) Oh, god. (1:05:59) It is humid. (1:06:00) Oh, never mind. (1:06:01) I I didn't realize how humid it was in the summer.

Scott Benner (1:06:03) I know.

Shannon (1:06:04) But it's definitely it's cooler in the winter if you like winter. (1:06:08) And it has fall, obviously, like Texas didn't really have that.

Scott Benner (1:06:11) Never mind. (1:06:12) I'm sorry. (1:06:12) I didn't realize there was humidity. (1:06:14) I'm I'm I'm completely gone.

Shannon (1:06:17) I do say that. (1:06:18) I'm like, your brother did not tell us about this humidity when we moved here. (1:06:21) He lied. (1:06:22) Because he's like, it's not that bad.

Scott Benner (1:06:23) That's why the 22 acres was affordable. (1:06:25) Because

Shannon (1:06:26) the humidity.

Scott Benner (1:06:27) It's not you're like, it wasn't affordable.

Shannon (1:06:29) I don't know about that. (1:06:30) I mean, it's getting more expensive, but luckily, we bought before it went higher. (1:06:34) So Okay. (1:06:34) I mean, it's nice. (1:06:36) It's definitely a slower pace of life, and it's kind of nice to like, yeah, it's definite pay cut for sure from what we were doing before in Dallas, but I don't you know, money's not everything.

Scott Benner (1:06:46) No. (1:06:46) No. (1:06:46) Certainly not. (1:06:47) Especially as you get older. (1:06:48) Right?

Scott Benner (1:06:48) Like, once you've got things paid for. (1:06:50) I'm looking at this map of the country. (1:06:53) There's nowhere to go. (1:06:54) There really isn't. (1:06:55) I mean, this Tennessee is in the middle of the, like like, I see.

Scott Benner (1:06:58) That's too far off though. (1:06:59) You can't get any breeze there. (1:07:00) Right? (1:07:01) You're too far in.

Shannon (1:07:01) My in law.

Scott Benner (1:07:02) That's why that's why that Atlanta is terrible with the with the humidity. (1:07:06) Yeah. (1:07:06) Yeah. (1:07:07) Oh, I'm seeing it now in Alabama, Mississippi. (1:07:10) We yeah.

Scott Benner (1:07:10) You can't go in any of those places.

Shannon (1:07:12) I don't know. (1:07:12) I mean, I I mean, I don't I don't mind it. (1:07:14) It's pretty. (1:07:15) I mean, we're surrounded by mountains. (1:07:17) I mean, like, hour and a half, we can go to Gatlinburg.

Shannon (1:07:20) We can go to the beach, which is a little further away, North Carolina ish or South Carolina. (1:07:25) That's even further away. (1:07:26) But, you know, it's it it's actually not too bad.

Scott Benner (1:07:29) I'm picking through all these states. (1:07:30) I don't see anything. (1:07:32) Yeah.

Shannon (1:07:33) Aren't you in, like, New Jersey?

Scott Benner (1:07:35) I am. (1:07:35) Ish. (1:07:35) Also, everything's terrible.

Shannon (1:07:37) Yeah. (1:07:38) My

Scott Benner (1:07:38) What am I look I I don't wanna be cold in the winter. (1:07:40) I don't wanna be sweaty in the summer. (1:07:42) These are my desires. (1:07:43) They're very simple.

Shannon (1:07:45) I don't know that that's simple.

Scott Benner (1:07:46) I know. (1:07:47) That's the problem. (1:07:48) So do I wanna be, like, like, Southern Utah? (1:07:50) Would that do it? (1:07:52) Like, down towards Arizona?

Scott Benner (1:07:53) No. (1:07:53) But

Shannon (1:07:54) Arizona's hot.

Scott Benner (1:07:56) I don't wanna be in Arizona. (1:07:57) I'm saying, like, isn't it, like or is it hot in Utah? (1:07:59) I don't maybe it would help if I understood the places better. (1:08:02) And Colorado, I don't wanna buy a Patagonia sweatshirt, so, like, I don't wanna go there.

Shannon (1:08:07) Colorado's expensive too.

Scott Benner (1:08:08) I think I'd like Montana or Wyoming in the summer.

Shannon (1:08:13) Yes. (1:08:14) I've heard that that they're beautiful places.

Scott Benner (1:08:16) And then in the winter, Southern California, that kind of weather. (1:08:22) Even in the winter, maybe northern I don't know. (1:08:24) North Texas is still like, they you got all those aren't they aren't the the the, what's the thing? (1:08:30) It makes you sneeze. (1:08:32) Allergies are terrible there.

Scott Benner (1:08:33) Right?

Shannon (1:08:33) Oh, yes. (1:08:34) Yeah. (1:08:34) Yes.

Scott Benner (1:08:35) I can't do that.

Shannon (1:08:35) I don't Here too, really. (1:08:37) Allergies I had to start taking an allergy pill every day here.

Scott Benner (1:08:40) You think this planet was even meant for us? (1:08:42) The hell?

Shannon (1:08:42) I don't think so. (1:08:44) Well,

Scott Benner (1:08:45) could I summer in Maine? (1:08:48) Would that be cooler?

Shannon (1:08:50) Oh, probably. (1:08:51) I don't know about the allergen level though. (1:08:53) You'd have to Google that.

Scott Benner (1:08:54) They got a lot of trees there too. (1:08:56) Yeah. (1:08:57) Yeah. (1:08:57) Okay. (1:08:58) I'm gonna get that bubble that John Travolta lived in in that TV movie in the seventies.

Scott Benner (1:09:04) It was called the boy in the plastic bubble in case anybody's wondering.

Shannon (1:09:06) I don't think you're gonna convince your wife to go anywhere though. (1:09:09) So

Scott Benner (1:09:10) She wants an ocean. (1:09:11) She just wants to be near the ocean. (1:09:13) Oh my god. (1:09:14) The Boy in the Plastic Bubble, starring John Travolta. (1:09:17) I remember watching this on television.

Scott Benner (1:09:19) It was terrible.

Shannon (1:09:20) When did that come out?

Scott Benner (1:09:21) Oh, I'm looking right now. (1:09:22) I'm gonna get you a date. (1:09:23) 1976. (1:09:24) I was five when I saw this, and I still remember it.

Shannon (1:09:28) No kidding. (1:09:28) I've heard of it, but I don't think I've I seen

Scott Benner (1:09:30) mean, I would not, forty nine years, remove from the time I saw it. (1:09:33) I I but I'm still recommending you don't watch it.

Shannon (1:09:36) Don't worry. (1:09:37) Okay. (1:09:37) Well, good. (1:09:38) I won't waste my time then.

Scott Benner (1:09:39) Alright. (1:09:39) This is good. (1:09:40) Go live your life. (1:09:42) Thank you for doing this with me. (1:09:43) I really do appreciate it.

Shannon (1:09:44) No problem. (1:09:44) Thanks for having me.

Scott Benner (1:09:45) That asked for, like, you know, people who've been on before to check back in. (1:09:49) If you didn't like this, this is your fault. (1:09:51) And if you did like

Shannon (1:09:52) It pretty much is.

Scott Benner (1:09:53) Yeah. (1:09:53) If you did like it, then here, I gave you what you wanted. (1:09:56) Leave me alone. (1:09:57) Thank you.

Shannon (1:09:57) That one person who commented, she wanted an update from me. (1:10:00) God bless her.

Scott Benner (1:10:01) We're making an episode for one person. (1:10:02) She's like, I got it. (1:10:03) I did what I I get this is awesome. (1:10:05) Yay, Shannon. (1:10:06) She's like, she's great.

Scott Benner (1:10:07) She's probably netting it now for moving out of Texas.

Shannon (1:10:11) Yeah. (1:10:11) Maybe.

Scott Benner (1:10:13) Alright. (1:10:14) I'm gonna go read more about the boy in the plastic bubble. (1:10:15) I figure what this is about. (1:10:17) See you.

Shannon (1:10:17) Well, you have fun.

Scott Benner (1:10:18) Thanks. (1:10:18) Hold on one second. (1:10:25) Did you know that Skin Grip has donated over $100,000 in scholarships to help people with diabetes? (1:10:32) The people at Skin Grip, they know what it's like to live with type one diabetes. (1:10:36) They know what it's like when your devices fall off at the absolute worst time, and they're here to help.

Scott Benner (1:10:42) Skingrip.com/juicebox. (1:10:45) Save 20% off your first order when you use my link. (1:10:48) That's what you get for being a juice box podcast listener. (1:10:51) The conversation you just heard was sponsored by Touched by Type One. (1:10:56) Check them out, please, at touchedbytype1.org on Instagram and Facebook.

Scott Benner (1:11:01) You're gonna love them. (1:11:02) I love them. (1:11:02) They're helping so many people at touchedbytype1.org. (1:11:07) Are you tired of getting a rash from your CGM adhesive? (1:11:10) Give the Eversense three sixty five a try.

Scott Benner (1:11:13) Eversensecgm.com/juicebox. (1:11:17) Beautiful silicone that they use. (1:11:18) It changes every day. (1:11:19) Keeps it fresh. (1:11:20) Not only that, you only have to change the sensor once a year.

Scott Benner (1:11:24) So, I mean, that's better. (1:11:26) Head now to tandemdiabetes.com/juicebox and check out today's sponsor, Tandem Diabetes Care. (1:11:33) I think you're gonna find exactly what you're looking for at that link, including a way to sign up and get started with the Tandem Mobi system. (1:11:42) As the holidays approach, I wanna say welcome and thank all of my good friends for coming back to the Juice Box podcast over and over again. (1:11:49) It means the world to me.

Scott Benner (1:11:50) It's the greatest gift you could give me. (1:11:52) Thank you so very much. (1:11:54) Unless, of course, you wanna share the show with someone else, then that would be an awesome gift too or a five star review. (1:11:59) I don't know. (1:11:59) You don't really owe me a gift, but I mean, if you're looking for something to do.

Scott Benner (1:12:03) You know, subscribe and follow, tell a friend, etcetera. (1:12:05) Thank you. (1:12:05) Merry Christmas. (1:12:08) Hey, kids. (1:12:08) Listen up.

Scott Benner (1:12:09) You've made it to the end of the podcast. (1:12:11) You must have enjoyed it. (1:12:12) You know what else you might enjoy? (1:12:13) The private Facebook group for the Juice Box podcast. (1:12:17) I know you're thinking, ugh, Facebook, Scott, please.

Scott Benner (1:12:19) But no. (1:12:20) Beautiful group, wonderful people, a fantastic community. (1:12:24) Juice Box podcast, type one diabetes on Facebook. (1:12:27) Of course, if you have type two, are you touched by diabetes in any way? (1:12:31) You're absolutely welcome.

Scott Benner (1:12:33) It's a private group, you'll have to answer a couple of questions before you come in. (1:12:36) We'll make sure you're not a bot or an evil doer, then you're on your way. (1:12:40) You'll be part of the family. (1:12:42) Hey. (1:12:42) I'm dropping in to tell you about a small change being made to the Juice Cruise 2026 schedule.

Scott Benner (1:12:47) This adjustment was made by Celebrity Cruise Lines, not by me. (1:12:51) Anyway, we're still going out on the Celebrity Beyond cruise ship, which is awesome. (1:12:55) Check out the walkthrough video at juiceboxpodcast.com/juicecruise. (1:13:00) The ship is awesome. (1:13:01) Still a seven night cruise.

Scott Benner (1:13:03) It still leaves out of Miami on June 21. (1:13:06) Actually, most of this is the same. (1:13:08) We leave Miami June 21, head to Coco Cay in The Bahamas, but then we're going to San Juan, Puerto Rico instead of Saint Thomas. (1:13:16) After that, Bastirie, I think I'm saying that wrong, Saint Kitts And Nevis. (1:13:20) This place is gorgeous.

Scott Benner (1:13:21) Google it. (1:13:22) I mean, you're probably gonna have to go to my link to get the correct spelling because my pronunciation is so bad. (1:13:26) But once you get the Saint Kitts and you Google it, you're gonna look and see a photo that says to you, oh, I wanna go there. (1:13:33) Come meet other people living with type one diabetes from caregivers to children to adults. (1:13:40) Last year, we had a 100 people on our cruise, and it was fabulous.

Scott Benner (1:13:45) You can see pictures to get at my link juiceboxpodcast.com/juicecruise. (1:13:49) You can see those pictures from last year there. (1:13:52) The link also gives you an opportunity to register for the cruise or to contact Suzanne from Cruise Planners. (1:13:58) She takes care of all the logistics. (1:13:59) I'm just excited that I might see you there.

Scott Benner (1:14:02) It's a beautiful event for families, for singles, a wonderful opportunity to meet people, swap stories, make friendships, and learn. (1:14:12) My grand rounds series was designed by listeners to tell doctors what they need, and it also helps you to understand what to ask for. (1:14:20) There's a mental wellness series that addresses the emotional side of diabetes and practical ways to stay balanced. (1:14:26) And when we talk about GLP medications, well, we'll break down what they are, how they may help you, and if they fit into your diabetes management plan. (1:14:33) What do these three things have in common?

Scott Benner (1:14:35) They're all available at juiceboxpodcast.com, up in the menu. (1:14:39) I know it can be hard to find these things in a podcast app, so we've collected them all for you at juiceboxpodcast.com. (1:14:46) The Juice Box podcast is edited by Wrong Way Recording. (1:14:51) Wrongwayrecording.com. (1:14:54) If you'd like your podcast to sound as good as mine, check out Rob at wrongwayrecording.com.

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#1699 On the Pen with David Knapp

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

Scott and Dave Knapp break down GLP-1 medications, weight loss, metabolic health, inflammation, type 1 impacts, myths, microdosing, and why these drugs may reshape diabetes care.

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

Scott Benner (0:00) Friends, we're all back together for the next episode of the Juice Box podcast. (0:04) Welcome.

David Knapp (0:14) I'm Dave Knapp. (0:15) I'm the founder of the On the Pen Podcast. (0:18) It is a weekly podcast all about the news around these new medications that I'm sure that you've heard about, the Ozempic's of the world, the Majoros of the world. (0:27) Maybe you've heard it as the fat shot too from the Oval Office. (0:31) But however you've heard of it, you've heard of it by now.

David Knapp (0:33) These medications are taking the world by storm. (0:36) And I, as a type two diabetic diagnosed in the 2021, ended up on these medications after trying everything in my own power and my own might and even looking down the barrel of a metabolic surgery that would have rearranged my anatomy. (0:51) And my doctor introduced me to these medications, and I thought, you know what? (0:54) There's no one that is giving this information from the patient perspective. (0:58) Everything that's out there is for a doctor.

David Knapp (1:01) It's for an investor, but nothing exists for the patients. (1:05) And that's where On the Pen came in. (1:06) So, Scott, I'm super excited to be sharing with you a little bit today about what we talk about over at On the Pen, my favorite subject, GLP one medications.

Scott Benner (1:16) Nothing you hear on the juice box podcast should be considered advice, medical or otherwise. (1:21) Always consult a physician before making any changes to your health care plan. (1:30) Just in time for the holidays, Cozy Earth is back with a great offer for Juice Box podcast listeners. (1:36) That's right. (1:36) Black Friday has come early at cozyearth.com.

Scott Benner (1:40) And right now, you can stack my code juice box on top of their site wide sale, giving you up to 40 off in savings. (1:48) These deals will not last, so start your holiday shopping today by going to cozyearth.com and using the offer code juice box at checkout. (1:56) The podcast is also sponsored today by Omnipod five. (2:00) Omnipod five is a tube free automated insulin delivery system that's been shown to significantly improve a one c and time and range for people with type one diabetes when they've switched from daily injections. (2:11) Learn more and get started today at omnipod.com/juicebox.

Scott Benner (2:16) At my link, you can get a free starter kit right now. (2:18) Terms and conditions apply. (2:19) Eligibility may vary. (2:21) Full terms and conditions can be found at omnipod.com/juicebox. (2:26) Today's episode is also sponsored by US Med.

Scott Benner (2:30) Usmed.com/juicebox or call (888) 721-1514. (2:36) Get your supplies the same way we do from USMed.

David Knapp (2:40) I'm Dave Knapp. (2:41) I'm the founder of the On the Pen Podcast. (2:44) It is a weekly podcast all about the news around these new medications that I'm sure that you've heard about, the Ozempic's of the world, the Majoros of the world. (2:53) Maybe you've heard it as the fat shot too from the Oval Office. (2:56) But however you've heard of it, you've heard of it by now.

David Knapp (2:59) These medications are taking the world by storm, and I, as a type two diabetic diagnosed in the 2021, ended up on these medications after trying everything in my own power and my own might and even looking down the barrel of a metabolic surgery that would have rearranged my anatomy. (3:17) And my doctor introduced me to these medications, and I thought, you know what? (3:20) There's no one that is giving this information from the patient perspective. (3:24) Everything that's out there is for a doctor. (3:26) It's for an investor, but nothing exists for the patients.

David Knapp (3:30) And that's where On the Pen came in. (3:32) So, Scott, I'm super excited to be sharing with you a little bit today about what we talk about over at On the Pen, my favorite subject, GLP one medications.

Scott Benner (3:40) Dave, I can't thank you enough for doing this. (3:42) Also, I'm I'm super amused not amused, but, like, kinda delighted watching you because you're accustomed to being on video, and I'm not. (3:48) I'm watching you be effusive and move around and smile and everything.

David Knapp (3:51) Like a maniac.

Scott Benner (3:52) Yeah. (3:53) And I realized that normally what would happen here is you and I wouldn't be looking at each other. (3:57) I would spin a 180 degrees, put my feet up over here and bring this microphone over and I and I would chat like that. (4:02) Yeah. (4:02) Yeah.

Scott Benner (4:02) So it's it's really awesome. (4:04) Well, listen, man. (4:05) I I appreciate you doing this. (4:07) I wanted to do it for a couple of reasons. (4:08) But mainly, I'm most interested maybe in a guy like you who's not a doctor, right, who does not have a medical background, who just found himself flung into this, who started making content and then realized that it was a business.

Scott Benner (4:22) Because of that, I think that you're steeped in it in a different way. (4:26) You don't get an opportunity often to talk to people who are paying a crazy amount of attention to one focused idea. (4:33) And when I realized that you're out there making, like, you know, news clips about, like, hey, there's a pill coming. (4:39) There's this. (4:39) Like, it's stuff we talk about here.

Scott Benner (4:41) Like, oh, I heard there's a pill coming. (4:43) I heard it's going to be as effective as the injectable maybe. (4:47) But I heard that from a doctor I had on, like, six months ago, you know Yeah. (4:50) Who just said to me, like, it's coming in oral form. (4:53) And, like and it's kinda how he put it.

Scott Benner (4:55) And I was like, what do mean? (4:56) He goes, oh, it's coming fast. (4:57) I wanna know what that means, but I don't have the time to dig through it. (5:00) Mhmm. (5:00) I'm digging through type one diabetes and and this podcast.

Scott Benner (5:04) So I'm I'm here to pick your brain and and everything, but I do wanna get a little background first. (5:08) So you said you're you have type two?

David Knapp (5:10) Yeah. (5:10) So I was diagnosed with type two diabetes back in the 2021. (5:15) This was after a year of experiencing what I called, like, level sleepiness. (5:21) I just knew something was wrong. (5:22) I thought maybe it was long COVID.

David Knapp (5:24) And I went into my doctor's office, and I said I knew that something's wrong. (5:28) What's going on? (5:28) And I was having kidney stones and just kind of a host of, I don't know, ailments that I just knew something was wrong. (5:33) I said to my wife, I said, either I have cancer, I'm dying, or I I have some sort of chronic disease. (5:38) The way I'm feeling is not normal.

David Knapp (5:40) Right. (5:40) And I went in, and the doctor checked my blood sugar. (5:43) He goes, the way that you're feeling is because you're type two diabetic. (5:46) And I said, what? (5:47) Like, record scratch.

David Knapp (5:48) Like, hey. (5:49) I didn't have the typical, like, to type two diabetes that you hear about where, hey. (5:54) Your a one c is creeping up, man. (5:56) Stay off the Twizzlers, whatever. (5:58) You know?

Scott Benner (5:58) Yeah.

David Knapp (5:59) I went from zero to a 100. (6:01) It had never sort of crept up on me. (6:03) Never had any warning other than the fact that I have been overweight my entire adult life, and we have this thing, this type two diabetes in my family. (6:11) I'm sort of skeptical that the coronavirus maybe kicked some people who were metabolically predisposed based upon the virus going through your body, that it had a metabolic effect on some people. (6:23) But that's definitely a conversation for a different day.

David Knapp (6:26) But, yeah, I was diagnosed with type two back in the 2021, and it was definitely a journey of I wanna try everything in my own within my own willpower Yeah. (6:36) To sort of will this disease away.

Scott Benner (6:38) How would you describe like, you know, I'm I'm sure you've probably shared this a million times. (6:42) I always end up apologizing to people first. (6:44) But, like, what was your height and weight at your diagnosis, and how would you describe your heat your eating habits at that time?

David Knapp (6:50) Yeah. (6:51) So my my height, is five ten, and my weight at that time was three hundred and nineteen pounds. (6:58) So we're talking a bit about a BMI in the upper forties, which is very, very high, morbidly obese. (7:03) What I was eating it's kind of hard to explain for somebody who's never lived with the disease of obesity. (7:08) Right?

David Knapp (7:08) Because obesity is a disease. (7:10) It's has profound metabolic effect that make it very difficult to to get your weight down. (7:15) But when we talk about what I was eating, well, I had actually yo yoed on the ketogenic diet from the time I was about 18, which is when I started really putting on noticeable weight. (7:26) Like, I even from a an adolescent, I could tell I was a little chubby, you know, to carry a little bit around my midsection that friends or family members didn't. (7:34) But then it wasn't until high school that I really started to see that there was kind of a separation in the way that my body was handling the foods I ate, etcetera.

David Knapp (7:42) I discovered this diet that everybody was kinda doing back then. (7:46) It's kinda like the GLP one of today. (7:47) It was the Atkins diet. (7:48) It was the low carb diet. (7:50) And so I started this journey where I I would get on the low carb diet, and it would work really, really well for me for about six months.

David Knapp (7:58) Like, I think the first time I went on it, I was I had got up to two hundred and twenty pounds. (8:03) And the first time I went on it within about six months, I think I was down to one seventy. (8:08) But, you know, the metabolism of an 18, 19 year old kid, not a 40 year old man. (8:14) Mhmm. (8:14) But I I sort of chased that because I could maintain it for about six months out of the year, and then for the other six months, I'd fall off the wagon hard.

David Knapp (8:22) So the way I kinda describe it when I tell this story, Scott, is I'd be up or I would be down 40 pounds, and then I'd be up 50 pounds. (8:32) And I'd be down 40 pounds and up 50 pounds, and there were different variations of that yo yo. (8:37) Yeah. (8:37) But every time on the upswing, it was up. (8:39) And so first of all, just imagine what that does to your body metabolically, like that swing back and forth and back and forth and back and forth for essentially, like, seventeen, eighteen years.

David Knapp (8:49) Wow. (8:49) And so, like, that year when I was diagnosed with diabetes, it wasn't really that much different than any other year. (8:54) I had just come off of six months of being very strict with my ketogenic diet, which is actually why I thought that I was experiencing kidney stones because I had had that happen before. (9:04) But, you know, I was minding my p's and q's. (9:07) I've never been a real sugar consumer like you may think of somebody who becomes diabetic at that age.

David Knapp (9:14) I wasn't a candy eater, still not a candy eater, wasn't a sugary soda drinker, although I've always been a diet soda drinker. (9:22) You know? (9:23) So I wasn't kinda like, in my mind, even though I was overweight, I didn't really fit the bill for somebody who was gonna go in at 36 and get a type two diabetes diagnosis. (9:31) I mean, you might the average person might go, well, you're a BMI of forty five. (9:35) What do you expect?

David Knapp (9:36) Well, I've been doing this podcast now for three years. (9:39) I've met people who are six or seven hundred pounds that aren't type two diabetic. (9:43) Mhmm. (9:44) You know, it was just it it was weird for me. (9:46) It was it was definitely a scary thing to get that diagnosis young because you know the implications in terms of what that does to somebody's expected lifespan.

David Knapp (9:55) And so the only thing I could think about, Scott, was my kids. (9:57) Like, what am I gonna do? (9:59) Like, how how am I gonna whip this thing into shape so that I can be around, with for my kids? (10:03) Because my dad own dad died of a massive heart attack at 54.

Scott Benner (10:06) Did he?

David Knapp (10:07) Yeah. (10:08) So No kidding.

Scott Benner (10:08) My story is not much different than yours, to be perfectly honest. (10:11) I never thought of myself as an incredibly poor eater. (10:14) I do look back now in hindsight and realize I grew up pretty broke, we ate some trashy food that I I wouldn't eat now. (10:20) But at the same time, it wasn't a massive amount. (10:23) It wasn't, like, constantly sugar or constantly this.

Scott Benner (10:26) And as an adult, a young adult, my wife and I did the same thing. (10:29) We were like, oh, we'll try the Atkins diet. (10:31) Mhmm. (10:31) And it did work. (10:32) Like, I was like, I I lost, like, 40 pounds.

Scott Benner (10:34) I was like, oh, magic. (10:35) Until one day, you just wake up and you're like, I can't eat another chicken wing. (10:39) I I've run out of things to to eat. (10:41) You know?

David Knapp (10:41) I've eaten enough stacks of hamburgers. (10:43) It's just just give me a bun.

Scott Benner (10:45) I think when you realize you're in trouble is when you're, like, you're out for the day driving around and you're hungry and you end up in, a drive through at a fast food restaurant, like, pulling the patties off and you're realizing, don't even think this is meat. (10:58) And you're you're like, well, at least there's no carbs in

David Knapp (11:01) it. (11:01) Right.

Scott Benner (11:02) And yeah. (11:03) So it just didn't work for me. (11:04) Then I slowly began I never had a type two diagnosis, and I don't think I was ever actually near one, luckily, though. (11:10) Like, I just think it's random because I was I'm five nine, and I was two hundred and thirty six pounds when I started using GLP. (11:18) You know, I know my body at that point.

Scott Benner (11:20) Like, I can't imagine what you were dealing with over three hundred pounds at that height. (11:24) Like, it must have been it really just difficult on you and your body and even psychologically, I I imagine it was not pleasant.

David Knapp (11:30) Yeah. (11:31) The the definitely the the upswing and the downswing. (11:34) And then you get used to this, kind of cycle of positive reinforcement from the people around you because when you're on the downswing, people are like, you look great. (11:41) And then you're kinda like, oh, you know, what are these people thinking of me when I'm on the upswing? (11:46) And then you you start to worry about all the people you're letting down and yeah.

Scott Benner (11:50) Oh, man. (11:50) When the first time I went into where did it happen to me first, maybe? (11:54) It was a friend I bumped into, then it was a post office that I only go to yearly. (11:58) Like, there's this one post office I used to mail my taxes. (12:01) And, like, so I don't see this lady very often, but it's a small post office.

Scott Benner (12:04) And I walked in and she made eye contact. (12:06) She recognized it was me, then she looked horrified, then she got quiet, and then she didn't know what to say. (12:13) And I realized, because I had been through it now twice before, I put my hand out. (12:16) I went, I don't have cancer. (12:18) She goes, oh, thank God.

Scott Benner (12:20) She's like, you lost so much weight. (12:22) I I just thought maybe you had cancer. (12:23) And I was like, I know. (12:24) And I said, I'm it's okay that you feel that way. (12:27) You're, like, maybe the fourth person that this has happened to me with.

Scott Benner (12:30) Yeah. (12:30) And that to your point, what in the hell did I look like before? (12:34) It's like right? (12:37) That, standing in front of her at a reasonable weight, she was like, uh-oh. (12:40) This one's on its So, way anyway, it it is it's been very transformational for me.

Scott Benner (12:46) But I kinda wanna, like, jump ahead a little bit. (12:49) Yeah. (12:49) Because you start making your thing you started on YouTube, I guess. (12:53) Right?

David Knapp (12:53) Yeah.

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David Knapp (15:01) Yeah. (15:01) I mean, I was really, really wanting to learn more about these medications and how they worked and what they did in your body. (15:10) And I just I wasn't eager to take a drug, to be honest with you, which I think has really set me up great to lead this community because I think there's a lot of people who are reticent to take a drug, especially for obesity. (15:21) But I wanted to learn everything there was to learn about these medications. (15:25) And so when I went to YouTube or, you know, like any good millennial, that's that's where we learn things.

David Knapp (15:31) Right? (15:31) Mhmm. (15:31) So when I went there, there was a lot of really amazing stories about, hey. (15:34) I lost a 100 pounds with Ozempic. (15:36) There was nobody saying, this is how it worked, and these were the side effects that I had, and this is how they discovered these medications.

David Knapp (15:43) Like, all the things that I would want to know about these medications didn't exist there. (15:48) And so while it started as like a, hey. (15:50) This is me taking my first shot. (15:52) Look at me go. (15:52) Woo.

David Knapp (15:53) It very quickly developed into as I was reading clinical trial data, as I and I started following the Eli Lilly earnings calls almost immediately too, and then I started sharing because I was like, well, you know, you talked earlier about the pills. (16:08) Right? (16:08) Yeah. (16:08) I've actually been talking about these pills now for two and a half years because they were being talked about on these earnings calls where they were saying, you know, hey. (16:18) We're we're in, you know, phase one development for like, Eli Lilly has this one called orforglipron, which is coming out in a couple of months here.

David Knapp (16:27) You know? (16:27) And so we were talking about orforglipron two years ago because I started to see not only are these medications that appear to be changing so many people's lives, the ones that are here, there's medicines down the pike that are really gonna help people who have advanced metabolic disease. (16:42) And I've been somebody who's kinda struggled to lose a ton of weight on these, although I'm right where you would expect a diabetic to be based upon the diabetic clinical trials for weight loss. (16:51) You know, there's hope down the pike too for people who are more seriously sick. (16:55) And so really just wanted to start sharing that side of it, which is really sort of what exploded the work that I'm doing.

David Knapp (17:02) And then one of the crazy things, and we we may see some more of this in the coming months with the expansion of these drugs to Medicare, but when I first started these medications and people were learning about them, it was the heyday of GLP one because you could get Mounjaro without a type two diagnosis for $25 a month. (17:20) In those early days, they had a coupon.

Scott Benner (17:22) Really? (17:22) How long ago was that?

David Knapp (17:23) This was 2022. (17:25) At the 2022, around the time I first started, you could literally download a coupon, and it didn't matter if it you had it covered on your insurance. (17:33) It didn't matter if you had diabetes. (17:35) You could just take that to the pharmacy and get Mounjaro for $25. (17:38) And then, of course, they, you know, cut that off like a sieve once the word started to get out about how powerful tirzepatide, the active ingredient in Mounjaro, is at getting people's weight down.

David Knapp (17:49) They had to pull back on the savings card because it became so popular so fast with, mind you, zero advertising. (17:55) Right. (17:55) It was all word-of-mouth. (17:57) These drugs went into shortage. (17:58) And so very quickly, you being in the type one world, like, I know these companies manufacture insulin all day in little single dose or multidose vials.

David Knapp (18:07) Why can't they just do that? (18:08) And so I actually started a social media campaign that went viral and ended up getting covered by some of the major news outlets called Release the Vials, which ultimately, through conversations with Lilly, actually had conversations with their, CEO there, they ended up releasing Zepbound in single dose files and going direct to consumers with the cash pay price, and they were kind of the first ones to do that even before this most favored nation stuff with the with the administration.

Scott Benner (18:34) Yeah. (18:34) That's really interesting. (18:36) The things that I've seen it help people with, I really hope that we can get to a point like, I'm not listen. (18:41) I'm not confused. (18:42) I'll actually, let me share this with you, then I'll go backwards.

Scott Benner (18:45) Fifteen years my wife works in, drug safety. (18:47) Okay. (18:48) So she does kinda like the behind the scenes pharma stuff where she makes sure that, you know, reporting's done correctly and that, you know, things are being done the way they're supposed to, that kind of stuff. (18:56) Right? (18:57) She came home to me fifteen years ago, and she goes, Scott, one day, people are gonna take an injection, and they're gonna lose weight.

Scott Benner (19:03) And I was like, what do you mean? (19:05) She goes, I saw some data, and she's like, we're working on this type two drug, and she was at Novo. (19:10) But, man, like, you should see the data on people losing weight. (19:14) I really think one day people are gonna take a shot and lose weight. (19:16) Three years ago now, maybe coming up on three years ago, I started doing it.

Scott Benner (19:20) I was like, oh my god. (19:21) This is the thing Kelly was talking about. (19:22) And just like that, it it started to happen. (19:24) Now, of course, before before that, they but they had other JLPs. (19:27) Right?

Scott Benner (19:27) Like Rybelsus and there were, like, pills and stuff like that. (19:30) Didn't really work quite as well. (19:31) But now I'm seeing it help people in, like, such varied ways. (19:35) I mean, no kidding. (19:37) All the different ways that you see it impacting lives that I can see it impacting my life.

Scott Benner (19:42) You know, we talk so much about, like, trying to fix things for people. (19:46) Like, they just ate better. (19:47) If, you know, there's Mhmm. (19:48) No factory farming. (19:50) If they and you start piling up all these if if if if, and you realize, like, we're not getting any of this straight.

Scott Benner (19:54) Right? (19:55) Right. (19:55) People keep suffering, and they keep gaining weight, and they keep being ill, and they keep, you know, just not having the lives they can. (20:02) I'm not a person who's, put everybody on medication. (20:04) I'm really not.

Scott Benner (20:05) But, like, now that I've seen what it's done for me, I'm not down with just yelling like you're cheating if you're doing this thing. (20:12) Like, right like, I don't know why my body doesn't work the way it's supposed to, but it clearly doesn't. (20:18) And you add this GLP to me, and I'm better off. (20:22) I don't like, when people say to me, oh, you're have to use it for the rest of your life? (20:25) I'm like, whatever.

Scott Benner (20:26) I was like, because the other way, was gonna have a heart attack for sure. (20:28) So Right. (20:29) You know, whatever. (20:30) And now you're talking about that pill. (20:31) That pill might end up being more of a maintenance thing for someone like me.

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David Knapp (21:59) It sounds like the pills may be a great option for maintenance. (22:01) For people with, let's say, less severe metabolic disease, they're not gonna be as potent, to start with. (22:07) They're not gonna be as potent as the injectables. (22:10) They kinda tout that these high doses of so high dose Rybelsus, which is the oral semaglutide from Novo Nordisk for diabetes, is currently with the FDA for approval in high doses for what they're calling oral Wegovy, which is their injectable weight loss medication, their popular one. (22:27) They are touting that those get up there, but still, I think most people are gonna tolerate the shots, once weekly shots, better.

David Knapp (22:34) But, yeah, for maintenance, there's a whole lot of hosts and applications for these oral versions, and maintenance is definitely one big thing that they're looking at. (22:43) But one of the things I want to touch on based upon kind of what you were just saying there, because I think you hit on something that I think is what needs to be understood. (22:50) When we talk about the discourse, the public discourse around GLP one medications and this idea of taking a drug forever or or cheating or taking the easy way out, I just wanna kinda reframe that conversation for people and just kinda build on what you were saying there is we can all agree that there are likely contributing factors, confounding factors in this country specifically that contribute to metabolic disease that are beyond just your own personal agency. (23:18) Right? (23:19) Sure.

David Knapp (23:19) We don't know how what they're spraying on our crops affects our gut microbiome. (23:24) We don't know really how much or how little the prescription drugs that we're taking, we're learning more, are screwing with our gut microbiome. (23:33) We don't know how how much, for instance, alcohol screws with our gut microbiome. (23:38) What they're finding right now, we're gonna get data later this week, probably, maybe early next week from Novo Nordisk that's likely to show that Rybelsus slows the progression of Alzheimer's. (23:49) Why is that?

David Knapp (23:50) Because they have found this gut brain connection that they're just now starting to unwind. (23:55) But these GLP one medications, all they are are manufactured peptides that, in Inovo's case, they actually make it from yeast. (24:05) They're peptides that mimic hormones that are naturally made in your gut. (24:10) But there's byproducts of gut bacteria. (24:13) There's byproducts of adipose tissue called d p p four that literally is run amok in the guts of people who are diabetic and obese.

David Knapp (24:23) They've done studies on this. (24:24) It's this d p p four enzyme that destroys GLP-one, native GLP-one or endogenous GLP-one, GIP, these incretin hormones. (24:35) Right? (24:35) And so a lot of what they're learning is is this unique connection between the gut and the brain in terms of signaling satiety, signaling insulin release. (24:46) And these hormones are integral to that.

David Knapp (24:48) And you can imagine what's happening in the guts of people who have had their good bacteria destroyed or have high adiposity where the environment there is working against your own native GLP one. (25:00) That's one of the reasons that these medications work so well is prior to GLP one medications, there was a whole another class of type two diabetes medications called DPP four inhibitors. (25:10) So that culprit that attacks your endogenous GLP-one, your endogenous the Ozempic that your body makes naturally, essentially, they had a drug that tried to block that DPP-four so that your native GLP-one could shine through and do its job, signal to satiety, signal insulin release, stimulate the beta cells in your pancreas to release insulin more efficiently, etcetera. (25:34) And so these medications are literally and this is sort of one of the more controversial things that I'll say is that I believe they are the antidote to whatever the culprit is, and it's probably many factors that are creating a hormonally dysregulated body for people who are metabolically sick.

Scott Benner (25:54) Yeah. (25:54) I don't know another way to explain it to you other than my body just works better now. (25:58) And, I mean, from, like I used to have terrible reflux. (26:02) Gone. (26:03) Had it, like, most of my life.

Scott Benner (26:04) It's just gone. (26:04) People will say, what's because you lost weight? (26:07) It was gone before I lost the weight. (26:09) I used to be anemic all the time. (26:11) Like, I'm telling you, Dave, like, I would I was in the last handful of years of my life, I was getting two and sometimes three iron infusions a year so that my ferritin wouldn't drop off the planet.

Scott Benner (26:22) And I and I I couldn't, like, I couldn't stand some days. (26:25) Like, I was so anemic. (26:26) I haven't been anemic in almost three years. (26:29) What happened? (26:29) My expectation is my digestion changed.

Scott Benner (26:32) My body is now picking up nutrients differently, and I'm not lacking in iron anymore. (26:37) That's a simple thing that to your bigger point about, like, I'm sure there's a million things happening that are impacting us that we don't know about. (26:44) I wasn't gonna unwind all that in my lifetime. (26:47) Right? (26:47) And even if I could, what am I gonna go live in a yurt?

Scott Benner (26:51) Like, you know what I mean? (26:51) Like, grow a carrot in my own like, don't know. (26:54) What was I gonna do exactly? (26:55) Right? (26:56) You're like, like, I got a house.

Scott Benner (26:57) I got kids. (26:57) I gotta live my life. (26:58) This is the world I'm in right now. (27:00) If the world's doing this to me, then and there's an anecdote, you know, quote unquote to that. (27:05) I'm in.

Scott Benner (27:06) Like, I'm in to take it because I wasn't gonna live as long. (27:09) I wasn't my days were much less pleasant. (27:11) I was never rested. (27:12) The reflux gave me, other issues that I'm hoping don't turn into bigger problems. (27:17) Right?

Scott Benner (27:18) Like Right. (27:18) There's a lot going on. (27:20) And now all of a sudden, man, I'm full of energy. (27:22) I got nothing but, like, clarity in my mind. (27:25) Like, you know, I've worn a CGM a couple of times.

Scott Benner (27:28) My glucose doesn't move. (27:30) Like, you almost can't will it to move. (27:31) Yeah. (27:31) It's been so beneficial. (27:33) And then we were able to you know, like, I think I told you before we started talking, I used it.

Scott Benner (27:38) My wife used it. (27:40) Awesome results. (27:41) My brother has type two. (27:43) I'm adopted, so not my brother by blood. (27:45) But my brother, type two diabetes, he's lost, like, 70 pounds.

Scott Benner (27:48) His a one c's dropped way down, like, two points down. (27:51) And still, he was with a doctor the other day who said to him, if I was you, I wouldn't be using this GLP medication. (27:57) Awesome, man. (27:58) Thanks. (27:58) How come?

Scott Benner (27:59) Muscle. (28:00) He kinda waved his hand at him. (28:01) I mean, muscle wasting. (28:02) And I was like, Brian, I'm like, GLPs don't magically make muscle go away. (28:06) I'm like, they can give you like, put you in situations that can cause that, and there's ways to counteract that.

Scott Benner (28:11) I was like, he's like, don't worry. (28:12) I'm not gonna stop taking this. (28:13) And I was like, oh, okay. (28:14) But, like, it's amazing that, like, in 2025 now, there's still a doctor who's just, like, waving their hand randomly saying muscle out loud and telling a guy whose a one c went from the sevens to the fives and lost 70 pounds, hey, you probably shouldn't be taking that. (28:27) So that guy doesn't understand this functionally at all.

Scott Benner (28:29) No. (28:29) And he's out there giving advice. (28:31) So in a world where there are doctors giving advice that they don't know about, that, like you said, something's getting sprayed on something. (28:37) I'm eating it. (28:38) Something in my stomach that medicine barely understands at this point

David Knapp (28:42) Right.

Scott Benner (28:42) Is getting dysregulated. (28:44) Who cares, man? (28:45) Like, do you know what I tell people? (28:46) I have a GLP deficiency. (28:48) That's what I tell them because it shuts them up.

Scott Benner (28:50) And like and I don't really know what else to say.

David Knapp (28:52) I love it.

Scott Benner (28:54) So when you see it back into this world a little bit with type one, I know this isn't, you know, your what your focus is on, but I feel like you might have a lot of information that's gonna help otherwise. (29:03) So if you don't have an answer, just say, Scott, I don't know. (29:05) This isn't my this isn't my lane. (29:07) But when people talk about GLPs reducing inflammation, for example, do you understand or does anyone understand how that happens, or do we just know it does happen?

David Knapp (29:17) I believe they're trying to untangle untangle all of that and why it works too, especially on that inflammation. (29:26) I know that with tirzepatide, they're doing some studies that are looking at, the c reactive protein, which is one of the biggest markers for inflammation in the body. (29:35) They're seeing reduction in all of those. (29:36) And and in fact, the next sort of advent of where GLP ones can take us because, honestly, they're gonna have the weight problem solved in the next ten years. (29:47) There's not gonna be there's gonna be something for everyone, I firmly believe, out there that's gonna get you to your goal weight more than likely.

David Knapp (29:54) The question now becomes, a, how do we improve the quality of weight to the doctor's point of muscle wasting, which that happens when you lose weight dramatically. (30:03) I mean, these

Scott Benner (30:03) Yeah.

David Knapp (30:04) Medications, the ones that are on the market currently, essentially help bring down your weight by reducing the amount of energy you put into your body. (30:11) And so if you're reducing the energy you put in, that's how you get weight loss. (30:15) But, unfortunately, with weight loss, you're losing a certain amount of muscle mass. (30:20) So the quality of weight loss is what they're looking at in the future pipeline of these medications, but they're also looking at other indications because there's people like you who walk around and say, you know, actually, this is how it helped me. (30:33) I, you know, I have rheumatoid arthritis, and all of a sudden, I don't need my rheumatoid arthritis medication, or I have, you know, irritable bowel syndrome, and it's cleared up.

David Knapp (30:42) Like, all these things that that really at the heart of it, you know, are inflammatory drivers Mhmm. (30:47) In the body. (30:48) And then so they're looking at that, and they're looking at combining these medications with other treatments for some of those autoimmune dis diseases. (30:56) So autoimmune diseases are kind of the next frontier of where they're looking specifically with tirzepatide, because one of the things we call these medications is GLP-one medications. (31:06) But at the end of the day, everything up until tirzepatide, which is Mounjaro and Zepbound, was just a GLP.

David Knapp (31:13) Mounjaro tirzepatide, the active ingredient, is actually two hormones in the family of they're called incretins. (31:20) They're nutrient stimulated hormones. (31:22) In other words, you eat food and your body releases these. (31:25) When your gut starts to sense the nutrients, it releases these hormones naturally. (31:29) GIP is another prominent one.

David Knapp (31:31) It's actually I think they discovered GIP before they discovered GLP one, but it's a combination of both. (31:36) And it's mostly a GIP medicine with just a little bit of GLP-one where like Ozempic semaglutide is just straight GLP-one. (31:44) Not super important, but for the purposes of what you're talking about with inflammation, what they're finding is that profound effect on inflammation in maybe some ways that GLP-one doesn't. (31:56) These molecules have protective properties in the body that they're just starting to understand, and and these properties are independent of weight loss. (32:04) Mhmm.

David Knapp (32:05) So for example, one of my favorite pieces of data on semaglutide, which is, you know, becoming kind of like an old school drug. (32:14) And when you talk about Ozempic, they're like, hey. (32:15) Have you heard of Mounjaro? (32:17) It's even better. (32:18) But when you look at GLP one receptor agonism, in the biggest study for semaglutide, which was called the SELECT trials in cardiac stuff.

David Knapp (32:27) Right? (32:27) So it was looking at people with heart failure, and then it was looking at major cardiovascular outcomes. (32:33) In this trial, there was some tens of thousands of people were enrolled in this trial, and it it lasted for four years. (32:40) And what they found was it didn't matter what dose of semaglutide you took, and it didn't matter how much or if you lost weight. (32:49) You experienced a twenty percent reduction in major cardiovascular events, a twenty percent reduction in deaths associated with major cardiovascular events.

David Knapp (32:59) And so what they thought in that trial or one of the things they're extrapolating was there's something specifically protective in the heart about the GLP one molecule. (33:10) And so they they spun off researchers spun off a smaller study that just came out a couple weeks ago, and this is just in rodents. (33:17) But what they did is they took the first GLP one that ever came out. (33:21) It's called Byetta. (33:22) Mhmm.

David Knapp (33:22) Really cool story about how they discovered that one because in the nineteen sixties, and May maybe it was the seventies, they discovered this thing called the incretin effect. (33:31) We call these the incretin drugs. (33:33) Right? (33:34) They discovered that, hey. (33:35) When you inject somebody with glucose and when you feed somebody with glucose, there's actually a quicker metabolic response when you feed it to people, and they ingest it through their stomach and their gut rather than injecting it.

David Knapp (33:48) And they called this the incretin effect. (33:49) That's because these hormones, like I said, are nutrient stimulated, but they lack the ability to, you know, create duplicate peptides of ones that were already in your body. (33:59) And so through research, these doctors were looking at the venom of Gila monsters because they found that it lowered blood sugar, and then they isolated a peptide in the venom of a Gila monster and found that it nearly mimicked exactly human GLP one. (34:16) Mhmm. (34:16) Except instead of lasting for just a few minutes in the body and getting destroyed by d p p four, they could make it last for four hours.

David Knapp (34:24) Right? (34:24) So that's that's how they came up with the first GLP one. (34:26) So this study with the rodents actually looked at exenatide, which is the first GLP one. (34:30) They basically gave it to these rodents and induced a heart attack. (34:34) And there were two subsets of these rodents.

David Knapp (34:36) There were the kind that got the GLP one, and then there were the kind that actually got a version of the exenatide that actually blocks the GLP one receptors. (34:43) And so there's these cells on the hearts. (34:45) They're called parasites. (34:47) They found that the rodent population that got GLP one receptor agonism injected into them along with the heart attack, it opened up the blood flow to the part of the heart that otherwise would have been damaged permanently. (35:01) And conversely, in the rodents that didn't, that got the GLP one blocker, that part of the heart stayed forever damaged.

David Knapp (35:08) It never got the blood restored to it. (35:10) So long way around saying that there's something that's protective about these molecules themselves independent of the weight loss. (35:17) Mhmm. (35:18) And to our earlier points, there's something within our ecosystem here that has caused dysregulation in these hormones, and I believe that's why you're seeing people that get on these medications, even ones that don't have, like, a tremendous amount of weight to lose and maybe even none, and they're just microdosing because they've read the studies and they wanna get some of these benefits that they're saying, you know, my my psoriasis is going away. (35:44) My arthritis is getting better.

David Knapp (35:47) My I mean, fill in the blank. (35:49) There's so many things.

Scott Benner (35:51) I haven't had an eczema flare in years. (35:54) Wow. (35:54) I used to have it every it just occurred to me as you're saying it. (35:58) Like, this time of year, it starts to get colder, I would get these red patches on the inside of my thighs and sometimes in the back of my arms, and I haven't had them in years. (36:06) No.

Scott Benner (36:06) No kidding. (36:07) Yeah. (36:07) Yeah. (36:08) Yeah. (36:08) Yeah.

Scott Benner (36:08) I I just heard you say I'm gonna live forever, Dave. (36:10) Thank you.

David Knapp (36:11) Appreciate yeah. (36:11) Yeah. (36:13) That is that's what I was getting at.

Scott Benner (36:14) I only got plans for the next twenty years. (36:16) I'll have to figure something else out. (36:18) It's interesting. (36:19) You're younger than me. (36:21) But and it's really let me say before I say this.

Scott Benner (36:24) It's really interesting talking to you. (36:25) What did you do before this professionally?

David Knapp (36:28) I sold traffic signals.

Scott Benner (36:29) That's amazing, man. (36:30) It's

David Knapp (36:30) a It's natural transition.

Scott Benner (36:32) Yeah. (36:32) I mean, I just I love that when you're talking about it, I'd be thrilled if my doctor understood this as well as you did. (36:37) Like, you you know what I mean? (36:38) Like, it's so cool. (36:39) I brought this up in the beginning, but it it so kinda mimics me a little bit.

Scott Benner (36:43) Like, I I'm not perfect. (36:45) I don't know everything, but I try learning all the time. (36:47) And what this job allows me to do is it allows me to be steeped in it constantly. (36:51) Yeah. (36:51) And I think we need more people who just spend a lot of time in an idea absorbing it, you know?

Scott Benner (36:56) So very cool that you're doing this and that you can speak about it so well.

David Knapp (36:59) Appreciate that.

Scott Benner (37:00) But what I was saying is, like, when I was growing up, I've said this before on here, all the time, like, biggest problem people had was their weight. (37:06) Like, oh my god. (37:07) If medicine would just figure out weight, if they would just figure out weight, like, the the society just wanted it. (37:11) They begged for it. (37:12) And then we gave it to them and people like, you're a cheater.

Scott Benner (37:14) And I'm like, oh my god. (37:15) People are fickle. (37:16) Fascinating. (37:16) But okay. (37:17) We get past that.

Scott Benner (37:18) The other thing I've been hearing about

David Knapp (37:19) weight down, but not that way.

Scott Benner (37:20) Not like that. (37:21) Do it the way you're supposed to.

David Knapp (37:22) Like, Jack And there's also, like, what drives me insane is there's also an assumption that people are just taking the medicine, and they're not also going to the gym. (37:32) They're not also watching what they eat. (37:34) Like, these medicines don't just magically work for everyone. (37:39) Most of the people we have a 160,000 people in the OTP community across the platforms. (37:44) And there are very few people, if any, that I've met that are like, I just let the drug do the work.

David Knapp (37:50) They're all in the gym.

Scott Benner (37:51) Also, wanna say, if that's what they did, like, god, like, it's their life. (37:54) Like, you know what I mean? (37:55) Like, if they're better off, let them be better off. (37:57) My point about the the weight is we talk all that's all society talks about. (38:00) We gotta help people with their weight.

Scott Benner (38:02) And the other thing I hear people talking about my whole life is inflammation. (38:05) Inflammation's such a problem. (38:07) It's such a problem. (38:07) We can't and I believe it, by the way. (38:09) Like, you can't take an NSAID every five minutes.

Scott Benner (38:11) But, you know, you've had issues. (38:12) You take an Advil. (38:13) It reduces the inflammation in your body. (38:15) You're like, oh, this is better now.

David Knapp (38:16) Right.

Scott Benner (38:16) Some people have it more chronically. (38:19) You know, I watch my daughter who obviously has, you know, an autoimmune issue, but she also has like, she has hypothyroidism. (38:26) She has type one diabetes. (38:28) She might have PCOS. (38:29) And I'm telling you that when she's on this medication, things are better for her.

Scott Benner (38:34) Mhmm. (38:34) Like, they they just are. (38:35) And I have a giant community of people who are reporting back very similar, you know, returns. (38:40) And they're a little blocked because, of course, in the studies, they found that, you know, people with type one diabetes were going to DKA sometimes. (38:50) And it's but it's really I think it turns out to be just because they eat less and they're using less insulin, and then they ended up in DKA because they type one and they need insulin and they weren't using enough.

Scott Benner (38:59) They didn't have their settings changed. (39:01) Because with my daughter, I've never had that problem. (39:03) When she's using the GLP, you just have to titrate back her basal. (39:07) You'd be surprised how much of her, how how wide her settings can swing. (39:11) Without a GLP, it could take one unit of insulin to move my daughter's blood sugar 34 points.

Scott Benner (39:18) But on a micro dose of GLP, one unit of insulin will move her blood sugar 95 points. (39:25) That's insane. (39:26) Right? (39:26) Like, she she's in involved in some sort of insulin resistance or inflammation or I don't even care. (39:32) Like, I genuinely don't even care what you call it.

Scott Benner (39:34) It doesn't matter to me. (39:35) Like, I see I see what happens. (39:37) Then I talk to other people who are having other, you know, issues. (39:41) And then everybody that comes on here, you know, you didn't start this way, but if you came on and you had type one, I'd say, hey. (39:47) Do you have any other autoimmune issues?

Scott Benner (39:48) How about in your family? (39:49) And people sit down. (39:50) They go, oh, I got celiac. (39:52) You know, there's vitiligo. (39:53) I have a friend of mine who's got eczema.

Scott Benner (39:55) There's a lot of a lot of allergies, hypothyroidism. (39:58) Like, they these it it runs through their family lines. (40:01) And I just imagine and believe that these people are experiencing a higher level of inflammation, like, just generally speaking. (40:08) Like, so if if this leads to, I don't know, ten years from now, them coming out with something else that just lowers people's inflammation a little bit, I think I think this is awesome. (40:19) Like, what was I seeing the other day?

Scott Benner (40:21) My brother got I was my brother was sick. (40:23) I told you. (40:24) And, he's got a virus. (40:25) It's just not passing quickly, and so they put him on a steroid pack. (40:29) But by the way, like, he had to beat him over the head to even get the steroids.

Scott Benner (40:33) Like, that won't help you. (40:34) Like, you know, arguing with him. (40:35) He finally gets the steroid pack. (40:37) He's on the steroids for a couple hours. (40:38) He calls me because, Scott, I feel so much better.

Scott Benner (40:40) Like, the all the pain's going away, blah blah blah. (40:42) And I I said to him, did you know that in the forties when steroids became you know, when they figured them out they started using them for a split second, they thought they had literally fixed all the problems mankind had. (40:55) And and until you realize what happens if you stay on these steroid packs too long and you get rebound and it's it's not great. (41:01) Right? (41:01) There's a lot of problems if you stay on them too long.

Scott Benner (41:03) But still, when you're on them in that short window I don't know if you've ever experienced this. (41:08) I feel like Superman when I'm on a steroid pack. (41:10) I'm almost excited when I'm sick. (41:11) I'm like, my god. (41:12) They're gonna give me a steroid pack.

Scott Benner (41:13) Next week of my life's gonna be awesome. (41:15) Man, imagine that. (41:16) Like, imagine if this stuff leads to not just people losing weight, people's a one c's dropping out of a diabetic range, type ones hopefully needing less insulin, people with autoimmune having less impacts from their autoimmune issues, and what if they could get rid of, like, some of this inflammation for people?

David Knapp (41:32) Absolutely. (41:33) I I one of the things that I've been saying for a couple years too that has been, you know, one of the more controversial things in terms of just the feedback that I get from people is I really believe these medications, these these incretin nutrient stimulated hormones, however you wanna couch them. (41:48) We'll call them GLP ones because that's what everybody else does. (41:51) But I believe they have the power to save our health care system in The United States. (41:54) And when this new administration came in, there was a lot of people who were very nervous within our community about how they were going to treat GLP ones because there was a lot of, like, anti Ozempic talk before they came in.

David Knapp (42:06) And I was just, like, hoping beyond hope that once they got in and really looked at the data objectively and maybe, you know, took their political hats off and put on their their data hats, that they would see what we have been seeing in this community for so long that that these medications really have the power at the right price to transform the health in this country. (42:29) Because, again, you know, we have the these drugs have been out for a long time. (42:33) That's another, like, misnomer that people have is that they're brand new. (42:36) They're not. (42:37) The Dyetta's been around for twenty years.

David Knapp (42:39) Mhmm. (42:39) And so we have lots of years of data with these drugs on the market to that we can go back and comb. (42:45) I don't know how much your audience gets in the weeds on, like, clinical trial data, but they have these these studies called post marketing studies. (42:52) So you have phase one to make sure that, you know, animals don't die when you inject them with something. (42:58) Right.

David Knapp (42:58) And then they put them in phase two small two, like, small human trials. (43:01) And then phase three is the last one before it gets approved, the bigger trials to figure out dosing and etcetera. (43:08) Well, they have these phase four trials once something comes to market where they're able to just aggregate data. (43:13) Right? (43:14) All these patient records and say, here's these 20,000,000 people that are on GLP ones.

David Knapp (43:19) What they're seeing in almost every single major medicine journal has showed lower CRP, lower IL six, lower TNF alpha. (43:27) What these are doing to fatty liver disease and metabolic health directly by mechanisms of of reducing liver fat and even reversing fibrosis stages, What they're showing is that, like, can you imagine the downstream effects? (43:41) Even just the twenty percent reduction of major cardiovascular events with semaglutide, you know, and the reduction in hospitalization. (43:48) So I don't think it can be understated what just happened last week, or maybe it's a couple weeks now, with the administration getting the pharmaceutical drug companies to the table and saying, hey. (44:00) Like, let's work on volume here.

David Knapp (44:02) Every almost my own personal held belief that almost everyone who lives in this country should be considering the idea of talking to their doctor about whether a medicate one of these medications could benefit them in some way.

Scott Benner (44:16) Dave, gotta tell you. (44:17) I think for a minute, people thought, like, that Lily and and Nova were sending money over here because I was like, let's spray it out on airplanes.

David Knapp (44:24) Mhmm.

Scott Benner (44:25) You're seeing, like, so many people. (44:27) You you know what I realized when I talk to people over and over again? (44:30) And this is interesting. (44:31) Right? (44:31) Is that I don't think people think they're eating poorly.

Scott Benner (44:34) Like, I think when you really like, it's it's easy to step back and, like, say, oh, like, poo poo. (44:40) People don't take good care of themselves or, like, you know, you you act like those bro podcasters, like, who's gonna row the boat, all that stuff. (44:45) Like, you know what mean? (44:46) Like, I I it's easy to say work harder, do better. (44:49) Like, you know, the last thing I need is a guy making $20,000,000 a year telling me I got a cold plunge in the morning.

Scott Benner (44:54) I'm like, I'm at work. (44:55) Like, I don't Right. (44:55) Get it, like, thanks. (44:56) Big help, man. (44:57) Thank you.

David Knapp (44:58) Right. (44:58) Right.

Scott Benner (44:58) But when I look at people, I don't think people are out there doing a poor job on purpose. (45:02) And I think, moreover, I don't think they know they are if they are. (45:05) Right. (45:06) Around nutrition, around other health issues. (45:08) I talk to people all the time.

Scott Benner (45:10) They're not like, oh, you know, I know I'm making bad decisions all day long. (45:14) You know, I have extra money to buy better food, but I just decided to buy crack with it instead. (45:19) Like like, people are doing their best in the system that they have, in the life that they have. (45:24) No one wants to be unhealthy. (45:25) Like, I find Right.

Scott Benner (45:26) Like, calling people there's a thing they do in type one, is if you don't have the outcomes that the doctors want, they tell you that you're noncompliant. (45:34) Yeah. (45:34) We told you what to do and you're not complying. (45:36) I talk to people all the time. (45:37) I don't find people to be noncompliant at all.

Scott Benner (45:39) They're trying as hard as they can with their understanding and their tools and their finances insurance and all the other things that they have and their time, by the way, Dave. (45:47) Because they get up in the morning and they got kids and they got a vacuum and they gotta go to school and they gotta go to work and, like, nobody's got time to sit and talk about this shit like we do. (45:55) Like, right? (45:55) Like, you know, so telling people do better, and then when they don't do better, go, well, you must not be trying hard enough. (46:02) I guess you deserve to die.

Scott Benner (46:03) What a bizarre thing to do to people. (46:05) And we're out here saying there's not enough food for people. (46:08) We can't do small farming because we have to make food for so many people. (46:12) You know how much less food I eat now? (46:13) I'm fine.

Scott Benner (46:14) You know what I mean? (46:15) Like, I don't eat, like, in bulk the way I used to. (46:18) You can't even. (46:19) I mean, you ever go out my wife and I go out the other sometimes we order a dish and we split it. (46:23) We still and we still don't fit it.

Scott Benner (46:25) And we're nice and full and healthy and everything's okay. (46:27) My point is that if there's all this inflammation and all this autoimmune and all this weight and all the other things that are impacting people, I want those people to open their minds up more. (46:38) Like, this is what I I you know, at the pharma level, at the doctor's level, like, look listen to what people are saying and look at your patients and say, like, could I be helping them with this? (46:49) Right? (46:49) Like, do I want the world to be fixed another way?

Scott Benner (46:52) Like, should Monsanto not spray whatever they spray on my wheat? (46:55) Like, yeah. (46:55) Awesome. (46:56) I don't how to impact that. (46:57) Mhmm.

Scott Benner (46:57) You know? (46:58) But on my side, I know what's working for me. (47:01) And, honestly, I don't even understand if trust me. (47:04) I'm making this up right now. (47:06) I wish they'd mix it into the insulin.

Scott Benner (47:08) I heard you

David Knapp (47:08) talk They are, by the way. (47:10) Yeah. (47:11) Like, Novo Nordisk and Neon Lily, I think both have clinical trials combining GLP with insulin.

Scott Benner (47:17) Dave, you don't know me well. (47:18) I'm gonna cry. (47:20) It's fucking awesome, man. (47:21) My daughter has a needle phobia. (47:23) She's a lot of trouble taking the GLPs.

Scott Benner (47:26) I sit in here and I I stare at it and I wonder, like, I would never I wanna be clear. (47:30) I wouldn't do this. (47:32) But, like, there's this little part of me that wants to just squirt some of the GLP into the insulin because it'll go into her pump and help her. (47:37) I know by trust me. (47:38) Don't do that.

Scott Benner (47:38) That's not what I'm saying. (47:39) What I'm saying is is that, like, I just I'm like, god. (47:42) Why can't they just do that a little bit? (47:44) Like, look what it does for her. (47:45) Like, how much less insulin would she need?

Scott Benner (47:48) Because also the dosing is all screwy. (47:50) Yeah. (47:50) Probably you can explain it to me better, but, like, the dosing, the way the pens are set up. (47:55) Right? (47:55) Like, it's just it's what testing what told them would work.

Scott Benner (47:59) Right? (47:59) If they spread it over the population, like Right. (48:01) Most people will have some success at this. (48:03) But there are plenty of people who do two and a half, and they go, oh, it made me nauseous. (48:07) I couldn't keep doing it.

Scott Benner (48:08) But one and a quarter might have been perfect for them. (48:11) Mhmm. (48:11) I'm saying, like, open up the dosing to people.

David Knapp (48:14) Oh, yeah.

Scott Benner (48:14) Yeah. (48:15) Let them make their own decisions about how much they get.

David Knapp (48:17) I think one of the cool things that has happened unintentionally, like an unintentional consequence of those really early shortages of these medications, was that it opened up the world of compound medications and personalized medication. (48:32) I don't know how much you get into the compound world over here. (48:35) But really, essentially, a quick flyover is in this country, when a drug comes to market that's not a biologic, if the manufacturer can't keep up, we have this system called compound pharmacies, 503A and 503B compound pharmacies, that can basically step in and make and sell to doctors who prescribe them to patients drugs that are in shortage. (48:58) So you sort of bypass the intellectual property at that point. (49:02) Mhmm.

David Knapp (49:02) One of the interesting things that's happened is it spurred this whole telehealth world where doctors are prescribing GLPs on a personal level, and they're actually prescribing microdose versions of these drugs. (49:15) Because, again, we're never gonna get a trial clinical trials are are designed by the pharmaceutical companies.

Scott Benner (49:21) Yeah.

David Knapp (49:22) They want you taking more of their drugs. (49:24) So first of all, just know that about a clinical trial is that it's funded by the pharmaceutical companies that run them. (49:31) Mhmm. (49:32) But second of all, when you look at what they're trying to accomplish in a clinical trial, especially for obesity and diabetes, is they're if in diabetes, they're looking at a one c type two diabetes. (49:44) They're looking at a one c reduction.

David Knapp (49:46) And in obesity and I'm talking about this because this is my world, though type one world isn't the world that I live in. (49:52) In obesity, they're just trying to slam you with as much medicine as possible to balance side effects and get the maximum amount of weight loss because that's what Wall Street wants. (50:02) And so, really, clinical trials are designed less they're designed for regulators, and they're designed for investors. (50:10) They're not really designed for patients, and we're starting to see a shift in that. (50:13) But because the shortages led to this world of compounding, you have now millions of people who have gotten benefits of the benefits of getting on a individualized dose of these medications and finding that 2.5 of tirzepatide is the starting dose commercially.

David Knapp (50:32) But I, I just being a figurative random person, took 10% of that a week and got similar benefits. (50:40) Mhmm. (50:41) You know? (50:41) And so we're seeing in real in the real world this sort of situation play out where we're starting to see, like, a massive sort of nontraditional clinical trial going on showing that these these peptides specifically have benefit for a lot of people outside of the normal dosing that we got from the clinical trials, including, but not limited to, microdosing. (51:06) And I

Scott Benner (51:08) The way I see with my daughter and with myself so I first learned it with myself is that I'm sure most people who use these drugs will tell you this. (51:16) I'm on Zepbound. (51:17) I I do twelve and a half. (51:18) Right? (51:18) Okay.

Scott Benner (51:19) I shoot it usually on Saturdays or Sundays. (51:22) By Thursday, I start thinking about, like, maybe I should order a pizza tonight. (51:26) Like right? (51:27) Like, on Wednesday, I'd never think that. (51:28) On Friday, I actually could get a pizza.

Scott Benner (51:31) I can only eat a slice of it or so, but, like, the whole process like, I can feel it let go of my brain a little bit. (51:37) Like, I don't know if another way to put this unless you've been on these. (51:39) Like, the best way I can explain it to people is that my brain doesn't tell me I'm hungry, and my stomach doesn't tell me I'm hungry. (51:44) Like, like, I if I don't I need to remind myself to eat. (51:48) It was tough to do in the beginning, by the I used to I set alarms in the beginning.

Scott Benner (51:52) Like, have breakfast now. (51:53) Eat this. (51:53) Make sure you have protein, like, that kind of stuff. (51:56) But then I said, okay. (51:57) So, obviously, the life of this drug in my body, it wanes.

Scott Benner (52:00) It's not completely gone, but it wanes. (52:03) Even I could see, like, weight loss first four days, and it maybe drifts back a little bit in the last three days and everything. (52:08) Yep. (52:08) So I'm looking at my daughter. (52:10) And, the issue is with her not wanting to do the injections.

Scott Benner (52:13) But, you know, we started with a a 2.5 Mounjaro pen for her. (52:18) Because, by the way, my daughter has a a dual diagnosis. (52:20) She has a type one diagnosis and an insulin resistance diagnosis, so she gets Mounjaro through her insurance. (52:25) Two and a half's too much. (52:27) She'll lose too much weight.

Scott Benner (52:28) She's never hungry. (52:29) It's not it's way too much for her. (52:31) But you can argue with the fact that her a one c is, like, 5.2, and her blood sugar won't spike over, like, one fifty, like, no matter what she's eating. (52:39) Right? (52:39) Yep.

Scott Benner (52:40) Even if she can you know, she talked herself into eating through not being hungry. (52:43) And so one day, I'm like, this is not sustainable. (52:46) And so I learned about microdosing, bought some vials on Amazon, injected the pen into the vial. (52:53) I basically I didn't know how much was in there, so I drew it all out, and I and I converted it to insulin units, basically, because I had insulin needles. (53:00) And I'm like, alright.

Scott Benner (53:00) Well, there's this many units in here. (53:03) The whole of it is too much. (53:04) I'll try giving her half. (53:06) And then every week, I'd try giving her, like, an insulin unit less and and trying to look for a sweet spot where she could get a week's worth of coverage on her insulin resistance and her insulin usage. (53:16) But the truth is it should probably be shot even less than that, like, every four or five days because of the the life of it.

Scott Benner (53:24) Yeah. (53:25) It's a struggle, man. (53:26) You should see. (53:26) Like, it's I know it's a weird thing to say that a type one is, like you know, has, like, a visceral fear of injections, but she does.

David Knapp (53:32) Right? (53:32) That's unfortunate. (53:33) Yeah.

Scott Benner (53:34) Yeah. (53:34) And That's tough. (53:35) Yeah. (53:35) Yeah. (53:35) And so but I know if she didn't.

Scott Benner (53:37) I know if somebody else was here, and we could mess around with it a little bit. (53:40) I know there's an amount she should get, and I know we could figure out the pacing of it. (53:45) And it would be much less, maybe more frequently. (53:49) And I think it would change her life. (53:51) Yeah.

Scott Benner (53:51) Like, seriously.

David Knapp (53:52) Yeah. (53:53) Two things that I would just posit to you as something to to muse on over the next week. (53:58) The first thing is that with tirzepatide, if if that's the molecule that she wants to stick with, there are compounding pharmacies who do make it in oral form. (54:11) That said, they're not FDA approved. (54:13) They're not FDA inspected for you know, like, it's it's compounded medication.

David Knapp (54:19) So it it, by nature, is outside of the FDA system, but it's still a prescription you get from a doctor Mhmm. (54:24) And take under doctor supervision. (54:26) There are sublinguals. (54:27) There are and so the these compound pharmacies have found a way to protect these peptides and make them oral bioavailable. (54:33) But the question is, we don't know how much because they've never gone through clinical trials.

David Knapp (54:37) And frankly, the pharmaceutical companies pay billions of dollars for technology to make peptides orally bioavailable. (54:43) But if you can set that aside and know that that that is an option that you could explore and talk to her doctor about. (54:49) The second is when we talk about tirzepatide specifically on the injectable side, the interesting thing about tirzepatide is the half life on tirzepatide is, like, five days on average, where semaglutide is seven. (55:01) And so it's pretty normal for the those effects to kinda sort of fall off a cliff towards the end of that week when you're getting a couple days away from injection day. (55:11) And I firmly believe, like, to build on our earlier conversation about clinical trials, they chose seven days because seven days is easier for people to manage.

David Knapp (55:19) Yeah. (55:20) Not because it's ideal for the patient. (55:22) And, again, it's easier for the insurance companies. (55:24) It's easier for the pharmacies. (55:25) It's easier for the manufacturers to just four pens one month once a week.

David Knapp (55:29) Yeah. (55:29) But at the end of the day, it's probably not what's best for the patient every time.

Scott Benner (55:33) Do you know there's actual, like, human problem in that too, which is that when people feel better, one of the first things they do is stop doing the thing that helps them feel better.

David Knapp (55:41) A 100%. (55:42) Yeah. (55:42) Right?

Scott Benner (55:42) That's very common. (55:43) So Right. (55:44) You're in a terrible conundrum. (55:46) You'd start taking this injection. (55:47) Three months later, your whole life's different.

Scott Benner (55:49) And then, you know, you get the Saturday, and you're like, you don't even remember you don't feel well, and you don't think about the pen that's in the back of the refrigerator. (55:55) The other I mean, there's different issues there. (55:57) So do you think that for in my daughter's example, as I explained it, she'd be better off on Ozempic?

David Knapp (56:02) I don't know. (56:02) Because the mol tirzepatide, again, is is more GIP than it is GLP one. (56:09) It's it's it's a different hormone that it's focused on. (56:12) Although it's two, it's more so a GIP. (56:15) And so it's gonna be a different experience on semaglutide Ozempic than it is on Mounjaro.

David Knapp (56:20) And so I don't know the answer to that, but I do know that you you may she may experience and if she gets similar effects on the blood sugar control side from semaglutide, that, theoretically, it should last longer because the half life of the drug is longer.

Scott Benner (56:38) Yeah.

David Knapp (56:39) But it does seem to me, like, when you talk when you look at the studies, I can't remember what they actually are in type two diabetics. (56:47) So you can look at the SURPASS study for Mounjaro, and you can look at the can't remember what the one for Wegovy or for Ozempic was off the top of my head, but you can look at them and show it'll show you that Mounjaro is better at controlling a one c, and I think it's because of that GIP mechanism. (57:04) But you may get a a steadier peak and trough of the concentration of the drug with Ozempic just because of that seven day half life.

Scott Benner (57:12) It sounds like maybe if I wait, I can get Humalog with, GLP and GIP in it.

David Knapp (57:16) I I can't remember. (57:17) I can look it up here, but, insulin Novo Nordisk. (57:21) It's insulin icodec. (57:24) Does that sound right? (57:25) Insulin icodec.

David Knapp (57:27) There's there's one that they're that they're looking at for with Novo Nordisk. (57:32) And I I don't know. (57:33) It's it's the insulin icodec is a is a once weekly, right, just like like, Ozempic is.

Scott Benner (57:39) Oh, okay.

David Knapp (57:39) Right? (57:40) So it's it's supposed to give, you know, a smoother experience for somebody taking it and less sort of variability in the peaks and troughs of of that. (57:49) And so they're looking at combining it with with, GLP one. (57:53) Listen.

Scott Benner (57:54) Hopefully, it gets there for people who could be help I'll say this too. (57:57) I've seen people on on, type ones who use it, and it doesn't touch their insulin needs at all. (58:02) And that always makes me wonder, are these people who have type one diabetes but don't have other metabolic issues?

David Knapp (58:07) I wonder too if it it just really comes down to what level of beta cell function you have, if any. (58:14) Because in some really small clinical studies, they've shown clinically that they can give type one diabetics GLP one semaglutide, and they they come like, ninety percent of them come off all of their insulin at the right doses. (58:30) But this is a small trial, and you have to have some level of beta cell function in order to to have that happen because you have to be able to rely on your own insulin.

Scott Benner (58:40) Yeah. (58:40) It makes me think about this, researcher I I interviewed, like, fifteen years ago who was, like, positive. (58:45) She was like, I I sometimes feel like the beta cells aren't dead. (58:48) They're, like, so inflamed that they can't work is how she put it. (58:52) Mhmm.

Scott Benner (58:52) And I'm wondering, like I mean, that's a very, like, layman's, like, remembrance of her conversation. (58:57) But, like Right. (58:58) I do wonder, like, somewhere in there, there's a lot of things to be learned. (59:02) Like, hopefully, those companies are digging in labs on all of this stuff. (59:07) Right?

Scott Benner (59:07) Because

David Knapp (59:07) Oh, yeah.

Scott Benner (59:08) You know, I hear people all the time say, like, well, they'll put themselves out of business. (59:11) I'm like, the truth is if you took care of all the problems people had and that's what put you out of business, I think you'd have enough money to make it. (59:18) Mhmm. (59:18) There's that kind of cynical, like, they wanna have some of the money forever. (59:22) I think if you got all the money right now, they'd probably be happy to, you know, turn that money into a bank and stop being a pharma company and and and and on your way.

Scott Benner (59:30) I also don't want them to go out of business, obviously. (59:32) It's a it's a weird balance. (59:33) Right? (59:34) Like, to your point, like, you know, they're out there. (59:37) They're doing this work, and they're also trying to maximize their profits.

Scott Benner (59:40) It's hard to argue that I mean, I I understand what they're doing. (59:43) We don't want them not out there. (59:45) And, you know, you also want them making money and hiring good people, and it would also be nice if this stuff was affordable for people who were really, you know, in the trenches and needed it every day. (59:55) I mean Yeah. (59:56) Honestly, you know, $500 it's down to 500 a month now for people, and people are like, oh, it's cheaper.

Scott Benner (1:00:02) I'm like, my god. (1:00:02) That's still so expensive. (1:00:04) Yeah. (1:00:04) Yeah.

David Knapp (1:00:05) But the the good news is that with the addition of GLPs for obesity to Medicare, Medicare recipients are gonna pay $50 a month for it. (1:00:14) The government arbitrated their price down to 250. (1:00:18) Mhmm. (1:00:18) And so Medicare patients will get it for a $50 co pay. (1:00:21) Medicaid's gonna follow because they're gonna get the same pricing.

David Knapp (1:00:24) So most states will follow, and those folks won't even pay a co pay. (1:00:29) And then for the rest of the people, the deal with the most favored nations is that you'll be able to cash pay these things over the next twenty four months to get these down, both Wegovy, which is the obesity version of Ozepic, and and Zepbound, the obesity version of Mounjaro. (1:00:45) You'll be able to get those both for $250 within the next twenty four months, and the price just came down on the cash pay

Scott Benner (1:00:51) for it. (1:00:51) Then I'm thinking everybody should buy stock in companies that make clothes like bras and underwear and stuff that

David Knapp (1:00:56) Oh, yeah. (1:00:57) Yeah. (1:00:57) Because you

Scott Benner (1:00:58) have any idea how many times I've donated my clothes and had to rebuy stuff over the last two years? (1:01:02) Like, it's

David Knapp (1:01:03) Oh, yeah. (1:01:03) Yeah. (1:01:03) It's a there's a huge clothes swap market that goes on within the community of people who use these That's brilliant. (1:01:11) Drugs. (1:01:11) That's brilliant.

Scott Benner (1:01:12) Well so, Dave, I thank you. (1:01:14) I have taken up a lot of your time. (1:01:15) I I wondered, do you see it, I don't know, an avenue here where you and I could get back together and do this every once in a while? (1:01:20) Like, you

David Knapp (1:01:20) I would I mean, I I this is my world. (1:01:23) I love talking about this stuff. (1:01:25) I love talking to other people who are passionate about health. (1:01:28) And frankly, I just like talking to other laypeople that, you know, like you said, steeped in this stuff, immersed in it every day. (1:01:35) We've learned about this stuff because we're passionate, and we have skin in the game ourselves.

David Knapp (1:01:40) And I just think it's it helps a lot of people to hear from from other people like us. (1:01:45) So I would love to do more of this if you're willing to.

Scott Benner (1:01:47) We're gonna have to find an overlap with my audience's needs and your skill set and and your and your knowledge and and and find a way to we can do that. (1:01:56) We'll do that offline.

David Knapp (1:01:56) For sure. (1:01:57) Yeah. (1:01:57) There's a lot of people in the OnDePen community who are type one, and they're pining for more information just like you are on this stuff because everything is so focused on type two and obesity. (1:02:09) And they're saying, wait. (1:02:11) You know, my husband went on Mounjaro, he's a type one, and he's off his insulin, or he was able to greatly reduce his insulin.

David Knapp (1:02:18) What are they what are the trials saying? (1:02:20) And there's just been very little in terms of looking at GLP ones with type one, but I think that's because it's such a spectrum of disease in terms of how severe it is for people. (1:02:32) So it's hard to put together probably clinical trials for it.

Scott Benner (1:02:35) Well, yeah, also and it's scary to say out loud too because you don't wanna give people the idea that if they just took enough of this, their type one diabetes would stop needing insulin because I that's not gonna be the case for a great many people. (1:02:45) And, obviously, they would be impacted very poorly with their health for not taking their insulin. (1:02:50) You don't want that to be confused, and you also don't want people not to look into it.

David Knapp (1:02:54) Right?

Scott Benner (1:02:55) There's something there. (1:02:56) Like, I I think I told you before we started. (1:02:58) I've had, a gentleman on who's, you know, type one, and he's definitely type one. (1:03:03) People are like, well, maybe he wasn't, but he's definitely type one. (1:03:06) He has autoantibodies.

Scott Benner (1:03:07) He, you know, been using insulin for years. (1:03:09) They put him on Mounjaro or, you know, Zepbound for weight, and he literally came off his insulin. (1:03:15) Now he doesn't expect that's gonna be forever, but it is for now, and no one knows why. (1:03:20) It's not because GLP cures type one diabetes, which is how, like, simple black and white thinking ends up getting you know, people get very reactive when you say stuff like that. (1:03:30) But I've also had, you know, a 15 year old girl.

Scott Benner (1:03:34) Her mom came on to talk about how her insulin needs went down. (1:03:37) She was using one unit of basal a day. (1:03:39) She had to go off her pump. (1:03:40) She's an injected unit of basal a day. (1:03:42) She's back on a pump now, but it lasted two years.

Scott Benner (1:03:45) Like, two years where she wasn't taking a ton of insulin. (1:03:47) Right. (1:03:48) Somebody needs to be asking, like, what happened there? (1:03:50) Like, you you know what I mean? (1:03:52) Like, what was the functionality there?

Scott Benner (1:03:53) Like, what that's the stuff I want people looking into. (1:03:55) I don't think that if you just gave a type one enough enough GLP, they'd stop needing insulin. (1:04:01) Like, no one's saying that. (1:04:03) Like, I think you can hear there's a bigger conversation here about other impacts on your life. (1:04:08) And even if it just man, if it just makes something better for you, I I just I think it's really valuable to hear about more of it.

David Knapp (1:04:15) Right. (1:04:16) You

Scott Benner (1:04:16) know? (1:04:16) And then there's the functional side of it, like, actually implementing it. (1:04:19) You can start shooting this into people who don't really understand their insulin. (1:04:22) Like, you know, we've talked a lot today about, like, it would be nice if people could dose this themselves. (1:04:27) Mhmm.

Scott Benner (1:04:27) Insulin's a thing that type ones dose themselves all day long. (1:04:30) And trust me, Dave, between me and you, they're not great at it. (1:04:33) The doctors aren't great at giving you the right doses and you're and people aren't great at making the adjustments they need to make for a lot of good reasons. (1:04:41) And just flopping them on a GLP and and and reducing their needs right away, they might struggle to get their insulin, like, readjusted, which will cause them a lot of problems. (1:04:52) And some of those problems could be, you know, a dangerous hypoglycemia, hyperglycemia.

Scott Benner (1:04:57) And, obviously, you don't want that too. (1:04:58) And then you get into that more functional human problem of, like, how do you put this into practice? (1:05:04) And, I mean, I don't have any answers for that. (1:05:06) But for the people who can figure out how to do it on their own and you feel like you're up to the task, I'd look into this if I was you. (1:05:13) So A 100%.

Scott Benner (1:05:15) Alright.

David Knapp (1:05:15) Everything I I think you probably would echo this. (1:05:18) Everything that I share as a layperson here about this stuff, we just want people to have better conversations with their doctor. (1:05:25) And so that's always my hope whenever I share any of the information that I've learned is just you heard about a study. (1:05:31) You heard about a drug. (1:05:32) You heard about something that might help.

David Knapp (1:05:33) Go talk to your doctor about it. (1:05:35) And if your doctor doesn't know about it, ask them to know about it

Scott Benner (1:05:40) Yeah.

David Knapp (1:05:40) Or find somebody that does.

Scott Benner (1:05:42) Dave, I don't think there's any doubt that shows like yours and shows like mine, I think they push innovation forward because people can find out about things sooner. (1:05:51) Like, you know, forty years ago, like, you'd be like, do you, you know, do you have Pat? (1:05:55) She lives, like, three doors down. (1:05:57) She's taken the GLP. (1:05:59) That would take years for that to spread through the neighborhood, but it wouldn't help anybody.

Scott Benner (1:06:03) Right? (1:06:03) Like, you can yell it out loud now and have 10,000, 20,000, a million people hear it, and and you're not trying to make them do something. (1:06:10) You're trying to make them go home and quietly go, I wonder. (1:06:15) Mhmm. (1:06:15) What should I be asking for myself on this?

Scott Benner (1:06:17) You you know? (1:06:18) And then I think that's why this podcast works for people with type one too because I don't see a lot of difference between what we're talking about here and what ends up happening to people when they're diagnosed with type one or type two diabetes, honestly. (1:06:29) He gets sent home with, like, here, take metformin. (1:06:32) You'll be fine. (1:06:33) That's it?

Scott Benner (1:06:33) That's what you're gonna tell me? (1:06:35) So, anyway, I appreciate this very much. (1:06:37) Let me say goodbye to you, and and thank you very much for your time.

David Knapp (1:06:39) Thank you, Scott. (1:06:40) Yeah. (1:06:40) Appreciate it.

Scott Benner (1:06:47) This episode of the Juice Box podcast is sponsored by Omnipod five. (1:06:51) Omnipod five is a tube free automated insulin delivery system that's been shown to significantly improve a one c and time in range for people with type one diabetes when they've switched from daily injections. (1:07:02) Learn more and get started today at omnipod.com/juicebox. (1:07:07) At my link, you can get a free starter kit right now. (1:07:09) Terms and conditions apply.

Scott Benner (1:07:11) Eligibility may vary. (1:07:12) Full terms and conditions can be found at omnipod.com/juicebox. (1:07:17) Today's episode is also sponsored by US Med dot com slash juice box or call (888) 721-1514. (1:07:26) Get started today and get your supplies from US Med. (1:07:30) A huge thanks to Cozy Earth for sponsoring this episode.

Scott Benner (1:07:33) Don't forget Black Friday has come early at cozyearth.com. (1:07:36) Right now, you can stack my code JuiceBox on top of their site wide sale. (1:07:41) This is gonna give you up to 40% off in savings, and these deals are definitely not gonna last. (1:07:46) I'm talking about sheets, towels, clothing, everything they have. (1:07:49) Get that holiday shopping going right now today.

Scott Benner (1:07:52) Do it. (1:07:52) Do it. (1:07:52) Do it. (1:07:53) Cozyearth.com. (1:07:54) Use the off code juice box.

Scott Benner (1:07:56) Thank you so much for listening. (1:07:57) I'll be back very soon with another episode of the juice box podcast. (1:08:01) If you're not already subscribed or following the podcast in your favorite audio app, like Spotify or Apple podcasts, please do that now. (1:08:09) Seriously, just to hit follow or subscribe will really help the show. (1:08:13) If you go a little further in Apple Podcasts and set it up so that it downloads all new episodes, I'll be your best friend.

Scott Benner (1:08:19) And if you leave a five star review, oh, I'll probably send you a Christmas card. (1:08:24) Would you like a Christmas card? (1:08:27) Hey. (1:08:28) I'm dropping in to tell you about a small change being made to the Juice Cruise 2026 schedule. (1:08:33) This adjustment was made by Celebrity Cruise Lines, not by me.

Scott Benner (1:08:36) Anyway, we're still going out on the Celebrity Beyond cruise ship, which is awesome. (1:08:40) Check out the walkthrough video at juiceboxpodcast.com/juicecruise. (1:08:45) The ship is awesome. (1:08:47) Still a seven night cruise. (1:08:49) It still leaves out of Miami on June 21.

Scott Benner (1:08:52) Actually, most of this is the same. (1:08:53) We leave Miami June 21, head to Coco Cay in The Bahamas, but then we're going to San Juan, Puerto Rico instead of Saint Thomas. (1:09:01) After that, Bastirie, I think I'm saying that wrong, Saint Kitts And Nevis. (1:09:05) This place is gorgeous. (1:09:07) Google it.

Scott Benner (1:09:08) Mean, you're probably gonna have to go to my link to get the correct spelling because my pronunciation is so bad. (1:09:12) But once you get the Saint Kitts and you Google it, you're gonna look and see a photo that says to you, oh, I wanna go there. (1:09:19) Come meet other people living with type one diabetes from caregivers to children to adults. (1:09:25) Last year, we had a 100 people on our cruise, and it was fabulous. (1:09:30) You can see pictures to get at my link juiceboxpodcast.com/juicecruise.

Scott Benner (1:09:35) You can see those pictures from last year there. (1:09:37) The link also gives you an opportunity to register for the cruise or to contact Suzanne from Cruise Planners. (1:09:43) She takes care of all the logistics. (1:09:45) I'm just excited that I might see you there. (1:09:48) It's a beautiful event for families, for singles, a wonderful opportunity to meet people, swap stories, make friendships, and learn.

Scott Benner (1:09:57) If you're new to type one diabetes, begin with the bold beginnings series from the podcast. (1:10:01) Don't take my word for it. (1:10:03) Listen to what reviewers have said. (1:10:05) Bold beginnings is the best first step. (1:10:08) I learned more in those episodes than anywhere else.

Scott Benner (1:10:11) This is when everything finally clicked. (1:10:12) People say it takes the stress out of the early days and replaces it with clarity. (1:10:16) They tell me this should come with the diagnosis packet that I got at the hospital. (1:10:21) And after they listen, they recommend it to everyone who's struggling. (1:10:24) It's straightforward, practical, and easy to listen to.

Scott Benner (1:10:28) Bold Beginnings gives you the basics in a way that actually makes sense. (1:10:32) The Juice Box podcast is edited by Wrong Way Recording. (1:10:37) Wrongwayrecording.com. (1:10:40) If you'd like your podcast to sound as good as mine, check out Rob at wrongwayrecording.com.

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#1698 Dr. Beachgem

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

Dr. Beachgem (@Beachgem10) is a board-certified pediatric emergency medicine physician and a massive, trusted voice on TikTok, Facebook, and Instagram. She translates real ER experience into simple, actionable advice for parents—helping families decide what’s normal, what’s urgent, and what to do next.

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

Scott Benner (0:0) As the holidays approach, I wanna say welcome and thank all of my good friends for coming back to the Juice Box podcast over and over again. (0:18) I guess I have to be careful about what I say on the Internet because a couple of weeks ago, I said, I'd like to see doctor Beach Jim on the podcast, and here she is. (0:29) You all went and told her on TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, everywhere you could find her. (0:34) You tagged her. (0:35) You tagged me, and you said we'd love to hear you on the juice box podcast.

Scott Benner (0:38) And you guys did it. (0:39) You're the producer of the podcast today. (0:41) You got us doctor Beach Jem, and she is every bit as amazing as you think she is. (0:47) She's known all over the Internet as doctor Beach Jem or doctor Beach Jem ten and is a board certified pediatric emergency medicine physician. (0:56) She's a wife and a mom.

Scott Benner (0:57) I had such a fantastic time making this recording with her that after we got done recording, I asked if she would be interested in coming back and putting together a series with me about how type ones could have better success in the emergency room. (1:10) And guess what? (1:11) She is so lovely. (1:13) She said yes. (1:14) So you'll see doctor Beach Gem back on the podcast in 2026, maybe for a number of episodes.

Scott Benner (1:19) If you're here today because you're a big fan of doctor Beach Gem and you have no idea who I am, my name is Scott. (1:25) I make this podcast, the Juice Box podcast. (1:27) It's eleven years old. (1:28) We have 1,700 episodes. (1:30) An episode goes up every day.

Scott Benner (1:31) Most of them are conversations with people who live with type one diabetes or love somebody who does, some people with type two, and a lot of other autoimmune issues, Hashimoto's, celiac, stuff like that. (1:44) If you like to hear people sit down and really openly and honestly talk about their life with their condition, I think you'll really like this podcast. (1:53) It's not super serious. (1:54) It's not super jokey. (1:56) It is entertaining, and I think you'll love it.

Scott Benner (1:59) Subscribe and follow. (2:00) Give us a shot, and at the very least, you'll get more doctor beach gem in the future. (2:04) And please don't forget that nothing you hear on the juice box podcast should be considered advice, medical or otherwise. (2:09) Always consult a physician before making any changes to your health care plan or becoming bold with insulin. (2:21) The episode you're about to listen to is sponsored by Tandem Moby, the impressively small insulin pump.

Scott Benner (2:26) Tandem Moby features Tandem's newest algorithm, Control IQ Plus technology. (2:31) It's designed for greater discretion, more freedom, and improved time and range. (2:36) Learn more and get started today at tandemdiabetes.com/juicebox. (2:41) Today's episode is also sponsored by US Med. (2:45) Usmed.com/juicebox or call (888) 721-1514.

Scott Benner (2:52) You can get your diabetes testing supplies the same way we do from US Med. (2:57) The podcast is also sponsored today by the Eversense three sixty five, the one year wear CGM. (3:04) That's one insertion a year. (3:06) That's it. (3:07) And here's a little bonus for you.

Scott Benner (3:09) How about there's no limit on how many friends and family you can share your data with with the Eversense Now app? (3:14) No limits. (3:16) Eversense. (3:17) So you're being recorded already, just so you know.

Dr. Beachgem (3:21) Awesome.

Scott Benner (3:21) But so okay. (3:23) It's not and there's no video. (3:24) If you wanna pick your nose, it's cool with me. (3:27) No one's ever gonna know. (3:28) Although, I get Priorities.

Scott Benner (3:29) Priorities. (3:29) People are like, you should do a screenshot so you can do the social media. (3:32) I'm like, I'm not good at social media. (3:33) I'm gonna just hope that she enjoyed herself and posts about it. (3:37) Yep.

Scott Benner (3:37) It's like, I I'm not gonna be good at cajoling people. (3:40) We'll just jump right in. (3:41) How do you want me to refer to you? (3:43) What do I call you?

Dr. Beachgem (3:44) Doctor Beach or doctor Beach Jem.

Scott Benner (3:45) Doctor Beach or doctor Beach Jem. (3:47) Okay. (3:47) You can call me Scott.

Dr. Beachgem (3:48) Jem is Meg backwards, my maiden name was Meg Beach. (3:51) So Beach Jem is Meg Beach. (3:53) It's a play on my name, which, again, I'm not allowed to use, but that's yeah.

Scott Benner (3:57) People have got it figured out pretty well.

Dr. Beachgem (3:59) A little bit. (3:59) There's a couple people that are like, I'm on to you.

Scott Benner (4:02) I just figured that you loved the beach when I saw it.

Dr. Beachgem (4:05) And I live in Florida. (4:05) Like, it makes sense.

Scott Benner (4:07) People are confused and want me to ask you why you live in Florida, but you wear Bills gear.

Dr. Beachgem (4:12) So I did training in Buffalo. (4:14) So I spent three years. (4:15) We my husband and I packed up everything we owned. (4:18) We sold our house. (4:19) We bought two new cars that had four wheel drive, and we moved to Buffalo.

Dr. Beachgem (4:22) We didn't know a soul with our two tiny babies. (4:25) We lived there for three years. (4:26) It's I don't know. (4:27) The people who don't know Buffalo is an incredible community. (4:30) Very, very, like, welcoming and supportive.

Dr. Beachgem (4:33) And, yeah, there's snow, but, like, the people, the festivals, everything is just amazing.

Scott Benner (4:38) That's good to hear. (4:38) My daughter's friend just graduated from college, and she got her first job in Buffalo, and she's leaving in a couple of weeks.

Dr. Beachgem (4:43) She's gonna have a blast.

Scott Benner (4:44) Awesome. (4:45) I'm gonna tell her that because I think she's worried. (4:46) I think she just thought snow.

Dr. Beachgem (4:48) Yeah. (4:48) There's there is snow. (4:49) Mhmm. (4:50) If you live north of downtown, it's actually you don't get as much lake effect as, like, just south of downtown.

Scott Benner (4:55) I'll tell her that. (4:56) Yeah. (4:56) That's good advice. (4:57) Okay. (4:57) So you went to school there.

Scott Benner (4:58) Did you go to undergrad, med school? (5:02) What did you do there?

Dr. Beachgem (5:03) I did my fellowship training. (5:04) So my pediatric emergency medicine fellowship after my general pediatric residency. (5:09) I spent a lot of time in school.

Scott Benner (5:11) Did you start out thinking, like, you'd be a pediatrician in an office and then kind of expand, or did you always have this as a path?

Dr. Beachgem (5:19) You know, I wasn't sure. (5:21) There were three things that I was interested in. (5:23) I liked pediatric emergency medicine, pediatric ICU, and pediatric endocrinology because when I was in med school, I did this summer camp just outside of Tallahassee for kids that have diabetes. (5:35) And it's a one week summer camp, and they bring med students and people who are a little bit more savvy with medicine so that we're doing blood sugar checks and that kind of stuff in the middle of the night in these kids and can alert camp staff if there is something awry. (5:49) So I fell in love with die like, as much as you can, fall in love with diabetes and the management while I was still in medical school.

Scott Benner (5:56) So a lot of doctors tell me that they they make their students go to diabetes camp to really get a feeling for what happened to you? (6:03) Can you tell me, like, what you didn't know that you left understanding?

Dr. Beachgem (6:07) I think, like, the glucose is still fuel. (6:11) You still need the sugar. (6:12) Even though sugar is, like, kind of the enemy, like, we wanna keep it manageable, it is still fuel. (6:17) And so when kids come into camp, one of the first things that they do is they adjust everyone's regimens. (6:22) Like, they go rogue because the kids are gonna be much more physically active than normal.

Dr. Beachgem (6:26) Mhmm. (6:27) And so we need to make sure that they have a little bit more of that fuel accessible for what they're doing. (6:33) And we actually had a kid have a really kinda scary low at one point. (6:37) And so just to see that, like, this is what parents are worried about when they tend to want their kid's blood sugar a little on the higher side and doctors want it a little on the lower side, but this is the scary part that doctors don't always get to see that parents get worried about.

Scott Benner (6:50) Okay. (6:50) So the reason I'm super interested to have you here is because I want your perspective, but I do first want to understand, like, you know, a little bit about you and how you got to where you are. (6:59) Can we start with why you're famous? (7:01) Like, how did that begin?

Dr. Beachgem (7:03) Yeah. (7:04) It's a great question. (7:05) I because

Scott Benner (7:06) you are. (7:06) Because but I I told you before we started recording, my wife has been cajoling me for two years to try to ask you on the podcast. (7:13) I now watch you online. (7:15) And then I was telling doctor Beacham this story before we started recording, but she did a diabetes awareness video that a lot of people who listened to me must have seen, and then I kind of sicced them on her. (7:25) I was like, hey.

Scott Benner (7:26) I'd love to get her on the podcast. (7:27) Can you go tell her? (7:28) And then they tagged you a lot and me. (7:30) Appreciate you not thinking we were crazy and coming on. (7:32) Like, no one doesn't know who you are who has social media.

Scott Benner (7:36) But did you set out for that to happen? (7:38) Because it doesn't feel that way.

Dr. Beachgem (7:39) No. (7:40) I this was an accident. (7:41) A kind of a happy accident, but this was never my intention at all. (7:45) I started making content during the pandemic. (7:48) I think everyone had a million activities.

Dr. Beachgem (7:50) Life is busy. (7:50) I had four kids, and then all of a sudden, all that's gone.

Scott Benner (7:53) Yeah.

Dr. Beachgem (7:54) I go to work, I come home, and I look at everyone. (7:56) So I downloaded TikTok, and then I started creating videos that kind of broke down science a little bit, you know, talked did some myth busting, discussed some of the misinformation, and talked about real science based stuff. (8:08) Mhmm. (8:09) And I guess I did it in a way that was authentic and accessible, and so people really were drawn to that, I guess.

Scott Benner (8:17) Do you find yourself thinking about that? (8:18) Because this is not a thing a lot of people didn't try. (8:21) I don't wanna get, like, down a wormhole that's only for you and I, but I don't understand why my thing's popular and other people tried it and it didn't work. (8:28) It's hard to pull out far enough macro enough to see yourself like that. (8:32) Do you have any feelings?

Dr. Beachgem (8:34) I a 100 a 100% agree. (8:35) I don't really know why that social media kind of chose me because I there's so many people that come out. (8:42) There's and I have a bunch of colleagues who do very similar stuff that I do, but don't have the same degree of following. (8:49) And arguably, they're smarter than me, most of them. (8:52) You know?

Dr. Beachgem (8:52) But I think that one of the things that I do is I do share a little bit more of, like, my personal life and my flaws and my messy house. (9:01) And I think getting to know someone, you trust them more. (9:05) Yeah. (9:05) They know that I've got the ADHD and that my house is messy. (9:08) And I get anxious when I do public speaking.

Dr. Beachgem (9:10) And they say, now she's gonna talk to me about this, but I can trust her because I know that she's a real human. (9:14) Yeah. (9:15) And I think that letting people in a little bit keeps them here.

Scott Benner (9:18) I said something on a recording that isn't out yet that I still can't believe I even admitted about myself. (9:23) I always think, like, maybe I'll just message the editor and be like, take that out. (9:26) I don't think I should have said that. (9:28) Even the, just two days ago, I was recording with a lady, and she was talking about her antibodies for type one. (9:34) And she goes, there's three.

Scott Benner (9:35) And I went, I think there's five. (9:37) And there is five, by the way. (9:38) I was right, but I wasn't sure. (9:40) And I've been doing this a really, really long time. (9:42) And it does give you a moment where you're like, am I not the right person to have this, whatever this is?

Scott Benner (9:47) You know what I mean? (9:48) Like, I what do they talk about? (9:49) Imposter don't feel don't feel that way. (9:52) I just I'm worried that I'm not doing as well as I could be sometimes for people. (9:56) I don't if that makes sense or not.

Scott Benner (9:57) But, anyway, it seems to be going okay. (9:58) So, okay. (9:59) You did not do this on purpose. (10:00) You started making videos No. (10:01) People like you.

Scott Benner (10:02) And then when does it occur to you that you're a slave to the machine now? (10:07) Because at some point, you have to make content. (10:09) Right?

Dr. Beachgem (10:10) Yeah. (10:10) I do feel like I kind of have to make content. (10:12) There is a certain degree of pressure there. (10:14) But at the same time, I don't really feel like a slave to the machine because it's still something that I really enjoy. (10:20) I really enjoy making the content, deciding on what to talk about that day.

Dr. Beachgem (10:24) Like, this is still something that is my coping mechanism for what I deal with, what I consider the real world at my real job. (10:30) Mhmm. (10:31) This is still something that I really enjoy, so it doesn't really feel like work. (10:34) You mentioned before we got on that you work seven days a week. (10:37) And I was like, oh, I guess I also work seven days a week on this, but I I just don't look at it like that because it's still something that's really fun.

Scott Benner (10:43) Yeah. (10:44) It doesn't feel that way to me, but it's true. (10:46) And, actually, like, we're just gonna get up and exist in this house again tomorrow. (11:06) I might as well do something, you know? (11:07) That's really interesting.

Scott Benner (11:08) Okay. (11:09) So I would also tell you that when I first started doing this, there was a person who told me, well, you won't be able to do it long because you'll run out of topics. (11:17) And I have found that to be the most untrue thing that anyone has ever said to me. (11:21) Yeah. (11:21) I think that there is a way to continue to help people and be thoughtful about it infinity, just just to keep going.

Scott Benner (11:28) Like, there's so many things to talk about that people don't understand or have context for. (11:33) My question is, what do you see that you talk about that really helps people that you didn't believe? (11:39) Like, you just thought, oh, I'll just talk about this today, then you realized how impactful it was.

Dr. Beachgem (11:43) You know, probably honestly, some of the diabetes stuff that I've talked about, like, that I diagnosed a friend's child with DKA in Carline, and I tell that story every year. (11:54) Throughout the year, I get tons and tons of comments still on those videos, and then people sending me messages like, Hey, I knew what to look for. (12:03) I was able to get my child or a friend's child early diagnosed. (12:06) They didn't go into DKA because, you know, we knew the symptoms ahead of time. (12:10) So some of that content, I feel like, has been among the more impactful stuff that I've done.

Scott Benner (12:15) You might not know this, but type one diabetes is one of the best represented disease states as a community online. (12:21) It has been like that since I started blogging in 2007. (12:25) And, you know, it's interesting because back in the day, like, I'd have people come to me and say, we'd really like to start a community for type two. (12:32) There's so many more people with type two, but they don't seem as interested as being in a community. (12:36) And then and do you realize, like, there's something about type one that makes people they can't hide it.

Scott Benner (12:43) Right? (12:43) You can't ignore it, and you need support. (12:46) I didn't realize even when I started doing this, this will maybe make you laugh. (12:49) When I started making the podcast, I actually just thought I would take my most popular blog posts and read them into the podcast because I knew they helped people. (12:57) I didn't realize it was gonna go like this.

Scott Benner (12:58) And people were like, Nick, like, please don't do that. (13:01) I pivoted a little bit. (13:02) But as I started growing, I kept thinking all I was doing was sharing tools. (13:06) And then when I started seeing the tools I think tools and foundation are really important. (13:11) I think the confidence to make decisions about setting changes is a huge thing for type ones.

Scott Benner (13:17) But community and support from people who understand I don't wanna sound silly because maybe I maybe I feel old, but I didn't realize that was a big deal. (13:26) And now I see it as, like, half of it. (13:28) Yeah. (13:29) You know? (13:29) So maybe that's one of the reasons why you're seeing back from people with type one because they are engaged because they need to be.

Scott Benner (13:35) And I think when you talk about it, they're like, oh, there's somebody who's outside of diabetes a little bit who's willing to, like, talk about this. (13:41) It must just be exciting to hear somebody speak about it thoughtfully. (13:44) Yeah. (13:45) Yeah. (13:46) So now we understand how you got here.

Scott Benner (13:48) Now I'm gonna ask you my difficult question.

Dr. Beachgem (13:50) Oh, boy.

Scott Benner (13:52) I hate the word advocate for myself. (13:54) I hate to think that you like, here's how I think about it. (13:57) When I go to the to get tires on my car, I don't go, hey. (14:01) Get me four new tires. (14:03) Let me watch and make sure you pick the right ones.

Scott Benner (14:05) Let me watch and make sure you put them on the right way. (14:07) Did you balance them? (14:07) Did you fill them up with air? (14:08) Did you tighten the lug nuts? (14:09) I gotta advocate for myself to make sure you do your job right.

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Dr. Beachgem (16:40) Oh, you know, health care is tough. (16:42) Mhmm. (16:42) And health care is not your car. (16:44) It's not as easy as putting tires on something. (16:47) You know, disease states are complicated, people make them individual.

Dr. Beachgem (16:52) I work in emergency medicine so my job is looking for emergencies. (16:57) I may say to someone, I don't know what this is, but this isn't something that's going to kill you tonight and this is the plan for follow-up. (17:06) It can be complicated because, you know, what's your insurance status? (17:10) What can you guys get approved as an outpatient? (17:12) There's so much more that goes into decision making in health care than just let's throw some tires on.

Scott Benner (17:18) Mhmm.

Dr. Beachgem (17:18) So, you know, I have to think, is this person doesn't have an emergency going to be able to get this test done? (17:25) Can they get into their pediatrician? (17:27) Can they get into this test done as an outpatient? (17:30) And so I think when we talk about the decisions that we have to make, it's just so it's not even three-dimensional. (17:37) It's four dimensional.

Dr. Beachgem (17:38) And I think there are a million different ways to approach conditions and decisions. (17:44) And I think when we're advocating, we're trying to bring everyone to the table to the same table.

Scott Benner (17:50) Okay.

Dr. Beachgem (17:51) Because a lot of times and and granted, there are great providers out there and not so great providers out there, but I'm sitting at my emergency medicine table, and they're sitting at their parent table. (18:00) And we need to be sitting at the same table, and I don't understand their insurance and their, you know, transportation and all of this other stuff. (18:06) And so I think advocating is really trying to get us all on the same table so that we're understanding all of the same things.

Scott Benner (18:12) Okay.

Dr. Beachgem (18:12) I don't wanna defend the not great decisions that happen out there, but I think some of the decisions that are made in medicine are decent decisions, just not made for the right person.

Scott Benner (18:21) And is it different for people with type one because they often have such a deeper understanding of their illness than other people do? (18:29) Right? (18:29) So when you say something that smells a little wrong in the ER for me, I'm like, oh, that ain't right. (18:34) And then, like, suddenly there's a a chasm there. (18:37) Like, oh, we're gonna take your pump off.

Scott Benner (18:38) You're like, dude, don't do that. (18:39) Yeah. (18:40) Or, you know, when somebody finger sticks you every hour when you're wearing a CGM and you think, like, you're just doing this so you can charge me for the finger stick? (18:46) Like, what is happening right now? (18:47) And, like so I ask you the question.

Scott Benner (18:49) It's a bit of a trick question because Mhmm. (18:51) People feel all the time like medicine doesn't understand diabetes. (18:56) But I've been doing this for so long, and I've spoken to so many different doctors that I think it's kind of a, like, a multipronged problem. (19:03) Like, you are you said and you said something I feel like. (19:05) Like, you as the patient, you're the variable because you don't know, am I on the ball?

Scott Benner (19:10) Do I not understand this at all? (19:11) Like, where's my diabetes understanding? (19:13) Like, so you have to treat us all like we don't know what we're doing because that is probably what you see most frequently. (19:18) Right? (19:19) People with higher a one c's who aren't quite sure about how to do what they're doing.

Scott Benner (19:23) And then there's your level of education, your level of experience, like, how tired are you? (19:27) Are you fighting with your husband? (19:29) All this is happening at the same time. (19:31) And then there's the insurance piece. (19:33) So can I even run this test?

Scott Benner (19:35) Am I right to say that, like, there's basically a checklist and if you don't meet everything, then there's a test you can't run even if you wanted to?

Dr. Beachgem (19:42) Not necessarily a check list in all situations. (19:44) Okay. (19:45) Especially, again, I'm in I'm in the emergency department. (19:47) I have relative free rein as long as I can justify it.

Scott Benner (19:51) Got it. (19:51) Okay.

Dr. Beachgem (19:52) So I can't order, you know, a random outpatient send out test that has nothing to do with your visit today. (19:57) Mhmm. (19:57) But I can order an a one c if we're concerned about x, y, and z, and it makes sense with your visit. (20:04) I do have more leeway than a lot of outpatient providers, which is cool, which is really cool.

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Dr. Beachgem (21:16) Yep. (21:17) Like, if I can justify it with the visit today, like, we could probably make it happen. (21:22) But I think one of the things that gets complicated is that, like you said, there are a lot of situations where people have higher A1Cs, maybe not managing quite as well for whatever reason. (21:34) And so we have all of these protocols and checklists that we have for new onset diabetes or maybe hyperglycemia. (21:41) And so we click these check boxes for orders, and now it's saying everybody that comes in with hyperglycemia is going to get a blood sugar every hour.

Dr. Beachgem (21:51) And what if your CGM is not working? (21:53) So I think that we are in this super cautious over here phase where you're like, I got out my CGM, we're good. (21:59) My blood sugar is 10 points different than it was an hour ago, but we have to function in this more conservative space, and we use these protocols to do that. (22:09) And it's nice because we can override these protocols in certain situations, but a lot of times the default setting is gonna be going by these protocols.

Scott Benner (22:16) Okay. (22:16) People also want me to ask you, how can it be possible that when a kid comes into a pediatrician's office with flu like symptoms that a finger stick is part of the diagnostic? (22:25) Because that's usually where people are misdiagn like, could be diagnosed and and aren't. (22:30) Right? (22:30) Is that what like, is that a money thing?

Scott Benner (22:33) Like, like, it's such a strange idea that it's not just part of it.

Dr. Beachgem (22:37) I don't know if it's as much as a money thing as a resource thing because you have to make sure that that blood sugar meter every day has to be like you have to check it to make sure that it's working. (22:47) I forget what the thing's You have to calibrate it every day, so you have to have the person to do it, and then if it's not done, you have to calibrate it. (22:54) That takes time. (22:54) That takes you know, your nurse that's busy that you guys have 40 appointments today, and instead of doing this, now she's calibrating and then checking her blood sugar, which takes time. (23:03) So I think it's more of a resource thing.

Dr. Beachgem (23:05) I will say that's one of the more commonly missed things is gastro or flu like illness and it's actually new onset or DKA. (23:14) We do our best to check blood sugars frequently in the ER, but it is something that could easily be missed. (23:21) I would say in the ER, that's all we see all day long, and so it goes back to the resources. (23:26) We calibrate every day anyway because we check enough of them, but that's probably the biggest barrier I would say is doing it.

Scott Benner (23:32) So I often I sit around and I think sometimes doctors' jobs are really unfair. (23:38) Right? (23:38) Like, you expect them to like, first of you go to if you really were gonna go to medical school and come out with a complete understanding, you'd have to go to medical school for a hundred years. (23:46) Mhmm. (23:46) Right?

Scott Benner (23:46) Like, so you get a little bit of everything, and then you're left to just remember, oh, did I hear a thing one time about that, or have I ever had this experiences? (23:54) There's times when I think when you come into an ER, should just be talking and an AI should be listening to you. (24:00) And then it should say, here are the possibilities in case you miss something, and then layer the human side on top of it because that is what we're asking you to do. (24:08) And there's there's no way you're gonna be able to do that. (24:10) Like, even the sharpest, brightest, most focused person isn't gonna have access to everything they've ever encountered in the world, every thought and every teaching, and they might have missed one.

Scott Benner (24:20) And so I mean, your job must feel like rooting around in the closet without a flashlight in the dark. (24:26) Right? (24:26) Like, is that am I getting close?

Dr. Beachgem (24:28) Yeah. (24:29) The saying that we have is you're walking through a minefield in clown shoes because it's four years. (24:34) And in that four years, you're supposed to learn, everything that you need to have to go start practicing, and then you've got three to six years of residency where you're supposed to learn everything else. (24:44) I can tell I learned a lot during that time, but I certainly didn't learn everything that there is to know, especially when there's getting into these really rare genetic conditions and stuff like that. (24:53) It is hard, and we have to be perfect a 100% of the time or else somebody's life could be in danger.

Dr. Beachgem (24:59) As a human, being right a 100% of the time is just it's impossible. (25:03) I will a 100% agree that I think that bringing things in like AI, to help us not miss things and to help give us ideas. (25:12) I think that we're gonna see all types of new things coming onto the horizon and hopefully not missing things

Scott Benner (25:17) Yeah.

Dr. Beachgem (25:18) To say like check a blood sugar. (25:19) Do this. (25:20) I feel like my other response was a little more defensive. (25:23) I am all about checking a blood sugar in literally anyone I can order it on.

Scott Benner (25:28) Right.

Dr. Beachgem (25:29) In a kid that's vomiting, I'm asking the questions. (25:31) How are they drinking? (25:32) How are they peeing? (25:33) You know, some screening things in addition as well. (25:35) But it's not an easy job, and it's a it's a heavy lift sometimes.

Scott Benner (25:38) Yeah. (25:39) It's interesting that you said you felt like you might be being defensive. (25:42) I pay attention to your content, and I know that you're having some sort of a medical issue. (25:47) I'm sorry to say this with discharge from your breast. (25:49) Right?

Dr. Beachgem (25:49) Yes.

Scott Benner (25:50) And I watched a couple of videos where it was interesting because, like, what you do professionally as a doctor, what you do professionally on social media, like, social media, you know that, like, people go to the hospital and have outcomes that aren't great and that they could be But yet, when you it was you personally, you were like, I have a good doctor and I'm gonna listen to what they say even if I don't agree with what's happening. (26:11) And I was like, well, that was such an interesting separation for me because you're a doctor and you know what it feels like to be your doctor. (26:19) Can you untwine all that for me? (26:21) Because you know what I'm talking about. (26:22) Right?

Dr. Beachgem (26:22) I do.

Scott Benner (26:23) Okay.

Dr. Beachgem (26:23) So I I had an experience where I was supposed to have a test performed and I didn't have a great experience having that test performed. (26:30) They actually weren't able to do it. (26:31) It felt to me that they were being kind of condescending and, you know, I'm not dumb. (26:36) I have an OBGYN who I trust because of other things that I can't really talk about, but I I trust her.

Scott Benner (26:42) Right.

Dr. Beachgem (26:42) She knows the system and she's she knows the stuff. (26:45) And so if she tells me, hey. (26:47) You need to do this test, like, I trust her. (26:49) It's not the answer that I wanna hear, but I will go and do it. (26:52) And she recommended that I see a specialist and in the end we're going to end up skipping the test and move right towards surgery, which is kind of what the evidence based stuff shows.

Dr. Beachgem (27:01) And I'm a big fan of evidence. (27:02) You've probably seen that in my videos. (27:03) Show me the evidence and we'll follow it. (27:06) So I know as a patient, there are things that I don't wanna do because it's uncomfortable or unpleasant, or I don't wanna go back into that situation again. (27:14) But I do trust my doctor and what she says, especially when she can provide me with the evidence to back it up.

Scott Benner (27:18) So how do you make that leap when you know I'm just guessing, but you've made mistakes as a doctor. (27:23) Right? (27:24) So when you're sitting there sick, having this problem that people are like, I don't see. (27:28) Like, I heard you say this one thing that you went in for a test, they couldn't produce the result to prove what you were seeing. (27:34) Then I think you went out into the the waiting room and, like, were having it and you kinda ran back in.

Scott Benner (27:39) You were like, it's happening now. (27:40) And they're like, don't worry. (27:41) We'll look another day. (27:42) Like, when you know you've been wrong before, how do you still say I'm gonna trust the process when you've seen the process be wrong and now you're the one who's in jeopardy?

Dr. Beachgem (27:52) Yeah. (27:52) So I was trusting my doctor who ordered the test. (27:56) Not necessarily I and I had some frustration with that situation.

Scott Benner (28:00) Mhmm.

Dr. Beachgem (28:00) And I know based on lots of things that that facility actually does really good work. (28:05) And I I go back to we're all human and we all have bad days sometimes. (28:09) Using your word, I I had to advocate for myself in the next step, and I usually don't advocate for myself. (28:15) I'm actually really bad at that for lots of reasons. (28:17) That's

Scott Benner (28:17) interesting. (28:18) Okay.

Dr. Beachgem (28:18) But I did that day, I I stepped back out and I said, look. (28:22) Here's my symptom, and they said, no. (28:24) Thank you. (28:24) I go back to the doctor that I trust, and and I she called me the next day and said, you know, what do we think about next steps? (28:31) And we talked we had a really great talk about it.

Dr. Beachgem (28:33) We kind of went over, you know, the next plan. (28:36) But I I think it's it's hard because I wanna trust my medical colleagues. (28:40) Like, this is a system that I work in. (28:42) This is these are my people, and it is maybe more disappointing for me than for others. (28:47) I'm not sure about that, but it feels more disappointing to me because, like, these are the people this is me.

Dr. Beachgem (28:52) And, like, when I'm disappointing myself, that's hard. (28:54) So I feel like like, if they're gonna do anything, like like, let's fight for the same team, and it's just, you know, sometimes it all falls apart.

Scott Benner (29:02) I just found it kinda fascinating because, like, you don't have white coat. (29:05) Right? (29:05) You that doesn't happen to you. (29:06) You don't

Dr. Beachgem (29:06) No.

Scott Benner (29:07) Know. (29:07) Right. (29:07) So you have other reasons. (29:08) So you're a people pleaser or something like that.

Dr. Beachgem (29:11) Yeah.

Scott Benner (29:11) Gotcha. (29:12) Okay. (29:12) Okay.

Dr. Beachgem (29:12) I don't wanna go against the grain. (29:14) Right? (29:15) Because this is my team. (29:16) So, like, we should all be in it together and doing the same thing. (29:18) So I don't wanna go against the grain.

Scott Benner (29:20) See, that's what I was wondering. (29:21) Like, if you're not, like, a wide receiver on television, like, not wanting to say something bad about the offensive line. (29:26) Like right. (29:27) Yeah. (29:27) Yeah.

Scott Benner (29:27) Because why? (29:29) Because you have a respect for them or because you believe that you could be in their position quite easily in another situation?

Dr. Beachgem (29:36) Probably. (29:37) Yeah. (29:38) Probably that.

Scott Benner (29:38) There's a lack of confidence underneath all of it. (29:42) So it's interesting because I think people see doctor I think doctors, teachers, and cops, right, get, like, a pass because you're brought up. (29:49) Like, be kind to the police officer, listen to your teacher, listen to your doctor. (29:53) And most of your life, that works. (29:55) And then usually, even if you get sick, it works right.

Scott Benner (29:58) I say all the time, like, break your arm. (29:59) Go somewhere. (30:00) Right away. (30:00) Like, I I've had my shoulder repaired. (30:02) I've had my ankle repaired.

Scott Benner (30:03) Like, there are things medicine is awesome at. (30:06) And then when you get into type one diabetes, it very quickly becomes, how strange is it that endocrinologists all over this country will get you in a corner and go, hey, listen. (30:18) You should go listen to the Juice Box podcast. (30:20) Do you know what I mean? (30:21) Like, how strange that is?

Scott Benner (30:22) The endo is like, you know what your best bet would be here? (30:26) Go do this, like, because I can't help you as much as you want to be helped. (30:31) I can't figure that part out for my life. (30:33) Like, I can't figure that like, how am I a better resource than your nurse practitioner?

Dr. Beachgem (30:38) Oh, I think part of it is going back to the resource. (30:41) You know, time is one of the biggest resources that we have in medicine. (30:45) And the way that insurance reimbursement goes, we have to see a certain number of patients to keep the lights on.

Scott Benner (30:52) Yeah.

Dr. Beachgem (30:52) And when you look at medicine and the way that doctor's salaries are going up, there's a lot of other people that are going up way faster than doctor's salaries. (30:59) Like, we're not really keeping up with keeping up with that. (31:01) I mean, we're doing okay. (31:02) No no complaints. (31:03) But The resource is the time because we've got to get in and get out and see the patients.

Dr. Beachgem (31:06) And so we tend to refer to resources that are going to be supportive resources, are going to be educational resources, that are going be giving great life tips. (31:15) I think that finding community is also important where you can share, and community that's gonna be giving good information is vital.

Scott Benner (31:22) Yeah. (31:23) I have such a great idea that nobody takes seriously because I I think they don't know how to bill it. (31:27) But Mhmm. (31:27) I think that instead of coming in and having a an appointment once every four every three or four months, right, and for fifteen minutes, I think a huge group of people should come to an auditorium three or four times a year and have a group experience. (31:44) Because I've gone and spoken at events where people come in, don't know what they're doing, and an hour later, they're better off.

Scott Benner (31:52) And then six months later, they send me a note. (31:53) Oh my god. (31:54) My a one c went down two points because of that thing you said. (31:56) Right? (31:56) Which is a wonderful feeling, but, like, we should find a way to do that for people.

Scott Benner (32:01) I know that that's Yeah. (32:01) Not the system. (32:02) But, like, if fifteen minutes isn't enough, then give them more time. (32:06) And who cares, like, in the end, like, my opinion is, like, who cares? (32:11) Like, just bill it the same way, but give them different tools.

Scott Benner (32:14) Like right? (32:14) Like, you could do that a few times. (32:16) I could give that talk every day. (32:18) Like right? (32:18) Like and and so could other people.

Scott Benner (32:20) And I I also think it would help the physicians at some point too because so much about type one is timing and amount. (32:25) Doctor. (32:26) Beecham, I tell people all the time, I'm like, if I if you pushed me off a cliff and said, teach people about diabetes as you were falling, I'd say, it's all timing and amount. (32:33) Like, just use the right amount of insulin at the right time. (32:35) It'll all be okay.

Scott Benner (32:36) And there's obviously more to it than that, but that really is that's the seed of the idea. (32:41) And then you have to understand how food impacts your blood sugar, how your blood sugar impacts your food, about activity. (32:47) Like, there's other stuff obviously to layer on. (32:50) But every time you look at one of those layers, the truth of it is at its distilled end, it's timing and amount. (32:57) Very few people are told to pre bolus their meals.

Scott Benner (33:00) Very few people are told that fat and protein impacts their blood sugar later. (33:04) Like, really simple things that have such a huge impact. (33:08) What I ended up saying at some point on the podcast is that you will leave your doctor with what I consider to be don't die advice. (33:14) Like, it's enough to keep you alive, not really enough to keep you healthy. (33:19) And to your point, you need more time to absorb all that.

Scott Benner (33:23) So you're telling me that what doctors need is they need to get paid by the download the way I do. (33:28) And I wonder how to fix that. (33:29) And I and I don't know because I can step back and look at it like big picture in the world and go, like, this is how insurance works. (33:35) We're not gonna fix any of this. (33:37) This is bigger than all of us.

Scott Benner (33:38) Right? (33:39) And then I can also look at people's lives one at a time when I interview them and see the incredible impact it has on them just to not be told that. (33:47) Like, as you have a million stories, I will tell you one. (33:51) Alright. (33:51) So I'm put in touch with a person who has type one diabetes and a lot of kids.

Scott Benner (33:56) She's got, like, six or seven kids, and she's in her mid forties. (34:00) And she's online looking for help. (34:02) Nobody can help her. (34:03) Somebody points her to me. (34:04) She sends me a message, and I'm just like, just call me.

Scott Benner (34:07) She gets on the phone. (34:09) I give her the talk, basically. (34:11) And the next day, I get a text back from her. (34:13) She wants to know if she can call me back. (34:15) I get on the phone, and she's angry.

Scott Benner (34:17) Not at me, I realize. (34:19) And she's like, my blood sugar was so stable overnight. (34:22) She's like, it was, like, 90 all night long. (34:25) I slept. (34:26) I feel so much better.

Scott Benner (34:28) Why didn't anyone tell me this? (34:31) That was what she was angry about. (34:32) She was angry about lost time. (34:34) And then she started talking about she has complications, and someone could have just told me this thirty years ago. (34:41) And, like, the desperation in her voice about, like, not knowing where her health was going to go, the recognition that she had lost time to a struggle that she did not need to be involved in was heartbreaking.

Scott Benner (34:52) It sticks with me to this day, you know. (34:54) I don't know. (34:54) Like, I want there to be a better way. (34:57) I don't think there is. (34:58) And but if that's the case, then how do we make it so that where people with type one or type two touch doctors, there's more understanding?

Scott Benner (35:10) Because if you ask a type one what they're most scared of, it's going to the ER or being admitted to the hospital. (35:17) So I kind of would like to shift into that now, and and I'd like you to help me help them have a better experience when they if they end up in the hospital.

Dr. Beachgem (35:25) Yeah. (35:26) That's tough. (35:26) I think especially for pediatrics, go to a pediatric facility. (35:32) The way that DKA and type one diabetes is managed in adult facilities or community hospitals is quite different than a pediatric facility. (35:42) I'll be honest, we manage a little bit of type two, a little bit of insulin resistance, but we manage so much type one.

Dr. Beachgem (35:50) I feel very comfortable with type one management and I, as much as I can, defer to the family's kind of expertise about their kid in that situation. (35:59) And and you can tell pretty quickly talking to a parent. (36:02) I could almost guess their a one c after that first discussion

Scott Benner (36:05) Mhmm.

Dr. Beachgem (36:06) With the family and kind of the way that they're managing things at home. (36:09) I think it's really important to stay on top of things as much as possible. (36:13) We do a lot of protocols. (36:15) We'll ask you to remove the pump if we are in DKA just because we're trying to you know, we're gonna end up putting on an insulin drip and stuff like that, so it helps manage a little bit more cleanly so we know how much insulin is going in. (36:27) But these times can be very tough and I do think it is really important to be at bedside and ask when they're checking the blood sugar, and what was it, and how much insulin are you giving?

Dr. Beachgem (36:37) Because, obviously, those are it's pretty big deal making sure that they're getting what they need to get.

Scott Benner (36:43) Yeah. (36:43) It's interesting to hear you talk about it because I trust you, and I know you're smart, and I know you understand this, and your answer still seems a little like, I don't know. (36:51) And I appreciate that, by the way, that you're not bullshitting me. (36:53) Like, I really do appreciate that. (36:55) My daughter has a friend who ended up in she had ketones.

Scott Benner (36:58) She got sick. (36:59) She got ketones, and she couldn't get them to go away. (37:02) She got panicked. (37:02) She went to the hospital, and then she called me 34 later, and she was exhausted. (37:07) And I was like, what's going on?

Scott Benner (37:08) She goes, I just I shouldn't have gone to the hospital. (37:11) She said it did not take long for me to realize that I knew more about this than they did, and I don't know a ton about it. (37:17) Like, she's a young girl. (37:18) Like, she's still understanding her diabetes. (37:20) You know?

Scott Benner (37:21) I asked, like, different questions. (37:22) She said they kept my blood sugar really high. (37:24) They wouldn't, like, give me insulin for food. (37:27) Like, they she's like, they kept bringing me things that were, like, really heavy in carbs to eat and then not giving me insulin for it. (37:33) And as my blood sugar got higher, I felt sicker.

Scott Benner (37:36) I was trying to, like she's trying to convalesce from some sort of an infection with a high blood sugar, which I'm not wrong. (37:42) Right? (37:42) That makes that more difficult.

Dr. Beachgem (37:44) Mhmm.

Scott Benner (37:44) So what happens in that situation? (37:46) She's there. (37:47) Is it what you said earlier? (37:49) Like, you come into the emergency room. (37:50) If it's not killing you, then I'm not focused on it.

Scott Benner (37:52) So in the hospital, if it's not the thing you're there for, is it background then?

Dr. Beachgem (37:57) No. (37:57) I I

Scott Benner (37:59) because it shouldn't be. (38:00) You're

Dr. Beachgem (38:00) No. (38:00) It shouldn't. (38:01) It shouldn't be. (38:01) Right. (38:02) And I think that my ER DKA and my ER type one diabetes with a viral illness pathways in my head are very different.

Scott Benner (38:10) Okay.

Dr. Beachgem (38:10) In which case, like, I know I'm gonna give you a fluid bolus, and I know that's gonna bring down your blood sugar automatically. (38:17) I might not wanna treat, you know, the couple sips of Gatorade that you just took. (38:21) I might wanna let you roll a little higher because I know your blood sugar is gonna come down with fluids. (38:26) Mhmm. (38:26) And I'll be honest, I may not verbalize that as well to a family.

Dr. Beachgem (38:31) I'm I may just, like, give the bolus and, like, hey. (38:33) We'll check blood sugar again in sixty minutes and see where we're at, then we can make some plans. (38:38) I may not verbalize always my thought process behind that. (38:41) And maybe I need to get better at that, and especially with families that are, like, really on top of their stuff. (38:46) They know it, and they're starting to get anxious as they see that CGM creeping up a little bit.

Scott Benner (38:50) Yeah.

Dr. Beachgem (38:50) And again, DKA management for me, it took different different pathway.

Scott Benner (38:55) Is there another side to this? (38:56) Would ignorance be bliss for me? (38:58) Would you get me through my hospital experience better if I shut up and didn't have opinions? (39:02) And then I could go home and get my blood sugar back down again, or is that not the right answer either?

Dr. Beachgem (39:07) I don't know. (39:08) I don't think that's the right answer either because I you know, sitting on the floor with a high blood sugar, like, you getting DKA in the hospital is not good for anyone. (39:16) Right? (39:17) So I think we need to be managing it, and I think sometimes there could be some oversight potentially. (39:22) I know my people in my hospital are again, we're following protocols.

Dr. Beachgem (39:26) We're checking blood sugars at these certain intervals because we wanna avoid all of that happening. (39:31) And I think, again, finding a facility that knows what they're doing, so a pediatric facility, and ask what their protocol is. (39:37) Like, can print it out and hand it to you, and I can say this is our protocol. (39:40) This is what we're gonna be following while you're an inpatient. (39:42) We're gonna be doing insulin this like this.

Dr. Beachgem (39:45) We're gonna be doing blood sugars like this. (39:47) So I I think it's reasonable to ask, you know, could you show me your protocol for, you know, patients that are admitted with diabetes and a gastroenteritis? (39:55) Okay. (39:55) Show me what you're gonna be doing. (39:56) Show me that protocol.

Dr. Beachgem (39:57) And then if they're not following it, you can hold them accountable there.

Scott Benner (39:59) So expectations should be that you're gonna be a part hopefully, they'll allow you to be, but you should be a part of the process if you wanted to go

Dr. Beachgem (40:05) more smoothly. (40:06) Okay. (40:06) Really, medicine should really be a partnership between the patient and family and the providers, the nurses, the doctors, the RTs, whoever's taking care of them.

Scott Benner (40:13) No matter what. (40:14) So would it surprise you to know that mothers who are nurses who end up with kids with type one often seem the most confused to me when I'm talking to them. (40:24) Why would that be? (40:25) Because it used to freak me out. (40:27) But you know what stopped freaking me out?

Scott Benner (40:28) When a a Hopkins brain surgeon contacted me privately and asked me to explain to him how to take care of his kid. (40:35) That's when I was like, oh, okay. (40:37) And here's my last little piece. (40:38) One of my daughter's best friends is in nursing school right now. (40:41) She's probably three or almost four years down.

Scott Benner (40:43) I think she's almost done with her first four years, her undergrad. (40:45) Right? (40:46) And she came to me a few months ago, and she's obviously grown up with Arden. (40:51) And so, you know, has a a a pretty tight understanding of what's going on. (40:54) And she said, Scott, we just went over diabetes in class.

Scott Benner (40:57) And I said, yeah. (40:58) And she goes, and I sat there, all I thought was, wait. (41:01) Is that all you're gonna teach us? (41:02) Because that would that's not enough to keep Arden alive. (41:05) And then she said she had a stark moment where she thought, what else did I now believe that I have full understanding of that I don't have an understanding of?

Scott Benner (41:13) It was, like, a real interesting moment for her. (41:15) So, anyway, I I'm not asking you say anything bad about the nursing profession. (41:19) I'm wondering, like, what happens between because when you're in the hospital, like, I I don't wanna say who, but I know somebody who was just in the hospital who tried to advocate for their diabetes. (41:28) The nurse was like, I know better than you. (41:30) Like, shut up, basically.

Scott Benner (41:32) And it that was not the case. (41:34) So Yeah. (41:34) Like but she really believed it. (41:37) Does that all make sense?

Dr. Beachgem (41:38) Yeah. (41:39) And, again, diabetes type one diabetes, I think, again and you know this traditionally looked at as a pediatric disease, and those kids do grow up and become adults, which is awesome. (41:49) So I think that there are people that can manage type one diabetes well, but I think as kids are growing up and you're seeing this more in the adult population, a lot of the people that are taking care of the adults are thinking about type two diabetes management and not necessarily having that stronger experience with the type one where you need the insulin, you need to be monitoring the ketones, you need to be getting insulin, you need to be carb counting, you need to be monitoring what you're eating, your nutrition. (42:21) It's complicated. (42:22) And I think the thing about coming in as parent without medical knowledge or a medical background, you're coming in like, I just need to learn it all.

Dr. Beachgem (42:31) Mhmm. (42:31) I need to learn it all. (42:32) I'm gonna start at the beginning, and I'm just gonna learn as much as I can possibly learn. (42:36) Or I think sometimes us as medical professionals, can go, I know a little bit about that. (42:41) Let's just go with this.

Dr. Beachgem (42:42) Let's see what we can do, or maybe we nitpick what we can learn about this or that. (42:47) So we have this baseline knowledge that sometimes we rely too heavily on, but I think if you had a nurse that had more specific, like one of my floor nurses manages type one diabetes all the time. (42:59) And I think that if you if one of their kids ended up with it, I think they would probably feel more comfortable managing it.

Scott Benner (43:05) Yeah. (43:05) I also wanna point out that I've also heard countless conversations and and stories from people who had fantastic doctors and fantastic nurses. (43:13) Right? (43:13) Like, it's not I'm not trying to say that everybody is lost. (43:16) I always say it's interesting because when you get a doctor, you don't know which one you're getting.

Scott Benner (43:20) Yeah. (43:20) And you're gonna believe them no matter what. (43:22) What if I got the one that doesn't know? (43:24) And what if I got the that's what made made me think about with your situation earlier too. (43:28) Like, you don't always know who you're getting.

Scott Benner (43:30) And then there's Yeah. (43:31) There can be ego involved too. (43:32) And I don't mean, like, in a, like, a god complex way. (43:35) I mean, like, I went to undergrad. (43:37) I went to school.

Scott Benner (43:38) I did this. (43:38) I did all that. (43:39) I got a guy now telling me what to do. (43:41) Like, you know what I mean? (43:42) Like, he's he's sitting in a room being like, no.

Scott Benner (43:44) You don't understand. (43:44) Like, I don't understand. (43:46) I mean, imagine me. (43:47) I'm a podcaster. (43:48) Like right?

Scott Benner (43:49) So imagine if I was in a room going, no. (43:51) I think this is what you should do. (43:53) I can see where that could be difficult too. (43:55) Plus, there's a ton of pressure and stress. (43:57) I mean, I can't imagine being a doctor, to be perfectly honest with you.

Scott Benner (44:00) Like, it must feel like your hair's on fire all the time. (44:04) No?

Dr. Beachgem (44:05) You know, we have days I can't imagine doing anything other than this. (44:08) This is what I was I was made to do. (44:10) And so, you know, to me doing air conditioning seems really stressful. (44:14) Mhmm. (44:15) But doing this feels very natural.

Dr. Beachgem (44:16) But there are days that I, you know, I second guess my decisions or, you know, I go to bed thinking about that one patient. (44:23) You know, did we do the right thing? (44:24) You know, did I did I do this right or, you know, wonder how they're doing, you know, now kind of thing. (44:29) Like, we second guess ourselves a lot.

Scott Benner (44:31) What do you think it is about your personality that lends itself to the job?

Dr. Beachgem (44:35) I have no idea.

Scott Benner (44:36) No. (44:36) It just works for you.

Dr. Beachgem (44:37) It just does. (44:38) It's the ADHD, and it's the seeking adrenaline and wanting to help people. (44:43) But I I don't know. (44:44) Yeah. (44:44) It's just it's just we're all made to do something, and I think I just found what I was made to do.

Scott Benner (44:50) When you put yourself out there online because I've gone through this. (44:54) I imagine you have too. (44:55) Right? (44:55) Like, at some point, somebody says, oh, you're busy telling me what to do, but look at you. (45:00) I'm sitting in front of you today, two and a half years removed from starting GLPs.

Scott Benner (45:05) I'm seventy pounds lighter than I was. (45:08) And there were times where I didn't put myself on video because I thought, know my stuff is rock solid about type one, but I don't want somebody to look at me and go, oh, there's an overweight guy trying to tell me about my health. (45:19) Right? (45:20) Like, I actually had that feeling. (45:21) I was like, I shouldn't probably do that.

Scott Benner (45:22) Right? (45:23) Have you had any experience with the people being shitty to you? (45:27) How do you deal with that? (45:29) And does it slow you down at all with the things you talk about?

Dr. Beachgem (45:33) Yeah. (45:34) You know, emergency medicine and the lifestyle for emergency medicine does not lend itself well to physical health. (45:40) The late nights, early mornings, eating on the go, not necessarily the healthiest food. (45:47) I'm sitting a couple pounds heavier than I would like, especially with the hurricanes and all the moves and stuff like that. (45:52) I do get comments occasionally like, Oh, look at this fat person telling me you know, to be healthy.

Dr. Beachgem (45:58) And for the most part, I'm not really talking about, you know, weight loss and nutrition. (46:01) I'm talking about ways to keep your kid from getting in a ebike crash.

Scott Benner (46:05) Right.

Dr. Beachgem (46:06) And realistically, people don't get to choose their provider in the emergency department. (46:10) Like you said, you kinda get stuck with whoever walks into the room. (46:13) There might not be an alternative. (46:15) I might be the only one there. (46:16) People tend not to, in real practice, say, like, hey.

Dr. Beachgem (46:19) I'd like another doctor that could is there somebody skinnier that could come in and see me? (46:23) No. (46:23) I mean,

Scott Benner (46:23) it's obviously on are people that directly horrible?

Dr. Beachgem (46:27) Yeah. (46:27) Online, are. (46:28) You know, and it's social media. (46:29) Like, everyone has an opinion. (46:31) And I I have like I said earlier, I have really good social media boundaries, and I do a lot of, like, just delete and block.

Dr. Beachgem (46:37) Like, I don't need someone Yeah. (46:39) Like that in my comment section for my own mental health and sanity.

Scott Benner (46:43) Good for you. (46:44) I brought it up because my wife is very impressed with how you manage that. (46:47) That she said to me, she's like, I really like the way she takes care of that. (46:50) And I was like, okay. (46:51) Yeah.

Scott Benner (46:51) Well, I'll bring it

Dr. Beachgem (46:52) to house. (46:52) I try to eat pretty healthy and I do work out and exercise, so I and I'm strong. (46:57) Like, I could bench press some I can bench press some stuff. (47:00) Yeah. (47:01) But, I'm like I'm like one forty.

Dr. Beachgem (47:03) I could bench press. (47:03) I'm doing alright. (47:04) Yeah. (47:04) Good. (47:05) You know?

Scott Benner (47:06) I well, listen. (47:06) I hear you. (47:07) I sit still a lot. (47:08) And also, in truth, I do not eat much differently today than I did two and a half years ago. (47:13) I am a pretty much a fan of the idea that there might be some metabolic help that's coming from GLP ones for some people because it hasn't really changed a lot about I mean, it's true.

Scott Benner (47:23) You're not hungry ever. (47:25) Like, you know, like, I ate breakfast this morning because I know I needed to. (47:28) So I'm not saying that it isn't benefiting me in that way, but I had an instant, like, an a very instant impact from I lost 14 pounds, like, the first five days.

Dr. Beachgem (47:38) Wow.

Scott Benner (47:38) Yeah. (47:39) It was crazy. (47:40) I used to be anemic. (47:41) Like, I had to get iron infusions three times a year. (47:44) I don't have to do that anymore.

Scott Benner (47:46) So I don't know if maybe I'm just digesting my food better now or I'm holding on to it long enough to extract it. (47:51) I don't even care. (47:52) I've never been in a situation before where was like, actually don't care. (47:55) I just I'm happy it's working. (47:56) So I've seen it with other type ones too.

Scott Benner (47:59) I've seen it with type twos. (48:00) I know plenty of type twos who've lost weight, a one c, like, their variability is better, everything. (48:05) But more and more type ones are getting a hold of it now. (48:08) And it really is interesting to see their insulin needs sometimes go down 30%. (48:13) And their spikes get lesser, and I'm like, wow.

Scott Benner (48:16) I wonder where this is all going. (48:17) Like, it seems like so new. (48:20) But I would imagine the only probably the only intersection you have with is probably the people who don't do well with it. (48:25) Right? (48:25) Because in the ER, you're just coming in because what?

Scott Benner (48:28) Have gastroparesis from it or low motility or something. (48:30) Right?

Dr. Beachgem (48:30) Pancreatitis, vomiting, dehydration, chronic abdominal pain, gastritis. (48:35) But, you know, in pediatrics, I think Wegovy has been approved for 12 and older, but for, like, just obesity and not diabetes. (48:43) Mhmm. (48:44) So there's we've only seen a handful in the pediatric population so far, and I don't really treat adults when I can manage it. (48:51) But I think we are going to see more and more of the kids that have the type one and type two diabetes on these medications and the kids that are struggling with obesity on these medications to avoid the longer term complications.

Dr. Beachgem (49:05) The research that's coming out about the GLP-1s is really cool. (49:08) I mean, some of these conditions that you wouldn't even think are related. (49:12) I saw something the other day on pseudotumor cerebri, which is extra CSF fluid that's produced creating pressure, and it can create, you know, injury to the eyes and really bad headaches. (49:22) They're seeing improvements on GLP ones. (49:24) Just some really cool stuff coming down the line with these medications.

Scott Benner (49:27) Yeah. (49:27) I would have kissed the Gila monster twenty years ago if I knew about this, I'll tell you. (49:31) Ladies with PCOS getting pregnant out of nowhere Wow. (49:34) That's crazy. (49:35) Right?

Scott Benner (49:35) My wife swears that it helps with inflammation so much so that she thinks that, her perimenopause was easier because of it. (49:42) You know, I've seen people say that it's lessened, impacts of long COVID. (49:46) Oh, that's something I wanted to ask you about. (49:48) That's real. (49:48) Right?

Scott Benner (49:49) Long COVID? (49:50) Yeah. (49:51) Okay. (49:51) Alright. (49:52) So if I told you please don't disconnect.

Scott Benner (49:56) If I told you that, I don't know, eight months ago, I was listening to a podcast and I randomly heard some guy say, like, nicotine helps with long COVID, and I didn't really register it. (50:05) Right? (50:05) And then two months ago, I had a lady on the podcast, and she said just kind of offhandedly, I've had long COVID for a while, but it's really getting better. (50:13) And I just said, oh, what did you do? (50:15) Because my wife has it, suffers with it pretty badly.

Scott Benner (50:17) She said I did a twenty one day nicotine patch protocol. (50:21) And I was like, googled that, And there was a website, and I was like, well, this doesn't look like it was made by a serial killer. (50:26) So I read it, and I said to my wife, I'm like, I don't think a nicotine patch is gonna hurt you one way or the other. (50:32) Right? (50:32) Like, so she was in the middle of a bad flare to real foggy.

Scott Benner (50:36) She couldn't get rest and everything. (50:38) And my you don't know my wife, but this was not a thing she was up for. (50:41) Right? (50:41) Like, she and I just I caught her in a day where she was so bad off. (50:44) I'm like, look.

Scott Benner (50:45) I'm just gonna stick this on you. (50:47) Then I was like, and we'll stick another one on in twenty four hours. (50:50) And about seven days later, goes, hey. (50:52) You know, I feel better. (50:53) And fourteen days later, she's like, telling other people about it.

Scott Benner (50:56) Now, teach them, I don't know how how long you've been married, but I've been married thirty years. (51:00) My wife doesn't run around saying nice things about me out of hand. (51:03) So she's now telling other people, I think Scott saved me with this nicotine patch thing. (51:07) Now when I know that's happening, I know something's really going on. (51:10) Okay?

Scott Benner (51:10) And now it's been a month later and she's a different person.

Dr. Beachgem (51:14) Oh.

Scott Benner (51:14) Something about, like, receptors that nicotine sticks to I don't even again, I can't believe I'm saying this. (51:21) Don't care. (51:22) Like, she's so much better off, and she's not using the patches anymore.

Dr. Beachgem (51:25) That's pretty crazy. (51:26) Nicotine is interesting. (51:28) Mhmm. (51:28) There's a couple different disease processes that nicotine influences in a positive way. (51:33) And, again, no, not to encourage people to go out smoke or use at any but there are it it is something that works in your body and and can do certain things.

Dr. Beachgem (51:43) And I I think it deserves continued research, especially with things like that when we're seeing positive effects.

Scott Benner (51:50) Okay. (51:50) How willing are you to talk about, like, what's happened over the past ten years about people's concepts about vaccines? (51:58) Are you comfortable talking about that?

Dr. Beachgem (52:00) Yes. (52:00) I can't get too controversial.

Scott Benner (52:02) I don't want you to get controversial. (52:03) I want you to tell me your opinion.

Dr. Beachgem (52:04) I think that we have tremendous evidence for at least the childhood vaccines and influenza vaccines that they are low risk, extremely effective, and I think we're already starting to see the impact of decreased vaccine uptake.

Scott Benner (52:22) Yeah. (52:22) You think the population is getting sicker in ways that it doesn't need to be?

Dr. Beachgem (52:26) I mean, we're about to lose our measles elimination status because we've had, you know, a pretty significant measles outbreak since I don't think we've had this many measles cases since 1992. (52:36) I believe we've had three deaths this year from measles, one in an adult, two in previously healthy kids, all unvaccinated, unfortunately. (52:44) We've seen polio in wastewater in up in New York. (52:47) I think that we should have a level of concern that some of these, like, really bad things are gonna come back.

Scott Benner (52:54) How frequently do you find yourself talking to a patient where you think, oh, gosh. (52:59) They've been radicalized by some sort of online thing, they have a belief that is completely just bull Do you find yourself standing in front of people who you're like, oh my god. (53:08) I can't believe I have to explain this to you, but here we go?

Dr. Beachgem (53:11) Yeah. (53:12) So, you know, online all the time.

Scott Benner (53:15) Oh, sure. (53:15) Sure.

Dr. Beachgem (53:16) All the time. (53:16) In my practice, about two to three in ten kids under two years old are not vaccinated. (53:22) The younger kids, it's it's between seventy five and eighty percent are vaccinated. (53:26) Mhmm. (53:27) But when kids are not vaccinated in under three years of age, there are increased risks for bacteria in the bloodstream, something called epiglottitis, which is an airway blockage, meningitis.

Dr. Beachgem (53:37) And so I have to talk about the risks and potentially an increased workup because they have these additional risk factors or at least don't have the protective factors of vaccines. (53:46) And I try not to ask why they are not vaccinated. (53:51) I really just wanna present it in a nonjudgmental way because the most important thing is creating that partnership that they're willing to trust me. (53:58) And if I start

Scott Benner (53:59) Sure.

Dr. Beachgem (53:59) Asking too many of those questions, I don't wanna alienate them. (54:02) I wanna be able to really have that discussion about, these are the things I'm concerned about. (54:05) This is what I like to do, and this is why. (54:07) Yeah. (54:08) I try to limit anything that could be interpreted as judgment.

Scott Benner (54:12) Right. (54:12) I appreciate you being willing to talk about it. (54:15) Can you please take me back to the day that you got really famous online and somebody had to have pulled you into an office at your job and went, hey. (54:21) What the hell are you doing? (54:22) Did that not happen?

Scott Benner (54:24) I mean, did. (54:24) Right? (54:24) Yeah.

Dr. Beachgem (54:26) Yeah. (54:26) So, you know, I started making content. (54:28) It it was kind of in the 2020, and I had a video actually about vitamin k deficiency bleeding, so a baby that hadn't received vitamin k Mhmm. (54:37) At birth. (54:38) And I presented, like, a Google article.

Dr. Beachgem (54:40) Like, I googled an article. (54:42) So it was a research paper, and I I put it up. (54:45) Someone told my job that I had used a patient picture and a patient case, which I, again, I'd used. (54:52) You could clearly see the Google. (54:54) And so that's kind of that was my job's introduction to, I'm putting stuff online now.

Dr. Beachgem (54:59) And I obviously, like, they were like, You know what? (55:01) Don't you're good. (55:02) Obviously, be careful. (55:03) But I've had many a discussion with HR and vice presidents of things. (55:08) Again, open communication, partnership, they're fine with me doing what I do as long as we have certain boundaries and obviously protecting patient privacy and stuff like that.

Dr. Beachgem (55:18) So we have some rules and boundaries in place. (55:20) I'm very appreciative that they're letting me do all of this.

Scott Benner (55:23) Yeah.

Dr. Beachgem (55:23) And they I think, you know, they appreciate me putting, you know, evidence based information out widely.

Scott Benner (55:29) I was gonna say it's gotta be good for them too. (55:31) Right? (55:32) Maybe you're really well liked.

Dr. Beachgem (55:34) Yeah. (55:34) You know, I don't know.

Scott Benner (55:36) You don't know?

Dr. Beachgem (55:37) Like, you know, because I think any anything you do on social media, there's gonna be someone that is upset. (55:41) Like, even if you just say, like, have a great day, there's gonna be someone that's like, I don't wanna have a great day. (55:49) I think that a hospital that really is focused on taking care of kids in the best way possible, and all of a sudden you've got someone on social media and it's like, focus is really trying to do this and you're over here, you know, making these little videos. (56:03) I I think that they're they are really supportive, but I I think that, you know, they're really focused on their mission of trying to help kids.

Scott Benner (56:09) Do you have people that hate listen or hate watch you?

Dr. Beachgem (56:12) All the time. (56:13) Yeah. (56:13) Of course.

Scott Benner (56:13) I I have a small band of, people who I think maybe are unwell who, enjoy listening to me, but don't seem to like me or anything that I say. (56:22) Yeah. (56:22) I always explain to them when they're listening, your downloads sell to the advertisers just like everybody else's, so thank you very much. (56:29) What about being, like, this person online? (56:33) Is there anything about it you don't like?

Dr. Beachgem (56:36) No. (56:36) No? (56:36) I I the negativity that comes with it sometimes, I think that gets a little frustrating. (56:41) But my main goal of, like, I wanna educate people. (56:44) You know, I wanna use this as a coping mechanism to avoid burnout at work.

Dr. Beachgem (56:48) Like, I think it's functioning well in those aspects. (56:50) So

Scott Benner (56:51) Good. (56:51) That's awesome. (56:52) I I I'm glad to hear that. (56:53) I don't have a lot of downside to what I do either. (56:55) I just I was wondering if there was, like, how's the business y side of it?

Scott Benner (56:59) Like, you have like, obviously, you guys listening reached out to doctor Beach Jem and she she gave up and and and messaged me, like, so thank you. (57:07) At the same time, like, then you passed me off to, like, a management company or something like that. (57:11) Like, the day you did that, were you like, oh my god. (57:13) I have a management company? (57:14) Like, that's gotta be crazy.

Scott Benner (57:16) Right? (57:16) No?

Dr. Beachgem (57:17) Yeah. (57:17) Yeah. (57:17) I am really bad at answering emails as it turns out. (57:22) Mhmm. (57:22) And so when I was doing brand deals and they were trying to do, like, onboarding stuff and I had to answer emails to get paid, like, I I wasn't doing well with that just because I wanna focus on the the good stuff.

Dr. Beachgem (57:31) And so I hired a management team or I kind of was approached By somebody. (57:36) That encouraged me to find a management team. (57:38) I am absolutely in love with the the group that I have. (57:41) Lanea is amazing. (57:42) They really just help get everything organized and on board, and she kind of knows when I'm awake and when I'm sleeping and can just make things happen when it needs to happen.

Scott Benner (57:51) No kidding. (57:52) I don't have anything like that. (57:53) Like, so but there's something that sounds incredibly attractive about it. (57:57) I don't I don't wanna ask you this question because I feel like I'm gonna ask you, do you make enough money that that makes sense financially? (58:02) But I don't wanna ask you that.

Scott Benner (58:03) Like, so

Dr. Beachgem (58:04) I think the thing that most influencers or creators will tell you about a management company is that they will sift through the deals and find the ones that work for you. (58:12) They will also go out and find deals if that's something you're interested in.

Scott Benner (58:17) Mhmm.

Dr. Beachgem (58:18) And most of the time, they will ask for more money from whatever brand deal you're gonna be working with enough that it more than covers their portion of it.

Scott Benner (58:27) Are you saying I'm not charging enough? (58:29) Okay.

Dr. Beachgem (58:29) It could be. (58:29) And

Scott Benner (58:30) Alright. (58:30) No.

Dr. Beachgem (58:30) A lot of times, we undervalue ourselves. (58:32) Like, we talked about this. (58:33) Like, we're Yeah. (58:34) We're in it to educate. (58:35) We're in it to talk to people and and help people be better be their better selves.

Scott Benner (58:40) Mhmm.

Dr. Beachgem (58:40) And so we undervalue ourselves, kind of as it is, and I never would have thought, you know, this brand deal would have brought in, you know, near what it did. (58:50) Yeah. (58:50) But I have someone who believes in me that said, you know, this is what you're worth.

Scott Benner (58:54) Is there ever been a moment where you wondered if you're gonna keep practicing? (58:59) No. (58:59) It's not gotten that. (59:00) And you love it too much to stop doing that anyway is what I'm hearing. (59:03) Yeah.

Scott Benner (59:03) Yeah.

Dr. Beachgem (59:03) And if I stopped, I think I would have a hard time restarting just because you can lose skills. (59:08) So I this is not something that I would change.

Scott Benner (59:11) Oh, so you do see this as something that could possibly flare out, the social media thing?

Dr. Beachgem (59:15) Everyone asks my five year plan, and there is no plan. (59:18) I'm just, you know, one day at a time, and whatever happens happens. (59:21) And if I can work for another fifteen years and keep doing it, we'll keep doing it.

Scott Benner (59:26) Yeah. (59:27) You you would probably connect much with the idea that every year, I think this is the last year I'm making the podcast. (59:32) Anybody who works with me on a professional side, I'm like, well, I mean, obviously, it'll be over after this year. (59:37) And then, you know, we'll all go on our way. (59:38) And they're like, why do you think that?

Scott Benner (59:39) I'm like, well, I mean, because this is ridiculous. (59:42) That's why. (59:43) Like, it's not a real thing. (59:45) I keep thinking I'm just gonna end up being, a really popular Walmart reader. (59:49) Because unlike you, I can't fall back on being a doctor when I think it was bad.

Scott Benner (59:52) Like, I'm a I was a stay at home dad who became a popular podcaster. (59:57) Like, I don't have a there's nowhere for me to go exactly. (1:00:00) I I don't it's funny you said the same thing that I always think is that I don't have even the life skills I had before this, I don't even think they're transferrable to now. (1:00:08) And I don't know that I really remember what I was doing before that, actually. (1:00:12) It's really interesting.

Scott Benner (1:00:13) Your family at all. (1:00:14) Do your kids I heard you say you have kids. (1:00:16) Kids or your husband, do they mind any of this, or they're good with it?

Dr. Beachgem (1:00:19) They don't seem to mind very much. (1:00:21) I think I've been doing it so long. (1:00:23) They've just gotten kind of accustomed to it, and it's been kind of slow growth. (1:00:26) Like, it hasn't just jumped very quickly. (1:00:28) It's really just kind of been a slow growth over time.

Scott Benner (1:00:30) Mhmm.

Dr. Beachgem (1:00:31) You know, I think we've created some, like, safety things for them, like, when we're out in public. (1:00:35) I get approached quite often by people that just wanna say hi or selfie, but, you know, there have been times where they've been more interested in the kids, and so we've had to create good boundaries there. (1:00:46) The kids, I don't think it registers as much for them

Scott Benner (1:00:49) Yeah.

Dr. Beachgem (1:00:50) You know, what this actually

Scott Benner (1:00:51) is. (1:00:51) I have to tell you the coolest part about you besides the fact that you're incredibly normal and yet lovely to speak to and knowledgeable is that you don't have any of that, like, influencer vibe. (1:01:01) Like, I've never felt that once from you. (1:01:03) I've never felt like you've turned the camera on and willed yourself to be excited. (1:01:06) Do you know what I mean?

Scott Benner (1:01:08) Like, everybody. (1:01:09) Like, you know, like, that kind of thing or, like or ask one of those leading, like, social media questions that, like, they they know the algorithm. (1:01:15) You don't think about any of that, do you?

Dr. Beachgem (1:01:17) I do try to, you know, sometimes bring a hook.

Scott Benner (1:01:20) Okay.

Dr. Beachgem (1:01:20) Like, a little something to bring it in, and maybe it's, like, the top of the screen or the bottom of the screen because I want you to hear what I have to say. (1:01:27) Like, I think what I have to say is important, but I try not to do the, like, the cringey hooks as much as I can. (1:01:33) Yeah. (1:01:33) Like, I made a Christmas one yesterday where I very quickly said something that would catch someone's attention, and I'll avoid saying it out loud at this point. (1:01:41) But you can go see that Christmas video if you wanna find that out.

Scott Benner (1:01:45) Follow and subscribe. (1:01:46) I

Dr. Beachgem (1:01:48) I just I I don't know if there's kids listening, and so I just

Scott Benner (1:01:51) Oh. (1:01:51) Oh, no. (1:01:52) I saw that one. (1:01:53) That one's awesome. (1:01:53) Yeah.

Scott Benner (1:01:54) And there might be kids listening. (1:01:55) Yeah. (1:01:56) It's so funny you said that because the way you did it with the visual, I thought that's what everyone wants to know from an ER doctor. (1:02:02) What have you found in people's butts? (1:02:04) And you have to go home and tell people.

Scott Benner (1:02:06) Right? (1:02:06) I mean, you keep their details out of it. (1:02:07) You don't not go home and say to your husband, I found a Christmas tree candle and how would you not?

Dr. Beachgem (1:02:12) Yeah. (1:02:12) You know, people always ask, like, what's the most interesting case you've ever seen? (1:02:16) And they actually don't wanna hear about the most interesting case. (1:02:18) They wanna hear about the butt stuff. (1:02:20) Yeah.

Dr. Beachgem (1:02:22) And, you know, I don't know. (1:02:23) Maybe, like, the first couple cases that I saw, you know, like, someone put something somewhere up. (1:02:28) But at this point, like, working in pediatrics, like, we see it pretty commonly and Wait.

Scott Benner (1:02:32) Kids put stuff in their butts?

Dr. Beachgem (1:02:34) Yeah. (1:02:34) And I see up to the age of about 21, and so some of our teenagers or some of our young adults.

Scott Benner (1:02:38) Gotcha.

Dr. Beachgem (1:02:39) I don't know how to say this in a way. (1:02:41) You know, I think it's important to talk to kids about their bodies. (1:02:44) Mhmm. (1:02:44) And sometimes kids experiment with their bodies in in ways that we wouldn't necessarily expect, and kids are way, way more honest than adults are about that situation. (1:02:54) Like

Scott Benner (1:02:55) Yeah.

Dr. Beachgem (1:02:55) They'll tell you, you know, what happened and, you know, they're kinda like, yeah. (1:02:58) Okay.

Scott Benner (1:02:58) Uh-huh. (1:02:59) Well, listen. (1:03:00) I I think it's when people are honest and and communicate well, I think everything seems to go better. (1:03:05) Did you enjoy doing this with me? (1:03:06) Was this okay for you?

Dr. Beachgem (1:03:07) Did. (1:03:07) I did. (1:03:08) This was good.

Scott Benner (1:03:08) This was good. (1:03:09) I will thank you very much for doing this and ask you just to hold on one second for me. (1:03:13) But please, first, before you go, tell people how to find you. (1:03:16) Mean, I don't think they need my help, but are you everywhere? (1:03:19) Or

Dr. Beachgem (1:03:19) I'm on TikTok at Beach Gem 10 and YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram at doctor period beach gem ten, or just Google beach gem, and you could probably find me.

Scott Benner (1:03:28) Wow. (1:03:29) That's awesome. (1:03:29) Alright. (1:03:30) Well, doctor Beach Gem, thank you so much for doing this. (1:03:32) I really do appreciate your time.

Dr. Beachgem (1:03:34) Appreciate your time as well. (1:03:35) Thank you.

Scott Benner (1:03:41) Thank you so much for listening. (1:03:43) I hope you enjoyed my conversation with doctor Beach Jam. (1:03:45) Don't forget, she'll be back soon, so subscribe and follow not to miss any of that. (1:03:49) And in the meantime, if you have type one diabetes or you know somebody who does, please don't forget to suggest this podcast to them. (1:03:56) If they need management help, we have the bold beginnings series, the diabetes pro tip series, and much more.

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