#876 Best of Juicebox: Altered Minds
Originally aired on May 28, 2021. Scott and Jenny talk about how high and low BGs impact your ability to think.
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Scott Benner 0:00
Hello friends and welcome to episode 876 of the Juicebox Podcast
Hello and welcome back to the best of the Juicebox Podcast. Today, we are revisiting episode 485 altered minds. This is an episode where Jenny Smith and I discuss how high and low blood sugars can impact a person. While you're listening today, please remember that nothing you hear that Juicebox Podcast should be considered advice, medical or otherwise, always consult a physician before making any changes to your healthcare plan or becoming bold with insulin. Are you a US resident who has type one or the caregiver of someone with type one, please go to T one D exchange.org. Forward slash juicebox. Join the registry complete the survey. When you complete that survey. You are helping type one diabetes research to move forward right from your sofa. You also might be helping out yourself and you're supporting the podcast T one D exchange.org. Forward slash juicebox.
This episode of the podcast is sponsored by cozy earth. Now you can get 35% off your entire order at cozy earth.com Just by using the offer code juicebox at checkout, I'm wearing cozy Earth joggers and a sweatshirt right now these joggers are like the best and our sheets are super duper super, super cool. And silky and soft. Also from cozy Earth cozy earth.com use the offer code juice box to save 35% Hello and welcome to episode 485 of the Juicebox Podcast guest who's on the show today.
Today on the podcast, I'm joined by Jenny Smith. Jenny, of course, is from all the defining diabetes episodes, and the Pro Tip series. And today she's here to talk about how people can be altered in their in their minds when their blood sugars are high or low. Right. So if you're looking for an understanding of what high and low might make someone feel like or could make you feel like this is the episode for you. During this conversation, please remember that nothing you hear on the Juicebox Podcast should be considered advice, medical or otherwise, always consult a physician before making any changes to your health care plan. Were becoming bold with insulin.
Jenny holds a bachelor's degree in Human Nutrition and biology from the University of Wisconsin. She is a registered and licensed dietitian, a certified diabetes educator and a certified trainer I'm most makes and models of insulin pumps and continuous glucose monitors. One day when I grew up, I hope to be just like Jenny.
The T one D exchange needs 6000 people to join the registry. And I have to keep saying this to you until you do it so that he went to exchanges looking for T one D adults and T one D caregivers who are US residents. They want you to participate in a quick survey that can be completed in just a few minutes from your phone or computer after you finish the questions. And they are very simple. I completed the survey in about seven minutes. You may be contacted annually to update your information. And they may even ask you a couple more questions. But this is 100% Anonymous, it is completely HIPAA compliant, and it does not require you to ever visit a doctor or go to a remote site. See this is interesting. This is a way for you in just a few minutes to help other people living with type one diabetes. past participants have helped bring increased coverage for test trips. Medicare coverage for CGM, and changes in the ADA is guideline for pediatric a one C goals. These are important behind the scenes things that people with type one diabetes need, and you have a unique opportunity to help them. These are not deep probing personal questions. They're pretty simple basic surface diabetes stuff, but they just need the data. Help them AT T one D exchange.org, forward slash juicebox. And at the very least, if 6000 of you go right now, I don't have to say this again, do it for me. I'm kidding, do it for the other people living with type one diabetes. But I mean, if you want to think of me while you're doing it, it's fine. This one's weird. But I will say.
Jennifer Smith, CDE 5:22
I mean, it's it came from somebody
Scott Benner 5:24
came from somebody, but it's not from somebody. But But it made a lot of sense to me when they said it, and then I left it on my list for a long time. And every time I look at the list, I'm like, Yeah, we're gonna have to talk about that. I think so.
Jennifer Smith, CDE 5:38
Hopefully, I have something.
Scott Benner 5:41
So I'm posing this next question to you, Jenny. Because you have diabetes, and you would have, you would have a real feeling for what this is? Maybe? We'll see. We'll see. Hopefully, I think you will. So I hear this from either parents or spouses usually. And it's something we make light of in communities and joke about, like I've said before, to my daughter, you know, when she was little, I'm going to test your blood sugar. And if it's not high or low, you're in trouble. Right? You know, like, because you kind of can't, you can't tell, like, is somebody acting a certain way? Because they're altered? Or are they acting a certain way? Because they're, you know, right, a pain in the ass. So like, you know, which isn't, but that always makes me feel like what is the person with diabetes hearing when they're altered? And so that's what I want to understand. And when I'm we're gonna do both. But let's start with higher blood sugar. So I know there's no Mendoza line that you can point to perfectly. But I will say I've always said in the past that as Arden is active if her blood sugar starts to creep above 161 80, I could see her slow down, her reactions get slower, things like that. We know that people get cloudier. We've talked about on the podcast a million times as you get higher and higher. But what's it like to be in your head? When your blood sugar's higher? Like, like, what if your kids are acting up? Or your husband's being unreasonable? Or you have to make dinner? Like and like, what does that feel like to you?
Jennifer Smith, CDE 7:18
Yeah, I think it to me, it feels one, I'm just annoyed. Right? And it's not annoyance with them. It's annoyance for the number for whatever it is where it is, right. And it can be even worse, if it was like a bad site, right? That now, you know, like, fiddling with for a while to actually get it. And I think then it the mental piece of that then comes when you're trying to manage this number that you're not happy with. And somebody interrupts that train of thought and that interrupt by, they're not like doing it intentionally to ask you, you know, can we have applesauce for dinner mom, you know, like, it's just a piece in the mix. So I think mine is more like, it's just a mental struggle at that point. And I do also tend to, I get kind of headachy. Okay, not so much when I have lows, but more. So when I am higher, it's that like, mental, that foggy kind of piece. And it makes me feel headachy not the kind that's like a throbbing, but it's like that cloudy kind of headache that you get. And again, that's just an irritating factor in and of itself, too.
Scott Benner 8:40
So there's a mechanical portion of it where it is, you know, for whatever reason, either you, maybe you missed on a Bolus, or you said your site went wrong or something. So there's, there's a mechanical piece like I need to fix this thing, which becomes irritating as it would to any person like, like, if I walked into a doorframe, I'd be like, I cannot believe I just walked into a doorframe like that. So you've got that going on. And then you have the actual act of having to fix it. And then you're focused on that someone else comes in so this is still all mechanical like but then the headache happens. And that's not something like a like a like a warning light on your palm doesn't go off and say Jenny's got a headache now, right? So when a five year old comes at you, you you can't say to yourself, I'm I feel the pain in my head that I'm not even aware of yet. I'm going to react it you don't have like, that's not how thinking works. So then you're just level of irritation is, does it? Here's how I Here's one. Here's how my wife puts it. Around her period. She'll tell me I'm not being unreasonable. I just have less space for bullshit is how she puts
Jennifer Smith, CDE 9:52
it. That's really great.
Scott Benner 9:56
I don't I think she's covering for herself but I understand Have the intent of what she's saying. So there's a, there's a ceiling in people before they get upset, right. And there's all kinds of, of outside irritants that can limit that ceiling. But just your blood sugar being higher physically, can take away from your ability to, to abide both, basically, I guess, correct.
Jennifer Smith, CDE 10:21
And, you know, from my standpoint to, you know, with the work that I do, and all of the data management that I do and interpreting things for people, I mean, the majority of my management is just because they want to be healthy, right? But the other piece of it is, it also leads into my work. Can I get worked on really well, if I'm sitting really high, or if I'm sitting really low, my brain isn't functioning well on either level. So that management piece is always also there to benefit. I'm not typing out a message that's like, you know, I don't know why you're blessed.
Scott Benner 11:02
Mary, why don't you just figure it out yourself? I paid this lady helped me with my blood sugar. And she yelled at me. Yeah, that wouldn't be great. No, but I want people to understand that whether and I think they do. But if I do, I think they do understand that a higher blood sugar could be an issue. But the problem is, again, that you don't walk around as a person with diabetes with your blood sugar across your forehead. So when I come up to you, you're just Jenny to me. I don't know if your blood sugar's to 20. And you have a headache. And so how, what I guess what should those people be looking for? So that they can back up and go, Oh, you know what, this could be that because even if I understand that your budget, say I come up to you, you react oddly. And I immediately understand that your blood sugar that's high. If I say to you, oh, your blood sugar is high. I'm sorry. That's just gonna make it worse. Right? That's the, that's the diabetes equivalent of me saying, Oh, you have your period. I won't bring up the car payment right now. Right. Okay. Okay. Yeah,
Jennifer Smith, CDE 12:02
Yeah, kinda. And I think it does bring up a good. A good point, though, especially for I think this goes more for adults who have a spouse or a significant other or partner or whatever. Because like, Nathan, he follows he's got Dexcom follow, you know, if Scott my stuff, but I mean, he doesn't keep it open and follow me all day, he's got the alarm set, and all of that for like, high and low. But other than that, I mean, he just, he likes me alone, honestly, which I'm very thankful for, I'd say to counting carbs for me if he's like done dinner or something, you know, which is awesome. But in that regard, I think it also means that as the person with diabetes, you kind of also have to share more at times. Because as I do more often with my kids, I share with them, you know, this is what I feel like right now and go color in your coloring book for like 10 minutes while Mommy changes her bad pod, or whatever it is? No, but I think it means that you have to express a little bit in order to decrease the chance that somebody's going to interpret your reaction to something in the wrong way. Because certainly, I mean, that's happened in the married a long time. And there's definitely been like blood sugar reasons for reactions that didn't really come out as response that I meant it to come out kind of sounding like. So I think sometimes you have to be open enough to be able to say, hey, you know, I need this, like, 15 minutes to manage around this, come back and like, ask me in a bit,
Scott Benner 13:42
but that could come out as I wish I would have dated your brother instead. There you go. So I have a little context around this, which I've mentioned often on the podcast over like the last year or so. And it's just that my, my iron level got really low. And I completely understand what you're saying, like saying words, not having the intention behind them that the words have and also not being able to see that it's happening. Like that's the interesting thing, like when you're saying something to somebody, even if it's a tone, you know, just the wrong tone. And you don't know what's the wrong tone while you're saying it. Like when you're being sarcastic with somebody when you're you know, when you're in an argument you're like, I'm gonna ramp this up right now, you're aware you're going to do like, I'm going to say something now that's going to make you upset, but it's happening. And not only do you not know what's happening, but you don't think it's happening. And that's the that's the real fascinating part like is that you're doing this it feels like it's you're doing it but it's just that there's a level of a, a trace element or something in your body. For me it was iron, you know, for you, it's going to be not enough insulin, and you're just you're not yourself and it's It's tough because you're asking you're getting you're an adult who's Ultra aware of their blood sugar's like you really like you're, you know, you do an amazing job for yourself. So maybe you can see it. We're all trying, right one way or the other. But my point is that maybe you've been able to teach yourself over time to go my numbers up, like I won't get involved in an important conversation right now, where I'll send my kids off the collar for a second so that I don't tell them I wish I didn't have children. But but you know, when your kids 16, or you're 24, and you've had diabetes for a year and a half, and you're at work, like you don't, you're not gonna see that common like that.
Jennifer Smith, CDE 15:42
No. And mine's more so in terms of like, like, spit out of things that I don't even know that I've like said the way that I've said is more so even when I'm low,
Scott Benner 15:53
honestly, let's switch to that idea. Now.
Jennifer Smith, CDE 15:57
It's, there's much more like the it's like a fragment of like thought in your brain. You're trying to manage how you're feeling with this low while you're probably waiting for the low to not be low anymore. And in that come the things of life. I mean, unless you're a single person and not interacting with kids or adults or other people around you. There's always someone you're interacting with. And that interaction, then in that time period where your brain isn't really firing all. Wait, it doesn't you don't interpret it coming out in sort of the jagged way that it does. And then aftermath is often Well, I'm really sorry, or, you know, I didn't mean that, or, I've Well, I felt like crap. Does he bother to me?
Scott Benner 16:49
Does it feel like that afterwards, like after it's over, and you're okay. Do you have the guilt that you did something wrong? Because it's not true? Right, you know,
Jennifer Smith, CDE 17:02
right. I mean, only in the scenario that, you know, we may have been potentially discussing something or whatnot. And that was the case during that discussion. Yeah. I mean, that obviously, every time by any means, do I feel bad about, you know, yeah. But yeah, it's a hard, it's a hard thing. And sometimes even with lows, I think that I will have responded to something. And it's been in my head that I've actually and my husband will be like, Did you hear what I asked you? And I'll be like, I told you, whatever. And he's like, No, it really didn't say it out loud. It just like that muddiness that I've, I think commented about before when I feel like I'm like, sort of like
Scott Benner 17:50
that's the real low there's a slide in there there in the beginning, right and numbers wise, doesn't really matter. But you know, if you're the way I think of it with Arden is maybe between I would say it's 65. Artem maintains herself. Hey, Dad, I feel dizzy. You know, like, she's just like that. She's a little kind of jokey about it right there. It's almost like you could be like, Hey, let's not do anything and see if you die. And she'd be like, okay.
Jennifer Smith, CDE 18:16
Yeah, that level, but it's Yeah, right. She's
Scott Benner 18:19
elated for some reason, right there, okay. And then it goes down, and her energy drops away. But if you were to catch her there, if somehow she got past the elated part into that part, and that's where you first intersected her, she'd be snappy, like, Loreal, short and nasty, right? And then I think after the nasty is what you were just talking about where the last, the last fragments or thoughts are, right? Yeah. Okay. It's almost like a and then there's, you know, falling over and not being able to help yourself. But as it's happening, are you able to consciously think, hey, my brain is trying to shut off and I'm the only one who's going to stop it. Right? Or does it turn into just a physical like, eat something feeling?
Jennifer Smith, CDE 19:06
I think it's probably a little bit of both. I mean, in my, I can't remember a specific time. Soon after my first was born, we had gone I think it was too cold to actually and I was standing in, and I was nursing IVs at that point. So all the fluxes that can kind of come with blood sugar and whatnot, mostly like lows and my husband had gone off looking for something in like the men's department and I was standing like, in the toy department. We were looking for something specific for our little guy. And I can remember feeling low, and like, you can determine like those dropping lows. I was dropping, and so I sat down with my baby on the floor. And I get out you know, my glucose tablets and I'm eating my glucose tablets and I I had my husband found me. I mean, I was fine. But I was sitting there just like waiting for the load to fix itself, because I knew that I had taken care of it. But in that I had also gotten my phone out. And I was texting him to come to the kids department, right? Because I was low, only I never hit send. Okay, I was just like, that's kind of that like, broken, like thought kind of that can happen.
Scott Benner 20:28
Wow. Do you ever get in a moment like that? Is? Are you cognizant enough to think don't fall forward on the baby? Like, do you have like, do you have those feelings? Like all
Jennifer Smith, CDE 20:38
the reason that I sat down? I mean, from my back thought to what I was doing, I would have thought, you know, I need to sit down. I've got a baby who clearly can't stand on his own yet, you know, I mean, it was I think he was probably like six months old or something. And it's a sit down, treat your low blood sugar. I mean, I've always been able to treat so I've never had an issue with not being able to help myself. Outside of like, when I was a teen with my parents. So yeah, but it's, it is I mean, in those instances, sometimes there's not enough to like even like, be angry, you just can't even communicate quite right.
Scott Benner 21:15
It's interesting. It's super interesting to me the way that first of all, the way your body handles a falling blood sugar, it's, it's when you start losing faculties, you're it's your body shutting down, it's basically services. It's like, oh, we don't need that one, like and it just, it just, it has this finite amount of sugar in your blood. And its goal is to keep your brain running. Correct, right. And so it starts shutting me out, stop, right, stop sending sugar to this idea. And this idea. So you're like, going down, and it's your body going like, it really is, it's like, let's try to see how long we can stay alive until something intervenes. But you describe the the actual actions you take very similarly. Like, alright, like, Okay, I'm not okay, I'll sit down, I'll start taking these things. That's more important than telling someone right now, it's important to tell, like you're doing the same thing. You're making these like,
Jennifer Smith, CDE 22:11
it's just that you're not like, consciously. It's almost like your brain like those, like files in the back that were like, do this now. They take over, even though you're not really like, consciously aware that you're like sitting down and like drinking your juice box, or whatever it is, you do it because it's a habit. And you know that that's what you need to do with the symptom?
Scott Benner 22:36
Would you looking back on a scenario like that, if that if the Jeeva hypo pen existed, then would you being with your baby, would that have been enough for you to be like, I'm not going to take tablets, I'm going to hit myself with glucagon. Or no, you still would have handled it that way.
Jennifer Smith, CDE 22:54
You know, possibly, with, with what I remember about that being such a quick drop in my blood sugar, I mean, it's not like we're running around the story. It's just like, I'd probably nurse before we went in the store to keep him happy. And like, there was enough to feed into the store. But I mean, maybe I mean, I certainly have got like an extra back cine that I typically take out, especially when we're like traipsing around the neighborhood to the parks, and whatever. I mean, my eight year old knows about it. So possibly, I might have done that.
Scott Benner 23:33
Just because me with the back shimmy, and like the G vote now being like ready to go. But prior to that I only ever thought of glucagon is like, you passed out and somebody came upon you and gave it to you. Like that's how it felt. But now all of a sudden, like it's there, and it's easy to use. And like, I wondered about that, like how you would think about it?
Jennifer Smith, CDE 23:53
Yeah, yeah, you could, I mean, it's certainly not a bad thought by any means. Especially I've worked with a couple of women post well through pregnancy and then postpartum who have had spouses who've been military. And so they have after a certain amount of time, postpartum, you know, their spouse goes back, you know, might be deployed again, someplace completely away from where they are, they're pretty much on their own. With a baby, they might have the support of friends or family coming in once in a while, but that's not at two o'clock in the morning. So you know, in a case like that, where you're dropping a really low and you're really worried about it not sure. That's what a product like that is therefore it's also the benefit potentially, of, you know, like mini dosing that age old red Lily glucagon.
Scott Benner 24:42
So, here's the question then, because I came at this from the idea of the people who are going to interact with a person who's either too high or too low. I have to be honest, when Arden in the past has been too low, where she's refusing, I just go with like a forceful Because I think like, I tried talking or like, you know, I've gone with the Come on sweetie drink it, it's really important like that stuff that doesn't go it's almost like you're not talking to the complete her know, you know and so you just you make these declarative forceful statements, drink the juice, drink it, drink the juice, drink the juice drinks, and I'm talking like I remember I know people say to me all the time, you know, you must know what it's like to raise a little kid with diabetes back before all the technology and I don't talk about it very much, but it's really bad. And so you know, like back before CGM and all that. There's, it's three o'clock in the morning. You're there with a six year old and you're like, alright, and drink the juice, like drink the goddamn juice right now, you know, and because there also was no CGM, like at some point. So what's happening? Yeah, I'm like, you know, and you don't, you're not yelling, you're gonna die. But you're, it's how it feels in your head when you're talking to them. And I think that's much easier to figure out with a low blood sugar, right? Like, that's obvious to people, but it's the, it's always the high ones that make me I feel badly, like, I feel badly when I hear I've used this example over and over again, but it sticks with me, like right in the center of my heart so much that a woman found the podcast, it helped her daughter. And when she sent me a note, months later, to thank me, she said, I really just thought my daughter was a bitch her words, and that we weren't going to get along for our whole life. And it turns out, my daughter is a lovely person. And I didn't know because her blood sugar was always high. And that makes me want to cry. And, you know, and, and the, the idea that that could happen, either at the beginning, right? Like, you'll hear people say, Oh, I didn't realize, you know, that this stuff happened, or I helped somebody recently, with a baby, a young kid who has autism. And at the end of talking, I said, Hey, you might see a difference in, you know, just how to validate personality and stuff. And that person was so sure that that wasn't going to happen. And then three days later said to me, you know, he is happier. And I said, Yeah, like you don't, you don't know. And then that's a sad situation, because then the the poor kid couldn't tell, you know, could isn't verbal to begin with very much. And but I just think about that for everybody else, if you're running around with blood sugars that are 170, all the time your body gets used to it. So physically, you think you're okay, but you're not like you're not the person, you were going to be right without diabetes, you know. And so there's just what
Jennifer Smith, CDE 27:40
even from a mental standpoint to even from performance, right? You may not be, you may not be putting out everything you possibly could putting things together, whether it's in school, or college or job or whatever. Because your brain is really not working at the level of glucose that is healthy for it to work at
Scott Benner 28:06
this conversation is at the core, why I initially years ago, brusque, so hard at the idea of better high than low. I was like, I don't think that's right. You know, you know, like, I think that that that does not seem right to me, I've known people who through a lifetime, we're not who they were supposed to be, I just know it. And if you lose your you know, it's it. Every day you lose is gone, every hour you lose is gone. And days turn into months that turn into years. And before you know what people just think you're a prick. And you know, and that's just not,
Jennifer Smith, CDE 28:40
you may not be at all. Yeah, maybe with
Scott Benner 28:43
another two units of basil all day long, you would have been an absolutely delightful person and that, and, and then I think about the people on the other side who have to deal with you who love you. And then think, Oh, I love a guy who's just a jerk, but maybe isn't, or you know, vice versa, or your kids or I don't know, I just I want people to be very aware that outside of a normal range, that the lack of or addition of sugar in your blood is having a real big impact on your personality and your ability to live and make decisions and everything right?
Jennifer Smith, CDE 29:16
I mean, I've even had parents who who've asked me, you know, how do you? How do you discipline your child with diabetes? When you're like, do you always refer back to the blood sugar to begin with? Or, you know, do you just discipline them as if they don't have diabetes? And quite honestly, think if they require discipline, because they threw the stone through the front window? Because they were aiming and wanted to do it? I mean, really, unless their blood sugar's like 12 really low or really high. Obviously, that was that was like a decision on their part. They deserve to be punished right away that
Scott Benner 29:56
if your blood sugar's 150, and you're breaking windows You're just a gift. Yeah, but, but But I mean, but if your blood sugar has been to 20 for your whole life, and you can't do well in math, it might not be because you're not good at math. Right? And you got to make that decision. Yeah, I mean, listen, I There are times, there's been one or two times that Arden has been so low, that she has said horrible things to me. And I just, I bear down and I think that's the blood sugar, and I just let it go. But you really have to be ready for it like because it's hard not to react. You know, I mean, Jenny, I'll bleep this out later. But when an eight year old calls you and you're like, Whoa, hold on. Please drink the juice. I wasn't looking for this I didn't recognize. And you know what, I've heard adults talk about it too, in a marriage situation where one person is physically stronger than the other person. And you know, can get low and then get, you know, violent, like, not on purpose, right. And now you're in a much different situation. Yeah,
Jennifer Smith, CDE 31:09
I actually had that when I was working in DC, a couple, an older couple had actually come in to our diabetes clinic. And the man was complaining, he's like, sometimes I'm scared. I think she had gone to the bathroom or something. And then we were just chatting. And I think it was on the topic of like, hypose. And he brought up he's like, sometimes I'm kind of scared of her. He's like, one day she threw a coffee cup. Okay, well, that wasn't really your wife. That was a low blood sugar.
Scott Benner 31:42
So I will tell you for blood sugars every 95 and she throws something at you. I don't think she likes you.
Jennifer Smith, CDE 31:48
Then there was something you did really nasty to her. So
Scott Benner 31:51
that's okay. I appreciate you talking about that was really good.
Could you just not talk to Jenny every day, I know I could. I wish I could actually just doesn't work out like that. Anyway, Jenny does this for a living it integrated diabetes.com. And you can check her out there. There's a link in the show notes. What comes next is about the T one D exchange. If you heard it in the last episode with Johnny, and you haven't done it, let's get to it. But if you haven't, the T one D exchange needs your help. And the help they need is super simple to give. You just go to T one D exchange.org. Forward slash juicebox. That's my link, use that link. And then when you get there, click on Join our registering now. And after that you complete this simple, quick survey. It's for US residents only. But it's so easy. Like right now, if you did it right now look at your watch. Or you probably don't have the watch to pick up your phone, touch the face of it. If you did it right now, you'd be done in less than 10 minutes. It took me three hours to bring you this episode. And this is all I'm asking in return. T one D exchange.org. Forward slash juicebox. I mean, seriously, I had to book Jenny, record the thing. Edit it. I mean, you notice how there's no like pops and clicks and noises and nothing distracting while you're listening. You're welcome. That was me. Scott. click click click with the mouse. They fix the whole thing for you. hours it took like you're just like, oh, it was a quick 25 minute episode. It was nice. God said insulins important. Bah, bah, no, no, there's more than that. It's deep. It's deep. It's building a narrative in your life about type one diabetes, giving you the tools and the access to information for the free. And all I ask is that you go to T one D exchange.org. Forward slash juicebox. I only need 6000 of you to do it. I mean, there were hundreds of 1000s of downloads last month. I just need six of you. And I'm saying of the hundreds of 1000s of downloads. I need 6000 I'm tired of saying it too. I know you're tired of hearing it. I'm tired of saying it. But I mean at some point one of us has got to pick up the mantle and do their part. I can only do this I filled out the survey is easy. Alright, I'm gonna stop I apologize. That was I that was too much. Too much. I should just say T one D exchange.org. Forward slash juicebox. You need to be a US resident who has type one or is the caregiver of someone with type one. Please go fill it out if you have the chance. I mean that's that's how I should say it. But I mean, come on. This podcast is amazing. And it's free. Free and what do I say to you? You know if you want to try out an omni pod, go to omnipod.com Ford slash juice box I say if you want to check out a Dexcom go to dexcom.com forward slash use box I say you want to get a great meter contour next.com forward slash juice box I say hey, my daughter's got this G voc hypo pen you should check it out. That's it. I mean, you don't have to check it out. I'm not telling you to buy an AMI. But it's not like if you don't buy an AMI pod, you're not allowed to listen anymore. I'm just saying if you're going to go check it out, but this T one D exchange thing. I mean, you're on the internet constantly. I see the people in my life. I know you don't put the phone down. And I'm not judging you. I'm just saying why you're doing it. You don't I mean, P one, D exchange.org. Forward slash juicebox. Help a guy out a little bit. Don't make me beg you. It's embarrassing. I'll tell you what, if the T one D exchange contacts me at the end of the month, next month at the end of June and says we've added 1000 new people to the registry. Thanks to you. If they say that, what will I do? I will do an online talk about using insulin. Once a week, in July, once a week. Okay, I'll come on. I'll do it on Zoom. It'll be free, obviously, because you helped me out with the D one D exchange thing. And I will answer everyone's questions as long as I can. If we reach 1000. Now if we reach 1500, I'll get Jenny on one of those calls. If you do 2000 I'll do the call. Right? Every day every what I say every week in July. Jenny wants and what else will I do? I'll do something else. That's cool. I don't know what yet, but trust me, I'll come through T one D exchange.org. Forward slash juicebox. Use the link complete the survey. That's it
I hope you enjoyed this best of episode altered minds. It's a personal favorite of mine. Would you like to save 35% on this sweatshirt that I'm wearing here? Are these silky joggers? Am I rubbing my legs while I'm saying it? I'm not gonna tell you because it sounds creepy, but they're super soft, cozy earth.com Save 35% at checkout with the offer code juice box. And of course you can get 10% off your first month of therapy@betterhelp.com forward slash juice box just by going through that link. It's all you have to do. Thank you so much for listening. I'll be back very soon with another episode of The Juicebox Podcast. If you enjoyed this conversation and you're not in my private Facebook group, it's absolutely free and I think you would love it Juicebox Podcast type one diabetes on Facebook private group 35,000 Plus members. That's over 35,000 members, tons of conversations, opinions, perspectives, and great conversation absolutely free. Go check it out.
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#875 Dog Faced Fox
Elle is the mother of a type 1 and her house is noisy.
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.
+ Click for EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
DISCLAIMER: This text is the output of AI based transcribing from an audio recording. Although the transcription is largely accurate, in some cases it is incomplete or inaccurate due to inaudible passages or transcription errors and should not be treated as an authoritative record. Nothing that you read here constitutes advice medical or otherwise. Always consult with a healthcare professional before making changes to a healthcare plan.
Scott Benner 0:00
Hello friends, and welcome to episode 875 of the Juicebox Podcast.
On today's episode I'll be speaking with the mother of a child with type one diabetes, her name is l and l was not good at getting her equipment set up. I'm not gonna lie about that. This just gets ridiculous and I mean funnier and funnier as it goes along. But nevertheless, while you're listening to it, please remember that nothing you hear on the Juicebox Podcast should be considered advice, medical or otherwise, always consult a physician before making any changes to your healthcare plan for becoming bold with insulin. If you're a US resident who has type one or is the caregiver of someone with type one, please, please please go to T one D exchange.org. Forward slash juicebox and complete the survey. So all I'm asking you to do in exchange for that here. If you want to get some super cozy jammies or bedspreads, sheets, towels, pajamas, cozy earth.com at checkout, use juicebox to save 35% on your entire order cozy earth.com there see fill out the survey for me and then go get yourself some like 35% off jammers. Although I would get these joggers if I was you there's so soft this episode of The Juicebox Podcast is sponsored by Omni pod five. Learn more about the tubeless insulin pump and how it works with the Dexcom G six at Omni pod.com forward slash juice box. Get yourself an omni pod five. podcast is sponsored today by better help better help is the world's largest therapy service and is 100% online. With better help, you can tap into a network of over 25,000 licensed and experienced therapists who can help you with a wide range of issues. betterhelp.com forward slash juicebox to get started, you just answer a few questions about your needs and preferences in therapy. That way BetterHelp can match you with the right therapist from their network. And when you use my link, you'll save 10% On your first month of therapy. You can message your therapist at any time and scheduled live sessions when it's convenient for you. Talk to them however you feel comfortable text chat phone or video call. If your therapist isn't the right fit. For any reason at all. You can switch to a new therapist at no additional charge. And the best part for me is that with better help you get the same professionalism and quality you expect from in office therapy. But with a therapist who is custom picked for you, and you're gonna get more scheduling flexibility, and a more affordable price. I myself have just begun using better help. Better help.com forward slash juicebox that's better help h e l p.com. Forward slash juice box save 10% On your first month of therapy. Don't don't start out don't start looking behind you. Because you're okay. You're gonna look away from other microphones. Okay, all right, I can do that. me a second. I'm so tired now it's over. Alright, so you're being recorded so that you know. Okay. I am a little lightheaded. Give me forever. That was like the longest one maybe ever. That's okay. I think what will happen is later today, you'll just realize there's a switch on the headset that turns the microphone on or something
Elle 3:49
like I've been looking around. It's not mine.
Scott Benner 3:53
Is there a switch on the wire?
Elle 3:55
There is a a volume control on the wire.
Scott Benner 3:59
Have you tried turning it to see what would happen? I have I've gone all the way
Elle 4:03
down. And I've gone all the way up. And it just makes you quieter or
Scott Benner 4:07
louder. Okay, good. Well, let's get that adjusted to where you want it. Yep. All right. Introduce yourself. So we can start talking.
Elle 4:19
Oh, my name is Elle and I have technical difficulties. I have four children. And one of them is type one who's my oldest?
Scott Benner 4:29
Alright, let me just make a suggestion to everybody have less children or fewer children. And then you can afford a Mac you understand what I'm saying?
Elle 4:37
Oh, my husband would never allow.
Scott Benner 4:40
Yeah, God forbid stuff would work. And
Elle 4:46
it doesn't make sense to my brain. I will say that the Apple System I cannot. Like if you thought that I had technical difficulties with this. You would do you would just hang up on me if we were trying to figure it out on Apple. So
Scott Benner 5:01
let me tell you what would happen if you had, if you had an apple, you would have turned it on it would have worked. And that would have been the end of it. You would, there wouldn't have been anything for you to understand.
Unknown Speaker 5:11
But I probably wouldn't figure
Elle 5:12
out how to listen to the podcast. So I don't know. Like,
Scott Benner 5:16
I think you would, I definitely think you would, I'm sticking with what I initially said, have fewer children buy a Mac. Okay, I know sometimes you go out there's like, these tablets are at $9. And these PCs are foreigner bucks like, oh, $4 just,
Elle 5:28
oh, I don't really use my PC a whole lot. If you couldn't guess that? I do you use my phone a lot. I don't know what my phone's problem was today. But honestly, technology in general just hates me. I have wanted to take my printer out and beat it with a baseball bat in my backyard. So many times,
Scott Benner 5:48
we absolutely should have recorded the last 20 minutes and just put it at the end of the episode. Just just my my two favorite parts where you call it you were kept referring to the computer as it but you weren't referring to the computer, you're referring to the sentient decision making that was happening in front of you as it you're like doing this?
Elle 6:10
What else do you call it? What would you call it?
Scott Benner 6:12
Well, I mean, do you want to go over this? No. I tell me how old you are.
Elle 6:22
I am 36
Scott Benner 6:23
This is the closest I've come to speaking to my mom about tech.
Elle 6:29
I have been okay, so I signed up to be here at seven months ago. And every week I woken up and gone. My computer's not gonna work.
Scott Benner 6:37
Oh, you were right. I'm telling you, at least you're not paranoid. At least you're not paranoid. My mom when something would go wrong with her computer. She goes Come on guys. And I finally one day I was like Mom, who were the guys. Were the guys were talking about the computer. I was like, Well, who are you talking to? You're like it's doing this. And I'm like, I don't know what it is. And then, but the biggest. My biggest laugh I didn't actually tell you about was in the chat. While we were trying to figure out why it didn't work. You're like this was my biggest fear.
Unknown Speaker 7:16
And seemed like That's why
Scott Benner 7:19
I don't have an exact number L but I'm gonna guess I'm gonna guess that I record about I'm gonna make an educated guess here. I gotta do this. Don't spend weeks in the year say I'm the worst. Yeah, I'm gonna say that I record over 200 times a year. There are only technical difficulties about three times. I don't think they've ever gone on for 20 minutes before I win, as always, because here's what I feel like happened. I feel like you gave up.
Elle 7:56
But didn't. So I was like, I was walking up the stairs with confidence on my phone with my battery pack ready to go lock myself in the bedroom. And I'm like, it's gonna work. And I said testing, and nothing.
Scott Benner 8:12
I just maybe you didn't give up with effort, but I feel like he gave up in your heart. I feel like there was a moment where you were like, I knew this wasn't gonna work. And I'm not recording this podcast. Did that. Well, I
Elle 8:22
I sent a message to my friends before I started. Please wish all the blessings on my technology today. Because they know that this is this is my life. I'm cursed when it comes to technology.
Scott Benner 8:36
I'm gonna assume it's not you. I'm gonna tell you just keep squirreling away money. Get yourself a MacBook. Everything's gonna be fine. Okay. Alright, so I'm sorry, we gotta keep a diabetes, just say
Elle 8:53
he's 12.
Scott Benner 8:55
Okay. And you have four kids, though in total? Yes. How'd you figure that?
Unknown Speaker 9:03
Well, it works. Don't take computer for that. No technology
Scott Benner 9:07
for that. I'll tell you if you need to. You need a computer to have a baby. You'd be living with a cat. I have one of those. Alright, so hold on. So the 12 year olds got type one. And I don't need all the other particulars. But what are the ages the other kids just so I can make fun of your reproductive health and stuff like that letter nine, six and 2962. And you're 36 Six you married?
Elle 9:36
I've been married for almost 16 years since you were 20. I was 19. Oh, well. He was 20 by a couple days.
Scott Benner 9:45
Well, I don't care that your kid has diabetes as much anymore.
Elle 9:50
None of those were in there. None of them attended my wedding. Just so you know.
Scott Benner 9:53
I'm doing the math. Your choice is not what I'm saying. I want to know how you end up married at 19. Are you escaping the law? I know where you're running from l tell me right now. Don't you don't have to tell him. He thinks you love him. But where were you running from?
Elle 10:08
I wasn't running from anything. I promise. Like we chose to get married. We wanted to get married. And a lot of people tried to talk us out of it. But I remember
Scott Benner 10:18
where those married people trying to talk you out of it. Some of them. Yeah, it's because they've been married. Okay, so. Alright, see you. Wow, that's amazing. Like, were you in college or fresh out of high school? Or what was the situation?
Elle 10:34
We got engaged the week before? Oh, my goodness.
Scott Benner 10:37
Unbelievable. You have a dog too. After all the microphones. You're not allowed to have a dog and a microphone. That doesn't work. You have to pick one. That dog sounds like it just ran for its life and it's little feet wouldn't catch on to anything. Is that what happened?
Elle 10:53
Well, she's a corgi. So she is short. And she doesn't have much to catch on to around here. But she was chasing a cat.
Scott Benner 11:02
So. Alright, let's keep talking to see if we can find a good decision in your life.
Unknown Speaker 11:09
The Corgi is a good decision. Just saying.
Scott Benner 11:12
Isn't that the Queen's dog asleep?
Unknown Speaker 11:14
Yes.
Scott Benner 11:15
How the hell does she help? Oh, are you gonna say something? No. I'll be asleep.
Elle 11:22
Um, she will tell me if someone's here. She will tell me if there is something wrong in the world. Oh, corgis are very specific about who they let in their house and how the broom is put away.
Scott Benner 11:40
So this dog is stands in for your anxiety. Yeah.
Elle 11:49
Okay, me figuring she's my second Corgi. My first Corgi was
Scott Benner 11:53
from anxiety.
Elle 11:56
I got when my my oldest son was two. Oh, how long did they live? I'm usually around 15 years. She died when she was eight.
Scott Benner 12:08
I'm sorry. Yeah, that was unexpected. I imagined eight.
Elle 12:12
Yes, very. Gotcha. Um, but yeah, she. We had a person come to our house and make threats one night in the middle of the night. And after some counseling, I decided to get a dog.
Scott Benner 12:27
Oh, how did this How old were you when this happen? You're gonna tell me serious stuff. Don't let me joke about it first. Okay. So I mean,
Elle 12:35
she, she's a dog. So like, there's good and you know, scary things that. I mean, she, she's like companion. But I want to say she's not like registered or anything. She just
Scott Benner 12:47
helps you like a ninja or something like?
Elle 12:52
No, there was a situation where someone thought my husband was someone else and came in made threats to us. And I didn't sleep. Pretty much the last half of 2011.
Scott Benner 13:07
So sorry. So someone just shows up your house with a mistaken identity situation? Oh, okay. You don't have to tell. Do you want to not tell me?
Elle 13:16
I can tell you. It's just kind of a long story. My husband had a co worker that purchased a gun from him. And then he used it on himself intentionally. And his brother thought that my husband had somehow convinced him to use it or was a drug dealer or something. And he came to our house and we were sleeping. So like, we did not hear texts or calls. But evidently he sat outside my house for hours texting my husband, that he was going to harm us. And then when we woke up at like, three in the morning, we were like,
Scott Benner 13:56
what? And we're still outside.
Elle 14:00
He was not outside when we woke up and got the messages. Okay. All right. So he was a grieving brother. Right? But,
Scott Benner 14:08
and you live in Texas?
Unknown Speaker 14:10
No, no, I live in Iowa. I wasn't
Scott Benner 14:13
sure how many other states you could just like, sell sell a gun like that? Because I know in Texas, all this
Elle 14:18
was back in 2011. Okay. So things were a smidge different. But
Scott Benner 14:26
wow, that's terrible. Yeah, so sorry. Had you had you been an anxious person prior to that?
Elle 14:34
I've always been an anxious person. I remember waking up for kindergarten and feeling nauseous.
Scott Benner 14:39
Really? Yeah. Have you done anything about it? Um, as an adult.
Elle 14:45
So for the last, well, 13 years, I kind of feel like my body is not my own. Since I've been pregnant or nursing for the last 13 years. And so medication hymns and pregnancy and nursing don't always go, as well.
Scott Benner 15:04
So you would do something if you weren't so busy pumping these kids out. All right.
Elle 15:10
I mean, the dog worked for a while.
Scott Benner 15:14
For a while, such a strong title for the episode, you're talking.
Elle 15:22
And I mean, it's still like, if I leave her at the kennel, or whatever it's called, when you like, go out of town and and you'll get back in time to pick her up. have a hard time sleeping sometimes.
Scott Benner 15:33
Wow. Okay, does this been passed on any of your kids? Do you see any anxiety with the kids?
Elle 15:40
Well, that, that plays a pretty big part in my son's diagnosis story. Go ahead. So, in I'm gonna say, march 2020, which is all you know, everybody knows what that is. We, you know, can't play with our friends. We can't go to the park and meet up with people. We can't do any of the activities that we've been doing. So my son starts talking about how he can't sleep at night. And like, he thinks he has heartburn he thinks he has upset stomach. And at one point between there and diagnosis, he like he came down, he's like, I can feel my heart beating. And we just thought that he had anxiety. Okay. He's a very extroverted kid. And we had just moved to our current house, just from across town, but there were no kids at my other neighborhood. And when we moved in the first day, we moved in, he was playing with neighborhood kids in our yard. And like, that was a really important thing for both of us, that he have friends and relationships. And then in March, all of that was just taken away. I mean, for good reason, obviously. But
Scott Benner 17:02
before we go on, is there a washing machine behind your air coming out of a vent, or oh, it's the air conditioner.
Unknown Speaker 17:08
Do you want me to turn it off?
Scott Benner 17:10
I don't want you to sweat. What do you say?
Unknown Speaker 17:12
I'll be alright, I'll turn it off. I'll be right back.
Scott Benner 17:15
You're fine. What's the dog's name? My daughter Arden began wearing the Omni pod tubeless insulin pump on February 4 2009. That was 5093 days ago. Were another way to think of it 1697 pods ago. At that time, she was four years old. Hang out with me for a moment while I tell you more about the Omni pod Omni pod.com forward slash juice box. Today Arden is 18 and still wearing Omni pod back then there was one choice just one pod but today you have a decision to make. Do you want the Omni pod five, the first and only tubeless automated insulin delivery system to integrate with the Dexcom G six, because if you do, it's available right now for people with type one diabetes ages two years and older. The Omni pod five is an algorithm based pump that features smart adjust technology. That means that the Omni pod five is adjusting insulin delivery based on your customized target glucose that's helping you to protect against high and low blood sugars, both day and night. Automatically. Both the Omni pod five and the Omni pod dash are waterproof. You can wear them while you're playing sports, swimming in the shower, the bathtub, anywhere really. That kind of freedom. Coupled with tubeless a tubeless pump you understand it's not connected to anything. The controller is not connected to the pod. The pod is not connected to anything, you're wearing it on the body tube lessly no tubing to get caught on doorknobs or anywhere else that tubing with those other insulin pumps can get caught Omni pod.com forward slash juice box. That's where you go to find out more. You may be eligible for a free 30 day trial of the Omni pod dash. You should check that out too, when you get to my lake Omni pod.com forward slash juice box. So if you're looking for an insulin pump that is tubeless waterproof, and automated. You're looking for the Omni pod five. If you want to do it on your own, and you're not looking for the automation Omni pod dash for full safety risk information and free trial Terms and Conditions. Please also visit Omni pod.com forward slash juice box I should ask that center. Hey buddy. God save the Queen. I looking at pictures of corgis online. They are cute. Like a like a fox with a dog face.
Unknown Speaker 20:00
Okay, it takes a minute for
Scott Benner 20:02
your find your heart, let me know.
Elle 20:04
It's probably supposed to be 97 today,
Scott Benner 20:07
you'll probably find that What's the dog's name? Retta. I tried to call to the animal when you went away, but I realized I didn't know the name. Oh, and I had my headset on to. She probably hear you read over the D rehta. Or
Unknown Speaker 20:22
RH a TTA or
Scott Benner 20:23
H. Okay, I got it.
Elle 20:25
It means speaker of the house. I picked her name because Retta means speaker. Gotcha. So her official paperwork says read a speaker of the house.
Scott Benner 20:38
You got paperwork for your dog? That's nice. She's
Unknown Speaker 20:39
She's, uh, you know, my Casey certified Gorgui. There.
Scott Benner 20:43
I'm looking at the pictures to cute. They have a fox with a dog's face.
Unknown Speaker 20:48
Yeah, the booty is the best part.
Scott Benner 20:53
I can't comment on that, because then I just Google's Corgi, but okay, really? I promise. Alright, I'm about to do this. And if I see weird dog porn, I'm really good.
Unknown Speaker 21:04
I'm gonna be weird dog porn. Promise.
Scott Benner 21:07
Oh, they have big fat s.
Dog is thick with like, two seats. Yeah, absolutely. There's a tissue box cover here. That's according he's asked. And I gotta be honest with you. I'm into it. That's funny. All right. Okay. All right. Now, hold on a second. So the kids not stressed. She's got diabetes.
Elle 21:36
Mm hmm. All right. But it's pandemic height. So we didn't make a doctor's appointment for something that's not like life threatening, you know? Because anxiety in itself is not always immediately life threatening. Yeah. And there's a higher one, that I had my phone on me. That's fine.
Scott Benner 22:00
That's fine. Don't worry about
Unknown Speaker 22:05
so
Scott Benner 22:07
you don't make an appointment right away. And then what happens after that?
Elle 22:12
It's so I was pregnant at the time, of course, obviously. And then other things start happening that I you know, push off as new baby. His emotions are crazy. He was, like, had no self control. I mean, what 12 year old does but even more noticeable than it had been? He's we homeschool. So like, if anything challenged him. It was just a meltdown. Yeah. And I, I attributed that to a new baby in the house or a new baby coming. And thought, this kid needs some counseling. But we're not doing that right now.
Scott Benner 23:03
Have you seen that kind of behavior as other babies were being born?
Unknown Speaker 23:07
Yeah, honestly. Yeah.
Scott Benner 23:12
So, as expected, it was easy to like match up with something you'd seen in the past,
Elle 23:16
right? I mean, all of his symptoms were easy to match up with other things. Like, he's always been a big eater, like, eat and eat and eat. And he didn't have excessive thirst. But we were telling him to drink water. Because we're like, you don't drink enough water. You're saying you're hungry, because you need to drink more water. Like, let your stomach catch up with what you've eaten. Because he was eating as much as my husband and I and he was nine. But he's always eaten a lot. Like, since I could hand him a plate of food. The one of the first words he signed when he was little with baby sign language was more and I mean, it's always been a thing that he just eats and eats and eats.
Scott Benner 24:08
You teach the sign language when they're babies. Yeah,
Elle 24:11
before they can talk they can sign sometimes. So think milk and more and eat all done potty.
Scott Benner 24:20
Yeah, I've seen monkeys do it. I mean, sure. But I didn't know
Elle 24:26
it helps with especially like right now my two year old is just starting to string a couple words together, but she could tell me a little bit of what's going on without so much hassle. I don't know like it's harder for her to form words with her mouth than just tap her fingers together to say more. Okay. So, yeah, going back to Remy he was eating a ton. He was very moody. He was very skinny. And he's always been very skinny. But I found myself googling Why are my child's knees so big? Because he was super skinny.
Scott Benner 25:21
Oh, I see what you're saying. His knees
Elle 25:23
looked swollen because he had no fat on his body.
Scott Benner 25:27
Oh, can I say something? I think the people listening are going to be mad at me if I don't tell you that the air conditioner wasn't the the sound Oh no. I don't mind the sound does that why do you mind this out? Don't let me lie to you. I hate the sound but I can deal with it. But I don't want you to like be cooking while everyone listening is like that poor girl is baking in that room and he's not telling her that it didn't know it's
Elle 25:48
okay. It's 97 outside but it's 92 or not 9272 inside so I think it might be the ceiling fan. Let me get that
Scott Benner 25:58
okay
Unknown Speaker 26:07
that work
Scott Benner 26:10
where'd you go? I'm listening. Oh no. Okay, still the hair it's fascinating. It's the microphone I guess. Because when you walk away from the mic it's not as soon as you walk away from the mic and stuff. Is your computer is your phone your your computer
Unknown Speaker 26:28
I don't wear my phone. No, no.
Scott Benner 26:31
All right. When you hear this back you're gonna test yourself see there it is. Wait, it's gone. Now it's back. What happens and when you're talking it still happens to just say the same word over and over again for a second coffee still there and then when you move away from the computer so what happens if you just move your entire body six inches from the
Unknown Speaker 27:01
coffee coffee coffee
Scott Benner 27:05
I have no idea what's going on. It's interesting. It's going it's going What does it sound like? Alright, let's play a game oh dear. Feels like like I want to say almost like a windmills running behind you. Or
Elle 27:26
I mean the computer fan is going
Scott Benner 27:29
now. God could that be it? Is it the computer or the computer fan? What is that? I can just I can tell
Unknown Speaker 27:37
I don't even know where it is
Unknown Speaker 27:44
now the dogs making noise
Scott Benner 27:45
don't worry I'm having a great time by the way I bet
I don't know right well then we're gonna have to let it go.
Unknown Speaker 28:03
I'm sorry. Sorry.
Elle 28:07
I almost like went out and bought a new microphone for this because I knew that there was going to be sorry,
Scott Benner 28:12
my microphone. I think it's definitely the computer.
Elle 28:15
Well right but if the headset could work I would just take it upstairs and be alone in my room.
Scott Benner 28:20
Oh, but don't worry about what you don't think the sounds in that room though. Oh no. All right. Scale louder. What is that? Refrigerator I can't turn my refrigerator it might be the refrigerator walk away from the refrigerator. Is the computer like
Elle 28:46
computers plugged in because it's so old and crappy that it's going to die if I don't keep it plugged in.
Scott Benner 28:50
Interesting. It definitely could be the refrigerator
Unknown Speaker 28:56
I can't move the refrigerator I'm sorry yeah,
Scott Benner 28:58
let's really you could let's think about
Elle 29:01
all my insulin would just sit there
Scott Benner 29:03
and Dolly and an extension cord I think we could have this straightened up pretty quickly to stop now his refrigerator not running anymore. Right there it is. often does your refrigerator run for by the way?
Unknown Speaker 29:19
I don't know it's 97 degrees outside and I turn the air
Scott Benner 29:22
probably more when it goes through the air.
Unknown Speaker 29:25
No, that's okay. I'll be alright
Scott Benner 29:32
alright, I'm not giving up I'm not I won't give I would like you to move out of the way you said that the spell or the rust belt or what do they call that? There? I am. Hi Well, what part what belt is Iowa in?
Elle 29:44
Probably the Bible Belt. I don't know. That's the only one I've heard it referred to.
Scott Benner 29:50
I just Googled Iowa belt but now I'm just looking at belts that
Unknown Speaker 29:56
go back to Corgi butts.
Scott Benner 29:58
No, we're done with that. All right. Okay, so fascinating thing that you just said, like an hour ago that you're that he was so skinny that you started thinking his knees looked large. Mm hmm. Yeah. May I tell you that we used to think that my son's ears were big. But then we realized his head was small, and his ears were the regular size.
Unknown Speaker 30:22
Yeah, that I mean, that matches that's,
Scott Benner 30:25
and the way we did that was by measuring everyone's ears in the house, instead of by just measuring his head probably would have been the way to go. But looking back on it now, is a bit of a faux pas. So we measured everyone's ears and his ears were the same as everyone else's. And we were like, Oh my God, we've always thought you had really big ears. And then we realized like he wears a smaller hat. Like he's like a seven and a quarter, or sometimes seven, an eighth or something like that. And we're like, Oh, your ears to the right size. And this happened to you. The legs. Were getting so skinny that the knees seem big. Yeah. How long do you think this was going on for?
Unknown Speaker 31:02
Oh, months.
Elle 31:05
I went back through on my like my facebook albums and looked at pictures of him, because I organized them by date. And the last picture that I can look at him and go, that's a kid that probably doesn't have diabetes is March of 2020. And he was diagnosed in August,
Scott Benner 31:24
March, April, May, June. Oh my gosh. Was he okay?
Elle 31:29
Yeah, he was okay. I really think and I've talked to us in the chronologist about this. I really think that his activity level kept him alive. Because that kid runs and runs and runs and does not stop. And when he runs his blood sugar goes down.
Scott Benner 31:50
Well, okay, so you think he was kind of managing it off himself? Do you think there was any kind of looking back any kind of honeymoon whatsoever helping him?
Elle 31:57
No. I mean, well, I don't know how, I don't know how a honeymoon would work before diagnosis. Because I mean, I wasn't giving him insulin. So I don't I don't know how that work
Scott Benner 32:08
would be it would just be if he was getting help, and then not getting help from his, you know, from his pancreas. So it was kind of jumping back and forth.
Elle 32:15
I mean, maybe I don't really know.
Unknown Speaker 32:20
It's hard to
Elle 32:22
guess that back when he was. You know, just yeah. Not diagnosed and having all these symptoms, but I don't know what he did that day.
Scott Benner 32:34
You know, the joke where someone calls and says, Hello, and you don't know who they are. And you go Hello. And they say Hi, my name is Scott. I was calling to find out if your refrigerators running. And then you go running. It is like oh, you should go catch it.
Unknown Speaker 32:53
The refrigerator turned off so it's not the refrigerator.
Scott Benner 32:57
I'm not fascinated by what's making noise and you're
Unknown Speaker 33:00
like a Ghost Adventures got me the computer. That's the only thing I can hear
Scott Benner 33:04
turn off the computer and see if I can still hear
Elle 33:09
something under it. Like I could put like a What do you mean hello or something under it? Really? That would do something? Maybe Maybe it's like rattling too much on the table.
Scott Benner 33:19
You have a computer that rattles
Elle 33:21
I mean the fan you know like maybe the fan is just
Scott Benner 33:24
I'm worried about all of you people listening now. Now I'm not just worrying about all you people have rattling computers. Do you want me to get a pillow? I mean, just lift it up off the table real quick and see what happens. I did it did change its computer. Slider now.
Unknown Speaker 33:47
Let me get
Scott Benner 33:48
I'm gonna need a corgi by the time this is over.
Unknown Speaker 33:54
Everybody my daughter's animal,
Scott Benner 34:00
I can feel my heart rate going down. I don't know what you did, but it's better.
Elle 34:03
I tilted the computer and put a stuffed animal under it. So that it's angled upward.
Scott Benner 34:11
It's different. It's lighter. So when you lifted it up, it was gone.
Elle 34:17
It's the computer Okay, of course it is. See, technology is out to get me. It's like it's not even malfunctioning. It's just Oh, I'm
Scott Benner 34:29
gonna have a stroke. I haven't felt what the last couple of weeks and this is not helping me. Don't be sorry. Actually, we should put my medical condition on the podcast so people can help me with it. You have a medical condition right hold on. We're gonna get back to your kid in the big news in a second. But here's what happened right? I feel like I got bit by something. So I'm like I'm in the lawn like my my mower has a problem. I'm on the ground fixing my mower. I know too famous to be fixing my lawnmower I agree to people gotta click on the links a little more in the show notes if you if you want Scott not to have to cut his own lawn, okay, so buy me a lot more. And by the way, don't buy me a lot more. I don't want that because the last time we joked about something like that, I got this amazing chair, I'm sitting in love, but I feel bad about. Okay, so, somewhere between my thumb and my forefinger, kind of on the meat of my hand, I get this lump, like the next day. And it looks like a bug bite. And I look at it, I think that's a bug bite. And it's hard and I touched, I guess I'll be fine. I don't care. There's a little itchy and take much of it. Next day, I wake up, there's another bump like that on like a finger on my hand, like my middle finger if I'm if I'm remembering, right? And I was like, well, that's weird. I must I got bitten twice. And then by the third day, there was one on my ring finger on my right hand, one of my middle finger one by my hand. And I started finding one like, in between my fingers somewhere else. I was like, what is happening? And they were super itchy. Oh, like, really, really bad. And now is the time where I decided how honest I'm going to be while I'm telling the story. And you know, got it everywhere. Gonna have to be honest. I guess we could bleep it out later. Don't you think?
Unknown Speaker 36:17
You got it everywhere.
Scott Benner 36:19
It started bothering me anywhere. Something touched me kind of lightly, where you'd get that kind of like, you know, like that initial like, response from your body. Like you can like, if you touch you know touched your arm, you're like, Oh, I'm touching my arm. I can feel it. So I would get it where anything was brushing me so my thighs would get itchy. I was wearing shorts. And then one day I'll it was my was my boss. And. And then and then one day I scratched them. Like just not even thinking like I was like that's an itch, scratch it. And then when I scratched them, then I just got this incredible response. And then it was very, very, very itchy. And it also moved around in other places near near the balls, but not the balls. And poison ivy.
Elle 37:07
Scott, do you have poison ivy?
Scott Benner 37:08
Do you want to hear the story? Oh, do you wanna jump in? And so and so don't know, I gotta save this. This is your fault, because your refrigerator noise your computer noise I gotta save this episode and tell people that my balls Ricci. And so as soon as I stopped touch, like, as soon as you stop scratching, it just dissipates. And it goes away. And I'm like, this is Chris Hogan having this crazy response, like so now I'm trying to live like not, you know, learn tighter underwear because I don't want anything to move. You know, like, I'm not touching my hand edits, I keep thinking it's a bug bite. I'm stronger than a bug bite, I'll be okay,
Unknown Speaker 37:48
a bug bite that moves from your hand. So for
Scott Benner 37:51
that can be that can be the name of the episode to a bug bite that moves in your hands. Not me. And so I wait three, four more days now. This I start getting tired in the afternoons to three o'clock in the afternoon, I'm getting wasted. And the itching is not going away. I said to my wife, I was like this is it. So what you've been wishing for, I'm dead. It's just happened and slow. She goes goes to go to urgent care. And I say no. What do I get an urgent care for? And I would wake up the next day, and there's a bump on my opposite hand. And I'm like, I'm gonna go to urgent care or go to urgent care. I'm sitting in the chairs. I know what you're thinking. Scott's too famous. That's good care. People don't click on the links. If you click on the links a little more of a guy come to the house. But right now I gotta go to urgent care. Okay, so I'm sitting in urgent care, this old man who had a bike accident came in, he was just one skinned body part. It was terrible, but older. And just like he's like, I'm fine. Like, I love that generation. He's like, it'll be fine. Like, excellent. So I get called back. The lady makes me weigh myself with my shoes on which I didn't appreciate very much. Then I go in the back. And this this down, there's I don't know, Pa maybe comes in. And it's a lady pa she's like in her mid late 30s. And she's like, what's going on? And I'm like, I'm so sorry. I gotta tell you this and I tell her and I'm showing her my hand. And there's these These hands are like lumps now it's not spreading. It's not poison ivy, just literally at these like these points. And I said and they're okay at the moment. But if I were to touch my, my business, like it would get very itchy too. And I said it if and if you actually issued it would like inflame and and then leaving it alone makes it go back again. And she's like, Tell me about that. So I started explaining that to her that I had to tell her that two nights prior two nights Good?
Day, it did work, by the way. But that's a scary thing to do, because I'm like, is this gonna burn? Or is it gonna? But I was in a situation where I was like, well, worst isn't gonna be worse. And so sorry. So she's just a pause. And I said, Please don't make me show you.
And she goes, she goes, I don't need to see them. And I took that as I don't want to see them. But she said, I don't need this. I think if I looked like Bradley Cooper, she'd be like, I need to see those. But fair enough, and like, you don't I mean, she'd be like, well, just let me look just to be just to be sure. Mr. Cooper, you know, and let me sit on the bench. I want to get down on that level. Like with me, she was like, no, no, it's okay. You could just You're fine. I let me look at your hand. So anyway, so she gives me the steroids. And then my pharmacist messes up writing the prescription on the bottle, because you know how hard that can be when you're a pharmacist. And they've got me taking three of these tablets twice a day. So I'm supposed apparently supposed to be apparently in the first three days, take two twice a day. But instead, I take three, you know, a few hours later, I go to bed, I take three more, I'm going to tell you four hours after I took the first time, these lumps on my hand, like you let air out of a tire. They were gone. And I was like, Huh, that's amazing. They just disappeared. And then little itchy. Next day. Not so bad. My hand didn't it anymore. And I was like, let me just see if nothing else edge like Greg said he had gone away. Third day I get up in the morning, I take these tablets. And I take a shower and I come down to Kelly and I'm like, I'm gonna have a heart attack. And she's like, what I'm like my heart's racing, I'm sweating in the shower. I'm like, something's like really wrong. And I'm and I take these, you know, the pills, and I shake them. And there's not many left. And I'm thinking, But this can't be right. Because this is supposed to last like a week. So I dump them out on the counter, I start doing my good synthesis, and I'm counting them and everything. And I'm like significantly short on these pills. So anyway, I go back to the pharmacist and I tell her you didn't give me enough pills. And then she goes, No, I gave you plenty. And then we realized that she'd written the wrong thing on the on the thing and I called the doctor doctors like, Is he alive? And I was like, Yeah, but he's fine. You know? So anyway, at this point, all the stiffness in my back that I live with pretty consistently is gone. Yeah, steroids will do that. My back feels great. My bumps are going off my hands my balls like I'm 20 years old, you know, they mean just terrific. And and then the story is ended. And from being honest with you, I still don't feel great. So this is probably you know, something really serious.
Unknown Speaker 43:22
You had poison ivy.
Scott Benner 43:24
Really? I do from my lawn? There's the poison ivy in my lawn.
Unknown Speaker 43:32
There might be
Scott Benner 43:33
I don't know it's an ivy makes you listen, I'm listening to you. You're counting on a dog to protect you from the man Well, I don't know if you know anything. So
Elle 43:41
I personally have never had poison ivy in my life.
Scott Benner 43:45
Can you give an advice for them
Elle 43:46
but everyone in my family will look at it well everyone except my dad. Everyone in my family can look at it and they're covered.
Scott Benner 43:54
Alright, so I did not have poison ivy I'm telling you for sure. How do you know because what a doctor looked at it I looked at it I know what poison ivy steroids
Unknown Speaker 44:01
which is what they would have done if you had
Scott Benner 44:04
no I was having like some sort of a systemic reaction to something. It didn't matter wherever I had this like no matter where you touch me I'd get itchy
Unknown Speaker 44:13
like your hands on your balls.
Scott Benner 44:15
One day I got in the shower and my eyebrows were itchy when the hot water hit my eyebrows I itchy eyebrows.
Elle 44:22
So I have had poison oak before and poison sumac and I don't know how personal you want to get but you've been talking about Go ahead man bit I've had my lady bits get poison something sumac I think and I thought I was going to pass out because I got a steroid and it worked. But it burned.
Scott Benner 44:52
Burning, burning for me.
Elle 44:55
I learned like I legit got like, tunnel vision I could et Cie couldn't hear was very close to passing out and it was screaming
Scott Benner 45:06
from the from the pain. That's what got you
Elle 45:10
from the shower when after I had taken this
Scott Benner 45:13
really interesting. Yeah, I'm just telling you I don't I something's not right still, like it's been over like I've been off the stories now three, four days and my back's a little stiff again. And I feel a little like, I don't know, I just feel a little off. I don't know.
Elle 45:33
I mean, you're on that many steroids it can make you feel off, I guess to
Scott Benner 45:38
I felt great on the steroids. The steroids?
Unknown Speaker 45:39
Of course you did anyone around you what's really like, what's his problem?
Scott Benner 45:43
The steroids may be considered like using like recreational drugs. I was like, Is this how people feel? This amazing. My back feels fine. I love more energy. Everything was good. Just a little sweaty. Like when I when I normally wouldn't be anywhere and get like super angry and hulk out on everyone. They're not steroids like that. They're prednisone, they're not going to steroids. Steroids suppress your immune system. Right. So I probably have like, some autoimmune thing.
Elle 46:12
I was just gonna say, but if you have an autoimmune disorder, and they're gonna make you go nuts,
Scott Benner 46:17
well, no, I mean, like they get they would give steroids for like, ra, right? They would give steroids for all kinds of stuff. Anyway, your big need kid you take him to the hospital eventually. 40 Man,
Elle 46:28
I did eventually take him to the hospital. I weighed him. And he had lost 10 pounds, which is
Scott Benner 46:35
why he was nine at the time. Yeah, that's a lot. Yeah. Okay. So now, so what? I mean, does he has diabetes? Ever? Enter your mind? Are you just like C so so you're taking them to the hospital?
Elle 46:51
Um, I had someone had suggested to me that he might have diabetes. But even looking at like, the the lists that you Google, I could easily write those off as like, well, of course he you know, is anxious. There's a global pandemic. Of course, he's eating a lot. He's always eaten a lot. He's drinking more water because we're telling him to drink more water, right. All the signs, I could easily point to something else and be like, No, it's not that because at the time, I did not know that type one was an autoimmune disorder. I knew it was sort of hereditary somehow. But I didn't know that it was auto immune. Okay. And after I weighed him, I went to our local drugstore and I bought a test kit with land sets. Or maybe I didn't buy Atlanta, I had to go back for something because I didn't realize it. It didn't all come together.
Scott Benner 47:52
But some of it but not all right. I
Elle 47:55
got like a meter and strips and a poker but I didn't have the land sets to put in the poker. So then we had a super high carb meal at lunch. And two hours later, I tested him and the first one said hi, and I was like, go wash your hands. And the second one said 300. Something. Stop it. So the second one said 300 something. And I knew that wasn't good. But I still didn't know that it was for sure. diabetes, because ironically enough, he'd had poison ivy the week before and had steroids. Like he'd gotten a shot at a walk in clinic for steroids. Like maybe two weeks, somewhere around there.
Scott Benner 48:43
Well, they probably helped him kept them a little jacked up. I'm telling you I've never felt better than I was on this. Meanwhile, I must have I probably have some rare disease now. Probably by like up like hyper nesis gravidarum or something like that. Did you say hyperemesis is that? What it is hyperemesis hyperemesis gravidarum? Is
Unknown Speaker 49:03
that what it is? That's, that's a pregnancy thing. It's
Scott Benner 49:06
not Oh, I just Googled rare disease real quick. And it said the first one that I saw.
Unknown Speaker 49:12
I had that so Wait,
Scott Benner 49:13
hold on. Stop. That can't be true.
Elle 49:18
Yeah, I had hyperemesis with my pregnancies. It's you can't have it. Sorry.
Scott Benner 49:23
hyperemesis for years to intractable vomiting during pregnancy that leads to weight loss. And you had that? Yeah. All right. Let's just be clear. First of all, this is the best episode I've ever done. Second, second, well, it's definitely the worst. But secondly, I Googled rare diseases while you were telling me about the kid. Yeah, clicked on a link because it said rare diseases. Then I spun the mouse. Like no lie, spun the mouse just down. And then I looked up. And I thought there's two words that sound funny when I think hilarious when I tell you it was a blast when I make this joke, I'm gonna say this because I'll mispronounce it. It'll be fun. The whole thing I almost meant with almost meant with muckle wells syndrome.
Unknown Speaker 50:14
I haven't heard about one, but I probably have it too. But instead
Scott Benner 50:17
I said, hyper misses, what is this hyper one? hyperemesis hyperemesis gravidarum? And you said I had that? Yep. Holy Hell, that's crazy. You should only have one thought in your head right now. I'm never getting pregnant again. What is muckle wells syndrome? That's the only thing you should be wondering right now. It's a form of cryo Perin associated periodic syndrome that is caused by a mutation in the C I A S one gene, and the increased activity of protein Cryer printed in the body. This leads to inflammatory damage throughout the body as well as several other symptoms, including the possibility of amyloid dosis. This is probably gonna end up being what I have.
Elle 51:10
I don't think I have I don't know what any of that means. But
Scott Benner 51:14
no one knows what it means. It's a rare, rare Genomics Institute. I can't believe it do. I just told you what it says how do you
Unknown Speaker 51:25
know if you have it?
Scott Benner 51:29
How's it diagnosed? Blood tests, degree of inflammation in the body
Unknown Speaker 51:35
inflammation. Got it.
Scott Benner 51:39
So got a patient may also undergo a cerebral spinal fluid analysis and audiogram a kidney biopsy or urine protein test. This is going to be so weird if somebody ends up having this that I know. Plus, I gotta start picking lottery numbers if that happens, because I've never put any effort. I can't believe you had the other thing.
Unknown Speaker 52:00
Me neither. All right. Okay. All right. It was not fun.
Scott Benner 52:04
Jesus it by the kilometer. He tests his blood, your blood sugar's high is the hospital. What did they do in the hospital for him?
Elle 52:11
Well, I tried to get him to go to the hospital. But I didn't know how to like, proceed after finding out that he had high blood sugar. I didn't know like, is this an emergency room. So I called Well, I talked to one of my friends. And she has a friend who has a kid with type one. And they recommended an endocrinologist. So I tried calling him but he works for the hospital to the University of Iowa. And I called them and they wanted to make an appointment for him in a month. I was like,
Scott Benner 52:53
already waited five months. So
Elle 52:56
I was like, I don't I don't think I can wait a month. And so they put me on hold for 45 minutes. And then they hung up on me.
And that again, that is my life like has not been disconnected while I'm talking to you so far.
So I called back and nobody answered. I was like, well, that's weird. Why would a hospital? Not answer? Yeah. So then I drove him to a semi local walk in clinic. And I had a two month old at the time. So I took her with me in a global pandemic, because I'm nursing her at the time, and I'm thinking we're probably going to stay overnight here. I made my baby. Yeah, she can eat. They did not like that. But they didn't send me away or anything. They immediately admitted him into the emergency room. And while we were pulling up pulling in, but we're walking into the emergency room, we see the ambulance pulling out. And we are rural Iowa, like there's only one ambulance. So they admitted him started him on a drip of some sort. I don't know what's going on at this point, because I'm just like, I know what diabetes is, but not a lot, right. And so three hours later, they decide they're going to transfer him. But they were calling around to multiple hospitals and all the hospitals are saying we are not admitting any patients right now. And I'm like, Is this because of COVID? Is this because he's like, he needs a PMT unit? Like what? Why? And somebody said there was a tornado in the city that you live in? I'm like, No, I don't think so. I would have known about that. Like, I was just there and my husband and my other children are still there. So they called to a hospital in Des Moines and Des Moines said no, they called Iowa City, Iowa City said no, they called Tom wha where I live. They said no. And finally, someone in Iowa City said fine, we'll take him. But the baby can't come. So I sent him in an ambulance. And I'm sitting here looking at my baby and my oldest and literally deciding, like, Who do I go with? Which was probably the hardest moment in the whole thing. I think it's the only time I actually cried. No. But I have an acquaintance friend, who's a nurse at the hospital that I was at. And she said, let your husband go. Because if you go, and you're with the baby, and if they don't let the baby in, you're gonna have to, like stay in a hotel, and you're gonna miss a lot. Because when the doctor is there, he's there. Like, you're not going to have him on your schedule. You need to be on his and the baby doesn't care. So my husband drove up separately from the ambulance, and I drove back home to pick up the other kids and stay home with the baby and the other two. And when he got to Iowa City, it was dark, like black because there were no streetlights there were no stoplights there. There were there was no electricity anywhere because of the tornado. It wasn't a tornado. What was it? It was a juried show. Oh, wait,
Scott Benner 56:34
hold on. What up to Rachel, is that a disease I might have?
Elle 56:40
It's basically a land hurricane. With like, I think it was 80 mile an hour winds straightens. So I'm thankful that I didn't send him in that first ambulance because he probably would have been right in the middle of it.
Scott Benner 56:56
How often does that happen? Never. A direct show is a widespread, long live straight line windstorm that is associated with fast moving groups of severe thunderstorms. Wow. Can cause hurricane force winds tornadoes, heavy rains and flash floods. Yeah, and not for nothing. You live in the same town as radar O'Reilly from Yes, yeah. Did you know the man? Well, he didn't recently passed away the man that that they base this character on recently? Yes. Donald Schaefer. Mr. Schaefer was born in 1929. He died in 2022. He was the inspiration for a character on mash called radar or Riley who was from a tumble Iowa. Yep. You learn so much on this podcast. That's all and the thing about the windy thing that Theresa or something? She's again, why do you live there?
Elle 57:58
Well, a few reasons. But for the math. Did you look that up to know that I just love math capital of the world?
Scott Benner 58:08
No, it isn't right. No. You're making that up. You're being fun. No, I'm not. I'm not sorry. I didn't make fun of that.
Unknown Speaker 58:17
Okay, clean of meth is from a tumbler.
Scott Benner 58:20
The queen of meth is from a tumbler? Yeah. What is the Swiss she calls herself it's Tom Arnold sister. All right. Oh, no kidding. In that documentary she made they made the documentary about her. Well, I guess if you're gonna be famous for something that'd be okay. Queen of meth made $200,000 a week. Meet Tom Arnold sister Tom Arnold, the man who used to be married to Roseanne Barr.
Elle 58:49
Yes. They used to live in Eldon, which is I think it's all done. Maybe it was agency, which is like five miles outside of Ottawa maze. And maybe
Scott Benner 59:00
he's very good friends with Arnold Schwarzenegger. I believe we see these things. I know. That's odd. You need to know the other odd things are you know,
Elle 59:09
I mean, let me know everything about Tom Arnold is probably a little odd.
Scott Benner 59:13
A lot. A lot. A lot of weird energy, that's for sure. All right. Okay. So this poor kid almost gets blown away, but has diabetes instead. And, and how and so you're you ended up sending your husband with him to the hospital? Sorry.
Unknown Speaker 59:28
He followed him to the hospital like yeah, okay.
Scott Benner 59:31
All right. And so you stayed did you go home with the babies like because it's all COVID D. So what do you do?
Elle 59:36
I went home and stayed there and picked up my other two from their grandparents house. And we stayed home and I learned a lot via zoom.
Scott Benner 59:47
Wow. How long was he in the hospital?
Elle 59:50
I think it was. I've gone back and forth. I cannot remember if it was like three days, two nights.
Scott Benner 59:58
All right. Night They didn't rush him out and they needed to bring his blood sugar down and do that slowly because he was really in trouble. I imagine.
Elle 1:00:06
Yeah, that by the time I got off pulled when they hung up on me, we tested him again. It was 500 something.
Scott Benner 1:00:12
Well, what do you know? What is a once he was when they checked?
Unknown Speaker 1:00:16
15.1? Yeah, well,
Scott Benner 1:00:21
insulin pens. And any talk of glucose monitors, do you have them now?
Elle 1:00:27
So he had to prove to insurance that he had diabetes by testing three times or more a day, for a month, and then he got
Scott Benner 1:00:37
a Dexcom. Okay, so they didn't take the diagnosis of the hospital seriously.
Elle 1:00:42
I don't understand insurance. Like I don't understand how some person in a cubicle gets to decide medical care. Isn't that practicing without a license?
Scott Benner 1:00:51
Yeah, it's a little weird. How did you find the overall education?
Elle 1:00:58
Excellent. Honestly, Nurse Laurie, shout out. I asked her permission to say her name.
Scott Benner 1:01:07
Did you ask her permission to say her name in the middle of episode or someone's had ball? 16?
Elle 1:01:13
I didn't specify but yeah, I think she knows.
Scott Benner 1:01:17
She hears this.
Elle 1:01:21
She she called me like, every other day for two weeks. And then it was like every three days for another two weeks. And then it was once a week and then it was and she I don't know. She's excellent. That's wonderful. She's just absolutely excellent. She listened to me talk about things that weren't even diabetes related just my own
angst at No, I
Scott Benner 1:01:51
would listen to you talk forever. So you know, well, I could probably talk forever. Yeah, you and your flame vagina and this for kids and all the other stuff. There's plenty here to go into. I don't even know we need to talk about this diabetes, but it just just because people tuned in. How's the kid doing? Just a couple years doing
Elle 1:02:08
really well? Yeah. But he like his agency has not been over 5.9 Since diagnosis.
Scott Benner 1:02:14
Well, good for you. How are you accomplishing that?
Unknown Speaker 1:02:18
You? Oh, sorry.
Unknown Speaker 1:02:21
There's no reason Lori.
Scott Benner 1:02:23
There's no reason I can Laurie but go ahead. Yeah.
Elle 1:02:26
Well, Nurse Lori can't call me every day. But I can listen to the podcast every day. She has other people to go save.
Scott Benner 1:02:37
Yeah, she's super lady. She's calling everybody on the phone. Do you ever think about that? Once she's talking to you like, Oh, I'm probably not the only person she does this with? Yes, I
Elle 1:02:45
do. Think about that. And that was trying to be very respectful over time. But again, I can talk forever. So sorry, Laurie.
Scott Benner 1:02:52
So obviously, you get a CGM a month in. Are you still doing pens? You can check me.
Elle 1:02:58
He did pens until it was about six months. I think it was March of 21.
Scott Benner 1:03:06
You go to a pump then after that? Yeah. Okay. Medtronic, no, no, say it like that their sponsors of the program. Oh, are they in pen from Medtronic? diabetes?
Elle 1:03:18
Well, we tried to get the in pen. But evidently the week. Again, this was my luck. The week that we got it approved, our insurance decided that they weren't covering it anymore. Or there was a grant or something. Something fell through. It was approved, but then we couldn't get it without spending $800 to get the device.
Scott Benner 1:03:39
Yeah, that definitely shouldn't be I think I think you can get it. Like, let me just say this. You know, I think there's you know, you have to check, there's fine print and stuff. But I think mostly it's like 35 bucks for people. So definitely don't pay $800 Well,
Elle 1:03:52
I didn't because I knew we wanted to get on a pump. And I didn't see the sense in going through the hassle of getting on something that we weren't going to permanently use. Sure. Not that it's a bad thing. It sounds amazing. But,
Scott Benner 1:04:07
ya know, it's a it's a great insult. But yeah, I understand you're not wanting to do that. So, okay, so what what did Laurie tell you that helps you keep an A once the under six with a nine year old
Elle 1:04:20
Pre-Bolus. Check as often as you feel like checking. They did go over. So I don't know if this sounds a little braggy. But so in 2019 My husband and I did keto, which meant that I already knew how to count carbs pretty well. And so they gave Lorie and there are other members of the team, but I think sorry. Other people that I didn't ask permission to say names of I I usually defer to Laurie, just because we got along well, she gave, like resources, where I could look up carbs of things quickly. And I could like put in a recipe and it'll tell me the carbs in it. And there was a big booklet that we did secondary education on. So that was like sick day and stuff like that. But University of Iowa is they are with it. Yeah, they've got it going on.
Scott Benner 1:05:35
Talk for a while of me giving a talk at the University of Iowa. And then it just I think COVID happened, and then it just people stopped talking about so. But yeah, apparently there's a large type one population in the student body at that school. Oh, yeah. That's crazy to be okay. So Pre-Bolus count your carbs do the right thing. Pay attention to the blood sugar sounds like what Laurie was telling you? And then you did it like, but what made you like so many people don't? Like, follow through, like, what made you follow through.
Elle 1:06:11
I'm a rule follower. Just am. Oh, gosh. And I want to make sure that I only share my experience. So this is going to be kind of complicated to talk about. Both of my husband's goodness dogs. Both of my dog. She's chasing the cat again. Oh, I put her outside. Then she saw my children drive away and she was crying outside. So I figured that would be noisy enough, but it's fine. So both of my husband's parents have type one. And the education that they have received is not the standards of the University of Iowa. Yes. I'm just gonna say that much. So seeing and hearing the information that they received in action makes me sad and angry at any doctor that thinks they know something, and is giving advice when they don't really know what they're talking about.
Scott Benner 1:07:35
Okay. How both of his parents have type one. Yeah.
Unknown Speaker 1:07:43
For a long time. Still missed it. Yeah.
Scott Benner 1:07:46
Yeah. And he didn't see it either. He didn't know either. Any other autoimmune in the family?
Elle 1:07:51
Oh, my gosh, so many. My mom has rheumatoid arthritis. She has hypothyroidism. She has bipolar disorder, which I know. It's not an autoimmune, but you say that there's a connection. And then my husband's mom has type one. She's had type one for 50 years. His dad has had type one since the 90s. Early 90s. I think he was was right before. No, it wouldn't have been early 90s It was right before I met him. So I'm gonna say he was 45 ish. Okay. But he was diagnosed as type two until he got cancer. And then they did a C peptide when he had cancer. And found out Oh, it's type one. Okay, so you'll have to Google it. It's E H, E. And I'd have it's like 13 syllables.
E. H. E. N E I'm surprised students say that one earlier when you search.
Scott Benner 1:08:58
Wow, I'm not gonna be able to say that.
Elle 1:09:01
Yeah. If you tell me the first syllable, I can probably tell it that the heliad epithelioid him angioma isn't right but I get them all
Scott Benner 1:09:10
a man God. Don't feed me Allah. HEMANGIO e n d o t h e l i o m a is the second word. That's crazy. rare cancer, the growth in the cells that make up the blood vessels most commonly seen in the liver, lungs and bones. Okay, and he did he kick did he beat that?
Elle 1:09:39
It's not really curable. Okay. He's had some things removed from his liver and his lungs.
Scott Benner 1:09:46
I'm sorry. Okay, and so there's again I say I don't know what you autoimmune people do like what signal you put out into the world to attract other autoimmune people but like it's a fascinating it's on both sides of the family like add that. I didn't even list all of them. But yeah, don't keep going. What do you got more?
Elle 1:10:05
Has my husband's mom has hypothyroidism, and then my husband's dad. So my husband's aunt also has type one, but it's, they call her type two. And I'm, I don't know how to tell someone I think you need to be tested for. Like, she's, you know, almost 70 years old now. And she's been treating it this way. But I'm convinced it's type one. And his other sister has MS. And I feel like I'm forgetting something. Oh, both of my husband's grandparents had pancreatic cancer. So I don't know if that's related.
Scott Benner 1:10:47
You know, this is more information than anybody should say probably. But everyone's passed on. So my friend Mike, his mom had pancreatic cancer.
Unknown Speaker 1:10:58
I remember you saying that?
Scott Benner 1:11:01
Interesting. All right. Well, you should probably do some math.
Elle 1:11:08
I don't think so. Sure. I'm pretty sure. I don't think that would help the situation any? No, I
Scott Benner 1:11:16
mean, I don't think it would help anything. But I mean, you're in one of those rare situations. I'm not certain about hurting either. So sorry. That's, that's really terrible. Least get yourself a new computer. So obviously, I said a ton of stuff that was very helpful to the kid. And he's doing great now probably going to name your next Corgi after me or something like that. And you consider that, did you? You didn't do it, though. So it doesn't get in. She's the girl.
And it's so much you pay homage where you pay that much. That's all. Is it? Oh my gosh. How do you set? Some people say homage? And I'm 100? I don't say that. I'm 100%. Sure that's not right.
Elle 1:12:02
I'm probably more likely to pronounce that. Oh, long. All right. Oh, my
Scott Benner 1:12:07
God. Alright. So is there anything that we haven't talked about that you want to talk about?
Elle 1:12:14
The exercise thing I did want to pick your brain on?
Scott Benner 1:12:17
Okay. And but let me ask this question. First. How many things that we talked about that you didn't want to talk about? All of
Elle 1:12:24
them? Oh, testicles weren't on the list. In my mind? No,
Scott Benner 1:12:29
I didn't think they were either. But then the computer was loud. And I felt I felt obligated to give back. You don't I mean? I really did. I was like, I need to put something in here. I don't want people to be like, Oh my God, it was a refrigerator. But it wasn't it was a computer. I mean, there's only so much that you can take, you know, say so. Okay, so what you want to talk about exercise and insulin or something. Go ahead. What's your question? So
Elle 1:12:54
he has been diagnosed for almost two years. I don't think he had a honeymoon at all. If you did, he exhausted it before diagnosed. I
Scott Benner 1:13:02
think you used it up before you were diagnosed. But God.
Elle 1:13:05
So key, I'll give an example. In May, he went with his birth his buddy for a birthday party. They went to the largest skate park in the United States, which is in Des Moines. It's about an hour away from where his buddy lives. So they were in the car for a little bit. But he was writing about 70 Before we left, he didn't really go up at all for the car ride. And then we had Chick fil A, which is I'm guessing he had 120 carbs. But then he had a full sugar soda, too. So I'm gonna say 150 carbs. Ish. I did not give him any insulin for that. I did. I didn't even have his pump on him when he was eating that meal because I did not want any auto boluses he's on to slam Yeah. So we took the pump off for the skatepark because I do not want to busted pump. And I didn't really want him getting insulin while he was skating. And he still had to treat three loads.
Scott Benner 1:14:18
Still just like skateboarding. How long did he do it for?
Elle 1:14:21
He was on a scooter for about three hours. Sounds like a long time. I mean, it was a long time. Yeah. But this kid drops like a rock with any exercise. Right? And I just like I've heard you talk about bolusing Arden during a softball game and I'm like, my kid would not be able to play at all.
Scott Benner 1:14:43
So I think it's I mean, there's different impacts right so softballs, not scootering scootering for three hours, so a lot of effort. If you ever watch a softball game, there's a ton of standing around. So you know they're standing around. You could strike out three times and never even have to run to first base. You You know what I mean? So they're standing around, there's the heat. There's then dehydration that comes along with it. So if you're at the skate park is indoor outdoor, it was outdoor, hot or not hot.
Elle 1:15:13
I would say it's warm. It wasn't cold by any means. I wouldn't say it's 97 degrees like today or anything
Scott Benner 1:15:19
ton of effort for three hours straight. A lot of aerobic exercise. I can see. I mean, you described I mean, I could see that not needing insulin for certain that makes sense. Was there a big Bolus prior to the skatepark?
Elle 1:15:37
I mean, he had breakfast. But that was probably four or five hours before the park.
Scott Benner 1:15:46
You actually got that? But yeah, like a nice yard like 70 Something on your way to the skate park? Yeah. So you, obviously you killed breakfast really well. And then you will get that by himself. Wow. That's impressive. And then he went into the right into the activity. So you pop the pump off as you started at the skate park.
Elle 1:16:03
We took the pump off before he ate Chick fil A.
Scott Benner 1:16:06
After this, wait, wait, hold on. The Chick fil A was before skating?
Elle 1:16:10
Yeah. Before skating, no insulin.
Scott Benner 1:16:15
But wait. So the Chick fil A was without insulin before the activity? So that it sounds like you. I mean, I mean, the best I could guess is that he maybe over Bolus the breakfast
Unknown Speaker 1:16:28
hours before.
Scott Benner 1:16:30
I mean, it doesn't make a lot of sense
Elle 1:16:32
that it's it's not just this time, either. I mean, it happens every time you go. It's every time he exercises like aerobic activity. Wow. And I just I don't know, he went to camp last week. And they reduce his basil, I think by 50%. And I mean, he ran higher at Camp than he does at home. But I don't know how to replicate that at home to get a good idea of how much to give him because what ends up happening. So we we went to a fourth of July party, the third. And we had it in that camp profile, because I wanted to see like it being the pump. I wanted to see if it would work for us at home. And it did. Like he played volleyball after he had a meal. And we did Bolus for the meal. But it was a reduced Bolus. He had his basil reduced for hours beforehand. And he played volleyball and he had to sit out the last round because I just couldn't get it to come up. But then when we got home, so like three hours later, tea skyrocketed.
Scott Benner 1:17:54
Well, I have to admit, from your explanation, I don't know exactly what to say. Yeah. I mean, if you telling me that you ate before the skate part is the part of the skate park that throws me off. Like I mean, the only thing that makes sense to me is that breakfast somehow impacted it. Because otherwise, I mean adrenaline. Was he excited to go to the skate park? I mean, something he does, right. It's not like some great treat or something like
Elle 1:18:25
well, it was a birthday party. We don't often go to Des Moines to go to the skate park. He plays on his scooter weekly. It's not right. And when he does it at home, he doesn't drop like that. Oh, he does. He drops any time any any exercise. Like he has a Wednesday night activity that he does during the school year. And I have his pump and exercise mode which you know, raises the target but still gives many boluses which I hate we put we reduce his Basal re hours beforehand and then we have a low carb meal so that he doesn't take insulin for it. And it sometimes work interesting problem with that is that it's so super spontaneous and unpredictable that I don't know when he's gonna be sitting me playing but that's a whole other thing.
Scott Benner 1:19:19
So I don't know anything about this. I'm just like, kicking around like I don't I don't know is that could that be not adrenal though, right. Don't think that's I don't know if that's for a person with type one where like hypo, you can get like hypoglycemic from like adrenal fatigue, but I don't know if that's to do with diabetes, or if that's just a thing people experience side of it, sometimes. I don't know. But I mean, it does sound it's what I can say is it sounds like egregious. It sounds crazy. You know, like those crazy hours and hours without insulin. Um, I mean, I do, I'm imagining a lot of activity with the with the scootering, obviously, but
Elle 1:20:08
Peter gets the same result like he went to a place where he played Ultimate Frisbee. And he, he did have some insulin at lunchtime, but it was like 30% of what I would have given him a home. And then it was still two hours before he played and it's Ultimate Frisbee like he's
Scott Benner 1:20:31
running around and sprinting all over the place.
Elle 1:20:35
Right. But I don't want to call it a bad name. His his pump gave him an auto Bolus. Okay, of point 118, which I know for a lot of people is a lot but for my kid is nothing. Like he uses like 75 units daily 2.118 dropped him from 210 with fruit snack to 90 straight down in 15 minutes.
Scott Benner 1:21:05
Yeah, I mean, that's so doesn't sound like that the insulin could do that. But that's like, like, I feel like there has to be something else at play. Have you asked the doctor about it? i
Elle 1:21:17
My CTE nurse, Laurie? Laurie? She said it's just a Remi thing.
Scott Benner 1:21:23
something specific to him? Yeah.
Elle 1:21:28
I was. I was in that conversation asking about different types of insulin. But I don't know. I don't know, as they would be any different.
Scott Benner 1:21:40
Like switching a brand of insulin, right? Yeah, I mean, I have to be honest, I'm not sure. You No, I'm sorry. It's it's it's out of the ordinary enough that I don't know what to say.
Elle 1:21:56
I figured I'd give it a shot. Because I don't know. Too many people that manage diabetes.
Scott Benner 1:22:04
Do you try? Have you ever tried giving him like a protein before? Oh, yeah.
Elle 1:22:09
I mean, the Chick fil A was a chicken sandwich. But yeah, we use peanut butter. We like the the meals that we give him before his Wednesday night things are very heavy protein, very heavy fat. Okay. And 15 carbs or less.
Scott Benner 1:22:25
In a normal situation, that meal would cause them you really Bolus for? Yeah. But not when he's active.
Elle 1:22:35
If he's sitting, he needs insulin, like, needs. Right? Mom's going crazy. He's grown six inches since diagnosis. And like that's, he definitely needs insulin. It's not that his Basal is too high, or that his ratios are off. It's the activities specifically,
Scott Benner 1:22:58
have you tried having a conversation in the Facebook group about it?
Elle 1:23:02
Um, I think so. But I don't remember for sure.
Scott Benner 1:23:06
Yeah. Well, you know, if you had an answer you would have you would remember the answer a lot of times
Elle 1:23:09
I, I hold back because I feel like I over explain everything, especially in a group like that, where I, I tried to condense and then they need more information. So I ended up like, well, let me start back when I was born.
Scott Benner 1:23:27
Yeah, that's not helpful. What about, like runners goo and stuff like that? Have you ever tried that? I don't know what that is like that. Like, it's just like paste that runners used to like, keep their blood sugar up while they're running. Like, I'm wondering if it's, I mean, he doesn't want I don't want him to be eating something constantly. But trying to decide like it has it ever been a real problem for you? Are you able to stay on top of it? For the most part,
Elle 1:23:52
I'm there. I've never had to use his G voc. But I've had it out before
Scott Benner 1:24:01
dropping so fast. Yeah.
Elle 1:24:05
And honestly, I think those situations were because he had insulin on board and like, he went and jumped on the trampoline, like, well, that's obviously not gonna work well.
Scott Benner 1:24:20
I feel good. I'm sorry.
Elle 1:24:22
I feel like he's missing out on the activities that he wants to participate in because he's sitting on the side drinking juice. And that's my biggest concern, I guess, for a 12 year old boy to have to be like, sorry, I have to sit down and drink a juice box and his friends don't really understand that and then he doesn't get invited next time.
Scott Benner 1:24:47
What happens if he just like drinks Gatorade throughout the whole process?
Elle 1:24:52
That's what he was doing at the skate park, but he still had to have two packs of fruit snacks. and
Scott Benner 1:25:02
it had been hours since he had insulin, at least five and there was food in there.
Elle 1:25:08
Yeah, a whole meal. Like 150 carbs or more I don't even know I didn't count it. It was Chick fil A fries, chicken sandwich and Dr. Pepper.
Scott Benner 1:25:24
And you didn't Bolus for it didn't Bolus at all. And then he still tried to get low later
Elle 1:25:29
didn't even have basil on like, I turned his pump to we have a zero profile setup, so that it doesn't beep all the time. But it still doesn't give him any insulin. I wonder
Scott Benner 1:25:39
if away from this activity. He needs so much insulin that even though you haven't had it for a few hours, once you add the activity, it just gets sped up so much.
Unknown Speaker 1:25:52
I don't know what that means. I mean,
Scott Benner 1:25:54
I mean, like, what's his Basal rate? Like forget this activity a second for I get a normal situation? What's his Basal rate an hour?
Elle 1:26:01
Like 1.3? Ish? What's he weigh? 135.
Scott Benner 1:26:07
That seemed crazy. And but it also it does seem a little heavy, but it doesn't seem crazy. I don't mean heavy. Like it's wrong. I mean, like, like, there's a need there. So
Elle 1:26:20
his Basal is cranked at night, not cranked but higher at night because of growth hormones and activity. And then, like during the school year, we have a higher Basal rate during school hours because we sit more. Yeah, but then, like, from about lunch? So about 11 Until gonna say 830. It's less. So I don't I don't think so. Oh, wait, I have a picture. I forgot I took pictures before I send them to camp in case they changed. Let me find. Okay, so midnight, until 11am is 1.47 an hour. And then 11 until five is 1.37. And then five, until 830 is 1.5. And then 830. Until I guess it is right. 10 is 1.71. And then I think it goes back. It's a little less between 10. And midnight, just because I don't usually give too many corrections. And honestly, that's the only reason I haven't changed. And this is if I give
Scott Benner 1:27:32
this is working for you like his keeps his a onesie in the fives. But you're having lows around activity, but not lows that other times, right. I mean, I listen, I I do wonder after after you go over those numbers, like what would happen if forget, like a couple of hours prior to activity, but what if like, you made a concerted effort one day, you know, like, we're gonna go to the skate park at four o'clock in the afternoon. Like, what if you got up in the morning and cut the Basal wave down? Like, first thing in the morning? Yeah, like the point nine and let it be like that for, like 6789 hours before he went there. I'd be interested to see what would happen after that.
Elle 1:28:18
I just I am willing to do that. My concern is what about the nine hours leading up to it?
Scott Benner 1:28:29
What would happen? Do you think he did that?
Elle 1:28:32
I think he would be in the two hundreds all the whole day. And then like, if I don't correct, he'll stay in the two hundreds. But if I correct it, then I'll have insulin on board.
Scott Benner 1:28:46
Yeah, then I would actually have to add to that. I guess you would want to go with a lower carb lifestyle that day just to keep Bolus down just to see what what happened. Because what I'm trying to get at is, I wonder if you need these heavy boluses because he's a 12 year old kid. And then there's so much insulin happening like you don't I mean, like it sounds like he's two people. It sounds like he's Yeah, like, right. He's just sitting around kid, right? And then all the sudden he's an Olympic skater kid.
Elle 1:29:16
Right, right. Right. How do I know which one he is going to be that day? Well, does
Scott Benner 1:29:20
it always happen with a skate park?
Elle 1:29:22
It always happens with any activity, but 12 year old boys are not known for planning out their activity.
Scott Benner 1:29:28
Right now. I don't have an answer to but what it sounds like to me is that you're managing one body style, one, one impact, and then suddenly, you're switching to a significantly different impact. Yeah,
Elle 1:29:43
that's exactly what's happening. Right? I just don't have a whole day to prepare for it. Because if his buddy comes over and wants to go ride scooters, I can't be like, come back tomorrow.
Scott Benner 1:29:58
We'll plan this a lot sooner. There has to be some sort of a level of carbs that you can put in him that a hold this up because it sounds like he got closed. He did the Chick fil A and then he did a couple of packets of gummies. And so 150 carbs. I know it's a lot. I don't know how to I'm not I'm trust me. I'm not saying it's makes a lot of sense. I'm just saying that like talking it through this is this is what I'm imagining from your conversation. So I'm not sure I did that sound like it sucks, though. I'm sorry for that.
Elle 1:30:33
I just hate that he misses out on things. That's, that's the only I mean,
Scott Benner 1:30:37
is he really missing out? Or is he have to stop once in a while
Elle 1:30:42
his friends have stopped inviting him places. Because he's drinking juice, because he has to sit. And they don't want to wait on it.
Scott Benner 1:30:51
How long does the deficit toys okay?
Elle 1:30:54
Just depends on what they were doing. And how long. Like if we're dealing with an insulin board situation or a just, you know, like they at the skate park. We we knew that was coming a month ahead. And we prepared for it. So he just ate some gummies and kept skating right. And if I'm there, like I can tell him hey, you're 120 Eat some fruit snacks, and it'll bring you back up. But if I'm not there, and he's just hanging out with his friends, like, at the playground or whatever. I'm not there to tell him eat fruit snacks when he's 120. And his pump doesn't alert him when he's 120. And Dexcom doesn't even go that high.
Scott Benner 1:31:33
So he doesn't find out till he's lower and then it's too late that he's got to wait and wait and all that stuff. Yep. Yeah. I'm sorry. That sucks. Have you tried? We tried hiring Jenny for a couple of minutes to see which
Elle 1:31:52
I would love to but I can't afford a new computer.
Scott Benner 1:31:59
We she'll talk to you on the phone.
Elle 1:32:02
What I mean is, I think Jenny's probably out of my price range.
Scott Benner 1:32:06
I honestly, Can I be honest with you. This is gonna sound crazy. I have no idea how much Jenny charges? I honestly don't know. But I mean. I mean, it's a big deal. And it's got a big impact on him. So maybe no, it is. worries, no help.
Unknown Speaker 1:32:25
I'm just gonna still gotta feed the kids too.
Scott Benner 1:32:27
Well, not really. I mean, there's four of them. Right? They dog if something goes sideways. All right. I gotta go. I actually have a call. So
Unknown Speaker 1:32:39
hopefully it goes better than
Scott Benner 1:32:42
this guy is gonna know how to use his computer, which is a step in the right direction. I really did. I honestly did appreciate this conversation a lot. I thank you very much. I just I actually have to give them a shout out. I have a call with people from G voc and a little bit and I have I have told them they definitely know what they're talking about. I have to go be an adult. So I really appreciate this. We hold on one second for me. Yeah, thanks.
I want to thank L for coming on the show. And in a second. I'm going to tell you all the different ideas I had for naming this episode. Anyway, thank you l Thank you better help for sponsoring this episode better. help.com forward slash juice box saves you 10% off your first month of therapy. And thank you Omni pod, get your Omni pod dash or Omni pod five at my link Omni pod.com forward slash juicebox. That's pretty much it. I want to thank you so much for listening. Remind you that there are links in the show notes of your podcast player and at juicebox podcast.com. To all the sponsors. When you click on the links you're supporting the show. Don't forget to go to T one D exchange.org. Forward slash juice box fill out the survey. And of course you can get 35% off at cozier calm with the offer code juice box. Now I recorded this for myself as soon as
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#874 Type 2 Diabetes Pro Tip: Fueling Plan
A series for people with pre and Type 2 diabetes.
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.
+ Click for EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
DISCLAIMER: This text is the output of AI based transcribing from an audio recording. Although the transcription is largely accurate, in some cases it is incomplete or inaccurate due to inaudible passages or transcription errors and should not be treated as an authoritative record. Nothing that you read here constitutes advice medical or otherwise. Always consult with a healthcare professional before making changes to a healthcare plan.
- 00:00:22 Importance of personalized fueling plan.
- 00:10:43 Include vegetables in your diet.
- 00:12:00 Childhood experiences can shape food preferences.
- 00:17:57 Importance of monitoring blood sugar.
- 00:26:26 Processed foods can impact blood sugar.
- 00:29:23 Food culture and societal pressure.
- 00:37:08 Forming habits takes conscious effort.
- 00:40:01 Tracking intake helps with evaluation.
- 00:45:23 Avoid processed foods, choose healthier options.
Scott Benner 0:00
Hello friends, and welcome to episode 874 of the Juicebox Podcast
Hey everyone, welcome back to the Type Two diabetes Pro Tip series from the Juicebox Podcast. Today Jenny and I are going to talk about your fueling plan amongst other things. While you're listening, please remember that nothing you hear on the Juicebox Podcast should be considered advice, medical or otherwise, please Always consult a physician before making any changes to your health care plan. If you're just finding the diabetes Pro Tip series for type two diabetes, there are other episodes already available. Check them out at Juicebox Podcast or search your favorite audio app or podcast that if you're looking for some silky sheets are lovely joggers, maybe some nice PJs, check out cozy earth.com And when you check out use the offer code juicebox to save 35% on your entire order. If you're enjoying this series, please share it with someone else who you think might also enjoy it.
This episode of The Juicebox Podcast is sponsored by Dexcom, makers of the Dexcom G six and the Dexcom G seven continuous glucose monitoring system dexcom.com forward slash Juicebox Podcast is also sponsored by the contour next gen blood glucose meter, you want a glucose meter that is easy to hold, easy to read, accurate and offer Second Chance test strips if that's what you want. And I think that is what you should want. You want the contour next gen blood glucose meter contour next one.com forward slash juice box. Alright Jenny, we are here today to add to our type two series. Yay. Today we are going to discuss a fueling plan, which you taught me in the other episode not to say diet. And I didn't even think to say diet. So I'm pleased to say that I'm learning.
Jennifer Smith, CDE 2:31
You didn't have big signs in front of you. I really don't say diet.
Scott Benner 2:35
Actually, I thought oh, we're going to talk about eating today. We're going to and I went into my little note and I noticed that I was going to talk about fueling plan. I just wrote down fueling plan. I was like, Oh, look at me. I'm learning.
Unknown Speaker 2:45
Okay, you That's awesome. So
Scott Benner 2:49
So let's, I guess, just broad broad scope, it doesn't really matter, right? If you're a person who may not have been eating well, prior to your type two diabetes, or you were eating great, and you got it anyway. Right? What you're going to eat moving forward to help yourself is going to be the same one way or the other. That makes me Yeah, ish. Like, like, it's not like, I'm saying that, what's it going to be about. So if I'm coming in, I mean, let's just break this down. If I'm coming in with type two diabetes and a weight, right, type two diabetes, and no weight issue, then the person with no weight issue is just going to check to make sure they're not eating foods that are driving their blood sugar up,
Jennifer Smith, CDE 3:40
correct in in this example, it's a good example. The person who doesn't need some loss just needs to maintain and stabilize and also now has to watch what's happening to their blood sugar levels, it's more of a look at what you've been doing that's maintaining, and then shifting some of the things maybe out or maybe portion needs to change in one place versus another or maybe it's a changeover of these types of foods versus these types of foods, right. Similarly, in the person that needs or could benefit from some loss to get more to an optimized weight, you know, for their own body and for their activity level. There's might be a shift of kinds of foods as well. But it's definitely they need also some portion navigation for that,
Scott Benner 4:34
okay. What I mean, I think this is universal across a good health, not just diabetes type one type absolutely right. And, and we're going to try for people who don't know I think to my mom, excuse me, my mom was told she was pre diabetic. And and then she told me all the things she was going to eat and I was stuck on by how many of them had had, like she, she let me be clear, she said to me, I'm going to eat low carb. That's the thing she had heard somewhere, I don't know, doctor said it to her or whatever. But she's like, I'm gonna eat a low carb lifestyle. And then she listed all these vegetables that had a significant amount of carbs in them. And I thought, Oh, my mom doesn't know the difference between what has carbs in it and what doesn't like she had some of it right? Some of it wrong. Correct. Right. And so can you just help for a minute? Like, can you like just out loud, put a meal plan together for somebody and talk about some of the foods that you can be looking at?
Jennifer Smith, CDE 5:37
Yeah, I mean, it's, it's the easiest, I think. And unfortunately, the plate method, right, that was put out by the USDA, so that everybody knew what they were supposed to be looking at on their plate. I think the plate method actually is a very good idea for somebody starting out who's really trying to revamp and may have gotten the idea, well, I must, I have to go low carb. But what does that mean, right. And there are so many different ways to do low carb. But the plate methods easy, because if you just imagine sitting down with your plate, you're going to put on it more of the foods that have a low impact on your glucose level. And half of your plate then should be filled with what we call non starchy vegetables. And for your example with your mom, she thought, well, I'm going to do a low carb diet. But maybe she thought just vegetables in general, were low carb, right? They're unprocessed. They're, you know, unless you've bought them with a whole bunch of sauce or something on top of them. They're pretty clean food, right. But there is a difference. Non starchy means that they don't contain a lot of natural sugar. All vegetables do contain some kind of natural carbohydrate to them. Some have a lot more than others. So if you fill half of your plate with these non starchy vegetables being your greens, I mean, they're a powerhouse of nutrition. I'm not talking like, you know, Iceberg lettuce. You can eat all the iceberg lettuce that you want, you're not really getting a heck of a lot of good nutrition there. But it's a filler. So you're talking about the dark leafy greens are like the nice spring mixes and those kinds of things. You're talking about broccoli and cauliflower and cabbage and cucumbers and mushrooms and onions and peppers and even the summer zucchini or the the yellow squash. Those are non starchy vegetables and green beans and that kind of stuff.
Scott Benner 7:43
Easy Google search would be low glycemic vegetables, right? Yes. Okay. That will be great. That's the way you can kind of start now also, there are people who go all vegetables. For sure, too, right? That's a that's a legitimate plan as well, right? Like, instead of like low carb, which you think of as more as like protein and fat, there are some people who go like none of that. And, and they have similar successes sometimes as well.
Jennifer Smith, CDE 8:10
That's it's yeah, it's interesting, you know, the more the more plant based vegetable kind of plant based foods that you eat, they are really filling. So you can eat a fair amount of them. And because they are non starchy, you don't get a major shift or a major bump in your blood sugar compared to sitting down and eating something like, unfortunately, a starchy white potato, right, it's going to have a big impact on your blood sugar, because that's
Scott Benner 8:39
part of that plan. When you go all vegetables for diet for type two diabetes, that you're just very full, and you're not taking in a ton of calories and carbs, because there's a
Jennifer Smith, CDE 8:49
caloric load goes down, because there's bulk. Exactly. Now is that all round, well rounded, it's not anymore. If we're talking about healthy, nutrient dense and not necessarily calorically dense, then we do need a balance. And so that's why I think the plate method is a really nice place to start because you can get a wealth of non starchy vegetables on your plate. And then you can also the other half of the plate, really good lean quality protein sources, from whatever you know whether it's fish or chicken or maybe you love tofu or you're vegan or whatever. There are a lot of really good low glycemic protein sources, even beans and lentils while they do contain carbohydrate, naturally. It's downplayed based on the fiber and also the protein that you're getting with it. So
Scott Benner 9:43
also hydration still very important with type two like type one, right?
Jennifer Smith, CDE 9:47
Absolutely. Same hydration is I think it's a forgotten thing for a lot of people regardless of diabetes. You might carry your water bottle around during the course of the day and you know, sip on it or whatever. verb but yes, we need to drink water. And it's very important with type two.
Scott Benner 10:05
Part of the reason I like my green drink is because it also comes with me right away in the morning drinking 12 to 16 ounces of water. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I absolutely noticed that that's better. Okay, so here's what is rattling around in my head. Like, that's all well and good. Right? Like, can
Jennifer Smith, CDE 10:23
I say something before you? Can you remember your idea that you're gonna go forward? Alright, here is your green drink in the morning sort of made me think of the idea that vegetables for many people are just a dinner time. Right? Can you include them in other parts of your day? Absolutely. You do like a greens based thing in the morning time. It's a powder, you mix it in, it's easy, you get it down right away. You could also do something similar by getting vegetables for breakfast and putting it in a smoothie. You get a lot of quality nutrition that way, in not a very heavy, calorie dense package. You know, things like spinach and baby kale and celery and cucumbers. They all mix really well, along with you know, lower glycemic fruits, which is the next thing. Things like your berries and kiwi and apples and they're all much lower in impact. So popping that into a smoothie. It's a good way to sneak some vegetables in
Scott Benner 11:25
most of what you just listed would go in any high end scrambled egg to like if you go to a nice, yes, hell Right. They'll throw broccoli into your scrambled eggs or, you know, greens, things like that. There's other places mushrooms. i Right. Mushrooms are a good 1am I right. I love mushrooms. Yes. Every time I make anything I put mushrooms with it. Because and here's why Jenny, I don't eat a lot of vegetables. I do the greens. I am not a vegetable person. It's a texture thing for me. Ah, I can't do them the way they take and listen, we can go into it if you want. I don't think there's a lot of need for it here. But I grew up kind of broke. And there were a lot of canned nasty vegetables given to me like you're scoring like French string greens, like friends, you'd like to have these tastes horrible. And then I was I was parented in a way where you're not getting up so you eat it. And then I was a very stubborn person. So there were times where for breakfast, I would get cold green beans from the night before. And they'd be like, eat them and I'd be like no. So and I would like like physically like gag on them. Yeah, so now I'm wired wrong about vegetables now through bad parenting. And my dad's dead my mom's really old school over here this so they did a bad job and then made me hate vegetables. So I put you like mushrooms. I like it's the weirdest thing. Because
Jennifer Smith, CDE 12:47
maybe it's because you're a fun fun guy. And they're nice. I don't know.
Scott Benner 12:52
My wife's always like you don't like the way it feels in your mouth. But mushrooms are okay. And I'm like, yeah, yeah. I like onions. And they're very good for you. Yeah. I love Listen, I love them. I always have like a big bushel of them in the, in the, in the refrigerator. But like I'm looking at this list. And if you put me in this situation, I'd be like, Oh, I don't see a carrots. I think of carrots. And I'm like the guy don't know why. Because texturally, they're like potatoes, which I can do. If they're cooked as they're cooked, right? A cold carrot I can't do as soon as it splits apart, it feels waxy, or I don't know how to describe it. Like, you know what it flakes off. I'm like, it's in my mouth.
Unknown Speaker 13:38
You are so fun. I'm
Scott Benner 13:40
a child. Right, like and so, everything on this list. I've tried egg when you don't particularly care to get past the texture of it. So I didn't you sneak
Jennifer Smith, CDE 13:49
it into things like and this isn't you know, tip wise, if there are other people who are like, I can't really do that. Well. Can you sneak it in and make like a zucchini lasagna? Again, get rid of the noodles, slice up the zucchini. It cooks and becomes very soft. Similar to noodle.
Scott Benner 14:09
Let me tell you, I'm gonna do that this weekend. I've never tried that before. I'll try that. Oh, it's so good. I'll
Jennifer Smith, CDE 14:14
send you a recipe. Thank
Scott Benner 14:15
you that I will definitely try that salad. I taught. This is so embarrassing Jesus in a restaurant with my wife, seven, eight months pregnant with our first kid. In the afternoon, we just gone to like a OB appointment. So we were kind of like wild and free in the middle of the day, nothing to do. And we went to this restaurant, I can picture where I was sitting. And I said, I'm going to order a salad. And my wife goes what? And I was like yeah, I'm gonna get a salad. And she's like, You don't eat salad. I said it goes beyond that. Kelly. I've never had salad. I'm like, I'm gonna try a bowl of lettuce with things in it now. And I choked it down because I wanted to be a better role model for my kid. Sure, I taught myself to eat salad when I was like 25 years old. You are also talking to a person who was not taken to a dentist as a child. I really grew up like an animal you really
Unknown Speaker 15:15
did. Yeah, not like I'm sorry.
Scott Benner 15:19
Broken. That's just how it went, you know. And so I taught myself to eat a salad. I like tomato sauce. I have trouble with chunks of I can't eat a tomato.
Jennifer Smith, CDE 15:30
And that's another one. It's just like the mix it in figure out how to get it stuck in there someplace. soups are another really good one, where in especially pureed soups, you can hide a lot of things. So if you like tomato sauce, and it has to be really, really, really smooth, you could put a whole bunch of stuff in it, you could put carrots in there, you could probably put green beans in there, although I don't know what it would do to the flavor. And get a really good high power. Like a Vitamix kind of thing. Let's say. You can puree it down and you'll never know what was in there. As long as it's still got all the seasonings that you want from marinara sauce.
Scott Benner 16:10
I could put pureed carrots into a tomato sauce, and I would never know they were in there. Hold on. Yeah, make a note about that. So
Jennifer Smith, CDE 16:18
again, I mean, you're not going to put 20 carrots in with one thing of tomatoes and haven't tasted the tomatoes. But more than
Scott Benner 16:24
I was gonna get if I didn't throw a carrot in there. Exactly. Yeah. Because even like pepper, like I know I can cook peppers. This is I know that I must sound like I'm four years old, but I can cook peppers down into things and eat them. Yeah, but if you made like a stuffed pepper like my wife likes Turkey stuffed peppers. I can't do that. You can't do that. No, I because the pepper gets kind of like I feel like I'm arguing against myself here. But the pepper gets like soft and weird. And then I don't like the
Jennifer Smith, CDE 16:55
texture. Yeah, it's a texture thing for you definitely. What about roasted vegetables like if you roast pan roast them in the oven, like onions and mushrooms and peppers and those kinds of things. If you get if you have a good oven or you have something that you can kind of like char broil them with the right seasoning. Sometimes that's enough of a flavor like that you're okay with what it is.
Scott Benner 17:20
Yeah, I tried that with broccoli. But then the broccoli breaks down into those little round things on the floor. Or whatever, Kenny listen to get to my mouth. They're everywhere. And I'm like, why is this happening? I'm listen, I'm outing myself today because I'm going to make these quick for you. There are CGM and B GMs. A CGM is a continuous glucose monitor. And that's what Dexcom makes the Dexcom G six and brand new Dexcom G seven. These devices will allow you to see the speed, direction and number of your blood sugar. Just think about that. I mean, in context, they were talking about type two diabetes. Imagine you eat something and your blood sugar starts to go up, or it doesn't, or it goes up quickly and then comes back down. How would you know any of that with a Dexcom, you will know you will see it happen right in front of you on your receiver or your Android or iPhone. It's crazy how far these technologies come. My daughter is wearing a Dexcom G six at the moment, she will be switching to a G seven very soon. I know somebody personally wearing a G seven and they're having a good old time of it. So you can check it out and see what you think Dex comm.com forward slash juice box. What I'll tell you is there is no better way to make decisions about your medications and your food than being able to see how food and medication impacts your blood sugar. You can see that with Dexcom dexcom.com forward slash juicebox. Of course, the podcast is sponsored today by the contour line of blood glucose meters as well. Their latest the contour next gen blood glucose meter is highly accurate. And you're gonna like it, contour next.com forward slash juice box head over and take a look. See all their meters, read about the test strips learn what it means that they offer a second chance. I'll tell you right now, if you touch blood, but don't get enough, you can go back and get more without ruining the accuracy of the strip or the strip itself. And that's a big deal. It's not to say that the strip needs a lot of blood just you know you could fumble around with it or touch it and drop it or whatever. I don't know what happens to you. And you can go right back and finish up lickety split. Like it never happened. Contour Next One com forward slash juice box while you're over there. Check out the Buy Now button. There are a number of places online where you might be able to buy the meters and test trip is cheaper in cash than you're currently paying with your insurance. I know that's strange to think. But it's worth looking into Contour. Next One comm forward slash juice box dexcom.com forward slash juice box links in the show notes links at juicebox podcast.com. I, I made it through a lot of my life without eating vegetables. Sure, I would supplement where I could. But obviously it's not enough. Even the green drink is great, but it's not the same as eating this food, right? And I'm well
Jennifer Smith, CDE 20:31
and you bring up a good point there eating the food. It's just like we say with sugar from fruit. Eat the fruit don't drink the juice, because on a blood sugar level, what's it going to do differently to your blood sugar, right? So it's the same thing from a nutrient level, you're getting good stuff from your greens. But on a digestive level, you're not getting all the advantage of your body breaking it down and pulling things out and getting the digestive fiber benefit. So
Scott Benner 21:00
yeah, I mean, now having said about that this week, I have never been happier than I have been this week, I went to the Costco and I bought I bought four steaks. And I cook them with a light seasoning. And then I refrigerate them. And when I get hungry I slice a few slices off, right. And I I pick at them. I have I cooked all ready to go with them. Shrimp I sauteed some shrimp in mushrooms. And so like my lunch today, as I'll take probably four ounces of steak, put it with like two shrimp and a mushroom. And I'll just like eat that and that'll be my lunch. Yum. Yeah. And that. Because I'm putting myself in the position of the people listening. I'm thinking like, if I got type two diabetes, and you showed me this list of vegetables, I'd be like, Oh, I'm gonna die.
Jennifer Smith, CDE 21:55
Especially if you're not used to even eating some of them. Like you're starting in a very lean amount of vegetables that you would even consider trying to put into your diet. There are many people who already have vegetables in their diet, but maybe it's in such a small portion. That it's not, it's not the wealth of what they should be eating right. They might be doing a plate full of mashed potatoes and maybe aside of green beans, they should be flipped around. Yeah, green beans, good dinner salad, whatever is the wealth of the plate along with a nice healthy lean protein source. And then maybe the rest of the plate something like lower glycemic if you are still going with some type of a grain or maybe you want to definitely include fruit again from a nutrient dense quality. Fruit is excellent. It's just some is higher glycemic index meaning higher quicker impact on blood sugar, compared to others. Your lower glycemic are definitely the berries, blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, blackberries. Typically the green apples are the leanest in terms of like carbon packed kiwi fruit interestingly, as well. Some of the pears. Yeah. Okay.
Scott Benner 23:16
So I think that I think that people need to understand like, even though I'm like I miss anti vegetables a person could be still when I scroll down this list. I can find five or six things on here. I I'd be happy to eat. Sure. It's just the big the big picture. It's it's psychological for me, like I think of like, I smell peas. And I don't want them. I feel carrots in my mouth when I think about carrots. i Yeah, green beans. I feel them stuck in my throat when I think
Jennifer Smith, CDE 23:50
I can understand the P one. Because I will only eat real potted peas. Like take them out of the pod yourself and eat the pea like fresh peas. If they have been frozen if they have been canned, then I can taste that in my mouth. You can you can see me right yeah, I can I get where you're saying you can. You can get that in your mouth and you're like, nope, totally not going in.
Scott Benner 24:22
And I do I do think that's part of it. I think the preparation of the vegetables that were given to me as a kid really stuck to me because I have prepared things at home. I you know, when I'm teaching myself to eat it, I might end up with a little Parmesan cheese overtop of it to try to like sure get it in, you know what I mean? But I could do better. Like I really could. But one but I'm thinking that people need to hear is that if you're looking for a place to start, it's boxed bagged cookies cake. What flour right like these are the four tracking
Jennifer Smith, CDE 24:55
process processed foods, right, right. That's the best word for it. Honestly. And, you know, sometimes too, we also have to consider the grand majority of people with diabetes have type two diabetes, and it reaches all, it reaches all level of people, whether someone starting out with a diagnosis in kind of the realm of where you grew up without a lot of money. So they may be on a very tight budget about what they can do, there might be people who can absolutely afford to be improving their intake, right. I mean, there are some really good resources, I have a book that was put out quite a while ago, by the ADEA. It's diabetes meals on $7, a day or less. So from that aspect, it gives you kind of grocery lists that gives you how to pick and choose some things, how to put meals together, sometimes, adults diagnosed with type two haven't been cooking. And, you know, again, this isn't like a shame or a blame or anything. But this is just the way that it is this is how busy we've gotten in life. And the more as you said, the more processed the more packaged the food is, the potential from those increase in ingredients that you can't read. When you look at the label, the impact on blood sugar can be something that then you can't figure out.
Scott Benner 26:31
I went to I did something interesting. I googled processed food examples. But I went to the NHS in the UK for my return instead of America, just in case there's any like corporate pressure on the list that we might find in America. Food processing can be as basic as freezing, canning, baking or drying. To try and that's what that's what they're saying. They say what counts is processed food breakfast, cereals, cheese, tinned vegetables, I guess they mean canned vegetables and bread, savory snacks, such as crisps, or chips, sausage rolls, pies, pastries, meat products, like bacon, sausage, ham salami or Pate, a microwavable meal or ready made meals, cakes and biscuits drinks, even like milk or soft drinks. It says not all processed foods are a bad choice. Some foods do processing to make them safe, such as milk. So it Yes, milk is processed, but not in this category.
Jennifer Smith, CDE 27:34
And that I think that's actually a really good description. And I'm glad that they emphasize that process doesn't necessarily mean poor quality. Like in my cupboard sure I have processed foods. It's things like canned beans, right? Yeah. Because it doesn't take me an entire 24 hours to soak them. So I buy I buy beans that have already been soaked for me so I can easily use that.
Scott Benner 28:01
Think about this even Have you ever seen low salt bacon? Jedi? Do you ever buy bacon?
Unknown Speaker 28:09
We don't eat bacon? Well,
Scott Benner 28:10
there's a low salt bacon. Let me just skip over the part where you've never looked at bacon before. There's the low salt bacon every time I see that. I think what what is that a healthier pig? No. It's they salt the other bacon. And that's what they're saying here is processed foods, what can make them less healthy, extra ingredients like Salt, Sugar Fat that are added to the process. And buying processed foods can lead to people eating more than the recommended amounts of sugar, salt and fat because you're not even aware you're getting them.
Jennifer Smith, CDE 28:41
And you and that's that's really those three sugar, salt and fat. They are something that the food industry has absolutely clicked into in order to hook people on the non preferred processed food. It is they put them in together in the right amounts in the foods. And it's the reason that you can't just eat one potato chip.
Scott Benner 29:10
Yeah, no, it's not your fault when you're like, Oh my God, these are amazing. Like, salt, fat, like you always will be saying like crack heroin. Absolutely contain like, like things that you get. And you're like, Oh, your body's like do that again. Yeah, so addictive. Yeah, the end? I think, too. It's a modern society, right? Like, obviously, there are so many people on the planet. And this is the way we have so far figured out to feed everybody. And, you know, you could make the like, well, everyone's alive and they're not hungry, like they used to be. But look at all these people who have type two diabetes and you know, other things that are happening to people's health that we're sort of like That's odd, you know, and right. And so you're gonna have to me you're gonna have to put some effort into it because you're basically dodging the way people hand food to you back in the 50s where you may cookies once a month, right? Okay. And now we just have like, we have so much like, there's such a like everybody stop and think right now. Could you could you make pasta in your house right now? Yes. Could you make a cookie from scratch right now you have all those things, you know, like, it's, it's too in your face? And yes, you know, it's, I'm missing the word but it's, it's just on the present.
Jennifer Smith, CDE 30:26
It is. And I think it is because we've also become it's become a part of every social encounter, like a business meeting today. Even on the highest corporate level, there is always food. Always. And you can't, you can't get away from it. And so you end up sometimes, honestly, from the mental standpoint, you end up feeling like the oddball out if you're always like, no, no, I'm just going to have a cup of coffee, or I'm just going to have a cup of tea or I'm just going to drink my water, you know, or I've got my own lunch. You get the look like you've got like four heads. Because you brought your pack food.
Scott Benner 31:14
She's healthier than the rest of us. Yeah, no, I mean, you and I've had dinner together before. Yeah, I've seen you. Like just pass something by just, I don't want that. Thank you need that? Thank you. Yeah, I just think that it's, I mean, look, you're gonna go to the doctor, right? We already talked about in previous episodes, you're gonna run into a lot of roadblocks understanding how to getting on medications if you need understanding, insulin diffusing and so on. But then this happens. To me, this seems like the linchpin here like this is the hardest part. I just I imagined for most people, this is the hardest part, like, I eat in a certain way, because I'm programmed to because this is how I grew up doing it. I'm partly shared my story about the vegetables because a reasonably intelligent person, I should be able to put a green bean in my mouth. But there's a seven year old boy being yelled at at a table somewhere who's like that makes me gag. And so right you know, and so whatever your thing is, that when you stop and look at your coverage, you go no, I have to have I have to have that. That's part of like, right? Holidays. People associate holidays with a certain food. Yes. So many damn holidays, that if you try to better your health, you can't because you're like, well, I'll just do it after because they roll into each other. Yeah, I'll do it after New Year's. Well, then Christmas. Oh, then we'll wait. Oh, New Years. Okay, well, oh, but you know, Valentine's day I'm gonna want chocolate. So we'll probably Irish potatoes. Hold on a second. I can't cuz in March that you know what, it'll be a Oh, Easter jelly beans, I'm really going to want jelly beans in Easter. So I'll be planning to Oh, God, Fourth of July. Well, I don't want to start then. And it just doesn't stop.
Jennifer Smith, CDE 33:02
It doesn't and I think you're bringing up something that also means you have to consider that there. There isn't an all or none principle. I think that gets people in trouble. There are some people that can do that. They can say, You know what? I've seen what this does, I'm good. Without it. I can just totally give this up. And I can go you know, just like you said I can do just the vegetables and maybe grilled chicken and I'm good with that. I'm not I'm not living to eat right? I'm taking in the fuel, which is the energy for our body because my body needs it. It's a necessity. But for the majority of people we need a little bit of a given take how much give should we have in the picture? You so in terms of like a plan 8020 9010 If you're as you bring up each of those holidays, right we've got something in October, we've got something in November, we have some type of something in December and depending on how you celebrate the beginning of January then February rolls around and like you said March and then April depending on if you celebrate Easter or anything within that there's it's it's never ending and then of course we got the Fourth of July there's only a couple of months in there. There's really not like a food base something
Scott Benner 34:19
maybe summertime and then it's ice cream and like things that are barbecuing everyone associates with by the way barbecuing interesting people like meat that's healthy. Yeah. Okay. If you dry rub your beef. That's great. If you throw a big sauce over top of it, you're looking a block of sugar. And that's why it tastes so great because it's and so you have to like everyone listening is going to just have to decide and but I think they should also understand the rest of it. And I think that's the problem with type two is that it comes on we talked about earlier it comes on so slowly that it really just feels like I could probably Just stay two steps ahead of this and I'll be okay. Right, right. And the truth is it will. I mean, for most of us, it's going to catch you if you don't, if you don't correct do something, right.
Jennifer Smith, CDE 35:13
Which is, you know, like I said, That's why a little bit of I can do this. But the majority of the time, I really need to focus on doing this. So let's take each month of the year, let's say that there is something right, you have to make a decision and say, Okay, I'm going to really celebrate here. And the celebration is a day. Okay, what's a day out of 30 days? Right? Yeah, you're not even looking at like 10% of the month, you're looking at much less than that of being able to, if you really liked grandma's frosted sugar cookies at Christmas time, then go ahead and do that or, right. But the majority of the time is what's going to have the wealth of impact overall.
Scott Benner 36:00
How long do you think it takes to change a habit? Like there's you ever thought about it, because there's, there's some people say it's two months, some people say it can take up to like, 250 days to change a habit. And I've seen while someone, I've seen a person do a fast, and at the end of seven days be like, I feel amazing, and not like a fast like no food. Like it's a it's a nutrition fast, like so you're taking in nutrition still, you're just it's anyway, at the end of seven days, they're like down 15 pounds, they feel amazing. Now they have food cravings. So like, I missed this, and I missed that. And they start off well with eating like, you know, things. They're like, Oh, this will be great. But then it's like a week later, and something happens, an event or stress hits or something like that, and it turns into a potato chip, then the salt hits them. And they're like, oh, here we go. Like it really is like watching. It's like watching an addict, like pick a cigarette back up again, or something like that. Yeah, you know? And so is there is there good science on how long it takes or there isn't really to,
Jennifer Smith, CDE 37:03
you know, it used it used to be in from what I know now it's more of like, it's more of a myth. Honestly, it used to be said that it takes three weeks to make a habit or 21 days to form a habit. And honestly, it was disproven a while ago. It I think what you said about two months, is about the statistic that was actually kind of re put out there. So in general, a habit means that you are making a conscious effort in the change time, it may mean that it's hard for you to do that. Every day. Once it becomes like the end of the night I was bring up like brushing your teeth. The end of the night comes that's your routine, you don't even often like think about it. It's just you head into the bathroom, you brush your teeth, you get in bed, and you'd kind of have this routine, right? It rolls at the point of which you easily go to the grocery store, or you easily write your grocery list, or you easily pick something that you know, is really good for you from a restaurant menu. And it didn't take effort to do that. You've got to have it formed. And sometimes it takes effort even beyond that once you've gone on a vacation, you've gotten out of your habit, you may have to reignite that habit again. Yeah, right. You know,
Scott Benner 38:29
when we talk about how like money can impact what people buy, we're usually thinking people who have less money or are forced to buy more processed food, which I think is true. But I think it's cheaper. Although food prices lately, nothing's cheap. But no, I also think if you have too much money, then it also feels like there's a decadence to it, like I could just buy this, this is $5 it means nothing to me, You know what I mean? Like and now I have a bag of candy around or I you know, I bought a block of chocolate because it's fancy or like, you know, like gears, right? You have to there used to be this thing that I would buy when I went to the grocery store. It's like this little junk food thing. And I realized it was as I got older, and I started making more money. I was like, I can afford this thing that I couldn't afford as a child. And then I would buy it sometimes and not want it. But it was just me being like, look, I can afford this. I can have Yeah, I can have this if I want to. And so there was a day I realized that and I told myself, I'm like you will never buy that again, when you go in that store. Like it doesn't matter if you want it or don't want to you're gonna make like a conscious decision to never purchase this thing again. Right? Nothing to do with your life or nutrition or anything like that. And that's one of the ways I started teaching myself to make changes. I just picked something completely banal when I was like, alright, this again, right for any context that was like a little like sugary candy like that right? Just something silly.
Jennifer Smith, CDE 39:52
I even it kind of goes along with how much tracking right a lot of people filler, also told will track your intake to kind of figure out exactly what you want to change. Tracking initially might be great if you're starting with a list of what you're doing, picking off of it and saying, Well, I could probably change this, I could transition this into this. And this would be better. Economically, it works out about the same. I think budget is a big thing. If you know how much you have to spend on something, you can often see that going to the grocery store and buying a bunch of stuff and preparing multiple meals is actually less expensive than buying the stuff from the restaurant. Yeah, it can be. But I think in terms of evaluation, you have to know what you're doing. That requires an adjustment. You can't just make an all over change without deciding I have to get rid of some stuff too.
Scott Benner 40:50
Well, it's overwhelming to and making a big change is difficult for anybody. And oftentimes people will say, well, it's not just me, there are other people in my house. Right? And so I can't just, but you know what you can because there are times when people are like, like have like harsh, like celiac disease, for example, rap people will like be like, Alright, that's it, everybody. We don't eat gluten anymore, because Billy's head falls off when we eat it. So we're all just going to stop and it turns out more like his belly falls. But but it turns out, you can if you need to, right, so you have to decide. Like it has to be a thing where you need to do it. And you have to you have to know and that's why I'm trying to say like gently but kindly, you're not going to outpace type two diabetes for your whole life, it is going to catch you. And when it catches you, you are going to be surprised at how quickly your health deteriorates in a myriad of different ways.
Jennifer Smith, CDE 41:44
If you don't make a change and make a habit of making that change. Yeah, you can't
Scott Benner 41:50
just act like it's going to be okay. It's it's not a thing you can ignore into oblivion. So
Jennifer Smith, CDE 41:56
no, it's not. And unfortunately, again, with the the sheer lack of education and information from the get go. Again, there's not really a blame component to what people are lacking doing. Until of course they've been given information, and then just decide not to be able to do something with it. Right. I mean, if you've been told something, and it makes sense to you not that I didn't really get that. Okay, then ask more questions. But if you really did get it, and you're just choosing to not do it, then that's, that is on you. No one's
Scott Benner 42:36
gonna be able to help. I'll, I'll say this. I think bringing back up butterfat, salt and modern cooking. Just using it like magic to make things taste freaking amazing. Yeah, absolutely. And then you're you are hooked on it. I don't care if you realize it or not like you can get addicted to sugar. You can you know, eating that makes you want more of it. Like that, that whole thing. So I know that can feel like that can feel like well, look, someone tricked me into it. It's not my fault. It maybe it isn't, but the outcome is still gonna fall on to you. And what I would say here is when I found my youngest brother, I don't know how obvious it is to people if you listened enough, but I raised my brothers. So I when I was 13, my father left my mom went to work and my brother was we were all five years apart. I was 13 my brother was eight. My other brother was three. And for large portions of the day, it was me, right. And I didn't do everything right, because I was 13 Obviously, I didn't know what I was doing. But there was there was this time where I saw my youngest brother, not when he was three years later, he was smoking cigarettes. And I pulled him aside and I said listen, somewhere right now, there are 20 Rich people sitting in a boardroom laughing that you buy cigarettes. And I was like, Do you want to give them that satisfaction? They're going to kill you to take your money and you are just going to be okay with it. I was like I wouldn't smoke them just to save you to them. If for no other reason, and I do think that about some of this food sometimes like it is just it is everywhere. It is plentiful. It is in bags that are just too big. Like you don't I guess I grew up at Easter time we used to get these jelly beans and when I made a little more money I bought better jelly beans so for anybody listening, just born jelly beans are the best jelly beans I don't care if you agree or not. I'm right
Unknown Speaker 44:41
now that I've ever seen that brand, it's the it's the company that makes the peeps oh really
Scott Benner 44:47
they make jelly beans the best job so every year I would like get myself like a small bag of jellybeans and just and have them throughout the month. Well then one year these Jenny these mothers do They make a five pound bag of these jelly beans. Five pounds. Oh my goodness,
Unknown Speaker 45:05
it's five pound the Jelly Bean rolling $9 By the time you get to eat or walk $9 The
Scott Benner 45:13
one pound bag was $3 it was a no brainer.
Unknown Speaker 45:18
Oh my gosh. Okay. And
Scott Benner 45:22
and I just think like, when you see something like that you should look and think I'm not buying that, like you're not killing me to take my $9 Yeah,
Jennifer Smith, CDE 45:32
you're right. And the standpoint behind it, like I said earlier, is that their goal? On a broader sense, anybody that's manufacturing the majority of the processed true processed food, not like canned beans, right? It is to get you to come back and buy more of it. It is I mean, that's, that's the goal. So you really are like you told your brother, you're feeding a corporation that's really not doing anything beneficial for your body.
Scott Benner 46:05
Right. Yeah, I mean, at some point, you just have to say, I'm not going to be a part of your, your silly game where you end up with a bunch of money and I end up dead. So I'd rather give
Jennifer Smith, CDE 46:15
my money to Farmer Joe down the road. Who's gonna give me? Well, maybe mushrooms for you. Green beans, right?
Scott Benner 46:22
I think about it as a savings plan. Every time you look at something that you know is going to hurt you put that money in an envelope instead. Yeah, and I don't know, like, I don't here's the point. I don't know what the answer is. What I'm going to tell you is, isn't it? You have to like you have to figure it out. You can't give up and there might be fits and starts you might not get it right the first time. You can't give up on this. This is this is it. I mean, what are the stats? How many people have type two diabetes in America? Do you know it? Oh, my
Jennifer Smith, CDE 46:51
goodness, I haven't looked it up. I usually look it up yearly like at the beginning of the year. I don't think I've even looked it up this year. Um, I think it's like 270.
Scott Benner 47:01
I don't even know more than 37 million Americans have diabetes about one in 10. And approximately 90 to 95% of them have type two type two diabetes most often develops in people over 45. But more and more children, teens and young adults are also developing it. This is the CDC what causes type two diabetes, insulin is a hormone made by your pancreas that acts like a key to let blood sugar into the cells in your body for uses energy. If you have type two diabetes cells don't respond normally to insulin. This is called insulin resistance. Your pancreas makes more insulin to try to get cells to respond. Eventually your pancreas can't keep up your blood sugar rise is setting the stage for pre diabetes and type two diabetes, high blood sugar is damaging to the body and can cause other serious health health problems such as heart disease, vision loss and kidney disease. So yeah, like don't buy the jelly beans. Like just
Unknown Speaker 47:53
by the jelly.
Scott Benner 47:54
I think that's what that's what I read what I read was keep the nine bucks don't buy the jelly beans. Yeah, there you go. Anyway, okay, Jenny, is there anything I left out? Should we have said anything?
Jennifer Smith, CDE 48:03
Um, I don't know. I mean, we're talking about nutrition here. So I could probably go on for like two more hours. But
Scott Benner 48:11
I'll tell you towards the end of this series, why don't we do that? Why don't we jump back on? And you just talk to me like you're helping me. And I will. I will listen, and it'll be there for people if they want it, then.
Jennifer Smith, CDE 48:26
Do you think I'll convince you to eat green beans?
Scott Benner 48:28
I mean, probably not. Maybe wait French is the thin ones, right?
Jennifer Smith, CDE 48:34
Yeah, they're the they're the weird ones. I don't I won't even eat French green beans. See?
Scott Benner 48:38
Maybe I could try the other ones. Although I can feel them soft crunching in my mouth right now.
Jennifer Smith, CDE 48:45
We will talk about green beans in that. Okay, little
Scott Benner 48:48
beans come out of the middle. And I'm like what is that? Thank you very much. I appreciate
Unknown Speaker 48:54
you. Thank you.
Scott Benner 49:00
I want to thank Jenny for coming over today and talking about type two diabetes with me. And thank you for listening. I also want to thank Dexcom, makers of the Dexcom G six and Dexcom G seven continuous glucose monitoring systems dexcom.com forward slash juicebox. I'd also like to thank that contour line of blood glucose meters contour next one.com forward slash choose box go check out that brand new Contour next gen blood glucose meter. There are links in the show notes and links at juicebox podcast.com to Dexcom contour and all the sponsors when you click on the links, you're supporting the show. And don't forget if you've missed any part of the diabetes Pro Tip series for type two diabetes, you can find them at juicebox podcast.com. Or in our private Facebook group Juicebox Podcast type one diabetes, but don't worry. All diabetes are welcome
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