#274 After Dark: Drinking Edition

ADULT TOPIC WARNING. Frank discussions about drinking that includes words like F@#*, $%it, and more… (bleeped)

Maia shares her real-world knowledge of drinking with type 1 diabetes.

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

Scott Benner 0:00
this episode of the Juicebox Podcast contains frank discussion about alcohol. We also curse a lot, but it's beeped out. But I mean, it's still cursing, like, you know if I say, but it's beeped out like it just was, you can still tell I was saying. So, you know, consider that before you let your kids Listen, we're, if you're a little squeamish about stuff like that, consider it before you listen, but just know you're going to miss a fantastic conversation about real life issues surrounding type one diabetes. And I think if you're the parent of a child with type one, this is the kind of stuff you're going to want to know for the future. If you're a kid right now, experimenting with drinking, you definitely need to know this. And if you're just an adult who likes to get a little boozy, might as well learn from a pro. And this episode isn't completely about drinking, we still learn about the guests and their upbringing and where they're from and how they got to where they are not a monster. I didn't just start yelling booze and talk for an hour. Actually, this one's like an hour and a half. But that's not what happened. It's still the Juicebox Podcast, you know, and love. Nothing's different. For instance, you still shouldn't take anything you hear on the Juicebox Podcast is advice, medical or otherwise, you should of course, always consult a physician before making any changes to your health care plan for becoming bold with insulin.

I'll tell you what, though, we curse a lot, Sofia, like the cursing really starts to kick in around halfway, and then it's just much quicker this year. Actually, it's not a lot of that. It's just a couple curses. Sorry, guys. You ready? Here's what I was thinking my and you tell me if you're comfortable with it. And if you're not, I'll revert to my original idea. Okay. Are you comfortable doing like a, a looser adult version of this conversation? And I can just mark it for adults and bleep out cursing if we curse.

Maia 2:00
Yeah, for sure. Okay.

Scott Benner 2:03
You just did something just now. And whatever it was, it's louder than you expect it to be. So

Maia 2:09
okay. I have let me just check something. Because the headphones I'm using. If I'm not moving around, is it good? Or

Scott Benner 2:22
I don't know what you're doing because I can't see you. But

Maia 2:24
I'm actually changing my pod right now.

Do that I can hold when I'm not changing my pod. I can just hold my speaker or my receiver thing away from away from my jacket.

Scott Benner 2:39
Yeah, that's all sometimes if you're wearing a corded headset with like, just an apple headset. If you start moving in that mic, hit your shirt hits your hair or something like that. It just makes a sound that I hear that you don't hear.

Maia 2:52
Yeah, for sure. Okay, cool. Okay. Great. Riley. Link sounds the pod.

Okay.

Well, if we can hang on for just a second so I can get this pod on and then we should be good to go.

Scott Benner 3:09
My I think this is the absolute perfect podcast for you to be changing your insulin pump as it starts. And by the way, I'm recording so we're good. Okay, great. You're absolutely fine. This is it's actually kind of nice. It probably in a few minutes, we're gonna stop and do Arden's insulin for her lunch too.

Maia 3:25
Okay, great. It's perfect. Yeah. Yeah. And I'm I'm cruising a little low, too. So you'll probably hear me eat a date here.

Scott Benner 3:34
That's excellent. I think that's actually Arden. 71. And her blood sugar just shifted to, like a diagonal down arrow. Yeah. And so I'm, like, wondering what's about to happen. I really think she's about to go to lunch, which then I just love. I love the low as a Pre-Bolus. It's perfect, but

Maia 3:53
it really works the best. You can't. You can never make it happen when you want it to. And then, you know, when it does, you're like, yeah,

Scott Benner 4:02
I'm winning. Listen, can you talk while you're while you're swapping your body? Oh, yeah. Yeah, for sure. So I'll just I'll lightly start chatting with you here but and I don't want to take your focus away too much from what you're doing.

Maia 4:14
Oh, no, you're good. You're good.

Scott Benner 4:16
I loved the way you reached out to me. idea that somebody you know, eight was your husband? Is that who you're talking about? or boyfriend?

Maia 4:25
Yeah. What my husband and one of my friends two people told me that this was my moment

Scott Benner 4:31
to people in your life after hearing me on the podcast say well, I'm looking for a professional drunk said oh my god, my it's your turn to be on the jukebox back.

Maia 4:42
I know. made me a little nervous.

Scott Benner 4:47
You know, was there any self reflection after this happened?

Maia 4:51
You know, there, there wasn't a little but I think the reason that that might husband said that it was my moment was because he's, we've been together like the whole time that I've been diabetic. And so, you know, we were together in college when I was figuring out how to drink. And so I think, you know, you know, is that I actually put some thought into it. But my other friend, that that's the one that makes me nervous.

Scott Benner 5:23
So, okay, so your husband had some perspective, and he's like, I've actually seen my work really hard at understanding how alcohol affects her with her blood sugar. And your friend just went my drinks a lot, and she has diabetes. Is that?

Maia 5:40
That is, that is how it went.

Scott Benner 5:43
Yeah, yeah, I can see you thinking, Oh, damn. So my, I'll say it here, because people won't know this before I this is gonna be part of sort of an after dark series, we're going to talk to you about drinking today. Later, we're going to talk to a professional pot smoker. And since we're gonna call you a pro drinker, and, and also going to get a male and female adult, on two separately to talk about what it's like to have sex when you have diabetes, too. So I do this whole little trifecta of, of adult activities and diabetes. But you and I are going to be a little looser, while we're talking about this today. So there's going to be cursing in this episode will all be beeped out. But if you're one of those people who normally lives a life where your kids are listening along with you, or, or for the the few people who tell me that they're like, really young kids listen by themselves, which I think is awesome. This is probably not the episode, but for your kids to listen to it. It'll be you know, Mark, Mark, dwell on the title and everybody will know ahead of time. Oh, here we go. I just said to my daughter is lunch. And she said, What? And then I wrote when is sex? So is lunch? Sorry? I didn't do that. Did I do that? subconsciously while I was talking about the podcast, maybe? I mean, there are three letters and sex and five letters in lunch. So

Maia 7:20
like, you know,

Scott Benner 7:22
I don't know. She's so helpful. I don't know, because they did this award thing this morning.

So she's not heading to lunch that like I thought she was. So she needs to take carbs here.

Maia 7:44
I'm drinking my juice box as we speak.

Scott Benner 7:46
Apparently, it's going to be too because she's not to lunch also. All right. Have you hopped the rails? Are you running away from home on the train?

Maia 7:56
No, I am. I'm sitting in my car. I teach yoga. Okay, so I'm sitting in my car outside my yoga studio, which is right by the train tracks. But that should be the only train that passes us during our podcast app, so that will be good. That's totally

Scott Benner 8:13
fine. I feel like it adds flavor. Cool.

Maia 8:20
Yeah, I got I actually have a great view. I'm right on the water. I'm on the waterfront, I'm in this nice park. It's really not

Scott Benner 8:26
part of the country.

Maia 8:28
I live in Washington State,

north of Seattle. So I'm up in Bellingham, which is, you know, right in between Vancouver, British Columbia, and Seattle.

Scott Benner 8:39
And so to start slow, because we're gonna get into you and your diabetes for a second before we get to, you know, the other stuff. But any pause at all on your part? Like, I'm looking for stigma? Like, is there any concern? Like, I really can't go on a podcast that people get here and talk about how much I drink? Or do you not

Maia 8:57
know about it? No, not at all. Good. I don't

Scott Benner 9:00
think you should. I mean, you know, I don't, I don't think anybody should feel self conscious about who they are. But I just didn't know if it was something that gave you pause. If you thought, I don't know if I want to say that out loud. Would you have more more reservation? Saying something private about diabetes or another part of your life? Or do you feel like you're just an open person in general?

Maia 9:20
I think I'm a pretty open person, I think, I don't know. I called my dad when you responded back and I had a chuckle about how you saved all your funny questions for the podcast. And I called my dad and I was like, Dad, I'm gonna be on on a podcast and when it's gonna be about how much I drink, I'll see you there was my low glucose alert. But uh, yeah, no, I, I really don't and i think i think the reason is that if you know me, you you should probably know, most of me, you know? But that's always just been kind of my opinion cool.

Scott Benner 10:01
But Maia is referring was that when she and I went back and forth a couple times, because, you know, normally I'm just like, hey, would somebody like to come on and talk about whatever they want. But when you were coming on to talk about something specific, I soon as we started chatting back and forth the the question started popping into my head, and I stopped myself and I'm like, I'm not gonna do the podcast over like, messenger, you know, where I'm like, what's this? Like, and that kind of thing. So. So how's your blood sugar? Are you okay?

Maia 10:29
I'm good. I got I had a, I had like, 20 carbs. And I should be all good to go.

Scott Benner 10:34
Nice. So you changed your pump had stopped the low end of doing a podcast on your car? That's excellent. Yeah, yeah, people. This is for the newer diagnosed people who are just like, I don't understand. It's so overwhelming. My it's just like, if I had another hand, I could be brushing my hair.

Maia 10:52
So actually, you know, I just got out of the shower, I'll probably put on mascara while we talk to.

Scott Benner 10:57
Excellent. All right, so my welcome to the show. One of the longer preambles of any show is gonna have How old are you now? How old were you when you're diagnosed? I am 28. And I was diagnosed at 17.

Maia 11:15
So I just celebrated my 10 year anniversary in June gratulations. Wow, I made it.

Scott Benner 11:23
I'm still here. You are the perfect person for this, as I didn't know your age range from diagnosis to now until just now. But you're perfect because you're in your later 20s. So any of the incredibly stupid things you were going to do? You've probably done already. you've figured out which one of those things you're probably never going to do again, which one of those things didn't, you know, wasn't so bad? And yeah, and you were diagnosed right in, you know, write in a really kind of pivotal age. So, alright, let's talk about that. Were you a senior in high school or a junior?

Maia 11:56
So I had actually just graduated from high school. I was diagnosed like, two, three weeks after high school graduation.

Scott Benner 12:04
Okay, were you almost 18?

Maia 12:07
It was a couple months before I was 18. I'm an August, baby.

Scott Benner 12:11
And so yeah, so Okay, so you just graduated from high school? Were you planning on going to college? or What was your next step? In your mind?

Maia 12:18
Yeah. So it's a little, it's a little bit of an interesting situation. So I actually grew up overseas, and I lived in New Delhi, India, for all of my childhood, I moved there. When I was six, I lived there for my whole life. And I had just moved back to the US to go to college. And my parents were going to be staying in India. And I had, you know, like, classic diagnosis of weight loss and everything, but kind of stacked on top of that was that I was in the fashion industry, and I was working as a model. So I wasn't in school, I was exercising a lot. I was losing a little bit of weight and toning up. And I was like, Man, this is awesome. Like, I never dieted and, and always was really pretty proud of myself for that. And, and I just tried to take good care of myself. And so I was like, Wow, this is great. You know, they're gonna be so happy at my agency that I'm a little bit thinner. And then it just kind of kept going. And I was like, well, this isn't super great. And, and I knew I had a problem, because my aunt threw me a graduation party, and I peed my pants at the graduation party. And I was like, because I just had, so I was drinking and peeing so much, and I was like, Oh, my God, this is not good.

Scott Benner 13:40
For clarity. Not like, I got drunk. I peed my pants or I get excited. No, my pants. It just happened. Like, you're like, I have to pee so bad. I can't stop it.

Maia 13:47
Yeah, like and I just, I, you know, I wasn't drinking that night. I maybe have like a glass of champagne or something, you know? And we were having this like family event. And I was like, Okay, this has gone far enough. And I've been dating my boyfriend for a while. And he actually lived where I was moving. And he was part of the reason that I was moving there. And I was planning on going to visit him and and my mom was like, You can't go until you go to the doctor. I was like, Yeah, I probably have like a urinary tract infection. Or, you know, I'm taking supplements that are messing with, you know, other medication that I'm taking or whatever. And I walked in and they were like, yeah, the nurse like the doctor wasn't even though she's like, Yeah, you got type one diabetes. She just

Scott Benner 14:30
knew right away,

Maia 14:32
right away. And my grandmother actually knew which is so unfair. She goes, Oh, you go into the doctor. Have your HBU and z check. I'm like, Oh, okay. Yeah, I know seriously. So so they're like you're gonna go drive we were out in that we live out my cat ruled at that time. My folks had a place out in the county and, and so we like you're going to go into the city and go to the hospital and and I called my boy friend who's not my husband and, and I was like, Hey babe, I think I have diabetes, I'm going to the hospital. And I was in a kind of unique situation because my best friend in high school was type one diabetic is type one diabetic. And, and my, my, one of my first boyfriends was type one too. And so I had known both of them at the time that they were diagnosed. Well, maybe I didn't know Brendon when he was diagnosed. But I was I was friends with Audrey when she was diagnosed. And, and so I remember what happened. It was like, one day she was there. And then she was gone. And she was like, missing for a week. And then she came back and everything was different. And, and so I was just really like, Oh, my gosh, what is about to happen to me. But I also have these examples of two humans who like, lived pretty normal lives. So that gave me enough perspective to not totally panic. And I was in that weird space of like, Mom and Dad are not going to be in my life in a month, you know, they're going to be across the world. So I got to figure this out on my own. And I thought I was in the hospital for for two days. And kind of figured everything out. My parents are like, how much do you want me to be involved? And, and the people at the hospital are like you're turning 18? And a couple months? Do you want to go through peed? Were your parents have to be involved? Or do you want to go through this as an adult? And I was like, I want to go through this as an adult. So I'm in a unique situation where if my I asked my mom how much insulin I needed to take for a meal, she would have no idea she would she would not change a pod or, or do any of that stuff. So

Scott Benner 16:54
yeah, her perspective is as an adult, as the parent of an adult person who was diagnosed.

Maia 16:59
Yeah, yeah, for sure. I wonder

Scott Benner 17:01
was six months earlier, what you would have said, like, right before you graduated, like if you would have still felt? It's interesting. Like, it's such an I mean, it's really cool that you chose I'll do it on my own. Did they come with you, even though you went through the adult path,

Maia 17:15
they never went to an endo appointment with me. They were there at the hospital and you know, being good parents about it, but they, they never really went with me. But my boyfriend did. So for the first probably three years after I was diagnosed, he was at every endo appointment. Every every CD appointment pump training, and everything with me, which was super cool. See?

Scott Benner 17:41
Lucky guy really, cuz, you know, the secret is, is that guys are always looking for something to be involved in where you look sweet. And so he was like, This is perfect for me. I could just go to these. I'm just kidding.

Maia 17:52
I know what,

Scott Benner 17:53
but that's really that's excellent. Because I I'm even like, was he much older than he much older

Maia 17:58
than you? Are? You guys say four years older than me, okay? Because that's

Scott Benner 18:02
the other thing. Like when you at 17 you're like, Hey, I have, you know, almost 18 Hey, I have diabetes, that he didn't go I'm sorry, you have the wrong number. And then, you know, and, and was like, Oh, I wasn't up for this, but he's got enough. Just enough adult life in him to not panic when you hear something like that?

Maia 18:19
Yeah, yeah, for sure. And I think, you know, I've always been a person where if something didn't matter, I just didn't put any effort into it. You know, like, I, if I, I was in when I was in high school, you know, like, if a class I didn't find in an application to what I was learning. I was just like, Yeah, whatever. And, and I always did, okay. But, you know, I think that really suited my personality that diabetes really suited my personality, because then suddenly, this stuff mattered and, and I could apply myself to it. And I was like, Okay, so the American Diabetes Association and their pamphlet that they give new, newly diagnosed type one says that you need a support network. And I'm like, okay, building support network, you know, and so I think that that was really helpful. And I'm also super lucky because I had been with trained in the shop and, and at the time that I was diagnosed, he was a chef, and he had a restaurant and we went to the restaurant. And we carb counted every meal, every menu item, so I could go and Bolus for it. And so like the first I don't know, I didn't eat anything else, except for there for a little bit because I could reliably bolus

Scott Benner 19:38
Yeah, it was great. probably helped you put some weight back on to nothing like eating Oh, yeah. Nothing like

Maia 19:44
a couple of pounds. I know. And it was all Italian food too. So I feel like everyone talks about this struggle with like pizza and pasta and whatever. But that was the first stuff I learned to Bolus for. So I kind of dialed that in quick and then you know, went back and was like, Wait, how do I get it done?

Scott Benner 20:00
He did the hard the hard stuff first. And by the way, I bet going backwards from more like carbon intensive foods to less you probably had a similar struggle adjusting from one to the others, somebody would going from salad to pizza. I don't think it's much different. It's a it's a big adjustment one way or the other, right?

Maia 20:17
Oh, yeah, yeah, I was still learning a different way, you know, of giving myself insulin for sure.

Scott Benner 20:25
You've done a very unfair thing to me here, you've said a lot of really interesting things that don't have anything to do with drinking. So I have to I'd be, you know, completely remiss if I didn't ask you why you were living in India.

Maia 20:40
So my parents are teachers, and they taught at an international school there. And you know, when I was born, they were teaching at a at an international school in Taiwan. And then later on, they moved to India, we lived in the states for a couple years in between, but they taught at the American school, they're

Scott Benner 20:57
very cool. And they're not like international jewel thieves who are hiding out overseas or something like that. They're just really teachers, as far as you know, I'm not to my knowledge. But if they were, that would be cool. As long as they leave you the jewels, I guess at the end, I know, one guy got up. And I have to say to again, I can't spend too much time on this, which is hurting me inside. But I am going to go back to India for a second before I ask him my second question. How did you find living there? Mom, I have friends who have lived there. My wife's visited kind of extensively for work a couple of times. And I'm interested.

Maia 21:29
I mean, it's a kind of an unfair question, because I don't know what it was like to grow up where you grew up, I live there, I moved there when I was six. And, you know, like, it was super cool. One year, my parents got like an elephant to come to my birthday party. You know, like, people would get a pony or whatever, and I got an elephant. And that was super rad. But I, I don't really know, because it was my whole life. I know that it was vastly different than my experience here. And

and so I think that was

an incredible, you know, asset to me, coming back to the states and having this global perspective. And I traveled back to the US frequently as a kid. So I didn't have that, like, big culture shock when I moved back. But I definitely think that it gave me a global perspective and, and a lot of gratitude for what I do have, you know, like, just on a basic level access to influence. Because I, I definitely did get to see a lot of hardship in my life. But I also got to meet incredible human beings and travel so much as a little kid. And anyone who says that, that traveling with kids is not worth their time or money is just needs to reevaluate because I've had so many, I had so many experiences when I was a little kid that really changed me, you know, getting to see the world.

Scott Benner 22:58
Well, I ever, I guess I have some follow up questions. And they're not about drinking yet. But hold on. Trust me.

Maia 23:05
I promise. Right. Yeah.

Scott Benner 23:07
So I guess what is, you know, what's one thing that sticks out to you about India that you don't miss? And something about here that you wish didn't exist?

Maia 23:22
Well, we'll just start with something that I wish didn't exist, which is the price of insulin because my parents are still living in India for a few years after my diagnosis, and I would go back and visit them and get my annual supply of insulin, or $150.

Scott Benner 23:38
Wow, for the for like, as long as you need it. For a year a year. Geez, that's amazing. Yeah.

Maia 23:44
Okay. It wasn't, it was the same insulin made in the same factory in the same vial. You know, it was not.

Scott Benner 23:50
That's something. What about India, like, so I'll give you a little perspective. My, one of my daughter's best friends, is Indian. She goes home, but she doesn't go home. She goes to her parents home a couple of times a year. Sometimes they go for visits, sometimes it's amazing. They go to shop for clothes, and, you know, people and I said to her one day, I was like, Sandra, what's the, what's the worst part about India is a bad part. And she goes, I have to poop in a hole when I stay at my grandmother. Say again, and she was he go outside and you know, dig a hole and poop in it. And I was like, Oh, yeah, that doesn't sound good at all. And she was it really isn't. And so and then my, my wife, when she visited for work the first time, I don't know where she was in fairness and what city she was in. But she sends me a message one day, and it just says, I have never seen so many penises in my entire life. I texted her back and I was like, hey, two things. I think you sent this to the wrong person. And I'd like to get divorced. And you know, and she was like, No, no, she's like, everyone pees on the street.

Maia 24:57
Mm hmm. I'm

Scott Benner 24:58
like what she goes when men are walking If they have to pee, they turn to the curb and they pee and then they keep going. She's like, it is so pervasive that written on the walls of buildings, you know, it doesn't say no loitering, it says like, nope, no urinating, and I was like, Oh, that is different. Well, something that does that surprise you?

Maia 25:20
Well, I mean, this is the thing. I grew up with it. I mean, I started you know, pooping in a hole. I don't, I don't, I mean, I, I remember not doing it. I we had we had a toilet at our house, but we, you know, like, I don't know, I was just always there didn't seem that that was hard for me when I came back was like, you know, there was a lot more like, Oh, you you can't just use the restroom, wherever you want or whatever. There's, there's a culture shock, but I always explain it, you know, with this with this cereal aisle. Okay. So when I was growing up, you could go to this one little store in this big market, and they had American food. And, and so you could go to the store and they had Cheerios, you could go buy stale super sale, expired Cheerios for, you know, like double the price that you'd buy them at a Safeway. And, and when I come back to the state, every year, there was like a new flavor of Cheerios. And by the time that I graduated from high school, there were 13 different kinds of Cheerios. And I just thought that there were Cheerios.

You know, I didn't know that. Like, I was like, What is this

Scott Benner 26:38
world had grown without you?

Maia 26:40
Can I? Yeah. And that was, that was the rest of the world.

Scott Benner 26:42
Have you ever, almost mistakenly back here in America, a flowerbed outside of McDonald's or something like that? Or does that never happens?

Maia 26:52
Luckily, that never happened. No matter how much alcohol I couldn't do

Scott Benner 26:57
it I'm like, it's completely possible that my it could be drunk in public think she's in India and just be like, I know what I need to do.

Maia 27:07
Oh, that's funny.

Scott Benner 27:11
There's a good time for a break Arden saying lunch soon. So we're going to Bolus for Arden's lunch together, chips. She's asked me what's in there. So I've eliminated some processed foods from Arden's life this week, because we're trying to figure something out. And not being exactly fun about it. I'm trying to think she's gonna be so personal I Tara Watson, so she has a sandwich and chips, bell pepper, carrots, a little chocolate and a banana. And I'm so hungry. And I said, She goes, did you give me real food? I'm so hungry. And I said yes. Um, and she goes, like, what? And I told her and she goes, so then No.

Maia 28:00
Oh.

Scott Benner 28:03
I'll tell you what. She eats all that. Combine one thing from school. So for now, I think we'll do try to thank chips 18 sandwich 24 What's up 4050 6070? Let's do 40 carbs, two hours and 30 carbs three hours. Tell me if you buy something else. Sorry about this. It's a little different than it has been. She gets she's getting like muscle. She's like muscle cramps a lot and our shoulders and her neck. And you know, we've done all of the conventional things that we can think of. It doesn't seem to alleviate it. So sort of in a wild swing I just removed like processed stuff for a couple days from or like not a lot like she still has some like natural potato chips. I know people are like what a natural potato chips. But there are potato chips that have like very,

Maia 29:23
very few additives. Oh, yeah. You know, and I live in granola land. Okay, so you're in. Yeah,

Scott Benner 29:30
you've probably eaten a raw potato and somebody's like, it's a potato chip. And you're like, No, it's not. Don't Don't tell me it's a toilet. Seriously. So diet and

she said, I'm glad we're cursing. Let's see. She goes No, I can't because there's nothing here that fits in in diet. So I said that I didn't say she was so can I get a cookie? And I said, Yes. Let's see what the answer is gonna be to that cuz I'm starving the garden zero carb kind of girl hit on a man. You just need a cookie. No, but No kidding. She did really well actually. My stomach is eating itself. Oh, just polish. She just loves to. She said, Okay. So anyway, she just she's just me and like a smaller female body. So she's just been sick. Finally, some people listening in to be like, I knew that guy. Now he's at one time joke.

Maia 30:50
Yeah, but you? Do you admitted it by calling your daughter? And

Scott Benner 30:54
did I? It's hard to know what I did right there. I hear what you're saying. Myself. One time I joke. I joke about an episode of mine. My ego really got away from me today. And I was so clearly joking around. And somebody left a review that's like, see, he even admitted it.

Maia 31:14
Oh, that's funny.

Unknown Speaker 31:17
India,

Scott Benner 31:19
a different place to live first. Yeah, for certain.

Maia 31:23
If we want to loop it back to drinking, okay, one of the crazy things about my knee growing up was that I could go out to a bar. And so I mean, I don't think I don't even know what the drinking age was. But there was no restriction on drinking. And so you know, people had birthday parties at at, you know, nightclubs. And, and in high school, we would go out to the bar. And my rule for my family was always that I could have a beer, I could drink a little, but I couldn't ever come home, drunk. And so that was already like, part of my life. Coming to the States, I would like walk up to the counter at the grocery store at 18 years old, try to buy a bottle of wine. And I'm like, I can't do that here.

Scott Benner 32:11
I'm imagining your parents having a parenting talk off to the side. And they're like, you know, my look says she asked if she could get a beer. And I don't know what to say. And one of them said, we make the whole we should probably let her have a beer if she wants.

Maia 32:25
She's earned it.

Scott Benner 32:26
Yeah, you need to be a little drunk to plant your feet firmly and kind of squat. Hey, you know what, while we're doing this man, can you describe how you do poop in the hole? How does it go? Exactly?

Maia 32:37
Well, um, I think the big thing is, is that you develop special muscles, and a little more hip flexibility. But you just you just pop a squat, you know? I mean, imagine just a little bear. I mean, I think they're, I mean, they're ergonomically laid out holes. There's normally like a foot pad on each side. A lot of them are like porcelain. Yeah. And there's like a little foot pad on each side. And, and the whole, the little, you know, behind you, and they just do your business. But a lot of places don't have toilet paper, and they have like a little sprayer. So you use of the day instead of toilet paper, which I know that for sure.

Scott Benner 33:24
Well, first of all, people who love the day, speak highly of them. And my other question is, there's a custom in India, right? Like you don't shake hands with a certain hand because of the wiping, right?

Maia 33:34
Yeah, because you use the one hand to clean yourself. And the other hand is for eating and greeting.

Scott Benner 33:40
It's so. So basically, there's so much good that's come in this podcast already. We have not even talked about drinking yet. I am, in my mind, what the subtext of this podcast episode to be. Does my the woods? Yes, she does. And

Maia 33:58
I do that too.

Scott Benner 34:00
I'm right now picturing the people listening to this at home going, wait, did she say clean their self with their hand and that's why they don't shake with a certain hand. And like, everyone who didn't know that I'm watching like in my mind right now then the process all that? But yeah, that's, that's 100% how that goes.

Maia 34:21
Oh, yeah, for sure.

Scott Benner 34:22
So I have to ask one. I have to preface before I ask. Right. So my I'm not a drinker. And I don't just mean I'm not a drinker. I mean, and I've said on the podcast a couple of times I don't drink it's not for moral reason. I haven't had a problem that I you know that I'm staying away from it. It's just never really occurred to me to drink in my life. To the point well, I always say that I definitely have not had the, the, you know, a case of beer in total in my entire life, like not even that much. And I think I've had hard liquor a few times, you know, which people would consider like a whiskey or something like that. I don't particularly dislike it. I just, it just doesn't occur to me. So I am going to be a complete neophyte on this in a lot of ways, but, but having said that, and please understand, like, you're not going to get a judgment out of me. But I am asking the question, right. Oh, as an adult now, do having the experience you would have had, if you were in the same situation, would you say to your kids, hey, it's cool. Just have a beer when you go out? Or would you? Yeah, you would be? Yeah. So you don't you haven't had any, like, there's no scenario in your life where you're like, wow, someone should have kept that away from me for a little longer?

Maia 35:40
I don't think so. I mean, I think my mom had the best torture mechanism ever, if I would come home having too much to drink, which was that she would talk to me until I was sober. So it would be like 430 in the morning, and she's still chatting away and making me engage in conversation about my latest essay that I wrote for school, and it was just torture. So I didn't wish she

Scott Benner 36:03
was she just tried. Oh, yeah, she was.

Maia 36:05
Oh, yeah, she was just trying to make my life you know, not so fun. But, uh, but no, she. That was a really good waiter.

Scott Benner 36:16
I don't want to drink too much and be forced to speak to my mom about current events. Yeah, that doesn't make sense. I again, I haven't I have no, like, no perspective on it. Like, my son doesn't drink at all. And when we talk about it, I do see that I don't think it's because I told him not to. I think it's because it's just who he is. Like, I look back now. And I realized No one told me not to drink. Yeah, that never happened in my life. Like no one ever said to me, you're going out? Don't forget you're under age. You can't like it just never. I just went my way. And you went yours. And he like everybody goes in their own, I guess.

Maia 36:51
Yeah. I think that really, if you want to be a responsible about drinking, you need, you need to start to drink in places that are safe, and not be afraid to ask questions. Because I mean, I can't imagine being a teenager and getting drunk for the first time. And already having diabetes, I already had had that experience by the time that I was diagnosed. And I can only fathom that if you had, you know, a parent helping you manage, like really helping you manage your diabetes, that would be a really challenging experience. So I can only like, hope that people and parents feel comfortable having that conversation with their kids, and maybe even helping them figure it out. If you know, it's like, Okay, so how many carbs are in this beer? They don't have carb counts on them. You know, you've got to figure that stuff out on your own. There's no nutritional facts for alcohol. So. So I think, you know, being in that space where you have someone to help you figure it out, is so helpful. Yeah,

Scott Benner 38:01
no, well, I so as you're talking, you know, the, the serious side of parenting is coming up in my mind, right, which is you don't we do this a lot is we throw kids into situations that they're not prepared for, because we don't want to talk about one of the things they need for preparation. And whether that's around sex, or drinking or drugs or anything like that. You can't just pretend someone's not going to do something. You know, like, my, my son drove back to school the other day. And I didn't say, you know, Hey, be careful driving, you know, cuz I love you, buddy. I said, Look, it's raining out. And you drive fast. And everyone drives fast. And please don't follow closely. I don't think you do. But please don't. And here's why. And, you know, like, like, a little more context around it not just be careful. You know what I mean? Like, you can't just look somebody I remember, um, my wife would say, when she would go out on a date, her mom would say, respect yourself. And that's, that's not direction. Do you know what I mean? That's like, your mom's like, afraid to say to you, Hey, you know? What? Actually, I guess we are talking pretty freely on this as I think that's your mom. Yeah, use protection. Don't every guy that smiles at you, like like, you don't mean like that kind of stuff. Like really be respect. But wouldn't it be nice if there was context to that? Like from

Maia 39:21
Yeah,

Scott Benner 39:22
from a parenting person, like a real person who would sit down. I always have this kind of regret that my mom would talk to me in platitudes. And I wrote a parenting book, and I spoke about a little bit in there. But like, Here was a woman who had the benefit of a life's worth of information and experiences. And then she would just tell me this surface, that wasn't helpful. Like, why not? Tell me your one time when I was 35. Here's what happened to me. And it was terrible. And here's why. And I think you could avoid it if you paid attention to this. Like Wouldn't that be great to get the benefit of someone's experience? Yeah, You know, and so I think I like what your parents did. And I think that if my son didn't have the vibe about him that he had, I would have stepped in and been like, Alright, look, I'm not, you know, I don't know a lot about this, but we're gonna help you because I feel like you're gonna leave this house today and you're gonna drink. I don't want to just cross my fingers. And hope that all goes well.

Maia 40:20
Yeah, and I mean, I think worst case scenario, is that your, your, you know, I think it would have been way worse if I was hiding from my parents, you know, if I was, instead of coming home being like, Oh, I'm going to stay out. And, you know, do you know, go sleep at someone else's house? So no one knows. I think that's a

trickier path. Right? Yeah.

Scott Benner 40:44
I hear what you're saying. And I also hear what you're saying about like, having drank before. Maybe you were diagnosed. So you had a tiny bit of expectation about what it was. And you knew how to maintain yourself a little bit. And did you when you were earlier? Like you weren't just a blackout drunk, right? You didn't just like every time you drank, it wasn't till you couldn't see yourself anymore?

Maia 41:03
No, I mean, I had to talk to my mom, if I got that drunk.

Scott Benner 41:06
Do you think you would have had your mom not done what she did?

Maia 41:09
You know, I would definitely happen. I think like, there were those moments when you're young, and you don't know if you know what you're drinking or not paying attention to how much I mean, it happens where you get really drunk. And of course, now that's like the equivalent of one cocktail and drink that because you know, I have way more and I'm a, you know, adult who drinks a glass of wine with dinner every night. So, two glasses of wine isn't going to make me Blotto. But, but, yeah, it happened for sure. And I think that, you know, I think that just setting the expectation, you know, the other thing that my parents would do is if I did come home drunk, in the morning, my dad would put on Formula One, which is you you've never had a hangover, Scott. But if you've had ever had a hangover, the sound of the racecars, like droning on for hours, is like the worst hangover exacerbate, or on the planet

Scott Benner 42:07
will get a great job in hell one day torturing people. Yeah, I have all kinds of good ideas.

Maia 42:13
They're great at it. I mean, they're awesome people. And I think those were really good, you know, kind of passive torture techniques.

Scott Benner 42:21
Yeah, no kidding. That's, I see what you're saying. So they were kind of digging you along the way, like making sure that you knew what was happening and that they were aware. It's just, I think that it's incredibly important for people to hear, you know, we'll get to the how you manage the, the alcohol with with insulin and everything. But I think it's incredibly important for people to hear who have younger children. Because when you have younger kids, most people's expectations are like yours gonna be the one that comes out just perfect. You know what I mean? Like, some people, listen, some of your kids are such like monsters that you're like, No, no, but it's not gonna be like it. I know my kids. But, but a lot of people have that feeling right? Like you have this, like, I have a good plan, you know, we're putting effort in, it's going to work out. But you know, when kids go to a party, and there are 40 and 50, high school kids at a party, 98% of them are drinking. You know, it's not, it's not like a few of them are like if your kids wants like, Oh, it's not me. And I'm like, now you're like, oh, but Scott says his kid doesn't like I get that like, but there's going to be my kid there. And he's going to have a couple friends with him. And they're all going to be off in a corner, just not understanding drinking at all. And they'll hang out for a little bit, and then they'll leave. And the rest of them are some level of drinking out of control. Because they don't have any expectation for what that means. Yeah, yeah. And so you, you're going to need to be ready for this. Like if your 16 year old has diabetes right now is going out on the weekend. They're like, Don't worry, we don't drink. I think it's probably still important for them to hear what my has to say about how to manage it. So

Maia 43:54
I mean, I'll tell you, my best friend in high school had type one and she was out there drinking right next to me. My, you know, my boyfriend in high school had type one. And and he would party way harder than me do. And, you know, they're okay. It's gonna be

Scott Benner 44:12
okay lived through it. Yeah. And and so, did they know what they were doing back then? Like, were those people who had had diabetes for a long time? Or were they figuring out drinking with diabetes at the same time, too?

Maia 44:23
I don't know if either of them listen to the podcast, and I don't want to like, gotcha. Oh, make them feel bad. But I would say that. Now, I would guess both of them have a pretty good handle on it. But back then, I don't think that they did. But I also think, you know, we didn't have the tools that we have now. Right? Like we didn't have continuous glucose monitoring. So, you know, I think on a baseline level, like, just, you didn't, you couldn't look at your phone and see what your blood glucose was. Or set your phone alarms super loud so that you know if you did get low, you You'd wake up. So I think that that changed a lot, especially when it comes to drinking, you know, it used to be kind of a, you want to ride a little higher going, you know, going to bed at night, because you didn't have any alarm that was going to wake you up if you went low. And now you can play it a little bit closer, you know, and instead of Temp Basal and not stress about it too much. But I think, yeah, so I don't think that that they necessarily had it figured out. And neither of them ever had a major issue while I was there, you know, they, they did well enough,

Scott Benner 45:42
let's you're talking even 10 years ago, you really are still speaking about a time with diabetes where the goal was don't feel dizzy, don't pass out, right? Like, oh, yeah, that's what it looked like back then. I just don't Yeah, I don't want to lose control of myself and pass. I don't want to get too low. And yeah, yeah. And so staying higher. I mean, if even today, people are being diagnosed, they're being told, like better high than low, like all that stuff. And that's still leftover from that was the way like you just better high than low. And you know, we'll trade you know, trade tomorrow just

Maia 46:15
bought two because how you feel is so like, I can tell you that without ever, like, I have no knowledge of any blood glucose value from either of the two type ones that I interacted with every single day for years of my life. But I can tell you that they were not running, you know, good Awan deeds, they weren't feeling good every day, the amount of water that they drank, and then the amount of you know, times they use the restroom in the day compared to me as a non diabetic at the time. Like, I know, that was not, those weren't good glucose values. And I don't begrudge them for that. Because it was such a, it was what they were told and what they were taught, you know, and even, like, when I was diagnosed, I think I did the math, and I think I might have started the AMI pod around the same time as Arden and it was the old bigger pods and and I would still I mean it was like right when they were released pretty much and I loved the pod but the text just was not like that original PDM was like it was like a brick

Scott Benner 47:34
made out of like hard plastic even right like it did it was gonna break and like the Oh

Maia 47:39
no, I did drop it and it did break.

Scott Benner 47:43
It was made out of that kind of plastic like, like when you go to a bubblegum machine and get a ring out. You're like if I squeezed this bubble too hard this this, it felt like that. shatter. Yeah. No, I hear you.

Maia 47:56
Yeah. And then I got that original, the first Dexcom that I only wore that thing for like, maybe a month and was like, nope, that was a waste of $1,000. Right.

Scott Benner 48:08
And now what? What do you use now?

Maia 48:10
I'm on the G 66. And I have the Omni pod.

Scott Benner 48:13
Right? Complete night and day from those things till now.

Maia 48:16
Oh, yeah, for sure. Yeah, for sure. And I think, um, you know, with those tools, like you can look at your yourself or your kid and be like, Okay, if you're drinking, like let's shoot for you know, you want to be at the high higher end of your range. Well for me for me, which would be around like 140 if I'm going to bed and I'm not setting attempt bazel. But honestly, the biggest thing for me in the last year has been starting to look, if you think about my best blog Lucozade This is hilarious. I love this. My best blood glucose day, this diagnosis

was the fourth of July this year on loop.

Scott Benner 49:01
And you were and I think had a drink or two maybe?

Maia 49:04
Oh yeah, I was drinking. I had jello shots. I had, we had a couple bottles of champagne. It was great. But the thing was, is that what loop enabled me to do on that day versus on a regular day was I'd already got done a lot of deep like, settings testing. And so my settings are really dialed in. And and I just input my carbs. And I didn't touch it. And it was the first time where I never like since I started living because I started in June. And it was the first time where I didn't fuss with it because I was so used to like, you know, oh, like little Temp Basal here, a little extra insulin there, whatever. And I just input my carbs and let loop loop and it was amazing.

Scott Benner 50:00
Your, your settings are very like right on then.

Maia 50:04
Yeah, you're doing pretty good. I did a lot of testing though. Like, I think my husband would tell you that I was just the biggest Pan iapp. Because I basically, you know, only ate every other day for like, three weeks trying to figure out what my settings were.

Scott Benner 50:20
So you get a setting right without eating like, like a bazel testing situation. And then you would like, right, tomorrow, I'm going to try it and you tried that didn't work, you'd make an adjustment, get it straight again, and then go back and try again.

Maia 50:30
Yeah, that's really cool. That's Yeah,

Scott Benner 50:34
I like that a lot. All right. So listen, for so far into this now. How do you handle like, like, take the take, you know, an algorithm out of this scenario for a second and you know, just be a regular person with diabetes? When do you start thinking about drinking and your blood sugar? Like if you're going to be at dinner at six with a glass of wine? Is that something you have to think about ahead of time? Or is that different than I'm going to go to a party at eight and when I walk in, I'm grabbing a glass and I'll probably have a glass in my hand of something all night long.

Maia 51:07
Um, I think honestly, I think one of the gifts of alcohol is that the thought can happen when you're holding your first drink in your hand. You don't I most of the impact. When we're talking about drinking and blood glucose, it's all after the fact right? It's that you talked about this as Jenny and your recent episode, you can go back in and listen to some of the science about why this happens, but you get low later. So unless you're drinking something where you know you need to Pre-Bolus or if you're starting out of range, you know, getting yourself in to your desired range is helpful. But I really think the nice part about alcohol is that the tricky part is delayed. So you can say okay, so I'm going to have this drink. I'm gonna give myself my insulin for whatever I'm drinking. And if it has carbs in it, and sometimes you don't you know, I think for me, a light beer I'm not bolusing for now everyone drinks those spike scalpers. I don't Bolus for those they only have, you know, one to two carbs in them. A red wine I don't normally Bolus for dark beers don't have a ton of carbs. But some of those like lagers, and, and a lot be a little bit curvier. So I might get myself, you know, a unit here, unit there. But what I'm really looking at is like, what time do I start drinking? And how much do I drink, if I'm only having one drink, my liver is not going to be overwhelmed, I'm not going to need to set a Temp Basal later, I'll probably just if it's not, you know, like a rum and coke with however many carbs for your coke. I'm not gonna give myself any insulin for it. And I'm not gonna change my, my thought process later in the day, if, if I am drinking a little bit heavier, let's say I'm drinking hard alcohol with a no carb mixer. So that's no insulin in but a potential negative effect on my blood glucose, or decrease in my blood glucose later on. Then I'm saying okay, well, I started I had my first drink at 923. And, and four hours from there, I'll see start to see a little decrease in my blood glucose. And I actually, so because I was diagnosed between high school and college, one of the big things for me, was I wanted to figure out how to be a college kid, I wanted to figure out how to just be like any other kid. And if that meant I wanted to go out and party or go on a weekend trip to Lake Tahoe, or whatever it was, I wanted to be able to do that. And we didn't really have the Dexcom back then, until I sat down on this big party weekend, everyone like four days of like, drinking and waterskiing and, you know, playing on the lake and, and I was trying, I was kind of running a little low on insulin and I didn't want to be like giving myself too much insulin and then then, you know, correcting lows, and using more insulin than I needed. So I was like, I'm gonna figure this out. So I took a shot of vodka, check my blood sugar every, you know, 15 minutes for four hours and saw what it did. I was like, okay, so at the end of that experiment, I said, Hey, if I take four shots of vodka, I get a free pb&j in four hours.

Scott Benner 54:46
Okay. I like your Pre-Bolus thing for a meal for a snack later.

Unknown Speaker 54:52
But yeah, yeah.

Maia 54:54
So set the alarm on your phone and be like, Hey, if you're not running to CGM set an alarm. on your phone and say I had five drinks. And I'm probably going to be tipsy or asleep. So I, I need to have a snack. And I think now it's easy because just like your bazel testing, you can test what different drinks do to your blood glucose, right? Like, you can say, happy hour is the perfect place to do this. It starts at 2:30pm, you have a drink an hour before you're going to eat, you can have one beer and look and see what it does to your blood glucose. And and learn from it. And I think that is it's just like everything else, right? It's like don't beat yourself up if you don't get it right. But take what you learned. And this is the tricky part about drinking is that you have to remember that you learned something because your inhibitions are down and you're not paying attention.

Scott Benner 55:51
Now what did I learn from what could I learn with the vodka? I can't

Maia 55:57
remember, so I went, I upped it from four shots to 10 shots, and now it's all getting fuzzy.

Scott Benner 56:05
Well, you know what, it's interesting what you just said, let me jump in for a second. It occurs to me that what you did was just perfect. And it would work too with food. If food didn't keep you high for so long afterwards, like, was realized that if food impacted is quickly and went away, like alcohol did, it would take us all like a week to sit down, have a great snack every night and figure out every one of our favorite foods. But it's Yeah, it's the fact that food keeps you high afterwards, it stops you from doing that experiment.

Maia 56:36
Yeah, you don't get the low. Right, right. And then you know, you can't test it with with, like, with vodka, you don't have any carbs. So there is no initial spike. Right? If you don't have a mixer, it's just that drop later.

Scott Benner 56:52
And so even without insulin for vaca, there's a drop later. Yeah. And so can you Temp Basal back earlier to try to avoid it, or is it unavoidable?

Maia 57:03
It's just a little far out. So like, what I found is that, if I can't bazel in advance, I wind up high, because I'm too aggressive, it's too soon. And it's not like a, there's not everything you drink is different too. So if you have, you know, you might have two different kinds of cocktails or whatever. And then that's going to impact you a little bit differently. So I haven't found a lot, I've had a lot of luck with that. However, what I have had a lot of luck with is just decreasing my Basal a little bit overnight when I'm going to bed. So if I just decrease my bazel, if I know I've got some insulin on board, and I've got some alcohol on board, I'll just decrease my bazel a little bit overnight, and I normally wake up in range.

Scott Benner 57:57
So two questions around that is that is the biggest concern that you'll get really low and be drunk at the same time and can't help yourself. Is that like the if you if there was a thing that you're worried about? Would that be the worry?

Maia 58:13
I think that's honestly, for me, my biggest concern is impaired decision making of like, do I input my carbs correctly for the Wendy's burger and frosty that I'm getting as my drunk monkey food on the way home, you know, when I make the Uber pullover and my bowl thing right for that, and and the only times I've gotten myself into any sort of trouble has been when I gave myself like way too much or not enough influence. Except for there's this one story that I will tell you. So this is a great diabetic in the wild story. I was at a water ski tournament, which are if there's any water ski skiers out there, crazy parties, they're just huge parties with like a side of waterskiing. So those waters de tournament, and my army pod PDM I dropped it and that shattered and it like exploded. And I was like I don't know what to do. I don't have any bolus insulin. I have nothing. I was talking to my husband and well then boyfriend now husband, and like, what do we do? You know, and he's like, well, none of us can drive.

You know.

We're all drunk. Like we could call a cab, it's gonna cost you know, 100 bucks to get a cab out here and get you home. But we can do that. Or you can not drink or, you know, or, you know, not eat anything until someone's sober enough to drive like maybe we can find someone who's planning on going home. And we're sitting there chatting and this kid comes up, Connor, and he's like, uh, you know, I'm type one, right? Like, what do you need? Did your meter break and I was like, No, my pump broke. And he's like, I have an idea. So he gave me he had an extra infusion site. And my blood glucose was high. It was I mean, I was like probably like 250 or something. And he had an extra infusion. But he just had his one pump. We popped to the infusion site on me, which I do not medically recommended us and gave me a bolus with

Scott Benner 1:00:19
wishes. Don't worry. At the beginning, we're gonna say that nothing you hear on the podcast is advice.

Maia 1:00:24
Not advice. Yeah. We're also gonna say that we're gonna swear, but that was cool. Like, that was so cool. We're still friends. And it was like this great moment of camaraderie, you know. And then in the morning, he you know, he gave me a little extra hit for breakfast. And it was, it was really great. I still have my basal insulin from my pod, I just couldn't bolus,

Scott Benner 1:00:48
you basically did the the diabetes version of like, guy in the action movies mask gets knocked off underwater, and they share like a scuba mask on the way back up again. That is exactly what we did was very cool. I love that i'm used, we're able to think of a drunk. So you are a professional drunk.

Maia 1:01:07
I told you.

Scott Benner 1:01:10
How did you find Jenny's conversation about alcohol in that? In that episode? Did you find it pretty accurate to your experiences?

Maia 1:01:18
Yeah, I did. I think, you know, I think there's this thing that happens where you know, as we age, we become more reasonable. And, and you're not going to drink like you did when you were young. And I think you can blame that on diabetes. Or you could start that sooner because of diabetes. I think generally, being type one just makes you slightly more responsible than the average human and take a little bit more personal responsibility. But I also think that it doesn't have to get in your way. And my number one advice for anyone ever, especially if you aren't familiar with alcohol and diabetes, is I make my DD my designated driver, my designated diabetic, and I give them glucagon, I give them a bottle of a tube of frosty and to put in the glove compartment of their car. And I let them know that they're responsible if something happens to me, just like if something were to happen to anyone else that night, you know, but if something happens to me, this is what you need to look out for. And I'm probably not too drunk, I'm probably low. So

Scott Benner 1:02:27
that was in college was a game changer for me. Always having someone who knew what was going on, where if something happened, they could help me and I rarely use it. But I definitely did. Hand my CGM off to people and was like, hey, if this alarm, I am not hearing it right now, like I am in some other universe. And I need you to like, come get me. You know, I was wondering, is there a difference that someone's ever said to you between like, hey, low looks dip, like how does low look different from drunk or vice versa? Or is it hard to distinguish between?

Maia 1:03:05
If you don't know what you're looking for? It's really hard to tell. And I will liken it to this. If you are not diabetic, you probably have experienced global glucose before and thought you were just starving.

Scott Benner 1:03:21
Yeah, we're pissed, right? or angry sometimes here.

Maia 1:03:24
Yeah, the minute you have type one, you begin to distinguish between the feeling of low and the feeling of hunger. Right, there are two separate feelings, and they have a lot in common. But for most people, they're the same feeling. And I think for most people, if you look at a drunk person, you know, you know, though they're drunk, but it's gonna look really similar to type ones. I think, like a lot of times in the news, if someone the type one have a seizure while they're driving, and they get into an accident, they get characterized, like a drunk driver, you know, and I think it's that, that like, cognitive mismatch, if my husband looked at me, he can tell you if I'm drunk or low, you know, mostly because he had and, and mostly because if I'm low, I am sweating profusely, and I'm shaky and my voice is, you know, wobbly. And if I'm just drunk, I'm just, you know, like slurring and and having fun.

But I don't have that like, core shakiness.

That comes with a low Yeah. So I also think for me, it's, I can tell I don't lose hypo awareness when I'm drunk. I can normally tell.

That's tricky.

But normally, I can treat a low when I'm drunk. Sometimes I can't catch a high a lot of times I can feel when my blood glucose is is trending upwards and I can't feel that Not so much when I'm drinking. But where I struggle is in the morning, especially now as I'm aging and my hangovers are getting worse. In the morning when I have a hangover, which is when I'm most likely to be low, I have a hard time distinguishing my hangover from a low. Because, you know, you think about, you're like, I'm shaky, I'm nauseous, My vision is blurry. My head hurts. I don't even want to look at any food or anything to drink right now. I just feel terrible, you know, and that's how I feel when I'm on over. So it's really the same. That's something where I start to lose a little bit of my awareness. But at that point, I'm sober. So I can make a decision. Do you have any tips not

Scott Benner 1:05:49
being hung over?

Maia 1:05:51
Ah, I always just stick with one thing when I drink, you know, like, and it also makes it easier to Bolus if I can stick with the same type of alcohol, similar type of mixer that normally works really well. I think if you don't want to be hung over, you just shouldn't drink that much, traditionally. But I also just think that's a good guideline. And they always say, you know, beer before liquor never been sicker. So, liquor before beer, you're in the clear.

Scott Benner 1:06:25
I bet you a drunk person thought of that. Now, I bet. I have to tell you, it's again, I genuinely mean absolutely no judgment, as you've been describing all this, and I listened to the joy in your voice. I, I can't imagine like everything you've said. I think Oh, God, I can't, I would never want to do that. Like that. Like, the biggest thing I could come up with, and I was like, oh, wow, drunk girls in bikinis in a lake sounds fun. But like, that was the that was the best part, I could come up with anything. I wonder what it is in me because I really am not an uptight person at all. As a matter of fact, I do a pretty good job on this podcast of reining myself in, in, you know, in ways you guys might not really know. I just, I just can't like, I can't imagine like, I don't like the idea of being out of control of myself, I already think I say enough stupid stuff. When I'm not like, not like not drunk like I don't, I always feel relaxed, like I'm happy most of the time, like, I'm

Maia 1:07:27
trying, that's just it. That's it, people drink because they want to drop their guard. And if you're a person who walks around with your guard down and you're relaxed, and you're happy, and you don't need to, like get your brain out of work mode, you know, I think for so many of us, we are so plugged in to school or work or life and you we have a hard time unplugging. So to at the end of the day, be able to sit down and have a glass of wine and just make that go away. I think that's the drive, right. And I find people who are really relaxed and easygoing, like you, they tend to just not need a drink at the end of the day because they can choose to not be stressed about their work day, it makes so much sense. I was I was listening

Scott Benner 1:08:18
the other day to the Howard Stern Show. And it was out in Los Angeles for some special show and in studio with Snoop Dogg and Seth Rogen together. And they made smoking weed sound like the best thing on the planet. To the point where as you're listening to them, you're going I should try this. Like this seems like such a good idea. You don't need me like no differently than when like somebody is telling you like, oh, gosh, you know, I, I used to have a problem with this. But now I take vitamin D all the time. And it's trading, right? I'm like, Damn, but I'm gonna get some vitamin D. This is like that's that was like the vibe it had when it was over. And then when it ended, and they weren't there talking in my ear anymore. I thought I don't want to be high. It was so funny how quickly I went from like, Oh, that sounds like such a great idea. Because it really, they just described it in such a wonderful way. Like when you're talking about drinking. I'm like, this sounds wonderful. And then the minute you kind of wind down I'm like, all those drunk people, like like this.

Maia 1:09:17
But here's the other reason to drink. Because if you're drinking, you can't tell that everyone around you is also drunk

Scott Benner 1:09:24
that I believe Yeah, no, I know that you

Maia 1:09:26
don't get that like deep frustration with the drug people around you.

Scott Benner 1:09:31
Yeah. And that's amazing, because I have an amazing tolerance for people. But when I get when when you lose that much of yourself, I'm just like, Oh, stop talking. Or sometimes you can get somebody right in the right space. And you can chat with them and they're just, like, endlessly entertaining to me. Because it's so gone, that they can't keep their thoughts together, but they're just doing so many silly things like oh, it's like having a it's like having a puppet show in front of me.

Maia 1:09:59
For sure.

Scott Benner 1:10:00
Do you see a time in your life where it stops? Or do you think it's just a part of who like, do you? Can you imagine like a 68 year old Maya at the lake? Just like drinking and waterskiing? Like, do you know what I mean? Like, is there?

Maia 1:10:12
Oh, yeah, that's the goal. That's the dream. It's excellent. It really is. I mean, that's a dream. And I don't think, you know, like, every year, I probably drink less than I did the year before. But I'm a social drinker, my husband and I love to cook and, and eat and drink. And, you know, I, it's nice to have a glass of wine at dinner, it's nice to last night, we were we got elected to the Board of our neighborhood association. And so we, you know, we all sat around everyone who, who got elected, and we had a beer together. And it was like, you know, that's just great. And it's fun, and it has camaraderie with it. And, and I also don't have to drink I right now. My husband and I are getting ready to have a baby and, and so I'm emotionally preparing myself to not drink for, you know, an extended period of time. And, and so I think, you know, it doesn't have to be a part of your life for you to have fun, but, but for us, it just is part of the way that we live our lives. And I love sitting down with my parents and having a glass of wine. I love you know, going in floating the river with my dad and drinking a case of beer. It's super fun. It's wonderful. It feels communal to you, I guess.

Scott Benner 1:11:35
Right? Do I seem uptight? Do I seem uptight to you? When I say oh, my God, water and beer seems like you're trying to drown yourself to me. And I it's funny, because I really am two different people inside, like, very uptight feelings about some things. And that there is some things I'm just like, Oh, I don't care. Like I don't care that you drink and float on a tube. I have no like problem with it. I would never try to talk you out of it. But for my personal self, I'm thinking, that sounds like a recipe for disaster. And it's just, obviously it's not, you're doing very well. And everything's fine. You figured it out. You know, and you know what you're doing? Obviously, I just like, there's weird things like I just have very, I don't know what it is. I have no bad stories. My parents weren't alcoholics like like, nothing weird. Like, I've never have never had one reason for me to tell you this. But I was God, I was 13. The first time I went to a party where there was drinking. And I went into this party. And I was milling around a little bit. And I'm trying to talk and I realized nobody's here to talk. And I'm like, okay, and they were drinking and I swear to you, 15 minutes later, I found my way upstairs, I found a telephone. I called my dad, I was like, you got to come get me. I'm like, I I just I don't belong here. Like, that's how it felt to me. I was like, I this is not the right place for me. And I left and I think that was probably like, one of the few times I've ever been in that scenario ever. And I yeah, it's just very strange how, because what you're saying again, to me right now, you're Seth Rogen and Snoop Dogg rolled up into one. I'm like, my is making a strong case for me to have a glass of wine at dinner tonight. And I'm feeling like, it's such a great idea. But I know if I went I have wine in my house. It's so that I can hand it to other people when they're here. But I always go, I don't know. Take one. Just take the one out you think is right. But I know that I won't do it. It's so weird. I'm now wondering what's wrong with me? To be perfectly honest, in case you're wondering where my brain is at the moment?

Maia 1:13:39
I mean, I know plenty of people who don't drink and I think it just you just have to be the person who is the relaxed person who's not, you know? Doesn't if you don't need it, you don't need it. And if and, and if you had it, then maybe you might know that you would like to have like the feeling of having had a few drinks. But I just think, you know, at the end of the day, you know yourself and if you're listening to your body, I think that's another thing about diabetes and drinking, specifically, is that as a type one, you learn your bodies so much better than like a muggle

Unknown Speaker 1:14:23
right now for sure.

Maia 1:14:24
And so, I think you develop these spidey senses for when things are going wrong and your body and things aren't right. And it makes it really easy to be like, okay, that's my last drink. You know, and, and, and that comes from self awareness, right? People who aren't type one, they develop that too. But I think we just innately have it because we spend so much time asking ourselves how we feel.

I think that that part of it

Scott Benner 1:14:57
is important. I would say two more things and I know you're gonna have to go But I got I got time It feels incredibly important me to point out the difference between like you just said something like, I know when it's time to stop and I just stop, which is a great indication that you're you know, you're drinking the way you mean to be that you're not you know that you don't have I guess they're people probably go back and forth on it for me alcoholism seems like a disease and, and ya know, alcoholics who they could their face could be on fire, but they would still just keep drinking. Like if it was there, they wouldn't stop. But you you have the ability to just say like, oh, cool, I'm done now and I'm done. And that's it. That's even that's a comfort to you like that You don't? Like I guess if you were an alcoholic, you would just, you'd be in a different scenario, you wouldn't be having this conversation like this. So but it is, you know, because I can I can feel people in my minds listening and going. You know, drinking is not funny because my dad's an alcoholic, or I'm an alcoholic or something. I want to be clear. That's not what we're talking about right now. I don't mean like, I am not. Yeah, I'm not talking about that. And so I do feel like some people could kind of commingle those two ideas. I to me, they're these are they would be two completely different conversations.

Maia 1:16:13
Yeah, for sure. And, and I definitely, my grandfather was an alcoholic, and my mom never really drank so because her dad had a drinking problem. And it's been really interesting to see, as, you know, me and my sister have gotten older and, and we're both social drinkers. You know, my mom was always the person who would like open a beer, she liked it, but she would never finish it. And now to watch her, like have two glasses of wine, or have a, you know, make a Moscow Mule for herself at the house, because she is interacting with social drinkers, because that was never on the table for her. Right? She didn't know that that was a way that you could

Scott Benner 1:16:59
do it. She was afraid she was afraid to drink. She thought she'd end up being an

Maia 1:17:02
alcoholic. Yeah, because the only example she had was somebody who did drink had a problem. And that doesn't mean that everyone who has alcoholic parents should go out and start socially drinking. But I

Scott Benner 1:17:14
wonder, I wonder if I've been avoiding this for no reason. It's not my goal to like, create a whole bunch of alcoholics out of people who've been holding really tight their whole life. But that's a great, that's a great point, though.

Maia 1:17:27
But if you know like, you don't have to go have a bottle of whiskey, you can have a Manhattan and see what happens. And set yourself up for success. Like, okay, we're gonna try and figure this out. It's the same as anything else. And if you go slow, you'll figure out what works for you. And maybe that's having one drink at a time. Yeah, I know where the risks are low.

Scott Benner 1:17:52
Right? If you would have just said to me, do you know what a Moscow Mule is? I think I would have guessed, a sexual position you saw on a weird old porno. I don't think I would have guessed that drink. Just in case you're wondering. I was like, fascinating. No, I'm just sitting here listening to you.

Maia 1:18:12
Ginger, beer and vodka with lime.

Unknown Speaker 1:18:15
Okay,

Scott Benner 1:18:16
I if, if this this, it's a shame, because the title of this episode is gonna have to be more descriptive. Because if it didn't have to be, it would totally be called Moscow meal, just so you know. I would have 100% go with that. I appreciate this, by the way, like you seriously are, this is a void in this space, that I can tell from the position I'm in that no one ever This is the kind of stuff no one ever speaks about? And and if they do they do it in tight circles. You know what I mean? So then everyone else doesn't get to hear about it. I think that what I learned here from you today is that I need to be clear with Arden that if she's going to drink, we need to talk about it. First, I'm not just going to pretend she's going to end up being like my son or like me or something like that. Because of the of all the reasons that you outlined. And that we're going to have to sit down and figure out how to make these different alcohols work with insulin and that because even as you were I asked you earlier, I said something that was so like, oh, couldn't you just set a Temp Basal. But that was me not realizing that that Temp Basal would need to be three hours into you drinking and how are you really going to be like, cognitive about it at that point. Like you don't even like for for drinks into your party. You're not going to be like you know what I need? I need a Temp Basal decrease of about 50% for I'm going to save up

Maia 1:19:35
where Arden is lucky right? If she wants to go have a beer. She can be like, Hey, Dad had my first beer set my Temp Basal in three hours.

Scott Benner 1:19:43
Yeah, right. override Jojo. You're like my Snoop Dogg was drinking at this point is what I'm realizing. Seriously. So what do you What's the rest of your day look like? Are you you haven't been drinking while we're talking. You're going to work?

Maia 1:19:57
No, no. It is a it's It's like nine in the morning here. So no, no drinks yet. I had a cup of Chai this morning, I'm going to go teach a couple yoga classes. And that's kind of what the rest of my day has in store. So, yeah.

Scott Benner 1:20:14
I have a question about that if I could. It's nowhere near drinking. And I actually have two questions. Did you hear the episode that I'm doing where it's gonna be four times with a person who's pregnant? We did their first show after their first trimester. We're gonna do after the second. Yes.

Maia 1:20:28
Do you like that? Oh, exciting. I love it. Good. I'm glad.

Scott Benner 1:20:33
Yeah, Arden is supposed to be starting up yoga. But she start in the house. Is there Okay, wait for her to do that, like sort of get into it on her own.

Maia 1:20:44
Yeah, there's a lot of like, different kinds of apps, YouTube is a really good resource. And especially if she's working on something specific, you can hop on YouTube and search like, you know, yoga for shoulder mobility, or yoga for back pain, or whatever. And there's a million options. There are also like subscription services that you can do online that have you know, series that you can follow where you have lots of different classes to try. But you can definitely, you know, find a great, great yoga practice at home. I think it's a really wonderful way to start because it can be intimidating to walk into a room with a whole bunch of other people who know what they're doing. And you're like, What?

Scott Benner 1:21:33
You told me That's great. Yeah. Yeah, you want

Maia 1:21:36
me to put my leg behind my head? And

Scott Benner 1:21:38
I can't do that. You know, I can't do that. I don't know any of you. And no, thank you. Yeah, no, I wouldn't. I would completely agree it's hard enough to walk into a gym and start doing something that you're on your, on your feet for see it on something that looks like it means to be sat on to done like, you know, on the floor on a mat. Having never done it before. I think that's kind of her, her, her impediment with it right now. She's I think she might be embarrassed. But that's why I was asking if there was a good way that you thought, Oh, yeah, but

Maia 1:22:07
I also would say like most yoga instructors, any yoga instructor who's, you know, worth going to, is going to be so excited to have her in class, right? I think I love having new students, I love working through their injuries and figuring out how their body works and moves and how we need to accommodate for their individual body. And that's something you can't get when you hop online, you can get the poses, right and figure out what down dog what, you know, Chaturanga, but you know, having someone to work with you and and figure out your body, especially since she's an athlete is so helpful.

Scott Benner 1:22:44
Thank you very much. I really appreciate that. Yeah, yeah, you were terrific. I really, first of all, tell your friend and your husband, they're 100%. Right? You were the right person, you were the right person for this. Not just because of your, you know, your drinking, but because of your ability to talk about it and how open and clear you were, really, really appreciate this, you took something that I have absolutely no context for and gave me context around it. And I think you did that for a lot of other people to really well done. Thank you. After every episode, I take a moment to thank the person that I've spoken with, but maybe no more big, what am I saying? It might be? How come I can't talk mother. In this situation, I mean, at times 100, Maya came on talk about something that some people might judge her about. And she knew that going into this and that really is brave, because she's trying to bring good information to the people living with Type One Diabetes. So I commend Maya for coming on. And I want her to know how much I appreciate it. Last couple things. If you're looking for Juicebox Podcast merchandise, or something to wear for diabetes Awareness Month, it'll start a conversation about type one diabetes, check out Juicebox podcast.com. Scroll down to merge. And as you heard me say earlier, I would like to keep this after dark series going a little longer. I'm looking for a smoker to come on and talk about balancing Type One Diabetes with pot weed. ganja grass, what do you kids call it nowadays? Anyway, looking for somebody who has type one who smokes regularly who can kind of you know talk about it in an open way. And I'm looking for two adults, one male and one female so we can get both perspectives who are comfortable coming onto the show. And talking about working with Type One Diabetes. I want to know all about the psychological part and the mechanical part and everything in between the stuff that maybe people don't think about, that you know about, you know, like, what's it like to bump your nose into a CGM when you think you're gonna bump it into a? Yes. Okay. That's pretty much it. See you next week.

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#273 Ask Scott and Jenny: Chapter Five

Answers to Your Diabetes Questions…

Ask Scott and Jenny, Answers to Your Diabetes Questions

• Let’s talk about the difference between GMI and A1c results.

• Tips for Dexcom G6 signal loss.

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

Scott Benner 0:00
This episode of The Juicebox Podcast is sponsored by in pen from companion medical. Please remember that nothing you hear on the Juicebox Podcast should be considered advice, medical or otherwise. And always consult a physician before making any changes to your health care plan for becoming bold with insulin. The pen is America's only FDA cleared smart insulin pen and app system. In pen works like other pens, it's just a lot smarter, you can use it in pen, like any other injector pen. The difference in pen is that it tracks each dose and delivers your data to a secure app on your smartphone. So finally, there's no complicated math and no log book to update. In just a moment in pen user, Fiona Wylde is going to tell you a little bit about why she loves her in pen. And then we're gonna get right to ask Scott and Jenny. But if you're interested in finding out more, I urge you to go to companion medical comm or click on the links in the show notes for the ones that are available at Juicebox podcast.com.

Welcome to Ask Scott and Jenny. In today's episode, I Scott and Jenny Jenny Smith from the diabetes pro tip series in defining diabetes. You know Jenny, Jenny works at integrated diabetes. She's a CDE, a registered pump trainer CGM trainer dietitian, she has type one, I bet you that Jenny's the kind of person that would never throw a piece of gum in a wastepaper basket without wrapping it in a tissue first. Right after in pen user, Fiona Wylde tells us how her in pen helps her remember her basal insulin. Jenny and I are going to talk about your a one c test. What's better? Is it the clarity report from Dexcom? What that tells you? Is that what they give you in the office? How do you know what the trust and what not to? It's actually a bigger topic than you would think. And then in the middle of that Jenny ends up having her own question for me, which I answer.

Fiona Wylde 2:11
They also give you your long acting reminders by take lantis. So it'll give me a reminder of like, Hey, we need to take your lantis. And then you can record that in the app as well. So it says okay, I just gave myself X amount of units of lantis. Like it's all recorded in there. And that's good, too, because that kind of goes back to my thing of Oh, oops, yeah, I forgot to, you know, give myself an answer, give myself that. Because with pens, it is kind of easy to forget. Or it's easy to just like give yourself insulin and walk away from it. Because you don't have something attached to your body for the constant reminder. I definitely feel a bit more free, which is really nice. But it's easier to skip some things too. And that's why the in pen, make sure that you don't skip steps that, you know, maybe are easy to forget, but helps you plan for the steps that you didn't forget. And then it helps you plan for the future as well.

Scott Benner 3:09
Okay, now, Jenny, this one's interesting, because you said you wanted to do a pro tip episode about this, but it's a

Jennifer Smith, CDE 3:16
well answer the question maybe Yeah, the one I'm thinking of Lissa

Scott Benner 3:19
asks, my agency in the doctor's office is always much lower than my Dexcom. GMA, for example, my doctor said my agency was 5.7. But my GM for 90 days is 6.4. Which do you think is more accurate? Is that the one you were expecting?

Jennifer Smith, CDE 3:36
That's the one I was expecting. And it's a very, very common question. In fact, it's, it's a question that I get a lot from also from people that I work with. They're like, I see my CGM is telling me this and I went in and I got this a one c done. And my a one C is higher, my agency is lower. Right? So, you know, essentially, GMA and do you do Scott know what GMA stands for? Sure.

Scott Benner 4:04
It's gross mountain infrastructure. No, I don't know.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 4:10
Gi is glucose management indicator makes belts. Right. And if you remember with that within Dexcom for a while they had IE, a one c estimated a one C, right? Well, and then for a while, they got rid of any estimate whatsoever that was completely gone from any of your clarity reports. And then they they they did all of this, you know, hashing and thinking and putting together something new and they came up with this GM I termed concept, glucose management indicator and really what it means is clarity kind of has its own secret sauce, sort of algorithm that it takes your glucose within a range, you know, whether it's a 14 day 30 day 90 day, and it estimates based on where your glucose trend has been within that defined time period. So one, if you are looking at a time period of 14 days, and you're getting your GFCI, perhaps you've had really, you've taken all of the pro tips that we've done, and you've put them into work and you're like, I am knocking this out of the ballpark, I've got this beautiful like looking average, it's come down considerably. Your GM I, for that 14 day is going to look great. And then you go in, you get this agency and ah, e one C is higher. And you're like, well, that, that doesn't look great. Why is that? Well, the timeframe is different, we have to remember that a one C is averaged over a 90 to 120 day time period. Right?

Scott Benner 5:51
So is that what 90 to 120? Because some people get it done every 90 or every 120? Or is it because no it because it bleeds into that period, right?

Jennifer Smith, CDE 6:01
It has to do so 90 to 120 days is a one C is where a one c comes from mainly because of the life of the red blood cell. So doing a little biology for you, your red blood cell has hemoglobin attached. And when we look at how much glucose has attached, that hemoglobin part, we read a one c over the time period of life and have your average blood cell your average red blood cell which is about 90 to 120 days for most people. So we have this long timeline of how much glucose has kind of stuck there. And you can tell an average blood sugar value then based on that. So the problem is that of course, as we've talked before, a one c isn't the end all be all of glucose management, right? It doesn't give the time and range it doesn't give how much variability you're having to get that average it's just a one spot check in right and same thing with this GMAT. The GMAT is also just an average of where your CGM data trend has been over the course of whatever defined time period you have populated into your clarity report for that evaluation. So if you're looking at 14 days might look phenomenal. Or if you've been on vacation for 14 days, and you've been eating all of the pizza and Margarita is on the beach and whatever and not paying attention. You could have this high looking and you're a one c could actually have been much better because your time period before that you were doing a phenomenal job. So therein lies some of the difference there. Um, I guess

Scott Benner 7:46
I have a question. Wow. Okay. So imagining in your mind this, I think most of us think of it as a as, excuse me as a 90 day period, we had our agency checked and 90 days later, we do it again, if I had what, what you just described, not 90 days ago, but three more weeks past that if those three weeks were magical for me, my agency was five in those three weeks. And then the next 90 days, it was more like Melissa is describing it, you know, the GM is telling me the last 90 days was 6.4. But when I got it back, it was 5.7. Is it because some of those first 14 days might still be? Do you see what I'm saying? Like is the blood looking back further than my last doctor's appointment?

Jennifer Smith, CDE 8:35
possible? Actually, it's actually waited, I think what you're asking a little bit opposite. So if you the older red blood cells don't have as much impact on the ANC value right now today as the ones closer to today. So if you're a if your glucose was like, not where you want it to be three to four months ago, but in the past month, you've really reined things in and you've gotten it down and you've nailed it and you've got this beautiful looking standard deviation and everything is in range. This time period in the past month has more weight on actual a one C then 234 months ago because there aren't as many of those red blood cells hanging around to give data point two does that make sense guys?

Scott Benner 9:26
But then how is she seeing a 90 day GMA, that's higher than her actually one say. So take her out of it for a second when that happens. What what's the likelihood of the like what is like

Jennifer Smith, CDE 9:40
if her well, and that could have relevance to accuracy that has her CGM.

Scott Benner 9:46
I think I think Jenny hasn't had a signal on her Dexcom for a while. Is that what that?

Jennifer Smith, CDE 9:50
Oh, I haven't. I'm really really annoyed right now. This is I actually called in a sensor. We talked about this. I called you yesterday really annoyed, right? So, um, yeah, and this sensor has been wonky since I put it in yesterday. I'm back numbers. And now I have signal loss. And I've had signal loss three times this morning attempting to reconnect, wait up to 30 minutes,

Scott Benner 10:14
really put your phone up, shut off the Bluetooth, and then turn it back on again. So open your phone, close all your apps that you're not using except for Dexcom. Where you can close them off you want right now for a second. And then you know that you can leave. Then go into your settings. Oh, yep. And shut off the Bluetooth. Yep, then turn the Bluetooth back on. Open the Dexcom back up. And then this is where I tell Artem because Arden wears her Dexcom sensors on her hips. I'm like shove that phone right up your ass. Just stick it right next to the to the next to the transmitter. And leave it there for a few minutes. I bet you it's back in five or six minutes.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 10:56
Okay, that'll be awesome. If you are I see. Good to know people in the right places. Right?

Scott Benner 11:02
I'm right about that. I'm amazing. So and by the way, you just said something. I'm gonna ask Jenny a question. I'm gonna make myself a note. Okay, so I'm so sorry, with where the heck were we with?

Jennifer Smith, CDE 11:14
I know we're talking about accuracy. Yeah, I and so that's where some of that may have relevance. You know, I some people have really awesome consistent accuracy. They could do a finger stick occasionally. And they're like, yep, my CGM is right on with that finger stick. But you know now in today's world with G five, and now g six and whatever is coming out after this. with FDA approval without having new finger sticks. Many people literally aren't doing finger six anymore. Whatever is appearing on their CGM is what they're using. Well, unfortunately, CGM can be off. They may not be as accurate as what your true body blood glucose your blood cells are telling. So let's say this person's a one C is higher than the actual a one c comes out to be CGM, GM is higher. It could be that the CGM is actually reading higher than their true glucose trend is reading in their body.

Scott Benner 12:13
Yeah, I'll tell you that. Um, so that's an interesting issue. And what it made me think was what if she's she doesn't say here, whether it's a G six or a G five, right? What if she's calibrating with a meter that's less accurate than the CGM and she's lying to the CGM and to the CGM, like. So there's a lot of scenarios here. I'll tell you right now, that's why you have to put effort into getting whatever the best meter on the market is just get it I'm we have the,

Jennifer Smith, CDE 12:40
the Contour. Next One, that's

Scott Benner 12:42
the one I have. It's it's I don't think I've ever tested with that contour. And it hasn't agreed with a CGM that I believed was accurate at the time,

Jennifer Smith, CDE 12:51
the next most accurate is going to be the Accu check guide me. That's another one. That freestyle light by Abbott also does a really nice job accuracy wise, I think within the first with the top five that are on the market, those three are within that as far as accuracy rating.

Scott Benner 13:09
Because it's small, and yeah, it's it's got a nice bright light. For me, it doesn't take much blood to get it to go, No, and it's got second chance, I forget what they call it. But if you hit some blood, and it's not enough, you have like a fairly long

Jennifer Smith, CDE 13:23
time period, I think it's like 15 to 20 seconds to get another

Scott Benner 13:26
prop on more time than you need. So. Okay, and plus, I guess the other thing we have to consider, too, is and Maddie comes in and says that a nurse practitioner at her work told her that the A ones c machines are actually allowed to be up to point 5% off. So even there, it's just a bunch of things you don't consider like what if it's a little bit of all those things? You know, I don't know that to be true. And

Jennifer Smith, CDE 13:54
is it clear clarity? Therefore, the a one c machine would also be Is it an A one c machine that's an office a one c where they do your finger stick in the office and derive it, you know, within the next 10 or 15 minutes? Or is it a lab value a one c? That would be a good clarification to make for which a one fee is allowed to be your have such variants

Scott Benner 14:16
which would we prefer lab value right to for accuracy,

Unknown Speaker 14:19
lab value

Unknown Speaker 14:20
for accuracy?

Scott Benner 14:21
What about the finger sticks? How close are they do you think? in the office,

Jennifer Smith, CDE 14:26
the finger sticks can be a little off. I know my office when I when I used to see my endo in DC, they always did an office a one C and I always asked them at the same time to do a lab because I just I wanted I wanted the accuracy from it. There was always for me, my average change was about a point three. So if my agency was like, six in the office, it was usually like a 6.3 if it was like five Point either off, it was usually like a six from the lab value.

Scott Benner 15:04
I'll tell you how I think about it too. Like I listen, I don't I don't make any secret of an art and say when Caesar are fantastic, right, and they've ranged between five, two and six, two for over five years now, if we go in, and it's five, two, and then three months later, it's five, four. I'm not like, Oh, my God, I'm just like Arden say, once is great. You know, I mean, you know, I don't see a difference between a six two and a six, four, you're doing terrific. You know, like, it's not a lot to knock yourself up over, you know, not an OT, and then can Ott. Cool.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 15:38
By the way, I just want to let you know that your trick work. Of course, it's all have data. Yeah.

Unknown Speaker 15:44
Don't you worry, Scott,

Unknown Speaker 15:46
why not know that trick.

Scott Benner 15:47
That's how I got the podcast. That's fine. Good, too. All right. So Jenny's got her data back, we're all good. And that's a good Listen, there's a good one for all of you if you're using the Dexcom g six right now and you experience a signal loss and it tells you wait up till 30 minutes to reconnect close all the apps on your phone like crash them you know how to crash an app right? And then shut off your Bluetooth and settings. Wait a spilling off the wait long, turn it back on reopen the Dexcom app and then take that phone and stick it near the transmitter.

Unknown Speaker 16:21
The transmitter if

Scott Benner 16:22
people are apt to blame Dexcom which I'm sure they have culpability in this in some way or another but Bluetooth is a very in faxing problem call there's a lot it's a big part of this. So Bluetooth is is you know, it's got its problems. So that's why some people see better or worse results with different phones. If you'd like to learn more about the in pen, you can always go to companion medical comm where there are links in your show notes or at Juicebox podcast.com. And if you'd like to check out Fiona on Instagram, her latest picture is of her racing in China. She says it's pretty cool to be racing at the 2008 Olympic sailing center. She's Fiona underscore wild on Instagram. Fiona the classic way ephi Oh Na underscore, you know is like a dash but it's lower. And then wild Wi l d. Check her out. If you're on MDI and you want to stay that way, but you wish she had a little more control. Check out the in pan with your internet connection probably on your phone. companion medical there terrific. If you'd like some perspective on how not musical I am if that didn't just do it for you. Consider this in my head. The tune to Sweeney Todd was playing when I did that. I know right? There's no correlation whatsoever.

About Jenny Smith

Jennifer holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Human Nutrition and Biology from the University of Wisconsin. She is a Registered (and Licensed) Dietitian, Certified Diabetes Educator, and Certified Trainer on most makes/models of insulin pumps and continuous glucose monitoring systems. You can reach Jenny at jennifer@integrateddiabetes.com

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#272 Sir Drew

Drew Holder was diagnosed with T1D at 3 years old.…

Former professional baseball player Drew Holder is on the show to share his type 1 diabetes story.

You can always listen to the Juicebox Podcast here but the cool kids use: Apple Podcasts/iOS - Pandora - Spotify - Amazon Alexa - Google Play/Android - iHeart Radio -  Radio Public or their favorite podcast app.

+ Click for EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

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

Scott Benner 0:00
This is Episode 272 of the Juicebox Podcast. Today's show is sponsored by dancing for diabetes, Omni pod, and Dexcom you can go to dexcom.com slash juice box, my on the pod comm slash juice box or dancing the number four diabetes.com To find out more about the sponsors. And if you have trouble remembering any of those web addresses, you can always go to Juicebox podcast.com or click on the links right there in the show notes of your podcast player. This is kind of fortuitous. I met messaging with one of you right now as I'm recording this. So I'm not going to give like last names or anything like that. But one of you is letting me know about their two children, siblings who started last let's see three months ago with a one C of seven. And today they got their a one CS back five, nine and five, eight respectively. Mavis had type one for about two and a half years while Aiden has had type one for two years. And they're doing great. Their mom was just letting me know how excited she was. And she said she wanted to shout it from the rooftops and I told her to go outside and yell Don't worry about the neighbors. But then I thought you know what, I'll help you shop from the rooftops. We'll do it right here on the podcast. So Maven Aiden, congratulations. Great job. All right, I'm running out of music. Today's guest is Drew holder Jew has had Type One Diabetes for a very long time he was professional baseball player. And I thought this week, but the World Series coming up what a great time to talk to somebody used to play. Please remember that nothing you hear on the Juicebox Podcast should be considered advice, medical or otherwise. And always consult a physician before becoming bold with insulin or making any changes to your health care plan.

Drew Holder 1:57
My name is Drew Holder. I've had Type One Diabetes since age three. And I've had a lot of different experiences. And through the highs and lows of diabetes, I've been able to play professional baseball, the husband and a father and now a working professional.

Scott Benner 2:14
You were diagnosed in what year? Do you know?

Drew Holder 2:17
1986 86?

Scott Benner 2:19
How old were you again?

Drew Holder 2:20
Three years old. I was just just after three I got diagnosed.

Unknown Speaker 2:23
Wow,

Scott Benner 2:24
you called me Sara second ago, which now I'm going to leave in I thought how much older could I be than you but I believe I graduated from high school in 89. So we need to sort of thing going a little I'm just kidding. Do I Oh, no, no, please. I'm joking. But I have I'm so interested like you reached out. And your note was very like I you know, I'd like to be helpful if I could be and if I'm you know if I could share something interesting. I would love to. So I was really excited because I have a ton of questions for you. Well, thank you. Let's start a little slow. How did you find the podcast?

Drew Holder 2:59
Man, I think it was by chance. I think I just I just looked at on Apple podcasts I was I always think about diabetes and what's going on. And I think I just searched type one diabetes and your podcast popped up. And I started listening and I listened to podcasts with Jeffrey Brewer. I like what he's doing a lot with Bigfoot. And then I listened to the Chris Rutan just because of his background and working out and then hearing about your daughter. And, you know, I just obviously there's common ground. And I think we all feel that as is or adults with type one I think we do. It's just such an easy conversation starter.

Scott Benner 3:41
Yeah. And it's difficult to find people who have this in common, really, I mean, it's not it's not just easy to, you know, walk into the gym to meet people. And you know, somebody just pops up like I've diabetes, like, where do you? You know, I hear from people all the time who say that this podcast is their only connection to people who have typed on. They just don't know anyone in their personal life. So I'm glad you found it. I really am. I'm glad. Thank you. I'm glad I got it set up correctly in the searches. So are you diagnosed at three? Let's go there for a second. My parents together. Yes, sir.

Drew Holder 4:15
My mom. Funny enough is I was a nurse or still as a nurse, but she was kind of in denial. You know, I would sit there at the faucet and drink glasses, glass after glass of water go the bathroom come back. And this probably went on for I think they said three weeks. But my grandfather saw a article in the newspaper in Austin in Austin American statesman about symptoms of type one diabetes. And he was like, hey, my parents like hey, you need to go check. Get him check. So finally they took me in. And my mom knew all the signs but and then finally my you know, my glucose readings were off the charts on the on the glucose meter. I mean, I think it read just AGI so then they knew Okay, well Let's treat it now.

Scott Benner 5:01
Do you think you've ever spoken to your mom about it? Do you think she just was trying to prolong what she knew was coming? Or she just trying to work up the nerve? Or what do you think it was?

Drew Holder 5:10
Yeah, I don't know. I mean, now that I think as I'm as a dad, I mean, I'm so quick to, you know, think the worst, but still hope for the best. You know, I think that's just where she was like, oh, man, I hope he doesn't have diabetes. Let's just keep seeing if it gets better. You know,

Scott Benner 5:29
over short, listen, we're a couple of generations removed. You know, my father would have been like, he'll be okay. You just tell them to keep going. So I saw I see that. Okay. So three years old? 1986. When's your first real recollection of your diabetes? Like, when when you think back on it? How, what age do you get to?

Drew Holder 5:52
Yeah, good question. Honestly, I think it was probably around, you know, anywhere eight, 910. Obviously, I don't remember anything, or not, obviously, but I don't remember anything before. age three, or life. Before diabetes. For me.

Scott Benner 6:08
I burned my finger at my fifth birthday party. And if that wouldn't have happened, I don't remember my lifetime, like 12. So I'm just wondering, like, when does it come into your consciousness enough that you remember as an adult? So that that's just that's interesting that, you know, I think, too, for parents who are worried sometimes that their children are being this, you know, horribly impacted by this disease, you see that a lot. People are very concerned about it, probably rightfully so. But at the same time, you know, I think I always try to share with them the story that, you know, Arden probably had 10,000 injections when she was little. And then we switched to a pump when she was like, four years old, maybe could get in closer to five. And it took a few years before we ever had to pull out a syringe again. And when we did, she didn't even know what it was. Wow, you know, and that's that kind of the message I want to leave with parents. Like I know, you feel like you're doing something that's just gonna run your kids over forever, but really, we don't remember anything. You know, when we're little like, how much do you remember? Really?

Drew Holder 7:07
So that's such a good word. Right?

Scott Benner 7:09
So okay, so you have a G sec. She told me in your in your email, but do you pumper Are you injecting?

Drew Holder 7:17
Yes, sir. So I injected for 20 years. So from age three to basically 22 episode guess 19 years, okay. And then I got on my first insulin pump. And then I've been kind of on insulin pump therapy, with, you know, a few breaks here and there, but for the past 13 years, okay, insulin pump.

Unknown Speaker 7:36
Okay, so now,

Drew Holder 7:37
I have a tandem pump now

Scott Benner 7:39
using a tandem now what have you, how many of you, how many different ones have you used over the years?

Drew Holder 7:44
So I had a cause more. Most people probably don't remember that. But that was my first pump. And I was actually when that was when I started professional baseball with the Astros and they made me kind of the I guess a spokesperson or a you know, I would I would travel around speak for them

Scott Benner 8:04
to come the pump the pump company did back then.

Drew Holder 8:07
Yeah, the deck. I think it was a Cosmo. I can't even remember. I think it was a subsidiary of animus or Johnson and Johnson

Scott Benner 8:14
you're gonna make me look while you're talking. But I think it's Cosmo. Right? Because Yeah,

Drew Holder 8:17
Cosmo.

Scott Benner 8:19
You keep talking. So did say you you worked with them a little bit kind of traveled around telling people about the pump.

Drew Holder 8:24
Yes. And then I and then all three or four years I upgraded to the economists had that for five, six years and and then finally just upgraded to the tandem. tandem now.

Scott Benner 8:38
This is so interesting. The delco Cosmo. See this website? Well, it looks like it was it looked it looked durable. So it was look like it was built? Well,

Drew Holder 8:50
it was made it was made out of it was made out of a helmet like baseball helmet like that kind of I dropped it. It couldn't break. You know

Scott Benner 8:58
that that is really my first thought when I looked at I was like, Wow, it does look really durable. Like it just like it like you could have thrown it against the wall and it would have been okay. So So tell me something. what age did you start playing baseball? Do you remember that?

Unknown Speaker 9:14
Six years old

Scott Benner 9:16
and right into like little league or local ball like in your town?

Drew Holder 9:20
Yeah, yes, sir. Just the local. We call it Town and Country in Austin. I played one season and T ball and then, you know, went through all different age groups going after that. Do you remember?

Scott Benner 9:32
So you've obviously you've hit on something that I'm really interested in because my son's a freshman in college right now playing baseball. So my son started playing when he was four. And it was the he's a February birthday. And my my wife was like, he wants to start playing baseball now. I was always like, oh, Kelly, he's like three, like, how do you know what he wants to do? And she's like, well, look how good he is that he should try it. You know? And I was like, Well, I think you have to be fun. To play baseball, and she's like, no way, like, he'll be four when the season starts just because he's three now and I'm, and so my wife, basically I was I was, you know, spouse bullied into contacting the local YMCA. And I said, you know, look, my son will be four when the spring starts. Is there any chance you can start playing this year? Because my wife seems really intent on this happening. And, and the guy's like, you know, let me see him play. And if he looks like he won't get hurt and everything, and I said, Yeah, sure, let him do it. So I, I don't know how many people know this. And you know, we're going to talk about diabetes a lot today, but we're going to talk about some baseball too, but it's not really baseball. But first, ooh, this is exciting for you. You don't even realize but it's time for It's time for Arden's lunch bolus, which I love to hear about. So today is day one of her new g six. So she's had it on now for about 12 hours, it's looking pretty. Pretty right with the blood, we did one finger stick today and it looks right so I'm gonna trust it her blood sugar's 131. We're gonna do a Temp Basal increase, to get a pretty big lunch. I'm gonna go 70% for an hour and a half. And so what that does, is it adds about two units of insulin over the next hour and a half just through bazel. And then we're gonna do a bolus. Right, you're on a second, banana, pop, corn, half a sandwich. Yogurt, peaches, grapes. All right, ready, three for the sandwich. 456789, let's say 12 units extend.

Drew Holder 11:47
I like this because I'm looking at my pump now. And I'm able to adjust my my readings to 60%

Unknown Speaker 11:52
now

Scott Benner 11:55
and the rest over a half hour. So my idea here is it's a pretty mixed lunch, right? There's a peanut butter and jelly sandwich in there. But there's also some fruits. So there's simple sugar. There's not a ton of beyond the the bread with a sandwich, there's not a lot of real kind of like heavier carbs. So I'm going to get a lot of the insulin and now to kind of combat you know, get a nice Pre-Bolus going hopefully, she'll start eating in about 10 minutes. Maybe I can get her you know, 120 ish, like moving in that direction. And then I like the insulin to have a nice momentum. Like I like it. I want it to be out in front, right? I agree. Yeah. So when those simple sugars start hitting, hopefully we can hold them at bay. Use the Temp Basal in the extendable, spread out the instant, a little more over the meal. And hopefully, we'll see what we got. We'll find out in our drill. So okay, so you start so my son starts playing baseball for he's played every year. Absolutely. Since then. I he loves Oh, hold on a second. Now she's telling me Hold on one second. She got to she got to launch quickly, more quickly than I expect her to. So she's they must have sent them in early. So now I've told her to kill the extended bolus. We're gonna throw in all 12 units right now cuz she's sitting at the table. Oh, geez. Okay, it'll still work out. So

Drew Holder 13:26
what's her insulin to carb ratio?

Scott Benner 13:28
Oh, do I have no idea? I don't pay attention to that. I don't count carbs. I I look at the meal. And I think that looks like 12 units to me.

Drew Holder 13:35
Yeah, that's kind of how we did it grown up too. Right. And we had no,

Scott Benner 13:40
we you didn't have this gear. Right. So you just don't know. Yeah, you're guessing right? How do ya how does it change having glucose monitoring from not like, what's the biggest difference? Oh, man, it I don't know. For me, that's like the biggest deal. Just to just to know where you are at all times.

Drew Holder 13:58
I mean, I can just I mean, I had six diabetic seizures. Growing up, like I guess through my life. I even had one in college, but it's just the roller coaster of highs and lows when I gave a shot. That's the big difference for me is that the CGM basically is telling me Am I going up going down and even now at the tandem it actually shuts off. If I'm if I'm diving in the middle of the night, which is sometimes I tend to do because of whatever happened during the day.

Scott Benner 14:27
A tandem has that it's called Bayes like you right it it. It feels you go and down. It just kills it kills you but you're doing all your background insulin and shuts everything down for a while. Correct. Yes, sir. That's pretty damn handy. We are having a cluster here today with our and she's like, but I already did the extended one. So I'll tell her stop it and tell me what delivered. So yeah, I would say that that variability that you're talking about, like the up and Down the bouncing, that's that's not only just hard on your body, but it creates you know, I always say highs cause lows, right? And oh yeah, you get high, you start bola saying and then boom. Tell me what delivered one, okay? Not much.

So only a unit went in. So now she's gonna put in the other, we cancel the extended bolus, she's gonna put in the other 11 units, and we're all set. Alright. Anyway, okay, so we're jumping around a little bit here. But anyway, we'll we'll track ardens balls and see how that goes as well. So what I was gonna say is that people might not realize that, you know, I know the numbers for my son, but I'm sure they're very similar for you. The year my son Cole started playing baseball, 4 million children picked up a bat in the United States for the first time. Wow, Little League local, like that whole thing. There's 4 million kids that year started playing baseball. This past year, when he went to college, 9500 of them moved on to play college baseball. And that's across four divisions d 123. And Juco. It includes right. So obviously, to get that far is involves more than you can imagine, right. And I don't just mean hard work. I mean, sometimes luck, your body doesn't break down, your skill holds up, you know, all these things happen. But the leap, then from there, to a minor league baseball player is down to something like I think three of those 9000 3000 of those 9000 make it to that next step, and then only hundreds actually ever step into a major league ballpark. So I want to I'm going to ask you a few questions about around that. When you were when you were younger, 789 10 years old. Were you any good? Did anybody looky and go that drew he's gonna play in college and then go on to be a pro.

Drew Holder 16:57
You know, honestly, I mean, probably not. I mean, God definitely blessed me with athletic talent. And I was always to be honest, you know, one or two, top three guys on the team, you know, that I don't think anybody and honestly, I didn't get I didn't become a great, great baseball player. until probably my junior year of college, like so I was kind of a developmental guy. My my, my true passion was football. Honestly, I played football through high school. But I'm not the biggest, biggest guy, I'm 511. I weigh about 205 pounds.

Unknown Speaker 17:37
But

Drew Holder 17:39
when I realized that the beating my body would take with football, I'd have to put on some way to play college. And then the way it would tax me more with the diabetes, I chose baseball. And I got a scholarship offer to Dallas Baptist University. And, you know, I was just blessed to be able to play at that great university.

Scott Benner 17:59
And it still took you at college, two and a half probably seasons until you came into your own.

Drew Holder 18:06
Yes, I mean, until I really felt like I belonged. And I felt confident. And it just kind of went from there. You know, obviously, you mature a little bit, you get bigger, you get stronger. But yeah, I mean, even as a freshman in college, I remember looking around like, Man, these guys are huge. I don't belong, my confidence wasn't all wasn't 100% there, you know, but just staying the course and working hard, like you said, you know, and just kind of, and then opportunities arise, you know, and you know, you take advantage of them.

Scott Benner 18:37
Yeah. I'm going to share that. So my son doesn't have diabetes. My daughter does, but cold. My son Cole is it's interesting. He's probably weighs about 170 pounds. He's a freshman in college. And he's 511 and he's drill know what I'm saying? When I say this? My son's actually 511 he doesn't tell people he's 511 He's 511. So baseball is big on adding an inch or two on people's height. Because once you get no spikes, everybody looks six feet tall. And and it's hard to tell. But so my son's 511 baseball 177 pounds. And he's a spectacular outfielder. I mean, there's just no where you can hit the ball where he won't be. If you put the ball in left field when the left fielder is catching it, my son standing next to him. If you know if he's at the fence, it's 400 feet, it's in a gap. It's over shoulder makes it look like he just flipped the ball to him in the living room. It's It's amazing. I don't know how he sees the ball that way. Because he's a talented runner and runs fast. But he's not like a six five kid. Yeah, like he just knows where that ball is going. So he is also a really good student. And when he was recruiting for college, my wife and I just said, Look, we're happy for you to play. We definitely want you to, but you have to go get like the best education you can. Like, you know, like we absolutely need you to go to the best school that you absolutely can And that ended up being a d3 school that really fit him the best. So, in his mind, you know, as a high schooler, he's like, this is amazing, because it's just the three and I'm going to show up there and they'll be so thrilled that I'll be there like, you know, blah, blah, blah. And, you know, two days into practice, I text them, how's it going, he goes, the kid playing centerfield in front of me as a senior, and if you wanted to kill me, he could pick me up and break me in half. And I said, Okay, he goes, Yeah, I don't think I'm gonna just be like, wandering onto the field announcing my arrival and starting to play anytime soon.

Unknown Speaker 20:33
And I was like, Yeah,

Scott Benner 20:34
Yeah, no kidding. Right? And it's, it's interesting, isn't it, that people think of it as these divisions, right? If you go to D, one, you can play and if you go to d3, you can and if you go to D two, you're not smart. And if you like, there's just too much generalization around sports and baseball and and the assumptions that people make, like just for you. I mean, you get drafted. Drew, when you were a minor league baseball player, and to this day, you are one of the most talented baseball players in the world. And even if you never take another step past, minors, it's, it's an amazing accomplishment, you know, and yet in our society, anything that doesn't get to the whatever the very top is, the rest of that is considered a failure. And I just, I never kind of can wrap my head around that. It doesn't, it doesn't. It never makes sense to me. But I wonder if it doesn't make sense to me, because I have the perspective of watching my son do it. But anyway, it's a lot of times, just want people to understand cuz I know a lot of parents Listen to this. And the best player when they're nine isn't necessarily the best player when they're 15. And it definitely doesn't mean they're going to be great when they're 21. And it's a long, long process. And I want to talk a little bit about maybe I want to talk a lot about the the lessons that diabetes can teach you and the lessons that baseball can teach and I want to know how many times you found those to overlap. Okay, let me see how long this takes dexcom.com slash juice box. Okay, I am on dexcom.com forward slash juice box. A lot of information here about zero finger sticks, glucose readings right on my smart device. customizable alerts and alarms here get started with the Dexcom g six. Can you get started with the Dexcom g six in less time than an ad on the Juicebox Podcast patients first name, but my name, last name, did that email. phone number. City, zip code. month, day, year of birth, type one diabetes, insulin pump. Insurance private.

Unknown Speaker 23:03
I agree.

Scott Benner 23:09
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I see this stuff that my son learned from baseball it's not always the stuff I thought it was gonna be. You know, like he like for instance he he called me the other day. And and again, Drew will have more of a maybe a perspective for this and then some other people but my son can stand after he's warm and have a catch with you at 120 yards. He's got if he's got one pro tool, it's probably his defense in his arm, right? Yeah. So you know he's but he doesn't want to pitch and he doesn't He's like, I don't like pitching. I don't want to pitch I don't you know, I don't like the mechanics of it. And so I said to him one day, I was like, how long do you think you're going to stand throwing the ball 60 yards farther than everybody else while you're warming up and someone's not going to ask you to try to pitch you know. Eventually someone's gonna be like, Can we drag that kids butt up on a mound and see what happens when the throw The ball plate. So he goes over the other, he sends me a text. He's on his way to practice and he's like, Oh my god, they're gonna make me throw a bullpen today. And I was like, Well, you know, just just do it, you know, like, whatever. And a couple hours later, I get a text back from and he said, I had an 88 mile an hour fastball, my changeup was 81. And I was dropping my curve in four strikes, and I think I'm gonna have to pitch a little bit now. And I told him, I said, Why don't you just throw the ball into the ground? The guy told you, I'm not good at this. But but but he, but he's just too competitive. And in the moment, he didn't want that. And four days later, he's like, it'll be okay. Like, I'll just, you know, this will help me get on the field. Like his mind. He is so much more mature than he was nine months ago before he got to college. And I don't know what that is. So I guess I want to ask you like, what does it really take to hit a roadblock in baseball, and push through it? Like when you when you have that, that feeling of like, Oh, my God, I'm not good enough for these guys are so much better than me, or whatever it is. You have some stories about that?

Drew Holder 26:04
Yeah, I mean, I think just in general, for me, just being coached my whole life. I mean, I love coaches. Without without all the great coaches I've had, you know, I'd probably just not been able to develop, obviously. But a lot of things we said at Dallas Baptist was day by day, and getting, just try to get 1% better every day. So instead of focusing, Oh, I should be starting right now. Or, you know, I'm better than this guy will focus on what you can control and let the rest take care of itself. You know, so if I just focused on, what do I need to do to get better today. And for me, I was an outfielder, just like Cole, and I look. And that's the thing I missed the most Honestly, I don't miss necessarily hitting as much as I thought I would. I still miss it. But I miss tracking that ball and catching, you know, an awesome line line drive that the competitor hit. I mean, that's what I miss. I miss tracking that baseball and trying to trying to not let it hit the ground, you know, and throwing somebody out at third or home. You know, those are exhilarating moments.

Scott Benner 27:11
It's so interesting that you say that, because when you know, I think Cole was 11. And he told me one day is like, I'm gonna get really good and play the outfield. He's like, it just it looks great. And he's, you know, I can see people looking at baseball from the other side going, Oh, my God, it's boring. You stand around out there. What if the ball doesn't come out? Baba, I watch my son is moving and intent on every pitch for years. He loves being an outfielder and he will you get into a car after a game. They get shellacked, you know, like they they lost tended to, you think he's going to climb in the car and be you know, absolutely mortified. And he's like, hey, back in the fourth inning, what made that kid think that single was a double. And I was like, I'm like, right? And he goes, he's like, I hadn't by like three steps at second base, or catching a ball in a gap. And then throwing a run around at third he thinks they can tag up and get the third. He is so just jacked up by that. It's incredible. It's a very specific mindset, that idea of like, the balls not going to hit the ground. And to go back to what you said, when people I've heard people ask him like, you know, why do you like how do you take something like this so seriously, when you're younger and really want to do it. And he said, I've heard him say he's like, I used to play for a man who was the outfield coach on my little league team. And I just never really wanted to let him down. It that was the first way it hit him as like a 12 year old there was this nice guy named Frank and Frank put a lot of effort into him. And he thought catching that ball was his responsibility. And, and I just, you know, it's such a an odd thing that you would never expect for a 12 year old to build some sort of relationship with a grown man who's, you know, just trying to help out in town. And but but that ended up meeting a lot to him. And I don't know now today, I think he's more. He's kind of type A, but he's competitive with himself more than with a game. I don't know if that rings true to you. I think that's a sentence. Some people don't understand. But

Drew Holder 29:08
yeah, no, I mean, I definitely agree. Like even in diabetes, I'm competitive. I mean, I don't want my numbers to go above my range or below my range. You know, the one of the most irritating things about diabetes to me is when my blood sugar goes high. Like you said earlier, you it takes so long for it to get back down, that you're like, hurry up, hurry up, you give too much insulin and you bought them out, you know? Yeah, same thing with baseball and just being competitive. But yeah, I was definitely I competed with myself a lot, but also also forced to always compete against the other team or the other pitcher.

Scott Benner 29:42
You know, I love to what you said about like, trying to get 1% better every day because I was I was standing at my son's High School one day for a baseball game and a parent came up, you know, a few a few innings into the game on this field where there was no scoreboard She comes up to me and she says, What's the score? And I thought for a second, I looked there, and I said, I, you know, I don't know. And and she goes, Well, Who's winning? And I went, yeah, I don't know that either. And and she's just get here. I said, Oh, no, I've been here since the warmups, and she goes, is there a score? I'm like, oh, there's definitely a score. Because there's been a lot of cheering. And she's like, are you not watching? And I stopped, and I said, Listen, I don't know how you're going to take this. But to me at this age, baseball is about playing baseball. So you can play more baseball. Like, like, you're just trying to fix something today, figure something out, get better, so that you can keep playing tomorrow, like playing baseball is about getting to continue to play baseball. It's not about winning this game, I would love it. If they win, don't get me wrong, but I don't, right. I don't care if they win. And I don't care if my kids you know, it's it sounds trite to say I don't care if he's over four, I don't care if he's 444. There are little things he's trying to accomplish today. And he needs this game to work them out. You know, and I try to tell people, I wonder now, as I'm kind of dissecting this and why I was excited to have you on, like, when I talk about diabetes with people, I always tell them, there's no mistakes, like you can't make a mistake in diabetes, you can have an experience that doesn't go the way you wanted. But you need to learn something from it so that tomorrow is better. The only real mistake you can make sure was that if you do something today with your blood sugar, it doesn't go the way you want. And instead of trying to learn from it, you spend time being upset about it. If you if you do that, that that was a mistake. You know, don't give away this data. Don't give away today's practice. Don't Don't, don't ignore what you are learning because you want to be upset or dramatic or sad.

Drew Holder 31:43
Yeah. Sorry. But yeah, perspective is everything. I mean, control what you can control. And then, you know, I've always tried to have a positive outlook on whatever, but man, there's always challenging times in anything. Yeah. And that, you know, there's always negative impacts, but it's just what you do with that going forward. Yeah,

Scott Benner 32:02
no, I mean, just see your story. And really, guys who play in general, it's just it's a if you're, if you're still listening, you know what people who are listening who have diabetes, who maybe have never played baseball, like try to imagine starting something, when you're six years old, that doesn't begin to really pay off until you're a junior in college. Like, like, you know what I mean, like, not that you didn't have good times, and you know, enjoy what you were doing in the interim, but you didn't get to, like, hold your fist up in there and be like, I'm really good at this for you know, for that amount of time. And, and to have to make a decision to, to have been great at football, and just have to look back and go Look, I don't think my body can handle this. So I'm gonna have to just, you know, that must have been fairly, I'm crying, especially being from Texas, right, like football is life.

Drew Holder 32:53
Well, I mean, it's just funny how life goes. I mean, the way the way I felt God directed my life. And, you know, I didn't have any scholarship offers to play football, I had a lot of walk on offers to Baylor SMU, even Boston College. But then when I took my recruiting trip to Dallas Baptist, I just, I think, just it's a it's a mid major team that plays division one, baseball plays the best competition in the country. And just a place where I knew I could grow and develop. And I just felt led to go to it. It was it was just a no brainer for my family and I

Scott Benner 33:31
so when it felt right, it felt right. You didn't you didn't struggle in that moment to leave something else behind because you knew you were heading in the right direction. Man, it was crazy. Like,

Drew Holder 33:40
I think it was a month before Google of 2003 or 2002 after I graduated, so a month before, like, you check into college, like I didn't have anywhere to go I was I signed on in a junior college. I may have I still was thinking I may go walk on and play football. But then like a month before I went to Dallas Baptist, right this is it and then driving home called the coach back. Alright, I'm going to Dallas Baptist and there was a month later I showed up on campus you know that's I have to say that

Scott Benner 34:13
probably five visits into my son's like, like recruiting visits you know the kids they bring the kids in the coach smiles he goes oh we'll take them to class and it's gonna be great on my kids trying to kill him like I'm pretty sure I know what's gonna happen when I walk away from here. But So Mike, but my son is not a drinker, for instance. So at all of his visits, he was looking for a place where he could not drink and people wouldn't kill him over it. You don't mean like so that was like one of the things he was looking for. He was looking for academics. He was looking for a place where he thought there weren't too many go older guys stand in between him in the field but he was trying to assess all this. You had all these like these overnights and overnights he come home you'd like this place was okay. I like this one. This one was fine. The coach was nice, but I didn't like the school. It was back and forth. He walked out of a building after the overnight where he's at and he just looks at me. He goes, we can cancel the restaurant. I'm gonna come here. That's awesome. I was like, Okay, are you sure you don't want to go to the restaurant? Because there's no need. He's like, I'm gonna come here. Oh, I was like, that's great man. Like, you know, because but honestly, I was getting tired of driving to all those schools. I i drug my ass the Boston three times during that recruiting thing. Yeah. Oh my God, what a terrible drive. So, but anyway, it hit him. So I don't know, he just said he's like, I like the size of the school. I like the coaches, the guys are good. He's like, no one, you know, broke my balls last night about not drinking. Not even like a little bit. And I was like, okay, you know, and even when he gets frustrated now, about baseball, what he really talks about is like, I'm not learning anything, because I'm not on the field enough. Like I was, like, that's how he thinks about it. I, I, I've never been so focused about anything in my life, I'm in awe of people like you and Cole who are who can be so single minded about something and at the same time be broad in their, in their feelings like that. He's not just a baseball player.

Drew Holder 36:12
But when he's doing that, it's, it's amazing. The focus he has now gone. Well, I'm just gonna, I'm just gonna say, I mean, congrats to him. And, and to you, too, for you guys to have the wisdom to find a great spot for him. And just because he knows he can develop, he probably got to play right away and may not even in pro baseball, I played with guys that one, they didn't play college. They got drafted High School. And then there's other guys that just played one year of junior college or, you know, play the Enya, NaVi ball or division three, it didn't matter if you're a good player, and you develop and just continue to get better. I mean, you'll still have those opportunities. If, if time allows, you know,

Scott Benner 36:53
yeah, it really is about that about time, too, because Cole was saying to me the other days, like, it doesn't matter. He's like, if I can keep playing after college, he goes, it doesn't matter where I play college. He's like, if I can do it, I can do it. And he's like, you know, if I can't, I can't, you know, sometimes where you end up in college is an indication of your skill or your body or anything like that. But sometimes it's not, you know, sometimes it's just, I'm not in a rush. And, and you mentioned something earlier that happened to happen to Cole is that he's a, I mean, a late bloomer, too, like he's always been, you know, I mean, imagine you start playing when you're four, you're already a year younger than everybody else. And that starts to catch up to as you get older, when, you know, when the kids who turn into 20 year old men when they're 16, or 16, and you're 15 and not gonna turn into a 20 year old guy till you're 21. Like, you don't mean like, You're, you're in that space like those guys, you're talking about who don't play ball in college. They're grown men when they're 18 years old. You know, like, you use Bryce Harper as an example. He was always walking around like a grown man, he was 17. So you know, that's just luck or random or, you know, whatever it ends up there. But you sometimes you just got to grow into your skill to try a pod for free to experience how liberating the Omni pod truly can be. If you're considering insulin pump therapy, the best way to understand the comfort and convenience at the Omni pod offers is to try it firsthand. So get a free experience kit, which includes a sample nonfunctioning pod and see what you think there's absolutely no obligation to buy. You can wear a non functioning pod to see how it feels. Find the area that works best for you, and feel the freedom you could have with the Omni pod system. Did you know that 95% of Potter's surveyed by Omni pod said they trust the Omni pod system to manage their diabetes. And 88% of them said the Omni pod system makes living with diabetes easier. Well guess what? I 1,000,000% agree. That's right. If you go to Miami pod.com forward slash juice box and get started today by having Omni pod send you a free no obligation demo of their wonderful, most excellent dissed. insulin pump in the world tubeless insulin pump By the way, did you know that? Of course she did. But now you know for short because I told you just now with my words. tubeless insulin pump we're talking about? Absolutely no tubing. I know right now you're thinking insulin pump. You put a thing on long tube No, no, no long tube. Oh, and then they'll have to hang something on my belt. Nope, nope. Nope, that's not on the pod works. On the pod is self contained. It's magical. It's the future but now it's like going into the future getting something and bringing it back to today. Listen on the pod doesn't want you to know that they broke the space time continuum, but they did. They went to the future. They got an insulin pump. They brought it back to 19 whatever this year is no I'm guessing now that I said 19 it's more like 2019 but anyway, Miami pod.com Ford slash juice box. With legendary shownotes, where Juicebox podcast.com? Would you say that even though you're competitive and you don't want that number to climb over a certain spot, that when it does? I mean, what do you do when it does? How do you react?

Drew Holder 40:18
I mean, yeah, like I said, you just, I can only control from that moment on. So you know, let's just say, a blood sugar's 200, or even 250. You know, I will let's assess the situation, how much insulin Do I have on board? You know, do I need to get more insulin to get down? And it's usually Yes, give more insulin, if you're 250. You know, and then, hopefully, in 45 minutes, you know, that insulin will kick in and you can start seeing, start feeling better, and the insulin will start to go down.

Scott Benner 40:48
What's it feel like when you're 200 200?

Drew Holder 40:52
I don't really feel a difference. I think, even recently, like, I've had a lot more better control because of the G six just always seen, but even though I'd say when I get to 250 is when I start to feel like I haven't been I haven't been 300 only but one time in the last probably three months. And but when I was man, I I feel like complete trash. I had to lay down. I was like, dizzy. And I used to be 300 all the time, honestly, you know, but I think your body just adjusted the different levels. But yeah, when I was 300 is probably last week. Man, I just, I had to lay down, give insulin, and it just takes so much longer for that insulin to work to when you get once you get that high.

Scott Benner 41:37
Yeah, I just can't, you know, I can't stress enough like for you. I mean, I don't know, where's Where does your CGM tell you? Where do you get an alarm for high blood sugar what what level 181 and

Drew Holder 41:49
then I get a, an alert at 75 when I'm training low, lower.

Scott Benner 41:55
And so what we do here is, is my alert on my phone is at 120. And on my daughter's is 130. The idea in it that I kind of go with is that if you find out earlier than you can correct with less insulin, when you correct with less insulin, you're less likely to get low later. And if you start you know slowing a hot, you're stopping a high before it comes then keeps you in a space where you're not, you know insulin resistant to because by the time you get to 180, you know getting from 180 to 100 might not be an apples to apples comparison to insulin, like getting from 120 to 290. So you know, say you need to move 30 points and whatever that amount of insulin is, once you're over, you know, once you start getting higher that doesn't, it doesn't just double it doesn't say well, I need to go down 60 points. So it's just double that it doesn't always go that way. But people feel that way. Like Well, if it takes me this much to move 30 points, it'll take me that double that to move 60 which stops being true. So I like to bump the blood sugars I like when they try to get higher, you bump them back. And what you find is that it upfront, it's a little more work. But eventually, you end up making decisions that you don't even realize throughout the day that keep you from ever really being above 130 it's it's fascinating how you you sort of get what you expect at some point. No, I

Drew Holder 43:20
agree. I think I'm gonna have to look at Lauren, my little my little range then

Scott Benner 43:26
Dexcom put out a we actually did an episode about it a couple years ago, they they backed a study that just says the lower you make that high alarm, the lower your a once a day. That's it, just it just it. That's what happens. The sooner you react, the better. Yeah, no, I

Drew Holder 43:45
agree. And probably probably more alarms you're gonna get through, though. Well, so

Scott Benner 43:48
now in the beginning, during the BS in the beginning, yes. But eventually, no. Because what you'll figure out at some point is if you keep drifting up like that, that's your basal insulin. So you'll change it'll change your bazel and then you won't start drifting up anymore, you'll actually end up bolusing less once you figure out why it is you're going over that 121 30 range to begin with. It's fascinating. I am. I know way too much about this now.

Drew Holder 44:15
I mean, I look forward to seeing a baseball game with you. But I mean, and we can talk more, but it's just crazy. Like, I've had diabetes for almost 33 years. And you know, I would just say the last five to six years, I've actually started to really grasp how everything affects me. You know, for the first 25 years. I just live by the rollercoaster you know, just trying

Scott Benner 44:39
to be okay, so you could play and do the things you wanted.

Drew Holder 44:42
Yeah, but technology now is just has been so helpful at school. Did they did a trainer help you during games?

Yeah, I mean, even even to that point they did. They always had food. They They always knew like if I started to do some weird things like hey, Drew, let's go Take your blood sugar, here's some food, you know. And, but even that, like it was so taboo, they didn't really know. Nobody really experienced it as I was growing up. I mean, I never had a teammate that had diabetes. There was one guy in Austin that was an athlete, and still a friend of mine. But that's the only guy I remember that ever had Type One Diabetes when I was growing up, you know,

Scott Benner 45:23
I don't know if you know the name, but Molly FECKNER has been on the podcast and she's a friend of mine. She was the catcher for Alabama when they went as far as they've ever gone a few years ago. And she's the head coach. She's a head coach at University of Louisiana. No, but she would say that, like, you know, they would just take care of and I always wondered like, Did she just like accept that was okay, or, like, you don't mean like, Oh, they have it? Because you know, you get in that situation but like, you know, when you're a student you think one way when you're a parent you think another way like my son's like, oh, the trainer's here Mike, who's the trainer? Like don't just assume he knows what he's doing. Like you don't even like you know, you have that kind of feeling. And do you know Sam fold Sam played in the league for about a decade. He's a manager with a Phillies now or a coach with the Phillies. Now,

Drew Holder 46:07
I've never spoke with Sam but we have a good mutual friend and Ben's Oprah's Ben Zobrist, and we've talked about each other with Ben.

Scott Benner 46:15
Yeah. So. So Sam's been on the show. He's actually coming back on pretty soon. I was talking to him the other day, but he told me when I interviewed him the first time he's like, you go back and watch me playing baseball. You as if I'm chewing gum in the outfield. He's like, I was getting low. He's, you know, he's like, that's that was the extent of his management back then. Like I don't, okay, I don't feel okay. I'm gonna be stuck out here a little longer a handful of bubblegum. And I was like, Wow, you're lucky you're alive. Yeah.

Drew Holder 46:42
Oh, man. I mean, let me tell you this one quick story. I've had I've had severe lows, obviously, throughout. But the one I really remember was, I was in, I was in a homerun Derby in high school. And I was, you know, I was one of the better hitters. So I was expected to hit a lot of home runs. And my budget was so extremely low. That coach threw me five pitches, I missed all five of them, which BP you know, it's pretty easy. For at least me to hit the ball, but I missed all five of them. My dad comes down from the stands and he's like, Drew, come here, let's check your blood sugar. You know, whatever. I was 4050 I just couldn't see. And it didn't always happen that way. But I had no depth perception. So that's why it's baseball's even harder if you have if you're high or low because your your visions affected. Yeah, we know. So

Scott Benner 47:33
it's, it's frightening. I mean, that how quickly your body just leaves you get any means your ability to hold yourself up to think to see to make sense of things like once, you know, we talked about it here once a while, but that that there's a level of sugar that needs to exist in your blood for your brain to function. And when you start getting below that, that's you know, your brain can't work without without a certain amount of sugar. You know, and man made insulin doesn't know to stop taking it out of your blood. If it's in there. It's gonna do it's gonna do what it's gonna do. Yeah, it was playing once in our known Arden basically played up till like the end of Little League and a little more after that, and she's hurt right now. So she hasn't played in about a half year and there's part of me that thinks she's never gonna play again. Like, she's just like, yeah, okay, well, we did that. But, you know, but she's interesting. She doesn't love it like my son does. But she's good at it. So like they were playing, you know, right up to like, go into the Little League World Series the last time you know, she was really playing. But but a number of years before that is there, you know, teaching those kids how to play on 95 degree days, three times because it's softball, she she came through the dugout, one time, she played third base, she came through the dugout, she looked at me She raised her glove up overhead. And she was I'm not okay. I was like, What? And so you know, it was back in the days of like, older glucose monitors, they didn't work quite as well as they do today. And she was sure enough, by the time I figured out and what was going on that the the monitor did tell me she was really low. But she got incredibly low, like in the 40s and took in a bunch of, you know, liquid bunch of sugar. She sat on the bench, like put her head on my lap, like I sat in the dugout, like trying to get her back together. And she missed. She didn't have the bat that innings. But then she missed going in the field, the following ending, but her bat bat came up after that. And she was still only like, 65 and still coming back up. And she's like, I'm gonna I'm gonna hit. I was like, maybe not. She goes, she goes, if I don't hit, he's gonna take me out. I'm gonna feel better five minutes from now I'm not gonna be able to go back in. And I was like, all right. Why are my kids so competitive? And I was like, I was like, okay, and she got out there. She hacked away, she found off a bunch of them. And eventually she did, I think, pop up or something. But she just, I couldn't believe she did that. Like when I look back on it, I'm like, how did you even go out there and like, find that ball once. You don't mean and it's just it Rector it Rector for 10 minutes, like she was she, if she was by herself, I don't know what she would have done like in that moment, like she was just not capable of doing anything. Anything you think of as a human, you know, function. It really is it can be incredibly frightening, which is another reason why these these tools are so they're so amazing, you know, and not just not just for helping you keep a high blood sugar down but for just day to day stuff.

Drew Holder 50:25
And I agree. I mean that diabetes can seriously just if you have those extreme lows it, it takes control of your body. And people don't understand that like, Thank God I have a I have kind of a happy personality. And I love to laugh, but like, So traditionally when I get low, I'll just get real giggly and real kind of real strange and just say weird things. And so my wife is always able to usually say hey, before this is before the CGM, but she's always able to look go check yourself get some food, you know,

Unknown Speaker 50:58
but she's telling fart jokes is blood sugar.

Drew Holder 51:02
Yeah, it's just strange how you're everybody's different, right? diabetes affects me different than it does Arden. You know, of course, that's crazy.

Scott Benner 51:09
Do you have children of your own? Yes, sir.

Drew Holder 51:12
I have a six year old daughter. Her name is Lyle and my son. Name is Pierce. He's three years old.

Scott Benner 51:18
I can't better go play baseball. He's gonna be in trouble.

Drew Holder 51:22
A little. He's a little tank. I hope he I hope he does love something.

Unknown Speaker 51:25
Yeah, yeah,

Scott Benner 51:26
I you know, it's funny. I always thought that. I always thought that that was more than a joke. Like, oh, you should. If I love this, I want my kids love that. I realized once I had kids, I didn't care what they liked, as long as it was something they liked.

Unknown Speaker 51:38
I agree. Yeah. You know,

Scott Benner 51:39
I just really I used to say to my son as much as it looked like, we were gonna get some money for college, and he was gonna have fun. As it got more and more serious, I'd remind him every spring that you don't need to do this. You know, if you want to, I'm down, like we'll do whatever it is that it takes I'm like, but if you don't want to don't feel like you're doing this for me or for your like, you need to want this for yourself, you know? Because I just think it could be dangerous to get caught in a situation where your children start feeling like they're, they be letting you down if you didn't do that. I agree. My daughter said she'd one of her one of her best moments was going into the high school and telling the coach, look, I'm hurt. I'm not playing. You know, she's like, I'll see what I can do. And maybe I'll come back next year. But for now, I'm not playing the woman because she would still want you on the team and my daughters. I am not showing up every day and go into practice to watch other kids play softball. It's like I could do my homework. Hell, I could take a nap. But I got it. But I'm not I can't do that. Like there's there's a mindset around that, that whatever it is, but I I think we've given our kids so much freedom, they don't feel pressured to do things like that. So I was really proud of her. I was like, cool, you know, I said, you know, the woman even said, do you want to be the manager and my daughter comes home. I wish people knew Arden better like she's so she can be so sarcastic. She was like the manager. She's like, I play I don't write down the score. And I was like, great. She goes even if I never play again. I don't even know what this is an interesting question for you. My son wants to do nothing but play baseball. But while he's playing he doesn't want to go see a baseball game. He's like I don't want to go watch guys play I want to play and like like when it's you know when he's not playing? He's happy to go to a game he loves going to a game. But when he's playing he's he he I don't know it's like he's he does not want to watch someone else do something that he wants to be doing. Is it hard for you to watch ball now that you don't play anymore?

Drew Holder 53:37
No know i mean i really i can I really find common ground with Colin saying that I mean, growing up I never really even watched baseball honestly. Ever. Yeah. You know, I now I watch some of my old teammates still but and I do love that go watch games now. But I'm so far removed. I love to get back and just experience the environment again. But yeah, during when I played I didn't. I didn't really

Unknown Speaker 54:03
milestone, right.

Unknown Speaker 54:05
Yeah,

Scott Benner 54:06
I tried. We were just down this spring break in Florida. And I said, Hey, we can head over to the Phillies are playing the Yankees today. We can take a ride over to Tampa. He's like, I've been playing all week. And I was like, I don't want to drive 45 minutes to go watch other people play baseball. I was like, right. All right, man, we'll do something else. But yeah, I just it's a very interesting mindset.

Drew Holder 54:29
Like you said, it's I think in anything in life, you have to have some kind of outlet. You know, if you're, if you're playing baseball six days a week, you know, that seventh day, you don't really want to go and be mentally in baseball again. You know,

Scott Benner 54:42
you know, it's funny, as you say that people ask me all the time, like, you know, seriously other than yours, like what other diabetes podcasts do you like? And I was like, I don't listen to other diabetes podcasts. I'm like, busy making a podcast like I can't. To your point. Like I can't spend the five free minutes I have like listening to someone else do it. Yeah, it doesn't make any sense. So yeah, I guess it may be it's a very similar thing. Okay, so juicy. You're playing college. What year do you do when you do get drafted? What year do you get drafted? Are you in school still?

Drew Holder 55:11
So I got so I graduated in 2006. I got in May of 2006 got drafted june of 2006. I signed as a senior with the Astros in the 16th round. I had a neat experience. The two weeks before the draft basters wanted me to come down a minute made in Houston and do a tryout and man I played lights out you know, I was I was slotted to get drafted but nobody really knew where but I just played I had a lights out trout I took one of Craig videos bats in bed in in the cages from under it without a man Major League Baseball would is so much better than any wood I've ever swung with baseball wise. And I you know, I hit some homers in batting practice. I threw well from the outfield, you know, made some diving catches. And I mean, I obviously I impressed him a little bit because they drafted me and took a chance, you know?

Scott Benner 56:07
Yeah. Yeah. It's so cool that and now, is it. I think if my son got drafted and then spent the rest of it played one day, they said, Oh, I can't believe we drafted you. It was a huge mistake. And he spent the rest of his life homeless, he'd still be telling people do I got drafted? And so is it about one of the greatest things that's ever happened to

Drew Holder 56:26
me? Yeah, you know, what, it? It was such a neat experience. And I'm so thankful that it happened. I mean, it's not something I just run around and tell everybody about I mean, people probably look at me and like, he probably, you know, he never played sports or whatever, who knows. But if people ask me not young first to say, Yeah, I got to experience minor league baseball. And I remember that day that I got drafted, I was with my whole family, at my grandparents house, and I didn't get any phone calls. But you know, you're just kind of looking at the computer and you see all these names. One of my teammates got drafted two picks before me by the Phillies. And I was like, Man, that's, you know, being competitive, like, dude, I'm better than him, you know. And then all of a sudden, my name comes up, I'm like, Oh, my gosh, you know, and we all you know, we're all kind of jumping around and excited. But yeah, it was just a it was a memorable experience for sure.

Scott Benner 57:18
Yeah. It just it's, you know, after trying so hard at something like that. It's it's kind of amazing. How long did you how did you play minor league ball.

Drew Holder 57:26
So I played one season in New York and short season with the Astros and then the next season after spring training got promoted to we call it low A or full season single a. Then after that season was over, got released a week before Thanksgiving, which is kind of strange. And then then I played two more years of independent baseball in Grand Prairie for Pete and Kabila. He was my manager. Okay.

Scott Benner 57:54
If he came up, I Were A Phillies fan. So Pete played here for a while towards the end of his career.

Unknown Speaker 57:58
Yeah.

Scott Benner 58:00
So what what is what ended up being the thing? Like, what when you look back, like what was the thing that had progressed as far as it was going to progress for you? And you just couldn't? You didn't have to go further than that? Like, what stopped you?

Drew Holder 58:16
Man? Good question. I mean, a little bit of consistency, probably. I was probably honestly, third or fourth outfielder on the team. And, you know, and a lot of things go into that, whether it be business or you know, how much money somebody gets signing bonus. I definitely had, you know, I think my my only average was, like, 260, or something like that. So I wasn't, you know, I can just, I just didn't have that consistent. Every time I played, you could count on me to do something, some games, I would be liked out some games. You know, I would go for for, you know,

Scott Benner 58:52
it's so incredibly funny to say this is the name you're not going to know because it's a new jersey name. But it's a guy that lives in my town. He's, you know, older now, but he made it to the to the Orioles as a catcher. And I was talking to him the other day, and he's like, you know, what killed me is like, there were some days. There was nobody better. And he's like, and then the next day, I was horrible. And he's like, hey, just any use the word. He's like, I couldn't do it consistently. He's like, he's like, I just couldn't find the consistency of friend of Cole's was drafted by the White Sox A number of years ago. And after three years, he was home. Cole said to him, what happened? He goes, I just mentally I couldn't the hitting is just, it's so mental. And he's like, I just, we'd get on the bus and we'd ride, you know, forever. And he's like, I was tired. And I just, I couldn't be consistent. And it's the same word that everybody uses. I'm so fascinated that you said the same thing. It was like I can do it. I just couldn't do it. Every time, you know, or that other answer that you gave, which I don't think people think enough about is if somebody got excited about another guy a little more excited than they got about you and gave him a little more money, even if you're better than him. They're gonna hold on to him longer to try to be right. Right, right. Like there's there's that idea like we paid this guy like we're in business right, right let's wait and see what if we can get something out of them the other guy we didn't pay so much we can let him go if we have to. Now, after you're out of the miners, can you talk about how that helps when you move into the business world? Is it? Is it a big deal? Like you go into a job interview? Does everybody turn into a little kid? They're like, Oh, my God, you played for the Astros? like is that? How do you get offered jobs that you have no business having?

Drew Holder 1:00:35
I don't know. I don't. It definitely helps. It definitely doesn't hurt. I mean, most big companies and most, you know, business owners, they want competitive people that are going to go go after something hard for for them, you know, so, and they know, for the most part athletes, you know, they have discipline, they're competitive. You know, those are kind of the, the characteristics you want as an employee, you know, so yeah, it was it definitely got me interviews. I mean, I, I started with Stryker, which is a medical device company, right out of right after I get done playing. But I started in the warehouse, so it wasn't like, I didn't get like a, an amazing job. You know, I had to work my thing. I had to work myself up the way up in the organization, you know?

Scott Benner 1:01:23
Yeah, yeah. No, I definitely feel that again. It just there's this one guy that told us this, I told me a story one time and he was just like, I was in this interview, when he's like, in five minutes, I realized, like, I don't know what, like, this isn't a good job. For me. It's not a good fit. And he's like, in the job was, you know, it was important because it would have been dangerous to give me this job. And he goes for 45 minutes, guys are like, tell me about playing baseball. And then in the last 15 minutes, I'm like, well, we love you. And he was like, I shouldn't have this job. Because everybody in the room just turned into like little kids. And I was like, that's very funny. Even my neighbor used to throw BP for the Mets in the 80s that helps him at work. It's crazy. Like

Unknown Speaker 1:02:01
guy you're right guys turned a little boys.

Scott Benner 1:02:03
You know, when they talk about baseball, and probably rightfully so by the way, baseballs. Any sports, right.

Drew Holder 1:02:09
I mean, I say traditionally, baseball is such a fraternity. You know, if you played baseball, and you even at a high level, you know, you know, a lot of the same people. And, you know, it's fun to talk about and same with football. I mean, that's why that's why like he said, athletes are, you know, a rare commodity, I guess, in the business marketplace. Yeah,

Scott Benner 1:02:31
it really is interesting to, like, watch my son talk about, you know, I mean, in this semester, Cole's taking multivariable calculus, you know, some high level Spanish thing, then he doesn't even speak Spanish that well, and still getting like, you know, great grades, still goes and lifts. You know, I don't know how often they lift, they must lift four times a week at least. He's, they're playing three or four times a week at this point. And they still practice on their off days. And when I talk to him, like how you doing good, I'm good, Mike. All right. I cuz I'd be dead. He would just I'd fall over. But he's like, I'm a little tired. You know, but I'm okay. I'm okay man. Like, go get him like, I don't know what that is. That's a switch. that's a that's a gear not everybody gets, you know. So it is really It is amazing to see how much work gets put into it. But well, you don't Yeah, you don't know any different either. I

Drew Holder 1:03:24
mean, you're just kind of it's almost like your cattle. You're just kind of your coaches tell you what to do. And you say Yes, sir. And do it. You know, and you're like, Okay, now I gotta go study now. I got to get some sleep and it starts all over and you know, but you don't know any different and you love it. Yeah,

Scott Benner 1:03:39
he real and that really is the key man. He really does love it. Yeah, he's What are you gonna do this summer? He does. I'm gonna try to get bigger notice like that. That's the summer plan. He goes, yep. Okay. Yeah, you go get bigger, guys. I don't know what you know, go get them kid. I wish I do. I wish you could see me. I'm just not like you would not look at me and go, I bet that guy's got athletic children. I can't tell you. My wife says to me all the time. She goes, we sit at a softball game. And someone comes up to me like I've never met before she goes, they point to the chubbiest kid on the field, and they go is that your daughter? And I was like, No, no, my daughter's the like, you know, that one they're pointing to like this, you know, like, lean, like, totally Catholic kid. And they always go, oh, oh. And I was like I said, Kelly. I said every baseball. Every baseball field I've ever been at somebody like is the catcher your son. I'm like, it's not the catcher. centerfield. They're like, Oh, really? And they look I can see. I'm gonna tell you guys, everyone's gonna get to hear a really embarrassing story. Right? So my son's in. I don't know, he's playing baseball somewhere. And I'm watching him practice when a ball goes out into a parking lot. I'm like, okay, it's probably my turn to go get the foul ball. So I get up and I walk in, I get it and I'm coming back to the field and I see a coach standing by second base by the bucket at second. So I just, you know, drove get the ball in my hand, I gesture, I've got the ball and I'm going to throw it to him. And he starts running towards me. And I was like, what is happening inside? Like, put my hand up like, no, no.

Unknown Speaker 1:05:15
I like, I don't

Scott Benner 1:05:17
want you to come over here. I have the ball. Like I thought he didn't realize I tried to throw the ball. So just like I was like, that's enough for this. I just threw the ball. And later it hit me. Like after the practice, and we're staying off this side. I said, Joe, can I ask you a question? He goes, Yeah, I said, when I showed you the ball, you knew I had the ball. Right? And he goes, he goes, why don't you run towards me? And he goes, I didn't think he could reach me. And I was like, Yeah, I mean, I get that. But did you think the kid just figured it out? Like all by himself? Like, like, you just came out? Like, came crawling out of the womb with a baseball. It looks like someone showed it to him. It wasn't my wife. You know, like, and so yeah, I just don't look like that guy.

Drew Holder 1:05:55
Yeah, I call you I'd call you a closet athlete. You know, like, you may not look like you're an athlete, but I'm sure you can. You can move and you can do, you can do certain things.

Scott Benner 1:06:05
I always tell people, I'm faster than I look. I can throw this ball farther than you think I can. You know, I'm much better than you would imagine, right up until I'm not. But But like, Listen, in fairness, Cole was a better baseball player than I've ever been. By the time he was like 12 to be perfectly honest, like he just, you know, he just got better and better and better as he went. So I want to ask you, you said so you know, Ben, and so you know, Sam through Ben, but Ben doesn't have Ben doesn't have diabetes does he?

Drew Holder 1:06:33
know but he was my teammate at Dallas Baptist. That's how you know him.

Scott Benner 1:06:37
Have you ever done Sam's wiffleball? The T Wendy slam is with football games. I have it that Sam runs these cool BAM wiffle ball games to raise money for diabetes charities.

Unknown Speaker 1:06:47
Okay, yeah,

Scott Benner 1:06:48
I have to reach out to Sam and if we can be a part of what's going on. He got thrown around a little bit as the Rangers manager in the offseason is I didn't know that. His name came up a couple times. And I was like, I texted him. I was like, hey, do I know the next manager? The Rangers? That sounds pretty exciting. He's got you know, I'm gonna have him on because Sam has a job that is completely unique and Major League Baseball. He I think I believe he's the only one who has it. But he's the liaison between the statistics department upstairs and the players. Wow, Nicole, he kind of takes the the math of baseball and translates it into baseball. Like like you don't he's like a it's just a very interesting job he has

Unknown Speaker 1:07:32
like sabermetrics stuff.

Scott Benner 1:07:34
Yeah. Yeah. He takes the sabermetric stuff and and he he she's a Stanford, he went to Stanford has an econ degree from Stanford. So he's played, he played a decade he went to Stanford together, we imagined he knew something if he got through there, yeah. And so and so he takes the sabermetric stuff. And then he goes to you as the player and puts it into baseball terminology for you. Wow, such a cool job, you know, so it's cool. I never heard of that. And that's it. He's the only one in the league that has that job. So I think that's new for the Phillies started that last year. And I don't know if other people will, you know, you know how people like once they see something work and they'll climb on.

Drew Holder 1:08:12
Oh, it'll go in cycles, for sure. You're gonna follow that?

Scott Benner 1:08:16
Yeah. And the Phillies right now, I think you're gonna use the sabermetrics of let real Muto Harper and mccutchen hit that baseball. So I don't, they're gonna need numbers for that. Exactly. But, uh, we took a big leap. Who's Who you root for when you're watching baseball now?

Drew Holder 1:08:31
Team wise, you know, I'm local. I definitely run for the Rangers. But you know, also route for the Cubs because his own risk. I think he's the only teammate I still have left playing. I mean, he's played 14 year, I think 14 years in the majors or maybe, whatever it is. 12 years, probably

Scott Benner 1:08:47
a long career. He really does. He's starting to talk about maybe this is it this year, right? Have you heard him say that?

Drew Holder 1:08:53
I mean, I have just over the radio and, you know, on TV, but he just, he's just a good dude. man. He's a great leader. And that's people love having him in the clubhouse. No, he puts other people before himself. And you know, I'm proud. I'm proud to call him a teammate for sure. It's amazing. It

Scott Benner 1:09:13
and you know, there's different ways to lead to like, there's some guys who are you know, yelling and screaming and jumping around. And my son, my son actually said to me the other day, he goes, I think I'm having like a good impact on the team. And I said, why he just talked about some of his workout stuff that he does. He's like, when I got there. I was doing some stuff. And people are like, what are you doing? Like they like they were a little like, I don't I've never seen anybody do that before. And ankles like now I'm starting to see some guys are like, you know, breaking off a piece of the field on their own and they're doing some stuff. I'm starting to see him do some of the stuff. I was just like, I feel like I'm having a good just impact on people. And I just, I wish you knew him better. Like I never imagined that would have been something he would have said to me, you know, so yeah, it's very cool. This this process of getting to play sports and colleges. Um, I definitely think it's an experience, it'll that'll feed him through his whole life. So,

Drew Holder 1:10:04
yeah, and I think that's why, you know, we all feel successful when we're helping others, myself included. I mean, there's been times in my life when I've been self focused. But, you know, when I'm focusing on others, you know, I'm usually more fulfilled, you know, I think that's what excited me to reach out to you and just say, if there's anything that I can do to encourage people, man, let me know, you know,

Scott Benner 1:10:28
well, I think you did it to share your story. And, you know, talk and I, and I agree with you, too. I'm, you know, you I mean, you've mentioned your your faith a couple of times, I'm not a particularly religious person. And yet, I will tell you that when I do this podcast, and I hear back from people that it's helped them, I don't have a better feeling all day than that, that's for sure. So I feel exactly the same way coming from a different coming at it from probably a different angle than you but at the same way that the results exactly the same, like when you're helping other people, and and kind of relieving their burden a little bit. It's incredibly rewarding. So I agree. Absolutely. So I really appreciate you coming on and doing this. Thank you so much.

Drew Holder 1:11:10
Well, Scott, it was it was a pleasure. I let me know if you're in Dallas or if I get up north man, we'll we'll go see a baseball game.

Unknown Speaker 1:11:17
That'd be amazing.

Scott Benner 1:11:20
Thanks to drew for coming on the show and sharing his story. Thanks to on the pod Dexcom and dancing for diabetes for being sponsors. Don't forget that you can go to dancing the number four diabetes.com to get tickets to the big show at the Bob Carr theater coming up on November 9. You can go to my omnipod.com slash juice box to get a free no obligation Demo Day on the pod sent directly to your home and of course@dexcom.com Ford slash juice box. You can get started today with the G six continuous glucose monitor that Arden use is good. It's over now you go to the do your thing. Another podcast maybe from the Juicebox Podcast tell a friend about it. I mean, I guess you could listen to a different podcast as long as it's not about diabetes. I don't need the competition.

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