#1730 Fat Beagle
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Megan details her son’s diagnosis and sensory aversion to pumps, while Scott urges her to finally treat the thyroid symptoms she has ignored for years.
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Scott Benner (0:00) Hello, friends, and welcome back to another episode of the Juice Box podcast.
Megan (0:18) My name is Megan, a mother to Edison, who's been a type one diabetic since February 2025.
Scott Benner (0:26) If your loved one is newly diagnosed with type one diabetes and you're seeking a clear practical perspective, check out the bold beginnings series on the juice box podcast. (0:35) It's hosted by myself and Jenny Smith, an experienced diabetes educator with over thirty five years of personal insight into type one. (0:43) Our series cuts through the medical jargon and delivers straightforward answers to your most pressing questions. (0:49) You'll gain insight from real patients and caregivers and find practical advice to help you confidently navigate life with type one. (0:56) You can start your journey informed and empowered with the Juice Box podcast.
Scott Benner (1:00) The bold beginning series and all of the collections in the Juice Box podcast are available in your audio app and at juiceboxpodcast.com in the menu. (1:10) While you're listening, please remember that nothing you hear on the juice box podcast should be considered advice, medical or otherwise. (1:18) Always consult a physician before making any changes to your health care plan or becoming bold with insulin. (1:30) This episode of the juice box podcast is brought to you by my favorite diabetes organization, Touched by Type One. (1:37) Please take a moment to learn more about them at touchedbytype1.org on Facebook and Instagram.
Scott Benner (1:44) Touchedbytype1.org. (1:46) Check out their many programs, their annual conference, awareness campaign, their d box program, dancing for diabetes. (1:54) They have a dance program for local kids, a golf night, and so much more. (2:00) Touchedbytype1.org. (2:02) You're looking to help or you wanna see people helping people with type one, you want touched by type1.org.
Scott Benner (2:09) Today's episode is also sponsored by the Eversense three sixty five, the one year wear CGM. (2:17) That's one insertion a year. (2:19) That's it. (2:19) And here's a little bonus for you. (2:21) How about there's no limit on how many friends and family you can share your data with with the Eversense Now app?
Scott Benner (2:27) No limits. (2:28) Eversense. (2:30) The podcast is also sponsored today by the Tandem Mobi system, which is powered by Tandem's newest algorithm, Control IQ Plus technology. (2:39) Tandem Mobi has a predictive algorithm that helps prevent highs and lows and is now available for ages two and up. (2:46) Learn more and get started today at tandemdiabetes.com/juicebox.
Megan (3:17) My name is Megan. (3:19) I'm mother to Edison, who's been a type one diabetic since February 2025.
Scott Benner (3:25) Is his middle name Thomas?
Megan (3:27) No. (3:27) Is
Scott Benner (3:28) your last name Thomas? (3:29) No. (3:30) Where'd you get Edison from?
Megan (3:31) A grandfather is named Edward, and we wanted another Ed in the family, so we went with Edison.
Scott Benner (3:38) If Edison was a girl, would he be Ed a daughter?
Megan (3:41) I have no idea. (3:43) I thought about that.
Scott Benner (3:43) Did you really?
Megan (3:44) And yes. (3:45) And then because my husband also liked the idea that his initials would spell out the word ear because my husband's initials spelled the word car, and, like, he's trying to, like, spell words with initials. (3:57) And I'm like, oh my gosh.
Scott Benner (3:59) I call my wife by her initials.
Megan (4:01) Do
Scott Benner (4:01) you? (4:01) Yeah. (4:01) Sometimes I'm like, hey, Cab. (4:03) Come here. (4:04) Like, I'm calling her Cab, but not like that because her name's Cab, but her initials are k a b.
Scott Benner (4:09) But I was saying Edison is basically Ed son. (4:13) Yes. (4:13) If it was a girl, would it be Ed daughter?
Megan (4:17) No. (4:17) I'm Yeah. (4:18) Probably not.
Scott Benner (4:18) Yeah. (4:19) Because the thing I
Megan (4:19) was saying weird.
Scott Benner (4:20) Was stupid. (4:21) And then you were like, we thought about that. (4:22) And I thought, that's insane. (4:23) There's no way you thought about that.
Megan (4:25) We thought of, like, some kind of play on Edison Sure. (4:28) In a female way,
Scott Benner (4:29) I should say. (4:30) Like, it wasn't this Maybe
Megan (4:31) Edwina. (4:33) Something.
Scott Benner (4:34) Can you imagine? (4:35) And if your name's Edwina, I'm not making fun not.
Megan (4:37) Yeah. (4:38) Oh, I'm you're right.
Scott Benner (4:39) Oh, I do wanna say that Megan seems to be making fun of it, but I'm not. (4:42) I would not. (4:44) Alright. (4:44) So this kid's how old now?
Megan (4:46) He is seven.
Scott Benner (4:47) Seven. (4:47) He was diagnosed when?
Megan (4:49) February.
Scott Benner (4:51) So That's recently. (4:53) It's only December now.
Megan (4:55) Correct. (4:55) Yeah. (4:56) He just turned seven in October.
Scott Benner (4:58) Okay. (4:59) Well, happy birthday to him.
Megan (5:01) It's been an interesting year.
Scott Benner (5:03) It's been an interesting year. (5:04) Tell me about why you said that. (5:06) What's been interesting?
Megan (5:07) Well, I guess it goes back to his diagnosis. (5:11) And, honestly, it goes back to the previous year because there were so many symptoms. (5:21) But we have no history of type one diabetes in our family, so it wasn't something I was familiar with
Scott Benner (5:27) Mhmm.
Megan (5:27) Or, like, I I didn't know what I was looking at. (5:30) I just knew something was wrong. (5:32) But it wasn't until my my mom is a type two diabetic, and it was crazy because leading up to his diagnosis, she ended up in DKA twice. (5:42) And when
Scott Benner (5:45) But your type two mom ended up in DKA twice?
Megan (5:48) Yes.
Scott Benner (5:48) How'd she do that?
Megan (5:50) I have no idea. (5:51) I really don't. (5:53) It was really upsetting because we had gone to see them for Christmas, like, that December 2024.
Scott Benner (5:58) Yeah.
Megan (5:58) On our way there, I remember her she had called me or she was talking, and she watches my sister's children regularly. (6:07) She was just, like, really stressed out. (6:08) She was like, my chest is hurting so bad. (6:11) I'm, like, vomiting and stuff. (6:12) I was like, can you go to the hospital?
Megan (6:14) And she's like, oh, I'll go eventually. (6:16) And I'm like, what do you mean eventually? (6:18) And so, like, we get there, and I'm like, why has no one else in my family? (6:23) Like, my siblings live near my mother. (6:25) And instead of, like, helping her and pushing her to go to the ER, they're just like, hey.
Megan (6:30) Take my kids. (6:31) Or, like so whatever. (6:33) I'm like, okay. (6:34) Can we go to the ER? (6:35) And she's like, oh, I'll go in a little bit.
Megan (6:36) What I don't know what I'm do with the kids. (6:38) I'm like, hi. (6:39) We're two adults. (6:40) We've just arrived from out of state. (6:42) We can watch these children while you go take care of yourself.
Scott Benner (6:45) Are you mad at your sister? (6:46) I just wanna know.
Megan (6:47) I was in the time.
Scott Benner (6:48) I could hear it. (6:49) I was also mad at my father. (6:51) Wow. (6:52) He's he's sick of your mom. (6:53) He was thinking maybe that would take her out.
Megan (6:55) You're not lying. (6:57) You saw the look on his if you could see the look on his face when I said that. (7:01) I was like, can we get her to the ear? (7:02) He was like
Scott Benner (7:04) But we're so close, Megan. (7:05) We're so close.
Megan (7:06) He literally shrugged shoulders and was like, I mean, we tried. (7:10) I was like, what? (7:12) So yeah.
Scott Benner (7:13) I And then your mom and I have saved a little bit of money, and I have plans that she doesn't seem like she cares about. (7:18) So let's just see what the lord has in mind today. (7:21) Okay? (7:22) Exactly. (7:24) Oh my gosh.
Megan (7:24) Yeah.
Scott Benner (7:25) Well, I forget why we were talking about your mom. (7:27) I don't even care.
Megan (7:28) Oh, because she was a DKA.
Scott Benner (7:29) Yes. (7:30) That's right. (7:30) I'm gonna ask you. (7:31) Pretend you're in charge for a second. (7:33) Do we need to continue down this path or can we pivot to your kid?
Megan (7:36) No. (7:36) We could pivot.
Scott Benner (7:37) Pivot. (7:37) Awesome. (7:38) I should start yelling pivot before we move on to something else.
Megan (7:41) Well, we're not recording an episode of Friends.
Scott Benner (7:44) Long before people were just like, oh, that's gotta stop? (7:46) Maybe three minutes. (7:47) Right? (7:48) Okay. (7:48) So what are your first signs for Edison?
Megan (7:52) Again, it now looking back, it started in November 2024.
Scott Benner (8:00) Okay. (8:01) I should have said what are your first signs you paid attention to enough to get you to a doctor? (8:04) I'm sorry.
Megan (8:05) February. (8:06) The signs were a lot of drinking, weight loss, and on and off vomiting.
Scott Benner (8:12) Oh, gosh. (8:13) Was he in DKA when you got him there?
Megan (8:16) No. (8:16) He had a blood sugar of, like, 600 when we finally got to the ER. (8:20) Mhmm. (8:21) We initially went to an urgent care. (8:22) They were like they kinda rolled their eyes at me when I was like, I suspect it's diabetes.
Megan (8:26) And they're like, well, what makes you suspect that? (8:28) And I was like, judging by his symptoms. (8:30) And I was like, they were like, do you have experience with it? (8:32) Was like, no.
Scott Benner (8:32) No. (8:33) I have a computer like the rest of the modern world. (8:36) I was
Megan (8:37) like but, also, like, once I started putting two and two together, I was like, this I mean, common sense just dials it down to this. (8:44) And I'm a big research person, so I was like, it really isn't that hard. (8:48) They were like, well, we'll take his sugar. (8:50) We'll do a urine test, this and that. (8:52) I was like, good.
Megan (8:53) Because he's peeing, like, every five minutes, so go ahead. (8:56) He's like, I'm sure he'll pee again.
Scott Benner (8:58) Isn't it funny that we live in a world where people think they understand Everyone else, they understand. (9:04) Politics, wait, more than they do, they think they understand. (9:07) I see ladies, building, built ins with IKEA dressers. (9:12) Everyone thinks they know everything because they have access to the Internet and they can read for eight seconds or get a couple of headlines. (9:18) And you go in there and say, hey.
Scott Benner (9:20) Think my kid has diabetes. (9:21) And they go, oh, sure. (9:23) How do you know? (9:24) What do you got? (9:24) The Internet?
Scott Benner (9:25) Like, yeah. (9:26) That's what I've got.
Megan (9:27) Do. (9:27) Thank you.
Scott Benner (9:28) Unbelievable. (9:29) Like, bizarre. (9:30) Like, everyone thinks they know everything because they have access to some information. (9:34) Right? (9:35) And we're learning more and more.
Scott Benner (9:37) Apparently, people really are able to figure stuff out pretty quickly. (9:40) Have you ever seen some of those building cabinets the ladies are making with the IKEA dressers? (9:44) They're really nice. (9:45) Okay? (9:46) And I don't my feed is insane.
Scott Benner (9:49) My wife says things out loud that ends up in my feed. (9:51) She's like, have you seen women building buildings with I'm like, oh, god. (9:55) What is happening? (9:55) And the next thing I know, I open up Instagram and I'm watching some lady with a nail gun. (9:59) Is not the point.
Scott Benner (10:00) You understand. (10:01) But my point is is, like, in that situation, your child is sick. (10:05) They have a bunch of, you know, issues going on. (10:08) The nurse or the doctor doesn't think you might wanna, like, throw that into Google or say, hey. (10:13) Chat GPT.
Scott Benner (10:13) What what does this sound like?
Megan (10:15) Yeah. (10:16) Exactly.
Scott Benner (10:16) Very strange, like, response, I think. (10:18) Anyway, I don't know what I don't know exactly all I think about that yet, but it's gonna bother me for a little while. (10:23) Go ahead.
Megan (10:23) It bothered me too. (10:24) I mean, really, honestly, the Internet is in our hands. (10:27) It's in our pockets with us all the time. (10:29) I'm like, it really wasn't that hard to just narrow it down. (10:31) I was like, top die they were like, what makes you think that?
Megan (10:35) Top diagnosis that came up, like, for his symptoms. (10:37) I'm like, I and I'm assuming since he has many of the other symptoms now that I'm looking back on it, I'm like, it's really not that hard to two and two together. (10:44) I was like, can you just check? (10:45) They were trying to do a blood sugar test with their little meter in the urgent care, and, of course, his blood sugar was too high. (10:51) It wasn't reading.
Megan (10:52) It just kept erroring out. (10:53) And they're like, yeah. (10:54) You're gonna have to go to the ER. (10:56) And I was like, okay. (10:57) Thanks.
Scott Benner (10:58) Why?
Megan (10:58) And then
Scott Benner (10:59) Oh, yeah. (11:00) How'd you figure that out? (11:01) Because the meter didn't work?
Megan (11:02) Correct.
Scott Benner (11:02) Yeah. (11:02) Not because they had any inclination about what might be wrong. (11:05) Right?
Megan (11:05) Correct. (11:06) Yeah. (11:06) They were like, oh, the meter's not working. (11:08) So he Quick
Scott Benner (11:09) question. (11:10) They charge you for that visit? (11:11) Yes. (11:12) Inconscionable. (11:13) Keep going.
Scott Benner (11:14) I'm sorry. (11:14) Go ahead.
Megan (11:15) Yeah. (11:15) And then as we were leaving, they tried a second meter as well. (11:19) They were like, yeah. (11:20) He's probably just too high to read. (11:22) They're like, or our meters just aren't, for some reason, working.
Megan (11:26) And I was like, well, you tried too. (11:27) So, I mean, which is it? (11:29) You might you're better off going to an ER. (11:31) And then they came running out with his urine test, and they're like, yeah. (11:34) He's got, like, sugar in his urine, so definitely go to the I was like, k.
Megan (11:38) Thanks. (11:38) But I'm a tell you right now, Edison was pissed because we had promised him Taco Bell. (11:44) And, like, that was the plan. (11:47) I I ended up taking to the urgent care right after school, And I was like, hey. (11:50) We'll we'll get Taco Bell for dinner, can we go to the urgent care first?
Megan (11:53) I was like, I suspect you have this, but I could be wrong. (11:55) You know? (11:56) I was like, so we'll just find out. (11:57) And they were like, yeah. (11:58) No.
Megan (11:59) He can't eat. (12:00) Like, if his sugar is high, he's not gonna be eating anything. (12:02) Like, so and he was so mad.
Scott Benner (12:05) Did you use the Taco Bell to trick him into going to the urgent care?
Megan (12:08) No. (12:09) I just told him, I we do, like, family Fridays, so we only eat out on Fridays.
Scott Benner (12:15) Mhmm.
Megan (12:15) And that was the plan. (12:17) Hey. (12:17) After school, we'll for dinner, we're gonna do family Friday at Taco Bell. (12:21) He loves Taco Bell. (12:22) And so it just turned into, oops.
Megan (12:24) Well, you have diabetes, and you're gonna go to the hospital. (12:27) Yeah. (12:27) And they're not gonna let you eat.
Scott Benner (12:29) He's like, this is not the Taco Bell experience. (12:31) I was thinking, yeah. (12:32) What's he like there? (12:33) A Tilupo? (12:34) What do you what does he eat?
Scott Benner (12:35) Do you do you have a
Megan (12:36) Oh, he gets the, chicken quesadilla with two Doritos Lopez tacos.
Scott Benner (12:40) Okay. (12:41) Where'd you get that smooth accent from? (12:43) Where are you from, Megan?
Megan (12:44) I am Mexican.
Scott Benner (12:46) Oh, I was gonna say that came out real nice. (12:50) So no Taco Bell. (12:52) The kid's pissed. (12:52) We're on our way to the hospital.
Megan (12:54) We arrive at the pediatric unit, and he's like, hey. (12:58) I just I I can't stop peeing. (13:00) He's like, I think I'm gonna throw up. (13:02) I'm like, okay. (13:02) Well, we're trying to, like, sign in.
Megan (13:05) Again, the attitude. (13:06) Like, well, what makes you think he has diabetes? (13:09) What makes you and I'm like I'm like, we just came from the urgent care. (13:14) They confirmed that he has sugar in his urine. (13:17) They couldn't get his sugar to read.
Megan (13:19) They're like and then the lady was like, oh, well, he could just have this or he could just and I'm like, can we please just get him somewhere? (13:26) Like, can we just get this ball rolling?
Scott Benner (13:28) Yeah. (13:29) I mean, they very busy? (13:31) I you know what? (13:31) It's funny. (13:32) Those intake intake questions are interesting.
Scott Benner (13:34) Right? (13:35) Because they have to ask them Yeah. (13:36) At the same and you have to realize the person asking you has asked it a thousand times that day. (13:41) But still, it is hard not to, like, rub up against. (13:44) I I will insert here.
Scott Benner (13:46) I called in Dexcom sensor that didn't last ten days. (13:51) It's like, you know, like, the third one this year for us. (13:53) I know everybody else is like, oh my god. (13:54) But, like, we have an incredible success with g seven. (13:57) So this one didn't last as long.
Scott Benner (13:59) It's been sitting on the counter. (14:00) I called up. (14:01) And the questions start coming, and it is hard. (14:06) I know it's just a person asking questions off a script that they have to ask and that they ask them all day, and it's probably hard to, like, be conversational about it. (14:14) But it's also difficult not to be insulted when someone says to you, did you do it right?
Scott Benner (14:18) And you're like, yeah. (14:19) She's had diabetes for twenty years. (14:21) This is the September thing we've stuck on her. (14:24) We did it okay. (14:25) Are you sure?
Scott Benner (14:26) I mean, I feel like a pro. (14:30) I feel like you wouldn't, like, look at a, like, a guy who's been in the NFL for ten years to drop the ball and go, like, did you did you know you're supposed to catch it? (14:37) Like, yeah. (14:37) No. (14:37) I was aware.
Scott Benner (14:38) Thanks. (14:39) I take your point, And at the same time, I have a little bit of, like, space for them too.
Megan (14:43) Yeah.
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Megan (16:55) No. (16:56) I I I totally understand. (16:57) I was the same way. (16:59) I was like, I I get it. (17:00) I I know you've probably asked a million questions that you're supposed to ask when you triage.
Megan (17:05) I was like, but you could do it without rolling your eyes. (17:08) Like, because when I came in with this is what we suspect, the urgent care semi confirmed it, I was like, so this is why we're here. (17:17) Like, again, I've narrowed it down. (17:20) I get that you're asking questions, but it's just like, man
Scott Benner (17:23) Oh, the attitude you felt read a little bit like, oh, look at this one thinks they know something.
Megan (17:28) I see. (17:28) Kinda like
Scott Benner (17:29) Okay.
Megan (17:29) Like, oh, you're just making up assumptions. (17:32) I'm like, no. (17:32) I'm not. (17:33) Like, I've I've deducted it down pretty pretty reasonably. (17:36) And so but, yeah, they once they got him in a room and on a bed, did all the blood sugar testing and everything, he was IV ed, and they were like, well, we can't handle him here, or we can't do much more except they try to get his blood sugar down.
Megan (17:51) We're gonna put him in an IV, and you're gonna take an ambulance ride to CHOP. (17:54) So we ended up at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.
Scott Benner (17:57) Oh, you and I are local to each other?
Megan (17:59) Yes. (17:59) You're in New Jersey. (18:01) I'm in New Jersey as well.
Scott Benner (18:02) I start telling people where I'm at. (18:03) Okay? (18:04) But okay. (18:04) Just say local. (18:05) I know.
Scott Benner (18:06) I I'm just kidding. (18:06) I say it all the time.
Megan (18:08) Come get me.
Scott Benner (18:09) Definitely. (18:09) Come get me. (18:10) Go ahead. (18:11) Try. (18:12) I remember I was listening to
Megan (18:13) an episode when you finally said I was like, oh, how convenient. (18:16) Like, we get, my son gets diagnosed in New Jersey where, the diabetes podcast is typically recorded.
Scott Benner (18:25) Are you using a satellite office now? (18:27) No. (18:27) No. (18:27) Okay. (18:28) So you still go into the city for appointments?
Megan (18:30) Yes. (18:31) For now, we only use a satellite office for, like, his psychological meetings or, appointments. (18:41) He, he needs he has struggled with it, with the diagnosis. (18:45) It's been stressful for him just to be kind of, like, thrown into such a rapid change.
Scott Benner (18:50) Tell me about that. (18:51) I thought you were gonna say he's been he's been struggling since we didn't take him to Taco Bell. (18:54) But but tell me tell me about that part. (18:57) Who sniffed that out and and and put you on the the the care?
Megan (19:01) I did. (19:02) I could just tell that he was he just seemed more down. (19:06) He wasn't as active as he used to be. (19:08) He also has expressed diabetes stresses me out. (19:12) I don't wanna eat today.
Megan (19:13) I'd rather just not get a shot. (19:16) Mhmm. (19:16) We tried the Omnipod, and he had some reactions to it in the beginning, but they kind of cleared out. (19:24) And he was doing great for several months. (19:27) And then in the summer, they just kept falling off, so we took a break.
Megan (19:30) And we went to go put them back on for this school year, and the reactions were, like, 10 times worse. (19:38) And then he just started getting, like, I don't want it. (19:41) Just stop doing this to me. (19:42) I don't like, I'd rather just go back to
Scott Benner (19:45) The reactions. (19:46) His, like, visceral reaction or, like, adhesive? (19:49) Or what are you saying?
Megan (19:50) It was it was almost like the stress was causing visceral reactions to the pump itself.
Scott Benner (19:56) Like, he
Megan (19:56) just said, I hate it. (19:57) It's heavy. (19:58) He's like, I don't like having all the devices. (20:02) He's like, I don't even wanna wear Dexcom anymore. (20:04) And I was like, Dexcom really helps the nurses and me, you know, and and your dad just kind of monitor where you're at, try to catch things before they get out of hand.
Megan (20:13) He's like, he's like, I could just finger poke myself whenever he's like, when I think I have a problem or whatever. (20:19) I'm like, you're in class. (20:22) It's not just as easy as I'm feeling low. (20:24) Let me take care of it now. (20:25) You could just pass out.
Megan (20:27) Because he does have the tendency to go low Mhmm. (20:30) Without realizing he's low. (20:32) There was a time where he he was like, can I please just have a day? (20:35) And I was like, okay. (20:36) And I was just monitoring him closely.
Megan (20:38) He started getting, like, tired and kind of, like, lagging behind. (20:43) And I was like, let's check your blood sugar. (20:45) And he was like, I feel fine. (20:47) And I was like, I know you feel fine. (20:48) I was like, but I'm I'm noticing a demeanor change.
Megan (20:51) So I was like, let's just test and make sure everything's okay. (20:54) He was 33. (20:56) Oh. (20:57) Walking around. (20:58) And I'm like, this is bad.
Megan (21:00) He was like, start drinking the soda. (21:02) Start doing some like, get something in you. (21:04) He's just not adapting.
Scott Benner (21:06) Is it sensory, or do you think he's depressed about it? (21:10) Or what are you what are you guys figuring out?
Megan (21:13) I think it is a sensory thing. (21:15) He you know, the clinic is saying, right now, let's just try to get like, accepting the fact that this is gonna be a lifelong thing.
Scott Benner (21:22) Okay.
Megan (21:23) That's that's the main goal. (21:24) Because right now, he's just saying, there are days where I feel fine. (21:27) I think I don't think I need so much. (21:29) Or this there are things where, like, maybe it'll get better. (21:32) Maybe I won't need so many injections.
Megan (21:34) I'm
Scott Benner (21:35) like Oh.
Megan (21:35) You have to remember that this is gonna be lifelong.
Scott Benner (21:38) Is it talk therapy? (21:39) Is that what they're doing with him?
Megan (21:41) Right now. (21:42) Yes.
Scott Benner (21:42) Yeah. (21:43) That makes sense. (21:44) He's so young. (21:45) Like, I don't know how he's supposed to understand forever. (21:47) And when somebody says you're sick, but you feel okay, you're sick.
Scott Benner (21:52) So I think that's hard for people in general. (21:54) You know? (21:55) And it's it's proven out over and over again. (21:57) I mentioned this a lot because I think it's important for people to hear, but, you know, there are issues people have. (22:03) You you know, thyroid medication is a good example of it, but there's a ton of other examples where they take a pill, right, a daily pill.
Scott Benner (22:09) So you start off and you don't feel well. (22:11) You take the pill. (22:12) You take the pill. (22:12) You take the pill. (22:13) One day, feel better.
Scott Benner (22:14) And the first thing you do is stop taking the pill because you're like, well, I don't feel sick anymore, except the pill is the only reason you don't feel sick.
Megan (22:21) Yeah. (22:21) Exactly.
Scott Benner (22:22) Very common. (22:22) You know? (22:23) So, anyway, I'm sorry that I'm sorry that he's going through all that. (22:27) That's that's sucks.
Megan (22:28) It mostly started, like I said, peaking, like, this behavioral like, towards diabetes and, like, this change in. (22:37) It started with the school year when we tried to put the pump back on him. (22:40) And I so I think once we narrow down the fact that by, like, make him realize there's not a a day where you're just gonna magically be better. (22:50) This is a lifelong disease. (22:52) Like, you're gonna have to like, it's not gonna stop you from doing anything.
Megan (22:55) You just have to remember that you have diabetes. (22:58) Once we get past that, we have to start addressing. (23:02) I think it is a sensory thing with him again because he was complaining that the Omnipod is just so heavy and this he's like, I know. (23:09) I have to he carries a fanny pack around to put his, medical device in. (23:14) That's what we call it, not a phone because we don't want him to see, I have a cell phone.
Megan (23:17) Right. (23:18) He carries around his medical device, glucose meter just in case, and, like, of course, his emergency snacks. (23:23) He's like, I just have to wear so much. (23:26) So we just stopped the pump. (23:28) He doesn't mind multiple daily injections.
Megan (23:30) He'd rather just do that than have to wear a Dexcom and a pump.
Scott Benner (23:34) Was he even to ask about the past is ridiculous. (23:38) He's so young. (23:38) I was gonna say, is that feel like it's part of his personality, but my god. (23:42) How would you even know? (23:44) You know?
Megan (23:44) Yeah. (23:45) Well, I think it could be because now well, looking back, I think he does have sensory issues, and I think we need to address those as well. (23:53) And I think he might because he like, he has a thing about socks. (23:57) Like, I had never realized it was a a habit or, a pattern, but he has to think about socks, specific socks, and how they touch his ankle and and things like that. (24:07) And I'm like, oh, now I'm noticing more.
Megan (24:09) Yeah. (24:10) You know what I mean? (24:10) Like, now looking back, I'm like, he might have he might be on the spectrum somewhere.
Scott Benner (24:16) You or your husband give any vibes like that?
Megan (24:19) Yes.
Scott Benner (24:20) Which one? (24:20) Me. (24:21) You? (24:21) What what have you what have you noticed in your own self now that you've been paying attention to him?
Megan (24:26) I noticed that I have a sensory issue towards, like, specific shirts. (24:30) I didn't realize that all of my my husband's saying, how did you not know? (24:33) He's like, I thought you were just OCD or something. (24:36) You know? (24:36) I'm like, no.
Megan (24:37) Like, a certain materials, and I can't even explain it. (24:40) I don't even know how to ex like, it just makes me itch. (24:43) Like, completely
Scott Benner (24:44) I'm not laughing at you. (24:45) I'm sorry. (24:46) It was the way you said it.
Megan (24:46) Yeah. (24:47) It's just you're good. (24:48) I don't even know how to explain it. (24:50) And then, of course, I realized my socks too. (24:53) I I didn't realize I was the person who took my socks off, like, as soon as I walk in the door.
Scott Benner (24:57) Why do they why do they have to come off?
Megan (24:59) And it's funny because it's the way that they touch like, it's the way that they wrap around my my leg or, like, I or, like, my ankle. (25:06) Even if I'm wearing ankle sock, it's the way that they touch the back of my ankle.
Scott Benner (25:11) So do you put up with it when you're out in the world because you don't want your feet to smell inside of your shoes, or are you not aware of it during the day?
Megan (25:17) Smell regardless, unfortunately. (25:19) So and that's a that's another thing. (25:22) So, yeah, I just kinda deal with
Scott Benner (25:24) it. (25:25) Okay.
Megan (25:26) Yeah. (25:26) Do you
Scott Benner (25:27) have a thyroid issue?
Megan (25:28) Let's see. (25:28) I I knew that question was gonna come up. (25:30) Yes. (25:31) I do, but I don't. (25:32) I've always been the type to test, like, right before the mark, and they don't ever wanna treat because I don't surpass the mark.
Scott Benner (25:41) Do you have any symptoms besides the anxiety?
Megan (25:43) Blurry vision. (25:45) Like, the I've I've been told I have Graves' disease or almost have Graves' disease, but they wouldn't treat it for because I was literally right at the cutoff. (25:55) It was like I can't remember. (25:58) I just remember the the number +1 34, and they were like, you have to like, +1 35, +1 36. (26:03) So I was like, oh, cool.
Megan (26:05) Thanks.
Scott Benner (26:06) I'll just I'll keep trying. (26:07) I'll let you know when I get there.
Megan (26:09) And my parent or my mom's always like, well, go back and get retested. (26:13) No. (26:13) You should just sit. (26:14) And I'm like, eventually.
Scott Benner (26:16) What do you mean eventually? (26:17) What is wrong with everybody? (26:18) Go back and get to what are you, busy? (26:20) What are you doing?
Megan (26:21) I am, and I'm not. (26:22) Like, it's just it's a pain in the bum to get appointments.
Scott Benner (26:27) Is it more painful than blurry vision? (26:30) Yes. (26:31) Just go to the doctor, Megan.
Megan (26:33) No. (26:34) I know. (26:34) Make it a point when
Scott Benner (26:35) you go to the doctor. (26:36) Like, what the hell? (26:36) And then get there, and when they say, you know, oh, it's only one point off, go, shut up. (26:41) These are my symptoms. (26:43) Give me the medication.
Scott Benner (26:44) I wanna see if it helps. (26:45) Yeah. (26:45) It's between the And you know what they'll say? (26:47) They'll go, okay.
Megan (26:49) That the blurry vision, the hot flashes have gotten, like, 10 times worse. (26:52) I'm standing in the freezer at work all the time just trying to cool down. (26:57) Like, I literally create steam in there. (26:59) Mhmm. (27:00) It just radiates off my body.
Megan (27:01) I don't know. (27:02) There's there's a lot, and I do need to go back. (27:05) It's been a year and a half since I've been checked again, so probably should.
Scott Benner (27:10) Yep. (27:10) Listen. (27:10) Here's what we're gonna do for fun real quick. (27:12) Okay? (27:13) I'm gonna write, does any of this point to a thyroid issue?
Scott Benner (27:20) Right? (27:21) Hold on a second. (27:22) And then I'm gonna say to you, tell me your symptoms. (27:25) So we have hot flashes. (27:28) Is that right?
Scott Benner (27:29) Yes. (27:29) Blurry vision.
Megan (27:30) Night sweats.
Scott Benner (27:32) Hold on. (27:32) Night I I I'm not a typist. (27:34) Night sweats. (27:37) What what what was the other one? (27:39) You have anxiety.
Scott Benner (27:40) I don't know if you know that or not.
Megan (27:41) Oh, absolutely. (27:42) Okay. (27:42) Alright.
Scott Benner (27:43) Sensory issues. (27:45) What else?
Megan (27:46) That's about it. (27:47) On and off headaches. (27:48) But
Scott Benner (27:49) Random headaches. (27:52) I don't think we're gonna need the large language model on this one, but I'm just gonna press enter anyway, okay, and see what it says. (27:59) And then I'm gonna ask if it thinks she should go to a doctor. (28:01) By the way, I'm using Google Gemini right now. (28:04) I'm cheating on Chad GPT.
Scott Benner (28:06) This new Google Gemini Pro is is lit. (28:10) I know lit's probably not the word people apply to stuff like this, but I think it's amazing. (28:14) So I
Megan (28:14) don't keep up with lingo. (28:16) I can't do it. (28:17) I don't
Scott Benner (28:17) You can't do that. (28:17) I don't
Megan (28:18) even know what no. (28:19) I don't know what kids are saying these days. (28:20) I was never a lingo person.
Scott Benner (28:23) While these symptoms can be distressing, it is important to remember that I am an AI, not a doctor. (28:28) This information is for educational purposes only and cannot be replaced by a professional medical diagnosis. (28:33) Well, I'm an entire podcast full of people's stories that say possibly that's not true. (28:37) But to answer your specific question, yes, several of these symptoms can point to a thyroid issue, specifically hyperthyroidism. (28:45) Oh, isn't that crazy?
Scott Benner (28:46) It didn't say hypo. (28:47) It said hyper. (28:48) Isn't that what Graves' is? (28:50) However, they also strongly overlap with other conditions, most notably hormonal changes like perimenopause or menopause. (28:57) You're not that age.
Scott Benner (28:58) Connection to thyroid, hyperthyroidism, hot flashes and night sweats, hyperthyroidism causes heat intolerance. (29:05) You may feel overheated when others are comfortable, sweat excessively, or experience sudden flushes similar to a hot flash. (29:11) Anxiety, this is a hallmark symptom of an overactive thyroid. (29:15) It can feel like nervousness, irritability, or physical jitteriness, like tremors Yes. (29:19) Blurry vision.
Scott Benner (29:20) In autoimmune thyroid issue like Graves' disease, the tissue behind the eyes can swell. (29:25) Are your eyes puffy, sticking out? (29:28) No. (29:28) Alright. (29:28) Well, that I mean, it's the last one.
Scott Benner (29:30) Causing double or blurry vision, light sensitivity, or feeling of pressure. (29:34) Okay. (29:34) Sensory issues. (29:35) While not always listed as sensory issues, the heightened state of arousal and anxiety caused by excessive thyroid hormone can make you feel easily overstimulated and sensitive to noise, light, or being on edge. (29:47) Are you sensitive to noise or light?
Megan (29:49) Yes.
Scott Benner (29:50) Do you feel like you're constantly on edge?
Megan (29:52) Yes.
Scott Benner (29:52) Okay. (29:53) Well, I, you know, I think you should continue to ignore this then, Megan.
Megan (29:56) Oh, that's my plan until I can get an appointment.
Scott Benner (29:58) Get out of here. (29:59) Don't make me curse, Megan. (30:01) It's close to Christmas.
Megan (30:04) For real. (30:05) It's my I'm I'm trying. (30:06) I gotta get an appointment. (30:07) It's a pain in the ass with this this base and there are doctors like
Scott Benner (30:13) Oh, are you on a base? (30:15) Yes. (30:15) These people. (30:17) And and they're they're busy blowing up boats in Venezuela. (30:19) They don't have time for you.
Scott Benner (30:20) They got Hold on a second. (30:23) That that's as political as I'll get.
Megan (30:25) I was gonna say I can't I can't dive into policy.
Scott Benner (30:29) Alright. (30:29) Hold on a second. (30:30) I'm opening up my email because I'm feeling like a mensch today. (30:34) I don't know if you know the word. (30:36) Do I have your email address?
Scott Benner (30:38) I should, Megan. (30:39) Does it start with a b?
Megan (30:41) It does.
Scott Benner (30:42) Alright. (30:43) I'm just gonna, use the subject line, you're welcome. (30:46) And then I'm just gonna send this over to you so you can see it later. (30:51) Okay? (30:52) Okay.
Scott Benner (30:53) Also, welcome to the newest episodes of the podcast called people describe their problems to AI, and we decide what's wrong with them on the podcast. (31:01) I think that's, actually a good idea, but we'll maybe do a couple of those next year.
Megan (31:06) I mean, it explains our whole situation right now, even with Edison's diagnosis.
Scott Benner (31:10) So I'm cruising into the New Year right now, so I'm not gonna get started right now. (31:14) Scottie gonna take a break. (31:15) But, wait a minute. (31:17) No. (31:17) What say say just say it again.
Scott Benner (31:20) It explains It
Megan (31:22) explains everything right now. (31:23) I mean, even with Edison's diagnosis. (31:25) So
Scott Benner (31:25) Yeah. (31:26) No. (31:26) I mean, first of all, listen. (31:27) You gotta take care of yourself. (31:28) And what I'm gonna tell you to try to motivate you is is that when you learn about yourself, you're gonna be able to help him better.
Scott Benner (31:36) Right? (31:36) So not only will maybe like, imagine if your anxiety went away. (31:40) Hell, just imagine if you were able to keep your socks on, how great that would be. (31:43) Point being is that you might then look at him and realize, he has some of these things. (31:48) I wonder if I don't know.
Scott Benner (31:50) His thyroid's okay. (31:51) I wonder if this like, it'll give you more context for the world, and it'll help you help him. (31:55) I promise. (31:56) So just make the appointment, and however long it takes is how long it takes to get there. (32:02) But don't not do it saying that it's a pain that's hard to get an appointment because if you make the appointment today, you will eventually go in and see them.
Megan (32:09) It's true. (32:11) It is true.
Scott Benner (32:12) Alright. (32:13) I'm sorry. (32:13) We're are we back in the hospital? (32:14) I'm sorry. (32:15) What a left turn.
Scott Benner (32:16) We're we're are we are we still in the hospital?
Megan (32:19) For Edison? (32:20) Yeah. (32:20) That's we arrived at CHOP.
Scott Benner (32:21) Right. (32:22) Right. (32:22) Sorry. (32:23) No. (32:23) And then I it's my fault because I went after the psychological stuff while you were still talking about the thing.
Scott Benner (32:27) Let's fast forward a little bit. (32:29) You go to CHOP, blah blah blah. (32:30) They send you home. (32:31) Kids got diabetes now. (32:33) Do they start you with pens?
Scott Benner (32:35) Do you get a CGM right away? (32:36) How long until he starts saying, don't like the way this feels, etcetera?
Megan (32:42) We did not start with a CGM. (32:43) We were sent home with pens, so we were on, multiple daily injections. (32:47) And then when did we start the Dexcom and stuff? (32:51) I wanna say March. (32:53) So he was diagnosed February 20.
Megan (32:56) We were in the hospital from for about two days and then sent home. (33:01) And then at the March is when he started his CGM with Dexcom, and then he didn't start the pump until May.
Scott Benner (33:08) I don't know. (33:09) It it took over a month to get a CGM? (33:11) Yes. (33:11) You have insure you have insurance. (33:13) Right?
Megan (33:13) We do. (33:14) Yeah. (33:15) I don't know why.
Scott Benner (33:16) Well, let me say this, and I unfairly happen to know a couple of things once in a while. (33:20) But, like, there are people who work at shop to listen to this. (33:22) Why does it take her so long to get a CGM? (33:24) How come she doesn't leave with one?
Megan (33:26) I think that they wanted us to kinda learn on our own. (33:32) Like,
Scott Benner (33:33) what you learn?
Megan (33:34) Explain it.
Scott Benner (33:36) That your kid could be 33 and look fine?
Megan (33:39) Basically.
Scott Benner (33:40) Great lesson.
Megan (33:41) We I don't know. (33:42) I don't know why it took so long. (33:43) And then we left with a meter. (33:45) We had to test on one meter while we were in the hospital because our insurance only covered a specific meter that they didn't have on hand. (33:52) So we almost didn't leave the hospital with a meter until they finally, like, found one that our insurance would approve that we could take home.
Megan (33:59) And I was like, you could've just told me, hey. (34:01) Go buy one from that Walgreens or, like Yeah. (34:04) Some something like Right. (34:06) It's something. (34:08) But What's the level like
Scott Benner (34:09) what's the level of understanding about diabetes you have leaving the hospital? (34:12) Or Is it minimal and then they try to make it up at the first appointment, or how do how how do they have it staggered?
Megan (34:18) It was pretty good.
Scott Benner (34:20) Okay.
Megan (34:21) Like, fully I I'm a big learner. (34:23) If you tell me something and or something happens, I'm gonna do, like, all the research I can on it and learn it. (34:28) So, I mean, outside of their training that they do, their diabetes teaching, they do, like, multiple classes over those forty eight hours. (34:38) It's all, like, counting carbs, injecting, pre bolusing, things like that, and understanding the timing and how long it takes to, you know, go through the system, when to correct x y z, all the basically, like, the the basics. (34:54) Yeah.
Megan (34:55) And I went from there. (34:57) Like, I was up all night in the hospital. (34:59) Like, there's gotta be more to this. (35:01) And so I was like, I just wanna make sure that I understand it and what I'm looking for. (35:05) So I was doing research on my phone just to make sure that I could leave with a little bit more knowledge, and I could ask all the questions I needed to ask before leaving the hospital.
Scott Benner (35:17) So Well, so the anxiety helped you there?
Megan (35:19) Oh, absolutely.
Scott Benner (35:20) Seriously. (35:21) Right? (35:21) Because you were like, I'm not just leaving here with this. (35:23) I need to know things.
Megan (35:24) Oh, yeah. (35:25) My husband says he's like, you know, you have anxiety and you you're, like, really hyper focused on things. (35:34) Like, once you once you are told something, you have to go and you dive deep. (35:38) And he's like, I think your anxiety plays a great, like, attribute to that. (35:43) He's like, because you will hyperfocus.
Megan (35:46) And if you don't know everything about it, he's like, it makes your anxiety worse. (35:51) I'm like, yeah. (35:52) And, like, if my
Scott Benner (35:53) The not knowing. (35:54) Yes. (35:54) Yeah.
Megan (35:55) Yeah. (35:55) He's like, then you give you he becomes or he said, I become more irritable. (36:01) And he he's like, and he Not irritable. (36:03) Irritable. (36:04) Correct.
Megan (36:05) More irritable.
Scott Benner (36:06) I heard that guy.
Megan (36:07) But it was funny because he was like, I basically wait for you to do all the research and then you teach me. (36:13) I was like, okay. (36:14) Cool. (36:15) So Does
Scott Benner (36:16) that make you upset? (36:18) No. (36:18) You're okay with him dealing with it that way?
Megan (36:21) Yeah. (36:21) He was I'm okay with him. (36:24) He's like, you know how to explain it to me. (36:26) And he's like, you because we we've been together. (36:31) 2025.
Megan (36:32) Oh, I am terrible with dates.
Scott Benner (36:34) How old were you when you met him?
Megan (36:36) 16.
Scott Benner (36:36) Okay. (36:38) And so were you dating at 16?
Megan (36:41) Yes. (36:41) We started dating late. (36:42) It was so we've been together what? (36:44) Since 2009?
Scott Benner (36:46) Seventeen years.
Megan (36:47) Yeah. (36:48) And so he's like, you you know me best. (36:52) He was like, and we he's like, if you understand it and you you know it, he's like, I know you'll be able to explain it to me, like, more clearly. (37:00) He's like, and you know Edison best. (37:01) So I can That's
Scott Benner (37:04) that that must make you feel good. (37:05) Right? (37:08) Yeah. (37:09) Oh, Megan, what is does nothing make you feel good? (37:12) Hold on a second.
Scott Benner (37:13) What's wrong?
Megan (37:15) I mean, it makes me feel good that, like, he has that confidence, and he it just also I I feel, it makes me feel a little anxious.
Scott Benner (37:22) That he's counting on you.
Megan (37:24) Yes. (37:25) Yeah. (37:26) Because in my mind, he's always been the one that's like, he's always been the one that takes a lead on stuff. (37:32) And he's like, I I don't know how you see it that way. (37:34) And he was like, because you're always the one that's, like, on top of everything.
Megan (37:38) He's like, you could close your eyes and tell me exactly the layout of of our house and, like, walk around with confidence because you know exactly where each, like, toy is on the floor at that moment. (37:52) That doesn't mean anything to me. (37:53) I was like, I I understand that I can grasp concepts and learn things really quickly, but it makes me feel anxious knowing that, like, you don't wanna put forth the time to do a little more.
Scott Benner (38:09) A long time, and I recognize his statement as a huge mistake immediately. (38:14) So, that's why I asked you, does it make you feel good that he counts on you? (38:19) But I can tell you, being married, that that just makes people feel like now there's more pressure on them to do everything because you're not because you're counting on them.
Megan (38:28) Exactly.
Scott Benner (38:30) Yeah. (38:30) No. (38:30) I know. (38:30) It's the wrong thing to do. (38:32) Unless you're cool with it.
Scott Benner (38:33) Like, if you're cool with it and that's, you know, and that's your division of labor, then that's great. (38:38) But
Megan (38:38) I think it's just unfortunately that way because he comes and goes a lot with his job, you know, being active duty military. (38:46) And he's he's he'll be home two weeks. (38:50) He'll leave for a week, and he'll come back. (38:52) The routine's different when he's gone. (38:54) It's a lot of changes.
Megan (38:56) So in his mind, I typically run things. (39:00) I'm I am the the manager of the household. (39:03) I'm the manager of the children, their schedules, their health care. (39:08) Like, I mean, he's the type of person he still has to ask. (39:11) Like, he didn't even remember that Edison had his tonsils out.
Megan (39:14) I felt like he was he asked Edison he took Edison to an appointment. (39:18) He happened to have a day off, and I didn't. (39:20) He still got us into an appointment, and then he was like, Edison, have you had any surgeries? (39:24) And Edison was like, dad had to ask me if I had surgery today.
Scott Benner (39:28) But what a little narc Edison is. (39:30) Okay?
Megan (39:31) So, you know, like, it's just like, things like that. (39:34) Like, it just slips his mind because, you know, he's in and out all the time. (39:38) It's not his area of focus.
Scott Benner (39:40) I'd say a couple things. (39:41) First of all, he's in the military. (39:42) He's used to people having jobs and those people doing the jobs and counting on those jobs being done and having to trust those people. (39:49) And so on one level, it's nice that he trusts you and he believes in you. (39:53) What he doesn't understand is that when he tells you that, he's what saying to you is and I'm gonna sound like a white lady in therapy right now.
Scott Benner (39:59) But what he's what he's saying to you is is, hey. (40:01) Here's another job for you to do. (40:03) And if you don't do it right, then everything falls apart because I'm counting on you. (40:08) Right?
Megan (40:09) Yeah. (40:09) There's there's a bit of pressure.
Scott Benner (40:11) Yeah. (40:11) And have you felt that pressure your whole life, or has it been more recently?
Megan (40:15) Well, I mean, we had this discussion earlier. (40:17) I have felt that pressure my whole life. (40:19) Okay. (40:19) And so it's kinda just something I I've learned to accept. (40:23) But and that's where it falls into play where, like, I know if I fall, lot of things behind me, domino, like, they're just gonna fall as well.
Scott Benner (40:32) What can I tell you a secret? (40:33) I know you're saying that and I agree with you. (40:36) Also, there's the boy perspective, which should give you some sort of comfort. (40:41) It's like, it'll all be fine. (40:43) Don't worry.
Scott Benner (40:44) Yeah. (40:44) And Oh, yeah. (40:45) Yeah. (40:45) But so are you telling me that these hyperthyroid symptoms you have have been plaguing you for years?
Megan (40:52) Yes.
Scott Benner (40:53) Alright. (40:54) I've been waiting to do this for, like, forty five minutes now, Megan.
Megan (40:57) Oh, goodness.
Scott Benner (40:58) I don't need to know a ton about your mom's situation, but your mom flaked on you at some point. (41:03) Right? (41:05) Did she have any of these symptoms of thyroid issues?
Megan (41:09) Most likely. (41:09) I wouldn't know. (41:10) I was distracted by other things, at a young age. (41:15) So, I mean, does she have them now? (41:18) Again, I wouldn't know.
Megan (41:19) She like I said, she doesn't call until there's, like, an actual issue.
Scott Benner (41:23) Does she make excuses, like, it's hard to get appointments?
Megan (41:26) No. (41:27) Because they're they're retired. (41:29) They live a very all they do they they watch my my nephews and my nieces from time to time.
Scott Benner (41:36) Are you picking up what I'm putting down here, Megan?
Megan (41:38) I am.
Scott Benner (41:38) Okay. (41:39) Alright. (41:39) Well, then let's not talk around it and insult me and the listeners. (41:42) Okay? (41:43) Let's get right to what I'm saying.
Scott Benner (41:45) What am I saying?
Megan (41:47) Take care of yourself.
Scott Benner (41:48) Okay. (41:48) When am I saying to do it?
Megan (41:50) Now.
Scott Benner (41:51) That's right. (41:51) Should we do it tomorrow? (41:53) No. (41:53) Today. (41:54) We'll do it today.
Megan (41:55) I'll get on and I'll make an appointment right after this.
Scott Benner (41:58) Thank you.
Megan (41:58) I'll get it scheduled.
Scott Benner (41:59) I don't wanna have to worry about you. (42:01) Look, I'm gonna do to you what you do to your husband. (42:04) Don't put me in charge of worrying about you. (42:06) I got enough to worry about. (42:07) Okay?
Scott Benner (42:08) Take care of yourself. (42:09) By the way, you're ten years away from looking at him and going, you know what? (42:13) I'm not your mom. (42:14) Take care of yourself.
Megan (42:15) Oh my gosh. (42:16) That already happened. (42:17) Actually, it was reversed. (42:20) It was your mom. (42:21) You?
Megan (42:22) Yeah. (42:22) And I was like, don't oh, I said, you took a wrong step there, bud.
Scott Benner (42:27) Joke's on you. (42:28) My mom didn't do anything. (42:30) It
Megan (42:32) sent me into a spiral.
Scott Benner (42:34) Listen. (42:34) Oh my
Megan (42:35) gosh.
Scott Benner (42:35) I'm never gonna know. (42:36) We're never gonna know, etcetera, and so on. (42:38) Everybody isn't gonna know. (42:40) But I do often wonder, having these conversations, how many of these, you know, personal interactions are we having with each other that are impacted by our, you know, our internal chemistry not being quite right in one way or another.
Megan (42:53) Yeah.
Scott Benner (42:54) I swear to you. (42:55) Like and and I I mean, I've tried to be really open about stuff that's happened to me on here so you guys can all see yourselves in it somewhere and take care of yourself. (43:02) But, like, I you know, I'll go back to, like, right before I was before I took care of my iron problem, we were just driving in the car somewhere. (43:09) And, like, something about the radio happened. (43:12) And I thought I had a completely reasonable response to it.
Scott Benner (43:16) And now in hindsight, I was, like, yelling. (43:18) I was, like, yelling about the radio. (43:20) And everybody was, like, mortified, like, looking at me like, what's wrong? (43:23) And I'm like, there's nothing wrong. (43:24) I'm fine.
Scott Benner (43:25) And then the truth is I wasn't fine. (43:27) My ferritin was really, really low, and it turns out that's an important part of your brain working well. (43:32) And so if it's a thyroid stimulating hormone or, you know, or an anti thyroid stimulating, I think that's the other thing. (43:39) Like, there's if you have Graves', you'd have, like, an anti thyroid medication, maybe a beta blocker. (43:44) I'm not sure.
Scott Benner (43:45) I'm not a doctor. (43:46) Yeah. (43:48) But, like, that would balance that out more. (43:51) What if you're Yeah.
Megan (43:52) It definitely would.
Scott Benner (43:53) Yeah. (43:53) What if all your reactions were different and better? (43:56) So let me say it in a way that I think will sound sad, but I don't mean it to. (44:00) What if you're experiencing your marriage and your life and your child in an altered state, and you're not getting the experience and they're not receiving the experience from you that you would give to them if you were more finely tuned in in in your chemistry. (44:16) How would that make you feel to know that was happening?
Megan (44:19) I've thought about it.
Scott Benner (44:21) Okay.
Megan (44:22) I made I'm trying to make an effort. (44:25) I I did try to make an effort earlier this year regarding something else, and it's just been again, it's it's it is the scheduling here because, like, surely oh my gosh. (44:38) My dog's in the background having puppy dreams. (44:40) So sorry if you can hear that.
Scott Benner (44:41) Oh, is it it's like a little thumping?
Megan (44:43) It's thumping, and then he's also going, well, he's not a puppy. (44:47) He's just we call him a potato. (44:49) He's a fat beagle, and he's just, like, hyperventilating under the blankie, but also, like, kicking.
Scott Benner (44:56) He's a fat beagle?
Megan (44:58) Yes. (44:58) He's a fat beagle. (45:00) Yeah. (45:01) So, I mean, I I've tried I've tried to address some of my health issues. (45:05) It's just one thing after another, and then everything here is referral referred out.
Megan (45:12) Like, this space, you go and you see your main your PCM. (45:16) And then they're like, yeah. (45:17) That could be the issue. (45:19) Let me refer you. (45:20) And then you have to drive almost an hour to, like, the next appointment.
Megan (45:24) Like, you schedule that next appointment.
Scott Benner (45:25) Okay.
Megan (45:26) And then you have to drive it out. (45:27) It's just a lot. (45:27) So it's like one thing after another.
Scott Benner (45:29) Talk about this any way you want to. (45:31) We could talk about it in a supportive way where I could say it's okay for you to carve out time to take care of yourself. (45:36) We could talk about it like, you know, like I was brought up, but I just tell you, just shut up and do it. (45:41) And, like, or anywhere in between, like, Megan, I like you a lot, and I hope this is coming across that way because if I didn't like you, I wouldn't be pushing you so hard. (45:48) I just wouldn't care.
Scott Benner (45:49) I I honestly whatever you're gonna say, I don't care. (45:53) Care. (45:53) Just do it. (45:54) Okay?
Megan (45:55) I
Scott Benner (45:55) know. (45:55) Okay. (45:56) Don't make excuses. (45:57) Get things done. (45:58) Alright?
Scott Benner (45:58) Like like
Megan (45:59) My husband's already told me.
Scott Benner (46:00) Well, well, listen. (46:01) You're not gonna listen to him. (46:04) I mean, he's only devoted his entire life to you and loves you wholeheartedly. (46:08) Why would he why would his opinion matter? (46:10) You should listen to a podcaster.
Megan (46:13) I should. (46:14) You're leading me in the right direction.
Scott Benner (46:16) Megan, I've had a recent experience with this a person in my life who, this is what it feels like to talk to them. (46:21) It's like, what about this? (46:22) Well, there's a reason that I can't I'm like, just stop. (46:26) Like, it's you're gonna you're gonna do this, and your life's gonna disappear.
Megan (46:30) I'm gonna just tell my husband about this conversation, and then he's gonna be like, I've been telling you that. (46:35) And I'm gonna be like, roles reversed. (46:37) Because you ever give your husband, like, great advice or you're, like, recommending something, but it's not such a good idea until he hears it from a friend.
Scott Benner (46:44) Why don't you instead? (46:46) May I make a may I make a better suggestion? (46:48) Why don't you get the appointment and then tell him, hey. (46:52) I heard what you said, and I really should be taking better care of myself. (46:56) I've made an appointment to address my my thyroid issue.
Scott Benner (46:59) I really do think I have a thyroid issue. (47:00) I looked online, and I have a ton of symptoms that point to a lot of stuff. (47:04) And and it's gonna be a little difficult because I'm gonna have to make the ride to the appointment, I might need your help. (47:08) But, you know, I think it's really important because I I'm not even sure if I'm interacting with you or or that is incorrectly because I I think I might be a little mistuned here as far as my thyroid goes, and I think it could be impacting a lot of things. (47:21) Be sincere.
Megan (47:23) I will definitely present it that way. (47:25) We like I said, we we have addressed this this thyroid issue once in the past. (47:29) And, again, it was just, you're at that mark. (47:32) We're not gonna do anything or treat it. (47:34) Come back in, you know, however many years.
Megan (47:37) And I was like, okay.
Scott Benner (47:38) And the phrase Yeah.
Megan (47:39) And then I just never I never went back.
Scott Benner (47:43) Phrase you respond with, Megan, is I don't want you to treat the numbers on that test. (47:47) I want you to treat my symptoms.
Megan (47:49) Yeah. (47:49) That's what I do. (47:50) I need to stand up for myself a little bit better.
Scott Benner (47:52) Yeah. (47:53) Yeah. (47:53) I mean, treat them the way you treat that boy. (47:55) That's all. (47:56) He listens.
Scott Benner (47:57) Right?
Megan (47:58) Yes.
Scott Benner (47:59) Yeah. (47:59) You're fine. (48:00) Alright. (48:00) Well, we didn't learn a ton about Edison. (48:03) Although, we did hear some things that I enjoyed, and I'd like to go back over them a little bit.
Scott Benner (48:08) You were very supportive of the issues that he's having. (48:11) Yes. (48:12) You did you didn't ignore them or tell him to put the you know, put put it on. (48:17) I don't care what it feels like. (48:18) You really did try to help.
Scott Benner (48:20) None of it worked, and now you're doing talk therapy to try to get it back on him. (48:24) Is that helping, first of all? (48:25) Is he wearing a CGM?
Megan (48:26) He's wearing a CGM. (48:27) Yes.
Scott Benner (48:28) Good.
Megan (48:28) Yeah. (48:29) And he doesn't mind the CGM. (48:31) Good. (48:31) He's, yeah, he's more open to that. (48:34) He understands why we are gonna move to a new pump, and we're hopefully gonna get it soon considering the sensor that that goes to that pump just came out.
Megan (48:44) And so we're waiting for it to ship.
Scott Benner (48:46) Which pump are you gonna go to? (48:48) Medtronic six?
Megan (48:49) Yep. (48:50) Medtronic. (48:50) Yeah. (48:51) Moving to Medtronic. (48:52) He, he says since I already carry a fanny pack, he's like, I think a pump would be a pump with a tube wouldn't be so bad because I just put it in my fanny pack, and I already carry that.
Megan (49:02) So And
Scott Benner (49:02) it won't be attached to him, which is something he doesn't enjoy.
Megan (49:04) Exactly. (49:05) It'll be a just a simple port that's attached.
Scott Benner (49:09) He's like
Megan (49:10) and the Medtronic is seven day wear.
Scott Benner (49:14) So fewer he'll have fewer changes.
Megan (49:16) Exactly. (49:17) Yeah. (49:17) And That's good. (49:18) The the new sensor, like the CGM that comes with it is fifteen day wear. (49:23) So, again, fewer changes.
Scott Benner (49:24) Yeah. (49:25) That's awesome. (49:26) Good. (49:26) Good. (49:26) Good.
Megan (49:27) Looking forward to it.
Scott Benner (49:28) That's great. (49:28) You're doing a great job with that stuff. (49:29) By the way, medtronicdiabetes.com/juicebox. (49:32) Support the sponsors, Megan, please. (49:35) I know you're like, oh, I didn't get it through the link.
Scott Benner (49:36) I feel bad now, but it's okay for everybody else. (49:40) That's a great step. (49:41) Awesome. (49:41) So you think maybe he's making some adjustments that make him more comfortable, moving closer to some acceptance on this stuff?
Megan (49:48) Yes. (49:48) Absolutely. (49:49) I've always been like, my my children advocate for themselves. (49:52) I've always told them that. (49:53) Like, so if you feel a certain way or you even if it comes off rude to me, I'd rather you tell me than to not.
Megan (50:00) I don't ever want you to feel like you have to do something. (50:03) Or, like and I always my kids are like, rarely do I tell you to do things. (50:08) I typically ask you, hey. (50:10) Can you please do this? (50:12) Before you reach a point where I'm like, I have to tell you now.
Megan (50:15) Like, this is the point where we're getting to. (50:17) And so my kids, I'm like, always advocate for yourself. (50:20) If you'd rather do something this way or you have a a system or you have a feeling, explore express it. (50:27) And so my kids advocate for themselves very well. (50:30) I mean, it's the only way to to get through this.
Megan (50:34) Yeah. (50:34) You know, like No. (50:35) Think that's great. (50:36) Understand it.
Scott Benner (50:37) What taught you that? (50:38) How'd you figure that out as a parent?
Megan (50:40) The lack of ability to do it when I was younger. (50:44) And, basically, like again, I started working at a very young age. (50:48) I started I realized I had to advocate for myself a very young age, and I didn't really have the ability to do that. (50:57) So I was like, that's not some way that's not the way I would like to raise my children.
Scott Benner (51:01) You didn't like the way it felt for you?
Megan (51:03) Correct.
Scott Benner (51:04) Good. (51:04) Okay.
Megan (51:04) And I
Scott Benner (51:05) I I so I'd have those same discussions with my husband all the time.
Megan (51:08) Like, I'm like, imagine like, just the way you express things, explain it, like, explain it the way you would want it some like an adult to explain it to you. (51:17) It was like, treat yourself or treat the kids the way you want to be treated. (51:20) Only it's just the simple way to live. (51:23) Yeah. (51:23) Like, they understand like, they understand more than they than you think.
Scott Benner (51:29) Sure. (51:29) Yeah. (51:29) And and if they do something if he does something eventually, like, if his ideas are gonna be harmful to him, then you step in and you do a little more parenting right there.
Megan (51:38) Absolutely. (51:39) Yes.
Scott Benner (51:39) Alright. (51:39) That's a good idea. (51:41) Good for you. (51:42) How long is your husband in for? (51:43) How much more time do you have living on the base?
Megan (51:45) Well, he'll be fifteen years. (51:47) So Oh. (51:48) He'll be fifteen years in March. (51:49) So we have about five more years five, six more years.
Scott Benner (51:53) What are you gonna do when he gets out?
Megan (51:54) I have no idea.
Scott Benner (51:56) Yeah. (51:56) Are you working?
Megan (51:58) Currently, yes. (51:59) I have degrees or a degree. (52:02) I was working towards master's degree, but I had to put that on pause because ran out of money, basically, funding.
Scott Benner (52:09) Yeah. (52:09) Couldn't finish that. (52:10) Expensive.
Megan (52:11) But I'm currently working in the cafeteria at Evanston School because it's just the most convenient right now as far as, like I can be there in case of emergencies. (52:21) I can always step out when I need to, but it's just flexibility. (52:25) I don't have to pay for childcare or, like, before and after school care because
Scott Benner (52:28) I awesome. (52:29) Yeah. (52:29) And you a little bit of that initial worry about the diabetes thing probably is alleviated too. (52:34) Right? (52:35) Exactly.
Scott Benner (52:35) That's wonderful.
Megan (52:36) Yeah. (52:36) I had when he was initially diagnosed, I had a job outside. (52:40) Like, I had a whole different job.
Scott Benner (52:41) Yeah.
Megan (52:41) But it was I was constantly having to leave work because there were emergencies with Edison. (52:47) Because I was like, this is too much. (52:49) I was like, I'm gonna have to step away. (52:51) So I ended up quitting, leaving that job. (52:53) And so when I this opened up, was like, well, at least it's it's part time work.
Megan (52:57) I'm like, but it's, like, right there.
Scott Benner (52:59) Yeah.
Megan (52:59) And so if, like, there's ever anything, the nurses, they know exactly where I am, and they will come right to me or he'll he'll just send him right to me.
Scott Benner (53:07) Right. (53:07) There's a ton of positives in that. (53:09) That's awesome.
Megan (53:10) Yeah. (53:10) And it it works out great. (53:11) He loves it. (53:12) So
Scott Benner (53:13) Good you. (53:13) Good for you. (53:14) That's really cool. (53:15) I'm gonna thank you, Megan, for doing this. (53:16) I really appreciate you taking the time and and letting me talk to you, the way I did.
Scott Benner (53:22) I really hope you you do that stuff and take care of yourself. (53:25) I think you'd be surprised at how much better you'd feel after you got it sorted out. (53:30) And I just think a lot of people are living in this situation. (53:34) And I don't just mean from thyroid, like a lot of different things. (53:37) Right?
Scott Benner (53:38) It's just not something we we talk about, like, in health right now. (53:42) Like, people do, but
Megan (53:43) Yeah.
Scott Benner (53:43) Not enough people. (53:44) And, you know, if you can make an adjustment for yourself that helps in a big way, I think it's gonna be really worth your effort. (53:51) So anyway.
Megan (53:53) Well, thank you for having me.
Scott Benner (53:54) No. (53:54) It's a pleasure. (53:55) Did I do okay for you, or are you right now like, oh, this thing go the way I wanted it to?
Megan (53:59) It went it it was a good conversation. (54:02) I do wish I would've touched a little bit more on Edison. (54:05) I I always think, like I feel like diabetes presents differently for a lot of people. (54:11) And when I'm looking back on it, like I said, I think there was an event that kinda triggered the start of it, and, like, I wish I would have recognized those symptoms sooner.
Scott Benner (54:25) I heard you say in the beginning you felt like a bad person, which I didn't spend any time on. (54:29) But what what what do you mean? (54:31) Like, go ahead. (54:31) Take your time and tell me what you mean.
Megan (54:33) So, like I said, Edison was diagnosed in February. (54:36) But the year prior, in October, Edison had fractured his clavicle.
Scott Benner (54:42) Mhmm.
Megan (54:43) And it played a pretty big effect in, like, one, healing. (54:49) There was, like, that trauma, and then his demeanor started changing a bit. (54:54) And then I started after diagnosis, I started putting symptoms together, and I was like, wow. (54:59) It dates back to that moment almost because he had symptoms on and off from October through February.
Scott Benner (55:08) K.
Megan (55:09) He would have moments where he would, the frequent urination, but not just frequent urination. (55:14) I should have realized when he would urinate, being a boy, you know, he'd get a little on the seat or the toilet. (55:21) It was crystallizing. (55:23) Oh. (55:24) And I was like, I thought about it.
Megan (55:26) Was like, ew, why is his pee crunchy? (55:28) Like but then it would be fine. (55:30) Like, the following week,
Scott Benner (55:31) nothing would
Megan (55:31) like, it would be normal. (55:33) It was almost like his pancreas was, like, working on and off Mhmm. (55:37) At that time. (55:38) And then, like, he kept having, like, little bouts of sickness, and it wasn't, like, vomiting or anything. (55:43) It was just like, oh, he's just not feeling well.
Megan (55:45) Oh, he's just, like, not feeling well today. (55:47) He's tired. (55:48) And it was just on and off from the moment he fractured his clavicle and was trying to heal. (55:54) And then January came around and he got the flu, and that just, like, rapid sent him into where he is today, basically.
Scott Benner (56:04) Yeah.
Megan (56:05) So, like, at the January, the like, he still wasn't healed from his clavicle, and he got the flu. (56:13) And it was just another thing on top of the fractured clavicle, and he was the symptoms just went to 10,000, the same symptoms everybody explains. (56:24) Frequent urination. (56:25) He had vomiting. (56:26) He had the crystallized urine.
Megan (56:28) It was, like, extremely prominent at that point. (56:31) Discoloration in his in his urine, things like that. (56:34) So I was like, I really wish I'd have noticed sooner. (56:37) I probably could've helped him a long time ago
Scott Benner (56:40) Wow. (56:40) Wow.
Megan (56:41) As opposed to waiting till February because they kept telling me. (56:43) They're like, oh, well, you know, he's got this issue and, oh, he's been on and off sick, so maybe whatever he had is just not out. (56:50) Oh, he just got over the flu. (56:52) He's, you know, he's just still getting over it. (56:55) I'm like, he's not, though.
Megan (56:56) Like, there's something more going on.
Scott Benner (56:58) So And you feel and even though he's fine and everything worked out fine, you you're still beating yourself up about that?
Megan (57:06) I was. (57:07) I was for a for a while, especially, like the biggest thing is just, like, they they also when we were taking, like, the ambulance ride to CHOP, they were, like, asking again, like, what made you realize? (57:20) What and then they would be like, well, what made you to wait so long to bring him in? (57:25) What what took you so long? (57:26) And I'm like, nothing took so long.
Megan (57:28) I was bringing him in. (57:29) He was being treated for the flu. (57:31) He was being treated for this. (57:32) He was being told this. (57:33) Like, we were being told x y z.
Megan (57:36) You know, it wasn't until this moment. (57:38) I was like, there's something more going on. (57:40) And they were like, oh, okay. (57:41) Well, do you have experience with it? (57:42) I'm like, no.
Megan (57:43) I don't have experience with this. (57:44) Why it took so long? (57:46) Like and so it's just the way they question it. (57:49) It it's making me feel guilty.
Scott Benner (57:53) Yeah.
Megan (57:53) Like, what made you take so long to bring it? (57:55) And I'm like, it wasn't that I wasn't bringing them in. (57:58) It's just the way it was being addressed.
Scott Benner (57:59) Yeah. (58:00) It's a lot and it's a lot of the wording that they use in that moment that puts you in this feeling later.
Megan (58:06) Yeah. (58:06) Exactly. (58:07) That's And so it was it was I carried it, a a little bit of guilt. (58:12) Mean, I can say a lot of guilt because I I like looking back on it, I always say to myself, I'm a rational person. (58:17) I didn't know.
Megan (58:19) I didn't know until I knew.
Scott Benner (58:20) Right.
Megan (58:21) So, I mean, I only carried it around for about a month or so, and then he was Edison started saying, you saved my life. (58:29) He's like like, you know, he's like, you knew. (58:31) He's like, once you realize, he's like, you saved my life, and I thank you for that.
Scott Benner (58:35) Aw. (58:36) See? (58:37) Megan, I don't know if you'll be able to do this or not. (58:39) I wouldn't give this another plot if I was you. (58:41) It's not fair to you know, hindsight is much more focused than you trying to live through it in the moment and pick through things all the time.
Scott Benner (58:50) Like, crunchy pee didn't make you go diabetes. (58:53) Like, I mean Yeah. (58:54) Exactly. (58:54) What are you gonna do? (58:55) You know what I mean?
Scott Benner (58:56) Like, you figured it out. (58:57) He's okay. (58:58) I say, you know, move forward on that one.
Megan (59:01) Definitely moving forward. (59:02) That's all we can do.
Scott Benner (59:02) So No kidding. (59:03) I appreciate it. (59:04) Alright. (59:04) Did the kid get his Taco Bell eventually?
Megan (59:06) Yeah. (59:07) Right after we got out of the hospital. (59:09) That was our first attempt at counting carbs on our own. (59:14) And, like, we literally left left CHOP. (59:16) We were in the car.
Megan (59:17) Mhmm. (59:18) We were like, the nearest Taco Bell is here. (59:19) I'm like, alright. (59:21) Let's calculate. (59:22) And we were just going, and we just we went with it, and he was fine.
Scott Benner (59:26) I think you guys are doing well. (59:27) I think you're gonna be fine, by the way. (59:29) I like the way you think about this, and I think you're on a good path. (59:32) So I I mean, I wish you nothing but success. (59:35) Is he having the outcomes right now that you're hoping for?
Megan (59:38) Yes. (59:39) We have great control, actually. (59:41) And thanks to the podcast and thanks to a bunch of, like, other books and and such. (59:47) I did read your book, by the way, which was great.
Scott Benner (59:49) You read my book? (59:50) I did.
Megan (59:52) I did. (59:53) Where'd you get it? (59:54) Amazon.
Scott Benner (59:55) Did you have to pay too much for it?
Megan (59:58) No. (59:58) I I don't even remember how much I paid. (1:00:00) I bought it, like, long ago.
Scott Benner (1:00:01) Okay.
Megan (1:00:02) Yeah. (1:00:02) I've read it twice because it it it is a good read.
Scott Benner (1:00:05) Thank you.
Megan (1:00:05) It made me it made me chuckle in several parts, and I've made my husband read it.
Scott Benner (1:00:10) Do you really? (1:00:11) Yes. (1:00:11) Do you like that story about having sex in the field?
Megan (1:00:14) I do.
Scott Benner (1:00:14) It's I thought that was a great bit.
Megan (1:00:16) I was I was like, this is actually really great, and I love that it the perspective of a stay at home dad. (1:00:22) And I was like I was like, it's it's it's awesome.
Scott Benner (1:00:26) Oh, I
Megan (1:00:26) really thank
Scott Benner (1:00:27) you, Megan. (1:00:28) Jeez. (1:00:28) Yeah. (1:00:29) Alright. (1:00:29) Listen.
Scott Benner (1:00:29) Do whatever you want with your thyroid. (1:00:30) I don't care.
Megan (1:00:32) No. (1:00:32) I'll still go get checked in. (1:00:34) I can that.
Scott Benner (1:00:34) I take it back. (1:00:35) You don't have to do anything. (1:00:35) I appreciate you reading the book. (1:00:37) Thank you.
Megan (1:00:37) Yeah. (1:00:38) So, I mean, we we've got great control. (1:00:40) Diabetes is gonna do its own thing. (1:00:42) So, like, his and he's a growing kid, so things are going to change and fluctuate. (1:00:47) But for the most part, like, I've gotten to the point where I don't like, I make changes based on what I know he needs, and I don't even I've never felt the need to consult ask the doctor.
Megan (1:00:59) Hey. (1:01:00) Is it okay if I do this? (1:01:01) Whenever I'm like, no. (1:01:02) He clearly needs this. (1:01:03) I'm like, I wanna go ahead and do, like, this.
Megan (1:01:06) And we manage if I need to change his, basal, I do it. (1:01:11) I don't, like, I don't consult with anybody. (1:01:13) If I know that he's running, like, a certain way and I've noticed a pattern, I make changes on my own. (1:01:19) I've never felt like this need to depend on asking the doctors for anything because, like, I know my kid. (1:01:27) I know his his diabetes at this point.
Megan (1:01:30) Like, I've I've pretty much followed all of his patterns. (1:01:33) Yeah. (1:01:34) And I, like, I could just tell.
Scott Benner (1:01:36) Yeah. (1:01:37) Megan, you're doing a great job. (1:01:38) I think if you can find a way to help yourself, it'll help everybody. (1:01:41) I think you'll probably find a lot of lessons in your own health for his. (1:01:45) I hope he has, you know, success with the therapy and finding his way to it.
Scott Benner (1:01:51) I think probably, you know, not to oversimplify it, but I think that as time passes, you'll see that he'll become more comfortable with this stuff. (1:01:59) And Yeah. (1:01:59) Yeah. (1:01:59) Before you know it, this part will be over, and you won't even remember the first year.
Megan (1:02:04) Sure.
Scott Benner (1:02:04) Yeah. (1:02:05) It really it's kinda how it happens. (1:02:06) So congratulations. (1:02:08) You're doing a great job. (1:02:09) You are a really fantastic mom.
Scott Benner (1:02:11) I don't know if anybody's ever told you that. (1:02:12) So because your mom, I think, is on crack or something.
Megan (1:02:15) Oh, excuse me.
Scott Benner (1:02:16) I don't know what's wrong. (1:02:17) You you wouldn't say it, so I get to joke about whatever I want. (1:02:19) But seriously, like, you're doing a really great job. (1:02:22) So good for you. (1:02:23) I mean, I think it's, it's well done.
Scott Benner (1:02:25) I'm I'm figuring you must have learned a lot of lessons raising it yourself that you're using now.
Megan (1:02:30) Yes. (1:02:30) Well, thank you. (1:02:31) I appreciate the hearing it. (1:02:33) No. (1:02:34) It's just it it's crazy.
Megan (1:02:37) You just don't know whatever whatever what's gonna happen day to day.
Scott Benner (1:02:40) So Well, don't forget to tell yourself don't forget to tell yourself once in a while you're doing a good job. (1:02:44) Okay?
Megan (1:02:45) I try to.
Scott Benner (1:02:46) Good. (1:02:46) Good. (1:02:46) I'm glad. (1:02:47) Hold on one second for me. (1:02:48) Okay?
Megan (1:02:49) Okay.
Scott Benner (1:02:49) Thank you. (1:02:56) The podcast episode that you just enjoyed was sponsored by Eversense CGM. (1:03:01) They make the Eversense three sixty five. (1:03:03) That thing lasts a whole year. (1:03:05) One insertion.
Scott Benner (1:03:07) Every year? (1:03:08) Come on. (1:03:08) You probably feel like I'm messing with you, but I'm not. (1:03:11) Ever since cgm.com/juicebox. (1:03:16) Today's episode of the juice box podcast was sponsored by the new Tandem Mobi system and Control IQ plus technology.
Scott Benner (1:03:23) Learn more and get started today at tandemdiabetes.com/juicebox. (1:03:28) Check it out. (1:03:30) Touched by Type one sponsored this episode of the juice box podcast. (1:03:34) Check them out at touchedbytype1.org on Instagram and Facebook. (1:03:39) Give them a follow.
Scott Benner (1:03:40) Go check out what they're doing. (1:03:42) They are helping people with type one diabetes in ways you just can't imagine. (1:03:46) Okay. (1:03:47) Well, here we are at the end of the episode. (1:03:49) You're still with me?
Scott Benner (1:03:50) Thank you. (1:03:50) I really do appreciate that. (1:03:52) What else could you do for me? (1:03:54) Why don't you tell a friend about the show or leave a five star review? (1:03:58) Maybe you could make sure you're following or subscribe in your podcast app, go to YouTube and follow me, or Instagram, Tik Tok.
Scott Benner (1:04:06) Oh, gosh. (1:04:07) Here's one. (1:04:08) Make sure you're following the podcast in the private Facebook group as well as the public Facebook page. (1:04:14) You don't wanna miss please, do you not know about the private group? (1:04:18) You have to join the private group.
Scott Benner (1:04:20) As of this recording, it has 74,000 members. (1:04:23) They're active talking about diabetes. (1:04:26) Whatever you need to know, there's a conversation happening in there right now. (1:04:30) And I'm there all the time. (1:04:31) Tag me.
Scott Benner (1:04:31) I'll say hi. (1:04:36) Oh my, did I get lucky. (1:04:38) The Celebrity Cruise Line reached out to me and said, how would you like to come on a cruise before your Juice Cruise so you can get a real good look at the Celebrity Beyond cruise ship and share some video with your listeners? (1:04:52) I said, thank you. (1:04:55) So that's where I might be right now.
Scott Benner (1:04:57) If it's December let me actually find a date for you. (1:05:00) Not a 100% sure. (1:05:01) I think I'm going in December right before Christmas. (1:05:05) Like, you know, like, I don't know, like, the December. (1:05:08) I'm sorry.
Scott Benner (1:05:09) Know this isn't much of a that. (1:05:10) But if you wanna see video from me on the cruise ship, my wife and I are gonna head out and really check it out to see what it's all about to grab some great video for you. (1:05:18) Get it up on TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook so you can see what you'd be getting if you came along on Juice Cruise twenty twenty six, which, of course, leaves from Miami on 06/21/2026. (1:05:31) We're gonna be going to Coco Cay in The Bahamas, San Juan, Puerto Rico, Saint Kitts And Nevis. (1:05:35) Do not miss it.
Scott Benner (1:05:36) It's a great opportunity to meet other people living with type one diabetes to form friendships, to learn things, and just swap stories. (1:05:44) It's a relaxing vacation with a bunch of people who get what your life is like. (1:05:48) And trust me, there's a lot of value in that. (1:05:51) Juiceboxpodcast.com/juicecruise. (1:05:55) Come check it out and go find my socials to see what that ship looks like.
Scott Benner (1:05:59) There's also a video at my link that's, kind of a ship tour for the celebrity beyond. (1:06:04) And let me tell you something. (1:06:05) If this ship is a tenth as nice as this video is, I am in for a great time, and so are you. (1:06:12) Juiceboxpodcast.com/juicecruise. (1:06:15) Come along.
Scott Benner (1:06:17) Have a podcast? (1:06:18) Want it to sound fantastic? (1:06:20) Wrongwayrecording.com.
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#1729 Cinderella Story - Part 2
You can always listen to the Juicebox Podcast here but the cool kids use: Apple Podcasts/iOS - Spotify - Amazon Music - Google Play/Android - iHeart Radio - Radio Public, Amazon Alexa or wherever they get audio.
Diagnosed at 16 months while her parents were on a cruise, Olivia reveals how diabetes became her anchor through divorce, depression, and a chaotic family life.
+ Click for EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
DISCLAIMER: This text is the output of AI based transcribing from an audio recording. Although the transcription is largely accurate, in some cases it is incomplete or inaccurate due to inaudible passages or transcription errors and should not be treated as an authoritative record. Nothing that you read here constitutes advice medical or otherwise. Always consult with a healthcare professional before making changes to a healthcare plan.
Scott Benner (0:0) Here we are back together again, friends, for another episode of the Juice Box podcast.
Olivia (0:15) Hi. (0:15) My name is Olivia. (0:17) I'm 29 years old. (0:18) I've lived with type one diabetes since the age of 16, and I'm here to talk about t one d and my life and very excited to be on the show today.
Scott Benner (0:29) This is part two of a two part episode. (0:32) Go look at the title. (0:33) If you don't recognize it, you haven't heard part one yet. (0:36) It's probably the episode right before this in your podcast player. (0:42) If you've ever heard a diabetes term and thought, okay.
Scott Benner (0:45) But what does that actually mean? (0:47) You need the defining diabetes series from the Juice Box podcast. (0:50) Defining diabetes takes all those phrases and terms that you don't understand and makes them clear. (0:56) Quick and easy episodes. (0:58) Find out what bolus means, basal, insulin sensitivity, and all of the rest.
Scott Benner (1:03) There has to be over 60 episodes of Defining Diabetes. (1:05) Check it out now in your audio player or go to juiceboxpodcast.com and go up into the menu. (1:13) Nothing you hear on the juice box podcast should be considered advice, medical or otherwise. (1:18) Always consult a physician before making any changes to your health care plan or becoming bold with insulin. (1:30) The episode you're about to listen to is sponsored by Tandem Mobi, the impressively small insulin pump.
Scott Benner (1:36) Tandem Mobi features Tandem's newest algorithm, Control IQ Plus technology. (1:40) It's designed for greater discretion, more freedom, and improved time and range. (1:45) Learn more and get started today at tandemdiabetes.com/juicebox. (1:50) Today's episode is also sponsored by the Eversense three sixty five. (1:55) You can experience the Eversense three sixty five CGM system for as low as $199 for a full year.
Scott Benner (2:03) Visit eversensecgm.com/juicebox for more details and eligibility. (2:09) The podcast is also sponsored today by US Med. (2:13) Usmed.com/juicebox or call (888) 721-1514. (2:20) You can get your diabetes testing supplies the same way we do from US Med. (2:25) Yeah.
Scott Benner (2:25) You've overcome a lot. (2:26) Like, I would like, if you were on my team at work, I would think, like, hey. (2:30) Let's get Olivia involved in this. (2:31) Like, she doesn't give up. (2:32) You know, like, she gets stuff done.
Scott Benner (2:34) She follows through. (2:35) She doesn't, you know, she doesn't just put up her hands and go, oh, no. (2:38) You know? (2:38) Well, my dad stuck me in the in the love prison and my mom's screaming. (2:42) I mean, like, this is my next question.
Scott Benner (2:44) It's like, how do you choose her? (2:45) Like, that's, like, that's that's all. (2:47) I mean, that's really, like that's like a reverse Sophie's choice, isn't it?
Olivia (2:52) Yeah. (2:52) So I think, ultimately, what led to me choosing her instead of my dad was, again, like, this, starvation of love that I was experiencing at my dad's house. (3:05) I felt like they didn't really care that I was there or not. (3:10) I remember, like, later in my adolescence that they would put me to work. (3:16) They lived in a very large house, and they would put me to work, like, dusting all of their stairway grips, like, these wooden stairway grips.
Olivia (3:24) And all of these cabinets, they would have me dust, and there were times that, they would look at it, you know, after hours of work and say, like, you gotta do it again, and there would be hardly any dust on these. (3:37) So, yeah, I ultimately, I chose my mom because I I felt like I was receiving the the love and affection that I was desperately craving.
Scott Benner (3:49) Well, wait. (3:49) Wait. (3:49) You were you were in a Cinderella situation?
Olivia (3:52) Yeah. (3:53) It felt like that. (3:54) Holy. (3:54) And I mean yeah.
Scott Benner (3:57) Oh my god. (3:58) Olivia.
Olivia (3:59) Yeah.
Scott Benner (3:59) Honey, I'm so sorry. (4:00) I'd give you a hug if I could right now. (4:03) You wait. (4:03) Listen. (4:04) I don't wanna jump forward, but you found somebody.
Scott Benner (4:06) Right? (4:06) Like, you're married?
Olivia (4:07) Yes. (4:07) I am.
Scott Benner (4:08) Okay. (4:08) He doesn't yell at you or hit you or anything like that? (4:11) You're happy? (4:11) Okay. (4:12) Alright.
Scott Benner (4:12) Okay. (4:12) Good.
Olivia (4:12) I feel very, very, very happy in my marriage.
Scott Benner (4:15) Okay. (4:15) Okay. (4:15) Good. (4:16) Good. (4:16) I just want everybody to know that before, like, you know, because I you know, people could be like, oh god.
Scott Benner (4:20) Scott sees the notes. (4:22) This poor girl's like, something bad is gonna happen. (4:24) Like but my god. (4:25) They had you cleaning the house?
Olivia (4:27) Yep. (4:28) They had me cleaning the house. (4:29) Mhmm. (4:30) You know, I get it. (4:30) When you're when you're a teenager, it's it's a good thing to give your teenager responsibilities around the house so they know how to do certain things.
Olivia (4:38) But I think the the chores that they were giving both my brother and me at the time were just it was too much. (4:45) It was too much for
Scott Benner (4:46) I hear what you're
Olivia (4:47) saying. (4:47) Teenager.
Scott Benner (4:48) So you'd, like, clean up, and then they'd, like, knock a soda over and go, you missed a spot, something like that.
Olivia (4:53) Yeah. (4:54) Well, fortunately, they never they never did anything like that, but, like, they would just look at it and say, like, nope. (5:00) It's not clean enough. (5:01) You gotta do it all over again. (5:02) And I would be like, are you kidding me?
Scott Benner (5:04) Oh my gosh. (5:05) Does the, does the stepmom have, like, obsessive qualities? (5:10) Or
Olivia (5:11) Yeah. (5:12) So she she's an interesting case. (5:14) Mhmm. (5:16) She I would say it's weird because I was thinking about this recently. (5:21) I think my stepmother and my mom are fairly similar, except my mom is more outspoken and expressive, and my stepmother is quiet.
Olivia (5:32) But they're both kind of anal about certain things. (5:37) I would say my stepmom is definitely more, like, picky and anal about how things look.
Scott Benner (5:44) Is your dad Catholic? (5:45) No. (5:46) No. (5:47) No? (5:48) Okay.
Scott Benner (5:48) It's a lot of kids, and I the cleaning thing makes me think Catholic, by the way. (5:53) I don't know why that is exactly. (5:55) But, I mean, what a shitty thing to say to somebody, like, make sure you get the dust in that this little spot that nobody sees but me, and then to come back and say you didn't do it. (6:04) Right? (6:04) Do it again.
Olivia (6:06) Yeah. (6:06) And and, like, when I was dusting these cabinets, like, sometimes it would take me, like, four hours to do Yeah. (6:13) On a, you know, just a random Saturday, you know, when I would rather be outside hanging out with my friends or something.
Scott Benner (6:20) I'm gonna say this because I I wanna stick up for my wife. (6:23) I want somebody to know want this to be on the record somewhere. (6:26) My wife's mom made her wipe the walls off, like, pretty consistently. (6:31) Like, every weekend, they'd have to wipe the house down.
Olivia (6:34) Oh my goodness.
Scott Benner (6:35) Yeah. (6:36) Yeah. (6:36) So, you know, just remember that when you're talking about dusting the cabinets later.
Olivia (6:41) Yeah. (6:41) Yeah. (6:42) Oh my goodness. (6:42) I'm so sorry that she had to go through that too.
Scott Benner (6:45) Exactly. (6:45) The crazy the crazy could've come differently, by the way. (6:48) Like, it's, yeah. (6:49) Wipe the hot water, wipe the walls floor to ceiling.
Olivia (6:53) Wow. (6:54) Wow. (6:54) And it just gets me wondering, like, what is going through these parents' heads to
Scott Benner (6:59) Mhmm.
Olivia (7:00) Make their kids do these insane chores. (7:03) I don't know.
Scott Benner (7:04) Olivia, you're from a different generation. (7:05) You're nicer. (7:06) I can tell while you're talking to you. (7:08) But I will just tell you as a person who has a couple of, decades, more on the planet than you, they are what they call a cuckoo for cocoa puffs. (7:15) Okay?
Scott Benner (7:15) They're yeah. (7:16) Yeah. (7:17) Say, we don't talk like this anymore, but, your mom's nuts. (7:20) Okay? (7:22) And it's unchecked.
Scott Benner (7:23) Right? (7:23) Because your, you know, your dad's not gonna like, there's gets to be a moment where he's like, what am I gonna do? (7:29) This is the this is the lady. (7:30) I married her. (7:31) These are the you know, this the kid's mother.
Scott Benner (7:32) What you know? (7:33) And then it gets so and then she says, like, you know, off. (7:37) Get out of here. (7:38) And he's like, no. (7:40) And then but yes.
Scott Benner (7:41) And then, obviously, whatever you know, led him to be comfortable with that the first time, led him right back to somebody else again. (7:48) Yeah. (7:48) Put you in a four way where this is coming at you from two two women, you know, who are domineering you and then a guy who's not sticking up for you. (7:57) Mhmm. (7:57) Yeah.
Olivia (7:58) Yeah. (7:58) That I think that describes the overall dynamic really, really well actually.
Scott Benner (8:02) You're damn right. (8:03) Like, it and it's unfair and it's not right. (8:05) And, you know, you're already nervous because this lady's yelling all the time when you're younger. (8:10) I mean, really, like, retreating to another part of the house. (8:14) Like, my parents have yelled at each other.
Scott Benner (8:16) My wife and I have argued. (8:17) I've never seen people run away while it was happening. (8:19) Like, that's another level. (8:21) You know what I mean? (8:22) Like, people argue.
Scott Benner (8:23) It doesn't usually send people to a, you know, a safe place. (8:27) Like, that's sounds to me like there's some crazy shit going on.
Olivia (8:30) Yeah. (8:31) It's interesting hearing you even say that too because, like, I grew up with it, and I like, even now, I'm sitting there thinking, like, was what I grew up with normal? (8:40) Like, you know, is it normal to No. (8:42) Have your mom
Scott Benner (8:43) No. (8:43) It's not.
Olivia (8:43) Flying off the wall?
Scott Benner (8:45) It's not. (8:45) It's not normal to wipe the walls. (8:47) It's not normal to scream at a child till it vomits and to the point where she as a as a I mean, you're you sound like a very bright person. (8:54) Like, do haven't even gotten to, like you have a PhD in pharmacology?
Olivia (8:58) I do.
Scott Benner (8:58) Yep. (8:59) You're a bright you're a bright lady. (9:00) And, so my point is is that, like, even though you're that smart and thoughtful and I'm hearing you talk, you're measured, You grew up in a war zone, and it feels normal to you.
Olivia (9:10) Yeah. (9:11) And and that's the crazy thing about it too. (9:13) And, you know, just over over the past several months or even several years, I've been picking things apart from my, like, from my childhood and even my early adulthood and saying, like, wow. (9:26) Like, what I went through really isn't normal. (9:29) It's messed up.
Scott Benner (9:30) Yeah. (9:31) I mean, no kidding. (9:33) And you can't see it because you're indoctrinated into it.
Olivia (9:37) Exactly.
Scott Benner (9:38) So let me ask you. (9:40) Did you have trouble being happy when you got married?
Olivia (9:43) That's a good question, and I I know I've been saying that a lot. (9:46) You you're asking tons of good questions.
Scott Benner (9:48) I'll tell you why I I say this, and I don't think my wife would mind me saying this, is that when we were first together, my wife was only comfortable when things were upset. (9:57) Like, when things get settled and they're calm, she gets nervous.
Olivia (10:02) Oh, wow.
Scott Benner (10:03) Yeah. (10:03) My wife's not good with good. (10:04) Like, she's better at it now. (10:06) Like, we've been we're old now. (10:07) Like but, I mean, back in the day, like, if happy wasn't a good place for her because she was like, it didn't feel comfortable to her at all, I don't think.
Olivia (10:16) That makes sense.
Scott Benner (10:16) Yeah.
Olivia (10:17) Yeah. (10:17) Like, if she kinda grew up in a war zone of her own Yeah.
Scott Benner (10:20) That's what you're waiting for then.
Olivia (10:21) That's exactly.
Scott Benner (10:23) Your nerves your nervous system's tuned to it. (10:26) Like, you're you're you're in fight or flight like you belong there. (10:29) So when things calm down and you're still, like, looking over your shoulder like you're about to get shot at, it's hard to chill the fuck out. (10:35) And it it
Olivia (10:36) Oh, absolutely.
Scott Benner (10:37) Some time. (10:38) Yeah.
Olivia (10:40) Yeah. (10:40) Yeah. (10:40) So going back to your question though about my marriage, my relationship with my husband has been honestly one of the brightest points of my life. (10:50) He and I met about four years ago. (10:52) It was September 2021.
Olivia (10:55) We met at a church that we were going to. (10:57) And I remember when he and I first met. (11:02) So I I was still going through my PhD studies at the time, and there was one evening where he just casually walks over to me and introduces himself. (11:11) And we strike up a, you know, pretty standard conversation, like, you know, what's your name? (11:15) What do you do for work?
Olivia (11:16) But as the weeks went on, I I was getting the sense that, okay. (11:21) This guy likes me, but I'm I'm studying my PhD. (11:23) I have no time to date anyone. (11:25) Mhmm. (11:25) So I was trying to play it cool, and he and I developed a friendship over time.
Olivia (11:32) And and so I remember leading up to New Year's of, like, 2021, 2022, he asked me, like, hey. (11:43) Would you be interested in grabbing coffee sometime? (11:46) And I I kind of knew, like, yeah. (11:48) He's he's asking me casually on a date. (11:50) And I remember sending him a message back saying, like like, oh, you know, things are really busy with my PhD right now.
Olivia (11:58) I'm really sorry about this. (12:00) Maybe we can do a rain check on it, and we did. (12:04) And the coffee date later on was really, really fun. (12:07) But sorry. (12:08) I'm going off on a tangent.
Scott Benner (12:10) No. (12:10) I I like the you're so sweet. (12:12) I don't know how you ended up sweet is what I'm talk I I like listening to you talk about he asked me, and I'm imagining you, like, what? (12:19) Like, 25, 24, 25 years old at that Yeah.
Olivia (12:23) 25 at the time.
Scott Benner (12:25) Point. (12:25) Right? (12:25) You and I'm guessing you didn't date a ton in college?
Olivia (12:29) No. (12:30) I my husband's actually the first man I truly dated because
Scott Benner (12:34) I'm so happy you waited. (12:36) I seriously, let me I'm being serious. (12:38) If you would have started dating, like, seriously and married somebody in that eighteen, nineteen, twenty, you would be married married to either your dad or your mom. (12:47) Yes.
Olivia (12:47) Yeah. (12:48) That's actually why I waited for
Scott Benner (12:49) a while to do Yeah. (12:52) Yeah. (12:52) Yeah. (12:52) I've I figured you were like, I'm gonna end up in this same goddamn relationship again if I do this. (12:58) Right?
Olivia (12:58) Yep. (12:59) I I remember thinking to myself, I don't wanna end up with a guy who's like my dad, who's emotionally distant. (13:05) Mhmm. (13:06) But I also don't wanna end up with a guy who's clingy like my mom, and that's a whole another issue to talk about too.
Scott Benner (13:13) Yeah. (13:14) No. (13:14) Let's talk about it. (13:15) I don't actually by the way, wanna this might be a good time for me to tell people. (13:20) I know the podcast says Juice Box podcast type one diabetes.
Scott Benner (13:23) And sometimes you probably, like, pop on and think, he didn't really talk about her diabetes very much. (13:28) But the way I see it is understanding this is a is there are plenty of episodes where you can find out how to pre bolus. (13:37) Right? (13:38) But there are a lot of you walking around who grew up like Olivia or have problems like hers, and they are impacting your life and, thusly, your diabetes and your health in ways you don't know. (13:49) And if you don't hear people talking about this, it's never gonna come up because you can hear Olivia having moments while she's talking like, oh, that does make sense.
Scott Benner (13:57) I guess that was happening. (13:58) It's happening for you too if you're listening. (14:00) And for the rest of you, it's just interesting. (14:03) So, I mean, I'll ask her about her diabetes at the end. (14:05) I'm it sounds like she's doing great.
Scott Benner (14:08) Why are you so smart, first of all? (14:09) Like, how did you know that was what was gonna happen? (14:11) Because that is what was gonna happen. (14:15) I have always disliked ordering diabetes supplies. (14:19) I'm guessing you have as well.
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Olivia (16:26) Yeah. (16:27) I I honestly can't fully explain it. (16:29) I think I think probably from a fairly young age, like, you know, preteen or teenage years, I I've always been really introspective about situations and thinking, like, okay. (16:42) Like, due to my situation growing up and also the way that my mom and my dad are, chances are I probably have some issues to work through.
Scott Benner (16:52) Mhmm. (16:52) Yeah. (16:53) Yeah. (16:53) Chances chances are Olivia. (16:55) Good.
Olivia (16:56) Yeah. (16:57) I I haven't mentioned yet. (16:58) So when I moved in with my mom, there was some communication between my dad and I for a few months. (17:07) But
Scott Benner (17:08) Yeah. (17:08) Then when the cabinets started getting dusty, you got mad at you and stopped talking to you.
Olivia (17:12) Yeah. (17:13) Well, so I moved in with my mom after my sophomore year of high school. (17:19) So this would have been in June 2012. (17:23) My dad, in December, like, four days before Christmas, said, like, hey. (17:28) I wanna invite you over to clear the air between us.
Olivia (17:31) And it wasn't just merely clearing the air. (17:34) It was what I would call an emotional flogging. (17:37) So I walked into their house, and I see my dad and my stepmom sitting on a sofa, and my grandparents are there also. (17:45) So I feel like I've walked into a trap. (17:47) Yeah.
Olivia (17:48) And, the whole time, they're, you know, they're talking to me about how worried they are about paying extra child support to my mom if they, you know, go through the courts and make full custody, you know, official, and I'm just sitting there bawling my eyes out.
Scott Benner (18:02) Are you 16?
Olivia (18:04) I yeah. (18:05) Like, 16, almost 17 at the time.
Scott Benner (18:08) I feel bad, Olivia, because you say you go to church, but I anyway, here's my honest truth. (18:12) What the fuck is wrong with everybody? (18:14) Why don't they see you as a thing to protect and take care of? (18:18) Like, why did they like Yeah. (18:20) I don't know.
Scott Benner (18:21) Go. (18:22) Okay. (18:23) Yeah. (18:23) Alright. (18:23) Alright.
Scott Benner (18:24) It's not that hard. (18:25) Listen. (18:26) Let me lay it out for everybody. (18:27) You're young. (18:28) You got horny.
Scott Benner (18:29) You found somebody. (18:29) You made a baby. (18:30) Now you're in charge of it. (18:31) Not just in charge of it. (18:32) You're responsible for it.
Scott Benner (18:34) It's supposed to be healthy and happy. (18:37) Those are really your only goals. (18:39) Feed it decent food, take care of it, keep it warm, and treat it like you care about it. (18:44) It's not that difficult, everybody. (18:46) Like, it just really isn't that difficult.
Scott Benner (18:49) Like, just have other people's best interest at heart and put yourself second. (18:54) You know I'm not a religious person, but doesn't it sound like I am when I'm talking all the time? (18:58) Olivia, am I right about that part?
Olivia (19:00) Yeah. (19:00) Yeah. (19:01) You really are.
Scott Benner (19:01) I'm just saying, like, this is common sense. (19:04) Like, the tenants of good religion, the tenants of being a good person, they're all the same. (19:09) Like, just don't call your 16 year old in the house and tell them what they're doing wrong. (19:13) It's your marriage, your disaster, your mess, and then she's sitting there crying and you continue on and the grandparents are there, everyone's in Mhmm. (19:21) Soul.
Scott Benner (19:22) I don't and I don't just mean in your story. (19:24) I mean all of you. (19:25) This is a disaster. (19:26) Alright. (19:27) I'm sorry.
Scott Benner (19:27) I'm sorry. (19:28) You're in the middle of your No. (19:29) That's No. (19:30) No. (19:30) I'm now I'm mad because I'm I grew up with, divorced people and morons not understanding what they were supposed to be doing and messing it up.
Scott Benner (19:39) And you think I'm happy all the time? (19:41) I'm not. (19:41) Okay?
Olivia (19:43) And that's okay too. (19:44) It's okay to not be happy all
Scott Benner (19:45) the time. (19:45) Yeah. (19:46) You just do the things you're supposed to do still. (19:49) You don't get to just push a reset button and throw everyone away because you picked the crazy lady. (19:55) That's on you.
Scott Benner (19:56) I don't know. (19:57) Alright. (19:57) I'm sorry. (19:58) I'm very upset. (19:59) A lot of that probably didn't make sense.
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Olivia (21:09) Yeah. (21:09) So by the end of this, like, interrogation meeting, I don't even know what to call it, I remember walking out. (21:16) I feel very defeated. (21:17) And at that point, I'm like, okay. (21:21) I don't, you know, I don't really even know what to do in this situation with my relationship with my dad.
Olivia (21:26) And so I think, like, a month later, like, the divorce or not the divorce. (21:33) The, custody proceedings go through the courts, and, my mom officially has full custody of me. (21:39) And then my dad stopped communicating with me.
Scott Benner (21:43) What a Yeah. (21:44) Dick. (21:45) I mean, Jesus. (21:46) Yeah. (21:46) What so he wasn't worried about you.
Scott Benner (21:49) He was worried about the extra nut he'd have to put out when your mom had full custody. (21:52) And on top of that, he probably had to pay somebody to clean the cabinets. (21:55) So there's an extra charge there. (21:57) I think you should all appreciate that I was able to wind some comedy into that. (22:00) Oh my god.
Scott Benner (22:02) He just stopped talking to you. (22:04) So then you're
Olivia (22:05) He stopped talking to me.
Scott Benner (22:06) So then now you know he's only talking you to begin with because he had to, and it was saving him money. (22:13) That's how it feels. (22:14) Yeah. (22:14) Yeah.
Olivia (22:15) Think the end game for him was the money, which is messed up because so back then, he was working in an incredibly lucrative job, probably making half $1,000,000 a year.
Scott Benner (22:26) Twenty years ago?
Olivia (22:27) Extra for Wait.
Scott Benner (22:28) Twenty years ago, he's making a half 1,000,000?
Olivia (22:31) Yeah. (22:32) Oh. (22:32) Yeah. (22:32) Oh. (22:33) It it's ridiculous.
Olivia (22:35) And and so, you know, I'm sitting there thinking, like, okay. (22:38) Like, you're, you know, you're not talking to me because you're losing a few $100 extra, basically, pocket change that you're paying my mom.
Scott Benner (22:47) Olivia, a half 1,000,000 a year now is an insane amount of money. (22:51) Twenty years ago, it was unfathomable.
Olivia (22:55) Yeah.
Scott Benner (22:55) You all had a VCR before other people. (22:57) Like, you were fancy. (22:58) Yeah. (22:59) Yeah. (23:00) Yeah.
Scott Benner (23:00) Yeah. (23:00) No. (23:00) No. (23:01) That's where the two houses were. (23:02) But what oh my god.
Scott Benner (23:04) Isn't that something? (23:06) Oh, I'm so sorry. (23:07) Oh, no. (23:07) No, Olivia. (23:08) I'm so sorry.
Scott Benner (23:09) I am I'm so so sorry. (23:10) Like, all he had to do was say I love you and take care of you, and you would you would have been okay.
Olivia (23:16) Yeah. (23:16) Yeah. (23:17) That's all that's all it would have taken. (23:19) Mhmm. (23:19) Just, you know, like, a few more hugs here and there and just interest in who I was and what what I was going through.
Olivia (23:27) But, yeah, I haven't I haven't heard from my dad ever since then.
Scott Benner (23:32) Yeah. (23:32) Well, are you are you serious?
Olivia (23:35) I'm serious. (23:35) It's been almost thirteen years since I've spoken to my dad.
Scott Benner (23:38) Oh my god. (23:40) And now you're not talking to your mom?
Olivia (23:42) Yep. (23:42) So it's been a few months due to a whole other slew of issues. (23:47) It's been a few months since I've spoken to my mom.
Scott Benner (23:50) Oh, and that's it's something she started, not you? (23:54) Or I
Olivia (23:55) I think so. (23:55) Yeah. (23:56) And I'm I'm still I'm still actively working through all of this, and I've been wrestling with a lot of guilt thinking like, oh, you know, I feel like I'm the bad person here because I'm not talking to my mom, but then I so that's the emotional side of me. (24:10) But then the logical side of me says, like, no. (24:12) Like, it's because of her behaviors toward me that that's why I'm putting up a boundary.
Olivia (24:18) Yeah. (24:18) So to provide context on all of this, going back to what I said before with my mom possibly being borderline, when you grow up with a parent like that, it molds a child in a in, you know, different ways. (24:33) It made me into a people pleaser. (24:35) But on top of that, I think, especially after my parents got divorced, my mom shaped me and molded me into being, like, her own emotional mother or emotional spouse
Scott Benner (24:48) Yeah.
Olivia (24:48) If that makes sense.
Scott Benner (24:50) You're her stuffed animal now. (24:51) Yes.
Olivia (24:52) Yeah. (24:53) Or, like, therapy dog
Scott Benner (24:54) Oh, jeez.
Olivia (24:55) Put it in another way.
Scott Benner (24:55) So sorry. (24:56) Yeah. (24:56) Yeah.
Olivia (24:56) Yeah. (24:57) And there was also a lot of enmeshment between my mom and I, that I'm working actively to untangle. (25:05) And the more and more that I'm peeling back layers of the onion and just, you know, really digging in deep as to, you know, how much this hurts, it's like, yeah. (25:14) This is messed up. (25:15) Like, I you know, if I become a mother someday, I don't want to repeat these same patterns with my own children.
Olivia (25:22) I want them to grow up feeling loved and also feeling like they could be independent from me and be free from me, and I want them to grow up in a stable environment. (25:32) So, those have been a lot of the motivations
Scott Benner (25:35) Yeah.
Olivia (25:35) For me.
Scott Benner (25:36) I feel like you would do that.
Olivia (25:37) These boundaries.
Scott Benner (25:37) I I feel I feel like you would do that. (25:39) Are you thinking of Thank you. (25:41) No. (25:41) No. (25:41) I mean, listen.
Scott Benner (25:43) I've, have absolutely no training, and, that's been pointed out in a couple of reviews of the podcast. (25:48) And I don't really know what I'm talking about, but, I mean, I do know people pretty well, and it it feels to me like you got your lessons. (25:55) You took you took the right things from them, and now you're just up to the, you know, the part where you're gonna need to make the baby and and get moving. (26:03) Like, is that a thing you're talk Yeah. (26:04) Talking about doing?
Olivia (26:05) Yeah. (26:06) It's actually been something that my husband and I have been talking about pretty recently. (26:10) Well, actually, really over the past year or so.
Scott Benner (26:13) You know talking is not the way it's gonna happen, though. (26:15) Right?
Olivia (26:16) No. (26:16) No. (26:16) No. (26:17) No. (26:17) It does it involves a little bit more than that.
Olivia (26:19) Right.
Scott Benner (26:19) Right. (26:19) Yeah. (26:20) Yeah. (26:20) There's all other stuff you gotta do.
Olivia (26:22) But yeah. (26:23) A lot of this past year, has been and I guess, like, tying diabetes back into this, a lot of this past year has been me, I guess, getting my ducks in a row and really, really, like, tightening down my, blood sugar control in order to make
Scott Benner (26:40) Oh, okay.
Olivia (26:41) Having a pregnancy possible. (26:44) And actually, this afternoon, I have a video chat scheduled with a possible MFM. (26:49) So this is something that my husband and I are thinking about actually trying to put into action maybe in November or December, which I'm pretty excited about. (26:58) LFM? (27:00) Yep.
Olivia (27:00) Maternal fetal medicine doctor.
Scott Benner (27:02) I thought I'm not even gonna say what popped into my head. (27:05) Like, just like it's fine. (27:07) I don't I feel like it's not a thing you would know about, and I think it it it shines a poor light on me. (27:12) Maternal fetal medicine doctor. (27:13) Exactly what I was thinking.
Scott Benner (27:15) Okay. (27:15) So so now I'm wondering if you know. (27:19) We'll talk about it after we stop recording.
Olivia (27:21) Oh, I'd love to hear your thoughts.
Scott Benner (27:24) So you are like, okay. (27:26) I'm gonna I'm reasonably confident that I'm not as screwed up as my parents. (27:30) I wanna have kids. (27:31) I'd like to provide a a nice life for a child, the one I didn't get for sure. (27:35) Yeah.
Scott Benner (27:36) Did your husband get a good upbringing?
Olivia (27:38) He had a much more stable upbringing than me. (27:41) It it still
Scott Benner (27:41) has saying much, Olivia.
Olivia (27:45) Yes. (27:46) Yes. (27:46) Objectively speaking, he did have a a much more stable upbringing than me. (27:50) There there were some issues with with his dad Yeah. (27:54) Growing up.
Olivia (27:54) Yeah. (27:55) Like, some anger issues, but everything has been resolved.
Scott Benner (27:59) If your husband grew up in a crack house, he'd have a more stable, upbringing than you. (28:03) So Yeah. (28:03) Yeah. (28:04) Yeah. (28:04) For real.
Scott Benner (28:04) Yeah. (28:04) No kidding. (28:05) Oh, so okay. (28:06) So you guys are gonna make a baby. (28:07) This is awesome.
Scott Benner (28:08) And you Yep. (28:09) You knew yeah. (28:11) I gotta like, so you didn't feel like your your a one c's blood sugar stability was where it needed to be for baby making. (28:17) So what did you do?
Olivia (28:18) This kind of started back in I'll back up to about a year ago.
Scott Benner (28:23) Mhmm.
Olivia (28:24) I was seeing an endocrinologist for a few years, and my a one c's all throughout last year were fairly like, not super high, but not quite where I wanted them to be, like high sixes, low sevens.
Scott Benner (28:37) Okay.
Olivia (28:38) And as time went on working with this endocrinologist, like, like, whenever I would try to tweak my pump settings on my own, she would say, like, oh, you shouldn't do that. (28:49) And I would be sitting there thinking, like, well, I'm the one living with the disease twenty four seven. (28:54) I only see you, like, four times a year.
Scott Benner (28:56) Right.
Olivia (28:57) The tweaks that she would make during my appointments also didn't really make much sense. (29:02) So for context, I use Medtronic seven eighty g with SmartGuard. (29:07) As I was working with this old endocrinologist, I got the sense that she didn't really fully understand how my algorithm worked. (29:16) I would be sitting there and so back in January, I had an a one c of 6.6. (29:23) Okay.
Olivia (29:23) You know, we're below seven.
Scott Benner (29:25) Not bad.
Olivia (29:25) But that came with
Scott Benner (29:27) A lot of lows?
Olivia (29:28) Surprisingly, no. (29:29) So that came with, restricting carbs because I was struggling with postprandial spikes a lot.
Scott Benner (29:36) Oh, okay.
Olivia (29:37) So I was restricting carbs, and I hated it because I enjoy eating carby foods. (29:42) And so I thought, okay. (29:43) Like, this has to change. (29:45) And so I had an appointment with her in February, which was actually my last appointment with her. (29:51) She looks at my settings, and she's like, okay.
Olivia (29:53) You know, you got an a one c of 6.6. (29:56) We're going to increase no. (29:59) Increase, not decrease your insulin to carb ratios. (30:01) So I was getting even less mealtime insulin. (30:04) If we increase the insulin carb ratios, we can trick the pump into making more basal insulin.
Olivia (30:10) She was really fixated on this idea that I had to be receiving 50% basal, 50% bolus even though, like, on average Is
Scott Benner (30:20) she older?
Olivia (30:21) I would say she's probably, like, in her upper forties or lower fifties.
Scott Benner (30:25) Yeah. (30:26) Yeah. (30:26) Okay. (30:26) Alright. (30:27) So she you had a six six on an automated system, and her idea was to give the system less autonomy and
Olivia (30:34) Yeah. (30:35) Force it.
Scott Benner (30:36) And and I'm assuming your a one c went up after she did that, or did you just change it back when you got in the parking lot?
Olivia (30:41) So during that time, I changed it back immediately, but there was an almost equivalent time a year prior. (30:49) So, like, early twenty twenty four where this happened, my a one c that year also started as a 6.6. (30:56) She increased my insulin to carb ratios with the same kind of mindset, and my next a one c was 7.3. (31:03) Yeah. (31:03) So it jumped almost by a whole percentage point.
Olivia (31:06) Yeah. (31:06) And so at the start of this year, I was looking at it thinking like, oh, no. (31:10) I'm not gonna let that happen again, especially because, you know, I wanna have a baby sometime this year or be pregnant at least. (31:17) Yeah. (31:18) So I changed my settings back to what they were and immediately started this search for a new endocrinologist.
Scott Benner (31:24) Yeah. (31:25) Jeez. (31:25) Well, you found somebody, I hope?
Olivia (31:27) Yep. (31:28) I found somebody. (31:29) I I had my first appointment with them about a month ago. (31:33) I feel like I can really trust them. (31:35) For the six months, the between appointments, though, like the February appointment with the old endo and the August appointment with with the new endo.
Olivia (31:44) For six months, I was kinda just trying to figure things out on my own, which is where listening to the podcast really, really helped me out. (31:52) Just implementing the tips in the, diabetes pro tip series, and I saw my a one c drop from 6.6 back in January, February down to 5.8 as of August Awesome. (32:06) Just from listening to the podcast. (32:08) And so I'm feeling I'm feeling physically better overall, and I'm feeling a lot more confident in my ability to possibly, like, have a healthy pregnancy too.
Scott Benner (32:18) Good for you. (32:18) That's awesome. (32:19) How do you feel about the name Scott or Scottina?
Olivia (32:24) I I like the name Scott.
Scott Benner (32:26) Oh, yeah.
Olivia (32:26) Scotina, it would be pretty unique.
Scott Benner (32:28) Yeah. (32:28) Yeah. (32:28) Yeah.
Olivia (32:29) Yeah. (32:29) Like, it has a unique ring to it.
Scott Benner (32:31) Certainly does. (32:34) Well, I'm so happy for you that you feel like this is possible now. (32:37) That's really great.
Olivia (32:38) Yeah. (32:39) Yeah. (32:39) I I I feel really empowered.
Scott Benner (32:42) Oh, I'm I'm so I'm so pleased. (32:44) You found the podcast and then went right to the pro tip series?
Olivia (32:48) I did. (32:48) Yeah. (32:48) So I found the podcast. (32:50) I went right to the pro tips because I I was just sitting there thinking, like, I need help. (32:55) And I was, you know, I was also looking at different support groups on Facebook, and I ended up joining the Juicebox podcast support group on Facebook.
Scott Benner (33:06) Awesome.
Olivia (33:07) Also just, you know, trying to devour every single article that I could about, like, okay. (33:13) You know, how how do protein and fat impact, blood sugar over time? (33:18) Just things of that nature. (33:20) Awesome. (33:20) But the Pro Tip series has really helped me.
Scott Benner (33:23) Oh, I'm so happy. (33:24) I I I really am thrilled for you. (33:26) I mean, after learning your story, it's so much more meaningful to hear that you got to feel empowered and feel like you can, you know, go out and try to make that baby that you're trying to make and and for all those reasons. (33:38) Like, it's not as you know what I mean? (33:39) Like, hearing your story before that makes the rest of it just richer because otherwise, you come on and you go like, oh, you know, my a one c was a little high and my doctor wasn't great and I had to try to help and, you know, we're trying to have a kid.
Scott Benner (33:52) Like, and that all seems kinda clinical. (33:53) But, like, to really know the backstory, it makes it so much more meaningful to hear from you.
Olivia (33:57) Absolutely. (33:58) Yeah. (33:58) Like, at times, I I imagine that I'm like a phoenix rising out of the ashes. (34:02) Yeah. (34:03) Like, rising out of, like, you know, just, like, this big pile of ashes that is my childhood and early adulthood, and and a lot of it in is in part because of my husband.
Olivia (34:14) Just Sure. (34:14) What an incredible support he's been. (34:17) He's my best friend, and I I'm sure a lot of, you know, married couples say that about one another. (34:23) Like, he or she is my best friend, but it's true. (34:25) He's been just such an incredible emotional support as I've been processing stuff related to my mom recently When it came to switching endocrinologists, at first, I was a little bit hesitant to make that switch because I was like, well, I've been with, you know, this old endocrinologist for so many years, but I also feel like I need to, you know, do this for my health.
Scott Benner (34:47) Yeah.
Olivia (34:48) And my husband says to me, like, you know, I'm gonna support you no matter what you decide. (34:53) And then he also says, nobody's coming to save the princess, and that has stuck with me, just in terms of dealing with a lot of challenges that I've had to overcome. (35:04) Mhmm. (35:04) And what he meant by that is, like like, you know, the other people can come alongside me and provide support, but when it comes to actually taking the action steps to change things, only I can do that. (35:16) I do.
Olivia (35:16) You're so And it's been so empowering to me.
Scott Benner (35:19) Yeah. (35:19) Well, listen. (35:20) I already know that I'm gonna call your episode Phoenix Rising. (35:24) And
Olivia (35:24) I love that.
Scott Benner (35:25) And I'm going to and I know some of you give me, I'm sorry that I use AI to make my artwork. (35:30) I would love to hire an artist. (35:32) Please send over a million dollars so I can pay them. (35:35) But I see your phoenix not rising from ashes, but rising from a pile of dust out of a cabinet. (35:41) And that's gonna be the the that's gonna be the image for it.
Scott Benner (35:45) It's either that or coming out of a bedroom that's like a dungeon. (35:47) What if I told AI, make, an image of a phoenix emerging from a bedroom. (35:56) The bedroom is dark and dungeon like, devoid of love, and instead of ashes around it, it's dust. (36:03) That's gonna be my my AI prompt, and we'll see what we got.
Olivia (36:06) I'll be very curious to see what you end up with.
Scott Benner (36:08) Me too, actually. (36:10) I I'm sorry. (36:11) I wanna say that, like, while you're doing all this right now and you're you're thinking about having this baby and everything and and you're you're in the middle of a thing with your mom, I I would tell you there I know there's two minds around this. (36:22) Right? (36:22) Like, there's I've heard people say that, you know, Americans are a little too, quick to cut themselves away from their families, but I don't think that that's this.
Scott Benner (36:33) Like, I think that, you know, joking earlier and everything, but, like, you know, your mom sounds like she has a mental health issue. (36:40) And, you know, you can't spend your whole life in flux waiting for that to change when the it's very likely not gonna change at all.
Olivia (36:48) No. (36:49) And, you know, I hope at some point that, you know, she and I can reconcile. (36:54) I I don't wanna cut ties with her forever. (36:57) There was an instance three months ago where it just suddenly came to me like, okay. (37:03) I can't expect my mom to be the type of woman that I want her to be.
Olivia (37:09) I need to accept that this is the way that she is.
Scott Benner (37:12) Yeah. (37:12) I think that's important.
Olivia (37:14) It's a tough pill to swallow to say the least.
Scott Benner (37:16) Of course. (37:16) Yeah. (37:17) No. (37:17) Of course, it is. (37:18) But I think it's important because, otherwise, you'll spend your whole life trying to change something that can't be changed.
Olivia (37:23) That's right.
Scott Benner (37:24) You can be supportive of her without the expectation that she's gonna turn into the person that you need or want or that she probably should be.
Olivia (37:34) Right.
Scott Benner (37:35) Yeah. (37:35) Yeah. (37:35) And and you can't and time is ticking. (37:37) You don't have forever. (37:38) How old are you again?
Olivia (37:40) I'm 29. (37:41) Yeah. (37:42) I'll be 30 in January, so almost 30.
Scott Benner (37:45) They'd be making time.
Olivia (37:47) Yep. (37:47) They'd be making time.
Scott Benner (37:48) And I I love that you waited to get into a serious relationship. (37:52) I seriously I know I said it once, but I I I genuinely believe you probably saved yourself from, you know, being in the same situation that your parents were in at some point if you would have jumped in a little too soon. (38:01) Yeah. (38:01) And and even that takes a lot of, it takes a lot of maturity to do. (38:06) Right?
Scott Benner (38:06) And, you know, you know what I mean? (38:08) Like, it's not easy to to decline your happiness or or put things aside or wait because, you know, there's a bigger reason to do it. (38:17) Like, a lot of people would just, you know, march forward and be like, no. (38:20) I'm just gonna date and use my bad my bad judgment to pick somebody.
Olivia (38:25) Yeah. (38:26) Like, that is, like, the maturity. (38:29) Like, that is one blessing that I see in the midst of the scrambled mess of chaos that my childhood was. (38:36) Yeah. (38:36) I I was forced to grow up pretty quickly, and I I was pretty mature for my age growing up.
Olivia (38:44) So that is something that I'm grateful for. (38:46) Mhmm. (38:47) Do I wish that it you know, if I could go back and change it, do I wish that it would have happened that way? (38:51) Absolutely not. (38:52) But but it's a it's a silver lining in a stormy sky.
Scott Benner (38:58) Yeah. (38:58) You have to you have to look for it sometimes. (38:59) Like right. (39:00) Like yeah. (39:00) I mean, if if we're gonna sit down magic wand and make up a life for you, this is the one we're making up.
Scott Benner (39:05) But if this is how it goes, at least you come out of it with, you know, some tools and ideas and perspective. (39:11) You have a ton of perspective. (39:13) You know? (39:13) And and to bring it back around to the beginning where you said, you know, the diabetes thing, you know, has got you ready for other hard things. (39:20) Do you think that's the case?
Scott Benner (39:22) Do you think that growing up with diabetes made you ready for this stuff, or do you think that maybe this stuff I don't know how I mean this exactly. (39:31) Like, maybe this stuff is I don't know. (39:36) I sometimes I think of it as perspective. (39:38) I'm sorry for, like, fumbling around this. (39:40) But, like
Olivia (39:40) No. (39:41) No. (39:41) You're
Scott Benner (39:41) good. (39:41) Sometimes I think of it as perspective. (39:44) Like, the diabetes gives you some perspective. (39:46) Right? (39:46) Like
Olivia (39:47) Mhmm.
Scott Benner (39:48) It could be worse. (39:49) I could be dead. (39:50) I could like, know, sometimes people take that from it. (39:53) Right? (39:53) And then the other Right.
Scott Benner (39:54) Other stuff in life just seems more manageable because there's an actual thing trying to kill you. (40:00) You know, other people Yeah. (40:02) You know what I'm saying? (40:03) Like, maybe the diabetes is a perspective leveler, and then it happens again and again and again. (40:08) It makes you more available to bigger picture thinking when stuff happens.
Olivia (40:14) Yeah. (40:14) I I definitely think that's true. (40:16) And, like, as you were talking, I was thinking about the fact that I was diagnosed so young that I don't remember life without t one d. (40:24) I think I think just growing up with this thing and kind of accepting it as normal, you know, when the bad days would come, it's like, okay. (40:33) You know, my blood sugar's, you know, doing a roller coaster type of thing, and that's always miserable when it happens.
Olivia (40:40) But it's like, okay. (40:41) You know, I gotta slow down, I just gotta say, like, this isn't going to last forever. (40:45) I'm gonna, you know, get out of this moment and and then just say, okay. (40:51) What do I need to do in order to try to bring this roller coaster back to a source of stability.
Scott Benner (40:58) Yeah. (40:58) I have to say remarkably normal for what happened to you.
Olivia (41:03) I appreciate you saying that. (41:04) Seriously, I do.
Scott Benner (41:06) No. (41:06) I mean, almost shockingly so. (41:08) Because if you were a little wacky, I'd be like, yeah. (41:12) Right on. (41:13) She deserves it.
Scott Benner (41:13) You you know, like like, I I get that. (41:16) You just seem awfully normal for what happened to you. (41:19) I I I mean, good for you. (41:20) Congrats. (41:20) I don't know what you did or if it's decisions along the way or if you got lucky, but good for you or congratulations, whatever fits.
Olivia (41:27) Thank you. (41:28) Yeah. (41:28) I so I honestly can't really I I don't think I can point at any specific decisions that I've made. (41:36) I I know I mentioned that my husband and I met at church, and I think it's my my faith in God
Scott Benner (41:43) Has helped you.
Olivia (41:44) That has really just kept me afloat all of these years. (41:49) Just knowing that, okay. (41:50) Like, even though my both my mom and my dad are messed up, I can look at god as, like, the perfect father and say, like, okay. (41:58) You know, he's truly on my side, and he's truly got my back.
Scott Benner (42:03) Yeah. (42:03) I mean, you need something. (42:05) Right?
Olivia (42:05) Like, Absolutely.
Scott Benner (42:06) Yeah. (42:06) You didn't go to therapy. (42:08) Right?
Olivia (42:08) Well, I I did go to therapy off and on, like, ever since 2012 when my my abandonment by my dad started.
Scott Benner (42:18) Yeah.
Olivia (42:18) I'm actually currently in therapy dealing with the issues related to my mom, but it's kind of been on and off as I've needed it over time. (42:27) And it's something I'm definitely not ashamed of. (42:29) I know that there could be a lot of stigma related to Not for me. (42:33) Seeking out a therapist.
Scott Benner (42:35) Yeah. (42:35) No.
Olivia (42:35) No. (42:35) That's a good thing. (42:36) Yeah.
Scott Benner (42:36) Yeah. (42:36) No. (42:37) Not for me. (42:38) Is it a therapist that you found through church, or did you find it through the health care system?
Olivia (42:43) So I right now, I'm actually in the in the midst of transitioning to a new therapist, but, the person I was seeing was actually a friend of my husband's who I was seeing for a time. (42:57) But then I I thought, okay. (42:59) You know, I feel like I need more extensive help that I'm getting, so I'm gonna look at the medical system and see who I can find there.
Scott Benner (43:07) Good for you. (43:08) That's awesome. (43:08) Like, you you're very, very proactive with your, with your life.
Olivia (43:13) Thanks. (43:14) I I try to be.
Scott Benner (43:15) Yeah. (43:15) No. (43:15) You you clearly are. (43:16) I mean, let's take a half a second. (43:18) This is obviously this is pretty long.
Scott Benner (43:20) It'll end up being two parts probably. (43:22) Just let me ask you here. (43:24) Like, you got your PhD in pharmacology. (43:25) What do you do for a living?
Olivia (43:27) I currently work in a research lab at nearby university. (43:32) I'm doing, immunology research, specifically focused on lupus. (43:36) So although it's not t one d, it's autoimmune disease, and I love it. (43:41) I'm the person who is either wearing the white lab coat and sitting at the lab bench doing all kinds of nerdy site stuff, or I'm being a nerd sitting at my computer doing computational analysis. (43:53) And I love my job because every day I feel like I'm learning something new.
Olivia (43:57) Mhmm. (43:58) I think I would be bored working at a job where you're doing the same exact thing over and over again. (44:04) Yeah. (44:04) Funny story about that. (44:06) Ever since I was a teenager, I knew I wanted to go into scientific research for a living.
Olivia (44:12) And I remember sitting there one day, I I was, eating cereal for breakfast, and I don't remember what type of cereal it was. (44:19) But I was looking at the ingredients list on the cereal box, and I was looking at it, and I had a thought in my head. (44:25) I wonder what ingredients go into insulin. (44:28) And so that sparked the interest in wanting to go into scientific research, and here I am now.
Scott Benner (44:34) Wow. (44:34) Just because you wondered what was in insulin.
Olivia (44:36) Yep.
Scott Benner (44:37) Did ever find out? (44:37) Did you ever look into it or you just, like, went on your way?
Olivia (44:41) I I I did look into it. (44:43) And granted, it was a a little while back, but I remember sitting down and looking up articles about, okay, what's the chemical structure of insulin lispro versus versus insulin aspart? (44:57) And FIASSP, you know, I was comparing all of these and and also learning about, like, the different types of solutions that the actual insulin protein molecules are Mhmm. (45:09) Stored in. (45:10) And, yeah, just super interesting stuff.
Scott Benner (45:12) Now listen. (45:13) I wanna say to everybody, see all the things you can think about if you're not running around crazy having sex all the time? (45:19) See? (45:20) Olivia wasn't chasing boys. (45:21) She was figuring things out, getting her life straight.
Scott Benner (45:25) Right? (45:25) Seriously, am I not wrong about this? (45:27) I'm right. (45:27) Right? (45:28) Yeah.
Scott Benner (45:28) Put some focus on yourself. (45:30) Don't be embarrassed, lovey. (45:31) It's okay. (45:33) I like that you focused on yourself first in other endeavors. (45:36) I see people running around all over crazy constantly, dating this one and that one and doing this and that.
Scott Benner (45:41) Like, I'm not saying don't go out and do a thing, but, like, you know, big picture. (45:46) I Absolutely. (45:48) Yeah. (45:48) I would have adopted you. (45:49) I I you should have you should have reached out when that guy screwed you over.
Scott Benner (45:52) I mean, I don't have his money. (45:54) So, I mean, maybe you would have, maybe you would have been like, no. (45:57) Thank you. (45:58) I'm gonna I'm gonna stick with the guy over here. (46:00) But
Olivia (46:00) Yeah. (46:01) I mean, if if, like, I let me think back then. (46:05) Well, I guess it depends on, you know, if we're talking about, like, way you know, like, almost thirty years ago. (46:10) Like, I would be sitting here thinking, well, you know, the Internet really isn't really isn't, like, a big thing. (46:16) So I how would I reach this guy?
Scott Benner (46:18) I would have been 24. (46:19) So I don't think I would have been I don't think I would have been much help to you at all. (46:22) I would have been like, listen. (46:23) Your story is insane, but I cannot help you. (46:25) Please get away from me.
Olivia (46:26) So Yeah. (46:27) And and and, like, the me now would say, like, you know what? (46:30) That is totally fine. (46:31) Like, you you gotta take care of yourself.
Scott Benner (46:34) Yeah. (46:34) Yeah. (46:34) You got, a nice I don't know. (46:36) You're you got a good vibe about you. (46:37) Good for you.
Scott Benner (46:38) That's awesome.
Olivia (46:39) Thank you so much.
Scott Benner (46:39) Yeah. (46:40) No. (46:40) I'm I'd I'd clap for you if I thought it was appropriate because you you really did come through a fire. (46:44) No kidding. (46:46) Well, let me end with this.
Scott Benner (46:48) Unless you have do you have anything else you wanna say before I I wrap up?
Olivia (46:52) I I think we've covered a lot.
Scott Benner (46:53) Oh, we
Olivia (46:54) We've covered everything. (46:55) Yeah. (46:55) Yeah.
Scott Benner (46:56) Yeah. (46:56) Yeah.
Olivia (46:56) I think we've covered everything that I wanted to talk about. (46:59) So, yeah, hit me with your question.
Scott Benner (47:01) Okay. (47:02) Everything goes well. (47:03) Couple years from now, little baby's running around, things are going great, the baby grows up. (47:09) You one day have a feeling like, oh, no. (47:13) I'm having a response like my parents would.
Scott Benner (47:16) What do you think you'd do to get ahead of it? (47:20) Like, do you have that like, it's gotta be a worry. (47:22) Right? (47:22) Because I have those worries. (47:23) Like, you know, like, what if I do things my parents did?
Scott Benner (47:26) Like but I never you just seem so much more well thought out. (47:29) Like, I just tried to roll with it and figure out the thing to do. (47:33) I feel like you're gonna have a plan.
Olivia (47:35) That is a thought that's run through my head quite a lot. (47:37) It's, it's been a thought that's popped into my head even with my marriage, with my husband.
Scott Benner (47:44) Mhmm.
Olivia (47:45) And I different times even in my marriage where I've caught myself falling into some of the same tendencies that I would show with my mom or dad, primarily, like, the people pleasing type of thing and not really, like, being assertive, I guess. (47:59) Yeah. (48:00) And saying, like, you know, yeah. (48:02) Like, you know, I don't really feel like doing this particular thing tonight. (48:05) That's also been kind of a worry when thinking about having young ones too.
Olivia (48:10) And I think I think if I felt some of those tendencies rising up, I would have to would have to have really good mindfulness and stop and take a pause and say, like, okay. (48:21) You know, I might be feeling frustrated or I might be feeling angry right now, but, you know, everything is gonna be okay. (48:28) Just, you know, take a few deep breaths in and out. (48:30) And then rather than, you know, screaming my head off at my poor child, you know, just go do what I need to do and say, like, hey. (48:39) You know?
Olivia (48:40) Like, I you know, if they're throwing a tantrum, hey. (48:43) You know, I know that you're upset, but, you know, this is the rule, something like that.
Scott Benner (48:49) You might make a good therapist one day, by the way.
Olivia (48:51) Well, thank you.
Scott Benner (48:52) Yeah. (48:53) I mean, I think sometimes it takes people who have been through things to really understand. (48:57) And then, you know, the rest of it is the implementation of it is is the hard part. (49:01) Like, knowing the right thing to do, like, knowing, like, I don't wanna be yelling at people or even the thing you were talking about with your husband is super simp is super interesting because it's not just, like, it's not just the the issue of, like, I don't wanna just people please. (49:15) Like, if he says, hey.
Scott Benner (49:15) Let's go here for dinner. (49:16) I don't just say yes because, you know, because he said so. (49:19) I I have an opinion. (49:20) But you also don't wanna shout him down. (49:23) Like, it's No.
Scott Benner (49:24) Yeah. (49:24) You're you're you're fighting against not wanting to be your dad, not wanting to be, like, pushed around, and also not wanting to be your mom, not wanting to be so exertive that it looks crazy. (49:35) And yeah. (49:36) So you're you're you're fighting a war on two fronts, really.
Olivia (49:39) Yeah. (49:40) If if anything, my so my mom and dad have taught me good things that have stuck with me to this day, but they've also taught me a lot of what not to do in a marriage relationship, what not to do when you're parenting. (49:54) And so I sit there and think, like, okay. (49:57) You know, I I know that it's wrong to scream at your kids when you're angry at them. (50:03) I know that it's wrong to, you know, be listening to your child's emotions and then say, like, you have no reason to feel that way.
Olivia (50:11) That's something that my dad told me before. (50:13) So, like, I know, you know, that all of these things are inherently wrong, so I'm I'm not gonna do them.
Scott Benner (50:19) Jeez. (50:20) Yeah. (50:20) I listen. (50:21) It's one of the first things my wife taught me. (50:22) She was like, I feel the way I feel.
Scott Benner (50:24) And I was like, okay. (50:25) You know, I was young and I grew up poorly and, you know, like, sometimes people said things and you're like, oh, you don't have to feel that way. (50:30) And she's like, well, I do. (50:31) And I'm like, oh, okay. (50:33) You know?
Scott Benner (50:33) And just some sometimes somebody's gotta say the obvious stuff to you when you didn't grow up being, you know, with that obvious stuff being modeled in front of you. (50:41) So
Olivia (50:41) Absolutely.
Scott Benner (50:42) Listen. (50:43) You, you should win an award. (50:44) I don't know what the award is called. (50:46) If I had it, would send you a ribbon because I I think you I think you deserve it. (50:50) And I really
Olivia (50:51) I appreciate that.
Scott Benner (50:52) No. (50:52) I appreciate you coming on and talking about this. (50:54) This is not an easy thing to talk about. (50:55) Am I right?
Olivia (50:56) No. (50:56) It's not. (50:57) I think it gets easier just as time passes. (51:00) And, like, one reason why I wanted to come on the show and talk about all of this is because I know that there are people who are dealing with similar circumstances, and it it can be really lonely feeling like you're the only one dealing with these types of things. (51:15) But I wanted to come on and talk about them so that those listening don't feel quite so alone in their own journeys.
Scott Benner (51:23) Yeah.
Olivia (51:24) And so I hope that I can provide a little beacon of light to those who are listening.
Scott Benner (51:29) Brought a beacon to me, so I assume it's gonna come for everybody else too. (51:32) I really enjoyed this. (51:33) Thank you very, very much.
Olivia (51:35) I had a great time too, Scott, and thank you so much for having me on the show.
Scott Benner (51:38) I appreciate it. (51:39) And let people know you're very stuffy, and, you fought through it valiantly. (51:43) We appreciate that. (51:45) And I think it really added to your, like, Michigan accent. (51:48) I think it was kinda neat.
Olivia (51:50) You can tell that I have a Michigan accent.
Scott Benner (51:53) Yeah. (51:53) You can't.
Olivia (51:54) I I mean, it my voice just sounds like my voice, and I I mean, I guess at times, I might say something one way and think like, okay. (52:03) Yeah. (52:04) That sounds like a Detroit accent, but I I've never really thought, like, yeah. (52:08) I have a Michigan accent.
Scott Benner (52:10) Well, also, you you know, you know, you said your parents flew back to Michigan. (52:13) Also, you said that you used a Medtronic pump. (52:16) That's a very, upper, Midwest thing. (52:19) Medtronic's super seriously, Medtronic's huge, like Minnesota, Wisconsin, like, right up in there. (52:25) Think probably because the company's up there.
Scott Benner (52:27) And
Olivia (52:27) Yeah. (52:28) That makes sense.
Scott Benner (52:29) You do have a little bit of but it's neat because, like, I imagine that if I if you jump back on a a week from now and we spoke, I would think, oh, did was somebody pinching your nose while we were talking last time? (52:40) But you sound completely no one else will know. (52:42) If I hadn't brought it up, nobody would know.
Olivia (52:44) That's true. (52:44) Yeah.
Scott Benner (52:45) Yeah. (52:45) Yeah. (52:45) It's awesome. (52:46) You were really, really terrific. (52:47) Would you hold on a second for me?
Scott Benner (52:56) This episode of the Juice Box podcast was sponsored by US Med. (53:00) U s med dot com slash juice box or call (888) 721-1514. (53:07) Get started today with US Med. (53:10) Links in the show notes. (53:11) Links at juiceboxpodcast.com.
Scott Benner (53:16) Head now to tandemdiabetes.com/juicebox and check out today's sponsor, Tandem Diabetes Care. (53:23) I think you're gonna find exactly what you're looking for at that link, including a way to sign up and get started with the Tandem Mobi system. (53:33) The podcast episode that you just enjoyed was sponsored by Eversense CGM. (53:38) They make the Eversense three sixty five. (53:41) That thing lasts a whole year.
Scott Benner (53:42) One insertion? (53:44) Every year? (53:45) Come on. (53:46) You probably feel like I'm messing with you, but I'm not. (53:48) Ever since cgm.com/juicebox.
Scott Benner (53:57) Hey. (53:57) Thanks for listening all the way to the end. (53:59) I really appreciate your loyalty and listenership. (54:02) Thank you so much for listening. (54:03) I'll be back very soon with another episode of the Juice Box podcast.
Scott Benner (54:08) If you're looking for community around type one diabetes, check out the Juice Box podcast private Facebook group, juice box podcast, type one diabetes. (54:17) But everybody is welcome. (54:18) Type one, type two, gestational, loved ones, it doesn't matter to me. (54:23) If you're impacted by diabetes and you're looking for support, comfort, or community, check out Juice Box podcast, Type one Diabetes on Facebook. (54:32) Hey.
Scott Benner (54:33) I'm dropping in to tell you about a small change being made to the Juice Cruise twenty twenty six schedule. (54:38) This adjustment was made by Celebrity Cruise Lines, not by me. (54:41) Anyway, we're still going out on the Celebrity Beyond cruise ship, which is awesome. (54:45) Check out the walkthrough video at juiceboxpodcast.com/juicecruise. (54:50) The ship is awesome.
Scott Benner (54:52) Still a seven night cruise. (54:54) It still leaves out of Miami on June 21. (54:57) Actually, most of this is the same. (54:58) We leave Miami June 21, head to Coco Cay in The Bahamas, but then we're going to San Juan, Puerto Rico instead of Saint Thomas. (55:06) After that, Bastille, I think I'm saying that wrong.
Scott Benner (55:09) Saint Kitts And Nevis. (55:10) This place is gorgeous. (55:12) Google it. (55:13) I mean, you're probably gonna have to go to my link to get the correct spelling because my pronunciation is so bad. (55:17) But once you get the Saint Kitts and you Google it, you're gonna look and see a photo that says to you, oh, I wanna go there.
Scott Benner (55:24) Come meet other people living with type one diabetes from caregivers to children to adults. (55:30) Last year, we had a 100 people on our cruise, and it was fabulous. (55:35) You can see pictures to get at my link, juiceboxpodcast.com/juicecruise. (55:40) You can see those pictures from last year there. (55:42) The link also gives you an opportunity to register for the cruise or to contact Suzanne from Cruise Planners.
Scott Benner (55:48) She takes care of all the logistics. (55:50) I'm just excited that I might see you there. (55:52) It's a beautiful event for families, for singles, a wonderful opportunity to meet people, swap stories, make friendships, and learn. (56:02) Have a podcast? (56:03) Want it to sound fantastic?
Scott Benner (56:05) Wrongwayrecording.com.
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#1728 ADA Standards of Care for 2026
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Scott and Jenny review the newly released 2026 ADA Standards of Care, praising key updates like hospital safety protocols while critiquing the "slow drift" of official guidance compared to real-world management.
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DISCLAIMER: This text is the output of AI based transcribing from an audio recording. Although the transcription is largely accurate, in some cases it is incomplete or inaccurate due to inaudible passages or transcription errors and should not be treated as an authoritative record. Nothing that you read here constitutes advice medical or otherwise. Always consult with a healthcare professional before making changes to a healthcare plan.
Scott Benner (0:0) Welcome back, friends, to another episode of the Juice Box podcast. (0:14) If you're new to type one diabetes, begin with the bold beginnings series from the podcast. (0:18) Don't take my word for it. (0:20) Listen to what reviewers have said. (0:22) Bold beginnings is the best first step.
Scott Benner (0:24) I learned more in those episodes than anywhere else. (0:27) This is when everything finally clicked. (0:29) People say it takes the stress out of their early days and replaces it with clarity. (0:33) They tell me this should come with the diagnosis packet that I got at the hospital. (0:38) And after they listen, they recommend it to everyone who's struggling.
Scott Benner (0:41) It's straightforward, practical, and easy to listen to. (0:44) Bold Beginnings gives you the basics in a way that actually makes sense. (0:50) If you're looking for community around type one diabetes, check out the Juice Box Podcast private Facebook group. (0:57) Juice Box Podcast, type one diabetes. (1:00) But everybody is welcome.
Scott Benner (1:01) Type one, type two, gestational, loved ones, it doesn't matter to me. (1:06) If you're impacted by diabetes and you're looking for support, comfort, or community, check out Juice Box Podcast, type one diabetes on Facebook. (1:16) Nothing you hear on the Juice Box podcast should be considered advice, medical or otherwise. (1:20) Always consult a physician before making any changes to your health care plan. (1:29) Jenny, I'm gonna spring this on you while we're recording.
Jenny Smith (1:33) Yay. (1:34) Which is not odd.
Scott Benner (1:35) No. (1:35) It's not odd at all. (1:36) But, you know, this one's a little out of left field. (1:38) We're gonna take a break this week from making bolus four episodes, which I have to tell you people are really enjoying. (1:43) So
Jenny Smith (1:43) we're gonna Awesome.
Scott Benner (1:44) We're gonna be making more of them. (1:45) I saw the ADA guidance came out the other day.
Jenny Smith (1:48) Yeah. (1:48) Right? (1:49) The 2026?
Scott Benner (1:50) 2026 guidance came out. (1:51) And I have to admit, like, the past, I've always been like, whatever. (1:55) Like, I don't really look at it too closely. (1:57) But this year, I thought, like, you know, everybody gets excited. (2:01) This marketing, this excitement or whatever?
Scott Benner (2:03) So I kinda dug into it a little bit. (2:05) And it is a lot it is a it's a it feels like a lot of nothing to me. (2:09) And I realized that it's something that probably moves on very slowly, but I thought it would be interesting to look at it and to kinda look backwards a little If bit you don't mind, like, I'm gonna scroll back to 2022.
Jenny Smith (2:22) Okay.
Scott Benner (2:22) Where the let's see how how I broke it down here.
Jenny Smith (2:26) Why 2022? (2:28) I'm just curious. (2:28) It's only four years ago. (2:29) It's not, like, a round five number. (2:32) So why that number?
Scott Benner (2:34) I wanna see if there's anything happening that just feels I guess what I wanna do is I I wanna show
Jenny Smith (2:38) people Significant enough indifference?
Scott Benner (2:40) Yeah. (2:40) And I'd like to show people that something that came up in 2022, 2023 is slowly being adjusted going forward. (2:47) It's not like, how do I mean this?
Jenny Smith (2:50) Okay. (2:50) A couple of
Scott Benner (2:51) go ahead.
Jenny Smith (2:52) No. (2:52) I was gonna say I I have one that I I know that we'll probably get into in terms of reviewing the current guidance that, again, just came out.
Scott Benner (3:01) Mhmm.
Jenny Smith (3:01) And that slow progression to something finally being in a standardized guideline
Scott Benner (3:08) Yeah.
Jenny Smith (3:09) That technically, I feel like has already been standard in the crowd of people I tend to work with or that you tend to speak to in terms of who listens. (3:21) Right?
Scott Benner (3:22) This is what throws me off about this. (3:23) Yeah. (3:24) I was prompted by I'm not trying to out anybody. (3:27) I was prompted by an email I got from a fairly big diabetes organization recently where they were like, oh my gosh. (3:35) Look at how exciting this is.
Scott Benner (3:37) And they their news I don't wanna say even what it was because I don't want people to know what it was like. (3:40) Like this Sure. (3:41) Amazing thing that's happening, blah blah blah. (3:42) And I thought, I've been talking about that for three years.
Jenny Smith (3:45) Right.
Scott Benner (3:45) Like, the mass of people see it like that. (3:48) Even, like, going back to 2022. (3:50) Right? (3:51) ADA is like screening is gonna be very important. (3:53) Screening.
Scott Benner (3:54) Screening. (3:55) Screening. (3:56) They've been talking about it now for, you know, a handful of years. (4:01) And in my opinion, where we're at is, you know, we're trying to screen to see if people are, you know, eligible for t zeal, but the process of screening them is just, it's insane. (4:12) Yeah.
Scott Benner (4:13) They're gonna get people who have not been diagnosed with type one yet early enough that they're eligible for t zealed. (4:19) And then if you find them, the answer is thirteen infusions over thirteen days. (4:24) You might have to fly somewhere and live in a hotel to do it. (4:27) And if we're lucky, this might stave off diabetes for a year or so. (4:30) Like, wow.
Scott Benner (4:31) Like, why does so much effort go into something like that? (4:34) Do you know what I mean?
Jenny Smith (4:35) Yeah. (4:36) I mean, I think in in terms of these standards, right, they are I don't know, honestly. (4:44) It's a really good question. (4:45) My thought is that from an organizational standpoint, it's almost like they're waiting to see enough momentum to be able to actually put it in there as a a trusted, valuable standard that they can suggest to the greater these standards are usually not even something people with diabetes look at.
Scott Benner (5:05) Right.
Jenny Smith (5:06) They really are from a clinical standpoint of what should we as clinicians be looking at now as this is what we should talk to people about diabetes about, or this is what we should try to move to as the new guidance rule or the new medication and why it holds value when all the data has been building to that statement, but it's already been happening.
Scott Benner (5:34) Yeah. (5:35) I don't say that people should run forward with their hair on fire and try everything that, like, randomly pops up in front of them. (5:41) I think the screening thing going back this many years because if you have any social media or you're around any contact with diabetes at all, you're gonna hear, like, screening rhetoric being pushed at you. (5:53) Right? (5:54) Like so what that to me means is that the machine thinks it's important.
Scott Benner (5:58) If the ADA thinks it's important, then I gotta think whoever supporting the ADA thinks it's important. (6:03) I don't know anything about anything, but Sanofi paid a lot of money for that drug. (6:07) So I gotta figure there's some, you know Some push. (6:10) Some push from that. (6:11) Yeah.
Scott Benner (6:11) I understand I understand all this. (6:14) But if that's how that works, then I want you to wonder about things like, I don't know, CGMs and GLP medications and micro dosing stuff and thinking differently in general about things that you see in your life working, but then go out and say, the machine is not telling me that this is important.
Jenny Smith (6:36) Right.
Scott Benner (6:36) I just think that it's it's 2026. (6:39) What's the guidance on a one c right now?
Jenny Smith (6:42) The guidance on a one c? (6:43) You tell me. (6:44) I know you're looking at it.
Scott Benner (6:45) 7.5 for kids. (6:46) Right? (6:47) And what is it for adults? (6:49) Seven?
Jenny Smith (6:49) Under seven.
Scott Benner (6:50) Under seven.
Jenny Smith (6:51) Mhmm.
Scott Benner (6:52) Okay.
Jenny Smith (6:52) I mean, it's and that has that has not changed at all. (6:56) And then that's a standard. (6:58) Right? (6:59) We all have the knowledge as well that it's it's kind of a standard that's not a hard box standard. (7:05) It's a there are wavy lines to it.
Jenny Smith (7:07) If you have this type of situation going on, we might expand that. (7:14) If you have, you know, hypoglycemia unawareness, if you are over the age of such and such or under the age of, you know, whatever
Scott Benner (7:21) Mhmm.
Jenny Smith (7:22) Then that gets a little bit wavy, but it's still they have to have a hard set value to put into something like this. (7:29) Again, from a medical from a medical liability standpoint, there has to be something that medical clinicians are using as their as their standard. (7:41) It's their starting point. (7:43) Right? (7:43) I do think that the standards and I've I actually looked at them when they came out for a couple of reasons.
Jenny Smith (7:50) I think some of the new things on the list are important because they've again been things that clinically that I've seen have been pushed to the background. (8:02) And so I think that standards like this putting them more to the front ground and saying, hey. (8:09) This is really important to pay attention to. (8:12) And this is why we know this now about this particular medication. (8:17) It can impact this condition, which got kind of a second or a third notice comparative to just a one c.
Jenny Smith (8:24) Mhmm. (8:24) Right? (8:25) So the newer the newer guidelines have things around I I think a big highlight is absolutely the GLP ones. (8:31) Yeah. (8:32) There's a huge highlighted piece of that, which most people with diabetes, especially with type one diabetes, have been hitting on and pounding their fist into the ground about being noticed
Scott Benner (8:46) Mhmm.
Jenny Smith (8:47) For a while already. (8:48) And yay. (8:49) Now the standards say, yes. (8:52) There's value to these medications.
Scott Benner (8:55) Let me be cynical for a second. (8:56) Sure. (8:56) Isn't it possible, Jenny, that I'm not a genius and that three years ago when I was like, gonna give my kid a little bit of this GLP and see what happens. (9:05) That maybe what was really going on when they were busy telling us, no. (9:07) No.
Scott Benner (9:08) No. (9:08) It's not for type ones. (9:09) It's only for type twos. (9:10) What they meant was is we don't have production ramped up yet. (9:13) So let's not everybody be dipping their toe into this pond yet.
Scott Benner (9:17) Like, I think that's the kind of I am not a conspiracy person. (9:20) I just think that this is very, like, realistic to look at. (9:23) Right? (9:24) Like and the reason I I dislike it so much is because not only is that three years of people not getting support maybe that would have been valuable for them
Jenny Smith (9:32) True.
Scott Benner (9:33) But it's three years of telling people, oh, no. (9:36) This thing is not for you. (9:38) And those people will never think about it again. (9:41) Right? (9:42) Like, that's the part I hate.
Scott Benner (9:43) Like, I hate when they tell me like, if you tell a parent a seven five a one c is a good target for your kid, I understand big picture. (9:54) Everyone hears this. (9:56) Everyone has different technology, ability to, like, use tools, access the tools, and we want everybody to be safe. (10:02) I don't not want everybody to be safe.
Jenny Smith (10:04) Of course.
Scott Benner (10:05) I'm worried about all the people that heard the number and will move forward for the rest of their life going seven Five's okay.
Jenny Smith (10:11) That that's the standard.
Scott Benner (10:12) Yeah.
Jenny Smith (10:13) Correct. (10:13) And partially because nobody then clears it up. (10:17) And once you've established that as your standard.
Scott Benner (10:20) Then that's it forever and ever.
Jenny Smith (10:22) Then that's it forever and ever unless you're the type of person or personality that says, I'm going to do more research. (10:30) Like, I was given that like, I think there there are several personalities within the scope of diabetes management. (10:37) Yeah. (10:37) Some who are given a standard like that to begin with Mhmm. (10:40) And and go off and say, okay.
Jenny Smith (10:42) Yes. (10:43) This is just it for life. (10:44) I was told 7.5 or under that is really great. (10:46) Fantastic. (10:47) And they never ask more questions, but I think their doctors are also not providing enough either
Scott Benner (10:55) Yeah.
Jenny Smith (10:55) To make them think that there are additional things that could be done. (10:58) And then there's the other avenue of people who absolutely take that as maybe this was the starting place because it was safe to begin with.
Scott Benner (11:06) Mhmm.
Jenny Smith (11:07) But I know, and I think especially because we have such a broad diabetes community in an online way that I did not have growing up. (11:16) There was nowhere else to look. (11:18) Right? (11:18) Books that were on it, you had to go to the library or had to, like, order them from someplace. (11:23) And there was not the Internet nor the online communication that we have today to see that there is better, there can be better.
Jenny Smith (11:32) And gosh, I should be asking more questions to my doctor about why did you give me this and why haven't we adjusted this now as things are changing?
Scott Benner (11:42) I'm gonna tell you a sad story that I don't know that I've ever told you before, and I'm sorry. (11:46) But Oh. (11:47) I it fits here. (11:49) And Okay. (11:49) I've been thinking about it a lot lately.
Scott Benner (11:51) So it pops in my head initially because Dexcom moves to the fifteen day sensor.
Jenny Smith (11:58) Yes.
Scott Benner (11:58) And Mhmm. (11:58) Everyone's like, mine doesn't even last ten days. (12:01) Now you're gonna tell me it goes fifteen, you know, blah blah blah. (12:03) And everybody's complaining. (12:04) Right?
Scott Benner (12:05) And then you're you know, you try to parse it in your head, like, really the Internet is where people come to complain. (12:10) My daughter wears an Omnipod right out or excuse me, a Dexcom right out ten days, twelve hours, almost every time. (12:17) Right?
Jenny Smith (12:17) Which is awesome.
Scott Benner (12:18) It's lucky. (12:19) I understand that. (12:20) But at the same time, like, the Internet's not full of people who show up to go, hey. (12:23) I just wanted to come by and say that my CGM lasts ten days all the time. (12:26) Right?
Scott Benner (12:27) So you get this feeling, you know, oh gosh. (12:30) It must not a thing must not work. (12:32) And then I saw somebody say something that really stuck to me, and it was more about the way they said it. (12:38) And I and I felt for them because I understand they're obviously either scared or having a bad experience or whatever, but, you know, why don't they fix the problems it has before they shove this down my throat? (12:49) And shove this down my throat is what stuck to me, and here's why.
Scott Benner (12:53) When I was getting ready to graduate high school, my best friend got diagnosed with type one diabetes. (12:58) Mhmm. (12:59) His name is Mike. (13:00) Mhmm. (13:00) Well, his name was Mike.
Scott Benner (13:02) And he was given regular an Miles per hour and that was it. (13:06) Mhmm. (13:07) And my entire life knowing and loving and being with Mike as a as a great friend, I thought of him as a person with kind of a strange temperament. (13:15) He was lovely and sweet, but sometimes he'd get angry out of nowhere. (13:19) I never understood that.
Scott Benner (13:20) Right? (13:20) And later at night, there was always a rule we didn't let Mike drive because he'd swerve and he wasn't like a great driver and we just thought Mike couldn't drive. (13:28) And, you know, that was just how we went along. (13:31) And Mike went along and he got up in the morning and he did his like, probably about this much injection and then we'd go eat breakfast and I'd see him do it again in the afternoon. (13:40) We never talked about his diabetes and it turns out that Mike didn't know much about his diabetes either and neither did his doctor.
Scott Benner (13:47) And Mhmm. (13:48) One day, we're adults and we're married and moved on. (13:51) Mike says to me, hey, I think my kidneys are failing And I I I'm gonna go to the doctor today. (13:58) And the next thing I know, Mike's on dialysis. (14:00) And then Mike loses his job because he's always on dialysis.
Scott Benner (14:04) And then his doctor says to him, I'm not kidding, and this is only about six years ago. (14:09) We should really try carb counting. (14:11) That's when they moved Mike to NovoLog and Atlantis. (14:17) Yeah. (14:17) Wow.
Scott Benner (14:18) And he's a bright guy. (14:19) He was lovely. (14:20) He had all kinds of interests. (14:22) He would have been a real great addition to this world moving forward. (14:26) And instead, he started having seizures because he didn't know how to use his his NovoLog.
Scott Benner (14:31) He crashed his car because he tried to bolt like he was at a comic bookstore picking up his books and injected before he went to the diner like he does all the time except he used to inject a much slower acting insulin before. (14:44) Onlooker said that my friend's car went down a private street between eighty and ninety miles an hour. (14:50) It went into a cul de sac spun in a circle before it crashed into a mailbox in somebody's house. (14:56) Mike was lucky he didn't get hurt. (14:58) A couple of months later, he fell out of bed having a seizure and broke his arm.
Scott Benner (15:03) And two years later, he was talking with his wife about what to have for dinner. (15:06) They decided on what to have. (15:08) He stood up out of his chair to go make it and fell forward on his face when his heart failed. (15:13) Right? (15:13) Yeah.
Scott Benner (15:14) And I always think sad that the EMTs came and they saved him. (15:20) And then three days later, I sat in a hotel room with my cell phone playing Mike's favorite music from when we were in high school and he died the next day.
Jenny Smith (15:27) I'm sorry.
Scott Benner (15:28) And I see that story as completely connected to this. (15:32) Because at some point at in Mike's life, someone said, this is how you take care of your diabetes. (15:38) And he believed them, and then he moved forward. (15:40) And all this crazy stuff that happened to him, we were all completely unaware of Sure. (15:44) As was he.
Scott Benner (15:46) Mike didn't think like, oh, I yell at people because my blood sugar's been high for three days.
Jenny Smith (15:50) Right. (15:51) He didn't make an association.
Scott Benner (15:52) No one knew. (15:54) And I guess I'm asking everybody to say, what do you think might be happening to you right now that you're not aware of? (16:00) Right? (16:01) While we're slow walking, telling people CGMs are important. (16:05) I'm I'm scrolling back now to 2018.
Scott Benner (16:07) CGMs for adults. (16:09) Expand CGM recommendations to all adults 18 and over. (16:12) Expand. (16:13) Like, my last thought here is, and then I really wanna hear what you think about all this, is that, it's been about a year or so now. (16:20) This very well respected doctor, in the diabetes space was I'm gonna make an announcement.
Scott Benner (16:26) I'm making an announcement. (16:27) I'm putting up a video. (16:28) I'm making an announcement. (16:29) You should all be there. (16:30) I went and looked, and he said they've been doing research for ten years now.
Scott Benner (16:34) And he is confident and and excited to tell us all that, you know, if you lower your alarm on your CGM, you'll have better outcomes. (16:44) They figured that out, Jenny. (16:45) Only took them about ten years. (16:47) So Yeah. (16:49) Yeah.
Scott Benner (16:50) I'm saying this is great. (16:52) I got nothing against the ADA. (16:53) I got nothing the way the machine works. (16:55) I understand slow, steady, make sure everybody's safe. (16:58) But for the everyone else, pay attention.
Scott Benner (17:00) Like, follow your common sense a little more.
Jenny Smith (17:02) Right. (17:03) Well, I think it also what it highlights for me is also that and I don't know what kind of doctor your friend Mike was going to.
Scott Benner (17:12) I'm sure he didn't either, by the way.
Jenny Smith (17:13) If it right. (17:14) He may not maybe it was a primary care. (17:16) And, unfortunately, primary care is like the jack of all trades. (17:20) Right? (17:21) They really know a little bit about a lot of things, but they are not they've not gone to schooling for a specialty.
Jenny Smith (17:27) That's where endocrinology does shine. (17:31) Whether you believe your endocrinologist is a great one or not, they still have a specialty in a lot of endocrine, not just diabetes either. (17:43) So those are the doctors that I believe, really hope, I guess, are looking at more than just these standards.
Scott Benner (17:57) Yeah.
Jenny Smith (17:58) It's the primary cares and the ones in the general public that I I truly think should be the ones getting these standards and having to check it off almost like a continuing education that they have looked at it, that they now acknowledge the value to these things because they do see the larger portion of people with diabetes, not endocrinology. (18:24) And again, for your friend Mike, my expectation is that he was probably going to a primary care or just a really bad endocrinologist who didn't know what they were doing with diabetes.
Scott Benner (18:36) Yeah.
Jenny Smith (18:37) Right? (18:37) Because that endo six years ago I mean, I've been using a CGM since 2005.
Scott Benner (18:47) Mhmm. (18:48) Yeah. (18:48) I looked the other I think, if if I got the if I it's now it's in the back of my head, but I think there's been, like, over 10 iterations of, like, Dexcom CGMs over, like, nineteen years or something.
Jenny Smith (19:00) Yes. (19:00) I didn't even start on Dexcom. (19:02) Yeah. (19:02) I started on Abbott's Navigator Mhmm. (19:05) Which was a phenomenal CGM.
Scott Benner (19:08) Kenny's like, why did they take that Navigator from this?
Jenny Smith (19:10) Loved it. (19:10) It was awesome. (19:12) But, you know, and then got kind of moved into Dexcom mainly because Navigator was leaving The US, and they were no longer gonna have it. (19:20) So I have had almost all of the iterations of Dexcom and can say that it is an enormous reason that I no longer set an alarm overnight to check my blood sugar.
Scott Benner (19:35) Yeah.
Jenny Smith (19:35) Prior to that, even my husband will tell you, like, the 2AM alarm, it went off every night. (19:40) And after a while, like, he didn't even pay attention to it anymore because it was just the norm. (19:44) Right? (19:45) Yeah. (19:45) Once I got a CGM, my goodness.
Jenny Smith (19:48) The value there and the value that it could have had for your friend, Mike, I think that he probably could have even started making associations on his own. (19:59) Even if no doctor told him anything about how to look at the data, he sounds like he was smart enough to probably start making associations of, gosh, my blood sugar is here, and I start acting like a jerk. (20:14) You know what I mean?
Scott Benner (20:14) That a lot, honestly. (20:16) Because, like, I where where didn't where did someone fail him? (20:21) And where did he not say, I gotta take care of this? (20:26) But I don't I just don't know. (20:27) Like, you know, we talk about how blood sugars affect your personality and your ability to think and fogging.
Scott Benner (20:32) I I just don't know where he was. (20:34) You you know what I mean? (20:34) And and that's the that's why it's why we made the grand rounds series. (20:38) Like, because I want people to start with a good knowledge. (20:40) Like, I it's why I talk about all this all the time.
Scott Benner (20:43) I I mean, honestly, you guys probably don't realize it, but a lot of the reason why I come at this the way I do is because of Mike. (20:49) I just don't talk about it because it seems distasteful. (20:51) But Mhmm. (20:53) His is an exploded example of what could happen. (20:57) I'm saying, like, you don't have to end up, you know, with heart failure and and kidney failure for this to be impactful on your life.
Scott Benner (21:04) You can have other small impacts along the way that you might not notice. (21:08) And and if you're counting on if you're counting on guidance to get you there, I'm saying, I I don't think I would do that. (21:16) Like, I because it's gonna lag behind. (21:19) Know? (21:19) Yes.
Scott Benner (21:19) Here look. (21:20) How does that guidance impact something like insurance coverage? (21:24) It defines medical necessity for technology. (21:27) It sets prior authorization criteria. (21:30) It justifies coverage for off label use, preventative screening at zero cost.
Scott Benner (21:35) Lag time, commercial lag. (21:36) It typically takes one to three years for a new ADA recommendation to be written into insurance medical policies. (21:43) Correct. (21:43) Yeah. (21:43) Everything takes too much time.
Jenny Smith (21:46) Too much time.
Scott Benner (21:46) Life is this long. (21:48) That's a big picture thing, and we should be doing that. (21:50) The idea is thank god. (21:52) Right? (21:53) But, like, for you personally, inside of your life, you don't have the 300 years that they're mapping this out over.
Scott Benner (22:00) You know? (22:01) You you've got this time right now, and I'm arguing you don't even have that much time because you're gonna get set into some sort of a comfortable rhythm that you won't look up from, and then it'll just be ten years later.
Jenny Smith (22:14) I I mean, the gist of it all is that it's too slow. (22:17) These standard recommendations, they wait, they gather data, they gather more data, they gather more data. (22:23) And finally, there's enough information for them to say, yes. (22:28) We can now state that this is of value and a needed, you know, discussion or a needed reference or a needed medication. (22:36) Even the I mean, if you look at the new and this is the first time, if I'm remembering correctly, this is the first time that they're acknowledging the AID systems inclusive and their value, inclusive of the open source DIY systems.
Jenny Smith (22:54) Right. (22:55) The first time. (22:56) How long have I been using an open source system? (23:01) I've been using one since early twenty seventeen.
Scott Benner (23:04) Yes.
Jenny Smith (23:04) That is a long time. (23:07) Right. (23:07) I have worked with person after person after person. (23:10) I have talked to doctors. (23:12) I did a presentation eons ago Mhmm.
Jenny Smith (23:17) At a ADCES conference about specifically the DIY open source AID systems, and what are you afraid of? (23:28) Get your head out of the sand. (23:30) Yeah. (23:30) Why are you not acknowledging this? (23:32) And a lot of the problems at that time were that came from the audience, it was there are no standards around using them.
Jenny Smith (23:40) We have not been educated on using them, and we are liable if we recommend them in office. (23:48) Those were the baselines. (23:50) So until a standard comes out that brings it to the forefront within the medical community, there is a liability issue to a lot of this.
Scott Benner (24:00) Right. (24:00) So you're not gonna until this until this guidance says, hey. (24:04) Do this. (24:05) Then doctors won't feel comfortable even if they know. (24:08) That's why by the way, this is partly why the podcast is so popular because this is why you guys get grabbed in a hallway on the way out of an appointment.
Scott Benner (24:15) Somebody just whispers in your ear, just try the Juice Box podcast. (24:18) They shove you out the door. (24:19) Yeah. (24:19) Have you tried did you read this book? (24:20) Did you do this?
Scott Benner (24:21) Like, get out of here. (24:21) Hurry up. (24:22) Don't let anybody hear me saying this to you. (24:24) My god. (24:24) If you don't go do this, you're gonna live like this forever.
Scott Benner (24:27) Jenny, if I And
Jenny Smith (24:28) there oh, go ahead. (24:29) No. (24:29) No. (24:29) Go ahead. (24:30) I was gonna say there are there are good doctors.
Jenny Smith (24:33) There are good endos. (24:34) There are good high risk doctors, you know, in the whole realm of pregnancy with diabetes. (24:39) They are they're too few and far between because the the good doctors are willing to step outside of the box and say, while this is not the recommendation, there is value in trying this because I can see I can see how this medication, for example, works. (24:59) I can see how this system works. (25:00) They're the ones that at at night at home, they're not sitting down and reading the next romance novel.
Jenny Smith (25:06) They're actually online reading about open source. (25:09) They're online reading about medications expanding the use and how could this actually work in the type one population despite it being a type two medication. (25:19) Mhmm. (25:19) But there aren't enough of them.
Scott Benner (25:21) No. (25:21) The ones I meet are special and Yes. (25:24) You know, they deserve a a medal. (25:25) If the guidance is there, then the insurance isn't gonna cover it. (25:29) If the insurance isn't gonna cover it, then the device manufacturers aren't gonna push for it.
Jenny Smith (25:33) Right.
Scott Benner (25:33) Right? (25:34) Like, so you're going to get slower, what, forward motion with technology, with with ideas because there's there's no pressure to do it. (25:43) If the guidance was there, then one company would stand up and go, oh, we're gonna do this, which would make the rest of them go, oh, hell, we gotta do this now too. (25:51) And then, you know, and then you'd get your stuff more quickly. (25:54) And it would and I'm telling you, I think it would it would value it would add value to your life.
Scott Benner (25:58) I wish I could find I can't even remember her name right now. (26:01) I feel bad. (26:02) One listener who reached out to me and was like, yo, your daughter should try a loop. (26:07) And, like, I thought she was here right now. (26:08) I'd kiss her on the mouth and buy her a car.
Scott Benner (26:10) Like like, I think I'd be dead, like, without that because of what you mentioned earlier. (26:15) Like, I wasn't sleeping. (26:17) Like like yeah. (26:17) Like, Arden was super healthy. (26:19) I was awake nineteen and a half hours a day.
Scott Benner (26:21) And and, like, so they and there's that thing. (26:24) Just poof. (26:25) All good. (26:26) Here we go. (26:27) And it works.
Scott Benner (26:28) And then you walk out in the world, and all you hear is, oh, I don't know. (26:31) I don't know. (26:31) I don't know. (26:32) Yeah. (26:33) And it's forever.
Scott Benner (26:34) And they're gonna I don't know you to death
Jenny Smith (26:37) To death.
Scott Benner (26:37) Is is what I think. (26:38) And Mhmm. (26:39) It just so I'm not picking on the ADA or the guidance. (26:43) I'm just trying to show you how slow it is. (26:45) Like, why did I go back, like, just a handful of years?
Scott Benner (26:49) Because if you go back a handful of years, what you see is not a lot of motion.
Jenny Smith (26:52) Much change. (26:54) You know, I think the other really good thing that could come from the standards and I said before, in general, I think these standards are really more for the medical community truly. (27:05) Right? (27:06) But I do think that as a person with diabetes, it behooves you to also take a look at what they are on the continuum every single year when they come out. (27:17) Mainly because if there are things that you have been trying to address and bring up with your doctor, they may pop into the standards.
Jenny Smith (27:27) And if the doctor's still giving you pushback, you can bring it and kinda say, hey. (27:31) Look.
Scott Benner (27:31) Yeah. (27:31) It's okay.
Jenny Smith (27:32) This is part of the standards. (27:33) Why are we not discussing this? (27:35) I've brought it up for two years already.
Scott Benner (27:36) Yeah. (27:36) That thing where you tell me the GLP is gonna make me go into DKA, we can stop saying that now.
Jenny Smith (27:41) Right.
Scott Benner (27:41) The paper says you don't have to say it to me anymore.
Jenny Smith (27:43) And look at the other benefits that are coming out of it. (27:45) The more research, the more information, the fact that, yes, gosh, it is very beneficial for those with type one diabetes. (27:52) And, yes, even the micro dosing was of those was something that was also not done in the typical endocrine practice. (28:01) It was a this is the dose. (28:03) This is the standard starting dose.
Jenny Smith (28:05) We titrate it this way up, up, up, and see how you tolerate things. (28:09) And again, the sort of the gray area thinkers in the medical community were like, well, type one's very likely, and we can now see they do need a different dosing strategy than most type twos using these meds. (28:23) But it doesn't mean we shouldn't use them. (28:24) It means that we should figure out how to dose it better.
Scott Benner (28:27) It's the crazy leap that I never understand. (28:29) Right? (28:29) Like, it's oh, well, it's there's a label warning for type ones because they go into DKA with and so I said to somebody, I'm like, wait. (28:36) So GLPs cause DKA in type ones? (28:39) And they go, well, no.
Scott Benner (28:40) And I'm like, well, what's the problem then? (28:42) Well, GLPs make it so that some type ones need so little insulin, they don't take enough insulin, and they go into DKA because they're not eating. (28:51) And I went, oh, well, that's not the same thing. (28:54) Like like, you're
Jenny Smith (28:55) There's a big difference.
Scott Benner (28:56) Yeah. (28:56) You're fixing the problem in an unnecessary way. (29:00) Like Entirely. (29:01) Yeah. (29:01) And so it's it's the baby with the bathwater thing.
Scott Benner (29:04) Like, I just don't throw the whole thing away because you bumped into the first problem. (29:08) Like, you you know what I mean? (29:08) Like, oh, no. (29:09) You know, we gave GL because these are studies. (29:11) We gave GLP to people with type ones.
Scott Benner (29:13) Some of them went to DK. (29:15) So there now there's a label warning about it. (29:18) That's a big leap, you know, because the GLP lowers my daughter's insulin needs by, like, 30%.
Jenny Smith (29:24) Yes.
Scott Benner (29:24) Yeah. (29:25) She not in DK. (29:27) She's good.
Jenny Smith (29:28) She's good. (29:28) Right. (29:29) Because you've also you also know enough about titrating insulin. (29:32) Right? (29:33) I mean, you look at
Scott Benner (29:34) the fixable problem, not the you know, I'm sorry. (29:36) Cut you off. (29:37) Go ahead.
Jenny Smith (29:37) Oh, no. (29:37) No. (29:38) No. (29:38) I was actually just gonna compare it to it's a major problem because if you compare it even to all of the pharmaceutical ads, which I would a 100% be the one that's like, we gotta get them off the television. (29:50) Right?
Jenny Smith (29:51) But, like, if you look at any of them, at the end, there's always a host of it could cause this, call your toe cause your toe to turn purple and fall off, But that's just a potential side effect. (30:02) Right? (30:03) But they have to list side effects.
Scott Benner (30:04) Yes.
Jenny Smith (30:05) But if you look at that from a medical perspective, doctors are still prescribing these for the value of what they're prescribing them for, and often, they don't even talk about the side effects. (30:16) But when it comes to something like diabetes and the value and the very low chance of any of the side effects and if doctors were actually reading the research the correct way, they'd actually see that things like DKA with type one and the GLP ones, there's a there's a path to that happening. (30:34) Yeah. (30:34) And if you educate your patient the right way, that's it's not gonna happen, and it isn't a 100%. (30:40) It's it's utterly ridiculous.
Scott Benner (30:43) And it here's what it leads to. (30:44) It leads to me or somebody like me, you know, stepping like, Jenny, I've said this a thousand different ways, but, the way that it it sticks to me the most is that when I started talking about GLP medications, some parts of the Internet came after me with a hot poker and tried to shove it right up my, Okay?
Jenny Smith (31:01) I'm sure
Scott Benner (31:01) they did. (31:02) And I was like, no. (31:02) You guys are like, you're missing the boat, but how does that happen? (31:05) Because the ad says, you know, be careful blah blah blah blah blah blah. (31:09) And then somebody hears that, and then you say online, like, hey.
Scott Benner (31:12) You know, I was I've been doing this. (31:13) It's really working. (31:14) Look into it if you want to. (31:16) You're gonna kill people. (31:17) That makes this happen.
Scott Benner (31:19) I know a person who was in the hospital and their guts were turned into a knot and but, like, okay. (31:24) Give I'm not saying that it doesn't happen to some people, but there's also millions of people it's not happening to.
Jenny Smith (31:30) Like Correct.
Scott Benner (31:31) It's fascinating, and it and it goes back to you're not gonna remember this, but, like, when we recorded that pro tip series in, like, 2020, you didn't even know me that well then. (31:42) And I was like, Jenny, listen. (31:43) I'm like, I'm tired of, like, common denominator teaching for people. (31:47) Like, I know there's 20 kids in the class and two of them are really having trouble, but why are we teaching to them all the time? (31:53) Like, can't we teach to everybody else and protect them at the same time?
Jenny Smith (31:58) Right.
Scott Benner (31:58) Humanity doesn't work there. (31:59) They go, nope. (32:00) Sorry. (32:00) We can't. (32:01) We'll all just pretend that that's the level that we're all working with and the rest of it, we'll just sit around and pretend it doesn't happen and it doesn't exist.
Scott Benner (32:08) I'm not down for that anymore. (32:10) So No. (32:11) Yeah.
Jenny Smith (32:11) Are there many if I was writing the standards
Scott Benner (32:15) Mhmm.
Jenny Smith (32:15) Again, this is where nobody would live in Jenny's world. (32:18) But, I mean, there were
Scott Benner (32:19) I'm try before you say that, I'm trying to imagine a world where you have a child with type one diabetes and someone tells you to keep their a one c at 7.5. (32:27) And it was a and they'd be like, oh, you're doing great. (32:29) You're almost at 7.5. (32:30) Yeah. (32:30) That would happen, wouldn't it?
Jenny Smith (32:32) No. (32:32) No. (32:32) No. (32:33) No. (32:33) In fact, I'd have many words.
Jenny Smith (32:36) Many words as well as I mean, you know me. (32:38) You see me all the time when we when we do this. (32:40) Right? (32:41) You know that I have literally no poker face. (32:43) Like, I do not play cards.
Jenny Smith (32:45) I have no ability to hide. (32:47) It just shows on my face. (32:49) And I'm quite sure the doctor would be like, what do you what? (32:52) Really? (32:53) You don't believe me?
Jenny Smith (32:54) Like, I have no problem voicing my opinion there.
Scott Benner (32:57) By the way, there's a drift that happens. (32:59) If you tell somebody 7.5, then 8.2 doesn't seem that far from 7.5. (33:04) And then next week, you know, or next month or three months from now, we come back again and it all went to eight five. (33:10) You know, it's not bad. (33:11) It only went up point 2.3.
Scott Benner (33:13) You're doing great. (33:14) We'll try again. (33:15) Like, you know, and you just zoom.
Jenny Smith (33:17) And what you're bringing in is also a slower drift. (33:20) Right?
Scott Benner (33:20) Yeah.
Jenny Smith (33:21) Most people have ups and downs in their life. (33:24) Variables that impacting and let's say 7.5 has been your gold standard because that's what you've been told, and now you're at 7.6 or 7.7. (33:34) Again, the drift is so small that you you have just a concept with those numbers
Scott Benner (33:40) Mhmm.
Jenny Smith (33:40) That that's not a big change. (33:42) Like, whole number value is going from 7.5 to 8.5, I think, is a very visible larger jump that somebody would probably acknowledge and say, well, gosh. (33:51) Absolutely. (33:52) Something major has changed. (33:53) But anytime there's a little decimal drift, we don't really acknowledge it.
Jenny Smith (33:59) And, I mean, point 1.2. (34:01) Again, it really that
Scott Benner (34:02) blood sugar if your a one c moves around a little bit. (34:04) I'm saying that you get lulled into, like, complacency.
Jenny Smith (34:07) Entirely. (34:08) And so then 7.8 becomes 7.9 Yeah. (34:11) Becomes 8.1, becomes 8.4. (34:14) And that drift continues, but because it's so slow Mhmm. (34:18) You don't acknowledge where you started and how much you've drifted over a time period when the drift didn't have to happen if you knew what to do.
Scott Benner (34:27) It works the same way in your mind as gaining weight, not cutting the weeds around your house or something. (34:32) You just accept more and more of something that on day one you weren't excited to accept.
Jenny Smith (34:36) Absolutely. (34:37) Right.
Scott Benner (34:37) Now listen. (34:38) This year, there's some I think they made some really nice improvements this year. (34:42) Mhmm. (34:42) First time GLP receptor agonists are explicitly listed as recommended treatments or options for obesity in people with type one. (34:49) That's a great step for you.
Jenny Smith (34:50) Hundred percent.
Scott Benner (34:51) Awesome. (34:51) Great step. (34:52) New recommendations state that there should be no requirement for c peptide levels present of antibodies or duration of insulin use before initiating an insulin pump or an AID system. (35:02) That's a really good one.
Jenny Smith (35:04) It is huge. (35:04) Yeah. (35:05) Yeah. (35:05) Yeah. (35:05) Absolutely.
Scott Benner (35:06) This one's nice. (35:06) Workplace advocacy. (35:07) New, guidance explicitly states that adults using diabetes technology like pumps or CGM should receive reasonable accommodations in the workplace. (35:14) Now that's nice, but it took us till 2026 to say that? (35:18) Like, that one one we could have slipped in ten years ago?
Scott Benner (35:21) You know what I mean? (35:22) Like, here's a great one. (35:23) Percent. (35:24) Hospital safety. (35:25) A new safety standard mandates that hospital policies must ensure basal insulin is never held for people with type one diabetes.
Scott Benner (35:31) That's a great one. (35:32) I clap for that one.
Jenny Smith (35:33) 100%. (35:34) And that should be something that in bold type red when somebody comes into the emergency department. (35:40) Right? (35:40) And they acknowledge type one diabetes, highlighted in red blinking lights as soon as they acknowledge that or it comes up in the system is another statement. (35:50) Don't hold insulin.
Scott Benner (35:51) Yeah. (35:52) It's just it's insane. (35:53) My point over, I would say to whoever added that this year, congratulations. (35:57) Where the hell was that before? (35:59) Like, you're in charge of what the hospitals think about when so when you when people say all the time, I just had doctor Beachcham on a while ago.
Jenny Smith (36:06) Yeah. (36:06) I love her.
Scott Benner (36:07) She was lovely. (36:08) Right?
Jenny Smith (36:08) She's great.
Scott Benner (36:08) Yeah. (36:09) As I'm talking to her, like, she says this one thing that, like, strikes me. (36:12) It's like like, look. (36:13) We we follow the like, there's guidelines. (36:15) We we have protocols.
Scott Benner (36:17) Those protocols come from stuff like this. (36:19) So you're telling me that you could have added this ten years ago, and then for the last ten years, the people went to the hospital with type one diabetes wouldn't have their pumps taken from them or have their blood sugar shot way up and treated like they were type two and just on vacation. (36:31) Like, because that is really what kinda happens. (36:33) Right? (36:33) I go back to 2025, like, here I mean, it's more about screening, teplizumab, but sleep, cannabis warnings.
Scott Benner (36:42) What are you making cannabis warning? (36:43) A new specific recommendation to avoid cannabis use in people at risk for DKA to the risk of cannabis hypermysis syndrome. (36:52) Oh, come on. (36:53) Kidding me. (36:56) Whole world's high.
Scott Benner (36:57) Jesus. (37:00) You ever walk outside? (37:01) What is that I smell? (37:02) It's weed, Jenny. (37:03) It's everywhere.
Scott Benner (37:04) Okay? (37:04) No. (37:07) No. (37:08) Not for type ones. (37:09) You guys can't have weed.
Jenny Smith (37:10) You can't have it.
Scott Benner (37:11) No. (37:11) It's gonna make No. (37:12) Cannabis hyper mysis. (37:14) I don't know what the fuck that says. (37:15) And, like like, it just that's
Jenny Smith (37:17) good job trying to read it.
Scott Benner (37:18) This one here
Jenny Smith (37:19) think Go go
Scott Benner (37:20) ahead. (37:20) No. (37:20) No. (37:20) No. (37:20) You go.
Jenny Smith (37:21) I think some of the the newer things that are in this, you already mentioned in terms of just GLP one, that takes a heavy hit of explanation in many different categories, things like kidney health and heart health, cardiovascular. (37:39) GLP ones are mentioned in many different places Mhmm. (37:44) Which is thankfully, again, slow, but it is continuing to highlight the value of what they're finding. (37:53) And as we all know, research takes a long time to put together enough sort of quantifiable information that suggests to the positive before any broad statement can be made. (38:06) Right?
Scott Benner (38:07) Yeah. (38:07) It just I I I I was I didn't interview the other day with a guy who makes a GLP one podcast. (38:13) And he was talking about all the things that, you know, they know it's helping with and all the things that they're wondering if it's helping with and testing to see. (38:21) It looks like it is if you look at the population. (38:23) And he got done, I joked about it.
Scott Benner (38:25) But I said, feel like what you just told me is I'm gonna live forever. (38:27) And, like and I know that's not so it's not what it's not really true. (38:31) But if all these little things are happening behind the scenes in your body and now they're happening at a lesser degree and it's gonna it's gonna increase your longevity. (38:41) And but back to the original point, we've demonized GLPs for so many years now that there's now gonna be a whole generation of people who will never try them because they have an idea in their head or it's that oh, that's the thing you cheat with to lose weight or you do. (38:58) No.
Scott Benner (38:58) How about that's the thing that'll make my kidneys work better or my fatty liver go away? (39:03) Right? (39:03) Right. (39:04) How about my cytokines are going down? (39:06) How about that?
Scott Benner (39:07) Yeah.
Jenny Smith (39:07) Look at two big words.
Scott Benner (39:09) I know a couple of words, Jenny. (39:11) I used apoplectic in an episode the other day. (39:14) Just so you know. (39:15) Yeah. (39:15) Damn right.
Scott Benner (39:16) I've heard words before.
Jenny Smith (39:19) You're funny.
Scott Benner (39:20) Yeah. (39:20) No, please. (39:21) I guess that I would ask you. (39:23) I'm gonna put I'm gonna put that crown back on here for a second. (39:26) Right?
Scott Benner (39:27) Oh. (39:28) If you were in charge, what do you want people doing, looking at, thinking about, how do you want them measuring? (39:35) Like like, what's a big picture way people should be thinking about this for themselves? (39:40) It's a big question, but I think you can answer it.
Jenny Smith (39:44) The big question about how they should be looking at the standards for themselves
Scott Benner (39:48) Is that is that? (39:49) Like, how should they running their lives? (39:50) Like, what did they get up in the morning and say to themselves, like, this is what I should be trying for? (39:55) Like, I'm not saying you're gonna get it every day, but, like, let me rephrase it. (39:59) In a world where this amount of insulin Mhmm.
Scott Benner (40:03) Keeps my a one c at this level and a greater amount of insulin would keep it lower Right. (40:10) And we know that the only fear is that people are like, oh, you're gonna get low. (40:13) That's it. (40:14) Like, what do you think people should be I I'm telling like, look, I'm I'm gonna cover your ass for you before you start talking.
Jenny Smith (40:19) Oh, no.
Scott Benner (40:20) I know some of you don't wanna pump, some of you don't want a CGM, some of you can't afford of it. (40:23) I'm not saying that. (40:25) I'm talking about perfect world.
Jenny Smith (40:26) Sure. (40:27) In a perfect world, it would be an option for all people to have access. (40:34) Right? (40:34) Mhmm. (40:35) So that they could have enough information to say this is where I am.
Jenny Smith (40:40) So the starting point of, okay. (40:42) I've been told the 7.5. (40:43) I've I've recently learned I should technically be lower than that. (40:47) It is a a lot about insulin knowledge. (40:51) And so my, I guess, standard would be teaching people enough about knowing their insulin and how it works for them so that as they're looking at their numbers, whether it's just a finger stick or their CGM, they can say, okay.
Jenny Smith (41:05) Well, this is my base as you were getting at. (41:07) Like, this amount of insulin is keeping me here. (41:09) But if I'm really aiming here now, how do I get there? (41:15) It is about sometimes lifestyle stuff, but it is also about insulin. (41:20) And, gosh, I've got a base that's holding me here.
Jenny Smith (41:23) I wanna be 20 to 30 points lower. (41:26) What if I just add a little bit more insulin? (41:30) And, again, I always encourage you to talk to your medical provider. (41:33) Don't just dial things up by 30 extra units, but even little titrations. (41:38) Let's say a meal is consistently sending you high and you're using three and a half units.
Jenny Smith (41:42) Well, goodness. (41:43) Three and a half up to four. (41:45) If you're on three units already for a meal is
Scott Benner (41:48) Yeah.
Jenny Smith (41:48) Half a unit is not really gonna but it is gonna help to move you forward. (41:52) So I think standards should go in the direction of teaching people how to move where they want to get to if they even know. (42:03) Mhmm. (42:04) You know, the broader population of people again think doesn't know enough, and that makes me sad.
Scott Benner (42:12) Yeah. (42:13) No. (42:13) I'm with you.
Jenny Smith (42:14) So if you have standards, I think it's it's the people who are already looking for more that are going to look for these standards as again, a way to bring into their doctor to say, hey, look at this. (42:27) Like, we've never talked about this. (42:28) I've been talking about it. (42:30) It's now a standard. (42:31) But other people are hoping that their clinician who has the white coat in on and has gone to school for eight, ten, twelve years that they should know these things Mhmm.
Jenny Smith (42:41) And that they're bringing it into the practice and helping them.
Scott Benner (42:45) But those people are waiting for the the the buttonless pumps, which I think are probably coming, but they're not gonna come as quickly as you hope. (42:52) You you know?
Jenny Smith (42:53) And there are years until that point of which there's stuff going on in your body that I mean, we've talked about it before, like the incremental little things that end up happening aren't like, gosh, I have diabetes and three days later I have heart disease. (43:08) That's not how this
Scott Benner (43:09) works. (43:10) Right.
Jenny Smith (43:11) It's incremental and it's it's unfelt. (43:14) You don't feel nor do you see the internal stuff that is going on until you get to the point of I mean, again, I you brought up Mike.
Scott Benner (43:25) You stand up to make dinner. (43:26) Yeah.
Jenny Smith (43:27) You stand up to make dinner or the doctor says, hey. (43:29) You know, your urine sample shows that you're spilling such and such. (43:33) I think you've got kidney disease. (43:34) Mike didn't feel anything going on.
Scott Benner (43:36) Nope. (43:36) He had no idea. (43:38) He really didn't. (43:38) Diabetes is not a cross we'll cross that bridge when we come to it situation. (43:43) Like, need to be you need to be thinking about it every day.
Scott Benner (43:46) And and I even take that not everybody's going to, and that's fine. (43:50) But I I just I really do wanna repeat again to anybody listening who makes a decision. (43:54) If the island's on fire and there's only so many boats, we still tell people the island's on fire so they have a chance to get away. (44:02) Correct. (44:02) Right?
Scott Benner (44:02) You don't get to make the decision about whether or not I die in the island fire. (44:07) Right? (44:07) Like, so
Jenny Smith (44:08) I I'd be looking for the largest branch to float on. (44:10) If the boats were full, man, I'd be looking for the door or whatever.
Scott Benner (44:14) You gotta give people a fighting chance.
Jenny Smith (44:16) You do.
Scott Benner (44:17) If your argument is, well, everyone's not gonna understand. (44:19) Everyone's not gonna have the bandwidth. (44:21) Everyone's not gonna have access, So we just won't tell anybody. (44:25) That's a terrible perspective to have. (44:27) Right?
Jenny Smith (44:28) It's also judging somebody from what you think you gathered out of a ten or fifteen minute office conversation with someone.
Scott Benner (44:36) Which isn't that funny considering that when I scroll back through this document, the ADA is always worried about people being treated properly.
Jenny Smith (44:45) 100%. (44:45) It's in the it's in these. (44:47) It's one of the things that treating people with individualization and empathy and and all the wordage that they can possibly use, but let's put it into a fact.
Scott Benner (44:57) Yeah. (44:57) Let's not then tell them a seven five's okay. (45:00) That's hilarious. (45:01) Like Right. (45:02) Everyone deserves to be treated well.
Scott Benner (45:04) Blah blah blah. (45:04) And now you know you know what it takes me back to? (45:07) I was at a blogging conference one time, and I got caught in an elevator with a person who
Jenny Smith (45:12) conference.
Scott Benner (45:13) I was. (45:14) There was a blocking conference for people with type one diabetes. (45:16) I don't know what to tell you. (45:17) They used to exist. (45:18) I got into an elevator with a person who I was like, oh my gosh.
Scott Benner (45:21) This person was like like one of the gold standard people in the space. (45:24) And I had gotten to over a couple of days watched them, And I was like, this person really knows what they're doing with their diabetes. (45:32) But public facing, it was a lot of like, woe is me and isn't this hard and blah blah blah. (45:38) And I was like, oh, you understand this one way, but you talk about it another way. (45:43) Another way.
Scott Benner (45:44) And I did at some point say to them, like, why don't you talk about it more like this? (45:47) And so I'm not getting involved in that. (45:50) Oh, yeah. (45:51) And those same people told me, I can't do what I'm doing. (45:55) Mhmm.
Scott Benner (45:55) And I I've complained about it enough. (45:57) I don't wanna complain about it again. (45:59) But when I started doing this, I got pulled aside by people who were like, you can't tell people how you manage your daughter's diabetes. (46:06) And I was like, why not? (46:07) I was like, it's just what we do.
Scott Benner (46:08) And they're like, yeah. (46:08) You're gonna hurt someone.
Jenny Smith (46:09) It's like having conversation with somebody you run into at the coffee shop, right, who wants to tell you about how they manage the exterior of their vehicle. (46:19) Well, you know what? (46:19) If you hold
Scott Benner (46:20) them Jenny, they can't see the big picture. (46:22) I'm just telling you. (46:22) Okay?
Jenny Smith (46:23) Yeah. (46:23) Yeah. (46:24) I don't And, you know, and and what you were talking about as well, I think you were seeing somebody as the front face of of, like, what they were spilling out into the community, but you also saw behind the scenes the fact that they were doing something different on a personal level. (46:44) Yeah. (46:44) When I went into this field specifically, I thought about eons ago when my parents got married, my dad was a smoker.
Jenny Smith (46:54) Mhmm. (46:56) My dad went to his primary care doctor, and his doctor told him to stop smoking, that it was going to be detrimental. (47:05) This was obviously at the point that that was coming to be
Scott Benner (47:08) Breaking news.
Jenny Smith (47:09) Breaking news. (47:10) And so, you know, it goes home thinking about this blah blah blah whatever. (47:14) And out in public, my dad sees his doctor smoking. (47:19) And he's like, what the and I remember that story. (47:23) Yeah.
Jenny Smith (47:23) Because when I went into doing something that is so it has become very visible now, especially. (47:31) Mhmm. (47:32) I don't want to tell someone one thing and not do it in my own life. (47:38) I don't think that's fair.
Scott Benner (47:40) Yeah.
Jenny Smith (47:40) I think that if you put something out there, then you should absolutely hold that as something that's also important for the value of your own life. (47:51) And I think that it's just being truthful in my opinion.
Scott Benner (47:55) I've said a thousand times. (47:57) I don't know how I was supposed to know all this and then just not tell anybody about it.
Jenny Smith (48:03) Pretend.
Scott Benner (48:03) Yeah. (48:04) Ridiculous. (48:04) It was ridiculous. (48:05) That person was having great outcomes and was, you know, really on the ball. (48:10) Then when they talked to people, was always like, oh, I know it's hard.
Scott Benner (48:13) It's okay. (48:14) And Mhmm. (48:14) Go two fifty. (48:15) You're fine. (48:16) Like, I'm not saying your blood sugar might not go to two fifty once in a while.
Scott Benner (48:19) I'm saying don't set that in people's minds as expectation. (48:22) Like, it's okay to say this is gonna go wrong sometimes, but here's our goal. (48:28) Like, there's and if you don't make the goal, it's not a failure. (48:31) It's just like, don't act like that's not the standard we're looking
Jenny Smith (48:36) that the goal can shift.
Scott Benner (48:37) Sure. (48:38) Right?
Jenny Smith (48:39) Yeah. (48:39) You you have somebody who starts with an a one c of 8.5, and you say, well, the initial goal is 7.5. (48:46) But this is a moving goal. (48:47) Eventually, we wanna get down here, and, eventually, we wanna have an average more around this. (48:52) Eventually, we don't want your your numbers to look like a, you know, the Rocky Mountains.
Jenny Smith (48:57) We want it to be a little smoother. (48:59) Eventually, eventually, and they're they are. (49:01) They're baby steps for some people. (49:03) Other people, no. (49:04) Not at all.
Jenny Smith (49:05) And some people gather all the information you want, and they apply it, and they go home, and they change everything.
Scott Benner (49:09) I get those notes. (49:10) They're those notes are crazy. (49:12) Great. (49:12) Yeah.
Jenny Smith (49:12) Yeah. (49:13) Fantastic. (49:14) But you have to have also from a clinical standpoint, you have to have the vision of where could somebody get to if I just give them this little nibble of information that could help right now.
Scott Benner (49:24) Right. (49:25) But I've spoken to clinicians who will tell you that there are people that come into their office that they don't even try to talk to because they've decided ahead of time they're not gonna figure it out. (49:34) I think I've had a conversation with somebody with an IQ from, like, 80 up to a 170. (49:39) And they all have the same concerns. (49:41) They all have the same roadblocks to understanding.
Scott Benner (49:45) And there's and by the way, I use the same language to get them all to a place where they can figure it out. (49:50) I I I have an example right now that I'm incredibly proud of, but I won't like, I don't wanna embarrass anybody. (49:56) But there's a person listening to this podcast right now that really is limited, and they're still doing well for themselves. (50:03) And so so everyone gets to know what happens when the island burns down. (50:08) It's up to them what they do with it.
Scott Benner (50:09) It's not up to you as to whether or not they die without ever having fought for themselves. (50:14) That's how
Jenny Smith (50:15) I what they can use.
Scott Benner (50:17) Right? (50:17) Right. (50:18) Don't stop them from I can't get a c peptide test until what was it? (50:22) You know? (50:22) And so I can't have a pump or I can't like, that's insurance bullshit.
Scott Benner (50:26) Like, don't
Jenny Smith (50:26) A 100%.
Scott Benner (50:27) Yeah. (50:27) Yeah. (50:27) Yeah. (50:27) Don't, I mean, don't try to pretend like that's some sort of rule. (50:30) There are so many rules around life and diabetes more specifically that have nothing to do with anything, and I try so hard.
Scott Benner (50:38) Like, you know, I like, I'll I'll be like, oh, it's the pot roast story about the short pan. (50:43) I'm try just trying to get you to think like, oh, maybe there's no reason I have to do this.
Jenny Smith (50:47) Right. (50:49) My pan is big enough. (50:50) I don't have to cut the ends off anymore.
Scott Benner (50:52) Get a bigger pan? (50:53) Like, how about I do something for my like, there's no I and listen. (50:57) Some of you are rule followers, and god bless you. (50:59) I don't know your what your illness is. (51:00) Okay.
Scott Benner (51:01) I was like, but, like, I'm not some crazy podcast. (51:04) You guys have been listening to me long enough now. (51:06) This just seems like common sense to me. (51:08) I'm not saying you all need to be on a GLP. (51:11) I'm not saying you all need to be doing anything.
Scott Benner (51:13) I'm saying, like, don't limit yourself. (51:15) To me, I've been having the same conversation about thyroid for eight years. (51:19) The amount of people who are not medicated well for their thyroids and how horrible it's impacting their lives is inconstionable. (51:26) Like, it's so simple to figure out. (51:29) And still, like, I talked to a woman the other day.
Scott Benner (51:31) Jenny, I said, list all your issues. (51:32) She listed them. (51:33) She got done. (51:34) I went, you have Graves'. (51:35) She goes, well, no.
Scott Benner (51:36) They said that, my test is, like, point one or something on the wrong I'm like, no. (51:41) You have Graves'.
Jenny Smith (51:42) Please find a good clinician who can actually
Scott Benner (51:44) pops out of the side of her head or her eyes fly forward, they'll go, she might have Graves. (51:49) Great. (51:50) Alright. (51:50) Listen. (51:51) Go fight for yourselves.
Scott Benner (51:52) Stop it, Jenny. (51:53) Thank you.
Jenny Smith (51:54) Yeah. (51:54) Of course.
Scott Benner (51:55) I I'm all upset now. (52:03) My diabetes pro tip series is about cutting through the clutter of diabetes management to give you the straightforward practical insights that truly make a difference. (52:12) This series is all about mastering the fundamentals, whether it's the basics of insulin, dosing adjustments, or everyday management strategies that will empower you to take control. (52:22) I'm joined by Jenny Smith, who is a diabetes educator with over thirty five years of personal experience, and we break down complex concepts into simple, actionable tips. (52:32) The diabetes pro tip series runs between episode one thousand and one thousand twenty five in your podcast player, or you can listen to it at juiceboxpodcast.com by going up into the menu.
Scott Benner (52:43) Okay. (52:43) Well, here we are at the end of the episode. (52:45) You're still with me? (52:46) Thank you. (52:46) I really do appreciate that.
Scott Benner (52:48) What else could you do for me? (52:50) Why don't you tell a friend about the show or leave a five star review? (52:54) Maybe you could make sure you're following or subscribe in your podcast app, go to YouTube and follow me or Instagram, TikTok. (53:03) Oh, gosh. (53:03) Here's one.
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