#1893 Bolus 4 - Summer
A listener asked how to bolus for a summer barbecue. Scott and Jenny break down the loaded plate — hidden-sugar sides, fat-heavy meats, pool time — and why your best beats nothing.
Bolus 4 - Summer
Cold Open & Sponsors 0:00
Welcome back, friends, to another episode of the Juice Box podcast. We got a note online and said, could you guys do a bowl of sport for summer for barbecues? And here we are. While you're listening, please remember that nothing you hear on the Juice Box podcast should be considered advice, medical or otherwise. Always consult a physician before making any changes to your health care plan or becoming old with insulin.
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Humidity, New Orleans & the Barbecue Request 2:13
Hippie. Cool.
Jennifer, it is summertime, I know, because I walked outside and it felt like I was swimming. So I just got back from New Orleans, which is a very humid place that I will probably never visit again because of the humidity. But I think the humidity has chased me home to New Jersey. I imagine you are, in the middle of it where you live as well. Is that right?
Yeah. We have had a fair amount of humidity the past few days. We've actually had some pretty nasty, like, thunderstorms and stuff. So it's you know, that comes through, and then it sort of pulls down. And this morning, we're sort of sitting at a very breezy cooler seventies, which is lovely
Very nice.
Compared to how it's been. I have, however, been in New Orleans in June twice.
Oh gosh.
And it is like, I love the city. Mhmm. I really do. I it's a fantastic, just fun vibe type of place. Fabulous food.
Oh, I had a, a shrimp po'boy that was it was just excellent, honestly, and the best Cubano sandwich I've ever had in my life Oh. While I was down there. Yeah. May
The la actually, it's funny. The last time I was down there, I also had a shrimp po'boy sandwich. So good. My husband and I had gone to listen to a jazz band at a place that also was, a restaurant, and that was what I was hungry for.
And it was Yeah. They somehow toasted that roll, but didn't make it greasy. Because around here, they mess it up all the time. Anyway, my point is when this weather arrives.
Yes.
Soda, hot dogs, hamburgers, barbecues, watermelon, potato chips, and the rest.
All the things.
Well, we got we got a note online and said, could you guys do a bolus for for summer for barbecues? And here we are. I want to, tell you what I'm gonna be doing today while we're picking this drum. I'm trying to make these easier on me. Create a little thing that is not online, but it's something I can use personally.
It's it's a kinda plain language search for foods, for carbs, and it goes to a little website run by the government called the Agricultural Research Service. It's the USDA. And they use something called the FNDDS. It's a database that provides the nutrient values for foods and beverages reported in what we eat in America, the dietary intake component of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. So I have a little thing here where I can look one up, pick a size, add it to a plate.
It adds it up. And then for ease for our conversation, it actually then throws it into my estimator so that I can have my mind a little more on the conversation.
The Loaded Plate Problem 4:52
Yeah. Which but I think that that brings actually a really good point to begin with. When you attend something like a cookout or barbecue, whatever you call it in your region Mhmm. Right, You do end up with a variety of different things on your plate at one time.
Yep.
Right? Nobody just puts the burger on their plate without the chips and the potato salad and the coleslaw and, you know, the watermelon, like you and whatever else. You know? Lemon bars, it all ends up coming out, and you slop it on your plate. And then most people just start eating.
Right? Because sometimes they just eat multiple things on a fork at a time, and I'm like, can you really taste it? But that's beside
the point. A little bit of each?
He hit a little bit of each. I'm not that kind of an eater. I like single things. I don't like combinations like that.
Really? You don't ever mix this and that to get a different flavor?
No. If I want it together, I'm gonna make a soup, or I'm gonna make a casserole, which I don't do very often. I'd like things
Simple. Like, so you
can Separate.
You wouldn't you wouldn't mix, like, two jelly beans to get a different flavor?
Oh Alright. Well, I have done that. I I have to say that I've done something like that. But food is just like, one has one texture and, like, consistency, and another one is supposed to be I don't know. I don't like those things together.
I just don't.
We don't usually say stuff like that. That was interesting.
It's it's I don't know. And I like, I I've gone to many, many cookouts over the years.
Sure.
Right? And just I I guess I like the flavor of the thing that's there, and I don't wanna mess it up by Okay. Mixing it. Like, yeah, like, potato salad
she's making. We've we've we've hit a nerve for Jenny. She's not putting potato salad with a bite of a hotdog in case you're wondering. No. Okay.
No.
I don't like potato salad either.
Evaluate the Day: Activity, Swimming & Unknowns 6:52
I I listen. You know I'm not a mayonnaise person. So No. So what are we gonna do here? We have to think about the food.
We have to think about where I mean, this may be more than anything is evaluate yourself situation. Right? Like, where where are we at and what's gonna be happening as far as activity? How long is this day gonna be? Is there gonna be a number of different eating opportunities, which, you know, I always kinda think of a barbecue as I would still get ahead, stay ahead, but then use the opportunity for more food to help me be a little more aggressive in less so you know what I mean?
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Swimming or any activity, you know, you think about, I don't know, if you're a bocce ball player, if you're a lawn dart, if you are
Volleyball. Yeah.
You know, volleyball outside, if you're a spike ball. God, my boys love spike ball.
Okay.
I think it's the coolest game. But any of these things or the beanbag toss, you know, whatever a cornhole or whatever people call it wherever you are. Yeah. Right? But there's active time is the purp the point.
Swimming being, I think, a little bit more when you have an insulin pump or when you use insulin because that's a navigation of possibly even removing it for the tube pump.
You know? Or losing connection to the CGM and your algorithm and everything else. Yeah.
Mhmm. So there is there is variability in this on top of that mixed plate of all the things that you've thrown together and the counting. Right? Yeah. The counting becomes a really difficult thing to do because most times cookouts are, let's say, at least three different families getting together.
Somebody brings something. Somebody brings another thing. You don't necessarily know what went into those other things because who knows?
Sneaky Sides: The Coleslaw Problem 11:19
It could be as simple too. It's like, I've seen sides come one way, and then as a simple example, another person will bring it, but they throw raisins all over it. And now there's a thing that Jenny, listen. I don't know. You're from Wisconsin.
Don't act like this stuff doesn't exist where you're from. I see
everything. Does.
I've been there. I know what's happened. You guys don't decry anything.
Yeah. Rice pudding. Rice pudding and bread pudding. Like, jam But imagine if there's, like, a said raisins.
Sorry. No. But if there's, like, a little salad. Right? And then but raisins are, like, prob like, you know, sugar.
Yes. And then you throw them on there, and you don't think twice because when you ate the salad, normally, it's this and then it's there. Also, I I have a a list of, like, 10 common staples, sides, and desserts from a barbecue, and every one of the sides is a concoction. The staples are are easy. They're usually you know, they're gonna be protein probably.
Or simple like a bun, which has a label, or you can guesstimate because you've read the label for a bun already. Yeah. You're right. The concoctions are I think about cole slaw, for example. Mhmm.
I love cole slaw. Mhmm. But when I started looking for my own recipes versus looking at my mom's recipe, there are many recipes that you wouldn't really know that there was sugar added.
Oh, okay.
So it looks like a very unassuming vegetable with fat. Mhmm. Right? Whereas it could have sugar added to it depending on what the flavor, I guess, profile you were looking for from that recipe.
Right.
And you would never guess that the coleslaw has
I I have to tell you, I'm I'm using Chatty PT right now today. So, you know, your mileage may vary, of course. But I I just got stunned to see that a cup of coleslaw could have 20 to 32 carbs in it and 14 to 24 grams of sugar. I never I I know it's not a thing. I not I would not have expected that.
How about that? Yeah.
So but as you said, concoctions, a 100%, you're correct. Someone's concoction could have been their grandma Sue's best recipe for something or another, and all they're doing is following the recipe. And they don't have diabetes, so they bring it, and they put it down. You think, oh, good. Cole slaw.
Like, that's a kind of almost not a freebie, but, gosh, that's really low carb. I could have a half a plate of that and
I swear I wouldn't I wouldn't have guessed it. The the one that I know is sneaky sneaky is, like, baked beans.
Oh, yeah.
There's a ton of sugar in baked beans. Right? And a lot of people will throw, like, kobasi into it or something like that to if you're gonna get a bunch
of fat.
Yeah. Bacon, you're gonna put your fat on top of all that. Hey. And I wanna apologize to you.
Oh. Why?
Top-10 Desserts & Lemon Bars 14:05
Top 10 desserts. Number 10 was lemon bars. When you said lemon bars earlier, I was like, what kind of a, like, crazy, like, hole was lemon bars? Like, it's not a thing I would ever think of. But
Lemon bars have been at every family function I have ever been to, even even nonfamily, even the neighbors. Really? Yeah. You know, I grew up on Lake Michigan, and we always had our neighbors had a charter fishing. Yeah.
And they always did a trout boil in the middle of summer. And lemon like, there were probably three different types of lemon bars at this party.
I'm assuming that's all sugar.
Oh, it's a good amount of
sugar. I'm gonna make them and bring them to something because I'm gonna be like, I've never made these before. I don't know what they are, here. Because I've never seen them at one thing ever.
And you don't wanna make them when it's really, really humid outside. So just as an like, I'm sure recipes will never tell you this. This is my grandma's recipe. But her recipe specifically states to not make them when it's humid outside because something happens with the way that it gets cooked, and they they they will they taste funky. They they end up tasting like rancid.
Oh, okay. Gotta keep them cool. Okay.
You gotta yeah.
There's a tip you didn't know you were getting today. Keep your lemon bars refrigerated. I wonder what's in that. That's just neither here nor there. I I actually did a a quick look at peach cobbler, and my god, like, it's got all the carbs in it.
Yeah.
Under-Bolusing & Chasing Highs 15:29
So so are we gonna run into this situation where what do you think happens more commonly? Is that no one realizes that a cup of peach cobbler has somewhere between sixty and ninety carbs in it, and they under bolus for it, get real high, and then try to crush the high, and that's how they end up low? Or do you like, I guess I
think it's I think it could be a bunch of variables that or the high creates enough where they're frustrated, but then they get active and they didn't remember that they were gonna get active. Or gosh. It's just like, gosh. Let's go play a basketball game, you know, in the driveway right now. Yeah.
And I just took three units to correct this high. I didn't know who I was gonna play. And keeping all of that clear when you're just trying to enjoy time with friends and family
Yeah.
It's it's difficult. I will a 100% agree with the frustration around this type of planning. And in general, you can I would say do the best that you can
Mhmm?
With the foods that you know that you're gonna eat. Kids I think kids tend to be maybe a little easier because easier in the realm of the food because they often have more consistent food preferences.
Yeah.
You go to a party and you can say, well, my child is gonna want the potato chips. They're gonna want a hot dog. They're gonna want maybe some carrot sticks with ranch dressing and probably the watermelon. Right? And then they'll like a dessert.
That's fairly simple comparative to an adult who sees the smorgasbord and is like, god. I haven't had that in forever. Baked beans, man, when was the last time I had bee and it all was on the plate.
That is what happened. Right? Yeah. It's I haven't seen this forever. And then before you know it, then you're you realize why those paper plate companies make those ads that are like, look.
It holds up even when it gets wet. So what they really mean is when your sorry ass load overloads it with food, this thing's not gonna break. Oh, I see. I never thought of it that way. I'll tell you, just did something.
This is just me doing something here, but I wanna tell people because it's kind of interesting. Right? So I just said to chat GPT, I'd like to know I just said, nutrition details for coleslaw. Gave me a little breakdown. And then I all I said was peach cobbler next, and it gave me the breakdown for that one.
It it it estimated the carbs in peach cobbler between sixty and ninety. Right? And then I went to this this thing I built that is just pinging the f that serve it's the f n d d, the the agricultural thing from the from the government. Right? And they use they basically use surveys, like, to like, for items that it it's not like, it's not how do I mean this?
It's not like it's not like Heinz ketchup one tablespoon. We know because it's on the label. It's I just typed in peach cobbler. That's it.
Mhmm.
And I went down to the surveyed peach cobbler. I picked a cup, and it's guessing the total carbs at 82.4. And 4.3 fiber, 41 grams sugar, 5.6 protein, twenty one seven fat. And the CHACHEBT guess was 60 to 90 carbs, 40 to 70 sugar, two to six fiber, 12 to 24 fat, 48 protein. I mean, it's not perfect by any stretch of the imagination.
But if you're
But it gives you a ballpark.
Yeah. And if you're really lost, Jenny, this is way better than, oh, I don't know, 20. Yeah. Because, you know, isn't that people's number? It's 20 or 40.
Right? People go 20 or 40? Thanks. Yeah. This is the look of Jenny's face.
Funny.
“It’s Always 45 Carbs” & the 15-Gram Era 19:17
Yeah. She's just like, I've I've helped so many people. I this is exactly what they do. Arden has a go to. Her go to for a meal that she's not sure is 45.
Yeah.
She just goes, it's 45 cars. It's never 45 cars. Which is
interesting from her perspective because she was so very little that she doesn't really have a background base for the for the consideration of 15 as a carb. Right? Yeah. My education when I started out was truly the where each carbohydrate was 15 grams.
Okay. So
you used slice of bread was 15. An apple was 15. Your cup of milk was 12, but, technically, it was rounded to 15. So it was really kind of portion based on putting all the carbs in one food group and saying 15 is a single serving of a carbohydrate food. So it's interesting that hers is 45 when in her brain, she probably mathematically is subconsciously even figuring out, like, how much food
Yeah.
That is. I see her
do 45 with a 20 follow-up if it doesn't work. That's sort of how she does it. Hey. Do you think that that 15 back then I don't wanna talk to about, like, you're old. But, like, back when you were doing it, do you think that was accurate, or was it just the that was the ballpark of the day?
It it was the best accuracy that you could get based on a consistent meal plan type of idea. Mhmm. So you were given truly what is sliding scale insulin. Right? I was using our insulin, not rapid insulin.
Our insulin was taken twice a day, mixed along with an intermediate acting insulin that had a peak and then flowed down. Right?
Yeah.
So my our insulin's purpose was to cover a certain amount at a mealtime. So I had very specific, I mean, I could tell you I had two starches, a fruit, of two one to two vegetables because, you know, they were free, and I could eat as many cucumbers as I possibly would.
Let's go.
I think I've told you the cucumber story before. And then I had two proteins and two fats.
Okay.
Like, those so I was portioned at each meal because of the dose of insulin that I was being told to take, and it was supposed to cover that. So I think that 15 was a good enough estimate to get you to be consistent with a single portion of a food is about this many grams of carb. And I still remember when I started actually counting carbs. That visit with my dietitian was it was super exciting. Like, I could finally, like, take insulin for what I wanted to eat, not what my thing told me I was supposed to be
Where’s the Fat? Hot Dogs & Burgers 22:19
eating. Okay. Jenny, is there a lot of fat in a hot dog?
Depends what kind of hot dog you eat.
Beef hot dog?
Beef, pork, whatever kind. I you know, they're more homemade Yeah. And depending on the leanness of the meat that it's made with. But in general, hot dogs, sausages tend to have a fair amount of fat in them.
Why did I not think of that?
Even hamburgers. Hamburgers could depending on the lean, you know, quality of the ground beef that you're using.
Yeah.
I mean, who doesn't want? I don't I don't eat beef. So but I don't want it. But people want a juicy burger.
Where do
you think the juice comes from?
Oh, the juice is the fat. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's why people yell at me when I, like I mop the fat out of food when I'm cooking it, everyone's like, stop.
And I'm like, no. Yeah. I won't
be In college, I used to take a napkin when we go to the pizza place. I'd take a napkin and, like, lay it on the top of the pizza. Oh, I can't all of the pizza.
Jenny. People really don't like it when people do that. Don't don't.
Well, Jenny did that. And I am alive to prove that clearly it made a difference.
Building the Plate 23:28
I gotta be honest with you. I would a 100% do that. I just threw a plate together of a pizza cobbler, a hot dog, tortilla chips, and let me give it a bun too. Hold on a second.
And what about, like, a bean salad or
Okay.
Baked beans?
Oh, yeah. Okay. Let's do that too. Hot dog bun. Let me just throw a bun on here.
Just gonna use roll white hot dog bun. One hot dog bun at the plate. People are gonna be jealous of this thing. It's pretty great. What'd you say?
Baked beans?
Baked beans.
Alright. Hold on a second. Baked beans. You wanna use tops? You know that company?
I don't Bushes?
You know bushes? Bushes. Well, there you go. Bushes. Half a cup sound good to you?
Sure. Sounds good.
Add to the plate. Let's look at the plate.
I'm trying to think of something else that would be
Well, wait. But think think we'll add something. But first, 4.4 ounces of baked beans, one white hot dog bun, an ounce of tortilla chips, one hot dog, and 8.8 ounces of peach cobbler. Top of your head, how many carbs are we at?
I'm missing something. And so I've got the baked beans and the bun and the peach cobbler.
Mhmm.
What else was on the plate?
A roll and a hot dog. Yeah. The tortilla chips?
Oh, the tortilla chips. Yes. Because you didn't do a roll and a hot dog bun, did you?
I did. No. I did. One a hot dog bun. Yep.
Not a
roll.
So the hot dog bun, the hot dog, the chips, baked baked beans, and the cobbler.
I'm gonna say one I'm gonna say one fifty. And I'm going
Jenny, you're a genius. I this has 153.4.
Woo hoo.
Yeah.
I'm pretty good.
I swear to god. Like, I I thank god this is a job. I don't know what you would do. What what you were gonna add something else. What else did you say?
Oh, I was gonna say some type of, like, a vegetable. Right? Which, again,
would fun. God. Give me
Why not? For fun. And, you know, to to make, I guess, proof in what might not be considered, let's throw in some coleslaw, like, half a cup of coleslaw.
Okay. Well, first, I'm gonna do one thing for me. I'm gonna do a deviled egg. Oh my god. Love it.
Eat oh my god. I love deviled
egg. I do I am a deviled egg person. I I enjoy this. Okay. Hold on a sec.
Cole slaw, Stone Mills, Jenkins, Hans Kissel, rice. They're Walmart store's brand. Let's do Walmart. Okay? Should
we do
half a cup or one ounce?
Let's do a half a cup.
Half a cup. Add to the plate. You said one other thing. What'd you say? I cut you off when I started talking about deviled eggs, Or were you just gonna
say I was I was just gonna say some type of vegetable, like, like carrot sticks and dip or something. But, again, that's not very much, carbohydrate. It's okay. You might have a carrot. Coleslaw.
Well, hold on. For you might have a carrot. Raw carrot, one single serving bag is 2.8 ounces.
Great.
Okay. And
we Must be the baby carrots.
I think so. That put the plate up to a 176.4.
Mhmm.
So now
Right? So now you're counting 20 grams for something when really
Yeah. You're like twenty forty five. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
And then the lady, you're like, I'm 300. Diabetes is stupid. But die but let me say this. Diabetes is stupid. But It is.
Yeah. Correct.
Yes. It's
stupid. So I'm gonna send this over to the estimator
Oh.
Just to give it a little look. Why don't you give me
And that was just carbohydrate. We didn't even take into consideration this isn't terribly high protein meal. Honestly, it's just the hot dog part of it. Right?
And then has the protein as 33, the fat is 73, and the carbs is one seventy six.
But look at look at the fat.
Yeah. I know. Oh, that's what I'm saying. But but give me a car give me a carb ratio. Give me a carb ratio of a 15 year old boy.
Running the Numbers: Ratio, Target & Pre-Bolus 27:36
Top of your head.
Oh my god. Could be, like, a one to five or a one to seven.
Let's go seven.
I mean
What would his sensitivity be?
It could be really resistant. Could be 30. I would say 30 or 40.
I will say 40. What do you what what are we gonna target on a day like this at the barbecue? You wanna target, like I mean, I would I always just target 80. I I'm just gonna be honest. But, like, what what what do you think most people are out You there
know, as the when this question came in, it also included the consideration for the active time. Right? Considering all
the exercise yard games, boating. Yeah. Yeah. Right.
All the things to the picture. So if you're really aiming with all of this food in the picture picture and the insulin that would go along with it, I would say aiming for a one twenty would be a safe place to aim. Okay. Still a healthy number. It's not high.
Mhmm.
And it allows you enough wiggle room if and when blood sugar is dropping
Yeah.
Especially if it's dropping fast that you can catch that easier.
I'm gonna make the current BG one twenty just to kinda keep all things equal. I'm not gonna put insulin on board. I'm gonna say there's a stable arrow. Okay. This
I'm gonna plug my computer in because it's gonna die.
Go ahead. Go plug your computer in. So the the the the little app that I made for myself actually caps insulin at twenty five units. It won't let it
It caps insulin?
Yeah. At twenty yeah. It won't let it go over. So I'm gonna have to, like I'm gonna move the cap to a hundred just so I can, like, so I can get its answer. Oh my god.
Yeah. So it says, the the initial bolus would be about 25.1 units. Mhmm. And it's looking for a wave, like a Warsaw bolus over eight hours of 5.64. The theoretical requirement, it believes, to be 30.78.
And it would like to see a twelve minute pre bolus. Only twelve? Jenny's like, for a year. So but but well, all within the the guides of Sure. Yeah.
Yeah. So I think that if you know, I mean, you could run a bunch of different ratios through here in sensitivities to give people a different idea, but I'm just a like, listen. I made this there's this thing on my website, and I it's just there it's there for your education. Like, what I think about that is you can see that, put in what your carb ratio is. I mean, say you're, you know, one to 10 and your sensitivity is it's easier.
You're I don't know. It moves you 70 points. Right?
Right.
And then redo it again. That changing it to one to ten and seventy takes the initial down to 17.6, and the extension still is eight hours, but 3.94, 21.55. I find that to be just an an interesting way to understand how the insulin works. Even if you just, like, said, okay. Well, I'm just gonna take, you know, I'm gonna take the fat down to 50 just to get an idea, and all of a sudden another unit comes off.
And then, you know, like, blah blah blah. Right? It's an interesting way to learn about it is my point.
I think in the in this context too, this whole idea of a day out, cookout, active time, running around the yard, doing a whole bunch of things. Right? And even in this context, I think many adults are going to be a little bit more active too. So not just considering kids activity, but adult activity. Right.
You may be maybe you have you're having a pool party. I guarantee you're probably gonna be in and out of the pool. Mhmm. Or maybe you've got a a volleyball, or maybe you are awesome and you've got sand volleyball right in your backyard.
That'd be awesome. Whatever you need. That would be awesome.
Right? So I think in both context of of ages, it's appropriate to consider that extra amount for fat. Mhmm. That it's telling you to potentially extend over the course of several hours. Could you knowing what you know historically helps about your
I feel like I know what you're gonna say, but go
ahead. Impact with fat Yeah. And your impact with activity. Could you potentially bolus for the food and then let the active time that you know is coming possibly
hit enough
to cover the rest Yeah. You may do that. It may work out totally fine.
Right.
Again, historical view is always helpful to be able to say what were.
But this is just it's listen. We call it a we call it a barbecue, but this is also taking a kid out to the park and snacks and whatever. But it's an interesting it's an interesting mix of a lot of carbs and a lot of movement at the same time.
Mhmm.
Because I think you're I'm a 100% right. There's a high chance you're not gonna need nearly all this insulin.
Pool Time vs. Your CGM 32:33
Correct.
Yeah. And and so if it's your first time, then count it, understand it, be ready for it. But Jenny makes a a great point. Like, hit the carbs, see what happens, maybe the activity will make up the rest of it. Also, I I think I wanna say again, water blocks Bluetooth.
You jump in the pool, your CGM stops being a valuable part of your decision making process. Yes. And that is where a lot of problems pop up for people.
Mhmm.
Because there are you a lot of you are gonna be accustomed to, oh, the algorithm will, like, take away this or do that or it won't bolus or it won't basil for a while because of this. Not if you're in the pool. It's just gonna happen. You know?
Correct. So I I think building into this not only the idea around awareness of what you're actually eating and using a tool even in this case to possibly look some things up that may be out of the ordinary for you.
Yeah.
And then consider the active time, knowing what you know about activity and food and how that's hit you in the past can be beneficial. But then building in a safety parameter to be able to say, well, how often should I actually get myself out of the pool or get myself my son or my daughter or child out of the pool to actually do a finger stick, quite honestly.
Yeah. Now you gotta you just it it it hits you real fast too when
it happens.
Like, especially those little kids, it just you tank out of nowhere. And that's where that's where this becomes even more interesting and why somebody probably asked about it. Because the I would imagine what I see happen is that the fear overwhelms the reality of the carbs. And everyone's probably erring on the side of caution and then running into higher blood sugars later and Mhmm. Being just, I mean, it it just Jenny, do you know you don't have and I I hope you never do, but you don't have a kid with type one.
The Barbecue From Hell — and Doing Your Best 34:31
But No. You get up in the morning, 08:00. It's July 4. You gotta pack everybody up. You already wanna just you just wanna go back to bed already.
And then you gotta drive an hour and a half to your sister in law's house. You know you hate her. And then and then and they got a pool and their one kid is weird, hits the dog and you're like and it's a thousand degrees outside. You drag your ass there and you drag all the shit out of the car and then you look over, your mother-in-law is looking at you and she hasn't liked you in twenty five years. You feel it.
And and and then the kids say, I don't know how they run around and then your brother-in-law is talking and he's blowing smoke in your face. You're like, oh my god. What's happening? I just wanna get out of here. And then you eat the coleslaw and the thing and the kid and then he's disconnected from the blah blah blah.
And then the afternoon happens, everyone plays music you don't like. That happens too. You're sweating, nuts are sticking to your leg, Jenny. Then you climb your ass back, you finally go in the pool because you're like, alright, I'll be a person for a second. Dad, dad, oh, okay.
Back out of the pool again. This has my pod fell off. This is happening. He hit me. Blah blah blah.
It's 08:30 at night. Couple of people light some fireworks, almost kill three of your nieces and nephews. You drag your ass back into your car. You drive in the hour home. Your wife is yelling at you the entire time.
You say, and this is a quote from me, I didn't even wanna go to this. And then and then you get home and spend six hours with a low blood sugar overnight. Yeah. It's exhausting. It really is just terrible.
So I don't listen. Yeah. For me to be honest for the first time, I don't know what you should do. Like, I can tell you what the carbs are and the fat is and what the math would tell you, but then there's the rest of it. I don't know.
Some of you are gonna be more or less active than others. Some of you are using automated systems. Some just do your best. Get out there. Swing your hands.
Hope for the best. That's all. I don't know what
you said.
You know?
No. I think that's a great it's a great point, honestly. It's you do the best that you can in a situation like this.
Mhmm.
And even if it is the best that you counted 20 grams when really it was 50 grams, well, at least you counted something and you put it in.
Right? Something. Yeah.
Some something that I actually thought of as you were talking about what I'm
I thought you were gonna say it. As you talked about your nuts sticking to your leg, I thought you were gonna say, but go ahead. Keep going.
Well, you know, it depends. Your breasts can stick to your body too. I just think it can go both ways for these people. You
know when you lift them up and you just wipe underneath and keep going. Yeah. There
you go. Make it fair. But I was thinking about the fact that, one, this scenario sounds like it's something you have clearly lived through, and this is
I was just thinking, I hope my sister-in-law doesn't hear this.
At all. And I'm so sorry that you've had nastiness like that. I certainly have as well. So it's Yeah. Yeah.
Cover the Carbs, Pack the Go-Bag 37:25
Just you. But in all of it, I was thinking back to the consideration of that bolus. And what made me take pause in terms of the possible highs is that while you may not be considering the fat
Mhmm.
At all, you have under covered the carbs. So if the best thing that you can do is just count and consider the carbohydrate part of this, then consider it almost fully.
Okay.
Because if you're not thinking about the fat or the protein or the six plates of the barbecue meat that your child loves to eat, then at least you've covered the carbs and the activity factor, like I said before. It may hit well enough on the rest of that Mhmm. Without the undercovered initial carbs creating a stable two fifty or 300 that now even the activity isn't hitting because it was so completely undercovered.
Yeah.
Does that make sense?
It does. And nothing we talked about here wouldn't work for an adult either. Right?
Right.
Yeah. Also, I'll tell you a personal preference. I'd like a nice new site on before something like this. Like, I don't wanna I don't I don't say change the site and leave because sometimes a new site doesn't go well. But I love the the site the day before so it's working really well on a day like this.
I try to plan stuff around that, like, you know, bring extra supplies. Listen. I swear. I from running that Facebook group, most of y'all do not bring supplies with you. You have to Right.
Please bring supplies with you. You are just gonna find yourself online going cons I'm I'm in Biloxi. Does somebody have a CGM? Like, they're no. They don't.
And and bring one with you. Okay? Bring
it. Everyone should have a t one d to go bag.
Yeah. And I don't be Yeah.
Parked next to your door. It goes with you out the door. You don't remove things from it unless you literally have to remove something from it.
And then you replace it.
And then you replace it, and it comes back home with you.
Insulin pumps, Dexcoms, Libres. Have please have a glucagon with you. Batteries, chargers, Drinks. Literally That is is stuff for low blood sugars. And then, of course, you know, take it to the you know, when you get to the house, put it somewhere air conditioned.
And, of course, you'll leave and forget it and have to turn around and come back and get it. So that's a 100% gonna happen too, Jenny. Not that that's happened to me 10 times, but wait. Where's your bag? Where's your it's okay.
It's okay. We'll go back.
It's only two hours away.
Right? It's fine. It's okay. I'm gonna have to go go put a password on this little tool that I made for myself so nobody, like, digs around the website and finds it because Oh. I don't know if it's a thing.
I want no. No. If it's a thing, I'm I mean, it works great, but I don't just go to the Just
send it to me. I wanna try it.
Yeah. He's like, oh, great. Yeah. Everyone of those things, yeah. Sure.
The two of you keep it. You I mean, you can go to the website for the USDA. I think it's searchable. But point being listen. It's a it's a it's an AI world.
They have a API. Go ask your favorite, you know, chatbot, whatever. You know, does the USDA have a carb lookup API, and can you build a little tool for me so I can blah blah blah? You'll have it in five seconds. I'm not a genius about this.
It's not it's just not that hard anymore.
It's not that hard.
The world's opening up, Jenny. Okay. Thank you. Go to your party.
No. Thank you.
Please don't blow your fingers off, and don't drink and drive. And that's all I got for you. Bye.
Sounds good. Thank you.
A huge thanks to US Med for sponsoring this episode of the juice box podcast. Don't forget, usmed.com/juicebox. This is where we get our diabetes supplies from. You can as well. Use the link or call (888) 721-1514.
Use the link or call the number, get your free benefits checked so that you can start getting your diabetes supplies the way we do from US Med. Today's episode of the Juice Box podcast was sponsored by the new Tandem Mobi system and Control IQ Plus technology. Learn more and get started today at tandemdiabetes.com/juicebox. Check it out. Alright, guys.
I'm out of here. Do me a favor. If you need or want anything that is sold by one of the sponsors, please use my links. When you do that, you are supporting the production of this podcast, helping to keep it free and plentiful, and you're just helping me out. I pay my electric bill with this money.
I keep the podcast going. I'm not saying buy something you don't want, but I mean, if you're getting an Omnipod, then go to my link. You know what I mean? That kind of thing. Thank you so much for listening.
I'll be back very soon with another episode of the Juice Box podcast.
- Cookout sides are sneakier than they look. The “concoctions” — coleslaw, baked beans, potato salad — often hide added sugar you’d never guess. When you don’t know what went into grandma’s recipe, a quick lookup (a chatbot or the USDA food database) beats a blind “20 or 40.”
- A loaded barbecue plate adds up fast. Scott and Jenny built one realistic plate — hot dog and bun, chips, baked beans, peach cobbler, coleslaw, a deviled egg — and it landed around 175g of carbs with a heavy load of fat. Counting something close beats eyeballing it low.
- Cover the carbs first. If you only get one thing right, get the carbs — fully, not halfway. Under-covering them is what strands you at a stubborn high that even a day of activity won’t pull down. Fat and protein matter, but the carbs are the floor.
- Let the activity do some work. Pools, yard games, and a long active day can mean you need noticeably less insulin than the math suggests. Reasonable play: bolus for the food, aim a little higher (around 120) for wiggle room, and let movement help — remembering water blocks Bluetooth, so your CGM and algorithm go dark in the pool.
- Pack the bag and forgive yourself. Everyone should have a grab-and-go T1D bag by the door — pump and CGM supplies, glucagon, fast sugar, chargers — and yes, you’ll still forget it sometimes. As Scott put it after all the math: do your best, get out there, and hope for the best. A barbecue is carbs and chaos at once; perfect isn’t the goal.
- US Med — Where Scott’s family gets diabetes supplies — an episode sponsor. Or call (888) 721-1514.
- Tandem Mobi — The compact pump with Control-IQ+ technology — an episode sponsor.
- USDA FoodData Central — The free government food & nutrient database Scott uses to look up carb estimates for unlabeled foods.
- Diabetes Pro Tip Series — The fundamentals behind this episode — pre-bolusing, fat and protein, and settings.
- After Dark Collection — The stories no one else talks about — referenced in the intro.
#1892 You'll Get Used to It - Part 2
Part two: after years coded as type 2 — fighting for a pump, scary lows, lasting damage — she takes charge, turns her numbers around, and makes her case for antibody testing.
You’ll Get Used to It
Cold Open & Sponsors 0:00
Hello, friends, and welcome back to another episode of the Juice Box podcast. This is part two of a two part episode. Go look at the title. If you don't recognize it, you haven't heard part one yet. It's probably the episode right before this in your podcast player.
Nothing you hear on the Juice Box podcast should be considered advice, medical or otherwise. Always consult a physician before making any changes to your health care plan. If you're new to type one diabetes, begin with the bold beginnings series from the podcast. Don't take my word for it. Listen to what reviewers have said.
Bold beginnings is the best first step. I learned more in those episodes than anywhere else. This is when everything finally clicked. People say it takes the stress out of the early days and replaces it with clarity. They tell me this should come with the diagnosis packet that I got at the hospital.
And after they listen, they recommend it to everyone who's struggling. It's straightforward, practical, and easy to listen to. Bold Beginnings gives you the basics in a way that actually makes sense. Today's episode of the Juice Box podcast is sponsored by the Eversense three sixty five. You can experience the Eversense three sixty five CGM system for as low as $199 for a full year.
Visit evercentcgm.com/juicebox for more details and eligibility. This episode of the juice box podcast is sponsored by the Omnipod five. And at my link, omnipod.com/juicebox, you can get yourself a free what I just say, a free Omnipod five starter kit. Free. Get out of here.
Go click on that link. Omnipod.com/juicebox. Check it out. Terms and conditions apply. Eligibility may vary.
Full terms and conditions can be found at omnipod.com/juicebox. Links in the show notes. Links at juiceboxpodcast.com.
Coded Type 2: The Pump & Mounjaro Fight 2:23
Uh-huh. For the first time?
Mhmm.
How did they get me approved for Mounjaro? Since I'm a type one diabetic, they relying to my insurance for four years.
Your doctor's office then? Mhmm. Okay.
Yeah. Because when I finally pushed, I've been on a pump for almost exactly a year, actually. It might be a year, like, this week. I had to fight tooth and nail to get on a pump, and it took, like, six months to get it approved because my insurance was like, you're you're a type two. Like, you've been coded as a type two all of this time.
We're not giving you a pump. And I, anyway, threatened to do my doctor. I was like, but lying.
But there are plenty
of people who I know.
Who get pumps as type two.
Grab a pump. I know. Yeah. But it was a big issue. It was a big issue.
And so I think that's how they were able to get me on Mounjaro, which I just try not to look too closely at that. Like, someday, someone at that insurance company is gonna be like, wait a minute.
You know what they say?
Plus one is not equal to. So I'm just hoping nobody catches it.
Yeah. Yeah. You know what they say. Ask me no questions, and I'll tell you no lies.
Exactly. Yeah. I just kinda, like, I just kinda quietly pick up my Mantra every month and just hope no one notices. Thank you. Because it's working really well for me.
And I am still at honeymoon. I do still have some low CPAP ties. So
Mhmm. Wow. How much weight have you lost on the GLP?
I don't know. You know, I didn't really so after I started after the hospital visit and I started taking insulin, my weight went back up. Not all the way back up. Mhmm. But it started going back up, and it really wasn't until I started that GLP in 2022 that's when really the heavy weight was.
So maybe 60 or 70 of the pounds.
And is that That
has been very slow. It's been very slow.
Well, you're me. That's awesome. But are you are you able to talk about it without, like when I ask you how much weight did you lose, is that triggering for you? Or like
Not anymore, no.
No. It would have been at some point though.
Yeah.
Yeah. You'd have been yelling at me about the patriarchy by now if I would have brought that up at a certain point of time. Like, I understand. Okay. Alright.
I know how you are. Goddamn white men. Like, what? I know that's it's just a rabbit hole of complaints.
You're not you're not wrong.
You're not wrong. I'm not wrong. I by the way, I I've I'm on a roll today. I interviewed somebody earlier today. And, like, based on, like, six minutes of conversation, I was like, what do you like?
And I picked out, like, what I thought they did for a living, and she cracked up laughing. She was like, my god. You're so close. I'm embarrassed. And I was like,
get That's help
so funny. But but but but so the the GLP, you said you really it's really helping you. Like, can you contextualize for people? Like, take a take a detour here and tell people what it's done for you. What do you think it's still doing?
Well, so the reason I was put on it wasn't actually for weight loss. That's just like a nice side effect. It's how I see it. Mhmm. The way I did have one, there was one NP.
Because like I said, that's an old Endo. It was a revolving door. People, like, quit every three months at that office. So because I saw a new provider almost every single time, which is I think how I also got lost in in the shuffle part of it. Not that that excuses them.
And she this is one good one. She was like, listen. There's these new medications, these GLP ones. There's some preliminary studies showing that it can help protect the remaining beta cells that you still have that are functioning.
Mhmm.
And it can kinda prolong this honeymoon phase and which I didn't even fully understand what that meant at the time, so nobody could explain it to me. But I was like, okay. There's these cells, and they're dying, and this will help them die slower. She was like, yes. And you might lose some weight.
And I was like, great. I've had a problem losing weight my whole life unless I'm literally starving myself. And so that was my motivation, and that still is my motivation. I mean, somebody could tell me tomorrow, like, you can't be on this GLP one anymore, and I'd be upset about my beta cells, not about any potential weight implications, if that makes sense.
Okay.
And so I think that's why five years in, I am still honeymooning. I mean, I have to be because I still have I think my c peptides were at, like, one or 1.5.
Yeah. I mean, you're not you wouldn't be the first adult who told me that they think that Bounjaro is, like, stretching out their honeymoon.
Impatient With the Honeymoon 6:41
So absolutely is. And, you know, at a certain point, when I finally took the bull by the horns and figured this will die these thing out, I was kinda mad about it. I was and I even asked my new endo. I was like, can I just like, what can I do to kill my beta cells faster? And he looked at me like I grew horns.
And he was like, why would you ask that? I was like, I'm not trying to sound ungrateful. I'm sure every other type one out there would love to trade places with me and still be in their honeymoon, but I'm ready to shit or get off the pot. If I understand this correctly, it's only gonna get worse. It's never gonna get better.
And I kinda like I'm tired of being in this honeymoon phase because it is hard. Like, day to day
Changes.
I don't know. Like, is this gonna be a really insulin sensitive day? Is this gonna be a really resistant day? How much insulin should I put in my pod this time? Am I gonna use all the units or, like, none of the units?
And, like, that part is a little frustrating, and he was he talked me off the ledge, He was like, we're not gonna do that.
Yeah. In a world where we're trading one problem for another one, let's stick with this one longer.
Right? Right. And so I'm I'm I'm fine now. I just I had a momentary. I was like, I'm sick of this.
Let's just kill them all the way and be done with it.
Let's get to the bad part. Can we?
Yes. Yes. Let's get to the bad part faster because then I can tackle it, and I can deal with it and move on.
I agree. I mean, listen, it's not a crazy thing to say out loud. I mean and it sounds like he did a good job of being like, oh, slow down. Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. I'm yeah. I got past it. Yeah.
It Got Worse: Scary Lows, No Supplies 8:09
So so this continued. My AMNC continued in the eighths until May 2024. And something about, like, May to September of twenty twenty four, my diabetes got a whole lot worse. And you can see a trend of, like, a huge drop in C peptides at that point even though it still happened. Mhmm.
There was a big drop. I still was not on a CGM. I was lucky if I tested my blood sugar even once a day. There was no mention of a pump. I still had never met with a diabetes educator.
I didn't even know that was a thing. I didn't know to ask for that.
K.
I had never been given any kind of training, no crappy little book that you get in the hospital, like, nothing. And I started experiencing really scary lows for the first time. I didn't even know that's what was happening. I had two experiences where I was out with my daughter, and it's just her and I, and I had absolutely zero supplies with me. No meter, no sugar, nothing, and had really scary lows where, like, by the time I got myself home and tested, I was still, like, in the forties and fifties.
Okay. I didn't even know that's what was happening.
Couple questions, may I?
Yeah. Mhmm.
Why are you not carrying a meter in your supplies with you? Is it because you don't want to or you don't know that it's even important?
That was still during the phase where I didn't even know this was important.
Okay. And then the other part I always like to ask anybody who finds themselves in this situation, contextually, not to blame anybody. But did you know you were hurting your long term health?
No. I did not. Okay. I know now, and I'm pissed. I'm really angry about it.
Good.
Lasting Damage & Dismissive Care 9:50
Yeah. I have to take I have, like, some permanent damage to some organs and, like, some nerve damage.
You do already? Yeah.
Yeah. I'm really angry about that because, again, now that I know how to read my own labs very proficiently
Mhmm.
I see it. And I see all the warning signs, and I see I had microalbumin in my urine, and I had protein, and I was probably in DKA more than once. And nobody told me. And They would walk they I would walk into the appointment, and they would say, yeah. Her a one c is still a little high.
Like, how often are you testing? And I'd lie. And I'd be like, oh, you know, I'm testing before and after every meal. And they're like, what's your they never downloaded my data. Mhmm.
They were like, what's your average blood sugar? I was like, oh, most of the time when I test, it's one fifty. They were like, okay. Well, you know, keep chipping away at it. That's it.
You do you I'm gonna use some harsh language, but I wanna make sure that I understand. Is it your intention to tell me that you think that these people were looking at you and going, it's just another fat person that doesn't take care of themselves, and we're not gonna try because it's not gonna matter? Yeah. Yeah. That's the that's the care you feel like you were getting.
Yeah. Okay. I'm sorry. Absolutely. I'm just sorry you even said it out loud, but but I appreciate No.
That wasn't I didn't find that harsh at all. I found that honest.
Cool. Alright. Well, I I oh, listen. I mean, somebody's gotta point this out. Apparently, it's me.
I don't know how that happened.
Uh-huh. Yeah.
“I Wouldn’t Have Wasted Four Years” 11:15
I somebody said to me the other day, he's like, so weird, isn't it, that you don't have diabetes? And I was like, I know. I think that a lot. I I really do. Like, of all the people who could've settled into this position, like, how in the hell?
You know what I mean? Why wasn't it one of you guys? And some of them must
be pissed
at by the way, Mary, some people still gotta be mad, don't you think? Don't you think some people turn on and go, hope that this is the popular diabetes podcast made by a guy who doesn't have diabetes? Awesome. You you know people are pissed at me somewhere. Okay.
I don't know. I hide in here. I can't I don't really know if any of you exist. Although I'm going out in the world, I'm going to a talk this weekend. Oh, first of I'm doing a talk tomorrow
That's exciting.
In a hospital, and then I'm gonna I'm driving to Atlanta, and I'm gonna go do a talk in Atlanta.
I love that you do stuff like that. I think that's really important.
It's gonna be fun. And we'll meet a couple 100 people and and say hi, and then I'll have lunch. And then I'm gonna go look at I talk all the time about, like, I should move south. Right? I'm actually gonna go look at a couple of houses on my way home.
Good for you.
Yeah. It's kind of a working fun trip. Scotty doesn't get out here often enough, so I'm gonna take a few days.
Go ahead. If you should. Yeah. You you've more than you've more than earned that.
Well, that's not why I'm doing this. I'm doing this so that I can keep the electric on, and so that you guys can be healthier. I mean, listen.
Here we go.
I gotta tell you something. A web page about type one diabetes and menopause is not gonna draw a lot of traffic to my site. I'm certainly not gonna make any money off of it. If that if you don't hear me say that out loud and think, this guy must really care about us, you're out of your mind. Because, like, there's there's no one no one making content makes content they don't think that they can't get clicks off of.
I'm constantly running around making content for big 12 people. I'm like, here. Yeah. I think you'll love like, this is really gonna help the people. It's gonna help.
I I look at the the sign language page for the bold beginning series all the time.
It does Oh, that you did like
a few clicks a month. And I think
But but it's so important. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No.
That's what I love about this podcast and and about you is it's it's just so genuine and so natural. And I don't know. We don't deserve you. No. You're a national treasure.
First of all, you're very kind. And and mostly people just heard how I cook one saving you, man, pivoted the whole thing right onto me, which I'm not gonna lie to you. I did. And I'm just I'm so good at. It's hard not to do sometimes.
You know what mean? Okay.
It's your prerogative.
I've got skills, Mary. They're not all fantastic. No. It really I will later, I'll listen back to our episode at some point. Right?
And and what I think people from the outside will see is like, well, that was self serving or this was that. Like, I'm really doing these things because I think they're making points to people listening Yeah. Which will end up moving them in a certain direction that will help them.
But Well, listen. If I had like, that's why I'm here today. It sounds so trite, and everybody says this, but it's because it's true. If I had listened to a podcast like this with somebody like me back in 2021, I wouldn't have wasted four years of my life
Yeah.
Damaging my organs.
Yeah.
So if one person listens to me rambling with you Mhmm. And has benefited, like, that's that's the goal.
That's how I see all this, actually. So I'm I'm happy for you to add your story to it. But, anyway, I'm sorry. I I No. That's okay.
I did waylay you. I apologize. This episode of the Juice Box podcast is sponsored by the Eversense three sixty five. Get three hundred and sixty five days of comfortable wear without having to change a sensor. When you think of a continuous glucose monitor, you think of a CGM that lasts ten or fourteen days.
But the Eversense three sixty five, it lives up to its name, lasting three hundred and sixty five days. That's one year without having to change your CGM. With the Eversense three sixty five, you can count on comfort and consistency three hundred and sixty five days a year because the Eversense silicone based adhesive is designed for your skin to be gentle and to allow you to take the transmitter on and off to enjoy your shower, a trip to the pool, or an activity where you don't want your CGM on your body. If you're looking for comfort, accuracy, and a one year wear, you are looking for Eversense three sixty five. Go to eversensecgm.com/juicebox to learn more.
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Taking Charge & Finding the Podcast 16:23
No. No. No. It's okay. Well, so just to kinda wrap wrap it up.
So, September 2024, I started taking this all seriously. I actually did join and I'm not gonna talk much about this. This is not why I'm here. I did join a a diabetes coaching program that I found online.
Mhmm.
Did that for a few months. It was like a crash course. Learned a lot of basics. Confronted my endo. We duped it out.
I demanded a CGM. I demanded a pump. Anyway and I and I started sort of this this journey that I'm on now, and I didn't even discover your podcast until literally about I think it was April of last year. Somebody had a birthday party. Somebody you know very well at a birthday party told me about the podcast.
And so, like, the too long didn't read.
Already been
a really good hour in.
Hold on a second. Somebody that I know well at a birthday party told you about my podcast.
Yeah.
Is it somebody I'm related to?
No. No. No. No. It's somebody who's been on the podcast, and he's very active in the Facebook group.
Ryan Hodges?
Ryan. Oh, you said Arizona. I should have guessed Ryan. Yeah. Actually, may I say this right here?
Because I don't know where this else will ever come up. Ryan is gonna come back on the cruise and help me with some stuff, and so we're gonna share a cabin together. So Ryan and I are gonna get to know each other pretty well.
Oh my god. Yeah. That's amazing. And he told me last year that he was going on the cruise. Okay.
So let me tell you how I met Ryan. So he okay. I have a neighbor in my neighborhood. We're friends. She has kids.
We have kids. We're at one of her kid's birthday parties. Ryan is her stepsister's husband.
Okay.
And he was there at the party, and I was there at the party, and he saw me. I didn't even have a CGM at this point. Or maybe maybe I had a CGM. I had a CGM. I didn't have a pump.
And so he saw me, like, take out my pen because I was gonna eat a hot dog. And he was like, oh, are you diabetic? And I was like, yeah. He's like type one or type two? I was like, actually type one.
And we got into this chitchat, and I was really I still I kinda hate when people ask me when I was diagnosed because when you say you were an adult and not a kid, people get confused. And it stresses me out and makes me kind of panic. And and so I think I might have even lied about how long I had been a diabetic to him because I was like, I was so embarrassed. I'm better about that now when people ask me. I'm like, was in my thirties.
You know? And he's like, oh, what pump are you on? I'm like, oh, I'm just MDI. Like, you know, I'm trying to get on the Omnipod, and I just did this coaching program. I've got my a one c down, and and he's like, have you listened to Juice Box?
And I was like, what's that? And he tells me about it. He tells me about the cruise, and I started listening, I think, that day. And, yeah, here we are. I've listened to almost every episode you've produced.
I started in the mid hundreds
Mhmm.
And I've skip I've skipped very few.
What the Podcast Changed 19:13
Well, that's really crazy. Mhmm. Can I Yeah? Can I ask you to contextualize something for me? Because you're in the middle of something that's pretty new.
And this isn't I'm saying this to you because I don't want you to feel that I'm asking you this, but also for the people listening. Like, I'm not asking you to tell me, like, why I'm so terrific. I'm asking you, like, what helped you? Like, what struck you? What made sense?
What led you to something? Were there because there's something about how it's made or how much is available or how it's structured online or, like, can you help me understand how it helps you?
Yeah. I listen on Spotify. When I had found the podcast, I, you know, I had already got wrapped my arms around a lot of the basics that you go over in, like, bold beginnings and the the pro tip series. And, you know, my amnesty was starting to come down, but I still listen to all of those series. And I was like, oh, that actually was explained in a way that's a lot more simple than the way it was just explained to me.
Oh, okay. Kinda reinforced what I've been learning. And for me, it's like, I love listening to people's stories. I think everybody has a story, and everybody has a journey, and everybody is interesting. And being able to listen to these episodes, whether they're the tactical ones or whether they're people storytelling, I I find it really comforting to have a way to connect back to the t one d community consistently and to hear stories that I can relate to even if somebody's experience or journey is very different from mine.
Mhmm. So that's what I that's what I like about it. And I I have a poor group of friends now who have type one diabetes and with ourselves with diabetes and, like, being able to con like, connect to them and talk to them and share stories with them consistently is extremely important and helpful for me. And this podcast is almost a continuation of my diabetes.
Okay. So like, a a
You're my Diabesties, Scott.
Oh, thank you. No one's ever said that to me before.
That was really teasing, but it's true.
No. That that made me feel nice. No one's ever said that to me before.
I think I told you before you recorded. I was like, you don't know me, but you're my friends. Because I've listened to you talk for so long.
Because I don't want you to murder me. I'm gonna say we are friends. It's okay. Don't worry.
Don't worry.
So, basically, you you got some basics, then you had them reinforced, but also simplified, and then Yeah. Community and, like, kinship digitally. Those are kind of the things it did for you. Okay. Mhmm.
That's
awesome. And it's good and it's good reminders. You know? Like, if I have just listened to a podcast that day, I'm less likely to forget to prepos before dinner because it's gonna be on my mind.
So that's the one thing I'm I'm over and over again, like, happy to hear about because, like, it it's such an unintentional, like, benefit of the podcast. Meaning, like, there's no there's no world where I sat down and said, oh, if I give people a touch point, it'll help them stay more involved. I'm sure that would have been obvious had I, you know, I don't had know, I paid attention to like my eleventh grade psychology class. I'm sure that would have been like made, you know, made sense, but it's not a thing I planned. And when people report it back all the time, I'm always very like happy about that because of the way they often talk about it, which is when I'm when I was before, like like, overly focused and, like, burning out on it and not having good outcomes.
But now I feel like I'm aware of it, but it's in the background and it's happening, and I'm on top of it, but not in a way that makes me feel like it's overwhelming. Is that a
100 yeah.
Yeah.
100%. That's where I am today, for sure.
Help Me or Move Out of My Way 22:56
Awesome. That's a quick to get there too in in a year.
Well, you know, I'm pretty I'm pretty driven once I get my head on my ass. I like to do things fast. Once I make once I make a decision, you can help me or you can move out of my way. Right. It just took me longer than usual to make the decision to just take responsibility for this.
It's awesome.
And I and I'm happy to share that now, as of today, my a one c is 5.5.
Woah.
My time in range is almost a 100%, and that's between seventy and one sixty. I'm thinking of bumping that one sixty down, and my standard deviation is 18.
Holy crap. I'm so
good at this.
This is all I heard when you said those numbers. No. I'm just kidding. That's a lot of hard work from you. That's that's really well No.
Seriously.
Sure is. And and it's not just because I'm I mean, I'm sure part of it is, like, I have friends who have had diabetes since they were kids, and their numbers don't look like this. And so I know as I age, like, this will get harder, but it's not just because I'm in my honeymoon. Like, I I work really hard this every single day.
Yeah. No. I I would I I try very hard. Anytime people celebrate with me, I try very hard to remember to say, like, that's a lot of hard work done by you. Very well done.
Like, because a lot of times people will wanna give me credit and I'll just be like, look, I said the stuff and all, but, like, you had to go do it. You know? Like, it's it's a lot of hard work. It is really well done. Congratulations.
That that must be a long
Thank you.
Now is it
It does.
More Than Diabetes: Her Son’s Turnaround 24:26
Is that is that success? Is that translating over to other parts of your life? Are you feeling more confident in other ways? Or is there Yeah.
Is it like
a like a human learning experience that's coming from it? I'm I've never asked anybody that before, but just occurred to
a really interesting question. You know? Yes and no. Back when I was in the thick of figuring out type one diabetes and and how to get my A and T down and how to have tighter control and all of these things, We were also in the middle of the worst two years of our son's life that he's had. Okay.
Things for him are extremely challenging and really scary, and there were some pretty serious real world consequences that were making their way into our home. And and so and I had just started my MBA program on top of working full time, and, like, my home life was was un unraveling. Yeah. Just desperately clawing at anything I couldn't to help this child. And so, again, diabetes was, like, the eighth thing on the list of things for me to be stressed about.
And now all of a sudden, I have this enormous mental load to deal with, and I was really, really, really angry. Because I hadn't I hadn't confronted my anger or my grief yet about being type one until I actually understood what it meant and, like, the foreverness of it. So that was really hard. At the beginning of last year, I was dealing with a lot, and I was very burned out, and the mental load felt impossible. And it feels really good to now to have fought through that Mhmm.
And to have just gritted my teeth and and gotten through it and gotten over it and to now be in a place where diabetes is the fifth most stressful thing on my list because I've learned how to control it. And and we happen to be we had a huge with our son just a few months ago, and he is now in an amazing place and, like, thriving and doing better than he ever has. And so, yeah, just a lot of things right now are going really well. If you had talked to me three months ago, probably would have sounded a lot more pessimistic. But Was it medication?
What'd you find out? Is it a medication, or what'd you figure out?
Mhmm. Yeah. He's he's been medicated for many, many years, but, it was the correct diagnosis and the correct medication. This is when we realized he was bipolar. Mhmm.
So there was a serious mental disorder that had gone undiagnosed that the autism never explained, and I had to call 30 psychiatrists in the county to find one who was willing to evaluate his age, and that's how worked.
Good for you. That's awesome. I did you hear the lady that was on whose daughter was bipolar? And they it took them a long time to get the medication right, and she was so thrilled because there was such an improvement with the medication, but it wasn't like what she would have considered all the way there. But it was good enough that she felt like she could move forward with the girl's life, or the black I can't remember.
A girl's life maybe? Is it? And then they she said, well, now we're gonna try to address her weight, so we put her on a GLP. And a lot of the other bipolar symptoms, I know bipolar is probably not, like, the correct terminology. But, like, symptoms went away with the GLP.
That's really interesting.
Did you hear that one?
I don't remember. I remember that episode. I don't remember that detail. My son is a little bit underweight, though.
Yeah. No. No. No.
Keep weight on him, so I don't but that is really interesting.
All I took from her statement was something about maybe there was a reduction in in inflammation in the kid.
Inflammation.
Yeah.
You know? And we did go down the whole, like, pans pandas rabbit hole with him. Mhmm. And he did not have a single marker for, like, body inflammation, brain inflammation. We tried some medical for that, and it didn't really do anything.
We had tried that child had been on every antipsychotic that exists for his age. He had been on every mood stabilizer that exists for that age. Mhmm. And nothing had truly ever worked until this medication will be done now.
Okay.
And we're thrilled. We're thrilled. And it was kinda interesting. His his psychiatrist who I I mostly have appointments with his psychiatrist. Right?
Like, comes, and then he'll be like, hey. And then he goes off and plays. Like, he doesn't he doesn't wanna talk to this guy. And I remember because his, like, can't evaluate rates, he just prescribed. So we had to go get evaluated somewhere else.
And he was like, so how are you feeling? Because a lot of parents, like, getting a diagnosis of a serious mental disorder can be really heavy. And I was like, are you kidding? I am thrilled. I am ecstatic.
I couldn't be happier because this is identifiable, it's diagnosable, and it's treatable. And the treatment is, like, a very old, long standing, safe, low side effect medication that he can be on for the rest of his life if it's working for him. I was like, I'm thrilled. I said, I I have a chronic disease. I'm a type one diabetic.
I'll I'll be on insulin the rest of my life. This is no different. And that's how we talked to him about it too. You know? Like, the other day, he was watching we're watching survivor as a family, and there's all these pharmaceutical commercials.
And he's like, why does anybody take medication with all these side effects? And he's like, wait. I take medication. I was like, yeah. Take take a step back.
And I was like, I, you know, my body doesn't make insulin, and so that's what I take. And your body doesn't make x y z, and so that's what you take. And, like, the medications we're on are not those medications. It's gonna, like, give you rectal bleeding or whatever it is they talk about. And he was like, oh, okay.
Your rectum will bleed from your eyes. How's that gonna happen? Right. I I the I'll tell you what. Of those commercials, I get why they're supposed to list the side effects in
Of course.
The one thing that I never understand is, you know, it doesn't matter what the drug name is. Right? Like, just let's just say it's Trulicity. And and they'll say, if you're allergic to Trulicity, don't take Trulicity. And I'm like, is that a really a thing we have to say?
Like like,
is Mhmm. Like, right? How do you know you're allergic to it if you've never seen it?
I don't like, are there people out there who are like, oh, I'm allergic to it, but I'm just gonna keep going. Like, I don't like, maybe there is, but, like, that like, I understand the other side effects. Like, if you don't, you know, if if you don't want your if you don't want your asshole to bleed out of your eyes, then don't take it. Like, okay. Thank you.
If you're if I don't know. That does that sentence doesn't make any sense to me. If you're if you have I forget exactly how they put it. It's not allergic. It's if you have something with the drug, don't take the drug.
And I'm like, that really seems like common sense to me. But Oh, yeah.
It's like if there's a sign by the wood chipper, don't stick your hand in the wood chipper. It's, you know, it's a liability. It's just a it's a liability issue. That's all.
The funniest thing mean. I don't know. I laugh every freaking time for every drug when they say that one line. I'm like, yeah. I got it.
Thanks.
Me too.
Awesome. Oh my gosh. Is there anything we didn't talk about that we should have or anything that I've skipped over or didn't get to?
A couple things. Go ahead. If you got a few more minutes.
I got minutes I just don't wanna miss. Okay.
Strength Training & Falling Insulin Needs 31:33
So okay. So one thing I wanna talk to you about, I want your opinion on is something has been happening the last two months, and I'm really freaked out about it. It's a good thing, but it Mhmm. You know, I don't trust good things that happen. They freak me out.
So I've started strength training, which is a very generous way of defining what I'm actually doing on my own.
A pile of books across to our part. Yeah. Yeah.
I'm like I'm like doing, like, pre weights and, like Sure. You know, body for, like, twenty minutes, and I just I'm just trying to get some I have a tone and a loose skin, and I'm just trying to tighten things up and increase my strength and, you know, be able to still pick up my kids and all these things. So for about six weeks, I've been at least twenty minutes a day, like, five days a week. I've been doing the strength training, and in that exact same time frame, my insulin use has gone down by 33%.
Okay. I mean
Which is wild to me. And I'm like, I know that, like, strength training and, like, weight lifting for diabetics can be really great, and it can increase your insulin sensitivity, but, like, that seems extreme. I'm not mad about it. I'm just like, when's the other shoe gonna drop?
Well, no. No. But if if I mean, there's probably a a blend of things there. So you're you're on have you upped your GLP in that time frame too?
No. No.
Okay. So you you started strength chain which may be what means, like, dumbbells and, like Mhmm. Pull downs and just some basic,
like Squats, lunges. Okay. Yeah. Yeah.
And your insulin needs went down how much?
33%. I I went from averaging thirty units a day total across basal and bolus to, like, 18 to 20 a day.
No kidding. Yeah. That's awesome. And have well, have you been losing weight during that time?
No. In fact, a few weeks ago, realized I had gained five pounds, which talk about triggering. I absolutely panicked. And I even had a moment where I was like, I should stop taking insulin and drive my numbers high so that I can lose that weight. And then I very quickly told my wife and my therapist that I was having those feelings.
Mhmm. So you stopped.
Me accountable.
Good for you.
And then I realized two things. One, it was the week before my period. And and and two, I think I'm putting on muscle.
Yeah. I mean, I've I so I've had the same experience after, like, having a lost weight on the GLP. And then I got like, and you're so tracking the number, like, because the number means you're losing fat. Like, there's kinda like that whole thing. And then I got down to a point where I was like, god, I'm I'm actually pretty thin.
Like, let's start moving in the other direction.
Mhmm.
And I added, like, you know again, I'm not like I'm not training for mister Olympia or anything like that. Right? Like, know, trying to ride a bike, go for more walks, rowing machines.
Yeah. I ride bikes too. Yeah.
And and the other thing I did was I added I don't eat enough fiber in my diet, so I add, like, fiber tablets to my day. That has it makes me retain water. So, like, I had to watch the number climb from that. I had to watch the number climb from the from the, you know, the resistance stuff. And it at first, it's a panic because I was trying to lose weight.
And then to see the number go the other direction makes you feel like, oh god. Am I gonna like, am I gonna be 70 pounds heavier the next time I look up? I lost 70 pounds. You know, I put three on and they're all gonna come back. But then it took me me a little bit to realize, like, I'm like, oh, no.
I'm just I'm gonna gain probably five to ten pounds from this very low weight, but my clothes don't fit any differently. I don't look any differently. It's just it's a structural improvement. Yeah. And that's how I that's how I chose to think about it.
Yeah. On And my clothes are fitting better, and, like, things are toning. I put on muscle really, really fast. Awesome. Something about my genetics that's always which I used to hate when I was younger.
So I was like, I don't wanna work out. I don't wanna get bigger. But now I'm like, hell, yeah. I wanna be a strong lady. I wanna put on the muscle.
I just have to not panic when I get on the scale.
Arden went to the gym with her boyfriend twice last week, and she's like, I don't wanna get too jacked. And I'm like, I don't think you're in any like, you know, I I don't I don't think there's any real concern about that. I said, just keep doing what you do, but I think you're
fucked. Yeah.
I don't wanna get too jacked. I'm like, like, I don't think that's gonna happen. But, you know, you're fine. That's awesome. I mean, listen.
I I have to tell you, like, I would just take it. I don't I don't know. I can't sit here and tell you. I mean, honestly, you should probably just ask, you know, a large language model or Google it. But, like I have.
Yeah. I
have. And it has said, like, thirty three percent's a little extreme, but, like, maybe? I'm like, okay.
Well, I
mean Whatever. We'll see what happens.
Yeah. Truth be told, like, are you are you eating differently and you don't realize it too? Like, there maybe there's something else happening you don't realize.
I I mean, I I've been trying to increase my water intake to go right along with the exercise, and my stress levels have come way down. Good. I can have little slumpings to do with it.
Oh, there. See? Now that's a great example. Right? That I didn't think of that, but I'll use my
son. Connected?
I'll use my son as an example. Like, if he doesn't move, he turns into a, like, like a caged tiger. And then if he doesn't move long enough, then the tiger gets angry. Like, you know what I mean? Like, so first, starts pacing, like, you know, it used to be, you know, got when he was younger, he had baseball.
And then as he and he graduated from college and didn't have baseball anymore, and he's like, we're like, hey. You need to find an activity, my friend. Like, you like, you know, go and so he started playing basketball. Like, he goes out. He probably once it's warm out, he's probably playing basketball, like, four nights a week at a park or something like that after work.
Goes and plays golf. Like, you know, taught himself to play golf so he could go play golf and and and that kind of stuff. And when I see him doing those things, personality wise, like stress, all that stuff, he he lightens right up. And if it if the weather goes crappy for a week and he can't go play basketball, you can see him get, you know, tight, I guess, is the way to put it. And Yeah.
And and he's not nearly the only person I've ever heard talk about that. So if your exercise I mean, listen. I don't know the numbers on this, but, like, every bro podcast in the world will yell about this. Like, that that exercise is is more effective for depression than an SSRI. I don't know if that's actually true, but people say it all the time.
And colloquially, people who work out a lot believe their mental health is better. So if you're just lowering anxiety or lowering stress, that could be putting down significantly your insulin needs.
Yeah. And I I mean, I'd say the bulk of my stresses could decrease is just how incredibly well my son is doing right now compared to January. And I I absolutely feel better.
So those are those things overlapping the timeline of you Yeah. Your son got better off? So you had more free time, so you started working out, and then your insolence went down.
Yeah. I think so.
Such a great example of, like, not you know, that very often, we don't know why things are actually happening. Like, put a great example of that. And by the way, we could be wrong about that. It could end up being something else, but that is a reasonable consideration, I think.
Yeah. I think so too.
Yeah. Good for you. Your life got better and you're happier.
Autoimmune Family History 38:55
Yeah. For sure. Yeah. One thing you haven't asked me about, so I'm shocked, Scott. I'm absolutely shocked.
What what have you not asked me that you ask everybody?
Wait. I ask everybody or I ask lesbians with babies?
No. You ask everybody about their family history. Oh. Autoimmune family history.
Well, you said though you you said you said people have type two. There's Hashimoto's. Like, I felt like you went over it, but was there more?
There is more. There is more. That's I was just I was prepared. Talked to my mom yesterday. I made a list.
I want alright.
I'll take that before you go, but I just by the way, like, there's a lesbian couple that's on one time, and the way they inseminated each other, it's like, I should stop making the podcast. I've done it. I was like, I should just run this one over and over again. This one's awesome. So but I I but, you know, you just went to the doctor.
It sounds like that's sounds boring.
Yeah. We just went to the I mean, but I we we both, you know, pushed the syringe at the doctor's office.
These girls simulated intercourse and then did it themselves.
Heard of that. Heard of that. Your your chances are a lot higher in a doctor's office, and it's quite expensive. So we went the medical route.
Okay. Yeah. Yeah. No. I mean, listen.
I I don't know. Well, there's a lot in there I don't have any personal experience with, but but yeah. Yeah. I when she told me, I was like, really? And she goes there.
She started explaining. I was like, okay. So okay. Well, what else is in your family then?
Okay. So we type one in Hashimoto's. My mom has Hashimoto's and Crohn's disease.
Mhmm.
My brother has ulcerative colitis, which is a little on the fence. They're like, some people say it could be autoimmune. I think if that's one of those, they don't really know. My brother has psoriatic arthritis, my other brother. My grandmother had narcolepsy and rheumatoid arthritis.
Oh, you didn't tell me you were Irish.
Yeah. Well, actually, like
Irish English? Like,
I mostly, like, Scottish, Irish, English Okay. German. Almost a fifty fifty split. That's why I put on muscle. So fast.
That comes from German farmers.
Yeah. Let's just say that part of the world. Okay. Here you go.
That part of the world. Okay.
Okay. I got it. Oh, I'm looking. Yeah. I didn't really look at I see your picture now.
You're very Caucasian. I see it.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I'm very white. My skin glows in the dark.
Oh, yeah. I see your is that your
I don't pan.
That's not a married last name. That's your last name. Right?
That's my last name. Yeah. My wife took my last name.
Okay. Oh,
I shouldn't have said that. Whatever. I don't care.
Well, that's okay. Like, you want me
to I've take it got no. I've got a bunch of, like, aunts and uncles and cousins with other random, like like, autoimmune pancreatitis and sarcoidosis. And then my wife, just for fun, and she obviously, we're not related, so this isn't exactly irrelevant. But she has psoriatic arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, fibromyalgia, and lupus. Dear lord.
Yeah.
That's a lot of thought. And you guys both got
That's awesome.
Over it a couple times, you said, too. Did that make anything worse? Does anybody have long COVID?
Perhaps. Yeah. Per perhaps. Yeah. She you know, she's on so many different treatment plans for these pretty serious autoimmune disorders that it's like, meh.
Yeah. I don't
know if there's anything additional she could be she could be doing for long COVID, but but, yeah, she's really she's extremely resilient and strong.
Okay.
Yeah. I like to hide behind her comma, and I like to hide behind her auto means, this first. It's pretty easy to do.
You may think I'm trouble, but look at this one. A problem. Me feel like nothing's going wrong over here. Well, I appreciate I appreciate you sharing that extra stuff with Thank you very much. I am not surprised that that part of the world is makes people like that for sure.
So Yeah. That's something else though, isn't it? It's I mean, so much you know, it just it just sucks. I you know, obviously, my my wife is like English and Irish and and, you know, my daughter's got other issues too. And it it sucks to watch somebody have to live with all that stuff.
You know what I mean? Like, it's people Yeah. Are tough and they'll joke through it and everything, but you're very nice if nobody had to.
It's a lot. Yeah. Yeah. It's definitely a lot. And you know, I we were concerned about, you know, we're watching our son for signs of anything that my wife has because she gave birth to him.
And we've had our daughter in trial net for the last two years.
Mhmm.
So I am very concerned about her possibly getting type one in the future. So so, yeah, she gets her lab work checked every year. Last year, there were a couple concerning markers, and she has an endocrinologist too. So her her endo is also checking her full thyroid panel every year, all of the diabetes markers every year, all the celiac markers every year. And she had a couple concerning levels and symptoms last year, but then this year, all her levels are fantastic and, like, completely normally in range.
So I'm I'm holding out hope that that she won't become type one. And so okay. So something really interesting. So my grandfather might have been a lotta type one. This is my mom's dad.
He he it was just called diabetes. Mhmm. Like, they're you know, like, type lotta wasn't even introduced until, like, 1993, I think, and he was diagnosed in the eighties. And all I know is he tested his blood sugar before and after every meal, and he couldn't eat until fifteen minutes after he had taken his insulin. And I don't know.
I just and he was diagnosed as an adult. So I just wonder. I think people, as he got older, just assumed he was type two, but I don't know. He needed a he needed a lot of insulin, and he really took care of himself. And he ate very low carbons.
Like, I just I wonder if anybody had ever tested him for for a lot for type one when he was still alive. I wonder if that's what he would have had. And then his dad, because my great grandpa was born in 1893, he died at 49 in 1942 from diabetes complications. And I wonder too. Was that lot of type one?
Because they certainly wouldn't have been able catch that, I don't think.
Yeah. Then I'm you're never gonna know, isn't it? It is Yeah. Isn't the
same to one word about. I yeah. I just want I wonder. Like, am I the first one, or am I just the first one had access to blood tests?
Yeah. No. I know. I heard you say that before that it's it's it's something you wonder about. Yeah.
I don't know. But listen, probably. You you know what I mean? Like, probably, that's what was going on, and they just didn't know what this I mean, listen. You were diagnosed in the February, and it sounds like you they they barely could tell you what was going on with you.
Now you tell me about guys in the eighteen hundreds. Trust me. They didn't know. You know what I mean?
Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So
It it it mean, in the end, it's all very understandable. Like, I mean, it's no one's fault. Like, you can say, oh, it's the system or, you know, they should know or whatever. But I just think in the end, like, this is just how it works. You know I mean?
The One Blood Test She’d Never Skip 45:57
Is.
Although I I do feel like, my soapbox, if I could choose a soapbox to get on and let like, when it would be I I don't think anybody should ever be diagnosed with type two diabetes without having their type one antibodies tested. With the rate at which type one is accelerating and across all populations, that is a hill I will die on. I don't care about the resources. I don't care about insurance policies. It's a blood test.
Mhmm. It's a really simple blood test, and I don't think there's an excuse for anyone to be diagnosed. And and I have since made my dad and brothers go get all their antibodies tested just to triple check that they really are type two, and they aren't. They don't have any antibodies.
But,
I was like, don't trust your doctor. Go ask for this. Go Gotta be your own doctor these days.
Right? No. I I
Yeah. I You do.
I'm glad you did that for certain. And, you know, if you wanted me to be manned at a part of it, I would just say, like, don't look at people and just guess their entire medical history by their weight. Yeah. Like, you know, like, that's just sort of ridiculous. So, I mean, if you wanna I'm not saying that there aren't some physical attributes that could get you moving in a direction, But you can't let it make the decision for you before you even stop and think about it.
It just Yep. Doesn't make any sense either. Because look what it did to you. And and by the way, and you were lucky to get out of it so quickly. I know you're pissed about four years, but I've talked to plenty of people who were treated much longer than that, you know, with with the wrong diagnosis for a lot of different things.
And it always ends up being just somebody somewhere along the way just, you know, make the snap judgment and put them on a path. And, I mean, you've you've talked over and over again today about, you know, I was doing this, but I didn't know. Or I was doing that, but no one told me. Like, I'm I'm just a big proponent of, like, the way you get put on the path in the beginning has a lot to do with where you are, not just a month from now or a year from now, but thirty years from now. And so it's really incumbent on the people who see you first to get you going in the right direction.
And instead, what you got was, you're fat, go lose weight. Mhmm. Yeah. So anyway, I hope people in the medical community listen to this, but I I don't
Me too.
Yeah. Hopefully, they will. Alright. Mary, thank you very much. This was terrific.
I don't know what to call this, but we'll figure that out later.
Thank you so much. I really appreciate it. It was really, really fun talking to you.
You had a good time? That's great. Excellent. I did too. Hold on one second.
Okay? The podcast episode that you just enjoyed was sponsored by Eversense CGM. They make the Eversense three sixty five. That thing lasts a whole year. One insertion.
Every year? Come on. You probably feel like I'm messing with you, but I'm not. Ever since cgm.com/juicebox. This episode of the juice box podcast is sponsored by Omnipod five.
Omnipod five is a tube free automated insulin delivery system that's been shown to significantly improve a one c and time and range for people with type one diabetes when they've switched from daily injections. Learn more and get started today at omnipod.com/juicebox. At my link, you can get a free starter kit right now. Terms and conditions apply. Eligibility may vary.
Full terms and conditions can be found at omnipod.com/juicebox. Thank you so much for listening. I'll be back very soon with another episode of the Juice Box podcast. If you're not already subscribed or following the podcast in your favorite audio app, like Spotify or Apple Podcasts, please do that now. Seriously, just to hit follow or subscribe will really help the show.
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- Adult-onset type 1 is often coded as type 2 — and that coding follows you. Mary had to push hard for months just to get a pump approved because insurance had her on record as type 2. If you were diagnosed as an adult and the label doesn’t fit, getting the diagnosis (and the billing code) corrected matters for access to tools.
- GLP-1 medication and the honeymoon. Mary was prescribed a GLP-1 partly on early evidence it may help protect remaining beta-cell function and stretch the honeymoon phase. It’s an evolving area — worth a conversation with your endocrinologist about what’s known and whether it fits your situation.
- Carrying low supplies isn’t optional. Mary had frightening lows while out alone with her daughter and nothing on hand to treat them — partly because no one had ever told her it mattered. Always carrying fast sugar and a way to check is basic safety, especially early on.
- Strength training can change insulin needs quickly. Within weeks of starting regular strength work, Mary’s insulin needs dropped sharply — a reminder that exercise (and lower stress) can raise insulin sensitivity. Flag big changes like that to your care team so settings can keep up.
- The blood test Mary wishes everyone got. Her hill to die on: no one should be diagnosed type 2 without antibody testing (GAD65, IA-2, islet cell) to rule out type 1 — it’s simple and inexpensive. This episode also speaks honestly about her recovery from disordered eating; it’s a sensitive topic, and if it resonates, support is available (in the U.S., the National Alliance for Eating Disorders helpline).
- Part 1 — Mary’s Story Begins — The first half: the misdiagnosis years, before she took charge.
- Eversense 365 — The one-year implantable CGM — an episode sponsor. As low as $199 for a full year (eligibility applies).
- Omnipod 5 — The tubeless automated insulin delivery system — an episode sponsor. Free starter kit at the link (terms apply).
- Bold Beginnings Series — The newly-diagnosed starting point — where Mary got her basics.
- Diabetes Pro Tip Series — The settings-and-timing fundamentals Mary leaned on.
- TrialNet — Free type 1 antibody screening for relatives of people with T1D — Mary’s daughter is enrolled.
- National Alliance for Eating Disorders — Helpline and support — this episode touches on recovery from disordered eating.
#1891 You'll Get Used to It - Part 1
Part two: after years coded as type 2 — fighting for a pump, scary lows, lasting damage — she takes charge, turns her numbers around, and makes her case for antibody testing.
You’ll Get Used to It
Cold Open & Sponsors 0:00
Hello, friends, and welcome back to another episode of the Juice Box podcast.
Hi. My name is Mary. I just turned 37. I live in Arizona. I am a marketing executive.
I'm in school earning my MBA.
Nothing you hear on the Juice Box podcast should be considered advice, medical or otherwise. Always consult a physician before making any changes to your health care plan. If you're new to type one diabetes, begin with the bold beginnings series from the podcast. Don't take my word for it. Listen to what reviewers have said.
Bold beginnings is the best first step. I learned more in those episodes than anywhere else. This is when everything finally clicked. People say it takes the stress out of the early days and replaces it with clarity. They tell me this should come with the diagnosis packet that I got at the hospital.
And after they listen, they recommend it to everyone who's struggling. It's straightforward, practical, and easy to listen to. Bold Beginnings gives you the basics in a way that actually makes sense. The episode you're about to enjoy was brought to you by Dexcom, the Dexcom g seven, the same CGM that my daughter wears. You can learn more and get started today at my link, dexcom.com/juicebox.
US Med is sponsoring this episode of the Juice Box podcast, and we've been getting our diabetes supplies from US Med for years. You can as well. Usmed.com/juicebox or call (888) 721-1514. Use the link or the number, get your free benefits check, and get started today with US Med.
Hi. My name is Mary. I just turned 37. I live in Arizona. I am a marketing executive.
I'm in school earning my MBA. My wife and I are raising our two young kids, and I am a type one diabetic diagnosed coming up on five years.
How young are the kids?
Five and nine.
Oh, did you get one of them as a diabetes gift?
Two Moms, Two Kids & “All Out of Sperm” 2:34
Per well, one of them might have triggered my diabetes. I don't know. Oh. We're gonna talk about that.
Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Listen to me.
Okay. We're gonna figure it all out. This is nice. Yeah. '32 when you were diagnosed.
Prior to that, how was your health?
So I can't actually tell you when I became a type one. I could tell you it was sometime between 2019 and 2021, between 30 and 32 years old. But the day somebody told me, oh, actually, you have type one diabetes was December 2021.
Okay.
Before that, health was okay. I've had Hashimoto's since my, gosh, early twenties, maybe, like, '22 or '23.
Mhmm.
So I've got that going for me. But, yeah, I never really had any major health issues.
Yeah. And did you intimate a moment ago that you cooked that younger baby inside of you?
Yeah. Mhmm. Yes. My wife, carried and gave birth to our son. He's nine, and I carried and gave birth to our daughter, and she's five and a half.
And she was born in September 2020, and then I was finally diagnosed extremely late in December 2021.
Okay.
A whole, like, nine months after I was in the ER for the first time with high blood sugar, which is the whole story we'll get into.
Are they, brother and sister through the donor as well?
Yeah. Yeah. We use the same donor.
Nice. Well, that's fun. Mhmm. Did you guys decide ahead of time that it's, like, you'll do one, then I'll do one?
Yeah. Oh, we sure did. Okay. So my wife, she's eight years older than me. She actually turns 45 on Thursday this week.
So it was just the obvious choice that she would go first and I'd go second.
Yeah. To get going. Yeah. Did you feel like afterwards, were you like, oh, I wish she was younger because she could've done the other one too. I'm I'm good not doing this, or were you excited to do it?
I always wanted kids. I was never super excited about pregnancy, but it was kind of like, it was something she really wanted to experience. And I was like, well, if you're gonna do it, I have to do it. Like, you know what I mean? And she Yeah.
She has a lot of health challenges herself. Her pregnancy was pretty horrible, and her delivery was pretty horrible. Like, you could not pay her to get pregnant again. So I was like, okay. Well, I'll do it next.
And then I was like, oh, hold my beer. Like, I'll have an even worse pregnancy and delivery than you. So you could not pay me to do it again. So we're quite happy. We're quite happy.
Two two parents, two hands, two kids. We're all out of sperm. We're good to go.
I wish you would have said that twenty minutes from now so we could have called this episode all out of sperm.
All out of sperm. We used all of our vials. That's fun.
Planning a Pregnancy, and a “Type 2” Label 5:12
Okay. Well, I guess let's find the beginning of the story. So you're not sure you're not sure when you started seeing symptoms, or they started going so that you're aware of them now in hindsight but didn't know about them then?
Yes and yes and no. So I have a suspicion that if somebody had tested antibodies, maybe they would have shown up in late twenty nineteen, but but maybe not. So, you know, getting pregnant as as lesbian is like a whole planned thing. Right? So, like, before we had decided, like, okay.
We're ready to have a second kid. So I went and had, you know, labs drawn, and they did some flushing of the plumbing and just different things to prepare my body for pregnancy. And at that time, I was actually I've just this is kind of a separate thing that we'll also talk about. I've lost, oops, sorry. I've lost 80 pounds in the last, like, three years.
So I was at my highest weight at the time, and my lab results came back with an elevated a one c. Mhmm. It was 6.3. And I was asked they were like, hey. So we're gonna go ahead and just classify you as type two.
It's the first time I'd heard that. And would you wait to get pregnant? Like, we'd like you to lose weight and try to get your a one c down. And I was like, well, no. Because when they did all the testing to make sure my body was good to go, they actually found that I had a prematurely low egg count.
And and I was like, fuck you guys. Like, you don't tell straight fat people to, like, wait and not have kids. So, like Wait.
Did you ask her that? Did you ask? Did you say, hey.
Do you do you
say that to straight fat people?
Or Yeah. I'm pretty as I'm pretty assertive. I'm a pretty direct person. So I was like, hell no. We're gonna move we're we're doing this right now.
It'll be fine. So they were like, okay. Well, just so you know, when you do get pregnant, which was a few months later, we're gonna just treat you as gestational from from the get go. So I was treated I was put on metformin before I got pregnant, and then I was treated as gestational throughout my pregnancy. I was given basal insulin.
They gave me a bullshit meal journal and carb restrictions. They never offered me a CGM. My morning glucose was always above a 100, which news flash even to this day. I I'm extremely well controlled now, but to this day, my morning blood sugar is almost never below a 100. There's just something about my body that works that way.
So they kept ramping up my basal really, really, really high despite what I now know were low symptoms in the afternoons and the evenings. So during pregnancy, despite an absolutely massive amount of basal insulin, like, I think I was up to, like, forty units a day at one point. My a one c shot all the way up to 8.4, and I was labeled noncompliant even though I I promise I was compliant. I was doing all the things I was supposed to do. They were like, hey.
You know, you're overweight. We only want you to gain 20 pounds. I've gained exactly 20 pounds through that pregnancy. Yeah. And nobody thought, oh, let's test this lady for antibodies because her a one c keeps shooting up, and she's having, like, a really high blood sugar pregnancy.
And my daughter was big. She was she was almost ten pounds at birth, and and they induced me three weeks early. She was born three weeks early. Well, Mary, they
gave you the notebook. What did you want? You wanted more than that? They gave you the notebook. Yeah.
I did it come with a pen? Did you get, like, a UnitedHealthcare pen or something with it too, or did they not even give you the pen?
Didn't even give me a pen.
We're gonna take great care of you. Here's a notebook. Hey. I'm having trouble. You're noncompliant.
Thanks for all the help. Is that about that's about how it went?
No. That's about how it went. Yeah.
Awesome. Yep. Thanks for all the help, everybody. That's great. So we so my gosh.
Did you did you, like, make go through the whole pregnancy with that eight? Yeah. And you were pushing and pushing and pushing with insulin that you couldn't you obviously, you couldn't make it? Yeah. Yeah.
Wasn't wasn't budging. Mhmm. So yeah. And I had a really terrible birth story, which I won't get into because that's not why we're here. But
Four Days of Labor 9:30
I mean, is it a fun terrible birth story? Because we can take a left turn. Except for the people who listen to it. I mean, they don't like the fluff in the podcast. Let me suggest to you, if you don't like the fluff in the podcast, Mary, you don't like a podcast.
I mean Exactly. Exactly. Well, and this is clearly this is a storytelling episode. So, you know, those are the ones I like. So if you don't, I don't I don't care.
Yeah. Don't listen.
Yeah. Yeah. Tell your story any way you want. And somebody online just said to me the other day, she's like, I know you help people and everything, but I don't like all the fluff. And I was like,
the fluff? Okay.
It's the whole thing. That's my thing. That's what
So don't listen to those. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. There's plenty of, like, you know, tactical episodes.
Yeah. Yeah. Well, that point was made too. I don't wanna get off topic because then people say I was talking about myself. I can't win, Mary.
They'll be also, I like the way I follow the story and I follow what I think is interesting. And someone said to me, like, you sometimes, like, you get away from the main point. And I thought, well, to me, it wasn't the main point. Like, it was it would have been the main point to you if you were interviewing Mary, but you don't have a podcast. So I don't know what to tell you.
Yeah.
No. How however you do what you do works really well for my brain. Thank you,
Mary. I appreciate that.
No. Okay. I wish it was a fun I wish it was a fun first right now. I was I was in labor for four days, natural labor for four days with absolutely zero pain management. I'm extremely stubborn, and I really wanted to see what my body could do.
And I don't know when to quit just in general in general in life. I I don't really
Don't know when to quit.
I really don't ever know when to quit. It it got to a point where, like, the baby was not doing well. I was not doing well. They were like
Mhmm.
I call it an emergency C section, which is easier than explaining what actually happened. It's more, like, semi emergent, but they were like, listen. We can either, like, get you on Pitocin and get you an epidural, and you've got, like, four hours to get this kid out, or we can get you down to surgery in the next hour. Mhmm. And I was like, I have nothing left.
I can't. Yeah. It's been four days of this. I can't imagine my anyway anyway, so I chose the C section. Hang on.
Here we are.
Wouldn't quit. It's hilarious. I'm waiting for you to tell me I'm not actually gay. I just brought it up once, and I'm sticking to it. Yeah.
Yeah.
That's hilarious.
Were you at your at your highest weight during that pregnancy?
Yeah. I was. Yep. So I'm down 80 pounds from my highest pregnancy weight, which I think counts.
I yeah. I would I would
I only gained 20 pounds.
I just wanna tell you. If if I was counting, that's exactly where I would count from. Right.
But Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. But weight an issue your entire life?
Yeah. Weight and eating disorders an issue my entire life.
Okay. And how did you fix that? I mean, you're gonna tell me use the magic juice. Right?
Be well, yes. And I became a type one diabetic. I kinda kinda didn't have a choice. I didn't really have a choice anymore. Yeah.
Well, how did So Go yeah. Go go ahead. I'm sorry. Baby's out and go.
“You Don’t Have Diabetes Anymore” 12:29
Yeah. Okay. So this is break. It's kinda crazy. So I'm in the hospital.
We were in the hospital for seven days. This is during COVID also, by the way, which absolutely sucked. And I got pregnant three months before COVID broke out. So I'm like, oh, wait. Now keep in mind, when I was told that they were gonna call me a type two diabetic, like, that's all anybody said to me.
I never talked to an endocrinologist. I did not know what that meant. I didn't know anybody with any kind of diabetes. So I was like, okay. Like, I don't know what that means.
I don't really care. And then I was treated as gestational. So in the hospital, the first couple days after giving birth, of course, my blood sugars were great. That's what happens. And, they were discharging me, and I was like, oh, wait.
What do I do, like, about my insulin and checking my blood sugar? And they said, oh, well, now that you've given birth, you don't have diabetes anymore. You can go home, and you never have to check your blood sugar again, and you never have to take insulin again.
What was that?
I I didn't know any better, so I said, great.
Knew this wasn't Yeah. Gonna be a Yeah. And I didn't quit on that either, Scott. They said, don't take insulin. I didn't take it.
Yeah. I was like, this is fantastic. I did. Then you hated doing that.
So you have I mean, you have all the knowledge in the world, not all the details, but you have enough knowledge to take good care of yourself. And then somebody has said, you can stop doing that now. Mhmm. And you're gonna tell me you went to DKA at some point. How long did it take?
You've probably heard me talk about US Med and how simple it is to reorder with US Med using their email system. But did you know that if you don't see the email and you're set up for this, you have to set it up. They don't just randomly call you. But I'm set up to be called if I don't respond to the email because I don't trust myself, a 100%. So one time, I didn't respond to the email, And the phone rings at the house.
It's like, ring. You know how it works. And I picked it up. Was like, hello? And it was just the recording.
It was like, US med. Doesn't actually sound like that, but you know what I'm saying. It said, hey. You're, I don't remember exactly what it says, but it's basically like, hey. Your order's ready.
You want us to send it? Push this button if you want us to send it. Or if you'd like to wait, I think it it lets you put it off, like, a couple of weeks or push this button for that. That's pretty much it. I push the button to send it, and a few days later, box right at my door.
That's it. US med dot com slash juice box or call (888) 721-1514. Get your free benefits checked now and get started with US med. Dexcom, Omnipod, Tandem, Freestyle, they've got all your favorites. Even that new islet pump.
Check them out now at US Med dot com slash juice box or by calling (888) 721-1514. There are links in the show notes of your podcast player and links at juiceboxpodcast.com to US Med and to all of the sponsors. The Dexcom g seven is sponsoring this episode of the juice box podcast, and it features a lightning fast thirty minute warm up time. That's right. From the time you put on the Dexcom g seven till the time you're getting readings, thirty minutes.
That's pretty great. It also has a twelve hour grace period, so you can swap your sensor when it's convenient for you. All that on top of it being small, accurate, incredibly wearable, and light, these things, in my opinion, make the Dexcom g seven a no brainer. The Dexcom g seven comes with way more than just this. Up to 10 people can follow you.
You can use it with type one, type two, or gestational diabetes. It's covered by all sorts of insurances and, this might be the best part. It might be the best part. Alerts and alarms that are customizable so that you can be alerted at the levels that make sense to you. Dexcom.com/juicebox.
Links in the show notes. Links at juiceboxpodcast.com to dexcom and all of the sponsors. When you use my links, you're supporting the production of the podcast and helping to keep it free and plentiful.
Symptoms Mistaken for Breastfeeding 16:23
Six months. Oh, it's
not bad. How much and and you were losing weight, so you thought, oh, the baby weight's coming off.
Oh, yeah. That's exactly how it happened. So Uh-huh. So a month a month postpartum, I did get labs. A one c was part of that.
My a one c was c was down to 6.3, and there were no alarm bells. Like, nobody was concerned about this, and I did not know what it meant. I also healed really, really poorly from my C section. It took months About. Probably because my blood sugar was high.
Yeah.
My doctor had to put two different wound vax on just to get it to seal up. Then also because this is where it's, like, sugar in the egg. Was it before pregnancy, or did pregnancy trigger it? Or was it we had our first of many bouts of the original COVID that December when our daughter was three months old? Okay.
Like, to you know, take your pick. Russian roulette. I'll never know. Doesn't doesn't actually matter. Just interesting to think about.
So December through March, so this is three to six months postpartum, I started having symptoms, which I thought were breastfeeding symptoms. I was exclusively pumping around the clock, like, eight times a day. I lost, like, 40 pounds. I was peeing buckets. Water was the best thing I had ever had in my entire life.
I was exhausted, but, like, those are all symptoms. Again, I don't I don't I don't necessarily know where the line is between normal and not normal. I've never done this with my body before even though I was a parent already. I was like, ah, yay. I'm losing weight.
Like, this is the best diet I've ever been on. And, like, I'm really thirsty. Well, you've gotta, like, double your water intake when you're breastfeeding, and I'm peeing a lot. Well, that happens when you get up in the middle of the night, and I'm tired. I have a toddler and a newborn.
So Yeah. I just thought absolutely nothing of it until I started losing my vision.
Did that by the way, some people, that doesn't even get them. So did you
That's what got me. Okay. That's what got me. Yeah. I and I've worn glasses almost my whole life.
And but this was not just, oh, my prescription has changed. Like, I couldn't see my computer screen. I couldn't see the TV. The floor was blurry, and I I could no longer see at night. Like, I couldn't see lane lines when I was driving at night.
I couldn't drive at night anymore. Mhmm. And we have some family eye stuff, and I was like, oh, shit. It's that thing that happened to my aunt's eyes. Like, I gotta get to the eye doctor.
The Eye Doctor Who Caught It 18:50
So I go so I go to the eye doctor, and this sweet, sweet man, he's doing the exam. I'm telling him everything that's happening. I'm I at at the time, I'm less so now, but at the time, I was still very prickly if anybody brought up, like, weight or diabetes because it was it was pretty triggering. Like, my whole pregnancy
Okay.
Has gestational. It's pretty triggering for me from, like, a eating disorder perspective. So he's like, has anyone ever diagnosed you with diabetes? And I was like, well, I had gestational. But, you know, that was, like, six months ago.
That's over now. Yeah.
Yeah. That's over now. You know, I'm, like, getting defensive. He's like, have you like, when's the last time you checked your blood sugar? I was like, before I gave birth, they told me in the hospital I didn't ever have to check again.
Like, I'm defensive at this point. And he's literally holding my hand, and he's like, can I please he's like, we have a meter here in the office? Can I please check your blood sugar and, like, fully beat red at this point? I'm like, fine. I was over 600.
Five seconds before that, you're like, the patriarchy. And then Yeah.
But, seriously, this eye doctor is a may I still go to this eye doctor. And every time I see him, I'm like, you saved my life.
Yeah. What a thoughtful person. That's awesome.
Yeah. So he was like, I'm gonna need you. He's like, we're not gonna finish this appointment. I need you to go to the ER right now. Would you like me to call an ambulance?
And I was like, what? An ambulance?
What are you talking about?
No. I don't wanna pay for an ambulance. And I was like, I'll take myself to the ER. I have to go home and get my pump, and I need to call my mom and have my mom come and, like, help my wife with the kids because, you know, who knows how long the ER is gonna take. So this is 03/15/2021.
So I went to the ER, and it was the most disappointing experience. Yeah. They didn't run any labs. They didn't give me insulin. They didn't test my ketones.
They didn't test my antibodies. They gave me a bag of fluids, told me to go home, told me to find an endo, and said, you're overweight and you have type two. You need to lose weight and see an endo.
Awesome. Thank you. Awesome. So the at this point, let me just make sure I understand. The eye doctor so far is the most steady
Competent.
Competent medical person involved in this story so far.
Mismanaged for Four Years 21:16
Yeah. Yeah. And so that's by the way, the where we're going with this is I was grossly mismanaged for four years, and it put my life at risk until I so I chose to take charge. So I really kinda only feel like I've had type one for the last, like, year, year and a half because that's how long I've been like, alright. Everybody move out of my way.
I'm I'm gonna figure this out now. I can I just So I
a quick question off of that? Before we started recording, you said you've list you've heard the entire podcast?
Almost. Almost. I've listened to almost every episode just in the last year. I I only discovered you a year ago.
That's what I was gonna ask you. In the last year you did that? Mhmm. Are the kids okay? Did you, like Yeah.
Are there in the closet? Did you quit your job? How did you make so much time?
I I work from home in my home office, so I my favorite places to listen to the podcast are in the shower and when I'm driving. And if I'm having a just a slow day at work where I'm just running a of numbers and reports, I'll just have it on in the background.
Yeah. I listen to YouTube videos in the shower, in case what people are wondering what I'm doing when I'm shower. Nice. Yeah. No.
I I or I talk or I talk to an AI bot to, like, work through my ideas for the day. Yeah? Yeah. I don't know if everybody else is up to that yet, but you guys will be in a couple of years. You'll stop making fun of me a couple years from now.
My wife always my wife always has a an ear ear AirPod.
Mhmm.
I don't know. It's not actually an AirPod. It's such a earbud thing. She always has one in her ear, and she's always listening to a podcast in the background.
Yeah.
But she likes podcasts about serial killers. So, like, I'll get in the car with the kids, and it'll connect to her Bluetooth. And it'll be like and then he stabbed her 500 times. I'm like, shit.
Hey. Hey, guys. Hi, everybody. Every everyone's fine. Everyone's fine.
Yep. Older mommy is not crazy, which is I assume what we call her. And Yeah.
Actually, her name is mommy, and I'm mama. So you got that right.
Mommy mama? Okay. Mhmm. I wish I would've got the pick more. They just call you what they call you, and then you're, like, stuck.
I did
Our son our son actually named us. We we were interchangeable until he turned two, and then he decided she was mommy and I was mama. And that's what I wanted, so I was happy.
Oh, that's nice. You you had your you had your
I wanted to be mama.
Had your kids on mama?
Yep. Wait.
Working Through an Eating Disorder 23:35
I I wanna stop here for a half a second because I feel like we're about to get very sad about what happened to you after the the emergency room. So let's just double down on sad. Where did the eating disorder start, and how did it manifest, and how did you manage through it, all that stuff?
It started when I was 13, anorexia and bulimia. I was in the hospital a couple times, in and out of therapy. And honestly, it continued. It was the most severe. I mean, I'm five I've always been I've been five seven for a long time.
So I'm a fairly tall lady, and I was, like, a hundred pounds at one point in, like, middle school. It was it was the most acute for a few years. Got better in high school, but honestly, it didn't really stop until my, gosh, probably mid twenties, and and it's something I fight even to this day. And then kind of the pendulum swung in the other direction with bingeing and overeating. And, you know, you get married.
You have kids. You start gaining weight. It's what happens. Emotional eater. And something I wanna talk about at at some point is how hard it was to become a diabetic and have to be so hyper focused on my food and my carb counting as somebody who battles
Mhmm.
Eating disorder tendencies. And I've worked my way through that for the most part, but that was one of the most challenging things for me.
Yeah. I can I can I mean, I can imagine? It does obviously
some tricks that I'll share, to kinda
Okay.
Be less triggering to myself.
Okay. We'll get back. We can get back to what you want.
Or Yeah. Yeah. Even being way even being weighed, like, at I started refusing because I saw two doctors every week. I had two doctors appointments every week for my whole pregnancy. I was considered so high risk for for many reasons, and I started just refusing to let them weigh me.
I was like, one of you can weigh me every other week. And you can compare notes, and you're not gonna tell me what number you saw. And, like, keeping the journal was triggering, having them nitpick everything I ate was triggering, kinda The carbs like, it was all so triggering, and then it got 10 times worse when I realized I was I was type one diabetic.
So I employed part of your strategy this weekend when I took my very fashion forward 22 year old daughter out to buy some clothes for summer.
And Mhmm.
I said to the guy ringing it up. I said, listen. Here's what's gonna happen. You're gonna ring all that up, and then I'm gonna hold my credit card over here. Uh-huh.
No one's gonna mention how much this was. Okay? He looks at me, and I went, I don't want you to tell me. I don't want you to show me. I was like, just let me know when it's time to reach out with my hand.
I was like, I don't wanna know.
Yeah. Yeah. No. Totally. So we'll we'll take a little left turn and then and get then get back on track.
But so for me, counting carbs is less triggering than counting calories because the way I would hurt myself in the past was via calorie restriction and calorie counting.
Okay.
So I've just learned when I look at nutrition labels, I just hold my hand over the big number. I just don't I just don't look. I don't look. I don't care. I I don't wanna know.
And I use because I cook a lot. So often, you know, I'm not eating something from a box. I don't know exactly how many carbs it is, and so I use AI
Right.
To describe what I'm eating, and I'll show a picture of my plate with my hand next to it. Oh, a great idea. I have trained it. Don't you ever tell me the calories. All I wanna know are the macros, and it knows that.
How about that? These are my, like, workarounds. Yeah.
Great idea. And Yeah. Did you learn that in therapy? Did you learn that on your own?
Onion.
On your own. Was the therapy valuable ever? Do I mean, do you do you understand the core of where your pain is from, or do you No. Do you and is that like, this is the reason you still struggle, you think, because you haven't been able to affect that as much as necessary, or, like, what do you see as the as the mechanism?
Well, so I'm I'm still in therapy. I'm a big fan of therapy now, but I didn't actually comply with any kind of therapist until I met my current therapist. And she and I have been working together for, gosh, probably eight years now.
Mhmm.
And, yeah, I've done a ton of growing and a ton of healing, and even this diabetes journey has really, like, stretched me in some ways that have ultimately been positive. But, you know, I'm a I'm a typical type triple a perfectionist. That kinda sums it up with with the the history of with a with a history with a history of trauma. So, like, there there you go.
Right. When when my, series comes out on Friday this week with Erica, I'm gonna put out a four part series. You don't no one knows this. I'm telling you right now. But it's on the the paces, and it's kind of an explanation of, like, there's adverse childhood experiences, but there's also positive childhood experiences.
And so will you skip that, or will you No. Or you listen to that?
I wanna listen to that.
Okay. I wasn't sure how the triggering worked exactly. Like No.
I'm a big fan of that.
Okay. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. It's, so if we took that paces that ACES quiz, you'd have a fair amount of, like, childhood trauma?
A fair amount. Yeah. I like to hide behind my wife's. I'm really good at that. Because her her childhood trauma trumps almost anyone I've ever met.
I see.
So I'm really good at hiding behind hers. But yeah. Yeah.
You're like, yeah. I've had problems.
I got plenty of my own. Yeah.
I've had problems, but have you met Shitshow over here? And so Literally.
Yeah. Literally. We we've we engaged in couples therapy when our son was young just to we just had to learn how to fight, really. That's it. And it was actually with who is my therapist now.
We started seeing her for couples therapy. She taught us how to fight, and then I was like, hey. Can you be my just my therapist? And she said, yeah. And literally in those appointments, I would be like, well, yeah, that happened to me, but did you know what's that, like, stuff x y z?
And the therapist would be like, you need you need someone on one health. Like
Hey. Why don't you stay, like, for a year? Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. Eight years. We'll chat
every once in a while. You'll be fine in 2029. Exactly. But you're saying that prior to meeting that person, you were somebody was taking you to therapy, but it was more mandated, and you weren't really
Yeah.
Down with it. Okay.
Yeah. Even I even I would take myself to therapy and then not not not be open. So you know?
The the lying to
yourself is
is my favorite part of being, a person. I
am yeah. I am so much more I'm a huge fan of learning and growth. Like, that's that's my jam. It's just taken a really long time to get there, and it's it's a lifelong journey.
Yeah. No. For sure. I mean, listen, dude.
I think everyone should be in therapy.
I I think everybody gets thrown in some sort of a hole whether they realize it or not. You know? Yeah. And like you said, if you if you grew up poorly, if she grew up poorly, then you get married. You don't even know how to, like, exist together because you only have, like, you only have your, you know, your examples from growing up.
Exactly. And I and I, like like, it it's weird for me because, like, in a lot of ways, I have a great child. I have great parents. I have great family. It's just there were some acute things.
Like, some big hitters.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Some big some big hitters. So it's not like I had a terrible childhood or upbringing.
I really didn't. And it was, like, night and day different from my wife's. But
Yeah. It's interesting. I mean, my my wife helped me. Like, if it wasn't for her having, like, emotional intelligence when we were younger, like, she was able to redirect me. I'm sure I'm sure she would tell you it took way longer than it should have or something like that.
But I'm sure she'd tell you, I'm not there yet. But but she also has the the ability to, like, point out what's happening to me and ignore the parts about what happened to her. So it's interesting how people Yeah. People people. Anyway, okay.
The Revolving-Door Endo & “You’ll Get Used to It” 31:42
Let's get you back to the hop let's let's jump from that big pile of fun back to the hospital. ER tells you lose weight. You're type two. And then
Yeah. Go home. Yeah. Pass them and lose some weight. So I did actually see an ancho the next day.
So actually, I said, like, I hadn't known anyone with diabetes. That was true. But somewhere along this journey, I have learned that my dad had been diagnosed with type two. And my mom had been diagnosed with Hashimoto's after I had been diagnosed, and both of my brothers also have type two. So at this point, there was, like, a family endocrinologist.
And so my mom made a few phone calls, and I did get in to see an ENDO the next day. And I was with that ENDO's office with the revolving door of providers for four years, and they sucked. So they gave me short acting they gave me basal and and short acting meal insulin. They gave me metformin. They gave me Jardiance, which just gave me yeast infections.
They didn't give me CGM so that makes you pee out sugar. That's a problem when you're a girl.
Mhmm.
I had already thrown away my pregnancy meter, so they gave me a sample, and that's the same, like, finger stick meter that I use today. I was vaguely told to get my blood sugars down. You know? And they and they were like, just come back every three months. We'll run labs every three months.
And, you know, at one point, was like, hey. So I'm trying to trying to prick my finger, and, like, I'm trying to get my blood sugars down. But when I get down to one fifty, I'm like, I am like, I feel like I'm gonna pass out.
Mhmm.
I am sweaty and shaky and dizzy, and, like, I don't like how that feels. And they just said, you'll get used to it. And that to me just felt like more shaming. And so I was like, well, fuck you then. I don't wanna get used to that.
Like, nobody explained. Here's why your body will get used to being lower, and here's how long it will take, and here's why it's safe. And, you know, they it was like when a somebody who's overweight says they're hungry and, you know, that it was that kind of shame to me. So
Yeah. Can I ask a question around that statement? Yeah. Get used to it? Was it Yeah.
Did you take it to mean that, yeah, you'll be dizzy and feel terrible, but you'll you'll get they didn't explain it the way that they meant it, which is your body will get accustomed to that, and you won't get dizzy at one fifty anymore.
Correct. You left the office Exactly.
You left the office thinking, for the rest of my life, I'm gonna be dizzy at a one fifty blood sugar.
Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Communication working.
I just wanna say.
No. Thanks. Yeah. Yeah. I And love so I and so okay.
A Full Plate: Family, Work & Why She Looked Away 34:25
We're gonna take another little side journey really quickly. So my life is I am not unique. Everyone has is busy, but, like, I've been really busy. Like because I don't know when to quit and quit, and I'm type to blame. I'm a perfectionist on all those things.
Right? So, like, I I'm the sole earner for our family. I work full time. I wasn't in school at the time. I am in school now, earning my MBA.
You know, I had two young kids. My wife is actually disabled, and she's a full time stay at home mom. And so there's some, you know, some extra support that I provide for her sometimes there. And then our son has challenges as well. He's autistic and Oh.
Has ADHD and
Mary, I'm sorry. You cut out. You cut out
for a
second. Mary, can you hear me? Oh. You cut out.
Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. You cut out for a second. He's autistic and?
Oh, and has ADHD, and he's bipolar.
Okay. And he's I'm sorry. He's the older or the younger?
The older. Yeah. He's nine.
Okay. Go ahead.
But at the time when this was all happening, you know, he was, like, so, like, three. And so we hadn't figured all of this out. All I knew was, you know, we have a child who is really violent, really angry, really destructive, really dysregulated, getting kicked out of school. Like like, on my list of top five stressors, this was so far down on the list.
Right.
Yeah. And and and and listen. I take some responsibility for the fact that, like, I could have taken this diagnosis more more seriously even after I was told I was type one, which we're about to get two. But nobody told me I should. Okay.
Yeah. Yeah. Like, nobody made a big deal out of it. Nobody nobody helped me understand what all of this means. And and, like, I have another autoimmune disease, Hashimoto's, and I was like, well, that's easy.
And I just take some pills, and I feel fine. And so this this must be like that. And if I feel great, like, I I mean, I was living life in the six hundreds. So at, like, 300, I felt fantastic. Felt way better than I did.
So I was like, you know what? I don't have time for this. If you're not worried, I'm not worried. I'm gonna just move on
I gotcha.
And bury my head in the sand, which is not something I've ever done in my life with anything. So it's very confounding to me that I just stuck my head in the sand for almost four years with this thing. But I I didn't know Yeah. To take it seriously.
I'm so happy I didn't make my joke about how busy I am because then you started telling me about your son. Was like, oh god. I I would have come off like such an idiot. I was gonna say, did you wake up at 03:30 in the morning and build a type one diabetes and menopause web page for your website? What I did last night.
But I love that.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, a couple of ladies hit me online pretty hard. They're like, don't have enough menopause content.
I'm like, I'm sorry. I'll work on it. Touche. Yeah. Yeah.
I'm getting there. I said, we've we've gotten out to the fringes of content now, which is, you know, I started at the core, and I've been building my way up. But I Yeah. You know, I was like, oh, I don't have enough knowledge about this to be, like, valuable. So I did, like, a ton of research and put stuff together to talk to Jenny about.
And then I was like, well, I can build a web page around it so that it's ready to go out when the content goes out. And then I just never fell back asleep. And then at 07:30 in the morning, I was like, I guess I'll just get in the shower now.
Oh. Yeah. So Sorry. No. But then you kind of a similar night.
I couldn't in the middle of the night either, so I got up and worked on one of my final papers. It's due this weekend. Yeah. I know. But I'm also a little tired.
The kids' problems, and I'm like, oh god. Thank god I didn't say that. Yeah. Yeah. I know.
I
It's it's been a I mean, I could do a whole podcast just somewhere that's
been nice.
It's gotta be Be on the parent.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Right?
So Yeah. Yeah.
Oh, okay. I'm sorry. Go ahead. So nobody's nobody's telling you to take it seriously. You're living you like, generally, like, excuse me.
Genuinely, you're in the 6 hundreds a lot?
Like, so I had been, right, when I was sent to the hospital. And since then, I I was averaging I was, like, living life in the two and three hundreds pretty consistently, and I felt great. And I did not like how I felt when I was down at, like, one fifty. And so I was like, I'm just gonna do what I'm gonna do, and, like, I'll come every three months for the labs, which they never walked me through and never explained to me. Now I have a spreadsheet of all my lab results going back to 2016 with, like, definitions and charts.
But back then, I just trusted the doctor would tell me if there's a problem, and they really didn't.
So you did not have an expectation that you were doing anything that was, like, that could have been made better. You were o you were like, I I feel good at 300. Nobody's telling me any differently. That was that. That's kinda how it went?
Yeah. Wow. I was losing weight slowly but surely, and my amnesty was lower than it was when I was pregnant. It was down in the sixes. I've been in the nines, but, you know, it it did come back up to the eights.
I've settled in, the sevens and eights for a few years. Mhmm. But but also just, you know, they'd say, like, well, we'd like to get your a one c down, but they didn't say why. Mhmm.
You and you didn't look? No. No. Did you think were you purposefully not looking?
A little bit. Like I said, I I don't know that I'll ever fully understand why or how I just, like, turned a blind eye. Like, you know what? Mhmm. I'm not dealing with this because that's not actually who I am.
I'm very driven and focused and high achieving and all the things. And with but with that, with my health, I think it was so wrapped up in other triggers and trauma and shame and embarrassment that I was like, I'm just gonna close the book on that. Okay. And I feel fine, and I'm just gonna move on. Understood.
And I don't wanna know. I don't wanna know anymore, and they're not telling me anymore, and, like, I'm just gonna move on. I'm fine. I got you. I was not fine.
I understand that. Totally fine. Yeah. By the way, I've done this long enough now that I completely understand. I you know, there's a there was a time back making this podcast before, like, I would have asked more, like, are you like, how did you miss that?
Like, or why did you not? Or, like but after hearing people discuss themselves long enough, like, I I see what happened to you. So it makes sense to me. You know?
Finally, the Real Diagnosis 40:36
So so it turns out about three months after I was in the hospital, somebody tested my GAD sixty five antibodies. They didn't tell me. They were elevated. They were not crazy. I think they were, like, 13 or something, so just a little high.
Mhmm.
But nobody told me. So three months later, they tested all the antibodies, and three of them came back positive. And they told me so this is December now of 2021. So a whole year after I'd given birth, like, six months after being in the hospital, I was told over a voice mail. Hey, Mary.
So, actually, this antibody came back, and what that means is you're actually type one. They didn't explain anything else. I wasn't given any additional tools or information. I was never connected to a diabetes educator. I was told to just keep doing what I was doing.
But what they did tell me was if you're ever over 200, give yourself 10 units and go on a walk.
Okay.
Which that is not my correction factor.
Wait. What what state do you live in?
Arizona.
Okay. Go ahead. Keep going.
I have a great n o now, by the way. And he actually he knows as much as me, maybe even a little more than me, which is great because this other office, I don't think can do anything about type one. Yeah. So I wasn't given a carb to insulin ratio. I didn't even know what the word goal is was.
I was still not offered a CGM. Nobody talked to me about a pump. I was just given very irresponsible advice. So by February 2022, so almost a year after going to the ER, my AONC was back up to 9.3. Mhmm.
My GAD 65 was up to 19. Less than a year later, it was above two fifty. And to this day, like, my lab results don't even give me a number anymore. It just says greater than two fifty, so I have no idea, what the number actually is. It's just very high.
My fasting glucose in February 2022 is three twenty eight.
And they're still calling you a type two. Right?
Well, no. They're calling me a type one now.
No. They're calling you after the GAD that you started getting type one from them.
Plus two other yeah. Plus two other Okay. I think it was I a two and islet cell
But prior to prior to that, it was all just body it was your body makeup, and you must have type two diabetes because look at this. Okay.
Yep. Yeah. So now in September 2022, so we're two years after my daughter was born, just prob probably when this all started, if I had to guess. So, again, this is me now looking back because I charted, like, ten years of my own labs Mhmm. Once I finally took the bull by the horns.
And so I was looking back, and I could see that in September 2022, I had trace protein in my urine. I had glucose in my urine above a thousand. This all indicates DKA. Nobody told me that. Nobody walked me through those labs.
It was just a routine visit. There are a bunch of other lab levels that indicate things like fluid loss, dehydration, inflammation, and and on Mancharo.
This episode was too good to cut anything out of, but too long to make just one episode. So this is part one. Make sure you go find part two right now. It's gonna be the next episode in your feed. Dexcom sponsored this episode of the Juice Box podcast.
Learn more about the Dexcom g seven at my link, dexcom.com/juicebox. A huge thanks to US Med for sponsoring this episode of the juice box podcast. Don't forget, usmed.com/juicebox. This is where we get our diabetes supplies from. You can as well.
Use the link or call (888) 721-1514. Use the link or call the number, get your free benefits check so that you can start getting your diabetes supplies the way we do from US Med. The diabetes variable series from the juice box podcast goes over all the little things that affect your diabetes that you might not think about, travel and exercise to hydration and even trampolines. Juiceboxpodcast.com. Go up in the menu and click on diabetes variables.
Thank you so much for listening. I'll be back very soon with another episode of the juice box podcast. If you're not already subscribed or following the podcast in your favorite audio app, like Spotify or Apple podcasts, please do that now. Seriously, just to hit follow or subscribe will really help the show. If you go a little further in Apple Podcasts and set it up so that it downloads all new episodes, I'll be your best friend.
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- Adult-onset type 1 is routinely mistaken for type 2. Mary was labeled type 2 and gestational, handed metformin and a meal journal, and called “noncompliant” while her a1c kept climbing — because no one checked antibodies. When insulin needs keep rising and highs won’t budge, antibody testing (GAD65, IA-2, islet cell) is what tells type 1 apart from type 2.
- “You don’t have diabetes anymore” after birth was dangerously wrong. Being told to stop insulin and never check again post-delivery sent Mary toward a slow-motion crisis. Gestational diabetes resolving doesn’t rule out underlying type 1 — especially when a1c climbed during pregnancy. Postpartum follow-up matters.
- An eye doctor caught what the system missed. Vision changes were the tipping point; a glucose check in his office sent her straight to the ER. New or rapidly changing vision is worth taking seriously, and a simple finger stick can reveal a lot.
- “You’ll get used to it” needed a real explanation. Mary left believing she’d feel shaky at a normal glucose forever, because no one explained that the body re-acclimates as it comes down from chronic highs — gradually and safely. Ask your care team for the why, not just the what; it can change whether someone is able to lower their numbers at all.
- This episode also covers Mary’s long history with disordered eating and the workarounds and years of therapy that help her manage carb-counting without it being triggering. It’s a sensitive topic — if any of it resonates, talking with a professional can help, and support is available (in the U.S., the National Alliance for Eating Disorders helpline).
- Dexcom G7 — The CGM Arden wears — an episode sponsor. 30-minute warm-up and up to 10 followers.
- US Med — Where Scott’s family gets diabetes supplies — an episode sponsor. Or call (888) 721-1514.
- Bold Beginnings Series — The newly-diagnosed starting point Scott recommends.
- Diabetes Variables Series — The little things that affect blood sugar — travel, exercise, hydration, even trampolines.
- National Alliance for Eating Disorders — Helpline and support — this episode touches on disordered eating.