#1947 Emily Is Twelve
Thirty-Seven Years and Still Learning
Marla has had type 1 for thirty-seven years and found the podcast last year. She talks about what she has changed since — splitting her basal, tightening her alarms, and what perimenopause did to all of it.
Jump to a moment
- Thirty-seven years in, and still finding new things. Diagnosed at eight and a half, Marla is the only person with type 1 across two large extended families. She found the podcast a little over a year ago and describes the strange experience of learning fundamentals decades into it — her point being that people mostly learn by living with it and experimenting, so a genuinely new idea can arrive at any point.
- Splitting her basal was the first change. On MDI, she had taken all twelve units at bedtime for years because that’s what she was told, and went low overnight. Nobody had ever suggested splitting it. She now takes it in two parts and holds her total, because reducing it — the usual advice — would just leave her high the rest of the day. Any change to an insulin regimen belongs with your care team.
- She solved a low by standing up. Marla has strong feet-on-the-floor rise, so when she wakes in the high fifties or sixties she simply gets out of bed rather than eating. Scott points out, affectionately, that she has built a personal rule out of an observed pattern — which she cheerfully agrees she does constantly.
- Perimenopause introduced anxiety she had never had. She describes filling out endocrinologist stress questionnaires for decades and always answering that she wasn’t worried about anything — and then, around 44, noticing genuine anxiety for the first time. She also traces a strong family pattern of thyroid disease and celiac across siblings and cousins.
- Her biggest practical takeaway: tighten the alarms. On MDI she moved her high alert to 130 rather than 180, which lets her correct while a rise is still catchable instead of after it has already happened. Scott shares early results from the listener survey — among roughly ninety respondents, a median A1c drop of 1.3 points, and about 72% reporting fewer severe lows.
- Diabetes Pro Tip series — Episodes 1000-1025 — the series Marla says to listen to even thirty-six years in.
- Listener survey — The survey Scott reads results from here; results at juiceboxpodcast.com/surveyresults.
- Juice Cruise 2027 — The third annual Juicebox community cruise, sailing July 2027.
Every word of the conversation
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Thirty-seven years, and the only one2:21
Hi. My name is Marla, and I have had type one diabetes for thirty seven years.
Thirty seven?
Yes.
When asked to choose a number between one and one hundred people most frequently, I answer 37.
No way.
Yeah. It's one of those weird little factoids. Don't know why it's
true. Really?
Yeah. I think
Well, maybe it's my lucky year then.
Hey. You know what? I appreciate that because my stuff's been going bad for me the last couple of weeks. And something no. It's okay.
Yeah. First of all, Mari, you're sweet, but I make a podcast. I'll be okay. Okay. It's not it's not like the sewer truck I worked with smells extra bad or something terrible.
I just you know, things are and and I got to a point where I started feeling like, can I not trust people anymore? Like, is this is it just me against the the world, that kind of thing? And I don't wanna feel that way. And then No. And then something happened this morning, and I was like, okay.
Well, me I'm gonna I told my wife. I'm like, I'm gonna just take this as a good sign, and I'm gonna move forward as if things are gonna be better. So
Good. So something good happened today.
I mean, somebody confounded expectations that were very low, but, you know, it's okay.
Oh, okay. Well, sometimes you have to start. Yes.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No. I'm I'm also trying to remember that to look forward.
Apparently, I look away from the mic a lot. I get a lot of complaints about that. I'm working on that.
Oh. Okay.
I'm trying to live over here, Mara.
Okay. Well, hey. That's all you can do.
Tell me, 37. And how old are you?
I am 46.
Finding it all a year ago4:01
That means you were nine when you were diagnosed.
I was eight. I was 8.5.
Alright. You could've just agreed. But okay.
Eight and a I know. Yeah. I could yeah. So I was eight. I didn't have anyone else in my family.
Still to this day, no one else both of my parents come from big families, lots of kids. I have lots of cousins, nieces and nephews, lots of great nieces and nephews on both sides. Still to this day, thirty seven years later, I am the only one with type one.
That's no fun. You needed a buddy.
Yeah. But that it's okay.
Yeah. You're wishing to love anybody?
Yeah. Well, after thirty you know, I wasn't introduced to the juice box podcast until just maybe a year. It was a little over a year ago. So after thirty six years of having this, I've just learned so much from the juice box community. So I'm glad to finally found this.
Oh, that's awesome. I just met a person this summer who's had diabetes for over fifty years. And Wow. I and I've I've I've I kinda told this story already on an episode, so I'll just, like, really, like, condense it down. Went on a cruise with a bunch of listeners.
Next cruise is July 2027 if you wanna come. Juiceboxpodcast.com/juicejuicecruise. And, anyway, this one person makes it onto the cruise. And I do this thing on the first day of the cruise. Like, anybody who's interested in meeting me, I like, you can pick up spot on the ship, and we'll, like, sit down and chat.
Right? So I am, like, ping ponging around the ship, meeting people, like, every fifteen, twenty minutes, half hour, whatever. And I sit down across from this lovely woman, and she's I said, are, you know, are you this person? She said her name, and I was like, okay. Good.
And she said, you're Scott. I was like, yes. And she said, can I ask a question? I was like, of course. She goes, how long have you had diabetes?
And I went and I went, oh, I'm so sorry. I'm like, is it not clear on the podcast that I don't have diabetes? And she goes, what podcast?
Oh, no.
And I was like, awesome. I was like, how did you I said, you. You're part of the Juice Cruise. Right? And she said, yeah.
I'm like, how did you get here? Oh my talking to people online. I heard about the cruise, and I thought it'd be great to come meet. She didn't know a soul on this cruise. She didn't know me.
She didn't know there's nothing. Anyway, at the end of it, she's like, I am so glad I found all this. And I am now watching her online be a part of the community. And, like and she said even after fifty years like, I I sat and watched her in a number of different, like, chats that we had, talks that we did throughout the cruise, and she's just taking notes and writing stuff down. She came over to me at one point and she said, I've learned something here today that I think will help me in my personal life, not even around diabetes.
Oh, that's so cool. How awesome. Yeah. That reminds me of me because I've learned so much. I'm like, wow.
I've been doing this. But
Can you articulate that for me, though? Like, how is that possible to live thirty six years or something and then run into more information?
Well, you know, it's it's a common theme, I feel like, throughout the Facebook page and the podcast, just all of the people that you interview and visit with. We learned things just by living with it, experimenting ourselves. You know, we kinda say we're, little science projects. And every day, you might do something well, okay. Every day, we don't do something new.
Every day, we do the same thing, same thing, same thing. And then maybe at one doctor's appointment or something we read, we might do something different and then think, oh, this is working better for me. Maybe if it would be and, you know, I started to split my bolus, not bolus, basal Basal. A year ago. Because I'm MDI.
Splitting a basal nobody mentioned8:12
I do take injections. I don't wear a pump.
Mhmm.
And so that was one thing that I started to do. I just started to kind of slowly move my basal half of it apart so that I wasn't going so low in the middle of the night. And that's something that I've actually struggled with, I would say, most of my journey. So I'm doing better with that now. I just, yeah, I read that someone said, well, you need to split your basal.
Okay. Well, I've never ever been told that.
Isn't that something? Yeah.
They always I don't know why. Why is it always before bed? I maybe it's because that's when we're taking medicine so we'll remember. Is it too hard for people to think, okay. I'm gonna take my bolus at noon every I mean, I know in the middle of the day, it does get crazy.
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If you'd like to learn more, go to visit.twist.com/juicebox. That's visit.twist.com/juicebox. Don't forget, twist has two i's. So you're saying you were you were shooting your bit your basal insulin at night and then getting hurt and getting a little bit
bed. Right. Before bed. And I know everyone says it never it doesn't peak. You're well
Well, why did you used to have highs in the morning?
Well, not necessarily. However, I do also have okay, and you can help me with this. I've heard you talk about, something you did, but I don't know that you actually explained what you did for Arden
Feet on the floor, and standing up to fix a low10:44
Go ahead.
When she she was going low in the middle of the night, I believe. And your her endo said, well, we need to drop her basal. And you said, no. Because then she's gonna be high during the rest of the day. And I that's exactly me.
I have my basal down packed. Like, I know I'm taking twelve units every single day. It it really doesn't well, I believe it is better for me to do it in the morning, but I need that twelve units. I am not dropping my basal, or I'm just gonna be high all the time.
Why why did you did you ever think, why don't I just move this to the morning, or did it take somebody, like, saying something out loud?
I think it it did take someone saying something out loud. Well, why are you going low in the middle of the night? You need to split it. And that has helped, but I do also have feet on the floor. So I don't know that I'm I'm I don't know that the time of my basal is causing me to be I'm really not high in the morning naturally.
Mhmm. However, my foot on the floor is wild. Like and I wish it's kind of weird because sometimes if I go low at another part of the day, I think, oh, I just need to stand up, and then that will treat it. I don't need to eat anything because in the morning
this by standing up.
So Exactly. That's exactly what I do every single morning. I might look at my phone first thing. I'll see, oh, okay. Well, I'm I might be in the high fifties.
My body likes to sleep low, and I don't know if that's just a cortisol thing. I but high fifties, sixties, I might see, okay, if I wake up 67, 68, and I think, okay. I I really just need to stand up, and that will take care of it. I really have to do nothing else. I don't need to ever eat.
I I I love that it feels like you've made up a rule to explain something that was happening to yourself.
I oh, I make up rules all the time. Every single day. Well They're real helpful too.
They're real. Are are they called coping mechanisms? Is that what you call them?
Maybe. That's not what I call them.
But No. But it's smart not to call them yourself if that's right. Marla, married, children, no married, no children, where you at?
Yes. I'm married. I've been married for twenty three almost twenty three years, and I have three children. Mhmm. And none of my children have type one.
Once again, no one else in my family. I'm the lucky one. So every time I tell people, every time when they get a little bit sick or under the weather and my children are deathly they're getting better in their age, but my children have always been so afraid of needles. And I know you've talked about Arden being afraid
Mhmm.
Of needles now, and I just ugh. I feel so bad for her. But, I have never I've never had that phobia. I don't know if that's just, you know, one way that the Lord was wiring me. I don't know, the preparing me.
I I don't know the reasoning behind that why I've never had that fear. I can just take a shot anywhere, anytime. I I watch it. You know, we take blood all the time since, we go to the doctor so frequently, but I've always I've never been afraid to watch. They'll always ask all of the lab techs will ask, would you like me to count?
Do you need to turn away? Do you need to lay down? No. I'll watch. I've just always I don't know.
You're okay
with that. But you have But my children are scared even though they've watched me take, you know, six shots a day.
How how old are they?
18, 14, and 10. Okay. They're all four years apart.
Great kids, Marley. You're not afraid of taking a shot.
No. Mhmm. No. I'm not.
Never anxious — until perimenopause14:55
Listen. I was gonna ask you, do you have anxiety?
I I naturally, I do not. I believe since I'm 46, I've had not a few my children are anxious. I have never been anxious in my entire life.
Mhmm.
However, I believe that perimenopause has caused some anxiety in me.
Okay.
And just in the last few years, I noticed it maybe when I was maybe 44 or so. I remember growing up, every time I went to my endocrinologist, we had a form that we had to fill out every single time. So four times a year, I'm filling out this paper, and you're filling out. It was the same thing. You fill out, like, a sample meal.
I don't know if anyone else in the world had to do this. Maybe this was just my crazy endo, but you would fill out how many, like, carbs each of your meal was, and you filled out, like, the whole meal. You filled out your entree, your sides, what you drank with that meal. You did breakfast. You did snacks, lunch, snack, dinner, bedtime snack.
And then there was a question underneath your meals that said, what did it say? It said, like, how would you rate your stress levels, I think is what it was called. Are you a little under stress, you know, moderate? You're worried all the time. And I always looked at that growing up and filling it out even through college, and I thought, I'm not worried about anything.
I mean, you know, I did have worries maybe now and then, but overall, I would just get up every day and not
Go a
lot.
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Yes. I and I I my children, they worry about things all the time and it you know, we we talk a lot through things like, what are you going to change by stressing out? I mean
I don't think stress works that way.
No. It doesn't. It just doesn't.
Do you worry about them worrying?
That's a good question.
I know. Also, here's one for you. Do do other people in your extended family have other autoimmune issues?
Thyroid, celiac, and the family pattern19:45
Yes. We have a lot. It's mostly thyroid.
Mhmm. Mostly Hashimoto's?
Yes. Yes. My sister was probably the first in our family and even and this extends to cousins also. My sister had thyroid cancer, and and this was back when and she was 17. This was back when it was pretty rare for thyroid cancer was rare, and it was rare for a teenager to have cancer.
In the grand scheme, probably not rare, but in our little we lived in a very small town in Western Kansas, and it just
I I I think I smell a little celiac in your family too. Am I right?
Well, you know, I don't know that anyone has I've been okay.
I'm bad. You got some poopers? You got people in the family all the time? Can I tell the story, Marla?
Maybe not that, but just like it oh, my stomach hurts. Like, my daughter can eat, and she has been tested because I'm like, okay. You've got this. We've gotta figure this out. She can know, but she we love carbs.
We love bread. We love tortillas. And she'll she loves bagels, and she'll get a bagel and say, I know this is gonna hurt my stomach, and I'm gonna eat it anyway.
Sounds like she has celiac. And then do do you have foot
on the floor,
or do you get, like, jacked up for the do you get jacked up for the day, Marla? Do you get, like, super, like
I'm sure I have foot on the floor. Yeah. But I'm
saying, what does it come from? Does it come from, like, the like, that's why I asked you about the anxiety or the depression.
Is it my cortisol? I I've just always I've just always read that, okay. That's your body's way of waking you up for the day. So your cortisol's raising. It's signaling your liver to release glucose.
Mhmm. Sometimes, though, people just are anxious about living. And when you're awake, you're of you're you're aware of it.
Okay. So maybe that's causing the rise.
I wonder I wonder about it further. Even, like, why do some people get, like why do their blood sugars drop when they fall asleep? Sometimes I think it's because they're not all, like, anxious anymore because they're asleep.
Well, that's what I've always thought. I've wondered about that. I thought, well and I'm since I'm not really well, maybe I am anxious, and I'm just hiding it and trying to say, I don't know, Scott.
How much ADHD
is in
the family?
Well, you know, I would not say that's a common
Okay.
I wouldn't say that's a common thing that we deal with. I think because once again, perimenopause, I believe I've struggled with it. Yes.
I I don't think you ladies are I don't think God meant for you guys to live this long.
No. Probably not. He's yeah. I've I swear. I'm hard I'm thinking, yeah.
What am I how much longer am I gonna be doing this?
I I I listen. I'm obviously joking on some level, but on another level, I do wonder if we're not in the middle like, I mean, we're living longer.
Yes.
And there's no I mean, listen. It is not that long ago that you started having, you know, your period, and it was time to get married.
Right.
You know? And then, you know, '35, you you have a problem, and you fall off the wagon train. Who knows what happens to you? You know, like, like, you know, that's all. Where where's your wife?
She went in the woods. She didn't come back.
And Oh, no.
Yeah. Yeah. Well, then, like, then you go find the lady whose husband died in a shootout. You marry her, and she takes care of your house. Like, you know, the world used to be different.
It did.
And now people are living longer and longer and longer, which is awesome. But I'm wondering, like, how many of these things are are women especially walking around with, like, in the past that we now know about? Like, you know Right. We used to listen. I'll I'll tell you something.
I feel terrible in in hindsight. We used to have a thing at our house that we called insane Sunday.
Okay? Because That sounds amazing.
Mhmm. Well, it's because my mom would talk all week about watching the Eagles game on Sunday.
Okay.
She would watch every little bit of, like, news, any, like, radio. My mom was queued into what was gonna happen with the Eagles on Sunday. She'd get up in the morning. She'd watch the pregame shows. And as they were kicking that ball off, she'd stand up and proclaim, no one helps me.
I have to do the laundry, and then she'd disappear into the basement for the whole thing and do the laundry.
Looking back and naming it24:35
Yes.
Yeah. That was insane Sunday. That was insane. Stare at each other, like, you know, a little scared, and I realize now that was probably menopause.
Oh, of course it was. Yes.
Yeah. Or or ladies walking around, like, with big distended bellies because they've got some, like, horrible growth in their uterus or something. And, like, fifty years ago, they'd just be like, sucks being a woman, doesn't it? Right? Now now now they do something about that.
And or if they did something about it back then, it was a hysterectomy where they cut you open, like, you know, like, they fall age open and, like, it's
Oh my
You know, now there's, like, arthroscopic, and you go through a little hole, and it's still hard to bounce back. I'm just saying it's hard being a woman.
Yes.
The only thing you guys have going for you is you get to hang out with us, and we're great.
I know. Right?
Oh, yeah.
Luck lucky us. We have you.
Arden says to me, it's hard being a woman. I was like, I know I live with you. She goes, that's not the same
thing. Exactly.
Anyway, it's tough.
It's tough. So I wonder if I'm walking around I don't think I'm anxious during the day. I'm not like like I said, I still I don't have that worksheet anymore that I have to fill out at the endo. That endo has passed. However
good since you stopped asking me. How's that?
I know. But I still think, how would I answer that question? Like, I've always I've looked at that, and I thought, I am not I of course, I have things that I have to deal with every day. Of course, I have their bills to pay that I think, well, how's that gonna get paid? But I but
I think there's a reasonable level of of anxiety and stress that goes along with, you know, being upright and being alive.
So I think, okay. At night, when I'm it's my favorite part of the day when I get in bed. I just love I love to sleep. I always have. I've just I've always been a napper.
I love to take naps. Yeah. Look, Scott. I was in my bed.
I you you're recording for your bed. My wife said this morning as I was getting out of bed, goes, I'm gonna lay here for a couple more minutes. I love this bed. And I was like, okay.
So I know. Isn't that the best? I'm just gonna yes. So I think, okay. That's my body's When I'm going low, even though I I really it's kind of crazy if you look at my graph.
It really is as pretty it's a steady line. It's not like I'm going into the low fifties or the forties, but it's just kind of a steady line sometimes in the higher fifties, in the sixties, and it's I I've always just kind of felt like, okay. That's my body's that's how I like to sleep. It's my body's way of just, okay. This is where we are.
We're not a care in the world now.
This is where my body likes to be.
Yes. It's
a I love your that's a silly thought, by the way. Your body is
there because
of the time at night you shot that basal insulin. How come you don't wanna pump?
Well, I've yeah. I I use the word neuro what is it? Neurodivergent with my children yesterday. I said, I think I'm neurodivergent. And they're like, what does that mean?
They should know because, you know, they're in the world. We're
not still in Kansas, though, aren't you?
Yeah.
Where are they gonna learn big words? Stop it. Go ahead.
Well, they're a little a little more connected.
I thought you were gonna
call have the inter we do have the Internet.
I thought you were gonna call your kids Hicks for a second. I was like, oh my god. Is she gonna that's gonna be awesome.
Well, one would love to be a Hick, my oldest one, but we're all pretty they're city kids. But, I just don't like I I'm okay with my my sensor attached to me. I'm okay with that. It took me a while, but I'm okay with that. I really just don't want anything attached to me.
Oh, you have a you have trouble with something to me. Hey. How many engineers in your family?
You know, zero. Okay. That's not how we work at all. That's
alright. Was just checking.
We're pretty
I was
just type b, pretty artsy, more
No disrespect to the engineers listening. I just thought it was a quick way to get to an answer. Oh. Oh, okay. So you don't like things touching.
Are you weird with clothing, textures?
Yes.
When you get out of the pool, do you have to dry off right away?
Yes.
Mhmm. I don't like getting out of pool and being wet. But I'm may I be honest? I'm better at it now that I've lost weight.
Oh, okay. Yeah. That's good to know.
I used to get out of pool and be like, oh, I have to dry off. Now I don't feel the same way anymore.
Oh, okay. Yeah. When my husband yes. I'm big on textures. When my husband and I walk through a store Oh, Marty, you and I have this touch.
Yeah. Everything.
I touch every I have to I have to physically put my hands on every piece of clothing, pillow, blanket, and my husband's like, why are you touching everything? I'm like, I don't know. I just I wanna touch it. I wanna feel what it feels like.
To a store, I touch every piece of clothing that I'm interested in, not everyone I walk past.
Oh, okay.
So are you touching everything even if it's like like a cup
or something? Even yeah. Even if I didn't like how it looked, like, it if it felt good to me, I might wear it. I might or I might just wanna try it on. Say, okay.
This transcript into AI later and find out what's wrong with you in, like, two seconds.
No. Yeah. Please do.
Would you wanna know?
I don't know. But, yeah, I do. Okay. Don't know. Back to the weight loss, Scott.
I know I know. I wanna thank you. I know you've you've been a big, supporter of GLTs. What did Scott do?
Tell everybody, Marlo. Did I say
to You said you lost weight. Yes.
I I know.
Thank you for Thirty we can go back to thirty six years of type one on insulin alone
Mhmm.
With my finger pricks and my sensor. I've worn my sensor. I do wear it every day. I always take my shots. I've never I could probably count on one hand over those thirty seven and a half years how many shots I've missed just by mistake, whatever, leaving the house and not doing my basal.
I could I mean, it's probably been maybe four times in my entire life.
Yeah. You are you're diligent. And Because of your neurosis.
Still. Still. I've just never been that awesome. I've never had an awesome a one c, but, I have I started I started Mounjaro a year ago. And, I mean, I've I'd only listened to you maybe for a few months, and I thought, well, they might be onto something.
Okay. And I just started researching and seeing other type ones that were using them and thought, well, I mean, I really could stand to lose a few pounds, and I'd like to see what it does for my blood sugars. So I asked my endocrinologist at that time. She said, no way, no how. There's she told me there was a shortage of Mounjaro at the time.
This was in I know I realize now that there might really have been a few years ago, but this
up. Is They they they opened up new production facilities. Hey. Before you tell the story,
can I Okay?
Can we pause for half a second? I'd like to say something out loud.
Yes.
Hey, Eli Lilly. Where are my ads? What are you doing? Let's go. I'm out here spreading the gospel.
I'd like I'd like to get paid. I just wanna be clear.
Oh my goodness. Eli Lilly, please. Deserve it,
Eli Lilly. I it's I don't my rights are reasonable. Let's let's get on board here. Actually actually, you know what? There there's a lot of, they're doing a lot of, what they call, testing
on the the pipeline. I've them.
It's a common Well But go ahead. So wait. So I I said go ahead and wait in the same sentence. My communication skills are fantastic today. So you're telling me that you've been listening to this podcast for how long?
At this point, fifteen months. I would say fifteen months.
Okay. And you're saying that you've had diabetes for thirty six of the thirty six years prior to that, and you you're very diligent about taking your shots, but your a one c's have never been awesome. What have they been?
I would say they've been in the eights. Yes.
Okay. And
The Pro Tip series, thirty-six years in33:16
Except when I was pregnant. Okay. I will when I was pregnant, I was very diligent about checking that that's my always been my issue is checking my blood sugars. Now I did listen to the pro tip when I started, I listened to the pro tip series, and I appreciate that series so much. Even if you've been doing this game for thirty six years, Please listen to the pro tip series.
I heard you say that over and over, so I'm like, okay. I'm I took a trip to Oklahoma to visit my sister. I said, I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna listen to the pro tip even though I think I know everything. I'm surely there's something else that I'm missing.
So, you know, in the pro tip, I learned to tighten up my alarm my custom alarm settings on my CGM. So that's what I did. I tightened those up. I lowered my high alarm. You know, I'm just walking around doing life, taking my shots whenever I eat, and still, you know, spiking.
So I learned that when you're correcting at a 160, a 180, when it's going off, it's too late. So I do appreciate that. Thank you for teaching us that.
Marla, you're very welcome. I I wanna get to a number of these things here. What's your a one c today?
Today, it is 6.2.
Okay. And how much weight have you lost?
I've lost 65 pounds.
I I can may I say first of all, congratulations. That's wonderful.
Thank you.
You're very welcome. You must be thrilled.
Yes. I'm happy.
I I just saw you by the way, you popped up on camera when we first started. You do not, as the kids would say, code as somebody who used to be heavier. Like, I couldn't No.
Like, when I tell them
looking at you.
No. You wouldn't probably if I were to tell people that know me, they would probably be blown away by that because I don't I and I'm short. I'm only five two. So I'm yeah. I carry like, yeah.
I mean, that's like, sixty five pounds for someone that's five two.
Yeah. It's possible you should only weigh sixty five pounds. Yeah. I'm sure. I mean,
that's far off. Right?
But yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Almost. When you look at the whole those dumb BMI charts, yeah, that's the numbers are ridiculous. But, anyway, I but I I really didn't have I never had a goal. I just thought, well, I just I shouldn't be I shouldn't be up where I am, and I've just got to do something after I had my I've always just I've never been, okay, I've maybe never been obese, but I've always been, I would say, after I turned probably 10 years old, I've just always been bigger than all of my peers.
Dying to know which were where you were gonna go. Pleasantly plump, chunky?
How I don't even know that I would consider myself chunky. Like, even through school or high school
Extra weight. I was It felt like you had extra weight.
Yes. Extra. Always extra. So, but, I mean, I've always I I did sports in schools, but never, like, I wouldn't ever say seriously, but I've always moved. I've always gone for walks with my family
Yeah.
Ridden our bikes.
You you're fairly active, but it didn't matter. You always
just got extra weight. Always. And I've never felt I know, diabetics always say that we're hungry because we we're missing we're also missing is it called amylin? Right. Another thing I learned from the Juice Box podcast and the group is I've never ever heard that in my life.
Never seen that word. How much I've charged you to listen to the podcast this last year?
Oh, like, so much. I but it's it's been worth it. No. You know what?
It just sucks
the podcast.
It's a free podcast, Theory.
Free is not cheap, but it's free.
It's not cheap, but it's free. But I I my point is is that this is a free this is a free thing.
Like Absolutely. I mean, you think about how how much how many co pays did I pay for thirty six years? How
Not one of the say it. Not one of those. Son of the bitches helped you. Right?
What actually moved the needle38:01
Well
Go ahead.
No. I mean, the so what you would say is that they had they had the script pad on their desk, and that's what they had. They had the script pad and were able to write me my prescriptions every single time.
Marla, did people tell you you were doing well? With an eight with an eight a one c. Did the doctor go, good job?
Well, I mean
Or did they tell you, hey, Marla.
Pull it together
and you
do I'll be honest. They were always saying pull it together. I mean, I was but I was I was trying. I was I've never eaten terribly. I've okay.
Back to the amylin. I've never walked around hungry. I've never walked around being like, oh, I just I can't get enough. I need more I need more food. I've I feel like I've always had a balanced diet, but I yeah.
But yeah. The weight and the blood sugars just are always always all over the place.
Marla, after a year of Scottie's free expert tutelage, okay, what is it you've learned in the last year that you didn't know for the 36 previous?
Well, I learned that I there is a better way, and that it it's not necessarily I know that a lot of times we might say in diabetes that you can do the same thing every day and get different results the next day. Well, there usually is a reason, and you might not find the reason, but there's a there is an answer for it. Yeah. What I mean by that what I mean by that is that, you know, I I so, like, my foot on the floor. I have gone around for, what, how many years?
And I'm seeing that graph go from maybe, let's say, seventy, and I won't do anything for an hour. I'll start to get ready for the day. I'll be in my bathroom. I'll take my shower. I'll do my makeup, my hair.
I'll put my jewelry on. I'll get dressed, and then I'll look at my graph, and I will be, not kidding, close to 200.
Mhmm.
So after listening to the juice box, I saw people talking about dawn phenomenon and foot on the floor. I never knew that it was called that.
Does it matter that it was called something, or does it matter that it matters that somebody said, oh, that happens to me too, and here's what I do.
What mattered to me is that, okay. This is why it's happening. This is your cortisol releasing glucose. You need a correction for that. And I saw someone else say, I just take a couple units in the morning first thing when I wake up.
Or if they'll they'll have their pump settings, you know, I'll just start to dose myself before I get out of bed. So I start I did start doing that. So as soon as I wake up, I just go to the bathroom. Before I do anything, I will just give myself a unit in the morning. And by the time I'm done getting ready, that graph looks much better.
If I correct at a 120, that's gonna because I know I'm shooting up. I I I'm not gonna normally correct in the middle of the day at a 120. But if I'm got extra cortisol waking me up in the morning, getting me ready for the day, telling my liver to release glucose, I mean, that's one thing. I'm like, I don't need that extra glucose. I think I can get up on my own, but maybe I do.
I don't know. Because I'm not a morning person. However, I'm gonna have to correct for it, and it's
What does that mean you're not a morning person?
Well, I okay. My husband is a morning person. So he gets up. He starts rambling off all these thoughts, all these questions. He gets ready for the day.
I'm still in bed, and he'll come to me, and he will say, how does this look? He wants to know every day how he looks. Does my beard he's growing a beard, and it looks really good, and I love it. But he'll say, okay. Did I trim it okay?
I don't have my glasses on yet. Mhmm. I'm blind. I cannot see anything. He knows this, and I just I'll just look.
I don't even open my eyes. I'll just look his way and and give him a thumbs up because I can't I can't even function to open my mouth. I'll just kinda give him a thumbs up, and that'll let him know, okay. Yeah. I'm all good.
And that'll be good enough
for Yesterday, Arden said to us this is probably too much private information, but whatever. Arden said to us, I'm glad I grew up with a dad and a brother in my house because now that I'm dating someone, I know to expect the stupid stuff that he does.
That's a Yes. The stupid stuff. But, you know, my husband, he I scared him once. He used to check my blood sugar. Before I was wearing my CGM, he would check my blood I had a really bad low a year after we were married.
And after that, he physically checked my blood sugar every single morning before he left for work when I was still in bed to make sure I was okay. Mhmm. And he would make oh, he he's well, he saved me several times, you know, before my CGMs when he's
had that. Taking these kids, Marla. He's like, I'm
not Well, that's true too.
He's like, I can't do all this myself. It's not
eight Yes.
It's not eighteen seventeen anymore. I can't just go find some lady whose husband got shot in a shootout in a bar and just take her home. So I got I'm gonna have to keep Marla alive.
Yes. Yes. That's mostly it. He does love me, but yes. That's yes.
He's thinking He does not know where the coffee is. Who's gonna pick these kids up from school? Who's gonna take them to practice?
I don't wanna talk to them all day long.
Oh, no. Well, he's a talker. He would love to talk to them. But yes.
Marla, I'm learning from you, and and I appreciate this. And I'm letting this unfold on purpose the way it is because I what I'm learning from you is that while you can't sit here and specifically articulate exact things that have happened, not happened, gotten better, gotten worse, What what I've learned is is that finding this community, listening to this podcast has somehow changed your a one c almost two full points in a year after having diabetes for thirty six years, and it doesn't actually matter that you don't know exactly what happened.
Yes.
Yeah. That's what I'm hearing. And I and I love that. And I'll tell you because I I took a I did something that I don't usually do. Scottie took a little siesta yesterday for a few hours, and, I got in my car, and I drove a couple hours to a friend's and hung out with him for a little bit.
Actually, his name is Frank Payne. If you're looking for really unique reptiles living art by Frank Payne, I'll throw that in there. And Frank and Frank and I hung out for a while at his his breeding facility, and we just looked around at his stuff and chatted and everything. We're we're, like you know, we have a lot in common. We're like minded people.
I just took my mind off this podcast and my life and everything for a couple of hours. And on the way home, I started thinking about it again because, you know, it's time to get back to work. And I got really just, like I don't know. I I I I started feeling a lot of weight around, I don't wanna be boring here. So let me try to do this really quickly.
Okay? I have a weird job that relies on the platforms of social media companies for its distribution. And so they can change how they distribute or change what they value, and they do that all the time. And at the moment, you know, some of it values quick and new and vapid. The the average view time on a on a on an Instagram Reel is something like four seconds.
Wow. You can't even start people are scrolling that quickly. Right? Do you know how long you have to watch a YouTube video to get a view on it? No.
I think it's three seconds. Three. So someone's running around. I wanna make sure I'm right about that, but someone's running around right now telling you that they have 10,000, 15,000, a million views on their YouTube channel. Okay?
And what they have is at least three seconds. How long do you have to watch a YouTube video to register as of you? I'm pretty sure it's okay. I'm sorry. Thirty seconds.
A YouTube video, you need to watch for thirty seconds for the registers of view. So somebody puts up a twenty minute video, a forty minute video, and after thirty seconds, somebody's like, I don't care about this anymore. And they say, that's a view. And then those people are out there, you know, in the world trying to sell their views to other companies or device manufacturers or whatever, like and it's just it's a nonstop pressure. And in a world where those videos are often about, like, did you hear there's a new pump coming out in in in Lithuania?
Like, you know what I mean? Or, like, we're we're go we're all cured. Everybody's cured. They're they're all leaning into that right now. Like, Elenon trial, you're all cured.
I'm like, 12 people. 12 it's 12 people. Yes. Yeah. It's awesome, but it's we're not all cured.
Okay?
That's why all those videos say, you must watch until the end.
Yeah. Then when they watch
until the end of
day, I can sell an ad on this is what
they need.
Okay? And so that's the world we live in. I am doing long form conversations for adults. Okay? It's a hard thing to sell excitingly out into the world, but I need people to buy ads on it so I can make it.
Know that you all won't believe this, but I do spend about sixteen hours a day making the podcast. And it's it's an overwhelming thing to do by myself. And I love it, but I need to I I also have electric and, you know, like, my grass grows and my my family seems hungry. Like, stuff like that. You know?
Right. And and so I I'm coming home yesterday and I'm starting to think about all that again. And I'm I'm getting frustrated. And I'm just like, why? This is not the I don't wanna play this stupid game.
Like, how is it possible I'm involved in this? Like, I how is it possible I live in a world where, you know, every five seconds, a new pretty face wearing an insulin pump or CGM is bouncing through their Instagram reel trying to get famous or get paid or whatever, and then they're gone six months later. And then I had I had somebody come up to me recently, and they're like, hey. How are you? And I was like, I I'm I'm I'm good.
How are you? And and the person's like, you know me. And I went, I I don't. And and and they're like, no. No.
I'm I'm like you you would know me from, like, TikTok and Instagram. And, I'm a diabetes influencer. I'm like I'm like, I'm so sorry. Like, you seem like a lovely person. I do not know who you are.
And and No. And I don't I don't I don't wanna be involved in that world.
Right.
But I somehow am. Right? And and and and I just I wanna have long conversations with people that leave a lady named Marla, thirty six years into diabetes with a six two a one c and a new understanding of her health. And that's what I wanna do. I don't wanna bounce my ass on TikTok.
Why he won’t chase the algorithm50:21
Okay? Not that that I think that would work, but, like, I don't wanna be in I don't wanna be in I promise you that wouldn't work. But I don't wanna be involved in that game. But the problem is that the people that I cater to, which I would say are people who are not scrolling TikTok, generally speaking, or not just wanting to be yelled at that there's a new CGM coming, or aren't you mad at how bad your CGM is? Or, like, you know, that I whoever those that click baity rage stuff.
These adults don't understand how this system works. So they don't like, they don't share, they don't comment because they don't realize that that's the only thing keeping this moving. And then I'm stuck saying that out loud, I sound like a whiny bitch when I say that then. And I don't like that either. So I would rather just sit here quietly and not say anything except that when I was driving home yesterday, I took the time to I mean, I had something read it to me.
Just wanna be clear. I wasn't driving and reading at the same time. But I was on a long drive, and I just recently put out a survey to the to the Facebook community about what the podcast is
Yes. I saw the survey.
If you haven't taken it, please do. Okay?
Okay. Can I say something?
Please.
I I filled it all out. I will I will finish it. And then it went to I I think I had to email it to you. Mhmm. And when I went to email it, it asked for my I am so old that I have Hotmail, and I didn't know my password to my email.
And it made me log in to my Hotmail. I promise. Oh, gosh. Sounds good. You could have just hit it.
There's a copy button at the end too if you just wanna make your own email. You could have hit
com Shoot. You had to read. I know. I Okay. This is awful.
Okay.
I will do But the you're
also I will go back and do it.
Barlow, also making my point, and I appreciate that.
Okay? It's That it was a roadblock, and I was like, okay. Well, I've got kids that need to be picked up. I've got something in this stuff.
I care about your children, Marla. I'm trying to make a podcast
over. Okay?
Now I'm
gonna everyone else is gonna suffer today. I'm gonna get that survey done. So Kids, I mean, my son might not get to go to football, but I'm gonna get that survey.
That's between you and Jesus. You help me. Okay?
Okay. I will.
So of the so far, I'm looking at it right now. So right now, we have a 143 responses. It's only been up for a day or so. Okay?
Right.
Right. We got a 143 responses, and it's got a bunch of it's a very simple thing to take. But here's what I'd like to highlight of the 140. Of the 143 responses, 90 people reported their properly reported their a one c change. So the median chain the median number for the podcast for these 90 people is they came in at a median 7.4 and they're down to a 6.1.
But I can see I can see all 90 of them on a graph. They have come in from between 15, okay, and a 5.2. Wow. At least 90 people. The person who came into this podcast with a 5.2 now has a 4.8.
And the person that came into the podcast with a 15 now has a six two. And everywhere in between, 12 to six two, 10 to eight two, eight to five nine. I I literally can't read all 90 of them to you. Right? And and then I said, okay.
I know I'm doing a good job, but I can't stand that that goddamn algorithm, like, helps people to be popular when they're just yelling, aren't you mad at your CGM falling off? Or don't aren't you excited that we're all gonna be cured? And I'm like, goddamn it. Like, don't use social media trends to attract people with type one diabetes and then not help them afterwards. Like, do something for them.
Like, that's how I
feel about
it. Okay? Well, between whatever. Okay. But I have it read things to me.
Like and so ninety nine of the hundred and forty three people also put in, like, kind of little testimonials or stuff like that and and I'll and checked off that it was okay to use their name, like, to make it public.
Yes.
And as it was reading them, Marla, I started to cry in my car. Oh. Because I was like, my god. And I don't usually think about it like this. I try really hard not to think about it like this because I don't I don't I don't know what it is about me.
I don't wanna think of I know what it does. I know what the podcast does. I don't like thinking about it. I don't I don't have good self esteem around it or some I don't know. I don't have a therapist.
Okay? But, like, it makes me uncomfortable to know that I'm doing a nice thing for people. But I but I I have to absorb it sometimes because I'm looking at this other crap and it's starting to get to me. And I started realizing, like like, I don't know. I didn't start realizing.
It's the thing I know. You kinda have to remind yourself of it. Is that the external stuff doesn't really matter. I I know what it's actually doing. And to hear people talk about like everything from pain to blood sugars to more stability to their children being happy, to them being happy.
And I thought, I am doing the right thing. Why won't these algorithms like, why won't they help once in a while positive stuff? But they're not going to. Like, it it just is not gonna happen. That's not how it works.
But hearing your story, I realized, like, you easily could have been in this this grouping, and I wouldn't have known right You you know? Anyway, I I'm glad you're doing better.
You you know what Thank you. Yeah. I am too. And, you know, I just listened yesterday to you reposted your episode with
Kent.
Mister Kent. Yes. And I I mean, this yeah. Talk about algorithms. I'm in Wichita, Kansas.
Oh. Kent was in Emporia, Kansas, I believe. He's he talked a lot about Northeast Kansas. Like and I believe he was in Emporia because that's where, like, all the big, the dirt bike races were that he would
He's talking about.
Yes.
Yeah. Yeah.
I've never heard of him in my life. In my life, I've lived in this state. I've lived an hour and a half away from him. Never once knew who this man was. So I just appreciate all that he did.
That's awesome. Amazing. And I remember you telling him about the sign language episodes? Was it the what were you putting in sign language?
Was it the pro tip? Yeah. I did the bowl. I had a a really beautiful person do the bowl beginning series in ASL.
And you and then you had, someone else contact you and ask you if their brother if you had anything for her brother to maybe see, and you said, actually, yes. I do. Yeah. So, I mean, I know you know. You were you lit got to listen listen to everyone's stories yesterday, and so that's amazing.
But these are these aren't just numbers. These are these are people. These are eight year olds. They're 10 year olds. They're 36 year olds that have, you know, been given a chance to live a better way.
I also would like to say that I don't begrudge anybody trying to make a living or doing anything. And if you like, I I'm just not gonna do it. Like, I'm not gonna I am not gonna put a camera six inches from my face and scream into it, and then try to get you upset or excited about a new CGM or a new pump or whatever thing because that's what people care about. They care about new new tech. You know what I mean?
Maybe for some people, that's what they need to see and hear, but not every obviously, for all of your listeners. And you're reaching parents. You're reaching, you know, old. Well well Not all of them are old, but
you're telling you this this response from this from from the survey tells me that it's pretty equal. Like, the the listeners are pretty equal parents and adults.
That's amazing.
It leans a tiny bit towards parents.
Yes. Okay.
But not as much as you think. Because online, what I've learned is that online, parents are are more likely to speak online, but it doesn't mean that the other people aren't there.
Okay. Yeah. Sure.
So I don't know. Again, I feel bad. Like, I'm not denigrating anybody. I just it's not for me. It it
It's hard to understand. I think in possibly thirty, forty, fifty years, we might understand a bit better what's going on right now with all of this. Yeah. But when we're in the thick of it right now, we just don't And I don't I don't know the answer. I'm with you.
We one thing that we like to do as a family, we're real exciting over here. We will sit. There's five of us. So there's my husband and I and our 18, 14, and 10 year olds. So we have a a pretty wide range
Mhmm.
Of people ages what's going on in life. And we will sit, and my daughter and I or we have a couple groups. I have a group. I have a TikTok group with my son and my daughter who are both teenagers, and then I have a group with just my daughter and I. And we'll play our group or we'll play our group, our family text messages, just the reels that we've sent each other.
So we'll sit in our living room, and we will airplay all of those and just watch them all together because
That's smart.
Sometimes my kids don't watch what I'm sending them. So we'll we'll sit down, and we'll just play them, and we'll just laugh. And we'll see which ones they really like, and my husband and I will look at each other and say, that was so stupid. What in the world? And then my daughter will play one that I sent to them, and this is exactly what you're saying.
She will not she'll play the first two seconds and move on. And I'm like, wait. You didn't get to the good part. It was gonna get good. It was really funny.
Yeah. I Listen.
She's like, no. That was dumb.
Think it's I don't think it's it's I was I was complaining to my wife when I got home. She's a captive audience. She can't get away. And and I and I said, look. I know we all know at this point that that these algorithms are like, they're hijacking our brains.
And and I know we know and that no one's stopping. I was like, but there are some people who aren't. But I just I feel very badly about like, Marla, be be serious for a second. Imagine now that you know what you know that you've learned over the last twelve months. Imagine you didn't know about it, but you can comment on on that Marla who'd who never knows, who's walking around with an eight a one c, who's walking around sixty five pounds heavier.
Like, can you imagine what happens if you don't intersect good information that's easy to digest, easy to put into practice, didn't cost you any money?
Right.
Right? Like, what what where are you today without? I I I don't wanna say it like this, but where are you today without finding that podcast?
Well, that's I don't know. I mean, I do know I probably just don't wanna face it.
It's sad. Right?
It is. Yeah. And
and you live like that a long time needlessly because I've been making this podcast for twelve years. Like, that'll don't think about that. That'll make you sad. Okay? But, like, imagine all the you found it.
You're you're yay. But what about the other people who instead of finding this today, who could make the statements you're making a year from now, are instead watching two diabetes influencers argue with each other on TikTok.
Right. Not helpful.
Right? It sad. Makes Like, you've you've you've found a platform. I'm not saying anything special. By the way, I see other influence out there ripping my stuff off word for word.
So they're trying. Those ones, god bless them, I guess, are trying to get good information out there. Also, you could have figured out a way to say it on your own, but fine. Take my words. Whatever.
But, like but my god. Like, is it that important to get your stupid video up to a certain number of freaking views so you can call some company and tell them you want a couple of thousand dollars to put an ad on their thing? Or whatever it is you're planning on doing with your dude your dude are you trying to get YouTube videos up so you can do this or that? Like, is that really what, like, this is? Like, you know what I mean?
Because I don't know. I I I I just just help. Like, I I I was sat in front of a few people who are diabetes influencers two weeks ago, and they said, do you have any advice? And I realized they were looking at me like I was Yoda, and not that I was all knowing, but that I was incredibly old. I I know that I know they were like, oh, this old guy's been doing this for a long time.
Maybe he knows something. And I said to them, stop what you're doing right now and try to help people instead, and then actually help them. And then once they're helped, they'll they'll continue to watch your thing, and they'll tell other people about it. And I was like, but if you don't do that, six to twelve months from now, a new you is gonna be standing here asking me this same question. You are gonna be gone.
Right. But some of them happen forever. Some of them, Scott, aren't eve even able to help. I don't think that I think they need the help as much. I'm I don't know ever.
For some people, that's the situation. But, like, but then find the thing you're good at that you it doesn't have to be the thing I'm doing. Like, you find another way to help people. Like and it's not helpful to them to, like, have your pump fall off, and then you pick your camera up and go, oh my god. I hate diabetes.
My pump fell off again. Like, blah blah blah. Right. Yeah. Okay.
Yeah. That happens sometimes. Like, way to way to record the one time your pump fell off in the last six months. Great. Yeah.
You know, like, everybody's pump falls off sometimes. And and and but just try not to make it feel like it's happening constantly because there are some people who think, oh my god. This pumps fall off all the time. No. No.
They don't. Like like, stop. Or or you know what I mean? Like, my CGM's always wrong. I'm gonna die because my CGM's always wrong.
That's a great thing to run around. Why don't you tell them to hydro themselves or explain to them how to put it on so it works better? Or you you know I mean? Like, I don't know. Anyway.
Alright. Marley, here's what I need from you.
Okay. What?
I need you to get over your sensory thing because I think you would love a pump.
Yeah. I know.
I don't care which one. That's not my point. And, but I I think you might maybe not. Maybe you're gonna be an MDI for life person. But, I mean, think
think I could okay. If I did wear a pump, do you think I could just turn do you just turn the basil off at night so I didn't go low?
The part nobody sees1:05:42
Oh, my. I love that you don't even know what the hell you're talking about. Sweetheart, there's a there's a I know.
There's a sleep mode.
Right? No. No. They're they're all automated at this point. They take and give away basil all day long.
They're all it's always adjusting your basil.
Well, I know that. I know that much.
Okay. I gotta get you out of Kansas. Wait. When's the last time you left Kansas?
Oh, two weeks ago.
Wait. But would you go to, like, Missouri or something like that, or where'd you go?
Oklahoma. Oklahoma. That doesn't count.
I love that you said my kids are city kids. Trust me. They're not. Okay. Yeah.
I know. We talked about this, like yeah. We were talking about cities. I was talking, I think, to my daughter because she loves she loves the country. She would love to live on a farm, but I'm like, Reese, you can't like, you need a Target and a Chick fil A.
She's like, yeah. I do need a Target and a Chick fil A.
Marla, I'm gonna share something. I don't share a ton about my personal life all the time, like but and because everybody takes everything and tries to make a judgment about what it is, but here we go. Okay. I was at the the new record holding largest comedy show that's ever existed last week.
Seriously? Which one
I'm talking about? No. No. I saw Shane Gillis at the at at Lincoln Financial Center. My son
No way.
My son and I went.
Oh, how fun. We love Shane Gillis
at our came out. Who else was there? The guy he does this podcast with who I no offense, Matt, but not funny. But also put in a Tony?
No. Kill Tony?
No. No. No. Matt McCusker, maybe.
Oh, okay.
He was the opener. In fairness to him, he came out right after Meek Mill sang.
So Okay.
This thing was, like, Jason Kelce opened the show. Actually, that's not true. Bam Margera opened the show by making an announcement live
No way.
To video things. Then then Jason Kelce came out, opened up the show. Then Meek Mill came out and performed. Then Matt and, again, Matt, you know, I I don't know your comedy, but that it wasn't great, man. And then k.
And then Jay Oakerson came out who was funny from the from the jump, from word one till the end. He was super comfortable. I wanna keep you in mind that we were in a stadium. They sold 77,000 tickets.
Woah. I believe
73 and a half thousand showed up.
I believe Shane my daughter okay. So we love comedy. We watch a lot of comedy also as a family. And I believe my daughter was just telling me that I believe Shane has the record for maybe it was this, the
most He does. And I was there.
Sold oh my goodness. So 77,000. That's amazing.
Yeah. So so then Shane came out and performed. Then Shane brought out Dave Chappelle.
Oh my.
They didn't perform. They just talked for a while. And then you realize they were just chatting because because three six five mafia was gonna come out and do a concert afterwards. And I was like, what is happening? It was insane.
It was really just crazy. I this woman was dancing in front of me during three six five mafia who I later found out was Tiffany Haddish. I was like Aw. But I was
like In front of you?
Listen. This was my Christmas present. I I I don't I'm gonna say this because I don't want people to, like, think that this is happening all the time in my life because it's not. I do nothing ever. My wife overspent on this.
I was in the first row of the Shangillas thing. Aw. So and it was an in the round thing, so it was a square stage. So in fairness, there were four sides to a pretty big stage. There were a lot of people in the first row.
But we were first row. There's a girl up against the stage dancing like crazy during three six five mafia. And then later, I was like, that was Tiffany Haddish. The
guy Tiffany.
That she it was it was my point is is that your daughter has never seen 73,000 people together in one place.
Right. No. She would
and it was
Actually well, I don't know how many I don't know how big Arrowhead Stadium is, but she has been there.
Yeah. I'm we were down on the I was basically sitting at the 50 yard line at Lincoln Financial Center.
Wow. Was That's cool.
Awesome. It took us hours to get out of there afterwards. I've never seen the streets around the stadiums as filled with people as it was afterwards. People were just milling around every which way. Point point being is that there's no way that there's that many people that even live in Kansas.
No.
But that's okay. That's how we like it.
I like it. Also, I would prefer to live
big city.
I would prefer to live on a I would prefer to live in the middle of nowhere too.
Would you okay. How's your how's your or have you
talked to
your wife into moving yet? I know you've talked a lot about Yes. Moving south.
So Kelly is recuperating from a procedure. Okay. And people are gonna be like just laughed. I thought people are gonna think she got a boob job or something. But she she had a growth she had to have taken out.
Like, she's okay. Okay. And and so that would be her thing to say, not mine. But she had a she had a a surgery that takes a while to recover from. She's in the middle of the recovery.
We think that she's gonna be okay to travel in another week or so. So we're trying to make space to go do this because this is a thing she's never even seen before. So we wanna take a little road trip and look around in a few places. Hopefully, we'll be able to do that because if she goes back to work but trust me. She's going back to work.
But nobody nobody rides for free, Marla. Okay? Right. But but we I if she goes back to work before we're able to take this trip, it's gonna be much more difficult for me to get her on
the trip.
So I'm trying to, like, get her recuperated enough where she can take a car ride and and go look around.
Okay.
So we'll
I will pray for Kelly that she has speedy recovery, but that not too speedy that she heals correctly.
Yes. Yeah. No. She's doing I I was just telling her yesterday. She looked yesterday for the first time, she looked a little brighter.
Her energy was better, yeah, even towards the end of So the it's just hard to you know, you get older and you gotta do stuff and hard to bounce back. So I don't know if that's gonna happen or not, but I'm still I'm still doggedly going after it.
That's exciting.
And I am happy that I told this story about going to the concert. There's such a good photo of me and my son that I wanted to share. And I and I didn't share because I don't want people to think that they understand my politics because of a comedy show that I went to.
Oh, okay. Yes. You know what I mean?
Yep. Because y'all don't understand my politics. I promise you. Right. No matter what you
And that's okay. We don't need to understand.
You really don't. Also, I I've learned from making a podcast that if you like me, you just assume I agree with you politically. That's the thing that happens when you're listening to somebody like this. Yes. If you don't like me, you assume I I think opposite of you.
Yes.
Because I've watched people do it online. It's pretty fascinating.
Yep. I've seen that too. Mhmm. But I do appreciate, yeah, how you, manage the group and
Thank you.
Keep us in line and keep it yeah. Let's you know, we all yeah.
No. I do listen. I don't get enough credit for how good I am at that.
Actually, really do. You you do a good job.
Don't worry.
I'm giving you credit. Thank I see it.
Well, let me tell you a couple things then. We'll wrap up with this, but this is some pretty interesting stuff from that survey. And please, everybody go take the survey. It's gonna stay up. It's juiceboxpodcast.com/survey.
It literally takes five minutes. It's set up really well. It's easy to go through. Where impact lands with people? Confidence with insulin timing and dosing, eighty seven percent of respondents said that it improved.
They also said that glucose management a one c time and range improved. Eighty six percent said that. Seventy eight percent said I feel less alone. Sixty one percent said I have less fear of anxiety about diabetes. Forty nine percent say I have more confidence as a caregiver.
I'm better prepared for medical appointments. Forty one percent. I'm more flexible. Thirty nine percent. I have less diabetes.
Distressed. Thirty eight percent. Fewer severe lows. Thirty three percent. Better sleep.
What the listener survey says1:14:21
Twenty eight percent. Where did what drove my impact? Mostly the podcast, 45%. Both the podcast and the Facebook group, 42%. Mostly the online community, 9%.
I'll tell you that meant a lot to me because I have so far only announced the survey on the online community. And so that I only put it there and haven't talked about it in the podcast yet, but to find out that only 9% of them really can give the credit to just the online and not the podcast made me feel good because I always think that those people aren't listening.
Yes.
Median a one c change for those 90 people, 1.3. I altogether, your a one c's would drop to an average of 1.3. A one c points for those 90 people combined, 192.4 points have dropped of of all of you guys. Time and range climb to time and range in excuse me. Fifty six of seventy with both their step with their CGM estimates, 80% of those people's time in range has gone up.
Severe lows decreased six seventy two percent of respondents said their severe lows have decreased. It's pretty freaking awesome.
Yes. It is.
Lot more data here about it, but and I'm not giving myself the credit. I'm saying that I think that having a place to talk about it, having a group of like minded people who all understand the basics, and having a place where you can sit long form, listen, learn, and apply is really, really important for people. I'll stop joking for a second. This is incredibly, like, valuable. And and anyway, I I mean, if it was as easy as me just bouncing my ass, I would do it.
But I don't think that's not gonna help. You know what I'm saying?
Yes. Well, it's been incredibly valuable to me. Like I said, I I started to make a change when I listened to the pro tip series. I really did. That was before I began the Mounjaro.
Tightening the alarms1:16:22
I started to lower my a one c that way because I lowered my the biggest takeaway for me being MDI was that I needed to tighten up my CGM alarms. So Yeah. My low, I set at 70. My high, I set at one thirty. And if I saw that one thirty, obviously, one thirty is okay.
I'm not going to make a correction right there unless I see the arrow going straight up. But, obviously, if it's going off, it is going up. So if I make a correction there, it's going to hit, and I'm not going to get up to two hundred. I might still get up to 01:50, 01:55, 01:60, but I'm not going to
one ninety.
At one eighty, it's too late.
Yeah. No.
That is too late to be making a correction.
If that was your biggest takeaway that helped you, that's awesome. My point is that somebody else will take something else away. And somebody else will take something else away, and it they'll find the peace thing. Everything's in the podcast. Like, you just have to listen to it.
If listen to it, you'll be okay. Yeah. And and, I mean, I can't promise that, but I I will offer a money back guarantee because the podcast is free. Oh, okay. Nice.
Offer a a full a full guarantee.
Well, I wouldn't need my money back because I I benefited.
Well, I appreciate this very much. I really do. I am gonna go because I have to record again in forty five minutes because Okay. I am what they call a hustler. I don't know if you know.
Not a hustler in the, like, taking stuff from you situation in the, like, I I move. I got get stuff done. Everybody go take the survey. Juiceboxpodcast.com/survey. And, of course, all of you listening who hate listening, don't forget to go take it and completely try to shit on me.
It'll make the numbers look more valuable. Because right now, what it looks like is positive impact on physical health, ninety nine percent of respondents said yes. Positive impact on their mental health, ninety seven percent said yes. Okay? Overall median well-being, seventy six a score of seventy six reported a one percent negative effect.
Any people that reported a negative effect, very low. And the only negative effects that people talk about, by the way, of listening or being involved is they it can help it can make them initially feel behind or judged compared to other people. But I'm gonna tell you that what that if you can fight through that, what that means is you realize there are other people doing better than you, and hopefully, that that becomes aspirational for you. Some people, twenty seven percent said that it's hard to know where to start or that they felt overloaded with information. That's fair.
They should try the podcast website, which should help them narrow that down. Content that didn't fit my situation, only 21%. That's awesome. Increased anxiety, 13%. I understand.
It's tough to find out that there's a lot of stuff that you don't know. Diabetes now takes up more mental space, only 13%. Content that conflicted with my care team, only 12%. That's good news for your care teams out there because, you know, it used to be that used to be a bigger number.
I've
had negative interactions in the community. 11 people said they have. 11 out of a 150, not bad. Oh, we also don't know what their negative and you've been in that group. That group is an overwhelmingly positive place.
Feeling behind or judged compared to others, one person said that.
So
again, try the podcast. It'll help you. Pro tips, bold beginnings, small sips. If you don't wanna listen to such long stuff, check out the website. There's ton of information there for you.
Take the survey. Thank you very much, Marla. Hold on one second for me. To learn more and see if you might be able to get Twist from the pharmacy and try it for free, head to visit.twist.com/juicebox. That's visit.twist.com/juicebox or give them a call at 18774.
That's +1 (877) 489-4478 and tell them Scott sent you. Twist requires a prescription and is indicated for people with type one diabetes six and older. Arden has been getting her diabetes supplies from US Med for years. You can as well. Usmed.com/juicebox or call (888) 721-1514.
Many thanks to US Med for sponsoring this episode and for being and for being longtime sponsors of the juice box podcast. There are links in the show notes and links at juiceboxpodcast.com to US Med, Twist, and today's other awesome sponsor, the Eversense CGM. They make of course the Eversense three sixty five and that thing lasts an entire 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. Check it out. Let's face it. Diabetes is tough, but it's easier when you have a community around you.
So if you're looking for a great community around type one diabetes, check out the juice box podcast private Facebook group. Juice box podcast type one diabetes, but everyone's welcome. Type one, type two, gestational, loved ones, it doesn't matter to me. If you're impacted by diabetes and you're looking for support, comfort, or community, check out the Juice Box podcast private Facebook group. Juice Box podcast, type one diabetes on Facebook.
I promise you it is the most unfacebook like experience that you'll ever ever find. What a great group of people. I don't like saying this usually because it dates the ad, but right now there are 86,000 active members. 86,000 people in there who might have your experience, know what to say, just be a great shoulder to lean on. Don't be too proud to find a community.
It really does help. And it's completely free. Juicebox podcast, type one diabetes on Facebook. I just wanna say thank you so much for listening. I'll be back very soon with another episode of the juice box podcast.
If you're not subscribed, please subscribe in a podcast app. It really helps Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or whatever your favorite audio app is. Like and subscribe. You know what the kids say on the YouTube, like and subscribe. It really does help.
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© 2007–2026 Juicebox Podcast. All rights reserved.
#1946 Thirty-Seven Years and Still Learning
Thirty-Seven Years and Still Learning
Marla has had type 1 for thirty-seven years and found the podcast last year. She talks about what she has changed since — splitting her basal, tightening her alarms, and what perimenopause did to all of it.
Jump to a moment
- Thirty-seven years in, and still finding new things. Diagnosed at eight and a half, Marla is the only person with type 1 across two large extended families. She found the podcast a little over a year ago and describes the strange experience of learning fundamentals decades into it — her point being that people mostly learn by living with it and experimenting, so a genuinely new idea can arrive at any point.
- Splitting her basal was the first change. On MDI, she had taken all twelve units at bedtime for years because that’s what she was told, and went low overnight. Nobody had ever suggested splitting it. She now takes it in two parts and holds her total, because reducing it — the usual advice — would just leave her high the rest of the day. Any change to an insulin regimen belongs with your care team.
- She solved a low by standing up. Marla has strong feet-on-the-floor rise, so when she wakes in the high fifties or sixties she simply gets out of bed rather than eating. Scott points out, affectionately, that she has built a personal rule out of an observed pattern — which she cheerfully agrees she does constantly.
- Perimenopause introduced anxiety she had never had. She describes filling out endocrinologist stress questionnaires for decades and always answering that she wasn’t worried about anything — and then, around 44, noticing genuine anxiety for the first time. She also traces a strong family pattern of thyroid disease and celiac across siblings and cousins.
- Her biggest practical takeaway: tighten the alarms. On MDI she moved her high alert to 130 rather than 180, which lets her correct while a rise is still catchable instead of after it has already happened. Scott shares early results from the listener survey — among roughly ninety respondents, a median A1c drop of 1.3 points, and about 72% reporting fewer severe lows.
- Diabetes Pro Tip series — Episodes 1000-1025 — the series Marla says to listen to even thirty-six years in.
- Listener survey — The survey Scott reads results from here; results at juiceboxpodcast.com/surveyresults.
- Juice Cruise 2027 — The third annual Juicebox community cruise, sailing July 2027.
Every word of the conversation
Cold open & sponsors0:00
Hello, friends, and welcome back to the juice box podcast. If you don't love today's episode, you can have your money back. You should not, in any way, shape, or form, take anything you hear on the juice box podcast. As medical advice, I'm talking about medical advice, regular advice, any kind of advice. This is a podcast.
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. I cannot stress that enough. Everything you might find at juiceboxpodcast.com potentially could be really valuable for you. I can't sit here and list it all for you.
Just please head over to juiceboxpodcast.com and look around. I think you're gonna find something or many somethings that you will enjoy, find valuable, and tell other people about. Today, we've got a great podcast, and it's sponsored by great advertisers, US Med, the Eversense three sixty five, and Twist. You know about Twist? It's an insulin pump.
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One CGM, one year, not every ten or fourteen days ever since cgm.com/juicebox. This episode of the podcast is sponsored by the Twist AID system powered by Tidepool That features the Twist loop algorithm, which you can target to a glucose level as low as 87. Wanna learn more? Go to visit .twist.com/juicebox. That's visit.twist.com/juicebox, and Twist has two i's.
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Thirty-seven years, and the only one2:21
Hi. My name is Marla, and I have had type one diabetes for thirty seven years.
Thirty seven?
Yes.
When asked to choose a number between one and one hundred people most frequently, I answer 37.
No way.
Yeah. It's one of those weird little factoids. Don't know why it's
true. Really?
Yeah. I think
Well, maybe it's my lucky year then.
Hey. You know what? I appreciate that because my stuff's been going bad for me the last couple of weeks. And something no. It's okay.
Yeah. First of all, Mari, you're sweet, but I make a podcast. I'll be okay. Okay. It's not it's not like the sewer truck I worked with smells extra bad or something terrible.
I just you know, things are and and I got to a point where I started feeling like, can I not trust people anymore? Like, is this is it just me against the the world, that kind of thing? And I don't wanna feel that way. And then No. And then something happened this morning, and I was like, okay.
Well, me I'm gonna I told my wife. I'm like, I'm gonna just take this as a good sign, and I'm gonna move forward as if things are gonna be better. So
Good. So something good happened today.
I mean, somebody confounded expectations that were very low, but, you know, it's okay.
Oh, okay. Well, sometimes you have to start. Yes.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No. I'm I'm also trying to remember that to look forward.
Apparently, I look away from the mic a lot. I get a lot of complaints about that. I'm working on that.
Oh. Okay.
I'm trying to live over here, Mara.
Okay. Well, hey. That's all you can do.
Tell me, 37. And how old are you?
I am 46.
Finding it all a year ago4:01
That means you were nine when you were diagnosed.
I was eight. I was 8.5.
Alright. You could've just agreed. But okay.
Eight and a I know. Yeah. I could yeah. So I was eight. I didn't have anyone else in my family.
Still to this day, no one else both of my parents come from big families, lots of kids. I have lots of cousins, nieces and nephews, lots of great nieces and nephews on both sides. Still to this day, thirty seven years later, I am the only one with type one.
That's no fun. You needed a buddy.
Yeah. But that it's okay.
Yeah. You're wishing to love anybody?
Yeah. Well, after thirty you know, I wasn't introduced to the juice box podcast until just maybe a year. It was a little over a year ago. So after thirty six years of having this, I've just learned so much from the juice box community. So I'm glad to finally found this.
Oh, that's awesome. I just met a person this summer who's had diabetes for over fifty years. And Wow. I and I've I've I've I kinda told this story already on an episode, so I'll just, like, really, like, condense it down. Went on a cruise with a bunch of listeners.
Next cruise is July 2027 if you wanna come. Juiceboxpodcast.com/juicejuicecruise. And, anyway, this one person makes it onto the cruise. And I do this thing on the first day of the cruise. Like, anybody who's interested in meeting me, I like, you can pick up spot on the ship, and we'll, like, sit down and chat.
Right? So I am, like, ping ponging around the ship, meeting people, like, every fifteen, twenty minutes, half hour, whatever. And I sit down across from this lovely woman, and she's I said, are, you know, are you this person? She said her name, and I was like, okay. Good.
And she said, you're Scott. I was like, yes. And she said, can I ask a question? I was like, of course. She goes, how long have you had diabetes?
And I went and I went, oh, I'm so sorry. I'm like, is it not clear on the podcast that I don't have diabetes? And she goes, what podcast?
Oh, no.
And I was like, awesome. I was like, how did you I said, you. You're part of the Juice Cruise. Right? And she said, yeah.
I'm like, how did you get here? Oh my talking to people online. I heard about the cruise, and I thought it'd be great to come meet. She didn't know a soul on this cruise. She didn't know me.
She didn't know there's nothing. Anyway, at the end of it, she's like, I am so glad I found all this. And I am now watching her online be a part of the community. And, like and she said even after fifty years like, I I sat and watched her in a number of different, like, chats that we had, talks that we did throughout the cruise, and she's just taking notes and writing stuff down. She came over to me at one point and she said, I've learned something here today that I think will help me in my personal life, not even around diabetes.
Oh, that's so cool. How awesome. Yeah. That reminds me of me because I've learned so much. I'm like, wow.
I've been doing this. But
Can you articulate that for me, though? Like, how is that possible to live thirty six years or something and then run into more information?
Well, you know, it's it's a common theme, I feel like, throughout the Facebook page and the podcast, just all of the people that you interview and visit with. We learned things just by living with it, experimenting ourselves. You know, we kinda say we're, little science projects. And every day, you might do something well, okay. Every day, we don't do something new.
Every day, we do the same thing, same thing, same thing. And then maybe at one doctor's appointment or something we read, we might do something different and then think, oh, this is working better for me. Maybe if it would be and, you know, I started to split my bolus, not bolus, basal Basal. A year ago. Because I'm MDI.
Splitting a basal nobody mentioned8:12
I do take injections. I don't wear a pump.
Mhmm.
And so that was one thing that I started to do. I just started to kind of slowly move my basal half of it apart so that I wasn't going so low in the middle of the night. And that's something that I've actually struggled with, I would say, most of my journey. So I'm doing better with that now. I just, yeah, I read that someone said, well, you need to split your basal.
Okay. Well, I've never ever been told that.
Isn't that something? Yeah.
They always I don't know why. Why is it always before bed? I maybe it's because that's when we're taking medicine so we'll remember. Is it too hard for people to think, okay. I'm gonna take my bolus at noon every I mean, I know in the middle of the day, it does get crazy.
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You can also set your glucose target anywhere from 87 to 180 and adjust it for different times of day. So if mornings, workouts, schoolwork, or bedtime all need a little different approach, Twist can flex with that. And here's a real life example. You enter carbs then something changes and you do not actually eat what you planned. With Twist, you can go back and correct or remove the carb entry and the system adjusts based on the new information because diabetes doesn't always follow the plan and your tech probably should not expect you to either.
If you'd like to learn more, go to visit.twist.com/juicebox. That's visit.twist.com/juicebox. Don't forget, twist has two i's. So you're saying you were you were shooting your bit your basal insulin at night and then getting hurt and getting a little bit
bed. Right. Before bed. And I know everyone says it never it doesn't peak. You're well
Well, why did you used to have highs in the morning?
Well, not necessarily. However, I do also have okay, and you can help me with this. I've heard you talk about, something you did, but I don't know that you actually explained what you did for Arden
Feet on the floor, and standing up to fix a low10:44
Go ahead.
When she she was going low in the middle of the night, I believe. And your her endo said, well, we need to drop her basal. And you said, no. Because then she's gonna be high during the rest of the day. And I that's exactly me.
I have my basal down packed. Like, I know I'm taking twelve units every single day. It it really doesn't well, I believe it is better for me to do it in the morning, but I need that twelve units. I am not dropping my basal, or I'm just gonna be high all the time.
Why why did you did you ever think, why don't I just move this to the morning, or did it take somebody, like, saying something out loud?
I think it it did take someone saying something out loud. Well, why are you going low in the middle of the night? You need to split it. And that has helped, but I do also have feet on the floor. So I don't know that I'm I'm I don't know that the time of my basal is causing me to be I'm really not high in the morning naturally.
Mhmm. However, my foot on the floor is wild. Like and I wish it's kind of weird because sometimes if I go low at another part of the day, I think, oh, I just need to stand up, and then that will treat it. I don't need to eat anything because in the morning
this by standing up.
So Exactly. That's exactly what I do every single morning. I might look at my phone first thing. I'll see, oh, okay. Well, I'm I might be in the high fifties.
My body likes to sleep low, and I don't know if that's just a cortisol thing. I but high fifties, sixties, I might see, okay, if I wake up 67, 68, and I think, okay. I I really just need to stand up, and that will take care of it. I really have to do nothing else. I don't need to ever eat.
I I I love that it feels like you've made up a rule to explain something that was happening to yourself.
I oh, I make up rules all the time. Every single day. Well They're real helpful too.
They're real. Are are they called coping mechanisms? Is that what you call them?
Maybe. That's not what I call them.
But No. But it's smart not to call them yourself if that's right. Marla, married, children, no married, no children, where you at?
Yes. I'm married. I've been married for twenty three almost twenty three years, and I have three children. Mhmm. And none of my children have type one.
Once again, no one else in my family. I'm the lucky one. So every time I tell people, every time when they get a little bit sick or under the weather and my children are deathly they're getting better in their age, but my children have always been so afraid of needles. And I know you've talked about Arden being afraid
Mhmm.
Of needles now, and I just ugh. I feel so bad for her. But, I have never I've never had that phobia. I don't know if that's just, you know, one way that the Lord was wiring me. I don't know, the preparing me.
I I don't know the reasoning behind that why I've never had that fear. I can just take a shot anywhere, anytime. I I watch it. You know, we take blood all the time since, we go to the doctor so frequently, but I've always I've never been afraid to watch. They'll always ask all of the lab techs will ask, would you like me to count?
Do you need to turn away? Do you need to lay down? No. I'll watch. I've just always I don't know.
You're okay
with that. But you have But my children are scared even though they've watched me take, you know, six shots a day.
How how old are they?
18, 14, and 10. Okay. They're all four years apart.
Great kids, Marley. You're not afraid of taking a shot.
No. Mhmm. No. I'm not.
Never anxious — until perimenopause14:55
Listen. I was gonna ask you, do you have anxiety?
I I naturally, I do not. I believe since I'm 46, I've had not a few my children are anxious. I have never been anxious in my entire life.
Mhmm.
However, I believe that perimenopause has caused some anxiety in me.
Okay.
And just in the last few years, I noticed it maybe when I was maybe 44 or so. I remember growing up, every time I went to my endocrinologist, we had a form that we had to fill out every single time. So four times a year, I'm filling out this paper, and you're filling out. It was the same thing. You fill out, like, a sample meal.
I don't know if anyone else in the world had to do this. Maybe this was just my crazy endo, but you would fill out how many, like, carbs each of your meal was, and you filled out, like, the whole meal. You filled out your entree, your sides, what you drank with that meal. You did breakfast. You did snacks, lunch, snack, dinner, bedtime snack.
And then there was a question underneath your meals that said, what did it say? It said, like, how would you rate your stress levels, I think is what it was called. Are you a little under stress, you know, moderate? You're worried all the time. And I always looked at that growing up and filling it out even through college, and I thought, I'm not worried about anything.
I mean, you know, I did have worries maybe now and then, but overall, I would just get up every day and not
Go a
lot.
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Yes. I and I I my children, they worry about things all the time and it you know, we we talk a lot through things like, what are you going to change by stressing out? I mean
I don't think stress works that way.
No. It doesn't. It just doesn't.
Do you worry about them worrying?
That's a good question.
I know. Also, here's one for you. Do do other people in your extended family have other autoimmune issues?
Thyroid, celiac, and the family pattern19:45
Yes. We have a lot. It's mostly thyroid.
Mhmm. Mostly Hashimoto's?
Yes. Yes. My sister was probably the first in our family and even and this extends to cousins also. My sister had thyroid cancer, and and this was back when and she was 17. This was back when it was pretty rare for thyroid cancer was rare, and it was rare for a teenager to have cancer.
In the grand scheme, probably not rare, but in our little we lived in a very small town in Western Kansas, and it just
I I I think I smell a little celiac in your family too. Am I right?
Well, you know, I don't know that anyone has I've been okay.
I'm bad. You got some poopers? You got people in the family all the time? Can I tell the story, Marla?
Maybe not that, but just like it oh, my stomach hurts. Like, my daughter can eat, and she has been tested because I'm like, okay. You've got this. We've gotta figure this out. She can know, but she we love carbs.
We love bread. We love tortillas. And she'll she loves bagels, and she'll get a bagel and say, I know this is gonna hurt my stomach, and I'm gonna eat it anyway.
Sounds like she has celiac. And then do do you have foot
on the floor,
or do you get, like, jacked up for the do you get jacked up for the day, Marla? Do you get, like, super, like
I'm sure I have foot on the floor. Yeah. But I'm
saying, what does it come from? Does it come from, like, the like, that's why I asked you about the anxiety or the depression.
Is it my cortisol? I I've just always I've just always read that, okay. That's your body's way of waking you up for the day. So your cortisol's raising. It's signaling your liver to release glucose.
Mhmm. Sometimes, though, people just are anxious about living. And when you're awake, you're of you're you're aware of it.
Okay. So maybe that's causing the rise.
I wonder I wonder about it further. Even, like, why do some people get, like why do their blood sugars drop when they fall asleep? Sometimes I think it's because they're not all, like, anxious anymore because they're asleep.
Well, that's what I've always thought. I've wondered about that. I thought, well and I'm since I'm not really well, maybe I am anxious, and I'm just hiding it and trying to say, I don't know, Scott.
How much ADHD
is in
the family?
Well, you know, I would not say that's a common
Okay.
I wouldn't say that's a common thing that we deal with. I think because once again, perimenopause, I believe I've struggled with it. Yes.
I I don't think you ladies are I don't think God meant for you guys to live this long.
No. Probably not. He's yeah. I've I swear. I'm hard I'm thinking, yeah.
What am I how much longer am I gonna be doing this?
I I I listen. I'm obviously joking on some level, but on another level, I do wonder if we're not in the middle like, I mean, we're living longer.
Yes.
And there's no I mean, listen. It is not that long ago that you started having, you know, your period, and it was time to get married.
Right.
You know? And then, you know, '35, you you have a problem, and you fall off the wagon train. Who knows what happens to you? You know, like, like, you know, that's all. Where where's your wife?
She went in the woods. She didn't come back.
And Oh, no.
Yeah. Yeah. Well, then, like, then you go find the lady whose husband died in a shootout. You marry her, and she takes care of your house. Like, you know, the world used to be different.
It did.
And now people are living longer and longer and longer, which is awesome. But I'm wondering, like, how many of these things are are women especially walking around with, like, in the past that we now know about? Like, you know Right. We used to listen. I'll I'll tell you something.
I feel terrible in in hindsight. We used to have a thing at our house that we called insane Sunday.
Okay? Because That sounds amazing.
Mhmm. Well, it's because my mom would talk all week about watching the Eagles game on Sunday.
Okay.
She would watch every little bit of, like, news, any, like, radio. My mom was queued into what was gonna happen with the Eagles on Sunday. She'd get up in the morning. She'd watch the pregame shows. And as they were kicking that ball off, she'd stand up and proclaim, no one helps me.
I have to do the laundry, and then she'd disappear into the basement for the whole thing and do the laundry.
Looking back and naming it24:35
Yes.
Yeah. That was insane Sunday. That was insane. Stare at each other, like, you know, a little scared, and I realize now that was probably menopause.
Oh, of course it was. Yes.
Yeah. Or or ladies walking around, like, with big distended bellies because they've got some, like, horrible growth in their uterus or something. And, like, fifty years ago, they'd just be like, sucks being a woman, doesn't it? Right? Now now now they do something about that.
And or if they did something about it back then, it was a hysterectomy where they cut you open, like, you know, like, they fall age open and, like, it's
Oh my
You know, now there's, like, arthroscopic, and you go through a little hole, and it's still hard to bounce back. I'm just saying it's hard being a woman.
Yes.
The only thing you guys have going for you is you get to hang out with us, and we're great.
I know. Right?
Oh, yeah.
Luck lucky us. We have you.
Arden says to me, it's hard being a woman. I was like, I know I live with you. She goes, that's not the same
thing. Exactly.
Anyway, it's tough.
It's tough. So I wonder if I'm walking around I don't think I'm anxious during the day. I'm not like like I said, I still I don't have that worksheet anymore that I have to fill out at the endo. That endo has passed. However
good since you stopped asking me. How's that?
I know. But I still think, how would I answer that question? Like, I've always I've looked at that, and I thought, I am not I of course, I have things that I have to deal with every day. Of course, I have their bills to pay that I think, well, how's that gonna get paid? But I but
I think there's a reasonable level of of anxiety and stress that goes along with, you know, being upright and being alive.
So I think, okay. At night, when I'm it's my favorite part of the day when I get in bed. I just love I love to sleep. I always have. I've just I've always been a napper.
I love to take naps. Yeah. Look, Scott. I was in my bed.
I you you're recording for your bed. My wife said this morning as I was getting out of bed, goes, I'm gonna lay here for a couple more minutes. I love this bed. And I was like, okay.
So I know. Isn't that the best? I'm just gonna yes. So I think, okay. That's my body's When I'm going low, even though I I really it's kind of crazy if you look at my graph.
It really is as pretty it's a steady line. It's not like I'm going into the low fifties or the forties, but it's just kind of a steady line sometimes in the higher fifties, in the sixties, and it's I I've always just kind of felt like, okay. That's my body's that's how I like to sleep. It's my body's way of just, okay. This is where we are.
We're not a care in the world now.
This is where my body likes to be.
Yes. It's
a I love your that's a silly thought, by the way. Your body is
there because
of the time at night you shot that basal insulin. How come you don't wanna pump?
Well, I've yeah. I I use the word neuro what is it? Neurodivergent with my children yesterday. I said, I think I'm neurodivergent. And they're like, what does that mean?
They should know because, you know, they're in the world. We're
not still in Kansas, though, aren't you?
Yeah.
Where are they gonna learn big words? Stop it. Go ahead.
Well, they're a little a little more connected.
I thought you were gonna
call have the inter we do have the Internet.
I thought you were gonna call your kids Hicks for a second. I was like, oh my god. Is she gonna that's gonna be awesome.
Well, one would love to be a Hick, my oldest one, but we're all pretty they're city kids. But, I just don't like I I'm okay with my my sensor attached to me. I'm okay with that. It took me a while, but I'm okay with that. I really just don't want anything attached to me.
Oh, you have a you have trouble with something to me. Hey. How many engineers in your family?
You know, zero. Okay. That's not how we work at all. That's
alright. Was just checking.
We're pretty
I was
just type b, pretty artsy, more
No disrespect to the engineers listening. I just thought it was a quick way to get to an answer. Oh. Oh, okay. So you don't like things touching.
Are you weird with clothing, textures?
Yes.
When you get out of the pool, do you have to dry off right away?
Yes.
Mhmm. I don't like getting out of pool and being wet. But I'm may I be honest? I'm better at it now that I've lost weight.
Oh, okay. Yeah. That's good to know.
I used to get out of pool and be like, oh, I have to dry off. Now I don't feel the same way anymore.
Oh, okay. Yeah. When my husband yes. I'm big on textures. When my husband and I walk through a store Oh, Marty, you and I have this touch.
Yeah. Everything.
I touch every I have to I have to physically put my hands on every piece of clothing, pillow, blanket, and my husband's like, why are you touching everything? I'm like, I don't know. I just I wanna touch it. I wanna feel what it feels like.
To a store, I touch every piece of clothing that I'm interested in, not everyone I walk past.
Oh, okay.
So are you touching everything even if it's like like a cup
or something? Even yeah. Even if I didn't like how it looked, like, it if it felt good to me, I might wear it. I might or I might just wanna try it on. Say, okay.
This transcript into AI later and find out what's wrong with you in, like, two seconds.
No. Yeah. Please do.
Would you wanna know?
I don't know. But, yeah, I do. Okay. Don't know. Back to the weight loss, Scott.
I know I know. I wanna thank you. I know you've you've been a big, supporter of GLTs. What did Scott do?
Tell everybody, Marlo. Did I say
to You said you lost weight. Yes.
I I know.
Thank you for Thirty we can go back to thirty six years of type one on insulin alone
Mhmm.
With my finger pricks and my sensor. I've worn my sensor. I do wear it every day. I always take my shots. I've never I could probably count on one hand over those thirty seven and a half years how many shots I've missed just by mistake, whatever, leaving the house and not doing my basal.
I could I mean, it's probably been maybe four times in my entire life.
Yeah. You are you're diligent. And Because of your neurosis.
Still. Still. I've just never been that awesome. I've never had an awesome a one c, but, I have I started I started Mounjaro a year ago. And, I mean, I've I'd only listened to you maybe for a few months, and I thought, well, they might be onto something.
Okay. And I just started researching and seeing other type ones that were using them and thought, well, I mean, I really could stand to lose a few pounds, and I'd like to see what it does for my blood sugars. So I asked my endocrinologist at that time. She said, no way, no how. There's she told me there was a shortage of Mounjaro at the time.
This was in I know I realize now that there might really have been a few years ago, but this
up. Is They they they opened up new production facilities. Hey. Before you tell the story,
can I Okay?
Can we pause for half a second? I'd like to say something out loud.
Yes.
Hey, Eli Lilly. Where are my ads? What are you doing? Let's go. I'm out here spreading the gospel.
I'd like I'd like to get paid. I just wanna be clear.
Oh my goodness. Eli Lilly, please. Deserve it,
Eli Lilly. I it's I don't my rights are reasonable. Let's let's get on board here. Actually actually, you know what? There there's a lot of, they're doing a lot of, what they call, testing
on the the pipeline. I've them.
It's a common Well But go ahead. So wait. So I I said go ahead and wait in the same sentence. My communication skills are fantastic today. So you're telling me that you've been listening to this podcast for how long?
At this point, fifteen months. I would say fifteen months.
Okay. And you're saying that you've had diabetes for thirty six of the thirty six years prior to that, and you you're very diligent about taking your shots, but your a one c's have never been awesome. What have they been?
I would say they've been in the eights. Yes.
Okay. And
The Pro Tip series, thirty-six years in33:16
Except when I was pregnant. Okay. I will when I was pregnant, I was very diligent about checking that that's my always been my issue is checking my blood sugars. Now I did listen to the pro tip when I started, I listened to the pro tip series, and I appreciate that series so much. Even if you've been doing this game for thirty six years, Please listen to the pro tip series.
I heard you say that over and over, so I'm like, okay. I'm I took a trip to Oklahoma to visit my sister. I said, I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna listen to the pro tip even though I think I know everything. I'm surely there's something else that I'm missing.
So, you know, in the pro tip, I learned to tighten up my alarm my custom alarm settings on my CGM. So that's what I did. I tightened those up. I lowered my high alarm. You know, I'm just walking around doing life, taking my shots whenever I eat, and still, you know, spiking.
So I learned that when you're correcting at a 160, a 180, when it's going off, it's too late. So I do appreciate that. Thank you for teaching us that.
Marla, you're very welcome. I I wanna get to a number of these things here. What's your a one c today?
Today, it is 6.2.
Okay. And how much weight have you lost?
I've lost 65 pounds.
I I can may I say first of all, congratulations. That's wonderful.
Thank you.
You're very welcome. You must be thrilled.
Yes. I'm happy.
I I just saw you by the way, you popped up on camera when we first started. You do not, as the kids would say, code as somebody who used to be heavier. Like, I couldn't No.
Like, when I tell them
looking at you.
No. You wouldn't probably if I were to tell people that know me, they would probably be blown away by that because I don't I and I'm short. I'm only five two. So I'm yeah. I carry like, yeah.
I mean, that's like, sixty five pounds for someone that's five two.
Yeah. It's possible you should only weigh sixty five pounds. Yeah. I'm sure. I mean,
that's far off. Right?
But yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Almost. When you look at the whole those dumb BMI charts, yeah, that's the numbers are ridiculous. But, anyway, I but I I really didn't have I never had a goal. I just thought, well, I just I shouldn't be I shouldn't be up where I am, and I've just got to do something after I had my I've always just I've never been, okay, I've maybe never been obese, but I've always been, I would say, after I turned probably 10 years old, I've just always been bigger than all of my peers.
Dying to know which were where you were gonna go. Pleasantly plump, chunky?
How I don't even know that I would consider myself chunky. Like, even through school or high school
Extra weight. I was It felt like you had extra weight.
Yes. Extra. Always extra. So, but, I mean, I've always I I did sports in schools, but never, like, I wouldn't ever say seriously, but I've always moved. I've always gone for walks with my family
Yeah.
Ridden our bikes.
You you're fairly active, but it didn't matter. You always
just got extra weight. Always. And I've never felt I know, diabetics always say that we're hungry because we we're missing we're also missing is it called amylin? Right. Another thing I learned from the Juice Box podcast and the group is I've never ever heard that in my life.
Never seen that word. How much I've charged you to listen to the podcast this last year?
Oh, like, so much. I but it's it's been worth it. No. You know what?
It just sucks
the podcast.
It's a free podcast, Theory.
Free is not cheap, but it's free.
It's not cheap, but it's free. But I I my point is is that this is a free this is a free thing.
Like Absolutely. I mean, you think about how how much how many co pays did I pay for thirty six years? How
Not one of the say it. Not one of those. Son of the bitches helped you. Right?
What actually moved the needle38:01
Well
Go ahead.
No. I mean, the so what you would say is that they had they had the script pad on their desk, and that's what they had. They had the script pad and were able to write me my prescriptions every single time.
Marla, did people tell you you were doing well? With an eight with an eight a one c. Did the doctor go, good job?
Well, I mean
Or did they tell you, hey, Marla.
Pull it together
and you
do I'll be honest. They were always saying pull it together. I mean, I was but I was I was trying. I was I've never eaten terribly. I've okay.
Back to the amylin. I've never walked around hungry. I've never walked around being like, oh, I just I can't get enough. I need more I need more food. I've I feel like I've always had a balanced diet, but I yeah.
But yeah. The weight and the blood sugars just are always always all over the place.
Marla, after a year of Scottie's free expert tutelage, okay, what is it you've learned in the last year that you didn't know for the 36 previous?
Well, I learned that I there is a better way, and that it it's not necessarily I know that a lot of times we might say in diabetes that you can do the same thing every day and get different results the next day. Well, there usually is a reason, and you might not find the reason, but there's a there is an answer for it. Yeah. What I mean by that what I mean by that is that, you know, I I so, like, my foot on the floor. I have gone around for, what, how many years?
And I'm seeing that graph go from maybe, let's say, seventy, and I won't do anything for an hour. I'll start to get ready for the day. I'll be in my bathroom. I'll take my shower. I'll do my makeup, my hair.
I'll put my jewelry on. I'll get dressed, and then I'll look at my graph, and I will be, not kidding, close to 200.
Mhmm.
So after listening to the juice box, I saw people talking about dawn phenomenon and foot on the floor. I never knew that it was called that.
Does it matter that it was called something, or does it matter that it matters that somebody said, oh, that happens to me too, and here's what I do.
What mattered to me is that, okay. This is why it's happening. This is your cortisol releasing glucose. You need a correction for that. And I saw someone else say, I just take a couple units in the morning first thing when I wake up.
Or if they'll they'll have their pump settings, you know, I'll just start to dose myself before I get out of bed. So I start I did start doing that. So as soon as I wake up, I just go to the bathroom. Before I do anything, I will just give myself a unit in the morning. And by the time I'm done getting ready, that graph looks much better.
If I correct at a 120, that's gonna because I know I'm shooting up. I I I'm not gonna normally correct in the middle of the day at a 120. But if I'm got extra cortisol waking me up in the morning, getting me ready for the day, telling my liver to release glucose, I mean, that's one thing. I'm like, I don't need that extra glucose. I think I can get up on my own, but maybe I do.
I don't know. Because I'm not a morning person. However, I'm gonna have to correct for it, and it's
What does that mean you're not a morning person?
Well, I okay. My husband is a morning person. So he gets up. He starts rambling off all these thoughts, all these questions. He gets ready for the day.
I'm still in bed, and he'll come to me, and he will say, how does this look? He wants to know every day how he looks. Does my beard he's growing a beard, and it looks really good, and I love it. But he'll say, okay. Did I trim it okay?
I don't have my glasses on yet. Mhmm. I'm blind. I cannot see anything. He knows this, and I just I'll just look.
I don't even open my eyes. I'll just look his way and and give him a thumbs up because I can't I can't even function to open my mouth. I'll just kinda give him a thumbs up, and that'll let him know, okay. Yeah. I'm all good.
And that'll be good enough
for Yesterday, Arden said to us this is probably too much private information, but whatever. Arden said to us, I'm glad I grew up with a dad and a brother in my house because now that I'm dating someone, I know to expect the stupid stuff that he does.
That's a Yes. The stupid stuff. But, you know, my husband, he I scared him once. He used to check my blood sugar. Before I was wearing my CGM, he would check my blood I had a really bad low a year after we were married.
And after that, he physically checked my blood sugar every single morning before he left for work when I was still in bed to make sure I was okay. Mhmm. And he would make oh, he he's well, he saved me several times, you know, before my CGMs when he's
had that. Taking these kids, Marla. He's like, I'm
not Well, that's true too.
He's like, I can't do all this myself. It's not
eight Yes.
It's not eighteen seventeen anymore. I can't just go find some lady whose husband got shot in a shootout in a bar and just take her home. So I got I'm gonna have to keep Marla alive.
Yes. Yes. That's mostly it. He does love me, but yes. That's yes.
He's thinking He does not know where the coffee is. Who's gonna pick these kids up from school? Who's gonna take them to practice?
I don't wanna talk to them all day long.
Oh, no. Well, he's a talker. He would love to talk to them. But yes.
Marla, I'm learning from you, and and I appreciate this. And I'm letting this unfold on purpose the way it is because I what I'm learning from you is that while you can't sit here and specifically articulate exact things that have happened, not happened, gotten better, gotten worse, What what I've learned is is that finding this community, listening to this podcast has somehow changed your a one c almost two full points in a year after having diabetes for thirty six years, and it doesn't actually matter that you don't know exactly what happened.
Yes.
Yeah. That's what I'm hearing. And I and I love that. And I'll tell you because I I took a I did something that I don't usually do. Scottie took a little siesta yesterday for a few hours, and, I got in my car, and I drove a couple hours to a friend's and hung out with him for a little bit.
Actually, his name is Frank Payne. If you're looking for really unique reptiles living art by Frank Payne, I'll throw that in there. And Frank and Frank and I hung out for a while at his his breeding facility, and we just looked around at his stuff and chatted and everything. We're we're, like you know, we have a lot in common. We're like minded people.
I just took my mind off this podcast and my life and everything for a couple of hours. And on the way home, I started thinking about it again because, you know, it's time to get back to work. And I got really just, like I don't know. I I I I started feeling a lot of weight around, I don't wanna be boring here. So let me try to do this really quickly.
Okay? I have a weird job that relies on the platforms of social media companies for its distribution. And so they can change how they distribute or change what they value, and they do that all the time. And at the moment, you know, some of it values quick and new and vapid. The the average view time on a on a on an Instagram Reel is something like four seconds.
Wow. You can't even start people are scrolling that quickly. Right? Do you know how long you have to watch a YouTube video to get a view on it? No.
I think it's three seconds. Three. So someone's running around. I wanna make sure I'm right about that, but someone's running around right now telling you that they have 10,000, 15,000, a million views on their YouTube channel. Okay?
And what they have is at least three seconds. How long do you have to watch a YouTube video to register as of you? I'm pretty sure it's okay. I'm sorry. Thirty seconds.
A YouTube video, you need to watch for thirty seconds for the registers of view. So somebody puts up a twenty minute video, a forty minute video, and after thirty seconds, somebody's like, I don't care about this anymore. And they say, that's a view. And then those people are out there, you know, in the world trying to sell their views to other companies or device manufacturers or whatever, like and it's just it's a nonstop pressure. And in a world where those videos are often about, like, did you hear there's a new pump coming out in in in Lithuania?
Like, you know what I mean? Or, like, we're we're go we're all cured. Everybody's cured. They're they're all leaning into that right now. Like, Elenon trial, you're all cured.
I'm like, 12 people. 12 it's 12 people. Yes. Yeah. It's awesome, but it's we're not all cured.
Okay?
That's why all those videos say, you must watch until the end.
Yeah. Then when they watch
until the end of
day, I can sell an ad on this is what
they need.
Okay? And so that's the world we live in. I am doing long form conversations for adults. Okay? It's a hard thing to sell excitingly out into the world, but I need people to buy ads on it so I can make it.
Know that you all won't believe this, but I do spend about sixteen hours a day making the podcast. And it's it's an overwhelming thing to do by myself. And I love it, but I need to I I also have electric and, you know, like, my grass grows and my my family seems hungry. Like, stuff like that. You know?
Right. And and so I I'm coming home yesterday and I'm starting to think about all that again. And I'm I'm getting frustrated. And I'm just like, why? This is not the I don't wanna play this stupid game.
Like, how is it possible I'm involved in this? Like, I how is it possible I live in a world where, you know, every five seconds, a new pretty face wearing an insulin pump or CGM is bouncing through their Instagram reel trying to get famous or get paid or whatever, and then they're gone six months later. And then I had I had somebody come up to me recently, and they're like, hey. How are you? And I was like, I I'm I'm I'm good.
How are you? And and the person's like, you know me. And I went, I I don't. And and and they're like, no. No.
I'm I'm like you you would know me from, like, TikTok and Instagram. And, I'm a diabetes influencer. I'm like I'm like, I'm so sorry. Like, you seem like a lovely person. I do not know who you are.
And and No. And I don't I don't I don't wanna be involved in that world.
Right.
But I somehow am. Right? And and and and I just I wanna have long conversations with people that leave a lady named Marla, thirty six years into diabetes with a six two a one c and a new understanding of her health. And that's what I wanna do. I don't wanna bounce my ass on TikTok.
Why he won’t chase the algorithm50:21
Okay? Not that that I think that would work, but, like, I don't wanna be in I don't wanna be in I promise you that wouldn't work. But I don't wanna be involved in that game. But the problem is that the people that I cater to, which I would say are people who are not scrolling TikTok, generally speaking, or not just wanting to be yelled at that there's a new CGM coming, or aren't you mad at how bad your CGM is? Or, like, you know, that I whoever those that click baity rage stuff.
These adults don't understand how this system works. So they don't like, they don't share, they don't comment because they don't realize that that's the only thing keeping this moving. And then I'm stuck saying that out loud, I sound like a whiny bitch when I say that then. And I don't like that either. So I would rather just sit here quietly and not say anything except that when I was driving home yesterday, I took the time to I mean, I had something read it to me.
Just wanna be clear. I wasn't driving and reading at the same time. But I was on a long drive, and I just recently put out a survey to the to the Facebook community about what the podcast is
Yes. I saw the survey.
If you haven't taken it, please do. Okay?
Okay. Can I say something?
Please.
I I filled it all out. I will I will finish it. And then it went to I I think I had to email it to you. Mhmm. And when I went to email it, it asked for my I am so old that I have Hotmail, and I didn't know my password to my email.
And it made me log in to my Hotmail. I promise. Oh, gosh. Sounds good. You could have just hit it.
There's a copy button at the end too if you just wanna make your own email. You could have hit
com Shoot. You had to read. I know. I Okay. This is awful.
Okay.
I will do But the you're
also I will go back and do it.
Barlow, also making my point, and I appreciate that.
Okay? It's That it was a roadblock, and I was like, okay. Well, I've got kids that need to be picked up. I've got something in this stuff.
I care about your children, Marla. I'm trying to make a podcast
over. Okay?
Now I'm
gonna everyone else is gonna suffer today. I'm gonna get that survey done. So Kids, I mean, my son might not get to go to football, but I'm gonna get that survey.
That's between you and Jesus. You help me. Okay?
Okay. I will.
So of the so far, I'm looking at it right now. So right now, we have a 143 responses. It's only been up for a day or so. Okay?
Right.
Right. We got a 143 responses, and it's got a bunch of it's a very simple thing to take. But here's what I'd like to highlight of the 140. Of the 143 responses, 90 people reported their properly reported their a one c change. So the median chain the median number for the podcast for these 90 people is they came in at a median 7.4 and they're down to a 6.1.
But I can see I can see all 90 of them on a graph. They have come in from between 15, okay, and a 5.2. Wow. At least 90 people. The person who came into this podcast with a 5.2 now has a 4.8.
And the person that came into the podcast with a 15 now has a six two. And everywhere in between, 12 to six two, 10 to eight two, eight to five nine. I I literally can't read all 90 of them to you. Right? And and then I said, okay.
I know I'm doing a good job, but I can't stand that that goddamn algorithm, like, helps people to be popular when they're just yelling, aren't you mad at your CGM falling off? Or don't aren't you excited that we're all gonna be cured? And I'm like, goddamn it. Like, don't use social media trends to attract people with type one diabetes and then not help them afterwards. Like, do something for them.
Like, that's how I
feel about
it. Okay? Well, between whatever. Okay. But I have it read things to me.
Like and so ninety nine of the hundred and forty three people also put in, like, kind of little testimonials or stuff like that and and I'll and checked off that it was okay to use their name, like, to make it public.
Yes.
And as it was reading them, Marla, I started to cry in my car. Oh. Because I was like, my god. And I don't usually think about it like this. I try really hard not to think about it like this because I don't I don't I don't know what it is about me.
I don't wanna think of I know what it does. I know what the podcast does. I don't like thinking about it. I don't I don't have good self esteem around it or some I don't know. I don't have a therapist.
Okay? But, like, it makes me uncomfortable to know that I'm doing a nice thing for people. But I but I I have to absorb it sometimes because I'm looking at this other crap and it's starting to get to me. And I started realizing, like like, I don't know. I didn't start realizing.
It's the thing I know. You kinda have to remind yourself of it. Is that the external stuff doesn't really matter. I I know what it's actually doing. And to hear people talk about like everything from pain to blood sugars to more stability to their children being happy, to them being happy.
And I thought, I am doing the right thing. Why won't these algorithms like, why won't they help once in a while positive stuff? But they're not going to. Like, it it just is not gonna happen. That's not how it works.
But hearing your story, I realized, like, you easily could have been in this this grouping, and I wouldn't have known right You you know? Anyway, I I'm glad you're doing better.
You you know what Thank you. Yeah. I am too. And, you know, I just listened yesterday to you reposted your episode with
Kent.
Mister Kent. Yes. And I I mean, this yeah. Talk about algorithms. I'm in Wichita, Kansas.
Oh. Kent was in Emporia, Kansas, I believe. He's he talked a lot about Northeast Kansas. Like and I believe he was in Emporia because that's where, like, all the big, the dirt bike races were that he would
He's talking about.
Yes.
Yeah. Yeah.
I've never heard of him in my life. In my life, I've lived in this state. I've lived an hour and a half away from him. Never once knew who this man was. So I just appreciate all that he did.
That's awesome. Amazing. And I remember you telling him about the sign language episodes? Was it the what were you putting in sign language?
Was it the pro tip? Yeah. I did the bowl. I had a a really beautiful person do the bowl beginning series in ASL.
And you and then you had, someone else contact you and ask you if their brother if you had anything for her brother to maybe see, and you said, actually, yes. I do. Yeah. So, I mean, I know you know. You were you lit got to listen listen to everyone's stories yesterday, and so that's amazing.
But these are these aren't just numbers. These are these are people. These are eight year olds. They're 10 year olds. They're 36 year olds that have, you know, been given a chance to live a better way.
I also would like to say that I don't begrudge anybody trying to make a living or doing anything. And if you like, I I'm just not gonna do it. Like, I'm not gonna I am not gonna put a camera six inches from my face and scream into it, and then try to get you upset or excited about a new CGM or a new pump or whatever thing because that's what people care about. They care about new new tech. You know what I mean?
Maybe for some people, that's what they need to see and hear, but not every obviously, for all of your listeners. And you're reaching parents. You're reaching, you know, old. Well well Not all of them are old, but
you're telling you this this response from this from from the survey tells me that it's pretty equal. Like, the the listeners are pretty equal parents and adults.
That's amazing.
It leans a tiny bit towards parents.
Yes. Okay.
But not as much as you think. Because online, what I've learned is that online, parents are are more likely to speak online, but it doesn't mean that the other people aren't there.
Okay. Yeah. Sure.
So I don't know. Again, I feel bad. Like, I'm not denigrating anybody. I just it's not for me. It it
It's hard to understand. I think in possibly thirty, forty, fifty years, we might understand a bit better what's going on right now with all of this. Yeah. But when we're in the thick of it right now, we just don't And I don't I don't know the answer. I'm with you.
We one thing that we like to do as a family, we're real exciting over here. We will sit. There's five of us. So there's my husband and I and our 18, 14, and 10 year olds. So we have a a pretty wide range
Mhmm.
Of people ages what's going on in life. And we will sit, and my daughter and I or we have a couple groups. I have a group. I have a TikTok group with my son and my daughter who are both teenagers, and then I have a group with just my daughter and I. And we'll play our group or we'll play our group, our family text messages, just the reels that we've sent each other.
So we'll sit in our living room, and we will airplay all of those and just watch them all together because
That's smart.
Sometimes my kids don't watch what I'm sending them. So we'll we'll sit down, and we'll just play them, and we'll just laugh. And we'll see which ones they really like, and my husband and I will look at each other and say, that was so stupid. What in the world? And then my daughter will play one that I sent to them, and this is exactly what you're saying.
She will not she'll play the first two seconds and move on. And I'm like, wait. You didn't get to the good part. It was gonna get good. It was really funny.
Yeah. I Listen.
She's like, no. That was dumb.
Think it's I don't think it's it's I was I was complaining to my wife when I got home. She's a captive audience. She can't get away. And and I and I said, look. I know we all know at this point that that these algorithms are like, they're hijacking our brains.
And and I know we know and that no one's stopping. I was like, but there are some people who aren't. But I just I feel very badly about like, Marla, be be serious for a second. Imagine now that you know what you know that you've learned over the last twelve months. Imagine you didn't know about it, but you can comment on on that Marla who'd who never knows, who's walking around with an eight a one c, who's walking around sixty five pounds heavier.
Like, can you imagine what happens if you don't intersect good information that's easy to digest, easy to put into practice, didn't cost you any money?
Right.
Right? Like, what what where are you today without? I I I don't wanna say it like this, but where are you today without finding that podcast?
Well, that's I don't know. I mean, I do know I probably just don't wanna face it.
It's sad. Right?
It is. Yeah. And
and you live like that a long time needlessly because I've been making this podcast for twelve years. Like, that'll don't think about that. That'll make you sad. Okay? But, like, imagine all the you found it.
You're you're yay. But what about the other people who instead of finding this today, who could make the statements you're making a year from now, are instead watching two diabetes influencers argue with each other on TikTok.
Right. Not helpful.
Right? It sad. Makes Like, you've you've you've found a platform. I'm not saying anything special. By the way, I see other influence out there ripping my stuff off word for word.
So they're trying. Those ones, god bless them, I guess, are trying to get good information out there. Also, you could have figured out a way to say it on your own, but fine. Take my words. Whatever.
But, like but my god. Like, is it that important to get your stupid video up to a certain number of freaking views so you can call some company and tell them you want a couple of thousand dollars to put an ad on their thing? Or whatever it is you're planning on doing with your dude your dude are you trying to get YouTube videos up so you can do this or that? Like, is that really what, like, this is? Like, you know what I mean?
Because I don't know. I I I I just just help. Like, I I I was sat in front of a few people who are diabetes influencers two weeks ago, and they said, do you have any advice? And I realized they were looking at me like I was Yoda, and not that I was all knowing, but that I was incredibly old. I I know that I know they were like, oh, this old guy's been doing this for a long time.
Maybe he knows something. And I said to them, stop what you're doing right now and try to help people instead, and then actually help them. And then once they're helped, they'll they'll continue to watch your thing, and they'll tell other people about it. And I was like, but if you don't do that, six to twelve months from now, a new you is gonna be standing here asking me this same question. You are gonna be gone.
Right. But some of them happen forever. Some of them, Scott, aren't eve even able to help. I don't think that I think they need the help as much. I'm I don't know ever.
For some people, that's the situation. But, like, but then find the thing you're good at that you it doesn't have to be the thing I'm doing. Like, you find another way to help people. Like and it's not helpful to them to, like, have your pump fall off, and then you pick your camera up and go, oh my god. I hate diabetes.
My pump fell off again. Like, blah blah blah. Right. Yeah. Okay.
Yeah. That happens sometimes. Like, way to way to record the one time your pump fell off in the last six months. Great. Yeah.
You know, like, everybody's pump falls off sometimes. And and and but just try not to make it feel like it's happening constantly because there are some people who think, oh my god. This pumps fall off all the time. No. No.
They don't. Like like, stop. Or or you know what I mean? Like, my CGM's always wrong. I'm gonna die because my CGM's always wrong.
That's a great thing to run around. Why don't you tell them to hydro themselves or explain to them how to put it on so it works better? Or you you know I mean? Like, I don't know. Anyway.
Alright. Marley, here's what I need from you.
Okay. What?
I need you to get over your sensory thing because I think you would love a pump.
Yeah. I know.
I don't care which one. That's not my point. And, but I I think you might maybe not. Maybe you're gonna be an MDI for life person. But, I mean, think
think I could okay. If I did wear a pump, do you think I could just turn do you just turn the basil off at night so I didn't go low?
The part nobody sees1:05:42
Oh, my. I love that you don't even know what the hell you're talking about. Sweetheart, there's a there's a I know.
There's a sleep mode.
Right? No. No. They're they're all automated at this point. They take and give away basil all day long.
They're all it's always adjusting your basil.
Well, I know that. I know that much.
Okay. I gotta get you out of Kansas. Wait. When's the last time you left Kansas?
Oh, two weeks ago.
Wait. But would you go to, like, Missouri or something like that, or where'd you go?
Oklahoma. Oklahoma. That doesn't count.
I love that you said my kids are city kids. Trust me. They're not. Okay. Yeah.
I know. We talked about this, like yeah. We were talking about cities. I was talking, I think, to my daughter because she loves she loves the country. She would love to live on a farm, but I'm like, Reese, you can't like, you need a Target and a Chick fil A.
She's like, yeah. I do need a Target and a Chick fil A.
Marla, I'm gonna share something. I don't share a ton about my personal life all the time, like but and because everybody takes everything and tries to make a judgment about what it is, but here we go. Okay. I was at the the new record holding largest comedy show that's ever existed last week.
Seriously? Which one
I'm talking about? No. No. I saw Shane Gillis at the at at Lincoln Financial Center. My son
No way.
My son and I went.
Oh, how fun. We love Shane Gillis
at our came out. Who else was there? The guy he does this podcast with who I no offense, Matt, but not funny. But also put in a Tony?
No. Kill Tony?
No. No. No. Matt McCusker, maybe.
Oh, okay.
He was the opener. In fairness to him, he came out right after Meek Mill sang.
So Okay.
This thing was, like, Jason Kelce opened the show. Actually, that's not true. Bam Margera opened the show by making an announcement live
No way.
To video things. Then then Jason Kelce came out, opened up the show. Then Meek Mill came out and performed. Then Matt and, again, Matt, you know, I I don't know your comedy, but that it wasn't great, man. And then k.
And then Jay Oakerson came out who was funny from the from the jump, from word one till the end. He was super comfortable. I wanna keep you in mind that we were in a stadium. They sold 77,000 tickets.
Woah. I believe
73 and a half thousand showed up.
I believe Shane my daughter okay. So we love comedy. We watch a lot of comedy also as a family. And I believe my daughter was just telling me that I believe Shane has the record for maybe it was this, the
most He does. And I was there.
Sold oh my goodness. So 77,000. That's amazing.
Yeah. So so then Shane came out and performed. Then Shane brought out Dave Chappelle.
Oh my.
They didn't perform. They just talked for a while. And then you realize they were just chatting because because three six five mafia was gonna come out and do a concert afterwards. And I was like, what is happening? It was insane.
It was really just crazy. I this woman was dancing in front of me during three six five mafia who I later found out was Tiffany Haddish. I was like Aw. But I was
like In front of you?
Listen. This was my Christmas present. I I I don't I'm gonna say this because I don't want people to, like, think that this is happening all the time in my life because it's not. I do nothing ever. My wife overspent on this.
I was in the first row of the Shangillas thing. Aw. So and it was an in the round thing, so it was a square stage. So in fairness, there were four sides to a pretty big stage. There were a lot of people in the first row.
But we were first row. There's a girl up against the stage dancing like crazy during three six five mafia. And then later, I was like, that was Tiffany Haddish. The
guy Tiffany.
That she it was it was my point is is that your daughter has never seen 73,000 people together in one place.
Right. No. She would
and it was
Actually well, I don't know how many I don't know how big Arrowhead Stadium is, but she has been there.
Yeah. I'm we were down on the I was basically sitting at the 50 yard line at Lincoln Financial Center.
Wow. Was That's cool.
Awesome. It took us hours to get out of there afterwards. I've never seen the streets around the stadiums as filled with people as it was afterwards. People were just milling around every which way. Point point being is that there's no way that there's that many people that even live in Kansas.
No.
But that's okay. That's how we like it.
I like it. Also, I would prefer to live
big city.
I would prefer to live on a I would prefer to live in the middle of nowhere too.
Would you okay. How's your how's your or have you
talked to
your wife into moving yet? I know you've talked a lot about Yes. Moving south.
So Kelly is recuperating from a procedure. Okay. And people are gonna be like just laughed. I thought people are gonna think she got a boob job or something. But she she had a growth she had to have taken out.
Like, she's okay. Okay. And and so that would be her thing to say, not mine. But she had a she had a a surgery that takes a while to recover from. She's in the middle of the recovery.
We think that she's gonna be okay to travel in another week or so. So we're trying to make space to go do this because this is a thing she's never even seen before. So we wanna take a little road trip and look around in a few places. Hopefully, we'll be able to do that because if she goes back to work but trust me. She's going back to work.
But nobody nobody rides for free, Marla. Okay? Right. But but we I if she goes back to work before we're able to take this trip, it's gonna be much more difficult for me to get her on
the trip.
So I'm trying to, like, get her recuperated enough where she can take a car ride and and go look around.
Okay.
So we'll
I will pray for Kelly that she has speedy recovery, but that not too speedy that she heals correctly.
Yes. Yeah. No. She's doing I I was just telling her yesterday. She looked yesterday for the first time, she looked a little brighter.
Her energy was better, yeah, even towards the end of So the it's just hard to you know, you get older and you gotta do stuff and hard to bounce back. So I don't know if that's gonna happen or not, but I'm still I'm still doggedly going after it.
That's exciting.
And I am happy that I told this story about going to the concert. There's such a good photo of me and my son that I wanted to share. And I and I didn't share because I don't want people to think that they understand my politics because of a comedy show that I went to.
Oh, okay. Yes. You know what I mean?
Yep. Because y'all don't understand my politics. I promise you. Right. No matter what you
And that's okay. We don't need to understand.
You really don't. Also, I I've learned from making a podcast that if you like me, you just assume I agree with you politically. That's the thing that happens when you're listening to somebody like this. Yes. If you don't like me, you assume I I think opposite of you.
Yes.
Because I've watched people do it online. It's pretty fascinating.
Yep. I've seen that too. Mhmm. But I do appreciate, yeah, how you, manage the group and
Thank you.
Keep us in line and keep it yeah. Let's you know, we all yeah.
No. I do listen. I don't get enough credit for how good I am at that.
Actually, really do. You you do a good job.
Don't worry.
I'm giving you credit. Thank I see it.
Well, let me tell you a couple things then. We'll wrap up with this, but this is some pretty interesting stuff from that survey. And please, everybody go take the survey. It's gonna stay up. It's juiceboxpodcast.com/survey.
It literally takes five minutes. It's set up really well. It's easy to go through. Where impact lands with people? Confidence with insulin timing and dosing, eighty seven percent of respondents said that it improved.
They also said that glucose management a one c time and range improved. Eighty six percent said that. Seventy eight percent said I feel less alone. Sixty one percent said I have less fear of anxiety about diabetes. Forty nine percent say I have more confidence as a caregiver.
I'm better prepared for medical appointments. Forty one percent. I'm more flexible. Thirty nine percent. I have less diabetes.
Distressed. Thirty eight percent. Fewer severe lows. Thirty three percent. Better sleep.
What the listener survey says1:14:21
Twenty eight percent. Where did what drove my impact? Mostly the podcast, 45%. Both the podcast and the Facebook group, 42%. Mostly the online community, 9%.
I'll tell you that meant a lot to me because I have so far only announced the survey on the online community. And so that I only put it there and haven't talked about it in the podcast yet, but to find out that only 9% of them really can give the credit to just the online and not the podcast made me feel good because I always think that those people aren't listening.
Yes.
Median a one c change for those 90 people, 1.3. I altogether, your a one c's would drop to an average of 1.3. A one c points for those 90 people combined, 192.4 points have dropped of of all of you guys. Time and range climb to time and range in excuse me. Fifty six of seventy with both their step with their CGM estimates, 80% of those people's time in range has gone up.
Severe lows decreased six seventy two percent of respondents said their severe lows have decreased. It's pretty freaking awesome.
Yes. It is.
Lot more data here about it, but and I'm not giving myself the credit. I'm saying that I think that having a place to talk about it, having a group of like minded people who all understand the basics, and having a place where you can sit long form, listen, learn, and apply is really, really important for people. I'll stop joking for a second. This is incredibly, like, valuable. And and anyway, I I mean, if it was as easy as me just bouncing my ass, I would do it.
But I don't think that's not gonna help. You know what I'm saying?
Yes. Well, it's been incredibly valuable to me. Like I said, I I started to make a change when I listened to the pro tip series. I really did. That was before I began the Mounjaro.
Tightening the alarms1:16:22
I started to lower my a one c that way because I lowered my the biggest takeaway for me being MDI was that I needed to tighten up my CGM alarms. So Yeah. My low, I set at 70. My high, I set at one thirty. And if I saw that one thirty, obviously, one thirty is okay.
I'm not going to make a correction right there unless I see the arrow going straight up. But, obviously, if it's going off, it is going up. So if I make a correction there, it's going to hit, and I'm not going to get up to two hundred. I might still get up to 01:50, 01:55, 01:60, but I'm not going to
one ninety.
At one eighty, it's too late.
Yeah. No.
That is too late to be making a correction.
If that was your biggest takeaway that helped you, that's awesome. My point is that somebody else will take something else away. And somebody else will take something else away, and it they'll find the peace thing. Everything's in the podcast. Like, you just have to listen to it.
If listen to it, you'll be okay. Yeah. And and, I mean, I can't promise that, but I I will offer a money back guarantee because the podcast is free. Oh, okay. Nice.
Offer a a full a full guarantee.
Well, I wouldn't need my money back because I I benefited.
Well, I appreciate this very much. I really do. I am gonna go because I have to record again in forty five minutes because Okay. I am what they call a hustler. I don't know if you know.
Not a hustler in the, like, taking stuff from you situation in the, like, I I move. I got get stuff done. Everybody go take the survey. Juiceboxpodcast.com/survey. And, of course, all of you listening who hate listening, don't forget to go take it and completely try to shit on me.
It'll make the numbers look more valuable. Because right now, what it looks like is positive impact on physical health, ninety nine percent of respondents said yes. Positive impact on their mental health, ninety seven percent said yes. Okay? Overall median well-being, seventy six a score of seventy six reported a one percent negative effect.
Any people that reported a negative effect, very low. And the only negative effects that people talk about, by the way, of listening or being involved is they it can help it can make them initially feel behind or judged compared to other people. But I'm gonna tell you that what that if you can fight through that, what that means is you realize there are other people doing better than you, and hopefully, that that becomes aspirational for you. Some people, twenty seven percent said that it's hard to know where to start or that they felt overloaded with information. That's fair.
They should try the podcast website, which should help them narrow that down. Content that didn't fit my situation, only 21%. That's awesome. Increased anxiety, 13%. I understand.
It's tough to find out that there's a lot of stuff that you don't know. Diabetes now takes up more mental space, only 13%. Content that conflicted with my care team, only 12%. That's good news for your care teams out there because, you know, it used to be that used to be a bigger number.
I've
had negative interactions in the community. 11 people said they have. 11 out of a 150, not bad. Oh, we also don't know what their negative and you've been in that group. That group is an overwhelmingly positive place.
Feeling behind or judged compared to others, one person said that.
So
again, try the podcast. It'll help you. Pro tips, bold beginnings, small sips. If you don't wanna listen to such long stuff, check out the website. There's ton of information there for you.
Take the survey. Thank you very much, Marla. Hold on one second for me. To learn more and see if you might be able to get Twist from the pharmacy and try it for free, head to visit.twist.com/juicebox. That's visit.twist.com/juicebox or give them a call at 18774.
That's +1 (877) 489-4478 and tell them Scott sent you. Twist requires a prescription and is indicated for people with type one diabetes six and older. Arden has been getting her diabetes supplies from US Med for years. You can as well. Usmed.com/juicebox or call (888) 721-1514.
Many thanks to US Med for sponsoring this episode and for being and for being longtime sponsors of the juice box podcast. There are links in the show notes and links at juiceboxpodcast.com to US Med, Twist, and today's other awesome sponsor, the Eversense CGM. They make of course the Eversense three sixty five and that thing lasts an entire year. One insertion every year. Come on.
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#1945 The Hippocratic Oath
The Hippocratic Oath
Steven was 37, throwing up for months, and told he might have HIV — by a doctor looking at a blood sugar of 600. Two years later he runs a 5.6 and his doctor wants it higher.
Jump to a moment
- Six months of symptoms, and nobody put it together. Steven was throwing up after high-carb meals, winded climbing four stairs in his thirties, and exhausted while caring for his father full time. Urgent care told him it was acid reflux. A second doctor, looking at a blood sugar around 600, decided the more likely explanation was HIV — reasoning out loud that older people get type 2, younger people get type 1, and Steven was in between.
- The call came at 10:30 at night. He was told he might have HIV; his mother got on the phone to push back and a nurse told her not to speak to the doctor that way and hung up. Steven avoided doctors for months afterward. He was eventually diagnosed with type 1 in the hospital — in the ICU for two days with dangerously low potassium, on the floor below where his father was admitted. He later reported the doctor to the board.
- Discharge was a pamphlet. He describes a doctor leaning in the doorway saying he had type 1 and that it was “going to be something,” handing over a leaflet, and leaving. In the hospital he asked for carb counts so he could dose properly and was told not to worry about it — then a nutritionist called a psychologist in because he was too focused on his numbers. The psychologist sided with Steven.
- He is doing well now, and his doctor wants him higher. Steven reports a 5.6 A1c, with his low alarm at 70 and only occasional dips to the mid-50s. His endocrinologist wants a “safer” range. He suspects he’s still honeymooning — he notices his glucose falling within minutes of eating with essentially no insulin on board. Scott’s response is his opinion only; settings and targets belong with your care team.
- He built his understanding from scratch. Podcast, internet, and AI — which he used early on to check carb counts and dosing math because, by his own description, he was never good at math and everything online was aimed at either children or type 2. He’s clear he double-checked its answers and eventually needed it less. He also lost his father in March, and much of the episode carries that.
- Diabetes Pro Tip series — Episodes 1000-1025 — the management foundation Steven had to assemble on his own.
- Bold Beginnings series — Scott and Jenny Smith for the newly diagnosed — what a pamphlet cannot cover.
- Juicebox Podcast Facebook group — For anyone who, like Steven, doesn't know a single other person with type 1.
Every word of the conversation
Cold open & sponsors0:03
Welcome back, my friends, to the diabetes show that never ends. Remember this, 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 bold with insulin. Do you need help figuring out five zero four plans? I've built a tool.
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Meet Steven1:53
Hi. I'm Steven, 38 years old, got type one. Hey. Hope you're having a great day.
I hope they're having a great day too. You got type one when? How old?
So I was 37. So I'm about a little more than a year. So October twenty fourth of last year
Okay.
Of well, 2024, I got it. Sorry. No. 2025, I was diagnosed. I think I had it about six months prior to that or the symptoms of it.
A sore throat that lasted six months2:28
You were unaware at that point?
No. I I thought I had a sore throat. I'm like and it was, like, bad. And then I was throwing up, and so I technically probably was in DKA for a couple months.
You thought you had a six month sore throat Yeah. That caused you to throw up?
Yeah. They because it was. There was, like, some type of, like, acid reflux or something going on. Right? It felt more acid reflux y than most things.
And so then every so often, like, maybe couple weeks or so, like, maybe twice a month, I would throw up after eating something that would be heavily carb as I know now. And so I'd throw up at, like, one or two in the morning, and then I would be okay. And then I'm like, okay. Fine. I need to, like, maybe cut down on something that I'm eating or whatever.
How'd you feel overall? Were you, like like, decimated or just under the weather? Like, we're we're on that spectrum.
I would say I was under the weather, but so there's a point in April 2024 because I got diagnosed 2024. 2025 would be the year I'm coming up to the two year point now at 2026.
Mhmm.
So the timeline's weird. It it's strange for me. But, I think around April so my dad was sick. Right? He he he broke his hip.
He was going through a four year journey of trying to, like, get it revision and sick and back and forth into the hospital. So I was taking care of him, like, full time. Me and my mom were doing that. And so that was, like, a kinda drain on me. But then there was a point because we, have a split level house.
I would be going downstairs. I made everybody down in the living room by the TV, and then where he would sleep and everything because he had a hospital bed, and then I would go back upstairs sometimes. And there was four steps to get into the kitchen and about eight steps to go up to the bedroom. Mhmm. Going up those four steps around April 2024, I turned the corner, and I could not get up those four steps.
I like, I was winded. And I'm like, there is something wrong. Because, usually, I can get down pretty good and going up. It was okay. It wasn't really that bad.
But then there was a point where I got winded that I had to stand there and just take a breath. And then knowing, dreading going up eight more steps to my bedroom, then I can, like, sit down and relax.
In your thirties, traversing four steps, needed a break, this must send you to the doctor.
“You mind if I give you an HIV test?”5:01
It did. The acid reflux sent me to the doctor more often because I was, like, sick and, like, I didn't feel that well.
Yeah.
And so it, like, started, like, February of that twenty twenty four. It was, like, like, weird and everything. And then I'm like, I went to the doctor. I went to an urgent care. I didn't go to an actual doctor.
Urgent care said, oh, you got acid reflux. You know? It didn't seem right. I go there. I'm like, I didn't think it was right then.
My mom didn't think it was correct. My dad didn't think of it. So I'm like, I'll go to another doctor. You know, the doctor tells me he goes, he goes, your blood works fine. You're looking good.
And he goes, you know what? He goes, maybe you're just stressed out about taking care of your dad. And he goes, you mind if I give you an HIV test? And I go, what?
That was a left turn.
There there there was a left turn. I'm like, okay. I'm like, I don't care. Like, he goes, it's just a quick break. We're just gonna find that out.
I get that. I get a phone call at 10:30 at night the next day telling me, you could have HIV. I go, what? I'm I'm not, like, active in any way of any of that stuff. Right?
I nothing. And I'm like I'm like, I'm not using dirty needles. I'm not, like, doing anything like that. Right?
Right.
And I'm like, this is weird. He goes, well, you need to get over here, you know, bad. It it could be HIV. We don't know. But, you know, your blood glucose was really high.
It was about 600 at that time. And I'm like, I
don't know. Oh, Steven.
Yeah. Yeah.
You prefer Steven or Steve?
It it doesn't matter. Steve, Steve, Bob. Who cares? It doesn't matter.
Steve, Bob. Steve, Bob, listen. You're telling me that your doctor saw an elevated blood sugar of 600 and said, I think it's possible you have HIV?
Yeah. Because he said he goes, older people get he goes, type two. Younger people get type one. He goes, there's no way in between. He goes, you're something in between.
He goes, that can't be anything other than that. I said, are you true? Are you sure? And then my mom got on the phone and started, like, saying, hey. This my son doesn't do this.
He's with my husband all day. Can't you know, nothing would have happened in that span of time that would have, accounted for this. And then the nurse got on the line and said, you don't start talking to the doctor like that and hung up on her.
Yes. So
then I avoided going to a doctor for a couple months.
Okay.
Yeah.
Where where are the were you in the Midwest somewhere?
Yeah. Chicago.
Okay. Wait. You're in like, you're like, the city proper? Yep. There goes my theory about that.
I so I'm, like, over here, like, frantically looking. Can DK share any, like, nonspecific symptoms with HIV? But it's like fatigue, nausea, vomiting, weight loss. And then anything about an elevated blood sugar that can look like HIV. Uncontrolled high blood sugars can produce symptoms that look like yeah.
But it's not like it's not like anybody sees a high blood sugar and goes, oh, that's either diabetes or HIV. What's Yeah. Is there something about you that I don't know? Like, what would the doctor see, feel? Like, that's
I don't think so. I came I just came over there to that, to that doctor for, like, saying, hey. You know, to it's a checkup. I I'm getting older. You know?
You go to the doctor, and I got this sore throat problem. And he's like, oh, you know what? Could be a broken leg. There it is. You know?
That's it. I mean, it's not the first time we were, my family was misdiagnosed, my dad, when he broke his hip because this is what basically happened with my father because he has type two. And he broke his hip, the doctor said, oh, no. You got knee pain.
Oh, listen. You're all on your own. I if everybody doesn't get that from listening to this podcast at this point, I don't know what else you're supposed to take from this. But Yeah. You're on your own.
Take care of yourself. Do your own research. When somebody says don't Google, say, I trust Google more than I trust you. And and then just keep doing what you think is right. Ask questions.
Get second, third, fifteenth opinions if you have
to.
See a witch doctor. I don't know, man. But that's that's insane. Okay. So at some point, do you make it to the idea that you have type one diabetes?
How long does that take? Because you said you after they yelled at your yelled at your mom. Right?
Yeah. Yeah. At 10:30 at night, yelled at my mom. They hung the phone up. Yeah.
The nurse did.
Alright. Okay.
I I don't get it either, Skye.
I have always disliked ordering diabetes supplies, and I'm guessing you have as well. It hasn't been a problem for us, though, for the last few years because we began to use US Med back then, and you can too. Usmed.com/juicebox or call (888) 721-1514 to get your free benefits check. US Med has served over one million people living with diabetes since 1996. They carry everything you need from CGMs to insulin pumps and diabetes testing supplies and even more than that.
I'm talking about all the good ones, all your favorites, Libre three, Dexcom g seven, the pumps like Omnipod five, Tandem, and the Islet pump from Beta Bionics. They have even more than that. You gotta go check them out because the stuff you're looking for, they have it at US Med. 8887211514. Or go to usmed.com/juicebox to get started now.
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October, and the hospital11:31
And so then, that was, like, about April ish. I go to October when I'm, like, really feeling sick, still kind of, like, dragging along, doing things, still helping my dad, my mom, and just dragging along. At that point, my father was in the hospital for the his hip got infected with a mold or some type of thing. I don't Scott said the whole a mold. A mold.
An actual mold. We don't know where it came from. The one doctor said it could have been because the window was open at the hospital when they did the surgery. I'm like, what are you doing surgery with the window open for?
Well, you know, it gets warm.
Yeah. Yeah. Gets warm in there. And so so he got
Stephen, what's happening? Do you know there are times people hear these and they go, someone came on and made up their whole story? And I'm like, don't think so.
No. No. This is too wild for it. I mean, you can't ask my dad. He's dead now, but sorry to make that
Hey. Can I read something for you real quick?
Yeah. Sure.
As a member of the medical profession, I solemnly promise to devote my life to serving humanity, to make my patient's health and well-being my first concern, to respect every patient's dignity, autonomy, privacy, and confidential information even after death, to maintain the greatest respect for human life, to treat patients fairly without allowing age, illness, disability, religion, ethnicity, gender, nationality, politics, race, sexual orientation, social position, or any other characteristics to interfere with my duty, to practice medicine conscientiously, honorably, and according to accepted medical standards, to respect my teachers, colleagues, and students, and to share medical knowledge for the benefit of patients and the advancement of health care. We're almost done. To care for my own health and abilities so that I can provide the highest standard of care, never to use medical knowledge to violate human rights or civil liberties even under threat. I make these promises freely, solemnly, and upon my honor. That's the updated Hippocratic Oath.
The Hippocratic Oath, read aloud13:32
It's not the original one. The original one, like, talks about Apollo and everything. It's pretty interesting. But I'm not seeing that happening here.
No. They should have read that you should have read that to all my dad's doctors.
Yeah. Maybe they also have to listen to that when they get in in the morning.
Like Yeah.
Can I make a podcast where doctors just get the Hippocratic Oath uploaded to them every day, and they they just have to find the way to work?
Which is the same thing over and over.
It's every day. It's the same episode. Yeah. I'll read it in different voices.
In different voices, you'll sing it one day.
Well Acoustic mix it, but I would let AI sing it. It's a much better singer than I am. Okay. I'm so sorry. So you just start with the day you got diagnosed.
What happens there?
So the day I got diagnosed about August, October 24, 2025. I'm sick. My dad's in the hospital, so I was gonna go see him. I when my dad was in the hospital, I seen him every day. I didn't want him to be alone.
Right? That was the main thing.
Yeah.
You don't want him to be alone in there because it's scary in there. You know? I was in the hospital before then. You know, I had kidney stones, you know, and stuff like that. And it wasn't it it was, like, you know, what it is, but I was in the bed.
I thought maybe it could have been kidney stone, but, you know, because I was urinating a lot. And it's like, I thought I had type two. That's the real thing. I thought I had type two because I'd be urinating a lot because my dad did. Right?
Okay. Right? He did stuff like that. And so I'm like, okay. Maybe I got type two.
I was fearing that. You know? And there was a fear component in there of, like, you don't wanna be diagnosed with something and stuff like that. And I'm like, so I'm slain in bed, sick. I was, like, throwing up almost a little bit more often than usual.
And my mom's like, I'm going to go see your father at the hospital. And I'm like, wait for me. Wait. And I couldn't get out of bed. Like, wait for me.
And she's like, no. I'm going to go see. She goes see sees him in there. I'm making, like, soup for myself because I'm thinking, you know, maybe broth would help me or something. Maybe I got some flu or whatever.
You know?
Screw up
the candles.
I hear you.
Yeah. You know? I started to think the HIV doctor was right thinking I might have HIV when I never had anything like that before. You know, you start getting, like, hypercritical of, like, what happened. You start looking things up.
You start, like, getting, like, oh, no. You know, you're spiraling out of control. And so then my mom's like she comes back after about a couple hours, and she says, I'm gonna take you to the hospital. I said, no. I don't wanna go to the hospital.
I think I can get back.
I was just at the hospital, and those people look better than you. So Yeah. Yeah.
She goes she goes, you know, you're gone. You know? You don't look right. And I'm like, you know what? I think I look okay as I'm doubled over, you know, crawling on the floor to, you know, the bathroom.
Yeah. And so he goes, I'm taking you over there. I'm like, okay. Fine. You can take me over there.
So she took me to the same hospital my dad was at, which, you know, it's interesting. I was on I was under I was on on the floor below him when they finally admitted me, but I finally got in. I was you know, I threw up on the roadside as we were driving there. But I got there. I felt a little better.
And I'm telling the I'm telling the who was it? The intake nurse, like, everything that's going on. She goes, okay. Don't worry about it. At this point, I was, like, almost hyperventilating, breathing rapidly, really tired, but couldn't go to sleep.
And laying on the the ER on one of the intensive care rooms, they start taking my shirt off and everything. I'm like, I I don't know if I can do this. And she goes, no. Just breathe. It's okay.
We just need to take a little blood. We just need to do a few things. So they were nice there. The ER nurse said the ER doctor came in. He goes, well, he goes, I think you have type one diabetes.
I go, what? And he goes he goes, good luck with that. He goes, we're gonna we're going to meet you into the hospital now. He goes, but we're gonna have to take you to the intensive care unit. He goes, because your heart doesn't look right.
I'm like, oh.
Good luck with that, but you gotta go to intensive care now because your heart doesn't look right.
Yes.
Should I read the oath again or no. Also, you're now in a situation where you're like, oh god. Magic Johnson's gonna do better than me. And yeah. Yeah.
Right. Because at least oh my goodness. Steven, was your heart okay?
Yeah. It was okay. Okay. Was just that the the my potassium levels were so low that it didn't look right. And, you know, I was breathing so rapidly.
So they had to keep me in intensive care for, like, two days just to make sure that I was okay enough. They still couldn't get my, potassium level level up by the time I stayed there. I think I was there a week and a half.
Okay.
My dad was there longer.
A week and a half. But, yeah, but a week and a half's a long time. You pretty I mean, what was your blood sugar? Seven, eight hundred?
My blood sugar then was about, I think, 435.
Oh, okay.
So it wasn't that bad, but it was, like, it was higher when the guy called me and said I had HIV. It was, like, 600 and something. You know? Now it was like, you know, when they did it to me before, and it was like
You never call the HIV guy back and be like, hey. Not
not Yeah. I turned him in.
Did you?
Yeah. I did. Because I'm like, you you were wrong. And he goes, well, and I turned him into the board and everything, but I'm like, you were wrong. And the nurse was like and he's like he goes, well, at that point, he goes, that's what it looked like.
He goes he goes, I was basing it on you as well. I'm like, that doesn't make sense. I mean
Wait. Steven, is there anything about you, like, visually that makes me think risky behavior?
No. No? No. There's no I'm, like, the least risk averse person in life. Okay.
Like, I don't not that I you know, that stuff is not you know? It's personally not for me. That's what it is. I'm like, I just So
it's drugs, track marks. You don't have door knocker sized nipple rings that I can see through your shirt. Like, there's nothing about nothing.
Nothing. Nothing. My brother has a tattoo. That's how risk, you know, risky he does stuff. I don't do that.
It's bugs funny. Yes. Oh, no kidding. Well, I'm glad I mean, I hopefully, somebody I I bet you didn't change anybody's mind.
No. I didn't.
Yeah. But but okay. What do you do next? Now you have type one diabetes. Your father's in the hospital.
Is your is your father in a dire situation, do you think?
Not at that point. He was just going in and out of the hospital because of the infection on his hip for the mold that they never really did. And so then they had to, like, say, oh, we're gonna have to re revise his hip procedure again. And so I think he had two hip procedures that were revised. And so that started in, like, 2022.
So it was, like, a four year journey. And then he died 03/28/2025. And so it was it was up to a point where, like he was getting progressively a little bit worse every time, but then he had to get it revised again at the end of twenty twenty five. And while that was okay, he did it. He made it through the procedure and everything, and it was fine.
It was just he couldn't, like, breathe. Right? So they had to intubate him and everything else. And he was still going good, and he lasted still longer, all the way until March. But they had to intubate him because he his breathing, he couldn't do it on his own.
That's what they said.
Choose a doctor the way you choose a contractor for your home. Like, go over to somebody else's house and kick the tires a little bit. Make sure everything looks right. Yeah. You'll find a guy that did a hip for your buddy and, like, really, like, make him run.
Go ahead. Run.
Yeah.
You wanna see what'll work. It just woah. My goodness. I'm so sorry. That's terrible.
Yeah. Well, what what's life start out like with type one? Do they I mean, I'm now I'm worried they gave you, like, you know, regular an Miles per hour or something. Well, how did they start you off?
A pamphlet and a fanny pack21:40
They gave me they gave me the pens, and they gave me a pamphlet that said, now you have type one diabetes.
Is that what it says in the front? Yes. Wow. That's uplifting.
Yeah. She comes in. The doctor comes in, leans against the leans against the doorframe with her fanny pack on. She goes, so you have type one diabetes. And I go, yes?
And he go she said, well, that's gonna be something. She goes, here's this pamphlet. And that was it. Gonna be something? Yeah.
Steven, I'm gonna take everything you say today and turn it into a song and remake the Hippocratic Oath. It'll be an anti Hippocratic Oath. Okay. So you have type one diabetes. That'll be something.
That's how it's gonna start. I don't know where it goes from there. My god. So do you feel dejected when that happens? Like, what's the feeling
I felt alone. I mean, there's no one really in my family or anything that I know that had anything like that. Yeah. Right? You know, you like, you always ask on the podcast, like, do you have any familiar history with anything of, like, you know, any any type of, like, autoimmune disease?
Nothing that I could see. Right? My father had type two. I can assume maybe someone in his family had some type of, you know, type two or something, but I don't know because his all of his brothers he had seven brothers. All of them died early earlier than him.
He died, 77. They all died earlier than him with risky behaviors of of drinking and stuff like that. Right? And so there's one brother, Jack, who we don't know if he's still alive or not. We just don't know.
That's the kind of life I wish I led, Steven. The kind of life where people who know me and relate to me are like, we don't know if Scott's alive or not. That that It's a
good one.
Yeah. It's a better like, I'm I'm very predictable. You'd like, oh, Scott's alive. He's upstairs working. And so no.
No. No. I might want that. Alright. I'm gonna think about that.
I'm sorry. So other than uncle Jack, we're everyone's dead, but before your father.
His his his father died due to an accident with fire. His mother died when he was in in the combat, I think, Vietnam War. She died. She fell down the stairs, but then she got pneumonia in the hospital. Oh, she
wasn't in the war. She fell during the war.
Okay. She fell during that while my dad was overseas in Okinawa for the Vietnam War.
Because I was like, what terrible luck to be the only female drafted into the Vietnam War and then die on a staircase. So she fell on what do you mean? Drinky drinky? Is that what you're saying?
No. I think we don't know. They my my grandfather and and my grandmother divorced or seemingly just lived apart. And so she was living, I think, with someone else. I we don't know.
He my father didn't know. My father doesn't technically so I mean, he's dead now, but, we don't know where she's buried even. So she we know she's buried somewhere around here. We think we got a plot, but we don't know any of the stuff. He by the time he came home, his family didn't share anything with it.
What if she's alive with Jack somewhere?
She you know what? She could be. If they're all fake.
What if they're in Cuba trying to overtake the government together?
Hey. It's the best way to
do it. I mean, from the inside. Yeah. That's how you do it. Yeah.
Yeah. No. My god, Steven. How come you're so normal? It it was it, like, just so crazy around you that you went the other direction?
Yeah. That and probably I watched TV too much, so I didn't really care about what everything else was going on.
I gotta be honest with you. I'd I'd go out and cause trouble, but have you seen the a team? Fantastic.
That's the best show.
I have a vibe for you. I I I didn't pick the a team by mistake, Steven. Don't worry. And so okay. Okay.
Okay. Okay. So you start off with Penns and feeling alone.
Yeah.
And then that's not that long ago, less than two years ago. Yep. I think it's important to remember as you're hearing the story that it wasn't 1976 that he's telling the story from. It's 2024 in a major metropolitan area.
Mhmm.
Yeah. I wanna thank all of you terrible, terrible medical people for making my podcast so popular. Thank you so very much. I used to worry about buying ads. Now I realize you're taking care of it.
So my goodness. Alright. Well, what what do you figure out? I mean, because are you doing okay now, or are you struggling?
A 5.6, and a doctor who wants it higher26:06
No. I'm doing fine. I have a a one c of a 5.6. I just went to the doctor at 9AM this morning before the this recording. So I'm doing fine.
She says it's a little low, and she wants me to be a little higher. But I'm like, I'm good where it is. You you your doctor wants you
to raise your a one c from 5.6 to something else? Did she mention why she might want it higher?
She wants me in a in a safer range.
And is why would this be unsafe?
She says I have too many lows.
What what does that mean?
I have too many low the lower I have to turn the low alarm off on myself because it it just bothers me. So
What's your low alarm set at?
I set it at it's it goes right below when I, about 70, and so I can't I don't think I can go any lower than that. And so then I'll I'll get to about 68 or something. But I think from any of that stuff that from what I figured with this year, year and a half, almost two years, t one d, it's it's I'm still producing insulin. I I'm pretty sure of that.
That's
the only I honeymoon period or whatever, I'm still doing it. They're gonna test the next time to see if I actually am. But I do know it's like, I'll throw food in my mouth. And five minutes later, if I'm, like like let's say if I'm, like, 82 and I'm like I drove home. I'm 82.
I just throw some food in my mouth, some, some few nuts in my mouth, and then I go, and I'm, like, making dinner.
Mhmm.
I'll the alarm starts going off within five minutes that I oh, you're trending downwards. You're going down. And it's like, no. I'm I'm Because you have man
made insulin on board, and you think your body is addressing the
It's producing something else. And so then it's like, well, there's no insulin on board. Or there if it is, it's very few. It's like, it's already trending downwards. I see.
I wonder how many times
we say. I don't know. I that's a thing.
Alright. No. No. I wonder how many times we could say nuts in your mouth before we're done with this.
What was the episode title?
Cup long. You know? I would do it. Hippocratic nuts maybe is what we'll put on this one. You you okay.
So you think you're honeymooning still, but 5.6, but you're not get but you're not getting much lower than 70? It's not like you're running around with 80 or 80.
There's a few times that I'll get to maybe, like, 55, 56. Yeah. There's few times because you
have type one diabetes. That's that's gonna happen to people. Right.
But nothing. I'll get to about 68, and then I'll maybe I'll eat something, like, substantial enough that it'll it'll go up a little higher and then slowly get to a normal ish level. But
And so with no real frequency, do you find yourself in the fifties? No. Yeah. I I think your doctor might be, what they call wrong. But I'm not a physician, and I I certainly, 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. Now, why do you have a nice microphone?
I stream occasionally, and I'm on a podcast as well sometimes.
You're on a podcast? Yes. Do you wanna say which one, or is it nothing you're proud of?
No. It's okay. It's the Toonami faithful podcast. We talk about Toonami stuff and anime and stuff like that. I just stream it at times, but then they ask me questions.
Well, what do you think about this episode? And I tell them, I liked it. And then I almost mute myself, and
that's about it.
It's like I because I'm the one with the streaming capabilities, you know, that can stream it live. You know, instead of just doing an audio podcast, I stream it for a video so they can get it in and stuff. Like, hey. Let's leave you Steve. He can do that stuff.
I'm like, okay.
Oh, very I see what you're saying. I I got you. You're the you're the you're the mule that pulls the horse, that pulls the
cart, the baseball thing. But I'll I also do social media for him as well. And he's like, oh, okay. I can do two things.
Is that a job or a fun thing?
That's a fun thing. I do have a freelance job doing just social media as well. But then my actual job, I do entertainment. I help run an entertainment place for kids and everything. And so it's kinda like a glorified Chuck E.
Cheese, a little elevated that school groups come in. So I'm a groups and schools coordinator. And so then I manage all schools and groups that come in to do semi educational stuff over at our place.
Glorified Chuck E. Cheese means you clean the ball pit?
Yes. At times.
For at times. Not every day, Scott.
No. Not every day.
Just the Only when
I find it disgusting and no one else wants to do anything.
When I look at it and go, we should do something.
Yeah. We should do something. You know, the head from the the head from corporate's coming over here. We should do something.
Why is that diaper still there? Yeah. Yeah. No. I gotcha.
Oh, it's interesting. So you do a little bit of a couple of different things.
Yeah. I do a couple of different things. I'm still trying to find who I am in life, and then type one didn't make it easier. It just made me more like, oh, hey. Now you got this to throw into the mix.
Yeah. And, yeah, I guess you're not interested in overthrowing the Cuban government with your uncle, then
Not yet. Maybe the world, but not yet anything else.
Just start. I'm gonna start bigger, Scott. Yeah. Forget the islands. Okay.
From the pamphlet to figuring it out31:00
So you're you feel like you're doing okay, but how did you go from the pamphlet to doing this well?
The podcast and the Internet and, a few things on AI.
No kidding.
Yeah. Because I had I had no idea. As soon as I got in the hospital and I found out IIT, I literally looked everything up that I could find about it. Yeah. And I found your podcast.
I found everything, and I just digest all the information that I could because that's the person I am. Right? I find something that I not wanna tackle it, but I need to know everything about it. And so then because most of the time, when people say stuff to me about it or, like, doctors say stuff, I can counter it. I don't have to be one one upping them, but I can counter it and say, well, wait a minute.
This says this. You know, this says that. I can figure it out and tell it to them. Yeah. And they're like, look at me like, hey.
You should be a doctor.
Oh, boy. I just said something about this the other day. I find that more and more upsetting, that idea of in a year, you're gonna know more about this than I do. I I I I know that it's meant to be like it's probably a a twofold thing. It's probably a little bit of like, hey.
Listen. There's a lot of, like, personal experience that goes into type one diabetes management. So a year from now, you're gonna know more about this than I do. That I I appreciate. I also appreciate that what they're trying to say is that, you know, don't worry.
You're gonna get really good at this really fast. Even that I find supportive. It's okay. What I don't like is the idea that the doctor hears that and goes, so that's fine. Like, why don't you go learn, like, more about it too?
How come what why am I knowing more about this than you are? If I can learn it, couldn't you learn it? Like, how about a year from now we both know the equal amount and we keep learning together and you keep sharing that with other people who are diagnosed? I don't I don't understand how people think, I guess, is what I'm saying.
Yeah. I I, they're humans, and they do human stuff. And so that's how I equate it, but I they should know I mean, I granted the human mind can only know so much. Right? They have all this stuff, and they have to cram it all in this short amount of time to understand this stuff.
And we, as humans, put their our trust in people with, you know, white lab coats and and, you know, letters next to their names and ever all this stuff. And so
You figured
it out.
Steven, you're a you're a social media guy who sometimes says four words on a it's not tsunami. It's say say it for me.
Toonami. So toon, t o o n a m I. So Toonami. So it's a mixture of Toon and Tsunami. A tsunami of cartoons.
So it used to be on, Cartoon Network, then it died for a bit, and then they brought it back on Cartoon Network sister sister, channel, Adult Swim. So now they can air more kind of, like, not graphic or but, you know, they can raise the age limit on, like, what they show on there.
I thought this was a send up on how George Takei says tsunami. No. But you know that reference. Right?
Yeah. No. I get that. Yeah.
Yeah. You have to know that reference if you're on the if you're on that podcast. I a 100% thought that. I thought this was gonna be is it Takai or Takai? I believe it's Sakai.
Okay. Well, one way or the other, I thought this was gonna be an entire podcast about him pronouncing different words oddly. And I'm I'm I'm not as interested now that it's about cartoons.
Yeah. It's okay. Most people aren't
except the people who are like it. Wait. But somebody should just really do a podcast with him just mispronouncing words. Also, there's that great there's that great clip of William Shatner, who, by the way, is is he is William Shatner a 100 years old by now?
I think he's almost, like, 99 or he's getting close to it.
Right. Right. Right.
He's going, man.
That's really something. It's this old clip of him recording something for Star Trek. Right? And he's he's he's doing line reads, and he goes, Spock, sabotage the system. And then he says it a couple of times, and then you hear this this voice comes in, like, over, like, you know, over a radio or a loudspeaker on the set.
And he goes, Bill, you're saying sabotage. It's sabotage. And Bill gets real pompous, and he goes, you say sabotage. I say sabotage. And it's just it's, like, such a great clip.
Anyway, there's my Star Trek stuff for nothing. It's not I don't know a damn thing about the show, but I know stuff about that stuff. So you go online. You figure stuff out. Obviously, you find the podcast because my SEO is second to none.
And then after that, you use a little bit of AI. Tell me how you used AI.
So I basically I wasn't the best best in math, Scott. Okay. Me either. Yeah. So I it's like even figuring stuff out with calculators.
You're asking someone who, like, couldn't even do algebra to now do calculus. It's, you know, it's a whole whole thing. And so I'm like, ugh. And so then I asked AI. Like, because I didn't have that much, you know, understanding of anything, and everything online was either focused towards kids or focused towards type two.
Yeah.
And I'm like, I'm in the middle, and they're like, oh, you know, it's like, oh, you got a lotta. Oh, you got this. Oh, you got that. And I'm like, I don't know. Yeah.
I mean
Not only don't I know, but my doctors clearly don't know.
So No. Yeah. You know, they looked at me. They're pumping me still every day. You know, I was in the hospital with potassium.
You know, my arm burned like cold heat. It was like it was literally cold, but on fire at the same time. And the the doctor said, we're gonna pump you with it the last time, give you a turkey sandwich, and let you go. Your blood panel's fine. And he because every time I they gave it to me, next day they tested, I was low again.
And they're like, we need to get this guy out of here.
How was the turkey sandwich?
It was bad.
Yeah. I bet. Slimy or just felt old?
It it no. It didn't feel old. Okay. It was just it was dry. It was like you're stuffing your mouth with sand.
It was like, why are you even putting that on the sandwich? Just give me the turkey itself.
I'm sorry. Hospital food is ridiculous.
Yeah. And then every time they gave me this thing, oh, your blood sugar's high. I'm like, it doesn't may you're giving me bread. And I'm saying that's how many carbs is that, and then you're how much carbs are you gonna eat? And I said, the you know, figure out the doses.
Oh, you don't need to do that, honey. We'll shoot you up afterwards.
The psychologist they called on him37:26
Unbelievable. Everybody's an idiot. I just wanna say that.
I called Yeah. Scott, I called the nutritionist that when I was got transferred to the regular room and because my blood sugar went up to a higher level that I didn't want to. It went up to, like, two forty two because they gave me breakfast of eggs and pancakes and all this stuff. And the only thing on there was the the low, sugar, syrup. And I'm like, what's that going to do?
Oh, they're gonna, you know, hold the syrup for me and give me a, a sugar free Gatorade, but the pancake's, you know, gonna do it. So I ate the whole thing. I told him I called the nutritionist up, and she's like, oh, yeah. We need to do a better job on that. Thank you for telling us.
I said, you need to have carb counts on that menu. She goes, yeah. We don't do that. It's all calculated by a computer. You don't need to worry about that.
Yes. I do need to worry about that. And she goes, no. You're too you're too neurotic on that stuff. I'm gonna call the psychologist for you to come in and talk to you.
You got a psychologist called on you for not wanting your blood sugar to go to two forty?
Yes.
Everybody should be ashamed. Everybody except for George Takei Takei Yes. And and and Shatner. Because Shatner stuck to what he believed. Mhmm.
Yeah. He said, I say sabotage. You say sabotage.
I was sabotage.
You got sabotage. You got a psychologist called on you by another health care professional for saying I don't want my blood sugar to go to two forty. Yeah. That's malpractice.
Mhmm.
I don't know legally if it is, but it is ethically.
Yeah. And so they called the psychologist, and she started talking to me. And then I convinced her that I was right, and she went to them, and she told them that. And then there was a fight, apparently, for I heard from the nurses. She said, oh, you got them in trouble this time, Steven.
Wait. You got the nurses in trouble?
No. I got the, nutrition person in trouble because the psychologist cited on my side.
Good.
And so then I didn't hear back from any of them, and they started switching my zero sugar Gatorade to full sugar Gatorade. And I'm like, no, please. And they said, no. We can't do that. Sorry.
And they hung up on me on the phone.
They wouldn't give you a a low sugar Gatorade?
Yeah. They wouldn't give me so I went I I I got got up with the with, usually, they would have me do it in the morning. My potassium dripped. I got up, tied the gown around me, walked down the hallway with the IV thing that you're carrying your IV on. IV thing.
That's correct. Wendy yeah. Yeah. Whatever it's called. And then went to the vending machine and got me a searware sugar Gatorade and walked back.
I don't know even know what to say about all this. This is in the last two years.
Yes.
We we know better.
Mhmm.
And even if you don't know better, the the box knows everything now.
Yeah.
You know? So when so we you I feel like you were getting ready to say earlier that are you using AI to, like, give it long descriptions of what's happened to you because you don't even know what to tell it you need?
Filling the gap with AI40:36
Yeah. So I was in the beginning. I would find out the carbs. I would find everything out. It would kind of, like, give me this generalized thing of, like, hey.
This is how much you're gonna dose with your pen. This is how much you're gonna do it. You know? It would be wrong at times, but most of it with the number it was right, I would always double check it. And so then it got to the point where it was like, you know what?
I think I can do this on my own. Right? It it I ate the same variety of things that I knew it, and I got to the point where I didn't need AI that that much for that stuff. And, you know, and I get it. I'm I don't trust AI that much with anything.
You know? I'm more of a creative person. I can do the stuff myself. But with stuff like that, with a lot of data to ingest, with a lot of stuff, it did help me. It's like it's something better than nothing.
And since I'm I wouldn't say I'm isolated from people who have die type one diabetes. I have no one around me. I mean, the only person that I know that has it is my and I don't even know if they have it. My sister's boyfriend's stepfather, and I have never met that guy. I just met her boyfriend, like, on my dad's funeral.
Okay.
That was it. So I don't know anyone who has any of that stuff. I have my siblings, you know, who say, oh, they think it's all type two or they think I'm lying. One of the two. So it's like it's like, oh, give me the book of type two stuff.
And it's like, oh, yep. You got what dad had. Sorry.
Trust no one. You're all on your own.
Please remember that. Basically, it's that. Yes. It it's it's you know, you can only trust who as much as you can throw someone, and I can't throw anyone that far.
I I've got your back, people. But other than that, you everything's dicey after that. Just I I used to say it like this. I used to go, think of all the people you know. Would you trust them with this?
And then you you no. I don't really know anybody I would trust with this. Extend that to your doctors. Extend that to everybody in your life. You know?
As you you're you're going through a major medical situation, you try to share it with your family, they go, you're lying, or that's not right, or just what
is it? Oh, he's the baby of the family. You know? He just wants attention.
Oh, he wants attention. You got type one diabetes for attention reasons.
True. Yeah. That that's that's the test I wanted to pass. You know?
If I get a magic wand and I could make a wish, I'd give you I'll lie to you about twenty, twenty five more IQ points. I think that's what I would do. I don't wanna sound pompous, but I am. And on this specific thing, it is really upsetting to be connected to people who can't functionally think their way out of a paper bag. It's just re it's really it it draws your life down, and it's so hard to go meet more intelligent people like minded or just kind enough to just support you and shut their mouth if they don't know any better.
It really is sad. I mean, we have all these people, but I don't know. How do we figure out who's who? What I'm trying because I I I could waste time with a with a friend or a you know what I mean? Like, I I you're making me upset, Steven.
I'm
No. No. It's do too.
That a lot.
I swear to god it's making me upset. Like, how can you not just trip out into the world and find a couple reasonable people to talk to? You know what I mean?
They're out there. I mean, I I see kids at work, that do have it, but it that's even rare for the kids that come in because so we host kids in there for, like, educational stuff, but they also do could have a lunch. Right? And it's a cheese pizza and and a juice. Mhmm.
And so we we get that. And so some of the times, we'll have a teacher that'll email, hey. This kid has type one diabetes. Could you you know, just to make sure if we have any information, I can send it through. That's rare.
I from everything that I do with and I deal with tons of kids coming in. That's very rare. I see more people with, like, Dexcoms on them, but the gray Stella ones than anything else.
And no one's asking about carb counts or anything like that?
No. No one's asking about anything. They're eating what they want. And I'm like, I don't really care. I mean, I eat a certain way, maybe not lower carb or carb conscious at times, you know, because it just works better for me.
I like that range of what I feel. Mhmm. And, I mean, I have problems that I'm trying to figure out with eating and everything, but that's stuff that I need to work out on myself.
What do you mean?
I'm I used to be really into food. Right? I used to love food. I wanted to be a chef. I know how to cook.
I know to do stuff, and now I'm afraid of food. Like, to the point of, like, I almost panic when I see things. And if it's not the usual way of how I prepare it, right, I lose that control when I would go out to eat or anything. And so then I bring scales to restaurants, and my family's like, hey. You know what?
You might wanna stay home next time.
Listen. I wanna be clear. I'd make fun of you about the scale of the restaurant.
Yeah. I know. I would too. Yeah.
Yeah. But talk about the the being afraid of food because I listen. I've said this on the podcast in the past. I I don't know if I'll I'll I'll say it again because I really think it fits here. I I was once at the dentist's office where I just peed a couple of times during, a three hour procedure.
And the and the dentist says to me, hey. Have you ever been tested for type two diabetes? You used the bathroom three times while you were here. I And was like, I drank a giant thing of water before I came. Like, that's bad on me.
And I listen. If anybody in the world understands what diabetes is, I gotta be one of them. And I don't have diabetes. I I I know I don't. Right?
But he just put it in my head. And when I went home, I couldn't bring myself to eat. Mhmm. Just like that. It was it was impossible for me to, like, have lunch.
I thought, what if it makes my blood sugar go up? I don't have anything here to help myself with that. Like, I'm not gonna start using art and stuff. I don't know that I have I my blood sugar seems okay. I tested my blood sugar.
It was okay, but I still called a doctor. I got a, you know, I was like, I I need a full physical. It's possible this might be happening, blah blah blah. I get there. The guy looks at me and goes, you don't have diabetes.
And I was like, oh, because he you know? And then he put his fingers in my ass. And so and I was like, why did this happen? And he's like, oh, it's it's it's so physically, you gotta get your prostate checked. And I was like, I I just wonder so my dentist got me violated.
That's the first thing I wanna say. And secondly, I could not bring myself to eat for days. I was super low carb, staying away from food. I had that exact feeling you were talking about for and for no reason. I didn't actually have a diagnosis.
So I have a lot of compassion for how you feel about that.
Oh, thank you.
Yeah. Now having said that, we gotta get done. You know what I mean?
Yeah. I know. I I I have to work on it and get better and incorporate more things in my food regimen to get that because
Neil, what do you think is gonna help you?
I don't know. That's I think I just have to experiment more. If I can experiment more on my body because now I'm a science experiment. You know? I can I can test things on me?
If I can add more things in, then I'll get better at that. Because I used to love food. Scott, I still watch YouTube shorts and YouTube videos of people eating food. I mean, it's cool, you know, to me to watch that stuff because it's like, oh, look at all this cool food you can have. But then I get reminded, I have type one diabetes.
This stuff is gonna impact me some other stuff. Right? It's gonna impact me in another way. I go to a grocery store, and I feel depressed when I didn't used to feel depressed going in there.
Yeah. So Well, I mean, what so what
hard, but
Are you having trouble covering these things with insulin because of the honeymoon, because of not understanding the makeup of the food or its impact? What do you think is get yeah.
It's not any of that stuff.
It's in
your head. It's in my head because I can cover my food. I know how to do it. I you know, with AI, with everything else, I can figure out and train and everything else and looking at all these apps and, you know, the nutrition labels and everything. I can do that.
It's just my own physical wall that I put in myself that's saying, hey. If you go over a certain level and stay high, then you'll end up like your dad or you'll end up dead or you'll end up, you know Yeah. With some type of complication that I can't figure out later in life. Because I had one doctor that tell told me this is the first doctor I went to. I switched three doctors.
First endo that told me, she goes, Steven, you're if you get above a certain level, you're burning your life at both ends of the candle. And I go, what do you mean by that? She said, if you enjoy your life and eat whatever you want, she goes, complications will come. And even if you take care of it, they will come. But if you don't do anything, you can be perfect.
You're gonna have a miserable life, but you probably will not have any not have any bad outcomes. But she goes, your mental health and your and the everything surrounding it, your societal, everything will fail on that side. And I said, well, I need to find that balance. She goes, no. You need to pick one and stay that route.
Why are people so black and white? I don't I don't know why people can't think of the gray at all. You know what I mean? Like, what an odd thing to say to somebody. I'm I'm very upset for you.
Again, should
I've been upset for myself as well,
but yeah. Yeah. Chicago, Illinois. Right? I'm thinking of the right place.
Yeah. That's the same place. I mean, city building, tall buildings.
Obama, all that stuff. Yeah. Yeah. That I'm thinking of the right place. The bear the bears, all that.
Yeah. Yeah. The bears, they might move to Indiana, but it could still could be the Chicago bears, stuff like that. Yeah.
My goodness. That's crazy. I I I don't can we I really wanna understand why people can't, like, hold two things at the same time as a possibility. It's either this or that. Every time.
You say something out loud, somebody just picks the opposite of it and yells it back at you.
Yeah. It's it's been it's a thing that I've seen in social media trends as well. Well, what about me? Well, what about me? Well, you know, you see it in comments of, like, YouTube videos.
I you know, someone made a salad for people who are anemic, right, to get more iron in it. Well, what about me? I can't have that. Well, I can't have that. Well, what about this salad?
What if you take this out? Or someone was saying, hey. If you have the anxiety, you know, eat some sour candy. Well, no. I can't do that.
I have diabetes. You know? There's what about me in the social media stuff? I've seen it with anime. Oh, subbed and dubs.
Right? Subbed anime is better because it's the person's it's the actual language. Well, dub anime is people talking, you know, over dubbing over someone else's in their, in the language that you're hearing that you wanna hear it from. Oh, that one's preferably better because there's better actors in that one. And it and it swings it it the pendulum swings, but it never stays in the middle.
People are swinging at the edges, and it it's scary and strange. And you don't get the proper information, and you have to decide everything yourself. And you're looking at it like, you know, with diabetes, and I'm looking at it like, am I gonna kill myself today? I don't think so. I'm not dead yet.
But
There's a a post in my Facebook group the other day. Somebody just asked about, like, the definition of tube. Like, I forget it was, like, MDI and something else, DKA, maybe. I don't know. Obviously, a newly diagnosed person.
And they get back what I'm gonna tell you is overwhelmingly, 95% thoughtful responses, you know, uplifting, comforting, like, community oriented responses. One person hits them with the, like, you know, you could do a search, one of those things, or when try looking it up, do a little work. You know what I mean? Like like, that attitude. Yeah.
Another person says something similar. Inside of, I don't know, the first eight hours it's up, I see those posts. I pull them down, and I I send a note to the people. Was like, hey. Look.
You know, first of all, we want them to ask questions. You you know, you know, a community online where nobody asks questions and they just search the the the board, that's not a community. That's an encyclopedia. We don't want that. We want people talking.
And and also be nice. Like, asking someone online is doing work. Like, for them, they had to reach out and ask somebody just because it didn't happen the way you want to. Anyway, I'm a very thoughtful person when I when I do the business of that. What happens next is fascinating.
A larger portion of people than you would imagine are offended for the person who wrote the post and start acting like every response is being mean to them. Mhmm. I don't know why all these responses are so mean. And I read that, I go, two. There were two.
Like, there were two. There was 73 responses in here. Two of them were mean. How was that your takeaway by what happened? How did you find yourself able to go, I don't know why all of these responses are so mean?
I you could say, I'm I'm you know, it's really great to see that only two people, you know, weren't helpful. I hope you can ignore them. Meanwhile, who wouldn't ignore them? They're they're the noise in the in the return. Right?
Like, they're it's but that's but I'm gonna tell you 10 people are like, oh, I don't know why everybody's being so mean. And when I see that, I wanna respond to them and say, hey. Go see a therapist. Something happened to you. You're not aware of it.
You know? If that's what you took from this giant pile of support this person got, something's wrong with what you're looking at. You're you're looking through fuzzy glasses somehow, and I don't know why. But and find a therapist that told Steven that it was okay for him to be upset at his blood sugar being two forty because otherwise, you might end up with something terrible. I don't
know. Why
don't you go find that person and talk to them about their topic?
Because they're they don't cover that under my insurance.
Then insurance.
Yeah. And so and so that person was only a inpatient, psychologist. And so the outpatient one wouldn't be covered under that. And so it's like it was anyway, it was, like, about 15 miles away at
that hospital. Pretend you wanna date her, and just go back and forth and ask her questions about your psychology.
Yeah.
Yeah. And then at the end, go, hey. I'm really sorry. I didn't mean to catfish you like this.
Sorry about that.
I just needed free health care.
I just needed free health care. Yeah. Works out.
I wonder how many people are dating a doctor just for the free health care.
Oh, you know there had to be a few of them. It's gotta be. They're out there.
Yeah. I mean or to get your car fixed.
Or Yeah. Yeah. Does the mechanic hey, honey. Can you fix my car? Yeah.
I don't like her, but she keeps the house nice. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Comes in all oily, but it's fine.
I'm gonna say it again. Trust no one. You're on your own. But find a few close people and consider them your group. Yeah.
You can do it. Steven, what did you wanna come on the podcast for? I didn't even look at the lights.
Just I just wanted to talk to my talk about my dad because my dad, he died. So I'm I'm still not struggling with that, but, you know, I came to terms with it. But it was just a longer road and then trying to find who I am in life. I still don't know who I am at 38 years old, and then now I got type one on top of that. And and and I get it.
He's like, hey. Oh, you can be diabetics wrong And all the, you know, emails are coming in. They're signing up to get all the free stuff because I'm cheap, and so I sign up to get all the free stuff. It's like, yay. Cool.
You're diabetics wrong. It's like, this is the one thing I didn't want to be, but now I'm that. Now I have to find out who I am in life. And that was a struggle before I was diabetic. Right?
This was a struggle like Well, what is who I am?
What does that mean who do you think you are? Who do you wanna be?
I don't don't know. I wanna be someone who's kind and thoughtful, and I know I'm that stuff. But I wanna be someone, like I don't know. It's not that I don't wanna be famous or I I don't know. That's what I'm searching for of who am I?
Who am I in life? Who am I? Am I a mixture of all these things or everything that I ever tried? Because I can do magic. I can I I I I wrote about video games before?
Like, I as a video game journalist, I studied to be a journalist.
Mhmm.
I studied communication. I did television production. I I do all the wide variety of things. I'm a jack of all trades, but a master of none.
What'd you say? You wanna be you it's not that you don't wanna be famous. Do you would you are you looking for people to know who you are?
I guess, in a small part, I am. It's like, I I I just maybe they'll notice me because I feel like I was bullied in life. And so, like, all the way growing up through life, and I feel like that every time that I did something, I would get bullied for that. Right? Or I would I would get picked on for that.
And I'm like, maybe if I'm better and someone could see that.
Oh, did I mean to cut you off? By your family?
No. No. By school kids.
By school kids.
I mean, the family was fine. I mean, I grew up you know, everyone so my family my mom and dad, they had kids and everything. And so they had three kids before me. And then I came in and, you know, I had kids call me at school. Oh, you were the oops, baby.
You know? And my mom said no. My dad would just fly me in blanks the whole time. Mhmm. Yeah.
Yeah. But, you know, I I don't I don't know, Scott. I mean, I was bullied in school, and twelve years of getting bullied in school doesn't do the best for your mental health and who you are in life. Teachers would pick on me. I didn't have you know?
I I I looked okay. I mean, I didn't, you know, look anything different.
Teachers picked on you?
Yeah. And it was like it was like, oh, he's slow. He can't pronounce the words correctly. He's this. And they are sure.
I got a speech impediment. I try to work on that every day. You know? I can do really good movie voices in the world. You know?
I can do stuff like that. You know? You know? I can go talk Snagglepuss. Oh, exit states left even.
You know? I can do stuff like that, and and I wanna be someone different than myself. And, you know, I gravitate towards things that I can be different. I can show that side of me without being Steven.
Well, is that who you are, though? Like, we if you wanna be somebody different than yourself, aren't you the person who can do all those things?
Yeah. But I don't I I'm still working it out that maybe I can be someone else that people look at and say, hey. This person's a good person. I don't know. So
Steven, you just spent an hour describing a bunch of people who you should have been able to count on that you can't count on. My question would be, why do you care what those people think?
I don't know. That's a good question.
What he’d tell someone newly diagnosed59:41
Well, that's a damn good question. But, like, do you see what I'm saying? Is that they Yeah. Yeah. If the if if we've I mean, you've you've literally told me about a dozen people you've intersected who have not been thoughtful in their in their words or their deeds, and we're worried what they think of us.
Why I I couldn't possibly care less what they think of me.
I guess I'm the person no. I get that. But I guess I'm the person that wants that validation, that wants that thing of, like, you know what? You're doing a good job in school. You're doing a good job in this.
And I did do that. I did do good in school. I did all that stuff. And
So there's the validation. You did well. Right? They gave you grades. You saw them?
Yeah. And but now after, you know, life is over and grades are done with, it's now I'm seeking more validation of, like, oh, he's doing good in life. Because I there are lots of things that I try, like video game streaming or, you know, doing all this stuff where it's like, it doesn't get as high as I want it to, right, where I think in my head it would be because I have all this stuff.
Possible, Steven. That shit's impossible.
Oh, yeah. No. I totally know that.
Yeah.
I know.
If I if I started a new podcast right now, it would fail. Oh, yeah. Yeah. I couldn't possibly do that, and I'm good at this, and people like it. And and you you oh, now I'm gonna get another thing where somebody says I'm obnoxious and never read you.
Just leave me alone. Okay? But, like, I I'm I'm measurably good at this. Okay? And if I shut this down and just restarted it under a different name and picked a different genre or something like that, I would probably fail because it's impossible.
Like, being a popular streamer, there's already someone doing that. It's like it's like when I it's like when my son was playing baseball when he's in little league, there was this really short kid. And our his parents were like, he's so good. He's gonna play in the league. And I was like, there's the league already has a short guy.
There's one short guy in the league at the time. It's Dustin Bedolla, then it's Jose Altuve. There's a there's there's one short guy. Okay? I think it's Corbin Carroll now.
Alright. Like, there's not a thousand of them. Someone's already got that job. You can't have that job. It's being done by somebody already.
And when someone streams, I don't know, Call of Duty, there's already that guy. You we all even know who he is, and I don't even watch Call of Duty streaming, and I know who the guy is. Right? He's the guy that goes to the islands and does the gambling and, like yeah.
He does all the stuff.
Yeah. You know who I mean. Do you care about Call of Duty streaming? No. No.
But you know who he is, and I know who he is because he's the guy. He got the job already.
Yeah.
Yeah. Charlize Theron is that person. We don't need another tall, sexy, vaguely, like, wispy white girl to act. We got one. It's done now.
Like, we don't Yeah. We don't need a second one.
She'll die one day. Checked.
Yeah. Well, she'll die one day. We'll bring in a different one. But, like, there can't be a thousand of them. And so what I'm hearing is you're a person who cares about your health.
You seem to care about the people around you. You're very concerned about your father. You took great care of your father and your mother, you know, to your own detriment. You're a good person. You're smart.
You figured out even though math wasn't your way. You figured out how to take care of your diabetes in short order to hardly took you any time. You've brushed off a thousand shitty people along the way. You're so you're strong. You're resilient.
Like, I don't know. Like, can you not self assess?
I can.
We'll
do that. And I I see that stuff, but there's still something in me that said you're not good enough or something. And that's something that I have to work out either with a psychologist or by myself.
Yeah. I mean, I don't know how to do that, but ignore that voice, man.
I'll try.
Yeah. I mean, you're you're a good guy. Sounds to me. Right?
Well, thank you. Yeah. I I mean, at least I think so. I mean, I'm still on this podcast. You didn't kick me off yet.
Well, I mean, even when you're describing the things you're like, I do all these things. I don't wanna be me, but you like the things that you're doing. That that that those that doesn't make sense.
I know.
It would be like if I said I I don't like who I am. I'm good at making a podcast, and I'm good at, I don't know, caring about other people, and I'm good I'm a good father and everything. But I don't wanna be me, but I just listed a bunch of things that I like about myself. Yeah. Alright.
What are we what are we gonna do about this? I don't feel good about getting off if I don't know a plan. I gotta have a plan.
Yeah. I know. I mean, I've been searching every day, and so I try new stuff every day. Try to I mean, the best way I can do it is take care of the diabetes. That's number one.
And go to work, pay the bills, and then try to get something done. I mean
That's all good stuff, man. Like, getting up and going to work is respectable.
Yeah. Yeah. And it's like I don't know. It's not that I don't have a fun time. It's not that I don't do anything.
It's just that
You're not doing the thing you wanna do.
I yeah. It's not doing the thing I wanna do.
Right? Steven, I don't know how tell this. I already got that job. Everybody everybody can't have that
I get it.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I I it's my dad went to a rubber molding plant every day and fixed the machines when they broke down. I guarantee that's not what he wanted to do.
Yeah. You know what I mean? Like, I but he didn't live in a time where you wondered about what you wanted to do. Mhmm. He just did it.
Yeah. So I say fake it till you make it.
Okay.
Tell yourself you're happy. Okay. Mean, I I tell myself I'm tall. It works all the time that I stand around short girls. I feel really tall.
It's perfect. Works fine. It absolutely works fine. The only time it gets messed up is at friends for life when that Gary guy walks by nine feet tall. I don't need that.
You know? And then one guy comes up and goes, hey. We could take a picture of my kid. I look up. The guy's seven feet tall if you're listening.
I mean, stop standing near me in a photograph. I smiled because I liked your kid. Alright? But, like, what do you gotta do to me here? Make me feel short?
It's terrible. I've been pretending I'm tall all day. Seriously, man. Like, I don't know the answer to this stuff, obviously. I just make a podcast.
But you've you've got all the pieces. I feel like you just need to look at them and see what they are and not stop acting like they aren't what they are.
Yeah. I know. I have I have everything in front of me. It's just putting the pieces together to see if they fit
Oh, they're together.
Where I want it.
You just gotta appreciate them.
I'm just taking a hammer and just hate hitting them.
That. Steven, you ever you see what I'm saying, though? Like, there's there's a I understand it. Like, don't get me wrong. Especially in this time where everyone's business is so right in front of you, it's it's not hard to realize, for example, that I've seen Tom Holland on 75,000 interviews in the last week and a half because he's Spider Man, and he's in that in the in the the Odyssey too.
Right? Mhmm. And so he's out doing and then I realized he's in New York. Now he's here. Now he's there.
Now he's here. He's on a private jet flying around the country with Matt Damon doing interviews. Mhmm. I could tell you. I bet you that would be fun.
Yeah. Yeah. But, again, they got that job already. And and I'm not less of a person because they have fame, but it is hard to look at them, I'm assuming, see them being famous, and think, well, I would like to do that. But that I mean, I don't know.
That's taken already by them.
It's taken. And so I have to figure out who am I.
Or or go devote your life to doing that and be ready to fail because they're just the ones that made it. There's prob for every I like Matt Damon a lot, actually. He's got a good way about him.
He's pretty good. He was good on the voyage of the meme with the other guy.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I hear what you're saying. I I even just like him in interviews.
I think he's like a thoughtful measured person. This is not my point. My point is is that for Matt for Matt Damon to make it, I've got to guess that tens of thousands of other would be actors did not make it. Yep. And even when you hear him retell his story because, obviously, I heard a clip about the Odyssey the other day, this is where this is coming from.
But, like, when he says that he was offered a movie at some point and that had he taken it, he wouldn't have been in saving private Ryan. Ah. And then and then you could see, like, where all this stuff would have tumbled. So if he would have gotten the very thing that he wanted that day, all of the good stuff that came after likely would not have happened. And and to realize that everybody is on a path like that where you're making decisions or things are happening to you all day long and that one of those ping pong balls ends up Matt Damon, the rest of them still are people.
And they still have very valuable lives. And they, you know, have the ability to be happy or sad or fulfilled. It's up to them. Like, there's nothing stopping you but you at this point.
Yeah.
38
And I think that I think that's what it is. It's myself stopping me. Same with myself putting a wall up of getting afraid of food. Yeah. And that's what I have to stop.
Yeah. You you you you're you're likely the the only thing standing in your way. Mhmm. And most people listening, I don't know if the secret's out here on how the podcast works, but that's probably true for all of you too. And for me, for things I'm not getting accomplished, I'm the one not doing them.
Mhmm. Yeah. I don't know.
You have to look inward at yourself first and then see what you can do around you to change and affect that.
Yeah. Or do what they would have done in the seventies, Steven. Shut the hell up and do it. Yeah. No one cares how you feel.
Just go. And and, you know, there's some of that too. Like, I you don't think I get up some days? I'm like, oh, I don't wanna do this. And, you know, like and it's not I mean, the podcast isn't one of those things.
It's pretty pretty fun to do. But there's plenty of stuff that I do that I'm like, I don't wanna do this. And then you know what? You just do it. I I was I said, I'll I'll leave you with this, and then I'll let you wrap up.
But I said to Arden the other day, oh god. What the hell were we talking about? Oh, is that thought gonna completely leave my head? This is terrible. Arden and I were together.
We were talking about the I don't wanna do this. Oh my god, Steven. Say something while I figure out what I wanted to say.
Oh my god. It's dead air. Everyone talk.
I don't care about that. You just talk. Yeah. Tell people about the, about the podcast for a second that you
Oh, well, hey. You should watch, you should listen to the Juice Watch podcast. But if you wanna talk about the Toonami podcast, we talk about anime and stuff that's on Toonami. Mhmm. Mhmm.
Mhmm. But it it it's it's it's a fun podcast. We get in there. We're talking about anime. Currently, that's on the Toonami.
That's on Adult Swim. We have my adventure with Superman, really cool Superman show. We have a Blue Lock, which is a really weird soccer show about anime boys in soccer.
You do the adventures with Superman. You do the animated thing?
Yes. Yes. The animated, yeah, My Adventure with Superman. So It's
The old one back when they were doing the Batman animated too before Batman Beyond.
Yeah. We talked about that because that was anything that was on Toonami, talk about that stuff. But, yeah, we talk about all that stuff, but then the newest ones that's on the block. So we talk about that stuff. Any other anime on there that we you leave the newer stuff, and then anything related to Toonami and everything.
So, usually, Toonami is is was on Cartoon Network, now on Adult Swim. The people that run it are not getting paid for it, so that's why we get, like, what we get. But they're doing it all for free in the love of anime.
That's really wonderful.
Good
tunes. I appreciate you telling me about that. Will say this. The thing I was gonna say, you're gonna have to listen to a different episode for when it pops back into my head again. Because as simply as a text popped up in front of me from AT and T reminding me that my bill is ready, that literally took the thought out of my head, and I cannot find it again.
So AT and T? I I mean, honestly, it's not it's not enough. It's not well, how much money they take from me every month for these phones. I'm sorry. I I I will leave you with this.
I think you're a decent guy. I think you should give yourself more credit. I'd I'd ignore those feelings and just get up and do it again, man, because it sounds like you're doing a great job. I would just I would just tell myself I'm doing a great job and believe myself and move on. You need a tiny bit of healthy narcissism.
Yeah. I think I do need that.
You don't have that, though. Right?
No. I'm lacking the narcissism stuff.
Would you like to borrow some of mine? I I hear online I have plenty.
I'll take some.
“Do you like yourself?”1:11:56
Yeah. No. I'm sending it over right now through the waves. Yeah. Look.
Can I give you the secret to to that?
Sure.
Do you do you like yourself?
At times, yes.
Okay. That's a good answer. Do you generally make decisions that go well? Yes. Okay.
I would say either calculated enough that they go well in my favor.
You think people think you're kind?
I think so.
There you go. I would just lean into all that. I'd say, I'm a good person. Here's a list of things I know that tell me I'm a good person, and I'm gonna be happy, and I'm gonna go do that now. Are you dating?
Do you have a person?
No. Would you like that? I I would like that. I would like to do all that stuff, but then I think everything else, they wouldn't like me because I have either diabetes or I have either, you know, all this other stuff. And
Yeah. It's bullshit. Most of them are just wanna be Matt Damon's. They're they're I mean, I mean, with the anime, there must be people who also like that. That must be hard to find people who enjoy that.
Yeah. But every time that people like you don't generalize, but in anime, you do generalize that a lot of people are, like, introverted and don't wanna come out of the rooms.
That's just because they haven't
seen I'm a little more active. I'm I am introverted, like, a lot, but, I mean, still to a point, I do get out and do podcasts and do the stuff with you. I mean, I take chances, and I do this that stuff. So it works out in my favor at times, but it's I have to really think about it and calculate it to see if it works.
I don't trust a lot of you introverts when you tell me you're introverted. I just wanna say that. I don't know why so many introverts tell me they're introverted. That seems extroverted to me.
Mhmm. It probably is.
I've never had an extrovert tell me they're extroverted.
Oh, they're probably introverted. You know that.
Well, the extroverts are introverted. The introverts are extroverted, everybody wants to tell me what's going on with them all the time.
Yeah. See, the pendulum swings both ways. They're no great.
On wanting something to be wrong1:13:53
Piece of advice for your generation, the one before you. Stop wanting something to be wrong. Everybody wants to be diagnosed with something. Mhmm. Slow down.
It's okay. Yeah. You're not autistic. You're just smart. Let it go.
There you go.
There are autistic people. Stop taking this thing. Okay? I mean, leave them alone.
I don't already the box is already checked off for them.
I'm introverted. None none of us wanna leave our living room. You're not introverted. It's okay. You're not what what is the other one?
Shut in.
What is it?
A shut in.
No. The other thing people love being, they they love telling me that they're autistic. I I've never met so many people in my life that clearly are not autistic telling me that they're they have autism. That seems to be a thing that the social media ADHD? Oh, ADHD.
I I I have ADHD. I just I have such a hard time staying on topic. Yeah. That's called talking. You ever met somebody who can stay on topic?
No. Yeah. No. As someone who has a communication degree? Yeah.
No.
Well, I've I've met people who start talking about one thing and stay on it painfully long. I'd argue they have a problem. What do you think of that? You think I have ADHD because I couldn't remember what I was gonna say? That's called being alive.
You don't have ADHD. You're probably not anxious. You're probably not the everyone. Ever I have seasonal affective disorder. Well, turn on a light.
I don't know what to say exactly, Steven. And maybe that's not the right answer, but stop wanting. It feels like people want to have a problem.
They wanna have something. Yeah. Didn't I feel
like that?
Yeah. I didn't want diabetes, but I got it now. So now I have to live
with actual problems. Ignore them. Do be a healthy person and push it deep down inside and keep going. That's what
I did until I was crawling on the floor.
Well, you did you do that with your physical health. I'm saying Yeah. Do it with your mental health a little more. Just you're fine. It'll be a it'll I beg your pardon, Steven.
Nobody promised you a rose garden. Okay? Everybody doesn't get to be Matt Damon. You don't even get to make a popular podcast about diabetes. That's my thing.
Go find a different thing. Yeah. And think of Jack Nicholson in that movie where he tells that girl, I'm taken by me. What is that movie? It's a it's a really I I guess it's probably incredibly doesn't age well.
But he's dating this woman who she's depressed. She doesn't leave the house and everything, and and she's she's trying to, like, be involved with him more. And he just starts, like he starts yelling at her, and he's like he's like something like, leave me alone. I'm taken by me. That idea of I'm taken by me, I don't It cracks me.
It's a funny line. Whoever wrote that guy, guy's probably been dead fifty years, but I find it amusing.
Good line.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. What's that movie called? The Apartment?
Is it The Apartment?
It could be. I'm not that much of a movie buff,
but You're not a movie person, Steven?
Not that much. I I don't see that many.
No. It's not the apartment's not Jack Nicholson. Hold on. Hold on a sec. I'm gonna find this, and we're gonna leave this here.
Nicholson. By the way, Jack Nicholson, almost dead. Very old. Movie taken. Carnal Knowledge.
Yep. Called Carnal Knowledge. I don't know
if I'm taken by me. Yeah. Get out of the house.
I I don't know if it's a good movie or not. I just know that that one line is with Anne Margaret. That makes me
Oh, wow. Yeah. What's he
talk what's he crap talking to Anne Margaret for? She's pretty. I get I get Anne Margaret's allowed to complain, don't you think? Yeah. Yeah.
Actually, I like a lot of Nicholson stuff. I love that thing. Every time somebody's crappy to me online, I think about the the end of the you can't handle the truth speech in a few good ones.
Yeah. That's a good one.
Yeah. I love it when he says he says, I preferred if you just said thank you and went on your way. I think that when I read, he's obnoxious online, I go or helped a lot of people, and you can just say thank you and go on your way.
There you go.
Yeah. Steven, you're a good person. I hope you can find a way to believe that. And if you hang on for me, I will tell you a couple other things.
Yeah.
Thanks so much, man.
Have a good one.
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