#1687 Knowing Doesn’t Mean Ready
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Lauren, a former diabetes pharma rep and mom to a seven-year-old with type 1, shares her diagnosis story, bold insulin approach, looping plans, and how GLP-1 meds changed Scott’s life.
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Scott Benner 0:00
Here we are back together again, friends for another episode of The Juicebox podcast.
Lauren 0:15
Hi, my name is Lauren. I am the mother of a seven year old type one diabetic.
Scott Benner 0:21
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Lauren 1:56
My name is Lauren. I am the mother of a seven year old, type one diabetic. Do you have any other kids? Lauren, I have one other son. I saw I have two boys. My oldest son is 10, about to be 11, and my youngest, who is my type one, just turned seven, the end of September.
Scott Benner 2:13
Okay, all right, yeah. How long has he had type one?
Lauren 2:17
So he was diagnosed in September of last year, so one week after his sixth birthday, oh, no kidding, received our diagnosis,
Scott Benner 2:23
yep, just slightly over a year, yep, okay. Well, this will be interesting. I appreciate you doing this with me. Thank you for sure. Yeah, what made you want to do it well,
Lauren 2:33
because it's been such an important part of our journey and being successful with managing him this first year that I felt like it could be really important to share our family's story and hopefully make impact on others just the way they have impacted me, and connect with someone somehow to help them get through some of the hard times. Because it's definitely a marathon managing this and taking this on, and your podcast has, like I said, help my family immensely. So I hope to share and do the same. I
Scott Benner 3:03
appreciate knowing that. Thank you. Yes, and I'm sure you will. I'm excited to find out all about you guys and and see where where this leads. So let's find out first, let's go over the simple stuff. First, any other autoimmune with you the kids? Are you married? Yes, I'm married, a husband or extend a
Lauren 3:24
family, none, nothing that we are aware of. I will say that my mother is adopted. So we are lacking some of that family history from our, you know, genetics that we are aware of, however, nothing that we are aware of with any other
Scott Benner 3:39
autoimmune okay. How do you like being the kid of an adopted parent? It doesn't
Lauren 3:44
bother me at all. You know, I still had grandparents from the parents of my mom who were adopted her. You know, as you get older, and if you have health things, that's when you start to notice, like, oh yeah. I can't tell you much about some this side of my Yeah, you know, family makeup or my genetic makeup. But other than that, it's been absolutely
Scott Benner 4:06
fine. I always felt like being adopted was cool because you was almost like a choose your own adventure, right? You know, yeah,
Lauren 4:13
and it's a blessing that it's out there and that people will take that on. And, yeah, you know, I appreciate
Scott Benner 4:19
it. That's very cool. Okay, so your father's side? How about your husband's parents? Anybody I'm talking about, like celiac, thyroid, nothing you can find. Okay,
Lauren 4:29
my husband's cousin has Crohn's disease, but I don't know that they consider that autoimmune really, like
Scott Benner 4:37
I got you. Well, do they what I'm going to look while I ask you what happened that you noticed that your child needed medical care?
Lauren 4:46
Yeah, so background on me, a little bit, is I have been doing pharmaceutical sales since I graduated college, so that has been my or was my career, and so I was in. The medical field, if you will. And for the 19 years that I did it, 12 of the years was spent in diabetes. And so obviously the focus is more around type two diabetes, with just how America is with type two and where the pharma companies are putting a lot of their technology and research into type two, because that seems to be a big, big problem in the country, but you still get background knowledge, and they do a very deep dive into understanding the disease state that you are going to be walking out into the offices to talk to doctors and nurses about. And so I had been very, very well versed in in diabetes, if you will. Yeah, my son was we had a unique situation where my husband actually we are at a soccer game for him, and he is finishing up the soccer game, and where his game was to our home was about a 12 minute car ride, and my little six year old son is in the car crying that he needs me to pull over so he can go to the bathroom. And I said,
Scott Benner 6:08
No. He said, No. You're like, no, yeah. I said, No, no, you can
Lauren 6:11
hold it. You can hold it. It is a 10 minute drive. And my husband's like, why are you being so mean? Please just pull over. He has to go to the bathroom. I'm like, we are not pulling over to go to the bathroom, if he cannot hold it, he has diabetes. Did you say that? I said I said that. And my husband's like, gosh, Lord, You are so rude and mean. And you think everyone has diabetes, because that's your job. And so Saturday, Yep, that was Saturday. And then, like, there's no hard feelings. My son was able to hold it until we got home, he went to the bathroom, and everything's fine. So the day goes on, and it's really just the three of us at home that day, because my other son went to a friend's house for a little bit, and so we're just spending time at home, and my husband's he's asking my husband for food all the time, and
Scott Benner 7:01
he learned the day before not to ask you, right, right? Yeah, no.
Lauren 7:05
Mom's not helping me out with anything. So he's, he's definitely leaning towards dad this day. And you know, I don't notice anything else, you know, I say that, but I'm like, when he tells me you're crazy. You think everyone has diabetes, I go back to the fact that I probably, you know, I know there's no way my kid has diabetes. I I'm just aware of the symptoms, right? And that I am, you know, because when you start learning and doing a disease state with pharma, you often feel like you become a hypochondriac and think you have everything that they're teaching you. So I didn't think much of it. And then the next morning, we wake up and everything's fine. We're giving them breakfast. And, you know, on the weekends, we do more fun breakfast and my stuff, both my boys are having cereal and apple cider, which I like, want to just have a stroke about now. And my husband says, Hey, is there a way that we can actually find out if he really does have diabetes? And I said, Yeah. And I said, Are you serious? And he's like, yeah, how can we check? I'm like, go upstairs, take him upstairs and put him on the scale, and I'm going to go find my blue comforter that I had because when I was pregnant, I decided I want to watch my sugar in case I were to get gestational diabetes just again, because I was in the industry, and I became fascinated with that, yeah, and so worried that I would get gestational diabetes. So I have the six year old glucometer, and I had weighed my son the week before for his birthday. So I measure him, and I weigh him like, how old are like, how tall are you? How much do you weigh on your six your sixth birthday to document and just know. And he had, he was 66 pounds on his sixth birthday, and my husband screams downstairs, hey, he's he's 60 pounds. And in that moment I knew. I said, What is how much does he weigh? He
Scott Benner 8:49
said, 60. Yeah, skip the glucometer. We could just come back down.
Lauren 8:52
Yeah, I knew in that moment. And so, okay, I get the glucometer out anyways. I said, Okay, bring him here. We're going to do a finger stick. I poke his finger and it says 564, wow. I said, Oh gosh. Well, this is old. This is this thing is literally six years old. We haven't used it. There's no way, so I poked my other son's finger. Said, Okay, Brian, it's your turn. His isn't blood sugar is 95 so I'm like, Okay, it's not broken. I'm like, Okay, Ryan, he's going to be diagnosed with type one diabetes. Go get a bag and we have to go to the hospital, but I'm going to call the pediatrician's office first, because our pediatrician's office has like, weekend hours, and someone always on call for them, and I'm just going to call them to see if they can do anything, if we can go to them before we actually have to go the hospital. Because I'm delusional at that same point and thinking, Oh, they can just write me a prescription for insulin, and everything is going to be fine. Is that where your head was? Yes. And I call the pediatrician's office and talk to the nurse. You know my son, I just checked his blood sugar. It's 564 you know, I do diabetes. I know what I'm talking about. Like I had Lantus, I've had humolog, I've had all the insulins. I have all the GLP ones. I I know it all. Can you just, if we come into you, can you guys just give us a prescription for some insulin and tell me what I need to dose them and we'll be fine? And they're like, the lady is, like, You're crazy. Lady like, you need to go to the hospital. So I'm like, okay, okay,
Scott Benner 10:13
I don't do that here, but that's not right.
Lauren 10:16
I know. I know. But in my mind, I'm thinking, this is everything's going to be fine, and just, I don't really want to go to the hospital. We go to the hospital, we pack up, and I tell my husband, like, you need to text this person and this person and this person, because I knew he had acquaintances that had children that had type one diabetes. So I'm telling him, You need to find out who their pediatric endo is. And I'm just going into this mode of we got to get a proper doctor. We got to do all of the things and find out other people's experiences so that we have a good one. Because we don't have a pediatric endo in our area. We don't eat we have, like, one endocrinologist that's here too. Like, we live in South Bend, and it's kind of like a black hole for medicine, if you ask me, just because we're so close to Chicago, we're so close to University of Michigan. We're so close to Indy, and so I don't feel like it's a great spot for medicine, if you will, and specialists. And like I said, in the diabetes world, I we, I knew we didn't even have a pediatric endo in the area. He starts texting his friends, we go to the hospital, and we're walking into the ER. And I tell them right away, I'm like, my son's about to be in DKA. I need someone to see him really fast and get him insulin. And so they did take they took this back really fast in their mind, though, my son's already a type one diabetic because comes into the hospital and says that. And so they're treating him like they think he's a type one and the guy, yeah, right, because they're like this. They're saying this type one diabetics probably coming in in DKA, because something went
Scott Benner 11:46
wrong. And you have a little too much context to seem like a person who just figured it out today.
Lauren 11:50
Yeah and Yes, right? And I honestly Yes.
Scott Benner 11:55
Where you go on, Rob's gonna put the ads right here, but I need to say because it's gonna get away from me. Crohn's is an autoimmune condition. We got pretty far away from it, and I can't believe
Lauren 12:04
I know that's okay well. And so when I Google it and research it, they're like, it's a different type of autoimmune though, like, where it's,
Scott Benner 12:12
well, I mean, you know, it's an immune immune reaction. It causes chronic inflammation. You get, like, thickening of intestinal walls, inflammation, etc. I mean, I You're right, church, wrong, pew, maybe. But, like, it's an autoimmune inflammatory disorder, yeah,
Lauren 12:28
so that that is there, but when I told our doctor, he's just, like, poo pooed that, like, that was
Scott Benner 12:33
no big deal, yeah? Well, you're in South Bend,
Lauren 12:35
so, well, no, I'm in India at that point. Oh, sorry, but, and I do like
Scott Benner 12:40
him, I appreciate I'm sorry I cut you off, but go on, we're back at the hospital. They're thinking he's an established type one,
Lauren 12:47
yeah, somewhat, they get us back very, very quickly, because I think that's literally, because I use the words DKA, yeah. And they check his blood sugar, it shows I on their meter. And they push us back into a room, and like, they, you know, start getting ready to do a pic line in him and wanting to draw his blood. And so they come in like, so your son's a type one diabetic. And I said, No, no, you're going to diagnose him with type one diabetes. This is what happened. I just have a unique background that I'm I'm aware of what's happening. And they're like, oh, okay, okay. And, you know, are you sure it's type one? I'm like, yeah, pretty sure. I don't know what else this would be. He's lost six pounds in a week. I did a, you know, check the sugar at home. It's, you know, my meters clearly working, yeah, just, when can you get him some insulin? Like, because I'm just thinking to myself, he's going to be in DK, soon. Like, how do we get him? I just want insulin sooner than later. And, you know, they take their sweet time. They run all the lab work. And the doctor was really nice and responsive to me. That was the ER intake doctor. And yep, you're probably right. He's like, all the lab works coming back because a 1c shows 10.3 there's ketones in his urine. Obviously, we're gonna roll him upstairs, get him admitted into our pediatric unit, but he's not in DKA, good, so, okay, great. And I think that that moment like also made me think this is not a big deal, like, everything's gonna be fine. Everything is fine
Scott Benner 14:18
because he wasn't in a dire situation. Yeah, it lessened the weight of it. For you, today's episode is brought to you by Omnipod. We talk a lot about ways to lower your a 1c on this podcast, did you know that the Omnipod five was shown to lower a 1c that's right. Omnipod five is a tube free automated insulin delivery system, and it was shown to significantly improve a 1c and time and range for people with type one diabetes when they switched from daily injections. My daughter is about to turn 21 years old, and she has been wearing an Omnipod every day since she was four. It has been a friend to our family, and I think it could be a friend to yours. If you're ready to try Omnipod five for yourself or your family, use my link now to get started. Omnipod.com/juicebox get that free. Omnipod five Starter Kit today. Terms and Conditions apply. Eligibility may vary. Full terms and conditions can be found at omnipod.com/juicebox you can manage diabetes confidently with the powerfully simple Dexcom g7 dexcom.com/juicebox the Dexcom g7 is the CGM that my daughter is wearing. The g7 is a simple CGM system that delivers real time glucose numbers to your smartphone or smart watch. The g7 is made for all types of diabetes, type one and type two, but also people experiencing gestational diabetes. The Dexcom g7 can help you spend more time in range, which is proven to lower a 1c The more time you spend in range, the better and healthier you feel. And with the Dexcom clarity app, you can track your glucose trends, and the app will also provide you with a projected a 1c in as little as two weeks. If you're looking for clarity around your diabetes, you're looking for Dexcom, dexcom.com/juicebox when you use my link, you're supporting the podcast, dexcom.com/juicebox
Lauren 16:19
head over there. Now, for me, in that moment, I think it did okay, yep, in that moment, and my husband and my older son are in the corner crying, and my I'm trying to make my other son who's actually going through this, like you're brave, like this is really amazing, like you're super, like you are a superhero. You are you are selected to do this because you're strong and you're tough, and mommy knows how to do the shots, and it's, you know, I have pens, like I had demo pens at my house from my job, you know, to hand out to people to know. So I'm, like, in that moment, I felt like this is no big deal. And what I was never trained on and never understood was the fact of, like, the variables and all of the things that impact the blood sugar. That's not just food. Yeah. And I was trained that insulin works because it does work. Insulin can work if you use it properly, right? It will get your a 1c down. So I was confident that things were going to be okay. You were
Scott Benner 17:13
just throwing at any platitude you could think at your son to just to pump him up and keep him thinking, Do you think you were doing that for him, or do you think you think you're doing it
Lauren 17:21
for you? And in the moment, totally doing it for him. And in that moment I also I'm believing everything that I'm saying. I'm like, Okay, this, this is no big deal, you know, my he's, this isn't something that could be, you know, 10 times worse not. And trust me, I know, I think diabetes is the worst thing that could ever happen. But there's also awful, awful things that can happen to anyone that don't have, you know, treatment options and things like
Scott Benner 17:47
that. Yeah, your perspective has changed over time,
Lauren 17:49
absolutely sure. So they wheel us upstairs, and I'm telling them, I need X, Y and Z. I need a CGM. I need all of these things. I want to make sure you put me on this particular insulin, you know? And I remember we were there at 11 o'clock, and he didn't get his first shot until five o'clock. And I just was so frustrated by that, like, what is taking so long? Like, what are we waiting for? Like, what is going on? Like, we're upstairs and no one's has any urgency to do anything. The hospitalist comes into the room, walks in and tells me, You know, I can't give you insulin yet because he, like, I don't know if he's a type one or a type two. I'm look at the guide saying it's 100% of type one. I can't even believe that you would suggest that this is type two diabetes. In what world is this type two
Speaker 1 18:35
diabetes? Yeah. And he's an odd breach,
Lauren 18:39
for sure, right? Yeah, I mean, and then in that moment, now I'm angry, and everything changes, because I'm like, we got to get the hell out of here, because they don't know what they're doing. No one knows what they're doing. I mean, this is classic textbook type one diabetes, and no one knows what they're doing. Okay, yeah, so that, I mean, that's part of it. And then they didn't want to give me a CGM. Oh, and they're like, you know, insurance doesn't really cover that. My I'm like, my insurance well, and if they don't, I'll pay cash for it, yeah? Well, we really don't want to give that to your son. You know, it's not the way to learn how to manage this, and it's not compatible with the hospital
Scott Benner 19:13
system. The way to learn about diabetes isn't to be able to see your blood
Lauren 19:17
sugar exactly at all moments. So it's you have to learn how to do it without all the technology. Okay, right? And so it was a bad and we boom, and then they're trying to reference us to this random endo in a town two hours away. And I said, No, I need to go here, but we are not going to do a referral for you there. Okay? Like, why not? You know, it just, it was a very combative relationship right after that interaction. Yeah,
Scott Benner 19:43
and Lauren, in fairness, I've known you 20 minutes. You have a strong personality too, you know what I mean?
Lauren 19:48
Yes. Oh, very, very much so. And I was comfortable with my job interacting with doctors like my job has been to challenge doctors and what they're doing and be comfortable to make them uncomfortable. All and ask them why they're doing what they're doing, and help me understand why you make decisions that way. And it's very obvious to know when they care and when they don't care, and they're just kind of doing the rounds.
Scott Benner 20:12
Yeah, it's an interesting mix. Like you have more information than most people, not all that you need, obviously, because you think, oh, it's going to be easy, and you don't really know the whole thing. And you're used to challenging positions, so you're not in a position of like, Oh, thanks, you're so great, right? That's not coming from them, which they might not appreciate, or, you know, whatnot. And then they've got their rules the way they do things, and before you know it, you're right where you landed. Yeah, you know, it's funny when you said it's not, you know, I didn't think it'd be that hard. It makes me think of, I'm sorry if you've never seen the movie Moneyball with maybe you haven't. There's this great scene where Brad Pitt is like the general manager of the Oakland A's, and he's going to try to get this player who's kind of broken down to play for him. He wants him to switch positions, and he's there with one of his coaches as well, and he and the guy says, Well, I've never played first base. And he goes, Oh, don't worry, it's easy. And he turns to the coach, it's with him, and he says, Tell him wash. And the guy goes, it's incredibly difficult. And he goes, that he just pivots so funny, that the next line, he goes, Well, anything worth doing is and that's sort of like, I don't know, like, for anybody who's seen the movie, they're laughing right now, everyone else is like, you could have done a better job explaining that. I like the idea of what you learned from that moment to where you are now, because I think it's going to make your story really interesting moving forward. Like, because you had a pre conceived notion and then you went home and found out the truth. So exactly when does that information start hitting you? You're home now, like, what did you shake out of them? Did you get a CGM?
Lauren 21:45
So yeah, they did. They prescribed it after we were discharged. Technically, the the nurse or the diabetic educator at the hospital came in and helped us put it on him. Okay, and I will say too that when we were in there, they were like, comfortable with his blood sugar being in the high two hundreds, and me getting in an argument with them. So they wanted me out of there quick. Because, you know, they would only come in and do the random blood sugar temp tests when they had it on their timer, which was, I don't know, two to, like, three times a day. And then, like, before I was eating, he they did one of his random checks, and it was like, 280 and I'm like, Oh, he needs insulin for that. Like, let's correct it. And because it has been two hours and or three hours, and they're like, no, no, no, this is a good number. And I said, You guys, this is not a good number. And what world is this a good blood sugar to you? Yeah, this is bad medicine. This is terrible medicine. And I would let you just so you know, the second I leave this hospital, my kid's blood sugar is anything above 250 at this time of day, I'm giving him insulin. I don't care how many shots he needs for it, you're not doing your job right?
Scott Benner 22:50
Was that their argument, that it was another injection, you're saving him from an injection, or was their argument we're comfortable with the number, the number is okay with them.
Lauren 22:57
And I said, why everybody were like, You worried he's coming down too quickly, like, what? What is the concern? And they couldn't even answer that, you know, like, because I understand that if they're dropping his blood sugar too fast, he's gonna feel terrible, potentially dangerous, yada yada yada. But all I could think about was getting him into the normal range, which I knew was at that time, the 70 to 180 and never was it in that range when we checked him at the hospital. Yeah,
Scott Benner 23:20
no, they're not. They're definitely not shooting for that. They don't Right, no, they don't have the bandwidth for that, even if they had the knowledge right, truthfully.
Lauren 23:28
And so I'm calling, since they won't refer me to the end that I'd like to, because they don't have a relationship with that group, I'm calling this children's hospital down in Indianapolis every single day, multiple times to say, my kid was newly diagnosed. We have no education up here. We need help. And we got out of that. We went into the hospital Sunday, got out on Tuesday, and got into Riley's Children's Hospital down on Thursday morning. Very thankful for a physician who told us that was willing to see us at like before he saw patients, squeezed us in, got us in early. And so I think the big thing to that was, is that when I said we had no education, which the hospital thinks, they gave us education, but I knew that they didn't. They got us in, and they prioritized that for us. So it's kind of like saying the right things at the right time, and I want other parents to know, or people to know, like you have to advocate for yourself, and if something doesn't feel right, do whatever you need to do to get a better result, or someone who's more receptive to you.
Scott Benner 24:30
I'm afraid that for most people, though, they're not going to have enough context to know that something doesn't feel right, you
Lauren 24:35
know, I know, and that's what's so often you're in this like fight or fight situation to where you're just trying to get through and make sense of what's actually happening. I will say when I had my husband reach out to people, and I reached out to two people that I was just kind of like vaguely knew like that. I knew had children with type one diabetes. One girl had shared with me what you need to do immediately is order a sugar pixel, demand a CGM like. I was and then on top of it, listen to the Juicebox podcast. So that was the blessing. So in that moment, while you're awake at night, sitting in the little rocking chair next to the bed, I listen. My first episode was being bold with insulin. Oh No kidding, and yeah, and I'm like, This is so great. I need my husband to listen to this, because if I say this, it's not gonna be well received, but the second he does listens to this, it will resonate, and it will be someone else telling him, and not me, being overly aggressive, and it was the best thing I listened to in that moment, because, again, I was pro insulin. I knew it worked. I knew how it worked, and I knew that if it wasn't working, you're weren't injecting it properly, or you were not dosing it properly. It was just really good to have someone and, you know, they train you, even at my job and they at the hospital, they want you to be afraid, like deadly afraid of the low blood sugars, yeah, which definitely are scary. But, you know, I can't remember how many, just normal primary care doctors I said I would tell me, like, we're not worried about low blood sugar, we're worried about the hyperglycemia, and I'm seeing the consequences in these endocrinology offices of people with high blood sugar and uncontrolled diabetes. I'm never hearing stories which I know exist, of people having problems with the hypos. You can bring them up usually, you know? And I don't want to minimize that people have severe hypoglycemic episodes that can be very scary and detrimental by any means.
Scott Benner 26:27
Well, you know what, though, like, it's such a human thing, right? To just pick one of the other black or white. Like, why couldn't the middle be okay? Why is it like either or like, you're either going to be high, you'll be low. I'm like, why is that the case? What if we were stable and in a good spot? Let's go for that. Yeah,
Lauren 26:42
yes, exactly. And you know, they just, they'd want to keep you alive in the moment, and they're not worried about what it's going to look like for you in 25 years or for your child.
Scott Benner 26:51
Nobody's thinking that far ahead. Apparently, I tell the same story all the time, like, you know, when ardent, you know, first diagnosed, and her blood sugar is really high, and I finally, kind of, I have enough wherewithal to say, like, Is this okay, you know? And they're like, oh, yeah, yeah, cuz she's only two. And for a while, I was just telling someone this last night, like, for a while, I thought, oh, there must be some medical or physiological reason why high blood sugars don't impact two year olds. And then I then realized, like, one day, that's ridiculous. And I pushed farther and got the answer back. Well, no, it's, you know, it takes 30 years she told me for diabetes complications to start. And I was like, but she's two Exactly. Oh, see, I'm like, so you're telling me that we're shooting for diabetes complications when she's 32 like, does that make sense to you? Exactly? That's when I was like, I was out. I was like, okay, that these people don't know what they're talking about. I was at a good endocrinologist office too, right? Well,
Lauren 27:47
and that's, that's where I my frustration comes in, too, is, and I love the confidence that you have. I love that you figured it out, you know, because I feel like I had an unfair advantage to a certain extent with going into part of this, right, with just some of that background knowledge and but again, I was trained to train people to be afraid of high blood sugars, like that was my job to discuss the consequences of high blood sugars. Yeah, so that's like, I'm deadly afraid of the highs.
Scott Benner 28:16
Yeah, that's your step one then, because that's where, that's where all your education stems from
Lauren 28:21
yep, yep. And I understood what you can do, and I and then in that same moment, because obviously I'm getting frustrated. I'm like, Okay, I need to think, like all these other medicines have these additional benefits, like that, it would totally be off label use. But like, I want him on these. Like, when would it be appropriate to go on? You know, an sglt Two. When will it be appropriate to go on. I would love for him to be able to be on a, you know, a GLP, 1g I P receptor agonist, if possible. But I know that's crazy in the moment, but I'm like, it's, there's
Scott Benner 28:52
your head though at the time. Yeah, you're kind of going through the entire thing. Hey, did it work when you said, I'll show the podcast to my husband, and he won't just think this is me being a lot, like, did that work for you?
Lauren 29:03
So the best thing that happened we go down to Riley's in Indianapolis, and our doctor. So I hadn't told him about the hospital yet, because I'm just trying to get him to, like, hang in there in this moment. He's also the man who, like, almost passed out when I got my epidural when we're having our children. So, like, I was so worried about him, like being able to give a shot, like that whole getting over that mental barrier, and he's done an excellent job, so I didn't want to overwhelm him in the moment. But we go down to Riley's, and we have this, like, 7am appointment with our new end now, and my husband goes in and says, I was trying to tell him some of the certain parts. They're like, we want an A 1c below seven. That's the goal. And my husband's like, No, we're going to have one below six. And I said, Okay, great. Like, I don't even know where he's getting this, but that's great. And then he's like, You know what you should listen to, the Juicebox podcast. Is what our endocrinologist said to us in that moment. And then he started doing it from it. Again from the endo saying it. I don't know that if it was someone else saying it, he would have done it. It was the endo that
Scott Benner 30:05
said it. You had an acquaintance and a doctor tell you to listen to the podcast in short order. Yes, that's and it
Lauren 30:11
was the best thing. And I honestly took more of it from my acquaintance, friend that I had met, and then he impacted him more coming from
Scott Benner 30:21
the doctor. Well, now knowing that the doctor told you about the pockets, it makes me feel terrible to tell you that the worst bagel I've ever had in my life was in an adapt I listened to you say that before. I know I mentioned it often not because I'm out of things to say, but because I'm trying to change the world. You poor people, right? I know that you believe that's a bagel. It's maybe it's one of the bigger tragedies.
Lauren 30:42
I would agree. I would totally agree with you, horrifying.
Scott Benner 30:45
Well, that's awesome, so I'm glad you Yeah, and then, and it got your husband on board,
Lauren 30:49
yeah, and I had never listened to a podcast before that. I had never done that. And I thought, you know, okay, he's, he's starting to do this, and he took ownership and started to do that, and would come home and talk to me about them, and really quickly, like a few of them, that stood out were, you know, ways that we needed to figure out and how to manage this. And he started to listen to episodes with Jenny, and he automatically, like, took to her and her approach, and appreciated it and figured out a way to hire Jenny right away
Scott Benner 31:23
as well. Well, you got that whole Midwestern thing going on too, right? So,
Lauren 31:26
small world, all these little, small connections, so that's was has been really, really helpful, too. So, like, we really took all of these little pieces of information that people were throwing at us and embraced it and tried to figure out what was going to work for us and our family, and how to filter out bad information and do what we knew we needed to do for him, even just like getting more CGM right, like using the resources we knew, like I had a doctor tell me, Hey, I'm going to write you a prescription for a CGM, if you're willing to pay cash for it, take it to Costco, if you have a membership, and it will be pretty affordable so you have a backup supply, because Dexcom can take a long time to send you your replacement. You want a backup supply. And so these little things have been so helpful to take some of the stress away, because I learned really fast, how stressful it is to not have a CGM if you didn't have a little backup supply, because it wasn't last in the 10 days, until we figured out how to make it last 10 days. And so we emerged ourselves in in that, in the podcast.
Scott Benner 32:34
And where does that get you to a year later?
Lauren 32:37
Oh yeah. So it's been wonderful. I mean, it's been awful. At the same time, the podcast has made me feel less alone in this journey, because it's a very isolating experience once you actually get home and realize what is going on and eating the same things and being comfortable changing things. And as much as I love our Endo, and I think he's great. I will also say the educator that was down there at that first appointment after we met with him was a type one diabetic herself, and she was this young, cute girl, and my son's blood sugar is sitting at like, 150 which I'm like, thinking is pretty good at this moment for where we've been, like, been in the car for two and a half hours or four or five days into this, he's at a 150 and me, you know, it's been two hours since he ate, and she's like, why are you letting him sit at 150 you can give him a correction right now. And that was the best thing she ever said to me, yeah? Because even though he was in range, like, she's like, you can do better than that, yeah. And let's keep going. Don't be afraid of it. Don't be you're not gonna stack the insulin. I'm like, okay, great. So these little moments give you this courage to do better and set the higher bar, a little bit higher. That's like, like I said, what the podcast has done. I think my husband's biggest takeaway is, like, we have to steal the A, 1c, overnight. And that's one of the best things. Like, I think that we've tried to do, and have done as well.
Scott Benner 34:02
That's interesting, that that helped him, huh? That
Lauren 34:04
was something that stood out and, you know, in his mind. And like I said, it makes sense, is like, if we can have a good, you know? And this started to happen, yeah, kind of right away, really, we wanted to have a good overnight. And that moment time we're on Lantus and humolog, and within, I'd say five weeks we're on a pump we got on Omnipod really fast in those moments, though. He's like, we it will help with some of these variables during the day. You know, the what we're dealing with during the day at school, because we're still trying to navigate school time, but like nighttime, like we we're here, we can take care of that. And if we can make that strong and tight and that a flat line, like we will win. Isn't
Scott Benner 34:45
it interesting, Lauren, that like you took that thing from the podcast that occurred to me years ago, and you've turned it into way more than I did, like because when I had that thought, I was just in a battle with a number, with the A, 1c, and. I couldn't get it to move. That's when it hit me. I was like, Oh, she's not eating overnight. Maybe I could find some stability there. And, you know, like, steal some a 1c out of this number, you know what I mean. But I wasn't thinking about it as deeply as you thought about it. That's pretty cool at the time that it translated.
Lauren 35:17
That's something that I will live and die by that that's so important if we can always keep good control overnight, which does require sacrifice sometimes, like that means if I don't have to get to sleep because I'm constantly doing some corrections or pulling back basal, like is basal right, or doing anything because we are in manual mode on our Omnipod, and that is a result of Jenny telling us to use Omnipod in manual mode, and as the one of the other best things that we ever did is do it that way, because we have much better control,
Scott Benner 35:49
and you have the time to put to am I right to say that you're you stop working your stay at home. Now, I
Lauren 35:54
did stop working. Yes, I did. I did stop which that was a really big struggle for me, and I think that the first few months of dealing with his diabetes diagnosis, I don't even know that I I took the FMLA for a while, and, you know, was able to focus on on him and learning it. And I knew that if I went back to work, which I tried, I did try to go back like it would be harder to care for him to the way I wanted to, and I know that's not possible for everyone to do. It was possible for me. And so I and I worked because I loved to work. I loved my job. And so it was so hard for me to walk away from that. And I was also afraid, like, how am I walking away for a company that that spends makes the medicine that saves my kids life. How am I? How am I doing that?
Scott Benner 36:43
Yeah, and you give up a big piece of who you are when you stop working as well. Yes.
Lauren 36:47
And I was so worried I was gonna, like, lose my connections in the diabetes world and like, would not become familiar with, like, what's coming next, and what would be best, and all of these things that I was gonna lose my knowledge on. And I said, there's just nothing more important than making sure he stays healthy and doesn't have these long term complications. So it's he's more important than this job, and so I've got to make that sacrifice,
Scott Benner 37:10
because you're around all the time and, you know, and you you stop working, so you took the pump out of automation to get like lower targets, and you're basically acting like the algorithm. Now. You're making adjustments, bumping and nudging stuff like that.
Lauren 37:26
And so the way Jenny kind of described it to us was it's important to understand what the pump will do and when it's doing it before you allow it to do it. So it's kind of like a marriage where you're kind of like sitting down and understanding all the little details before you actually get married and commit to the algorithm. In a sense, because you want to know how to do the an extended Bolus, you want to know how to do a temp basal increase or a decrease. And like, kind of learn those things before you give over to automated mode. And I will say our trainer was not happy that we were doing it that way, and had the nerve to tell us we won't ever get the control we want in manual mode. Oh, and then once you tell us that, now we're definitely going to do it and show you.
Scott Benner 38:15
Do you think at some point you'll move into automation? Our
Lauren 38:18
newest step that we're actually trying to go before is we're gonna get ready to loop, which I'm having a hard time doing, and, like, for some reason, okay, like, letting go of that control. But Jenny has now suggested that we loop, and we have actually, like, built our loop system, and I'm just kind of nervous for it, but I will say, because my son so we went from a 10.3 a 1c at diagnosis, to a 5.8 which was our first follow up appointment, to a 4.9 and then back up to a 4.2 Wow. Excuse me, not, 4.2 5.2 excuse me, gosh, that would have been terrible. I was like, Oh my gosh, really, no, that's like, nuts.
Scott Benner 39:00
Then, yeah. What makes you nervous about about looping
Lauren 39:03
the change now? So now, when you've been successful doing it the way you're doing it, it becomes nerve wracking to give up some of that control they walked us through building everything. And I think what kind of intimidated me at that is like I did what you told me to do with building this app. But I don't know what I did or why I did it.
Scott Benner 39:24
You don't know what the company did when they made made it right. It just shows up and you use it. I
Lauren 39:30
don't know why I'm scared. I'm I don't know. But because I don't, you have dash pods. You do right? Yes, you have them. Haven't started them yet.
Scott Benner 39:38
So if you tried loop, you could just, like, swap, right? If it panicked you you could just take the pot off the new bottle and go right back again. Yeah, I know
Lauren 39:45
I was hopeful to, you know, I listened to your podcasts with the fox and the loophouse, yeah. And that helped, that helped after we built it like, kind of understand things in a little different way. Yeah. I mean, we need to, we're like, sitting there just waiting to do it. We actually, you know, it's like, you kind of want him at home for a few days, so he's obviously in first grade, and, like, just to kind of control and get comfortable with it. And so you're not, like, relying on the school, which has been wonderful, like, hey, fix this or do this.
Scott Benner 40:17
And, yeah, I mean, a long weekend, didn't we just go past Columbus Day, what happened? You had your
Lauren 40:22
shot. So we have fall break coming up. And so I was thinking, We should do it then, yeah, we'll have a Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. Well, listen,
Scott Benner 40:30
if you're going to do it, do it then, because then your next opportunity is going to be Christmas, and then you're gonna think, well, I don't want to do it during Christmas, and then you're never going to get it done then. So, yeah, fall
Lauren 40:39
breaks it. Okay, I need it. Let's like, I need people to tell me what to do. And Jenny's so sweet, like, she does it in her own way. And I sometimes, like, wish she had a little bit more, like, Lauren just do this. It's okay, a little more of me. Yes, I need you. And my husband needs Jenny. So it's kind of funny, like, I need you to just like, slap me in the face and say, This is what. How you do it?
Scott Benner 40:59
Hey, question you have. You have two boys, right? The younger one is he more like you than your husband? Is the older one more like your husband than you like?
Lauren 41:07
No, my older one's more like me, for sure. Okay, yeah, and my younger one is no, you know I I don't know that I would ever be as brave as he is and like he's just been so wonderful through this experience. It almost like makes me so frustrated and feel bad for him, really, yeah, like, because I just think I would never have been this way, or I would feel sorry for myself or and he just doesn't, you know, and he's asked questions, why do I have this? And that's, that's, you know, the worst, like, how do you answer this in a way that makes sense to A then six year old. For how many more years am I going to have diabetes? And those things are hard. And he's like, Okay, you tell him, though. And he just, he processes it and doesn't cry, doesn't have a moment, you know what? He has me. I like, oh, I don't want to change my pump today. I hate pump changes. Like, he'll say that, which I'm like, you know, you just go with it and but you do get those hard questions. And I don't know that I would have been as, like, mentally strong as he has been. Yeah,
Scott Benner 42:07
Arden was up last night. She's got midterms right now, and she was up till she's been up all week, studying, like, late at night, and then getting up going to class. And, you know, blah, blah, I got a text from her last night at 1:55am Are you awake? And I said, Why? Because, by the way, I was not awake. And she goes, my pod just stopped working, and I just put my laptop down to go to sleep. I could punch the wall. She said, right. God bless her. I said, Hold on one second. So I ran downstairs, got a pod, filled it up, brought it upstairs, handed it to her, she was swapped the pod and was back to sleep, you know, in literally, like three minutes. But I said to her, as she was putting it down, like, as she put it on, I said, I look for suggested insulin and put any in right now, especially with the new pump, and your blood sugar started to trend up over the last couple of hours. I don't know if she was snacking while she was while she was studying, or if maybe the pod was like, going sideways, you know the I'm not sure, yeah, and she put in a little bit, and I walked out, and I was like, I don't feel like that was enough. I've been really tired lately. But by the way, because Apple messed up and my podcast hasn't been publishing on its own, I've had to get up in the middle of the night all week to publish the podcast manually. It's fine, but, but I've been a little behind on sleep. I guess is my point. I went to bed early last night, and then I got woken up at two o'clock. But still, when I left the room, I thought, well, let me sit up for a little bit. I want to see which way this trends. I don't want her to have to stay up. She's got to be up at eight to go to class, to take this this French midterm, right? I stayed up for like, another hour, and I'm glad I did, because I, you know, after about 45 minutes, I said, You know what, this isn't enough insulin. She was like 150 when she changed the pod, she drifted towards 170 I went in and I made a Bolus. I waited 20 minutes to see if it started moving in the right direction. It did, and then I went to sleep. So, yeah, I mean, it takes, it takes some effort sometimes, and it's frustrating. You know,
Lauren 44:06
the best thing that we can do, though, is what I try to remind myself is like, it's, I'm tired, but it's okay, it's, it's so worth it, and it's a privilege to be able to take care of them. I try to convince myself, obviously, I wish they didn't have to do any of this. And I try to tell my son too, and I love that you're still helping her and doing next I'm like, if you ever get one day, you're going to take care of this by yourself. And if there's ever a time that you're kind of tired of it or you don't want to do something, like, you can always call me and I'll always be there to help you. Yeah. Like, even if you don't want to do your pod, change, like, I'll do it for you. Like, so you don't have to think about it. Or if you want to be me to Bolus you for the day or count your carbs like I will always be there.
Scott Benner 44:43
I don't want her to be 170 overnight while the new site is settling in, because also, right, you know, also little things. Her basal rates lower overnight. Her correction factor is a little weaker overnight. And it's a new site, you know, if the old site was going bad, and that's what the drift up is. About, or there's food in there, and that's what the drift up is about. Then the algorithm is not going to, not really going to think about that. It's only really going to look at the number. And then you've got the new site. That's not going to work as well, because it's brand new. And then what, she sits 170 all night long, then she gets up in the morning at 170 and yeah, and the adrenaline hits her, and now she's 200 and now she's in class, and she's trying to take a test with the 200 blood sugar that's maybe going to come down while she's in there, and then she has to feel the fall and the whole thing, like, it was just, I thought easier for me to stay up for an hour and make sure that that didn't happen. Yeah,
Lauren 45:32
100% and I agree. And those are the things that you have taught me that I'm so grateful for. And, yeah, I can't, like, even crush and catch like, yeah, crush it and catch it. And you know, like, if there's a time where I've ever felt like, Okay, this pump site, is there something wrong with this pump site, I kind of put a I'm comfortable. Maybe that's a bad thing, but I'm comfortable putting in, like, what I feel like is a kind of an aggressive amount of insulin to see if it works, and be pre prepared to catch it.
Scott Benner 46:00
Yeah, it feels like you're figuring it out. To be perfectly honest, it's safe and yeah, and you're still very new at it. And you're doing obviously, excuse me, you're obviously doing really well.
Lauren 46:09
Well, thank you. Well, it's all courtesy of you, and knowing that this matters, and you know, and it's like trying one thing at a time. Like, you can't try it all at once. I don't, I don't believe. I think you have to get really comfortable, really fat, like, with certain things, and get really good at one thing, and then, okay, let's tackle the next thing that we can improve. And we were always pretty good about Pre-Bolus thing, because I did understand the importance of that with my background, with my job. So like, seems like it can be scary too, because what if he doesn't want to eat what you Bolus him for, but I've been so lucky that he'll eat everything. And, you know, I found like, Oh, if he doesn't want to eat, you know, something like, you add a little bit of something else that calculates to run the same amount of carbs, he'll he'll never say no to some ice cream. He'll never say no to something to give him a little bit more carbs. That's a treat, if you will.
Scott Benner 47:04
I'll say this, you're focused on what you're doing. You're paying attention. Things are making sense to you. Really. You're at the point now where you need to not overwhelm yourself and burn out and continue to have experiences that you learn from and build on your portfolio of knowledge. Correct.
Lauren 47:21
And then there's definitely ways we can improve, for sure, and we're not all the way there. So it's a constant process and a battle that you always have to fight. And well,
Scott Benner 47:32
yeah, I hope you stop seeing it as a battle at some point. And I mean, yeah, in the first year I get it, it is a battle at some point, it should feel more of like a marriage of, you know, you know, that's not, not always easy, or something like that, like, you know, like, yeah, something you're happier to be involved with that you know, can be difficult at times out of the blue, sometimes, you know, you're not stunned by when it, when it goes sideways, and you're not sitting there thinking, like, oh, I can't believe I have to do this. It's almost like a thing you're happy to be involved in. Happy is the wrong word, but like, you know what I mean? Like, you're okay being involved to take care of them and help, and it's like a bigger thing, you know, it's bigger than the moment usually, yeah, I think that happened for you. I think you're
Lauren 48:17
like, I'm in a like, it's like an extreme sport to some extent, you know, and that you have to, you know, have a different level of endurance. So and you have to train your body, just like an athlete has to train their body to be prepared for this new level of what you are required to think about and do on a day to day basis that you've never had to do before. And that's what I'm like. I have to train my body to get comfortable and a stronger endurance for
Scott Benner 48:46
a lot of this. Just don't forget
Lauren 48:48
to sleep. No, that's why, I think that's why Jenny wants us to loop because she wants us to sleep too. And I funny. I think it's funny, not funny, but interesting. Like when we go back down to our endos appointment, he's always like, I feel like he's more worried about us than our son. He calls us that tells us we're sugar surfing. Or I feel like we bump and nudge, which is probably the same thing
Scott Benner 49:08
during the day, if you're on top of it, and you don't mind being on top of it, I didn't find it to be taxing during the day. It's at night when you have to do it. It's like, it's a little more like, you know, like
Lauren 49:19
the sleep Yeah, it wears on you. It can be very, very tiring, you know. And I think you also taught us to, like, lower your alarms, to go off sooner, because if you can treat something sooner, you need less insulin. And so it's just listening to all these things and applying them that is so important. And I'm so grateful for, well,
Scott Benner 49:40
I appreciate it even the way, like the bold beginnings or the pro tips or whatever are structured. It's kind of a bigger idea, meaning, like, I want you as the listener to be captured by the idea that this is possible. And then I want to give you bare bones ideas that hopefully. Lead you to thinking like, oh, wow, this is possible. I'm doing it. It sounds like you're there, right? But at the same time, if the next episode of That was like, hey, now listen, you know, 130 overnights okay if you need to sleep or something like, I think it sends a missed a mixed message then. But I do think that if you know you need to sleep one night and the blood sugar is 130 I don't think you should sit up all night trying to make it 85 like. I do believe that it's also a thing that I do. But in my mind, you can't mix that into the instruction manual, the initial instruction manual. It can't be like, You don't mean it can't be like, Hey, this is very important. You absolutely have to do this, unless it's Friday at 3pm and then don't worry about it, because I think that's what gives people the permission to ignore things, you know what I mean? Like, I want you to get to the point where once you know how it really works, then you can adapt it to your life. Like, right? Like, I don't expect you to do it exactly like that. I've heard people say, like, you know, I What's he think I'm going to follow these exact rules? And I'm like, No, I'm like, this is just the stuff I noticed. Like, do what you want with it. Like, I don't care. I'm
Lauren 51:01
so grateful you just said that, and I heard you say that right now. And because it's good to hear that, that it's okay to have one night at a 130 so that you can recharge and get a good night's sleep, and you get back on that horse tomorrow. And obviously, I totally understand what you're saying, but it's really good to hear you say that, because you have been so successful, I know that if I do that one night, or if I can't stay awake, or it does drift up past that, it will still be okay, and we can still be successful, because it's really easy to get hung up on feeling bad if you have a bad day or something goes wrong, and being able to bounce back from that, but also not get complacent, like, I'm also can't be okay with, you know, 130 or overnight for forever?
Scott Benner 51:49
Yeah, no. But frankly, yeah, 131 50, 202, like, none of that, you know, I don't know what the analogy here is. I didn't know this was all going to get this big when I made that stuff. I I also didn't have all the information in my head now then that I have now I didn't have, you know, back when the pro tips were made, as an example, I hadn't been a person who ran a Facebook group with 75,000 people in it. I wasn't that pre I didn't get to see people's reactions and 19 different perspectives. I had my perspective and the ones that I could imagine, but not everybody else is now I I'm a little closer to having maybe a complete portfolio of perspectives, but I'm still paying attention to other people, because there are times people say something that I thought, Oh, I wouldn't have thought of that, you know, and then I look around and I think, I'm they're not the only one that thinks that way. I'll have to adapt myself to understand that this is also, you know, a concern or a way of thinking. And even if I had all that information on day one, there's no way I could have gotten it all into that. I put that series together in a way that it should leave you honestly. It should leave you right where you are. If you're focused and you understand it, and you put in some effort. You should have an A, 1c, and the low sixes, high fives, depending on how you eat. To me, that's what happens when you understand that Pro Tip series. You know, you understand what I'm saying. Am I making sense?
Lauren 53:12
Yes. And I, like I said, it's people like me who are new into this. Need to hear this, because the doctors just want you under seven. And I like, that's not good enough, and I kind of resent that that's the goal, and I understand that it's hard, and I understand but like, they can do better for everyone, especially like the children. I feel like we can do better, and with the technology and all that stuff, we can do better, and you're the reason that we do better not because of what our endo team? Yeah, no, I appreciate that taught us or helped us
Scott Benner 53:44
with. I'll defend them and try to alleviate your anger a little bit too. Like they don't know you. They don't know everybody. They've got a system. You know, here's the stuff I do. This is what it's done for me. I've seen enough people mimic it that and it worked out for them the same way that I'm pretty comfortable saying, like, you should give it a listen and see if it makes sense to you. They can't do that. Right? They can't give you. I
Lauren 54:07
wish that they I wish that they wanted people to have better than a seven, a, 1c, like, I wish that the standards on what they were focusing on war was tighter control. And I know we're like, just shifting to time and range, but, like, I don't necessarily love that either, unless we're going to tighten that range, because you can hang out at 170 all day.
Scott Benner 54:27
Is that's awful. I think the time and range, the way it's set up right now. What is it, 70 to 180 is that how they talk about it? Yes, yes, that's based on, I'm guessing, what the establishment believes is possible, and what they've seen from people, and what leaves you under a 780, 1c et cetera. They're shooting for commonly accepted ideas and and they're trying to make space for, I would imagine, the fact that everybody's not the same. Everybody doesn't understand it the same. They don't have the same amount of effort. They don't have the same access
Lauren 54:59
to right. And I know that, and I understand that component of it, or like, knowledge or willingness to, I mean, everyone
Scott Benner 55:06
medications, you know, like all that. Yes, hey, with your last couple of minutes here you're obviously, you're involved in pharma. You said, like, you know, the people who make the insulin, so, like, I'm guessing somewhere between where you live and how you're talking, you worked for Lily or novo, you don't have to say that's sort of my expectation there. And then you talked about like, glps, yeah, tell me what you saw. Tell me what you saw while you were at work that made you think about them. Oh my
Lauren 55:34
gosh. They are miracle drugs. I was so excited too. So I was actually at Santa Fe. I did start my diabetes career at Santa Fe, so I was Atlantis and a PJ girl. And then I did. I started at Lily that before not in diabetes. Went to Santa Fe's to get involved into the diabetes marketplace, because that's where I thought it was best for my job. And then came back to Lily because I knew what they were going to be launching, and I wanted I realized, like, hey, the GLP ones are great, wonderful medications. Like, I want to be a part of this and learn about them. And they are miracle drugs. They do wonderful, wonderful things for people. And, like I said, I kind of was, like, angry. I don't even know if I could do my job anymore, because, like, I'm jealous at the sense that, like, it's not indicated for my child, and what they can do for someone, and I get frustrated to think, and I know they are, I think they are starting to do studies around in type one diabetics for these medications, but they can really change The outlook and the forecast of someone who has diabetes, and it's, they're like, I said, they're really, really life changing, and their future is bright for the type two diabetes market place, with what's going to be capable for people. And it's with, I think it's also like, you don't have to do it the hard way, like using insulin is difficult, right? And you do have these risks of hypoglycemia if you're using it, if you're you know dosing properly, if you will. And I think people are really under utilizing insulin and dose don't dose it have proper ratios to prevent the hypoglycemic episodes. But that's here or there. But what the GLP ones can do for you, I mean, and what I've seen people transform, it's it. They're wonderful. And I know you've had wonderful experiences with them, too. And what they can do with insulin sensitivity is amazing, yeah, and I've loved listening to the episodes where
Scott Benner 57:35
you talk about them. Well, I'm glad. I appreciate you sharing your perspective on it. Yeah, I'll tell you that. Gosh, I feel like I've said this already, but my wife came home from work 10 years ago and longer now, honestly, and she works in the safety side of things and and so, and she said, Hey, there's a drug one day, people are just going to take it and lose weight. And I was like, really? She goes, yeah. She's like, it's like an injectable. And she's like, you're just gonna lose weight. And that's all she really knew about it. And I said, what, you know? Why are you telling me about this? She said, I just saw a lot of the data come back from studies and everything. And she's like, it's a type two medication, but it's gonna be a weight loss drug. I think,
Lauren 58:14
yep, she was right.
Scott Benner 58:16
Yeah, she just said that, and then never said it again. You know, like it was just the thing she said one time. And then all, you know, lo and behold, a few years ago, people started, it was out there before people knew. And then it kind of caught trend, and a couple of famous people lost some weight. I think that put, like a focus on people and
Lauren 58:34
and then there's a shortage, and it's stressful, and, oh my gosh, all
Scott Benner 58:38
that stuff you expect to happen happens like, they're not going to make a ton of it if before they know if they're going to sell it and like that kind of stuff. And then that all happens like that. And there's, you know, every one of the arguments that you can, kind of like, foresee easily that are going to come. But then one day, you know, I went to the doctor and just said, like, you know, I'm not okay. Like, I need help. And the doctor was like, Oh, I'll put you on a GLP medication. And I was like, Okay. And then, you know, I said to my wife, this is what's happening. Maybe you should do it too. And now today, I think together, Kelly and I have lost 200 pounds. Isn't
Lauren 59:13
that amazing? Yeah. I mean, I don't know. I know you say you did, but like, Did you realize that that was even something you could have done? Like, did you think that between the two of you, you could even lose that much weight? No,
Scott Benner 59:24
no, no, no, no. That's not an expectation, like
Lauren 59:28
life changing medicine that I mean, which, and I know they're studying it in more places, but it's the benefits it can have and that it does have, and the stories I've heard from people who have been on these it it's just, it's really unbelievable, and I hope the doctors hear them, and I encourage people to tell the doctors their experience, not just about their weight, but other things that are happening that have improved their life, because I believe it extends beyond just the weight loss. Obviously people feel better when they're, you know, to a whole different level once with with that, I think mentally, socially, all, all of those things they need to know. And I also think that if you are diabetic, or you've had even pre diabetic numbers like it can help lower. I mean, not people who go from being like high a 1c, is type two diabetic to normal blood sugars. With this, with just having this medication on board, is also really, really phenomenal and not discussed enough. And I think that doctors can have better standards for their patients by using these medicines. And even, you know, we don't, we're not just shooting for the seven. Let's shoot for a below a six, because it's possible.
Scott Benner 1:00:42
Because why not? There's studies going on in all kinds of different disease states and how GOP ones might help them. Yes, you know, a lot of that comes from community people too, which is nice. It's a group of people saying, like, hey, you know, I went on this for weight, and look what else happened. And then, you know, and then they're online, and somebody goes, Yo. That happened to me too. I thought that I've watched those conversations happen, like, Oh, I thought I was imagining that. And then next thing, you know, there's 1000 people in there saying it, and you're like, oh, that maybe is part of and then now they go study it and try to figure it out. It's gonna be awesome. Like, I, you know, happy to tell people all the time, like, I'm not anemic anymore, since I went on a GOP medication.
Lauren 1:01:20
Yeah. Do you think it will what dose Are you on now? Of the Manjaro I
Scott Benner 1:01:24
use? Well, yes, that bound. But Manjaro I use 12. I use 12.5 but I'm not really trying to lose weight anymore. So Right? Wondering if I, I don't know if I should go back a little bit, or if I should mess around and try to see if there's a lower amount that would do the same thing. What does your doctor want you to do? You know she and I actually haven't talked about it in a little while. I'm due, I'm due to go back in and chat with her again about it, but that's going to be something that I bring up next time I am really, like, very stable right now at a certain weight, I have one more thing I'm going to work out about my health, and then I think I'm going to be in a good spot, and then I want to really sit back and assess it and then make a decision about, like, you know, if, if I should be searching for a number, an amount that could be lower. I don't know. Do
Lauren 1:02:12
you worry that you it might stop working?
Scott Benner 1:02:15
Oh, I mean, I don't worry about it, because I'm not, I'm not a an anxious person. But if that happened, I would run my head right through a wall. Yeah. So, because I had to stop it for a week for a surgery, I really focused on not changing my eating at all. I really, was really as careful as I could be, and I still, I gained six pounds that week, yeah, yeah. And I was like, that's, this is insane. So, right, yeah. Also, it can. It can, once you've lost the weight, to, not gonna lie to you, like, it can be a crutch sometimes, like, there are times where you're like, Oh, I could have a piece of cake right now, because the medicine will take care of it, and it kind of does. It slows your digestion down, like, keeps your insulin levels better, like, and
Lauren 1:03:01
you notice that, do you ever wear a CGM while? I know you've talked about wearing CGM before, but it's curious, if you ever wore a CGM while, honest? GLP, yeah, notice a difference from your original I did. It's like,
Scott Benner 1:03:14
you're not it's like the joke. It's like the CGM is not working. It's just repeating the same line over and over again. You
Lauren 1:03:19
know, see, oh my gosh. And I wish doctors would also put more people on the CGM when they prescribe these to really see what it's doing, because it's they don't, I don't know that they do that. And that would tell a whole different story too, and give up different real, a big, different perspective. I
Scott Benner 1:03:38
think being studied, how amazing it is eczema. PCOS, anxiety, fatty liver, yeah, heart disease. I said to my brother the other day, I'm like, I'm gonna live forever on this GOP, I
Lauren 1:03:51
mean, right, and, but there's more. There's gonna be new things coming. So be excited about the new thing and see if you're gonna switch and paying attention, right? I know you need everyone should be. It's, it's exciting. Like I said, I hope that with this, like, we get more comfortable and using them in type ones
Scott Benner 1:04:07
too. Somebody said to me recently, like, do you think you're gonna have to take that forever? And I said, probably. And they're like, oh, and they got all like that. And the person who said it to me is not like the picture of health. And I thought, well, I'll be bright and chipper at your funeral. Don't make fun of me. You should be looking into it for yourself, don't, you know, right?
Lauren 1:04:26
And it's, I'm out of cholesterol medicine, not because I, you know, I don't have a weight issue. I it's, it's hereditary. I've, you know, heart disease runs in my family. I had slightly elevated cholesterol. I started a medication way before the average female that takes starts one, and if I stop that medication, it's a crime. It's a lifelong thing for me too, like just a pill. I mean, it's so, so easy, but if I stopped in my it doesn't matter what I eat my blood, my cholesterol levels will become elevated again. So it's lifelong for me, and no one's judging me that I'm taking. Taking that for the rest of my life,
Scott Benner 1:05:01
I take the job of an actuary very, very serious. And like those tables are incredibly accurate. And if you don't know what I'm talking about, like there are there's research, there's tables that actuaries used to, you know, pinpoint how and when you're going to die. And trust me, you fall into a bucket that they can pretty accurately figure out I was not going to get for whatever reason. God bless my body. I was not going to get type two diabetes, right? So I'm overweight, and my endo keeps telling me, she's like, You are so like, I'm looking at your a 1c she's like, I really don't think you'll ever get type two she's like, it just feels like your body's not that's not going to be its failing point. So with that in mind, I was going to have a heart attack one day. Like, one day, maybe it would have been when I was 70. I have absolutely no idea, right? Like, but if you think you're going to be the one overweight person who lives till they're 100 that's I heard somebody say the other day, like, you see a lot of fat old people, do you? And I was like, No, I guess not. I'm not in as good of health as I could possibly be in. I think I'm not the picture of health, but I'm in as bad as good of health as this body is going to handle. Right? This gives me the best possibility I have of making it as far as I can, as well as I can, for as long as I can. That's the way I see that like it's, it's and listen, if you wake up tomorrow and turn the podcast on and it's the editor, and he goes, Hey everybody, I'm so sorry to tell you, Scott's dead. I have 35 episodes of the show left. I'll put them up for you, and then that'll be the end of it. Like you say, okay, it didn't work out. But if I look up when I'm 80 and my joints feel better and My back feels better, and my heart's working better, and I don't have clogged arteries, and I don't have type two diabetes and all this other stuff like you think it's gonna matter to me that I had to do an injection once a week. You kidding?
Lauren 1:06:50
Exactly now it's it's amazing, and we should be all lucky that it's available to us now, and God bless the researchers and the scientists who develop these things, because it it will change a lot for a lot of
Scott Benner 1:07:03
people, celebrate smart people, like they're out there doing that stuff right and, by the way, if you can live till 80 doing a sit up and eat in a certain way, and your body's, like, jives with that, like, right on. Like, I'm not telling you to use a ninja, I'm telling you where I was that wasn't happening for me. Yeah. And it's
Lauren 1:07:20
important to be proactive with that, that sort of oh yeah stuff. You can't be reactive. I mean, you've got to be proactive with your health. I
Scott Benner 1:07:27
wish it existed sooner. I would have done it sooner if I knew about it, so I know, yeah. Anyway, you all can do whatever you want. It's been
Lauren 1:07:35
successful, and it hopefully still will be. And like I said, keep the advancements coming, and it's positive for all of those struggling with these things, because it's real. I had to
Scott Benner 1:07:45
go to a doctor's appointment the other day at a new doctor I'd never been to before, and the girl at the front desk hand me back my driver's license, and we chatted a little more, and she's like, Oh, I'm glad you added that. I forget what I said. I added some context to something. And she's like, I'm glad you said that, because I actually was sitting here thinking that maybe you had stolen this driver's license. Oh my goodness, yeah, she thought I was like, maybe committing fraud. Because she's like, I didn't think that that was you in the driver's license. Well, that's, I mean, somehow sad and lovely at the same time?
Lauren 1:08:21
Well, yes, especially since driver's license photos are so not good
Scott Benner 1:08:25
anyways. But it's only four years old, and she's like, this, isn't you, is it? And I was like, No, it was. It's not now, I guess so. Yeah, right on. I'm in and if I I'll say the thing I haven't said in a long time. If I grow a tail from it, I'll just write that bound on the tail. I'll be like, That's okay,
Lauren 1:08:44
exactly, exactly. And you know what? They've been studied long time there. There's been other medicines out there before, the ozempic and the Manjaro, the Zepp bound, wegovy, the there's been other ones before that. They weren't
Scott Benner 1:08:58
as longer than you think you will, yeah, yes.
Lauren 1:09:01
So these medicines, this class of medication, has been studied for a long time, you know, over 20 years.
Scott Benner 1:09:09
You know what I mean, right? Yeah, I didn't hear you talking about it then.
Lauren 1:09:12
So, oh well, yeah. So, I mean, they're, they're there, and there's the safety is there. So it's like, stop hating on it from the people who are like, Oh, what's gonna happen in 20 years? I
Scott Benner 1:09:25
don't know, but I do know what was gonna happen. And so I do think that sometimes we make our judgments the wrong way. And you see, like, I saw a news story this morning, like, 104 year old ladies still work six days a week, blah, blah, blah. Like everyone thinks that's who they're going to be. That's a random thing. And you ever notice when you talk to those people too? They're like, I cake every day and I've been smoking since I was 12. These people weren't dying no matter what exactly they won, some sort of a genetic lottery. We all didn't win that lottery,
Lauren 1:09:57
so, right? And we're not invincible. Oh, there's a handful that are, yeah,
Scott Benner 1:10:01
there's Yeah. There's a random few people who just, who knows for what reason they're just gonna go forever, no matter what they do to themselves. But instead, people take away from it. Oh, look, that lady is 104 and she smokes cigarettes and works every day and blah, blah, so I'll be fine. Yeah, no, that's not how I what you want to believe? Yeah, I ain't going out like that. What do you think? Right?
Lauren 1:10:25
Yep, and I admire it. And like I said, I'm so grateful for you and what you've done and sharing your experiences, it makes a big, big difference. And so keep doing it, please.
Scott Benner 1:10:37
I appreciate it. I am going to go have lunch now and then, Arden and I are going out because I'm doing a little speaking thing next week, and I need a since we're talking about it, I'll tell you, I need a pair of pants in a smaller size. We're going out to get
Lauren 1:10:51
some. That's the best feeling. That's what people we joke you like people you need. They will save money on food, but they will also need to have spend more money on some new clothes, most likely, if they commit to this
Scott Benner 1:11:02
medicine. It was so drastic that we, my wife and I both made a conscious effort. We only bought enough. We started buying clothing, thinking about it in like, six to eight week terms, so we'd only buy a couple of I were the same thing, yeah, because then and then we would just, we took them off and then put them in a bag and then we donated them to a shelter. Yep, we just kept doing that for two years.
Lauren 1:11:27
Yeah, that's where the expense comes at, is needing the new clothes for sure.
Speaker 1 1:11:32
Lot of donated clothes in the last two years have left the house. So anyway, I would, I would like that money back. I'll contact Lily and see if there's a program for the for the southbound that I get. Give them the idea, give them the idea. I should listen. I get some clothing money out of it anyway. Thank you very much. I really appreciate it. Thank you.
Scott Benner 1:11:59
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