#1810 Best of Juicebox: Owner of a Useless Pancreas
Your pancreas isn't dead. It actually still does some important stuff. Today Jenny and Scott explain what your pancreas does and what it may be struggling with that isn't insulin related.
Companies that Support Juicebox
Key Takeaways
- The Pancreas Does More Than Make Insulin: While Type 1 diabetes halts the pancreas's endocrine function (making insulin), its exocrine function (producing digestive enzymes) can also be impaired. Poor digestion might not be "just a stomach ache"—it could be an enzyme deficiency.
- Digestive Enzymes as a Missing Link: If you or your child with T1D experience chronic constipation, severe stomach pain, or slow-digesting meals that mess up your bolus timing, over-the-counter digestive enzymes (like lipase, amylase, and protease) might offer significant relief.
- Don't Accept "In-Range" for Thyroid or Iron if You Have Symptoms: If you're experiencing extreme fatigue, an "in-range" Ferritin level under 70 or a TSH over 2.0 might still be the culprit. Push your doctor for therapeutic treatments (like an iron infusion or thyroid meds) rather than accepting a technical "in-range" dismissal.
- Treat the Root Cause, Not the Symptom: Doctors often prescribe medications to cover up symptoms (like pain pills for stomach aches) rather than investigating the root cause (like poor digestion or absorption issues). Advocate for comprehensive testing.
- Gut Health Impacts Overall Autoimmune Health: A compromised digestive system can increase systemic inflammation and trigger or worsen other autoimmune conditions (like celiac or thyroid issues). Maintaining a healthy gut is a crucial part of managing T1D.
Resources Mentioned
- T1D Exchange Survey: t1dexchange.org/juicebox
- Dexcom G6: dexcom.com/juicebox
- Omnipod (Dash and 5): omnipod.com/juicebox
- Integrated Diabetes Services: integrateddiabetes.com
- Figwee App
- Juice Box Podcast Episode 767: Arden's Supplements
- Juice Box Podcast Episode 413: Thyroid Symptoms Explained
Introduction and the Role of the Pancreas
Scott BennerHello, friends, and welcome to episode 792 of the juice box podcast. Do you wanna know what it's about? I'll tell you in just a second. It is likely that you've seen a t shirt that says owner of a dead pancreas, owner of a useless pancreas, my pancreas quit on me, or, you know, any number of variations of that theme. Well, yeah, I hear what you're saying. Feels like that. Right? Won't make you any insulin, but maybe you didn't know that the pancreas does more than that. So even if it's not making insulin for you, it's still helping you with something else that's very important. But for some people, it doesn't do that thing perfectly. Just listen. We're gonna go over the whole thing. It's very important that you understand what your pancreas does and what it might not be doing. And if you're seeing symptoms of that, how you can help yourself. You're gonna love it. And, of course, Jenny's here. So, I mean, even if I suck, Jenny's amazing. 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. That's pretty much it. Except, hey. Don't forget to go to the t1dexchange and take the survey. T1dexchange.org/juicebox. Today's episode of the podcast is sponsored by two longtime advertisers. Dexcom, makers of the Dexcom g six continuous glucose monitor, and Omnipod, the insulin pump that my daughter has been wearing since she was four years old. To learn more about the Dexcom g six and to get started today, go to dexcom.com/juicebox. And if you're interested in the Omnipod five or the Omnipod dash, you can find out about both of them at omnipod.com/juicebox. Now we get to the show. And Jenny, who by the way works at integrateddiabetes.com. Hey. Hold on. Yeah. What's up?
Jenny SmithHow are you feeling?
Scott BennerMy head's a little swimmy, but I can breathe.
Jenny SmithThat's not good. I was gonna actually see if you wanted if you were okay to do this this morning or if you wanted to sleep until noon.
Scott BennerWell, what I thought was if I could do this, then I could do the thing later. Because if this doesn't go well, I gotta make a phone call.
Jenny SmithGotcha.
Scott BennerBut, hey, I was cold all night, like, kind of like
Jenny SmithI can't get warm, like, insert.
Scott BennerOh my god. Why won't I warm up? Then you but I don't know. It's it's super strange. I have no restriction in my lungs whatsoever. But if I start to cough on purpose, then it feels like something's happening. So, hopefully, that won't get worse. Jenny, you have no idea. I am
Jenny SmithI'm sorry.
Scott BennerI don't get sick.
Jenny SmithThanks. I know you told me that the last time we talked. You're like, I'm fine. I don't get sick.
Scott BennerAnd I blew right through.
Jenny SmithNothing ever happens to be cough on me.
Scott BennerIt'll be fine. This thing, I texted my buddy yesterday. He's a doctor. And I said, what's going around that isn't COVID?
Jenny SmithHe
Scott BennerRSV. Goes Is that what it is? Yeah. Yeah. Because he's
Jenny Smithlike I've had so many kids, so many parents. Like, I'm home with my kids. I hope you don't mind. They're screaming in the backyard. They all have or in the background while we talk. They all have RSV. One lady, actually, their whole daycare shut down because three quarters of the daycare had r s RSV. So yeah. You know?
Scott BennerYeah. He's like, it's gonna be head, chest, tired, could last ten days or more, he said. I was like, oh, good. So as I'm asking him that, my son comes home from a place he went. He's like, I'm not okay. And I was like, alright. I was like, get in bed, loaded him up with some Advil, cold and sinus, which seems to clear the head thing. So, anyway, we just need to be better because I'm gonna find a way to go to the World Series. And I I know
Jenny SmithYou are.
Scott BennerI mean, if I can. I'm gonna figure it out if I can. Alright.
Jenny SmithWell, you know plenty of people. I'm quite sure that somebody would probably be very happy to give you tickets, Scott.
Scott BennerI've already floated that on the Internet to see what might happen. So I was like I said, how would you like your kid to have amazing blood sugar?
Jenny SmithYes. Kind of like runs with Jenny. Right?
Scott BennerRuns with Jenny. Oh my god. Yes. She did. What so tell me but we'll leave this all in. Tell me what happened yesterday.
Jenny SmithOh, yeah. It was it's just I it's just funny. I call it diabetes in the wild. Right? Where you, like, you find people or you see their tubing or you see something on someone, you know, whatever. So, yeah, I had a half marathon yesterday running, running, running. It was, like, mile five ish, I think. Mhmm. And I hear like, I always run with only one earbud in
Scott BennerYeah.
Jenny SmithBecause I I I don't like complete, like
Scott BennerMhmm.
Jenny SmithNot being able to pay attention. Anyway, I hear this, like, really stompy feet coming. They could be high, and somebody's, like, breathing heavy to the to the point that I knew that they were running quickly. And this woman, like, speeds up next to me, and she's like, I was trying to catch you. I saw your Dexcom on your arm. And I was like, oh, yeah. She's like, I have a little girl who's, had type one a long time, and she did yes. It was like a two day sort of event. Yesterday was like the five k, the five k dog, jog, and that kind of stuff. And then the day yesterday was the half marathon, and then the kids, like, fun run.
Scott BennerMhmm.
Jenny SmithSo her daughter had done the five k the day before on Saturday. And she's like, you know, I thought we're we're all good, and then she's like, double arrowing down at the end of the event. She's like, I just wanted to know how do you prevent low blood sugars while you're running, she said. And this is a half marathon, not a five k. So we got to talking and, you know, it was just it's always fun to to, like, be able to share and whatnot. And I said, well, I said, to be honest, I've been doing this a long time. And two, I'm a diabetes educator. And three, you should really listen to this super awesome podcast.
Scott BennerJenny's out there selling. I like that.
Jenny SmithBut, yeah, we got to talking and just like some ideas. She's her daughter's also just a couple of days into Omnipod five. Mhmm. So, like, lots of variables in the picture there for this race, that's you know, she's like, we've been doing this a number I her daughter had had type one already for six years. They're not like newbies by any means, but just new technology and everything in the picture and just trying to figure things out.
Scott BennerNew algorithm Yeah. And three days later on a marathon.
Jenny SmithYeah. Yeah.
Scott BennerLook at you out there in the world. It was it
Jenny Smithwas it's always it's always fun. Excellent. You know? We
Scott Benneralright. Cool. So here's what we're gonna do today because just in case I don't leave in the explanation, I have the illness upon me. And I'm going to see I'm gonna keep the one topic today because I think jumping around might get me. I'm gonna stick the one thing.
Jenny SmithSo Now people are gonna think, well, what kind of illness does Scott had? Because all you said was the illness. Yes.
Scott BennerI know it's
Jenny SmithIt could be a random whatever is going around. Right?
Scott BennerHere it is. It it's a I was sleeping in bed on my side and I was I woke up and I'm like, oh, I'm very tired. I should text Jenny and tell her no. I'm like, no. I'm not gonna do that. I'm gonna get up. I'm gonna take a shower. I'll take the dogs out. I can do this. My voice is there. I'm gonna be okay. And I got up and I was like, oh, I'm freezing.
Jenny SmithLet's get back in bed.
Scott BennerI put all my clothes on. I had my hood up to take the dogs outside. I came back upstairs. I I I'm not a person who prepares before a shower. That might be a thing that women don't understand, but I usually get out of the shower and then look for my clothes. But this time, I got all my clothes together because I'm like, I'm not getting out and being cold.
Jenny SmithRight.
Scott BennerI finished my shower. I opened the shower curtain, and I did not get a towel.
Jenny SmithOh, no. So I was like,
Scott Bennerdamn it. Damn it. And I got a towel, and now I'm freezing and threw the clothes on. And then I just did something I never do. I I had fifteen minutes till we had to do this. I just sat down. I was like, I'm just I'm not I'm just gonna sit here. So I'm wearing a sweatshirt right now. By the time we're done, I could be in a tank top. I have no idea how this is gonna go. But what we're going to do today
Jenny SmithYeah.
Scott BennerWe are going to debunk the classic diabetes phrase, owner of go ahead, Jenny. Finish it.
Jenny SmithA dead pancreas.
Scott BennerThat's right. It is time to debunk owner of a dead pancreas. And it there's so I've got my Google. Foo is all done because I don't wanna be wrong. And I but I have a lot of anecdotal information about this.
Jenny SmithOh, good.
Scott BennerSo let's start here. The Cleveland Clinic, a reputable organization.
Jenny SmithYes. Very reputable.
Scott BennerI mean, it would I was gonna say it would have to be great to be in Cleveland, but let's not do that. The pancreas is an pancreas is an organ in the back of your abdomen. It is part of your digestive system. Oh. Mhmm. The pancreas is an organ and a gland. Glands are organs that produce and release substances in the body. Mhmm. The pancreas performs two main functions, an exocrine function, which produces substances, enzymes that help with digestion.
Jenny SmithYou just had lots and lots of enzymes talking about Arden in her supplements. So, yes.
Scott BennerAnd it so I'm gonna there's one more thing here. Let me finish this. It says the endocrine function sends out hormones that control the amount of sugar in your bloodstream. So let's tell people what's in the exocrine system. Oh, Jesus. Tear glands, mammary glands, mucous membranes, your prostate, your salivary glands. I don't know this one. Sebaceous glands?
Jenny SmithSebaceous.
Scott BennerSebaceous oil, sweet glands. And then what is in the endocrine system? Adrenal glands, uh-oh, hypothalamus, ovaries and testes, parathyroid and thyroid gland, pineal gland, pituitary gland, thymus.
Jenny SmithMhmm.
Scott BennerOh, I did really well with the pronunciations, didn't I?
Jenny SmithExcept you called them sweet glands instead of sweat glands. Oh my god. I'm gonna I was totally chuckling. Like, you're like, yeah. You have a fever, I think. Well,
Scott Bennerfirst of all, I do. And but for a person who's, you know, trying to sit up and keep his head still, I thought I did okay there. Okay.
Jenny SmithYou did perfect.
The Gut and Digestive Issues in T1D
Scott BennerYeah. Thank you, sweat glands. Alright. Now the extent that I've seen this in the diabetes community is just this. People have t shirts that say proud owner of a useless pancreas, proud owner of a dead pancreas. And then someone else will come up to them and say, your pancreas does more than make insulin. And then it never goes anywhere from there.
Jenny SmithRight.
Scott BennerBut I've heard that conversation for the better part of the entire time that Arden's had diabetes. And yet, when Arden had problems with digestion, we looked at every other possibility in the world about why her stomach might hurt except for digestion. And she suffered for a couple of years.
Jenny SmithYeah. Yeah. You looked at her digestive system without looking at the pieces that help digestion. Right? It's it's like looking at just the part or giving, which is very common. I have to say it. Oftentimes, you go in with a symptom and you get a medication to take care of the symptom, but the problem is never addressed.
Scott BennerYes. Right? And I can for sure say that because by the time we broke down, and I wanna give my wife credit, my wife tried to get me to take her for a endoscopy for like a year. Mhmm. And I was so certain because of the joint pain and that other stuff, I thought I was so certain it can't be that. But now I'm here to tell you that I am I am fully down the hippie rabbit hole about your gut health. And we're gonna talk about that now too. So I I it's one don't you think it's one of those things most people hear? And they're like, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. My problem is that.
Jenny SmithYeah. It's very it is. I mean, you say hippie. It's kind of earthy, crunchy, sort of whatever. But truly, I mean, your digestive system is an enormous part of your immune system.
Scott BennerMhmm.
Jenny SmithIt's an enormous part of you think you think digestion and you think about poop. At least my boys do. Right? Like, they're little kids, so whatever. But if you think about what your digestive system is really supposed to be doing, it's breaking down the food that you've eaten into macronutrients, fats, proteins, carbs
Scott BennerMhmm.
Jenny SmithAnd then it helps to absorb them the right way and put them back into the body, at least the ones that you hope go back into your body.
Scott BennerYeah.
Jenny SmithRight? So if the breakdown isn't happening the right way, you're gonna end up with a lot of digestive issues possibly first or later on. And you're also gonna have a lot of other things in your body that aren't functioning the way that they're supposed to be functioning. But there again, it comes off as a symptom. You may feel the joint pain. You may have an off monthly cycle, or you might have this or that, but it never comes back to, well, gosh. Is it an absorptive issue? Is it another problem with another, like, you know, the the pancreas? Is it something else? So
Scott BennerAlso, while your stomach is basically acting as I'm gonna just say something terrible here, a cesspool for food because it is not going through you quickly enough. Right? It just stuff is sitting in there and it's festering. It is not a healthy environment. The bad bacteria overwhelms the good bacteria. And then you slide down like a it's just an endless shoot. But the problem is, this is crazy. If you look back over the 700 and some episodes of this podcast, we've hit every idea around this except the idea of digestion. We have episodes two sixty three, fat and protein, four seventy one, bolus insulin for fat. And there you go. Like, right, what do most people see? A spike after a meal, and it's probably because their digestion has slowed down. Right? The insulin don't you know, that's how I start thinking about it. Like, if you if it takes longer to digest fat, then your insulin gets in and it's gone while the fat still remains behind and the carbs holding up your blood sugar. And then we attack that from a bolusing standpoint, which makes sense. And then low carb people come in yelling, it's because you eat bad food and they're probably not wrong, but it doesn't get us to the answer.
Jenny SmithIt doesn't and and it also doesn't get to the mean point which, you know, you have long and we've emphasized when we've talked together, it is about a timing thing and understanding insulin. Right? So if you it's it's a multi piece thing that you have to put together. Right? You have to understand, and that's why we've talked about bolus strategizing for fats and proteins versus carbohydrates and the timing of it and what it should look like. But if you've got some other things that are going on digestively that are based on how your enzymes are working with the food, some of that may also be playing in. Mhmm. And, I mean, again, it sort of leads you into this rabbit hole of consideration.
Scott BennerYeah. Well, here's the rabbit hole. We Arden goes finally to get an end what am I saying? Endoscopy. And the doctor first, I'm gonna read you first, I'm gonna read you a a definition. Then we're gonna talk about
Jenny Smiththe doctor. Okay.
Scott BennerGastroparesis is a condition that affects the normal spontaneous movement of the muscles or motility in your stomach. Ordinarily, strong muscular contractions propel food through your digestive tract. You'll notice that the definition for gastroparesis never mentions the word diabetes. Because in a normal person who doesn't have diabetes, if you had slow digestion, they would say to you, oh, you're digesting your food slowly. It's called gastroparesis. When we hear the word gastroparesis, we think, oh my god, here it comes. Right? Diabetes has gotten us and and and here it is. So we we do the we go to the we go to the doctor. He doesn't know Arden. We tell him her blood sugars are very well controlled. Here's the range it's in. And then I realized, he probably doesn't believe us. Didn't ask to see it. And then he goes in, looks in her stomach, and finds food from the night before. He's like, there's lettuce in Arden's stomach from twelve hours ago. She has gastroparesis. Mhmm. So my wife and I are like, woah. Woah. Like, it it hit you like a ton of bricks. You know? Yeah. And and I was like, what what? And then my wife started saying, I think he's just he it's and and we're just doing that, going back and forth and back and forth. And we talked about it. I talked about it. I did a standalone episode seven sixty seven called Arden supplements. But just for thirty seconds here, we went home. I called Jenny. We talked about how to get Arden on a, on a, what is it, a gastroparesis diet. Right? That's what they call it?
Jenny SmithThat's yeah. For lack of a better word. Yes.
Scott BennerRight. Yeah. And all of a sudden, Arden couldn't eat anything with skin on it. She couldn't you know, had to avoid protein. She anything that was difficult to digest well.
Jenny SmithAnd and even I said and now I am not a gastroenterologist. I have don't claim to be one. But I even told you, I was like, she doesn't have gastroparesis.
Scott BennerMhmm.
Jenny SmithI said she's got something else going on that's causing this, and it's been a long term thing that she's I mean, you guys have been dealing with this or had been dealing with this for for a while knowing something was not right. She was constantly complaining of stomachaches and, you know, whatever. I was like, this this isn't classic gastroparesis that just doesn't even sound like gastroparesis. But again, I am not a gastroenterologist.
Scott BennerWell, listen. I'm her I'm her father. And for the year or so prior to that, every time somebody would be like, is it this? I think I've talked to so many people who have gastroparesis, and Arden's boluses don't mimic what gastroparesis does. No. So anyway, because of that kind of anecdotal information, we kept ignoring it. And I wanna make sure I I say this in case my wife ever hears this. I kept ignoring it. I kept saying, no. No. No. It's gotta be something else. And even Arden started, you know, with her kung fu googling and she's like, I've got fibromyalgia. I've got this. Like, my knees hurt, like, everything. Right? So anyway, so we go home and Arden starts eating this incredibly restrictive diet, which by the way does not make her stomach feel any better. And about a week into it, she says, I would rather my stomach just hurt. And it was just the saddest thing. You know, like, I thought, oh god, her stomach's gonna hurt for her whole life. You know, she's been constipated since she was a little kid. She would have I look back now, she'd do this thing where, like, she wouldn't go for days, then diarrhea, and then not go for days, then diarrhea, and pain up in the top of her stomach to the point where she had us, like, like, no lie, like, pushing down with all of our might at the top of her stomach. And and when you got pushed down hard enough, the pain would go away for a minute.
Jenny SmithMhmm.
Scott BennerAnd she was, just do
Jenny SmithAlmost like reflux sort of.
Scott BennerJenny. We would do it for hours sometimes. You know? Like, she'd lay on the floor and have you put your her your heel in her stomach, like stuff like that. And so this week's going on. I'm watching her. The diet is not doing anything. And she says to me out of nowhere, I want you to realize that at this point, I still don't think digestion. Okay?
Jenny SmithRight.
Scott BennerOkay. She says, I wanna go to Five Guys. I'm getting a cheeseburger. I'm getting fries. And I'm getting a milkshake. And I don't care what happens next. And I was like, okay. Like, I don't know what to do. Right? So I said, well, first, do this thing with me. I'll take you to Five Guys. You I'm gonna stop first at a health food store. I heard somebody say something about a digestive enzyme. That's it. I don't know where I heard it online. I saw it written down somewhere through Googling. I have no idea. I'm like, we're gonna get those. You take them while you eat. She was like, I'm gonna be honest with you. She was like, whatever. Like, she was she I'll do it, but I don't believe in this. I don't believe in anything. It had been long enough she'd given up on the idea. So we get them and I we get home. I'm like, here. Take two of them because the lovely crunchy lady at the health food store said take two if it's a high fat meal. She takes two. Her blood sugar never spikes the way it would. It didn't need nearly the insulin it would have needed, and it stayed really flat. And I was like, oh my god. We did it. Except then the next day, was like, have you pooped since you ate the cheeseburger? And she goes, no. There are two things that I would tell you to look at first if you have diabetes. First one I'm gonna tell you about is the Dexcom g six continuous glucose monitor. This little device shows you on the receiver that comes with it or on your cell phone your blood sugar's number, direction, and speed constantly. Like, it's always there when you look at it. And you can set alarms. So, like, say, you don't want your blood sugar to go over, I don't know, one fifty. You make an alarm at 01:50, and when it gets to 01:50, it goes, Beep beep, baby. We're at 01:50. It doesn't say it exactly like that, but there's beeping. Then you look and see the one fifty and say, oh, I might have missed on my bolus. Let me do what I'm gonna do. Or you set an alarm for a lower number. Say you don't wanna know let's say you wanna know when your blood sugar's 85. Beep beep beep. I'm 85. Oh, I hear beep beep beep. I take a look. Oh, 85. And then I take a little I do what I'm gonna do. Whatever you're gonna do, you do it then. You can keep in this range. Seriously, when you when you're aware of the range your blood sugar's in, it's easier to stay in it. It's easier not to ping pong all over the place. Roller coaster. I mean, listen. We talk about it all the time in the podcast. You can check the podcast out later. But this Dexcom g six is at the core. Right? I mean, for that for that management stuff, a 100% needed. But also for safety, security, convenience, how about that up to 10 people can follow someone? So say your kid's at school, you could see their blood sugar on your phone, and so could nine other people of your choosing or not. Whatever you wanna do. Dexcom.com/juicebox. Please head over there today and check it out. You may be eligible for a free ten day trial of the Dexcom g six. You'll only find that out on my site, so hit the link. Guys, you're also gonna wanna get yourself the and, you're also gonna wanna get yourself the Omnipod. It's a tubeless insulin pump. It's really terrific. A tiny little device, fill it up with insulin, put it on, no tubing. Understand you're not connected to anything. You just wear it, and then there's a handheld controller that you say, like, I'm having 12 grams of carbs, and it tells you because you put in settings, it tells you, well, this is how much insulin you'll need for those 12. Push the button, whole thing happens wirelessly. You're not connected to the controller. There's no tubing. You have an insulin pump that you can swim with, that you can bathe with, that you can play your sports with, and sleep comfortably with. No tubing, no controller attached to you. Now that's for the Omnipod five, which is an automated insulin pump system or for the Omnipod dash. Both of them are tubeless. Both of them give you that freedom. Now the Omnipod five is the only tubeless automated insulin delivery system that integrates with the Dexcom g six CGM, and it uses smart adjust technology to automatically adjust your insulin delivery every five minutes, helping to protect against highs and lows without multiple daily injections. That's the Omnipod five, tubeless and automated. Omnipod dash, tubeless, not automated. Still an amazing system. So whether you want an automated system or a system that you kinda take the reins on, one way or the other, you want tubeless, you want the omnipod. Omnipod.com/juicebox. For full safety, risk information, and free trial terms and conditions, you can also visit omnipod.com/juicebox. I know what you just thought. Free trial terms and conditions? You didn't mention a free trial. Well, how about this? You may be eligible for a free thirty day trial of the Omnipod dash. Go find out at my link, omnipod.com/juicebox.
Solving the Digestive Puzzle
Scott BennerHave you pooped since you ate the cheeseburger? And she goes, no. So now it's days that go by. She's taking them under duress because we're making her, but her stomach still hurts and all this stuff. And finally, said to my wife, I'm seeing something with her insulin. I know this is working, but there's gotta be another component to it. I go back to the health food store, explain it to the crunchy lady. And by way, the crunchy lady has a Russian accent, so the whole thing is a ton of fun. Right? And she's like, it's like I'm telling you, it's out of, like, a Rocky and Bullwinkle movie. She's like moose and squirrel. You know what I mean? Like, just like that. Right. And, and so I tell her what goes on. She, walks across the room, grabs this big jug. She says, magnesium oxide. This will make her go. And I was like, right on. Yep. And she goes, here. And take this probiotic too. So I went home. Arden had noticed enough improvement that she took the other stuff. And, like, for three days, I'm like, have you pooped? Have you pooped? She actually once said to me, please stop asking me if I've gone to the bathroom. I don't I don't wanna tell you. And I kept asking
Jenny SmithI am 18, dad. Please don't ask if I have pooped. Well,
Scott Bennerone day I asked her and she smiled and she goes, oh, you idiot. I went days ago and I was like, ugh, why are you doing this to me? So, then her that cycle started happening with with frequency. Eat. Mhmm. Then I I shared it in episode seven sixty seven where I go over the supplements that Arden's taking, but Kelly and Arden were leaving to go to a restaurant one day. They left the house. I thought they were gone. Arden came back in the house. I forgot something, she says. Goes in the kitchen and she grabs the digestive enzymes. And I was like, holy hell, it worked. Because there's no way she would have come back for it if not. Like, just the way, you know. So it's such a cheap and easy attempt. Right? Like, if you have digestion issues or you're not pooping, these are two very safe, very simple supplements that you could give a shot to. Am I wrong?
Jenny SmithYou could. No. You you certainly could give a shot to them. And, again, in terms of, like, long term effects, the the build, especially of the digestive enzymes, if you truly do have some type of digestive enzyme issue, whether it's an absorption issue with them or it is a release of them in the right way in your body, you should notice some definite benefit from using them.
Scott BennerRight.
Jenny SmithBut if you don't, clearly, it's not something you just keep taking to see if it's going to work.
Scott BennerNo. Arden saw an improvement really quickly.
Jenny SmithRight.
Scott BennerLike, a a week. And I Right. And you were like, okay. Well, this is working. Yeah. You know, something else is wrong. Something else is wrong. But now as the weeks have gone by and she's building up what I'm assuming is a healthier gut because there's no, like, rotted food sitting in her stomach for days. Right? Right. And now the probiotics are having a chance to work. I have not now she's at college. And fair is She could be down there right now going, god, my knee hurts. But she has not said anything. And she's on
Jenny SmithAnd she's pretty honest with you about things, it seems.
Scott BennerWell, there's also this there's this look that goes over her once the medical stuff has, like, beaten her down, and you can see it. Like, you can see the, like, I I give up on her face. And it's now she's walking to classes. She's, you know, getting on buses, going somewhere, walking up and down stairs more than usual. I've not heard a word from her about it. And I don't know. I mean, hopefully, it keeps working, but your pancreas does more than make insulin, so this makes sense. So, does it do anything else or just those it just has basically those two functions?
Jenny SmithIt has those two. Right? I mean, essentially, the exocrine, the endocrine. I mean, if you think about it, you go to an endocrinologist. An endocrinologist, especially by people with diabetes, are specifically thought of as being, like, the diabetes doctor. But there are some endos who don't even do diabetes at all. Yeah. Like they are specifically thyroid endocrine physicians. Right? Some are very much just the, you know, the ones that deal with like the ovaries and those kinds of things, that aspect. And they may not know very much at all about diabetes because that's not really what they've gone into.
Scott BennerSo
Jenny Smiththat, again, those are the primary functions. But again, it would be better for the T shirts to actually say proud owner of, like, dead islet cells or dead beta cells. You know? And even that isn't a 100% the truth because we still know that betas still have some little little bit of action even if it doesn't really look like they're doing much of anything. People who have had diabetes for a numbers of years can still have minor output from some of the betas that are still left. So nothing's technically dead.
Scott BennerWell, so the idea I've heard in the past is that those cells are so overwhelmed with inflammation that they can't move and function. Right? And Yep. That's the other part of, like, you're still, like if you're listening, you're like, Scott, don't understand why did her knees stop hurting because you fixed your stomach. Inflammation. Your stomach is is again, it's a cesspool. Nothing's flowing through you. It's rotten in there, and it is. And the bacteria is now off balance. So even throwing in a a probiotic, which, by the way, we tried, like, a year and a half before that, when people are like, oh, it's her stomach. Here, give her all these probiotics and stuff like that. And she kept taking them, and she's like, these are not doing anything because we were throwing them into a pit of vileness. That's why.
Jenny SmithRight.
Scott BennerYeah. It's like throwing an air freshener into a cesspool. That's what we were doing. We were
Jenny Smithlike Yeah.
Scott BennerYeah. So once you got the food moving through her and this is how it went in my head. I'll get the food moving, and then I'll address the bacteria in her stomach. And, I mean, the
Jenny Smithand It seems to be a good combination.
Scott BennerYeah. I mean, so far, I should knock on all the wood in the house. But yeah. I mean, you know, I don't jump on the podcast and say stuff till I've seen it work for a while. You know? What So
Jenny SmithAnd to be true, you know, when we're talking about the comparison of the supplement that she takes or these digestive enzyme supplements, the majority of the kind of ingredients in them are to supplement what should be some of the enzymes that are being put out by the pancreas Mhmm. To again deal with your macronutrients being fats and proteins and carbohydrates. Right?
Scott BennerYep.
Jenny SmithEven the saliva in your mouth does contain some of a carbohydrate based digestive enzyme. So, you know, digestion to some degree starts in your mouth mainly of carbohydrates. As you move further down the digestive system, those other enzymes that are supposed to be coming from your pancreas, like lipase and amylase, and pro protease. Yes. Mhmm. Think of the third one. You'll look on the digestive enzyme label for the ingredients, and those should be within there if you're getting a true digestive enzyme. Because what you're what you're doing is replacing them into the body for whatever reason. Your pancreas isn't doing enough of the job or your body's just not using it right, whatever.
Scott BennerMhmm. So here's a Google search. What can poor gut health lead to? When your body doesn't have enough good bacteria, bad bacteria can thrive. The following can be signs of gut bacteria imbalance, autoimmune problems such as thyroid issues, rheumatoid arthritis, a type one diabetes, digestive issues such as irritable bowel syndrome, constipation, diarrhea, heartburn, or bloating. Now I'm gonna tell you this. After I watched this work with Arden for a week or two, I thought, you know, I have most of the problems Arden has. I've, like, powered through it my whole life, but I I have. Right? And I've got checked for celiac, and I don't have celiac. But even as a child, I can remember my uncle and aunt used to like to take us to a pizza joint near where they worked, on Friday nights. And we'd eat at the pizza place and have a fifteen minute ride home, and I would have to make them stop at the business they owned halfway through so I could go to the bathroom.
Jenny SmithGo to bathroom. Yeah.
Scott BennerMhmm. And even when I was like six or eight years old. And I can remember being in the bathroom and people like, why is Scott in the bathroom for so long? And I wanted to yell because I'm in agonizing pain. Thank you for asking.
Jenny SmithBecause I ate the pizza. Yeah.
Scott BennerBut it was, like, 1979 and
Jenny SmithMy body doesn't like the pizza.
Scott BennerYeah. Stop taking me for pizza, please. So so I said to Kelly, I'm like, I'm gonna take these enzymes, you know, because I've been doing, fiber supplements for years to get ahead of the problem. I I it always felt like what you talked about before. It was like a Band Aid. It was helping, but it wasn't nothing was stopping. You know what I mean? Like, everything got through easier, but it's still like, if I would forget the fiber one day, I'd wake up in the morning and think, oh god. I didn't take the fiber yesterday. Like, uh-oh. Here goes my day. You know? So I start taking the enzymes and the magnesium and the probiotic, and voila, I don't need the fiber anymore. I get up every morning just like the rest of you and take a nice poopy and then live my life. That did not used to happen for me. So and I don't mind sharing it here where more people are gonna hear it than I'd like to imagine right now. But but I want you all to know because when I went into the Facebook group and I said, here's the episode about Arden's supplements, the amount of people who came in and were like, hey, my kid's stomach hurts all the time. My kid's always constipated. This is since diabetes, blah blah blah, adults. But, like, I got a note from a woman in her fifties. She's like, you she's like, you saved me. So I I just wanna tell people. That's all. And I'm trying to draw them in with the the title proud owner of a dead pancreas. I think I can Yes. I think I can get them into the episode of that.
Jenny SmithThat could be. Well, and I think there are a lot of I mean, even if you look at some of the research that's been done on the digestive system in terms of and I I absolutely I hate the term, like, leaky gut. I think it's too it's too broadly used, and it's not it doesn't give any definition to what might actually be going on. But for people that are more predisposed to autoimmune conditions, the potential that their gut may be sort of like, let's call it, you know, like Swiss cheese, if you will. And there are more holes that allow things to get back into the body that should have been being held in the digestive system and then passed out. Right? So if some of these things that are irritants, if you will, get back into the body, they can create enough problem that your immune system sort of goes haywire. Right? Autoimmune disorder. And whether it's thyroid or celiac or type one or the other autoimmune disorders, the the gut is heavily studied in terms of autoimmune conditions.
Scott BennerYeah.
Jenny SmithSo if you can keep a healthy gut while you know that you already have an autoimmune condition, you may be able to potentially hold down or prevent other autoimmune conditions as well.
Medical Frustrations and the Value of Testing
Scott BennerWhy is this not a mainstream idea? Why did that doctor give Arden a medication for pain, a medication for something else. He gave her three meds and a diet that a 90 year old person would be like, I don't wanna eat this. Like, it was it was a it was a restrictive diet. Why didn't he just say, hey. Go to the health food store and buy a handful of digestive enzymes, and let's give that a whirl and see what happens. Like, how did he not know that? I didn't go to medical school, Jenny. It took me two years, but I figured it out. Right?
Jenny SmithYeah. Did you really you wanna really dive into that? That's a big hot topic in terms of what get again, I think the best thing to say is that there are a lot of Band Aids that are being given.
Scott BennerMhmm. Yeah. Instead of
Jenny SmithAnd instead of let's really let's really study and figure out. Let me listen to all of your symptoms, and let's figure this out from the standpoint of actually attacking the true problem. And I've encountered that in terms of, you know, like, my own health stuff. I was amazed when I first started seeing a naturopathic physician.
Scott BennerMhmm.
Jenny SmithSomeone who had gone to medical school and then had gone back after getting her MD, to focus on women's health and many of the things that are very specific to females versus males.
Scott BennerYeah.
Jenny SmithAnd, you know, she's like, well, all these things, you know, why why wasn't this tried, or why wasn't this looked at? Or let's get a check to make sure that all of these types of things in your body are actually at the right level. And there were a number of things. I mean, even just vitamin d. Mhmm. She's the she's the one that got my vitamin d level back up by simply telling me to take a drop that went under my tongue instead of a supplemental tablet that went into my my digestive system and it didn't get absorbed.
Scott BennerYeah. Some people can absorb it, some people can't. And now Correct. Let us let us go back. Everyone knows that I have trouble absorbing iron. Oh. Mhmm. Isn't that interesting? So, you know, I can't so even if I take an iron supplement, it doesn't move my iron level up. I have to take it with ascorbic acid or vitamin like vitamin c. I don't know why that makes the gut lining pull it up better, but it does. And it's it's a similar thing. And when you start putting the pieces together and drawing lines from a to b, Arden has diabetes. And, you know, she was we thought she was fine, but she was young. Who knows? Maybe her stomach's been hurting forever, and she just didn't know to say anything. My stomach hurt when I was a kid. And so even that, like, when that happens, you think, oh, maybe it's just genetic. Like, my stomach hurts. Her stomach hurts. I guess this is what we get. And then you just start putting everything together. Now one of the other things that made this difficult to figure out was Arden's hormonal issues. Mhmm. So incredibly long period, eleven to fourteen days. It would restart after two or three days, go back to eleven or fourteen days. Like, it just she was constantly bleeding. She would get a vicious nosebleed once a month, like, on on, like, clockwork. Her acne, a couple of years ago, just out of nowhere, just it was really terrible. Like, she's tried everything that you can think of to fix your acne. Right? And we had gone through so many things. And doctor Benito, who did the thyroid episode with me, she said, well, I think Arden's going to need metformin. And I was like, okay. And she goes, I think it's gonna be an insulin resistant thing. I think she's gonna need metformin. But before we try that, would you go buy this supplement called
Jenny SmithMhmm.
Scott BennerAvacetol? And when I said that to Jenny to kinda check things, Jenny's like, oh, yeah. People use that all the time. And I was like, oh, hell. So Avacetol, a little powder, you melt it in the water. You boom boom boom, you drink it, you can't taste it. And I don't know how long it took, not long, a month or two, and her period started regulating. The the nosebleed stopped. Her acne started going away. I mean, jeez, you know, Girl poor girls. You guys, it's and then you gotta live with boys. Who
Jenny Smithhave no clue.
Scott BennerIt's too much.
Jenny SmithSo sorry to all you boys, but really like
Scott BennerI think it's right. I think it's too much. All this happens and then there are boys there who are like, Sunday, I'm watching football.
Jenny SmithRight. Yeah. Yes.
Scott BennerOr whatever they do. So, anyway, so that's it. Alright. Alright. So are we missing anything around gut health, what the pancreas does, or any of the issues that you know Arden went through? Did I miss anything?
Jenny SmithI don't think so. I mean, if you really wanted to dig deeper into each of those little pieces or enzymes, you certainly could, but, you know, that's what Google's for. Yeah. Right?
Scott BennerI'm not here to tell you what to do. I'm here to tell you what happened. You can figure it out. Right. You know? Right.
Jenny SmithBut to let people know that clearly your your pancreas has a lot of other definitely good things that it should be doing. Mhmm. And if you're noticing anything digestively, it could be a piece of maybe some of that quote, unquote dead pancreas that isn't quite working the way that it's supposed to.
Scott BennerI'll tell you this is interesting because I don't think many people I think a lot of people who have, like, constipation problems will be like, I heard to take magnesium. But there are, three different kinds of magnesium, maybe more. I have no idea. And I remember somebody telling us to give Arden magnesium, and we gave her the wrong kind. So a year and a half ago, we coulda had this right. But instead of magnesium oxide, we gave her hold on a second. I'll tell you what it was.
Jenny SmithAnd now I'm like, I don't know what her supplement magnesium citrate maybe?
Scott BennerWe gave her magnesium citrate or glycinate. So no kidding. There's glycinate, citrate, and oxide. We tried glycinate and citrate. And when it didn't work, Arden's like, I'm not taking these things anymore. We have one more to go.
Jenny SmithWell, and many people actually with diabetes are low in a number of different things, magnesium being one of them. Mhmm. Sometimes zinc is also on the lower end. I always recommend if you're considering some symptoms and some of the things that again I mean, Google's great, but it is a rabbit hole of information that you can really get into and not quite you end up coming out thinking you got 50 more things than you've thought you had.
Scott BennerYeah.
Jenny SmithRight? So a simple I mean, blood test will tell you where these levels are
Scott BennerMhmm.
Jenny SmithTo be able to start at the right place. Because obviously, if you're not low in something or whatnot, there's really not a need for you to go crazy on supplements.
Scott BennerWhat about though in the case of, like, when Addy came on and talked about thyroid, she also talked about ferritin levels. And she said she said, I don't care what those tests say. If you're a woman of menstruating age, your ferritin needs to be above 70. But the but the test won't say that. But this is from her own practice and anecdotal, you know, experiences. So Right. That's the other problem because we see it happen with thyroid all the time. They're like, I have all these thyroid systems. They're like, oh, labs are in range. And then no and then that's it.
Jenny SmithRight. But the labs a good example is vitamin d for a second one. Mhmm. I mean, labs typically have you in target as long as you're between 30 and a 100. And optimal truly I got this from my naturopathic doctor. She's like, optimal is much tighter. It's actually 50 to 70. That's where you wanna sit. Mhmm. So, I mean, when I started out, mine was 18. My doctor thought that had to completely be wrong. He's like, let's do the test again. Oh, no. It came back at eighteen. And I was like, oh, well, look at that.
Scott BennerWhat did you experience when you got the level up?
Jenny SmithWhen I got the level up, I can definitely say that insulin and this was years ago, but I can definitely say that my insulin sensitivity, I guess, for lack of a a better word Mhmm. Was more stable. Because, of course, vitamin d works on a cellular level in terms of how it responds to glucose as well as insulin. So I just know that if I keep in target, if I keep in range, I notice more consistency just in overall, like, glucose and insulin sensitivity.
Scott BennerOkay.
Jenny SmithThat's Great. So that's big thing that I noticed.
Closing Thoughts and Poop Talk
Scott BennerAlright. So I wanna say this at the end because we are finished. I wanna tell people, notice here at the end, I'm not trying to sell you something. Jenny's not telling you to go to a link to get more information. There are no clickable links when you buy magnesium oxide that I make money. Nothing like that. Just here to tell you what happened to Arden because it was it was it was really horrible. And it was daily and she was held down by it. It I think emotionally and I was too. And I started feeling like I am definitely failing her on this because there must be some sort of an answer. And and then when I see everybody talking about it online, I can't believe how many people jumped up and said, what what's that? Magnesium what? What's the what's the enzyme? Tell me about that. I don't digest food well. I'm constipated. But yeah. All the time. Like and sometimes sometimes I hear people say it almost like it's a badge of honor. I poop once a week. Like it's like it's almost like it's dainty. Do you know what I mean?
Jenny SmithRight.
Scott BennerMhmm. Not dainty. How many times do wanna poop, Jenny?
Jenny SmithDaily.
Scott BennerYeah.
Jenny SmithAbsolutely daily. In fact, I thought it was the weirdest question when I first started taking my my first child to the to the pediatrician. He was like, well, how many times a week does he go into the bathroom? I'm like, my kid goes to the bathroom every day. People are supposed to poop every day. Your body is supposed to transit things in and move on out. That's the and at lee I mean, honestly, good good digestion is at least twice a day. And if you go even further to the more earthy crunchy, you should be pooping after every single meal.
Scott BennerTrue. Because the new food comes in and pushes the old stuff out.
Jenny SmithThat's right. You gotta clean bacteria. It's moving it in. It's getting it out. It's doing what it's supposed to be doing.
Scott BennerThat's a healthy thing. And that's the thing we make fun of people for, by the way.
Jenny SmithOh, absolutely. Yeah. Yes. And I mean, this should be well formed poop. I mean, if you wanna get in-depth about it. Right?
Scott BennerI do, Jenny.
Jenny SmithIt shouldn't be it shouldn't be disgusting. It shouldn't be, like, liquidy, whatever. This good poop couple times a day should be well formed. It should come out easily. You should not have the strain to go to the bathroom. Mhmm. Yeah.
Scott BennerIt shouldn't be stuck under the toilet seat when you're over?
Jenny SmithNo. It should not.
Scott BennerThose those are moments reserved for days of drinking and then what happens at the end or illness. When you really Or illness. Think about having a virus or something like that, what happens as you're getting better from the virus? You, like, evacuate because your body is like, there's a lot of badness in here. Let's throw it out.
Jenny SmithLet's move it on out. That's exactly right.
Scott BennerYeah. Alright. We've done it. Jenny, we've saved lives here.
Jenny SmithI think she called this like the pooping episode or something.
Scott BennerProud owner of a dead pancreas that though, I don't know. There's nothing there. It's too
Jenny SmithThere's nothing there. No.
Scott BennerAnyway, I I really I I have to say, I almost feel like I wanna apologize to the people listening for not figuring it out sooner. Like, that that terrible feeling I had watching Arden struggle, when you start getting the emails and the notes online, I actually, for a second thought, like, oh, I let all those people down too. I really felt like that for a minute. You know?
Jenny SmithWell, I think this goes a level further in terms of I mean, you shouldn't have to apologize, and I don't think anybody obviously I mean, they're probably listening thinking, oh my gosh. Like, please don't apologize for something that you should you had nothing to do with. Right? I think it goes again to a deeper level of overall medical evaluation. And, I mean, it truly takes it into the you mentioned metformin before. Right? As a potential thing that a doctor was recommending for Arden. Well, I've even worked with a number of women who actually I knew from all of their issues that they probably had PCOS. Right? Polycystic ovarian syndrome. I could I knew insulin resistance, all the things that they were having. I was like, just get a prescription for metformin. Just get one. And I had a couple doctors tell them, there's no reason for you to use this. I don't know why this would have been recommended. So, you know, I think from an overall, sometimes you end up having to be your best you do end up having to be your best advocate, but you also have to have an idea of where to start.
Scott BennerYeah.
Jenny SmithAnd when you can say like you did, but this medicine is just a Band Aid.
Scott BennerMhmm.
Jenny SmithIt's something that's gonna cover up a symptom. I wanna know why the symptom is here. Let's dig deeper. I wanna find the reason that I'm having this or these symptoms and take care of the reason so I don't have to take six other things.
Scott BennerYeah. Well, I I still don't know where Arden's path is gonna lead on this. Like, maybe she'll
Jenny SmithRight.
Scott BennerEnd up on metformin because maybe she has PCOS because that's one of the things that we I mean, we looked into a PCOS clinic down south where they do a they do a, like, a surgery to try to correct it. And, I mean, like, that's how bad things were. Like, they go in there and, like, just it's crazy. You know what I mean? And but that's how far down the rabbit hole we were. We were like, you know, this pain is not stopping. Like, what's she gonna So maybe maybe I have to say doctor Benino still said we wanna give the ovacetol more time on Arden's acne. But if it doesn't clear up the entire way, I don't think we're done yet. So Sure. We'll have to wait and see. Yeah. Anyway
Jenny SmithHas her insulin since the enzymes especially, has her have her insulin needs gone down? And I know you've adjusted those
Scott Bennera bit. Did, and then she went to college. And now she's now she's eating, I think, Styrofoam sprinkled with high fructose corn syrup. So all the
Jenny SmithYeah.
Scott BennerLittle things that we adjusted out of Arden's diet, like dream field pasta instead of regular pasta or low fat, you know, I don't know, sauce that goes on something. It's it's everything's frozen pizza and french fries, and so I have no idea. It took us weeks to, like, get on top of it because she kept saying, I can do this. Like, I can do it. But her blood sugars were going two twenty after meals. They weren't coming down. So finally, a little while ago, I I I called her up and I said, hey, Arden. Listen. We need to talk for a minute. And she's like, okay. So we got on FaceTime, and I said, I know you're trying. I don't think you're not trying, but bolusing for this food is it's hard. So why Yeah. Why don't you let me help you a little bit? So we did Jenny's, post date with Loop, which worked really well. So big, big bolus up front for this whatever this disaster is they're feeding her. And then about 60 to I don't know. About an hour to hour and a half later, about a 15 or 20 carb bolus that the
Jenny SmithEntry.
Scott BennerTo give the loop some autonomy to make harsher More Yeah. Adjustments. Yeah. I don't think that's not something you can do with any other algorithm. Right?
Jenny SmithIt is not. Yeah. No. The easiest, I think, is you can't you can't forward stamp anything in any other in any other system.
Scott BennerMhmm.
Jenny SmithI think the closest would be knowing that something's coming, the ability to potentially start an extended bolus with Control IQ
Scott BennerYeah.
Jenny SmithTo hit out further. But even with that, it's only a two hour extension, and there's no visual to absorption of of food. Right?
Scott BennerYeah.
Jenny SmithThat's where, you know, the looping types of systems are very unique in that they truly do allow the system to still pay attention to why is this blood sugar where it is? There's still food in the system.
Scott BennerMhmm.
Jenny SmithLet's take care of this completely, not just attack a blood sugar because the blood sugar is here. There's a reason behind it.
Scott BennerCan you see her graph? This is twenty four hours. So we're back to it now. Right? Mhmm. But before, oh my god. Like, I I was like, we we don't know. It's it's the food. It took you a couple of days to figure it out because our settings because she had because of all these adjustments, she was using significantly less insulin all of a sudden. Then she started eating there and then I was like, oh my god. We've gotta move everything back again. But I wasn't with her and it seemed like a lot to move it because what if it goes wrong? Like, you know what I mean? So we moved it really slowly over a couple of weeks which I I'll tell you, I don't think back in the day I could have done it like that, but now I have a little more of a, like, a long view. I'm like, it sucks that her blood sugar's high, but I'm not gonna
Jenny SmithRight.
Scott BennerI'm not gonna have her pass out walking to class because we're we move things too quickly.
Jenny SmithNo. Not at all. I mean, I you know, college, I had none of the technology. I mean, I was on injections in college and I had a glucometer that I carried around with me. So I didn't have any of the information. But even I found out really quickly what the difference between going to, like, the burger joint, which wasn't it was a veggie burger. So wasn't really a real burger, but the the burger joint on campus versus going just to the cafeteria. I figured out pretty quickly that I just ended up living mostly on salads
Scott BennerYeah.
Jenny SmithAt school a lot of the time because they seem to work out better from a standpoint of what I was finding on my next finger sticks.
Scott BennerWell, as I Google the words freshman 15, college students have been warned about the dreaded freshman 15, the extra 15 pounds that so often accompany the first year of college. It turns out, from our experience, it's because the food is terrible.
Jenny SmithOh, it's bad.
Scott BennerYeah. You're all making enough money to give the kids real food. It shouldn't be that hard. Right? And it's presented so nicely, Jenny
Jenny SmithOh, yes.
Scott BennerThat you go through like, Arden looks like she's getting lunch at, you know, at at the Taj Mahal. Yeah. Yeah.
Jenny SmithFoo foo place. Yeah. Yes.
Scott BennerThen she sits down. She's like, this food is terrible. I'm like, okay. And then I you know, finally, I'm like, send me pictures so I can help you with the thing. And I think at first, I think she's eating a lot of french fries when she was like like, when she first got there, I think she was a little, had problems that I don't wanna talk about on here with a with a roommate. Yeah. But there was a lot of, anxiety in the first couple of weeks, and I think she was I think she was treating the anxiety with the french fries.
Jenny SmithWith food? Yeah. And then Probably.
Scott BennerAnd then when I told her, I'm like, need to see what you're eating, she wouldn't answer me. That's the first time that's ever happened. Arden, show me your plate. Like, not no. She just didn't answer.
Jenny SmithShe just didn't answer you.
Scott BennerYeah. And I was like, okay. Let's hopefully
Jenny SmithDoes she do a lot I mean, the food on campus, I'm curious if it even has any nutrition facts or is she mostly estimating?
Scott BennerWell, she's estimating. But she just she realized just a lot is the measurement she needs. So we we so far have not given have not found a way to give her too much insulin for a meal.
Jenny SmithFor a meal. Yeah.
Scott BennerSo
Jenny SmithAnd I wonder if I mean, you know, whether she'd use it or not depends on the person. But there are some really good visual apps like the Figui app is really nice from a visual standpoint because you can adjust. Like, you type french fries in, for example, it shows you, like, a portion of french fries on a plate. Mhmm. And then you can adjust the portion. There's a little slide rule below the picture. Oh. You can make the portion on the plate look smaller, or you can make the pile of fries look larger. And right below it are all the nutrition facts. Carbs, proteins, fats, salt, everything.
Scott BennerWhat's it called?
Jenny SmithFigwe, f I g w e e. It's a great app. It's really sweet because instead of looking through like, Calorie King is the long term used one Mhmm. But it's just a list. And it might tell you three ounces or four pieces or whatever. And a lot of people, they don't know what three ounces looks like or even what a half a cup looks like anymore. So if you're looking through a list, you're gonna get annoyed and irritated, and most teens and college students are not gonna use that. Yeah. But this being a visual, it's it's really kinda sweet.
Scott BennerI'm looking. It's pretty cool. Right. We have no connection to that unless Jenny's making money and I don't know it.
Jenny SmithNo. Absolutely not. No. I've used it for a number of years, actually. I found it at a conference probably five or six years ago.
Scott BennerAlright. I'm gonna say one last thing. Here on the podcast, I am and on the Facebook group and anywhere you've ever heard me talk about diabetes, I say, I don't care what you eat. It's not my business. I just want you to know how to bolus for it. But if you don't think that every once in a while, I don't go, you guys, like, what are you doing? Like like, you can't you can't eat every terrible thing and then say, I don't know what's happening. Like like Right. You know, you can't put a cupcake on a piece of pizza and wash it down with a soda and go, can you believe my blood sugar went up? I'm bullish. Like, it's there are times when I when I wanna just say, come on. Like, please and this happened that feeling ended up being how we sort of figured out Arden's thing. Right? Like Mhmm. Fats are sitting in her too long. Stuff like this is happening. Blah blah blah. She's not digesting it. And keeping in mind that the doctor wanted to give her a pill that he said would numb her stomach so it wouldn't hurt anymore.
Jenny SmithSee, again, covering a symptom.
Scott BennerYeah. He didn't
Jenny Smithwanna cover up a symptom.
Scott BennerHe didn't wanna help her. He just and by the way, on our first visit, before the the look down her stomach, he handed us samples in the room.
Jenny SmithOf course.
Scott BennerI was like, this sucks. You know what I mean?
Jenny SmithAnd that that could be a whole episode all about would go there.
Scott BennerHighly recommended by a number of physicians that I know in the area.
Jenny SmithOh, sure.
Scott BennerThat's how we ended up there. So anyway. Alright. Jenny, thank you so much for doing this with me.
Jenny SmithAbsolutely. Yes. Always. Cool.
Closing and Sponsor Messages
Scott BennerI'm gonna thank Dexcom, makers of Dexcom g six, and remind you that you may be eligible for a free ten day trial. Find out more at dexcom.com/juicebox. And, of course, maybe you'll want a thirty day free trial of the dash, and you're eligible. Could be. Maybe you're gonna wanna find out about the Omnipod five automated system. Either way, the link you want is omnipod.com/juicebox. I know it's the end of the year and people are like, it's the holidays. I'll wait till. Don't wait. Just don't wait. Just jump in. Get going. If it's what you want, there's no time like the president. Not the president. The present. There's no time like the present. Omnipod.com/juicebox. Links in the show notes. Links at juiceboxpodcast.com. I'd like to thank you so much for listening, remind you that the private Facebook group is an amazing place to be. Juice box podcast type one diabetes, completely free Facebook group. Everything about the podcast is free. Thank you to the sponsors. That's why that's why I don't have to charge you for episodes and stuff's not behind paywalls or how come I don't do, a a fifteen minute episode where I kinda tickle your ass with a feather but don't give you all the information then drive you back to my website where I'm like, sign up for coaching. I don't do that crap. I'm not up for that. I don't like it. Everything everything I offer is free. Go go use the Facebook page, meet the people, build a community for yourself. I'll I'll make sure it's there for you, and it's it's a nice place to be. You go ahead and take advantage of it. Same with the podcast. All the episodes, absolutely free. I I my pleasure to make them, seriously. Anyway, what am I supposed to say here? Thanks so much for listening. Come back soon. There'll be more episodes of the juice box podcast. Please subscribe or follow in your podcast app. If you're not listening in a podcast app or an audio app, please check them out. Spotify, Apple podcast, Amazon music are some of the most popular ones. They work great. They're free. I think that's it, friends? Alright. I'll talk to you soon.
