#1851 That’s So Bridget
Scott and 23-year-old Bridget discuss her college T1D diagnosis , managing Hashimoto's and ovarian cysts , using Mounjaro , and the mental hurdles of taking daily medications.
Companies that Support Juicebox
Key Takeaways
- Being diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes as a young adult entering college requires a rapid shift to independence and self-advocacy, but it is completely possible to thrive.
- Hashimoto's thyroiditis is a common comorbidity with T1D; untreated thyroid issues can cause fatigue, brain fog, joint pain, and weight gain, making daily medication adherence crucial.
- Finding a manageable routine for daily medications (like keeping pills in the bathroom to take before a shower) can help overcome the human tendency to forget or avoid routine health tasks.
- GLP-1 medications like Mounjaro are being utilized by some T1Ds to help reduce binge eating, lower insulin needs, and drastically improve time in range.
- Pre-bolusing (taking insulin 10-15 minutes before eating) and managing insulin on board before exercise are foundational strategies that significantly improve blood sugar control.
Resources Mentioned
- Juice Box Podcast (Small Sips, Bold Beginnings, Pro Tip Series, After Dark)
- Juice Box Podcast Private Facebook Group
- US Med
- Tandem Mobi System
- Eversense 365
- Wrong Way Recording
- Function Health Test
- Mounjaro / Zepbound
- Dexcom
- Omnipod
Introduction and Resources
Scott Benner Here we are back together again, friends, for another episode of the Juice Box podcast.
Bridget Hi. I'm Bridget. I'm 23. I live in Chicago, and I've been living with type one diabetes for almost five years now.
Scott Benner If this is your first time listening to the Juice Box podcast and you'd like to hear more, download Apple Podcasts or Spotify, really any audio app at all. Look for the Juice Box podcast and follow or subscribe. We put out new content every day that you'll enjoy. Wanna learn more about your diabetes management? Go to juiceboxpodcast.com up in the menu and look for bold beginnings, the diabetes pro tip series, and much more. This podcast is full of collections and series of information that will help you to live better with insulin. If you're looking for community around type one diabetes, check out the Juice Box Podcast private Facebook group. Juice Box Podcast, type one diabetes. But everybody is welcome. Type one, type two, gestational, loved ones, it doesn't matter to me. If you're impacted by diabetes and you're looking for support, comfort, or community, check out Juice Box podcast, type one diabetes on Facebook. 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.
Scott Benner Today's podcast is sponsored by US Med. Usmed.com/juicebox. You can get your diabetes supplies from the same place that we do. And I'm talking about Dexcom, Libre, Omnipod, Tandem, and so much more. Usmed.com/juicebox or call (888) 721-1514.
Scott Benner Today's episode is also sponsored by Tandem Mobi, the impressively small insulin pump. Tandem Mobi features Tandem's newest algorithm, Control IQ Plus technology. It's designed for greater discretion, more freedom, and improved time and range. Learn more and get started today at tandemdiabetes.com/juicebox.
Scott Benner The podcast is also sponsored today by the Eversense three sixty five. The Eversense three sixty five has exceptional accuracy over one year and is the most accurate CGM in the low range that you can get. Eversensecgm.com/juicebox.
A College COVID Diagnosis
Bridget Hi. I'm Bridget. I'm 23. I live in Chicago, and I've been living with type one diabetes for almost five years now. So coming up on five years.
Scott Benner As you're graduating from high school or a little after?
Bridget So it so it was COVID.
Scott Benner Oh, good job.
Bridget I was a senior in high school when COVID hit. It was at March. And so I graduated, and I decided where I was gonna go to college. And I decided I was gonna go to Loyola, Chicago. Mhmm. And I was really excited. And then a week from move in, they called us and or they emailed us, and they told us that all of our on campus housing was canceled, and the entire semester was gonna be online.
Scott Benner Yeah.
Bridget And so I stayed that fall semester at home back in Indiana. And then I was able to go on campus in the spring, but everything was still online. And I went on spring break with my family, my sister's high school spring break, and I was just taking classes online. And then I was hospitalized. I went to urgent care and because my parents thought I had a UTI.
Scott Benner Okay.
Bridget And the rest is history. Yeah. I stayed in the children's hospital for three days over spring break, and I was 18 at the time. So they let me stay in the children's hospital, which was really nice.
Scott Benner Is this just as you imagined your freshman year of college to be?
Bridget Pretty much. I mean, I can't I can't ask for much better.
Scott Benner This is fantastic. Well, so you started college off at home, first of all. That must have been Yeah. A wet blanket.
Bridget Yeah.
Scott Benner Yeah. Nothing good about that. And then Right. I love that that was my favorite thing is when they moved them back to campus, but then made them go to school from their dorm room. I was like I know.
Scott Benner That was an interesting one.
Bridget It was crazy. Of
Scott Benner all the big ideas. Right. We'll bring them all together in one place, but then slightly quarantine them. But they're probably gonna sneak around and drink and have sex. But, maybe not. Maybe they won't drink and have sex.
Bridget And they made so they made us get COVID tested. Like, I think it was once a week or every other week.
Scott Benner Really?
Bridget And so people would just kinda drop, like like, flies. Like, you would see them in person. I don't know. You would go and get dinner with somebody, and then the next week, they were like, oops. I have COVID. And they were home. Didn't see them. Yeah.
Scott Benner Did they make them leave campus?
Bridget No. No. You just had to stay quarantined. So everybody it was all single occupancy on campus housing, and so nobody could even share bathrooms.
Scott Benner Oh.
Bridget So pretty much everybody I don't know. I mean, you could isolate pretty easily, and it worked out really well. And you just had to wear masks on campus all the time.
Scott Benner Did you did you learn a damn thing?
Bridget Actually, yeah. Because I was in I studying biochemistry at the time, and that later switched. But, honestly, I could focus a lot more on school. I feel like a lot of freshmen in college, they kinda get sidetracked by, like, social things, and I didn't have that option at all.
Scott Benner You're locked in a concrete box. It turns out eventually you think, maybe I should read this book.
Bridget Right. But so so that spring, I start like, I so I was studying biochemistry. I was in a chemistry class. I thought, gee. This homework is really boring. I don't know why I'm falling asleep in the middle of studying, and it was because I was passing out because my blood sugar was, like, 400.
Scott Benner So high. Yeah.
Bridget And I didn't know about it.
Hashimoto's Thyroiditis and Labs
Scott Benner Yeah. Is there is there anybody in your family that has type one diabetes?
Bridget No. I'm the only one.
Scott Benner Do you have any other autoimmune issues like hypothyroidism or anything like that?
Bridget Yeah. Well, so my my labs come back normal, but I have all the antibodies for Hashimoto's thyroiditis.
Scott Benner Do have any of the symptoms?
Bridget I don't know. I'm tired all the time, but that could
Scott Benner That sounds like a yes. Tell me what your labs are. Do you know?
Bridget Yeah. I
Scott Benner know they say normal. What's the number?
Bridget Wait. Let me see. I can pull them up
Scott Benner right now, actually. Everyone else can just this is my public service announcement for people don't get their thyroids managed well.
Bridget I know. Well, they okay. One second. I'm gonna put you on speaker.
Scott Benner Go ahead.
Bridget One second. I just actually got, have you heard of the function health tests?
Scott Benner Function health tests?
Bridget Yeah.
Scott Benner I don't know. Let's figure out what that is.
Bridget I don't know. It's really popular in the city. Like, a lot of my friends have gotten it. But it tests for, like, a a 160 biomarkers, I think. Like, it's kinda crazy, but they tested my thyroid. Mhmm. And so okay.
Scott Benner I'm like
Bridget thyroid peroxidase antibodies were four thirty nine, And it's supposed to be, like, nine. Less than nine is, like, in range.
Scott Benner What's your TSH?
Bridget My TSH was 2.6.
Scott Benner Yeah. It's getting higher.
Bridget Yeah. And then my t four was 1.3, and my t three was 3.3.
Scott Benner Yeah. And they told you you don't need medication?
Bridget They put me on a really low dose.
Scott Benner Okay. Good.
Bridget So yeah. So my my endocrinologist is great. She's very proactive.
Scott Benner No kidding.
Bridget So I'm on a very low dose of that. And
Scott Benner She'd be, like, point two five micrograms or something?
Bridget I think I'm on point seven five.
Scott Benner Oh, that's not that low. That's okay. Good. Good. Good. Yeah. Yeah.
Bridget I'm really bad at taking it.
The Psychology of Taking Daily Medication
Scott Benner So Bridgette. What I Bridget, I can't I can't deal with two girls your age and not being able to take this thyroid medication every day. What what tell me. You're gonna help me for a second. We'll find out about your diabetes. But what stops you from taking one tiny little pill once a day?
Bridget honestly also okay. I guess I don't take a lot of medications. Like, I've
Scott Benner That doesn't sound like you're taking any, even the ones you have, but go ahead.
Bridget I've been decently healthy. And so, like, even I'm horrible at taking vitamins, like, I just forget. But I have the little like, I have the pill right next to my coffee, but the problem is you can't drink it with the coffee. And so I'll get ready in the morning, and I'll make my cup of coffee as I do every day. And I look at my medicine, and I tell myself I should take that. And then
Scott Benner Yourself doesn't listen?
Bridget And then I'm like and then I'm like, oh, I have to wait fifteen minutes. And then by the time fifteen minutes, my memory of a goldfish forgets about it.
Scott Benner Right. Bridget, has your voice always been deeper?
Bridget I think I'm a little sick maybe.
Scott Benner It's also it can be a it can be a symptom of of Hashimoto's. Did you
Bridget know that?
Scott Benner Yeah. Yeah. Okay.
Bridget I've noticed it, like, raspier over the last few years. So
Scott Benner Let's go over them very quickly. You it's just a a simple yes or no. Fatigued? Yes. Weight gain? Yes. Feeling cold easily?
Bridget Yes.
Scott Benner Constipated? Sounds like a no. Dry Not really. Dry skin? Not really. You're like, there was a day I didn't go, but that's not is your hair getting thin or dry? Yeah. Do have any puffiness in your face?
Bridget Yeah.
Scott Benner Depression or low mood? No. Alright. Slower thinking or brain fog?
Bridget Yeah.
Scott Benner Slowed heart rate? You probably wouldn't know. No. Muscle aches, cramps, or weakness?
Bridget Yeah.
Scott Benner Joint pain?
Bridget Yeah.
Scott Benner Here's a fun one. Heavy or irregular periods? Yeah. Okay. Bridget, listen to me. Do you have a father, or was he taken tragically by your mom? Okay. Okay. Alright. No. He does he love you?
Bridget Yes.
Scott Benner Okay. What if you put him in charge of it?
Bridget Yeah. That's true.
Scott Benner He can make him call you every day at a certain time, and then say into the phone, Bridget, take that damn pill. And then you can he can hang up after may this is my, advice. After he hears you swallow it. Okay? So I don't even wanna tell you the process that we use for Arden. But it's
Bridget What do guys have to do?
Scott Benner So for first things first, she won't take it in the morning. Mhmm. She doesn't like eating or drinking anything right away when she gets up. So it's not optimal, but she takes it right before bed. It's still that her doctor said that's fine. I hope she never hears this. I really if any of you hear this and tell her, I'll come and find you. Every night before bed, I go visit her to say goodnight. I hand her a bottle of water. I take the pills out, and I stand there with them and hand them to her. Oh my gosh. If that does not happen, I don't believe she'll take them. I don't think it's through apathy. I don't think it's because she's not a bright person. I don't actually know how to put my finger on what the problem is. But I'm gonna guess that whatever happens to you is what happens to her. So can I just suggest a timer on your phone? Yeah. And pick a time that you know you haven't eaten in a while and you won't eat for a little while so that doesn't get in in in front of your situation and mess you up. And then just take it every day. And then imagine fatigue, weight gain, feeling cold, dry skin, all of it just going away. Wouldn't that be lovely?
Bridget It would be so good.
Scott Benner Imagine this. Let's take a talk about it a different way, Bridget. I'm so sorry. I'm the only one that gets to talk to you this way because if your parents said this to you, you'd be, like, out of the room by now. You'd be, like, these two will not shut up. I'm an adult. And, like, like, oh my god. I can hear it now. Right? If if I if you and I sat around right now and we gossiped about somebody on Instagram, you know how you guys do. Like, you pull up other people's accounts, check, oh my god. Look at her. Do you remember her from high school? Right? You you know what I'm talking about. Okay. Alright. Let's
Bridget We'll not admit to it.
Scott Benner No. No. No. But you okay. Let's assume you you understand what I'm saying. And I said to you, oh, and you said, look at all the stuff about about her. And I said, yeah. You know, there's a pill that'll make that all go away. She won't take it. You would spend the next twenty minutes talking about that girl. You'd be like, what an idiot. Why won't she just take the pill? This is really so explain to me really co as coherently as you can because you have brain fog. As coherently as you can, tell me why you can't commit to just that one thing.
Sponsor Break: Eversense and US Med
Scott Benner Why would you settle for changing your CGM every few weeks when you can have 365 of reliable glucose data? Today's episode is sponsored by the Eversense three sixty five. It is the only CGM with a tiny sensor that lasts a full year sitting comfortably under your skin with no more frequent sensor changes and essentially no compression lows for one year. You'll get your CGM data in real time on your phone, smartwatch, Android or iOS, even an Apple Watch. Predictive high and low alerts let you know where your glucose is headed before it gets there, so there's no surprises, just confidence. And you can instantly share that data with your health care provider or your family. You're going to get one year of reliable data without all those sensor changes. That's the Eversense three sixty five. Gentle on your skin, strong for your life, one sensor a year that gives you one less thing to worry about. Head now to evercentcgm.com/juicebox to get started.
Scott Benner Diabetes comes with a lot of things to remember, so it's nice when someone takes something off of your plate. US Med has done that for us. When it's time for Arden's supplies to be refreshed, we get an email. Rolls up and in your inbox says, hi, Arden. This is your friendly reorder email from US Med. You open up the email. It's a big button that says click here to reorder, and you're done. Finally, somebody taking away a responsibility instead of adding one. US Med has done that for us. An email arrives, we click on a link, and the next thing you know, your products are at the front door. That simple. Usmed.com/juicebox or call (888) 721-1514. I never have to wonder if Arden has enough supplies. I click on one link. I open up a box. I put the stuff in the drawer, and we're done. US Med carries everything from insulin pumps and diabetes testing supplies to the latest CGMs like the Libre three and the Dexcom g seven. They accept Medicare nationwide, over 800 private insurers, and all you have to do to get started is call (888) 721-1514, or go to my link, usmed.com/juicebox. Using that number or my link helps to support the production of the juice box podcast.
ADHD, Stubbornness, and Creating Habits
Bridget I don't I think it's just something it's just so small that I guess I just don't I think it's because it's one of those things that you don't notice the effects right away Yeah. That you're like, oh, I can go maybe one day without it, and then one day turns into three days.
Scott Benner Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay.
Bridget And then you're like, jeez. I can't start now because now I have to be consistent with it. And then
Scott Benner Oh, this is the part I want, Bridget. This is the part I want. This is it right here. Why can't you just start on a Wednesday? How come it turns into, like, well, I'll wait till Monday? Or or or or after my room is clean or, like, whatever, like, arbitrary thing you set up as, like, you know, once, you know, once we get the bathroom straightened out, I can start taking this medication again. Like, you have those thoughts, don't you? Yeah. Oh my god. What is wrong with all you people? Okay. Alright. Listen. How
Bridget I don't know. I think it's a human thing.
Scott Benner To who?
Bridget I don't know. Maybe it's an ADHD thing.
Scott Benner I'm not sure. ADHD?
Bridget Yes. You're funny.
Scott Benner Are you anxious? Do you have anxiety?
Bridget I don't think so. I haven't been I don't know. I'm supposed to go see a psychologist person
Scott Benner Yeah.
Bridget Soon to be psychologically evaluated, but, apparently, it takes four hours.
Scott Benner Why are you being psychologically evaluated?
Bridget I don't well, because my doctor thinks I have ADHD, and she wants to put me on the proper medicine.
Scott Benner I would like this well, listen. Not for nothing. Tell her you're not gonna take it anyway, so what's the difference? And That's true. But now I got two bottles of expensive medication I'm not taking. I'm like,
Bridget now I'm in trouble.
Scott Benner Do you listen to the podcast? Yeah. Am I reasonably famous to you?
Bridget Yeah. You're like a celebrity.
Scott Benner Okay. Well, then just listen to me then. Okay? Like, do the thing my daughter won't do. Listen. Wait. So first first things first. Is the morning bad for you? Why? You jump up and you have coffee right away?
Bridget Yeah. I just I'm I have a mess in the morning.
Scott Benner Do you not shower in the morning? Some people don't.
Bridget No. I do.
Scott Benner Okay. So do you eat before you get in the shower?
Bridget Not all the time.
Scott Benner Do you drink coffee before the shower? No. Why don't you put them in the bathroom then? And then just I don't know if you know this, but when you're showering, there's water falling from the sky. Like, put the pill in your mouth, tilt your head backwards, fill your mouth up with water, and swallow, and then wash yourself, and then get out. By the time you're dry, you can eat.
Bridget I think you're onto something there.
Scott Benner Well, I mean, what was your major?
Bridget Health care administration.
Scott Benner Alright. Are you good at it?
Bridget I think so.
Scott Benner Alright. Well, you could administer this. Okay. I mean
Bridget Oh, perfect. I'll do it. I'll do it.
Scott Benner I know you won't, you liar. What are you lying to me for?
Bridget Well, I know my mom's gonna listen to this.
Scott Benner But don't lie to her. She she's used to lying to her.
Bridget Scott told you. Yeah. She's gonna say Scott told you to take it.
Scott Benner Well, do this for me. Okay? Just commit to thirty days in a row because you will feel so much better in thirty days.
Bridget That's true.
Scott Benner I'm being serious. And if you forget it on the fifth day, wake up the sixth day and take two of them.
Bridget I can do it.
Scott Benner Okay? I'm gonna tell you a little secret that a doctor told me, and this is not medical advice, right, because I'm an idiot. And please no one ever listen to me. Read the disclaimers. But Arden Zendo said, if you're having that much trouble remembering it, just take seven of them on Sunday.
Bridget Oh, and it's fine?
Scott Benner Well, I mean, look into it because, again yep. Look at you. Kids are so smart nowadays. You're like, are you, potentially telling me that possibly that maybe you heard from somewhere? Nothing that we could pin on you, of course. That's what Arden was told. If you absolutely can't remember them day to day, which is the preferred way to do it, then take them take them once a week.
Bridget I can do it. I'll commit I'll commit to it for you.
Scott Benner Are you gonna email me in a month and tell me you did it, please?
Bridget Yes.
Scott Benner Don't don't lie to me, Bridget. I can't take another girl your age lying to me about taking pills.
Bridget I'll add it to my calendar.
Scott Benner What how's that gonna help you? Where's the alright. I parenting's hard. It is easier to parent people who aren't your children, though, because look how you're you're, like, in a good mood, so you're not mad at me or anything like that. By now in this conversation, Arden would just be like she'd look up at me and go, I'm sorry. I stopped listening. What are you saying?
Bridget I wish she admitted to it.
Scott Benner Well, I think she enjoys admitting. I think she likes hurting my feelings. I think she, like, goes, what did you just say? I wasn't listening anymore. Okay. How do you remember to take your insulin? Oh god. Do you remember to take your insulin? Let's talk about the Tandem Moby insulin pump from today's sponsor, Tandem Diabetes Care. Their newest algorithm, Control IQ Plus technology and the new Tandem Moby pump offer you unique opportunities to have better control. It's the only system with auto bolus that helps with missed meals and preventing hyperglycemia, the only system with a dedicated sleep setting, and the only system with off or on body wear options. Tandem Mobi gives you more discretion, freedom, and options for how to manage your diabetes. This is their best algorithm ever, and they'd like you to check it out at tandemdiabetes.com/juicebox. When you get to my link, you're going to see integrations with Dexcom sensors and a ton of other information that's gonna help you learn about Tandem's tiny pump that's big on control. Tandemdiabetes.com/juicebox. The Tandem Mobi system is available for people ages two and up who want an automated delivery system to help them sleep better, wake up in range, and address high blood sugars with auto bolus.
Bridget Yeah. No. Actually well, okay. Have a pump, so it makes it better. Mhmm. Honestly, when I was on a pen, it was a lot worse.
Scott Benner Were you forgetting?
Bridget Yeah. And then I would just be like I live in Chicago. I take public transit all the time. I'm always going to and from something.
Scott Benner Mhmm.
Bridget I like to keep myself pretty busy. And so most of my downtime, like, normally when I would remember to, like, take some insulin or do something, is on the train or on a bus or when I'm walking.
Scott Benner Tell me it's cold, you're covered up.
Bridget Yeah. Well, they're like I don't know. There's always there was always something, and I realized it one day on a train. I think my blood sugar was 300. I had just, like, come back from lunch with a friend, and I forgot to take my insulin. And I'm sitting here, and I'm like, it's gonna be forty minutes until I get home. I have to do something. And so that one day, I did I did I took some insulin on the red line.
Scott Benner Yeah. Well, because your blood your blood sugar was red lining. You had to do something.
Bridget Yeah. Yeah. And so that was a big step for me because, normally, I don't like doing it in public.
Scott Benner Okay. Because
Bridget just, like, at a rest at a restaurant, I'm kind of, like you know?
Scott Benner Yeah. But why
Bridget People do other weird things on the red line, and so I just don't
Scott Benner What else do you see them do on the red line?
Bridget I can't even You heard about the red line in Chicago?
Scott Benner I don't know about it. My wife took New Jersey transit into Manhattan for fourteen years, and I can't even tell you her stories. You're too young, and it would make me uncomfortable. So, like like, seriously, like, it's the train is crazy. I get you. We need you to take your insulin. Yeah. So but now you're saying you're on a pump, and why is that better?
Bridget It's so much better because I can just, you know, pop it out. It looks you're not like
Scott Benner People don't know you're doing it.
Bridget Yourself. Yeah. And it's so much better.
Scott Benner Tell me why you wouldn't want somebody to like, forget the pen part of it. Mhmm. If you had to pull out some weird device that looked like I don't know. That said, like, insulin pump on the side of it, would that stop you from pulling out and using it?
Bridget Oh, no.
Scott Benner No. You okay. It was more about using the pen.
Bridget Yeah. And, like, I don't know, being out and about
Scott Benner Mhmm.
Bridget In, like, public places and germs and thinking about, like, injecting myself
Scott Benner I hear you.
Bridget Amidst those things.
Scott Benner That part of your health you're worried about?
Bridget Yeah. But
Scott Benner Not your thyroid.
Bridget The thyroid. No. I try.
Scott Benner No. I know. Listen. First of all, you don't think I'm coming down on you. Right? That doesn't feel like No.
Bridget This is good. No.
Scott Benner No. You're gay. You're like, no. Someone should be talking to me like this, Scott. My parents gave up. When did your parents give up exactly? Do you remember how old you were? When they were like, this girl's not listening to us.
Bridget Probably when I was, oh, I don't know, 14. I tried to convince them I tried to convince them to send me to, like, a completely different high school. I was very fortunate. I went to Catholic school all my life.
Scott Benner Mhmm.
Bridget But for some reason, I think I watched too many episodes of Gossip Girl. I wanted to go to one where they wore, like, skirts, and so I tried to I tried to get them to send me to a military academy.
Scott Benner Really? Okay. Yeah.
Bridget And it did not. And I made a whole presentation, and I thought it was very persuasive.
Scott Benner And they were like, you have no idea what this cost. We're not sending you there.
Bridget Yeah. And then I was just a mess in high school. So
Scott Benner What do you mean?
Bridget I was just all over the place, like, literally running from place to place. I was student body president. I was doing research Mhmm. At the local university. I was playing tennis. Like, I was so active. I was so busy. I don't think they ever saw me.
Scott Benner Yeah. Hey. Does it And
Bridget then yeah.
Scott Benner I'm sorry. No. No. Go ahead. And then what?
Bridget And then COVID hit.
Scott Benner Okay. And then
Bridget And then Yeah. I was just pouting in my room, I think, the entire time.
Scott Benner Because you were so, like, you were doing so many things and suddenly couldn't do anything.
Bridget Yeah. It was horrible.
Scott Benner Right. Right. Any other autoimmune in your family? Your mom have thyroid too or somebody have celiac or anything like that?
Bridget Yeah. My mom and my brother both have Hashimoto's.
Scott Benner Oh, you guys are English or Irish?
Bridget Yeah.
Scott Benner Yeah. Yeah. I could smell it through the phone.
Bridget Probably.
Scott Benner No. I mean, it's it's well, because well well, because isn't it isn't Saint Patrick's Day?
Bridget Saint Patrick's Day. Yes.
Scott Benner See? How come you're not drunk? What's going on, Bridget? Is that after this?
Bridget That was this weekend.
Scott Benner Take your thyroid medicine
Bridget first. This weekend. Right.
Scott Benner Hey. How many days has it been since you took your thyroid meds?
Bridget Actually, I took it this morning.
Scott Benner Good for you. But prior to that, did you take it the day before?
Bridget No. Prior to that, I probably hadn't taken it since, like, last Thursday maybe.
Scott Benner Oh, Bridget. Okay. Well, take
Bridget a I know.
Scott Benner Take a couple. Not a doctor, not a vice, Bridget. I wouldn't listen to me if I was you. Okay?
Mounjaro and Insulin Resistance
Bridget Well, started Mounjaro
Scott Benner Oh, yeah?
Bridget Two Fridays ago.
Scott Benner No. I took my Mounjaro on Sunday. Yeah. Well, I mean, mine's called Zepbound, but you know what I mean. Same business.
Bridget Right. Same thing.
Scott Benner You're taking it for weight or or in or for blood sugar?
Bridget Blood sugar. My my endocrinologist prescribed it to me because I was having issues where I would, I guess, binge at night, and I was just explaining I don't really feel hungry. I think it's the I don't know. I'm on type one diabetes TikTok. I don't know if you've seen it. But Did
Scott Benner you fall down the the amylin rabbit hole? Yeah.
Bridget Yeah. Yeah. And so I've convinced myself that I have no
Scott Benner Ability to stop yourself if you're eating? Yeah. So TikTok told me I was hungry.
Bridget But then I have realized that, oh, maybe I am going to bed, and my blood sugar's a little high. And
Scott Benner Mhmm.
Bridget Also, I've gained some weight over the last few weeks. I was I was running a lot, and then the winter hit, Chicago winters are brutal.
Scott Benner Yeah.
Bridget So I just kinda stopped working out
Scott Benner I hear you.
Bridget And eating healthy.
Scott Benner Any I figured if I'm not gonna work out, I might as well eat the drywall.
Bridget It's a it's a lost cause at that point.
Scott Benner Just, like, tumbling down. Like, he was like, this is it. I'll be dead in a week. So so you have all so is what you're telling me, you have all the tools for success, and all that is left is for you to put that pill in your mouth every day and shoot that stuff in your ass once a week
Bridget Exactly.
Scott Benner Or wherever you're shooting it. Yeah. Do you have any weight you wanna lose?
Bridget I don't, like, I don't know. 10 pounds.
Scott Benner Okay.
Bridget I have lost a few pounds since being on it. Mhmm. But my before I went on it, my time in range according to my Dexcom was, I think, like, 50%.
Scott Benner And now it's what what what's it, like, 80 now?
Bridget Yeah. Now it's 80%.
Scott Benner Yeah. Did I get that number right?
Bridget Yeah. Which is crazy.
Scott Benner I also thought you were gonna say 14. I didn't say it fast enough. It pissed me off. Just because I don't know if everybody knows. When you're younger, you don't think this it's it's really generalizations are for a reason. Like, it's easy to figure things out. Like, so, yeah. I mean, your time range is I I imagine you're having fewer lows because you're using less insulin. Right? Mhmm. And you're fighting with less peaks after meals.
Bridget Yeah.
Scott Benner Fewer peaks. Yeah. What dose did they give you?
Bridget I think I'm on two point five.
Scott Benner Okay. And it started working right away?
Bridget I think so. It could've just been the placebo.
Scott Benner Well, the what the no. Your blood sugar does have a placebo effect. That's I'm saying, did your insulin needs drop in the first couple days after you shot it the first time?
Bridget Yeah. Well, my so my endo, she as soon as I started it, she told me to switch my basal.
Scott Benner Mhmm.
Bridget And so she lowered my basil. And then pretty much immediately, at least the next I think I took it at night. And then the next morning, I did realize that I wasn't as hungry. And so Yeah. I think I reached for a banana. Normally, a banana would bring me up to 300. And
Scott Benner Are you pre bolus in the banana?
Bridget Most of the time, yeah.
Scott Benner How long? How long are you pre bolus in a banana?
Bridget Like, right before it.
Scott Benner You can really that's not a pre bolus. That's
Bridget just a bolus.
Scott Benner No. That's bolus thing. I'm talking about ten, fifteen minutes, fifteen minutes maybe. All that sugar.
Bridget Yeah.
Scott Benner Alright. But but go ahead. But it's slowing down your digestion. You didn't spike from the banana. How far did you go up from the banana? 300.
Bridget I think it was only I mean, I since I've been a little bit more cautious of what I'm eating
Scott Benner Mhmm.
Bridget I don't know if that's directly associated with the menjaro, but at least, like, I'm pulling myself together only before
Scott Benner you don't listen. I haven't been hungry in three years. I I said that. I I know.
Bridget And so I, like, I only spiked to one seventy, I think, which was a crazy improvement for
Scott Benner me. You ate a banana without prebolising and went to one seventy?
Bridget Yeah.
Scott Benner That's pretty great. Yeah. But that's not a reason not to prebolise.
Bridget I know.
Scott Benner But but look at you're not gonna have to do as far in the future.
Bridget Right.
Scott Benner Imagine if you would have given yourself insulin, walked into the kitchen, decided on a banana, and then said, I should wash my hands or get a glass of water, or maybe I have to pee. Do something else to busy yourself for a second, and then came back and ate that banana. No bullet. No no no jump at all. It would have been beautiful.
Bridget That's true.
Long-Term Health and Ovarian Cysts
Scott Benner First of all, think I should be interviewing more people your age. I feel like, intellectually, I'm worried about it in my twenties, so this is really perfect for me. I feel like this is going really well. I don't know about you. But when you think about your health, big picture, or maybe you don't. You'll tell me if you don't. Right? But I'm not talking about just today or next week something like that, or I feel like I gained weight or, like, you know, that kind I'm talking about, like, when Bridget steps back and looks at her life and says, I've been alive for fifty years now, and my body, my health is in what position? Like, where do you see yourself, and how much of your own effort and focus do you think is gonna be responsible for getting you to the place where you are? That makes sense.
Bridget Yeah. I so funny enough, that function health test this is not an ad, I promise. That function health test that I took put me at age 30.
Scott Benner Oh, jeez. Sorry. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Bridget I was like, crap. So considering that I do like and I think right now at 23, I'm definitely taking my health a lot more seriously than I was at 21.
Scott Benner I'm glad.
Bridget I've pretty much stopped drinking. I focus more on, like, walking and strength training, so I'll have muscle when I'm old. Mhmm. But mostly, I think about my fertility and my ability to have kids because I would love to have kids.
Scott Benner Really? Even after, the pain in the ass you've been for your parents, you you think
Bridget Exactly.
Scott Benner You you still think karma. You still think it would be a good idea? Can you imagine? Try to imagine a little kid, somebody who you're paying for, who, by the way, because of what they cost is the reason you're not in Turks and Caicos this summer. Okay? Like, right? Like, imagine that kid says to you, I can't remember to take my vitamin every day. You'd be like, you little son of a bitch. I have been killing myself for you, and you're not gonna take that vitamin? The only thing I ask you to do, you can't do right? Oh, can you can you write the script in your own head?
Bridget Yeah. It would be an issue.
Scott Benner Mom yell these things at you ever or no? Yeah. Why don't you listen to her? She takes her thyroid med every day, doesn't she?
Bridget No. She's actually an angel on this planet. Yeah. She takes her thyroid medicine every single day, and my brother still lives at home. Mhmm. And so they're kind of, like they're in it together. And they have, like I think they're vitamin a. It's like a thyroid, I don't know, a little drop thing that they take.
Scott Benner And Oh, I love those two people. My son listens to me about this, by the way. Every day, every vitamin I hand him, everything for his thyroid, takes it when he sees Arden, like, messing about it, but he goes, just take the stupid pill. She's like, listen. Last night, that girl asked for the vacuum cleaner. Okay? Dad, could you bring the vacuum cleaner upstairs for me? So I brought it up. I'm a decent person. And I brought it upstairs, and I put it down. I said, hey. While you're vacuuming because she's gonna vacuum her room. I said, there's a little, like, a couple dust bunnies out here in the hallway. Would you just hit those for me while you were going? She goes, I was going to, but now that you told me to, I don't want to. And I said, well, that's a mental illness. Just vacuum up the dust from She's like, if I said to Cole, like, hey. Like, there's some, like, dust out here. He just vacuumed the whole hallway. Why are boys easier about stuff like this than girls? What is it? Like, what what is it? Can you help me? Do you know?
Bridget So I actually just did the same thing.
Scott Benner You could tell me your story. Go ahead. So
Bridget well, so I live with my boyfriend. We've been together for almost three years. He's perfect. He remembers to take his vitamins. He's clean.
Scott Benner And Is that the bar we're setting for boys now? Scottie doesn't smell. I'm gonna marry him. Go ahead. He's clean. What else?
Bridget We were cleaning for Saint Patrick's Day because I have a balcony and, like, I live downtown. And so we were having a bunch of my friends over, and he was, like, steam mopping the floor, and then I was vacuuming before him. And he, like, pointed out, I think, a dust bunny. It was it was like a clump of dog hair. We have a little Australian shepherd. Mhmm. And he's like, could you vacuum that up? And I said, I'm going to, but now that you asked me to, I'm angry.
Scott Benner Yeah. So explain that to me. What is wrong with you? Like, do you know, or do you do you have any way to explain it to me? Does can anyone come on the podcast and explain it to me? Because it's a a baffling part. I was staring at Arden the other day. She goes, stop looking at me like that. I'm like, I can't. I'm like, I wanna choke you to death. I'm like, why are you not just doing where do you think that reaction comes from?
Bridget I think it's just because I was planning to do it and because somebody told me to do it. It's just, like, frustrating.
Scott Benner No. I mean, I understand what happened, but what's in when you go see that psychological psychological exam, ask him about that.
Bridget I will. Because I think it's it's also probably just being stubborn. It's definitely being stubborn, and it probably also stems from, like, when my mom would, like, ask me to clean the bathroom, and I had already done it. And then I would feel like, jeez, I shouldn't have cleaned it because she asked me so funny. I don't know. I wonder what like a little it's it's definitely an immature reaction, and I recognize that.
Scott Benner Yeah. Well, it's not gonna go by the way, it's not gonna go away. My wife still says to me sometimes, you're not my father. I'm like, your dad's dead, and I'm in my fifties. I don't think you're I'm your father. But my wife has a story though, like, in the way she was treated. Like, like and it stuck to her. Like, she my wife will tell you a story of the day her father was, like, changing a light switch and it was time to put the cover back on the switch. And, you know I mean, I don't know what you know, Bridget, but, like, it's two screws. You can't do it wrong. Right? Like, if the screws go in, you've accomplished it. There's no we you didn't do it incorrectly. She asks to help, and she takes this the cover. She puts it on. She puts the two screws in, and then she said her dad pulled both screws out, took the cover off, put it back on, put the screws back in again. They're Irish and, and and English too, case you're wondering where your crazy might come from, all of you. Yeah. Also, why why can't I just tell you that Jesus will put you in a pit of fire if you don't take your thyroid meds? Can't you just want that work on you or no?
Bridget I don't know. The pit of fire yeah. That might do it.
Scott Benner I mean, seriously, you went to Catholic school. Can't I just tell you God would be disappointed if you didn't pre bolus? Isn't that that is it not that easy or no?
Bridget No. It should be that easy because that's what they told us
Scott Benner that's so I they indoctrinate you pretty good. Why can't I just use that? Oh my goodness.
Bridget You're onto something.
Scott Benner You can
Bridget I think you're onto something there?
Scott Benner Saying that, but nothing's happening. Also, you have no idea how difficult it is to talk to you. You sound exactly like my daughter's friend, Olivia.
Bridget Oh, no.
Scott Benner Like, speech pattern Oh, insane. Yeah. Every like, you're not all the I don't think you're all the same. That's all I'm saying. But you have your voice is so similar to hers. I have to stop my I'm this close to writing a sticker on my face that says it's not I'm not talking to Liv. So Oh my gosh. And she's from, like like I think her family's, like, from Indiana too, so I think they have a little bit of that, like I mean, that's close to Chicago. Right?
Bridget Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Scott Benner I know geography a little bit.
Bridget Well, so Northern Indiana claims Chicago, but Southern Indiana or Central Indiana wouldn't.
Scott Benner No.
Bridget And the Central Indiana accent is crazy.
Scott Benner I don't
Bridget know if you've heard it.
Scott Benner Well, I mean, I've I've probably heard it, but I don't know it off the top of why is it crazy? Can you do it?
Bridget Mine well, so my nana has a very thick, like, Central Indiana accent, and she says, like, wash.
Scott Benner Oh, like, gonna wash the clothes?
Bridget Yeah.
Scott Benner Yeah. And my grandmother would have said that.
Bridget I'm trying to think what else. But, yeah, Northern Indiana, like, we root for the bears. We basically live in Michigan.
Scott Benner The bears were so bad for so long that a quarterback showed up with nail polish on, and you guys were like, that's fine. We're not even gonna worry about that. Yep.
Bridget But he's the I don't I don't do sports like that, but I heard he's great.
Scott Benner Yeah. I I saw him play this year. Didn't do bad. Okay. So this diabetes thing. Let's talk about being young and having diabetes. Okay?
Bridget Yeah.
Scott Benner I mean, obviously, start of college, they they whisk you away. You're sitting in the children's hospital. Can you go back to that time for me and tell me what was going through your head? And if it was, like, were you sitting there just going, like, diabetes? Like, what the hell? Or did you accept it pretty easily? Did you fight against it?
Bridget Yeah. I think I think I accepted it pretty easy. Like, I don't I didn't really know a lot of people with diabetes. And, again, like, luckily, I was at a children's hospital, and I received great care and great training, which isn't the experience for a lot of other 18 year olds or older people diagnosed with diabetes. So really fortunate with my diagnosis in general. And, I guess, transitioning, like, from being a person who was relatively healthy to suddenly having a chronic disease that I'm likely gonna have the rest of my life, you know, knock on wood. Like, that part was tricky. I I went from I don't know. Like, I have a lot of friends from high school that I still don't really know, like, how to talk about it with them.
Scott Benner Really? Okay.
Bridget I don't know. The time before diabetes just feels so fuzzy to me. Mhmm. And I was also just down a completely different path. Like, I was studying biochemistry. I thought I was gonna get a PhD and, like, work in research for the rest of my life. And then I switched because I wanted to make a better impact for people living with chronic diseases, and so I switched to health care administration so I can maybe, you know, fix the The US health care system, which is a whole issue within itself.
Scott Benner Yeah. Good luck. Go get them.
Bridget Right. And and luckily, Loyola did have a health care administration program. And so, like, my mindset just completely shifted from I'm gonna be young. I'm gonna have fun. I'm gonna I don't know. I'm gonna do everything a young person can do to I wanna live life, like, the best way possible. Mhmm. And I think for a while, I was a little angry, but I was never angry at the fact that I had diabetes. I was always just angry at, like, ugh. I have to put on an a new Dexcom and, like, I can't do this because I have to do this. And there were just a lot of take like or what's that called? Like, trade offs.
Scott Benner Yeah. A lot of new responsibilities. Yeah.
Bridget Yeah. And that was kind of hard to adapt to. And, you know, everything happened while I was in college, and so also graduating college was I was a completely different person Mhmm. Coming out of college than I was entering college.
Scott Benner Sure.
Independence and Hiking in Spain
Bridget And so that was really interesting. I ended up as soon as I graduated, I flew out, like, literally the next day. I flew out to Spain with my dad, and we backpacked El Camino De Santiago. Have you heard of it?
Scott Benner No. Tell me.
Bridget So it's like a 500 mile trail from the South Of France to the Northwest Corner of Spain.
Scott Benner Wow.
Bridget And it's beautiful. It's it's a Catholic pilgrimage, but so many people do it for so many different reasons. You stay in hostels the whole way. I was gonna do it alone, but my dad was like, heck to the no. You're a woman, and you could, like, have a low and, like, fall on the trail or something. And so he came with me, and we actually had a great time. And I think that was really therapeutic for me because I just kind of let a lot go on that. It was a month long trip in Spain.
Scott Benner Yeah. How did it help you let go of some of it?
Bridget I just think I needed some time to, like, look back and just relax.
Scott Benner Mhmm.
Bridget And thirty days in Spain, I'll do that for you. So
Scott Benner So nothing to do, and you took care your diabetes. Okay? You had some support from your father. He came to the realization, like, this is gonna be okay?
Bridget Yeah. And I think, like, at that point, I, like, let all my anger go
Scott Benner Okay.
Bridget About being diagnosed. And so that was really, yeah, I guess, therapeutic.
Scott Benner Yeah. Did you at the time, or do you now in hindsight, like, feel, like, the support from your dad, like, coming along with you like that? Or did you feel like he was, like, lording over you and wouldn't let you go do something by yourself?
Bridget No. No. He I think I think he understood, like, how I need support. Because even, like, before, my he was never super involved in my diabetes, but mostly just because I never asked him to be. Mhmm. And, like, same with my mom. My mom was a little bit more involved. Sometimes you just need help changing a site or Yeah. You're like, oh my gosh. If I look at one more piece of candy, I think I'm gonna throw up. So just, like, having somebody there to, like, see you and, like, see what you're going through, I think that
Scott Benner Was helpful.
Bridget Yeah. It was really helpful.
Scott Benner Okay. Yeah. Yeah. So support doesn't have to look like somebody doing something for you all the time. Sometimes it could just be the knowledge that they're there if you need them.
Bridget Right.
Scott Benner Right. But, also, I mean, with five years of hindsight, should 18 year old you have been put in charge of all this? How'd you do with it? Like, maybe I'm wrong. Maybe you were like, yes, Scott. I was ready for that, I took it over, it's fine. Or do you look back now and go like, I probably could've used more help?
Bridget Honestly, I've been really independent my whole life. I'm a middle child, but I'm an eldest daughter. So
Scott Benner Okay.
Bridget I don't know. I did I did, like, solo travel. At that point, I was going to all my, like, all my own doctor's appointments. Pretty much as soon as I got my license, I was really independent. Mhmm. And so I think it was just something that I knew I had to step up to and step up to the plate and really take care of myself. And luckily, I had friends who I lived with in college, like, right after I was diagnosed.
Scott Benner Yeah.
Bridget And Loyola is a a great place because almost everybody's studying to be a nurse or a doctor. Mhmm. And so I had a lot of, like, support on that end too.
Finding the Right Insulin Pump
Scott Benner What were your outcomes like? Like, so you were you're taking care of yourself. It it's on you, and you're handling it and everything. But are you like, where's your a one c? I mean, you see your time in range is like 50%. Like so it's not like, that part of it isn't paying off, but at least you feel, like, personally, I don't know, confident?
Bridget Yeah. When I was first diagnosed, my a one c was pretty low. I I think it was oh, it might have been in the sixes, like, right when I was diagnosed.
Scott Benner Pought it pretty early.
Bridget Yeah. Yeah. Well, no. No. No? My a one c was 14 when I was diagnosed.
Scott Benner Oh, okay.
Bridget Yeah. And I wasn't in DKA. Like, I wasn't about to, like, you know, fall into a coma. Mhmm. But they caught it at the perfect time, luckily. Yeah. By the I think it was, like, the next June or July. Does that even make sense? Three months after, I got it way down, but it was because I was having so many lows.
Scott Benner Oh, oh, I see. So you so your a one c wasn't actually good. It was just showing well because you were getting low a lot and staying low a lot.
Bridget Yeah. And and that was when I was on pens. I was on pens from April 2021 until August 2021. Mhmm. And then I went on Omnipod, and the Omnipod made it a lot better. And then I, like, realized I was hitting it off, and I would leave the controller, like, back at my apartment on accident. And so I'd be kind of in trouble there. And so I decided that tubing might just be better for me. So that's why I'm on tandem.
Scott Benner So you switched from the pump that you were enjoying to a different pump because it had a tube on it. You thought, well, maybe I'll stop forgetting this thing?
Bridget Yeah. And sometimes I do still forget it, but for the most part
Scott Benner Don't worry. I can still forget it, Scott. I'm good. Really good.
Bridget Yeah. But for the most part, I'm, like, really
Scott Benner You're good.
Bridget It works a lot better for me.
Scott Benner Okay. Yeah. No. I understand. I I actually I understand what you're saying. So but, I mean, it's connect it you mean, does the term she'd forget her head if it wasn't attached apply to you?
Bridget Yeah. Definitely.
Scott Benner Oh, okay. Well, then there you go. Then it's attached now.
Bridget And I have, like, different insulin pens, like, stashed in case I do forget it. Like, I have one in at work. I have one in the car. I have one pretty much everywhere. Mhmm. Like, just in case. It might not be, you know, full strength at this point because it's kinda been stashed there for a while, but it does the job if I'm in a pinch.
Scott Benner Yeah. I hear you. So you started off I don't think you started off any differently than I would expect for your age, for your situation, for the fact that you were kinda on your own a little bit doing it.
Bridget Mhmm.
Scott Benner Right? So there's some time to figure things out. You've got some lows that you you don't like. You make some adjustments, things get a little better, you make another adjustment. You know, you get hit with the the thyroid diagnosis in there somewhere. Right? Mhmm. That's still a thing you're working through. But now you added another tool with the Mounjaro. Mhmm. And you're taking your health seriously at at, I think, a really young age, which is terrific, by the way, and about where I would expect it to happen as far as, you know, maturity goes. Like, this is my like, I always kinda joke with Arden. I was like, I only have to help you with these pills for, like, two more years, and then your brain will form all the way, you'll do it yourself. Not that she's not awesome. Like, it's not my intention to say. My question would be is what pushed you towards that that health testing? Like, what was the thing that got you like, oh god. I gotta do something.
Bridget First of all, my grandma is really, really into functional medicine.
Scott Benner Okay.
Bridget She listens to this to this guy's podcast who, like, created the whole thing, the whole testing.
Scott Benner Okay.
Bridget It is backed by medical professionals. I've checked it out. But she's she offered to pay for it for Thanksgiving or for Christmas on Thanksgiving because
Scott Benner I just I I was like, oh my god. Your parent your your family just Thanksgiving gifts?
Bridget We love Thanksgiving.
Scott Benner Yeah. My god. We love it so much. It's a gift giving holiday. No. But but I understand. On Thanksgiving, you were talking about she offered to pay for it for you.
Bridget Yeah. Got it done. So yeah. So I thought
Scott Benner it's done. That come from? Where does the offer come from? Does she look over at you and go, oh, Bridget, honey, what's happening?
Bridget Well okay. So I have I've had these ovarian cysts for, like, a little over a year now. They put me in the ER the day after Christmas this year.
Scott Benner This is so painful. This to Arden too.
Bridget Yeah. Yeah. And it's not PCOS, but they like, I just have two I have one one cyst on either side, but they're, like, five centimeters big. Like, if you imagine a hair tie, that's the size of both of my cysts on either ovary.
Scott Benner Yeah.
Bridget And so I was like, oh my god. I need to figure out a way to get these out because they won't operate on them because they're not greater than, like, I think, six centimeters.
Scott Benner Arden had one removed, and Okay. And truth is is, like, others came back. Like so, like because they went in laparoscopically and took it off her, like it was right by her fallopian tube.
Bridget Yeah. Yeah. And so I was kind of asking them to just do surgery on me. I was like, I want them out. But then they kind of said that they typically come back.
Scott Benner Yeah.
Bridget And right now, I'm not on any birth control. I'm just trying to, like, you know, deal with my body. Yeah. Trying to get my body into control.
Scott Benner Yeah. You girls would have a lot to talk about if you were because she's in the same she's like, I don't wanna take birth control. Do you find I'm wondering if after time you'll find the any impact from the Mounjaro or even just losing weight or if it changes your your your periods. Even, like, lessening your your menstrual cycle might be helpful. There's another good reason to take your thyroid meds and
Bridget Yeah.
Scott Benner You know, all that stuff. Oh, I'm sorry. I've been in the I've been in the emergency room twice with Arden with that pain. Yeah. Just feels like someone's cyst stabbing me.
Bridget Oh my god. And thank goodness. I was still home for Christmas because we were, like, gonna drive to my grandparents the next day. And thank god I was, like, in my childhood bathroom, like, on the verge of passing out, like, laying on the tile floor, like, throwing up. I was like, okay. This is not normal. So I called my mom, and she, like, saved me.
Scott Benner Yeah. They give you a
Bridget never seen me in, like, that much pain. I've never felt that much pain.
Scott Benner Yeah. It's really upsetting. Yeah. Did they give you a tour at all?
Bridget Yeah. They gave well, first of all, gave me morphine, and then they gave me Toradol.
Scott Benner To to go home with. That does help.
Bridget Yeah. And then I didn't have any pain, like, the rest of my menstrual cycle. So
Scott Benner You got rid of it. How long did it take to get through from the sharp pain to getting rid of it?
Bridget It was like, oh, maybe three hours.
Scott Benner Felt better after the pain meds and the pain didn't come back?
Bridget Yeah. Okay. And they so I went back to my gynecologist, and she said that she thinks it twisted and then maybe twisted back.
Scott Benner Oh, he might have got lucky. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Bridget So they did think it was appendicitis because of where the pain was coming from. And Yeah. My right cyst is bigger. And so there's just a lot of pain over there.
Scott Benner Yeah. Art Martin's had it present like classic appendicitis. She's had it present like classic gallbladder too.
Bridget Okay.
Scott Benner But it's it's neither. It's that. Yeah.
Bridget Yeah. And so they gave me anti nausea meds, and they gave me some morphine, and that did help. And then they put me through, I think, like, a CT scan, and then I got another ultrasound. And the doctor came back, and he was like, it's just your period. Yay. I was I was like, okay.
Scott Benner Awesome. Hey. This is gonna happen next month too. Right? The period? Like, that's gonna keep happening? What stops you from wanting to take the birth control pill?
Bridget I don't know. I was on it during high school, and I don't know. I it was fine. But, again, I have problems, like, remembering to take medicine. So
Scott Benner You're like, it's not gonna work. So It
Bridget just it just wasn't a good idea. And then
Scott Benner Does it make you crazy?
Bridget I thought it did.
Scott Benner Yeah.
Bridget But I was also just a high schooler. Like
Scott Benner I wonder too because Arden tried it in high school, and she's like, I don't wanna do it again. It made me crazy. And I was like, okay.
Bridget Right. And so I'm just I don't know. I'm I'm open to it. I ended up getting an IUD. Mhmm. But then they found the cyst, and so they took out the IUD.
Scott Benner Would that not have helped, though?
Bridget They said that the IUD might have caused it.
Scott Benner Really?
Bridget Yeah. Because apparently, the excess estrogen, like Oh. I don't know. Something like you get some sort of hormone that stops cyst prevention.
Scott Benner Okay.
Bridget There's like a whole a whole thing to it, but it again, they don't really do a lot of research on
Scott Benner No. They don't care. They're like, you're fine. You're a girl. We have other ones. If you're if you break, we'll have we'll have more. And, yeah, girls really do not get treated well, with their reproductive stuff. Right. Yeah.
Bridget And so I just don't think I don't think they know a lot, unfortunately.
Scott Benner Yeah. No one knows a lot. I don't wanna break your I'm sure you're still young and hopeful, Bridget, but you're gonna meet a lot of peep I started coming to the conclusion yesterday that maybe one in every five people I bumped into seems to have it together somehow. Yeah. So and god knows that we all think we're that one person, so that's why it gets sideways so easily.
Bridget God knows I am not one of those five people, but I try. I try.
Scott Benner I'm a 100% sure I am, and I'm probably not. Wow. It's a lot. Do you ever feel like do you ever have those moments where you're like, why me? Or just a lot to deal with?
Bridget I don't know. Supposedly, when I was diagnosed, you know, my whole family was there. They were all on spring break, and my brother told my dad, like, thank god it wasn't me. Yeah.
Scott Benner What a guy.
Bridget But I think he was he was coming from a good spot. Like, I'm glad it was Bridget and not, like, him or my younger sister. I think just because they knew that, like, if anybody could take it positively, it would be me.
Scott Benner You think your attitude leans more towards forgiveness on this?
Bridget Yeah. Definitely.
Scott Benner They would have been pissed?
Bridget Yeah. Definitely.
The Power of Positivity and Acceptance
Scott Benner What about you? Would you like have you always been like that?
Bridget Yeah. I'm just my my family has a thing, and they say that's so Bridgette. And it's like I don't know. When I was first diagnosed, we had all my senior, like, pic you know how you, like, put your senior picture in the front yard and
Scott Benner Yeah.
Bridget Yeah. Like, yay. This person graduated. My uncle sent me a picture, and it's, like, me smiling. It's, you know, my senior picture, and I look so happy. And he goes, that's still Bridget living with diabetes. And it's Do you like happy go lucky.
Scott Benner Yeah. Do you like that, or do you is that pressure to you?
Bridget No. I don't mind it. It's I think it's it definitely gives me I don't know. Recently, I'm taking I'm also getting my MBA right now. Mhmm. And we talk a lot about, like, identity. And so, like, saying I'm a happy person versus saying I'm happy. Like, you associate yourself with permanently, like, being happy versus, like, just a verb or an adjective just saying you're happy.
Scott Benner Okay.
Bridget And so I think, like and maybe this is crazy, but, like, other people saying, like, oh, she's such a happy person. Bridgette's so positive
Scott Benner Mhmm.
Bridget Versus, oh, she was very positive on this one day. I think that, like, helps me to an extent. And, like, people at work do it too. Like, oh, she's the happiest person or she's so positive. And I'm like, you know, I am pretty happy.
Scott Benner And but it doesn't make you feel like, oh, I'm now I'm the happy person. If I don't act happy, these people are gonna be disappointed on me. You don't have that pressure.
Bridget No. Definitely not.
Scott Benner It helps you that way. Listen. I think, you know, I mean, it's an oversimplification. Obviously, it doesn't work for everybody, but I do think a lot of how things go were really does kinda stem from your attitude about it. Mhmm. I do think you kinda get what you expect sometimes. Yeah. You know, if you expect things to go well, then you generally seem to feel like they go well.
Bridget Yeah.
Scott Benner And if you're always running around going, this sucks and why me? And it's not fair, then I think things are gonna feel that way. I mean, obviously, the die obviously, it's not fair. The thing I mean, with the cysts and the diabetes and I'm making funny about the pills, but, like, having to take a pill every day fucking sucks. You know what I mean? Like, there's nothing great about that. Yeah. You're know, you can argue it either way. Yeah. You're lucky to have the medication, have access to it and everything. You know, I could easily hit you with, like, there's plenty of people in the world who need that med. They'd be happy to take it, Bridget. But, like, I don't think I just don't think that's how things work. You know? So I don't think you're not taking it because you're you know, don't wanna be healthy or because you're not a good person or whatever somebody might think from the outside. I think it's hard to remember to take a pill every day. Yeah. You know?
Bridget Yeah. I definitely, like, approach life, you know, through a lens of it's never that important. And, like, some things are very important, and so I don't wanna, like
Scott Benner Yeah.
Bridget You know, discard that. But definitely, like, sometimes you'll have a bad day with diabetes, and you just have to say, like, jeez, that was, you know, a bad day. And I'm like, today is just not a good day.
Scott Benner Just wake up tomorrow and start over again.
Bridget Exactly.
Scott Benner Yeah. Oh, I like that. That's a good idea. I think that's a great idea.
Bridget I babysit for a family with a daughter with type one. She's, like, two. Aw. And she was diagnosed at one, and so they're, like, they're very new to it, and they're, like, kind of freaking out.
Scott Benner Yeah. I bet.
Bridget And I met them through, like, a type one diabetes, like, network kind of thing. Mhmm. And they, you know, they try to they try to be perfect. You just have to I don't know. With diabetes, you're gonna have it for so long. It's not your life, but, you know, it's a major part of your life. Mhmm. And so you just have to be good enough, and that's kind of been my perspective. And so I think them seeing me, a 23 year old year old girl who, like, decently has she has a job. She's living in Chicago. Like, she's happy. And so Yeah. Seeing that, I think it's provided a lot of hope and, like, my attitude towards diabetes. Like, that's been really helpful for them. But
Scott Benner I love it. I think no. I think I you sound like you're doing great, actually. I would I would wanna make sure to leave you with that idea that it sounds like you are really doing well. I I'm sure things are just gonna continue to morph and change over time as you get older and but already, like, I see, like, you know, you wanna be healthy for yourself. You wanna have kids. You're gonna wanna be healthy for kids. Like, you're gonna keep making good decisions as you go. Mhmm. And like you said, every day is not gonna be perfect, and every hour is not gonna be perfect. And it's hard to hard to swallow that when your two year old's running around with diabetes, and every number feels like the end of the world. And Mhmm. You certainly don't want your blood sugar to be 200. You don't want it to be two fifty. You don't want it to be 300. You don't want it to be four. You don't want those things. Right. But there's a balance between knowing that they're not optimal, working towards keeping them from happening, and not beating yourself up when they do happen if they happen. There are two different schools of, like, consideration in there. Like, yes, I don't want your blood sugar to be high. I don't want your blood sugar to be low. I also don't want you to spend a week or a day or a month, like, feeling badly about it if it happens because it's probably gonna happen. And, you know, the I think the key is to address it as quickly as possible, stop it without causing a different problem, and look at ways to hopefully help from, you know, it happening again. For you, it sounds like we know what you should be doing. Right? You should be Mhmm. Pre bolus ing a little better and probab I mean, what's your a one c right now?
Bridget I just got it back. I think it was $7.06.
Scott Benner Yeah. You pre bolus your meals, it'll be $6.06.
Bridget Mhmm.
Scott Benner Just like that. Just take your insulin fifteen minutes before you eat. It'll go down a full point, I bet.
Bridget Yeah.
Scott Benner Take your thought by the way, you're, it's also harder to control your insulin, with an unregulated thyroid problem too.
Bridget Oh, that makes sense.
Scott Benner It's all gonna help. And so don't don't let the I'm a fan of the Mounjaro, and I I'm I like that you're doing it. But don't let it mask the other things and make you ignore them.
Bridget Right.
Scott Benner That makes sense? Yeah. Take the damn pill, pre bolus your meal, shoot the Mounjaro once a week. You'd be you you probably be you probably live to be 200.
Bridget Right.
Scott Benner You know what I mean?
Bridget Right.
Scott Benner Hey. Any of those nodules on your thyroid, they say they have to come off, or they didn't mention that?
Bridget I don't think I at least I haven't noticed any. Like, it's definitely larger, but I haven't noticed any nodules.
Scott Benner You know, the the metal help with that too. Right?
Bridget Yeah. Yeah.
Scott Benner Did they palpitate it, like, with their hands, or did they give you, like, a like, did they scan you?
Bridget They just they always just feel it.
Scott Benner Feel it. Okay. And they're not feeling nodules.
Bridget Right.
Scott Benner Take them So far. Take just take them in, please. Yeah. Alright. Can you check-in with me in a month? Will you send me an email? No one ever does. You know that. Right? Whenever I'll I do it. When I say just email me in a month, tell me how it's going, no one well, some people get back to me, but not as many as I
Bridget want. Right.
Scott Benner Alright, Bridget. Is there anything that we haven't talked about that we should have, anything we skipped over, or anything you wanna yell at me about? Or if you wanna say wonderful things about me, now would be the time.
Bridget Mhmm. I just wanna say, like, I've listened to your podcast since 2021. You know, you have instilled so many, you know, very solid piece of the pieces of advice in my life. Like, I think one time I don't know when you said this, but you said, like, always stay low. Like, you'd always rather have Arden go low than go high.
Scott Benner The saying is, I would rather fight with a lower falling blood sugar. I would rather stop a lower falling blood sugar than fight with a high one. Yeah. It's just kind of a mindset more than anything else. I don't want her to be low. That's not what I'm saying. Right. Right. Don't misrepresent me, Bridget.
Bridget Right. I'm sorry.
Scott Benner I'm sorry. Okay. Go ahead.
Bridget But you you've instilled so many great, like, foundational pieces of advice that you really have made such a difference. And even, like, when I first emailed you back in, I think, October, I was training for the Chicago marathon. Mhmm. And I finished. I ran
Scott Benner Oh, good for you.
Bridget But you were interviewing another runner, and he just talked about, like, pausing his insulin or, you know, making sure there's no insulin on board when you start running. And, honestly, that made such a difference in my running journey.
Scott Benner Good for you.
Bridget Like, I was able to achieve my goals and run a marathon, and I felt like a, you know, like a normal person, I think, on marathon day.
Scott Benner Yeah.
Bridget So that made such a difference, but I just wanna say thank you. You're a celebrity in my house.
Scott Benner So that it's first of all, I'm very happy that any of this helped you. I appreciate your kind words. I would take this moment to tell you that if the thing I said about the running helped, maybe the other stuff will help too.
Bridget That's true.
Scott Benner Right?
Bridget You're always right. You should know that.
Scott Benner Hey. Listen. That's true. I do I do want that to be that should be a saying or a t shirt or something like that. Scott's always right. I will wear it around the house, and they'll throw rotten food at me. The laughing that would happen. I can hear Arden now. You don't know yourself, she would say. My my wife might say you don't know yourself. Arden would say those people don't know you. So, nevertheless, take the pill every day. Even if you even even if it if you forget it, take it at night. If you wanna take it at night instead of the morning, just do that. Just do it every day. If you forget it one day, take two the next day. Like, that that's easy. Do not whatever that thing is I'm gonna get a therapist on here to figure this out. But whatever that thing is that people go like, oh, I didn't do it. I'll have to wait till Monday. My god. Please, all of you, don't do that. That's ridiculous. You know, there's no no time like the present. Just jump back in again. You were really lovely, seriously. Yeah.
Bridget You were lovely too.
Scott Benner Oh, my
Bridget god. I told my mom I was gonna come on the podcast, she was like, what are you gonna talk about? Don't say anything in a she's a lawyer.
Scott Benner Don't say anything inappropriate. Don't
Bridget say anything crazy. And I said, I'll be good, mom.
Scott Benner Yeah. You were terrific. Was good.
Bridget Yeah. Thank you.
Scott Benner And, also, I mean, your mom and your brother are on this health journey with their thyroids. They could include you. How come we don't have a text chain?
Bridget That's true.
Scott Benner Right?
Bridget Everybody take their medicine today.
Scott Benner This is doable. Oh my god. You would yell in three seconds if your mom texted you every day. You'd be like, that is enough, lady. I don't understand the human psychology, but it's pretty funny. Alright. Hold on one second. I'm gonna say goodbye when nobody's listening. Okay?
Bridget Okay.
Outro and After Dark
Scott Benner The podcast you just enjoyed was sponsored by Tandem Diabetes Care. Learn more about Tandem's newest automated insulin delivery system, Tandem Mobi with Control IQ plus technology at tandemdiabetes.com/juicebox. There are links in the show notes and links at juiceboxpodcast.com. The podcast episode that you just enjoyed was sponsored by Eversense CGM. They make the Eversense three sixty five. That thing lasts a whole year. One insertion. Every year? Come on. You probably feel like I'm messing with you, but I'm not. Ever since cgm.com/juicebox. This episode of the Juice Box podcast was sponsored by US Med. Usmed.com/juicebox or call (888) 721-1514. Get started today with US Med. Links in the show notes. Links at juiceboxpodcast.com. Okay. Well, here we are at the end of the episode. You're still with me? Thank you. I really do appreciate that. What else could you do for me? Why don't you tell a friend about the show or leave a five star review? Maybe you could make sure you're following or subscribe in your podcast app, go to YouTube and follow me, or Instagram, TikTok. Oh, gosh. Here's one. Make sure you're following the podcast in the private Facebook group as well as the public Facebook page. You don't wanna miss please, do you not know about the private group? You have to join the private group. As of this recording, it has 74,000 members. They're active talking about diabetes. Whatever you need to know, there's a conversation happening in there right now. And I'm there all the time. Tag me. I'll say hi. If you're living with type one diabetes, the After Dark collection from the Juice Box podcast is the only place to hear the stories that no one else talks about, from drugs to depression, self harm, trauma, addiction, and so much more. Go to juiceboxpodcast.com. Up in the menu and click on after dark. There, you'll see a full list of all of the after dark episodes. If you have a podcast and you need a fantastic editor, you want Rob from Wrong Way Recording. Listen. Truth be told, I'm, like, 20% smarter when Rob edits me. He takes out all the, like, gaps of time and when I go, and stuff like that. And it just I don't know, man. Like, I listen back and I'm like, why do I sound smarter? And then I remember because I did one smart thing. I hired Rob at wrongwayrecording.com.
