#1863 Expert Testimony

Cory discusses his harrowing 1998 Type 1 diabetes diagnosis , overcoming clinical barriers to pumping and thyroid care , using GLP-1 therapy , and finding fulfillment as a community group expert.

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Key Takeaways

• Misdiagnosis & Triage Vulnerabilities: Acute onset symptoms of Type 1 diabetes can easily be misidentified by primary clinicians as minor environmental parasites, demonstrating why immediate emergency evaluation and symptom recognition (like ketones on the breath) are critical to preventing severe diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA).
• The Power of Clinical Self-Advocacy: Drowning under rigid baseline management parameters or clinical restrictions requires persistent patient self-advocacy. Finding progressive clinicians who will provide advanced tools without requiring a "perfect" early tracking history is key to long-term success.
• The Actionable Practicality of Pre-Bolusing: Effective diabetes care moves past basic carb counting to highlight active timing strategies. Implementing specific waiting windows between an insulin dose and meal consumption acts as a key element in smoothing out postprandial glucose spikes.
• Metabolic Stability via Modern GLP-1 Therapy: Utilizing advanced GLP-1 medications alongside standard Type 1 insulin therapy can lead to up to a 40–45% reduction in total daily insulin needs. This optimizes metabolic parameters and heavily dampens volatile high-low glycemic rollercoasters.
• Community Safety Nets and Peer Support: Moderated digital forums and specialized support networks serve as necessary psychological secondary spaces. They help families and advocates seamlessly process daily medical burdens, layout clinical boundaries, and share life-saving resources.

Resources Mentioned

• Juicebox Podcast Official Site: juiceboxpodcast.com
• US Med Diabetes Supply: usmed.com/juicebox (Or call 888-721-1514)
• Omnipod 5 Automated Insulin Delivery: omnipod.com/juicebox
• Wrong Way Recording Audio Services: wrongwayrecording.com

FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

Introduction and Behind-the-Scenes Insights

Scott Benner (0:0)

Here we are back together again, friends, for another episode of the Juice Box podcast.

Corey (0:14)

Hey. My name is Corey. I'm a type one diabetic. I was diagnosed at 19 about twenty seven years ago.

Scott Benner (0:23)

My grand rounds series was designed by listeners to tell doctors what they need, and it also helps you to understand what to ask for. There's a mental wellness series that addresses the emotional side of diabetes and practical ways to stay balanced. And when we talk about GLP medications, well, we'll break down what they are, how they may help you, and if they fit into your diabetes management plan. What do these three things have in common? They're all available at juiceboxpodcast.com up in the menu.

Scott Benner (0:50)

I know it can be hard to find these things in a podcast app, so we've collected them all for you at juice box podcast dot com. While you're listening, please remember that nothing you hear on the juice box podcast should be considered advice, medical or otherwise. Always consult a physician before making any changes to your health care plan or becoming bold with insulin.

Scott Benner (1:14)

This episode of the Juice Box podcast is sponsored by US Med, usmed.com/juicebox, or call (888) 721-1514. Get your supplies the same way we do from US Med.

Scott Benner (1:28)

Today's episode is also sponsored by Omnipod. Check out the Omnipod five now with my link, omnipod.com/juicebox. You may be eligible for a free starter kit, a free Omnipod five starter kit at my link. Go check it out. Omnipod.com/juicebox. Terms and conditions apply. Full terms and conditions can be found at omnipod.com/juicebox.

Corey (1:55)

Hey. My name is Corey. I'm a type one diabetic. I was diagnosed at 19 about twenty seven years ago.

Scott Benner (2:03)

Wow. And, Corey, just before we started to record, you said you were a little nervous, but tell me why you were nervous?

Corey (2:10)

Yeah. So not nervous to talk to you, Scott, but nervous in that I I just hope that my story will help even one person, you know, to do something a little better or to have a small positive change in their life. Yeah. That's what I'm hoping for here.

Scott Benner (2:25)

I want to start with that just so I could tell you the same thing I would tell anybody and have told people in the past when they say that is that in now over 1,800 recordings, I mean, I haven't deleted any of them. Like, I think people are always like, oh, my story isn't gonna be valuable. But, I mean, you find everybody's stories valuable. Right?

Corey (2:45)

Totally. Right.

Scott Benner (2:46)

Yeah. That's it. We don't edit out content. We don't take the thing you said at three minutes and move it to ten minutes and move stuff around. These are straight through recordings. You know, they get bleeped a little if somebody curses or something like that. But other than that, nothing gets taken out of them. And I think I've maybe only recorded three in twelve years that you guys haven't heard. And those weren't for reasons of you know, it's not like I recorded them, and I was like, oh god. That's horrible. I don't want anybody to hear it.

Scott Benner (3:15)

As a matter of fact, I'll tell you this. I won't give you the exact details, but the three that I've recorded that you haven't heard, one was just a technical issue where one of the voices didn't get recorded. One was where there was such a significant shift in the tone of the conversation. It was this upbeat conversation that was going on for I think we were forty five minutes into it. And just out of nowhere, the person I was talking to said something that was, like, a such a significant like, a violent thing that happened to them, and it just felt strange after that. And we were joking one second, and the next second, they said this thing, and I didn't feel like I pivoted quickly enough. Do you know what I mean? It would be like I don't know. If we were at a stand up concert together and the comedian's been talking for forty five minutes, and then you just turn to me and, like, tell me some atrocity that happened to you, and I'm laughing about the thing that happened five seconds before that.

Scott Benner (4:10)

We never found our footing again, and the two of us agreed when we were done just to delete it. And then I don't even remember what the third one was, But what I can tell you is that I've recorded a handful of conversations that I would tell you that when I'm done with them, they're not my cup of tea. Like, if I had to go back and listen to them, I wouldn't. And there was this one time I finished with this person. I would never say who it is, but I finished and I just really didn't like it. I did not have a good time talking to them. I did not enjoy the conversation. It felt boring to me. The whole thing turned me off about it. And it was the only time in and again, twelve years that I thought, I'm just gonna lose this one. Like, I'll send her an email and tell her something technical happened and I lost the file because I don't wanna put this out. And then I thought about it a little longer, and I said, Scott, you're not the only one listening to the podcast. Right? Like, other people have different sensibilities than you. I put it together just like I put out every other one, and it's incredibly popular. And I can't tell you which one it is, but Sure.

Corey (5:16)

No. I understand.

Scott Benner (5:17)

I didn't hate the person. I just I didn't like their voice. I didn't like the story. Like, the whole thing just maybe I was in a bit. I couldn't even begin to tell you. But people find it incredibly valuable. So, you know, I appreciate you being concerned, but I think we'll be okay.

Corey (5:32)

Yeah. Well, let's give it a shot and see what happens. Absolutely.

The 1998 Misdiagnosis and Emergency Triage

Scott Benner (5:35)

So you were diagnosed when you were 19 years old?

Corey (5:38)

Yeah. I was 19 back in October '98.

Scott Benner (5:41)

And how did you figure it out?

Corey (5:44)

Yeah. So it was probably about a six week onset from what I'll call normal to, you know, in the ER. And with that, it was a lot of the same stuff you've heard over and over. But for me, it was just mostly fatigue. And then about a week before the actual diagnosis, I'd gone to an air show with a friend and her family, and, her mother was a nurse, and we were all staying in, a small hotel room, anyway, out in West Texas. And she commented to me the next morning, do you know you got up four times, you know, in the night to use the restroom? And I said, no. I didn't realize that. And, anyway, she's like, yeah. You should probably have that looked into. And that was pretty much the end of that conversation. When I got back home, I ended up going to the doctor. I wasn't feeling well and gave him all of that and told him what what she had said, gave him my whole rundown. I'm really tired. I'm very thirsty. Obviously, urinating a lot. Everything that we now, you know, you know is classic symptoms. But told him all that. He said, well, you went out to West Texas. You probably got a some kind of a bug or a parasite or something in the water out there. So here's a pill for that, and then go home and drink as much Gatorade as you can to stay hydrated. Well, as you know, Gatorade is sugar water with some electrolytes. It has its place, but at that point I mean, I went to him probably around noon. By 10PM, I was in a whole another place. So my mom drove me down to the ER. I'm 19, lived at home still. We get into the ER, and this has actually been referenced on your podcast before. But in in that '98, and I live in the DFW area of Texas, there was, like, a heroin epidemic of young people, teenagers. And so when I walked in, barely walked into that there was a nurse there, a guy, and there was a cop. And, you know, what are you doing here? My mom's trying to tell him what's going on. I could barely talk. I was so dehydrated. Sitting there, the cop was very interested in me and why I was there. And the nurse was like, hey. We gotta take your temperature. And I'm like, I don't know if you can. And it kind of escalated, and I'm like, I don't think I can get the thermometer under my tongue. I'm so dehydrated. And he's like, well, if I can't put it under your tongue, I'm gonna shove it up your ass. That was pretty crazy. And right about that moment, a wonderful ER doctor walked through there and she stopped. I mean, right in her tracks. It was like, hey. What's going on here? And the guy's like, well, he just came in. And she's like, well, I can smell on his breath that he's diabetic. She literally grabbed me by the arm and said, come with me, put me in a bed. They got an insulin drip going, and that's about all I remember.

Scott Benner (8:52)

Yeah. Saved you from having a personal relationship with a thermometer too.

Corey (8:56)

Correct. No doubt.

Scott Benner (8:58)

Who said that to you about the—

Corey (9:00)

So he was like the triage nurse at the ER.

Scott Benner (9:03)

What's wrong with everybody, Corey? What do you think?

Corey (9:06)

I he was having a day, and so was I.

Scott Benner (9:09)

Your ass was almost having a day. And so He's like—

Corey (9:12)

I was like, wow. Okay. And ironically, I I never did get my temperature taken that day. But anyway so then the next morning, I was in the ER. Well, not in the ER. They had moved me to ICU. Mhmm. My dad showed up. At that point, we had not talked in a couple of years, just different stuff, but he was right there, which was awesome to find out, you know, what's going on with my son and everything. And so he's in there sitting with me and talking, and the doctor who I had gone to the previous day that told me I had a parasite, he was doing rounds in that hospital. He was like, what are you doing here? And I said, well, it wasn't a parasite. That was kinda fun. And, of course, he didn't apologize or anything. He just kinda, you know, was—

Scott Benner (9:55)

Mhmm.

Corey (9:56)

Played it cool. Next morning, off we went. So then go through the normal, what I'll call normal diabetes education. I was, a few weeks later, put into a room, you know, with a lot of nice folks, but mostly type twos. In fact, I think they all were. And the person was just kinda going over, you know, here's a what a banana is and how to count a carb and, you know, what is a protein, those kinds of things. So it was very basic education. Was given a sliding scale with, I guess, the clear and cloudy back then. So taking, you know, shots, syringes, and I had a tester, you know, a blood glucose tester, and that was pretty much it.

Living with Syringes, Pumps, and Clinical Friction

Scott Benner (10:38)

I'm sorry to ask you, but at 19, were you living at home with your mom?

Corey (10:42)

So I was living up with my mom. My parents are divorced.

Scott Benner (10:44)

Okay. And what does support look like when you're diagnosed at that age in that situation as far as family goes?

Corey (10:51)

Yeah. So it was, this is yours. Yeah. There was no—

Scott Benner (10:57)

Let me understand this for you.

Corey (10:58)

Let me understand or or whatever. It was pretty much like, what's the diet look like? Okay. Eat a healthy diet. Take, you know, the insulin per the sliding scale. And, of course, there was no CGM, anything like that. So you just test every couple hours. Of course, it was all on me at that point as a 19 year old.

Scott Benner (11:18)

Okay. And were you in college or going to college?

Corey (11:21)

Yeah. Going to school, working full time. So trying to keep a job, of course, and going to school in the evenings. And then—

Scott Benner (11:28)

Doing all this.

Corey (11:29)

Trying to live a life on top of that too.

Scott Benner (11:31)

You know, it's funny. I I ask people, like, how long does it take you to pull it altogether, ignoring the fact that maybe you don't feel like you have it altogether. Uh-huh. Yeah. How long did it take to feel like you had a, I don't know, a rhythm?

Corey (11:43)

So that's a good question. Probably, I had a follow-up appointment with the doctor, not the same one, by the way, that had diagnosed me before, a new doctor. And at that point, yeah, it was a good amount of time. And and honestly, I thought I had it together. Right? I was alive. I was doing the things. Even way back then, I don't remember what my a one c's would have been, but they weren't where I would want them to be now for sure. Probably the eights, the nine, somewhere in there.

Scott Benner (12:15)

Okay.

Corey (12:16)

Without having all that data in between the tests, it's just hard to know what was all going on. And then being 19 and all the things I worked different hours and and all, it was a lot of, you know, take the basal. Once I moved to I did finally move to Lantus and Humalog pens. Take the basal, whatever they tell you to take, and then, you know, inject insulin before you eat. I didn't go low a lot, and that's probably because my a one c was higher. So it must be working. So I don't know if I ever really felt like it was together, but I felt like I wasn't dying and I was still moving forward.

Scott Benner (12:51)

Are those expectations set up by you or by physicians? Or I mean, how long ago was this?

Corey (12:56)

That would have been 98 in the, you know, like, 2000, somewhere in there at that point.

Scott Benner (13:02)

The Internet exists. Like, you have the ability to go out into the world and try to find out more about your situation. So do you do that or you just kinda take the—

Corey (13:10)

No. No. I never did. Not at that point.

Scott Benner (13:13)

Nope. Can you put into words did you know the a one c where it was wasn't optimal, or did you feel like it was more than acceptable?

Corey (13:21)

I felt that it was acceptable. Acceptable. There was never—I don't wanna say more than acceptable, but there was never discussion from the doctor or any of the other medical type folks that things were going in a way that were suboptimal. Mhmm. It just was like, okay. You're doing the things. You're doing the things. Check your feet. You know?

Scott Benner (13:43)

Check your feet.

Corey (13:44)

Go to the eye doctor once a year and—Right. Yeah. You're doing all that in your twenties, so you must be fine. And that was the situation. So I, you know, always took insulin when I ate, but never—you know, it—it—it's certainly not like it is today for me.

Scott Benner (14:01)

No. Well, I know you modern day to be a thoughtful person. So I wanna know, like, what tipped you from that stasis to, you know, looking deeper.

Scott Benner (14:11)

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Scott Benner (15:14)

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Corey (16:37)

That's a great question. So in 2011, I moved to a pump. I was finally was able to, I say, talk a doctor into that. I—I got a better endo at a much better place. The one before was basically, like, if you don't test your blood eight times a day, you don't get a pump. And it was like, okay. You know?

Scott Benner (16:57)

Awesome. Thanks. Yeah.

Corey (16:58)

You know, thanks. So, you know, it was basically, like, we're not gonna give you the tools. And I know you've certainly talked about this before. We're not gonna give you the tools until you don't need them is how it felt. Mhmm. And so, you know, just wasn't set up for a whole lot of success with that doctor. There was would give me type two medications. So I don't even know if the doctor thought, you know, I was actually a type one or if I had type two or a little bit of both or whatever.

Scott Benner (17:25)

What other medications was this guy who wouldn't give you a lifeboat till you stop drowning?

Corey (17:29)

So he—there was a pill like Actos. He gave me that, which was kinda like a metformin type pill.

Scott Benner (17:35)

Uh-huh.

Corey (17:36)

He wanted me on that. He did give me all the way back then Victoza, which I know is like a GLP one.

Scott Benner (17:42)

Just a—

Corey (17:43)

much earlier version of one. That was helpful, actually. You know? But, again, not a lot of help as far as the the technology and any of that goes.

Scott Benner (17:52)

Tell me how the Victoza help before we move on.

Corey (17:55)

A bit more stable blood sugars, probably not as high highs Mhmm is what I would say about that.

Scott Benner (18:02)

Okay. Okay.

Corey (18:03)

Didn't lose a lot of weight or anything. It wasn't where GLPs are today, but it was minor—you know, a little bit helpful.

Scott Benner (18:08)

Saw some improvements. Yeah. I love the idea of, like, you're drowning, and I have a lifeboat. But when you stop drowning, I'll give it to you.

Corey (18:15)

That's how it felt at the time.

Scott Benner (18:18)

Corey, just in case, like, did you just say it took thirteen years to give you a pump?

Corey (18:22)

That's right.

Scott Benner (18:22)

Okay. So That's right. Again, I know you as an adult. Did you code differently back then? Was somebody look. I'm sorry. Is that what young people say?

Corey (18:30)

I don't know. I'm not a young people.

Scott Benner (18:32)

Are you a much different person today than you were back then?

Corey (18:35)

No. I would say I'm not. I would say I'm not.

Scott Benner (18:38)

Just a bad clinician you had?

Corey (18:40)

Yes. Yeah. Okay. That's right. And also, I—I try to be kind to people. But so to me, insulin was you get insulin, you get a tester. That was kind of, you know, the way it was. Pumps and all of that, that was fancy stuff, and and it was pretty new. Well, at least to me, was a new thought, it was just kinda—it was just out of reach at that point. Not due to finances or anything, just it wasn't available. And—and, again, hearing from that doctor and "you don't test enough," that sort of thing. And it felt like you have to be a perfect diabetic in order to, you know, to get the tools. So was referred by a friend of my wife's. She was more of an acquaintance, but she worked in an Endo's office, recommended I go change doctors, go there. That was a huge step forward for me. Okay. That would have been in about 2012. And a large teaching hospital, he's an ENDO there and, you know, more at the forefront of the things that are happening, what's going on. He was like, yeah. You need a pump. We need to get you on one as soon as we can. Got on a a Medtronic. I don't remember the version, but it was the one that looks like a beeper and they had different colors. But anyway, you know, it was a dumb pump, but it was still a pump. That was a lot better, just easier, you know, to be able to give myself insulin and have a square bolus for a pizza or those kinds of things. That was definitely helpful. At that point, my a one c was probably running around an eight before going and seeing him, and we were able to get it down to to the low sevens. That was good. That was definitely moving in the right direction. Well, I'll never forget seeing the paperwork after one of the visits, and it said I was a noncompliant diabetic.

Scott Benner (20:26)

Oh.

Corey (20:27)

And that was the first time I'd ever heard of that. And and I just felt like, what? You know, he didn't say you're doing anything wrong or you're not listening or you're not doing. Why am I being coded that way? And that was not a wake up call, but it was just something that got my brain thinking, like, what am I not doing? Mhmm. What is—you know, and this was, again, 2012. So this is still quite a while back. But—

An Unplanned Adoption and the Motivation to Heal

Scott Benner (20:54)

Is there any shame attached to that? Like, when—

Corey (20:59)

Yes. For sure. Right.

Scott Benner (21:00)

Did reading that make you think, oh, that's right. I don't do a good job. Or did it make you think, what does that mean? Like, I'm trying as hard as I can. I thought I was doing well. Like, where do you fall in that spectrum?

Corey (21:12)

So reading that, I would say I wasn't trying as very hard as I could at that point. Like, it was more, okay. I'm doing it, but I'm not doing everything that I need to be doing. I need to be, you know, checking my blood sugar more often or—or really thinking more about the foods that I'm eating. You know, how old was I at that point? 30, something like that.固定 Right? Like, I need to dial this in. I need to get better at this. So that all coincided with the adoption of our daughter, my wife and I, in 2013. That's another story for a different podcast, but we more or less had a baby fall in our lap. And, you know, you ask people all the time, like, why do you do these things for other people that you don't do for yourself? And every time I hear those episodes, I think of myself that way because my wife and I, we wanted this child. We wanted this baby. And I felt like if my blood sugars aren't good or if I'm not managing this well Mhmm will there be a hiccup in the adoption process? Will they say, you know, we'll find a different parent? Think something like that. And that—that really got me on the train to better at that point.

Scott Benner (22:29)

Okay. Hey. You said a baby fell into your laps. Why did a baby not fall out of a lap? Were you having trouble conceiving? Or—

Corey (22:36)

Well yeah. So well, we just, for whatever reason, never did have a natural child or a child on our own. Could be. We never really dug into it. It didn't happen. But through that, a woman basically told my wife at one point, very random, but a friend of mine is pregnant and not gonna be able to keep the child. Do you know of anybody who would be interested in adopting? Mhmm. And she came home and told me about that, and it was like, wow. You know, first of all, you know, generally, people aren't talking to people they don't know all that well about, like, you know, somebody who wants a baby. Like, that's just not typical, but that must mean that they're in a place where they they don't have any other option. Anyway, we both thought and prayed about that and both got a yes answer in our hearts and decided this is our life and and this is what we're going to do.

Scott Benner (23:31)

That's lovely.

Corey (23:32)

It is. And best decision. It was a wonderful and we now have a lovely 12 year old daughter who is—who is just amazing.

Scott Benner (23:41)

Excellent. That's wonderful.

Corey (23:42)

Yes. But with that, you know, it was like, okay. I've got this baby. I mean, she's 2 days old. She's in my arms, and I gotta be here for her.

Scott Benner (23:53)

But, Corey, before that, the thought process was if I'm not taking care of myself as well as I should be or could be, then maybe the adoption process will reflect that. We won't get the baby. Was that a concern of yours? Correct.

Corey (24:08)

That was a concern of mine. Yes. Okay. It was. Whether it was a valid concern or not, I don't know.

Scott Benner (24:13)

Yeah. Whatever. But it—it popped into your head that way.

Corey (24:16)

That's right.

Scott Benner (24:16)

Did you share that with your wife at the time?

Corey (24:20)

Yes. You did.

Scott Benner (24:21)

Did she say, Corey, you take great care of yourself. What are you talking about? Or did she say, yeah. I was wondering when you were gonna get around to that.

Corey (24:29)

Probably somewhere in the middle. In the middle. Like, let's make some changes, and let's let's do the things. You know, what do we need to do to, you know, to make this better? She was supportive.

Scott Benner (24:39)

But She was supportive. But—but so you—but you guys were married for how long at that point?

Corey (24:43)

What? Eight years, nine years?

Scott Benner (24:45)

Fair amount of time. Yep. Does she have any involvement or understanding of your diabetes at eight years in?

Corey (24:52)

She knows obviously knows I have it. She knows I have insulin that I take before I eat, but no. Not really.

Scott Benner (25:00)

Who's doing is that? Is it—is it her not being interested or you not being forthcoming, or is it like a quiet understanding?

Corey (25:08)

Probably quiet. It was never that I didn't want her to know or didn't want her to be a part of it. It was just like, hey. I got this. You know, it's just my thing. And Yeah. yeah. And I—I just—it's just an extra little thing I have to manage on the side of—of everything.

Scott Benner (25:24)

Just a little extra little thing. Is that the case today?

Corey (25:28)

Mostly. She probably has—I mean, I would say a little more involvement or at least a little more understanding. We've had more conversations around—I haven't even talked about kind of our home life and where we are today. But if we eat dinner and then I need to be active immediately after, that—that's not the best scenario because of all the insulin that might be on board Mhmm I'm gonna go low. So it's better to do the activity first and then do the eating, you know, so she has a bit more understanding around things like that than—than maybe before. She couldn't operate my pump or anything like that, but she knows when she hears the sounds, you know, oh, low blood sugar. Do you need some Skittles or whatever? So she's involved in that way, but—but not—I mean, she if I was an invalid, she wouldn't be able to just take over and—

Scott Benner (26:24)

Yeah.

Corey (26:25)

you know, manage my insulin or anything.

Scott Benner (26:27)

Okay. Is that a thing you want? Or, like, do you—do you wish that somebody knew more about—

Corey (26:33)

No. I don't think so. I—I no. I mean, it's fine that she knows what she knows, obviously, but I—I don't—I don't really think so. I—I'm—I'm good with it. And at this point, I take pride almost in, you know, how well I'm able to manage it and—and what I do. And—and so I try to have it not be a burden for myself and—and also for—for her or for anybody else.

Challenging the System: Thyroid Diagnostics and GLP-1 Breakthroughs

Scott Benner (26:57)

Is that a bit of a, like, a manly thing? Like, I won't put this on somebody else. I don't know if that's the right way to think of it. But, like, are you trying—are you trying to save people from having to be concerned about it? Do you think that they'd think differently about you if they understood it completely?

Corey (27:13)

No. And especially not her. I don't think she'd think differently about me at all. More of not being a burden. You know, I'd—I'd prefer just to handle it myself and—

Scott Benner (27:24)

No. I—

Corey (27:24)

understand.

Scott Benner (27:25)

I yeah. It's just interesting.

Corey (27:26)

To just kinda live. Yeah. No.

Scott Benner (27:28)

It's good. It's interesting to hear your pick through it, really. Do you have any other autoimmune issues?

Corey (27:32)

Great question. I thought you'd never ask. I do. I have a touch, if you will, of the Vitilago. It's not real apparent, but—but you can see it especially in the summer if I'm a little tan. Also thyroid, I don't know if it's Hashimoto's. We never—we haven't done any kind of antibody test for that, but definitely thyroid issues there.

Scott Benner (27:58)

Are they very impactful or—or is it manageable?

Corey (28:00)

The thyroid? It is. And—so to kinda jump to that, to the thyroid. So I started listening to your podcast about three years ago. It was April '23. And at that point, I found the podcast really through other Facebook groups and through you're looking at Apple podcasts and just trying to find, you know, okay. Is there something I can be listening to that might help, you know, with my a one c and that kind of thing to get that dialed in? Anyway, found your podcast. And at that point in time, I can't remember the exact episodes, but there were a number of them on thyroid. And just hearing those stories and hearing the talk about the different, symptoms that people were having, it was like, hey. That sounds like me. Yeah. And so I was like, hey. I need to get that checked out. That was, you know, important. I was already doing better on the—with the diabetes, but I—but I—that was—that was like, okay. So I went in to the—the endo, talked to him about that. He did a thyroid check, a blood test. I don't remember the exact number. It might have come back at a seven or an eight. And he said for the TSH, he said, well, you're not a 10 or higher, so you're—you're fine. You don't need anything.

Scott Benner (29:20)

But, Corey, you must have had symptoms at a seven or—

Corey (29:22)

an eight. I did. I did. I totally did. I—I had tired, chronic fatigue, waking up feeling more tired than when I had gone to bed. Like, I knew if I had just stayed up all night, I would be better off this morning than if I had gone to bed.

Scott Benner (29:38)

Gone through this ruse of sleeping.

Corey (29:40)

Correct. It was just awful. Yeah. Cold feet, especially in the winter, just, you know, all of this. And I remember at that time, I know you don't, but I reached out to you. I sent you a—a message in Facebook or somewhere and was just like, hey. And you're like, you just gotta keep pushing. You gotta keep pushing. And so that's what I did. And went back six months later, gave the same story. He's like, well, you're at a four or five or six something. It was a little lighter, a little better, but it wasn't any better. You're fine. He wouldn't do it. So then kept pushing, kept being tired, all that, but—but kept pushing. And so every appointment, I'd bring it up. And then you had more discussions about, you know, about the thyroid. If you're two or—or more and you've got symptoms, you need—you know, you—you most likely need medication or it's definitely good to—to look into. And I'm like, this—he's—he's totally describing me. You were describing me at that point in these—in these conversations. And I'm like, I've gotta keep pushing. Know? He wouldn't budge while it's still at the same teaching hospital, a nurse practitioner or PA, whatever. She was in there. I went to her, and I was talking to her about it. And I'm like, look. Is it gonna hurt me to take the pill? You know? Is it gonna hurt? If I do it and I don't need it, is this gonna hurt me? She's like, no. I'm like, then why can't I just give it a shot? You know, a low dose levothyroxine, whatever. Can I not, you know, give it a shot? Fine. I think she—I just was being such a pain in the—in the butt that she was like, you know what? If I just give him this, he'll go away. So I started taking it. That was a year ago, just about a year ago. And I—I felt better. I—not perfect, certainly, but I—I felt like, okay. This is making a difference for me.

Scott Benner (31:40)

Okay.

Corey (31:41)

Still in the winter, you know, like this past winter, my feet just for some reason, they just would get cold, especially if I was barefoot in the house, whatever. I probably need a higher dose of this stuff. Went back to the doctor. This would have been in the—in the 2025, so just a few months ago, and was talking to him and telling him all of this again. And he's like, well, you know, there are studies recently that have come out that say if you're at a two or higher and you have symptoms, you—you probably should be on—on levothyroxine. And I was like Yeah.

Scott Benner (31:37)

I heard that on a podcast.

Corey (32:18)

I heard that on a podcast three years ago, dude. Where have you been? Like, come on. Shake my head, but, you know, like you—you say, you know, just smile and nod and okay. Great. So he upped the dose, and—and that has made a world of difference for me.

Scott Benner (32:34)

Great.

Corey (32:34)

So, yes, that—thank you for that.

Scott Benner (32:37)

Oh. Please.

Corey (32:38)

And—and really just the—the idea of keep pushing. Don't take the no for an answer. You know? Find—find the relief that you need. If you're having symptoms, get them—get them treated.

Scott Benner (32:50)

Yeah. I've been talking about this a fair amount lately because it's just been in my head for a while since someone said it to me. So brief overview, someone described me to me as being direct, and it was off putting to me. And that, I guess, the people listening probably sounds silly, but I thought, oh, I'm not direct. Like, I know direct people. I'm not direct like that. And I realized that might be a spectrum as well. What I'm—I guess what I've taken from it now over time is that if a person like you who—I mean, you're just a very polite kind person. Like, if you can borrow a little bit of my—I don't know. Whatever what you wanna call it, being an asshole and, like, apply it to your own life and it helps you.

Scott Benner (33:29)

I'm all for that. I'm wondering how much of my attitude is actually a value in the podcast when it's sprinkled out across the country and across the world. I mean, there's—podcast is, you know, is pretty popular in a lot of different countries. So, I mean, how many people have just been born, raised, bred to just kinda put their eyes to the floor a little bit, say thank you, walk away even when they don't get what they need? It sounds like that might have been helpful to you.

Corey (33:55)

It was—so—I mean, it was totally helpful to me at that point.

Scott Benner (33:59)

Okay. Cool.

Corey (34:00)

Yes.

Scott Benner (34:00)

Well, I'm glad that me being like this is valuable to somebody. So—but I don't—but just so everyone knows, I don't—I don't see it. I am a—I'm a pretty quiet person in my—in the world I live in. I'm not boisterous. I don't think. And then I—I have moments where I step out of myself and I look and I realize that can't possibly be true. May I tell you a story real quick, Corey?

Corey (34:22)

Absolutely. I—

Scott Benner (34:22)

was in the grocery store last night, and I—I've—I've had two experiences now, one—one after the other. One was the day before the grocery store. Why is someone calling me? Do they not know I'm making a rather popular podcast? Hold on a second.

Scott Benner (34:37)

I was at a home store buying, like, bolts. You know what I mean? And Mhmm I I'm in an aisle by myself. And down the other end of the aisle, this man turns the aisle, starts walking up. I look and I go, oh, I know that guy. I don't just know him. Like, I really know him. Like, he's my brother in law's wife's sister's husband. Like, I really, really know him. You know what I mean? He's walking up the aisle, looking at me, and I'm looking at him. And I'm already thinking about, like, saying, hey, and all this stuff. And he just comes up to me, looks me in the face, and walks right past me. I was like, what in the heck? I went—I'll just say his name. Was like, Kenny. And he goes—he turns and looks at me, and I'm like, Kenny, hey. And then he's staring at me, I go, it's Scott. And he goes, oh, hey. And it just turns out, long story short, I've lost so much weight. He didn't recognize me. And I was like, oh, we talked a little bit. That's not the point. I go to the grocery store the next day, and I'm heading to check out.

Scott Benner (35:34)

And I'm sort of going down the main aisle at the front of the store, and this person two aisles ahead of me comes out, turns out of that aisle into the main aisle, walking towards me. It's a person I've known for twenty five years. Our kids played baseball together. Like, this whole thing. He looked at me. I looked at him. I started to smile. I started to say his name out loud. I went—I was like, he doesn't know who I am. And we just walked past each other. Now where does that come in with the whole being forward thing? I get in the line. There's a woman having trouble using a coupon. She's buying a baby formula. She's having trouble using the coupon. She has never—kids with her, and there are three kids behind the register trying to figure out how to make this coupon work. They are having an actual conversation about this. And I just walk up. Everyone looks up at me because I'm appearing. It's later at night. There's not many people at the store. And I went, hey. I'm sorry to, bother you, but I just got passed by a person who I've known for twenty five years, and they didn't recognize me because I've lost so much weight. And then we all started high five. And that—that actually happened. And then while they were working on the coupon, the lady and I were talking about, like, you know, she just had twins, and I was asking her about the formula and talking about—well, you were talking about the cost of kids and everything. We're embroiled in, like, a real conversation that she's not—for those of you out there who are, like, introverted, you're like, oh, she was probably mortified. She wasn't. We were having a nice time. Now that I think back on that as I'm talking to you, like, I guess that's what people mean when they say I'm direct. But, like, I just see that as, like, friendly. But I guess that's not it maybe for everybody. Anyway, whatever. As long as—as long as your thyroid's straight now, Corey, I don't really care. This is what's important. But this was just a year ago with the thyroid thing?

Corey (37:17)

Yeah. I—I wanna say a year, year and a half.

Scott Benner (37:19)

But you've been listening to the show for three years?

The Evolution of Peer Advocacy and the Long-Term Mission

Corey (37:22)

For three, but it took that long to persuade him to—to write the prescription.

Scott Benner (37:27)

Yeah. And how long have you—oh, you know, we've never met. Forty minutes in. You're a group expert in the Facebook group too. How long have you been doing that?

Corey (37:35)

It's been two, two and a half years.

Scott Benner (37:37)

Okay. So six months into listening to the podcast, we easily identified you as being just a very kind, valuable person in the Facebook group and—and approached you about this. Can you tell me from your perspective, what's it like to be at home and get a message from just a group that you participate in? And they're like, hey. Would you like to be more involved? Like, what was that like to—to hear that?

Corey (37:58)

Oh, very fulfilling. I—mean, even that, just knowing that I—I can help people and that I had been already helping them without any—I've called a title, I guess, group expert. It's not really—I mean, you know, it's what it is.

Scott Benner (38:11)

But small—it's a small badge next to your name. Yeah. Yeah.

Corey (38:14)

Correct. Right. But, you know, I—I just wanted to be helpful to—to other folks. I learned so much in that short amount of time from just listening to episodes of the podcast and being in the group as well. I just wanted to lead people to the same success that I had been having, you know. And—and so then when I'm told, well, you're doing a good job of this. We wanna make this a bit more official. Awesome. It's working. That means this is hap—you know, that I'm making a difference. And that that's really been—been the goal of being, you know, a group expert. It's just really trying to not have all the answers, but at least point people in the right direction so that they can, you know, they can find the success they're looking for.

Scott Benner (38:57)

Right. What's the experience without giving away anybody's, you know, personal information? Like, there's, you know, pretty big—there can't be, like, 12 or 13 of you. There's a lot of you at this point.

Corey (39:06)

Yeah. We have a good number.

Scott Benner (39:07)

And so you guys all have, like, a, like, a private chat where you talk. I—I every time I bring this up, I set up very specifically. I'm not in it so that everybody feels comfortable talking and doesn't feel like they're talking—That's right. in front of the teacher or something like that, which it seems silly, but at the same time, I've—I've been assured it's important.

Scott Benner (39:25)

By the way, I don't mean it seems silly like it seems silly to feel like you could misspeak in front of me. Like, I don't—I don't feel like I have—Right.

Corey (39:32)

I agree.

Scott Benner (39:32)

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I don't feel like I have any level of—anyway, I don't think there's a pecking system. I think we're just a bunch of people all trying to do the same thing, which is help those now, like, 82,000 members in there, you know, to find some, you know, comfort or—or—or connection, maybe an answer to. If anything, what has being involved in that small group meant to you? Those other group experts and you together.

Corey (39:58)

That's a great question. And I know you—it wasn't planted either. It's an amazing support. Just like the—the 82,000 Facebook, you know, members is an amazing support. It—it's sad. It's a little more personalized. Right? It's the same group of us that—that have that conversation going. I mentioned a few minutes ago, you know, when I was first diagnosed, my dad, we hadn't talked in a, you know, in, you know, a year or two for whatever reason, and who knows now what that even was. I was a kid. But five years ago, my dad was diagnosed with cancer. You know, with that, his—his wife and I were helping him. He was 71, 72 at the time. She was ten years older, 81, 82, helping him with getting the treatment, to doctor appointments, all those kinds of things. And then, you know, there was a lot of waiting, you know, in a waiting room or while he's getting the treatment, etcetera. When I was able to join that group, the group expert group, two and a half, whatever years ago, it—it was actually right—right as a lot of that treatment was happening for him.

Scott Benner (41:12)

Mhmm.

Corey (41:13)

And so they were like a support group for me whether they know it or not. And, because I didn't really wanna, again, to be a burden on them, but just being able to talk about, hey. There's this post. They're putting a GoFundMe in the group. Are we allowing that? Are we not? You know, whatever. Just having those kind of conversations or—or just general banter about things was a—was a great support to me. You know, also kept my mind off of the other things that were going on, you know, my dad and—and his health situation. You know, it—it just turned out to be a support that I didn't even know I needed or—or didn't even, you know, need whenever—whenever you guys ask for that. But—but it became a huge, huge help to me during that time.

Scott Benner (42:06)

I watched through an intermediary, basically. Right.

Corey (42:09)

So Isabel first, does Isabel feel like a part of the group, one of the guys feeling, or does she feel like a school mom to you? Like, how does that work in there?

Corey (42:18)

So she's one of us. She is, but she—I—I know of course, she has her own whole entire life, but then she also has the other duties that she's got within this—within this realm. So she's not as active in that chat. However, if we—if we add her or whatnot, you know, she's pretty quick to respond. And so she is there and—and definitely catches up, you know, once a day or—or more with the different messages. And if somebody posts, hey. You had my a one c today or—or whatever, you know, she'll, you know, love that or give it a thumb up or whatever.

Scott Benner (42:54)

Yeah.

Corey (42:54)

And she's definitely a part of the—the conversation, probably less than some of us, but she's great.

Scott Benner (43:00)

Yeah. Yep. She keeps me apprised of—she's not copying and pasting or telling me exactly what's being said, but she'll say something like, I think Corey's having a—a hard time right now as an example because you brought it up or something like that. She might even say to me, like, you should reach out to somebody and see if they're okay. I've seen a lot of, like, great, like, ideas from them.

Scott Benner (43:18)

They're doing such a good job managing things in the group or whatnot. Like, it makes me—like, watching you guys through that lens, I guess this is where I was starting. Watching you through that lens really gives me—it makes me think about what, like, small support systems would look like. And, like, it makes me—like, I dream about, like, one day the—the infrastructure on Facebook or somewhere else being able to create small groups of 10 or 20 people who are—are connected like that in smaller, like, online support groups. Like, right, like, I don't know if I could sever a thing I can make happen, but I wonder about it a lot.

Scott Benner (44:00)

Like, how valuable would it be to put together just a handful of people in a chat that could be helpful to each other? And I don't know how to do that really, but it feels like it's a good idea. I just don't—

Corey (44:12)

It does.

Scott Benner (44:13)

Yeah.

Corey (44:14)

I just wonder—like, we were not looking for, you know, a quote, unquote support group.

Scott Benner (44:19)

It just happened for you that way.

Corey (44:21)

It just happened. You know, it's like, hey. We're just all kinda doing this thing together. We certainly have things in common with, you know, type one and whatnot. And then you just—you just kind of build a rapport and, you know, it just kinda happens. But, yeah, I don't know if you could do that.

Scott Benner (44:37)

Yeah. In the end, I don't think it's a thing I would do because there are more unknowns. Like, you know, we're having a nice conversation that's upbeat, but, like, yeah, sometimes people are jerks and, you know, you could randomly grab one of those people. You guys are a—I know this is probably a weird way to think of yourselves, but you're a highly curated group of people. Like, you all have, like, a lot of attributes that over time impress themselves on me and—and—or—or Isabelle or sometimes each other.

Scott Benner (45:05)

Like, sometimes you guys will speak up and say, like, hey. You should add this person. We think this person would be great in the group, like that kind of thing. It's not a random pairing of 20 people, which I—I can imagine could easily turn into, like, blood sport somehow. If I had time to do a research project, I think I would do it on you all helping each other and helping the group and what value this has been for you having personal connections like this and what value have you had from helping other people.

Scott Benner (45:35)

Like, I think there's an entire—I think there's an entire ecosystem within the group of you that is incredibly interesting, you know, which is why I try to interview you all at some point or another if you're interested. Nobody's been forced to, obviously. It's just interesting to hear your thoughts about—about why you do it and because it's time. I mean, it is a—it's time too. Like, I listen.

Scott Benner (45:54)

Fifteen minutes before you and I did this, I texted Isabelle, and I said, hey. I need a Omnipod five list pulled out of the algorithm list. I wanna separate them. She's a, like, an adult. You—you know what I mean? Like—like—

Corey (46:09)

Right.

Scott Benner (46:09)

She has things to do.

Scott Benner (46:10)

Yeah. You guys aren't being paid. And twenty minutes later, she's like, it's in the—it's in our shared folder. She just went and did it real quick. You guys are never gonna, like, you know, realize, like—like, I couldn't get this all done without everybody. Building a website now that's just for doctors. Like, so I was, a hospital reached out to me, a couple actually, and said we need a cleaner way of sharing the podcast with people. And so I've been working on that. But so much of how the website comes together is, you know, links that are collected on lists, lists of episodes with links and to them and, like, all this stuff that—trust me. You don't know me that well, Corey, but I would not have done on my own.

Scott Benner (46:55)

Sure.

Scott Benner (46:55)

The update to, like, the—the end of—the end of page, the juice box docs where, you know, I think we have, like, over 200 doctors now that listeners have sent in and said, like, look. This is a really good clinician. I wish other people knew about them. And it's so incredibly searchable, and, you know, part of that is just that AI has allowed me to code without understanding how to code. But part of it is that that information was all collected somewhere. And it's, again, not a thing I would do. It's in a—I know this probably sounds so basic to, you know, most people have jobs, but, like, spreadsheets are set up. My brain's way more artistic than that. Like, do you know what I mean? Like, I would not have said, like, oh, I have all this information come in. This is data. I should, you know, do something with it. You have an idea how many people say to me, like, do you have an email list? You know, like, I'll get involved with, a sponsor and they'll be like, know, you know, do you ever send out an email? Like, could we put an ad in an email and, you know, or something like that? And I'll go like, oh, yeah. I mean, I have a list. There's not many people on it. And then they're like, well, how many people are on—I'm like, like, 10,000.

Scott Benner (47:57)

And they laughed. They're like, you think you have a 10,000 person email list? It's not a big email list. And I was like, I don't know. Doesn't sound like a lot of people. And they're like, well, how often do you use it? I'm like, I don't really. So, you know, like, is that—should I? Is that a thing? And then I just go, I don't wanna bother people. I don't know. Like, my—it just all doesn't work that way for me in my head. Like, I just think make the stuff, put it out, cover everybody's concerns, and then word-of-mouth. Like, I really genuinely believe word-of-mouth is the only thing that works. I think you can email people. You're gonna reach them at the wrong time of day, on the wrong day, not when they're interested, not when they're able, you know, two days before their kids are on spring break, whatever. I think I see the podcast and the space the way you may have heard me talk about, like, parenting where, like, I've said before, like, I think one of the best things I've ever done for my kids has been at home when they got home from school. This idea that I'm gonna open the door and the thing that I know is, like, supportive for me is going to be there, and there won't be any, like, hoops between me and that. I kinda think of all this that way. When they come to you, that's when you need to be there with—with the information or the answer or just the—the stability and chasing them around with it.

Scott Benner (49:19)

You should know how to bolus for fat. Like, nobody wants to hear that. You know what I mean? But the day they realize they need the bolus for fat, they wanna know where to go to find out. And I think that's sort of what this is. It gets kind of like a—more of a long term idea than than a short term gains thing for me. So, anyway, well, there's a lot of talking about a podcast. What do you think? Do you think it's working? Do you—do you ever look up and go, you know what he should be doing, but it's not my place?

Scott Benner (49:45)

Do you have any—like, you guys would share stuff like that with me if you thought that way. Right?

Corey (49:48)

We would. Yeah. No. I—I think it's working. You know, you're coming at it with a lot of different topics from a lot of different angles. You know, the bolus four, that's great. Right? That's very tactical, very usable information. You've got the more mental health stuff, which is great, you know, for caregivers, for patients, whatever, for all of us. And then, you course, the pro tips, all of the—the different series that you have, and then even the—the things that are—that are kind of connected but not identical, like the thyroid stuff, the GLP. You know, I—I think you're covering the diabetes basis as well as things that if you have this, this other thing might be interesting to you, and—and I see that you're covering—covering those things all in doing it in an entertaining way as well. Like you said, it's not dry and—and boring.

Scott Benner (50:43)

Oh, jeez. I mean, I don't know if there could be anything worse than—

Corey (50:46)

So whenever that—I'll bring this up, the thyroid thing. Whenever I was hearing you talk about it, I—like, well, I wonder if there's any other podcasts on that specifically. Right? And I went and I listened one day to this, and it was terrible, Scott. It was so bad. It was so bad. It really was two—two people, and you could tell they were reading from a script. "Good afternoon, Corey." It was exactly like that. It really was. And it was like, I know they're—I know what they're trying to do. I know why they're trying to do it. I—you know, like, it's they're trying to add value to the conversation, but it was done in such a way that it was like, this—

Scott Benner (51:26)

Not how it works.

Corey (51:27)

This is not gonna work.

Scott Benner (51:28)

Yeah. Yeah. It's not—it's not how people work, on the other side of it. And I just—I count myself lucky that I grew up listening to talk radio because I still see it. I mean, I've seen it for years of people, like, pop up and like, I—I try to say all the time. I—I—I don't know how, like, how it comes off, but I'm all for other people sharing their ideas and, like, getting good stuff out into the world. But, like, if you don't make it accessible, and by accessible, I don't mean just talking down to people or staying basic. I mean, making it interesting. If you don't do that, like, it doesn't matter. Like, I just think that you could hide the history to life forty five minutes deep into an episode of a podcast. And if the audio is bad or it's uninteresting, people are gonna go like, yeah. I don't need to know the secret to life that badly. And so, like, with something like this where you're already—people are already not super motivated to go out and learn more about their insulin and stuff like that, it has to just grab you in a different way. There's no world where people are going to willfully give of their time to listen to two people talk about thyroid in a way that makes you wanna jump out of a window while they're talking or in those big dumb voices they use sometimes or, you know, and they talk like, you know, weather ladies from, you know, from South Carolina or whatever the heck. Like, it's just like—it's all very—they don't get it because you see it professionally all the time from organizations like Breakthrough and ADA or, you know, I just saw—I just saw this thing.

Scott Benner (52:54)

I won't say anybody's name, but I saw this thing the other day. This organization, I think, does really good work. And I looked at some of their social media, I was like, this is terrible. Like, no one's gonna listen to this, and it has two likes. And you know damn well they're the likes. They turn it out, and it looks expensive. And I'm like, you—you're wasting time and resources and money. Like, you can write it all down any way you want. This is not how people learn, and it's not how people wanna spend their free time. I think that I get frustrated sometimes watching these professional organizations pretty much break their own shoulder, patting each other on the back all the time about all the good stuff they're doing in the world. And I'm like, no one's seeing it. No one. Like, you're putting it out there and no one sees it. I saw somebody win, like, an educator award from the ADA today, and I thought, I bet you I don't ever win that. And I don't—by—by the way, let me be very clear. I don't need it. Don't want it. Not asking for it. Sure. They wouldn't think about someone like me in a million years for that, but I reach way more people than the person they decided to point to and say, oh, that person's really helping a lot of people. No. They're not. They're making stuff that would be really helpful to people if they could actually deliver it to them, which they don't seem to be able to do. Anyway, now you got me upset, Corey. I'm not upset. I'm like—I'm actually like, I feel really passionate about it because I don't imagine I know everything. And I bet you a lot of those people have great information. And I've had some of them on, and later, they'll be mad at me. "Oh, you didn't let me talk the way I wanted to." I'm like, yeah. The way you talk, no one cares about. You made it all the way to me. I seem to know how to capture people's attention. Why would you not follow my lead on this? Like, why would you default back to this boring list reading that you're doing? I don't know. No one's ever gonna figure it out. Got—you know? But—and by the way, good. It keeps my podcast popular. You know what I mean, Cor?

Corey (54:42)

I do. Yeah. Yeah. And I would say, you know, in a slight way, you're a victim of your own success. You have 1,800 plus episodes, which are all good. Being able to find—and you've talked about this before too. Right? Being able to find the content that people need at that moment, that's—it's sometimes it's difficult. Right? Just because there's so many episodes. You know? And—and I certainly don't wanna take the human element out. I think that's great, especially in the Facebook group, you know, having a real—whether it's a group expert or a non group expert, just another member of the group, being able to answer a question or provide a—a link to a—to a podcast episode. I think that's so valuable. People—that they feel less alone right in the situation, whatever it is. But if there was a way to, you know, take their question and throw it in AI, and maybe I could do that. I haven't tried, but, you know, and say what episode do you recommend. I'm not Nico. You know? She's amazing at that. She's be better than AI when it comes to podcast episode recommendations, but, you know, that would be—that would be pretty cool. But—but in any case, you know, just being in the group, being able to share, you know, the information and Yeah. And then seeing people—just the other day, you know, somebody's like, hey. You know, my a one c was 11. Now it's eight. And it's like, what progress? That's so awesome. Keep going. You know? And, like, just seeing that, you know what you're doing is valuable, and that's why we're all here with you and behind you, you know, doing what we do because we wanna see that success happen—

Scott Benner (56:18)

That's why I appreciate

Corey (56:19)

it.

Scott Benner (56:20)

with others. Yeah. Yeah. I hope it's—I—I mean, I know we don't all talk very often, but even just the other day, like, I mean, a more direct, like, financial relationship with the editor. And just the other day, I was like, I don't know the last time I talked to him. I'm working. I'm sure you all—I assume you're all busy too. You're not looking to be involved with me all the time, but I hope it's obvious to everybody how much your involvement—and it means to me. It's—it's incredibly touching to see people put this kind of effort into something that they're, you know, only doing in—in—a—in a voluntary way. So it's—it's just, yeah, it's really great. Also, I'm—I have stuff like that coming for the website where it's gonna be more like keyword searchable. It's gonna pull stuff up. But you know what? I think it's nice and I think it's valuable and I'm gonna do it. But I also think that if you don't know what to type into the search bar, it doesn't matter.

Corey (57:08)

Right.

Scott Benner (57:09)

And so if you're—if you're so lost that you're having spikes ninety minutes after a meal that persist for three hours and eventually end in a low, and you don't already know that the reason behind that might be that you didn't pre bolus and or your basil's wrong and or you've had fat or protein in your meal that are—or other, you know, impacts from food. If you don't know that stuff, how are you supposed to search for it?

Corey (57:35)

Right.

Scott Benner (57:36)

Right? Is the search feature gonna have to be so robust that you can type in "why is my blood sugar high after a meal?" And it's gonna just say, hey. Try these episodes. And I think maybe that's gonna have to be it. Or—which is, part of the struggles. Like, I just put a struggles page together where you can kinda go see things that people say they classically struggle with with diabetes and they're already attached to an episode.

Corey (58:03)

Yeah. That's true.

Scott Benner (58:04)

Yeah. Yeah. And so, like, because you don't know what you don't know, so you don't know what to ask. And, you know, and that's why you need somebody to look at your question and say, oh, you should be focusing your attention over here. And it's even difficult in Facebook sometimes too because, you know, the—the other side of that is you ask a question, and three or four people might get to you before we do and give you the wrong answer or say, oh, you know, that definitely sounds like this. And I'm like, that's not that. It's this. Mhmm. And now that person's faced with two different answers. How are they supposed to know which one's which? And, hopefully, there's enough gravitas coming from the—the—the—from the podcast that they'll maybe look in the direction we're pointing before the direction a stranger pointed in. But I also appreciate the stranger's perspective because they might be thinking of something that I haven't thought of, which is completely not just possible, but probable. You know? It's—it's just an imperfect way to do things. Mhmm. See, I don't see a better way to do it. And if somebody knows a better way, they should say immediately. That's why AI is not gonna fix it for everybody because they don't—they won't know what to ask it.

Corey (59:11)

Yeah. You know? That's a good point.

Scott Benner (59:12)

So it's hard not to feel a little defeated by it because your earlier story is, you know, you're with a doctor who's not gonna help you. I mean, like, your first interaction with diabetes is in an ER where some guy is like, gonna just shove it up your ass if you don't put it in your mouth. That's right. Yeah. Awesome. And then thirteen years of somebody who says, test yourself eight times and maybe I'll let you have a pump. And then, you know, you don't end up really doing better for yourself until you start thinking like, oh, we're trying to have a baby and, you know, I need to be healthier. It's just the same damn thing for everybody. You you know? I don't think it's a thing you're gonna fix either. You're not—you're not gonna suddenly educate the entirety of the health care system or other people, you know, in your life that are gonna speak to you, you know, in a way that's gonna be valuable all the time. You either hope these people find a reason or a path or a mentor or something and can actually absorb it and make changes, or you're gonna assume that whatever—whatever initial path they got started on might be the journey they're set on now even though that's not the most valuable journey for them to have. Like, you know, if that person doesn't come into the room, smell your breath, I don't know which way. You know what I mean? It's like a choose your own adventure. Like, you don't know where you were headed till they walked by. Anyway, so we're just trying to do that. We're trying to intersect as many people as we can so that their choose their own adventure leads in a better direction for the lack of a better way of thinking about it.

Corey (1:00:33)

Yeah. Oh, god. I've had you on for over an hour already. Did you have anything you wanted to talk about that I didn't get to or bring up?

Corey (1:00:40)

Well so I just wanted to—to let you know kinda since—since I've listened to your podcast and where I'm at today, listened to the pro tips way back before they were all at 1,000 to 1,026. Right? So I had to go find them all, but I did and listened and what a difference. You know? Educators, doctors, you know, pre bolus, they would say that. Pre bolus. You know, bolus before you eat. Well, okay. So I would bolus and then I would eat. You know, no one ever said wait fifteen minutes, wait twenty minutes, wait ten, whatever the number. Right? Nobody—nobody ever said that to me. So that was huge. I mean, what a small thing and what a difference that makes. Listening through those pro tip, you know, making those changes, learn—you know, bump and nudge, all that stuff, you know, took my a one c. It was probably in the upper sixes when I started listening to your podcast, six—six point seven to seven, somewhere in there. That went down to, you know, 5.5.

Scott Benner (1:01:39)

Wow.

Corey (1:01:40)

And now I've been, in the last three years, anywhere between five point five and five point nine. Consistently. I haven't been over that in that amount of time. And—and so—and—and this again goes back to the group expert thing or just being involved at all and—and telling people about the podcast. It's like the information is right here. You just, you know, just go and tell someone about it, and that's what I'm trying to do because it—it made such a difference for me, you know, in my—in my journey and listening in to the—the—other conversations that you've had on GLPs and—and all of that. I—I think, you know, my doctor and—and you, it kinda coincided as far as when I started taking the GLP and you were taking the GLP. It's what—been about three years ago, I think. But Yeah. Anyway, I had been doing, like, Victoza and—and some of those—those others, the older kinda stuff and—and moved to Ozempic and now Mounjaro for the last—Ozempic about it was three years ago and then changed over to the Mounjaro and lost 40 pounds. Something like that. I was—I'm about six foot. I was, like, two thirty, and now I'm sitting about one ninety. Feel a lot better with that. My insulin use has gone down, and this is no different than what you've already talked about before, but probably 40 to 45%, less insulin. And that has made a difference too just because, you know, it just doesn't take as much insulin to—to move the dial, and then I don't end up going low later and get on that whole roller coaster. So that has been extremely helpful. Awesome. You know, going through the journey, not—not exactly with you, but—but kind of at the same time, it's been great for me, you know, to have those—those episodes with your journal and your diary, should say, your weight loss diary.

Scott Benner (1:03:41)

I just started recording that again this week.

Corey (1:03:43)

Good. I'm—I Yeah. I heard you recently speak on an episode about it, and I was like, wait. We haven't had one of those in a while.

Scott Benner (1:03:50)

I realized that journal, that diary was helping me too and I didn't—I don't think I knew it at—at the time. So I'm—I'm getting back to it.

Corey (1:03:56)

So, you know, it's just the last three years have been great, you know, and—and so then I talk to people about it. They ask about, you know, "you look a little skinny" or whatever. And it's like, well, here's why. And, you know, it—it gets other conversations going for other people and their health and, you know, to make changes, small things, whatever. So, know, I just wanna say thank you to you and to, of course, all the other people you've spoken with over the last three years or longer, making these episodes because they've definitely been a—an impact to me.

Scott Benner (1:04:27)

Oh, it's wonderful. I—I can only hope that, you know, that it continues on because I was just telling somebody the other day. I've been doing work with a company for a long time as the—they've been advertisers, but there's some shifts in the company. And so it's kind of a new group of people I'm working with within the company. And, you know, you kinda have to reintroduce yourself and, you know, you know, it's—it's—it's—it's a starting over process a little bit of explaining what you're doing to people, you know, for—you know, what you're doing for people. Correct. I ended up telling them all the time, like, look, you know, because one of them says, I—I don't think you're—I don't think you're valuing your—your downloads the right way. And I said, oh, no. I know what I'm doing. I was like, I could charge you more. I was like, I don't want to. And that I think threw off the group a little bit. And I said, I want, like, a little bit of your money forever, not all of it today. Like, I'm trying to keep this thing going. You know what I mean? Like, because you don't—until you get a note from somebody that talks about, like, my kid was diagnosed six months ago and, you know, this is what it was. It was terrible. And now look at it now and, you know, saying things similar to what you just said, like, it's a lot to do with the podcast and everything.

Scott Benner (1:05:40)

And then you have been doing it long enough to have six more months go by and get another note from a different person and then have two years go by and get another note. It's a pretty macro view I have. And I get to say to myself, like, this isn't done. And the making of the podcast is what keeps the information alive in the world. And so you can't just say, oh, I did it. We made a list. It's out there. They'll find it because, no, they won't. Not only are you continuing to, I think, add to the understanding that's baked into the podcast, which is added into my mind, which means I—I search out different guests or have different kinds of conversations that hopefully modernize things as we're going. Like, not only is that one of the reasons you wanted to go, but you want it to go so that when they, you know, they pop on and they've heard Juice Box might be helpful, they're not always gonna get directed to, like, the right episode. So you gotta get them in and get them interested and have them wonder about more and then hear a bumper that's like, hey. You know, if you start over, you might wanna try the bold beginnings episodes, like that kind of stuff. Like, it's all very important, and it doesn't work if it stops. So, you know, I said to them again, was like, I don't need all of it right now. Like I said, let's spread it out. And the one person on the call said, for how long? And I said, well, I'm 54. I think I could do it for ten more years. I said, hopefully, maybe ten years now, we won't need it anymore. You know? Like, let's—let's hope for that. I said, but I don't know how much longer I could go at this pace. But right now, I'm having no problem with it, and I don't wanna give away what I know it does for people. Somewhat ironically, I guess, although I since that Alanis Morissette song, I don't really know if I understand that word or not, but somewhat ironically Ironically. This person comes online the other day and I don't know. Some post I put up. I don't remember what it was. And they—they write this thing like, oh, I'm like, you know, I haven't been here in a while. This just popped up in front of me. Like, you know, I'm so glad you're still doing this and talked about how valuable it was for them. But then in the course of the conversation said, you know, I have to admit, I didn't think you'd be able to keep it going this long. And I understood what they meant. Like, it's a lot. You know? Like, it seems like a lot or, like, how long are you gonna talk about this, you know, over and over again? But I think we found a way for it not to be repetitive at the same time. But—but, nevertheless, like, I don't know how most people would feel about that being confronted with someone going, wow. You're still here? I didn't think that was gonna work out. I was just insulted by it. I was like, what? You think I can't do this? I was like, I could definitely do this. I think I can do it. Like, I think I can keep it going for another decade and bring information to people and hopefully be the one that reminds them that insulin doesn't start working as soon as you put it in and that your a one c really could go down a full point if you just prebolish your meals with consistency. That kind of simple stuff that needs to be repeated over and over and over again. I interviewed a woman this morning who's been on before. She's out in the world, like, trying to save Levemir. And, like, there's part of you that could hear that and be like, what is she doing? But, like, she's got real reasons, reasons and, like, she's out there changing things and, like—and making an impact on it. And I was—I was telling her that it's very cool to see that she stayed involved with it so long because I can—I've interviewed her before. I actually hear her getting better at talking about it. She's clear. She's more concise. She just clearly has more time in that space absorbing that—that like, the—the more granular parts of it. And it made me tell her after the recording was over, I'm happy that I do that too. Like, I—I've never grown this thing and went, okay. It's done that now. Let me go do something else, or let me, make it into something bigger or try to make more money with it or something like—like it does what it does right here, and I don't need to go anywhere else. Like, I'm happy with what this does. I'm good at it. I get more granular information all the time. I get better at it, and it helps the people. It helps. Like, there's no need to have, a grand—grandiose idea of, like, why could—you know, why don't I go get all of them or you know what I mean? Like, it just—this is—this is good. Like, getting people who are either wanting to start over or newly diagnosed and putting them on a better path and giving them a shot. Like, that's pretty much all I think of is what I do, but I'm very happy doing it, and I'm not looking to change it, I guess. Anyway.

Corey (1:10:00)

Good. We need you to do this.

Scott Benner (1:10:01)

Well, thank you. I appreciate it. Yep. I'm so happy for how well you're doing. I can't thank you enough for all the effort you put into the thing that I'm doing. You guys don't get enough, you know, enough glory for sure. I do really appreciate it. People are genuinely and generally very nice to you guys online. Every once in a while, you get somebody comes at you a little bit. But for the most part, it—it's a very interesting place, very unlike Facebook—Facebook experience, I find.

Corey (1:10:30)

It's really the only reason why I'm still there.

Scott Benner (1:10:32)

Yeah. No. Trust me.

Corey (1:10:33)

If—if—if this group wouldn't—wouldn't the thing, then—then I would have already deleted the app.

Scott Benner (1:10:38)

Yeah. I feel—I feel—I feel very similarly.

Corey (1:10:41)

So Mark—Mark Zuckerberg, really, owes you, I think, at this point.

Scott Benner (1:10:45)

Maybe he could just let people see my posts, but that'd be nice.

Corey (1:10:48)

Could—That would be helpful. Right? No kidding.

Scott Benner (1:10:51)

My gosh. If I—you know, people are like, he—he could have dinner with anybody. Somebody asked me that the other day, and I was like, oh, Tim Cook. And they were like, really? And I'm like, yeah. I'm like, I gotta explain to him how he's screwing up the podcast app. And so Right. I'm sure he doesn't know the first thing about it. But—but I'd love—I'd love to talk to somebody from Apple for five seconds and explain to them how what they do interferes with, like, my and other people's ability to reach communities that they've built. So, Corey, I can't thank you enough for doing this. I'm gonna—you've been going at this too long.

Corey (1:11:23)

Thank you.

Scott Benner (1:11:23)

I'll let you go. It's been a real pleasure. The opportunity to speak with you, and thanks for all that you've done for me and for all the 80,000 people in the group and all the people who listen every day. And a—and a shout out to the—all the group experts. You know who y'all are, and I appreciate each and every one of you.

Scott Benner (1:11:40)

Why is it the first Texas thing you've done?

Corey (1:11:42)

Well, I had—I was—I was put up to do that.

Scott Benner (1:11:46)

The y'all?

Corey (1:11:46)

Sylvia, she—yes. She said I had to say something Texan. And so—

Scott Benner (1:11:51)

You saved till the very end?

Corey (1:11:54)

I make her listen all the way through all the ads.

Scott Benner (1:11:56)

I was gonna say, Corey, good job. Way to tease it out. Perfect.

Corey (1:11:59)

There you go.

Scott Benner (1:12:00)

Alright, man. Hold on one second.

Scott Benner (1:12:08)

US Med sponsored this episode of the Juice Box podcast. Check them out at usmed.com/juicebox or by calling (888) 721-1514. Get your free benefits check, and get started today with US Med.

Scott Benner (1:12:26)

A huge thanks to my longest sponsor, Omnipod. Check out the Omnipod five now with my link, omnipod.com/juicebox. You may be eligible for a free starter kit, a free Omnipod five starter kit at my link. Go check it out. Omnipod.com/juicebox. Terms and conditions apply. Full terms and conditions can be found at omnipod.com/juicebox. 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 subscribed 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.

Scott Benner (1:13:47)

Check out my algorithm pumping series to help you make sense of automated insulin delivery systems like Omnipod five, Loop, Medtronic seven eighty g, Twist, Tandem Control IQ, and much more. Each episode will dive into the setup, features, and real world usage tips that can transform your daily type one diabetes management. We cut through the jargon, share personal experiences, and show you how these algorithms can simplify and streamline your care. If you're curious about automated insulin pumping, go find the algorithm pumping series in the Juice Box podcast. Easiest way, juiceboxpodcast.com, and go up into the menu. Click on series, It'll be right there. Have a podcast? Want it to sound fantastic? Wrongwayrecording.com.

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