#1880 After Dark: Fallout

An anonymous mom shares her journey through federal prison, a house fire, and dual Type 1 diabetes diagnoses for her and her son. A truly unforgettable After Dark episode.

Proudly supported by

Key Takeaways

• A Double Diagnosis: The guest shares the unique experience of her son being diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at age nine, followed by her own diagnosis with Type 1 later in life when she was around 40.
• Parenting from Prison: She shares the traumatic and difficult experience of being in federal prison for a year during the time her son was diagnosed, relying on phone calls and outdated library books to learn about his condition.
• The Power of Camp Sweeney: Sending her son to Camp Sweeney was a pivotal moment. It provided him with independence, peer support, and essential diabetes education that he later used to help teach her when she was diagnosed.
• Navigating Multiple Autoimmune Conditions: In addition to Type 1 diabetes, the guest lives with Narcolepsy Type 2, Hashimoto's, and manages the complexities of these overlapping symptoms and accommodations in the workplace.
• Utilizing Juice Box Podcast Tools: The guest highlights the importance of the Juice Box Podcast tools, including the "Autoimmune Explorer" on the website, which can help listeners track symptoms and prepare for doctor visits.

Resources Mentioned

• Contour Next Gen: contournext.com/juicebox
• Medtronic Diabetes: medtronicdiabetes.com/juicebox
• Camp Sweeney: campsweeney.org
• Juice Box Podcast Autoimmune Explorer & Tools: juiceboxpodcast.com
• Juice Box Podcast - After Dark Series: juiceboxpodcast.com (Click on "After Dark")

FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

Introduction & Sponsors

Scott Benner (0:00)

Friends, we're all back together for the next episode of the Juice Box podcast. Welcome.

Anonymous Female (0:15)

I have type one diabetes and so does my son. I'm I live in Texas.

Scott Benner (0:22)

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'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. Today's episode of the juice box podcast is sponsored by the Kontoor Next Gen blood glucose meter. This is the meter that my daughter has on her person right now. It is incredibly accurate and waiting for you at contournext.com/juicebox. Today's episode is also sponsored by Medtronic Diabetes, who is making life with diabetes easier with the MiniMed seven eighty g system and their new sensor options, which include the Instinct sensor made by Abbott.

Would you like to unleash the full potential of the MiniMed seven eighty g system? You can do that at my link, medtronicdiabetes.com/juicebox.

Double Type 1 Diagnosis

Anonymous Female (2:09)

I have type one diabetes, and so does my son. And I live in Texas.

Scott Benner (2:14)

Texas. Excellent. You and your son have type one?

Anonymous Female (2:18)

Yes. He was diagnosed when he was nine years old, and I wasn't diagnosed until later when I think he was 16, around 16.

Scott Benner (2:27)

Oh.

Anonymous Female (2:28)

Yeah. He was diagnosed first.

Scott Benner (2:29)

Let's figure this out then. First, let's ask about your extended family. Your mother, father, aunts, uncles, grandparents, anybody there have autoimmune issues or type one diabetes?

Anonymous Female (2:40)

No. Not that I know of, but my great grandmother on my mother's side had something like 13 children, and seven of them died very, very young. And they never really figured out, you know, what it was. So I wonder sometimes.

Scott Benner (2:58)

Was she murdering them, you think?

Anonymous Female (3:00)

Say that again?

Scott Benner (3:00)

Do you think she was murdering them?

Anonymous Female (3:03)

No. I wonder if they had maybe, autoimmune and, like, nobody knew.

Scott Benner (3:08)

I thought we were gonna shift this into a true crime podcast. I was like, oh, finally, we'll get some big numbers. You know what I mean?

Anonymous Female (3:14)

Some true after dark stuff. Yeah. No.

Scott Benner (3:17)

People love those true crime podcasts. By the way, if any too. Anyone's listening who has, like, a true crime story, please come on and tell it. And, you know, we'll weave your diabetes into it somehow. Don't worry.

Okay. So how about just in general, your mom and dad, healthy people?

Anonymous Female (3:32)

Well, type two Mhmm. For my parents. What's funny about my son is his dad is type one. So I never expected to also be type one. We're divorced now, but whenever we met, he was type one.

So when we had our son, it was always kind of something we would watch out for. And when he was diagnosed and, you know, I just thought, oh, well, that comes from his dad's side. That doesn't undo me. But, look, me too.

Scott Benner (3:58)

Well, you know, I mean, there's a crass joke to be made here, which I've made before in the podcast. I don't feel like I have to make it again, but maybe maybe his penis gives people diabetes. Is that possible?

Anonymous Female (4:08)

Very possible.

Scott Benner (4:09)

Have you ever thought that?

Anonymous Female (4:10)

He injected it.

Scott Benner (4:11)

Trust me. Listen. Let we can we can put this on me if you want, but you've had that thought already. Right?

Anonymous Female (4:16)

No. Actually, don't put that on me.

Scott Benner (4:22)

You're like, listen. You're the lunatic in this conversation. Not me, Scott. That's not how science works. So

Anonymous Female (4:27)

But you know what? If I hadn't gone through, you know, learning with him first, I might have thought that. Yeah. If it had happened the other way around.

Scott Benner (4:35)

Feel like, like,

Anonymous Female (4:36)

this is your fault.

Prison and a Child's Diagnosis

Scott Benner (4:38)

So are you married when he's diagnosed?

Anonymous Female (4:41)

No. We were divorced by then.

Scott Benner (4:43)

Trust me. I'm getting to a reason. Like, are you, like, amicably divorced? You guys have conversations? Like, are you good coparents, or is it a mess?

Where were you at that point?

Anonymous Female (4:51)

Oh, yeah. We oh, well, actually, funny, not funny story. We are amicable. But when my son was diagnosed, I was in prison. I was in federal prison for, like, a year and some change, and it just happened to be right at the time when my son was diagnosed.

And he was with my mother, and my mom called me. And she's the one who told me. And that, of course, was devastating. I was already stressed out.

Scott Benner (5:15)

And I would imagine. Also, we're not a sound effects podcast, but if we were, you would have heard screeching breaks when you said that. So I guess we're gonna pivot for a second. You were in prison for

Anonymous Female (5:26)

I was a correctional officer. I was also in a really bad marriage, and that's not my son's dad. It's a different marriage.

Scott Benner (5:35)

Mhmm.

Anonymous Female (5:36)

And he was an addict, and there was a lot going on in my life. It was a really dark time, and I got offered some bribes as a correctional officer. And I had been in corrections for about four years and had never done anything like that. But, you know, when life piles up on you and you need to pay the bills and

Scott Benner (5:56)

You took one.

Anonymous Female (5:58)

Yeah. I took one. I took a couple.

Scott Benner (6:00)

Can we get details? Like, what is it? Like, cigarettes, drugs, money? Like, where you move stuff in and out of the prison for people?

Anonymous Female (6:07)

Yeah. Yeah. Mostly prescription drugs, you know, there's pill poppers.

Scott Benner (6:12)

Mhmm. Wow.

Anonymous Female (6:13)

And so, yeah, I took some.

Scott Benner (6:14)

How do you get caught?

Anonymous Female (6:17)

So the way I got caught was it was actually really common in that facility. There was a lot of people who a lot of officers who were doing stuff like that. And one officer got caught, like, outright, flat out caught, and she was doing a whole lot more. And so what she did was in order to reduce her time, she told on a bunch of other officers.

Scott Benner (6:39)

Mhmm.

Anonymous Female (6:39)

And what I hate to think about now is what she said about me wasn't even true. She just kinda made it up. And so whenever they came talking to me, like, you know, to follow-up on the investigation, I ended up telling them myself and yeah. That's why I got in trouble.

Scott Benner (6:55)

You so they came to you with something that you could have said, I didn't do that.

Anonymous Female (6:59)

Mhmm. And they would have never been able to prove it.

Scott Benner (7:01)

But the pressure got to you, and you were like, I did it. And then you start and you spilled your guts?

Anonymous Female (7:06)

Mhmm. Pretty much.

Scott Benner (7:08)

Oh, no kidding. Oh, is she still in prison?

Anonymous Female (7:13)

No. This was back, like, twenty it was more than ten years ago.

Scott Benner (7:17)

Was a long time ago. Yeah. About how old are you now?

Anonymous Female (7:20)

I'm 46 now.

Scott Benner (7:21)

Okay. It's about ten years ago. Okay. Wow. That's great.

Now as you're telling that story, does it feel like you're telling that story about yourself, or does it feel No.

Anonymous Female (7:28)

I feel like I'm not that person anymore. My life has changed so much since then. Like, even thinking about, like like, whenever I said that my life was in a really dark place at the time, it really, really was. Yeah. And I'm not in that place anymore.

Don't get me wrong. I'm going through a hard time right now, but I'm glad I'm not that person anymore. Mhmm. So, yeah, a lot has changed. A lot has gotten better.

Scott Benner (7:52)

Wow. That's really something. That's a hell of a story. I appreciate you sharing that for context. I really do.

Anonymous Female (7:58)

Yeah.

Scott Benner (7:58)

So, like, so you are in the middle of being incarcerated at the time your son is diagnosed. Mhmm. You wanna talk about that from a a mother perspective, what what that was like?

Anonymous Female (8:10)

Yeah. I remember calling my mom because, you know, I was in federal prison. I don't know if it's still this way, but there's a limited number of minutes you get every month to talk on the phone, and so you kinda ration them throughout the month. So I remember feeling like, oh, I just wish I could call and talk more and figure out more. But because of his dad I was married to his dad.

I did have some knowledge, but not near as much as I needed or as I do now. Mhmm. So I remember being in prison and, like, there wasn't a decent library there. Not certainly not with anything related to diabetes. It's not like I could go on the Internet and Google.

You know? Yeah. So I remember, like, we had to fill out a form to rent a book or to rent to borrow a book from the public library. So I was borrowing books from, like, nineteen eighties. They were not very current.

But, yeah, I was just trying to learn the best that I could. And, you know, a lot of worrying, a lot of prayer. I don't mean to offend anybody, but I had a different I I don't believe the way I used to back then. So I know sometimes well, when I was in prison, though, I had a lot of faith that god could heal my son. And it wasn't until I got out and I saw a Facebook post where somebody was making comments along those lines.

And, I mean, if if that's what you believe and, you know, that's great. But to me, it started to feel like blaming the person who didn't get the healing because they didn't have the faith. So

Scott Benner (9:44)

Okay.

Anonymous Female (9:44)

I don't subscribe to that anymore because it it was a really difficult time because, I mean, what do you mean my son is sick because of me or my son can't get healed because of me? And I I just I let that go a long time ago.

Scott Benner (9:56)

The idea being, like, that your son would be okay if you just believed enough.

Anonymous Female (10:01)

Yeah.

Scott Benner (10:01)

That feeling. Oh, okay.

Anonymous Female (10:02)

Yeah.

Scott Benner (10:03)

That felt insulting to you or how did it feel?

Anonymous Female (10:06)

So at the time of his diagnosis, no. I really hung on to that. And so I didn't realize that it was just the honeymoon whenever his insulin needs dropped. I was like, oh, it's because, you know

Scott Benner (10:16)

The Lord's step in. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Scott Benner (10:19)

Exactly. I gotcha. Yeah. I I guess the Lord's busy because I a lot of people with diabetes.

Anonymous Female (10:24)

Exactly.

Scott Benner (10:25)

Well, okay. Oh, that's really that's really something else. That's kinda crazy. What kind of a security level prison were you in? Like, were you in a place where you were worried for yourself?

Anonymous Female (10:35)

No. It was minimum security, so they sometimes call it club fed Mhmm. Because it's really laid back. There's a walking track, a volleyball court.

Scott Benner (10:45)

I've never been in such good shape. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. No.

Anonymous Female (10:48)

I really did. I lost, like, 40 or 50 pounds when I was in prison just walking the track and yeah.

Scott Benner (10:53)

Oh, that's kinda nice. Did you get a girlfriend, or did it not get that far?

Anonymous Female (10:57)

No. I was not gay for this day at all. I was that's what they call it. And it happens a lot, but yeah.

Scott Benner (11:05)

Yeah. Also, what a great episode title, not gay for this day. Oh, jeez. Wow. I really do appreciate you.

Life After Prison & New Diagnoses

Scott Benner (11:12)

Did you when you get back out I mean, obviously, now you can't get that kind of job. Were you able to get employed again?

Anonymous Female (11:19)

I was. And I really feel very fortunate in how much I have not really struggled getting a job because of that. Mhmm. Okay. So when I was on my way to prison, I knew I was going to prison, but I was out.

I don't remember what term it is, but I self surrendered when it was time for me to to go to prison. So I was working at a factory, and my boss there said, you know, whenever you get out, give me a call. You've got a job. So I did. That was probably one of my first phone calls whenever I hit the halfway house.

I called him, and he's like, okay. Yeah. Come out. And so I started working pretty much right away. And then from there, the only probably job that wasn't well, I don't wanna say it wasn't a good job, but because I was a waitress.

That's that's the only job that I really didn't wanna keep doing. But I waitressed for maybe three or four months. And then after that, I started working for government agency.

Scott Benner (12:13)

Oh.

Anonymous Female (12:14)

Yeah. Can I say it? The United States Postal Service. I was a mail carrier.

Scott Benner (12:18)

Yeah. Oh, it's a cool So Did you drive one of those jeeps?

Anonymous Female (12:22)

Yeah. I did. Yeah. I didn't like it though. It's too much walking.

Scott Benner (12:25)

Too much walking. Well, but

Anonymous Female (12:26)

And I didn't so much mind the walking. It was the you had to go really fast, and I'm like, I got short legs. I can't

Scott Benner (12:31)

But you were in such good shape after the after the prison though.

Anonymous Female (12:35)

I And can you imagine?

Scott Benner (12:36)

How many people did you bump into after it was like, my crack girl, you look fantastic. Where have you been? And you're like, oh, it's on the walking track.

Anonymous Female (12:42)

Yeah. You know? I was away.

Scott Benner (12:45)

Three squares and a long walk. Let me tell you about it.

Anonymous Female (12:48)

I was on mandatory vacation.

Scott Benner (12:52)

How do you turn yourself in? I've thought about this a million times. I feel like I would run.

Anonymous Female (12:57)

Yeah. So they give you a date and a location. And I flew to the closest airport, and I had somebody that I knew drive me from the airport to the prison. I really pissed off. I don't remember the name of the officer, what her title was, but, basically, the officer that checks you in.

Mhmm. It was after hours. I didn't know. I mean, every prison I'd ever worked at was twenty four hours. I didn't know I had to be there at a certain time.

But, yeah, she was really pissed off because I got there, like, at 05:30. And it might have also been no. I was gonna blame the time zones, but, it's not.

Scott Benner (13:29)

You know, how crazy it is that you're one of the few people who understands their job while you're checking. You're like, oh, I'm so sorry. I know this must be an inconvenience. I know when I had this job, I wouldn't have enjoyed this at all. Do people know what you're in for?

Anonymous Female (13:44)

I only got indication one time that people knew what I was there for because an officer said, hey. And they call me by name, and I went up to the little picket, and they talked to me for just a few seconds like I was one of them Yeah. Kind of like, so what'd you do? How'd that happen? But it was just for a few seconds because I obviously didn't really feel comfortable talking about it.

So I just said, oh, you know, a couple things, and then that was it. Then they sent me on my way and treated me like a lowly inmate from there on out. She was

Scott Benner (14:16)

probably looking for pointers so she wouldn't get caught.

Anonymous Female (14:18)

Oh, maybe. Maybe.

Scott Benner (14:20)

There was a great documentary recently about, like, the Alabama prison system, and what you're talking about is incredibly common. Mhmm. Yeah. So, I mean, even that's gotta be hard. Right?

Like, you're working the job and you see other people doing it and you're struggling financially and you're not doing it, it must feel like a sucker at some point.

Sponsor Break

Scott Benner (14:40)

Unlike other systems that will wait until your blood sugar is a 180 before delivering corrections, the MiniMed seven eighty g system is the only system with meal detection technology that automatically detects rising sugar levels and delivers more insulin as needed to help keep your sugar levels in range, even if you're not a perfect carb counter. Today's episode of the Juice Box podcast is sponsored by Medtronic Diabetes and their MiniMed seven eighty g system, which gives you real choices because the MiniMed seven eighty g system works with the Instinct sensor made by Avid, as well as the Simplera Sync and Guardian Force sensors, giving you options. The Instinct Sensor is the longest wear sensor yet, lasting fifteen days and designed exclusively for the MiniMed seven eighty g. And don't forget, Medtronic Diabetes makes technology accessible for you with comprehensive insurance support, programs to help you with your out of pocket costs, or switching from other pump and CGM systems. Learn more and get started today with my link, medtronicdiabetes.com/juicebox.

The Kontoor Next Gen blood glucose meter is sponsoring this episode of the juice box podcast, and it's entirely possible that it is less expensive in cash than you're paying right now for your meter through your insurance company. That's right. If you go to my link, contournext.com/juicebox, you're gonna find links to Walmart, Amazon, Walgreens, CVS, Rite Aid, Kroger, and Meijer. You could be paying more right now through your insurance for your test strips and meter than you would pay through MyLink for the Contour Next Gen and Contour Next test strips in cash. What am I saying?

My link may be cheaper out of your pocket than you're paying right now even with your insurance. And I don't know what meter you have right now. I can't say that. But what I can say for sure is that the Kontoor Next Gen meter is accurate. It is reliable, and it is the meter that we've been using for years.

Kontoornext.com/juicebox. And if you already have a Kontoor meter and you're buying test strips, doing so through the juice box podcast link will help to support the show.

Navigating Workplace Accommodations & Narcolepsy

Anonymous Female (28:43)

I needed accommodations, and I was given them to a certain extent. But then when I didn't meet them exactly right, I was disciplined for it. So, yeah, eventually, I got fired.

Scott Benner (28:59)

Accommodations for the narcolepsy or for the diabetes?

Anonymous Female (29:02)

For the narcolepsy.

Scott Benner (29:04)

How when did that start in your life?

Anonymous Female (29:06)

I think it started so there's two let me preface this. There's two types of narcolepsy. There's narcolepsy type one, and so that's where you have cataplexy, which is what you see, you know, like, in the movies where the girl is afraid to eat soup because she's afraid to drown. Mhmm. It's not really like that, but that's you know, you just basically lose your muscle tone suddenly and can fall out.

But I have type two cataplexy where I don't fall out, but I do feel very intense sleep pressure at random moments. So, also, with it so what it basically is is there's a a disagreement, so to speak, between your brain and your body. And so your brain is trying to enter REM sleep, but your body is still awake. And so it kind of forces you to feel super sleepy. And, also whenever you do fall asleep, you fall into REM pretty quickly.

I think I'm explaining that

Scott Benner (29:58)

Okay.

Anonymous Female (29:59)

The best that I know. It's kinda new to me. Yeah. Hopefully, I don't get it wrong.

Scott Benner (30:03)

Was it happening for a long time and you didn't realize what it was and it got diagnosed, or did it come on all at once?

Anonymous Female (30:08)

It was happening for so maybe, like, two and a half years ago, I had an incident where I woke up. I kind of think this is related, although I'm not sure.

Scott Benner (30:15)

Mhmm.

Anonymous Female (30:16)

I woke up and for, like, five or six seconds, I didn't know who I was or where I was.

Scott Benner (30:20)

Okay.

Anonymous Female (30:20)

And I was looking around and I was like, who am I? And I was in my own house. And then suddenly, like, I woke up. I was like, okay. Cool.

I'm fine. And then it was as things progressed, I would be, like, in the middle of my day and just feel like I wasn't fully awake. Kinda kind of, like, dissociated, but more. Mhmm. More than that.

Like, I was walking around, like, I need to wake up. I need to wake up, and I couldn't really snap awake. And then, like, maybe a a couple minutes later, I just would be, oh, okay. I'm awake now. I could feel it.

Scott Benner (30:52)

Yeah. That's crazy.

Anonymous Female (30:53)

Yeah. What a

Scott Benner (30:54)

blank thing to have happened to you out of nowhere. Yeah. Is it involved? Like, do they tell you that it has any connection to any other issues in your life, or is it just a a thing on an island by itself?

Anonymous Female (31:06)

I think it's a thing on an island by itself. Type one is autoimmune. Mhmm. But like I said, right now, I have type two that but it's there's still kind of a jury out on that because I'm learning that the cataplexy that I told you about where piece people just lose muscle tone Yeah. That there are other variations of that.

Although, the most common is where you just, you know, fall and, you know, fall asleep. Well, it looks like you fell asleep, but you really just lost all your muscle tone. Mhmm. There's also other variations, like maybe your eye might droop or something like that. So I I suspect that maybe I do have cataplexy, but I'm not I'm not sure.

So out of respect for those people that do for sure have type one with full cataplexy, I just I'm type two.

Scott Benner (31:47)

Well, this is for the people listening. Current consensus is that narcolepsy type one is the form with the strongest evidence for an autoimmune mechanism tied to a loss of orexin hyper creatine producing neurons. Narcolepsy type two is less well understood, usually has normal hyper creatine levels and no cataplexy, and is not established as an autoimmune disease.

Anonymous Female (32:10)

Mhmm.

Scott Benner (32:10)

Well, that's interesting. Jeez.

Anonymous Female (32:12)

Yeah.

Scott Benner (32:12)

I did ask a little more if there's any connection between type one and that. And there's a plausible autoimmune overlap between type one diabetes and narcolepsy type one because both involve immune, and narcolepsy type one is widely thought of to be autoimmune. Stanford's narcolepsy center even describes narcolepsy type one as in many ways similar to type one diabetes for that reason. But for type two, the situation is different, and the cause is still unclear, and it is not established as an autoimmune disease. But I'll tell you what.

I don't know that maybe eventually it won't be understood differently because it sounds like they're still digging through it. But that's really that's you're the first person that said I'm telling you, like, I'm 1,900 episodes in now. You're the first person that said narcolepsy, I think.

Anonymous Female (32:55)

Oh.

Scott Benner (32:56)

Interesting. Well, congratulations on being different. Yeah. You're the first you're you're you're the first con with narcolepsy I've spoken to. I just want you to know.

Camp Sweeney and Finding Normalcy

Scott Benner (35:21)

I'm sorry. So going back, you come into your mom's home with your your kid reasonably freshly diagnosed in the last year. Your mom and your son have probably been managing it. Are they doing well? How long does it take you to get up to speed?

Do you ever really get involved, or are you kinda frozen out because they have a plan already? Well, how does all that work?

Anonymous Female (35:39)

They're doing well, but my son was very independent. He was very selfish with his not selfish, like, hoardy of his you know what I mean? Like, he didn't wanna let anybody else help him. He was very in control of it.

Scott Benner (35:52)

Okay.

Anonymous Female (35:53)

So even with me, he didn't tell me a whole lot. He wanted to handle it. Now looking back, I wish I had taken more control. I wish I had given him more of a relief, I guess, because he was going through so much. Mhmm.

But at the time, I just wanted to let him have his way. You know, I felt guilty about having left for prison and, you know, pay basically, the trauma that he had been through because of me. So I think I just wanted to let him, you know, decide, and I let him, you know, take care of his diabetes. And he was in he went into TKA not long after I got home, and that was his first DKA. So when he was diagnosed with my mom, she just noticed that he was really thirsty.

He was peeing a lot. So she took him to the doctor, and they diagnosed him in office. He never went to the ER or anything like that. But whenever a a little bit after I got home, he went into DKA, and we went, you know, helicopter ride and

Scott Benner (36:47)

Oh gosh. The whole thing.

Anonymous Female (36:48)

Children's hospital. Mhmm.

Anonymous Female (43:43)

He was big Camp Sweeney person. He went, from age since since his first year of diagnosis until he graduated out.

Scott Benner (43:50)

Oh, no kidding. I've Yeah. I gave away, I think, six slots at Camp Sweeney this year.

Anonymous Female (43:55)

Yes. Love Camp Sweeney.

Scott Benner (43:57)

Yeah. That was a nice thing I've been doing for a couple of years. I just I don't mean nice. Like, I'm doing something nice. I meant sorry.

That came out like, Well, you are. That's I meant. What I meant was is, it's it's nice for me because I get to see I don't know. I just you know, when it's over, the kids send notes, and they're like, you know, they send some pictures, and they're like, you know, I really appreciate it. But the truth is it's Camp Sweeney's giving it away.

They're just Yeah. You know, I'm just doing it through the podcast so that because I can, you know, I have I have pretty wide reach, so I can get a pretty wide reach. But the giving the last bunch of them away this year, I'll tell you, it just it just made you sad, like, because for everybody who didn't get one, I was like, oh, these people all deserve this. You you know what I mean? Like and it is expensive to go to camp.

So

Anonymous Female (44:42)

Yeah. You know? The good thing about Sweeney is they do give you, like, payment plans, and they do give out scholarships based on your, you know, income. So his first year, I struggled to come up with the you know, there's an initial deposit amount. Yeah.

I struggled to come up with it, but I think we did a GoFundMe or something like that or some kind of fundraiser and put him through that first year. And when I picked him up, I remember thinking, I'm gonna make it my goal every year to make sure he goes back.

Scott Benner (45:08)

Tell me why. And What about him was different?

Anonymous Female (45:11)

He was so happy. Yeah. He and I don't know if it was me being in prison or I don't know what. I just I just for the first time, I felt like he looked like he really felt like he belonged there.

Scott Benner (45:24)

Okay. That's awesome.

Anonymous Female (45:26)

And he felt like normal. Everybody you know, he didn't he was just so happy. And I remember whenever we went to breakfast, right after I picked him up, because it's still pretty early, and we went and had breakfast, he's like, my life is so good. And that just touched me so much. Yeah.

Because as much as he had been through and he was still after campsooting, he's able to say, my life is so good or I have a good life, something like that.

Scott Benner (45:49)

Yeah.

Anonymous Female (45:49)

And I was like, yeah. Yeah. I'm so glad to hear you say that. And, yeah, it really changed his life.

Scott Benner (45:54)

Yeah. No. I mean, people should check it out. It's, campsweeney.org. It's in Texas.

Using AI to Understand Autoimmune Symptoms

Scott Benner (1:02:05)

I'm not gonna tell you that's good. I don't think it is. Do you have you're ready? Tiredness or low energy? Yes.

Scott Benner (1:02:11)

Feeling cold more easily? Yes. Weight gain, trouble losing weight? Yes. Constipation?

Scott Benner (1:02:17)

No. Dry skin? Yes. Dry thinning No. Puffy face?

Anonymous Female (1:02:25)

Yes.

Scott Benner (1:02:26)

Muscle aches, joint pain, or weakness.

Anonymous Female (1:02:28)

Yes.

Scott Benner (1:02:29)

Slower heart rate. Don't think your own pulse probably. Depression or low mood?

Anonymous Female (1:02:36)

No. Sometimes.

Scott Benner (1:02:37)

Heavy. Sometimes. Me too. Heavy or irregular periods?

Anonymous Female (1:02:43)

But this is all you know, that this all could be related to menopause. I'm sorry. Go ahead.

Scott Benner (1:02:46)

Go ahead. Yeah. I know. Decreased sweating Mm-mm. Hoarse voice, memory, or concentration problems.

Scott Benner (1:02:53)

Yes. Okay. So listen.

Anonymous Female (1:02:55)

But I also have ADHD.

Scott Benner (1:02:57)

Okay. How many of these overlap with

Anonymous Female (1:03:02)

I probably have all the, like, four of those.

Scott Benner (1:03:04)

Oh, yeah. That's a lot. By the way, by the way, we're not gonna do the ACEs list with you, but I I bet you got a couple of those too. Hold on a second. Actually, this is a good time for me to tell y'all that at juiceboxpodcast.com, if you go up in the menu, the top right side, you can click on a thing that's called autoimmune explorer, and you can click on stuff like that.

So, like, you know, back pain, belly pain, brain so you said brain fog? Mhmm. Right? Cold intolerance. You said fatigue.

You said so there's a list I'm looking at right now. Hair loss, did you say, or hair

Anonymous Female (1:03:42)

Mm-mm. Just dry skin.

Scott Benner (1:03:43)

Okay. Heat intolerance, inflammation, itchy jaundice, jaw pain. Joint pain, you said yes to. Joint stiffness, yes. See, like so there's a ton of these on the side, like, right?

Like, so you kinda, like, go down, you check off the ones that that, you know, you have skin issues, and I'm I'm getting down through the let's see. Tremors, vision loss, weakness, weight gain. You said weight gain. Right? Okay.

So I click on

Anonymous Female (1:04:13)

losing weight.

Scott Benner (1:04:14)

I click six things that you had trouble with. Right? Mhmm. And it references what it could be attached to, and your top matches are Hashimoto's.

Anonymous Female (1:04:23)

Oh, really?

Scott Benner (1:04:24)

Okay. And then, like, it also matches to it doesn't mean you have any of these things. It just it shows you overlaps. Lupus, Sjogren's, RA, there's three matches to that. There's three matches to celiac.

Like, it helps people psoriasis. Like, it helps people say, like, this is what's happening. What could it be? And it kind of narrows it down a little bit. So then once you get to something, it's like Hashimoto's as an example.

You can click on it and expand it, and then it shows you other stuff that's not on there. So, like, weakness, you said yes. Do you have any sexual dysfunction, like a goiter, inflammatory shift, depression, hair loss, and you can check off as many as you want. And then if you want, the way I have it set up, you can prep a note to the doctor. So it'll make a suggestion to you about, like, what to, like, to discuss with your doctor.

You can say, like, discuss managing brain fog or the in context, the Hashimoto's and you, like, you can, like, just kinda, like, okay, like, this is cool. And then you can say save a note, then you can copy it or email it to yourself in case you have trouble, like, kinda knowing what you wanna say when you get to the doctor's office. Sometimes people have trouble. So, like, I just generated an email and it it says reference prep for Hashimoto's, and it gives you just talking points. So when you go to the doctor, you can kinda remember what you wanted to talk

Anonymous Female (1:05:42)

That is so cool.

Scott Benner (1:05:43)

Yeah. I made that myself, by the

Anonymous Female (1:05:44)

way. What a great tool.

Scott Benner (1:05:45)

Thank you. It's JuiceBox

Anonymous Female (1:05:47)

podcast Good job, Scott.

Scott Benner (1:05:48)

Thank you. Juiceboxpodcast.com. Go up in the menu. Right now, I have it called j b p a I e x is the extension, but go in the menu and just look for it. It's not a diagnostic tool.

I'm not saying it's gonna tell you what's wrong with you. It's just gonna help you kinda quantify a lot of common ailments and where it might point to so you can go talk to your doctor about it later. Yeah. I also have a fat and protein estimator. I have a bolus estimator, a basal estimator, a one c estimator.

I have this really cool interactive defining diabetes thing where you can go learn, like, all the terms from defining diabetes. You can take a little quiz. It's like a game where you can, like, take a quick it's in English, Spanish, French, German, Hindi. I have it on a bunch of different language. I've been working hard over here.

Outro & Sponsors

Scott Benner (1:15:19)

I'd like to remind you again about the MiniMed seven eighty g automated insulin delivery system, which of course anticipates, adjusts, and corrects every five minutes twenty four seven. It works around the clock so you can focus on what matters. The juice box community knows the importance of using technology to simplify managing diabetes. To learn more about how you can spend less time and effort managing your diabetes, visit my link, metronicdiabetes.com/juicebox.

I'd like to thank the blood glucose meter that my daughter carries, the Kontoor Next Gen blood glucose meter. Learn more and get started today at kontoornext.com/juicebox. And don't forget, you may be paying more through your insurance right now for the meter you have than you would pay for the Kontoor Next Gen in cash. There are links in the show notes of the audio app you're listening in right now and links at juiceboxpodcast.com to Kontoor and all of the sponsors.

Thank you so much for listening. I'll be back very soon with another episode of the juice box podcast. If you're not already subscribed or following the podcast in your favorite audio app, like Spotify or Apple podcasts, please do that now. Seriously, just to hit follow or subscribe will really help the show. If you go a little further in Apple Podcasts and set it up so that it downloads all new episodes, I'll be your best friend.

And if you leave a five star review, oh, I'll probably send you a Christmas card. Would you like a Christmas card?

When I created the defining diabetes series, I pictured a dictionary in my mind to help you understand key terms that shape type one diabetes management. Along with Jenny Smith, who, of course, is an experienced diabetes educator, we break down concepts like basal, time and range, insulin on board, and much more. This series must have 70 short episodes in it. We have to take the jargon out of the jargon so that you can focus on what really matters, living confidently and staying healthy. You can't do these things if you don't know what they mean.

Go get your diabetes defined. Juiceboxpodcast.com. Go up in the menu and click on series. Have a podcast? Want it to sound fantastic?

Wrongwayrecording.com.

READ FULL TRANSCRIPT

```