#1896 Mean as a Snake
Mean as a Snake
Diagnosed at 13, she took her CGM off one beach day and never put it back on. Three years later: fingersticks only, low-6s A1Cs, and fierce independence.
Jump to a moment
- Great numbers, no CGM. Diagnosed at 13 and three years in, Allie’s daughter manages entirely on multiple daily injections and 10–12 fingersticks a day (~400 strips/month), with A1Cs from high-5s to low-6s (her worst was 7.4). Good management doesn’t require any one piece of technology.
- The tradeoff of no CGM is the lows you can’t see coming. Allie’s main worry: without a sensor to “catch the fall,” her daughter often doesn’t treat until she feels a low (50s–60s) rather than heading it off in the 70s.
- Autonomy over pressure. After a beach “sensor break” became permanent, Allie chose not to force the CGM — fearing a fight would cost more than it gained. Instead she gives space, shares info in small pieces, and lets slow buy-in happen (her daughter has now agreed to try an Eversense 365 at night for college).
- Recognizing new-onset type 1: the tells were a sudden return to a giant water bottle (thirst) and repeated overnight bathroom trips. Her pharmacist mom confirmed it at home with a drugstore glucometer (blood sugar in the 300s) before heading to the ER.
- A practical MDI tool from the show: for a reliably low-carb school lunch, they use R (regular) insulin dosed as she leaves for school to cover the slow, steady rise across the day — one example of matching insulin type and timing to the meal.
- Bold Beginnings Series — for the newly diagnosed, with Jenny Smith (verify slug)
- Small Sips Series — short episodes Allie shares with her daughter (verify slug)
- Diabetes Pro Tip Series — foundational management series (verify slug)
- Eversense 365 CGM — the year-long implantable CGM she’s pursuing for college
- Touched by Type One — programs, annual conference, D-Box, Dancing for Diabetes
- Afrezza (inhaled insulin) — ultra-rapid inhaled insulin Allie is seeking approval for (verify URL)
- Juicebox Podcast Facebook Group — community around type 1 (verify URL)
- Juicebox Podcast — all series and free resources
Every word of the conversation
Meet Allie0:00
Welcome back, friends, to another episode of the Juice Box podcast.
Hey. This is Allie, and I am the mom of a type one.
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. If you're new to type one diabetes, begin with the bold beginnings series from the podcast. Don't take my word for it. Listen to what reviewers have said.
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Learn more and get started today at tandemdiabetes.com/juicebox. The podcast is also sponsored today by my favorite diabetes organization, Touched by Type One. Please take a moment to learn more about them at touchedbytype1.org on Facebook and Instagram, touchedbytype1.org. Check out their many programs, their annual conference, awareness campaign, their d box program, dancing for diabetes. They have a dance program for local kids, a golf night, and so much more.
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Hey. This is Allie, and I am the mom of a type one.
Excellent. And, Allie, we're gonna stay a little vague today. We're not gonna say if your type one is a girl or a boy. Is that right?
But we can say she's a girl.
We can.
Because otherwise, I won't know how to refer to her.
Oh, I wouldn't either. So I would have just talked around it forever. The way I do when where was I this weekend? I was at a touch by type one event in Atlanta. And Elizabeth, is the founder, and she runs the whole thing with a bunch of great people.
But I think she saw me not know someone's name, and she looked she looked me in the face. And she knew I was talking around the person's name, and I thought, oh, I got caught. I am am not good with names. I wish I could tell a story right now, but a person I know a person will hear it. I don't want them to be offended.
But, like, I it's possible I've known you for years, and when I look you in the face, I just think, oh, there's that person. I have all the memories of our relationship. Mhmm. But I don't know your goddamn name. And and if somebody asked me about you in this scenario, I could probably tell ten, eleven heartwarming stories that I'm really attached to.
Bad with names. I I don't know what that's about exactly.
But It's okay. We all have to have a flaw.
Oh, but you think that's my only flaw?
No. I'll listen to the show.
Yeah. Yeah. It's a punch list. I got a punch list somewhere of things that need to get fixed. But I said to my wife the other day, I was like, look.
I'm 54. I think it's too late. I've done pretty well, like, myself out of the shit storm I was born into. I think I think I'm good now. I'm just gonna enjoy the rest of it.
You know what I mean? Like, I don't think I'm gonna murder anybody or anything like that. I think this is good. I'm just gonna I'm just gonna ride this part out. And my wife says to me, I swear to god, it's an emotional moment we were having together.
It's none of your business, right, we tell you more about it. And and and, by the way, that's from a guy who three weeks ago told an hour long story about bleeding from his ass. So I just maybe it maybe I will tell you. But we were talking about parenting. And, you know, and I don't know how many of you listening have children who are older, but one day, in case you're not aware of this now, they will figure out everything that's wrong with you and then tell you about it until you die.
So
I can't wait. It's super fun.
And it leads to a lot of conversations where we say things like, well, they're a problem. Or why did we do this? Or do you remember when we had money and used to have sex all the time? Why did we stop doing that? Never anyway, point being is that I I made this declaration about, like, I've done enough.
You know what I mean? Like, I've come pretty far out of the muck. I'm proud of myself. And she goes, you should never stop working on yourself. She wasn't talking to me.
She tried to be colloquial about it. Like, people should and I was like, fine. And I just looked back at her, I said, you're not perfect either, you know. Then we went upon our merry way. Okay.
Now what do we wanna know about you? How many kids in total do you have?
Two Kids, and the Fluff6:01
I have two kids. My daughter is 17. My son is 14.
Okay. And you married, or did you get rid of that man that you let be with you to make those babies?
He is still around.
Look at you. What a pinch you are. You don't know that word. Right. I can tell by your accent, but not the point.
That's very nice to
My accent's already showing.
Already showing? I mean, word one, it's out. You know what I mean? Like, I'm on my way to Florida now to Blake's sitting in the front yard with you or wherever it is you live that's similar to that. So and don't tell me.
Let it be a surprise. So, how long have been married?
This is our twenty first year.
Oh, congratulations. That's lovely. Thanks. Never been in jail? No battery?
Nothing like that?
Not yet.
Pretty great. Not yet. There is a smart answer from a person who's been married for two decades. By the way, for those of you online who say the podcast is full of too much fluff, this is the part where I make Ali comfortable because she's never been recorded before. And then you get online and go, it's so full of fluff.
Hey. Can I just say something to these people, Ali? And I don't know you yet, so this is fuck you people. Okay? Like, you come make a podcast about type one.
How about you're welcome? Just say thank you. Okay? You motherfuckers. Sorry.
I'm I'm so
Well, now I'm loosened up.
It's like five people, Allie. But, like, I just you know, like, hey. What if you step back one day and said, I have type one diabetes or my kid does? And there's this guy that sits down every day of his natural life for twelve years and has a conversation with somebody attached to type one diabetes so I can listen to it. Maybe I won't get online and say, I don't like the fluff part of the podcast.
You don't like the fluff. Make your own goddamn podcast. Leave me alone. Meanwhile, this is my last part. This is my last thought on this.
Ali's not used to being interviewed. Like, I bring you voices who don't have a megaphone. They need a minute to calm down before we start. I don't know how you don't see you have mental health issues. If you're online telling me that my thing anyway, you're all lovely.
Love please don't please don't unsubscribe. Just keep listen just leave me alone. That's all I wanna say. I already have a wife and a daughter. I don't need the rest of you.
Okay? That that's what I'm getting at. Okay. So this kid, how old is it when it's diagnosed? It how old is she when she's diagnosed?
The Autoimmune Family Tree8:23
So she's she was 13, almost 14.
Okay.
Right before her birthday.
So just maybe three years ago then? Right. Not
long. Well, four. Yeah.
Okay. Is there any other autoimmune in your family? Do you have hypothyroidism? I'm gonna say yes because you have a deeper voice, but just go ahead and tell me the truth.
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No. I so my family this is what my mom told her oncologist or the doctor that diagnosed her with ovarian cancer. She said, we are heart attack and stroke people. There's no way I can have cancer. All of my relatives just dropped dead.
Now my husband's family has some autoimmune. Oh. He has a first cousin that's a type one.
We found the person we can blame to alleviate our guilt. This is awesome.
Oh, it's definitely him.
Good for you. That's nice. Yeah. It probably really was lightning for you. Gotta call it wasn't me.
You by the way, your mom, we're heart attack and stroke people. I don't have cancer. Yeah. I'm gonna die of a heart attack. What are you even talking about?
Yeah. Yep.
She's she's still kicking with her ovarian cancer too.
Really? How old was she when she was diagnosed?
Let's see. She is 79 now, and this was probably six years ago.
Oh, wow. Can you hear the, type a people listening going, stop pivoting. Stick to the kid's diagnosis story. Again, make your own podcast. Okay?
I learned so much stuff from your podcast just from stuff that doesn't even have to do with what you're talking about. Yeah.
Well, those people who talk like that, they're boring, and they would make boring podcasts that nobody listened to. They just don't realize it about themselves. Go to therapy. Okay. Now so your daughter was diagnosed three years ago.
Your there is autoimmune on your husband's side. His would you say cousin has a type one?
Right.
Okay. Look at me remembering things. You his seriously, you have no idea how impressive that is. So his cousin has type one. There's other autoimmune stuff.
Does your husband have anything directly? A little celiac? Do you make the poopy after dinner or anything like that? What's going on there?
He definitely has something GI going on Mhmm. As does my son, but neither one have been diagnosed with anything.
What a lovely thing to pass down. So Right.
Yeah. He also has HS, the skin disorder. I know you've talked to other people about as hidradenitis suppurativa, which is not really considered all autoimmune, but it's auto inflammatory, and it's genetic, or it's hereditary.
Okay. Interesting.
Doctor Google Was Right12:56
So that was actually what my daughter, the year before she was diagnosed, started having those skin problems. And that's the
first Describe them for people. Okay.
So I took her to the dermatologist. She was having breakouts around her bikini line. Now she, you know, was 12 at that time. She had started shaving. The first two dermatologists I took her to told me it was just a rash from shaving Even though I had pictures of when they had erupted, and they were much worse.
Like, I have had razor burn before, and this was not razor burn.
I've been with a few ladies in my life. Razor burn looks very specific.
Right.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
And I'm not if you can see my kids' medical charts at their pediatrician, we never go to the doctor. I like, it has to be something pretty bad for me even to make an appointment. Mhmm. So the fact that I brought her in, you know, I knew it wasn't razor burn. I figured out what it was.
My husband was never diagnosed. I don't know if it was a thing that was diagnosed when he was growing up. It's a thing that happens a lot with hormones, and you get it during puberty. And, he had kinda grown out of it. But I figured out what it was just from doctor Google and went into the third dermatologist and told her my suspicions, and she agreed.
So then she was diagnosed at that time with HS.
I just wanna be clear. She was diagnosed when you figured it out.
Right.
You just got you just got a doctor to agree with you. That that's all that happened.
Yes. Yeah.
Contextually, that's important, by the way. Yeah. Because you you very well might have gone in there and gone, what do you think this is? And the third one might have gone, oh, that looks like razor burn. And and, know Great.
Yeah. You sometimes you know how you say don't lead people if you want their opinion, or lead them if you don't want their opinion. You know what I mean?
Right.
People are pretty malleable. So, well, that's good good for you, first of all. That's that's way to get after it. And isn't life unfair? Like, you know what I mean?
You're, like, you're born a little bit. You're like, there's the baby. Look. The baby's gonna probably grow up to be a princess or, you know, a baseball player. And we'll probably watch you know, he'll move out.
Sure. But I'll get to turn the TV on every night at 07:00 and watch him play. And then instead, you shave at twelve and find out you have a skin issue. Awesome.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
That was different than what I thought. So, man, that's bullshit too. Oh, I'm sorry. Okay. What do you do for that?
Is there anything to do for
So she has a very mild case. Thank goodness. Some people are put on the biologic injections that are immune suppressants
Mhmm.
Like Dupixent, you know, things that are also used for eczema that just suppress the immune response.
Just a bit. I wanna talk can I say, I'm sorry to take away from your time, which is funny after I've ranted and raved about 19 different things, but, I think this is what happened when you get me early in the morning? Oh. Yeah. I got a lot of energy right now.
It's not good for you.
You're well caffeinated. It's
good. Yeah. It's great for me. I haven't had anything yet this morning. Got up, took care of the dogs, took a little shower, came back to you.
I wanna talk to more people who are on those biologics to suppress immune stuff for other things. So if you're listening out there and you're taking something like that for anything at all, don't even care what it is. Like, reach out. I'd love to have more conversations about that. Sorry.
Okay. So it's you're managing that. It's going along fine. She's wanting to deal with it. That's all good?
Mhmm.
Okay. I did think it was a little bit strange because she's always been small. When you read about HS as a condition, you hear about overweight, hairy men mostly. And I kinda wrote it off because her dad has it, but that just still put some suspicion in my mind.
Hey. Just real quick. Is your husband an overweight, hairy man?
No. He's not either.
Oh, I think I wanna I
mean, he's pretty hairy, but he's not overweight.
Long time listeners know what I'm thinking right now. I would love to call this episode episode hairy man or something like that. I would also love to be able to say episode, but I was putting a lip balm on while I was trying to talk. Little trick of the trade there to keep the look the lip smacking from happening. Okay.
Alright. Well well, boy, that's something. Is that a thing that, like does it impact her life, do you think?
It did. She did have, a procedure on one of her places that kept erupting, but it was just like an outpatient. Not really a surgery, but they open it up, and it heals from the inside out.
Mhmm.
And since she had that done, it has been pretty good. So now when she feels something coming up, when it starts hurting, she'll start taking an antibiotic, and it usually goes away.
How how close are you with your daughter? Like, is it would she would she has she come to you and said, like, I'm getting older, be thinking of becoming intimate with people? Like like, is that a is that a roadblock for that?
I think it will be, but she is just now starting to show some interest in boys
Mhmm. Okay.
Which I feel like we've been pretty lucky with that. She's a senior.
It picks up quick, though, once it starts. Not really
Yes. I'm afraid of
with
her going to college next year.
Arden tells so many boys, no. Thank you. Not good enough. Blah blah blah. Now she found some handsome kitten.
Yeah. She she we were sitting around last night eating dinner, and then she's like, gotta go upstairs. She goes upstairs, comes back downstairs. It's, like, 10:00. She's like, I'm gonna go out.
And I'm like, okay. And I said, when do I expect you back? She goes, I'll be home by eleven tomorrow morning. And I went,
oh, okay. Oh.
And she's, 22. You know what I mean? So Yeah. But it's still you're it doesn't feel that way when you're looking at her. She looks like she's I in my mind, she's, like, 12.
You you know? Yeah. Yeah. Anyway, there's something for you to look forward to crying about.
Great. Later. I can't wait. I can't wait again.
Getting excited. Oh, the boy's already older. Is it different for your son, do you think? You're like He's 14. Oh, he's the 14 year old.
No.
Never mind. Yeah.
Okay. I think I might have been thinking of my son. Yeah. You're not you you're not ready to have that I can't ask you that question. About the, like is it really like, I know it seems wrong, and it probably is wrong to judge people differently.
But is it different, like, you know, sending your son out into the world or your daughter out into the world, that kind of thing? But, anyway, we'll we'll skip past that.
Oh, yeah. I don't know.
Yeah. You
I hadn't gotten there with him yet, I guess.
You won't be happy about that, though. Yeah. He's just at the part now where he hides in his room, he's slightly mean. Right?
He's not mean yet. He's still sweet.
Oh.
But she's she's been mean as a snake for quite some time. They're just different personalities. I actually I I said
to Ardold, and was like, why are you being so mean to me? I'm like he's like, I'm not. I'm just explaining it to you. I'm like, oh my god. Oh, no.
Sounds like Kelly's grandmother where she was just like, I'm not being mean. I'm just telling people how it is. I'm like, no. It's mean. Anyway, she's lovely most of the time.
She said she said something the other day. She go she looks at my wife, and she goes, like, real serious. She goes, do you ever have times where just every man you look at, you just kinda wanna punch him in the face? And they're having this thoughtful conversation, and I was like, I was trying not to, like, say anything. You know?
And she's like, I don't know, like and Kelly's like, yeah. And she's like, I don't know what that is. And Kelly asks, like, even your boyfriend? She goes, yeah. I just told him about it the other day.
She's like, I just don't know what's happening. And I just went, I mean, it's hormonal. She hit me. And I was like, hey. What the heck?
So anyway, it's hormonal, in case you're wondering. I've been around a I'm long like that what's that lady that watched the monkeys? You know who I mean? Going out in the woods with the monkeys, and she paid really close attention to them her whole life, and she I'm that.
Jane Goodall?
Jane Goodall. Yeah. I'm the Jane Goodall of women. I just wanna say. I've been
Just watch them.
I've been paying real close attention. And, anyway, I know you don't take the monkey's food from them, and I know you're not supposed to say it's hormonal when they ask questions like that. But there I was, and I'm getting older. I don't really care anymore. So, anyway, what is the lead up to the diabetes?
What do you see? What happens? How do you get to it?
The Big Water Bottle21:26
Oh, so she plays basketball, and she had just finished her eighth grade season of basketball. And she has this great big water bottle that she takes, to school when she has practice after school. And so since the season was over and she was just coming home after school, we had changed back to her normal sized water bottle. And after a few weeks after the season was over, she asked for her big water bottle again. So that was clue number one.
My son at that point was 11. He would sometimes get scared at night, he would go sleep in her floor in her room. And he told me that she had stepped on him when she got up to pee at night. And so that was clue number two. Mhmm.
About a month after that, we went on spring break, and we were all staying in a hotel room. And the bathroom was right outside of where I was sleeping. And she would get up maybe three times a night to pee.
Oh, okay.
So that's when I told my husband while we were on vacation that I thought she probably had diabetes. He flipped out. He's not medical at all. I guess I didn't say that I'm a pharmacist. And so he responded with anger.
I think he was afraid. Yeah. You know, there was a whole thing, but we when we got home, I went to Walmart and bought a glucometer and tested her, and she was three hundred something. And I called my friend who's a nurse practitioner and said she's a pediatric nurse practitioner and just asked, what hospital, and do I need to pack a bag? Because I knew what was coming.
Yeah. Jeez.
And Well So yeah.
That sucks. I wanna jump forward a little bit to the reason that you put in your note about coming on. And, of course Mhmm. So that I can say again, Emma, I I think I do know now. I'm gonna call the episode me as a snake, I think.
So Appropriate. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Also, you know, she'll never hear this, so it's fine.
True.
And it'll help other people, which is nice. Why don't you tell me a little all your note says is teenage rebellion and managing without technology. So, like, why don't you walk me through the the getting diagnosed and more of the mental, you know, side of how it impacted her and and how things move forward from there.
The Sensor Came Off at the Beach24:05
Okay. So that sounds like there was some big blow up, I guess, from what I wrote, but it's it's it was more like we eased into this. But so when she was diagnosed, I think we spent one night in the hospital. The educator came in the next morning and went over the basics, and then, there wasn't really a whole lot of education. I had a little bit from school, but that was a long time ago.
She went home with an Dexcom g six, NovoLog pens, and Levemir pens. And, Levemir was discontinued, so now we're doing Tresiba. Still doing NovoLog pens. The summer after she was diagnosed in April, we were at the beach. She asked me if she could take her sensor off while we were at the beach.
And without giving it much thought, because I know about finger sticks and how annoying that is, I thought, well, you know, this sure. You know, take a break. She'll be super annoyed with finger sticks. She'll go right back to her sensor. It never happened.
Did she not get months in. Did she not get annoyed with the finger sticks, or did she just not do them?
Three years later, we're still finger sticking. She's we go through probably 400 strips a month, I think, is what I get with our insurance. She probably tests 10 to 12 times a day.
Oh, cool. I mean, not you probably are mortified, but, like, I mean
I never thought for one second that, yes, I'm gonna let her do this, and she's gonna it's
It's gonna work out. You you you did that thing. You were like, oh, she'll see. And then the point will be made, and I won't have to even be the one to say it. Right?
Right. I should have known. Mhmm. I mean, she's been her own person since she was born. She's always been very independent, had her own thoughts about things.
She didn't care that that's the standard of care. She didn't care one bit. She liked the finger sticks and is still doing them.
Ten to Twelve Times a Day26:05
Is it working out? Like, it or her I mean. Never mind. I I took it from the I mean. Guess I don't think probably don't need the whole story.
It's not working out. Is that what you're
I mean, she's very responsible. She always doses. She, the worst a one c she's had since diagnosis was a 7.4. She's usually high fives to low sixes.
Okay. Well, she's doing well. But But you think she's
having more lows than I would like.
Yeah.
Because you can't you you just can't you know, we went from having the data every five minutes to having, what, 12 readings a day. I'd
Well, be serious about it for a second, though. Like, let's not joke around for a second. It is I get I get it. Right? Like, let's try to, like, thoughtfully look into the other side of it.
So you have the CGM. You always have context for what's happening. You can get ahead of things. Even if you don't get ahead of it, you can kinda track how bad it's going while you're fixing it. Right?
Like, there's a a level of comfort there at the very least. And she's probably having lower a one c's, you think, though, because she's low sometimes, and we're not doing anything about it. She's staying low too long?
She treats her lows, but, you know, you can catch the fall with a CGM, and that's you'd
Yeah.
You know, she doesn't catch it until she feels it sometimes.
Mhmm.
And, you know, so she ends up being in the, you know, sixties treating, sometimes fifties versus you know, we were treating in the seventies when she had the CGM. So you just don't see it coming.
When you had the conversations that I'm I'm assuming you've had with her before and they end with her yelling at you, what's the process, and what does she explain to you that she is it I don't care or I like it better this way? What's her perspective?
Two Friends Know27:56
It's just her personal preference. And she also doesn't like people to know that she's diabetic. So she has two friends that know. So it's not well known at school, and I think that has a lot to do with when she like, at what age she was diagnosed.
Mhmm.
You know, if she was diagnosed in elementary school, everybody would have had to have known.
And it would be too much she could have
end of middle school, you know, going into high school, it was kind of, you know, you have to consider their ugh. They have to be part of the decision making process even though they're they still have monkey brains.
You know? These kids, they think they know something, and then they talk. And if you ignore them, the state comes for you. It's tough. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. We do you is she in her, like, a side of diabetes life? Is she super private?
Yes. I would say so.
Is it vanity?
Maybe. Although, I think it's more she doesn't wanna be judged by that. She doesn't want any kind of sympathy or to be treated any differently. You know, when you're a teen, especially girls, it's all about conformity. Like, they all wanna dress alike, look alike.
I'm gonna
ask not like that.
Yeah. Yeah. Understand that. Know how to do it. Like, can I ask a question that some people are gonna judge me for, but I'm just I only have it?
Okay? Is she super pretty, or is she weird and awkward? What's the reason she doesn't want people seeing the stuff on her?
I think it's just insecurity.
Insecurity. Okay. And
And I I think that comes from so this is a little background about the elementary school we go to. About 10% of that school goes to a certain middle and high school, and the other 90% go to a different one. So we're in the 10% because of where we live. So after, you know, fifth grade, she had to make all new friends. Well, the first year of middle school, they go out for COVID.
So she had made, like, one or two good friends, and then it it was weird for a couple of years.
Yeah.
So she really has just a very small friend group, and she's not social. She's not very social.
Is she antisocial or
just the weirdo.
You're like you're like, listen. She's gonna shoot people in a ball. I was it that level? No. You didn't mean that.
You meant, like, she's just not, an out and about person.
Well, I mean, she's on the basketball team. She's on the golf team. She's an honor graduate. I mean, it makes her sound like she's, you know, a strange child, but she really is not that weird. But just very private and just doesn't want she's never wanted to draw attention to herself.
Mean as a snake, but not that weird. What a love letter. What a love letter. I'll let you say nice stuff about her at the end. Don't worry.
If she first of all, we know she's never gonna hear this. And secondly and by the way, for those of you who are like, yes, she will. I'm like, we we trust me. It's not gonna happen. We've taken steps.
And so but is she I mean, is she like like, how do you talk about her? Like, forget this whole diabetes story for a second. Like, if she didn't have diabetes, do you think this kind of stuff would be happening around other things in her life where she'd kinda be close to the vest, wouldn't let a bunch of people in, or do you think she's doing this just because of the type one?
I think it's a combination of the whole social COVID thing
Yeah.
And the HS and the diabetes.
It's like a stew that just leads you in this direction, really. What do you do about that or for oh, listen. I wanna say something. The other day, I was talking to somebody about some mental health stuff on the podcast, and I I just I have the same feeling every time I talk about not mental health, but human problems in general. Like, you either know they're happening or don't.
You kinda can diagnose them. They're hard to change. People don't wanna hear about, you know, where they're falling short or could be acting differently even. It's not a thing. I'm completely convinced at this point.
People change when they change, if they change. That's it. Like, you cannot force somebody to do something.
People Change When They Change32:20
Mhmm.
At all about anything ever. It's probably a waste of your goddamn time to even think about it. Like like so pointing out to like, you know, for a million years, you could point out to her, like, hey. You know, your life would probably be easier with a CGM.
Right.
She's not she's gonna say I don't care. Mhmm. You're gonna hear I don't care as she doesn't care about her health, which is not what she's saying. Right? And then it's just and then you're gonna feel nervous about it.
You're always gonna be on the edge. You're gonna have this feeling between the two of you where she's gonna know that she's you're disappointed in her for not doing a thing that she doesn't wanna do. And she's gonna judge you for treating her that way. And my point is, is if my wife and I just would not have had these kids, I think we'd have a second house. In a warm weather location.
You could be at
the beach right now.
Son of a bitch. But also, without them, I don't even know if I'd care. So you know what I mean? Like, this I think Mhmm. This is life.
And fighting against it is not valuable. I really Right. I'm not like a hippie dippie person, but, like, I think you just have to give people space. Let them be who they are, and let them know you love them. Mhmm.
Say your peace, and then back out slowly.
Right.
Right? And then maybe they figure it out one day.
Well, she's always been a very just deal with it kind of person. It is what it is. We're just gonna deal with it. And she, I mean, she completely manages. I haven't helped since probably the first year.
You know? And she always doses. She always checks. I can't really complain. I just I do, every once in a while, just put the bug in her ear that, you know, it's not really a one c.
It's time and range.
Wear It at Night for College34:14
Mhmm.
And we don't really have an accurate picture of your time and range because we have these pinpoint times throughout the day. We don't have the full data. You know, I just I want her at some point in the future to I'm actually trying to get her approved for the Eversense three sixty five right now because she told me she would do that and at least wear it at night so when she's at college.
Oh, that's that's a nice piece of progress. That's what I'm talking about, by the way. Marathon, not a sprint. You use whatever metaphor. Makes you comfortable.
Right. You you know, like, that's really fantastic. Hey. When you tell her all that, does she pause and go, dad's right. You're a pain in the ass?
Or, like
Every time.
Yeah. And then do you go, oh, I can't believe he says that about me buying my back, or do you go, no. This all checks
out. Yes. Definitely.
I like everyone's I guess Good.
A little bit, I guess, that I had some fear about her rebelling if I did make her wear the CGM.
Mhmm. I think you're smart.
Well, I could totally see her just turning me off and not letting me follow.
Oh, not only that. I listen. If you wanna get into my mindset, I have a daughter, and, and she's been on the podcast before. You've all heard her. So Yeah.
I my brain would say this. If I force her to do this thing, I jump right ahead to she's on heroin and she has three kids, and she lives on a just despite me. Do you know what I mean? Like, I I know that's not what but that's how far my I'm just like, oh, this is just gonna spin out of control. And that I actually believe about personal relationships.
You can Mhmm. You can live in a in a imperfect relationship that gets better, but you can't push a relationship outside of that cell. I actually am thinking about a human cell. Like, once you push it through that membrane, you're on the other side of it. You can't get back in again sometimes.
Right. Or it takes forever, and it's never the same again. So I'd rather this is obviously from the voice of a kid from a divorced family. But, like, I would rather everything not be perfect till we can find better than to push hard. No one's gonna bend anyway, and then everybody's at odds forever.
Right.
Yeah. I think you're doing the right thing.
Well, I don't know. We'll see. I'm also trying to get her approved for Afrezza, which I've I did all this stuff last year, but she was she's getting ready to turn 18
Mhmm.
In ten days. So they our insurance denied the Eversense and the Afrezza last year because she wasn't 18 yet. So I'm gonna go through all that again because I would I would like to for her to have those tools before she goes to college.
Yeah. I think that year. It's tough too because when you ask somebody to do something, if they're not ready to do it or they don't want to do it, but they know you're letting them down, you that they know or they feel like this decision is letting you down. Right? Now they feel bad for not wanting to do it.
They feel bad for not doing it, and then they feel bad for how it's making you feel. And then they probably feel bad for feeling bad and what it's done to your relationship. People are wired very strangely. You know what I mean? You would feel that way if if she was a friend of yours, but instead, you're her mom, so you're just worried about her health and her safety.
Right? You probably don't have any other thoughts except long term health, short term health. These are these are your concerns. Right?
Right.
Yeah. It's a weird mix. I don't know.
But I also want her to be good mentally, and I
You're not sure that she is?
Well, she is because she's not wearing the CGM. I think that it was very taxing for her to have all that data. I loved it. I'm the type a. Like, I had everything charted.
We would write down everything she ate and what happened, and she's just not like that. She just
She more like her big fat hairy dad? I know he's none of those things, but
yeah. Yes. Yes. They are a lot alike.
So his response to, I think, our daughter has type one diabetes is her response to, hey. You should wear a CGM?
Pretty much.
Awesome. Is your is your son just like like you?
He is. How does
all this happen? Isn't it weird?
I don't know. It's so weird. He's very laid back and very just easy to get along with.
Mhmm. I know you like him the best. That's fine. I understand.
They're so different. It's crazy. I know why came out that way.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I got home the other day. I was gone for a few days.
I got home, and everyone was in like, it was the end of the weekend mood. You know, the Sunday afternoon, this wasn't a long enough break everybody kind of was feeling. You know what I mean? Mhmm. And I kinda stepped into it, but I had, like, a ton of excitement for my trip and, like, good energy.
And I was like, oh, I'm not fitting in in the space. And then and then I I tried to share something I was excited about, and I didn't I got a lot I got pushed back from from a lot of angles except for Kelly. Kelly was nice about it. But the kids were I'm talking about, like, changing something, and I think it's scaring the kids. Mhmm.
Right? And not scaring them, like, you know, like, they think that clown's gonna come out of the sewer kinda scared. But, like, it's just it's just uncomfortable for them. And so they're kinda they were pushing back with, like, their, like, oh, yeah. But what about?
And I was like, well, yeah. But what about this? Like, where we should just look or, you know, like, let's know better. And you realize, like, you're trying to, like, you're trying to make a point with fifty years of experience to somebody who maybe has five years of experience being adult, and they're not really adults. They're just like like I said to my wife the other night, I was like, do remember when we were Arden's age?
We were we were on our own. Like, we owned we had an apartment. We owned cars. You you know what mean? Like, we had jobs.
Like like, we were, like, we were we were hustling. Like, it was a different time. They're, like, finishing up school or talking about going to grad school or just starting out with work if they're lucky. You know? And their level but they still based on the age, they're like, I'm an adult.
Like, Arna said the other day Pat, I hope she never hears this. She had a she had a Dexcom, like, went funky. It got the gooseneck thing when you pop it in and the wire comes out of the top. Yeah. And so she had to pop it off and put on another one.
And I said, hey. Listen. You know, we can't afford to throw that away. You have to call in and and get that replaced because she told me six months ago that she's an adult. She can take care of herself.
So I said I put it on the counter, and I was like, hey. You just need to call Dexcom real quick. Tell them what happened, and they'll send you a new one. I mean, that was four weeks ago. And so, it's still sitting on the counter, but now I think it's a situation where I think she realizes it's been too long and I and I don't know why whether she's forgotten about it or she really believes I'll get to it, but she's also in college and she's got you know, she's young, she's got a boyfriend, all that stuff.
And, and all I can think is every time I walk past the box, I think, well, don't call it in because she's an adult and she wants to take care of it herself. But I'm also the one that paid for it, so I'd like very much if the replacement came soon. And so now I'm just weighing the amount of time I have to wait until she won't care. And again, my wife and I just used to, like, you know, have sex and, like, laugh and watch movies, and then we were like, we should have a kid. And now I'm staring at a Dexcom box wondering what the appropriate amount of time is to call this in.
Because let me just be clear, and I if she does hear this one day, she's never gonna fucking do that. Like, never, never, never, never. In a million years, this isn't gonna happen right now. I do I think she'd be an adult who would take care of it if it was five years now? I think in a in a millisecond.
But to your point earlier, she's in college. She's got friends. Those friends are like, their lives are changing. She's got a boyfriend. She's got her, you know, desires for herself and, you know, she's you know, what she wants and what she's doing, what she's not doing.
She's feeling like she probably feels like she lets herself down every day. She's out there hustling trying not for that to be the case. She probably feels like she's letting us down. I think it's so crazy how people always feel like that. Like, instead of just looking at the things that are going really well, you measure the things that aren't going well.
Don't do that. I only measure the stuff that's going.
The Box on the Counter40:12
Just freaking everything else.
Yeah. I'm like, hey. Listen. That wasn't perfect, but you just see what I did over here. So I mean, because I don't imagine I can be perfect.
So Mhmm. Like, why not like, anyway, you can't there's another thing you can't talk a person into doing. Right. You know? So Right.
Anyway. I'm anyway, so my life is spent, like, looking at that box going, like, what's the right amount of time to make this call? Ridiculous. I'm an adult. I have a bank account.
You know what I'm saying? Yeah. Yeah. You know why she has the bank account? Because I made her open up a bank account.
That's the only money that's in that bank account is from the one job she's had so far, which I can say now because it won't be out for a while, but was, like, making social media for Omnipod. Like, she doesn't even work. Like, I guess she's, you know, she and she's like, I'm an adult. I'm like, you're an adult. You'd be dead in twenty minutes without me.
What are you talking about? You're an adult.
Their own money, I don't think it changes until it's their their own money.
She's an adult like my wife wouldn't be broke if I wasn't here defending our cash. You know what I mean? My wife would be homeless without me. She'd be like, don't know where the money went. I'm like, I know where it went.
Shoes. It's in the closet. Go get it. Sell it to somebody. You'll get it back again.
But but seriously, also, let me I'm gonna say this because I think I'd like to lead this into your part of the conversation too. I'm being genuinely serious here. Beautiful, thoughtful, lovely, intelligent person. Fantastic. I love my daughter.
Is awesome. She is growing every day and becoming a more and more complete person every day. If if she heard me say anything like this, she'd think I don't understand her at all. But I would tell her she doesn't understand that she's in the middle of a process. She always thinks she's at the end of the process.
That's the thing about being young. Like, is you always think, oh my god. This is the best version of me ever. I know more stuff right now than I ever have. You don't realize you're just in the middle of it still.
Mhmm. You know? Mhmm. It's hard to hear.
I still did a lot of stupid things in my twenties.
Yeah. Of course. Are you kidding me? I had a baby twice. I was obviously an idiot.
I listen. I gave I've given you all the best advice in the world. I told you to pre bolus. Told you to get your base alright. I told you to understand the impact of fat on your blood sugars.
I told you not to get a dog. I told you not to get married, and I told you not to have kids. I have kids, dogs, and I've been married for thirty years. I'm an idiot too. If I knew what I oh my god.
I'd be by myself in the woods. I just want you to know, happy is a clam. What do think of that? Oh.
That'd be great.
How do they measure clams happiness, by the way? That's ridiculous. By the way Not
sure how we got here.
I gotta tell you something. For those of you who don't enjoy this part of me, I feel like I am flowing right now. Like, this is what I feel like my podcast should be like all the time. Oh my god. I'm like the Tim Dillon of diabetes.
And if nobody understands that reference, I'm like the Howard Stern of diabetes. And if you're too young for that one, don't know what to tell you. But I really feel like I'm doing great right now. And I don't use drugs. And I think that's impressive.
Oh my god. Alright. So what do you think?
Me a little bit of how we describe mental illness, as, like, diary of the mouth or, like, a word salad.
I don't know.
Sometimes.
I have, there's a flow is the best word I can give you. Also, was a comedian on here recently who I went off on kind of like a little bit of a what you some of you might call a rant, but I call it a a beautiful moment. And, and at at the end of it, I apologized to him. Was like, oh, I went on too long there. I'm sorry.
And he goes, no, man. He's like, you were, like, flow state there. He's like, I spend my professional life trying to find that spot. Oh. I was like, oh, I just need ten minutes to warm up, but I can hit it in two seconds.
You're on the roll.
And I also think that even if you being, like, super serious for a second, if you go back and listen to any of, like, the pro tip stuff or any of that stuff there Mhmm. I'm not good at diabetes till I hit this moment. Mhmm. And then it feels like I create this sort of, like, slip and slide from the things I know to the ability to, like, articulate them. Mhmm.
But if I try to speak thoughtfully and measured more like the rest of you do sometimes, I'm not really that thoughtful. It it's interesting. Like, I I need a little bit of unconscious when I'm talking, and then it, like, then it makes sense. Or those of you who don't believe in that, whatever. But, like, you know, you're like, no.
You're an idiot. That's why I listen to this. I listen because you're an idiot, and you make me feel good about my own mental health. Maybe that's what's happening for some people. I have no idea.
Oh, it's like those people that have to have a little bit of alcohol to drink before they they can be social.
That's not good for me. I wouldn't need that's not that wouldn't be good for me. Yeah. I'd say terrible. Like, I I mean, they wouldn't be terrible, but they would hurt your feelings if I was because I do this is actually me.
I'm I'm actually, like, restraining myself. I I tell people all the time, like, when I first started doing this, Kelly's like, people are not gonna like you. And I was like, no. I'll just hold some of it back. And and she's like, yeah.
You think you can do that? And I was like, no. And I think I've actually found a, like, a good level of it. I think so. I I think the podcast is entertaining, and it's helpful, and it's introspective, and and valuable.
But Yes. If I just opened up oh, thank you for that. That was a thoughtful yes. I'm sorry I spoke over it. If I just completely opened up, you would be like, oh my god.
Too much?
Well, imagine, like, no filter on me and going this fast.
Yeah.
Yeah. I'd it would take me about an hour to just, like I'd go through that. Yeah. I'd hit all the ones. I'd be like I'd talk about those people online who are, you know, acting like they're the reason that that Elodon trial's working.
I would talk by the way, the others nine people who I don't mean that about are now insulted. But here's the funny thing about me. I don't care. And you you know, like and and I'm not talking about them. Figure it out.
That's your own guilt, not me. Okay? And, you know, I'd I'd go off about I I would talk about so many things that would probably get me in trouble. But maybe at the end, I'll let you know when the last year of the podcast is. I'll may I'll, like, ring a bell.
I'll be like, listen. I've already secured all the advertising, and I'm not doing this again next year. Let's go. You you know what I mean?
Do You Run Out of Toilet Paper?49:15
This we talk about this at the pharmacy sometimes because there's just some customers you wish you could just say what you wanna say to them.
Mhmm. Well, what would you what would you say? How give me one example of somebody who is just like if you could just say what you wanted to say to them, you think it would be valuable for them if they would be forced to listen.
Well, just people who whose irresponsibility and or lack of taking ownership of their own care, and then it creates, like, an emergency for you. And, like, like, running completely out of things like insulin or, you know, their heart medicine, and then coming in on a weekend, they don't have refills on their bottle. You know, usually, we'll give them some. But if they come in being an asshole right off the get go, it doesn't really make me wanna, you know, just give you something.
Mhmm.
But I have asked people before, like, do you let yourself run completely out of toilet paper?
And what and what do they say?
They're like, no. And they look at me like I'm crazy. I'm like, this is what you need to live. Like, what?
You would you say to them, listen. Would you let yourself run out of toilet paper? Because the situation you've put us in right now is you have a shitty ass, and you're asking me to wipe it off. Exactly. Yeah.
I don't wanna do it.
Yeah. And guess what? Not for nothing. Ali's not into that. Okay?
So, go take care of yourself. You know what? I I have, an acquaintance who's been on a GLP for two years and can't lose weight. And and I say you know, I'm talking to him one day. I was like, yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. I'm like, look, man. I don't know. You're doing something wrong.
Like, you know what I mean? Like, like, let's try to, like, let's figure it out. I realized I'm talking to him. He's in a convenience store parking lot eating a lunch and talking about how his stomach hurts all the time. And I'm like, well, what are you eating?
And he starts going through the things he's eating. I said, you should stop eating those things. I was like, I think that might be part of your problem. You know, you you've taken a drug that's slowing down your digestion significantly, and then you're eating fatty foods. And then you're saying, I don't understand.
My stomach hurts. And then the the takeaway is the GLP makes my stomach hurt. I'm like, a word of. Not really. Like, you know now, again, some of you have probably had problems on the drug.
I'm not I'm not saying you didn't. I'm just saying that there's some situations where you're like, listen. You're you're double fisting cheeseburgers on a GLP and telling me that it makes your stomach hurt. The the the cheeseburgers that make your stomach hurt, not the GLP.
Right.
You you you know, like, so and or or the or the poor people who have some level of gastroparesis when they start, and then they have real trouble on it. They didn't know they had gastroparesis before, probably. And then they're like, you know, this this medication, it gave me gastroparesis. And I'm like, maybe, or maybe you almost maybe you were getting closer, and maybe it's tipped it a little bit. Like, I don't know, but we all run out into the world then and, you know, make the pronouncements about things.
Mhmm.
It's and it's tough to be do you ever think about this when you're looking at those people in the pharmacy? You want them to make a good decision, but nobody's ever told them what a good decision is. Mhmm. How are they gonna make it? Like, I mean, seriously, back to, like, GLPs and gastroparesis, someone probably should have said to them, hey.
Have you had diabetes for twenty years and had a one c's in the sevens? I don't think we maybe it might be a little scary to put you on the struggle. Why don't we check your motility first to make sure that this isn't gonna slow it way down? Like, there's think people led them wrong in that situation. Right.
Anyway, like, I'm gonna take a hard pivot for a second because you're in pharmacy. I think GLP medications are gonna, like, fundamentally change the world. I I think that in your my lifetime, like, that idea of, like, you know, you you go to Disney World and everybody's overweight. Like, I don't I think that's gonna go the other direction. Do you think that or what are you seeing with people like in real in the real world?
Because I get worried sometimes that I judge what's happening based on my experience, which is all I can really do. But I'm my I'm having a fairly thoughtful use case with the stuff. So what do you see, like, in the real world use?
I'm not seeing a whole lot of people who don't go to the pharmacy anyway. Like, if there are people who don't go to the doctor, don't take care of their health, I don't think they're gonna be exposed to it anyway. These are people who or most most of the people that we dispense to, you know, are diabetic patients anyway, or they have other health issues going on that they were already our patients. We don't have many new people coming in that are just getting GLPs. I guess that's what I mean.
The way I'm doing it. Like so I I I wasn't having a ton of other issues that were, like, really detrimental, and I was like, I'm gonna lose weight.
And Right.
Then I so I oddly enough, I'm using it more proactively than most people.
Right.
Yeah. But we'll put it
in the water. It's not even on some people's radars.
Oh, no. That's for sure. Like, a 100 I'm I'm sometimes stunned by the things that exist in the world that people don't know about. I'll give you three of them right now. GLPs, most people no idea what you're talking about.
Mhmm.
Self driving cars, which work much better than you all probably think they do, and AI. Like, the weight like, I go to juiceboxpodcast.com right now and look at how great that website looks like. And then say to yourself, that Scott guy did that in two weeks, and he doesn't know how to code a website. Like like, seriously. No no joke.
Like, go look. It's people say, wanna be able to listen on the website. I don't wanna go to like, you know, I don't there's a thing I I think I'm I think I drag a lot of people who otherwise would never listen to a podcast into being podcast listeners. Mhmm. So you kinda have to give them more options about how to listen because, like, where I would just, like, open Spotify or Apple Podcasts and listen, they don't know about that.
So they wanna be able to listen online better. But that's not what the podcast industry wants, so the online players kinda suck. And so I just coded my own online players. But I don't know how to code. And the I mean, that's the thing that AI does that's really astonishing.
My son works in an industry where he's overseen by a project manager. And he came downstairs yesterday and he goes, you know how this project would go better? And I said, how? And he goes, if the project manager would leave us alone. And and and and I was like he starts talking about, like, you know, Skye is just trying to make work for himself.
We don't need him. Like, he thinks he's everything's about him. He's making a thousand meetings that nobody needs, blah blah blah. We need to keep track of what we're changing, keep track of our deadlines, blah blah. And I watched over his face.
He goes, I could just build an AI agent to do that. And I was like, okay. And in ten minutes, he was explaining to me how he's gonna build an AI agent to do the project management stuff. And then once it's working right, he's gonna take it to his boss and go, hey. I figured out how we can save a $100 and make our lives better.
Let's get rid
And of like, so and you could argue, well, that's terrible. John's gonna lose his job. Or you could argue if John was better at his job, no one would ever have that thought. And, you know, and like, I've heard people say about all these things. Right?
Mhmm. Always fear the GLPO, it's bad or you're Mhmm. You you know, you're cheating. Well, when I'm alive longer, I'm not gonna think of that as cheating, by the way. I'm gonna think of that as winning.
You know? The the AI stuff, I've heard it said that the closest thing I can come to believing now a year and a half ago, I would have told you. I was telling to people a year and a half ago, there's gonna be college courses just about how to prompt AI. Mhmm. And now and and I thought that the people who knew how to do it were gonna succeed.
And I've kinda melded that into an idea of now, like, it feels more to me like people who people who work with AI will keep their jobs, and people who don't know how to work with it are gonna have trouble in certain industries. Like, know what I mean? Like, not not everywhere. Self driving cars, I'm just gonna tell you, like, they work perfectly. Mhmm.
Is it perfect perfect? It's not, but it drives way better than you do. So you can think that's not true, but you were wrong. So it it it's it's fascinating how well that stuff works. Anyway, my point is that those are, like, pretty big leaps in technology and understanding of the world that most people are completely unaware of.
Yeah. It's pretty interesting. So when you get into medicine or, you know, like, you know, what was the other day they were yelling about, like, there's peptides are gonna be easier to compound now or something. And then I heard somebody say that's not true. But I was like, whatever.
Like, let's say it becomes more true. It doesn't matter. It's not like your doctor's gonna be like, oh, you know, here's this peptide that helps you heal more quickly. That's no one's ever gonna prescribe that to you. Like, it's just you you know what I mean?
Yeah. Yeah.
Anyway, I'm sorry. Say all the things you wanna say now.
Dragged In by True Crime58:28
Well, I have to tell you how I found the podcast, I guess, because I am of a certain age, and I didn't listen to podcasts before. Do you know who Alec Murtaugh is?
Wait.
It's this lawyer in Charleston that, like, killed his family.
I know that name. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Yes. Okay. So that one of my friends was listening to a podcast about that whole thing, and she was like, you gotta listen to this. It's great. So that was the first ever podcast I listened to.
So that got me onto and then I figured out I could, you know, search for things I wanted other things I wanted to listen to. Mhmm. So when she got diagnosed, I came you know, yours You knew about this? To pop up.
Oh, wow. Well, thank god he killed all those people.
I know. Right? Thanks, Alec. I don't know I don't know if he's still alive or if he's in jail or what. But So you It was terrible story.
I
like the way you laughed through it. No. It's but, man, what a good point. Like, you were never gonna find podcasts. Something drug you into it because it was the only delivery system for that story.
Also, I mean, this is an over said statement, but I do not know why women like True Crime Podcasts so much. It's very like, that's a truth about the world. They're incredibly popular.
Mhmm.
Like, health podcasts, true crime podcasts, politics, those should be, like, the most, like, widely popular kinds of of podcasts. Mhmm. But yeah. Do any idea why? Have you ever dreamt of killing somebody?
Does it fulfill a fantasy? What's going on there? Do you like being scared without being in danger?
I think if you see, like, a really messed up family, it makes you feel better about yours maybe.
So this is just about cattiness, you
think? Probably.
I knew there were people out there that were worse off than I was. Thank god.
I'm just here to make you feel better about yourself.
Oh, that's a t shirt for sure. If it's not, patent pending. Please don't steal that. I had the oh my god. I a couple of years ago, a professor at Penn State Mhmm.
Was arrested for having relations with a dog. I don't know another way to say that nicely. Oh. And I was like, god. That must be the talk of the campus.
And then I said to the kids, I was like, could we make a t shirt about that and then just sell it in Penn around Penn State? I think we might be wealthy. I think every kid on camp there's so many kids at that school. What if we sold one to each one of them? I think we'd be done.
We could retire. You know? And my kids are I I don't I wasn't I wanna be clear. I wasn't serious. I was joking around, but they're like, please don't do that.
But but I'm only here to make you feel better. That's gotta be it. I mean, if that's not a t shirt already, the t shirt gods are are not paying attention. That's Right. Because that's how we all feel, by the way.
Yeah.
Yeah. Like, I'm just here messing everything up. You know, at least I'm a I'm a good role model for you to feel like you're doing a little better job than me. I I think there's a lot of value in that. But then you find the podcast and Yeah.
Why do you find it though? Because you said she's been taking care of it on her own pretty much the whole time. So where's the value for you? Because I don't imagine she's listening to you. You don't get to go like, oh, go listen to episode this.
Right? Right. You
Well, I'm I'm just the kind of person who wants to know everything about a thing, and I had limited knowledge. And I those first probably three months were rough. She was
Nice.
So when she got diagnosed, she was in the hospital, I think, on a Tuesday or Wednesday. We got out the next day. She had a basketball tournament that weekend, and I was like, what? We're doing it. We're now this is not gonna limit us.
We're we're doing it. Mhmm. Well, she played the first game, and I expected her to tank. So we had given her some snacks before, and she was, like, 400 after her game.
Yeah.
And so then I did some research on to the, like, adrenaline and how it can make you go up during exercise versus down versus, you know, different kinds of exercise, and there's you know, it's just so much information. And then the hormones, and, I just wanted to get all the information I could so that I could you know? And I do share it with her in little pieces, and I have sent her some of the small sips.
Mhmm.
I don't I don't know if she's listened to them or not.
Tell you I listened to them recently? Yeah. I had to give a talk, and it was a I had this is only for people who are online too much, but I had to drive out to Long Island to give a talk at Hofstra at a teaching hospital. It's a three hour ride one way. I drove six hours to talk for an hour and ten minutes.
I did not charge them to do that. Wow. So those of you out there who say you're helping people, but it's all about, like, I wonder if I could get money out of everybody. Mhmm. You know, maybe just do a nice thing once in a while.
Anyway, that's not for me. That's to tell you that I was in the car first three hours on the way to the thing. And I'm a pretty good public speaker. Mhmm. So but I don't prepare.
So I do the flow state thing. Usually works out pretty well. I just modulate it differently because, you know, it's not for fun. It's not a podcast. And but I I knew I was going out to to give like a very specific conversation.
And I actually thought to myself, I wish I could just brush up really quickly on what I think. I know that sounds odd, but, you know, stuff I said a while ago and, you know, it lives online where people are like, my god. This is really valuable to me. I don't remember exactly how I said those things. So I just list I just put those small sips on.
I just let them run-in the car. And, you know, they're only sometimes ten minutes long or something like that. And I got done, and I don't mean I'm not trying to be funny or self deprecating or any I just I got done and I thought, these are really good. Mhmm. Like, these will really help you.
You you know? And they're quick. And they put you in a in a tiny little knowledge bubble that you need, makes it understandable, and you can get the hell out of it really quickly. And, you know, I made that for younger people, but never thinking to myself, like, they'll probably never even listen to it. So but they're there if you want them.
Yeah. Yeah. Well, I've sent her some of them. I listened to all the beginner stuff. I'd started at the beginning.
Mhmm. And then I would skip ahead and search for certain things I was looking for.
Sure.
R Insulin and What Actually Matters1:05:15
But I I learned so much just from listening to other people talk about just different I remember I was listening to a podcast one time, and you had Jenny on. And y'all were talking about a mountain climber, and she was talking about our insulin. And I ended up getting some from the pharmacy, and my daughter eats a very low carb lunch. Mhmm. So we give her r when she leaves her school, and it covers her throughout the day.
Okay.
So that's working pretty well too.
Nice.
But just different things that I've picked up, and everybody's so different at the way they manage. I do hear a lot of people talking about pumps and technology, and I have listened to a lot of those podcasts as well just hoping in sometime in the future that she may, you know, be ready for that.
Yeah. Just got a text while you and I were talking from the person who just helps me with Arden's, Trio algorithm. And the text just says let's see. Trio is in Main now. Should we move Arden up?
I said, do you think I should? And they said, yes. And I said, cool. Let's do it. So yeah.
I'm I'm hopeful for, I mean, honestly, I think if we could get to unannounced meals on an algorithm, it'd be a really big deal for people. Mhmm. Yeah. You just eat and that thing could figure it out and get ahead of that. I think that changes people's lives.
I've you know, just in the last week, I've spoken to a group of adults, a group of parents, a second group of parents, and a bunch of little kids all about diabetes in, like, in a short span of time. And it's it's valuable to hear their their feedback and what they're going through and everything. And whether these kids, I'm not kidding, are seven or 70, and you say to them pre ballsing, they all say the same exact thing. Like, that's difficult to remember to do.
Mhmm.
And Yeah. And one I think it was a kid today. It was. It was like a like a an 11 year old girl she said to me, I don't know I'm hungry till I'm hungry. Mhmm.
And it was just the simplicity of the way she said it. Like, I don't plan to eat in twenty minutes. I'm not hungry now. I'm hungry twenty minutes from now. And, you know, I don't know.
There's just the way she said it to me, was like, yeah. She's she's right. Again, not that I don't know that pre bolting is difficult or that it's not an extra thing for you to remember. I just I'm more in the camp of you're putting so much effort into this. If we could put in less effort in different places
Mhmm.
And it is it a is it a it a switch up in how you think about it? It is. But it I think you'll find it valuable if you can get into that kind of flow state with it. Whereas, like, you know, I pre bolus my meals. I don't let a blood sugar get over, like, one sixty without, like, bolus ing again, if that's happening.
Right? If it's going up and not stopping, I don't stare at it. And, you know, I mean, I understand the impact of my food, and you're you're kinda done. Like, it's not
that Right.
There's not that much to it. It's I said to somebody the other day, I used to worry all the time that, you know, like, I would lose the podcast somehow or somebody would come along and say it better or differently or make it more entertaining or something like that. I said, stopped thinking about it. Like, I don't I don't think about it anymore. Like, seen, I lost count at around a 110 or a 120 other people who tried to start a type one diabetes podcast in the last twelve years after I did
it. Mhmm.
And it's hard. It's hard to say the same simple things in different ways. Like, you get I think you can get lost in thinking there's, like, a bigger idea and more to say. There's not. It's it's it's managing your insulin timing and amount.
It's understanding the impact of your food. That's really it. Right. You know, after that, there's mental health stuff and all this, you know, interpersonal stuff that, you know, you you and I talked about today and you've heard in other episodes. It's all important.
And, you know, there's it's it's all worth paying attention to. But if you're just talking about the nuts and the bolts of it, it's just putting the right amount of insulin at the right time.
Right.
You know? And so Right. When you start doing those things wrong right? And I don't mean wrong like you screwed up. I mean, purposely, I don't pre bolus my meals.
Okay? Mhmm. I'm now there's a ton of psychological reasons why that might not have happened. I don't minimize any of them. But I'm saying once that happens
It happens.
This twenty four hour period, it's a shit show. You're chasing the insulin. You're chasing the the number. It's a it's an entire day of this exhaustive chase of this thing that you just didn't have to let out of the box. And, you know, and and it's not that easy.
And obviously, I I mean, if you heard me talk for the last hour, I know it's not that easy, but it is true. Mhmm. And so how do you get yourself to that point? And I will tell you that, you know, our daughters are not exactly the same age, and they've had diabetes for vastly different amounts of time. But I still hear the same story in your daughter that I hear in other people I talk to and I experience with my own kid, which is you can do all this stuff you wanna do.
The way it ends up going is out of your hands. It's gonna have a lot to do with their desire, their focus, their level of interest and understanding, and all of the outside variables that they come to in their life. Girlfriends, boyfriends, jobs, stress. Like, these are all things that re they reshape people constantly. Right?
Right. And we only have so much perspective, and we only have so much time, and we only have so much energy. So you can be a perfect parent. You can understand all of this. You can pass it on, and it might go great.
It might not go great. It might go somewhere in the middle. But I'm gonna tell you that nobody wakes up on the first day that their new baby's home from the hospital and says, I'm gonna raise that Montauk guy. But somebody does. And you know what I mean?
And so, like, your kid's either gonna be out there, like, slaying diabetes or diabetes is gonna be slaying them or somewhere in that middle. Don't know that you can do more than lay out a path, be supportive, be understanding, and then step back and say, if you need me, I'm right here.
Right.
And then just take whatever it is that's gonna happen, you just gotta be willing to just accept that really wasn't within your control to begin with. Right?
Right. Right. I told her I wanted her to make all the mistakes while she was living at home so that she would know how to how to deal with them.
Yeah. Well, that's parenting, is putting kids through experiences so that hopefully when they happen to them when you're not there, they don't freeze up. Right. Or ignore them.
She doesn't drink now or, you know, I guess my parents probably thought that too. But, no, I think kids these days don't drink as much as what went on when I was a kid, but, I've talked to her about it anyway, you know, like, all the things that can happen and how it's harder to treat lows. And I just want her to have all the information. Mhmm. And she can, you know, use it however she needs to.
But
It's all you can do. That's life, by way. It's not diabetes. Like, if you think Right. I I I think I say it enough here, but I I found myself saying it this weekend.
Somebody came up to me after the talk, like, oh my god. That was so thoughtful and blah blah blah. It's just how I think about life. Like, it's just common sense layered over top of diabetes. And Mhmm.
Like, the I the truth of it is you can take the talk I just gave, take out the word diabetes, put in a different word word. I don't know what that word would be, and it would probably apply to that stuff too. Mhmm. It's not magical. You you know what I mean?
Right. I'm just I'm laughing, thinking your parents sitting around going, oh, Ali, she doesn't drink. She probably doesn't have sex. She's, like, she's fantastic. And you're out there just drunk, banging in the back seat of a car.
And and they're just like, she's so lovely. She's really great. She's our princess. Princess? Yeah.
Something like that.
Something like that. Well, yeah. Well, you know, like, it sucks. And it's interesting, and it's fun. And if you changed it, it would be boring.
So
Well and I don't think I would have done half the things I did if everybody had a video camera in their pocket like they do these days. You know?
Yeah. I mean, right?
That would have changed everything.
They don't know about our lives. They really don't. They they
I'm glad I grew up when I did.
Actually, I like, we're in a we're probably about the same age. Right? So I like the spot we're in. I like having grown up without it, but experienced it humming. And being like, I you know, I'm probably not the person you would think would be at home being like, I think I can make AI work for me.
You you you know, but I I but I had a computer when I was younger. It didn't do anything. It's trite to say it out loud now, but you guys have no idea. Like Mhmm. If you're walking around with a cell phone right now, you know, I've said it before, but there's more computing power in your iPhone than what they used to, like like, send that that lunar orbit to the moon.
Like like, there's you know, back in the sixties, if you believe they did it. I mean, the Internet. You know what I mean? But, like, but it it's just it's fascinating. They're talking about they're talking about this AI making another leap sometime this year by the beginning of next year.
And it's all to do with, like, the chip speed that's processing the work behind the scenes. And once they get these chips moved up one more time, then, you know, I guess, then they get the AIG. I'm a little out of my depth here, but, like, you know, the the I mean, what's his name? Anthropic just released a model of Claude internally that have you heard about this? They so, you know, they No.
They have a new new model of Claude. I think it's called Mythos. And they they test it the way they test it. Right? And one of the way they test it is, like, against security and protocol and stuff like that to see if it can find flaws in existing systems.
And they went into systems where they have like, we all think they run perfectly. Right? They we think they're secure. We think they're fine, etcetera, and so on. Like, nothing that we've had up until then, including the the version of Claude right before that could find any problems.
This mythos walked in and was like, oh my god, and found every problem with it in a split second. Oh, I know. To the point where they said, we can't release this to the public. Because for you, you seem like a nice person. You might think, oh, that's great.
Well, well, like, I'll go to my bank with Mythos, and I'll find all the security flaws and fix them. Mhmm. Someone else is thinking they're gonna go to your bank with it and take your money. You you you know, or or blah blah blah. So they're so they were like, we I don't we don't even think we can release this.
We're at that point already. And, you know, like and so they'll cripple it a little bit probably before they put it out. But then they shared it with a bunch of companies, which by the way, thought was because they wanted the companies to be they say they wanted the companies to be able to, like, fix their problems before this kinda gets out into the world. But the point is is that eventually, this is gonna get out in the world. You you know?
And I don't I don't know that anybody's even paying attention to this stuff. Like like, seriously, like, you hear I don't know. AI's scary. It's bad. Or it uses up a lot of electric or water.
And maybe you're that person where you're like, you know, well, it's it's ruining the environment. You know? Mhmm. Trust me, everything's ruining the environment. But like, you know or maybe you're like me who's like, I think I can find better ways for people to help themselves with their diabetes with it.
Like, I'm gonna Mhmm. Gonna try to use it for like a good thing. Meanwhile, like, I don't know, like, things are moving really, really quickly. But you and I have context for it. People who are alive right now, like, in the last twenty years, they just think this is how it works.
Right.
It's a magical world where the electric thing does the stuff. And Mhmm. Like, know, you and I made, a grilled cheese sandwich and walked outside with it. And we're like, I wonder what I'll stare at now.
Went to look up things in an encyclopedia.
The worst. Absolutely the worst. And you're reading about it, and you're like, even back then as a kid, I was like, when was this written? Like, I don't know. Everything I knew up into that's why I'm like like that's why I'm still really hopeful about the podcast being like, you know, it's easy to say, like, he's been doing this for twelve years.
I actually, I'm one of the people who says that, like, how much longer can this possibly last? But at the same time, I honestly think it's in its infancy still. Because we're about to find a whole new generation of people who don't have to go find a podcast through a true crime podcast to help themselves with their diabetes. Their expectation is that this exists somewhere. Mhmm.
And they're gonna go get it. The same way when I wake up in the morning and I don't know how to do something, I think I will understand how to do this by this afternoon.
Mhmm.
I I get excited about that.
I'm always amazing.
Yeah. I'm pissed about being old because I think the next fifty years, again, if we don't kill ourselves or the robots don't come or whatever.
I mean, you've seen Terminator.
I've seen Terminator. I've seen the news. Like, you know, like, if we don't figure out a way to blow ourselves up, I think it's gonna be really amazing, and I'm gonna be pissed to be dead. Seriously. I mean it.
Like, the last thing I think before I go out, I'll be like, I'm gonna miss a bunch of stuff. That's how that's how I'm gonna feel. People who died fifty years ago were just like, okay. It's fine. I can go now.
Right. They had no idea what was coming.
I'm out of stuff. I did the thing. Right? I painted the house three times. How many times am I gonna paint the house?
I'm good. So, nevertheless, any anyway, good luck to everybody. I don't know what to tell you. The guy that barely got out of high school making a podcast. So you probably shouldn't be listening to me.
What have we missed? Anything? Do you wanna say anything? You got follow ups ending? You wanna leave a message to the world?
No. I just really appreciate, you know, hearing everyone's voices, and I wanted to add in my 2¢ because we're you know, we manage a little differently. And because I've learned so much from hearing other people's stories, I just wanted to, you know, be on and and contribute.
Did you feel like you got to do that, or did you catch me on too much of an energy day, you're like, well, I probably should be invited back to do what I wanted to do.
I'll come back if she ever goes back on a CGM
or if
she gets some technology or something because I'll be I don't know. I'll be shocked.
I gotta tell you. I wish there was a way to, like, invite her on here. I'd love to hear her opinion. I know that's not happening. Don't get me wrong.
But hers is the kind of opinion I'd like to hear. Right. I'd like you you know what I mean? I'd like to hear her say, look. I don't I just don't care.
Like or, like, I'm doing this is good enough. Good enough is good enough or whatever. Like or I don't know how she feels. She might Yeah. You she might surprise you.
She might you know, if she was able to unburden herself, she might say, you know, I can't handle it. You know, I wanna do that stuff, but I just I can't. Like, it's too much for me. Like, who knows what her answer would be? You know?
Right. But that's why this is interesting because all this is is your perspective of her situation.
Mhmm. Right.
You know? And mine? Right. I don't know you or her.
Mhmm. Right.
I'm just generalizing. Yeah. Having said that, generalizing, you know, works pretty well. So everybody's not like, I'm a I'm a flower. No.
You're not. Stop it. Alright. Hold on one second for me. I'd like to thank the Eversense three sixty five for sponsoring this episode of the
Juice Box podcast and remind you that if you want the only sensor that gets inserted once a year and not every fourteen days, you want the Eversense CGM. Eversensecgm.com/juicebox. One year, one c g m. This episode was sponsored by Touched by Type One. I want you to go find them on Facebook, Instagram, and give them a follow, and then head to touchedbytype1org where you're gonna learn all about their programs and resources for people with type one diabetes.
The podcast you just enjoyed was sponsored by Tandem Diabetes Care. Learn more about Tandem's newest automated insulin delivery system, Tandem Mobi with Control IQ plus technology at tandemdiabetes.com/juicebox. There are links in the show notes and links at juiceboxpodcast.com. I can't thank you enough for listening. Please make sure you're subscribed or following in your audio app.
We'll be back tomorrow with another episode of the Houston Fox five.
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