#1951 Addy Taylor Has Nothing to Teach You - Part 1
Addy Tayler Has Nothing to Teach You (Part 1)
Addy Tayler posts about diabetes to 85,000 followers around a full-time job and a toddler, and spent years ducking Scott's invitations because podcasts scare her. Part one: diagnosis at 24, a baby a year later, and vitiligo.
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- She said no for years. Addy posts about diabetes and reads all her messages — she just found podcasts intimidating and, in her words, mostly annoying. Her stated reason for declining was that she had nothing to teach anybody. Scott's answer is the thesis of the whole show: guests aren't there to teach, they're there to tell what happened, and people take what they need from it.
- How the Pro Tip series was actually built. Prompted by her assumption that it was formally designed, Scott explains the real version — 200 episodes in, people online were telling each other to just listen and their A1c would come down, so he sat down and worked out what the structure inside it had been. He wrote ten touchstone topics, sent Jenny Smith one-line prompts, and she told him they weren't in order. She put them in order.
- Diagnosed at 24, pregnant about a year later. Addy is 27 and will hit four years with type 1 in November. She got pregnant deliberately just over a year after diagnosis, having found a statistic online about the odds of passing it on that changed at age 25 — she has no idea whether it's true, but she waited anyway. Her son is nearly two.
- Vitiligo came along with it. Scott had noticed it before they ever spoke and didn't raise it; she brings it up herself. It's a common autoimmune traveling companion to type 1, and it's part of what she is visibly living with in public every time she posts.
- She learned diabetes as an adult, on her own. Diagnosed as a working adult rather than as a child with a family built around it, she describes assembling her understanding from the internet and the podcast's educational series — which is also why she assumed she had nothing to contribute. Nothing here is medical advice.
- Addy Tayler on TikTok — @addytayler — Where Addy posts about life with type 1 — 85,000+ followers.
- Addy on Instagram — @addytayler_t1d — Her type 1 account on Instagram. Note the _t1d — her plain handle there is a separate personal account.
- Diabetes Pro Tip series — Episodes 1000-1025 — the series Addy names as what she actually listened to.
- Bold Beginnings series — Scott and Jenny Smith for the newly diagnosed.
- Juicebox Podcast Facebook group — The private community, free to join.
Every word of the conversation
Cold open & sponsors0:08
Hello, friends, and welcome back to the juice box podcast. If you don't love today's episode, you can have your money back. You should not, in any way, shape, or form, take anything you hear on the juice box podcast. As medical advice, I'm talking about medical advice, regular advice, any kind of advice. This is a podcast.
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. I cannot stress that enough. Today, we've got a great podcast, and it's sponsored by great advertisers, US Med, the Eversense three sixty five, and Twist. You know about Twist?
It's an insulin pump. I'll tell you all about in a second. I'm having an on body vibe alert. This episode of the Juice Box podcast is sponsored by the Eversense three sixty five, the only one year wear CGM. That is one insertion and one CGM a year.
One CGM, one year, not every ten or fourteen days. Eversensecgm.com/juicebox. This episode of the podcast is sponsored by the Twist AID system powered by Tidepool that features the Twist loop algorithm, which you can target to a glucose level as low as 87. Wanna learn more? Go to visit .twist.com/juicebox.
That's visit.twist.com/juicebox, and twist has two i's. Understand? Twiist.com. Visit .twist.com/juicebox. Hey.
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Use the link or the number. Get your free benefits check today and get started with US Med. What's up, everybody? I am here with Addie Taylor. Addie, say hello.
Years of unanswered messages2:22
Hello.
How did I get you to do this? This is insane. I have been messaging you for years, have I not?
You have.
And do you even answer my messages?
No. No. I see them.
Tell me. So that hurts my feelings. I feel I feel like people don't like me when this happens. But tell me why have you not returned my messages, my overtures?
I feel like something that I actually do pride myself on with social media is I do read, and I attempt to respond to all of my messages. Sometimes it's, you know, a little bit late, maybe years late in your case.
“Podcasts just scare me”3:01
But no. But you but tell me what you told me when we met in person about being on a podcast.
They just scare me. I have never I have never been into podcasts. My husband is, like, a podcast guru. He has them playing in the background constantly. And for the most part, I think they're annoying.
I'm like, I don't want to listen to someone's banter. I don't care. But that's one of, like, the things where it's I just I don't listen to them, and I'm sure if I did, I would be like, this is fantastic. And
But did you
I just never gave it a chance.
And what but did you think did you think, oh, that's a thing I don't like, so why would I wanna be a part of it, or did you think I won't be good on it because I don't listen to them? Wait. Did you have nerves about it?
I I felt like more so I listened of your podcast. I mostly listened to the ones that are very educational. Mhmm. And they teach you a lot, and I I learned so much from I can't remember what it's called. Some series that you have.
Pro tips? Bold beginnings?
I think it's the pro tips
one. Okay.
I have a screenshot of it. I could find it. But and I just I felt like there's nothing that I can there's no information that I can give, and there would be no reason for me to be on there because I have nothing to teach anybody.
I see. This is a common misconception of people who come on the podcast. So, yes, the podcast has series that are structured and structured of of really a two if you knew how that pro tip series was made, you would laugh. So I started making the podcast in 2015, and it got to the point where people would just say, like, not me, but people online would say, if you just listen to that podcast, your a one c comes down into the sixes. They wouldn't point to anything specific other than you should just listen.
How the Pro Tip series actually got made4:44
And then one day, I got up to, like, 200 episodes, and I thought, like, it's weird to say to people, just listen to these 200 episodes and your a one c will come down apparently. And so I started thinking about it because my brain doesn't work the way probably yours does or others people's do. Like, I didn't actually know there was a structure inside of it. And so I stopped and I real I sat down one day and I really focused, and I was like, there's a structure in here. I know there's things I do.
When you do those things, the outcomes go the way I expect. And I wrote out a list of these 10 kind of, like, touchstone things that I thought were bedrock. And then I reached to and then I thought about how to record it, and I thought, oh, if I just talking headed, it'll be super boring and nobody will wanna watch that or listen. So I had had Jenny Smith on the podcast once before as a guest, and I really I dug her. I like the way she talked about diabetes.
So I reached out to her and I said, will you help me make this 10 part series? And I and I sent her the topic just I I I know you think that I sent her, like, some long written out. I just sent her one line topics for each of the things. And she's like, these are not in order. And I said, you think there's an order to this?
And she goes, you don't think there's an order to this? And I was like, I don't know. You you know? Like so she's like, can I put them in order? And I was like, sure.
So we put them in order, and then she would pop I don't pay her. Like, she just did it as a favor. She'd pop on. We'd say hello like you and I did, and I'd say, okay, Jenny. Why don't we talk about MDI today?
Why don't we talk about CGMs today? And then we'd just started talking. It was not structured at all. When we got to the end, she was like, we left out some stuff. We should add a couple more things.
So she made a couple suggestions. And then as time went on, people would come and say, hey. I love this series, but you know what it didn't have? It didn't have this. And now I think it has, like, 25 or 27 episodes to it.
But, anyway, that's how that was built, and it's how a lot of people think of the podcast. But the problem is that I think you know about better than anybody is that if I just put that pro tip series in a feed somewhere, it'll it'll it'll wither and it'll die. Like, I have to keep I mean, this is your life. Right? Like, I have to keep the the irons hot to keep people attracted to it so they know it's here.
And I don't just want it to be foofy, so I try to talk to people who don't get a chance to talk about their diabetes ever. But the last thing I'll say about that is at the end of most of those episodes, when I shut the mic off, people go, if you wanna delete that, that's fine. And I go, what do you mean? And they go, I I didn't say anything. And I was like, does the podcast help you?
Like, do you like the other episodes you hear? And they say, yeah. And I'm like, everyone feels the same way when it's over. They all say I didn't add anything. This is useless.
It's okay if you get rid of it. So I understand how you feel. But trust me, you're gonna say some really awesome stuff today, and people are gonna really get something out of it. I promise.
That's nice because that's exactly how I feel. This morning, I was watching a few of the ones you have posted on your Instagram just to see what ones outside of the pro tip series look like, and it was fun. I watched the one with Arnie, and I know him. I ran the marathon with him, but, like, I didn't know his history. I didn't know his story.
And, like, the fact that he didn't get a CGM till 2018, I'm like, this guy's crazy.
See? This is what's gonna happen for you. Alright. Look. And and by the way, you've already done more prep for the podcast today than I've done for it in twelve years.
So so you're way ahead of us.
I do my homework.
Diagnosed at twenty-four8:10
How old were you when you were diagnosed?
I was freshly 24. It was, like, three weeks after my 20 birthday. How old are you now? I'm 27.
Okay. I was gonna say because you still look like you're 18. So
Oh, thanks. Yeah.
It's hard it's hard. You're one of those people, like, I can't discern your age. But I know you had a baby, so I'm like, she could be 30. She could be 18. She could be I don't know how old she is.
So okay. So you you've only had diabetes for, like, three years?
Correct. Okay. It'll be four in November.
How old's your baby?
He'll be two in October.
A baby, a year after diagnosis8:41
Oh, you got pregnant on purpose after you had type one?
I did. It was, like, almost just over a year after diagnosis.
So you did the whole, like, ain't nothing gonna break in my stride thing? I was gonna have a baby. I'm doing it. Is that it?
Pretty much. I mean, when I was first diagnosed, I had looked up what are the odds of giving it to my child, and there's this super random statistic online, no idea if it's true, and it says your your odds are, like, one in twenty five if you're the mom who has it. But if you're over 25 years old, your odds are one in one hundred. Okay. Which not sure how that works.
So I was like, okay. Well, we can't have a baby at least until I'm 25.
We'll just wait till I'm 25 to up our odds.
Yeah. Exactly. I'm like random
thing I saw online is true.
Right? Who knows if it's true? But I was I was gonna go for it.
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Go to eversensecgm.com/juicebox to learn more. So you were planning on having a family prior to the to your diagnosis? Okay. Mhmm. Anybody else in your extended family have any autoimmune issues?
Planning a family around a statistic11:58
I'm talking about, like, celiac or hypothyroidism, vitiligo, anything at all.
So no type one, but my mom has vitiligo, and I do as well. I've actually had it since I was five. So it came, you know, twenty years before type one.
And do you have any other autoimmunes besides the vitiligo and the type one?
Nope. No. Just those two.
And it's funny to prove to you how unprepared I am and how flighty my brain is. I met you in person just a couple weeks ago at Friends for Life. And while you didn't tell me and I didn't say it to you, I did look up and think, oh, Addy has vitiligo. Like, I I noticed. Right?
The vitiligo nobody mentioned12:37
And I and I did I did clock it on the day, but I was not able to hold on to that information for ten days to talk to you now. So I apologize.
It happens.
No. But but isn't that interesting now? Does your husband have any autoimmune on his side of the family?
Nope. Okay. Nothing.
Alright. And you're you planning on having more little babies?
Yes. We actually had to start fertility treatment this week, which is annoying, but something something we're doing.
Oh, okay. Did you need to do that the first time as well? No. No. Endometriosis, PCOS, anything like that?
Nothing. Everything looks totally normal. And then, you know, doing a lot of research online, asking the this nice community that I have, and there's something some other autoimmune condition where, like, your egg reserve is depleted. And so I was like, that's that's what happened to me probably. I'm just convincing myself.
I have all these other autoimmune problems. That's gotta be what it is. And, thankfully, blood work confirmed that's not the problem. There's there's no problem, so we don't really know what's going on.
So what do you do to motivate things to work out? I don't understand how this works.
Right now, I'm just on, like, a fertility drug, so it's just a pill for five days is
all. Okay. Well, good luck. And Yeah. Thank you.
Tell your husband I said, have fun. It sounds like it sounds like there's gonna be a whole stretch of time in there where That's right. It's a big party. So tell him not to do it too fast, you know, because it'll it'll ruin it, for him. You'll be like, oh, it worked, and he'll be like, ugh.
Thought we were doing this for a whole week. Yeah. Yeah. So tell me how you were diagnosed. What did you notice first, and how did it end up, progressing to the the point when you made it to a a physician?
So I got diagnosed November 19. So backtrack to September, like, early, early September. We were living in Arizona, and we drove up to Idaho. It's about a fourteen hour drive for my brother in law's wedding, my husband's brother. And I remember on our drive home, I was like, I am so thirsty.
And when we're in Idaho, my mother-in-law is a great cook. She makes lots of desserts and stuff, and so I just I ate really bad. It was a party. It was a wedding. You know?
So I look it up, and it's like, you might have high blood sugar. And I was like, well, I've just been eating really bad. Like, that that makes sense. It'll go away. And then couple weeks later, I vividly remember my sister and I were walking into the mall, and I was like, I think I have diabetes.
And us being ignorant, having absolutely no diabetes in our life, She's like, what? No. Like, you know, diabetes is for, like, old people. And I'm like, yeah. You're right.
Totally blew it off. Fast forward to the second week of November, we drive back up to Idaho for Thanksgiving because it's the year with man laws. And I remember making it two hours without having to stop, and I was, like, proud of myself, and I made it two hours.
And
then I, like, really thought that, you know, that's not super normal for an adult to only be able to go two hours without going pee. So we finally got to my in laws house. It's been, like, fourteen hours that we've been driving, and I'm like, we need to go buy a glucometer, glucometer, however you say it. And my husband's like, I'm not getting back in the car. Like, we just got we just got out of the car after fourteen hours.
Like, I'm not getting in the car. And I was like, we're going right now. Like, get in the car, which I can drive. I don't know why I didn't just go by myself, but I made him go with me. So we go to our local Walgreens in this little town in Idaho, and I buy one.
And I remember the worker said, good luck with this, as I paid and left. And I'm like, what does that even mean? And I'm like, what horrible foreshadowing that was looking back on it. And so we get back to the house, and we pricked my finger, and it said 486. And my mother-in-law is a nurse, and she she was just like, oh oh my gosh.
Like, that is bad. That is, like, horrible. And I was like, it's gotta be wrong. So we we checked everybody's. We checked my mother in law's, father in law's, my husband.
Everybody's in, like, the seventies. They, like their whole family just is, like, perfect health riding solo. And I was like, let's check it again. And it's at, you know, same thing, high four hundreds. And she was like, well, I think you should probably go to the ER right now.
And I grew up like, we didn't go to the doctor. It was, like, hit or miss if we even had health insurance or not.
Okay.
Like, the doctor was not something we did. And so I was like, no. I'm not doing that. Like, I'm not gonna go I'm not gonna pay for that, you know, being the cheapskate that
I am. I'm not giving those people my money for them to tell me I'm okay.
Right. Exactly. I was like, no. So that was on a Saturday. Come Monday, I had an appointment at we had made an appointment at this, like, just family doctor office.
And so I saw this PA, and she, ran my blood work. And I don't remember what my c peptide was, but it was it was not in the normal range. Like, it was low. My a one c was, like, almost 14. I can't remember exactly what it was.
And they're like, yeah. Like, you gotta be, like, type two. Here's some Mounjaro. Take it once a week. You should be good.
And I was like, wow. Okay. I don't know anything about diabetes. I've never given myself a shot, but, like, whatever. Yeah.
And I'm like, honestly, like, thinking back, this is terrible, but I'm like, I just felt so embarrassed. Like, I didn't wanna tell anybody. I'm like, I just ruined my body because in my head, type two is always caused by your diet and your lack of exercise, which now I know that's not that's not the case. Yeah. But, you know, that was the extent of my knowledge of diabetes.
And I was like, well, that's super weird. Like, I run every single day. I'm, you know, I'm 24 years old. I'm a hundred and twenty pounds. Like, this this isn't adding up.
But
Well, so even though even though you took good care of yourself and Mhmm. Were active, you still Mhmm. You just assumed, I guess, I'm not doing a good enough job if this happened to me. Is that the feeling?
Yeah. I mean, I didn't even know type one diabetes was a thing.
But when you thought when you thought it was type two, though, you just thought, like, I guess I didn't do enough running or because do know what I mean? Like, you you don't fit
the Yeah.
The bill even though the bill wasn't yours, and but it was the one you were imagining.
That's interesting, isn't it? I mean, I I drink soda. I've drank soda my whole life, and I was like, it's the soda. I gave myself diabetes from drinking soda, which I had recently converted to somewhat diet soda. Mhmm.
You know, that's just what you do is you become an adult because why would you waste calories on
soda? Soda And you were like
even if you don't have diabetes.
You're like, I shifted away from Fanta too late. I knew No.
Literally. Literally. I'm like, it's all about Doctor Pepper. It gave me diabetes. That was my thought.
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Learning it as an adult20:26
If you'd like to learn more, go to visit.twist.com/juicebox. That's visit.twist.com/juicebox. Don't forget, Twist has two i's. So how long does it take for them to realize you're not type one? I mean, do you have to get home and go see another doctor?
And, also, Mounjaro, you you at a hundred and twenty pounds, like, that must have been a weird impact on you as well.
Yeah. I mean, so they started me on, like, the very lowest dose, but I took it. And it's Thanksgiving week, you know, but I'm I'm not eating anything because anytime I eat, my blood sugar goes from the constant 300 that it's sitting at up to, you know, 500 plus. I don't know what it was getting to because the meters only read up to 500.
Right.
And so I went, like, an entire week and did not eat a single thing. I had on Thanksgiving, I had, like, one bite of turkey, only turkey. And my brother also got married in Idaho that week. So it was, like, I went to this wedding. I didn't get to, like, eat anything.
I didn't have anything on Thanksgiving. It was just, like, a rough week of I was withering away, having not eating for a week, and, you know, everybody's so skinny when they're first diagnosed because their body's been dying. So then we go the following Saturday. We're only up there for a week. We drive back to Arizona, and, my mother-in-law had told me, she's like, I have a friend who's a diabetes educator.
She thinks this isn't right. Like, she thinks you should go see an endocrinologist. So then I saw an endocrinologist who did the actual testing, tested antibodies off the charts. Mhmm. And then that's when I actually got type one diagnosis.
In that week, would you consider yourself more confused or sad?
I think I was really just, like, more embarrassed Embarrassed. Than anything
Okay.
Which is horrible. And, also, I'm an accountant, so numbers are something that's very important to me. And I remember I just felt horrible for my husband that he was gonna have to, like, bear this financial burden of me. Oh, hell. Because I'm like, diabetes is expensive.
I'm like and my insurance didn't cover the Mounjaro. And I didn't know that that's how insurance works where they cover some medications and some don't. And so I was like, I'm gonna have to pay $500 a month for this Mounjaro for the rest of my life. Mhmm.
How long had you been married at that point?
We got married in 2018, and that was 2023. So we've been married for, like, five years.
Alright. So at 24, you've been married for five years. You've mentioned Arizona and the mill military?
No. LDS or Mormon.
Ah, I got it. Okay. It was one of the other. I was I'm I'm just like, I'm gonna figure it out. It's one of the other.
Yep. Do you this might delight you. I'm huge in the Mormon community. Do you not know this?
I do not know about it.
Oh my god. I am the Mormon community's favorite diabetes podcast. They haven't sent me a T shirt yet, but I expect it any day now. I I don't know why that is. It's just over the years, I've always, like I've actually asked, a number of people, trust me more than you can imagine, and they just talk about, like, community and how they're very they share inside of their community.
That's probably how it moved around But there was, like, a long stretch where, like, every week, somebody would come on there, like and I'd be like, are you are you, like, in the church? They're like, yeah. I'm like, how come so many of you keep coming on the podcast? And they're like,
I'm Maybe this is your sign. This is your sign. You need to go check it out. Oh, really good book.
I'm too late to make, 15 kids. So I I can't I I I can't I could barely the ones I have are trying to kill me. The the one with diabetes text me this morning at 05:30. My pod expired. And I'm like, okay.
I'm sleeping. So I'm like, I'll get it for you. So I went because she's gotta get to work early this morning. And I went and got her a pod. I brought it in and and whatnot.
Like, you know, she put it on and bolus because it had shut off, like, an hour before blood sugar was starting to go up. And bolus gets all set. I get back in bed. Can't go back to sleep. So I've been up since, like, 05:20.
You know? And and so if there were eight more of them I'm just saying, I don't think I could make it. I've I'm I don't know what you're gonna do. Good luck. But
Hopefully, none of them have diabetes. That's that's my hope.
I crossed my fingers for you for sure there. Okay. So the, your the the your mother in law's friend knows somebody who says, blah blah blah, you find out you have type one. Does that shift the embarrassment off of you?
Well, I didn't know anything about type one. You know? I'd I've never known anybody who had it, which now that I know what it is, I do know quite a few people who had it. There's just, like, so many girls from high school that I went to high school with that have it, and I had no idea. And now I feel horrible not knowing Yeah.
That. You know? Because it's a big deal.
You have guilt that other people are going through something you weren't aware of?
Yes. Yes. And I think about that now all the time, like, how many things like, how many other conditions or diseases are out there that I know nothing about?
Yeah.
And it just makes me feel so guilty.
You're not the first person that said that. I hope that's thing a that you can get away from because that's not a thing that you need to be carrying. So pumps, CGMs, this is a thing you jump right into. Do you do MDI? I just got yelled at online recently for, I'm a pump pusher.
Apparently, if I ask somebody who's MDI if they're MDI, and I ask them later, do you ever consider getting a pump? I guess I'm pushing a pump on them.
Oh, heaven forbid.
Yes. I'm sorry. I I'm sorry for asking the follow-up question to your MDI.
Right.
But but how did you start out?
Yeah. So I saw the endo. This is, like, a week after I got my type two diagnosis. And, he prescribes me short acting insulin and long acting insulin and a CGM. And so I was like, okay.
Well, I'm not gonna take the insulin until I have a CGM on. You know, that's crazy. This doctor that I saw so at the time, I lived in Surprise, Arizona, which neighbors Sun City, Arizona, which is a retirement community. So this endocrinologist I saw worked in the retirement community. I was his only type one patient.
I don't think he's ever treated type one before. I don't think he knew how to treat type one. So he just tells me to take fifteen units of long acting and five units of short acting three times a day when I eat. I'm like, okay. You know?
Easy enough. Whatever. So my first meal that I have, I had a salad. K? Mistake number one and took five units, which even to this day, five units is still a lot of insulin for me.
Yeah. And I take it and, you know, going about my day, which I didn't know anything about prevolous things, I take it, and my blood sugar's at 200. And I'm like, well, that's annoying. Like, whatever. I don't know what's going on still.
And I go to Bunco. My mom has, like, a Bunco group with her friends.
Mhmm.
And I'm, like, subbing in for somebody. So I'm playing Bunco with, you know, a bunch of 50 year old ladies. And all of a sudden, my, like, phone starts beeping at me, and I'm like, I feel like I'm dying. Like, what is this? Like, I didn't know what a low blood sugar was.
My doctor didn't warn me about it. I'd never heard about it. Like and my blood sugar is, like, at 40, straight down arrow. And, thankfully, one of the ladies there was a nurse, and she was like, you need some sugar. And I was like
I do? Okay.
Yeah. Okay. Are you are you sure? I have diabetes. Like
I don't know.
But Right. So she gets me this plate of, like you know, now looking back on it also, I'm like, homegirl just loaded me up with, like, 50 grams of carbs to correct this low, which I'm like, that's insane. I would never do that now. So I eat it all, which obviously saved my life. Rebounds again to 200.
What she posts, and why28:09
Still don't know what to do. But to this day, I'm just like, if I would've been at home, I probably would've died. Like, I wouldn't have known what was happening.
I think it's so interesting that the description of, like like, out of nowhere, my phone's making noise, and I feel like I'm dying, but you're context you're contextually unaware of what's happening. Yeah. That's so then there's no way to know what to do next. Right? Because now you're loopy and your blood sugar's falling and you've no no one ever once has even put, like, a an emergency thought into your head.
You know, the good news is is that one day, if you get gout, that doctor will be very valuable to you. True.
Yeah. No. I would never go back to him. I left a nasty Google review on this guy for later problems that occurred.
Tried to kill me with a salad.
No. Literally. So I guess it was, like I I saw him, like, late November, and then I got on Omnipod, like, very early January.
Mhmm.
So I, like, had an appointment, and then I had, like, a follow-up appointment with him. And I was like, hey. I want a pump. Like, I'd seen them on on TikTok because that's that's where I turned to as, you know, a youth does when they have a problem. You go straight to TikTok to learn anything.
My daughter's friend said to me yesterday, she's like, I so she calls me, and she's like, I'm at the store. I've decided to regrow out my tub. I need dad advice. And I was like, okay. So she so I'm walking her through everything, and she had some of the words and everything.
I said, where'd you learn this? And she goes, I TikTok ed it. And I said, I wish you wouldn't use it that way. And she goes, what? I'm like, don't say TikTok ed.
I don't I don't like that.
Like, I googled it, but I TikTok
ed it. Yeah. And I was like and then I and then I realized that I'm I'm also a twenty year two year old girl in my head because I was like, actually, there's a girl on TikTok that does home renovations. I'll send you I'll send her to you. And I and I was like, I'll send this over to you because I was proud of her because she had, like, a lot of she's like, you know what?
My tub is grout is moldy. I'm gonna fix this. I'm tired of it, but she didn't have context for what to do next. So I I don't know. I I'm old.
It's odd to me that you went to TikTok. But you went to TikTok, and you found out about Omnipod there?
Just pumps in general. I remember I saw there was two girls that I saw, like, most of their videos. They were, like, the ones that popped up, and they actually both used tandem, which I remember sitting on the Basement Floor at my in law's house. This was, like, right after I was diagnosed, like, sobbing looking at this. I was like, I cannot have those things on my body the rest of my life.
Like, that's the most miserable looking thing I've ever seen. And, you know, here I am now years later, and you really don't even notice them for the most part.
Yeah.
But just the thought of it just freaked me out so bad, but I could not figure out what the heck was going on with shots. And I was like, everybody says a pump is just like the solution. It does everything for you. I just I gotta get one of these, which I've learned that that's not necessarily the case, but it definitely does help.
So you were you were floundering with with MDI. Things were not going well?
Not not going well. Okay. Every meal, I would hit 200 and then 50 every single meal, and I just I didn't know anything. I didn't know that timing of insulin mattered. Nothing.
You couldn't TikTok that? I guess I'm not big on TikTok.
So No. That was the problem.
We're gonna talk about that later. I I I I I see you out there making these now that I saw it in person at Friends for Life, I was like, I don't know how to I should first of all, I should not be doing that. I don't know how to do it. This seems ridiculous. I know I'm gonna look old from every angle I put that camera at me at.
I don't know how you get in front of a camera without a ring light. I need a ring light just so I look alive. So but but but that's interesting. So you so your MDI, obviously, you don't have great help from health care. Do you think being diagnosed somewhere else and then going home was a problem?
Like, do you think had you been diagnosed at home, you would have gotten a firmer footing, or do you just think that you would have ended up with somebody who just didn't do a good job explaining it to you?
I think maybe if I went to a doctor that knew about type one, not just type two, I probably would have gotten some more information. You know?
How does that not happen? Like, putting yourself I'm not blaming you. I'm asking, like, back in that situation, how do you not end up with a doctor who's functionally ready to help you?
Probably not going to a doctor in a retirement city. That probably wouldn't have been a good start. But, you know, I I didn't know. I've never used my insurance. I didn't even know where to start to find a provider.
I just searched endocrinologist, and it was the first one that popped up, and it said it took my insurance. And in the world of health care is so incredibly foreign to me at that point, and I was like, okay. We'll just we'll start there. You know? They all got they all have to be the same, which I have come to learn is not the case.
Right. There's good endos, and there is bad endos.
Yeah. There's good and bad everything. Yeah. But that's that's super interesting too because my son's 26, and he just had to like, he had to leave our insurance and get his own through his through his work. And so he just all he's trying to do is, like, he has hypothyroidism.
He's trying to switch his his thyroid meds. And, like, on our insurance, you just get a script and they fill it. On his, they need a prior authorization. He doesn't have quite as good insurance as we do. And he's like, what do I do about that?
And I was like, well, he goes, the pharmacy said they'll call my doctor. And I went, oh
That won't happen.
That's not gonna work. He's like, why would the pharmacy say that? I was like, I don't know why they say that. I was like, but do your your doctor's gonna get a fax in '20 you know, 2026 for some reason, and they're that's not gonna be a thing they do anything with. Then you're gonna be out of pills, And then you're gonna go, wait.
Where are my pills? And then you're gonna call the pharmacy, and the pharmacy is gonna go, I don't know. We contacted your doctor. And then you're gonna go, do I have to contact my doc? I'm just like, you're gonna go through this whole I'm like, just call your doctor now.
As I'm explaining it to him, he's making the face I imagine you were making when you when you tried to find an endocrinologist, which is what the hell is going on?
Yep.
Right? Right. Oh, it sucks. Yep. So so you're just shoot what are you doing?
Are you eating then shooting insulin?
I think I was just taking it, like, right as I ate. As I, you know, sit down to eat. I'm like, well, that's what they say. Take it with your meal. You know?
And were you counting carbs? Or you were you still doing the just do this amount of insulin at a meal thing?
Still just this amount. My the Endo never even mentioned he didn't mention the sliding scale. He didn't mention a carb ratio. It was just five units with the meal. Okay.
Was like, cool.
So how do you eventually figure out what to do? Is it is it is it do you figure something out, or do you switch to a pump and then have slightly better outcomes?
It was a mixture of switching to the pump. I feel like I've learned that it's not a lot of people do switch to a pump almost immediately because some doctors think that you need to learn how to do MDI ahead of time, which I think is crazy, but that's just my own thoughts. But, it was also a lot of Facebook. I joined it's called, like, the type one the one and only support group or something like that.
It's got
thousands of members. And I credit like, I learned probably most everything from that Facebook group. I spent hours every day just reading.
Yeah.
Just trying to get, like, learn anything anything I could. Like, I remember not knowing like, I kept seeing people say MDI, and I'm like, what the heck is MDI? What does this mean? Mhmm.
That's why I made a whole series called defining diabetes because I thought because a person said to me one time when I was on the podcast, they were like, I said, so you were MDI? And they go, what's that? And I was like, multiple daily injections. You're injecting your insulin? They go, yeah.
The parts she keeps private36:05
I inject my insulin. And they've been injecting for years. I'm like, you've never heard that term? I thought, wonder what other terms people don't know. Mhmm.
So then we just kinda, like, ran through them all. We should actually just do that again. That's a good idea. Okay. So you are you deciding at that moment no one's coming to help me?
Like, what like, because why because some people just go back to the doctor and go, hey. I don't feel like I understand what's going on. And then the doctor goes, no. You're doing great. And then nothing happens.
Right? So
Yeah.
Are you, like, a dig down, get it done person? Is this the accountant part of your brain jumping in here? Like, what do you think happened?
I am, like, a chronically independent person, like, very much to a fault. I do not like to get help. I don't like to ask for help. And I feel like I'm also, like, very stubborn in that way where I'm like, well, I'm gonna figure this out. Like, if I wanna do something, I'm gonna do it, and I'm gonna find any way to do it.
And so also maybe, like, a little bit of a competitive side where I was like, I can do this. Like, I'm gonna have a good a one c. I'm gonna stay in range. Like, I have been a straight a student, and that's gonna apply to this as well.
Wow. Aside of the ace, student thing, that's exactly what happened to me when Arden was diagnosed. I was like, I I I finally, like, looked up and thought, we are not having reasonable outcomes. But the doctors kept telling me we were doing okay. And because we were already going to a really good children's hospital, I thought, well, if this place isn't helping, then there is no help.
And then the Internet wasn't the Internet at that point. There was no podcast about it. There was definitely no TikTok. And so I just, like, turned her, like, in my head into, like, a lab experiment till I could figure everything out. And then I got it figured out, and then I started writing it down, like, in a blog.
And Mhmm. And then I started seeing other people having good outcomes based off of what I was saying. And I was like, oh, it's working for them too. That's gotta be meaningful. And then I just went through this whole process.
And, also, I am incredibly competitive. Like, that's that's I I just I'm like, I'll beat this. Like, I and and I would never ask another person for help. Yeah. But why why not?
I don't may I just be clear? Oddly, as this is what I do now as a job, it it'll sound strange, but I don't trust other people. Like Yeah. Yeah. I'm like, what are
you Same.
Yeah. Yeah. I'm like, what if you tell me something and you're wrong, but you act like you're right, how am I gonna know? Which is by the way, everyone listening should just just listen to me. But
That's right.
But I would never listen to you.
So I feel exactly the same way.
Okay. Alright. Oh, we're very much alike. Okay. So you so you and I kinda took a similar path, and you you dug in.
You got your answers. And then and then how does it proceed from there?
So I use social media so much just to, you know, learn. Mhmm. But I couldn't find on TikTok, like, what I ex was, like, looking for exactly, like, which I know what I was looking for, and I still, like, don't really make content in that direction because it's hard to make. But I'm like, I wanna I wanna see, like, how someone is bolus ing. I wanna know how much insulin they're taking, when, and why.
Mhmm. And, like, people just don't really post that, and now I I know why because, number one, it's a lot of work to to film that kind of stuff. And two, you get some crazy comments. Like, people are like, oh my gosh. You take so much insulin or, like, oh, you know, you take nothing.
Like, that wouldn't do anything to my blood sugar. And so I I do see why people steer clear of it, but that's what I was looking for. I'm like, I just need a baseline. Mhmm. Like, I feel like people are very afraid to post their numbers because they don't want the comments, which is understandable.
But I'm like, as a numbers person, that's what I wanna see. I wanna see, like, why. I just, you know, just a sliver of information so I have a starting point.
Do you think they don't make it solely because it's difficult to make, or do you think also the algorithm wouldn't it wouldn't push it anyway? So, like, once stuff gets too, I don't know, like, thoughtful and long Mhmm. Right, the algorithm is not gonna push it up, and then you're you're doing all this and nobody's seeing it then.
For sure. That is that is a tough balance, I feel like, where, obviously, the very clickbaity videos do better. They reach more people, which is, like it's fun when that happens. You know? It's exciting.
Like, oh, I worked hard on this video, and it's getting views. But, also, it's really sad when you make, like, a really good educational video that you're like, this could really benefit people, and then it gets no views. It's just like, no. Like, that's the one that I want people to see because that's what's helpful. And so I've been you know, it's this never ending battle of, like, how can I make it clickbaity where people will actually still watch, but also it's going to actually benefit them?
Without burning yourself out and Mhmm. Knocking yourself out of the game at the same time.
Yes.
Lend me your, the benefit of your knowledge about about social media for a second. Okay. If you're like, we'll see. But but that you've been at this. Listen.
You've been doing it. When did you start making your TikToks?
2024. I think it was maybe, like, March 2024. I was like, I'm just gonna post every day. I'm gonna post at least once a day, and I've posted at least once a day since then.
Yeah. Tell me, how many people follow you on TikTok now?
I'm at a 102,000 on TikTok.
And Instagram?
Like, 58, I think, maybe.
Okay. When you put up a a post on TikTok that you feel like does well, how many views does that mean?
They if it doesn't get at least 10,000, I feel like I'm like, it flopped. But, like, a good video, I feel like I feel like it's good if it hits a 100,000. When she think, oh, you have a 100,000 followers, it should always hit a 100,000 views, but that is definitely not the case.
Yeah. Half of those people probably aren't even on TikTok anymore. It's true. Yeah. Of, how long are the videos normally?
So I tried to post twice a day. One, that is just, like, a short trending sound, you know, and then another one that's a minute.
Okay. And do people make it through the minute? Like, do you have, like,
this Not very often.
No. You do you have that data?
You can. I try not to look at it. I try not to look at any of my analytics because it just makes me a little bit sad.
I I, I saw something recently where the average watch time on an Instagram Reel is three to six seconds. Oh my gosh. And I don't mean on mine. I mean, on Instagram Reels. And I thought Yeah.
If Instagram just shut off, would anyone notice? Is what I is what I was wondering. But so you're so I feel like we're highlighting a pretty interesting thing, which which is your the people your age, whether you're Nadia, who I don't think I've ever used her name on the podcast, trying to recalk her tub. And by the way, Nadia couldn't say cock. It was very uncomfortable when we were on the phone.
She kept going. Anyway, I was like, no. Cock. And she's like and I'm like, nope. You're not getting it right.
So, like or it's or it's I've noticed that she was a little girl. I'm like, stop saying that. We're gonna fix your tub. I was
like, stop. Without the word.
Yeah. Without the word. Okay. So whether it's her and her tub or you and your diabetes, you guys are going to go to TikTok or to Instagram reels or something like that. Like, it's not you're not gonna go, I wonder if there's an old man with everything I need to know making a podcast somewhere.
Right? Like, I'd so, like, dear Google, you don't even know what Google is. You don't Google anything. Stop it. Right?
Management, and what works44:00
Like, there's no you haven't used Google.
Not anymore. No. Very often.
I don't use Google anymore. Now I'm just like, while I'm talking to AI, I ask it another thing while I'm talking to it. Right? So Mhmm. So that that's all gone.
I very luckily, AI has decided that my podcast is valuable, or I think I'd Clutch. I think I'd be screwed going forward. I was like, but I but I think I'm gonna be okay there with that. But I am a person who has you have a job still. You're an accountant.
And I don't Yes. Know how much money you make from TikTok. I don't care. It's not my mom. I don't I don't care.
But it's a thing you put a lot of effort into. I put a lot of effort into this. I know that if this wasn't my job, you would not be getting the Juice Box podcast. It's just too much. Right?
Like, I worked last night until 09:30. I started at 8AM, and the last thing that happened to me last night is someone called me a clown. And I was like, I have been trying to help you all day. And I was like, and I'm exhausted. I missed my family.
I didn't eat dinner. I know you didn't ask me to, but at the very least, why not not call me a clown when it's over? Okay? For sure. Yeah.
On the same day that someone said, I I you saved I got yesterday, I got you saved my life. You're an idiot. You're a clown. This is such a great resource. I was like.
Balance. All things need balance.
I said to my wife, I was like, can both of these things be true at the same time? Could I have saved that person's life and be an idiot? I I mean, I don't feel like that could be true, but maybe. And so but but but, nevertheless, like, I get up every day, and I think, how do I help people? And I have the luxury to think that way because the podcast makes a living for me.
And I I'm doing fine. I'm not I'm not complaining. This podcast has 22,000,000 lifetime downloads. It has been in the top 30 of its category for eight years. It charts in, like, 45 countries every day.
It's doing great. But there are a lot of people that I don't reach, and I and I do feel bad about that. Or I have people who come to me and go, well, I don't wanna listen to a whole podcast to get the answer. And I'm like, well, I don't know what to tell you. That's how my brain works.
The answer is in there. If you want it, you this is what you have to do. And so I I pivot a couple of years ago, and I make them short content. Right? I basically turn the pro tip series into something called small sips.
It's more like ten minutes. And then and then people go, this isn't really comprehensive enough. I'm like, you sons of. And I was like, I was like
Like, I can't help you anymore this point.
Yeah. So is the answer that the algorithm and the and the platform really doesn't lend itself to this? Because I feel like I'm seeing a lot of people trying to adapt these platforms to diabetes and aside of, like, an entertainment value or a to get I which is not nothing. Or, we're in this together. I have this too, which also I think is a big deal.
I just don't think it's a place where you're gonna teach people to pre pre ball us or something like that.
Like Right.
Do you agree with that, or what is your finding?
I do to a point. I feel like there's there's a lot of us, like, type one creators. There's quite a few. I don't even like to call myself that. I feel like it's an embarrassing thing to say.
It's not, but I'm like, it's it's not my job. You know? It's more of, like, a passion project. Like, I do make money online, but not nearly enough to ever, like, do it as a full time job.
Mhmm.
It's just it's just for fun more than anything. Like, if I paid myself per hour that I spend doing this, pennies, probably. Yeah. But it's almost more of, like, like a like therapy for me. You know?
It's like a journal, this online journal that I get to have. But I feel like there is different us different creators, we have, like, different paths. Like, some of us are, like, pure entertainment. Like, there's some out there that are hilarious. Like, I love them.
I don't like to scroll diabetes content. I have enough diabetes in my life. I don't like to consume it myself, but there's some that are funny. And then there's some that are, like, strictly educational. And I feel like I'm, like, kind of in this, like, odd spot where I want to be educational because I wanna provide value to people, but I'm I'm not a doctor.
You know? I'm not an Yeah. Diabetes educator. Like, I don't have the formal training, and you can technically get in trouble for, you know, giving advice, which I do all the time. I give you know, I'm like, hey.
This is not medical advice. You can all come for me, but, like, this is what I would do. You know? Because that's what I wanted when I was first diagnosed. I'm like, I just need some advice.
I need some help. I need somewhere to start, but I didn't even know that there was, like, these training programs out there that you can buy. You know? Mhmm. Now I do, which I've still never bought one because I I can't stomach spending thousands of dollars for them to probably, at this point, teach me something that I already know.
But I do feel like they could be valuable for some people.
A couple of them will teach you stuff with my words. So Oh. Yeah. That'll be fun for you when you're paying for my when you're paying for somebody else to read you my free podcast. Yes.
So but I listen. I take your point. I just I feel like I see a lot of organizational types or, like, proper adults who think, oh, we're gonna co op this platform and make it work. And as I watched it, I go, oh, that's not gonna work. You shouldn't don't do that.
Like like, you you're 60. It stop. Know, like like, that's and that's why when you said to me, like, why don't you make more stuff on TikTok? I was like, I no one wants me on TikTok. And you said no.
I do.
Yeah. Well, that's you're being polite, I thought, when you said that. No. So so I'm I'm frustrated. And and I'll tell you what, like, you said something earlier.
There's no way you know that you said this and that it's gonna, like it'll it'll ripple through every PR department at every Oh, no. At every device manufacturer that hears it. Right? Because you said I was served a TikTok of a certain pump and then ended up with a different one, that would blow their minds are like, no. No.
We're we want you to see our pump so you get our pump. What do you mean you saw our pump? It got a different pump. Like, that is gonna flip. And by the way, that's no shade on tandem because you easily could have seen an Omnipod the first time and thought, I don't want that thing stuck to me, and you could have gone to something else.
Right? And so, like, even them, they're out there, like, trying to put out imagery or, like, blah blah blah, like or or support people who are doing it. And to think that they might find a way to get to your eyeballs through everything that we just talked about, and then that would make you go, oh, no. Thank you. Yeah.
Well, I like, it it's wishful thinking, I think, when people are like, I just got diagnosed. Which pump should I go on? I'm like, unfortunately, it's not up to you. It is up to your insurance 99 percent of the time. It could easily work.
That's how I ended up on Omnipod. It was the only one that they covered.
Really? Isn't that interesting?
Yeah.
Yeah.
And it it just happened this year that I can actually even get a different one if I wanted to Mhmm. Because they moved to pharmacy.
Sometimes children have more options because their parents have good insurance. But often, those people don't have good insurance either or insurance that covers more than one thing. It is it is just really fascinating. Okay. So tell me for a second.
You did eventually find the podcast, like, pro tip series. Was it helpful to you, or had you heard it by then?
No. I found it, like, really early on. It was always suggested in the comments on Facebook, which is where I was, you know, trying to find any anything. I I wish now that I had, like, saved some of those posts that I read and, like, what it was because it's, like, actually terrifying how much I didn't know. I was looking back.
Being seen, and being useful52:00
I remember Mary. She's one of the content creators I found. I remember she posted on her Instagram story that she was going for a high blood sugar walk. And I messaged her, and I said, well, did you take insulin? Like, I didn't understand.
Like, do you need to take insulin and then walk, or will walking just bring your blood sugar down on its own? Mhmm. And I think about that all the time. And I'm like, even when I make videos and I'm like, oh, I'm gonna walk on my walking pad to bring my blood sugar down. Some people actually don't know.
Like, I was one of those people that you still need to take insulin and then you walk.
Mhmm. Yeah. Just any the tiniest little ideas are completely lost on you. You have no context for it whatsoever.
Yes. And even that's, like, something that you don't learn when you're diagnosed even if you are, like, kept in a hospital and a diabetes educator comes and talks to you. You know? Most people think, oh, you can't exercise when your blood sugar is high. You'll get ketones and and die, you know, which I have a lot of strong opinions on that.
But Oh, yes. You your blood sugar's high, don't move?
No. Literally. Way. People tell me that all the time, or they're like, you can't be running. You need to be walking.
I'm like, okay.
There's a so so there's a lot of stuff about type one that gets carried over from earlier. The the easiest one to think about is 15 carbs, fifteen minutes. Right? Oh, yeah. We've actually like, I sat down with Jenny one time.
We broke that down, and she's Jenny, I don't know how well you know of Jenny, but, like, she's had diabetes for, like, I think thirty six years now. Like, a Mhmm. A really long time. And she's like, yeah. Well, back in the day, like, we didn't have CGMs, and testing wasn't all that accurate.
So you fifteen was, like, a hopeful amount, and then fifteen minutes was enough time to, like, get a reasonable understanding of this if it worked or not. And okay. So in the moment back then, that was a good thing to do, but then the doctor practices for thirty years and says it for thirty years and tells for thirty years thirty years worth of people 15 carbs, fifteen minutes. Then they go out in the world and they repeat it to people. Then someone like you comes along or someone like me comes along, and I go, look.
I would just correct with the amount of carbs you need. And Right. You know, and then people are yelling at me. You're gonna kill somebody. And I'm like, you're operating off of a 40 year old idea.
Yep. Yeah. But that doesn't stop them from yelling at you.
Yep. So No. Yeah. There's all kinds of things like that that are just I think people forget that diabetes is so personalized, and you you really do, like, unfortunately, just have to figure out what works for you. But the hard part is it's like, well, that works for you in that situation.
You know? Not to say that's gonna work for you your next low three hours from now.
I'm thrilled that honestly, I love that people do what you do because it's I just think you re you reach a section of people I'm not gonna reach. I think I reach a section of people you're not gonna reach, and there are other people out there Totally. You know, filling in those gaps. And, hopefully, hopefully, between everybody, there's enough coverage that nobody is out there shooting five units of insulin for their salad and going, oh, I think I'm gonna die. Because to to your point and I I listen.
I I'll I'll caveat it and say there are some really great endos and CDEs and and nurse practitioners out there, but it is a crapshoot whether you get one or not. And Totally. You do not know if you're getting one or not. So when you went to the doctor, you're like, this is the doctor. The doctor knows, and then you almost killed yourself trying to eat a salad.
Right?
Mhmm.
You didn't think, oh, this doctor might not know what he's talking about. Why would you think that?
Right.
I think we just have to paper the world with this information. And Yeah. Hopefully, it hits as many people as possible. And I honestly would like, like, look. I mean, there's an argument to be made that anybody who's sharing is giving advice, but, mean, I I do the same thing.
You know, it's gonna be at the end the beginning of this episode. Like, nothing you hear on this podcast is advice, blah blah blah. I am sharing what I do for my daughter or what I've done in the past or what other people have said. I I think of that as a positive thing, honestly.
I I agree. It's what I wanted to see. And, like, those are my favorite my favorite videos that I make. It's like the what I eat in a day or, like, how I bolus for a certain meal Mhmm. Which 99% of the time, they end up, like, failing where I'm high or I'm low.
But people like to see that, And I feel like it's helpful because that's what I wanted to have seen. Like, I learned about split bolusing from a video. I don't even remember who, but I'd never even thought of the concept of, like, oh, yeah. A regular body probably gives insulin in, you know, a few squirts when you eat, not just, like, all up front.
Yeah. And it's amazing to to share like that because the number of times that I've seen someone else's content, and I'm like, oh, those are my words. Like, the and I and I don't think of that as a bad thing. If you're charging somebody for it, I think of the I I'm talking to you. I know you hear me.
If you're charging somebody for it, I think that's wrong. Okay? But if you're out there sharing something you learned that worked for you, I'm saying when I hear it in my cadence, in my words, I think, oh, that's awesome. Like, it made it all the way to that person, and that person's gonna get it to somebody I would never be able to get it to. Like, that this is fantastic.
You
know? Yeah.
Alright. So tell me why why do you think I should make TikTok videos?
I think that mine and many people's brains have been ruined to have an attention span of, like you said, three seconds.
Mhmm.
And I'm I'm one of those people that I'm like, I would not listen to a podcast. Like, I'm not gonna sit here through twenty minutes with somebody talking.
Twenty minutes. You and I have been talking for fifty minutes, by the way. You're, like, twenty minutes. I'm not nearly done talking to you yet, by the way.
Well, I'm talking. You know? I like to talk, but listening, that's another story. But even even when you said you do, like, the short ones that are, like, ten minutes, I'm like, okay. I could probably stomach, like, ten minutes.
But that's too late.
I know that that's a problem. I I'm an adult. You know, I got a DI Pad kid myself before my kid's old enough to to be in that phase himself. Mhmm. But I just think with TikToks, it's like you have one minute, and you can get people to stay for one minute if it's, you know, good stuff.
Where she’s headed58:10
And I feel like you have good stuff that people would stay for one minute for.
Well, I so I I think I have good stuff, and I think I've got it distilled enough that it will fit into a minute. But I just think that I'm not the right person to do shouldn't I just hire, like, a, like, a 24 year old person to do it? Like, it and then I'll just say, like, just say this. And then I'll what what if I walked on camera and I said, hey. Pretend this is me.
And then somebody, like, attractive came on and said
You know, with with AI these days, I'm sure you could probably find a way to do it. But, I mean, to me, it's like, no. Your voice is the Juicebox podcast. It needs to be from you.
Okay. Alright. I okay. I will here's what I'm committing to right now.
Alright.
After my so my studio is almost done. I built a studio in my basement. It's almost finished. If some things hadn't gone wrong this summer, I'd be in it by now. One because right now, you're talking to me in a spare room of my house.
The reason it's blurred out behind me is because that is a parson's chameleon living in a giant tank, and I thought it would freak you out if you knew that I kept reptiles. And so, like, there's nothing visual in here that I can do. But eventually, I'll have a space that'll be it'll be a little more cozy to make the podcast in. I can turn the small sip series into a series of one minute videos.
There you go.
Alright. But now when no one watches them and they and they get 43 views and I feel terrible, you have to call me and make me feel better. Okay?
You know what? That's 43 people that might not have listened to the podcast.
You know it's not really 43 people. It's 43 people who are like, oh, that person is so old and swiped before the word old even came into their head because you would do the same thing. So how do I get around the that? It like, why can't, like, why can't we beat the algorithm?
I would love to know. I have zero years of posting across all the platforms. I still have no understanding. And somehow, the videos do well on different platforms. Different videos do well on different platforms Yeah.
Which I I just don't understand. I I am convinced that there's somebody out there who knows how this algorithm works, and they just won't spill the secret.
Don't you think they changed it? So I've been so okay. So I'll I'll share some stuff with you. To learn more and see if you might be able to get Twist from the pharmacy and try it for free, head to visit.twist.com/juicebox. That's visit.twist.com/juicebox, or give them a call at 18774.
That's +1 (877) 489-4478, and tell them Scott sent you. Twist requires prescription and is indicated for people with type one diabetes six and older. Arden has been getting her diabetes supplies from US Med for years. You can as well. Usmed.com/juicebox or call (888) 721-1514.
Many thanks to US Med for sponsoring this episode and for being and for being longtime sponsors of the Juice Box podcast. There are links in the show notes and links at juiceboxpodcast.com to US Med, Twist, and today's other awesome sponsor, the Eversense CGM. They make, of course, the Eversense three sixty five, and that thing lasts an entire year. One insertion every year. Come on.
You probably feel like I'm messing with you, but I'm not. Eversensecgm.com/juicebox. Check it out. Let's face it. Diabetes is tough, but it's easier when you have a community around you.
So if you're looking for a great community around type one diabetes, check out the juice box podcast private Facebook group. Juice box podcast type one diabetes, but everyone's 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 the Juice Box Podcast private Facebook group. Juice Box Podcast, type one diabetes on Facebook.
I promise you it is the most unfacebook like experience that you'll ever ever find. What a great group of people. I don't like saying this usually because it dates the ad, but right now there are 86,000 active members. 86,000 people in there who might have your experience, know what to say, or just be a great shoulder to lean on. Don't be too proud to find a community.
It really does help. And it's completely free. Juicebox podcast, type one diabetes on Facebook. I just wanna say thank you so much for listening. I'll be back very soon with another episode of the Juice Box podcast.
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