#650 Omnipod 5 Talk
Skiy is the mom of a young type 1 who has been using Omnipod 5 for 19 months.
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Scott Benner 0:00
Hello friends, and welcome to episode 650 of the Juicebox Podcast. After this episode was recorded and posted, we learned some new things about Omni pod five. I'm adding that at the very end of the episode. Make sure you find it. today's podcast is me speaking with Skye, Skye is a mom, the mom of Vera Vera is a child who has type one diabetes. About 19 months ago, Vera became part of the clinical trial for Omni pod five. Oh, no, you're interested, huh? Skye is here today to tell us all about it plus other things while you're listening to her, and I, so that's me and Skye. Please remember that nothing you hear on the Juicebox Podcast should be considered advice, medical or otherwise. Please Always consult a physician before making any changes to your health care plan are becoming bold with insulin. Were my people who love to fill out surveys. If you're from the United States, and have type one diabetes or from the United States, and are the caregiver of someone with type one, you can go right now to T one D exchange.org. Ford slash juice box and fill out the survey. When you do that. You'll be supporting people with type one diabetes and the Juicebox Podcast. It will take you fewer than 10 minutes. Come on, you can do it. I know you'd rather I keep talking to the music lately. I know you'd rather get online and take another kind of like, you know there's online quizzes that let you know where your chakra is and everything but could you do this for me first please. T one D exchange.org. Forward slash juicebox. Today's episode of the podcast is sponsored by touched by type one. If you're a golfer, listen to this next little bit, especially if you live in the Orlando area. Touch by type one has a big event coming up big big big golfing for diabetes Saturday, April 2 at the Rosen Shingle Creek Golf Course. Orlando, Florida. Registration is available now at touched by type one.org. The event again is on Saturday, April 2 in Orlando, Florida. If you're a golfer, I believe they call those duffers and you want to hit the links. I believe that's what a golf course is called. You should head over there right now and get all signed up. It's going to be a really terrific event touched by type one.org. Now I have to go look up Dhafer and links to make sure I use them correctly. I don't mean to bore you before this, but apparently duffers, not what I meant. That's sort of a colloquialism for a poor or mediocre player. I didn't mean that. I mean, if you're like amazing, like a little tiger woods, you know what I mean? Just like so good at it. I just mean the golf part. You're like Tiger Woods, not the part where he crashed his car all loaded up on the drugs and everything and appears to cheat on his wife and stuff like that, that part. I'm not talking about you. This is going off the rails. But if you're in the Orlando area, and you want to support a great type one charity, and you'd like to play golf, touched by type one.org This episode of the podcast is actually also sponsored by contour the Contour Next One blood glucose meter that is you can learn more about it at contour next.com forward slash juicebox it's an excellent meter. I'll tell you about it later. I'm sorry that the beginning of this episode got so messed up, but you know, just live with it. Okay, here we go. I just want to check first you don't work for Omnipod, right? No, I don't know. How did you get the LMR?
Skiy 3:27
Well, do you want me to say who I am first?
Scott Benner 3:29
Oh, lucky. Sky? Or
Skiy 3:33
should I just be a mystery the whole time?
Scott Benner 3:35
We'll get to it don't worry. Or anxiety usually sky.
Skiy 3:44
I just want to make sure that you know he's forgot about
Scott Benner 3:47
your like he's doing it wrong. He's doing it wrong already. I knew this is gonna happen. No. Go ahead. Go ahead. Introduce yourself.
Skiy 3:54
Okay, well, my name is Skye, and I'm the mother of a six year old type one diabetic named Vera. Okay. But I can move on to the limited market release now. Now that I've said Why am
Scott Benner 4:06
I leaving all of this in for people? I want them to understand in the confused way we tripped at this. So so my question was was going to be how did you get the Omnipod five during the limited market release?
Skiy 4:22
Okay, so we were in the clinical trial. Leading up to that we were in there in the clinical trials for a year and a half. And so we were invited to partake in the limited market release.
Scott Benner 4:34
Perfect so you don't work for anybody. Dexcom on the pod, nothing like that. No, nope. You are not encumbered at all. Then you can say whatever you want.
Skiy 4:44
I am just a person who manages I'm a I'm a pancreas by day that's what I
Scott Benner 4:51
this is good then Alright, hold on a night. I guess I'm a pancreas all the time. I'm just gonna give you off in the
Skiy 4:58
evenings in the weekends off. It's great. You
Scott Benner 5:00
got a better you got a better golfer than I did. Alright, well, let's just find out a little bit about everything first. So Vera six now How old was she when she was diagnosed?
Skiy 5:09
She was two and a half, just like Arden. Oh,
Scott Benner 5:12
wow. Okay. You started off how what was your management like from two and a half until now.
Skiy 5:19
So she, so she was diagnosed. I actually on my husband's birthday, at two and a half, which was a, you know, fabulous birthday celebration in the hospital. She was diagnosed August end of August, we were on Dexcom within By October, and then we I pushed to get her on Omnipod by March. So we did MDI for six months. And then we were on the Omnipod. Your Eros? I believe that's how you say it correct. We were on that until, until we got onto the clinical triangle. We were never on dash. We were never on any other system. Well, you
Scott Benner 5:58
just made me think I've been saying arrows for years. I noise arrows. The Earth, the way that's spelled the way your name spelled, I don't know anything anymore. So
Skiy 6:10
anything, anything could happen? You know?
Scott Benner 6:13
I just thought like, how many calls have I been on where I've said arrows, I wonder if I'm wrong, that well, whatever. He would know. I don't know anything. But what I here's what I know, Ali pie came out with a pod long, long time ago. They eventually made it smaller. That was always just Omni pod. Then they came out with Omni pod dash, which I guess left them needing to call the original Omni pod something I would have went with OG but whatever, it's fine. And then they you know, arrows are er O S is the spelling. So you were always using that version of the pod. You never even use dash one. So you didn't have access to the newer kind of digital display on the PDM. And that kind of stuff is what you're saying?
Skiy 6:56
Yeah, no, it was all new to me. And we never did loop like if we just we were just on the standard system. You know, I actually right, right, when we got onto that Dash was just released and my plan was to get on dash but our insurance, our insurance didn't cover dash up until like, I don't know, I think I got a notice this this this last December that all of a sudden we could get dash. So we were we were just on the original,
Scott Benner 7:23
then how do you end up doing the getting involved in the research for Ali pod five.
Skiy 7:30
So my daughter's endocrinologist office, they were participating in the clinical trial, her endocrinologist that we ended up switching over to she she was like, I don't know, the main main person that was doing it around for us for our, our area. I don't I don't know how she got involved. But um, I got an invitation for the age group of two to five, to participate. And I was like, Absolutely, I'm jumping on that. That's amazing. Plus, I got to switch endocrinologist, which I was afraid to do. Because I I was afraid to, you know, upset my my other one who I wasn't necessarily pleased with the care we were provided. So I just jumped on it. I got a letter in the mail. And then I I called and you know, we were chosen to participate
Scott Benner 8:20
in it. So it's we're recording right now in March of 2022. How long would you say the LMR has been going on now? By the way limited market release for people.
Skiy 8:31
So we i What was it? It was beginning of February, right? Or end of January? January 28? Or something like that?
Scott Benner 8:38
You maybe you're like seven weeks into that part?
Skiy 8:41
Yeah. So we didn't get on we got on, I believe it was like, right, was like February 12, or February 14 is when we got on to the the actual limited market release Balam our product, and also the clinical trial product.
Scott Benner 8:57
Prior to that, I'm just trying to figure out when did you when did the clinical trial start for you?
Skiy 9:03
So we started the clinical trial, September of 2020.
Scott Benner 9:08
Oh, it's math time. So hold on. So September 2021 is a year and then that will still leaves like four months left in 2018. Okay, can you hear me? I can hear you. Alright, sorry. So there's some sort of weird like, like you were gone for a minute. It was not your fault. It was on my side. I was in the middle of doing my dentist on how long had been so I didn't hear anything you said after that. But I'm gonna just go through this again. So September to September is a year that I'm guessing there's like four months last 16 months and now. So you've been doing this like 19 months. You've been on hard five. Is that about right?
Skiy 9:47
Level? Yeah, I think so. I think that sounds right. Yep.
Scott Benner 9:50
Okay. Yeah. I'm so excited to be talking to you. All right. Excellent. Excellent. Excellent. So product that you're on right now in the limited market release. No different than the product you were using during the clip. Trial, I'd
Skiy 10:00
imagine, oh no, it's different. Oh,
Scott Benner 10:04
let's go back to the beginning sky. Okay, let's like we'll get in the Wayback Machine. It's September 20. G's Wow, a long time ago. How does how does it all work like clinical trial, you go to a doctor's office, you it was a trial site?
Skiy 10:19
Oh, it was. So I was so grateful that it was really easy for us everything was held at our endocrinologist office. So we didn't have to go anywhere that we weren't already normally going to. We just ended up having, you know, we had to go there more often. But then COVID was going on. So all of the visits that would have been in person and extra in person visits, were just fun visits,
Scott Benner 10:41
I see. Is there a bunch of training in the beginning? How does that work?
Skiy 10:45
So we went in, and I signed a bunch of paperwork, you know, legit non disclosure, and, you know, paperwork saying, you know, that they're, obviously it's a clinical trial, it's not FDA approved, anything could happen. And you know, there's a risk risks involved. And I'm like, well, that's just like diabetes. So there's just risks involved. So that wasn't a problem to me. But I, you know, we signed everything, I had to fill out a bunch of surveys, like pre, you know, how we manage things, I had a current at that at that current time, so that they could get a judge of where we were at with our management care, before we started the trial, and then we were there for a couple hours for that first visit, they trained us on how to use the, the new pump, we put it, you know, got it, got one on her, got all of our settings in and then we were sent home with a bunch of supplies. And they tracked everything they monitored or monitored heard, heard numbers the whole time. And then we had, I cannot remember, I want to say we had like monthly phone calls. As the as it went on, and they kept doing an extension that phone calls or the visits would become like spaced farther apart. But at the beginning, they were they were pretty close together just to you know, check in and make sure everything was okay.
Scott Benner 12:04
Okay, and so, did they ask you to manage any differently in the beginning? Like, I'm talking about the clinical trial part right now? Like, were you asked to just not do anything, like put in the carbs and not touch stuff? Or how did that all go?
Skiy 12:20
Go? I mean, I don't, I don't remember if it was necessarily said to us not to change any of the settings I, I didn't know that I was, this is gonna sound kind of ridiculous, but I didn't know I was allowed to even, like, you know, go make any changes to my daughter's settings or management, aside from what the endocrinologist were telling me, which is, I don't know. So I never made any changes. But there was a, there were a couple things we had to do. Like we had to participate in some activity. sessions where, you know, they wanted her to do like an hour or so of activity on a day. And, you know, I don't remember exactly how it was, like, you, you know, don't do it with with food or, you know, use their they have an activity setting that is on Omnipod five that they were kind of testing out. So we had had to do a little bit of that, but we didn't have to do anything crazy. Like there wasn't anything like, you know, she has to fast or we're gonna try, we're gonna try making adjustments to things to see how it happened. Like what happens? It was just kind of like they were monitoring how what, how we managed it and how our blood sugar was managed. And you know, nothing, nothing insane. Nothing crazy.
Scott Benner 13:33
And then they would take they were looking at her Dexcom data.
Skiy 13:36
Yeah, yeah. And
Scott Benner 13:40
there's nothing for you to do really, except live with it, I guess.
Skiy 13:43
Yeah, pretty much. It was just live with it. I mean, there was a couple of times, like I said, we had to do some extra activity, like they said, Okay, you know, have her go outside and play on her swings or ride a bike for an hour? And then let us know when you're doing that so that we can monitor it.
Scott Benner 13:58
Okay. Interesting. And how long did this go on for?
Skiy 14:04
The What do you mean, the this process?
Scott Benner 14:07
Like Was there ever a time where you were just using it? They were collecting your data, but they weren't really asking you to do anything?
Skiy 14:12
Yeah, most of the time. I mean, almost like 90% of the time we were they were just collecting our data and not asking us to do much of anything other than just, you know, manage her
Scott Benner 14:21
normally, they didn't need to know what she was eating or anything like that.
Skiy 14:25
No, they never tracked what they what she was eating. They never asked me anything like that. It was just, you know, treat her like, like you normally would, and we'll see how it see what it does.
Scott Benner 14:37
So initially, in those first, like, let's say the first six months of doing this, did you notice any difference improvement, decrease anything at all? They was notable?
Skiy 14:48
Oh, I mean, I the biggest thing when we started was we could sleep. Like we were able to actually sleep and I remember when I was in the office and one of the things that they do Hold me, as you know, because they had already been doing the trial with older age groups. They were like, one of the biggest things that we've been told is, you know, parents are getting, they're getting more sleep, and I just, I just bawled like, I just broke into tears. And I'm like, Oh my God, that would be amazing. I would love to sleep.
Scott Benner 15:18
Because I'm going out of my mind.
Skiy 15:20
Right? At the beginning, before we even had the pump, and we were on MDI, and before we had the Dexcom, like, the month, the month before, we had Dexcom, I thought my husband and I were going to get a divorce over the diabetes because of lack of sleep. So sleep was sleep was just huge. And that was one of the biggest things that I noticed was definitely we were able to sleep it was man definitely managed a lot better overnight, with the algorithm. I noticed that she, I mean, she was just in a better range. I, you know, the way that I was doing things was, like I said very, very before, that was very much just based on following my endocrinologist instructions, and not swinging from that. So based on doing it the way that they told me to do it, and then allowing an algorithm to do it, there were definitely noticeable changes.
Scott Benner 16:12
I'm gonna get back to them in a second. But so at that time in her care, you did not know about this podcast.
Skiy 16:20
No, so I didn't know about your podcast until July of last year. I have an adult diabetic friends type one diabetic friend, and she her name is Lisa. And she told me about your, your podcast, and I, I didn't know that. So I didn't have a phone plan that had like unlimited data. You know, my husband and I shared data. And I was like, Oh, well, I don't think I can use a podcast just like listen to in the car. Because I'll lose my data. I didn't know that. That was a thing that, you know, I didn't I that I wouldn't ever, like venture out into it. I just, you know, it's like, oh, podcasts, maybe they're not for me. I
Scott Benner 17:01
just for clarity, you could download them over Wi Fi and listen to them.
Skiy 17:04
I know. Believe me once I like tried it. I was like this. What was I doing? Like how stupid
Scott Benner 17:11
but I just wanted to be sure that you were managing in a very, like doctor office centric way. There's nothing particularly special, like what were her a one sees like prior to the clinical trial.
Skiy 17:23
So we were when we were diagnosed her a one C was a point five, and then up into up till the clinical trial. So we didn't start the clinical clinical trial until what she was in 18. She was diagnosed in 18. So two years, pretty much into her diagnosis. And her her agency was 7.9.
Scott Benner 17:44
So you're right. Seven Nights at a time. Okay. Yeah. All right. Well, then, so 8579 clinical trial, no podcast, what's the next day once he after the Omnipod five.
Skiy 18:00
So it was coming down. That was another thing, we definitely noticed. She was in range, which I, you know, I didn't even know about being in range until we got on the pod five, like I had the clarity up, but I didn't really think about the amount of time that she was in, in any sort of range, I know that it can vary based on what your, you know, your targets are, and why not and what your settings are. But, um, you know, they she was in range, like, 79% of the time and her agency was slowly coming down. Like it went from, like, 7.9 to, like, you know, 7.6 7.5 like very little, little, little increments. And then I, I didn't have like a noticeable note, like a really big difference until I actually started listening to the podcast. I, I started listening to you. And I was like, I didn't I like this is this just changes everything. You know, like, I can plan sky,
Scott Benner 18:55
what were you going to do? You need to be able to take phone calls. But when the Obamas call you for lunch, you need minutes, you know, they mean,
Skiy 19:02
exactly. Hold on to my data. So I was like, oh my god, yeah, I didn't know that I was allowed to make adjustments. I didn't think about all of these things. You know, all this frustration. My husband and I have had all of these years. It's like, it could have been avoided had I found Scott sooner. So, um, January, it was like the end of December. I had been I've been binging you since like October of last year. And I was, you know, I, I was like, I think I can I think I'm going to make adjustments to our settings through the clinical trial. There was a woman that you had had on, she was participating in the clinical trial. And she was talking about how she, you know, needed to make changes based on what you had. I think you were helping her like you were following her for a little bit. So I was like, Oh, well, she can make changes. I can probably talk to my endocrinologist office and see if they'll let me to, you know, make changes because they didn't kick her off the trial obviously. Right. So I emailed my nurses and I was like, listen, we can do this better. You know, like, I want to do this better going into 2022, I want my daughter's a onesie below, below or at six, at least, but definitely below seven, I'd like to get it to six, like, that's my goal by the end of this year. So I just started making changes on what I thought would work. And so right before we got off the clinical trial, which was I, in the beginning of February, right, when we got on the limited market release, her agency was 6.8. And that was just a lot that went from like, I think, like seven points, I want to say like 7.4, or 7.3, something like that to 6.8 within like a month of making the changes that I felt, you know, I got from you pretty much like I got out of the podcast, right?
Scott Benner 20:51
So this is so interesting. So I just want to recap a little bit when you are doing this on your own, and you're doing what the doctor's office is telling you, you're 798 in that range, the Omnipod five goes on. But still, your settings are based on what you and your doctor have talked about. And even with that you got more time in range. And you did lose a half a point off a one. See, it sounds like so then the next point, almost next point comes off seven, four to six, eight in a month. What did you change in that time that made that difference?
Skiy 21:28
So on my trial, our target was 140. And I like that's what my doctor's office had us set, it was 140. And I was like, Oh, well, I didn't know, we could go lower. I didn't know we could go to 110, which is the lowest unfortunately that the system has, but it's still good. So I I set the target to one time, that was one of the biggest things I did and then listening to your podcasts. And you're talking about, well, if you can manage at one, one at 200, you can manage lower than that, you know, so I started to set, set her alarms back on her Dexcom to, you know, lower to go off at a lower rate, like lower amounts. So like right now her alarm goes off at 130. Whereas before it was going off at 180. And they were okay like that, that was fine. You know, I've always been told, like, that's great. You know, 180 is good, that's fine. So I didn't, I didn't know it was I didn't think it was wrong. Like I thought what I was doing was right. But 130 allow, it allows me to catch it a lot quicker. So that was the two those are the two biggest things I did. And then I I've always Pre-Bolus. Um, but we've been better at making sure that we do it like sometimes when you have a six year old who wants to snack and you know, it's it's not always the easiest, but we've we've been better about just trying to at least make sure we got 10 minutes, at least a 10 minute Pre-Bolus? And
Scott Benner 22:53
how do you? How do you address A? Yeah, this is my question, how do you address a higher blood sugar on the algorithm? So if you, I don't know, don't Pre-Bolus a snack and end up at 130 you get a little beeping? What do you do then to do? What's your next step?
Skiy 23:14
I give her more insulin. I just I override it and give her more, I obviously I did something wrong or, you know, she got excited or something, you know, something, something happened that it goes up higher than I was expecting. And so I just give her more insulin.
Scott Benner 23:30
Okay, so you leave the algorithm to do that?
Skiy 23:35
Well, so the algorithm is going to just continue to give her you know, many, many bullets is like every five minutes, if it's catching that she's if it thinks she's gonna go high. But I, I just give her more on top of that.
Scott Benner 23:49
Okay, so you just get ahead of it, instead of waiting for the algorithm to do it. You do it yourself. Now, when that happens, does the algorithm not believe she has too much insulin and start taking basil away and you get another high? That doesn't happen?
Skiy 24:00
Um, I don't know we've had you've had situations of bowls like, or I've been able to get her to come down and you know, get her at a good steady level. And then I've also had situations where we end up with a low or we ended up with it going too high, because it'll cut off the that basil, the little mini, the little mini boluses or it'll cut off the basil if it thinks that
Scott Benner 24:24
you've given too much. Yeah, right, exactly. Here, go back and tell it. My example here would be if you had a meal at noon, and you told it down 30 carbs, and then an hour and a half later, you're at 130 Diagonal a barrel. And you come in and say, Alright, you know what, maybe that was 40 carbs, I'll put in another unit of insulin to cover the next 10 carbs. But you can't go back until the algorithm I really wish you would think about that meal is 40 not 30. If you can't do that, and if you were to put in a new 10 carbs at 130 to try to tell the algorithm I believe there's 40 carbs in there. It messes up the timeline a little bit, right? Because now those 10 carbs aren't really. They're not new at 130. They were new at noon. That'll make sense.
Skiy 25:13
Yeah. Okay. That's the other thing on. Oh, go ahead. Do you have another question?
Scott Benner 25:17
I don't know. I'm thinking through it as we're talking. So, you know, I don't prep for this at all. So so so when you put the insulin in, what could happen is that the algorithm could think, well, she put in more insulin, not that it thinks of you as a person. But that would be weird. If it did. But she, she put in, you know, another unit, we're just making up numbers. But the kid only 30 carbs an hour and a half ago. So now I have to quick take away the basil to try to make up for this extra insulin, which the ALS, the algorithm is going to see is unnecessary, because the algorithm believes that it's going to fix this 130 Eventually, you're fixing it sooner. So that the 130 doesn't become 170 before it turns back into 110. Again, is that all right?
Skiy 26:03
Yeah, I think so. Okay, um, I mean, it's not nor it doesn't normally cause a huge problem. I mean, sometimes they do end up having to, like, give her a little bit of extra uncovered food. If I do notice that maybe I maybe I did something wrong. And the algorithms between me between it giving me between me giving it sorry, me giving her insulin and then the algorithm giving her some as well. I mean, I have been told by like the nurses Hey, you know, watch when you're doing that because it is giving her that those many micro doses so you don't want to you don't want to overdo it. Yeah.
Scott Benner 26:40
Where do you have the most success with her blood sugar sitting on the algorithm? Like when you have stability away from food and away from cotton away from mealtime insulin? Where does she sits daddy?
Skiy 26:54
She's like, 130, which I would like her lower. And I have her target at 110. But I can't seem to get it to come down more. And I don't know, I'm trying to figure out like why why why that's happening. But she's usually if I can get her to sit steady, she's, she's sitting steady at 130
Scott Benner 27:10
What settings do you have access to with AMI pod five? Basil.
Skiy 27:16
Yeah, I mean, I can access every I can change everything I have. So I just have one basil program, because this is all all of that is new to me, you know, trying to figure out different different bases for her and whatnot. So I just have one Basal program that I use, you can use, you can add up to 12 different programs. So I just have that I have
Scott Benner 27:37
12 different segments in a 24 hour period or 12 different
Skiy 27:40
programs like 12 Different I believe it's 12 different programs like she's on bi a Basal program one right now, because I just I'd left it at whatever the generic name is for it, but you can add more in there and you know, rename them for, you know, activity or whatever you want to do. But I'm not comfortable and confident with that yet, so I haven't know that's fair.
Scott Benner 28:02
I was wondering though, like, like, so what settings? Like forget, like when you leave the algorithm like when you you know, open it up, but when you're inside the algorithm, it's making decisions based on basil, what else is there a meal ratio?
Skiy 28:18
Yeah, so it has all of the it has like the your insulin to carb ratios. It has the insulin action time which I just changed that after listening to one of the podcasts to see if that will maybe help us at all Oh, I don't have it in front of me. I left it out with my husband but um
Scott Benner 28:40
we'll ratio insulin action time basil. Is there a insulin sensitivity?
Skiy 28:49
Um, I believe there is and then it also does you know, you have your max your max Basal rate so it won't whatever that set out. It won't give more regardless of what's going on, like if I have it at like point five per hour. It's not going to give her above that for the hour.
Scott Benner 29:06
As if you said that as the max.
Skiy 29:10
Yeah, so yeah, whatever the max is for that it won't give them more than that.
Scott Benner 29:15
I didn't mean to step on you I'm sorry. Oh, no, go ahead. Correct. But you have also correction factor right like one unit moves are so many so you have Okay, so you've insulin action time correction factor meal ratio and basil. That's a lot to work with there
Skiy 29:32
we have our targets it you know, factors in the targets. Yeah.
Scott Benner 29:35
And it's shooting for you have it shooting for 110
Skiy 29:39
Yeah, I haven't won 10 all and I have 110 and then correct over 130
Scott Benner 29:43
But it can't get to 110 even overnight.
Skiy 29:46
It'll get I mean, it gets her to one time but it doesn't hold her steady at one time.
Scott Benner 29:50
She'll drift back up. Yeah,
Skiy 29:52
I didn't mean overnight generally, if I can, if we can. If we're having a good night like if we go to bed and we aren't having any problems with we just changed changed a pamper, you know, we had a really QRP meal or something and I was trying to get her to level out, then she'll she'll sit around 110 At night time when she's not really doing when she's not doing anything except for sleeping. But during the day, I can't get her to, to 110 I mean, she'll go to it, but she's not gonna stay at it, she'll stay at about 130 What's your Basal rate? Um, it's very, um, can I I don't have her. Do you want to do you want to leave and come back? Well, just Can I go grab it from my, my husband really fast. I would love that. Alright, give me one second, okay.
Scott Benner 30:36
You guys are getting an ad right here
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Skiy 34:10
Okay, so let me go into her Basal.
Scott Benner 34:12
You don't mind talking about this? Do you
Skiy 34:15
know, um, hold on a second. Oops, don't switch. I didn't mean to switch. Turn it. So we just got so be when we were on the clinical trial, you know, it was just the provided cell phone that we used. And then when we got on to a limited market release, we have used the PDM. And then I got the Samsung Galaxy S 10, which is the only one that's supposed to be able to work with this right now. And we had to carry around both devices for the last month, which was really frustrating because the app wasn't ready. Like it wasn't available. So the app, the app just became available a couple days ago. So I finally just switched over to having the one phone again which is really nice.
Scott Benner 34:58
Exciting. Yeah. Things are getting closer. Then.
Skiy 35:02
Every time I go, I take my daughter out and I have like all of her device. I have my cell phone and then this cell phone and then the PDM. Everyone's staring at me like what kind of business? Are you running?
Scott Benner 35:11
I'm selling? Leave me alone. I've got bills. Damn it. So what's your what's your Basal freight? Sorry? Oh my god, what does she wear?
Skiy 35:23
She weighs 50 pounds. So let's see from 12am to 6am. She's point three, five, from 6am to 12:12am. to midnight, she's point three.
Scott Benner 35:37
So I'm just gonna guess that our Basal is a little low.
Skiy 35:40
And it could be I've been messing with that too. Because the settings that the way they were, you know, the endocrinologist told me to have around Sorry, I'm stumbling on my words before. They were lower than that. So I've been like slowly increasing them. I'm just doing it with caution, because
Scott Benner 36:00
I don't please does she get low? Often?
Skiy 36:03
She you know what the clarity app said it? It's like been 4%. Low over the last seven days, which I don't think it's bad, or what are we calling Low? Low for that? It's thinks that low is below 70. Like I have heard settings at 70 to 130. So, but I don't she doesn't like she'll go. I mean, she's had some lows. But she generally she goes low. She's in the 60s for a little bit and then comes up.
Scott Benner 36:27
Okay. Well, I mean, I think what you're doing with the Basal is like a good move, because there's probably space in there with the Basal. I mean, if you're, if you're correcting 130, for an example, and it gets down to 110, and then wants to go back to 130, something's not holding it down. And the algorithm is thinking. I mean, the algorithm is thinking that you have too much insulin, so the correction looks like too much insulin to it. But if your basil was heavier, it might not feel that way. So there's, there's, there's space in there for you to figure it out. I think you get the basil straight first, and then probably look at the correction factor and make sure that it's it's pretty accurate. One unit per whatever.
Skiy 37:13
I definitely don't think it's anything wrong with this system. I think, like you're saying, it's just things that I need to get adjusted. On my end, I think the system is doing a fine job.
Scott Benner 37:23
No, for sure. I mean, it sounds like it to me, I'm just trying to help you figure it out. While we're talking about this at the same time, that's all.
Skiy 37:31
Yeah, I mean, if you could help me, that's great. You've helped me more without me even like meeting you. In the last, I don't know, six months, then anybody else has helped me in the last three and a half years. So I'm
Scott Benner 37:46
glad to know that I'm happy. You're feeling better. Really? Seriously. It's a big deal. I mean, she's six, eight versus eight, five and a couple of years.
Skiy 37:54
So yeah, yeah. And I'm confident that I can get her down to six. Like that's, that's my goal. That's what I'm gonna do.
Scott Benner 38:01
Oh, I think you can do? Yeah, no, for certain. Tell me a little bit about the sleeping for a second. You. You and your husband are having loving sex now instead of angry sex or you're not yelling at each other anymore? What is happening? What have I done for your life? Exactly.
Skiy 38:17
We have a six month old sleeping in our bed. So nothing's happening.
Scott Benner 38:22
We just not yelling at each other at least.
Skiy 38:25
We're just not yelling. Wow. Yeah, mad about diabetes. Basal, you know, we're married.
Scott Benner 38:35
I always think that some non married people must hear this and just be like, Oh, god, wait, what's gonna happen?
Skiy 38:41
I get worried when people are like, Oh, well, my husband and I don't we don't argue like, something's wrong with your marriage,
Scott Benner 38:45
you're gonna end up killing each other, then you're holding it. All right. I can be one of those stories, murder suicides, like, you know. They just they never seem to fight then all of a sudden, they just burn the house down with each other. Great. So okay, so just in general, better sleep. Right? More more consistent, solid sleep, I'm assuming.
Skiy 39:09
Yeah, I mean, I I'm not, I'm not worried about her going. Having a really drastic low in the middle of the night while we're sleeping. I do wake up to alarms. You know, especially I have her I have her at 130. And so if it drifts up even a little bit above that, then I wake up from from that, but it's nothing like it used to be
Scott Benner 39:30
I'm incredibly excited to get a hold of it because a 110 an average blood sugar of 110 is a 5.5 a one C so it's not out of the question to make it work with the device the way it's set up right now. I mean, the problem is that if you're not always I mean there's variables right? So you're not always hitting correctly and you you that 110 becomes 130 or 150 or whatever and then slowly this five five average because Not just five, eight, it becomes six, whatever. And that's how, you know, with the goal of 110 is a great goal. But if you're not keeping, I mean, if you're if you're spiking, spiking spiking, then obviously you're not going to get the 5581. Seattle, I'm trying to say that I think there's a way that based on how the algorithm is written right now, if you have your settings, right, and your Pre-Bolus thing, I bet you get closer to that 110 With more consistency, is my guess.
Skiy 40:29
Yeah, I gotta, I have to get the spikes to to stop because we do have spikes that I I'm not able to. I guess I don't know what I'm doing wrong. But she shows spike after meals. And like last night, she had a rough night with high blood sugars, which was due to like the one of the things that that does kind of is a bummer. You can't use the extended Bolus, unless you get out of the automated mode. And you can't use the Temp Basal unless you get out of automated mode. And you know, before we got on the system, we were using the extended Bolus and the and the Temp Basal a lot. And then we got on the system. And that was something that we we weren't really supposed to touch that I was gonna say that you were asking about the what happened during the clinical trials. So we didn't use those features at all. Because you know, the algorithm is supposed to be better than that. It's supposed to do a better job than what you know, we're we do. But I think there's scenarios where really, it can't predict it doesn't know what you're feeding, like what you're eating.
Scott Benner 41:30
So you can't know the list laid out the algorithms not going to overcome like for example, if your kids Basal rate should be more like five, like point five, and you have it at point three, the algorithm can overcome that. If you're going to eat cheeseburger and french fries, and have a massive impact from fat 90 minutes after you've eaten. It has no way to know about that. Like there's there's things that you can't do now without an extended Bolus, like me for me. I mean, I Bolus for fat. I just make an extra Bolus for fat. Like I know some people probably make extended boluses. And that's great. But I just usually wait a little bit of time and then Bolus for the fat before the spike happens. That just
Skiy 42:14
we weren't doing it all until I listened to that pro tip.
Scott Benner 42:19
You're gonna you'll listen you're you're on your way. You're totally one of these people who six months from now it's gonna be like, I have a five nine a onesie. I figured it out like for my daughter, I got it straight. So Oh, no, you will, especially now that you're sleeping more to being really serious about that. The Sleep part. We don't talk about nearly enough. It messes with you in so many different ways. And it stops you from making good decisions and remembering to Pre-Bolus and remembering to do other things. Because you're exhausted all the time. I I'm interested to see how you are just in a couple of months after extra sleeping. You know what I mean? It's gonna be a really big deal.
Skiy 42:58
I think that I I think that's going to be a huge thing for a lot of people. Just being able to get to sleep is is great. And I mean, I've been sleeping pretty well for the last. What did we decide? It was 19 months on whatever we decided since I've been on them. So you know, we've we've gotten pretty decent sleep for a while. Which I was like, but then I had a baby. I threw baby in the mix.
Scott Benner 43:23
I didn't do that. You know, you guys stop fighting long enough to make a baby. That's not you should
Skiy 43:27
know. IVF baby, I had to plan for him and spend a lot of money on on
Scott Benner 43:33
going to a movie or something. That would have been a better use of your time. I mean, I'm sure the kids terrific. I'm not saying it's great. He's six months old. You don't know if he's great or not.
Skiy 43:47
That's true. He's cute. He's super cute. Well,
Scott Benner 43:49
there you go. It looks good in the Christmas card. That's all you need. Okay, have a quick question. That's nothing to do with any of this. Are you from the northeast? You don't tell me exactly where
Skiy 43:59
I'm from. Do you not want me to? Well, you don't make
Scott Benner 44:01
worse although Well, are you? Are you in mass?
Skiy 44:06
No, I'm in Ohio. Okay, I'm born. Born and bred in Ohio.
Scott Benner 44:12
I've just been trying to figure out because you and one. So there's a person I know who's gonna hear this. Who says I'm the pod? And I don't even know. I don't even know if that person knows. That's how they say it or not. But they're the only person I've ever met who says that? And then you say it that way. And I was fascinated for a second.
Skiy 44:28
So how should I be saying?
Scott Benner 44:30
I mean, I don't know isn't an omni pod?
Skiy 44:32
Oh, I don't know. Uh, you do say that. I? I say Omnipod
Scott Benner 44:36
No, I know you do. And I'm not telling you. You're wrong. I'm just saying I don't hear it that often. I was trying to figure out if you and this person were from similar places, but you're definitely not.
Skiy 44:44
So I'm from Ohio. No,
Scott Benner 44:47
it's fine. I just I was like, I've been wondering for 40
Skiy 44:50
minutes. You know, Scott, I just pronounce things weird because I have an i in My Name Is your mother. It's my mom. My mom did it.
Scott Benner 45:00
wonder if that is just have something to do with it. Maybe you do think of eyes differently than I do, I think. I don't know. Okay, so where are you? My question here? Are there anything are the things about it you don't like?
Skiy 45:19
I don't like that I if I get out of automated mode to use the extended Bolus feature or the temporary the Temp Basal rate that it doesn't remind me to go back into automated mode, like it'll just keep me in manual and I, I want forever. Yeah, and I, and I'm, I've had two kids like my brain is, I have two kids, I deal with baby diabetes, my brain is shot. So I can't remember. And then I'll find myself, you know, she's she's rising up. She's high. And it's my fault, because I didn't put her back in automated mode.
Scott Benner 45:52
Oh, okay. So interesting. So, so Arden uses loop at the moment, it doesn't tell you when, like, if you open the loop, it doesn't remind you that you've opened the loop. So and, oddly enough, from hearing people talk about diabetes for so many years, I would tell you that most people want fewer reminders from their devices, not more. But I take your point. So you're saying also, how do we think about this, like in loop, we say open the loop, close the loop. But when you leave the algorithm on the pod five, like, is there a certain thing you're doing? Is there a function on your automated or you're in manual, auto or manual, okay? Right? That's easy. So when you go into manual mode, it stops making adjustments to oh, it stops making
Skiy 46:36
a manual manual just turns it into a regular pump, it just takes your settings and it just gives, you know gives based on the settings, it doesn't give those micro boluses or stop the boluses of the right or the
Scott Benner 46:50
right. So you're seeing when you go into manual initially, it's so that you can make a Bolus on your own for something. But then if you forget to put it back on, it's just running her Basal at point three, five or point three, and then she's rising up.
Skiy 47:02
Yeah, I mean, it's only if I decided I want to use the extended Bolus feature, which I know, you know, it's I don't have to use it. But there's been some times I'm like, I think I will do better if I do do this. Otherwise, like, when we were on the clinical trial, and we we never used that feature, we would just manually do it, where we would go, okay, you know, we're gonna split this meal in half, we're gonna get 50% now and in like an hour, we'll give the other 50%. So we would just do it that way. But I thought, you know, once we got on this, I would start just us trying to see if that would how that would work out with the extended Bolus, since I didn't get to play around with it. And I, I've just caught myself in a couple of situations where I don't put myself put her back end. And
Scott Benner 47:45
so your example, your example is again making me think your basil is not high enough. Okay, because if you probably right, because when the loop, oh, sorry, sorry, on the bottom, when it's an auto mode, there's so many different words. So it only been five is an auto mode. And the algorithm is working. Then if you're at point three, five an hour, but it thinks you're going up, it's giving her more than point three, five up to your max, what's your max again?
Skiy 48:14
Her max right now is only point five, right? It's point five per hour.
Scott Benner 48:20
I'll tell you what, if I was you, and I'm certainly not, this is definitely not medical advice. I'd make a Basal I'd make her Basal more like, well, let me ask this question. What's that? Oh, by the way, I just got a text. I just looked up on my computer. My wife's texted me Wordle in three, we are in a Bloodsport over who can complete Wordle quicker every day.
Skiy 48:44
Or cancel the rest of this go play Word.
Scott Benner 48:47
I have to go right now and beat her
Skiy 48:49
better than you're gonna give me advice. And now No, no, no, just
Scott Benner 48:52
I'm just amused. She knows I'm doing this with you. And she knows these things pop up in front of me. And that's how much it means that we're she's like Wordle and three, that basically I have to bleep this out what that basically means is you I've got you in vertel today there's no way you're
Skiy 49:10
I will be rooting for you. Do your work your way. Yeah, I just checked for Max Basal rate is point five.
Scott Benner 49:17
Okay, so my expectation is, is that based on our weight, she could probably handle more Basal and so I don't know if it's actually going to be point five but my question was going to be how often does the algorithm maxar Basal out? Can you see that?
Skiy 49:33
You know what I haven't I can I can look in history and see
Scott Benner 49:37
I'm excited because we're about to fixer Basal rate together. That's amazing.
Skiy 49:40
No, it doesn't say on here like you're maxed out.
Scott Benner 49:48
You can't see how you don't see like a graph.
Skiy 49:51
Like I can see like her and so if I go into the history, it gives me a summary of, you know what, what each of her her glucose numbers were in her Bolus is where and then the carbs that we did. And then if I go to auto events, it'll show me when it gave her but you know, insulin. So it'll show me like every five minutes if it gave her something or if it didn't, but it doesn't tell me on here, you know you've reached her your max. So if
Scott Benner 50:13
it's trying to give her insulin, and it's hitting her max over and over again, excuse me. Then my expectation is that you should make her basil that already and increase the max to give it more leeway. Okay. Right. That's what I would do if I
Skiy 50:32
raise her Max basil rate, obviously, as well.
Scott Benner 50:36
Yeah, I mean, definitely I would. Okay, right. So I know you don't want to make it crazy. But I'd like to, I'd like to see you give the algorithm some more space to work.
Skiy 50:46
So she's what she's with me 24/7 I homeschool her. So I I'm not afraid of like, you know, giving, putting her in someone else's care with changes. So I don't mind making changes. Obviously, I just, I'm just do it slow. I do slow changes like that way I can kind of keep track of like, what did I do? I
Scott Benner 51:05
think you're smart. I absolutely do. I'm not being sarcastic. I know. You're from Ohio. Possibly. You're not gonna like be able to hear it. But if this was if Vera was me, I'd make her basil point five and I'd make her Max basil like a unit. I'd be like, let's see what this thing can do.
Skiy 51:23
I'm gonna see what happens.
Scott Benner 51:25
You know, I mean, cuz then you're given the, I have to think of another euphemism. I was gonna say you're giving the algorithm more rope. But I don't think like a hanging is the way to think of it. But you're giving it more. You're giving it more leeway to make decisions on its own. Okay, that's what I'm thinking. I'm thinking that. I'm not listening. This is not a rule. But little kids prior to puberty, point one an hour per 10 pounds is a fair guess. So if she's point three, but she weighs 50. I think she's probably more like, point 4.4 or 5.5, something like that. Okay, I still I think point three is too low for her weight. And based on what you've said prior about where she's sitting stable?
Skiy 52:10
Well, I mean, she was she was lower than point three before I put her at point three. And I did point three made a difference.
Scott Benner 52:17
Oh, no, I don't you're telling me she was like point two while she was 50 pounds, like
Skiy 52:21
2.25. And her Max Basal rate was point four Sky Garden.
Scott Benner 52:28
You people all just stopped going to the doctor and giving them their $40 She sent me the $40. Like, that's just ridiculous point to over 50 pound kid is. I mean, there are some people who there are some people who don't follow the kind of rules their bodies don't need as much as maybe they need more. I'm not saying that. It's not it's not a blanket statement for every person. But point two for a 50 pound kid seems ridiculous to me, especially if they're not having any lows and your stability? Is it 130?
Skiy 52:56
Well, I think that the doctors goals is just to keep them. It's like I think our endocrinologist wants to keep her healthy. But I also think that they see a lot of people that don't manage diabetes very well, because I've I've been told by them like, you know, you you want to do better, but you're also doing really good compared to a lot of other
Scott Benner 53:12
people. I don't know what that means. That's both.
Skiy 53:15
Yeah. I personally like I, I think that they they can be they can do better to to help everybody, everybody, everybody has a different goal. And, you know, I want my daughter to be lower, have a lower UNC and be more in range. And, you know, I'm willing to put in the work to have that happen. But maybe, maybe they just don't have people that are willing to do that. And so they keep them at a safe. I don't know what maybe I'm making excuses. I'm making excuses.
Scott Benner 53:46
I'll tell you what, I'd like to see you stick up for that husband, the way you're sticking up for this doctor right now. What do you think?
Unknown Speaker 53:50
I don't know, I bet. I'm gonna tell him
Scott Benner 53:56
that you said I'm smart. I also told him you should have loving sex with him. But I don't think you're gonna tell him that part. Are you?
Skiy 54:03
I might I might go, I'll see.
Scott Benner 54:06
What I was gonna say is, if this is controversial, I don't know what to say about it. But if your settings are right, your blood sugar would be lower. And right to say that, you know, to say that I'm 130 is great, because other people come in here with two hundreds. I don't even know. I don't I don't understand what that means. He mean, like it would, it would it would be like if you walked into the doctor's office, and you're like, Hey, how are you? It feels good. Let me take a look at it looks at and goes. Hey Skye, you have a seeping wound on your arm, but we're not going to treat it because I just talked to somebody whose whole foot fell off. Like what is like, what does that mean? Like you're doing so much better than the lady whose foot fell off. So we're gonna we're just not even gonna dress this one because you're way ahead of her. I don't get I think it's laziness. I don't think the doctor is not a talk to people. And I think and with due respect to them. There's a rainbow of people that they have to To speak to and I'm sure that that goes. I'm sure that rainbow has a lot of different stripes in it. Some of those stripes are probably motivation. Some of them are probably economic, some of them are probably intellectual, there's probably a lot of different things about people, right that they have to deal with. But that doesn't change what the settings are supposed to be. Yeah, so the settings are the settings, given somebody point to who needs point five, and telling them they're okay, cuz they're doing better than somebody with a nine a one C, like, I don't understand what that means. So, you know,
Skiy 55:35
this is why I was in a bad loop of just keeping my daughter's a one C in the high 70s to low 80s for a year and a half, because I've just followed what I was told.
Scott Benner 55:47
No, of course, no, no shade on you. Like that's just what happens to people. You don't I mean, you got it now you're on your own. No, no. Do you think we should call this episode on the pod five and loving sex?
Skiy 55:59
Yes, you're gonna be disappointed if he doesn't get the loving sex.
Scott Benner 56:08
I don't even know why I said loving I think because otherwise I think of it is like angry when you're like, when you're arguing, but you're still doing it. You know? Like, you're like, this is off the rails guy. I'm so sorry. You probably wanted your mom to listen to this.
Skiy 56:24
Okay. Yeah. Fine. She was like, if you put if you knew my mom wouldn't be a big deal.
Scott Benner 56:30
Okay, all right. Number okay. Anyway, I'm being like, I'm joking. And at the same time, this is all tied together. If you don't think that your personal relationships aren't tied to your kids blood sugars or your blood sugars your way wrong. You know what I mean? Like, because when blood sugars are fluctuating when there you're constantly feeding lows or stopping highs or staring at highs, these things are stressful. They are omnipresent. They don't let you focus on other things. You take your focus off the things that are important, other parts of your life devolve. It's all like it's all touching each other. And by the way, did you hear a second ago when I said on the present? I didn't say I'm the present. Oh, got it. Okay. I could. I
Skiy 57:15
could I have said I'm the president. But I I would have said on the present. I
Scott Benner 57:19
know you would have but you're from Ohio, so I can trust you. Guys, what do you guys go out there, Dave Chappelle and Drew Carey said about it.
Skiy 57:26
We do have your carry. Yeah, I don't. We have Machine Gun Kelly. I saw on the news. today. He's holding a concert in Cleveland. It's there or he's doing a well he's from he's from Cleveland. And I'm outside of Cleveland. I'm like 40 minutes outside of Cleveland Show Helens
Scott Benner 57:41
a bunch of property in Ohio. And he lives there full time.
Skiy 57:46
I don't know why.
Scott Benner 57:47
He said I've heard him in an interview. He said he likes the small town feel of where he's at? Oh, I don't know. You're like, I want to get the hell out of Ohio,
Skiy 57:57
too. But I know my family would never visit me.
Scott Benner 58:01
Oh, they definitely wouldn't. I my brother moved to Wisconsin. I've still never seen Wisconsin. He's like, why won't you come here? And I said you moved to Wisconsin. No offense, Wisconsin. But I mean, they're like, Ohio, right? Yeah. Well, I don't even know what that means. I mean, there's a lake here. I can see it. My brothers. It comes to the lakes. I'm like, What do I do eight minutes after I've seen the lakes. What are we doing next? So my vacation time? You don't I mean, sky like I don't get a ton of time off.
Skiy 58:26
You don't want to go to Wisconsin? Well,
Scott Benner 58:28
I mean, we just need somewhere usually it's easier. And I'm teasing. Mostly, I'm sure Wisconsin is a lovely place. And I don't want to hear from your pupils. So just please don't send me notes telling me. I'm sure it's lovely. Although for my brother's description, it's freezing cold in the winter and sweltering hot in the summer. So that's not a ton of fun for me. Okay, hold on, what is it? We don't know about? Um, the pod five that you wish we knew? Like, what do you want to tell us?
Skiy 58:56
Um, so I really I liked the activity feature. I don't know if you've heard about the activity feature. I do like that a lot. I think it's, it's been beneficial, like when we are when my daughter's playing or she's doing something really excited that she's really excited about and I know, she's gonna have a lot of a lot of activity or excitement and for sugar is probably going to drop, it's, it's really great to just set that. Like when we were on the trial we were we went on a road trip and we were in Tennessee, and we were hiking a mountain. And you know, that activity feature having that on, she didn't go low during the entire hike, which was really great. So I really like that. I think it's really cool. And it goes right back into automated mode. So I don't have to be reminded which is
Scott Benner 59:38
wonderful. Can you set a length of time for
Skiy 59:41
Yeah, so what it does is it it changes your target to 150. And you set the length of time for that. So you one hour two hours, six hours. I don't know what the the max amount of time it can go up to I've never tried that because my daughter's not active for that long. But you know, we we've used it for a variety of different situations and it's it's been really, it's been really great. I really like it.
Scott Benner 1:00:03
Cool. Okay, um, still holds up to 200 units, like the old guys 85, minimum is 85 What else? What else do we need to know? Like? Would you? Would you say that it's a, I mean, I guess you would write it's a big difference between managing without an algorithm for you.
Skiy 1:00:24
A big. Yeah, I don't know what it's like to be on loop I listened to, you know, mostly just from your podcast, conversations regarding loop and I feel like, loop does a really, really, really good job. And I am hoping that people who are going to be moving from loop to the, um, should I say Omnipod. Five, that, that they're not going to be disappointed. Because I think that, you know, there's things that it like the target, for instance, I know, that's going to be a big difference for a lot of people, because I think what you get, you can set your target a lot lower than 110. I, so I, I'm hoping that people aren't going to be disappointed in that. But for me coming from what I what we were, you know, the original Omnipod to this. I, I love it, I think it's great. I'm trying to think of other things I love about it, I love that it's just one device. That's amazing, I cannot tell you how disappointed and how sad I was carrying around those two devices for a month. And I felt like a privileged child, like crying, you know, because oh, I What was me, I have to carry two devices again. But like just having this, this, the cell phone with me is wonderful. So I love that the distance I don't know with Dash, how, like how close you have to be to the child or to the person, whoever, whoever has diabetes, whoever has the pump, how close you have to be in order to dose them. But I know with the original, I would have to be like on top of my daughter. And you know, it was supposed to be a five foot range. And there were times where I had to be like touching her pump pretty much in order to get it to dose. And with this, I've been able like I'm in my room right now my house is small, but I'm in my room right now she's out in the living room doing something I can dose her right now. And it wouldn't be an issue where she can be outside and I can go sir. So the range is really good, which I love.
Scott Benner 1:02:20
Excellent. You know, I want today I'm Arden did like this market research thing for Omni pod when they were making the new PDM, which is now the old PDM. And it worked. We were in an office, it worked like 25 feet away from the pod. And I remember that the F TC is that right? FCC or the FTC, whichever ones in charge of like signals? Made them turn the power down on it.
Skiy 1:02:46
So I did notice on the trial version, it had a much bigger I had a large longer range than the this version. But it's still good. Like it's still really good.
Scott Benner 1:02:58
Good. Yeah. And you don't have to have just so people understand like the the device who you have. You have the PDM. Right. Are they calling it that now? Are they calling it something different?
Skiy 1:03:08
No, it's a PDM. Yeah, it's, it is a PDM and my PDM that I had, when they sent it to me, it actually was defective. So that was the whole thing. They I had to get a new one. And then you know, I get the new one. And then they get the app out. So luckily, I don't have to use use that. But I didn't I don't like the new PDFs that they compared to the well, I guess on the trial, I was using a cell phone. Oh, that was the other thing too. I'm sorry, I'm going everywhere. Now. The the PDF that they provide you with, it doesn't do like your Dexcom. It, it just shows you the graph. When I was on the trial, the Dexcom was built into the app. So everything you did for Dexcom was through the app, which is kind of a bummer, too, because now you have to open up both the the app for the Dexcom if you want to, you know if you're if you're gonna change the Dexcom or do anything with Dexcom, you have to open up the Dexcom app. And if you're gonna do anything with that,
Scott Benner 1:04:05
what would you what would you do with the Dexcom? Because you're bringing up something that I've noticed 1,000,000%, which is we don't even look at the Dexcom app ever anymore. Like it's never I mean, it's open, it's running, but no one looks at it because it her CGM informations in the loop app.
Skiy 1:04:25
I can't turn off alarms and the loop app. Like I was able to do that or not the loop sorry, my dad in the Omnipod find out. I can't turn off the alarms. Like if I get a high alarm or a low alarm. I have to go into the Dexcom app to turn it off. And when I was on the clinical trial, I didn't have to do that because you accessed the app through like you access Dex you access the Dexcom Web Summit. I'm saying we're through the Omnipod app. And now you don't do that we just have this
Scott Benner 1:04:56
graph. What do you mean by turn off the alarm? Do you mean like do do turn on and off alarms very frequently.
Skiy 1:05:03
Like if I get an alert that says she's going high, or an alert that says she's going low, I have to go into the Dexcom to do it. To do what I'm not following you on this, like, you know, where it says, Hey, your, your, your a lot, your high, your blood sugar's high, and you have to hit okay. And if you don't hit okay, then it just keeps telling you. You don't have these issues because your daughter's blood sugar's in better control than mine.
Scott Benner 1:05:23
I'm like, I'm not sure what you're talking about. So Arden's phone has come up as Oh, I think you can go into your eye. In an iPhone, at least, there's different ways that you can get notifications, they can either pop up on your screen and need intervention. Or you can have them just roll up on the top of your screen and then go away on their own. So we don't have ours, ours don't stay around, they go away on their own.
Skiy 1:05:52
Oh, yeah, I don't know. Like, last night, for instance, her sugar kept going to like 133 135. And every time it went off, it would it would make you know, a noise and then I'd have to go into the Dexcom app, and I'd have to hit okay. I didn't pay then. And I can put it on to like, you know, never, never repeat or repeat every hour or whatever. But yeah, I have to hit okay, if
Scott Benner 1:06:17
you don't say okay, it just keeps telling you, like beeping over and over again.
Skiy 1:06:22
Like it'll, it'll go it'll stop and then it'll do it again.
Scott Benner 1:06:26
Are you saying just to make it disappear off the screen like the video representation? No,
Skiy 1:06:30
get it to get like I have her setting up. Never repeat right now. Let's say like I have, if it goes off, it's never repeat. If her if her sugar is still high, that way, it doesn't keep telling me I just, you know, go in and I'll fix it or whatever. But if I if I don't do that, and I just leave the warning on there. I know you're making me feel like I'm crazy. I don't think I'm crazy.
Scott Benner 1:06:51
I don't think you're crazy, but I don't I am definitely not following what you're saying.
Skiy 1:06:57
I don't know what the time different, like every
Scott Benner 1:06:59
five minutes or whatever. Yeah, again, but you know what, but what happens if you don't hit okay?
Skiy 1:07:08
I just keeps chiming. Like after, like, it'll stop and then it'll it'll go beep, beep and then you know, I won't do anything. And then like five minutes or 10 minutes later, it'll go beep beep like, hey, hey, dummy, come in here. Look at me. I'm beeping at you.
Scott Benner 1:07:22
Alright, so once you interact with it, if you think it feels like it knows you're there, and you're aware.
Skiy 1:07:29
Yeah, it's like it needs me to say okay, do it.
Scott Benner 1:07:31
Hmm. Interesting. I've never thought like that once. I could be completely wrong.
Skiy 1:07:38
Do I have like some special Dexcom No, I
Scott Benner 1:07:41
could be completely wrong. I mean, and Arden's. I don't. I don't want people to think Arden's blood sugar never moves around. It's been incredibly stable today, but it'll go up and down. Like we get alarms. You know what I mean? So, I mean, she's a little high right
Skiy 1:07:57
now. It's just more needy than yours. Okay. No,
Scott Benner 1:08:01
I, I'm not following what you're saying. So what I will tell you is that on loop, I think that Ardens Dexcom app becomes almost unnecessary. Like we use it probably, I mean, to swap sensors. And if we ever calibrate, and other than that, I don't ever see it. And she doesn't she never looks at it. If she looks at what her blood sugar is. She looks at Hawaii. Oh, interesting. She looks on the loop app, which on the pod fives app, you can see your blood sugar, right?
Skiy 1:08:32
Yeah, I can see it. Yes. Okay. Or?
Scott Benner 1:08:37
i To be honest, I have a widget on my screen now. For Omni for Dexcom I barely ever see the Dexcom app because the widgets right on the front of my phone every time I open it up. So you have an omni Do you have an iPhone?
Skiy 1:08:52
I do. Yes. i So i on the follow up with my iPhone. But her the phone that I have to use for her is the Samsung Galaxy S 10. Which I just I hate this phone
Scott Benner 1:09:04
isn't her phone. She get a phone?
Skiy 1:09:07
She it's her? It's her device? Yes, this is what we use for her. But I'm not a I'm not an Android person. I'm an AI person. So I don't I don't know anything like I don't know how to I don't know I have to give to my husband and say here set something up because he has an Android.
Scott Benner 1:09:24
I can't wait for them. I can't all these devices. I can't wait for them to cover more cell phones, iPhone, Android everything. And for this to become the norm which it will be one day I just can't wait to get to it because I don't disagree with you like carrying extra devices sucks. Like the one thing that's great about loop is that the loop is an app. So it's right. It's right on Arden's phone. She doesn't have she hasn't carried Arden hasn't carried a PDM and so long, like I'm not 100% sure she would know what it was if I gave it to her. You know,
Skiy 1:09:55
and that's how this is now with this app. You know my daughter can just carry this phone around but yeah
Scott Benner 1:10:00
No, I know. Yeah. But it only works right now on that one phone, right?
Skiy 1:10:04
Yeah, only on this one phone and the the app, they kept asking me like, they would send me a survey and stuff. They asked me questions about if we were using the app or if we're using PDM. And I'm like, we can't use the app, the apps not available. And I was on the phone with with them when my PDM was having failures a few weeks ago, and they kept telling me that they weren't going to release the app on the limited market release. So I'm very, very happy that they change their mind.
Scott Benner 1:10:31
I don't know anything, but I bet you that it just happened sooner than they thought. So they got it together. And they're like, let's do it is what I would guess also on the pod if you're listening, why do I not have on the pod five yet? What is happening right now? You know how much better I would have been on this episode sky if I had this thing?
Skiy 1:10:48
Right. Wouldn't make probably make me look really dumb. Oh,
Scott Benner 1:10:51
no, I'm just saying I would understand things better. And I would sound more together. And you know, we I really?
Skiy 1:10:56
I have a PDM I'm not using if you want to look at it.
Scott Benner 1:11:00
No. Wait, my turn like everybody else. That's fine.
Skiy 1:11:04
Well, you wouldn't be able to use it. I mean, you need the pods. But
Scott Benner 1:11:07
yeah, no, no, I'm supposed to get on the pod five, as soon as I'm not sure I'm supposed to say this. But anyway, my expectation is that I'm getting on the pod five soon after the limited market release is over. But I'm saying Chop chop. You know, I mean?
Skiy 1:11:24
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, I wonder I'm interested to find out if you're going to be disappointed.
Scott Benner 1:11:31
at all, you want to know what I love. I
Skiy 1:11:33
love love, love, love, love Omnipod. But just from you going from a loop, from a looper to the, you know, this algorithm, I'm just interested to see how it works for you.
Scott Benner 1:11:42
Arden is six months away from going to college. So anything perceived that I'm going to lose about loop I'm going to gain in other ways. One example, on the pod five does not require a linking device between the phone and right. And the and the device is the pump, right? So huge. That's a huge leap for us. So and also, by the way, the Omni pod five talks to the Dexcom directly. You don't even need the PDM to be near for the algorithm to work. No, right? Yeah, you don't, it's great. If you took Arden's phone and chucked it out the window, her loop would stop working. Oh, wow. Right. If you lose the little thing that she's got to carry in her bag, constantly, she's using something called an orange link, this little device that links her, lets her phone, talk to the pod. If that thing if the battery dies, if whatever, she loses the loop. On the pod five comes from a company, it shows up at your house and it works loop has to be set up on a computer and you need to be an app developer to do it. And there's all these other things. What I'm telling you is that one day, that loop apps gonna need to be rebuilt or something like that, and my daughter is going to be away at college. And can you imagine if I got her on the phone, I said, Okay, get out your laptop, open up your developer account like but she'd be like, no, like, I don't know, do any of this. So there's that. Those are my big ones, honestly, like those two things are a big deal for us. Well,
Skiy 1:13:13
those are huge. I mean, those those in itself, you You are right, I I think you're gonna love that
Scott Benner 1:13:18
right now. Do I her target blood sugar on lupus 85. So that, you know, that might be tough to walk away from. But at the same time, I think there's got to be a way to put the settings right where this happens. I keep getting notes from people who are like, Hey, I'm using an algorithm. And I have a constant blood sugar that's under the target range. Like I get a lot of notes like that from people. So I think it's doable. What's I need?
Skiy 1:13:48
That's what I need. I need to be able to accomplish that. I've
Scott Benner 1:13:50
never once got that note from you. But
Skiy 1:13:53
I don't maybe you wouldn't. Maybe I sent it. You didn't look at it.
Scott Benner 1:13:57
But I think I just want to get my hands on to try it. Like if I can find stability for Arden around 100 for the four years she's away at college. Amen. You know what I mean?
Skiy 1:14:09
So when you get it, you are going to contact me and then help me is that what you're saying? Why this
Scott Benner 1:14:15
podcast so everybody can hear it? But I mean, do you want one?
Skiy 1:14:18
Directly? You'll just help me totters numbers, because
Scott Benner 1:14:22
I'm gonna I'm gonna make what you want to really know what I think. What Alright, well, first of all your your episodes going up like tomorrow, like you're gonna have to wait to hear yours. Okay, so um, but what I what I'm going to do is I'm going to make myself proficient at it. And then I'm going to do a Pro Tip series with Jenny about it. Oh, that's great. Yeah, that's all and you know, on it, we'll do as much as we can. Just like we always have been trying to get as much information as we possibly can for oh, if I if there's things
Skiy 1:14:51
that I have questions about, I can email them to you and you can maybe include them in the pro tip. Oh, please.
Scott Benner 1:14:57
I'm going to be looking for questions from people. It's okay good. Yeah, there's no end of this podcast, this is gonna go on forever, don't worry. That's why I stopped eating, you know, like, you know, I get sick or something. I mean, you know, I did eat an egg today and nothing else so far, so I'm probably not gonna live forever. But as long as I can, I'm gonna keep trying to add value into the community for people who use insulin, you know. So that this is one of those things.
Skiy 1:15:24
Did you have any more questions about the? I don't know, I don't even know, trial or anything?
Scott Benner 1:15:29
Well, I mean, it sounds like it went well, it sounds like that it was unobtrusive in your life, which, you know, we should say to people do clinical trials, they help people, you know, it sounds like, it sounds like you're happy with the device. It sounds like you're still trying to get the settings set up. It sounds like there's a lot of ceiling still above you here. But even if you have your settings wrong, and you're not always Pre-Bolus thing, it sounds like you're getting a six, eight a one. See? That's amazing. You
Skiy 1:16:00
already told me it's six, seven cents. Like it clarities estimating six, seven. So I'm thinking it came down a little bit more to even say, I've been on this new system. Yeah,
Scott Benner 1:16:11
I mean, I would tell you just you got to Pre-Bolus It's the biggest part of all of it. It just really is. You know what I mean? Like if you don't want spikes, Pre-Bolus if you know if you want you know, you've probably heard me say it on the podcast before but if you're is going to have a snack and you feel bad about making our weight. You could over Bolus to cover the spike a little bit. You know, I mean,
Skiy 1:16:33
yeah, been I've been doing that. I just I tend to like last night I did that with macaroni and cheese. And it was gluten free mac and cheese because I gluten free. And I she I was just fighting highs. I messed up. I don't know what I did. But yeah, hard
Scott Benner 1:16:50
eye rolls and the fat and the slow digestion. You know, from the fat. So I mean, you just need to know, that just needs a lot of insulin. That's
Skiy 1:17:02
my supplement is I gave her a high dose up front. And then it's like, it's it. It didn't cut and I we Pre-Bolus for it. But then by the time everything kicked in, you know, it was out of her system. Like the insulin, it's like the insulin had already hit. She ended up with a low because I gave her heavy Bolus.
Scott Benner 1:17:24
And then she got hit harder by the fast and the slow digestion later. So yeah, so I mean, you got to Pre-Bolus Then you look at that situation, you say, Okay, I still needed the Pre-Bolus. Not as much of it. I probably need to secondary Bolus with that insulin plus a little more later. Yeah, that would be my guess, learning. I'm
Skiy 1:17:42
trying to learn that. Oh, it's
Scott Benner 1:17:43
interesting to talk to you too, because she's had diabetes for a couple of years. But you've only really been in the fight for a couple years. Like how long has she had it? Versus how long do you feel like you've been? What's the word I want? Like, like, how long has your awareness been higher, that there's more that needed to be done?
Skiy 1:18:00
It really started with the trial. Like that's, that's when I when I started seeing changes and movements and feeling like maybe we were accomplishing something that we weren't accomplishing before, because I felt so stuck. So, like a year and a half ago, but then it really, really really hit me when I started listening to the podcast. Okay, well, yeah, it's like, I can do this, like, I absolutely can do this. I'm glad
Scott Benner 1:18:23
and also to me, then that means the time she had diabetes before that you don't have to Don't feel bad about that. You know, I mean, like, you're just getting into it now. And you're figuring out very quickly, so I get a lot of yelling. Say that again? I'm sorry.
Skiy 1:18:39
I said it feels like we're starting over. Yeah, you know, that's, that's kind of the way I looked at it is, you know, we're obviously in it, we know we have better tools than we did, obviously when we started and my mind is in a lot better place than it was when we started. But we're starting over to try and achieve some goals.
Scott Benner 1:18:56
It's an incredibly incredibly common story. So I wouldn't spend five seconds feeling bad about it I'd feel great about what you're doing. You know, I do feel about it. Good. Excellent. So you're gonna keep using Omnipod five You're not getting away from it.
Skiy 1:19:10
Oh, absolutely not No, I I am like so nervous that I'm very nervous that when it's commercial the commercial release comes out that my insurance like will not cover it I don't know why I'm just like freaking out about it because I can't like I can't get off of this I need this well they cover dash right? They do Yeah, and I'm hoping that because of that but I just you know I don't I don't know what's gonna happen and I just makes me nervous so try
Scott Benner 1:19:35
not to be nervous they say that worry is a waste of imagination. So oh, that's like that. Yeah, just just don't worry about things you don't know to be true that's all that's super easy right? Meanwhile, your your six months after having a baby you're probably still dose to all those like crazy, like mommy hormones and everything right.
Skiy 1:19:56
left in me Believe me.
Scott Benner 1:19:58
Oh, yeah. Hey, You probably are having weird dreams do you think all kinds of crazy stuff is gonna happen to you? Most of my kid is 22. And last week, we were in Florida for baseball thing. And they had a little problem with their transportation, right? Five days after they had problem with their transportation my wife goes to sleep next to me Falls asleep in a split second stirs. And in her sleep says there's not enough space on the bus for the boys. So don't expect any of this to end anytime soon.
Skiy 1:20:30
My husband and I were just having a conversation about this the other night he was making some weird noise in his sleep and I had to hit him in the face. Because he was driving me insane. And I and I I was just making fun of him and he just he just told me like sky you eat Oreos in your sleep. And, you know, I I've been working with dogs for the last 17 years. And he's like, and one time you got that up out of that and you tried to put a dog in a crate on our wall so I don't want to hear it.
Scott Benner 1:20:53
So wait, you get Oreos like real Oreos or fake or?
Skiy 1:20:57
No, I used to actually I used to sleep eat Oreos. It was a problem. It was an actual problem. For crumbs in my bed. thing. It was a real thing. That's amazing. Yeah, I would get mad. I'd be like, where are the Oreos? You know? And it started when I was in high school. My mom would be like, Hey, you came in. You came down and you eat them tonight? Like, what do you mean? Where are they and you punch this guy in the head? I smacked him in the face.
Scott Benner 1:21:23
For the week? No, no, he's
Skiy 1:21:25
he's very loving.
Scott Benner 1:21:27
Not like you know. Okay, well, all you single guys out there. Good luck. Alright.
Skiy 1:21:37
Did you do you have I was wondering, I was prepared in case you're going to ask me about autoimmune in my family, because I know that's the thing that you do.
Scott Benner 1:21:45
Go ahead. Do it. Okay. Well, you hit me in the face, do whatever you want.
Skiy 1:21:53
I have hypothyroidism. I have hash motos. And I haven't, which I don't know that I've ever heard you discuss it the MTHFR gene mutation I have that my daughter has that which is not an autoimmune disease, but it does. It's a gene mutation that can affect it can cause issues with your immune system. And my mother, like we pretty much just have thyroid issues. My husband doesn't have anything that he's aware of. It's the mother effer No,
Scott Benner 1:22:30
it's exactly what it looks like. A mother effer mutation MTHFR gene variant looks like mother effer gene variant. But wow, methyl entra trufa hydro folate read Oh my God, never say that. Just say Mother MTHFR is better. What is it? Oh, it's a rare. Congratulations.
Skiy 1:22:52
No, no. So actually a lot of people have it but they don't they most most medical doctors which go go figure they don't think it's a big a big deal. And the only reason I even know I have it is because I went through IVF and all this infertility issues for eight years. And so I asked to be treated or tested for it because it can cause miscarriages and when I and I have a double copy of it, and I passed it on to my daughter, but what it does is it like your body can't process like synthetic folic acid, you can only process like methylated folate, methylated, B 12 B six, it can't. So you you end up normally with like vitamin D, vitamin b Sorry, deficiency. And you can you can have a homocysteine level like increase which is an amino acid like your, your body normally will get rid of this the homocysteine levels. And if you can't, if your body can't do that, then you can end up with like heart disease, various cancers, stroke, people that have Bipolar in their family anxiety, stuff like that are symptoms of it. And it can cause miscarriages because the clotting factor issue. So I was looking, I've been recently looking at research to see if there's anything that like ties in with it, you know, um, autoimmune diseases and whatnot. So and from what I can tell it, because it can affect your immune system overall, it definitely can play a part in it. And I know like I was reading about I delayed vaccines and whatnot with my son. And there were recommendations if you have like type one diabetes, and the mth FRB mutation in your family, you know, different schedules and stuff for delayed vaccines because of how it how it can affect your body. So yeah, it just something I never had never heard or I haven't heard yet, and it wasn't sure if you had heard of it.
Scott Benner 1:24:44
No. Is there anything you can do for it or take for it or no?
Skiy 1:24:47
So you know, it's funny because I didn't know I had it when I was pregnant with my daughter and I took folic acid the whole time. They tell you, you know take folic acid when you're pregnant, but I really should have been taking fully methylated folate, so you just have to take math deleted, fully like in its purest form, and then the the B vitamins methylated B vitamins and you don't eat, you can't eat anything that is enriched with folic acid. So like enriched rice bread, so I, I stick to a gluten free diet because of that. And my daughter, I don't she has the mutation, but I don't restrict her. She does eat a lot of gluten free things because I eat them. But yeah, mostly you just you, you can't eat those types of process things because your body can't can't process it. Right? Because it's it's synthetic.
Scott Benner 1:25:35
Interesting. I'll have to find out if I can get somebody on who understands it, because that is kind of fascinating. I was looking at it while you were talking. And I would be interested to know more. Nobody else though. Just the hype, the Hashimotos for you, any extended family have anything?
Skiy 1:25:51
No, not that we're aware of. And honestly, like my thyroid levels, it's I love I love all of your thyroid series and tips because my thyroid levels were in what they consider a normal range. The only reason that they were ever tested was I started in fertility treatments when I was going to have my daughter. And they you know that reproductive endocrinologist they test your thyroid? And it was like a four and they were like, oh, no, you can't have you can't be at a four, we need to get you down. You know, we won't we can't do treatments on you if you're this high. But my other doctors said that that was normal. So I wouldn't have been even treated for it had I not been going through fertility treatments. And my, my mom, my mom has, I don't know what her levels are. But my mom has hypothyroid as well. And then I asked to be tested for antibodies for Hashimotos. And, you know, luckily, I've asked for all of these things. So they've been brought to my attention. But had I not asked for any of them, they wouldn't have been
Scott Benner 1:26:47
interesting. Wow. Okay, I appreciate you telling me all this and for sharing all this information about on the pot five and your experience. This has been very cool. I expect to have a lot more conversations with people about stuff like this in the future. I think algorithms are going to be a big part of living with diabetes moving forward, and I'm excited to talk about it more with people. But yeah, I actually Terrific.
Skiy 1:27:11
Thank you, I share more of our Omnipod five journey on my Instagram I try not on my I have like a page that I do for it because my family and friends don't really care. You know, but I like talking about diabetes. So I have like a page that I I share more of our journey on if anyone's interested. What's it called? It's called our wonderful life. But it's wonderful is Oh, any like type one. So it's our wonderful life and I'm on Instagram and I have a Facebook that I do for that which I that's how I had posted about it through there. And I I got I got scolded by Scott on your Facebook. You know, you didn't scold me but you said on there like hey, you know you can't share things from from your pages. So if you want to talk about this, then let's
Scott Benner 1:28:00
Yeah, hold on a second. First, I want to get out your Instagram handle. So what is the
Skiy 1:28:06
at our our sorry, at our wonderful life? So it's our wonderful life. Oh, me. Dr. SQL.
Scott Benner 1:28:14
I'm trying to find it. I'm on the what they call the Instagram are Oh, you are? That's first, right?
Skiy 1:28:22
It's Oh, no, it's Oh, you are? Wait, isn't that
Scott Benner 1:28:27
wonderful?
Skiy 1:28:29
o u r o n e de RF ul li Fe
Scott Benner 1:28:36
I got it. I say o u r o n e d e r f you li Fe right. ul li fe. Okay. Thank you. So that's on Instagram, and back to what happened on the thing. So I have what you might call a popular Facebook page. You do? And And here's one of the problems that comes with having a popular Facebook page. People want to steal your people. So that we end with people okay, yeah. But no, but what seriously happens is you become like, I mean, for me, at least I feel like I have a responsibility, right? So if I start letting people sell things, and they're like, I have a T shirt I want to sell or my Facebook page or this or that. Like, I can't keep on top of all that. And so I can't What do I want to say if I can't be sure that what's being shared is what it purports to be. I wouldn't feel comfortable with it being shared. And because I don't have time to do that. It's just a flat out. It's just it's a flat rule. Like you just can't pimp yourself in there.
Skiy 1:29:51
Oh, no, I Yeah, yeah. Yeah, absolutely. I totally get it.
Scott Benner 1:29:55
I just keep up with it. That's all I am. It
Skiy 1:29:58
amazes me that you are like mediate your Facebook group with 20 Some 1000 members on it. It's incredible. But I was I, it was just funny because when you did that I was like, Oh no, I just like I felt like I was getting scolded by like, my dad or something
Scott Benner 1:30:11
like that at all. got upset, like, I was not upset. I'm just I'm just, I think I'm just pretty matter of fact online and I think that doesn't come off well sometimes. But okay, now I just call you out on it. Oh, no, I appreciate, you know, they seriously like, I can't keep up with it. So I barely moderate that Facebook page. Like, there's really, I mean, here's the secret of my Facebook page. There's no real moderation. Like the real like, like, like, you know, if people are terrible, you know, know, if people are like, you know, my gonorrhea went away when I like, you know, that kind of stuff goes out. They we delete that stuff very quickly, as fast as we can. But people's conversations, I just want them to have their conversations. I just can't let it get. I mean, I guess Think of it this way. Like, if I don't know, if a company selling widgets, their biggest problem after they've made a good widget is how to find people who want to buy widgets. And my Facebook page is so full of people who have diabetes, that they to a nefarious person would look like fish in a barrel. And I do not want them treated that way. And because I can't keep up with it. It's just a flat No, like, it's just the No. And that's just what I do. So and I appreciate you having the conversation there. Because then, I mean, the truth is that having a conversation in that space is going to reach a lot more people than having it in a different space. I think
Skiy 1:31:35
you are 100% Correct. Yeah, I agree with you.
Scott Benner 1:31:38
No, see, I'm right. That's all we needed to say.
Well, let's thank Skye for doing this. And I'm tired. It's so much energy. I just, I just got back from vacation. I'm like, alright, I'll try again, right. Hey, let's thank Skye for coming on the show and sharing her story. I'd also like to thank Contour Next One, that lovely, lovely blood sugar meter that you should be checking out at contour next one.com forward slash juice box. And of course, touched by type one.org. Go sign up for the golfing event. There is literally no time left. I mean, it's like two weeks, but hurry.
Well, the community around this podcast is excellent. So we have a couple of things to share. First of all, Skye did initially try moving up the basil, which didn't work in automated mode, I received a message from a listener who said that on the pod five doesn't look at basil after the first 48 hours of the pod, it starts looking I guess at total insulin use, and it makes decisions on its own. So changing the basil after the pods been on doesn't impact the algorithm, I think is what I'm getting out of that. It would of course work in manual mode. I heard from Skye who said she did in fact try moving up the basil but it didn't work. She also figured out that the setting that the the system was correcting above was set at 130. And she moved it down to 110. I have not heard from her since she did that. Although my expectation is that that would make it more aggressive. And I heard from Kenny, who you know from the fox in the loop house episodes, and he said it Kenny Kenny echoes that the system runs primarily off of total daily insulin. So bolusing manually is the only action that you can take. Meaning changing the settings isn't going to matter after the algorithm decides how much insulin you need. Kenny also said that what he's seeing and other people using this algorithm is that the Basal rate that was set for Skye's child might have been was in line with what he's seeing with other kids of the same weight. So we're all learning together. I just wanted to come back and put this back in because it felt like incomplete information without all this. You know, the nature of having a conversation with the person who's learning something is what you got in the last hour. And then putting it out into the world found us more people with more experience. And so I wanted to add it back in here so it wouldn't be missed by anybody. After I stopped speaking, what you'll hear next is what the original end of the podcast was. I'm just going to add this here at the end on the pod is not a sponsor of the episode. But you know, they do buy ads on the show and I get sponsor links. And so if you'd like to learn more about on the pod five or even let Omnipod know you're interested, it's omnipod.com forward slash juice box five, it's the digit five. So the word juice box one word five. omnipod.com forward slash juicebox. Five, I'd appreciate it if you used my link. That's pretty much it. I don't actually get paid. If you click on the link. They buy ads. I don't want to explain this whole thing to you, but they buy ads, the companies buy ads, I don't get money per click. But you know, if the ads perform well, then they come back next year. And you following my links? I mean, I don't have to explain this. Right. You understand how it works. They buy ads, you click links, if you end up following through on the clicks, that's better. Just clicking on it's good. I mean, for me, by me, I mean, the podcast, and that's how advertising works. Is advertising one on one kids. You know, interestingly, T one D exchange that I spoke about earlier, they don't buy ads. That's actually a thing where I get paid every time you complete the survey. All the rest of the spot. I am so tired tonight for some reason I'm so sorry. All the rest that all the rest advertisers, Dear God, all of the other advertisers are like more, you know, they buy ads, I read their ads or I make them up or you must tell by now they can't be written down. Right? They're like falling out of my head as I'm saying them. Not the point. Really. The point is, they buy ads and you know, if you support the sponsors, then you're supporting the show and they come back next year and you get more content. You understand all this works. Anyway. Really, I'm tired. I wonder why that is. I didn't do much today. Oh god. Oh, sorry. Hmm. I apologize. Thank you so much for listening. I'll be back very soon with another episode of The Juicebox Podcast. Weirdest ending ever to a podcast episode. I stand by that. In fact, if there's a weirder one I don't know what it is. You tell me I'm really sleeping. This can be it Kids Can I guess is it you know, once you get over 50 Everything it happens like this it got tired out of nowhere. Hmm Maybe it's just bedtime? Let's not jump to conclusions. Anyway. If you get another episode if that if episode 651 comes out I'm still alive.
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#649 Quadoimmune
Christina has four autoimmune diseases.
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DISCLAIMER: This text is the output of AI based transcribing from an audio recording. Although the transcription is largely accurate, in some cases it is incomplete or inaccurate due to inaudible passages or transcription errors and should not be treated as an authoritative record. Nothing that you read here constitutes advice medical or otherwise. Always consult with a healthcare professional before making changes to a healthcare plan.
Scott Benner 0:00
Hello friends, and welcome to episode 649 of the Juicebox Podcast.
Today you'll hear me talk with Christina. Christina has diabetes, Addison's disease, gastroparesis and fibromyalgia. She is one autoimmune disease away from our basketball team, as they would say. Please remember while you're listening, that nothing you hear on the Juicebox Podcast should be considered advice, medical or otherwise, always consult a physician before making any changes to your healthcare plan, or becoming bold with insulin. I went away last week with my family and I've rested haven't spoken in this microphone for about nine days. And my voice is feeling very strong. I feel very deep. I have a lot of timber. This will go away this week, as I do five interviews in the next four days. Probably rag myself right back to where my voice is cracking and everything while I'm trying to do the openings for these podcasts. But that's not your problem. It's mine. Let's get to the show, shall we? Oh, you know what I haven't said in a while. Well, in my life, I haven't said in a while but your life I probably just said it yesterday. Now I ran out of music Hold on a second.
If you have type one diabetes, and are a US resident, or you're a US resident, who is the caregiver of someone with type one, please go to T one D exchange.org. Forward slash juicebox. Join the T one D exchange registry, complete their survey. And just a few minutes later, you will have helped people with type one diabetes. That's it when you fill out the survey. It actually helps people and the podcast benefits. So it's like a two for one deal. You're doing something nice for people. And me, too. I mean, do you one day exchange.org forward slash juice box? Get over there right now. Do your business. I mean, if you listen to Christina, you know, I'm saying listen, right now I've confused myself. Listen to the podcast and go fill out the exchange. Oh, you know what else and then support the sponsors? Click on their links, buy their products, let them know you came from me. This show is sponsored today by the glucagon that my daughter carries. G voc hypo pen. Find out more at G voc glucagon.com. Forward slash juicebox.
Christina 2:35
My name is Christina. I have been a type one diabetic for 15 years. Although I was misdiagnosed for almost 10 years is type two. And I am ready to share my story.
Scott Benner 2:50
I have to tell you that being misdiagnosed for a decade is a long time and I've heard a lot of people misdiagnosed with type two.
Christina 2:58
Yeah, yeah. I found out it's not an unusual story at all. I am technically Lada which has a lot more people are misdiagnosed with type two initially that have a lot of so. But yeah, I was on insulin and the first year had DKA a couple times. I mean, all of the signs were there that this was not a type two. But you know, doctors get it in their head. That what you look like and
Scott Benner 3:28
yeah, yeah, I type to care. I mean, type twos don't go into decay, right?
Christina 3:35
That it's rare. And I even had a doctor that said, Well, this is kind of unusual, but I'm still confident you're type two. And I just was going really I just I didn't know enough. I wasn't really taught anything, initially from diagnosis either. And I just didn't know the right questions to ask. I didn't know to push it. I just thought, Okay, I'm a little bit different than but yeah, I just, I had other friends that were type two. And nothing I was going through ever seem to match what they were going through. But I really and then I actually had a doctor once looked at me and said, well, it doesn't really matter what type you are the treatments the same. Is it No. And I just kind of like, and I believed him. So I really didn't know any better than listen to what I was being told. And honestly, it really just took years for me to finally go something's not right here in to learn what to go in and ask for. So I just finally went in and I said I want to antibody test in a C peptide. And even the doctor was like, I don't think that that's necessary. And I went no, I want it. And I just would not stop saying that until she finally went okay. We'll order it. And then I still remember her calling me up and she had the most cheapest voice where she went. You're right you're not type two.
Scott Benner 4:55
What What led you to believe that that was the case that you were typed that you were a type one.
Christina 5:02
So honestly, that change happened for me, one of the families that I was babysitting for regularly, their son was diagnosed with type one. And that kind of was a game changer as I went through that diagnosis process with them. And finally started learning a lot more about type one in the differences through experiencing that with them. And that finally led me to start Googling more myself and trying to learn more about the differences. And that's when I first read about Lata and I went, Oh, that seems to fit me a whole lot more than type two. And so that really was the start of the change for me was just learning how to treat his type one, and realizing there was a lot more similar similarities to his diabetes than I had ever met with any type two.
Scott Benner 5:53
What so tell me a little bit about lotta because I, I freely admit that I don't know that I could describe it properly, What's your understanding?
Christina 6:04
So, essentially, first of all, it's a latent autoimmune diabetes in adults. So I did test positive for two of the antibodies, although not for Dad, which was kind of interesting. But two of the other ones, I tested positive for the antibodies, and then I've had a very slow loss of my insulin production. So whereas most type ones, usually within the first year, lose all of their insulin production. Mine was really slow. So I honeymooned actually, for close to 11 to 12 years. And I do actually credit some of that to being on insulin pretty early. So as I was on insulin, in that first year, that helped protect my pancreas and didn't have to work so hard. And that.
Scott Benner 7:02
Christina, you're gone. So you blanked out for a second, your pancreas didn't have to work so hard.
Christina 7:10
My pancreas didn't have to work quite so hard. And that helps protects the beta cells that you have left from being stressed. So you can prolong your your honeymoon by using really long with LADA by using it by and by using insulin. And I did actually have it in chronologist, early on, that put me on a 730 split insulin. And that worked really well for years for me. And he still at the time, though, was thinking I was type two. So he wasn't perfect. But he did find the right combination of insulin to kind of help take the stress off of my pancreas because I was still producing some of my own at that time. And yeah, so
Scott Benner 7:59
the question about that. So you're you're living for 10 years with a misdiagnosis. Looking back now, because that you know, you've lived five years with a diagnosis. Looking back now, what were the personal harms to you? Like, of the mistake?
Christina 8:15
Yeah. So when I was diagnosed as type two initially. And honestly, that was just an assumption that was kind of accidentally discovered in the ER, although I had been sick for months, and the doctors hadn't been able to figure out what's going on. I mean, I had a lot of the classic signs of diabetes. And they just never thought to do a finger prick. So I just happened and they came in and they're like, are you diabetic? And I went, well, not that I know. But something's not been right for a while. And they're like, well, your blood sugar's like 350. And I, that was like a fasting blood sugar because I hadn't been keeping food down. So that was interesting. But so I met, I mean, they just sent me home from the ER and they just said, Well, you need to follow up with your doctor, because you might be diabetic. And then the doctor just said, the typical put me on Metformin gave me a meter to test a couple times a day. Well, that first three months, I did everything exactly what I was told to do. I changed my diet. I took my meds I checked my blood sugar. And I went in for my three month checkup. And my a one C really had not moved all that much. I still was getting to hundreds and three hundreds regularly on my meter. And the doctor just said, Well, you're not doing good enough. You need to do better. And to me, that was basically motivation killer. I went, oh my goodness, I have been killing myself to get these numbers under control. Now I was only testing like two or three times a day. So because that's all I was told to test. So I didn't realize that I hadn't really even gotten that much better. But essentially at that point, I gave up. It just went Why am I killing myself to get this better? To have very little improvement? And I? Yeah, I basically went, Okay, well, I've already tried my hardest, and I didn't do any better. So I give up. Why am I doing working so hard? If it's not going to get me any better to my gold and my, my doctors just gonna still tell me I'm not doing well enough,
Scott Benner 10:22
though there was no real difference between the effort and then on effort. Right, right. Right,
Christina 10:26
exactly. I think my agency came down like one point, it came from, like 12 to 11, or something like that. I mean, it was very little improvement. So honestly, I am an all or nothing kind of person. And I put all my heart into it for no real improvement. So I went back and pretended I wasn't a diabetic anymore. I did still take the Metformin. But I went back to my old diet, I just really was like, Okay, if there's no difference, then why am I working so hard? And that lasted for about three or four years where I just, that's where I ended up going into DK a couple of times, because I really wasn't trying and even once I put on, but was put on insulin. I was only half heartedly taking it. I wasn't being consistent. I wasn't. I wasn't even often testing before I took insulin. I mean, I just was, well kind of take it to say that I kind of tried, but, and then. Yeah, it just really was a mood killer for me. So I really was like, why am I trying so hard. And I would go through periods of time where I'd kind of try again a little bit. And nothing just really seemed to work. I was not getting my agency anywhere near where I supposed to. And I had the doctors that were using the scare tactics of you need to do this. So you're going to kill your kidneys, you're going to lose a foot foot, and I just went. But I've tried doing everything you said. And it didn't work. So I guess this is just my life.
Scott Benner 11:56
Can I ask you when you first of all, how old are you at this point?
Christina 12:01
I am not 42. You are now you're 42. So I was 27.
Scott Benner 12:05
So you're in your late 20s ish. And so when you tell them, Look, I'm trying as hard as I can. And they're saying do better. They don't offer any change in change and no tactics, or it's just no, you're not trying hard enough. So do you think their assumption was that you weren't even doing the things they told you to do?
Christina 12:25
Oh, yeah, I had a doctor that looked right at me. And I said, I am trying. He's like, I don't believe you. And I went, Okay, well. Yeah. So I mean, I would, I would kind of go through like a month or two, where I really would kind of resolve, okay, I'm going to try again. And again, I would not see really any effort, and I still would go in and get yelled at again. And so it really the second time I was in DKA, I did have a doctor that finally really got my attention. He looked at me and he said, If you don't change what you're doing, you are going to be in kidney kidney failure are dead in a year. He's like, you cannot keep having blood sugar's this high. And he's like, You came really close again this time. And he was the first one that looked at me. And he said, I know how hard this is. I know how impossible this feels. But you have got to find a way to get this under control, or you are not going to survive this.
Scott Benner 13:25
Did that doctor offer any ideas? No,
Christina 13:28
no, no concrete advice. But
Scott Benner 13:32
he was really worried while he wasn't helping you.
Christina 13:35
Yeah, so I finally decided I couldn't change. I couldn't do this all or nothing. So I made it my goal every month, I was gonna reduce one bad habit. So for me, the first thing was no more soda. No more sugary drinks. No, but like, I just was like, okay, I can do one thing. I can do one thing. And so I just got into the mindset. That's also about the time that I did get the endocrinologist that finally got me on the 7030 split insulin that seemed to work a lot better than within what we had been trying. And I just thought, Okay, I'm going to tackle one bad habit at a time rather than just trying to totally change everything at once. And that works a lot better for me. Once I got one bad habit out of the way, then I could work on another one and with his endocrinologist help, and getting on the right combination of insulin, I finally started to get better. I mean, I still never had an a one seed under maybe seven and a half. But I at least got out of the double digit a onesies for the first time. And when I got down to about 7.5, I usually was an upper sevens during that point. I thought, okay, they're not yelling at me anymore. They're not telling me. I'm a diabetic and so Yeah, but it became more of a change one habit at a time because trying to change everything at once. Really, I just couldn't sustain it. It was overwhelming. I just
Scott Benner 15:12
what are some of the other things that you that you change besides the soda?
Christina 15:17
I did that and then I tackled, okay. Really be consistent on my insulin. Take it when I'm supposed to test my blood sugar when I'm supposed to do other than I kind of know how I feel. I really find that got support for getting enough strips to test as often as I should be testing, which for me, I although they still had me on the test before you eat and test two hours after kind of standard test, when you get up in the morning, test before you go to bed at night. I got an A, they really wanted me on a more regimented eating schedule where you eat at these times, and you take this much insulin, which I still wasn't taught carb counting, I still wasn't taught some of the things that I really should have still been doing but and I was taught to do corrections. So I wasn't letting myself if I was too high after a meal. Although it was a little bit difficult in the 7030 split, I and then I kind of learned my meals, okay, this is how much insulin I need for this meal. So I wasn't necessarily taught carb counting, but sometimes some meals I knew would hit me a little harder. And I would take a little bit of extra even that was a little bit more than I was told this was to take it that meal so and a lot of it was really getting the diet under control. I definitely had a sugar addiction going into this diabetes and was not eating a very healthy diet. So it was more of switching out high carb foods for lower carb foods. And I wasn't striving for perfection anymore either. Like I got into the mindset of I can't stand the thought of never drinking soda again. So I'll drink one once a year. And then I'm like, I will have one day a year will eventually one soda because for me the thought of never having it again, was unthinkable. So I started doing that with other foods to other favorites. Right? Yo, okay, I'm not going to tell myself, I'm never going to eat this again. But I'm going to save it for you know, birthdays or celebrations. You know, holidays. And that worked. I could I could not eat it. Knowing that I would have a time coming up again a few months where I would get to enjoy it again.
Scott Benner 17:36
Can I ask you? Maybe this is not related, but what part of the part of the country do you live in?
Christina 17:45
I've lived in a lot of places. So did you grow up? I grew up in Southern California. Interesting. Okay. So that's not where I am now. And that's not where I was when I was diagnosed. But yeah, so
Scott Benner 18:00
I just asked because I mean, I think so does one of those things that is just universally understood. Right? Like, we all know, that's not good for you. And yeah, and yeah, I wondered where you grew up that that it was, you know, such a big part. Oh, I
Christina 18:19
didn't I didn't grow up on it. That was definitely an adult breaking free. Get to do what I want.
Scott Benner 18:27
Okay, no,
Christina 18:29
I, I Yeah. I mean, it was something that was a special treat as a kid and I loved it. And I always want to drink a bit. It just honestly, for me as an adult, it was my source of caffeine. I wasn't a big coffee drinker. And it really was what I use to sustain my energy during the day. And honestly, I, I didn't gain weight. I didn't I mean, there really didn't seem to be any immediate consequence to it. I knew it wasn't the greatest for me, but there was no immediate consequences at the time. So I yeah, I kind of used it thinking, Well, if it ever starts to cause problem, then I'll stop. kind of mindset.
Scott Benner 19:13
So are you think you were addicted to the caffeine or the sugar?
Christina 19:17
Oh, yeah, it was. It? Definitely. I mean, I definitely. I actually had a job at the time. I was working about 60 hours a week and most of my food is coming from the drive thru or the freezer because I just, yeah, working long hours and I and I was working as a nanny with young kids and anyone knows that's exhausting. So the last thing you come home and want to do is make them make healthy food. So I mean, I just I was living on fast food and freezer meals and stuff that was not good for being a diabetic. So it was it was a major life change for me to get diagnosed. But again, that first three months I knocked myself out I went I I, I really put my heart into changing my diet. I switched to diet soda, which, in itself, and I just ended up giving it up because that didn't end up being the greatest either. But yeah, I mean, I just I really I, I got my I was actually making meals, making an effort trying to make things from scratch, at least trying healthier alternatives. And then I got my agency back and they're like, you're not doing enough. Like, I don't know how I could do any better. Like,
Scott Benner 20:37
what? What's my question here? So how long does that go on for like, like, how many years? Are you in a double digit a one see
Christina 20:46
that I was actually trying to go back and calculate that was about my first four years. Okay. Wow. And then that's when I had kind of the dka again, where the doctor really got my attention and said, Hey, you can't keep living like this. You're gonna kill your kidneys, you're gonna kill your health. You're you. I can't guarantee you're going to survive the next day. Okay. And I just went, okay. You're, I mean, that was the first time where it really scared me how close I really when I went into that. I felt like I was dying that time.
Scott Benner 21:19
But you, but you're still been treated as a type two, and you believe you have type two diabetes?
Christina 21:24
Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. They, they keep telling me? Oh, no, you're type two. And I just went, Okay, it must be really different from the other type twos. I know. And so yeah, and honestly, what
Scott Benner 21:38
do you what do you do next time when it when it ramps up? When you have that, that next DK? And you're like, Okay, I'm gonna try harder, whatever that means, like, what does that end up? Meaning like, is it
Christina 21:49
again, changing my diet, getting my eating habits and my really terrible eating habits under control, taking my insulin, consistently, testing my blood sugar when they, you know, when they've told me that I'm supposed to be testing? And, yeah, just really the two big things, were getting my diet under control and taking my insulin consistently. Even when I didn't feel like it even when I didn't want to tell myself No, this was what I need to take it. Honestly, I had never been one that like needles before. And the thought of having to deal with needles every day for the rest of my life was something also really just emotionally hard for me to deal with because I didn't like it. And I kept getting told, I kept getting told you get used to it, you'll get used to it, which on the one hand is kind of true. But on the other hand, I didn't like it any better. I think it didn't help me start liking,
Scott Benner 22:48
waiting for someone to come on here and how much they like needles. It hasn't happened so far.
Christina 22:53
Yeah, so I just, I just went, Okay, this is what I have to do. And I have to accept that this is just going to be part of my life now. And I can't keep telling myself, I don't feel like doing this.
Scott Benner 23:06
So so let me fill this in here. So latent autoimmune diabetes in adults are a lotta is a disorder in which despite the presence of isolette antibodies at diagnosis of diabetes, the progression of autoimmune B cell failure is slow. Yeah, so here it says, it could be at least the first six months, but it sounds like you were getting help for a while, like long.
Christina 23:32
Yeah, because I wasn't being a good diabetic, they put me on insulin pretty quickly. Because the oral medications alone weren't helping. Now again, then for that first four years, I was not consistently taking the insulin. But I've actually no other people that have lasted as long as I did, by and it seems like early Insulin is the key to support your pancreas because it's trying to make more and more and more insulin to address the high blood sugars. And that just puts a lot of stress. So by supporting my own pancreas, insulin production that seemed to be able to preserve my beta cells, a really long time I've heard I've actually heard two to 10 years is the average for people with LADA for how long the honeymoon.
Scott Benner 24:27
It's sad, though. When you talk about it, when you say I know you're tongue in cheek, I can hear it when you're like, you know, because I wasn't a good diabetic. They gave me insulin. But yeah, but the real sentence there should be because I was misdiagnosed as the type. Right. Right. And I didn't. And they figured it out. Right. They gave me
Christina 24:46
the right that would have been the better, better you had
Scott Benner 24:49
there happen eventually for the wrong reasons.
Christina 24:52
Exactly. Exactly. So they were just trying to get my blood sugar's down and it wasn't working. Just the orals so they thought well then like we guess we need to give you some insulin. So yeah, I mean I'm I'm pretty much completely insulin dependent at this point and just have a very different life now then
Scott Benner 25:15
we'll do they do they treat you now? Like do you have a your proper diagnosis now are you a type one are you lotta
Christina 25:25
so on paper, there is no diagnosis for Lada. So I'm on paper now type one. So that was almost five years ago. And what that eventually meant for me though, was, once my diagnosis was changed on paper from type one to type two, I suddenly qualified for an insulin pump. And then I qualified for a CGM. So I was able to get tools that I didn't have access to as a type two, that suddenly was no problem once they were able to change the diagnosis on from type one that opened a whole new world. And then that caused me to go get involved in the type one community and suddenly meet people that was like, Oh, my goodness, your diabetes is exactly like mine. So that just also, and then there was a lot of guilt that I couldn't, with diet and exercise, get off the insulin, that suddenly was gone, that I really felt guilty. Still, as a type two being on insulin, I felt like that still was a failure somehow. Because even once I got my diet under control, and everything, I tried, actually a few times to wean off the insulin, and I couldn't. And that made me feel like and I mean, I actually was able, at one point to lose a bunch of weight. And I tried to get off the insulin, and I couldn't. And that made me feel like there I was doing something wrong. Because why can't I? I mean, I was still being told, Oh, yeah, if you get this under control, you should be able to, you know, get off your insulin. And when I couldn't do it, I kept feeling like, there was something I was doing wrong. So there was a big emotional shift, also getting correctly diagnosed as type one, right? That went, Okay, this is, this is not my fault.
Scott Benner 27:16
But no one. No one Christina, no one ever said to you, if you do this, by using these tools, or taking the steps, it was just like if you would just do this better or differently, but with no context of what that meant. There was never context.
Christina 27:36
No. And actually, I had an inner chronologist. Were right about the time where I decided I was going to push for the type one diagnosis, my agency started going up just for no random reason. And I had my a one C go from like a 7.5 to an 8.9 and a three month period of time. Now it just did happen to be over the Thanksgiving Christmas time. But I was still being a very discipline eater. But I asked my endocrinologist I said, so my Wednesday is going up, what should we do? And he's like, Well, you probably ate more sweets over the holiday than you thought you did. And I said, No, I didn't. I still I said I had maybe on the actual thanksgiving on the actual Christmas. Yes, I had some treats. But I said, I my regular diet, the rest of the, you know, rest of the normal days. And he went, Well, you still must be eating more than you thought you did. And I went, listen, he didn't he didn't increase my insulin. He they just said you probably ate more than you thought he did.
Scott Benner 28:39
He should have to do a podcast because you can ask leading questions like that you're not supposed to say I assume this is what you think sometimes I do it too. But I mean, but not the health situation in the health situation
Christina 28:50
that I went. And that was my final straw where I went, Okay, something's not right here. Because I did not Well, I really think it's just my insulin, my own insulin production went down. And we needed to have my insulin again. So but he just he has literally looked at that increase of a winsy and told me Well, you must have been eating more sweets over the holidays than you thought you did. And I just went, that was my final straw where I went, something's not right here because I know I didn't do that. And my agency what for no apparent reason. So start
Scott Benner 29:25
to figure stuff out for yourself then. Right? So
Christina 29:27
that's when I went okay, I really don't think I'm type two anymore. And I learned Okay, what do I have to ask for? So I actually never went back to the endocrinologist again. I call it my insurance and what who else can I go to? Because that was the most ridiculous answer I have ever heard. To explain you what my agency without for no apparent reason. So
Scott Benner 29:45
you must have done this. I didn't write well, you must have but I did. Yeah. I will stop talking about it now. That's exactly
Christina 29:52
exactly so I went to a brand new endocrinologist and I walked in and I went I went to see peptide antibody panel and again she also looked at me With Oh, I'm pretty confident you're type two
Scott Benner 30:04
for five seconds. Yeah,
Christina 30:06
exactly, exactly. She looked over my records. I got 10 for my other Endo. And she went no, no, I'm pretty confident you're type two and honestly, yes. Have I always been a little overweight? Yes. But I just went, I just kept saying it over and over and over again until she went, okay. We'll order it. I don't think we need to. But while we're at
Scott Benner 30:28
it, she comes back to you and says, Oh, yeah, you have type one. Exactly. Or whatever.
Christina 30:33
Yeah, she's like your, your your see peptides really low. And yeah. Your antibodies are positive.
Scott Benner 30:40
So did that. Did that? Start with Hey, Christina, I want to apologize. You were no,
Christina 30:44
nope, nope. No apology. She just went. She just went, hey, you know, some interesting results.
Scott Benner 30:52
You seem to understand with the internet and everything and and oh, by the way, all your personal experiences for the last, you know, decade. Yeah. That that nobody's been listening to you about any sense of relief? Or did you feel like you
Christina 31:08
Oh, I so hard. I so badly wanted to say I told you. So. I really had to refrain myself from saying I told you so to
Scott Benner 31:19
her to call the other doctors to write
Christina 31:23
I actually wanted to go back to every doctor that I had ever seen. told me your life to go, Oh, my goodness, look at this if you had just. And when I researched how to find out what type you are and realize how simple of a blood test it was. I wanted to go back to every doctor and go, Why? Why could you not just order this simple test? To find out like, I just I wanted to go back and go look how easy it was?
Scott Benner 31:51
How many of those doctors were male versus female? Did you see any difference? Like that kind of like, you know how sometimes you're seen first kind of undervalue women sometimes the first
Christina 32:06
endocrinologist I saw after diagnosis was a woman. And I actually really kind of liked her. But then she went on maternity leave and never came back. All of the rest were male, until this one I switched to that I really pushed for the testing. And she wasn't going to listen to me either. So I I don't know. I ended up being with her for quite a few years. She was one of those she gave me everything I asked for, but didn't ever really offer any help. So I kept going her because she gave me everything I asked for. But she didn't ever really teach me anything or give me any guidance. So But then, the insurance I was on at the time, there were very few to choose from. And honestly, she was better than the guy that told me that I must have just eight more than I thought I did. So
Scott Benner 33:00
you're making me feel like, you know how we always say that the American healthcare system, we always want to fix a problem after it happens. But we don't want to do anything to prevent it. But I don't know if it's true that we don't want to or if it's possible that most doctors don't have the first foggiest idea of how to accomplish that. You know me like the idea of getting ahead of a problem being thoughtful, instead of just it because because everything you've said, makes me feel like their job is just to go, oh, you this concrete thing is happening. And this is what we do for that concrete thing. And that's it, I get I say the thing I'm supposed to say. And whether it helps you or not doesn't matter, because I've said it and that's my job.
Christina 33:44
Yeah, yeah, I don't know that I've really felt that I can do much to change doctors at this point. But honestly, every person that I hear that's gotten diagnosed with diabetes, I tell them go in and ask for an antibody panel and a C peptide. I'm like, even if you think you're probably type two, basket escort, you know, just there's no harm and I'm running that just to make sure. And I've had a few others that I've heard of like friends of friends that were that were admitted with DK and still told the type two and I went oh my goodness, please tell your friend ask for this testing because yeah, that's really unusual. And honestly, I did have a doctor looked at me once and he went adults don't get type one. Perfect. That was his answer to me. And again at the time, I believed him because I didn't know any different. And I asked him why doesn't Why doesn't my type two, like my other friends with type two? And so I just it didn't ever sit right with me. But I didn't know enough and I didn't and I really just was taught to trust with the doctors knew what they were talking about. And so I just accepted it because I really didn't know any better back in those early years. And but the things now that I got told I just thought my goodness I couldn't I cringed that they're still telling people that so oh they definitely Yeah, exactly. I hear it's too all the time. Oh my goodness, I don't know what we can do at this point.
Scott Benner 35:12
I think sometimes it's luck of the draw. You just get a good one or you don't.
Christina 35:16
Yeah, yeah, I just So honestly, I really feel like my story is brought me to the point now that I'm able to help others avoid what I went through. So I just turn around and try to use it to help others not end up in the same situation that I was being misdiagnosed and really have them push for that. That scene to confirm it. So um, yeah,
Scott Benner 35:39
yeah, well, it's got to try to get back a little bit and right if you can keep somebody from having the same problem you had. So once you find out and you get your pump and all that stuff happening, is there an immediate transformation or does it take you some time to figure it out?
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I'm going to get back to Christina in just a moment. But first I need to tell you about a few things about the podcast here they are in no particular order. Ready. If you're looking for the diabetes Pro Tip series, they begin at Episode 210, your podcast player and they're also available at Juicebox. Podcast calm and diabetes pro tip calm. At those same links. You can find the defining diabetes series, the variable series, the how we eat series, the afterdark series, there's so many to choose from. All of the episodes of the show are available in the audio app of your choice. And at Juicebox Podcast comm you'll find links to the sponsors like Chivo Kibo penne from just a moment ago and touched by type one and the Contour Next One blood glucose meter and the Dexcom and the Omni pod. And pretty soon the endpin. And soon after, that might be something else. You never know. Go check out the website Juicebox Podcast calm. There's an entire series of episodes about algorithm based pumping. Trust me, listen now, because if you want those algorithm pumps, they're here and coming on the pods is out tandems out Medtronic, we're all going to be pumping with the algorithm one day, you should understand what that's all about. Don't you think? Don't you know, in my mind, I'm doing it Wisconsin accent coming out of my mouth. I just sound like an idiot. couple last things. The Facebook page, the private Facebook group Juicebox Podcast type one diabetes, I believe it has about 23,000 members in it. Now it's an absolutely wonderful place to learn more about using insulin, diabetes, and so much more. If you're enjoying the podcast, please share it with a friend. That really is the best way to support the show. If you're listening right now, on your phone, in a podcast app, or any kind of audio player really like Amazon music, let me think Spotify, Apple podcast anywhere. If you're listening to those apps, and you're not following or subscribed, would you please have subscribed for me, please, that'd be nice, subscribe or follow whatever your app supports. I don't know. And if you're listening online, you should get an app for your phone. It's way easier. I'm not telling you what to do. I'm just telling you, it definitely be here. Unless you like your life is specifically set up or you're listening on. Like my website. And if you are, I mean it's cool. Just saying apps are great. You should try them. Alright, let me get you back to Christina. Now there's a lot more to her story.
Christina 39:29
When I got my insulin pump, I'm very much learn everything I can about something new. So my agencies I hadn't done ever better than maybe a 7.5 when I was on injections. And once I got my pump, the highest agency that I had on my insulin pump was 6.2
Scott Benner 39:50
privato and you were injecting was that still were you doing regular an MPH
Christina 39:55
when I got the official type one diagnosis and my agency had gone up into the 80s. That was the point that we determined that 7030 Split just wasn't working goodness anymore, because my insulin production had dropped too low. So that was the point that we went ahead and switch to Basal and long acting. I had an interesting problem, though, that I have side effects pretty much to every single Basal insulin known to mankind. So that is a another reason why we were able to get my insurance to cover a pump, because I just Yeah, I actually for a while there went back to just doing long or just doing came along only and injecting pretty much every
Scott Benner 40:36
two hour like level mirror Lantis.
Christina 40:39
Yeah, tradeo bit just, well, the worst one that was weight gain, I would put on as much as five pounds a week, no change in diet, no change and exercise, the only difference was being on the Basal insulin. But I had significant problems sleeping, like it really messed with my sleep cycle and my ability to get even if I took it in the morning, I still wouldn't be able to get to sleep at night. But I had other really weird ones like hot flashes, low back pain. And I go off of it again for two weeks, and all the side effects would go away. And then we try another one. And I'd have all this, but but really that, wouldn't I switch back to Basal insulin, I gained 30 pounds. And about three months there just from trying to be on a Basal insulin. As long as I'm just on homologue I don't gain weight. But
Scott Benner 41:35
when you move to a pump, and so you're only using homologue did you lose weight, do like magically
Christina 41:41
I didn't lose weight. But my endo did say I was the first person she ever put on a pump that didn't gain weight in the first three months. She's most people suddenly have so much freedom to eat whatever they want on the pump, but they gain weight. But I really was disciplined in my eating already and really didn't see that changing moving to a pump. So she just congratulated me that I didn't gain weight on the pump. She's like, seriously, pretty much every one of my patients gains weight when they first go onto a pump, because they can suddenly eat as much as they want. And so she just thought it was impressive that I didn't gain weight. When I started on the pump
Scott Benner 42:17
during that weight gain time. Do you think do you think that you were taking in more calories than you were prior?
Christina 42:23
Nope. I was doing my same meals. Same carb amounts. Same calories. Yeah, I mean, I was doing everything exactly the same as I had been doing on the 7030 split insulin, and yet I was gaining weight every week. So I've online now met maybe three or four other people that had the exact same experience that seems to be a little rare, but and the fact it was it was with other side effects too. So yeah, I I don't know my eyes. It's my body just really does not seem to like the Basal insolence. And we did try. I mean, there was even some other lesser known ones that she tried me on and crazy. She just went she just went okay, I guess you're just weird here. So, yes, I'm like, don't touch my human log. It works. I don't have side effects on it. And I'm scared to try anything else. After my experience. I'm like, don't mess with me. He will log. It works
Scott Benner 43:23
really? Well. Can I ask you, you said in your in your note when you when you signed up to be on the show? You have Addison's disease as well.
Christina 43:33
So yeah, that's initially what we came on to talk about. So. Yeah. So in on April 18, I actually had been having side effects since July of last year. The first thing that happened? Well, I had a really bad flare up of gastroparesis in July, I actually gotten hospitalized with that. And once that kind of cleared my appetite never came back. Like I just was never hungry. And through that, I started really gaining losing weight. But my thought was, well, of course I'm losing weight. I'm not really eating. And honestly, who's gonna complain about losing weight? I mean, that was just like, Oh, great. I can take some of these extra pounds off again. And when I was working with my GI doctor, we really were just assuming I was losing weight because I wasn't really eating. Honestly, I would go the whole entire day. And unless I had some sort of reminder, I would just completely forget to eat. I had no appetite. The other thing that started is I started getting really, really bad muscle cramps at night. They just I would wake up three, four or five times a night with like charley horse bad cramps in my legs. I did eventually find like some supplements with magnesium and stuff that got them a little bit better. They never completely went away. And I talked to my doctor about it. They're like, well, we can't find anything wrong. So you're just going to have to live with them. So that was the next sign that something just wasn't quite right. But again, they're like, well, we can't find anything wrong. So you're just gonna have to live with it. I do also have fibromyalgia and they're like, Well, maybe it's just a new symptom of your fibromyalgia. And I thought, Well, okay, maybe,
Scott Benner 45:19
Christina, let's back for one second here. Yeah. You said a lot of things. Yeah. By the way, I mean this in a good way, because we're on a podcast, but you're chattier than I am. So I know. So get right. Is the is diabetes, your first diagnosis?
Christina 45:38
Yes, that was my very first years ago.
Scott Benner 45:41
When do we hear gastroparesis?
Christina 45:43
That developed kind of mid my first year, but they also told me that that was because I wasn't getting my agency under control.
Scott Benner 45:52
The bad persists to this day.
Christina 45:55
It does. Most of the time, I can go pretty long without a flare up. Stress really seems to be a flare up for me and I was having some stress at that time. I did We did also figure out there's a medication that I had started last summer that was upsetting my stomach. So that really i i if I'm if I'm control, I can usually control it with diets and keeping good blood sugar under control. I usually need a couple of triggers to go into a flare up of the gastroparesis. But yeah, there just was a perfect storm that happened that week that really flared up bad. And I could I could not keep it down at all. So I ended up having to be admitted because I was not keeping food down at all. So yeah, and then again, we got it back under control, but I just never my appetite never came back. So and then other things I look back now that I didn't necessarily attributed the time. Weird symptoms, like I started startling really easily. Which sounds like a really weird thing. But even if I knew something, someone was coming into the room, they still would startle me when they actually came in. I mean, it just fly woodland next to me and I and it was not just like a quick startle. It was like I felt like my heart stopped, took a couple minutes to recover, kind of startle reflex. And I thought that was really weird. And then the fatigue, I started just getting really, really, really tired. I always felt like I had no energy. But I just kept thinking, Okay, well, I just, I'm a kind of person that if they can't figure out, I'm just gonna keep functioning the best I can. But all of this came to a head in April. I am a regular house sitter. So I was on a house city job. It was a three week long job. And it was a little more involved than usual. It was horses and chickens and, and dogs and everything. And it was for three weeks. And I was really not feeling good during those weeks, which and I just people kept asking me, Are you sick? And I'm like, Well, I don't know, really. I'm just really tired. I'm like, but I'm not. I don't have any other symptoms of being sick. So we get to the last night of the house sitting job, and it was a Sunday. And I even made the really unusual decision not to go to church that morning because I just was like, I am so tired. Oh, the other thing that happened is I started sleeping like 12 hours a night during those last couple months, which was very unusual for me, but I just I could not ever feel rested. I just I would fall asleep at the drop of a hat. And so I got up fed the horses, chickens went back to bed and I slept till like 130 That day, which is so unusual. But I just was really really really tired. And I got up finally because I'm like I've got to get up not because I felt like I was still rested, but was just kind of like Hey, it's 130 I should get up and at least try to be a human today. And I when I ate when I hadn't ate when I got up, it was a low carb maybe like 20 carb meal. I took my insulin and I went low, which I thought was a little bit odd. But I ended up staying low like in the 50s for like two hours. I think by the time it was over, I'd gone through probably 120 130 carbs. I had a friend My friend that's on my Dexcom that just kept texting me going Why aren't you coming back up and I'm like, I don't know. I said I just it's just just been a stubborn low they happen sometimes you know, but I just kept eating and I had planned since it was the last night of my house sitting to celebrate by ordering my favorite dinner from my favorite restaurant which for me is a big treat, I've done it. I've done it at least a dozen times before knew how much my insulin was for it. So kind of, I don't know, after eating all of those carbs while I was still hungry, I still can't figure that out. Because that wasn't typical, but I already had it in my mind, I'm gonna order my favorite dinner tonight to celebrate the last night on this job and making through it. So ordered the meal. And because I'd had the persistent low, I did make the decision not to Pre-Bolus the meal, I thought, you know, because of this afternoon, I am going to just go ahead and eat and then wait to watch for my blood sugar to start going up. And then I'll go ahead and dose for this meal. But it was about an 80 carb meal, so more than I usually eat in a meal.
But around the time I started to see the blood sugar once it hit about 150 I thought okay, I'm going to go ahead and Bolus for my meal, did my normal Bolus and then I went outside to feed the animals because it was about that time that to feed the horses and everything again. So I had my phone out with me, but when out seemed normal first feeding horses when I got the chickens, I suddenly had this feeling something was not right. Like I suddenly felt like I was about to pass out. Like the symptoms of the low came on so fast. I can't even describe one second, I was fine. And the next second, I was like something is not right pulled out my phone looked at my Dexcom I think I appreciate the Dexcom still says something like 90, but it had like two double arrows down. And I went, oh my goodness, something. And my first thought was I don't have my blood glucose meter with me, I don't have any low treats with me, I have nothing. I don't have anything out with me out here. And I'm always from the house, like I'm out with the animals. And so my first thought was, I'd actually ridden my bike down. And I thought, Should I try riding my bike? Back? Should I just try to walk it back? Like my first thought is I need to, or should I just stop and call for help right from here. And as I'm quickly making decisions in my mind, my thought is I've got to get to my meter and see how low I am. Like, I need to know how bad this is. And I need to get to some sugar. So I made the very quick decision to hop on my bike ride back up to the house. I don't know how I managed to do that got up, pulled my meter out. And I was 36. Which I've actually been in the 20s a couple of times and still conscious. So my first logical thought is oh, 36 isn't that bad, I can still get ahead of this, I quickly down a couple, you know, applesauce pouches. And I'm not a gut feeling kind of person. I'm a very logical look at the data and my mind screaming at me, this isn't really that low. This isn't really that bad. But I could not overcome this gut feeling that something was really, really wrong. And I still was struggling to stay conscious. And I'm out here in the middle of nowhere by myself. And I still cannot even tell you why. But I called 911. I just went, something's not right here. Something doesn't feel right. And I just had this overwhelming gut feeling. I need help. So I quickly sent a text to my friend who's like on my Dexcom share with a screenshot of the 36 blood sugar. And I said I'm calling 911. So I don't actually remember all that much about calling 911. I don't really remember I think she quickly responded and said, how were you? I think I quickly screenshotted the address to her to where I was called 911. I remember the you know, the masking for the address. I had it, I remember the mask for my phone number. And by the time they asked for my phone number, I could not get my phone number to come out. Like I can't hear myself that I wasn't saying it right. But I kept trying and I could not get it to come out of my mouth, right? And she finally read it back from the screen. And I said yes, that's it. And then she just said, What's wrong with my blood sugar's low, something's wrong. I don't really remember much past that. I don't remember the paramedics showing up. I don't remember. I mean, I lost consciousness somewhere in there. And so I've heard the story back later, the paramedics got there in a reasonable amount of time. They started with the glucose gel in my mouth. And I think I came up a couple points and then dropped right back down to the low 30s. Apparently, at that point that was around the time that my friend showed up. And she they at first weren't gonna let her in the house. They're like family only. And then she pulled up the Dexcom on her phone and said, Look, I'm her medical person. And they're like, oh, okay, she's like, look, I've got her number right on my screen here. But she also told me later she was not going to let them not let her like she She was coming in whether they wanted to or not, but she came in and the first thing she's like, she was able to tell the paramedics No, this has never happened before, she has never had to call for help before. And they suddenly started taking it a little more seriously, at that point, when she was able to tell them that no, she has never been low like this before. I've lost consciousness. And, but apparently, they started, like, looking around the kitchen, they found a bottle of Powerade that they were able to get me to drink.
You know, and again, I came up, maybe like 510 points, and then dropped right back down again. So at that point, apparently, they tried to find in some cookies that they tried to get maybe I don't know that I cooperated very well. But again, I would come up a little bit. And then I was dropping right back down again. And I was not regaining consciousness. And at that point, they admitted to her they'd never seen anything like this before. And one of the EMTs actually admitted he had never had anyone not respond to the glucose gel in the mouth. So at that point, I guess they called the hospital kind of to say, what else do we do? Like we've never seen this before, where she's not regaining consciousness and her blood sugar was just keep dropping right back down. So they were advised to set up an IV and start dextrose. So from what I heard later, it took the third injection of dextrose. For me to finally start coming back to consciousness. Do
Scott Benner 56:30
you think this was gastroparesis?
Christina 56:33
No. I will actually explain in a moment what this ended up being so. So
Scott Benner 56:39
Christina, you're on a break or anything like that, like, I went off when I make these? You're okay, we're good. We're good. I make these podcasts. And I'll later do a transcript of it. And I think it's gonna say, yeah, you spoke for 90% of the time, because I keep I keep thinking of questions. And then you keep answering that I'm like, I, she needs me. So. Alright, it's okay. Keep going.
Christina 57:03
Um, I'll I remember when I first started coming to me, I immediately started dry heaving. And the first thing I said was, did you give me glucagon? And the guy went, No, but we have pumped you through so much sugar through you that that's probably why you're nauseous. But so they gave me some Zofran. And that kind of stopped me that from the dry heaving, but I just, I was absolutely soaked in sweat. Like, I felt like I had had a bucket of water thrown on me. I just remember feeling really kind of out of it still kind of what's going on? I didn't realize until the next day, I was unconscious for nearly an hour.
Scott Benner 57:46
Wow. Holy crap. Really?
Christina 57:48
Yes. Yes. I didn't realize. I mean, to me, it felt like maybe five minutes. But I mean, at the 45 Minute point, my friend really, she was convinced I was gonna die. She really at that point did not think they were going to bring me back because they were doing everything they do to do and I would not come back to consciousness. And she said, you know, she says, really, by the time they got to 45 minutes, she's like, and I saw on their face, how perplexed they were that they could not get you back to consciousness. So it was decided they did decide to go ahead and transport me. I was in the mindset that I'm like, I don't know, do I need to go to the hospital. I'm conscious now and my friend was assisted they need to try they need to know what happened. They you need to go get checked out to find out why you dropped so low. At the time, I was still on the Medtronic pump that's under a recall. So there was some will maybe your pump malfunction questions going around? So yeah, I went to the ER and honestly, they did all kinds of checking out they couldn't find any real alarms of anything explained this. We checked it from a pump that really didn't seem like it malfunction. The crazy thing, and I actually questioned the ER doctor this week ended up having my pump completely off for over four hours, and my blood sugar hadn't budged above 100. And I even asked the doctor, how is my Basal been off for so long? And I haven't gone up anywhere. I don't know. He's like, so anyway, long story short, they had me do a follow up with my primary care doctor. And as I relayed the story to him, the first thing he said is you were in a cortisol crash. And I went what he's like, I think you have a sense. And he started asking questions he's like that would explain the weight loss that would explain the muscle spasms you're having that would explain this blood sugar crash you had. So essentially, when you have Addison's, your adrenals no longer make the hormone cortisol. Cortisol is really important, especially to type one diabetics because without cortisol your liver doesn't break down your food for sugar and doesn't not release the sugar into your bloodstream. So, the reason I've crashed earlier at lunch I didn't crash is bad because it was only 20 carbs. Whereas this one was 80 carbs. So I took a lot more insulin for the dinner. But essentially, the process that your body needs to break down, your in release sugar into your bloodstream stops when you don't have cortisol. Now of all things they tested at the hospital, they didn't test my cortisol level, which a really good ER doctor should have tested that and saw that my cortisol was probably at zero. And should have clued them in that that was actually the issue that was happening. So until we got all the testing done, and I started on medication that next two weeks, I was only taking about 25% of my normal insulin, both Basal and mealtime, because, yeah, unfortunately, I really pushed them to admit me and get it done. And they wouldn't go for that. So they made me wait to go through all the testing as an outpatient, which took close to two weeks, which I really was frustrated with. But they're like, as long as your blood pressure is not dropping, your stable. So just try not to stress yourself. So that's its particular effect on title and also the treatment for Addison's is steroids. So if your steroid levels are right, it doesn't actually make your blood sugar go up, it just brings it back to what it normally would be without the steroids because of the because of the Addison's because it's basically just replacing the cortisol that you're no longer making. But there is no way at home to test your cortisol level. So it's basically a guessing game. Because your cortisol levels fluctuate throughout the day. And they also fluctuate based on how stressed you are and how active you are. So I tend to, in particular, be a person with the way my job is right now I have days I'm in the office that I'm really active. And I have days at home where I basically sit the whole day. So my cortisol needs are different on those days. And it's still a guessing game, to try to guess how much I need to take based on how active I am that day. So And what's really interesting is now if I have a low blood sugar, I have to stop and ask myself, Is this low blood sugar because of too much insulin? Or is this a low blood sugar? Because I don't have enough cortisol? How do you know?
There's some subtle differences in how they feel. It's a little bit of trial and error. Sometimes it's situational going, Oh, I haven't had a dose of hydrocortisone in four hours. So this is your five hours. So it's probably wearing off, I probably need a little more. I will start getting muscle cramping when my cortisol is going too low. So obviously, if my blood sugar's low, and I'm also getting some muscle cramps, then it's a cortisol issue. I can't really fully put it into words, but they do feel slightly different. And I am off
Scott Benner 1:03:08
the back though, like in a crisis. Is there something you can do?
Christina 1:03:14
I'm on oral steroids. So I take a dose of steroids, and I treat the low. Okay. So I eat some carbs, and I take a dose of cortisol of the steroids that will then bring my cortisol level back up to where it needs to
Scott Benner 1:03:27
be oral steroids are a consistent constant for you every day.
Christina 1:03:32
Yes, I cannot go even one day without steroids. If you don't have enough cortisol, your body shuts down and dies. So without the oral steroids, I can die within a matter of hours. It's also if I were to be in a car accident or something like that I now have to wear ID that says I have Addison's because if they don't give me an immediate dose of steroids, I can quickly die from not because normally a normal person if you're in an accident, you're you suddenly your body will like triple how much cortisol it's making. But since my adrenals can no longer make cortisol, I need to know and what's really interesting, so about a month after diagnosis, I actually broke my ankle. So I got to experience stress dosing, you have to take about twice your normal amount of steroids when you have an injury or illness. Because your body needs more cortisol to help your body heal from the injury. And so I already got to experience the up dosing and the increased steroids needs needed after that, so it just, if you think type one is hard to begin with, when you add something like Addison's in it just becomes that much More complicated to decide, okay? Is this an Addison's issue? Or is this a insulin issue? What's really interesting, so I don't get adrenaline rises anymore. either. I don't get angry, you know, if I'm, if I'm excited about something, my blood sugar doesn't go up anymore because there's not the natural cortisol release that other people would get. So it's really in a lot of ways civilian like, knowing my having to learn my diabetes all over again, too. And honestly, I had somebody else suggest this. They it would be so much easier for life if they would make a cortisol meter for home where we could test our cortisol and because honestly, it's a still a guessing game. You get symptoms. If you have too much. You get symptoms, if you have too little.
Scott Benner 1:05:56
How do you get too much? Do you just scare yourself?
Christina 1:05:59
No, you just have to wait for it to well, you could get up and try to move around more and try to get your body to absorb it more. But most the time, it's just wait, wait it out.
Scott Benner 1:06:11
I've been looking while you're talking. I mean, Addison's is a rare disease, like fewer, fewer than two is fewer than 200,000. Americans have it. That's yeah, that's why you're not getting a meter
Christina 1:06:22
as right. But as type one diabetics, we are 10 times more likely to develop Addison's than the general public.
Scott Benner 1:06:29
Oh, so a fair amount of that 200,000 has type one you're saying?
Christina 1:06:33
So there is actually a group on Facebook of people who have type one and Addison's. And from my experience talking to people, whichever one they got second is the one they most would like to get rid of. So if they had Addison's first and then got type one, they hate the type one more than the other sense. Interesting. If they had the type one first and then got Addison's. They hit the Addison's part because it
Scott Benner 1:06:58
is autoimmune.
Christina 1:07:01
It is yes. It's pretty much on the same autoimmune spectrum as type one and thyroid one because it's the endocrine system.
Scott Benner 1:07:09
I was gonna ask, do you have thyroid disease? Actually, I
Christina 1:07:12
don't. That seems to be one of the few ones few diseases I have quite a few autoimmune issues at this point. I somehow still managed to avoid thyroid.
Scott Benner 1:07:23
What about the anything you can do for that? Um,
Christina 1:07:31
I do have a muscle relaxant medication I can take if it gets really bad, but it also makes you really drowsy. So you can't really function while you're taking it. So I do I actually do take it at night to kind of because I can't otherwise get my muscles to relax enough to sleep at night. Usually. I do take a muscle relaxant at bedtime.
Scott Benner 1:07:49
Does the weed help? Ever try that? Oh,
Christina 1:07:53
you know, I, I actually tried. I tried the CBD oil. I didn't find that that actually did.
Scott Benner 1:08:01
So that might be a marketing scam. But I mean, like, yeah,
Christina 1:08:05
I, I, I want to try to be able to function somewhat. So I don't want to do the actual hard stuff. But yeah, it is. It is what it is. I'm mostly able to function again, stress is a really big trigger that will make it worse. So I do also just try to avoid is I mean, it's not it's not possible to always avoid stress in your life, but I do my best I do. I do water aerobics twice a week. That really does seem to help with the fibromyalgia because it's low impact muscle. Exercise, but yeah, low impact movement. So yeah, but this Addison's has been. And honestly, I still am in the period of time where we're still trying to find the right combination of steroids. That's going to work best. I would say I'm maybe 50% Better than I was at diagnosis, but I still am not back to where I was before all of the symptoms started a year ago. I still tend to sleep more than I used to. Yeah, energies i I am fully addicted to caffeine again, right now. It's kind of
Scott Benner 1:09:21
you get headaches or is there anything?
Christina 1:09:25
Like I'm not necessarily from the from the Addison's, I do tend to still want to err on the side of not having quite enough because for me, the symptoms of having too much is worse. What are those? So yeah, I get all jittery. And I can't sleep. If I've gotten too much before bedtime. It's like not going to sleep pretty much. I mean, I kind of will go in and out of sleep but it's an I'm aware of the time the whole night kind of sleep. And there's really nothing you can do but just try to let it work its way out of your system. So Yeah, it's but I just I just, I can't fully explain it. It's just really annoying having too much in your system. It's just a very jittery, and I just I feel like I can't think straight.
Scott Benner 1:10:13
How about your extended family? Is there any autoimmune stuff going on with those people?
Christina 1:10:18
I do have one sister with some autoimmune issues. It's no, no diabetes, really. I've had a few older relatives to get type two since since my diagnosis, but no type one that we're aware of. There has I've had, I've had grandparents and aunts and uncles with auto immune issues as well. So there does seem to be some precedent for the auto immune. There seems to be a few people in each generation that just seems to get all of it.
Scott Benner 1:10:50
And I and your family like it? My
Unknown Speaker 1:10:52
family line is I look back. Yeah, kid gets the full. Yeah,
Christina 1:10:57
yeah. So like, my grandpa seems to be the one of have in his family. That was the one that got autoimmune stuff. And have my mom, my mom's one of six kids. And a couple of them have seemed to get some of that I mean, stuff. And then there's six kids in my family, too. And two of us have seemed to be the ones that have gotten to more of that.
Scott Benner 1:11:16
Do you have any children?
Christina 1:11:18
I don't. Okay, I don't. A lot of kids that I'm an honorary aunt to, but none of my own. So
Scott Benner 1:11:27
with all this present problems, if you wanted to.
Christina 1:11:35
I still have held out some hope of maybe still having some children, obviously, at 42. I'm starting to run out of time, and I've just really wanted to try to get my health stable, and it just doesn't seem to want to stabilize. So I can't seem to go more than a couple of years without a new diagnosis. So I've kind of accepted at this point, it's probably not going to happen. I still would consider adoption at some point. But yeah, it's, it's more of what I've been able to physically handle the stress of it. And I don't know at this point that I'd want to put my body through.
Scott Benner 1:12:14
Yeah, what my like, yeah, it's just, you're gonna adopt, like a 16 year old 15. Glam for a couple of months, then move them right along to college. I'm fit. And I'm exhausted. So I don't know.
Christina 1:12:28
What's interesting is I would consider taking a type one child two that needed a home. So I read I feel like at this point, and I will have to say, Scott that I only started finally listening to your podcast earlier this year. But what's really funny is I recommended I've recommended to other people for at least the last year, some some reason I got it in incorrectly in my mind that it was mostly an adult parenting type one
Scott Benner 1:12:55
thing, I don't see it as leaning towards either to be honest, right?
Christina 1:12:58
Well, I know that now. But before I listened to it, I really thought it was just for parents of type ones, I can understand that. So but then somebody on Instagram posted the quick start, listen to guide. And I finally went okay, but I still think I thought I was listening. So I could tell other parents of type ones about it. I wasn't starting to listen thinking it had anything to do with me. But then also, I wouldn't really have considered myself struggling. Because I kind of, I got to know my own diabetes really well. And I am more of a logically analytical mind that kind of person. So I was able to see Oh, my Basal used to be just a little bit here, kind of things. And I could look at my graphs and kind of probably understand that a little bit better than some people but I will have to say, my best day when see before the podcast was about 5.8. And since the podcast, it's now been 5.4.
Scott Benner 1:13:59
I like this part of the Congo. When I get accolades.
Christina 1:14:02
I would say the two big things that I learned from the podcasts that I was not doing as I stopped staring at high blood sugar's waiting for hours for them to respond before I did something else. Because that was a rule that I had learned that I just stuck with. And I really upped my game a little bit more on the Pre-Bolus scene. I I kind of sorta would maybe do a five or 10 minute but I had meals I knew I needed the walker pole Pre-Bolus and was just a little too lazy. And I've really kind of upped my game on getting that better of knowing my Pre-Bolus times for my different meals.
Scott Benner 1:14:40
Yeah, that's amazing. I saved your life. Basically. I'm just
Christina 1:14:44
and honestly I do just love hearing the stories
Scott Benner 1:14:46
of others. Something that this morning. I listened to an episode this morning. Now I know that sounds odd to people or not. I've recorded it. I put it through an Edit process. You know, I added ads to it. I uploaded it online. And then I thought I went, there was something I wanted to listen to something this morning. And the other things that I listened to didn't have new content. And I thought, I'm going to listen to Susan, like, there's an episode that just went up with an older woman who has type one and multiple myeloma. And I just remembered it being a really good conversation. And I was like, I'm gonna listen to it as I was listening. I thought this has as much to do with diabetes as it doesn't. It does the to do about life. And, you know, even like, I think your conversations Tell us a little more about attitude and, and perspective. Yeah, things like that, you know?
Christina 1:15:43
Yeah, well, I will have to say some lessons I've learned through this. First of all, if you were even thinking you should call 911. Call 911. I mean, seriously, even as I was calling in the back of my mind, I thought, by the time this show up, the sugar I just ate, it's gonna kick in, I'm gonna be fine. I'm going to be all embarrassed that I called them. But literally, the paramedic told me on the way to the hospital, if I had not called when I did, I would have died. They would not have found me in time. By the time the Dexcom finally caught up, and my friend realized there was a problem. I would have, I would have been probably seizing by that point. And
Scott Benner 1:16:19
they would have been you bouncing above that seizing line. Right? Exactly.
Christina 1:16:23
They were only just keeping me right above 30. Like, they were not getting me to come back up. And I mean, he said later, if they calculated it was someone somewhere close to probably the equivalent of 200 carbs. Yeah, that it took to finally just get me to come up above 40. So
Scott Benner 1:16:42
that's even more, even if you were conscious. That's even more than you would have thought.
Christina 1:16:46
Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. He's like, he's like, No, but the fact that I was unconscious by the time they got there, like if I had even delayed a few more minutes trying to deal with it myself, I probably would have passed out before I got enough information to the 911. It's funny, that's
Scott Benner 1:17:01
a very common thing. Because a very long time ago, I was having a pendant. My appendix was getting ready to rupture, right. I was home alone with my son. He was a bait like still in diapers. And he's 21. Now. So it's a long time ago. And I remember thinking, I will just go to bed, I'll feel better in the morning. And I thought, well, I'll get him ready for bed. I'll put him to bed. And then I'm going to get in bed. And I Kelly was away. She was in a work trip. And actually, we were supposed to get up in the morning and fly to where she was, which is a longer part of the story not important to this part. So I'm like, I'll be fine. Like, I'll wake up in the morning this, this will be gone. And I take him into his room. And I tried to lift him up to put him on the changing table. And I almost like just dropped it my bear. I basically throw him up there before I lost control them. I collapsed on the floor. I picked the phone up, I call 911. And the pain kind of passes, and I hang up. And so then I get I get myself up and I'm messing with his diaper and the phone rings. And I answered it and the woman's like, this is 911 Did you call 911? And I said I did. But then I decided I didn't need it. And she goes, That's not usually how 911 works. Okay, what's wrong? And I started explaining it to her and she's like, I'm sending an ambulance. Yeah, I was like, I think I'm gonna be okay. And she's like, No. Well, thank you. And I was having emergency surgery like six hours later. So yeah, no,
Christina 1:18:30
I. And so that's one lesson if you even in the back of your mind thinking you'd rather be embarrassed than dead. So if it's even crossing your mind, maybe I should call 911 Call 911 Yeah, Dead people don't Yeah, yeah, yeah. And the second thing that I've learned through this is you can do everything right. You can be the best diabetic there is. And something like this can happen. But if it's still not the time that God decided for you to go, you're not gonna die. I mean, I still cannot explain why I called 911 or what even put that thought in my mind. But I really just come back to it as it was not my time and things worked out. And so not that I ever had a really big fear of lows before but this has given me even a little bit more peace that I'm not going to stress about avoiding every possible disaster. Because all I can do is my best and all I can ask of myself as my best and but I'd have to definitely reminded myself to listen to those gut feelings a little bit more.
Scott Benner 1:19:41
That I'm sorry to cut you off. Sorry. No,
Christina 1:19:44
I basically have been through every diabetics worst nightmare. And I'm still here.
Scott Benner 1:19:50
I all I was gonna say is that I think it's for a person who doesn't have like autoimmune diseases or, you know, especially type one Everybody just feels like I don't know, like, death doesn't seem like a real thing to most people, right? Like, that's yeah, it's the end of your life. It feels like a eternity from now. And so you never live with that feeling of that something bad could happen until you really know that something bad could happen. And then it's almost a little liberating. Yeah, you know what I mean? Like a little bit, like, okay, so whatever, like, I guess anything might happen. And it's like, instead of feeling like, like, there's a magic to it, where, you know, everybody gets I mean, honestly, if you ask any person, when do they think they're gonna die? Everybody's like, oh, probably my, like, 80s or 90s. You know, like, go ahead and look at actuarial tables. That's right, when we all die, you know, like, so. You just get that feeling of it's gonna be okay, I'm gonna be alright. And I don't mean that you have the opposite feeling. I mean, that. I would think you would have some sort of, like I said, just clarity about it. But yeah, yeah.
Christina 1:21:05
Yeah, I mean, I've definitely had my days where I've gone. Oh, my goodness, I'm so tired of dealing with this. Why didn't I just die that night and be done with this? I mean, I can't. I have to admit that's crossed my mind a couple times. And I go, but no, honestly, I'm still here for a reason. And I still got purpose here. And honestly, statistics say that there's a very good chance there's at least one person that's listening to this that's develop the symptoms of Addison's and hadn't hasn't even been diagnosed yet, because, honestly, most people stories that I've heard, they have almost died before finally getting diagnosed. It's one of those rare diseases that doctors just aren't good at looking for. And people, it's not the first thing that's going to come to their mind. So I just tell people, if you think there's even a chance you can have this. The standard test that they start with is a morning cortisol test. But I actually also know from experience my own experience, you, you can actually continue to pass the morning cortisol test, and not have enough cortisol through the end of the rest of the day. So I've told people if it comes back normal and you still are suspicious of a cortisol issue, ask for a 24 hour cortisol collection test
Scott Benner 1:22:16
was anything we have to pay anything like all day? Yes, it is. Yeah, it
Christina 1:22:19
is. But that is really the best way to determine if you're making enough cortisol because it's slowly dies out. I actually can point back to a surgery I had three years ago, where my blood pressure kept crashing after surgery. And I actually think in hindsight that I was already starting to struggle with making a court was all back then interesting. Because I can point back to situations of stress like that, where I was having weird symptoms. That I think now we're actually because in those times of stress, I wasn't able to make enough even if I was had enough for most days. Yeah, Harris was already it was already on decline. But yeah, it's been since July of I mean, I lost 50 pounds between July of last year in April,
Scott Benner 1:23:04
Jesus. That's a lot.
Christina 1:23:07
I mean, there was, and yet the doctors kept saying, we're not we can't find anything wrong. So
Scott Benner 1:23:13
are you losing weight like that? And you're not trying you got to be like, Nah, something's wrong. Right? Did you think you had cancer? Well, they
Christina 1:23:19
kept saying, Well, what are you eating? I'm like, Well, yeah, I kind of not really eating.
Scott Benner 1:23:23
I don't eat much. Oh, okay. I would have thought I had cancer. Just so you know, I would have been like, that's definitely what's happening.
Christina 1:23:29
My GI doctor kept trying to find ways to get me to talk, you know, to eat more, thinking that that's why I was continuing to lose weight. But seriously, I had days where I had maybe a salad and that's all I had the whole day. Yeah, I mean, I would do maybe a protein shake here and there. But I mean, I just I was not hungry. And honestly, I loved that I was losing weight without trying. So lack
Scott Benner 1:23:53
of hunger is a to do with the Addison's. Yes. When you don't
Christina 1:23:57
have cortisol to break down your food for energy, the natural response of your body is to just not be hungry, because it's not doing anything with the food. But that's also why you get so incredibly fatigued and start sleeping so much because you're not getting any energy from your food or because even when you eat, I don't know exactly where the food is going when it's not being broken down. I don't completely understand that process.
Scott Benner 1:24:22
Were you able to force yourself to eat when you weren't hungry?
Christina 1:24:26
To a certain point? Yeah, I mean, there was times. Yeah, I mean, I occasionally would still stop and get my favorite meal, which was encouragement to eat but even when I ate I still was losing weight. So I just Yeah, but I just food had no appeal to me. I just, I wasn't in the mood to every anything like usually when you're hungry, you like have something you are thinking about. Oh, I didn't do eating that. There just wasn't ever that feeling of, Oh, I could really go for it. Good, you know burger right now, or, Hey, I'd love a piece of chocolate right? There just wasn't ever any of those thoughts or feelings about your food had no interest to me. So
Scott Benner 1:25:10
any specific food over another or no? Like was Nope. Nothing like
Christina 1:25:14
no, just just no interest in eating. Yeah, I can't really explain it other than food had no appeal. And so I just And honestly, half the time, it's just I didn't even think about eating. I'd get to nighttime and go, Oh, my goodness, I haven't even eaten all day. And it just because I wasn't hungry. I didn't ever think about it. And yeah, it just it was weird. And in hindsight, it makes so sense. I really should have been paying closer attention thinking, Okay, this is not normal. And pushing a little bit harder to Yeah. Okay, figure this out something. But yeah, I don't know, I, I deal with a lot of health stuff. And in a lot of ways, I'm used to just pushing through no matter how I feel. And I just kind of gotten that mindset again.
Scott Benner 1:26:07
It's hard to look, it's it's hard to even want to look deeper. Sometimes like you're like, Oh, God, there's
Christina 1:26:12
exactly, it's like, well, and here's other interesting things that I've realized now. So the Starlene that's because your stress response is not working properly. So your over your over, your body can't properly respond to stimuli, because without the cortisol, which is why I was struggling so bad, but there was other random things like my fingernails were breaking all the time, which I thought was kind of odd. But that ended up being a cortisol issue. I mean, there's just was really random things that I figured out after I got on the medication going, Oh, is that why that was happening?
Scott Benner 1:26:44
I want to thank you for sharing this with me. Because if any of this stuff ever happens to people I know, I'm gonna know immediately from all of your stories. So yeah, I'm gonna I'm gonna turn into the auto immune Dr. House if I keep doing this much long. Well, you're, you're startling. Oddly, I know what that is.
Christina 1:27:03
But the really classic ones are the loss of appetite, the weight loss, and the tiredness. I mean, the fatigue was at levels I have never experienced before. And I had people that would just look at me go and you know, look at it. And I'm like, Yeah, I am really tired. And I mean, I just I just was dragging through life, and it was noticeable to other people. And so those are considered the classic symptoms of Addison's.
Scott Benner 1:27:36
And I appreciate I really want to thank you so much for doing this and for reaching out, and it's definitely not a topic that a lot of people have have spoken to me about. So I'm really happy to add this to the podcast. I appreciate it very much.
Christina 1:27:49
Yeah, well, I'm just I want people to be able to learn from what I've been through if I can get anyone to avoid almost dying like I did. That that's a win and honestly, it's, it's there's there's many people that think that there are people that have died from Addison's without ever knowing they died from Madison's because it's not something they necessarily test for post mortem, either. Oh, I see. So, yeah, I mean, there's they assume there's actually probably diabetics that have died from a low low blood sugar that probably had something extra going on like this and didn't know it. I mean, if I had died that night, I don't think anyone ever would have known. Yeah, that would have I don't think they would have just assumed I died from a low blood sugar. I don't think anyone ever would have realized that I have out of sight out Addison's so. Yeah.
Scott Benner 1:28:42
Yeah, that that's a an interesting way to end because I it didn't occur to me either. That
Christina 1:28:48
yeah, no, I realized if I had died that night, they would have just put it down that I died from a little bro trigger, they wouldn't have ever gone and looked into anything else. Yeah,
Scott Benner 1:28:55
that makes sense. Okay. I, again, I really appreciate you doing this. I want to thank you very much.
Christina 1:29:01
I appreciate you having me. I I really just want people to be aware and especially type ones. They do say if you read online that the average age for Addison's diagnosis is between 30 and 50. But there are parents in our group on Facebook who have children who have both type one and Addison's. So it really can happen at any age.
Scott Benner 1:29:21
What's that Facebook group called?
Unknown Speaker 1:29:24
A
Christina 1:29:26
I think it's pretty simple, but I can it's pretty stupid name for I think it's a pretty simple stupid name of Yeah, it's type type one diabetes, type one diabetes, and Addison's disease is the name of the group. So yeah, it's pretty easy to find.
Scott Benner 1:29:45
Okay. I just want to I want to just say here so that
Christina 1:29:49
Yeah, yeah. And I do talk pretty regularly on my Instagram about living with Addison's and type one. So
Scott Benner 1:29:57
what's your what's your Instagram? Hey,
Christina 1:30:01
Korea CRI A underscore t Wendy night. So yeah, I also bring awareness there of what it's like living with Hypponen. Edison's I appreciate it. So cool. But yes, I really appreciate the podcast and I share it with others as much as I can of how much I've even learned since listening to it and going you're right, why am I still following these rules? I know myself better than Well, now, why am I why am I staring at this high blood sugar? I know after an hour if it hasn't budged. It's
Scott Benner 1:30:32
not going to. Now that you know that the podcast is for everybody. It's easy to is it easier to share it now? Do you ever get to share it with adults?
Christina 1:30:41
I do. But I haven't been able to convince anyone to listen yet. So maybe when when I tell them to come listen to mine, maybe last year this realize they need to start listening to the other show.
Scott Benner 1:30:50
Well, if they're here, now you listen to Christina she she's talking about.
Christina 1:30:55
So yeah, I'm like, I really wish that I had this a diagnosis, I would have been so much better off
Scott Benner 1:31:01
of so right. Christina, a guy that doesn't have diabetes is gonna talk to you about diabetes. Well, exactly.
Christina 1:31:07
Exactly. And some of the, some of your concepts do sound really radical, like, do they really, but honestly, they Well, compared to what the doctors are saying to do. Yeah, I mean, they sound dangerous, almost to someone who doesn't know better. But again, you know, your own diabetes better than your doctor does. Right? Yeah. And yeah, so
Scott Benner 1:31:27
I completely understand when people would type one, especially adults who have had it for a long time wouldn't be interested in listening to the podcast, like I guess, I there's enough people listening now that I know that a lot of you would like it. So you should hang around, which
Christina 1:31:42
again, as you said, I wouldn't have considered myself struggling. I mean, I had good a wind seeds. And I felt like I knew what I was doing. So I didn't necessarily feel a great need to go learn more. But I did learn more. And I do really enjoy hearing the stories of other people sharing.
Scott Benner 1:32:00
I share that. So if anybody's here just to listen to Christina, you should go check out what do you think the pro tip episodes or just listen to some other stories or something like that?
Christina 1:32:08
I would say message me. And I'll actually I will say when this goes up all for a few days on Instagram posts, the ones that I would say to go start
Scott Benner 1:32:16
listening to Oh, could you thank you very much.
Christina 1:32:19
I appreciate it. Follow me on Instagram and I will make sure that I share. Here's my favorite one.
Scott Benner 1:32:23
Christina, you sly little social media pimp liquid. I'm not gonna give it all away here, Scott. They got to come find me.
Christina 1:32:32
I don't have a ready list in front of me. And I'm going to feel like a bit of forget one. And I'm a perfectionist. So I want to make sure that I have a ready list.
Scott Benner 1:32:41
I gotta go. I have to go get my eyebrows waxed. She's getting hurt. Or not. Well, she does threading. Oh, my god. I can't believe I said waxing. She does threading and she's getting her senior portraits done tomorrow. So I am in charge of taking her to that right now. But thank you very much for doing this with me.
Christina 1:32:57
Oh, you're welcome. Thank you for having me.
Scott Benner 1:33:08
A huge thank you to one of today's sponsors. G voc glucagon. Find out more about Chivo Kibo pen at G folk glucagon.com Ford slash juice box. You spell that? GVOKEGL you see ag o n.com. Forward slash juicebox. It's been a long episode. I'm not gonna hit you with too much here at the end. Just all the rest. Find the Facebook page. Take the T one D exchange survey support the sponsors. Share the podcast with a friend. If you're listening in a podcast app, please subscribe and follow. And if you're not listening to an app, come on. It's 2020 to get yourself an audio app. Thank you so much for listening. I'll be back very soon with another episode of The Juicebox Podcast.
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#647 Vagina Blog Podcast
April Davis interviews Scott for The Vagina Blog Podcast.
You can always listen to the Juicebox Podcast here but the cool kids use: Apple Podcasts/iOS - Spotify - Amazon Music - Google Play/Android - iHeart Radio - Radio Public, Amazon Alexa or wherever they get audio.
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DISCLAIMER: This text is the output of AI based transcribing from an audio recording. Although the transcription is largely accurate, in some cases it is incomplete or inaccurate due to inaudible passages or transcription errors and should not be treated as an authoritative record. Nothing that you read here constitutes advice medical or otherwise. Always consult with a healthcare professional before making changes to a healthcare plan.
Scott Benner 0:00
Hello friends, and welcome to episode 647 of the Juicebox Podcast
Well, today's gonna be a little different, probably not that much different. But you'll see, I woke up one morning to an email inviting me to be on a podcast. And as you'll hear later, they usually don't answer those emails. But this one, well, there is something special about it. So today, you're going to hear an episode that is also simultaneously going to run on a different podcast. This is apparently quite a common thing for podcasters to do, although I have never done it. Please remember while you're listening, that nothing you hear on the Juicebox Podcast should be considered advice, medical or otherwise, always consult a physician before making any changes to your health care plan. We're becoming bold with insulin. Just a moment, you're going to hear April from the vagina blog podcast interview me about how we manage our periods with type one diabetes. And of course that points things go off the rails and I say weird stuff. So there's that to look forward to.
This episode of The Juicebox Podcast is sponsored by Dexcom, makers of the Dexcom G six continuous glucose monitor. If you're using insulin, you should be using a Dexcom find out more@dexcom.com forward slash juicebox. Fair warning before we start if the word vagina makes you uncomfortable, I'd stop listening right now. I'm gonna record on my into I didn't know we were starting a lot of pressure. Right now I'm recording. I'm literally sitting here wondering how I'm going to stop myself from just overtaking this Congress. Guess I'm good.
April Davis 2:14
I'm good. Guys. I am so excited today to be talking to Scott Benner. It is very rare, but I have a male on the podcast. But I was just too excited to talk to Scott because and this is very selfish of me. I wanted to create an episode around type one diabetes, and everything that that has to do with female body health. Scott has an incredible podcast called The Juicebox Podcast, it is single handedly the most useful information I have found as a parent of a child with type one diabetes. So if you are listening to this episode, it's maybe going to be a little bit type one diabetes specific, but I super don't care because the type ones need it. So, Scott, welcome. Tell us how you got into this. Tell us who you are. Tell us about juicebox
Scott Benner 3:03
April, wait, this is just gonna be about diabetes. I have so many euphemisms for vaginas written down. And I really, I'm trying to know,
April Davis 3:10
don't you worry, we'll get into that.
Scott Benner 3:12
Is that upon? Are we starting off right away? Exactly. Because I tell my every woman in my house, I'm like, at the end of your inspection. I don't know what you guys call it. I I think you should ask the doctor. So on the whole Is everything okay? And I don't, I don't know why they don't. But
April Davis 3:34
this is like when my best friend I was going in for a stretch and sweep, which is only like swipe your membrane when you're pregnant. She's like, did you just say search and seizure? And I was like, it's that's basically the right yep, that's what I'm getting done.
Scott Benner 3:45
What feature was she a cop? Oh. All right. Well, I have to start off by saying that. I don't go on other people's podcasts. I get invited on a lot of them. And I to even say that I say no is polite. I just don't answer the emails usually. But I got yours. And I'm like, I need to know why I'm being invited on a podcast called The vagina block. Even if I was a woman, or if I even ever once had a vagina. I'm assuming it wouldn't even work anymore halfway because I'm 50 So like,
April Davis 4:25
you're getting up there. Yeah, I
Scott Benner 4:26
mean, it would just really be good for picking at this point. Like right I mean, I don't know exactly. Oh, really? Oh dear. I'm lying in bed. I'm looking through my emails trying to like you know, get the energy to get out of bed. And I'm like, What is this this and I must have emailed you back on medium like I need to talk to you on the phone. So I went from I usually don't respond to people to having a personal conversation with you because I just
April Davis 4:49
which was fantastic because and to share with you guys like Scott had recently become my very best friend as a diabetic, a parent of a diabetic. Um, there's very few resources that are like truly reliable and actually really helpful. There's a lot of commiserating out in the world, the diabetic community and the community is incredible. Like the diabetic community as a whole is incredible. It's a very special club to be a part of. But Scott was, it was like a natural progression, I felt like in our relationship was like, of course, I'm talking to you on the phone, you're my very best friend.
Scott Benner 5:19
Gonna devolve into me making sure that you're mentally stable for the next hour. Because,
April Davis 5:24
no, I'm a parent of a type one child, like, are any of us, okay,
Scott Benner 5:30
we're gonna say, has that ship sailed already? Or do you know, you're alright? So So, I mean, must be fascinating for people listening. I'm not a woman on the show about, you know, female reproductive parts. And I don't have diabetes, and I run a podcast about diabetes, I must seem like, I must, I must, at first glance, people are like, Oh, this is gonna be a mansplaining episode of Deep proportion. Right? I just talked about things in detail that I have no idea about. But exactly. Gosh, how did I end up doing this? Is that the question I've talked so much?
April Davis 6:04
Yes. Tell us where you came from. Okay.
Scott Benner 6:08
Is that Is that are you trying to get me to say, I came from my mom's vagina, I feel so much Russia. I'm teasing you. I have two children and a wife. And with that wife, I made the first baby, everything seemed okay. And a few years later, we got all full of ourselves. And it's like, we're good at this. Let's just do it again. And we made another one. And that one came out fine. We were like, boom, we're geniuses. And then two years into that. Our second child Arden was diagnosed with type one diabetes. So that was 2006. In the summer, and back then, like, it's funny, like, blogs weren't really a thing, or they were just sort of starting to become that was the
April Davis 6:58
beginning of the blog world, because that's about the time I kind of started dabbling as well. That was like, everyone had a blog spot. But we were all kind of trying to Yeah, yeah,
Scott Benner 7:07
people were drifting out of what was the one that was just basically animated pictures, MySpace, and either Blogspot or it was, what's that? What's the other one? Look how old I am. WordPress, WordPress, you have it. And so my daughter gets diabetes in the first year is a real slog, it doesn't go well, or a one sees in the eights. I have a general feeling most days that I'm killing her. putting her to bed at the end of the night, like talking to myself as I'm walking out of the room, because I hope she's going to be alive in the morning. Like, I don't know what I'm doing. Everything's terrible,
April Davis 7:42
which is so that's so real. Like I like when I listen to the episode that you had talked about that exact feeling. I was like that is that describes it perfectly like, well, they're probably gonna die tonight, I did the best I could I can go to sleep knowing that we really tried. And it will completely make sense when they're alive in the morning,
Scott Benner 7:58
no technology to speak of. Yeah. Now there are continuous glucose monitors, there are pumps, I mean, algorithms that help you. I mean, I don't want to give anybody who doesn't understand type one, the feeling that it's just easy, but it you know, you can, if you have the money in the insurance, you can kind of see what's happening, which is Yeah, valuable. Right. So let's sleep at night. Yeah, do I have slept more since the technology? Anyway, on her one year anniversary, as it was coming up, I started getting overwhelmed with the idea of like, helping, research, I guess, is how it felt like, I was like, Well, I'm not a doctor, I'm not a, I'm not smart. I'm not gonna figure this out. Like maybe I can push money towards people who might help her. And, and I just didn't know how to do that. So I started writing an email. Like, I would like send emails out to people, like, you know, just like, This is what diabetes is about. And it was kind of lame. And then I tried to raise some money. In the first year, I think I raised like, $1,500. And I was like, Oh, God, I'm bad at this, too. You know, I can't take care of diabetes. And I don't know how to raise money. And but on those hard, it wasn't easy. So on the first anniversary, I found a piece of software on my computer. I'm a Mac user, and it was called iWeb. And it promised the magic of being able to put my thoughts onto the internet. And to give it a landing page kind of thing is how they talked about it. So I made this little blog, and I started blogging about what it was like for our to have diabetes. And then I used my email, which maybe was reaching, you know, three or 400 people that I knew in the whole world. And I said, I'm going to do a day of diabetes, where I'm going to email you every time I touch her, so that you can understand what it's like and that information will also be on the blog. Well, I'm gonna say by about two o'clock in the afternoon, I started feeling bad because a no one had asked for these emails. And oh, yeah, it's not like I asked him to opt into it and and be I just was like, God, if they've got the point already. If they don't, they don't care. Yeah, like a month later, I got an email from this lady living in England who I don't know, and could not in any way figure out my connection to her. And she's like, Hey, your blog is really helping my family. Yeah, I was like, I don't, I don't even know what she's talking about. Like, I didn't think I didn't think of myself as having a blog. Like, I didn't think of any of that. And it went on like that for quite some time. Because unlike WordPress, or the other stuff, there was no SEO, it was all word of mouth, if it if it got around at all, and I put no effort into making it bigger. And I something about not having an eye on making it amazing. Let me build it very organically instead. Uh huh. all word of mouth. So unlike, you know, nowadays, we're all young people. I'm just kidding. I just, I just feel really, you know, you're like, people are like, I'm gonna start an Instagram. And, you know, I'll be a trainer by Friday. Or, you know, and I just was like, I don't care. Like if this reaches people and helps them right on. And if it doesn't, I mean, it doesn't matter to me. I'm not trying to make money with it. I don't want it to be a business.
April Davis 11:10
And you are traveling, sharing, like, I'm already trying to stumble into this knowledge. I might as well just share what I have what I that was like the beauty. There was no like, all the pictures have to be perfect. There was no like, yeah, I have to push this. Like, what's my SEO strategy? Like? It was those early days of blogging were like, so delicious and naive and like, really altruistic? Well, I
Scott Benner 11:32
did it for the right reason. And there was no real way to make money with it. Anyway, it's not the world that yeah, I didn't today. So there was no like, eye on the prize kind of feeling. And I had learned from other people, by watching that if they got a popular blog, then they would make the deadly mistake of shining it up and making it look corporate. And then people don't like it anymore. And I was like, so you built this thing by coming to people saying like, look, this is me, I'm in my underwear in my living room typing this to you. And then you made it look like a formal website and like, and now you're like, people don't read it anymore, you know, or you stop saying what you thought or whatever. So I was just always very honest. And the truth is the first number of years of it, were just me being it was very, like raw nerve, like something would happen. Mainly, that thing would be bad. I would share it online. And other people would say, oh, that happens to us, too, which I guess was, I guess that was nice, because it gave people a feeling of camaraderie. But oh, yeah, after a while I started thinking, This isn't really valuable beyond that. And wouldn't I like it for it to be valuable beyond that, like the way I usually say it is, it's nice to know, at two o'clock in the morning, you're not alone? Because there are other people out in the world fighting with diabetes to. But wouldn't it be better? If that didn't happen to you at two o'clock in the morning? Like, let's talk about how to stop it from happening and stop commiserating over it and saying, Oh, this is what diabetes is. And it's just what it is. So I hate that term. I hate it when people say, Oh, that's just diabetes, because it makes it feel like it's out of your hands. And sometimes it is, but not as much as people think.
XCOM That's right. We're here to talk about the Dexcom G six continuous glucose monitor, and all the things that will bring to your life. Here are some of them in no particular order. Calm data, a sense that things aren't out of control. That enough, do you need more? All right, I'll give you more Hold on. You are a loved one has type one diabetes, or type two diabetes. And you want to see the speed and direction of your blood sugar. So you get yourself a Dexcom G six continuous glucose monitor. Yeah, put it on. And the next thing you know right there on your Dexcom receiver or on your Android or iPhone. You're looking at your blood sugar. I know right? It's cray cray. It's constant like the numbers always there. It also indicates to you the direction your blood sugar's moving, is it stable? Is it rising slowly? Is it rising, quickly, falling slowly falling, etc. You understand the direction. So you've got the number, you've got the direction and there's this beautiful graph that shows you where you've been. So you understand kind of the backstory of your day. People can follow your Dexcom I am following my daughters. I have picked up my iPhone, and I'm opening it Arden's blood sugar is 116 and it's stable. So that means it's not falling at an appreciable rate. But if I look at the graph, I can see that she's coming down because we just changed a pump. And her blood sugar got a little sticky for a minute during the pump change and we've been pushing it down since then. So while I believe that she's not falling at any great rate, I do expect this number to keep drifting over the next hour or so. Just based on what I'm seeing and my experiences using a Dexcom. Now, if that's not enough, I don't know what to tell you. I think you should head over right now to dexcom.com Ford slash juice box and find out how to get started. At the very least, check out that Hello Dexcom offer they have because you may be eligible for a free 10 day trial of the Dexcom G six. What did I just say? Free. Go find out if you're eligible, because you want to see this. You know, if you if you try it out, you don't like it. That's cool. But I think you're going to fall in love, fall in love with the comfort and security that comes with seeing the speed and direction of blood sugar. It just opens up a whole new world. And I would sing a whole new world, but I believe it's copyrighted. So I can't. But I could reenact my favorite scene from a lot. Princess Jasmine. I'm kidding. dexcom.com forward slash juice box, head over and check it out. Things that I described in this ad are of course, the results that we've achieved here. And yours may vary. But I'll tell you what's not gonna bury seeing that data, understanding how insulin and food affects blood sugar. That's a game changer. That that is absolutely magical, like a young man flying on a carpet. See what I did there. No one thought that was gonna tie together, not even me. Listen, if you can do it, a Dexcom is gonna make a big difference. I think you're really gonna like it. I hope you check it out. There are links in the show notes, to Dexcom and all the sponsors, those links are also available at juicebox podcast.com.
April Davis 17:12
Something that's been so helpful for me though, I think it takes a certain level of bravery and brazenness to be able to be like, Look, you went and sat down with your doctor, they decided to do X, Y, and Z. I'm actually living this crap day to day, let me give you some actual real world advice. Because I think we get I for me, I get caught up in like, I don't want people to come at me later and be like, That was terrible advice. And this is medical. Because even the realm of women's health is as much the wild west as the realm of type one diabetes. Like I very much saw this and like even listening your podcast, I love that you guys will so crystal clear be like, Look, we did this. And we tried this. And this problem has this. And I think a lot of people tiptoe around that. Because they're scared. And so I love that you don't tiptoe. I love that you say how it is I love that you say look, this is what we're doing. And this is what actually works. It's the same approach I've really tried to have to like female body health as a whole, because we tiptoe too much. And we don't actually share what's really like really thinking or what we're really like, I don't want to be mean, to the doctors are I don't want to go against whatever the current medical wisdom is are. But like if the medical wisdom isn't there, and your doctors are actually managing a kid, they don't really know. They don't really know. And it's the same with endometriosis. It's the same with PCOS. It's the same with like, a lot of these women's disorders. And so there there's I just I loved your brazenness in so many ways that you've just been like, No, this is just what we're doing. And it probably could totally work for you. Oh,
Scott Benner 18:46
April, you're nice. I mean, I'm fantastic. But we need to get past that. Well, I'm saying. I agree with you. And it's also a different thing. Now in the world where content content content, you have to have something constantly I'll tell you right now, if anybody, if everybody anybody ever wants to do this and thinks they're going to be successful at it, here's my analogy, take a stone, hold a lighter up to it, both stone will get hot. The second you take away the lighter, the stone will be freezing cold again. And that is trying to be relevant online. If you are not constantly holding the flame to the stone, you will go out and people will forget about you and go find you a hot stone. And because of that there's so such a push to get content out the people don't wait to find out what they're saying is valuable. They just like I hadn't thought here's my thought. And I don't do that. So if, again, being able to build slowly through the blog, I was able to build kind of a system for managing insulin. And then at one point I said to my wife, I have a way of doing this and it just works. And I think it would work for most people if not all of them because it's on such a basic distilled level. We're just talking about figuring out how insulin works in your body and then applying it to the things you're eating. And so I thought myself through the blog, and then I distilled it, and I kept taking it down until the thoughts were so small that they were basically t shirt slogans. Because at two o'clock in the morning, when you're fighting with your kids, low blood sugar, you don't need to start like pulling up, you know, something you read online and rereading it to figure it out. Like you need my stupid voice to say five words in your head, that triggers an entire memory for you that you can put into action very quickly, right? You
April Davis 20:35
don't want to be pulling out the physicians ducks reference of diabetes, I just want someone to be like, hey, trust that what what you think will happen will happen? Right? Okay, you're my new best friends. Exactly.
Scott Benner 20:44
You're correcting a low blood sugar in the blood sugars, 50. You give the kid 40 carbs. And then people just go back to bed? Well, some of those 40 carbs need insulin now. Because after the blood sugar's corrected, it's gonna start going back up again. Because now you've put in these carbohydrates and not compensated for them with insulin. And so I started telling people, you should trust that what you know is going to happen is going to happen. And yeah, it's not something that means seven people sat in a room and figured out to say, I just blurted it out while I was talking one day, and then I can see what sticks to people, like, you know, so I wrote that blog, I still have it. And I do put stuff on it. But I wrote that blog earnestly, until I started this podcast in 2015. Yeah, this podcast is like, it's over. And I don't do like when people no offense to anybody listening, but like when you all say, like, I have a season of a podcast, and there's 10 episodes. And that's, I laugh at that, that's two weeks of a podcast, like you gotta like, you gotta go. So you, so I just thought, Alright, I've got to blend these ideas together, I want to help people. And I really should be clear, because I'm from the East Coast, and I cut I could come off as flippin. All of this, to me is about helping people live better like that, that it's become a thing. That's a business like that. I send out invoices for ads and things like that is is secondary for me. Yeah. And so I hold on to that core tenet of helping people. But I understand that if you take the flame off the stone, you're not going to help people anymore. So you have
April Davis 22:22
to play this exact same game. And it's all those fine lines of like, you know, am I am I maintaining this in a way that I can continue to go at this speed while also like helping helping everyone. So I'm assuming if someone is listening to this far, they probably have some interest in type one. And what to know, like, let's let's get to the good stuff. So let's, let's talk about this you are managing a teenage girl. And so you are familiar with what it looks like to manage someone with a menstrual cycle. Yeah, and I even love I brought up this to you earlier, like you just barely did an episode around masturbation, but I had not even thought about how masturbation can affect blood sugar levels, which is really like when it comes to managing a type one of being a parent of a type one like, and even maybe being like anyone listening that has type one. Maybe that is me having clued into them like oh, oh, oh, no. All right. So my menstrual cycle,
Scott Benner 23:22
I hear what you're saying. You're saying stop chit chatting, Scott, let's get to the meat. Forever. You want to make this? Do this. No problem. So let's be clear. First of all. During the masturbation episode, I did not speak about my daughter. I just
April Davis 23:38
Yeah. But you do have a teenage child. She's 17. A young adult someday.
Scott Benner 23:45
Yes, 17. She's had diabetes since she was two. And so it kind of goes back to the tenants of the podcast, which are, I think one of the mistakes that people with diabetes can make. And I want to be clear, so I don't sound like an ass. I think that one of the reasons I'm good at talking about managing insulin and type one diabetes in general is because I have a third party perspective, that's really a first person heart, and I can be dispassionate about it. Because I'm not the one in the panic situation. If someone's blood sugar's crashing, I understand all the emotions and the inability to even maybe handle your own body as your blood sugar gets lower, but I don't have to have that I'm kind of an observer. So I can see what works in a situation and apply it. So for me, when I tell you, I mean, if you're still listening and you care about diabetes, here's what I think. I think you get your Basal insulin right. You learn to Pre-Bolus your meals correctly. You learn the difference in the impacts of foods heipo you how to put it simply as that you know, eating a handful of popcorn even if it's 11 carbs might impact you differently than having 11 carbs. papaya, right? So there's the glycemic load and glycemic index of foods, you have to understand the difference between them so that you can use the proper amount of insulin and not just do that thing where Oh, it's 10 carbs, I don't understand why it didn't work. And then after that, I think it's about staying flexible. And I think people have trouble with that. And they can get very mathematical about diabetes, which I don't think works very well. And nice terminal about Yeah. And then they go
April Davis 25:27
like, this is supposed to be this. There's a lot of supposed to in the mathematical.
Scott Benner 25:32
Yeah, there's no supposed to. And yeah, and and then the next thing that happens to them, is they get caught up in the why. So no,
April Davis 25:40
same. get offended by it.
Scott Benner 25:44
Why can't I figure out why this is happening. So to me, I don't think you like if you jump out of an airplane with a parachute on and it doesn't open. You don't go, well. This is up fine. How do you do? That guy told me there's a parachute back here that work? You start wondering if you have another shoot? Like, is there one on the front? How does this thing work? Right. So people why themselves right into the ground?
April Davis 26:05
Oh, and waste so much time? Just correct. And move on? Yeah. In the moment is so frustrating. I'm like, I did everything right. What is going on? Why? Why? And then the figuring out the white in the meantime, just correct them. And
Scott Benner 26:21
I don't know why some people's brains work that way. But mine doesn't. And I don't know why some people have trouble. You know, saying out loud. My doctor doesn't give me great advice. But I don't have trouble with that. I don't care. I don't care about anything that would impede my daughter from having a less than healthy life. So Right. So I apply that idea to the menstruation part. Because, listen, I again, I don't know what it's like to be a woman. But from a third party perspective, it seems to be an unholy dumpster fire every once in a while, like what happens to you guys. It's horrible. You know, and you know, muscle aches and headaches and joint pain, and I messy here. And everything's horrible. And like, Oh my God, I need another Pat, I need this. I'm 19 years old, and I don't want to put a tampon in, but I want to go sweat. Like, I don't know, any of it. God bless you. Okay, like, it's amazing. So what I noticed was, is that there are times of the month that my daughter needs more insulin, and there are times of the month that she needs less. And I don't argue about that in my own head. I just accept it and handle it with the same way I would handle everything with diabetes. So I'm guessing something about ovulating. Gets your hormones rolling around. Those hormones then cause some issues with using insulin because you see it with boys right when boys grow. And they then they have a hormone influx. They have different insulin needs poor girls as soon as they start getting their periods almost immediately at for Arden. It wasn't like day one, but a few months. I feel like she had like a training wheels period for a couple of months. totally right. Yep. That makes sense. Yep. And then. And then I started realizing like, Okay, well, this, when you see these things happen, that's an indication that she needs more insulin, stop worrying about why and move the settings so that now the settings meet the need, right? Just meet the need. And then as you see it drift away. And for Arden, it's usually when the here's where I get stuck me on your podcast, what do we call this at the event? When does it like the full? I don't know what to say.
April Davis 28:35
Demonstration occurs?
Scott Benner 28:36
Listen, when whoever invented people, I'm gonna just guess it was the end of the day, right? April, whether you want to believe in God, or, you know, the big bang or whatever, somebody was sitting there, and they're like, What do we do to indicate they're not pregnant? And the guy's like, oh, I want to go home for dinner. Like you figure it out. And then like the guy like in the office got to decide he was like, I don't like my mom much. We should make them bleed out of their vaginas. And like, just terrible. So when, when that thing happens over the next 36 hours or so her insulin needs start to drift back to where they are.
April Davis 29:12
So I have a question about this. And because obviously I've been listening your podcast so I know Arden is on birth control which suppresses ovulation and and flatlines all your hormones. Have you noticed a difference coming from an ovulating cycling? Teenage female into now a completely flatlined? No longer ovulating? No longer menstruating female?
Scott Benner 29:37
Yeah, the the insulin needs are more stable again. But yeah, but you can still see them. The difference is still interesting. Yeah, just a little bit. So it's like, it's not as much of a change, but it's still a change. And it can be a little worse now. You can go back and forth a little bit during your period sometimes You have to be able to start separating things out like this is when?
April Davis 30:03
Well, because she would be going cuz like she had like a pill
Scott Benner 30:07
your way? Actually, that's been a whole. You want to hear about that. That's been a dilemma. Yes. So that's why we're here. That's why, if somebody would have told me that I would have led with this, I'm just teasing.
April Davis 30:18
Oh, no, you wouldn't have
Scott Benner 30:22
run me over. If you didn't run me over 10 minutes ago and try to get me back on track. I'd still be kidding about something. I know. Hey, listen, if you want you go ahead and try to make a podcast if you're not chatty, it ain't easy. I know. So orden starts getting How did it start? I'm gonna guess it
April Davis 30:43
like that. It's a withdrawal bleed. So you're withdrawing from a synthetic hormone. So I could see where the insulin meets would still change with the menstruation because you're going through withdrawal from hormone, hormones.
Scott Benner 30:56
It can be a little more erratic during the bleeding. But so so here's what happened. She starts to get her period. I forget how old if I'm being honest. That's fine. A number of months into it. She starts experiencing this is fascinating. A nosebleed. One big nosebleed almost every 30 days, out of nowhere, never happened to her before. We're in a movie 2019 We're seeing the Joker. It's like 15 minutes left in the movie. He's about to kill Robert De Niro. Sorry, coolers. And I don't think anybody listening to this podcast is like, oh, no, I'm just gonna watch the Joker. And she looks over at me and she goes, What's going on? And blood is pouring out of her nose. And that, in my mind, looking back in hindsight was the beginning of this whole mishegoss which is, yeah, yeah, it's a yet a short, it means a disaster. And so we didn't notice that the nosebleeds were happening monthly at first. Mm hmm. And then she started talking about her period was very heavy. And then before we knew it, she was dying. Like, I mean, like it's an exaggeration, but she was like literally falling apart. And for months, like she'd get home from school pass out on the countertop, like I have photos of Arden sleeping on a countertop, like like with her headboard sitting in a chair just couldn't hold her head up. And it wasn't all the way until we realized that her her ferritin level had dropped very far. And, and we got her an infusion of iron. And she just came right back up, like, like leaving a flower out in the heat and then watering it again, you're like this will never come back. And then the next day like, Oh, my God, it's all falling green. Again, she comes right back up about a month. But somehow we didn't put that together with depleting. So normally, she just drained back out again. And then we were then I said to my wife, I'm like, holy shit. This is Oh, I'm sorry. I don't know if you're on here. Okay, this is about her period where she's losing too much blood. So we got her on a pill, they put her on low, low estrogen, low lows, didn't help anything. But they made her do it for three months to be sure. Then they moved at a low estrogen, which seems to be magical. Nosebleed stopped, period regulated. And when I say regulated, Arden was getting our period, 11 days straight to day break. And then it was coming right back again. Over and over. And all that stuff that we talked about before the tiredness and the muscle aches and just anemia. Yeah, we wouldn't stop. And so she's just like melting into a pile. And so we thought, Oh, this is perfect. We got it. Now two months ago, she starts saying I can't eat meat. And I have no idea if this is going to be about this or not right. But this is me thinking through it. And then suddenly I can't stomach meat turned into I'm hungry. But I don't have a flavor for anything. Like I can't imagine what would tastes good, right? And just last week, Arden and I read her OBS appointment, because I've been a stay at home dad for over 20 years. And I go to a lot of things that a lot of guys don't do. And we're sitting sitting in the office, and we're trying to figure it out. I think the doctor is gonna move into Yaz, is that right? No, yeah. And then we realized through talking more, it's possible that heard that our drug our pharmacy moved her to generic about the same time we think that her thing with her appetite started so we're still going to try we're still going to try the ads anyway because she's still having some weird acne that the doctors like with this pill. You should not be having any acne. So she's gonna switch around a little. But I think we might look back and find out it's just the generic and by the way, the nosebleeds came back.
April Davis 34:43
Interesting. Because they're, I mean, really the generic supposed to be pretty much the same thing. That's fascinating.
Scott Benner 34:50
Yeah. And so who knows, but I I'm a little trip. Obviously I don't seem trepidatious because I just talked but during trying to figure out During trying to teach myself about birth control pills, I learned that there seems to be two very specific camps online about it. There are people who share their experience with their birth control pills. And then there are people who yell at them. It seems like for Yes, seeming like they're talking people out of using or shaming. I don't know, I'm 50 I don't really care what the hell all you do. Doesn't matter to me. Oh, yeah. But but I'm telling you, this is what happened here. I don't know exactly if this is right or not. But the way I think about it is, if I just said something that anyone can have a lightbulb moment for, and it helps them think good. And by the way, if this isn't you, then keep moving. You don't mean like, oh,
April Davis 35:43
no, it's so share the vagina blog, the official stance on birth control is it has a time and a place. There. It's one of those things that like, unfortunately, we've presented it as like a multivitamin to people like this is it's just no big deal. Just take this small, fix everything. And the reality is, it has its own side effects. Yeah. And it's, it's essentially putting your entire hormonal system at rest. So it suppresses everything. And it's frustrating, because like the medical community uses terms like regulate, but it's not regulating, it's just turning that whole cycle off. So what you're doing is you are taking medication that suppresses everything, and then you are having a withdrawal from a medication that causes bleeding that looks like a period. And so it feels like Oh, I'm regulating. But there's a time in place for all of this, like even even knowing all that, like I was on birth control for many years, because I just really could not find a great way to not get pregnant. Didn't want to have babies April, what she's going through as a teenager. I mean, that's the other thing that's tricky. Like, you definitely have some bleeding issues that are serious. Yeah. So maybe while you wait through that and get a diagnosis, this is a great bandaid.
Scott Benner 36:56
I'm gonna be honest with you prior to this with my daughter, my knowledge and birth control pills were that I dated a girl in high school whose breasts were amazing because she was on birth. And that is all. That's all I knew about. And honestly, like, I didn't think about it. I didn't know about it. I just know that one day, I had a girlfriend. And the next day I had a girlfriend whose boobs were better yet. Now, I know I'm seeing everything you said and how valuable that could be for people. And yeah, I understand better that it's not the way I was led to believe, which is oh, you know, you just can't get pregnant and it makes your period very regulated. I'm making air quotes. Yeah. Yeah, I can tell you this, that I to the best of my knowledge, and I'm pretty sure I'm right. My daughter's not sexually active. And oh, yeah. No, no, no, no, no. No. I'm doing that's not what I'm doing. Yeah, she was and she wanted to use a pill. I know, that would be up to her. I'd be okay with that. I'm saying yeah, to your point. Like, this seemed like a reach to us doing this. This was not like an easy thing where we were like, oh, we'll just run this now. Like it was, it was hard to get to. Because Because as we read about it, and we started realizing more of the impacts of it. It did seem really serious now. You know, for a number of months, it felt like it was saving her life. And now I feel like she they're gonna starve to death or bleed to death. We can't figure out what she's gonna do first, you
April Davis 38:25
know, I have to tell you, my Murena caused irritable bowel and messed up my appetite soon as I check out that IUD at all was like, right back to completely normal. But it's one of those things like that's a side effect of some of those some of the birth controls. You just kind of have to like, you have to weigh you always have to weigh the pros and the cons on those and go okay, is this what which one's worse? And I'm gonna go with bleeding to death being worse.
Scott Benner 38:49
Yeah. Well, and that's exactly. Let me catch up for a second. You just mentioned an IUD is that the thing that looks like the flux capacitor out of the back of the future card? Like it's like, Oh, yeah. My uterus. I know what it is, like? I just, I, you would think they just put like a little guy in there with boxing gloves that could beat up the sperms. Oh, yeah, it'd be much easier. That's what it is. Yeah. So again, 50 year old guy talking about periods. I don't know what I'm talking about at the time. Oh, you're doing great. Well, no, but I mean, it's either as anyone else, I guess, is my point. And you just have to like, dive in and figure it out. And much like with with the diabetes, I only know as much as I know about it now because I cared about my daughter, and I wanted to figure it out. And that's the same thing with this. Like, I couldn't just see or be like that. Just, you know, totally.
April Davis 39:37
You just hopped back on a different roller coaster and you're like, Okay, here we go.
Scott Benner 39:41
I have like a terrible view in my head of like, you know, the pre internet life where people would just be like, ah, that's my daughter. She's tired all the time. Yeah, absolutely. Right. Right. Just bad. So, yeah, I'm not gonna know what happens. She starts the pill, the new pill. In a week or so. But But back to the the insulin stuff. Yes. While she's on while she's been on the birth control pills, getting on them was a rough ride, like her levels changed a fair amount. And then yes, yeah, that's what I was wondering Yeah. And then I started figuring out the pattern, and then I was able to change your settings to meet the needs. And we know what it looks like to switch gears when you basically have to switch gears about twice a month, you know, going into it changing and then coming out of it again, and I know what people get scared off, they're like, Well, I don't know, like, how do I turn this up? If I'm not sure it's going to happen. But to that, I'd say it's happening every month. Like you trust that you know, what's gonna happen is gonna happen and and you just kind of get out of it. Because that's, that ends up being what happens is people, they wait, the blood sugar's get out of whack, then suddenly, they're chasing these horrible roller coasters up and down, up and down, up and down. And that's just not the way insulin works if, yeah, you know, you use and I just keep learning
April Davis 41:03
that fun lesson over and over again, it's great.
Scott Benner 41:07
Let me say this. And then let me ask you a question. So in my mind, insulin you use now is for later, timing wise, but more more appropriately, if you're trying to think about it, you have to think about that the insulin I used before is impacting right now. And I know it's the same thing but it's not when you when you're thinking about it, it's it's more important to know that your blood sugar might be getting low or high right now because of a decision you made two hours ago. Because if you don't know that, and you're always fighting the fight, as the fights happening, you can never stop the reoccurring again, you're always behind in, in in my mind, you're chasing it. And only like, level people with insulin know how to like stop the chase in its tracks, which I do try to explain to people on the show. And I think we do a pretty good job actually. What is your idea? You
April Davis 41:58
did a great job I that has gotten significantly better since listening to the Juicebox Podcast. What blew my mind? was we would so my daughter loves to eat and not tell us that she ate. She's nine. So it's a nightmare. We've talked about it all day, every day that she can't do that. But she continues to which is it? We're working on it anyway. That's probably a parenting issue. Or supervision issue. Yeah, but Mary, I
Scott Benner 42:34
think it is parenting in it as much as that. It's going to take you a long time to teach kids something. So I think I was a stay at home dad for a long time. i And yeah, I'm basically a lady. I'm just, I'm missing a couple of internal parts. And I could probably be
April Davis 42:52
my job. My husband and I have switched off back and forth our entire marriage. So he's the stay at home parents. Like I love that you've done this and like had that experience.
Scott Benner 42:59
I quit my job in around Christmas in 1999. So I haven't if you made me get up and go to work today, I'd cry just chained myself to something heavy announced I'd be like, you could not make me leave this house.
April Davis 43:15
Not wearing pants on a list. I want to go
Scott Benner 43:17
shave. I want to shave and not before I realized my way about five or six years into being a stay at home dad that I would have this big crazy beard. And women would always be wearing sweat pants in the winter. And I was like none of us are shaving.
April Davis 43:32
No. Winter
Scott Benner 43:35
seemed pretty warm. Yeah, it seemed unfair that they could hide it and I look scruffy. But
April Davis 43:41
I try numbers. And what surprised me because we would always give her this big correction that she would crash and immediately go whoa, like, you know, an hour or two later. And it would be this whole like, Oh, we got to correct now. What is weird is I will now give her that same correction and crank up her Basal. And she comes in Smith for landing.
Scott Benner 44:01
Yeah, so you figured out a thing that worked for you. Like
April Davis 44:05
what in the world I give her more insulin, it doesn't crash as hard. It's the
Scott Benner 44:09
timing of it. So the you have to love you have to line up the impact of the carbs with the action, the insulin they have to happen at the same time. And they kind of create this tug of war that no one can win. And that's that's really what using insulin is to me. You if you put in, you know, if you put in insulin five minutes before you eat, insulin doesn't work that way. So it's not going to be active and doing what it wants to do. The food's gonna go in and start hitting sooner. Now the blood sugar's flying up and the insulins basically still like off on the side stretching its legs and getting ready. And before you know it, even if you started with a great blood sugar of 90 or 150 or 200, it's flying up and then all of a sudden the insulins like I'm ready to run and then it jumps into the fight. It's way too late now, because you used enough insulin for, you know, say to cover 30 grams of carbs. Add an 89 blood sugar. But now the blood sugar's to 10. And it's rising. So there's momentum, there's the numbers change, you do not have enough insulin anymore. All that insulin goes in and tries, it tries, it tries, it can't really do anything. And then you're high and you're looking at it, like, Oh, I'm gonna have to do something. So you put in more insulin, then the food gets digested out of the system stops impacting the blood sugar, all the insulin is left behind, and you, you plummet, right? But if you just put in the right amount of insulin a little sooner, so that as the insulin begins to peak, as the food begins to impact, it's sort of just becomes it's an impasse, let's, you know, just imagine two sides pulling on a rope. But both are exactly the same strength and they can't move the rope. And that's when you see those steady lines on people's graphs. That's what they have happening. They have a balance of the need of insulin, and the amount of insulin and it's a very good balance. And that's it. So
April Davis 45:55
here's the here's a question coming back to ministration. Were you ever able to autopilot? Were you ever, ever able to like dive into your pump system? And say, Okay, we know on week one of her menstrual cycle and week two, or like the first half in the second half, like her Basal programs need to be this and our Basal programs need to be that was it? Were you ever able to get into like an autopilot situation with it?
Scott Benner 46:17
That's what we do. Yeah, I mean, I don't, I don't listen, if you're using insulin, and especially if you have type one, and you're waiting every three months for your doctor to make an adjustment to your settings, you're always going to be lost. It just, it's a thing that's happening right now. And you need to address it in the moment. So yeah, I mean, I've been changing Arden settings since I figured that out. I mean, a very long time ago, like I said earlier, in the beginning couple years, I was just doing what I was told. And it was it was not going well. And then I started seeing things, putting two and two together, recognizing very quickly, I need to be in charge of when this insulin goes in and how much it is. And, you know, and since then I've been but I would never not make an adjustment. If I needed one. Now you can over adjust. But yeah, you can't just turn dials for the sake of turning dials and needs to be a little purposeful, a lot purposeful. But that's the Yeah, that's the kind of stuff we talked about in the show so that people can understand.
April Davis 47:14
Well, and it's anyone listening to this? Who wants to know more about that? I mean, it's you have great episodes on stopping the arrows on on how to how to get your Basal, right, like Basal really, like if it's off, its off, like, and so that's you've got great resources for that somebody else we wanted to ask you about. And I mean, I feel bad that we're like really just talking about art. And you're also like over this entire community that you can draw from to but have you seen insulin resistance since introducing birth control? Because for some people, using birth control can cause insulin resistance.
Scott Benner 47:49
So I don't talk about insulin resistance like that, because I think it I think it puts an idea in people's heads that there's a magical thing happening that causes them to use more insulin, and they can't know why it exists. So I understand that insulin resistance is a thing, but I think it makes people think about it the wrong way. So do you have hormones that cause you to need more insulin? Yes. But that's not insulin resistance. That's just Yeah, it's a need is how I think about Yeah, and I know, you know what I'm saying. But I just think it's incredibly important to be clear, because it puts people into those thoughts of, oh, well, that's just diabetes, there's nothing I can do about it. I get insulin resistant once in a while. But that's not true. If you can step back and take a macro enough view, there are repetitive nature as to what's happening to you. And so if three days before you ovulate, you know, something happens. Well, then that's about what happens. I mean, if you want to think about it, yes, on resistance, you can, but I just think about it as on that day, you need more insulin or on those grouping of days.
April Davis 48:54
So you haven't seen an overall rise in like, oh, suddenly sent being on birth control, her insulin needs have been greater overall, like I'm talking like, there's an overall like, so I have PCOS, which is a an insulin disorder, essentially. And so birth control when you have PCOS can it can make your insulin resistance worse, so you're even more resistant to the insulin that your body's making. And so I always like, I wondered how that affected type ones.
Scott Benner 49:25
What at the time, yes, her insulin needs went up her. Her Basal rate needs went up. Not significantly, maybe from nificantly point eight to one or 1.1. Like right now she's in, you know, because we this, this pill suddenly not working for us. She just suddenly broke through and had bleeding. You know, like she had a period like eight days into this pillpack Which is, you know, we're like, Oh, great. No, horrible. No, it's not even to this part, you know? Yeah. And so, you know, that happen, and I watched her needs go to like Plessy About a week. And so we we changed a little bit, but not a lot. Her sights have been, I don't know if I'm right about this or not. But I think sometimes during her period, her sights don't last quite as long. I don't know if that's an overall feeling of the body just being, you know, in a mess. And maybe it's, it's in a healing process, like I think can cause
April Davis 50:23
inflammation. So typically menstruation and even withdrawal, bleeding can cause the body to go into an inflammatory state, that would totally make sense that the cannula would be that much more irritable.
Scott Benner 50:34
Yeah, so So we, you know, we're a little more on top of changing pumps, like in that second day, in the end of the day, you're like, uh, you know, I'm not getting what I expect out of this. And so we might jump off of it a little sooner, that happens a little more during her period than not good, but it doesn't. I think that the problem with this, and maybe a lot of things is that people want like concrete LightSwitch answers to things and health just as always work that way. You know, so you have to, you have to step back and you have to see what's happening. And then be proactive and do something about it. You can't just say, you know, you have PCOS. So it's going to be that way, the way it is for you for everybody, because that's not the case and diabetes, you know, is similar life is similar, right? Like, it's, it would be nice if there was just a book of answers. But it doesn't work.
April Davis 51:24
We all have totally different bodies. One, one of the reasons I wanted to do this episode with you is just a to kind of create almost a list of like, suggested like she just suggestions like we I've noticed this in my community, I've noticed this like with my own daughter managing I've noticed some of this, we've seen some of death, like just a guideline of like, if you have type one, and you're menstruating, you know this, it could potentially look like this for you be on the lookout look for your cycle, what patterns are emerging, what, which is really a gospel, I preach all the time, wait, let's look at your cycle and see what patterns we can find. As I think for a type one, you know, that's that much more important?
Scott Benner 52:02
Well, it's going to likely happen to you when maybe for some people it doesn't or maybe some people are MDI and you know, not to get like too in the weeds. But there are some people who are MDI, who aren't great about Pre-Bolus Singh, and they aren't great about carb counting. So they're endos will set them up with a heavier Basal rate to sort of like, try to lay over the sins that might happen during the day, right? Yep. So yeah, maybe because of that, like, who knows, maybe because of that, you have more Basal than you need, maybe your needs go up because of your period, and your appetite goes down. So you eat less and you don't notice that some of that extra Basal you were using for food is now being used for hormones and impact from your parents. Like I can't tell you all the things that might happen to the variable or like their mind numbing sometimes like what Scott,
April Davis 52:51
I brought you on here to tell everyone everything about everything? Well,
Scott Benner 52:55
I am telling you, here's a flexible, stop. Don't ask. Don't ask why meet the need. That's it. Like I mean, yeah, I love that. I joke with Jenny sometimes. So for people who don't know, I had a woman named Jenny Smith, come on my show one time she has diabetes for like 30 years or more. She's a CD certified diabetes educator. She's a nutritionist. She's delightful. She's very smart. And I just had, I had her on as a guest one time. And I couldn't get her out of my head. I was like, I need to have her back on the show. So I had her all the time as a guest. And I had the same feeling again. And then I told her one day, I didn't know her, like try to imagine I sent her an email. And I was like, I want to take all the little parts of like management that I talked about, I want to distill them because the one thing my podcast is, is conversational. So yeah, my goal when you're listening to an episode is that it might be entertaining, it might be fun, you're going to learn a couple of things in your hour will feel pretty well used. And that that episode will build on to another one that will build on another one kind of makes a tapestry of understanding. But I didn't have any specific like this episodes about setting your Basal insulin because my brain doesn't work that way. So the Jenny, I'm like, I have these tenants, I would like to put them in their own place. And she came on and helped me make the diabetes Pro Tip series that exists inside of the podcast now. It went so well that I was like, Would you also help me define terms? Like would you talk about variables like so she's on a lot, but she really is. She's a lovely person. She's just a guest. Like, she's not a she's not an employee. She doesn't like you don't I mean, it's just a wonderful person. And anyway,
April Davis 54:36
the diabetes world it's like, oh, can I help? Of course I'll help. I'll figure it out.
Scott Benner 54:40
It really is. It really is. Yeah, so I said to her one day you know, I want to do one about periods to like about menstrual cycle because we have like pregnancy series. We have like all stuff. Yeah. And and we're talking back and forth. And I said, you know the the truth of this is, is that this whole Things Not really a podcast, like none of it is like I should have 115 minute episode that says, Get your Basal right Pre-Bolus Your meals, learn the different glycaemic impacts of food, stay flexible. See you later, you know what I mean? Right. But it doesn't work that way. You can't just, you can't just say something to someone, and they go, Oh, okay. And that's it, and not just for this for anything. And so that's why delivering content this way. I mean, the blog was popular. And I'd get a note, you know, every couple of weeks, like this blog is really helping me but I mean, like, it's weird to say out loud, because content providers say these things a lot when they don't, they aren't necessarily true. But I hear from probably a dozen, to, I'd say, 15 people a day, about what they're about what the podcast does for them.
April Davis 55:52
It's intimate. Your inner ears, like right now, when people are listening to this, and they're part of our conversation they love like, I love hearing the stories. I love learning the lessons through the stories, I love hearing the other people are going through the same things that I'm going through. But even like the episodes where you had Jenny, that was the beginning of me finally go at like, finally be like, oh, oh, I need to do this. I need to try that. I didn't even think about this. My doctor never covered that. I didn't know what this acronym stood for. Yeah,
Scott Benner 56:21
it's just it and you can't just give it away. In a sense. It's not a blog post was nice. It didn't work, right. You know, trying to do it on Instagram, that's a fool's errand, you're not gonna be able to do it that way. It's,
Unknown Speaker 56:32
it's a good time, let me tell you.
Scott Benner 56:35
Doing this, the and kind of maybe underappreciated aspect of it is, is that if you're not a good communicator, and you're not interesting, it doesn't matter if you have the secret to life, 45 minutes into your podcast? No, make it to it, you know. So it has to be engaging. I think one of the things that I've done, if I can take credit for anything is I've taken a very dry medical heart, yet hard to understand. And I've made it fun somehow. And you know, in that, so weird mix, and I don't think that's what most people wouldn't think to do that, they would think that there's an appropriateness that maybe goes away, but like, I listen,
April Davis 57:17
brazen, I think your brain, appreciate it.
Scott Benner 57:21
I'm just old, I don't really give a crap what anybody else thinks. But I just I grew up in a time where entertainment was, you know, it needed to be entertaining, or you'd shut it off. And I think the same way about this, and I, at the same time, feel very responsible for the people listening, you know, so I don't want to give them bad information. So that I have an episode. And then that goes into what how do you make a podcast over and over again, I interview people who are just regular people, like I avoid, like the plague anybody in the diabetes space who has a name for themselves. And I really know them. And I legit know that this is something I want to do. Because people come off this practice then. And they have sound bites they give and they're trying to direct you back to their Instagram. And I'm like, like you, you've been very kind to a couple times while you're talking, if you like inserted the name of the podcast, like, I don't care. Yeah. Like, I really don't care if nobody listening to this comes unless I
April Davis 58:16
do I want anyone that listens to this, I have type one, I need you to stop when you finish this episode, I need you to go straight to the Juicebox Podcast, I need you to look up all these basic episodes that he's talking about with Jenny. And you just start at square one and listen to all of them. And then you can go back and listen to Scott go on and on and on about whatever with whoever, then that's great, too. But the defining diabetes, the diabetes, basically all those series, those are essential listening for someone managing type one diabetes, like there is nowhere else you're going to get this information. There's no books. There's, I mean, it's your blog, and like you said, like so many of these other diabetes blogs, they're great. They're front and there's a lot of commiseration going on. But there's not a lot of actual real like, no, if you do this, it will get better. Yeah.
Scott Benner 59:02
And it's right. And it works for adults too. Which Yeah, I hear a lot of times when people like oh, well you're the father of a kid with diabetes. I thought this was for kids. And it's not it's it's for no using insulin, any diabetic
April Davis 59:13
that's been diagnosed for any number of years. I've been doing this for four years, and was still like, oh my gosh, how did I know I already know this. Why did no one tell me that I or this sounds familiar from she got diagnosed four years ago, but no one's ever brought it up since then. Like that's terrible that like and like you said to if you're waiting to go see your doctor, we go every six months. Hey, we need to change doses until every six months. That's why she's been mismanaged for the last four years. Like you can't wait that long. Like there's so much there. Well, I'm gonna wrangle you in though we got to talk about masturbation.
Scott Benner 59:47
All right. Well, what I do it and I'm just kidding.
April Davis 59:52
So diabetic masturbation got
Scott Benner 59:55
I have a bustling Facebook page. That's a private Facebook page for the podcast. It has 15,000 plus people on it, talking about, you know, diabetes and living with it and management of it and that kind of stuff. And I very much run that Facebook page the way I talk. I don't Yeah, I don't look at it. I don't care what people say to each other. If you say something that insults somebody else, you better figure it out amongst yourselves because you're adults, and I'm not your mom. And I saw how
April Davis 1:00:23
beautiful is it? I don't see a lot of that going on on your page where people are friendly, respectful, and also quick to be like, No, we don't do that. You're sorry. I
Scott Benner 1:00:30
like it. When people step up and go Scott would not like this if he saw it. Because one of my rules for the Facebook site page says if this becomes a pain in my ass, I will close it. Like I really
April Davis 1:00:39
don't know, I don't blame you. I haven't started on myself because it's too intimidating to me. So like, this is incredible. So
Scott Benner 1:00:44
whereas other people might start a Facebook page thinking this will feed my podcast, and I just don't care. Like it works because it Yeah, and it works because I'm hands off. I run out Facebook pages the way I parent my kids and I live my life like your you'll figure it out like you don't need me. And yeah, listen, if somebody says something terrible, or a scammer comes in or something like that, I take heart I take care of that right away. But if people disagree, you know, we're like, oh, this is uncomfortable, like, well, you either better be comfortable or look away because it seems okay for these people who were interested in. But anyway, I watch these people have these great conversations. And one day, somebody says, Oh my god, I just realized my son's blood sugar goes up when his bedroom door is locked. And, and hundreds and hundreds of comments later, I was like, this is an episode of the podcast, right? Oh, yeah. So I get Jenny on to do a variables episode. And I and I wish you knew I don't pre plan. So I'm like, Jenny, Hey, today, let's talk about orgasms. And she's such a lovely woman, and she's from the Midwest. And she's like, Oh, okay, that's like, this is gonna be more fun listening to her be uncomfortable than anything else. But so I watched these people talking. And then it all started making sense. But then Jenny and I talked through it, and we even kind of found more like, like, if you're, if you're going to masturbate at home, and you're an adult, right? You probably just like, Ah, I'm going to grab a towel. And I'm going to use a little bit of this, and I might grab a vibrator, or I'm going to use my hand. It's not a big deal. Easy. But if you're a 15 year old boy, and there are people in your house, you're like, Oh,
April Davis 1:02:24
I got yeah, there's excitement, all
Scott Benner 1:02:26
that starts hitting you, and it makes your blood sugar go up. And then lovely. Like adult women in the group came in and said, I gotta tell you, it doesn't work the way for me, but I get a little low afterwards. Yeah, right. And I was like, Oh, this is fasting. So. So then, you know, I so I guess like, best. I'm sorry. Like, I'm such a child in my heart. Like when I hear hormone I think of like, I think of like a joke of when I was 12. How do you make a hormone and when I think of girls masturbating, I start thinking about weird euphemisms like flicking your being and stuff like that. And I get all like, inside like a small child. Anyway. And then I started like, you know, I'm trying not to be creepy, but the thought of girls, you know, and jerking off is my favorite euphemism for female masturbation, because it seems like it doesn't fit anyway. Yeah, point is we like when they go to do that. You get that build up, obviously. But then the release and the release comes maybe a bit of relaxation. And people don't, and people don't recognize it. Some of your insulin need can come from stress. So yeah, so if you don't have all the vigor of intercourse, that might bring your blood sugar down, because that's another thing we talked about, you know, with adults having sex, like, it hits men differently than women. They have food by their bedside, like there's all this stuff. But so if you just kind of cruise into it, like an adult, and you've had a stressful day, and you bang one out real quick and you're relaxed, your blood sugar might start to go down. And they might not back that because you think about excitement, or shouldn't it go up? Well, if I'm a 15 year old boy looking for a quiet room, I might be like, Oh my god, I saw this girl on Instagram. And I really need to go find a private place to be, you know, like that those impacts will be different. So stress, anxiety. Those things impact
April Davis 1:04:13
hormones. Insulin is a hormone, like it just was like such a like I had never considered it listening to this morning was like, Oh my gosh, of course.
Scott Benner 1:04:22
And it doesn't even have to have an effect because a hot shower, a hot shower could bring your blood sugar down. And some people think, Oh, hot showers make my blood sugar fall, well, maybe that's the case. Or maybe you're all uptight. And you know, maybe you're an uptight person, and you have a Basal rate of 1.5 an hour. And when you relax, that Basal rates too heavy, and it makes your budget too much. Yeah, and my point is, is you're never going to really know. So instead of trying to figure it all out, just know where to look, see it happen, recognize a pattern, and then you know, make an adjustment afterwards like you know, maybe you know, maybe you Need a snack before you, you know, you do your thing. Or maybe you, you know, maybe you can't have a meal and then jump right into the shower. Like, you know, like little like because you've got all this active insulin like, the point is, is that I don't know. And I can't say something definitive, that fits in a nice bullet point list that's going to make your life with diabetes better. But I can have conversations with people so they can bring up what's happening to them, we can think it through the best we can, and maybe you'll find some sameness and that it'll help you like, that's how I think about it. But I
April Davis 1:05:30
love that because I think that's all it is, is going hey masturbating, it might affect your blood sugar, your menstrual cycle might affect your blood sugar, it might, he might, because you're cyclical, you're going to maybe know some patterns with your menstrual cycle with your blood sugar and how you manage your diabetes and masturbation. And I also love even bringing that up, because it really also shows like, there's a lot of topics that you've covered on your podcast that are somewhat taboo. Like, if you go into your doctor's office and go, I would like to use illegal drugs or drink alcohol, and how would I manage my blood sugar? They're gonna go a I don't know and be don't do just don't do that. Yeah, right. They're gonna think you were like, no, let's actually talk about it. Like that's like, these are things that actually happen. So let's just talk about it. I have
Scott Benner 1:06:14
had amazing conversations with people who are just I interviewed a lady two months ago and just went up recently, she's 62 years old. She said diabetes forever. And she has cancer, blood, everything, had a wonderful conversation with her. I've also had a conversation with a person who was diagnosed with type one diabetes during a heroin bender. I, you know, like, I I think all of those conversations are real like to pretend that people with diabetes, don't use heroin is ridiculous to to think that they might not drink is silly. Like, you can't just talk to people about the parts that are polite company stuff, because it's not really the answer. Like they need a real answer. And I'm not telling you to use heroin. And if you commingled, what I just said with that idea. Yeah, I think you're insane. No, you know, that's not it. But yeah. I mean, I've had conversations with people who are bipolar and have type one. And how about Yeah, after having a number of conversations, hundreds and hundreds, I start hearing the word bipolar and people's like, binds and then I start thinking, is bipolar disorder, an autoimmune disease? Where does it have any link to that? Because people with type one, quite frequently have other autoimmune issues? Or in the family? Maybe, right? Totally. And I wouldn't have, like, put two and two together like that. Had I not had so many of these conversations and met? Like, listen, quirky, people are fun. You know, like I can, I'll tell you what, for years, I've been trying to get somebody on the show has been in prison. And I don't mean, like, over the weekend, you know, cuz like,
April Davis 1:07:44
type one, I want to listen to
Scott Benner 1:07:46
that. I want to talk to somebody who has been in been inside and had diabetes, I want to know what that's like. And yes, it's a hard thing I've had, I've had four people booked for it. And they always drop off. And it's usually to do with
April Davis 1:08:00
oh, gosh, they end up back in prison.
Scott Benner 1:08:04
There's concerns about their parole, usually. Oh, yeah. I don't want to tell stories that maybe put them back in trouble. So I keep trying, and I keep trying. But I mean, I have one up today about woman came on to talk about her eating disorder. I listen, I got an email once from somebody who said, I was assaulted in college, I was raped. And it impacted my, my diabetes care. And I want to come on the show and talk about it. And I thought, Oh, my God, there can't be an hour conversation about her impact over control. We're gonna end up talking about sexual assault, right? Like, okay, I'm like, let's do it. And so she got on. And before we started, I was like, Are you sure about this? I was like, because I am not sure I'm me. I'm gonna say something stupid during this at some point, you know, she, she was only the show, you're going to be okay, let's do it. And we did it. And she thanked me when it was over. And she's like, this is terrific. Put this up just like this. And I said, Oh, okay. And then I don't blink an eye. Like, I know, some people might think like, oh, God, I'm gonna get like, cancelled, or I don't know what you guys do to people online anymore. But I don't think about it that way. I'm like, This is gonna help somebody. And you know, listen, it's in the title. When it starts, I'll say, Look, we're going to talk about this today. You know, I'm not a person who understands the idea of being triggered by something, but I do know that some people are and so I want them to know, but at the same time, you can't spend so much time papering things with oh my gosh, be careful this and be careful that don't be this you'll never get to the damn content. You always be apologizing for it. And this stuff,
April Davis 1:09:45
this is another reason why I feel like your podcast is so useful and what we're missing in a lot of ways and this and it's community.
Scott Benner 1:09:51
We're not missing it. I put it out four days a week. What do you think of that? It's Yeah, right here. Exactly. I am a whore. I put my content out like But I'm but I'm very proud that I don't think that there's, you might find a episode that you don't jive with somebody or maybe there'll be a time where I talk a little too much or not enough or whatever. But overall, I don't think there's a clunker in that podcast. Like, I don't think episodes you'll turn on and go like this was a waste of my time. So yeah,
April Davis 1:10:20
everyone is interesting. I learned something from every single one of them. And, and that's ultimately why I love having mine. Because I hope the same I hope that people can take away something from every even if it's not applicable to them. I hope if someone's made it this far in this episode that doesn't have type one that they learned something new today and still have something that applies to them personally, even without type one diabetes.
Scott Benner 1:10:42
It from my listen through rate is 93%. And if there aren't a lot of people still listening, I'm insulted. And I wish they were listening so I could tell you I had no choice to stay and listen, I'm terribly interesting. But I have a couple of vagina questions because I feel like you're gonna kick me off in a second. So absolutely. All right, labia, is it majora and minor or is it minority? Because I'm enormously mature and labia menorah? But isn't a menorah? The thing you put candles in at the high Hall also that why would they do differently? But why? It's terrible. So alright, so Majora is that the
April Davis 1:11:21
external lips? Okay,
Scott Benner 1:11:22
so let me back up. Some ladies have like nice like smooth presentation, and some ladies have a more general presentation. Those are the Majora Yeah,
April Davis 1:11:31
it just it each snowflakes vulvas are like snowflakes. Each one is different. Each one has different measurements and things some have longer outer lips, longer inner lips longer both. None. snowflakes,
Scott Benner 1:11:45
okay? If you have bigger outer lips, do you need more lubrication?
April Davis 1:11:49
Depends on you. Some people really like naturally lubricate super well. I always tend to lean on like, you know what, if you're worried about add lube, it rarely is about idea
Scott Benner 1:12:01
couldn't get caught, like in a foldover situation to be unpleasant?
April Davis 1:12:04
Absolutely. Like I my joke to with like, I'm pretty not against plastics or like I'm pretty against plastic surgery in that area. Like it's bothers me that this has become such a mainstream thing because it is so unnecessary the majority of the time. But my joke is like if if your baby's getting stuck in your zipper, like maybe maybe you could potentially lose a little bit of it and be okay, still, you know,
Scott Benner 1:12:26
get your wings clipped, you're saying no. Yeah. Like, like, would you that's the
April Davis 1:12:31
problem. There are nerve endings and every single bit of that tissue and so anytime you go in and start sniffing around, you could potentially take off portions of the clitoris by messing around about because people always think of the cartridges that little teeny tiny, but that's under the clitoral hood.
Scott Benner 1:12:47
The hard part does
April Davis 1:12:48
the Yeah, like your dorsal nerves go down into like, your labia or what's covering the other portion of your clitoris. So you have to be really careful when you start messing with that. And unfortunately, doctors are not as well informed about this because really, it's been only in the last few years that they've even agreed on the anatomical terms for all this most medical textbooks do not teach what a normal link is what a normal depth is. And so you may be dealing with a doctor who's just practicing based on like, what they feel like
Scott Benner 1:13:23
I don't like that keep your lips now. Nor are those the little ones towards the hole more like the interior more that'd be the menorah. Yes, I'm testing myself because I've been married for 25 years. I haven't seen a vagina in a while. So now the the thing at the top the mons pubis, is that where the hair grows? Yes, yes. Why is that got such a Why does everything have a weird name? I don't know. How do we get I don't know. How do we get dick and balls and you get mons pubis? That's really ridiculous. Great. Hold on If
April Davis 1:13:55
you haven't yet frenulum and the shaft.
Scott Benner 1:13:59
Please, please don't say that's the part that connects the testicles. vast difference. Yeah. That's inside stuff. I don't care about the entire part. I just care about what I can say. I have other questions is squirting real. Where our Lady seeing themselves what is happening?
April Davis 1:14:16
absolutely real. So sporting is typically fluid coming out of the scheme's glands. So the same glands that lubricate the vagina can also have a buildup of fluid with stimulation. And that buildup of fluid through stimulation, which typically is internal stimulation, which which feeds to critical the g spot which is really kind of the backside of the RF. Typically that type of stimulation can help build up fluid and Askins bonds and then when females ejaculate, that's what their Jack elating is this lubricating fluid. If they do, it can be learned. But not for everybody just depends on the body.
Scott Benner 1:14:52
You just said something fascinates me. The G spot is the it's like knocking on the back door of the tourists. Yep, totally. For the Finger thing is real.
April Davis 1:15:02
Oh, absolutely. It's that Oh,
Scott Benner 1:15:04
I knew that. Hey, how long you been married? Come on. No, it's right. I'm trying to be a little bit too. What else do I have? Okay, I have other things, you know, I only have pornography to go by. But when guys look too big to be real, where does it go? We're just talking about length like, like, where does it disappear to? Like the old joke of like, it looks like it's in her stomach kind of feeling. But where
April Davis 1:15:33
does it keep it vaginal? tenting is real, like, that totally happens. And you would be amazed at especially if, like, let's say you've maybe overused some of these areas of your body, they are all capable of stretching. You have to think that like kids come out of there, right? So like, this whole area was built to stretch and accommodate. And so like, to a certain degree, you can stretch and accommodate.
Scott Benner 1:15:59
Okay, so when whenever the hole when something that like I'm just giving away that I don't have a giant penis, but when something that big looks like it's disappearing, it's still inside of the where it's inside the like, you're trying to really care, Lord.
April Davis 1:16:15
Absolutely. Thank you. Yeah. Because your your cervix is nice and tight. Like it's, you're not poking up further past there. And like you said, stretch and accommodate is like the scale of the vagina.
Scott Benner 1:16:27
The cervix is the thing. Like if you go too deep, feels like it's almost like a little butthole inside but stronger, right? Yep. Yep. See, I know that's a great way to describe it. Thank you. It's very, very
April Davis 1:16:41
interesting, like even your cervix, it pulls forward, and it can tuck back depending on where you're at in your menstrual cycle. So and it moves it hangs down in the vaginal canal. People think it's the end of the of the road. It's actually hanging down into the tall. Interesting.
Scott Benner 1:16:58
All right. What's the How come some of the fluid looks clear, but some of its creamy sometimes.
April Davis 1:17:07
That's so your cervical fluid actually changes as you go progress through your menstrual cycle. So we men straight, we have a couple days of dry. We then start with crumbly. So this is a cervical fluid that's maybe not super cold, like great for sperm. We progressed from crumbly and dry and kind of sticky to creamier, more lotion like smart mucus to suddenly we got a very, very fluid, watery egg white almost fluid, that fluid is really conducive to sperm, they can live in that they love that crap. Like they can live there for up to five days. And then after you ovulate, you'll feel taper off with what your cervical fluid typically have a period of like dry, and then you go back into your month like even straightening blade. Okay. That's
Scott Benner 1:17:53
why the boobs get different during periods. Like that's hormones.
April Davis 1:17:59
Yeah, it's a hormone. Estrogen. I believe it's estrogen that increases boob size, if I remember right, but also
Scott Benner 1:18:06
sensitivity, right?
April Davis 1:18:08
Oh, yeah, totally. And you may have some people who like can't have their nipples touch one single itty bitty bit when they're menstruating. And then two weeks later, when they're ovulating, they want you to like bite on.
Scott Benner 1:18:19
Girls are weird. That's all I know. It's not your fault. But Jesus God, that's a lot of information. Well, it
April Davis 1:18:25
can't be you have to think like coming from a male perspective, right? You have a 24 hour hormone cycle. So at 11 o'clock in the morning, every day, your hormones should be exactly the same. We have a 20 to 32 day hormone cycle. So we're only the same critters 12 days out of the year.
Scott Benner 1:18:42
No I that I've noticed. I've said to my wife, is there a reason we can't put like an indicator light on your forehead that says, you know, you're like how you're feeling so that I don't come at you from the wrong angle and say the wrong thing. And I like that. I don't mean it. pleasingly. It's just she at and I don't, you know, I don't ascribe fault to it, obviously. Like, it's just it's the natural cycle of things. But my goodness, like you're like, Wow, there's so much happening. I genuinely have him. Yeah. And then on top of that, boys, constantly chasing around trying to find your vagina. That's really our main focus. But it's fascinating that I it's I'm 50 I have my children. And it is hard not to think about still, like, oh, yeah, it's difficult not to just like every girl you walk past you're just like, like, there's an internal thing in your body and you just think like, oh my god, that one's cute. That one's cute. This one isn't but I don't care. Like it's a real weird thing. Our brains work.
April Davis 1:19:41
I think you come at life with a certain degree of curiosity too. So I don't even know that that's always sexual in nature for everybody. I think when you're a curious person, and you want to know all the things about all the things of Krishna like What do you smell like?
Scott Benner 1:19:55
So you're right about that? Because art when I when we walk past a person Buddy are questions or, or impulses to say, did you notice that whatever are always exactly the same? That's interesting. Yeah. And we're just similar. Yeah,
April Davis 1:20:10
I don't. I think we try to make so many of these things like weird or sexual or only boys or like, you know other stuff. And I really think that just comes from being a generally curious person.
Scott Benner 1:20:19
You've helped me. Thank you. Alright. Do you have questions written down that we didn't get to?
April Davis 1:20:24
Oh, my goodness. I mean, I always ask everybody how they like to manage their period, but I think you're excluded from
Scott Benner 1:20:34
a little basket on the bowl. Right, even it's got absorbency, isn't it? I do know that I restocked them for the girls in my house. Oh, yeah. That's all I know about that. Good. I we change the sheets from light lighter colors. Sometimes. Yes. Right. That's important. That's a good one. We make sure there's like, spray and wash around the house. That's all I have. I yeah, you're not you're not really married to a woman is called you and said, Hey, take these upstairs and get me another pair. And then you're, then you're a real married person?
April Davis 1:21:07
Absolutely. 100%. That's
Scott Benner 1:21:10
not what people usually say. I'm gonna let you know. It totally depends
April Davis 1:21:13
on the person some people manage. I mean, it's there's so many different alternative ways to manage your period these days. So like, we've gone so far beyond like, pads and tampons, there's menstrual cups, menstrual period panties, sea sponges, I mean, rebleeding. Like, there's a whole world out there of ways to manage. And then on top of it, like there's some of the rituals of like, yep, when I menstruating, I always try to like to drink this or eat this. And this helps with this, or this is how I manage my cramping with this or you know, so it's a
Scott Benner 1:21:41
fork like a coal milk thistle,
April Davis 1:21:42
everyone's different.
Scott Benner 1:21:45
I think you're, you're you're not you're less helpful than I was, when you asked me questions about diabetes. I'm like, I don't know you gotta try. Exactly. I appreciate you asking me to do this. I'm sorry, if I took over, I don't really know how to, um, I'm not a good guest on people's podcasts. You're fantastic.
April Davis 1:22:03
I think this has been a really beneficial conversation, I hope so. I hope anyone who's listening to this, especially with type one, or even managing a type one will have a little bit more insight into thoughts to have around it, things to consider right curiosities to have around different things that could potentially make it easier to manage.
Scott Benner 1:22:22
I appreciate that. And by the way, on a more personal level, I appreciate that my show has been valuable to you and that you were very coach, when you reached out huge, that was lovely, life changing. See, you don't make me feel weird. But I mean, I'm stuck in the middle, because I want you to say nice things. But then I get that. I get that goofy feeling in my chest when you say something. Yeah,
April Davis 1:22:45
I love you deeply and you have saved me and my child's life. Know that you're an important member of the Davis family now.
Scott Benner 1:22:54
I really do appreciate it. I really do. I mean, that it helps anybody, you know, listen, not to be boring at the end. But you don't start a podcast thinking it's gonna become incredibly popular. And when it happens, you there's an amount of time where you're like, you want to make sure you don't freak out because you're like, I just need to do what I'm doing. Because what I'm doing works. You don't want to examine it too closely. And when when, when I got into the situation where people were saying things like you just said, and they send emails all day long, and they post online to tell you, you don't want to minimize anyone's feelings. But it's sometimes it's weird for me, like sometimes at 11 o'clock, you are the person who's told me I've saved your life. And it's I don't feel like it's not trite to me. But I'm tired. And sometimes I'm like, Oh, thank you. Like, you know, you email back and you're like, I really I'm glad you like the podcast, but I don't know what to say sometimes.
April Davis 1:23:51
Isn't that the best thing that we can see? Because I get the same thing like people will show really, really intimate and deep things with me about you know what, what, like they've they've run with something I've said that has been so helpful for them and seem like it is overwhelming to me sometimes. It also motivates me and keeps me going. So it's like gas in the tank every time but it is also overwhelming to like take on and also like the trust that people have in you can be very overwhelming.
Scott Benner 1:24:18
Yeah, you just said something interesting. Like the motivation part of it. It's not that you're not motivated. It's just like my podcast is a full time job. I work at it six days a week. If you hear an episode, I put 10 or 12 hours worth of my effort into you hearing that our right yes. And having ads on the show is actually it's I mean it's monetarily it's good, but it's good for me because I'm I have to put an episode out when I said I was going to and totally and it has to be good or Yep, people will stop listening and if people stop listening now I've sold an ad to somebody that they won't be served on like there's it feeds
April Davis 1:24:56
oh I'm I'm in your same boat but on Instagram. I hear you and it is I find lane and it is a balance because I've got to create enough fantastic content that it stands on its own. But I can justify doing sponsored content and advertisements because I want to make sure to meet the needs of my advertisers. I also want to make sure those advertisers are serving my clientele. Yes. You know, like, it's, but I think you've also done that really well. It's funny, I was already on Dexcom and Omni pod, but every time I listen to podcast, I'm like, Man, if I wasn't, we weren't using it. We wouldn't be by now my
Scott Benner 1:25:27
favorite email came from a grown man that just said, the subject line was Omni pod. And the body of the email literally just said, Okay, fine. You win. I'll get it. Yeah, I thought that's hilarious. broken down, one by one. It's, it really is. Um, I mean, I honestly, I'm 50 years old, you tried to imagine that when I was in high school. Everything that I'm doing right now, wasn't just a thought it literally didn't exist. Like nothing that I do right now was real when I was deciding what to do and very strange, you know, and you find this, this space where you're helping people, and you always kind of have a quarter of an eye out to the future, like, what's going to change? Like, how do I have all this? If it shifts? And what do I it's, you know, I don't know, hopefully, I mean, how much longer can I do this? I always say to people, like, begin to, you know, listen to a 65 year old guy who doesn't have diabetes tell you about diabetes, like, at some point, it's gotten right? Ah, but it's growing still, we just hit a major milestone the other day, the show got its 4 million total download. Which, which was just amazing, because it took you know, for anybody who thinks about putting content out you want to be super like, I don't know, you feel like you want to be successful at it. I had more downloads last month than I had in the first two years of the podcast combined. And it took four years to get to a million. But then once I got to 1,000,002 million came quickly, 3 million came faster. Four came faster than that. It's it's not just about being there and tricking people to come see a thing. There. Actually, no, there's to be something there for them when they get there.
April Davis 1:27:13
Yes. And you're providing the you absolutely are. So if you're listening to this guy's gonna head over to the Juicebox Podcast, go find the juice box Facebook group. He even has an Instagram. You don't do much over there, but you have one.
Scott Benner 1:27:27
I'm 50 What am I gonna do with it? I tried to put up like when episodes are coming on. That's not what people want for Instagram. So I mean, if I get into a bikini, which I think is how Instagram works, I don't think I don't really feel like anybody's gonna want that.
April Davis 1:27:43
You're trying to be we don't know.
Scott Benner 1:27:44
No. I'm pretty certain nobody wants that. So I, I have it and it's there. Listen, I'll tell you this. You're already a podcast listener, just search Juicebox Podcast, type one diabetes. That's it. You'll find it wherever you listen. If you want transcripts there at juicebox podcast.com. For every episode, that was another thing. I didn't understand why people started asking for transcripts. I have listeners who don't listen to the show. They read it. Yeah, they just read. I don't know that. But God bless them. And like, you know, like the whole thing. So it's there. I'll tell you this. My daughter has a one C has been between five two and six two for over seven years. She does not have any diet restrictions. I think if you listen to that podcast, you could easily have an A one C in the sixes and if you really wanted to work at it, you could have it in the fives and I stand behind that nothing none of its medical information like I have, you know, you know, I do that thing. I'm like, I can do it my sleep reading matches. Nothing you here on the Juicebox Podcast should be considered advice, medical or otherwise, please, always consult a physician before making any changes to your healthcare plan. Or becoming bold with insulin, which is just something I said in Episode 11. That resonated
April Davis 1:28:54
which is a fantastic disclaimer for this episode here on the vagina blog podcast. Please take that into account.
Scott Benner 1:29:01
Listen, not only am I not a doctor, I might be a moron. So great assault you don't I mean? Oh yeah, thank you. Well,
April Davis 1:29:09
thank you so so so much Scott for being here today. I so appreciate your time.
Scott Benner 1:29:13
I really it was a pleasure. I swear to you, I might start answering more of these emails. just deleting Would you please call my delete? We would like no delete leave me alone. I'm busy. Vagina. What's this now? You got me so if anybody right vagina and email at least read it.
April Davis 1:29:37
There you go. Thank you so much course.
Scott Benner 1:29:52
Hey, how about a huge thanks to April for inviting me on the vagina blog podcast, and for letting me run the audio here on the Juicebox Podcast. GUEST hope you guys had fun listening. If you're interested in April's podcast, check it out again. It's called the vagina blog podcast. It's all about vaginas. I don't I've never heard it. I don't know what else it's about. I'm sorry. But I bet if you had a vagina you'd like it. Also want to thank Dexcom for sponsoring this episode of The Juicebox Podcast and remind you to go to dexcom.com Ford slash juicebox go say hello to Dexcom
thank you so much for listening. I'll be back soon with another episode of The Juicebox Podcast.
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