#875 Dog Faced Fox

Elle is the mother of a type 1 and her house is noisy.

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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 875 of the Juicebox Podcast.

On today's episode I'll be speaking with the mother of a child with type one diabetes, her name is l and l was not good at getting her equipment set up. I'm not gonna lie about that. This just gets ridiculous and I mean funnier and funnier as it goes along. But nevertheless, while you're listening to it, please remember 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 for becoming bold with insulin. If you're a US resident who has type one or is the caregiver of someone with type one, please, please please go to T one D exchange.org. Forward slash juicebox and complete the survey. So all I'm asking you to do in exchange for that here. If you want to get some super cozy jammies or bedspreads, sheets, towels, pajamas, cozy earth.com at checkout, use juicebox to save 35% on your entire order cozy earth.com there see fill out the survey for me and then go get yourself some like 35% off jammers. Although I would get these joggers if I was you there's so soft this episode of The Juicebox Podcast is sponsored by Omni pod five. Learn more about the tubeless insulin pump and how it works with the Dexcom G six at Omni pod.com forward slash juice box. Get yourself an omni pod five. podcast is sponsored today by better help better help is the world's largest therapy service and is 100% online. With better help, you can tap into a network of over 25,000 licensed and experienced therapists who can help you with a wide range of issues. betterhelp.com forward slash juicebox to get started, you just answer a few questions about your needs and preferences in therapy. That way BetterHelp can match you with the right therapist from their network. And when you use my link, you'll save 10% On your first month of therapy. You can message your therapist at any time and scheduled live sessions when it's convenient for you. Talk to them however you feel comfortable text chat phone or video call. If your therapist isn't the right fit. For any reason at all. You can switch to a new therapist at no additional charge. And the best part for me is that with better help you get the same professionalism and quality you expect from in office therapy. But with a therapist who is custom picked for you, and you're gonna get more scheduling flexibility, and a more affordable price. I myself have just begun using better help. Better help.com forward slash juicebox that's better help h e l p.com. Forward slash juice box save 10% On your first month of therapy. Don't don't start out don't start looking behind you. Because you're okay. You're gonna look away from other microphones. Okay, all right, I can do that. me a second. I'm so tired now it's over. Alright, so you're being recorded so that you know. Okay. I am a little lightheaded. Give me forever. That was like the longest one maybe ever. That's okay. I think what will happen is later today, you'll just realize there's a switch on the headset that turns the microphone on or something

Elle 3:49
like I've been looking around. It's not mine.

Scott Benner 3:53
Is there a switch on the wire?

Elle 3:55
There is a a volume control on the wire.

Scott Benner 3:59
Have you tried turning it to see what would happen? I have I've gone all the way

Elle 4:03
down. And I've gone all the way up. And it just makes you quieter or

Scott Benner 4:07
louder. Okay, good. Well, let's get that adjusted to where you want it. Yep. All right. Introduce yourself. So we can start talking.

Elle 4:19
Oh, my name is Elle and I have technical difficulties. I have four children. And one of them is type one who's my oldest?

Scott Benner 4:29
Alright, let me just make a suggestion to everybody have less children or fewer children. And then you can afford a Mac you understand what I'm saying?

Elle 4:37
Oh, my husband would never allow.

Scott Benner 4:40
Yeah, God forbid stuff would work. And

Elle 4:46
it doesn't make sense to my brain. I will say that the Apple System I cannot. Like if you thought that I had technical difficulties with this. You would do you would just hang up on me if we were trying to figure it out on Apple. So

Scott Benner 5:01
let me tell you what would happen if you had, if you had an apple, you would have turned it on it would have worked. And that would have been the end of it. You would, there wouldn't have been anything for you to understand.

Unknown Speaker 5:11
But I probably wouldn't figure

Elle 5:12
out how to listen to the podcast. So I don't know. Like,

Scott Benner 5:16
I think you would, I definitely think you would, I'm sticking with what I initially said, have fewer children buy a Mac. Okay, I know sometimes you go out there's like, these tablets are at $9. And these PCs are foreigner bucks like, oh, $4 just,

Elle 5:28
oh, I don't really use my PC a whole lot. If you couldn't guess that? I do you use my phone a lot. I don't know what my phone's problem was today. But honestly, technology in general just hates me. I have wanted to take my printer out and beat it with a baseball bat in my backyard. So many times,

Scott Benner 5:48
we absolutely should have recorded the last 20 minutes and just put it at the end of the episode. Just just my my two favorite parts where you call it you were kept referring to the computer as it but you weren't referring to the computer, you're referring to the sentient decision making that was happening in front of you as it you're like doing this?

Elle 6:10
What else do you call it? What would you call it?

Scott Benner 6:12
Well, I mean, do you want to go over this? No. I tell me how old you are.

Elle 6:22
I am 36

Scott Benner 6:23
This is the closest I've come to speaking to my mom about tech.

Elle 6:29
I have been okay, so I signed up to be here at seven months ago. And every week I woken up and gone. My computer's not gonna work.

Scott Benner 6:37
Oh, you were right. I'm telling you, at least you're not paranoid. At least you're not paranoid. My mom when something would go wrong with her computer. She goes Come on guys. And I finally one day I was like Mom, who were the guys. Were the guys were talking about the computer. I was like, Well, who are you talking to? You're like it's doing this. And I'm like, I don't know what it is. And then, but the biggest. My biggest laugh I didn't actually tell you about was in the chat. While we were trying to figure out why it didn't work. You're like this was my biggest fear.

Unknown Speaker 7:16
And seemed like That's why

Scott Benner 7:19
I don't have an exact number L but I'm gonna guess I'm gonna guess that I record about I'm gonna make an educated guess here. I gotta do this. Don't spend weeks in the year say I'm the worst. Yeah, I'm gonna say that I record over 200 times a year. There are only technical difficulties about three times. I don't think they've ever gone on for 20 minutes before I win, as always, because here's what I feel like happened. I feel like you gave up.

Elle 7:56
But didn't. So I was like, I was walking up the stairs with confidence on my phone with my battery pack ready to go lock myself in the bedroom. And I'm like, it's gonna work. And I said testing, and nothing.

Scott Benner 8:12
I just maybe you didn't give up with effort, but I feel like he gave up in your heart. I feel like there was a moment where you were like, I knew this wasn't gonna work. And I'm not recording this podcast. Did that. Well, I

Elle 8:22
I sent a message to my friends before I started. Please wish all the blessings on my technology today. Because they know that this is this is my life. I'm cursed when it comes to technology.

Scott Benner 8:36
I'm gonna assume it's not you. I'm gonna tell you just keep squirreling away money. Get yourself a MacBook. Everything's gonna be fine. Okay. Alright, so I'm sorry, we gotta keep a diabetes, just say

Elle 8:53
he's 12.

Scott Benner 8:55
Okay. And you have four kids, though in total? Yes. How'd you figure that?

Unknown Speaker 9:03
Well, it works. Don't take computer for that. No technology

Scott Benner 9:07
for that. I'll tell you if you need to. You need a computer to have a baby. You'd be living with a cat. I have one of those. Alright, so hold on. So the 12 year olds got type one. And I don't need all the other particulars. But what are the ages the other kids just so I can make fun of your reproductive health and stuff like that letter nine, six and 2962. And you're 36 Six you married?

Elle 9:36
I've been married for almost 16 years since you were 20. I was 19. Oh, well. He was 20 by a couple days.

Scott Benner 9:45
Well, I don't care that your kid has diabetes as much anymore.

Elle 9:50
None of those were in there. None of them attended my wedding. Just so you know.

Scott Benner 9:53
I'm doing the math. Your choice is not what I'm saying. I want to know how you end up married at 19. Are you escaping the law? I know where you're running from l tell me right now. Don't you don't have to tell him. He thinks you love him. But where were you running from?

Elle 10:08
I wasn't running from anything. I promise. Like we chose to get married. We wanted to get married. And a lot of people tried to talk us out of it. But I remember

Scott Benner 10:18
where those married people trying to talk you out of it. Some of them. Yeah, it's because they've been married. Okay, so. Alright, see you. Wow, that's amazing. Like, were you in college or fresh out of high school? Or what was the situation?

Elle 10:34
We got engaged the week before? Oh, my goodness.

Scott Benner 10:37
Unbelievable. You have a dog too. After all the microphones. You're not allowed to have a dog and a microphone. That doesn't work. You have to pick one. That dog sounds like it just ran for its life and it's little feet wouldn't catch on to anything. Is that what happened?

Elle 10:53
Well, she's a corgi. So she is short. And she doesn't have much to catch on to around here. But she was chasing a cat.

Scott Benner 11:02
So. Alright, let's keep talking to see if we can find a good decision in your life.

Unknown Speaker 11:09
The Corgi is a good decision. Just saying.

Scott Benner 11:12
Isn't that the Queen's dog asleep?

Unknown Speaker 11:14
Yes.

Scott Benner 11:15
How the hell does she help? Oh, are you gonna say something? No. I'll be asleep.

Elle 11:22
Um, she will tell me if someone's here. She will tell me if there is something wrong in the world. Oh, corgis are very specific about who they let in their house and how the broom is put away.

Scott Benner 11:40
So this dog is stands in for your anxiety. Yeah.

Elle 11:49
Okay, me figuring she's my second Corgi. My first Corgi was

Scott Benner 11:53
from anxiety.

Elle 11:56
I got when my my oldest son was two. Oh, how long did they live? I'm usually around 15 years. She died when she was eight.

Scott Benner 12:08
I'm sorry. Yeah, that was unexpected. I imagined eight.

Elle 12:12
Yes, very. Gotcha. Um, but yeah, she. We had a person come to our house and make threats one night in the middle of the night. And after some counseling, I decided to get a dog.

Scott Benner 12:27
Oh, how did this How old were you when this happen? You're gonna tell me serious stuff. Don't let me joke about it first. Okay. So I mean,

Elle 12:35
she, she's a dog. So like, there's good and you know, scary things that. I mean, she, she's like companion. But I want to say she's not like registered or anything. She just

Scott Benner 12:47
helps you like a ninja or something like?

Elle 12:52
No, there was a situation where someone thought my husband was someone else and came in made threats to us. And I didn't sleep. Pretty much the last half of 2011.

Scott Benner 13:07
So sorry. So someone just shows up your house with a mistaken identity situation? Oh, okay. You don't have to tell. Do you want to not tell me?

Elle 13:16
I can tell you. It's just kind of a long story. My husband had a co worker that purchased a gun from him. And then he used it on himself intentionally. And his brother thought that my husband had somehow convinced him to use it or was a drug dealer or something. And he came to our house and we were sleeping. So like, we did not hear texts or calls. But evidently he sat outside my house for hours texting my husband, that he was going to harm us. And then when we woke up at like, three in the morning, we were like,

Scott Benner 13:56
what? And we're still outside.

Elle 14:00
He was not outside when we woke up and got the messages. Okay. All right. So he was a grieving brother. Right? But,

Scott Benner 14:08
and you live in Texas?

Unknown Speaker 14:10
No, no, I live in Iowa. I wasn't

Scott Benner 14:13
sure how many other states you could just like, sell sell a gun like that? Because I know in Texas, all this

Elle 14:18
was back in 2011. Okay. So things were a smidge different. But

Scott Benner 14:26
wow, that's terrible. Yeah, so sorry. Had you had you been an anxious person prior to that?

Elle 14:34
I've always been an anxious person. I remember waking up for kindergarten and feeling nauseous.

Scott Benner 14:39
Really? Yeah. Have you done anything about it? Um, as an adult.

Elle 14:45
So for the last, well, 13 years, I kind of feel like my body is not my own. Since I've been pregnant or nursing for the last 13 years. And so medication hymns and pregnancy and nursing don't always go, as well.

Scott Benner 15:04
So you would do something if you weren't so busy pumping these kids out. All right.

Elle 15:10
I mean, the dog worked for a while.

Scott Benner 15:14
For a while, such a strong title for the episode, you're talking.

Elle 15:22
And I mean, it's still like, if I leave her at the kennel, or whatever it's called, when you like, go out of town and and you'll get back in time to pick her up. have a hard time sleeping sometimes.

Scott Benner 15:33
Wow. Okay, does this been passed on any of your kids? Do you see any anxiety with the kids?

Elle 15:40
Well, that, that plays a pretty big part in my son's diagnosis story. Go ahead. So, in I'm gonna say, march 2020, which is all you know, everybody knows what that is. We, you know, can't play with our friends. We can't go to the park and meet up with people. We can't do any of the activities that we've been doing. So my son starts talking about how he can't sleep at night. And like, he thinks he has heartburn he thinks he has upset stomach. And at one point between there and diagnosis, he like he came down, he's like, I can feel my heart beating. And we just thought that he had anxiety. Okay. He's a very extroverted kid. And we had just moved to our current house, just from across town, but there were no kids at my other neighborhood. And when we moved in the first day, we moved in, he was playing with neighborhood kids in our yard. And like, that was a really important thing for both of us, that he have friends and relationships. And then in March, all of that was just taken away. I mean, for good reason, obviously. But

Scott Benner 17:02
before we go on, is there a washing machine behind your air coming out of a vent, or oh, it's the air conditioner.

Unknown Speaker 17:08
Do you want me to turn it off?

Scott Benner 17:10
I don't want you to sweat. What do you say?

Unknown Speaker 17:12
I'll be alright, I'll turn it off. I'll be right back.

Scott Benner 17:15
You're fine. What's the dog's name? My daughter Arden began wearing the Omni pod tubeless insulin pump on February 4 2009. That was 5093 days ago. Were another way to think of it 1697 pods ago. At that time, she was four years old. Hang out with me for a moment while I tell you more about the Omni pod Omni pod.com forward slash juice box. Today Arden is 18 and still wearing Omni pod back then there was one choice just one pod but today you have a decision to make. Do you want the Omni pod five, the first and only tubeless automated insulin delivery system to integrate with the Dexcom G six, because if you do, it's available right now for people with type one diabetes ages two years and older. The Omni pod five is an algorithm based pump that features smart adjust technology. That means that the Omni pod five is adjusting insulin delivery based on your customized target glucose that's helping you to protect against high and low blood sugars, both day and night. Automatically. Both the Omni pod five and the Omni pod dash are waterproof. You can wear them while you're playing sports, swimming in the shower, the bathtub, anywhere really. That kind of freedom. Coupled with tubeless a tubeless pump you understand it's not connected to anything. The controller is not connected to the pod. The pod is not connected to anything, you're wearing it on the body tube lessly no tubing to get caught on doorknobs or anywhere else that tubing with those other insulin pumps can get caught Omni pod.com forward slash juice box. That's where you go to find out more. You may be eligible for a free 30 day trial of the Omni pod dash. You should check that out too, when you get to my lake Omni pod.com forward slash juice box. So if you're looking for an insulin pump that is tubeless waterproof, and automated. You're looking for the Omni pod five. If you want to do it on your own, and you're not looking for the automation Omni pod dash for full safety risk information and free trial Terms and Conditions. Please also visit Omni pod.com forward slash juice box I should ask that center. Hey buddy. God save the Queen. I looking at pictures of corgis online. They are cute. Like a like a fox with a dog face.

Unknown Speaker 20:00
Okay, it takes a minute for

Scott Benner 20:02
your find your heart, let me know.

Elle 20:04
It's probably supposed to be 97 today,

Scott Benner 20:07
you'll probably find that What's the dog's name? Retta. I tried to call to the animal when you went away, but I realized I didn't know the name. Oh, and I had my headset on to. She probably hear you read over the D rehta. Or

Unknown Speaker 20:22
RH a TTA or

Scott Benner 20:23
H. Okay, I got it.

Elle 20:25
It means speaker of the house. I picked her name because Retta means speaker. Gotcha. So her official paperwork says read a speaker of the house.

Scott Benner 20:38
You got paperwork for your dog? That's nice. She's

Unknown Speaker 20:39
She's, uh, you know, my Casey certified Gorgui. There.

Scott Benner 20:43
I'm looking at the pictures to cute. They have a fox with a dog's face.

Unknown Speaker 20:48
Yeah, the booty is the best part.

Scott Benner 20:53
I can't comment on that, because then I just Google's Corgi, but okay, really? I promise. Alright, I'm about to do this. And if I see weird dog porn, I'm really good.

Unknown Speaker 21:04
I'm gonna be weird dog porn. Promise.

Scott Benner 21:07
Oh, they have big fat s.

Dog is thick with like, two seats. Yeah, absolutely. There's a tissue box cover here. That's according he's asked. And I gotta be honest with you. I'm into it. That's funny. All right. Okay. All right. Now, hold on a second. So the kids not stressed. She's got diabetes.

Elle 21:36
Mm hmm. All right. But it's pandemic height. So we didn't make a doctor's appointment for something that's not like life threatening, you know? Because anxiety in itself is not always immediately life threatening. Yeah. And there's a higher one, that I had my phone on me. That's fine.

Scott Benner 22:00
That's fine. Don't worry about

Unknown Speaker 22:05
so

Scott Benner 22:07
you don't make an appointment right away. And then what happens after that?

Elle 22:12
It's so I was pregnant at the time, of course, obviously. And then other things start happening that I you know, push off as new baby. His emotions are crazy. He was, like, had no self control. I mean, what 12 year old does but even more noticeable than it had been? He's we homeschool. So like, if anything challenged him. It was just a meltdown. Yeah. And I, I attributed that to a new baby in the house or a new baby coming. And thought, this kid needs some counseling. But we're not doing that right now.

Scott Benner 23:03
Have you seen that kind of behavior as other babies were being born?

Unknown Speaker 23:07
Yeah, honestly. Yeah.

Scott Benner 23:12
So, as expected, it was easy to like match up with something you'd seen in the past,

Elle 23:16
right? I mean, all of his symptoms were easy to match up with other things. Like, he's always been a big eater, like, eat and eat and eat. And he didn't have excessive thirst. But we were telling him to drink water. Because we're like, you don't drink enough water. You're saying you're hungry, because you need to drink more water. Like, let your stomach catch up with what you've eaten. Because he was eating as much as my husband and I and he was nine. But he's always eaten a lot. Like, since I could hand him a plate of food. The one of the first words he signed when he was little with baby sign language was more and I mean, it's always been a thing that he just eats and eats and eats.

Scott Benner 24:08
You teach the sign language when they're babies. Yeah,

Elle 24:11
before they can talk they can sign sometimes. So think milk and more and eat all done potty.

Scott Benner 24:20
Yeah, I've seen monkeys do it. I mean, sure. But I didn't know

Elle 24:26
it helps with especially like right now my two year old is just starting to string a couple words together, but she could tell me a little bit of what's going on without so much hassle. I don't know like it's harder for her to form words with her mouth than just tap her fingers together to say more. Okay. So, yeah, going back to Remy he was eating a ton. He was very moody. He was very skinny. And he's always been very skinny. But I found myself googling Why are my child's knees so big? Because he was super skinny.

Scott Benner 25:21
Oh, I see what you're saying. His knees

Elle 25:23
looked swollen because he had no fat on his body.

Scott Benner 25:27
Oh, can I say something? I think the people listening are going to be mad at me if I don't tell you that the air conditioner wasn't the the sound Oh no. I don't mind the sound does that why do you mind this out? Don't let me lie to you. I hate the sound but I can deal with it. But I don't want you to like be cooking while everyone listening is like that poor girl is baking in that room and he's not telling her that it didn't know it's

Elle 25:48
okay. It's 97 outside but it's 92 or not 9272 inside so I think it might be the ceiling fan. Let me get that

Scott Benner 25:58
okay

Unknown Speaker 26:07
that work

Scott Benner 26:10
where'd you go? I'm listening. Oh no. Okay, still the hair it's fascinating. It's the microphone I guess. Because when you walk away from the mic it's not as soon as you walk away from the mic and stuff. Is your computer is your phone your your computer

Unknown Speaker 26:28
I don't wear my phone. No, no.

Scott Benner 26:31
All right. When you hear this back you're gonna test yourself see there it is. Wait, it's gone. Now it's back. What happens and when you're talking it still happens to just say the same word over and over again for a second coffee still there and then when you move away from the computer so what happens if you just move your entire body six inches from the

Unknown Speaker 27:01
coffee coffee coffee

Scott Benner 27:05
I have no idea what's going on. It's interesting. It's going it's going What does it sound like? Alright, let's play a game oh dear. Feels like like I want to say almost like a windmills running behind you. Or

Elle 27:26
I mean the computer fan is going

Scott Benner 27:29
now. God could that be it? Is it the computer or the computer fan? What is that? I can just I can tell

Unknown Speaker 27:37
I don't even know where it is

Unknown Speaker 27:44
now the dogs making noise

Scott Benner 27:45
don't worry I'm having a great time by the way I bet

I don't know right well then we're gonna have to let it go.

Unknown Speaker 28:03
I'm sorry. Sorry.

Elle 28:07
I almost like went out and bought a new microphone for this because I knew that there was going to be sorry,

Scott Benner 28:12
my microphone. I think it's definitely the computer.

Elle 28:15
Well right but if the headset could work I would just take it upstairs and be alone in my room.

Scott Benner 28:20
Oh, but don't worry about what you don't think the sounds in that room though. Oh no. All right. Scale louder. What is that? Refrigerator I can't turn my refrigerator it might be the refrigerator walk away from the refrigerator. Is the computer like

Elle 28:46
computers plugged in because it's so old and crappy that it's going to die if I don't keep it plugged in.

Scott Benner 28:50
Interesting. It definitely could be the refrigerator

Unknown Speaker 28:56
I can't move the refrigerator I'm sorry yeah,

Scott Benner 28:58
let's really you could let's think about

Elle 29:01
all my insulin would just sit there

Scott Benner 29:03
and Dolly and an extension cord I think we could have this straightened up pretty quickly to stop now his refrigerator not running anymore. Right there it is. often does your refrigerator run for by the way?

Unknown Speaker 29:19
I don't know it's 97 degrees outside and I turn the air

Scott Benner 29:22
probably more when it goes through the air.

Unknown Speaker 29:25
No, that's okay. I'll be alright

Scott Benner 29:32
alright, I'm not giving up I'm not I won't give I would like you to move out of the way you said that the spell or the rust belt or what do they call that? There? I am. Hi Well, what part what belt is Iowa in?

Elle 29:44
Probably the Bible Belt. I don't know. That's the only one I've heard it referred to.

Scott Benner 29:50
I just Googled Iowa belt but now I'm just looking at belts that

Unknown Speaker 29:56
go back to Corgi butts.

Scott Benner 29:58
No, we're done with that. All right. Okay, so fascinating thing that you just said, like an hour ago that you're that he was so skinny that you started thinking his knees looked large. Mm hmm. Yeah. May I tell you that we used to think that my son's ears were big. But then we realized his head was small, and his ears were the regular size.

Unknown Speaker 30:22
Yeah, that I mean, that matches that's,

Scott Benner 30:25
and the way we did that was by measuring everyone's ears in the house, instead of by just measuring his head probably would have been the way to go. But looking back on it now, is a bit of a faux pas. So we measured everyone's ears and his ears were the same as everyone else's. And we were like, Oh my God, we've always thought you had really big ears. And then we realized like he wears a smaller hat. Like he's like a seven and a quarter, or sometimes seven, an eighth or something like that. And we're like, Oh, your ears to the right size. And this happened to you. The legs. Were getting so skinny that the knees seem big. Yeah. How long do you think this was going on for?

Unknown Speaker 31:02
Oh, months.

Elle 31:05
I went back through on my like my facebook albums and looked at pictures of him, because I organized them by date. And the last picture that I can look at him and go, that's a kid that probably doesn't have diabetes is March of 2020. And he was diagnosed in August,

Scott Benner 31:24
March, April, May, June. Oh my gosh. Was he okay?

Elle 31:29
Yeah, he was okay. I really think and I've talked to us in the chronologist about this. I really think that his activity level kept him alive. Because that kid runs and runs and runs and does not stop. And when he runs his blood sugar goes down.

Scott Benner 31:50
Well, okay, so you think he was kind of managing it off himself? Do you think there was any kind of looking back any kind of honeymoon whatsoever helping him?

Elle 31:57
No. I mean, well, I don't know how, I don't know how a honeymoon would work before diagnosis. Because I mean, I wasn't giving him insulin. So I don't I don't know how that work

Scott Benner 32:08
would be it would just be if he was getting help, and then not getting help from his, you know, from his pancreas. So it was kind of jumping back and forth.

Elle 32:15
I mean, maybe I don't really know.

Unknown Speaker 32:20
It's hard to

Elle 32:22
guess that back when he was. You know, just yeah. Not diagnosed and having all these symptoms, but I don't know what he did that day.

Scott Benner 32:34
You know, the joke where someone calls and says, Hello, and you don't know who they are. And you go Hello. And they say Hi, my name is Scott. I was calling to find out if your refrigerators running. And then you go running. It is like oh, you should go catch it.

Unknown Speaker 32:53
The refrigerator turned off so it's not the refrigerator.

Scott Benner 32:57
I'm not fascinated by what's making noise and you're

Unknown Speaker 33:00
like a Ghost Adventures got me the computer. That's the only thing I can hear

Scott Benner 33:04
turn off the computer and see if I can still hear

Elle 33:09
something under it. Like I could put like a What do you mean hello or something under it? Really? That would do something? Maybe Maybe it's like rattling too much on the table.

Scott Benner 33:19
You have a computer that rattles

Elle 33:21
I mean the fan you know like maybe the fan is just

Scott Benner 33:24
I'm worried about all of you people listening now. Now I'm not just worrying about all you people have rattling computers. Do you want me to get a pillow? I mean, just lift it up off the table real quick and see what happens. I did it did change its computer. Slider now.

Unknown Speaker 33:47
Let me get

Scott Benner 33:48
I'm gonna need a corgi by the time this is over.

Unknown Speaker 33:54
Everybody my daughter's animal,

Scott Benner 34:00
I can feel my heart rate going down. I don't know what you did, but it's better.

Elle 34:03
I tilted the computer and put a stuffed animal under it. So that it's angled upward.

Scott Benner 34:11
It's different. It's lighter. So when you lifted it up, it was gone.

Elle 34:17
It's the computer Okay, of course it is. See, technology is out to get me. It's like it's not even malfunctioning. It's just Oh, I'm

Scott Benner 34:29
gonna have a stroke. I haven't felt what the last couple of weeks and this is not helping me. Don't be sorry. Actually, we should put my medical condition on the podcast so people can help me with it. You have a medical condition right hold on. We're gonna get back to your kid in the big news in a second. But here's what happened right? I feel like I got bit by something. So I'm like I'm in the lawn like my my mower has a problem. I'm on the ground fixing my mower. I know too famous to be fixing my lawnmower I agree to people gotta click on the links a little more in the show notes if you if you want Scott not to have to cut his own lawn, okay, so buy me a lot more. And by the way, don't buy me a lot more. I don't want that because the last time we joked about something like that, I got this amazing chair, I'm sitting in love, but I feel bad about. Okay, so, somewhere between my thumb and my forefinger, kind of on the meat of my hand, I get this lump, like the next day. And it looks like a bug bite. And I look at it, I think that's a bug bite. And it's hard and I touched, I guess I'll be fine. I don't care. There's a little itchy and take much of it. Next day, I wake up, there's another bump like that on like a finger on my hand, like my middle finger if I'm if I'm remembering, right? And I was like, well, that's weird. I must I got bitten twice. And then by the third day, there was one on my ring finger on my right hand, one of my middle finger one by my hand. And I started finding one like, in between my fingers somewhere else. I was like, what is happening? And they were super itchy. Oh, like, really, really bad. And now is the time where I decided how honest I'm going to be while I'm telling the story. And you know, got it everywhere. Gonna have to be honest. I guess we could bleep it out later. Don't you think?

Unknown Speaker 36:17
You got it everywhere.

Scott Benner 36:19
It started bothering me anywhere. Something touched me kind of lightly, where you'd get that kind of like, you know, like that initial like, response from your body. Like you can like, if you touch you know touched your arm, you're like, Oh, I'm touching my arm. I can feel it. So I would get it where anything was brushing me so my thighs would get itchy. I was wearing shorts. And then one day I'll it was my was my boss. And. And then and then one day I scratched them. Like just not even thinking like I was like that's an itch, scratch it. And then when I scratched them, then I just got this incredible response. And then it was very, very, very itchy. And it also moved around in other places near near the balls, but not the balls. And poison ivy.

Elle 37:07
Scott, do you have poison ivy?

Scott Benner 37:08
Do you want to hear the story? Oh, do you wanna jump in? And so and so don't know, I gotta save this. This is your fault, because your refrigerator noise your computer noise I gotta save this episode and tell people that my balls Ricci. And so as soon as I stopped touch, like, as soon as you stop scratching, it just dissipates. And it goes away. And I'm like, this is Chris Hogan having this crazy response, like so now I'm trying to live like not, you know, learn tighter underwear because I don't want anything to move. You know, like, I'm not touching my hand edits, I keep thinking it's a bug bite. I'm stronger than a bug bite, I'll be okay,

Unknown Speaker 37:48
a bug bite that moves from your hand. So for

Scott Benner 37:51
that can be that can be the name of the episode to a bug bite that moves in your hands. Not me. And so I wait three, four more days now. This I start getting tired in the afternoons to three o'clock in the afternoon, I'm getting wasted. And the itching is not going away. I said to my wife, I was like this is it. So what you've been wishing for, I'm dead. It's just happened and slow. She goes goes to go to urgent care. And I say no. What do I get an urgent care for? And I would wake up the next day, and there's a bump on my opposite hand. And I'm like, I'm gonna go to urgent care or go to urgent care. I'm sitting in the chairs. I know what you're thinking. Scott's too famous. That's good care. People don't click on the links. If you click on the links a little more of a guy come to the house. But right now I gotta go to urgent care. Okay, so I'm sitting in urgent care, this old man who had a bike accident came in, he was just one skinned body part. It was terrible, but older. And just like he's like, I'm fine. Like, I love that generation. He's like, it'll be fine. Like, excellent. So I get called back. The lady makes me weigh myself with my shoes on which I didn't appreciate very much. Then I go in the back. And this this down, there's I don't know, Pa maybe comes in. And it's a lady pa she's like in her mid late 30s. And she's like, what's going on? And I'm like, I'm so sorry. I gotta tell you this and I tell her and I'm showing her my hand. And there's these These hands are like lumps now it's not spreading. It's not poison ivy, just literally at these like these points. And I said and they're okay at the moment. But if I were to touch my, my business, like it would get very itchy too. And I said it if and if you actually issued it would like inflame and and then leaving it alone makes it go back again. And she's like, Tell me about that. So I started explaining that to her that I had to tell her that two nights prior two nights Good?

Day, it did work, by the way. But that's a scary thing to do, because I'm like, is this gonna burn? Or is it gonna? But I was in a situation where I was like, well, worst isn't gonna be worse. And so sorry. So she's just a pause. And I said, Please don't make me show you.

And she goes, she goes, I don't need to see them. And I took that as I don't want to see them. But she said, I don't need this. I think if I looked like Bradley Cooper, she'd be like, I need to see those. But fair enough, and like, you don't I mean, she'd be like, well, just let me look just to be just to be sure. Mr. Cooper, you know, and let me sit on the bench. I want to get down on that level. Like with me, she was like, no, no, it's okay. You could just You're fine. I let me look at your hand. So anyway, so she gives me the steroids. And then my pharmacist messes up writing the prescription on the bottle, because you know how hard that can be when you're a pharmacist. And they've got me taking three of these tablets twice a day. So I'm supposed apparently supposed to be apparently in the first three days, take two twice a day. But instead, I take three, you know, a few hours later, I go to bed, I take three more, I'm going to tell you four hours after I took the first time, these lumps on my hand, like you let air out of a tire. They were gone. And I was like, Huh, that's amazing. They just disappeared. And then little itchy. Next day. Not so bad. My hand didn't it anymore. And I was like, let me just see if nothing else edge like Greg said he had gone away. Third day I get up in the morning, I take these tablets. And I take a shower and I come down to Kelly and I'm like, I'm gonna have a heart attack. And she's like, what I'm like my heart's racing, I'm sweating in the shower. I'm like, something's like really wrong. And I'm and I take these, you know, the pills, and I shake them. And there's not many left. And I'm thinking, But this can't be right. Because this is supposed to last like a week. So I dump them out on the counter, I start doing my good synthesis, and I'm counting them and everything. And I'm like significantly short on these pills. So anyway, I go back to the pharmacist and I tell her you didn't give me enough pills. And then she goes, No, I gave you plenty. And then we realized that she'd written the wrong thing on the on the thing and I called the doctor doctors like, Is he alive? And I was like, Yeah, but he's fine. You know? So anyway, at this point, all the stiffness in my back that I live with pretty consistently is gone. Yeah, steroids will do that. My back feels great. My bumps are going off my hands my balls like I'm 20 years old, you know, they mean just terrific. And and then the story is ended. And from being honest with you, I still don't feel great. So this is probably you know, something really serious.

Unknown Speaker 43:22
You had poison ivy.

Scott Benner 43:24
Really? I do from my lawn? There's the poison ivy in my lawn.

Unknown Speaker 43:32
There might be

Scott Benner 43:33
I don't know it's an ivy makes you listen, I'm listening to you. You're counting on a dog to protect you from the man Well, I don't know if you know anything. So

Elle 43:41
I personally have never had poison ivy in my life.

Scott Benner 43:45
Can you give an advice for them

Elle 43:46
but everyone in my family will look at it well everyone except my dad. Everyone in my family can look at it and they're covered.

Scott Benner 43:54
Alright, so I did not have poison ivy I'm telling you for sure. How do you know because what a doctor looked at it I looked at it I know what poison ivy steroids

Unknown Speaker 44:01
which is what they would have done if you had

Scott Benner 44:04
no I was having like some sort of a systemic reaction to something. It didn't matter wherever I had this like no matter where you touch me I'd get itchy

Unknown Speaker 44:13
like your hands on your balls.

Scott Benner 44:15
One day I got in the shower and my eyebrows were itchy when the hot water hit my eyebrows I itchy eyebrows.

Elle 44:22
So I have had poison oak before and poison sumac and I don't know how personal you want to get but you've been talking about Go ahead man bit I've had my lady bits get poison something sumac I think and I thought I was going to pass out because I got a steroid and it worked. But it burned.

Scott Benner 44:52
Burning, burning for me.

Elle 44:55
I learned like I legit got like, tunnel vision I could et Cie couldn't hear was very close to passing out and it was screaming

Scott Benner 45:06
from the from the pain. That's what got you

Elle 45:10
from the shower when after I had taken this

Scott Benner 45:13
really interesting. Yeah, I'm just telling you I don't I something's not right still, like it's been over like I've been off the stories now three, four days and my back's a little stiff again. And I feel a little like, I don't know, I just feel a little off. I don't know.

Elle 45:33
I mean, you're on that many steroids it can make you feel off, I guess to

Scott Benner 45:38
I felt great on the steroids. The steroids?

Unknown Speaker 45:39
Of course you did anyone around you what's really like, what's his problem?

Scott Benner 45:43
The steroids may be considered like using like recreational drugs. I was like, Is this how people feel? This amazing. My back feels fine. I love more energy. Everything was good. Just a little sweaty. Like when I when I normally wouldn't be anywhere and get like super angry and hulk out on everyone. They're not steroids like that. They're prednisone, they're not going to steroids. Steroids suppress your immune system. Right. So I probably have like, some autoimmune thing.

Elle 46:12
I was just gonna say, but if you have an autoimmune disorder, and they're gonna make you go nuts,

Scott Benner 46:17
well, no, I mean, like they get they would give steroids for like, ra, right? They would give steroids for all kinds of stuff. Anyway, your big need kid you take him to the hospital eventually. 40 Man,

Elle 46:28
I did eventually take him to the hospital. I weighed him. And he had lost 10 pounds, which is

Scott Benner 46:35
why he was nine at the time. Yeah, that's a lot. Yeah. Okay. So now, so what? I mean, does he has diabetes? Ever? Enter your mind? Are you just like C so so you're taking them to the hospital?

Elle 46:51
Um, I had someone had suggested to me that he might have diabetes. But even looking at like, the the lists that you Google, I could easily write those off as like, well, of course he you know, is anxious. There's a global pandemic. Of course, he's eating a lot. He's always eaten a lot. He's drinking more water because we're telling him to drink more water, right. All the signs, I could easily point to something else and be like, No, it's not that because at the time, I did not know that type one was an autoimmune disorder. I knew it was sort of hereditary somehow. But I didn't know that it was auto immune. Okay. And after I weighed him, I went to our local drugstore and I bought a test kit with land sets. Or maybe I didn't buy Atlanta, I had to go back for something because I didn't realize it. It didn't all come together.

Scott Benner 47:52
But some of it but not all right. I

Elle 47:55
got like a meter and strips and a poker but I didn't have the land sets to put in the poker. So then we had a super high carb meal at lunch. And two hours later, I tested him and the first one said hi, and I was like, go wash your hands. And the second one said 300. Something. Stop it. So the second one said 300 something. And I knew that wasn't good. But I still didn't know that it was for sure. diabetes, because ironically enough, he'd had poison ivy the week before and had steroids. Like he'd gotten a shot at a walk in clinic for steroids. Like maybe two weeks, somewhere around there.

Scott Benner 48:43
Well, they probably helped him kept them a little jacked up. I'm telling you I've never felt better than I was on this. Meanwhile, I must have I probably have some rare disease now. Probably by like up like hyper nesis gravidarum or something like that. Did you say hyperemesis is that? What it is hyperemesis hyperemesis gravidarum? Is

Unknown Speaker 49:03
that what it is? That's, that's a pregnancy thing. It's

Scott Benner 49:06
not Oh, I just Googled rare disease real quick. And it said the first one that I saw.

Unknown Speaker 49:12
I had that so Wait,

Scott Benner 49:13
hold on. Stop. That can't be true.

Elle 49:18
Yeah, I had hyperemesis with my pregnancies. It's you can't have it. Sorry.

Scott Benner 49:23
hyperemesis for years to intractable vomiting during pregnancy that leads to weight loss. And you had that? Yeah. All right. Let's just be clear. First of all, this is the best episode I've ever done. Second, second, well, it's definitely the worst. But secondly, I Googled rare diseases while you were telling me about the kid. Yeah, clicked on a link because it said rare diseases. Then I spun the mouse. Like no lie, spun the mouse just down. And then I looked up. And I thought there's two words that sound funny when I think hilarious when I tell you it was a blast when I make this joke, I'm gonna say this because I'll mispronounce it. It'll be fun. The whole thing I almost meant with almost meant with muckle wells syndrome.

Unknown Speaker 50:14
I haven't heard about one, but I probably have it too. But instead

Scott Benner 50:17
I said, hyper misses, what is this hyper one? hyperemesis hyperemesis gravidarum? And you said I had that? Yep. Holy Hell, that's crazy. You should only have one thought in your head right now. I'm never getting pregnant again. What is muckle wells syndrome? That's the only thing you should be wondering right now. It's a form of cryo Perin associated periodic syndrome that is caused by a mutation in the C I A S one gene, and the increased activity of protein Cryer printed in the body. This leads to inflammatory damage throughout the body as well as several other symptoms, including the possibility of amyloid dosis. This is probably gonna end up being what I have.

Elle 51:10
I don't think I have I don't know what any of that means. But

Scott Benner 51:14
no one knows what it means. It's a rare, rare Genomics Institute. I can't believe it do. I just told you what it says how do you

Unknown Speaker 51:25
know if you have it?

Scott Benner 51:29
How's it diagnosed? Blood tests, degree of inflammation in the body

Unknown Speaker 51:35
inflammation. Got it.

Scott Benner 51:39
So got a patient may also undergo a cerebral spinal fluid analysis and audiogram a kidney biopsy or urine protein test. This is going to be so weird if somebody ends up having this that I know. Plus, I gotta start picking lottery numbers if that happens, because I've never put any effort. I can't believe you had the other thing.

Unknown Speaker 52:00
Me neither. All right. Okay. All right. It was not fun.

Scott Benner 52:04
Jesus it by the kilometer. He tests his blood, your blood sugar's high is the hospital. What did they do in the hospital for him?

Elle 52:11
Well, I tried to get him to go to the hospital. But I didn't know how to like, proceed after finding out that he had high blood sugar. I didn't know like, is this an emergency room. So I called Well, I talked to one of my friends. And she has a friend who has a kid with type one. And they recommended an endocrinologist. So I tried calling him but he works for the hospital to the University of Iowa. And I called them and they wanted to make an appointment for him in a month. I was like,

Scott Benner 52:53
already waited five months. So

Elle 52:56
I was like, I don't I don't think I can wait a month. And so they put me on hold for 45 minutes. And then they hung up on me.

And that again, that is my life like has not been disconnected while I'm talking to you so far.

So I called back and nobody answered. I was like, well, that's weird. Why would a hospital? Not answer? Yeah. So then I drove him to a semi local walk in clinic. And I had a two month old at the time. So I took her with me in a global pandemic, because I'm nursing her at the time, and I'm thinking we're probably going to stay overnight here. I made my baby. Yeah, she can eat. They did not like that. But they didn't send me away or anything. They immediately admitted him into the emergency room. And while we were pulling up pulling in, but we're walking into the emergency room, we see the ambulance pulling out. And we are rural Iowa, like there's only one ambulance. So they admitted him started him on a drip of some sort. I don't know what's going on at this point, because I'm just like, I know what diabetes is, but not a lot, right. And so three hours later, they decide they're going to transfer him. But they were calling around to multiple hospitals and all the hospitals are saying we are not admitting any patients right now. And I'm like, Is this because of COVID? Is this because he's like, he needs a PMT unit? Like what? Why? And somebody said there was a tornado in the city that you live in? I'm like, No, I don't think so. I would have known about that. Like, I was just there and my husband and my other children are still there. So they called to a hospital in Des Moines and Des Moines said no, they called Iowa City, Iowa City said no, they called Tom wha where I live. They said no. And finally, someone in Iowa City said fine, we'll take him. But the baby can't come. So I sent him in an ambulance. And I'm sitting here looking at my baby and my oldest and literally deciding, like, Who do I go with? Which was probably the hardest moment in the whole thing. I think it's the only time I actually cried. No. But I have an acquaintance friend, who's a nurse at the hospital that I was at. And she said, let your husband go. Because if you go, and you're with the baby, and if they don't let the baby in, you're gonna have to, like stay in a hotel, and you're gonna miss a lot. Because when the doctor is there, he's there. Like, you're not going to have him on your schedule. You need to be on his and the baby doesn't care. So my husband drove up separately from the ambulance, and I drove back home to pick up the other kids and stay home with the baby and the other two. And when he got to Iowa City, it was dark, like black because there were no streetlights there were no stoplights there. There were there was no electricity anywhere because of the tornado. It wasn't a tornado. What was it? It was a juried show. Oh, wait,

Scott Benner 56:34
hold on. What up to Rachel, is that a disease I might have?

Elle 56:40
It's basically a land hurricane. With like, I think it was 80 mile an hour winds straightens. So I'm thankful that I didn't send him in that first ambulance because he probably would have been right in the middle of it.

Scott Benner 56:56
How often does that happen? Never. A direct show is a widespread, long live straight line windstorm that is associated with fast moving groups of severe thunderstorms. Wow. Can cause hurricane force winds tornadoes, heavy rains and flash floods. Yeah, and not for nothing. You live in the same town as radar O'Reilly from Yes, yeah. Did you know the man? Well, he didn't recently passed away the man that that they base this character on recently? Yes. Donald Schaefer. Mr. Schaefer was born in 1929. He died in 2022. He was the inspiration for a character on mash called radar or Riley who was from a tumble Iowa. Yep. You learn so much on this podcast. That's all and the thing about the windy thing that Theresa or something? She's again, why do you live there?

Elle 57:58
Well, a few reasons. But for the math. Did you look that up to know that I just love math capital of the world?

Scott Benner 58:08
No, it isn't right. No. You're making that up. You're being fun. No, I'm not. I'm not sorry. I didn't make fun of that.

Unknown Speaker 58:17
Okay, clean of meth is from a tumbler.

Scott Benner 58:20
The queen of meth is from a tumbler? Yeah. What is the Swiss she calls herself it's Tom Arnold sister. All right. Oh, no kidding. In that documentary she made they made the documentary about her. Well, I guess if you're gonna be famous for something that'd be okay. Queen of meth made $200,000 a week. Meet Tom Arnold sister Tom Arnold, the man who used to be married to Roseanne Barr.

Elle 58:49
Yes. They used to live in Eldon, which is I think it's all done. Maybe it was agency, which is like five miles outside of Ottawa maze. And maybe

Scott Benner 59:00
he's very good friends with Arnold Schwarzenegger. I believe we see these things. I know. That's odd. You need to know the other odd things are you know,

Elle 59:09
I mean, let me know everything about Tom Arnold is probably a little odd.

Scott Benner 59:13
A lot. A lot. A lot of weird energy, that's for sure. All right. Okay. So this poor kid almost gets blown away, but has diabetes instead. And, and how and so you're you ended up sending your husband with him to the hospital? Sorry.

Unknown Speaker 59:28
He followed him to the hospital like yeah, okay.

Scott Benner 59:31
All right. And so you stayed did you go home with the babies like because it's all COVID D. So what do you do?

Elle 59:36
I went home and stayed there and picked up my other two from their grandparents house. And we stayed home and I learned a lot via zoom.

Scott Benner 59:47
Wow. How long was he in the hospital?

Elle 59:50
I think it was. I've gone back and forth. I cannot remember if it was like three days, two nights.

Scott Benner 59:58
All right. Night They didn't rush him out and they needed to bring his blood sugar down and do that slowly because he was really in trouble. I imagine.

Elle 1:00:06
Yeah, that by the time I got off pulled when they hung up on me, we tested him again. It was 500 something.

Scott Benner 1:00:12
Well, what do you know? What is a once he was when they checked?

Unknown Speaker 1:00:16
15.1? Yeah, well,

Scott Benner 1:00:21
insulin pens. And any talk of glucose monitors, do you have them now?

Elle 1:00:27
So he had to prove to insurance that he had diabetes by testing three times or more a day, for a month, and then he got

Scott Benner 1:00:37
a Dexcom. Okay, so they didn't take the diagnosis of the hospital seriously.

Elle 1:00:42
I don't understand insurance. Like I don't understand how some person in a cubicle gets to decide medical care. Isn't that practicing without a license?

Scott Benner 1:00:51
Yeah, it's a little weird. How did you find the overall education?

Elle 1:00:58
Excellent. Honestly, Nurse Laurie, shout out. I asked her permission to say her name.

Scott Benner 1:01:07
Did you ask her permission to say her name in the middle of episode or someone's had ball? 16?

Elle 1:01:13
I didn't specify but yeah, I think she knows.

Scott Benner 1:01:17
She hears this.

Elle 1:01:21
She she called me like, every other day for two weeks. And then it was like every three days for another two weeks. And then it was once a week and then it was and she I don't know. She's excellent. That's wonderful. She's just absolutely excellent. She listened to me talk about things that weren't even diabetes related just my own

angst at No, I

Scott Benner 1:01:51
would listen to you talk forever. So you know, well, I could probably talk forever. Yeah, you and your flame vagina and this for kids and all the other stuff. There's plenty here to go into. I don't even know we need to talk about this diabetes, but it just just because people tuned in. How's the kid doing? Just a couple years doing

Elle 1:02:08
really well? Yeah. But he like his agency has not been over 5.9 Since diagnosis.

Scott Benner 1:02:14
Well, good for you. How are you accomplishing that?

Unknown Speaker 1:02:18
You? Oh, sorry.

Unknown Speaker 1:02:21
There's no reason Lori.

Scott Benner 1:02:23
There's no reason I can Laurie but go ahead. Yeah.

Elle 1:02:26
Well, Nurse Lori can't call me every day. But I can listen to the podcast every day. She has other people to go save.

Scott Benner 1:02:37
Yeah, she's super lady. She's calling everybody on the phone. Do you ever think about that? Once she's talking to you like, Oh, I'm probably not the only person she does this with? Yes, I

Elle 1:02:45
do. Think about that. And that was trying to be very respectful over time. But again, I can talk forever. So sorry, Laurie.

Scott Benner 1:02:52
So obviously, you get a CGM a month in. Are you still doing pens? You can check me.

Elle 1:02:58
He did pens until it was about six months. I think it was March of 21.

Scott Benner 1:03:06
You go to a pump then after that? Yeah. Okay. Medtronic, no, no, say it like that their sponsors of the program. Oh, are they in pen from Medtronic? diabetes?

Elle 1:03:18
Well, we tried to get the in pen. But evidently the week. Again, this was my luck. The week that we got it approved, our insurance decided that they weren't covering it anymore. Or there was a grant or something. Something fell through. It was approved, but then we couldn't get it without spending $800 to get the device.

Scott Benner 1:03:39
Yeah, that definitely shouldn't be I think I think you can get it. Like, let me just say this. You know, I think there's you know, you have to check, there's fine print and stuff. But I think mostly it's like 35 bucks for people. So definitely don't pay $800 Well,

Elle 1:03:52
I didn't because I knew we wanted to get on a pump. And I didn't see the sense in going through the hassle of getting on something that we weren't going to permanently use. Sure. Not that it's a bad thing. It sounds amazing. But,

Scott Benner 1:04:07
ya know, it's a it's a great insult. But yeah, I understand you're not wanting to do that. So, okay, so what what did Laurie tell you that helps you keep an A once the under six with a nine year old

Elle 1:04:20
Pre-Bolus. Check as often as you feel like checking. They did go over. So I don't know if this sounds a little braggy. But so in 2019 My husband and I did keto, which meant that I already knew how to count carbs pretty well. And so they gave Lorie and there are other members of the team, but I think sorry. Other people that I didn't ask permission to say names of I I usually defer to Laurie, just because we got along well, she gave, like resources, where I could look up carbs of things quickly. And I could like put in a recipe and it'll tell me the carbs in it. And there was a big booklet that we did secondary education on. So that was like sick day and stuff like that. But University of Iowa is they are with it. Yeah, they've got it going on.

Scott Benner 1:05:35
Talk for a while of me giving a talk at the University of Iowa. And then it just I think COVID happened, and then it just people stopped talking about so. But yeah, apparently there's a large type one population in the student body at that school. Oh, yeah. That's crazy to be okay. So Pre-Bolus count your carbs do the right thing. Pay attention to the blood sugar sounds like what Laurie was telling you? And then you did it like, but what made you like so many people don't? Like, follow through, like, what made you follow through.

Elle 1:06:11
I'm a rule follower. Just am. Oh, gosh. And I want to make sure that I only share my experience. So this is going to be kind of complicated to talk about. Both of my husband's goodness dogs. Both of my dog. She's chasing the cat again. Oh, I put her outside. Then she saw my children drive away and she was crying outside. So I figured that would be noisy enough, but it's fine. So both of my husband's parents have type one. And the education that they have received is not the standards of the University of Iowa. Yes. I'm just gonna say that much. So seeing and hearing the information that they received in action makes me sad and angry at any doctor that thinks they know something, and is giving advice when they don't really know what they're talking about.

Scott Benner 1:07:35
Okay. How both of his parents have type one. Yeah.

Unknown Speaker 1:07:43
For a long time. Still missed it. Yeah.

Scott Benner 1:07:46
Yeah. And he didn't see it either. He didn't know either. Any other autoimmune in the family?

Elle 1:07:51
Oh, my gosh, so many. My mom has rheumatoid arthritis. She has hypothyroidism. She has bipolar disorder, which I know. It's not an autoimmune, but you say that there's a connection. And then my husband's mom has type one. She's had type one for 50 years. His dad has had type one since the 90s. Early 90s. I think he was was right before. No, it wouldn't have been early 90s It was right before I met him. So I'm gonna say he was 45 ish. Okay. But he was diagnosed as type two until he got cancer. And then they did a C peptide when he had cancer. And found out Oh, it's type one. Okay, so you'll have to Google it. It's E H, E. And I'd have it's like 13 syllables.

E. H. E. N E I'm surprised students say that one earlier when you search.

Scott Benner 1:08:58
Wow, I'm not gonna be able to say that.

Elle 1:09:01
Yeah. If you tell me the first syllable, I can probably tell it that the heliad epithelioid him angioma isn't right but I get them all

Scott Benner 1:09:10
a man God. Don't feed me Allah. HEMANGIO e n d o t h e l i o m a is the second word. That's crazy. rare cancer, the growth in the cells that make up the blood vessels most commonly seen in the liver, lungs and bones. Okay, and he did he kick did he beat that?

Elle 1:09:39
It's not really curable. Okay. He's had some things removed from his liver and his lungs.

Scott Benner 1:09:46
I'm sorry. Okay, and so there's again I say I don't know what you autoimmune people do like what signal you put out into the world to attract other autoimmune people but like it's a fascinating it's on both sides of the family like add that. I didn't even list all of them. But yeah, don't keep going. What do you got more?

Elle 1:10:05
Has my husband's mom has hypothyroidism, and then my husband's dad. So my husband's aunt also has type one, but it's, they call her type two. And I'm, I don't know how to tell someone I think you need to be tested for. Like, she's, you know, almost 70 years old now. And she's been treating it this way. But I'm convinced it's type one. And his other sister has MS. And I feel like I'm forgetting something. Oh, both of my husband's grandparents had pancreatic cancer. So I don't know if that's related.

Scott Benner 1:10:47
You know, this is more information than anybody should say probably. But everyone's passed on. So my friend Mike, his mom had pancreatic cancer.

Unknown Speaker 1:10:58
I remember you saying that?

Scott Benner 1:11:01
Interesting. All right. Well, you should probably do some math.

Elle 1:11:08
I don't think so. Sure. I'm pretty sure. I don't think that would help the situation any? No, I

Scott Benner 1:11:16
mean, I don't think it would help anything. But I mean, you're in one of those rare situations. I'm not certain about hurting either. So sorry. That's, that's really terrible. Least get yourself a new computer. So obviously, I said a ton of stuff that was very helpful to the kid. And he's doing great now probably going to name your next Corgi after me or something like that. And you consider that, did you? You didn't do it, though. So it doesn't get in. She's the girl.

And it's so much you pay homage where you pay that much. That's all. Is it? Oh my gosh. How do you set? Some people say homage? And I'm 100? I don't say that. I'm 100%. Sure that's not right.

Elle 1:12:02
I'm probably more likely to pronounce that. Oh, long. All right. Oh, my

Scott Benner 1:12:07
God. Alright. So is there anything that we haven't talked about that you want to talk about?

Elle 1:12:14
The exercise thing I did want to pick your brain on?

Scott Benner 1:12:17
Okay. And but let me ask this question. First. How many things that we talked about that you didn't want to talk about? All of

Elle 1:12:24
them? Oh, testicles weren't on the list. In my mind? No,

Scott Benner 1:12:29
I didn't think they were either. But then the computer was loud. And I felt I felt obligated to give back. You don't I mean? I really did. I was like, I need to put something in here. I don't want people to be like, Oh my God, it was a refrigerator. But it wasn't it was a computer. I mean, there's only so much that you can take, you know, say so. Okay, so what you want to talk about exercise and insulin or something. Go ahead. What's your question? So

Elle 1:12:54
he has been diagnosed for almost two years. I don't think he had a honeymoon at all. If you did, he exhausted it before diagnosed. I

Scott Benner 1:13:02
think you used it up before you were diagnosed. But God.

Elle 1:13:05
So key, I'll give an example. In May, he went with his birth his buddy for a birthday party. They went to the largest skate park in the United States, which is in Des Moines. It's about an hour away from where his buddy lives. So they were in the car for a little bit. But he was writing about 70 Before we left, he didn't really go up at all for the car ride. And then we had Chick fil A, which is I'm guessing he had 120 carbs. But then he had a full sugar soda, too. So I'm gonna say 150 carbs. Ish. I did not give him any insulin for that. I did. I didn't even have his pump on him when he was eating that meal because I did not want any auto boluses he's on to slam Yeah. So we took the pump off for the skatepark because I do not want to busted pump. And I didn't really want him getting insulin while he was skating. And he still had to treat three loads.

Scott Benner 1:14:18
Still just like skateboarding. How long did he do it for?

Elle 1:14:21
He was on a scooter for about three hours. Sounds like a long time. I mean, it was a long time. Yeah. But this kid drops like a rock with any exercise. Right? And I just like I've heard you talk about bolusing Arden during a softball game and I'm like, my kid would not be able to play at all.

Scott Benner 1:14:43
So I think it's I mean, there's different impacts right so softballs, not scootering scootering for three hours, so a lot of effort. If you ever watch a softball game, there's a ton of standing around. So you know they're standing around. You could strike out three times and never even have to run to first base. You You know what I mean? So they're standing around, there's the heat. There's then dehydration that comes along with it. So if you're at the skate park is indoor outdoor, it was outdoor, hot or not hot.

Elle 1:15:13
I would say it's warm. It wasn't cold by any means. I wouldn't say it's 97 degrees like today or anything

Scott Benner 1:15:19
ton of effort for three hours straight. A lot of aerobic exercise. I can see. I mean, you described I mean, I could see that not needing insulin for certain that makes sense. Was there a big Bolus prior to the skatepark?

Elle 1:15:37
I mean, he had breakfast. But that was probably four or five hours before the park.

Scott Benner 1:15:46
You actually got that? But yeah, like a nice yard like 70 Something on your way to the skate park? Yeah. So you, obviously you killed breakfast really well. And then you will get that by himself. Wow. That's impressive. And then he went into the right into the activity. So you pop the pump off as you started at the skate park.

Elle 1:16:03
We took the pump off before he ate Chick fil A.

Scott Benner 1:16:06
After this, wait, wait, hold on. The Chick fil A was before skating?

Elle 1:16:10
Yeah. Before skating, no insulin.

Scott Benner 1:16:15
But wait. So the Chick fil A was without insulin before the activity? So that it sounds like you. I mean, I mean, the best I could guess is that he maybe over Bolus the breakfast

Unknown Speaker 1:16:28
hours before.

Scott Benner 1:16:30
I mean, it doesn't make a lot of sense

Elle 1:16:32
that it's it's not just this time, either. I mean, it happens every time you go. It's every time he exercises like aerobic activity. Wow. And I just I don't know, he went to camp last week. And they reduce his basil, I think by 50%. And I mean, he ran higher at Camp than he does at home. But I don't know how to replicate that at home to get a good idea of how much to give him because what ends up happening. So we we went to a fourth of July party, the third. And we had it in that camp profile, because I wanted to see like it being the pump. I wanted to see if it would work for us at home. And it did. Like he played volleyball after he had a meal. And we did Bolus for the meal. But it was a reduced Bolus. He had his basil reduced for hours beforehand. And he played volleyball and he had to sit out the last round because I just couldn't get it to come up. But then when we got home, so like three hours later, tea skyrocketed.

Scott Benner 1:17:54
Well, I have to admit, from your explanation, I don't know exactly what to say. Yeah. I mean, if you telling me that you ate before the skate part is the part of the skate park that throws me off. Like I mean, the only thing that makes sense to me is that breakfast somehow impacted it. Because otherwise, I mean adrenaline. Was he excited to go to the skate park? I mean, something he does, right. It's not like some great treat or something like

Elle 1:18:25
well, it was a birthday party. We don't often go to Des Moines to go to the skate park. He plays on his scooter weekly. It's not right. And when he does it at home, he doesn't drop like that. Oh, he does. He drops any time any any exercise. Like he has a Wednesday night activity that he does during the school year. And I have his pump and exercise mode which you know, raises the target but still gives many boluses which I hate we put we reduce his Basal re hours beforehand and then we have a low carb meal so that he doesn't take insulin for it. And it sometimes work interesting problem with that is that it's so super spontaneous and unpredictable that I don't know when he's gonna be sitting me playing but that's a whole other thing.

Scott Benner 1:19:19
So I don't know anything about this. I'm just like, kicking around like I don't I don't know is that could that be not adrenal though, right. Don't think that's I don't know if that's for a person with type one where like hypo, you can get like hypoglycemic from like adrenal fatigue, but I don't know if that's to do with diabetes, or if that's just a thing people experience side of it, sometimes. I don't know. But I mean, it does sound it's what I can say is it sounds like egregious. It sounds crazy. You know, like those crazy hours and hours without insulin. Um, I mean, I do, I'm imagining a lot of activity with the with the scootering, obviously, but

Elle 1:20:08
Peter gets the same result like he went to a place where he played Ultimate Frisbee. And he, he did have some insulin at lunchtime, but it was like 30% of what I would have given him a home. And then it was still two hours before he played and it's Ultimate Frisbee like he's

Scott Benner 1:20:31
running around and sprinting all over the place.

Elle 1:20:35
Right. But I don't want to call it a bad name. His his pump gave him an auto Bolus. Okay, of point 118, which I know for a lot of people is a lot but for my kid is nothing. Like he uses like 75 units daily 2.118 dropped him from 210 with fruit snack to 90 straight down in 15 minutes.

Scott Benner 1:21:05
Yeah, I mean, that's so doesn't sound like that the insulin could do that. But that's like, like, I feel like there has to be something else at play. Have you asked the doctor about it? i

Elle 1:21:17
My CTE nurse, Laurie? Laurie? She said it's just a Remi thing.

Scott Benner 1:21:23
something specific to him? Yeah.

Elle 1:21:28
I was. I was in that conversation asking about different types of insulin. But I don't know. I don't know, as they would be any different.

Scott Benner 1:21:40
Like switching a brand of insulin, right? Yeah, I mean, I have to be honest, I'm not sure. You No, I'm sorry. It's it's it's out of the ordinary enough that I don't know what to say.

Elle 1:21:56
I figured I'd give it a shot. Because I don't know. Too many people that manage diabetes.

Scott Benner 1:22:04
Do you try? Have you ever tried giving him like a protein before? Oh, yeah.

Elle 1:22:09
I mean, the Chick fil A was a chicken sandwich. But yeah, we use peanut butter. We like the the meals that we give him before his Wednesday night things are very heavy protein, very heavy fat. Okay. And 15 carbs or less.

Scott Benner 1:22:25
In a normal situation, that meal would cause them you really Bolus for? Yeah. But not when he's active.

Elle 1:22:35
If he's sitting, he needs insulin, like, needs. Right? Mom's going crazy. He's grown six inches since diagnosis. And like that's, he definitely needs insulin. It's not that his Basal is too high, or that his ratios are off. It's the activities specifically,

Scott Benner 1:22:58
have you tried having a conversation in the Facebook group about it?

Elle 1:23:02
Um, I think so. But I don't remember for sure.

Scott Benner 1:23:06
Yeah. Well, you know, if you had an answer you would have you would remember the answer a lot of times

Elle 1:23:09
I, I hold back because I feel like I over explain everything, especially in a group like that, where I, I tried to condense and then they need more information. So I ended up like, well, let me start back when I was born.

Scott Benner 1:23:27
Yeah, that's not helpful. What about, like runners goo and stuff like that? Have you ever tried that? I don't know what that is like that. Like, it's just like paste that runners used to like, keep their blood sugar up while they're running. Like, I'm wondering if it's, I mean, he doesn't want I don't want him to be eating something constantly. But trying to decide like it has it ever been a real problem for you? Are you able to stay on top of it? For the most part,

Elle 1:23:52
I'm there. I've never had to use his G voc. But I've had it out before

Scott Benner 1:24:01
dropping so fast. Yeah.

Elle 1:24:05
And honestly, I think those situations were because he had insulin on board and like, he went and jumped on the trampoline, like, well, that's obviously not gonna work well.

Scott Benner 1:24:20
I feel good. I'm sorry.

Elle 1:24:22
I feel like he's missing out on the activities that he wants to participate in because he's sitting on the side drinking juice. And that's my biggest concern, I guess, for a 12 year old boy to have to be like, sorry, I have to sit down and drink a juice box and his friends don't really understand that and then he doesn't get invited next time.

Scott Benner 1:24:47
What happens if he just like drinks Gatorade throughout the whole process?

Elle 1:24:52
That's what he was doing at the skate park, but he still had to have two packs of fruit snacks. and

Scott Benner 1:25:02
it had been hours since he had insulin, at least five and there was food in there.

Elle 1:25:08
Yeah, a whole meal. Like 150 carbs or more I don't even know I didn't count it. It was Chick fil A fries, chicken sandwich and Dr. Pepper.

Scott Benner 1:25:24
And you didn't Bolus for it didn't Bolus at all. And then he still tried to get low later

Elle 1:25:29
didn't even have basil on like, I turned his pump to we have a zero profile setup, so that it doesn't beep all the time. But it still doesn't give him any insulin. I wonder

Scott Benner 1:25:39
if away from this activity. He needs so much insulin that even though you haven't had it for a few hours, once you add the activity, it just gets sped up so much.

Unknown Speaker 1:25:52
I don't know what that means. I mean,

Scott Benner 1:25:54
I mean, like, what's his Basal rate? Like forget this activity a second for I get a normal situation? What's his Basal rate an hour?

Elle 1:26:01
Like 1.3? Ish? What's he weigh? 135.

Scott Benner 1:26:07
That seemed crazy. And but it also it does seem a little heavy, but it doesn't seem crazy. I don't mean heavy. Like it's wrong. I mean, like, like, there's a need there. So

Elle 1:26:20
his Basal is cranked at night, not cranked but higher at night because of growth hormones and activity. And then, like during the school year, we have a higher Basal rate during school hours because we sit more. Yeah, but then, like, from about lunch? So about 11 Until gonna say 830. It's less. So I don't I don't think so. Oh, wait, I have a picture. I forgot I took pictures before I send them to camp in case they changed. Let me find. Okay, so midnight, until 11am is 1.47 an hour. And then 11 until five is 1.37. And then five, until 830 is 1.5. And then 830. Until I guess it is right. 10 is 1.71. And then I think it goes back. It's a little less between 10. And midnight, just because I don't usually give too many corrections. And honestly, that's the only reason I haven't changed. And this is if I give

Scott Benner 1:27:32
this is working for you like his keeps his a onesie in the fives. But you're having lows around activity, but not lows that other times, right. I mean, I listen, I I do wonder after after you go over those numbers, like what would happen if forget, like a couple of hours prior to activity, but what if like, you made a concerted effort one day, you know, like, we're gonna go to the skate park at four o'clock in the afternoon. Like, what if you got up in the morning and cut the Basal wave down? Like, first thing in the morning? Yeah, like the point nine and let it be like that for, like 6789 hours before he went there. I'd be interested to see what would happen after that.

Elle 1:28:18
I just I am willing to do that. My concern is what about the nine hours leading up to it?

Scott Benner 1:28:29
What would happen? Do you think he did that?

Elle 1:28:32
I think he would be in the two hundreds all the whole day. And then like, if I don't correct, he'll stay in the two hundreds. But if I correct it, then I'll have insulin on board.

Scott Benner 1:28:46
Yeah, then I would actually have to add to that. I guess you would want to go with a lower carb lifestyle that day just to keep Bolus down just to see what what happened. Because what I'm trying to get at is, I wonder if you need these heavy boluses because he's a 12 year old kid. And then there's so much insulin happening like you don't I mean, like it sounds like he's two people. It sounds like he's Yeah, like, right. He's just sitting around kid, right? And then all the sudden he's an Olympic skater kid.

Elle 1:29:16
Right, right. Right. How do I know which one he is going to be that day? Well, does

Scott Benner 1:29:20
it always happen with a skate park?

Elle 1:29:22
It always happens with any activity, but 12 year old boys are not known for planning out their activity.

Scott Benner 1:29:28
Right now. I don't have an answer to but what it sounds like to me is that you're managing one body style, one, one impact, and then suddenly, you're switching to a significantly different impact. Yeah,

Elle 1:29:43
that's exactly what's happening. Right? I just don't have a whole day to prepare for it. Because if his buddy comes over and wants to go ride scooters, I can't be like, come back tomorrow.

Scott Benner 1:29:58
We'll plan this a lot sooner. There has to be some sort of a level of carbs that you can put in him that a hold this up because it sounds like he got closed. He did the Chick fil A and then he did a couple of packets of gummies. And so 150 carbs. I know it's a lot. I don't know how to I'm not I'm trust me. I'm not saying it's makes a lot of sense. I'm just saying that like talking it through this is this is what I'm imagining from your conversation. So I'm not sure I did that sound like it sucks, though. I'm sorry for that.

Elle 1:30:33
I just hate that he misses out on things. That's, that's the only I mean,

Scott Benner 1:30:37
is he really missing out? Or is he have to stop once in a while

Elle 1:30:42
his friends have stopped inviting him places. Because he's drinking juice, because he has to sit. And they don't want to wait on it.

Scott Benner 1:30:51
How long does the deficit toys okay?

Elle 1:30:54
Just depends on what they were doing. And how long. Like if we're dealing with an insulin board situation or a just, you know, like they at the skate park. We we knew that was coming a month ahead. And we prepared for it. So he just ate some gummies and kept skating right. And if I'm there, like I can tell him hey, you're 120 Eat some fruit snacks, and it'll bring you back up. But if I'm not there, and he's just hanging out with his friends, like, at the playground or whatever. I'm not there to tell him eat fruit snacks when he's 120. And his pump doesn't alert him when he's 120. And Dexcom doesn't even go that high.

Scott Benner 1:31:33
So he doesn't find out till he's lower and then it's too late that he's got to wait and wait and all that stuff. Yep. Yeah. I'm sorry. That sucks. Have you tried? We tried hiring Jenny for a couple of minutes to see which

Elle 1:31:52
I would love to but I can't afford a new computer.

Scott Benner 1:31:59
We she'll talk to you on the phone.

Elle 1:32:02
What I mean is, I think Jenny's probably out of my price range.

Scott Benner 1:32:06
I honestly, Can I be honest with you. This is gonna sound crazy. I have no idea how much Jenny charges? I honestly don't know. But I mean. I mean, it's a big deal. And it's got a big impact on him. So maybe no, it is. worries, no help.

Unknown Speaker 1:32:25
I'm just gonna still gotta feed the kids too.

Scott Benner 1:32:27
Well, not really. I mean, there's four of them. Right? They dog if something goes sideways. All right. I gotta go. I actually have a call. So

Unknown Speaker 1:32:39
hopefully it goes better than

Scott Benner 1:32:42
this guy is gonna know how to use his computer, which is a step in the right direction. I really did. I honestly did appreciate this conversation a lot. I thank you very much. I just I actually have to give them a shout out. I have a call with people from G voc and a little bit and I have I have told them they definitely know what they're talking about. I have to go be an adult. So I really appreciate this. We hold on one second for me. Yeah, thanks.

I want to thank L for coming on the show. And in a second. I'm going to tell you all the different ideas I had for naming this episode. Anyway, thank you l Thank you better help for sponsoring this episode better. help.com forward slash juice box saves you 10% off your first month of therapy. And thank you Omni pod, get your Omni pod dash or Omni pod five at my link Omni pod.com forward slash juicebox. That's pretty much it. I want to thank you so much for listening. Remind you that there are links in the show notes of your podcast player and at juicebox podcast.com. To all the sponsors. When you click on the links you're supporting the show. Don't forget to go to T one D exchange.org. Forward slash juice box fill out the survey. And of course you can get 35% off at cozier calm with the offer code juice box. Now I recorded this for myself as soon as

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#874 Type 2 Diabetes Pro Tip: Fueling Plan

A series for people with pre and Type 2 diabetes.

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.

+ Click for EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

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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.

• 00:00:22 Importance of personalized fueling plan.
• 00:10:43 Include vegetables in your diet.
• 00:12:00 Childhood experiences can shape food preferences.
• 00:17:57 Importance of monitoring blood sugar.
• 00:26:26 Processed foods can impact blood sugar.
• 00:29:23 Food culture and societal pressure.
• 00:37:08 Forming habits takes conscious effort.
• 00:40:01 Tracking intake helps with evaluation.
• 00:45:23 Avoid processed foods, choose healthier options.

Scott Benner 0:00
Hello friends, and welcome to episode 874 of the Juicebox Podcast

Hey everyone, welcome back to the Type Two diabetes Pro Tip series from the Juicebox Podcast. Today Jenny and I are going to talk about your fueling plan amongst other things. While you're listening, 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. If you're just finding the diabetes Pro Tip series for type two diabetes, there are other episodes already available. Check them out at Juicebox Podcast or search your favorite audio app or podcast that if you're looking for some silky sheets are lovely joggers, maybe some nice PJs, check out cozy earth.com And when you check out use the offer code juicebox to save 35% on your entire order. If you're enjoying this series, please share it with someone else who you think might also enjoy it.

This episode of The Juicebox Podcast is sponsored by Dexcom, makers of the Dexcom G six and the Dexcom G seven continuous glucose monitoring system dexcom.com forward slash Juicebox Podcast is also sponsored by the contour next gen blood glucose meter, you want a glucose meter that is easy to hold, easy to read, accurate and offer Second Chance test strips if that's what you want. And I think that is what you should want. You want the contour next gen blood glucose meter contour next one.com forward slash juice box. Alright Jenny, we are here today to add to our type two series. Yay. Today we are going to discuss a fueling plan, which you taught me in the other episode not to say diet. And I didn't even think to say diet. So I'm pleased to say that I'm learning.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 2:31
You didn't have big signs in front of you. I really don't say diet.

Scott Benner 2:35
Actually, I thought oh, we're going to talk about eating today. We're going to and I went into my little note and I noticed that I was going to talk about fueling plan. I just wrote down fueling plan. I was like, Oh, look at me. I'm learning.

Unknown Speaker 2:45
Okay, you That's awesome. So

Scott Benner 2:49
So let's, I guess, just broad broad scope, it doesn't really matter, right? If you're a person who may not have been eating well, prior to your type two diabetes, or you were eating great, and you got it anyway. Right? What you're going to eat moving forward to help yourself is going to be the same one way or the other. That makes me Yeah, ish. Like, like, it's not like, I'm saying that, what's it going to be about. So if I'm coming in, I mean, let's just break this down. If I'm coming in with type two diabetes and a weight, right, type two diabetes, and no weight issue, then the person with no weight issue is just going to check to make sure they're not eating foods that are driving their blood sugar up,

Jennifer Smith, CDE 3:40
correct in in this example, it's a good example. The person who doesn't need some loss just needs to maintain and stabilize and also now has to watch what's happening to their blood sugar levels, it's more of a look at what you've been doing that's maintaining, and then shifting some of the things maybe out or maybe portion needs to change in one place versus another or maybe it's a changeover of these types of foods versus these types of foods, right. Similarly, in the person that needs or could benefit from some loss to get more to an optimized weight, you know, for their own body and for their activity level. There's might be a shift of kinds of foods as well. But it's definitely they need also some portion navigation for that,

Scott Benner 4:34
okay. What I mean, I think this is universal across a good health, not just diabetes type one type absolutely right. And, and we're going to try for people who don't know I think to my mom, excuse me, my mom was told she was pre diabetic. And and then she told me all the things she was going to eat and I was stuck on by how many of them had had, like she, she let me be clear, she said to me, I'm going to eat low carb. That's the thing she had heard somewhere, I don't know, doctor said it to her or whatever. But she's like, I'm gonna eat a low carb lifestyle. And then she listed all these vegetables that had a significant amount of carbs in them. And I thought, Oh, my mom doesn't know the difference between what has carbs in it and what doesn't like she had some of it right? Some of it wrong. Correct. Right. And so can you just help for a minute? Like, can you like just out loud, put a meal plan together for somebody and talk about some of the foods that you can be looking at?

Jennifer Smith, CDE 5:37
Yeah, I mean, it's, it's the easiest, I think. And unfortunately, the plate method, right, that was put out by the USDA, so that everybody knew what they were supposed to be looking at on their plate. I think the plate method actually is a very good idea for somebody starting out who's really trying to revamp and may have gotten the idea, well, I must, I have to go low carb. But what does that mean, right. And there are so many different ways to do low carb. But the plate methods easy, because if you just imagine sitting down with your plate, you're going to put on it more of the foods that have a low impact on your glucose level. And half of your plate then should be filled with what we call non starchy vegetables. And for your example with your mom, she thought, well, I'm going to do a low carb diet. But maybe she thought just vegetables in general, were low carb, right? They're unprocessed. They're, you know, unless you've bought them with a whole bunch of sauce or something on top of them. They're pretty clean food, right. But there is a difference. Non starchy means that they don't contain a lot of natural sugar. All vegetables do contain some kind of natural carbohydrate to them. Some have a lot more than others. So if you fill half of your plate with these non starchy vegetables being your greens, I mean, they're a powerhouse of nutrition. I'm not talking like, you know, Iceberg lettuce. You can eat all the iceberg lettuce that you want, you're not really getting a heck of a lot of good nutrition there. But it's a filler. So you're talking about the dark leafy greens are like the nice spring mixes and those kinds of things. You're talking about broccoli and cauliflower and cabbage and cucumbers and mushrooms and onions and peppers and even the summer zucchini or the the yellow squash. Those are non starchy vegetables and green beans and that kind of stuff.

Scott Benner 7:43
Easy Google search would be low glycemic vegetables, right? Yes. Okay. That will be great. That's the way you can kind of start now also, there are people who go all vegetables. For sure, too, right? That's a that's a legitimate plan as well, right? Like, instead of like low carb, which you think of as more as like protein and fat, there are some people who go like none of that. And, and they have similar successes sometimes as well.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 8:10
That's it's yeah, it's interesting, you know, the more the more plant based vegetable kind of plant based foods that you eat, they are really filling. So you can eat a fair amount of them. And because they are non starchy, you don't get a major shift or a major bump in your blood sugar compared to sitting down and eating something like, unfortunately, a starchy white potato, right, it's going to have a big impact on your blood sugar, because that's

Scott Benner 8:39
part of that plan. When you go all vegetables for diet for type two diabetes, that you're just very full, and you're not taking in a ton of calories and carbs, because there's a

Jennifer Smith, CDE 8:49
caloric load goes down, because there's bulk. Exactly. Now is that all round, well rounded, it's not anymore. If we're talking about healthy, nutrient dense and not necessarily calorically dense, then we do need a balance. And so that's why I think the plate method is a really nice place to start because you can get a wealth of non starchy vegetables on your plate. And then you can also the other half of the plate, really good lean quality protein sources, from whatever you know whether it's fish or chicken or maybe you love tofu or you're vegan or whatever. There are a lot of really good low glycemic protein sources, even beans and lentils while they do contain carbohydrate, naturally. It's downplayed based on the fiber and also the protein that you're getting with it. So

Scott Benner 9:43
also hydration still very important with type two like type one, right?

Jennifer Smith, CDE 9:47
Absolutely. Same hydration is I think it's a forgotten thing for a lot of people regardless of diabetes. You might carry your water bottle around during the course of the day and you know, sip on it or whatever. verb but yes, we need to drink water. And it's very important with type two.

Scott Benner 10:05
Part of the reason I like my green drink is because it also comes with me right away in the morning drinking 12 to 16 ounces of water. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I absolutely noticed that that's better. Okay, so here's what is rattling around in my head. Like, that's all well and good. Right? Like, can

Jennifer Smith, CDE 10:23
I say something before you? Can you remember your idea that you're gonna go forward? Alright, here is your green drink in the morning sort of made me think of the idea that vegetables for many people are just a dinner time. Right? Can you include them in other parts of your day? Absolutely. You do like a greens based thing in the morning time. It's a powder, you mix it in, it's easy, you get it down right away. You could also do something similar by getting vegetables for breakfast and putting it in a smoothie. You get a lot of quality nutrition that way, in not a very heavy, calorie dense package. You know, things like spinach and baby kale and celery and cucumbers. They all mix really well, along with you know, lower glycemic fruits, which is the next thing. Things like your berries and kiwi and apples and they're all much lower in impact. So popping that into a smoothie. It's a good way to sneak some vegetables in

Scott Benner 11:25
most of what you just listed would go in any high end scrambled egg to like if you go to a nice, yes, hell Right. They'll throw broccoli into your scrambled eggs or, you know, greens, things like that. There's other places mushrooms. i Right. Mushrooms are a good 1am I right. I love mushrooms. Yes. Every time I make anything I put mushrooms with it. Because and here's why Jenny, I don't eat a lot of vegetables. I do the greens. I am not a vegetable person. It's a texture thing for me. Ah, I can't do them the way they take and listen, we can go into it if you want. I don't think there's a lot of need for it here. But I grew up kind of broke. And there were a lot of canned nasty vegetables given to me like you're scoring like French string greens, like friends, you'd like to have these tastes horrible. And then I was I was parented in a way where you're not getting up so you eat it. And then I was a very stubborn person. So there were times where for breakfast, I would get cold green beans from the night before. And they'd be like, eat them and I'd be like no. So and I would like like physically like gag on them. Yeah, so now I'm wired wrong about vegetables now through bad parenting. And my dad's dead my mom's really old school over here this so they did a bad job and then made me hate vegetables. So I put you like mushrooms. I like it's the weirdest thing. Because

Jennifer Smith, CDE 12:47
maybe it's because you're a fun fun guy. And they're nice. I don't know.

Scott Benner 12:52
My wife's always like you don't like the way it feels in your mouth. But mushrooms are okay. And I'm like, yeah, yeah. I like onions. And they're very good for you. Yeah. I love Listen, I love them. I always have like a big bushel of them in the, in the, in the refrigerator. But like I'm looking at this list. And if you put me in this situation, I'd be like, Oh, I don't see a carrots. I think of carrots. And I'm like the guy don't know why. Because texturally, they're like potatoes, which I can do. If they're cooked as they're cooked, right? A cold carrot I can't do as soon as it splits apart, it feels waxy, or I don't know how to describe it. Like, you know what it flakes off. I'm like, it's in my mouth.

Unknown Speaker 13:38
You are so fun. I'm

Scott Benner 13:40
a child. Right, like and so, everything on this list. I've tried egg when you don't particularly care to get past the texture of it. So I didn't you sneak

Jennifer Smith, CDE 13:49
it into things like and this isn't you know, tip wise, if there are other people who are like, I can't really do that. Well. Can you sneak it in and make like a zucchini lasagna? Again, get rid of the noodles, slice up the zucchini. It cooks and becomes very soft. Similar to noodle.

Scott Benner 14:09
Let me tell you, I'm gonna do that this weekend. I've never tried that before. I'll try that. Oh, it's so good. I'll

Jennifer Smith, CDE 14:14
send you a recipe. Thank

Scott Benner 14:15
you that I will definitely try that salad. I taught. This is so embarrassing Jesus in a restaurant with my wife, seven, eight months pregnant with our first kid. In the afternoon, we just gone to like a OB appointment. So we were kind of like wild and free in the middle of the day, nothing to do. And we went to this restaurant, I can picture where I was sitting. And I said, I'm going to order a salad. And my wife goes what? And I was like yeah, I'm gonna get a salad. And she's like, You don't eat salad. I said it goes beyond that. Kelly. I've never had salad. I'm like, I'm gonna try a bowl of lettuce with things in it now. And I choked it down because I wanted to be a better role model for my kid. Sure, I taught myself to eat salad when I was like 25 years old. You are also talking to a person who was not taken to a dentist as a child. I really grew up like an animal you really

Unknown Speaker 15:15
did. Yeah, not like I'm sorry.

Scott Benner 15:19
Broken. That's just how it went, you know. And so I taught myself to eat a salad. I like tomato sauce. I have trouble with chunks of I can't eat a tomato.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 15:30
And that's another one. It's just like the mix it in figure out how to get it stuck in there someplace. soups are another really good one, where in especially pureed soups, you can hide a lot of things. So if you like tomato sauce, and it has to be really, really, really smooth, you could put a whole bunch of stuff in it, you could put carrots in there, you could probably put green beans in there, although I don't know what it would do to the flavor. And get a really good high power. Like a Vitamix kind of thing. Let's say. You can puree it down and you'll never know what was in there. As long as it's still got all the seasonings that you want from marinara sauce.

Scott Benner 16:10
I could put pureed carrots into a tomato sauce, and I would never know they were in there. Hold on. Yeah, make a note about that. So

Jennifer Smith, CDE 16:18
again, I mean, you're not going to put 20 carrots in with one thing of tomatoes and haven't tasted the tomatoes. But more than

Scott Benner 16:24
I was gonna get if I didn't throw a carrot in there. Exactly. Yeah. Because even like pepper, like I know I can cook peppers. This is I know that I must sound like I'm four years old, but I can cook peppers down into things and eat them. Yeah, but if you made like a stuffed pepper like my wife likes Turkey stuffed peppers. I can't do that. You can't do that. No, I because the pepper gets kind of like I feel like I'm arguing against myself here. But the pepper gets like soft and weird. And then I don't like the

Jennifer Smith, CDE 16:55
texture. Yeah, it's a texture thing for you definitely. What about roasted vegetables like if you roast pan roast them in the oven, like onions and mushrooms and peppers and those kinds of things. If you get if you have a good oven or you have something that you can kind of like char broil them with the right seasoning. Sometimes that's enough of a flavor like that you're okay with what it is.

Scott Benner 17:20
Yeah, I tried that with broccoli. But then the broccoli breaks down into those little round things on the floor. Or whatever, Kenny listen to get to my mouth. They're everywhere. And I'm like, why is this happening? I'm listen, I'm outing myself today because I'm going to make these quick for you. There are CGM and B GMs. A CGM is a continuous glucose monitor. And that's what Dexcom makes the Dexcom G six and brand new Dexcom G seven. These devices will allow you to see the speed, direction and number of your blood sugar. Just think about that. I mean, in context, they were talking about type two diabetes. Imagine you eat something and your blood sugar starts to go up, or it doesn't, or it goes up quickly and then comes back down. How would you know any of that with a Dexcom, you will know you will see it happen right in front of you on your receiver or your Android or iPhone. It's crazy how far these technologies come. My daughter is wearing a Dexcom G six at the moment, she will be switching to a G seven very soon. I know somebody personally wearing a G seven and they're having a good old time of it. So you can check it out and see what you think Dex comm.com forward slash juice box. What I'll tell you is there is no better way to make decisions about your medications and your food than being able to see how food and medication impacts your blood sugar. You can see that with Dexcom dexcom.com forward slash juicebox. Of course, the podcast is sponsored today by the contour line of blood glucose meters as well. Their latest the contour next gen blood glucose meter is highly accurate. And you're gonna like it, contour next.com forward slash juice box head over and take a look. See all their meters, read about the test strips learn what it means that they offer a second chance. I'll tell you right now, if you touch blood, but don't get enough, you can go back and get more without ruining the accuracy of the strip or the strip itself. And that's a big deal. It's not to say that the strip needs a lot of blood just you know you could fumble around with it or touch it and drop it or whatever. I don't know what happens to you. And you can go right back and finish up lickety split. Like it never happened. Contour Next One com forward slash juice box while you're over there. Check out the Buy Now button. There are a number of places online where you might be able to buy the meters and test trip is cheaper in cash than you're currently paying with your insurance. I know that's strange to think. But it's worth looking into Contour. Next One comm forward slash juice box dexcom.com forward slash juice box links in the show notes links at juicebox podcast.com. I, I made it through a lot of my life without eating vegetables. Sure, I would supplement where I could. But obviously it's not enough. Even the green drink is great, but it's not the same as eating this food, right? And I'm well

Jennifer Smith, CDE 20:31
and you bring up a good point there eating the food. It's just like we say with sugar from fruit. Eat the fruit don't drink the juice, because on a blood sugar level, what's it going to do differently to your blood sugar, right? So it's the same thing from a nutrient level, you're getting good stuff from your greens. But on a digestive level, you're not getting all the advantage of your body breaking it down and pulling things out and getting the digestive fiber benefit. So

Scott Benner 21:00
yeah, I mean, now having said about that this week, I have never been happier than I have been this week, I went to the Costco and I bought I bought four steaks. And I cook them with a light seasoning. And then I refrigerate them. And when I get hungry I slice a few slices off, right. And I I pick at them. I have I cooked all ready to go with them. Shrimp I sauteed some shrimp in mushrooms. And so like my lunch today, as I'll take probably four ounces of steak, put it with like two shrimp and a mushroom. And I'll just like eat that and that'll be my lunch. Yum. Yeah. And that. Because I'm putting myself in the position of the people listening. I'm thinking like, if I got type two diabetes, and you showed me this list of vegetables, I'd be like, Oh, I'm gonna die.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 21:55
Especially if you're not used to even eating some of them. Like you're starting in a very lean amount of vegetables that you would even consider trying to put into your diet. There are many people who already have vegetables in their diet, but maybe it's in such a small portion. That it's not, it's not the wealth of what they should be eating right. They might be doing a plate full of mashed potatoes and maybe aside of green beans, they should be flipped around. Yeah, green beans, good dinner salad, whatever is the wealth of the plate along with a nice healthy lean protein source. And then maybe the rest of the plate something like lower glycemic if you are still going with some type of a grain or maybe you want to definitely include fruit again from a nutrient dense quality. Fruit is excellent. It's just some is higher glycemic index meaning higher quicker impact on blood sugar, compared to others. Your lower glycemic are definitely the berries, blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, blackberries. Typically the green apples are the leanest in terms of like carbon packed kiwi fruit interestingly, as well. Some of the pears. Yeah. Okay.

Scott Benner 23:16
So I think that I think that people need to understand like, even though I'm like I miss anti vegetables a person could be still when I scroll down this list. I can find five or six things on here. I I'd be happy to eat. Sure. It's just the big the big picture. It's it's psychological for me, like I think of like, I smell peas. And I don't want them. I feel carrots in my mouth when I think about carrots. i Yeah, green beans. I feel them stuck in my throat when I think

Jennifer Smith, CDE 23:50
I can understand the P one. Because I will only eat real potted peas. Like take them out of the pod yourself and eat the pea like fresh peas. If they have been frozen if they have been canned, then I can taste that in my mouth. You can you can see me right yeah, I can I get where you're saying you can. You can get that in your mouth and you're like, nope, totally not going in.

Scott Benner 24:22
And I do I do think that's part of it. I think the preparation of the vegetables that were given to me as a kid really stuck to me because I have prepared things at home. I you know, when I'm teaching myself to eat it, I might end up with a little Parmesan cheese overtop of it to try to like sure get it in, you know what I mean? But I could do better. Like I really could. But one but I'm thinking that people need to hear is that if you're looking for a place to start, it's boxed bagged cookies cake. What flour right like these are the four tracking

Jennifer Smith, CDE 24:55
process processed foods, right, right. That's the best word for it. Honestly. And, you know, sometimes too, we also have to consider the grand majority of people with diabetes have type two diabetes, and it reaches all, it reaches all level of people, whether someone starting out with a diagnosis in kind of the realm of where you grew up without a lot of money. So they may be on a very tight budget about what they can do, there might be people who can absolutely afford to be improving their intake, right. I mean, there are some really good resources, I have a book that was put out quite a while ago, by the ADEA. It's diabetes meals on $7, a day or less. So from that aspect, it gives you kind of grocery lists that gives you how to pick and choose some things, how to put meals together, sometimes, adults diagnosed with type two haven't been cooking. And, you know, again, this isn't like a shame or a blame or anything. But this is just the way that it is this is how busy we've gotten in life. And the more as you said, the more processed the more packaged the food is, the potential from those increase in ingredients that you can't read. When you look at the label, the impact on blood sugar can be something that then you can't figure out.

Scott Benner 26:31
I went to I did something interesting. I googled processed food examples. But I went to the NHS in the UK for my return instead of America, just in case there's any like corporate pressure on the list that we might find in America. Food processing can be as basic as freezing, canning, baking or drying. To try and that's what that's what they're saying. They say what counts is processed food breakfast, cereals, cheese, tinned vegetables, I guess they mean canned vegetables and bread, savory snacks, such as crisps, or chips, sausage rolls, pies, pastries, meat products, like bacon, sausage, ham salami or Pate, a microwavable meal or ready made meals, cakes and biscuits drinks, even like milk or soft drinks. It says not all processed foods are a bad choice. Some foods do processing to make them safe, such as milk. So it Yes, milk is processed, but not in this category.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 27:34
And that I think that's actually a really good description. And I'm glad that they emphasize that process doesn't necessarily mean poor quality. Like in my cupboard sure I have processed foods. It's things like canned beans, right? Yeah. Because it doesn't take me an entire 24 hours to soak them. So I buy I buy beans that have already been soaked for me so I can easily use that.

Scott Benner 28:01
Think about this even Have you ever seen low salt bacon? Jedi? Do you ever buy bacon?

Unknown Speaker 28:09
We don't eat bacon? Well,

Scott Benner 28:10
there's a low salt bacon. Let me just skip over the part where you've never looked at bacon before. There's the low salt bacon every time I see that. I think what what is that a healthier pig? No. It's they salt the other bacon. And that's what they're saying here is processed foods, what can make them less healthy, extra ingredients like Salt, Sugar Fat that are added to the process. And buying processed foods can lead to people eating more than the recommended amounts of sugar, salt and fat because you're not even aware you're getting them.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 28:41
And you and that's that's really those three sugar, salt and fat. They are something that the food industry has absolutely clicked into in order to hook people on the non preferred processed food. It is they put them in together in the right amounts in the foods. And it's the reason that you can't just eat one potato chip.

Scott Benner 29:10
Yeah, no, it's not your fault when you're like, Oh my God, these are amazing. Like, salt, fat, like you always will be saying like crack heroin. Absolutely contain like, like things that you get. And you're like, Oh, your body's like do that again. Yeah, so addictive. Yeah, the end? I think, too. It's a modern society, right? Like, obviously, there are so many people on the planet. And this is the way we have so far figured out to feed everybody. And, you know, you could make the like, well, everyone's alive and they're not hungry, like they used to be. But look at all these people who have type two diabetes and you know, other things that are happening to people's health that we're sort of like That's odd, you know, and right. And so you're gonna have to me you're gonna have to put some effort into it because you're basically dodging the way people hand food to you back in the 50s where you may cookies once a month, right? Okay. And now we just have like, we have so much like, there's such a like everybody stop and think right now. Could you could you make pasta in your house right now? Yes. Could you make a cookie from scratch right now you have all those things, you know, like, it's, it's too in your face? And yes, you know, it's, I'm missing the word but it's, it's just on the present.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 30:26
It is. And I think it is because we've also become it's become a part of every social encounter, like a business meeting today. Even on the highest corporate level, there is always food. Always. And you can't, you can't get away from it. And so you end up sometimes, honestly, from the mental standpoint, you end up feeling like the oddball out if you're always like, no, no, I'm just going to have a cup of coffee, or I'm just going to have a cup of tea or I'm just going to drink my water, you know, or I've got my own lunch. You get the look like you've got like four heads. Because you brought your pack food.

Scott Benner 31:14
She's healthier than the rest of us. Yeah, no, I mean, you and I've had dinner together before. Yeah, I've seen you. Like just pass something by just, I don't want that. Thank you need that? Thank you. Yeah, I just think that it's, I mean, look, you're gonna go to the doctor, right? We already talked about in previous episodes, you're gonna run into a lot of roadblocks understanding how to getting on medications if you need understanding, insulin diffusing and so on. But then this happens. To me, this seems like the linchpin here like this is the hardest part. I just I imagined for most people, this is the hardest part, like, I eat in a certain way, because I'm programmed to because this is how I grew up doing it. I'm partly shared my story about the vegetables because a reasonably intelligent person, I should be able to put a green bean in my mouth. But there's a seven year old boy being yelled at at a table somewhere who's like that makes me gag. And so right you know, and so whatever your thing is, that when you stop and look at your coverage, you go no, I have to have I have to have that. That's part of like, right? Holidays. People associate holidays with a certain food. Yes. So many damn holidays, that if you try to better your health, you can't because you're like, well, I'll just do it after because they roll into each other. Yeah, I'll do it after New Year's. Well, then Christmas. Oh, then we'll wait. Oh, New Years. Okay, well, oh, but you know, Valentine's day I'm gonna want chocolate. So we'll probably Irish potatoes. Hold on a second. I can't cuz in March that you know what, it'll be a Oh, Easter jelly beans, I'm really going to want jelly beans in Easter. So I'll be planning to Oh, God, Fourth of July. Well, I don't want to start then. And it just doesn't stop.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 33:02
It doesn't and I think you're bringing up something that also means you have to consider that there. There isn't an all or none principle. I think that gets people in trouble. There are some people that can do that. They can say, You know what? I've seen what this does, I'm good. Without it. I can just totally give this up. And I can go you know, just like you said I can do just the vegetables and maybe grilled chicken and I'm good with that. I'm not I'm not living to eat right? I'm taking in the fuel, which is the energy for our body because my body needs it. It's a necessity. But for the majority of people we need a little bit of a given take how much give should we have in the picture? You so in terms of like a plan 8020 9010 If you're as you bring up each of those holidays, right we've got something in October, we've got something in November, we have some type of something in December and depending on how you celebrate the beginning of January then February rolls around and like you said March and then April depending on if you celebrate Easter or anything within that there's it's it's never ending and then of course we got the Fourth of July there's only a couple of months in there. There's really not like a food base something

Scott Benner 34:19
maybe summertime and then it's ice cream and like things that are barbecuing everyone associates with by the way barbecuing interesting people like meat that's healthy. Yeah. Okay. If you dry rub your beef. That's great. If you throw a big sauce over top of it, you're looking a block of sugar. And that's why it tastes so great because it's and so you have to like everyone listening is going to just have to decide and but I think they should also understand the rest of it. And I think that's the problem with type two is that it comes on we talked about earlier it comes on so slowly that it really just feels like I could probably Just stay two steps ahead of this and I'll be okay. Right, right. And the truth is it will. I mean, for most of us, it's going to catch you if you don't, if you don't correct do something, right.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 35:13
Which is, you know, like I said, That's why a little bit of I can do this. But the majority of the time, I really need to focus on doing this. So let's take each month of the year, let's say that there is something right, you have to make a decision and say, Okay, I'm going to really celebrate here. And the celebration is a day. Okay, what's a day out of 30 days? Right? Yeah, you're not even looking at like 10% of the month, you're looking at much less than that of being able to, if you really liked grandma's frosted sugar cookies at Christmas time, then go ahead and do that or, right. But the majority of the time is what's going to have the wealth of impact overall.

Scott Benner 36:00
How long do you think it takes to change a habit? Like there's you ever thought about it, because there's, there's some people say it's two months, some people say it can take up to like, 250 days to change a habit. And I've seen while someone, I've seen a person do a fast, and at the end of seven days be like, I feel amazing, and not like a fast like no food. Like it's a it's a nutrition fast, like so you're taking in nutrition still, you're just it's anyway, at the end of seven days, they're like down 15 pounds, they feel amazing. Now they have food cravings. So like, I missed this, and I missed that. And they start off well with eating like, you know, things. They're like, Oh, this will be great. But then it's like a week later, and something happens, an event or stress hits or something like that, and it turns into a potato chip, then the salt hits them. And they're like, oh, here we go. Like it really is like watching. It's like watching an addict, like pick a cigarette back up again, or something like that. Yeah, you know? And so is there is there good science on how long it takes or there isn't really to,

Jennifer Smith, CDE 37:03
you know, it used it used to be in from what I know now it's more of like, it's more of a myth. Honestly, it used to be said that it takes three weeks to make a habit or 21 days to form a habit. And honestly, it was disproven a while ago. It I think what you said about two months, is about the statistic that was actually kind of re put out there. So in general, a habit means that you are making a conscious effort in the change time, it may mean that it's hard for you to do that. Every day. Once it becomes like the end of the night I was bring up like brushing your teeth. The end of the night comes that's your routine, you don't even often like think about it. It's just you head into the bathroom, you brush your teeth, you get in bed, and you'd kind of have this routine, right? It rolls at the point of which you easily go to the grocery store, or you easily write your grocery list, or you easily pick something that you know, is really good for you from a restaurant menu. And it didn't take effort to do that. You've got to have it formed. And sometimes it takes effort even beyond that once you've gone on a vacation, you've gotten out of your habit, you may have to reignite that habit again. Yeah, right. You know,

Scott Benner 38:29
when we talk about how like money can impact what people buy, we're usually thinking people who have less money or are forced to buy more processed food, which I think is true. But I think it's cheaper. Although food prices lately, nothing's cheap. But no, I also think if you have too much money, then it also feels like there's a decadence to it, like I could just buy this, this is $5 it means nothing to me, You know what I mean? Like and now I have a bag of candy around or I you know, I bought a block of chocolate because it's fancy or like, you know, like gears, right? You have to there used to be this thing that I would buy when I went to the grocery store. It's like this little junk food thing. And I realized it was as I got older, and I started making more money. I was like, I can afford this thing that I couldn't afford as a child. And then I would buy it sometimes and not want it. But it was just me being like, look, I can afford this. I can have Yeah, I can have this if I want to. And so there was a day I realized that and I told myself, I'm like you will never buy that again, when you go in that store. Like it doesn't matter if you want it or don't want to you're gonna make like a conscious decision to never purchase this thing again. Right? Nothing to do with your life or nutrition or anything like that. And that's one of the ways I started teaching myself to make changes. I just picked something completely banal when I was like, alright, this again, right for any context that was like a little like sugary candy like that right? Just something silly.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 39:52
I even it kind of goes along with how much tracking right a lot of people filler, also told will track your intake to kind of figure out exactly what you want to change. Tracking initially might be great if you're starting with a list of what you're doing, picking off of it and saying, Well, I could probably change this, I could transition this into this. And this would be better. Economically, it works out about the same. I think budget is a big thing. If you know how much you have to spend on something, you can often see that going to the grocery store and buying a bunch of stuff and preparing multiple meals is actually less expensive than buying the stuff from the restaurant. Yeah, it can be. But I think in terms of evaluation, you have to know what you're doing. That requires an adjustment. You can't just make an all over change without deciding I have to get rid of some stuff too.

Scott Benner 40:50
Well, it's overwhelming to and making a big change is difficult for anybody. And oftentimes people will say, well, it's not just me, there are other people in my house. Right? And so I can't just, but you know what you can because there are times when people are like, like have like harsh, like celiac disease, for example, rap people will like be like, Alright, that's it, everybody. We don't eat gluten anymore, because Billy's head falls off when we eat it. So we're all just going to stop and it turns out more like his belly falls. But but it turns out, you can if you need to, right, so you have to decide. Like it has to be a thing where you need to do it. And you have to you have to know and that's why I'm trying to say like gently but kindly, you're not going to outpace type two diabetes for your whole life, it is going to catch you. And when it catches you, you are going to be surprised at how quickly your health deteriorates in a myriad of different ways.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 41:44
If you don't make a change and make a habit of making that change. Yeah, you can't

Scott Benner 41:50
just act like it's going to be okay. It's it's not a thing you can ignore into oblivion. So

Jennifer Smith, CDE 41:56
no, it's not. And unfortunately, again, with the the sheer lack of education and information from the get go. Again, there's not really a blame component to what people are lacking doing. Until of course they've been given information, and then just decide not to be able to do something with it. Right. I mean, if you've been told something, and it makes sense to you not that I didn't really get that. Okay, then ask more questions. But if you really did get it, and you're just choosing to not do it, then that's, that is on you. No one's

Scott Benner 42:36
gonna be able to help. I'll, I'll say this. I think bringing back up butterfat, salt and modern cooking. Just using it like magic to make things taste freaking amazing. Yeah, absolutely. And then you're you are hooked on it. I don't care if you realize it or not like you can get addicted to sugar. You can you know, eating that makes you want more of it. Like that, that whole thing. So I know that can feel like that can feel like well, look, someone tricked me into it. It's not my fault. It maybe it isn't, but the outcome is still gonna fall on to you. And what I would say here is when I found my youngest brother, I don't know how obvious it is to people if you listened enough, but I raised my brothers. So I when I was 13, my father left my mom went to work and my brother was we were all five years apart. I was 13 my brother was eight. My other brother was three. And for large portions of the day, it was me, right. And I didn't do everything right, because I was 13 Obviously, I didn't know what I was doing. But there was there was this time where I saw my youngest brother, not when he was three years later, he was smoking cigarettes. And I pulled him aside and I said listen, somewhere right now, there are 20 Rich people sitting in a boardroom laughing that you buy cigarettes. And I was like, Do you want to give them that satisfaction? They're going to kill you to take your money and you are just going to be okay with it. I was like I wouldn't smoke them just to save you to them. If for no other reason, and I do think that about some of this food sometimes like it is just it is everywhere. It is plentiful. It is in bags that are just too big. Like you don't I guess I grew up at Easter time we used to get these jelly beans and when I made a little more money I bought better jelly beans so for anybody listening, just born jelly beans are the best jelly beans I don't care if you agree or not. I'm right

Unknown Speaker 44:41
now that I've ever seen that brand, it's the it's the company that makes the peeps oh really

Scott Benner 44:47
they make jelly beans the best job so every year I would like get myself like a small bag of jellybeans and just and have them throughout the month. Well then one year these Jenny these mothers do They make a five pound bag of these jelly beans. Five pounds. Oh my goodness,

Unknown Speaker 45:05
it's five pound the Jelly Bean rolling $9 By the time you get to eat or walk $9 The

Scott Benner 45:13
one pound bag was $3 it was a no brainer.

Unknown Speaker 45:18
Oh my gosh. Okay. And

Scott Benner 45:22
and I just think like, when you see something like that you should look and think I'm not buying that, like you're not killing me to take my $9 Yeah,

Jennifer Smith, CDE 45:32
you're right. And the standpoint behind it, like I said earlier, is that their goal? On a broader sense, anybody that's manufacturing the majority of the processed true processed food, not like canned beans, right? It is to get you to come back and buy more of it. It is I mean, that's, that's the goal. So you really are like you told your brother, you're feeding a corporation that's really not doing anything beneficial for your body.

Scott Benner 46:05
Right. Yeah, I mean, at some point, you just have to say, I'm not going to be a part of your, your silly game where you end up with a bunch of money and I end up dead. So I'd rather give

Jennifer Smith, CDE 46:15
my money to Farmer Joe down the road. Who's gonna give me? Well, maybe mushrooms for you. Green beans, right?

Scott Benner 46:22
I think about it as a savings plan. Every time you look at something that you know is going to hurt you put that money in an envelope instead. Yeah, and I don't know, like, I don't here's the point. I don't know what the answer is. What I'm going to tell you is, isn't it? You have to like you have to figure it out. You can't give up and there might be fits and starts you might not get it right the first time. You can't give up on this. This is this is it. I mean, what are the stats? How many people have type two diabetes in America? Do you know it? Oh, my

Jennifer Smith, CDE 46:51
goodness, I haven't looked it up. I usually look it up yearly like at the beginning of the year. I don't think I've even looked it up this year. Um, I think it's like 270.

Scott Benner 47:01
I don't even know more than 37 million Americans have diabetes about one in 10. And approximately 90 to 95% of them have type two type two diabetes most often develops in people over 45. But more and more children, teens and young adults are also developing it. This is the CDC what causes type two diabetes, insulin is a hormone made by your pancreas that acts like a key to let blood sugar into the cells in your body for uses energy. If you have type two diabetes cells don't respond normally to insulin. This is called insulin resistance. Your pancreas makes more insulin to try to get cells to respond. Eventually your pancreas can't keep up your blood sugar rise is setting the stage for pre diabetes and type two diabetes, high blood sugar is damaging to the body and can cause other serious health health problems such as heart disease, vision loss and kidney disease. So yeah, like don't buy the jelly beans. Like just

Unknown Speaker 47:53
by the jelly.

Scott Benner 47:54
I think that's what that's what I read what I read was keep the nine bucks don't buy the jelly beans. Yeah, there you go. Anyway, okay, Jenny, is there anything I left out? Should we have said anything?

Jennifer Smith, CDE 48:03
Um, I don't know. I mean, we're talking about nutrition here. So I could probably go on for like two more hours. But

Scott Benner 48:11
I'll tell you towards the end of this series, why don't we do that? Why don't we jump back on? And you just talk to me like you're helping me. And I will. I will listen, and it'll be there for people if they want it, then.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 48:26
Do you think I'll convince you to eat green beans?

Scott Benner 48:28
I mean, probably not. Maybe wait French is the thin ones, right?

Jennifer Smith, CDE 48:34
Yeah, they're the they're the weird ones. I don't I won't even eat French green beans. See?

Scott Benner 48:38
Maybe I could try the other ones. Although I can feel them soft crunching in my mouth right now.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 48:45
We will talk about green beans in that. Okay, little

Scott Benner 48:48
beans come out of the middle. And I'm like what is that? Thank you very much. I appreciate

Unknown Speaker 48:54
you. Thank you.

Scott Benner 49:00
I want to thank Jenny for coming over today and talking about type two diabetes with me. And thank you for listening. I also want to thank Dexcom, makers of the Dexcom G six and Dexcom G seven continuous glucose monitoring systems dexcom.com forward slash juicebox. I'd also like to thank that contour line of blood glucose meters contour next one.com forward slash choose box go check out that brand new Contour next gen blood glucose meter. There are links in the show notes and links at juicebox podcast.com to Dexcom contour and all the sponsors when you click on the links, you're supporting the show. And don't forget if you've missed any part of the diabetes Pro Tip series for type two diabetes, you can find them at juicebox podcast.com. Or in our private Facebook group Juicebox Podcast type one diabetes, but don't worry. All diabetes are welcome

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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 873 of the Juicebox Podcast.

Melissa is an adult living with type one diabetes who has had a shift in her thinking and her health. While you're listening today, please remember 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. Were becoming bold with insulin. Hey, listen, if you'd like to help out with T one D research, you can do it right from your home at T one D exchange.org. Forward slash juice box just join the registry and complete their survey when you do your answers. We'll help people living with type one diabetes, they may help you and they're going to support the podcast T one D exchange.org. Forward slash juice box 130 5% off your entire order at cozy earth.com You can get it by using the offer code juice box at checkout. And speaking of saving money, I have a sponsor called Better help.com. And if you use the link better help.com forward slash juicebox you will save 10% off your first month of therapy links in the show notes links to juicebox podcast.com. Click on the links support the podcast. This episode of The Juicebox Podcast is sponsored by us med now us med is where Arden gets her Omni pods and her Dex comes from and they carry way more than that. So check them out at us med.com forward slash juice box or by calling 888-721-1514 That's how you get your free benefits check and get rolling with us med this show is sponsored today by the glucagon that my daughter carries. G voc hypo Penn. Find out more at G voc glucagon.com. Forward slash juicebox.

Melissa 2:11
My name is Melissa and I'm a type one diabetic. I have been diagnosed with type one since May of 2006.

Scott Benner 2:20
Wow. And obviously you're from Detroit.

Melissa 2:23
Of course. I'm from Australia. I'm in the state of Queensland, and live on a nice little spot called the Sunshine Coast. Well, that

Scott Benner 2:35
sounds lovely. Yes, at the moment, it

Melissa 2:37
is absolutely pissing down. So not really.

Scott Benner 2:43
That hot there? No,

Melissa 2:44
usually Yes. But we're in our winter at the moment. So it's I shouldn't complain. It's I think we had a high of 15. Today was our high. Wait. So that's about as cold as it gets

Scott Benner 2:58
Celsius, right? Yes, yes. There's like a massive heatwave everywhere else in the world. And you're just Yeah, yeah. It's not too bad. It's wintertime, it's about 60 degrees, everything's fine. I woke up yesterday and turned on the news. And it was a hay. It's 115 degrees in Texas. And I was like, Wow, are they alive? Like how does that work? You know, but no, of course, How hot does it get there in the summer.

Melissa 3:29
Um, we can get up to around about high 30s to sort of low 40s. But we usually like there'll be a like anywhere like a heatwave period, usually around the middle of January, and then it's gone. And then it just starts sort of tapering off from there. Well, that's

Scott Benner 3:51
not much cooler than what I was complaining about here. So I just I woke up today and I was like, uh, hopefully there's no word of like, blackouts and things like that. Do you guys do air conditioning there now?

Melissa 4:05
Yes, you do. Yes. That is a necessity because it's, it's only like, we say that by about mid August is we have like a we call it like a shows or like a carnival type sort of thing that happens in Brisbane, the city of Queensland basically and they once that's over and done with winters pretty much finished, and it just starts getting hotter from that point on basically like, yeah, so yeah, it doesn't really last very long. We've sort of got about a month and a half or two months worth of coolish that I'm still walking around and a T shirt and a pair of like, you know, shorts and just put a jumper over the top and it's usually okay, so

Scott Benner 4:53
every every person my wife works with from Europe right now. They're on their calls and they just love it. they're melting into their desks. You know, they're slumped forward and my wife said, are you okay? Like there's there's no air conditioner here. And a lovely woman from France. She said, there's no air conditioning here. She, she told my wife, she thinks her cat isn't doing well. And I was like, Oh my gosh, I was like, what do you what has like get an air conditioner? And then Yeah, apparently that's just not what they do. So

Melissa 5:20
no way you wouldn't be Yeah, no, I imagine. Oh, anyway,

Scott Benner 5:24
that's what you get for being right. Your electrical system just can't hang. I'm assuming, I wish I knew. Because my son asked me is like, Why the hell don't they have an air conditioner? I was like, I think if everyone started plugging in air conditioners, the grid would fall apart on them. So I don't know. I have to figure out why.

Melissa 5:45
I don't know. Probably be surprised.

Scott Benner 5:49
You're like, this is not why I came on this podcast, you moron. So let's get

Melissa 5:55
the things that you can think about at 11 o'clock at night.

Scott Benner 5:58
Yeah, right. And you're straight, I'm assuming?

Melissa 6:01
Yes. Love it. Keep my brain awake.

Scott Benner 6:08
When it's earlier, listen, it's not early here. It's nine in the morning, right? But I haven't done one in like, I don't know, I like strategically started setting up my times a little later in the day. So last night, last night. Everyone's around and I'm like, I gotta get the bed.

Melissa 6:27
And they're like, You were prepping for this. Like I've been I'm like, I need to stay awake.

Scott Benner 6:33
Why am I I have a nine o'clock tomorrow. And my wife goes, my first meeting is at seven. I was like, listen, that's your problem. I was like oh, no, you should have started a podcast. He's not taking like a Normie job. But I have to be going at nine. I was thinking I have to be thinking she goes Do you think I don't have to think in the morning. I was like, I don't know what you do. That's not my problem. Again, listen, decisions were made. You are where you

Melissa 6:58
are. That's right. You made your bed.

Scott Benner 7:02
Go down there and make us some money. Damn it. Yeah, exactly. Kids can't mooch off this box if

Melissa 7:12
this is true.

Scott Benner 7:13
I listen. I say all the time. Sometimes I say things in these podcasts because I'm, I hope my kids hear it one day. My son just graduated from college. And like I'm all about not like I'm not like right up his butt like Go work right now. You know, but yeah, it'd be interesting if he was a little more motivated.

Melissa 7:32
Yes.

Scott Benner 7:33
That's a very interesting separation. I'm saying

Melissa 7:39
Come on, little buddy fly.

Scott Benner 7:42
And it's, I don't know. He's doing fine. I just there's part of me that wishes that one morning I'd see him get up and just full of them and vigor and be like, You know what I'm doing today. Finishing that resume like great. Got your degree. Could you go see if someone's interested in hiring your police? Anyone? Yes. Yeah. Yes. That is fair. All right, Melissa. So you're how old? I am. 34.

And when were you diagnosed?

Melissa 8:11
I so I like many others I have listened to on your podcast was diagnosed will misdiagnosed as type two, just before my 18th birthday. So it was a couple of days before Christmas of 2005. Yes, I

Scott Benner 8:32
have when you're 18. I'm assuming you were finishing school or had just had just just okay. Were you did you go to what would you guys call it uni?

Melissa 8:46
Uni isn't it? Yeah, next step after high school, but I didn't. I had gone straight into a like a traineeship. I know what the equivalent would be. But like, yeah, basically just going straight into work and doing a course at the same time in the field that I was working in. You know,

Scott Benner 9:05
the little voice inside of me that wants the podcast to be just as much fun as possible. Like you were like, you're like what I did was I'm like gun running, say gun running. In my head, I was like, what would be more interesting hooking your gun running? I hope she says something good. You know, you're like yeah, with a training. First off, I was like, God damn it.

Melissa 9:26
Boring. Yeah, tell me about it.

Scott Benner 9:28
I learned how to count cards. Scott. I went to Las Vegas until I got arrested. It was amazing. Let me tell you about my cocaine habit. Nothing. You're like no, I got a job. Oh, I

Melissa 9:38
wish my life was more fun.

Scott Benner 9:41
Well, what I've just described I don't know if it would make it more fun but

Melissa 9:44
this is true. More complicated, at least. Anyway. Yes. Not

Scott Benner 9:48
denigrating your decisions. Good solid.

Melissa 9:53
Yeah, no and you know, I think I in red Respect, I'm definitely glad that I was diagnosed at the time that I was. My grandma. So my mom's mom was diagnosed with gestational diabetes after she had my mother and that was in 1960. And I think my grandmother was around, you know, mid 30s, I think. And she basically just, as my understanding of it, it just somewhat developed into sort of being insulin dependent after having my mother. So she passed away a couple of years ago, but bless, she was definitely my inspiration. She had lived her whole, you know, diabetic life. And pretty much had absolutely no complications, like, you know, like, other than just the normal general things that you get when you get older and older and older. But nothing, there was a there was nothing she she looked after herself, she, you know, did everything that she had to do. And I just remember looking at that and thinking, God, I hope I don't get that. Still, like, you know, until I did.

Scott Benner 11:20
You might have jinxed yourself. I don't believe in that. But it's

Melissa 11:26
the amount of times that I had things come up in my life prior to having diabetes and thinking, I remember when I was learning to drive, and the instructor got a horrible phone call from a son or daughter or whatever, and was, you know, went on to explain to me that they were a diabetic and had a really bad low and I had that general sort of understanding of it. From my grandmother and everything, and you know, then I remember her just like sort of telling me like, Oh, this is awful. And this is so horrible. And thinking, oh my gosh, like, you know, there are other people that, you know, obviously have this and have really, really bad times with this. And I only really knew my grandmother who was doing, you know, like, she just went about her day. And I remember thinking again, God, I hope I don't get this, like, I hate needles, and this would really suck. Like, no one really loves needles. I don't think but I always

Scott Benner 12:28
think that when people say like, I don't like needles, I thought I always think like, do you imagine there's a bunch of people running around?

Melissa 12:35
Like, I love it. I love a good needle.

Scott Benner 12:41
You know, when people started telling their stories, you know, and this was crazy, because I don't like needles. Like, really? Tell me more. It's fascinating. Could you just say you're a gun runner, please. I'm trying to get downloads here.

Melissa 12:57
Oh, I love this. I hopefully there's something exciting coming.

Scott Benner 13:01
Anyway, so. But I take your point. Yeah. So you just happened to be in this this like, random situation where you got to see somebody struggle with diabetes around how much? I mean, I don't know how old you have to be to drive in Australia. So how old were you then?

Melissa 13:16
Um, I would have been around 16. So it would have been, yeah, about a year to two years before diagnosis that I had had that and that was really the like, I'd never had any friends growing up that had it. So I didn't have anyone that was in my general circle of people that had it. And that was sort of the that was sort of the first time that I had sort of encountered someone else other than my grandma. And it was God awful. Like, it was you know, like the ATM like my grandmother was, you know, after having it for so long and being diagnosed when she was she was you know, she would never inject herself in front of anyone she would always go to the bathroom she would for all intents purposes you would have never have known that she was a diabetic except for the occasional low and you know, you could tell them but yeah,

Scott Benner 14:12
did the driver's ed person make you drive to the house for the kid where the person was like,

Melissa 14:17
No, like you're no but it was it was scary enough though that like that was almost what I was sort of expecting like, I did say to her like do Should we just like do you need to go like yeah, because she was like calling people to try and like sort this out. I don't know how old her her kid was but um I just remember thinking like this is like, like that there was that sense of life and death and really not.

Scott Benner 14:44
Again, it was just hoping that your first driving experience was you like mad driving in the movie, you know? And you don't know what you're doing and it says like student on board anyway make for a great movie. Yeah. aren't in so in New Jersey, you have to drive for six hours with uh, everything in New Jersey is about making money for somebody else. Like you're not allowed to pump your own gas and they can hire people to pump your gas, which I'm like, Okay, that seems reasonable. Right? But when you convenient Yeah, well, listen, it's convenience is it's lovely, but I like that they're making jobs like there's nothing wrong with that. But the drivers that thing is you have to drive with a driver's ed person for six hours before you can go. I don't know before you can drive on your permit after that. Yep, so Arden's out, like on her second time, and she's with this woman, she goes, that I don't even know how to describe this lady. And I was like, okay, she's like, she was rough. And I was like, okay, and I said, all she talked about, like, imagine this woman in her 40s were the men she had been with before. My daughter was like, 17 going like, Oh, that's amazing. Great, this is lovely. And so you know, this, this adult on making air quotes is, you know, got these kids trapped in a car telling her war stories of my daughter's like, I just needed six hours. If I listen to you, will you pass me? The first day is all very easy. On the second day. They're doing a little more. It's ramping up a little bit. The woman gets a phone call and says no, no, no. Now we can come. Yeah, no, this one can drive. I can tell him I will my daughter's like, wait, what? And then she suddenly took her off this little route that they have for the kids to get them going and just took her right out on the highway to somebody's house to drop off like a certificate or something like that. It's like I was her Uber driver. Oh my god. Oh my god. Yeah,

Melissa 16:36
that's awful. I thought you were gonna say that you will get she was gonna have to drop her off for a booty call.

Scott Benner 16:42
From from artists description. She's like, I don't think these stories were real.

Anyway, I people, right, I have to make a note for myself to see if she can remember a couple of those stories next time ever on the podcast? Seller drivers. It's hard. Yes. All right. So you grew up around your grandma, mom, it was there. But it didn't seem awful, because she was kind of keeping it to herself. Yeah, yeah, one story where this happens, then you then you're off to work after school, and how does it present?

Melissa 17:16
I remember, like I was that typical person who very rarely ate breakfast, and by about 1010 30 would start getting very shaky very and just sort of like, just generally feeling like that would have been definitely low symptoms. I imagine. And by that time, I like. Just remember sort of thinking there was obviously something wrong. I had self diagnosed myself with Ross River fever with absolutely no reason to think like there was absolutely no valid reason for me to think that that was what it was other than it was like, well, it's not anything else. And that's something that simple to you know, fix, hopefully. So I remember going to that sort of happened.

Scott Benner 18:03
Hold on. You said something that I've never heard of before. Is it Ross River fever? Yes.

Melissa 18:09
Yes. It's a mosquito borne like, virus thing that just makes you feel like so. Yeah.

Scott Benner 18:16
Everyone who ever thought I might go to Australia one day was just like, yeah, no, thanks.

Melissa 18:20
Yeah. There's plenty of nice things but you don't want to get don't get eaten by the mosquitoes.

Scott Benner 18:29
Remember that King Kong movie where they lived on that island Scott? fighters came? It's not like that here at all. Don't worry.

Melissa 18:38
They're not big, but there's just lots of them.

Scott Benner 18:40
So what just told me the symptoms that made you think you had Ross River Virus,

Melissa 18:46
I was just the fatigue. The just the all over aches that like the tiredness and I had sort of that was pretty much like, other than I didn't really sort of link the symptoms of the shakiness or anything of being anything other than geez, I probably should eat something. And just sort of I remember going in at around about October ish. And at that time, I didn't really have a GP, like a general doctor or anything. And just going into one that was close to work. And you know, she did the whole, you know, Yep. Cool. All right, we'll just run some Bloods and we'll see what's going on. Cool. And then of course, you know, I didn't bother following that up straight away. So time had passed. It eventually got them done going back, blah, blah, blah. And then she sort of by memory. I don't know whether that then she ran another lot of tests, potentially, I think. And then it was it was like it was a couple of visits. Before we got to the point of where I remember her, telling me that my HPA one C, I think was 12. My memory and my fasting blood sugar when she checked it, there was like 15. Lola wasn't fasting, but it was, yeah, at the time was 15. And she was like, yeah, no, you have type two diabetes you are like, and at the time, for context, I was probably I'm about five foot six. And at the time, probably weighed around about 80 kilos, I don't know what the conversion is. And she's done her little BMI calculation and pretty much said, you're about 20 to 25 kilos overweight. And that is the reason why you have type two diabetes, that was that was her first sort of go to she said, You need to go on a low GI diet. And I'm going to give you some Metformin. And I will see you back in a couple of weeks, and we'll go from there, test your sugars get a glucometer. And that was sort of the long and short of it. So I remember when I told my parents how angry like, my dad doesn't often, you know, he's the sort of person who doesn't get disappointed. He's, you know, man of few words, and he was so angry at me. He was like, not like, not directly at me, but I think obviously angry and upset that this was the situation. And that was the only emotion that he knew at the time. But it was it was, it was crap. Like, it was such a horrible feeling. And then, you know, mums, sort of, you know, thinking, Oh, it's all my fault. You know, it's, you know, it's, you know, her mom's got it, and all this sort of, and unlike that, you know, at the time, I was sort of like, well, you know, they're telling me that I've done this to myself. And so I had all of this awful. Yeah, so

Scott Benner 22:19
don't be sorry, did your dad expressed that he was mad at you? Or did you feel it from him?

Melissa 22:25
Um, I'm on a bit of both. I think he was very short with me and very snappy at me. And I think he had even by memory, I remember being at the place in my house, but I can't remember exactly the words that he said. But it was it was very aggressive. You know, it was, you know, like, very blaming and very aggressive. And that, that hurt me more than anything because it was, you know, like when the person that you don't expect to say something says something and, you know, you catch him more than Yeah, yes.

Scott Benner 23:07
That that none of that was true. And you're going on was that What's that process like for those couple of weeks you're doing Metformin? It's obviously not helping and, and you're waiting and waiting and waiting?

Melissa 23:21
Oh, I felt like I was just chasing my tail that literally so it was I remember I started taking the Metformin she increased my doses Well, I think I can't remember whether I'd gone back to her or whether she'd given me the instructions to sort of go well if they're not if your levels aren't x by this point. Then take two tablets or you know slowly increase your dosage and then I started getting all the lovely side effects from Metformin the upset stomach and the bitter nausea so you know was having to double dose up on every you know, other thing to counteract all of those my sugars were awful you know, there was there was absolutely no improvement based on the Metformin so I remember going back to her and she said to me, you're obviously not eating well enough because look at your levels. And I just like

Scott Benner 24:20
you are you are falling Oh, yeah,

Melissa 24:23
yeah, yeah, I remember for Christmas day. I had eggs for breakfast. And I had one piece of bread with cheese and chicken on it for lunch and also for dinner. Like I was you know, I like again bread. Exactly. Come on, like cut me some slack you know, like, no, no, no treats No, nothing like I I very much She took what she said is serious and thought, oh my gosh, like, I don't, I don't, I don't want this, like, if I've done this, then you know, I need to do something about this. And she, you know, made me feel like I was, you know, this was all my fault. And in my knowledge also was as you know, sound as it was, you know, when she said to me, you just need to eat low GI food. You know, look for the labels that say low GI. It didn't really give me anything. So I remember

Scott Benner 25:37
Dr. Not a witch doctor, right? Yes. Oh, yes. We're now in the middle of like, nowhere in a hut or something with this happen?

Melissa 25:46
Oh, no, no. And you know what, like, this is the this gets this gets that I have, I feel like I must be a magnet for really awful doctors because I feel like this is all I've encountered. We've got an abundance of dumb people over here.

Scott Benner 26:03
So that job you got after high school was with the travel council for Australia

and get some Ross River fever and treated by dumb people when you have to go to the doctor.

Melissa 26:20
Oh, yes. Don't move over here looking for a doctor if you think you've got diabetes, or Ross River fever for that matter. Because you're absolutely stuffed

Scott Benner 26:27
with a you have to keep talking because at the moment your episode is called Chicken bread with cheese. So don't think that's brilliant. Hey, Have I ever told the story about when I spoke in the Dominican Republic? No. So I I accepted an invitation to speak about diabetes in the Dominican. And they asked me to come to talk about management in in depressed areas where people didn't have money for stuff. So I wrote some stuff for myself, had never been to the Dominican Republic got there realized that my idea of poverty and their idea of poverty were not the same thing. But I figured why I have to, I have to rethink what I'm going to do. But they wanted to take me to dinner first. So I arrived at my hotel where a hotel employee is sitting out front on a lawn chair with a sawed off shotgun. He was the security and I went inside and I started walking upstairs thinking I've made a significant mistake. And so I and that was saying yes to the thing is what I was thinking. So I go upstairs, I get packed, they say they're gonna come pick me up, come pick me up in a van, I get in the van. We're driving along. And a mosquito flies through the van. And I'm with like two people who came in to speak and three locals and the driver and the locals just push themselves away from the center of the van to the edges of the van and they're like, don't let it get you. Oh my god. I'm like, what is happening? And so I'm like, it's just a mosquito. I'm thinking and then one of them very artfully kills it. I was. And I mean, I had to ask because I mean, I don't want to get bitten by a mosquito. But what just happened here? And my, my best recollection of one of them was like, you get chimichanga I forget what they said. And that wasn't that wasn't me being like, insensitive. I really don't if they said something similar to that. And and they said if you get that you will just have diarrhea for months. And I'm like, I'm like can I go back to the hotel and see if the shotgun guy and I can like become friends like I was this all happened to try my chances there? Yes. All became within like a half an hour of me being there. I was like, that's the security guy. And if I get bit by a bug that I can't see, I'm going to poo for a long time. I was Oh, goody. I'm so glad. Okay, anyway, great trip. It really was good. I just had to learn to dress like a local, which meant, like you wear pants when it's 1000 degrees outside. So I figured that in long sleeve. So I did all that. And the talk was really interesting. I've never since then or before spoken through a translator. But it was really amazing. Like I stood in front of a crowd of a few 100 people. And in the middle of the crowd, there was a person in a soundproof box. And she spoke English and then whatever local language was best for everybody to hear. And I spoke you could hear my voice over the speaker. And then everyone watching me sort of looked at me blankly for a second. And then she translated it and then they nodded along and then I found my rhythm and it was really cool actually going on the trip was amazing. Aside from the shotgun guys and the the mosquito

Melissa 29:52
mosquito Nice.

Scott Benner 29:54
Yeah, well, literally. Yeah, it wasn't just the mosquito with a bad attitude is gonna make me poor myself the death rate and other things like joint pain and like they just described it as like your life will just end for a few months and if it goes away, you'll be fine afterwards I'll say, Oh, awesome, great. Anyway, oh my god. Yeah, I'm so sorry.

Melissa 30:17
I don't know, mosquitoes suck.

Scott Benner 30:21
Is that where you took out of that? Because I took that hot water hot weather places are to be avoided. Well,

Melissa 30:29
it's so much nicer than cold weather.

Scott Benner 30:31
Oh, hold with it. Yeah, that's obvious. But the mosquitoes can't live in the cold. So who knows? Well, yes, I'm so sorry. Let's get back to where you are. Every doctor in Australia is terrible that you've met

Melissa 30:44
girl down? Yes. Yes. So yeah, no, she, I think the next words that came out of her mouth. Were if you don't start if you shouldn't be your blood sugar levels, don't start improving. I'm going to put you on insulin. And threatened to me with it.

Scott Benner 31:01
Oh, great. Yeah. I mean, you were there. I think if you knew better, you'd be like, yes. Can I please have the hand please?

Melissa 31:08
Please give it to me. I think the thoughts that come into my head was good. No. You're not giving me that. That's, that's a that's a no from me. And I that was the last time I saw her. And I think within it wasn't, it was probably a week or two, I had gone to my original sort of family doctor and explained everything. You know, this is this is what's happened. This is how it's come about. And she basically just said, Look, you know, you you don't fit the profile. You know, yes, you could lose a couple of kilos. But that's that. That's neither here nor there. Like that's, that's irrelevant. I think I'm just gonna send you straight to an endocrinologist. This is this particular person I'm referring you now. And basically went to him and that's when he diagnosed me in the May and yeah, had said that it was just like an onset. And yeah, he put me on Nova mix.

Scott Benner 32:20
How long did that whole process take from the first doctor getting it wrong to the next one getting it right.

Melissa 32:27
Um, December through, so through to the maze. So five, six months. Wow, that sounds of being on the metaphor. I remember I was. I can't remember whether I was on Metformin first or diabetics first. But I remember being on both of them. It was I think it was a matter of well, that's not working. Let's try this one sort of thing.

Scott Benner 32:50
I want to I want to find out what happened next. But first, I need to tell you, my chimichanga thing was not far off. Is it chick? UNGUJA?

Melissa 33:00
Oh, no. Are you what you were pretty spot on?

Scott Benner 33:04
I'll tell you right now. Sounds awful. Those c h i k UNGUNY. This is many years ago so that I even came close to the sounds I'm pretty impressed by because, yeah, no, no, I'm so happy with myself. I love it. Yeah. Did I didn't just randomly say malaria or like a, like a more common word that would pop into my head that I was like, No, I remember it started with me. Chunga sort of was like CH and then there were a lot of letters afterwards. That's how I there's a look into my brain. Love it frightening, frightening place that it might be. Okay, so were you receptive to getting insulin?

Melissa 33:49
When, when he went when he sort of was able to just sort of say, okay, everything that that previous doctor had said was a load of rubbish. Listen to me. And

Scott Benner 34:04
sure about it. Okay. Yeah. Oh, yes. Your situation that you're willing to do that though, right?

Melissa 34:11
Yes, I was in at the same time, I think going back to my original sort of like family doctor, and her sort of saying to me, you know, I'm going to send you straight to this guy. I really trust him. He's brilliant. Yeah, hasn't got the best bedside manner. Like Well, I'm not used to that. As long as he's not done

Scott Benner 34:43
that seems reasonable. Yeah,

Melissa 34:45
yeah. Yeah, lower my expectations. And he was he was good, you know, definitely didn't have a bedside manner at all, but was to the point and explain things in a way that made sense to me. which bought the trust? He? Yes started me on the Nova mix. And I sort of you know, went on to, to do that I think I think by memory. My next HBA when C was around nine ish was, I think by memory the next one that I'd gotten when I was with him. So seeing is that I'd had really no management for that six month period other than being on tablets that just make you want to spew. It wasn't too terrible, not great, but it was what it was. And, yeah, you know, just getting the dosage right. And got to a point where that wasn't too bad. You know, went to the dietician went through all of those things. And I think pretty much I got to a point where I was at that seven ish. level, and then it was

Scott Benner 36:12
like, start feeling better.

Melissa 36:14
Oh, 100%. Yeah, yeah. And, yeah, have

Scott Benner 36:18
the wherewithal to go to your father and talk to him about what happened in the beginning.

Melissa 36:23
I spoke to him, I think it was that next day, and just said to him, by memory, I think, you know, I, you know, I can't help this, like, I can't, like I can't do anything about what it is. I'm just going to try my best, you know, to try and make this as good as I can. And, you know, they I think once the shock of everything had sort of settled. They were both on board with trying to do as much as they could to try and help from a supportive sort of standpoint. And again, you know, it was nice having my grandma my grandmother around because she was, I think I didn't find this out until after she had passed away but from other family members that she she held quite a bit of guilt from from what they had sort of said in regards to me also having diabetes.

Scott Benner 37:36
That's terrible. Yeah, huh. I shouldn't have done that. Do you have chi?

Melissa 37:41
I do. I've got a five year old little daughter, Sophie.

Scott Benner 37:44
Congratulations. That's lovely. Yeah, I'm sad to hear she felt that way. Yeah, you know, what, um, I had a question. I think you said something sad and zapped it right out of my head. Dammit. Does your blade do what your dad did? I'm gonna blame you. How's your phone

Melissa 38:10
my brain

Scott Benner 38:11
No, no, I Dad Hold on, Dad. Come on, Scott. What the heck? I don't know. That's gone.

Melissa 38:23
I'm trying to think of where my brain was was sitting at that too.

Scott Benner 38:26
You know, we'll do more of that. We'll just put the ads right here.

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It Okay, and then it's I wish I knew which ads were going on this one I do. Um, off the top my head for you right now, because I'm feeling a little late. I think. I think the people paying for them would be just thrilled. Every once in a while I do want to I think I don't I don't think they're gonna like that. Oh, I like it. That's all that matters good with me. I think it's fun. So I didn't mention Dexcom very much live is still in the Dexcom. Man, I still enjoyed the conversation. And I did. I said the link. It's good.

Melissa 42:00
Oh, I'll I'll say enough about Dexcom and all the right ways. Very much.

Scott Benner 42:07
Kidding. I guess let's pick up there then. So you're you're at that, you know, a young age still? Are you? Oh, I have my question. Sure. Sorry. I walked in circles to get to it. No, no. What's it like? It's just kind of a deep question. It's not, it's not on track with our conversation. So I apologize if it feels like it's out of left field? No, what is it like to, to have that realization that the kind of so called promise of being alive isn't being fulfilled to you, meaning, meaning you 10 fingers 10 toes, you can walk you can run, you can think you can go out in the heat, you can go out in the cold, you need something like what happens when you realize like, wow, most people get this I didn't get it.

Melissa 42:55
I remember there was definitely a sense of a feeling quite broken. And but at the same time, I think I used a bit of denial to sort of get me through and just sort of a bit of fake it till you make it sort of thing like I've always sort of tried to frame even from the from the beginning frame it as you know, surely this is a good thing, like I'm not the best eight or I'm not the best person with X, Y and Zed and you know if this is something that's going to kick me out the Assabet and make me a bit more accountable to hopefully, you know, having a longer life. That's a good thing. Like I'd sort of Yeah, I don't feel like they I know that there was that sense of feeling broken, but majority of most of it was sort of me trying to convince myself that No, no, no, this is okay. This is a good thing. This is making you be better. So that's Yeah,

Scott Benner 44:13
okay. I appreciate that. I wonder sometimes if people realize I'm just asking questions of people I want to know from about Arden No, I think that's fair. Yeah, I I'm just using the podcast for myself. I'm as amazed as anyone else that anybody's listening to it. So you may have moved chicken bread with cheese to X, Y and Zed Oh,

Melissa 44:35
oh, I do love x y and Zed I use it every day.

Scott Benner 44:40
So Good on you because the chicken bread with cheese was in my opinion. It happened too early in the podcast episode I like people to have to wait longer to find out why the podcast isn't named. Gets my brings my listen through rate up Melissa which believe it or not helps with the advertisers they they like to know you're making it past the ads. You know they mean

Melissa 44:59
you 100% I remember when when I, which we'll get to towards the end of my story. But I remember when I first started listening and not having any context around why you named each episode why and what you did. So I was looking at all of these titles and going oh, yeah. I don't know why I was so confused. But yes, now you don't judge a book by its cover, and you just listen to them all, because they're all great.

Scott Benner 45:38
I've gotten so much advice from people along the way. And none of it's been right. It's fascinating. You have to put what the episodes about in the title. I'm like, I don't know, I'm not going to. And and you have to do this. And you have to do that. And, you know, one person told me that I need like, a recipe once in a while, because people would diabetes like to get recipes. And I was like, Oh, I'm not doing that either. You know, you have to let people talk. And I'm like, Yeah, I mean, I do. But I want to talk to like, you know, it's, it's not just a it's not a repository for people to just blather on. I have to tell you. Most of this is interesting. I recorded one the other day that for the first time I thought I might not use this. Oh, I've never had that thought before. Eight years. Like not like seriously, it's what is it? 2022 I can't keep track the COVID really messed me up. I don't know where I'm at. I thought it was gonna come back. But I don't know what day it is. I don't know what year it I don't care anymore. But yeah, it doesn't matter. But uh, yeah, I the person just I don't know that they answered one of my questions. Yeah, right. And what they said just rambled and went in circles. And I don't think it was purposeful. I think they just they weren't good at having the conversation. I think they thought they weren't. I'll have to listen back to it. Oh, and I will. But if it makes my brain is numb as it did the first time. It's gonna be the first time I just go. Hey, so no, yeah, the microphone didn't work. I'm sorry. I don't know what I'll say exactly, because I feel bad about it. But I got to the end of it, and I thought my might be the only one that ever hears that. But anyway, like I've gotten like a ton of bad advice. One of them. One of the people told me that I can't tell anybody how I manage Arden's blood sugar's Yeah, right. Yeah. Can you imagine this podcast if we didn't talk about that? Oh, God, would that be again? dumb people? Yeah. Not just doctors. Melissa, nice dumb people are not just doctors. Oh, this was just an Australia that can be your title. But I for so many people, I for some reason picture Australian people as less. Woke i guess i Maybe I'm wrong. I don't know. Although not and I they locked you guys up pretty good during COVID You took it? So I don't know what to say about that. You know what that like?

Melissa 48:06
I think there's an element of like, even still, like, we're so chill, like, so relaxed about things like there was different states in Australia that got locked up harder for a lot longer than what Queensland in particular did. And yeah, like we've we've, we've, we've been very, like, you know, like, I know a lot of people who have gotten or gotten sick and you know, and it is what it is sort of thing but you know, we've all remained very, very relaxed about it sort of thing, which is Queensland, Queensland mentality.

Scott Benner 48:46
Just chill out is everybody Hi, Kate. Melissa, what are you trying to tell me right now? Yes, yeah, a little bit but he's just a little stone sitting on the beach

Melissa 48:59
almost. Yeah, there is probably a higher I'm not painting a very good picture for you, but it's probably Yeah, we've got great beaches. And when it is sunny, it's lovely. But there is probably a higher percentage I reckon now sort of between where I'm at and sort of the border for the next state that are just very much that that you know, they're all very much

Scott Benner 49:32
don't worry you're not the

Melissa 49:35
boss and all that sort of stuff. Not that the you know,

Scott Benner 49:38
how could you say the beaches are great Don't you have great white sharks all around that island of yours?

Melissa 49:44
Gathering That

Scott Benner 49:47
is ridiculous.

Melissa 49:49
Well, I consider out like where where I'm at we like shoulder shocks and stuff, but we don't Get like if you go any further north than where I'm at you start getting killer jellyfish like these jellyfish and no doubt the site like I've you know they're they're tiny they're tiny like the size of your thumb called era Ganges and they can they can kill you and so can normal box jellyfish too I suppose but you know they we don't get crocodiles for the most part here in our in our waterways as such we don't so yeah we're a little bit more sheltered which is nice I like

Scott Benner 50:38
that you think the statement we don't get crocodiles for the most part is comfy and

Melissa 50:45
I had to think about that because I remember there was you know there's that one time that you know one just happened to slip down the street so to speak

Scott Benner 50:57
that's the first one that's the first thing you said that felt like double entendre to me remember the time the crocodile slipped downstream? We drank so much think I just made up the same for those sacks? I'm writing that. I want credit in the lexicon when it happens.

Melissa 51:27
Oh, that's hilarious. Okay.

Scott Benner 51:30
I'm awake now. Melissa? Okay, we're good. Love it. How do you get how do you manage it? Like you mentioned Dexcom like you have it now but you didn't have it? Obviously back then. It didn't exist. So how was management I just see mostly went from crocodiles slips downstream to how did you manage your diabetes? People really have to appreciate my my prowess at some point.

Melissa 51:53
Oh, I love it. I love it. You you've got a way of just getting right back on track again. It's like okay, and

Scott Benner 52:00
right back off track again to give myself credit for Okay,

Melissa 52:07
nothing wrong with that.

Scott Benner 52:09
Yeah, what did you start with? I, eventually this podcast is gonna have nothing to do with diabetes. At the end, we're gonna be doing movie reviews, I don't know what's happening.

Melissa 52:19
That's okay. Um, so I had Yeah, the Nova, the Nova mix. And I had an Accu check, go meet up. And pretty much just used that right through by memory until around about might have been maybe 2012 2013 ish, I reckon. And pretty much between that point that sort of six to seven years, to be honest, just seems like an absolute blur. Like, thinking back, I can't really recall. Anything that really affected me positive or negatively when it comes to diabetes, like I was, so I just did the bare minimum. And just, you know, I would, I would check my, my, you know, my blood sugar was a couple of times a day, I would, you know, the Nova mix would do just what it had to do. If it was high, it was high. Like, there wasn't anything else I could do about it sort of thing. And there was never any, you know, worried about changing anything. And again, I was none the wiser and didn't really know. Anything else. So it just kept doing what I had to do just kept, you know, living the way that I knew how and didn't know anything else other than that way. And then I

Scott Benner 53:57
did that lead to outcomes that were less than, than valuable, or did you not even? I mean, how are you even checking on your health in the beginning?

Melissa 54:07
I reckon I probably like, for the most part, I don't think like I never, I've never, never been into debt or DKA. I've never had a really bad low, not to the point of where like I've had to give myself glucagon a couple of times, but I've never had a really bad instance at either end. I would I was not getting my A onesies checked regularly. I would sort of do it if I had to, or if the doctor was like, Okay, we'll check it while we're in the clinic now. And yeah, very rarely, very rarely was, you know, I'd get my bloods done maybe once every, you know, six to 12 months again, when I was sort of like frowned upon and forced to you know, there was times I remember, you know, I went on a on a holiday up to the top of Queensland. And Mike, I don't actually have any strips and was just completely unfair, like I'm fazed by it. Yeah, I should probably buy some. And that was sort of that was that was all that sort of entered into my mind. godson never used them was just like, oh, well, I'm on a holiday. And I think because, you know, I would go and get my onesies and they were coming back, you know, sevens and eights. You know, no one was, it was it was never enough to be a red flag. And again, knowing none of the wiser in terms of like, the equal parts lows that I was having to equal parts highs, that was, that was why I was getting those numbers, like understanding that now. But yeah, like I was just doing the bare minimum, like I was, you know, eating as I wanted to, I've always been quite into exercise, like gym stuff, and everything. So I was still maintaining a relative amount of exercise. But that was sort of about it. And then I met or not met have known my husband since we were 14. So long time. And we got married last year, we've been together for 12 years. So probably around the time that just after him and I had sort of gotten together was probably the time where I was like, I really need to get my into gear, I need to sort my life out, I need to get my health on track. Like, I have something serious, you know, that I have to be accountable for and to rather than just myself.

Scott Benner 57:01
We're obviously for those eight years in between. I think I did the math, right. You knew each other for a long time. But you've only been together for 12 years. What happened there?

Melissa 57:11
Ah, with my previous partner before, we were all friends. And I think because everyone knew that I had diabetes, but it was very much. She's not worried about it. We don't have to be worried about it. Like they were none the wiser, because I was so okay with everything. If anyone ever asked, yeah, it's fine. It's good. And yeah, like I just, I would never go into detail with anything. Like, we'd never, you know, anytime my parents would ever say how was it? I would just give them the bare minimum. And it was always positive. And never really wanted to burden anyone with any of that. Even though I was feeling like, you know, I could like No, I didn't know that I could be doing better at the same time because they were like, I think while there was never this sense of okay, well, you know, let's try for a six A whimsy, or let's try and improve that seven or eight. It was just like, yep, everything's fine. Cool. Yep. Cool.

Scott Benner 58:26
The number comes in a place where the doctors like, that's good. And it doesn't matter how poorly you got to the number. Yeah, kind of rest on that as your Yes, sir. Yeah.

Melissa 58:35
Oh, 100%. And again, like, you know, having diabetes for 16 years and only knowing and really understanding all of this. Since listening to the podcast in the last 12 months. It's like, like, seriously is dumb people there was there was too many dumb people around here that are giving enough good quality information. The whole like a person you know, shouldn't have to have diabetes for this amount of time without getting that general understanding.

Scott Benner 59:07
How much of of your comfort with it being where it was, do you think was your age and how much do you think it has to do with your initial experience and not end? I'm gonna say to seeing your dad's reaction. There's no way you wanted him to know anything was wrong after that, I would imagine.

Melissa 59:27
I think every part of that affected the way I looked at it. My mum has never been in good health. She's an alcoholic. She has had thyroid cancer and had her thyroid removed. She had epilepsy, which was somewhat induced by we the doctors could never pinpoint whether it was due Due to anything in particular, like they'd sort of thrown around the thought that it could have been induced by low blood sugars, but she was never diagnosed as a diabetic. So all of these other health factors that I've sort of grown up with and lived with prior to my diagnosis really sort of shaped my, my outlook and what I chose to tell them. Because it just it was just it was just easier it not existing to them.

Scott Benner 1:00:36
I mean, I understand it's, yeah, I think really, we all kind of want things to go perfectly, you know, like, Oh, I got sick and my family jumped right in, they were just, you know, they were just right there the whole time. But I don't think that that is what happens for most people. I think that idea of the hope that everything's okay. Or it's just a new level of okay. Is, um, I mean, I think it's on everybody's mind, I don't think they think about it consciously, but nobody wants to walk around thinking, Everything's bad, everything needs effort. Here's a list of things we don't do anymore, because we do this instead. You know, like, there's an idea of like, staying normal, stay positive, keep going ignore the stuff that's too hard to deal with. I never felt that way. I was, I was always I don't when doctors would say like, oh, this is great. Hey, once he seven and a half, that's great. You're doing great. I was like, No, I don't think I am. Like it's weighed close to the red part on the chart here on the wall. You know, and, and, you know, don't the one that I think the one that pushed me towards this was that I didn't have to worry about high blood sugars, because she was too young for it to hurt her. And I thought nothing about that sound scientific at all. You know, like, like, What do you mean? Like, there's a certain age where we're a detriment to your body is, it's a gimme, like, it was just that it's a mulligan, or I just I was just, I've never been golfing in my life. It's weird that I reached for that. But, but you don't mean like, it just doesn't count doesn't count? Because? Cuz she's four? I think I don't, I don't think that's right. You know, like, so. I don't know. And it was wasn't for me, it was for somebody I cared about which, interestingly enough, you just described the same thing that everybody else describes as an adult that comes on here, which is you really didn't take care of yourself until there was someone in your life that you wanted to be okay for? Yeah. 100%. And I'm not a psychiatrist, but I guess watching your dad grow up with a spouse who was sick, you didn't want to be that person to this person you're with now?

Melissa 1:02:45
Oh, 100% 100%. And it was, you know, I think it was definitely that it's time to, you know, be an adult now. You know, it's time to batten down the hatches and start looking at what a future actually looks like, you know, are we going to have kids all these sorts of things, and I remember going to that first appointment, and I had, like a student doctor at the endocrinologist office, sit me down and ran through everything. And I think at that stage, my one C was low eights. And I remember him saying to me, at the ripe old age of probably around about 2024 2025 or so, if you keep going this way, you're not going to make 40

Scott Benner 1:03:47
No, that's not Oh, Mike. Yeah, right. Okay. Well, I gotta go

Melissa 1:03:52
far out. Like, yeah, like it was, it was it was it was equal parts, like urine oil. And you know, are you actually serious though? And it absolutely scared the shit out of me. Like I thought, you know, I That's That's not okay. That's not fair. Like, you know, I'm here on I'm I'm ready to go now sort of thing and

Scott Benner 1:04:18
I'm not letting diabetes slow me down.

Melissa 1:04:24
I'm, I'm ready. I'm ready to go. Like I'm you know, and he sort of, I don't know, it was just it was such a he, what like I had sort of gone in there in that state of you know, I'm ready. You know, I'm ready to be compliant. You know, I'm not I don't want to be the person that you're putting, you know, the strike marks against and stuff like I'm ready to listen now sort of thing and he just thought I was full of it like, and really just made me feel like you know, no, no, no, you're you know, you You're gonna die if you keep going this way, and I'm going to scare you into thinking that you really, you know, make sure that you really get it. And when I said to him that I was, you know, hopefully wanting to start a family and this is this is my motivation and he then passed me on to my now, endocrinologist and she has been amazing. She she is she is equal parts amazing and stunning and lovely and kind and supportive, and, and everything that you can sort of hope for, which has just made things so much easier.

Scott Benner 1:05:39
And I asked you to be introspective for a second, because it feels like you're describing a scenario where a doctor heard you say something that made them think, Oh, this one's ready, and slid you over to the other side of the ledger. Like, oh, we can start helping her now. It is there anything about you? That would indicate that you weren't? Like, like, was that doctor assessing you correctly? I guess? That's my question.

Melissa 1:06:05
I think, I think because there was such a massive time between me saying and then do my endo and not seeing them. I had had my when I first got diagnosed, I was seeing an endo and a private practice, and then didn't like he then I don't know where he went and then ended up having to try and find another one. And it was that awkward stage of sort of a not really wanting one and also sort of needing one at the same time. And when I finally got to that stage of where I got referred to them, I think he was just sort of looking at me like, Well, you haven't seen one in at least the last two years.

Scott Benner 1:06:51
Okay, you know, it wasn't because he heard I want to have a baby and I want to do all this it was because he's like, you haven't taken any he was, so he kind of he kind of became your parent there and put you on the road? I think so. Yeah. It's interesting, because you hear people say, the doctor didn't do enough. Or, you know, they could have tried to help me with this, or blah, blah, blah. And then you hear doctors say, Well, don't listen, people aren't ready to take help, and yet forced them. And to me, it seems like it's I don't know, I don't know if if it's a little bit of each side blaming each other? Or if Yeah, or if each side's right. In some scenarios, I can never tell completely, or if it's just not something I'm ever going to quite figure out. But, you know, it's,

Melissa 1:07:40
I think you're definitely right in that in like, in this case, most definitely. Because he had all like, uh, he had all the right reasons to think that I was, you know, and I know that I wasn't compliant. But it was it was that sense of frustration of being like, come on, like, I'm here. I'm, I'm, you know, I'm raising my white flag. I'm asking for help. Don't make me feel even worse than what I already do, in a sense, like, yeah, that was that was probably the thing that sort of put me like, while I felt like I was taking a step forward, it sort of also made me feel like I got kicked back a couple of steps. How so? I think it's sort of it was I remember feeling quite I wouldn't say traumatized as the word but to an extent like it sort of put me in a place of where I was like, Okay, I better be good I better be good I better be good and and really over focusing like you know, really micromanaging things as much as I could for periods after seeing him thinking you know, if I don't do this I'm gonna die like it was everything like was so catastrophic. And there was no happy medium for a period of time.

Scott Benner 1:09:07
Well, what what did you do that what were the steps that you took to bring yourself from where you were to where you are now and where are you now? Like, what do you have better variability? Yes, up and down. What's your aliens? Yes.

Melissa 1:09:18
All of the good things. So my endo at the time put me then on to Lantis and over rapid that was our first step taught me how to do all of that. Prior to my pregnancy in 2016, I'd gotten my a one C down to 6.8. I got a pump, the April of that year of 2016. So I got the Animus pump that made a massive difference again, so having, I think having you know going from When she new found out that I was on the Nova mix and then sort of suggested going on to, you know, the Nova rapid and the Lantus and on my arm more injections like this is, you know, God, God awful. And she's like, No, no, no, this is going to make a massive difference, like you're going to have freedom. Like it doesn't it doesn't get to, it's not going to seem like it. But it is, like, okay, and then I got the gist of what she meant, and, you know, really started to, you know, micromanage things, and, you know, doing so much better, and then the pump, you know, coming up and knowing how much more freedom again, having something attached to me all the time. So, yeah, sort of, you know, flash forward to now, and I have a 5.8 a one C, I am on the tandem with Basal IQ, and have a Dexcom G six, and have had so for the last three years, I've had the Dexcom Yeah, for the last three years had the G five and then transition when it got approved in Australia to the G six.

Scott Benner 1:11:07
Yeah, that's amazing. Good for you. Yeah, that must feel it. Yeah. Right. Oh, yeah.

Melissa 1:11:12
Honestly, like, I think the turning point really was, basically everything sort of continued to happen in a very, very much the same sort of way between, you know, I, all throughout my pregnancy, I tried to manage as best as I could, had my daughter, my one C went back up a bit, you know, trying to balance being a mother and looking after myself and looking after another person. And then getting basically to 12 months ago, and got married in June of last year. And went to my Endo, and again, I've managed seven eight onesies up and down, you know, for the last few years, and I think my one C was 7.7, point six or 7.8 or something after the wedding. And like, okay, something's got to give Like the old like, I've, you know, I don't feel okay about this, like, you know, I'd been fighting pretty much with my diabetes educator for the previous six months, you know, her trying to just ask butting heads trying to manage. manage things. She was always like, you know, why is this happening? And I'm like, I don't know. I really don't understand why I like and it was frustrating for me because she was questioning, you know, my, my daughter, and but I didn't understand it either. And, you know, she was thinking, you know, what did you eat here? And I'm like, No, I told you I didn't like, I don't know why it's just shut up like that. I don't understand. No one sort of, like, I'll go given a Dexcom boot with absolutely no context on what to do with it, other than this is gonna save you from testing. You know,

Scott Benner 1:13:07
I didn't know that you and I were gonna learn this at the same time. Is that what's happening right now? Yeah, yeah.

Melissa 1:13:13
Oh, I know. I'm like, seriously, like, it just, it felt like it was all very much like, like, since I don't know, like, since listening to so many other people's experiences. And you know, I'm sure they've, they've all probably had similar ish times as well, where there is that sense of, okay, well, I've been given a piece of technology or equipment, and not really any instructions on how to use it, but it just sort of was like, Oh, here's a pump. They go Go for it. And it's like, oh, okay, cool. Oh, I've got maybe I'll wait. And you know, like, everyone does for a period of time, I'll wait until they tell me to, you know, bumpity here and whatnot, and didn't have I think it's that I didn't feel confident or comfortable having ownership of my own health.

Scott Benner 1:14:05
Okay. And you're waiting for somebody to tell you what to do.

Melissa 1:14:09
100% 100% That's exactly what it was. And I remember I went through it like the beginning of last year and was like, you know, I was never a podcast person. Never listen to anything. I was like, No, thanks. I don't do that. And my drive to work is about 30 minutes there and 30 minutes back, so I started listening to some self helpy sort of stuff and whatnot. And then remember having this thought of, you know, maybe I could listen to something that might actually help me. You know, these are great, but like, I could be doing something more practical. With this time if I'm gonna, you know, whilst I was in the, in the realm of listening to podcasts, and that's what made me stumble. You know,

Scott Benner 1:14:54
getting your chakra in line wasn't helping you. Yeah, no, not at

Melissa 1:14:58
all. Not at all. Yes. No, no, no all the journaling in the world is not going to do anything for my blood sugar's.

Scott Benner 1:15:04
I kept writing down how I felt, am I a Wednesday didn't

Melissa 1:15:09
surprise, surprise.

Scott Benner 1:15:11
We used to do an episode about Pre-Bolus thing and see what happens.

Melissa 1:15:14
Exactly right. Yeah, yes. And that's exactly what I did. That was it was that was the thing that I was butting heads with my doctor about so much because I remember when they started looking at my time and range and sort of going, Oh, well, you're only like 30% time and range. And I'm like, where am I meant to be? Like, oh, well, you meant to be at 70%. And I'm like, oh, okay, well,

Scott Benner 1:15:42
okay, would have been cool if someone told me that. And by the way, how do I do that?

Melissa 1:15:46
How exactly, exactly. And I was still stuck in that, that realm of take eight jelly beans, wait a bit, have a sandwich, wait a bit, and just keep loading it all up, and then you'll be okay, you're not going to die. And it like saying it now makes me makes me feel really dumb? Because it took another educator at my clinic who was also a diabetic to say to me, have you ever considered just eating less? And you wouldn't have that be suck? And I'm like, Well, you know, I didn't

Scott Benner 1:16:26
hold on a second. You're saying carbs are making my blood sugar go up? Hold on. Wait a second. Hold on. I feel like I feel like your crocodile was just going up the waterway. I don't know what the straight stream exactly. I don't know. I forgot my own saying. That's embarrassing. And

Melissa 1:16:54
that's exactly what it felt like. It was like, What is this that you're telling me? And she's like, all just like, try having four jelly beans. Don't have you know, if you're, you know, 3.6 just have a few jellybeans you only want it to go up to five. And I'm like, watch this whole time I've been eating eight, and then having a sandwich or a glass of milk. And then I'll go up to 13. And then you know, and I'm playing that roller coaster ride. And yeah.

Scott Benner 1:17:21
How about instead of listening to a podcast about quilting? You find something? I know it's relaxing at all. But well, I'm very happy that you that you landed where you did it sounds? I mean, exceptional the change? Oh,

Melissa 1:17:38
100%. Like it's, I remember, I think, ah, one I think the first episode I listened to was Chris rude in 200. And something. And I just recently it was yesterday, listen to the second one that you did with him. And I tell

Scott Benner 1:17:58
you before you finish your story, I just booked him for next year yesterday.

Melissa 1:18:02
Oh, that's exciting. How funny. Oh, my God call him

Scott Benner 1:18:05
doing something on Instagram. And I was so touched by it that I just commented. And then he reached out and said, Can I get back on the podcast? I want to talk about mental health and diabetes and stuff. And I was like, Yeah, I was like, I can't have you on for like, a while because my schedule is so full. I was like, but go grab a date. So he did yesterday. So that's cool. That's awesome. Oh, all the planets are in a line. That's awesome. I'm sorry. Go ahead. Listen to Chris.

Melissa 1:18:28
Yeah. Yeah. And again, I think, you know, it was just that time and place like I had been following Chris, for a period of time prior to seeing him on like with the podcast, because he was, you know, the diabetes community. I did I do CrossFit and have done powerlifting. And then, you know, found him through all of that and was just in awe of all of the things that he does and everything like that. So seeing him his name attached to the episode and like, oh, cool, someone that I sort of not know, obviously, but know of oh, what I'll listen to this, because I know what you know, we're not talking about you know, anything else so I get Yeah, so listen to that. And I thought that you know, yep. Okay, like, like everyone else that's, you know, come and spoken to you and it's like, wow, this guy doesn't like it took me a while again, having absolutely no context about you at all. And realizing I think might have been might have even been in that episode. It might have been probably until I listened to maybe two or three that I'm like, you don't actually have diabetes. It's your daughter. That's incredible. You are incredible. You are in you know, and just sort of and just being in awe of the fact of again, you know, as everyone has said that you know that you're able to do what you do because it really has is made such a difference.

Scott Benner 1:20:02
I'm glad. That's wonderful. I appreciate you saying that too. Thank you. I was really proud of myself for not saying something stupid while you were doing that, because when I hear you ramping up to say something nice to me, I'm like, just deflect with humor. Just don't just say something. Oh, this is the part where you say something nice about me. Let me be quiet and listen, which is me. Me going, Oh, I'm so uncomfortable. Please stop. But at the same time, I need you to talk because it's a podcast. Like, if we were in public, and you started talking, I'd be like that, I get it. Unless I helped you. Thank you stop. Thank you. Yeah. It's gonna help it really just stop. Okay. So, but I don't know what's wrong with me. I bet but I'm doing much better. You have to admit over the years. Like of like listening to somebody say something nice about the podcast. I am, I think, eight more years, I'm gonna be a couple more. Guys, I'll just keep hanging out listening for the time when I just accept a compliment, like an adult. So

Melissa 1:21:06
oh, it's, it's, I think, again, it just reiterates even more. So when, you know, in in reflection, when, you know, pretty much every time I speak to my educator or even to my Endo, and I'm like, Yep, this is what I've been doing. And, and I'm telling them what I'm doing with my health. And you know, I'm in control of what I'm doing. And they're just like, Yep, cool. Oh, that's a great idea. Yeah. Cool. All right. Well, these aren't these aren't my ideas like, this is this is from a great this is from this is from high above, like, you

Scott Benner 1:21:39
know, I've got to say something. I'm still stuck. I got hung with the art of being sarcastic on her episode. She goes, I know, everyone thinks you're a diabetes God or something. I forget exactly what. But somebody called me that online the other day, and I'm like, please, don't please stop doing that. Like, it's very uncomfortable for me. No one cares about me malice. And like, I see someone right that I'm like, don't say that. Like, please. I don't want anyone to hear you saying that. Because now I have to come in and be like, Oh, no. And that it looks like false modesty. You know what I mean? Like, where I'm like, oh, like, you know, like, like, if a guy scored a touchdown, well, you don't have any real sports, so you don't understand what I'm saying. But if somebody did something, if somebody did something exceptional at a sporting event, and then at the end, they were like, Nah, it's it was nothing. You're like, bullshit. It's nothing. You're so much faster than everybody else. And so I can't win as my point. Like, there's no way for me to jump in and say, oh, you know, that's so I just end up saying things like, that's very kind or because I don't know what to say. Like, what am I supposed to say? I am really good at this. I mean,

Melissa 1:22:50
100% Thank you. Yes, I am. I am God know

Scott Benner 1:22:56
how uncomfortable that is. I don't feel that way. I want everyone to know that's listening. Those were Melissa's words. And I don't like

Melissa 1:23:04
that lol agree with me though.

Scott Benner 1:23:06
All I did was just I stepped back and I was like, I have to figure out how this insulin works. I'm using it wrong. And then, and then I figured it out. And then I found ways to talk about it that are relatable and easy to remember. That's all

Melissa 1:23:20
Oh, 100 it's, it's still surprises me. Like now that I'm in a place where I feel comfortable being able to explain things to my you know, healthcare people that there is the they don't see that they don't see the sense of like, adapting the way that they're trying to teach people so that it lands like It's like they have one teaching style, and they assume that everyone's got one learning style. And if the two don't meet in the middle, then you're stuffed.

Scott Benner 1:23:57
Unless the listen it's unfair, because there's only one God. So what are you expecting from these people? Exactly? Exactly. Exactly. What they lack in my opinion, and from my experience, it's the ability to tell a story. It just Yeah, that's what this is really

Melissa 1:24:15
creativity and just this Yeah, they will. As I said, they're all dumb. They just

Scott Benner 1:24:23
this is a good place to stop before you alienate the rest of that island. And it's an island right? I'm not wrong about that.

Melissa 1:24:30
Technically, yes. No. Yes. Yes. It's an Ireland big one. Yes.

Scott Benner 1:24:34
When are you guys going to invade New Zealand and just turn that into like a like a Health Report for yourself or something like that? Is that No,

Melissa 1:24:42
there's a way little while away from us, like we have we have Tasmania which is like the equivalent of Sicily at the bottom of Italy sort of thing like it's tiny little tiny little place but yeah, New Zealand is I think it's like a was six hour flight from it's not

Scott Benner 1:25:02
as close as I think it looks very close on that map thing. I don't know what to do. And I've had a number of people on from New Zealand were lovely, by the way, so

Melissa 1:25:09
100% I've got heaps of friends in New Zealand. Yeah, lovely.

Scott Benner 1:25:12
Alright, let's have a listen. I appreciate you doing this very much. I thought this was wonderful. I appreciate you being kind and let me be a few minutes late. That was that was very nice to the part. Yeah, the part where you refer to me lovingly, I enjoyed on I don't want to say otherwise. I'm just thrilled that neither of us was bit by anything deadly during this you probably more than me. I'm never coming where you are. Because I'm scared to death of the wildlife. I just want to be clear about that. And I don't want to be on a plane that long. Those are my pretty much my two reasons. But it sounds like I mean, let's I was gonna lie and say it sounds lovely. But it sounds like California has what you just described to me. So I don't know what

Melissa 1:25:52
pretty much. Not that I've been to California. But that's how I would imagine it also being Oh, what are we

Scott Benner 1:25:59
gonna do? Well, for all my killed by Heatwave, I look forward to this coming out and so people could hear

Melissa 1:26:03
it. Very much. So I'm very excited to cool. Now you

Scott Benner 1:26:07
were terrific. Really. I appreciate you doing this very much. I know you stayed up late and and that is do you know there's a picture of a platypus in front of me the entire time you were talking those are from right. Yes. I never once mentioned that because I'm I'm really I'm maturing as I get older. Pardon drew a picture of a platypus on my whiteboard in front of me. And then she wrote something next to it that I can't tell you because

Melissa 1:26:36
it's super appropriate.

Scott Benner 1:26:38
Anyway, all right. Well, thank you very much. Love it. Hold on one second. Thank you. Oh, of course.

Melissa 1:26:43
No dramas doe.

Scott Benner 1:26:52
A huge thank you to one of today's sponsors, G voc glucagon, find out more about Chivo Capo pen at G Vogue glucagon.com forward slash juicebox. you spell that GVOK E. G L you see? Ag o n.com. Forward slash juice box. And thank you us med head over now. To get your free benefits check out us med.com forward slash juice box or if you want to use the phone 888-721-1514 Thank you so much for listening. I'll be back very soon with another episode of The Juicebox Podcast.

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