#1836 Chris vs. Life - Part 1

Chris shares his 38-year type 1 diabetes journey , overcoming a 1980s diagnosis , family abandonment , severe drug addiction , and near-fatal DKA to build a professional auto racing career.

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Key Takeaways

• Early Diabetes Care Was Drastically Different: In the late 1980s, type 1 diabetes management involved rigid schedules using Regular and NPH pork insulin, thick syringes, and cumbersome glucometers requiring physical coding and calibration solutions.
• Diagnosis Impacts Family Dynamics: A childhood diagnosis can profoundly affect family structure; in Chris's case, it brought his estranged mother and grandmother closer together temporarily to provide the necessary medical support.
• Adolescent Burnout Can Be Severe: Struggling with shifting home environments, Chris hid his diabetes to avoid feeling different, demonstrating how social pressure and lack of stability can lead to deep diabetes burnout and neglect.
• Substance Abuse Rapidly Escalates Diabetes Risks: Heavy drug use, like methamphetamines, and subsequent reliance on alcohol completely masked diabetes management, quickly driving Chris into life-threatening Diabetic Ketoacidosis (DKA).
• Resilience and Second Chances: Despite hitting rock bottom and relying on over-the-counter insulin without modern technology for decades, Chris managed to turn his life around, build a successful career in professional auto racing, and eventually establish a stable, healthy family life.

Resources Mentioned

• Juice Box Podcast Small Sips: Available wherever you get your audio.
• Eversense 365 CGM: eversensecgm.com/juicebox
• Tandem Mobi / Control-IQ Plus: tandemdiabetes.com/juicebox
• US Med: usmed.com/juicebox or call (888) 721-1514
• Juice Box Podcast Facebook Group: Search "Juice Box Podcast, Type 1 Diabetes" on Facebook.
• Wrong Way Recording (Podcast Editing): wrongwayrecording.com

FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

Introduction & Sponsors

Scott Benner (0:00)

Welcome back, friends. You are listening to the Juice Box podcast.

Chris (0:14)

Hi. My name is Chris. I've been a type one diabetic for thirty eight years, and I'm excited to talk to Scott.

Scott Benner (0:22)

If you'd like to hear about diabetes management in easy to take in bits, check out the Small Sips. That's the series on the juice box podcast that listeners are talking about like it's a cheat code. These are perfect little bursts of clarity, one person said. I finally understood things I've heard a 100 times. Short, simple, and somehow exactly what I needed.

Scott Benner (0:43)

People say small sips feels like someone pulling up a chair, sliding a cup across the table, and giving you one clean idea at a time. Nothing overwhelming, no fire hose of information, just steady helpful nudges that actually stick. People listen in their car, on walks, or rather actually bolusing anytime that they need a quick shot of perspective. And the reviews, they all say the same thing. Small sips makes diabetes make sense.

Scott Benner (1:10)

Search for the Juice Box podcast, small sips, wherever you get audio. Nothing you hear on the Juice Box podcast should be considered advice, medical or otherwise. Always consult a physician before making any changes to your health care plan or becoming bold with insulin. I'm having an on body vibe alert. This episode of the Juice Box podcast is sponsored by Eversense three sixty five, the only one year wear CGM.

Scott Benner (1:39)

That's one insertion and one CGM a year. One CGM, one year. Not every ten or fourteen days. Ever since cgm.com/juicebox. Today's episode is also sponsored by the Tandem Mobi system, which is powered by Tandem's newest algorithm, Control IQ Plus Technology.

Scott Benner (2:00)

Tandem Mobi has a predictive algorithm that helps prevent highs and lows and is now available for ages two and up. Learn more and get started today at tandemdiabetes.com/juicebox. The podcast is also sponsored today by usmed.com/juicebox or call (888) 721-1514. US Med is where my daughter gets her diabetes supplies from, and you could too. Use the link or number to get your free benefits check and get started today with US Med.

Interview Begins: 38 Years of Type 1

Chris (2:35)

Hi. My name is Chris. I've been a type one diabetic for thirty eight years, and I'm excited to talk to Scott.

Scott Benner (2:43)

Oh, well, Chris, I am Scott. So this is gonna work out perfectly.

Chris (2:47)

Good.

Scott Benner (2:47)

Thirty eight years seems like a chunk of time to me.

Chris (2:50)

Yeah. It's, I want don't wanna say it's flown by, but certainly between 1987 when I was diagnosed to now, oh, what Type one's gotten a little bit more complicated and easier to manage, I think, all in one.

Scott Benner (3:06)

Really?

Chris (3:08)

I had let's see. So when I was diagnosed, my grandmother pretty much raised me as a child. My mom and dad split up early.

Scott Benner (3:17)

Okay.

Chris (3:18)

Five years old was when mom and dad kinda went different directions. My mom worked at a bar, and my dad was in and out, traveling through different states and countries for his job, and I didn't see him that much in my early childhood days.

Scott Benner (3:34)

Oh, Chris, I'm sorry. When you said they went in their opposite directions, I thought you meant from each other, but you meant from you and each other.

Chris (3:41)

Yes. Yeah. Correctly. Gotcha. Yeah.

Chris (3:42)

Correct. Yeah.

Scott Benner (3:43)

Gotcha.

Chris (3:43)

And so my grandmother raised me, from the time jeez. I can't remember from that time all the way until all the way until I kinda got on my own kinda thing.

Scott Benner (3:54)

Okay. And you were diagnosed at what age?

Chris (3:57)

10. 10.

Scott Benner (3:58)

Okay. So you're 48. You're 48.

Chris (4:00)

My tenth my I'm 48. Okay. My tenth birthday, I was in the hospital.

Scott Benner (4:05)

No kidding.

Chris (4:06)

How does that

Scott Benner (4:07)

happen to so many people?

Chris (4:08)

I don't know. Yeah. I I don't know, but I'm going back to my grandmother. My grandmother had a brother that was type one. And one evening, pretty normal day, I'm going to the refrigerator.

Chris (4:21)

Let me get some water. Let me drink some water. Let go to the bathroom. And this cycle just kept going. I mean, and this I remember it almost to the tee, and I'm pretty certain that I was grabbing everything in my grandma's refrigerator to drink aside from, you know, anything like ketchup or mustard.

Chris (4:40)

Right? But I'm pretty certain that I downed a, Seagram's, wine cooler too.

Scott Benner (4:44)

Just it not it didn't matter. Thirst was thirst.

Chris (4:46)

No. I just wanted something liquid, and she caught wind of what was going on, and she goes, you're diabetic. And I'm like, I was terrified. I I was like, I just I don't know. I feel I felt horrible.

Chris (4:59)

Following day this was the evening. The following day, after the hospital, went and grandma was right.

Scott Benner (5:05)

Yeah. And she knew because I'm sorry. Who in her family has it?

Chris (5:09)

Her brother.

Scott Benner (5:10)

Her brother. And is she your father's mother?

Chris (5:13)

She is my mom's adopted mom.

Scott Benner (5:17)

Okay.

Chris (5:18)

So my mom my mom was adopted, from my grandmother, obviously. How that works.

Scott Benner (5:23)

Yeah. Yeah. No. Yeah.

Chris (5:24)

If you you don't you don't need to be a genius figure out.

Scott Benner (5:27)

We should take a left turn and explain adoption to everybody now. No. No. Anyways, I'm

Chris (5:31)

That's okay. I'm trying to fill in the pieces correctly.

Scott Benner (5:33)

You're doing a good job, man. Don't worry about it. Okay. So she's your your mom's adopted mother Yes. And Her brother Wait.

Chris (5:44)

Was a was a type one.

Scott Benner (5:45)

But that's insane though because Mhmm. Because there's no blood connection to your grandmother's brother. Correct. Oh, so it's possible your grandmother is a totem that gives people type one diabetes. Is that what you're telling me?

Chris (5:58)

That's what it could be. Mhmm. I mean, it's possible. I don't know if I would wanna claim that.

Scott Benner (6:02)

I've seen the movies. I know what's going on.

Chris (6:04)

Right. Well, that's

Scott Benner (6:05)

wow. That's really something. Yeah. That's so I'm so glad you put that little piece in because that that was a that's an interesting little tidbit there. Okay. Yeah. So she knows what it looks like because she, you know, extensively grew up with a brother who had type one.

Chris (6:18)

Yep. And she knew that whole peeing and and and drinking thing.

Scott Benner (6:22)

Yeah. And you were diagnosed, I'm gonna tell you, right around the time my buddy Mike was diagnosed. And you're you're a little younger than we are Yep. By by about six years, but still, like, the timing's there.

Chris (6:33)

Uh-huh.

Scott Benner (6:34)

This is where your statement about it's gotten easier and harder comes in. Right? Because Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So tell people a little bit about what what it was like being diagnosed at 10, how you manage yourself early on, where you were getting your support from, if any.

Diagnosis & Early Diabetes Care in the 80s

Chris (6:50)

I'm in the hospital. I'm terrified I'm gonna have to poke myself for the rest of my life with a needle because needles are all evil. And then I started you know, the nurse came in and the usual stuff, inject the orange, inject the nurse with water.

Scott Benner (7:05)

Wait. They had you they had you inject the nurse with saline?

Chris (7:08)

Yep. At the time, they were really big on pinching and finding the pocket Okay. Right, for the needle to go in, which you don't really do anymore for but needles were longer and larger, and it was a syringe back then. So it was a big thing that they were teaching me on. You grab your index and your thumb and you and you pinch, and then in the middle of that pinch is a pocket.

Chris (7:30)

That's where you put the needle, and that's where the fat is, and that makes it feel the best.

Scott Benner (7:33)

Oh, wow. Did that work?

Chris (7:35)

Seem like it.

Scott Benner (7:36)

I'm gonna I'm gonna try it the next time I inject myself or something.

Chris (7:40)

Yeah. I mean, you have to be kind of at a 45 degree angle, but that makes it the easiest without going into a muscle or hitting the nerve or something like that.

Scott Benner (7:47)

So this was wrapped around the fact that the needle was larger than you see now in an insulin needle?

Chris (7:52)

Oh, for sure. Yeah.

Scott Benner (7:53)

Okay. So I'm sorry. I'm gonna get stuck on this for a second. Like, they just came in

Chris (7:58)

for it.

Scott Benner (7:58)

You're 10 years old. They came in the room. They're like, hey. This is Patty. Go ahead and jab this jab her with this. They're like, what? Did she lose rock, paper, scissors in the hallway or something? Like, how did how did she you know what I mean?

Chris (8:09)

I have no I have no idea, but having a 10 year old with a syringe in his hand, I remember it was it was in her arm. I was in the hospital bed. She sat down, and she goes, we're gonna try this orange. This is what it's gonna feel like. Mhmm.

Chris (8:20)

And then we're gonna inject me. And I'm like, are you are you crazy? I can't even bear to get a needle into myself, let alone, you know, what's going on here. And I remembered that they they taught me to turn it to where the edge of the needle is, you know, facing like a fish hook kind of thing. Right?

Chris (8:36)

So you then I just she drew in some saline, and I injected her with it. And I thought it was the cry was shaking. I remember I was shaking. I couldn't do it. I was crying.

Scott Benner (8:46)

Imagine. Doesn't it add another level to it to do it to somebody else. Right? Yeah. Yeah.

Scott Benner (8:51)

Yeah. Hey. If anyone out there was a nurse at the time this was happening and let kids do this, then please reach out. I would I'd be ecstatic to speak to you on the podcast.

Chris (9:00)

Yeah. I think it's and I and I think it's interesting because you were blown away by it, and to me, it seemed normal.

Scott Benner (9:05)

No.

Chris (9:06)

Yeah. But I've never heard anybody else say I've I've heard the fruit stuff.

Scott Benner (9:10)

Bananas and oranges, usually.

Chris (9:11)

Yeah. Yeah. I've heard that just to get a feel for the for the skin, but, I mean, I I've never heard any nurse go. It's almost twelve. I may as well sit here.

Scott Benner (9:21)

Go ahead, kid. Yeah. Take your best whack at it. Like, that well, that's really something. I bet you she had a lot of problems. I just wanna say that.

Chris (9:28)

Well, I don't know. It's just that was a long time ago. So

Scott Benner (9:31)

Anyway, okay. So you're in the hospital. This is how they're teaching you to take care of yourself. Are you Yep. What's the what's the insulin setup at diagnosis?

Chris (9:39)

Insulin setup is NPH and regular. These were pork at the time, and I cannot remember my blood my decks my my glucometer at the time, but I do remember that I had to put codes in.

Scott Benner (9:55)

Okay.

Chris (9:56)

So the the strips you would get, you would get a machine and you would get a a strip package or actually just like a jar like they are now. Mhmm. And it would have a code on the back. But you'd have to enter that code in before it would read any of these strips in that bottle.

Scott Benner (10:10)

Right. Did you have to do the, the solution? My god. What did they call it? The used to have to, like, test the solution once in a while to calibrate it. Right?

Chris (10:18)

Yep. It was this whole this whole kit, and then in the kit that I had for that was also my

Scott Benner (10:24)

The lance?

Chris (10:26)

The lance. And then I and that also too, I had the emergency

Scott Benner (10:31)

Oh, they gave you

Chris (10:32)

shot to which was down there. Yeah. It was a it it looked like something out of a horror movie. It was it was a glass syringe. It was in a red container Yeah.

Chris (10:42)

And it had half fluid drawn in it, and I was supposed to do another thing and jam it wherever it would go.

Scott Benner (10:47)

Isn't that fun? And you you don't recall what that thing was you were supposed to do?

Chris (10:50)

I don't remember what it was, but I remember you needed to mix it before you could use it, and it was a glass syringe, and I hated looking at it.

Scott Benner (10:57)

Yeah. You would take the the syringe had the the fluid in. This was the the red box from Lilly. Right? So the syringe Correct.

Scott Benner (11:03)

It was a big needle too.

Chris (11:05)

Yeah. Oh, yeah. It was a honker.

Scott Benner (11:06)

So you were supposed to inject the liquid into the powder, and the powder was in a vial. Yep. And then you're supposed to spin it in your hands till it kinda constituted, then draw it back out, then find, I think, a muscle like your butt or something like that and jam that needle in and throw it in there.

Chris (11:23)

Yeah. And this is all while you're, you know, going through a coma or, you know, have pass out on the floor.

Scott Benner (11:28)

Yeah. Yeah. This is either obviously not for you to do because you're probably having a seizure while it's happening, but some lucky person in your family trying to stay calm and doing it at the same time. I'll I'll tell you that when Arden was a few months diagnosed, this happened to us. And I

Chris (11:44)

I remember I know the story.

Scott Benner (11:45)

Yeah. I failed miserably trying to put that Lilly thing together. I'm very happy she carries those, ChivoC hypo pens around now. So Yes. Yeah.

Family Dynamics & Shifting Homes

Scott Benner (11:53)

Anyway okay. So this is the setup. You're scared, and and you are now home with your grandmother. And is she is she this is interesting because she's two generations away from you. So

Scott Benner (12:08)

Is she, like, all, you'll be fine. Good luck, or does she jump in to help? Like because I'm trying to decide if the the guilt and shame she feels about her daughter abandoning you overwhelms her generational ideas about how to take care of things.

Chris (12:24)

She dove in. She dove in. It brought I think, to be honest, Scott, it brought my mom and her mom kinda and us together again. Oh. It helped a little bit.

Chris (12:38)

It was kind of a scare. I think it my mom was terrified for me. And my grandma said, well, we got no choice. We gotta, you know, we gotta take care of them, keep them alive, so here's why we're gonna do it.

Scott Benner (12:48)

And Yeah.

Chris (12:49)

She was all for it. And I think for the most part, I stayed with her longer during most days, weekends, and trips like that just because she was there to be able to pinpoint the stuff that I haven't caught on to yet, like highs and lows.

Scott Benner (13:04)

Wait. Wait. Your mom or your grandmother?

Chris (13:06)

My grandmother. Your grandmother. You stayed Yep.

Scott Benner (13:08)

What do you mean you stayed around longer? You you think you lived with her longer, or you hung out during the day, Mark?

Chris (13:13)

I was like, my typical visits with her were longer because of the support that she was offering, and my mom didn't have a grasp on it yet.

Scott Benner (13:20)

Ah, so make sure I understand, Chris. The the diagnosis brings your mom back into the fold. You go to live with her, but you're still spending a ton of time with your grandmother.

Chris (13:30)

Yeah. I'm often I mean, I'm often on with my mom just because of the fact of the diabetes and the care that my grandmother could provide when my mom couldn't at the time.

Scott Benner (13:38)

Gotcha. I understand. And your mom was not quite as good at the that one, probably not did she ever catch up? Did you feel like? Did you ever Yes.

Scott Benner (13:46)

Yeah.

Chris (13:47)

Yes. Yeah. Yeah. She caught up and, you know, having having the lows having the lows the first time in the middle of the night and having that experience where you just don't know what you don't know how to describe how you feel is really, really hard when a parent is standing over you like, what can I do?

Scott Benner (14:06)

Yeah. No. The whole thing

Chris (14:07)

is upset. You know, it's it's either a high or a low or it's just a f this. I'm tired of this already. You know?

Scott Benner (14:14)

Yeah. Chris, I you might not have perspective for this because of your age at the time, but do you think you're being diagnosed with type one brought your back together with your mom? Like, do you think it would have happened otherwise?

Sponsor Break

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Adulthood, Rebellion, and Rock Bottom

Chris (16:45)

I think it would have happened. It was not really a lost cause. It was just a

Scott Benner (16:48)

She was working stuff out.

Chris (16:50)

To be honest, Scott, she was working her ass off to to pay for me and to cover us and to make sure we were doing good and

Scott Benner (16:56)

So she was out hustling I mean, how did they measure success for you back then?

Chris (17:27)

I mean, obviously, I went to went to the endo quite a bit, pretty good health care where I grew up. And I remember that once I started, like I switched schools quite a bit, because my mom would move quite a bit. And then once I started trying to kind of accept the fact that I'm gonna have to live with this the rest of my life, that's when that's when things kinda turned and and life got even more complicated, I guess.

Scott Benner (17:59)

Because you couldn't accept it?

Chris (18:01)

I was I wasn't accepting it, and I hid it from everything because I didn't wanna get made fun of.

Scott Benner (18:06)

Oh, okay. So I wasn't sure. Do you mean acceptance, like, doing the things you need to do?

Chris (18:12)

Yes. Yeah.

Scott Benner (18:13)

And on top of that, making sure no one else sees it or knows about it?

Chris (18:18)

Yeah. And having to be honest, having kind of a home life was difficult. So home life being difficult and a new disease and a new school here and there Yeah. It was difficult. It was difficult to get accepted and not feel like a special kid.

Chris (18:38)

Right? Just because I had I had to have candy or I had to check my blood all the time or Yeah. Or, you know, there was a syringe sitting on my desk or something like that. So it was it all kinda happened relatively quickly in a time when, you know, at this time, maybe you're 11 or 12, you still don't really know everything.

Scott Benner (18:56)

When you look back now as an adult, did did you feel abandoned as a child?

Chris (19:02)

Yeah. Yeah. Pretty much so.

Scott Benner (19:04)

And that that sticks with you. Right? That's not a thing you work through on your own at, like, 10 to 15.

Chris (19:08)

Something I am still dealing with.

Scott Benner (19:09)

Yeah. Do you have are you married now? Yes. You are. So I'm adopted, and my and my parents got divorced when I was 13.

Chris (19:18)

K.

Scott Benner (19:18)

And when in the beginning of my marriage and even in my, like, like, dating relationships, if people got upset, I got I got really upset. So yeah. So if people look like they were arguing or upset with each other or there was any feeling of the one that took me the longest to get through was when people are disagreeing and they can't come to an agreement before they leave the room, that used to make me feel panicked. Yeah. Like, we couldn't disagree and then I'll leave because I felt like someone I don't know what I felt like, honestly.

Scott Benner (19:51)

But in hindsight, I think I felt like somebody would definitely not come back if that happened. Yeah. I I anyway, stuff like that.

Chris (19:58)

And and there's a lot of guilt too. There's a lot of, you know, why did mom and dad split up? Yeah. You know, what what what was it me? Was it because of, you know, was it this or that?

Chris (20:07)

And that actually carries through now to this is going way forward. We'll get there eventually. But my kids that I have now are from a previous marriage. So now I'm dealing with a new me in the same situation with the stepdad, and we'll get there eventually. Yeah.

Scott Benner (20:24)

Yeah. Okay. I gotcha.

Chris (20:25)

Okay.

Scott Benner (20:26)

Alright.

Chris (20:26)

I don't wanna I don't wanna jump too far forward,

Scott Benner (20:28)

but Look at everybody just I I like it when you guys produce when we do this. It's good. It's good. Keeps me keeps me on track. Keeps me from asking the wrong question at the wrong time.

Scott Benner (20:36)

I really am getting a lot of help. Also, I don't wanna brag, but I just noticed my calves were dry and moisturized them during that conversation. And Oh, good for you. I really wanna say that I I think it's possible I'm a professional at this point, because I never lost track of what you were saying or stopped being interested and was able to really take care of some dry skin.

Chris (20:54)

So No. You're like, oh, Chris is bobbing. Look at my calves.

Scott Benner (20:57)

They're crazy. I was doing it at times when I was talking. I'm I'm really I'm showing off by sharing this with you, by the way,

Chris (21:04)

is what

Scott Benner (21:04)

this is this is a flex for me. Right. Okay. So back to my original question, what did success look like, or were we not even worried about that? Was just standing success, or were you looking for

Chris (21:18)

Yeah. Getting getting through the day, getting through the shots, and that was a win for me.

Scott Benner (21:24)

Okay. And then does your health slip as you decide or, you know, maybe it's not a conscious decision, but you're gonna kinda put it in the background, not let people see it. You know, I had an adult say to me this weekend that I don't wanna malign any pumps, but, like, I had an adult tell me this weekend that the pump they had that they could control from their phone helped a lot with their management and their outcomes. When I asked why because I assumed they meant there was something about the algorithm or the pump or whatever that would made it better for them, they said, no. I'm, I don't have to pull the controller out now.

Scott Benner (22:02)

Oh, yeah. I don't want people to see I'm giving myself insulin. So when I can do it with my phone, it really opened her up to being able to do it in public, which stopped her from waiting long distances of time to give herself insulin.

Chris (22:16)

Right.

Scott Benner (22:16)

Yeah. Yeah.

Chris (22:16)

Yeah. I mean, I get that.

Scott Benner (22:18)

Yeah. I guess you do. So what did that look like? Because how long were you doing just two shots a day before you moved up to some other you know I mean? Like, what did ignoring it look like?

Scott Benner (22:30)

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Chris (23:32)

I think because I had guidance and I had, you know, every three months appointments and all this and all that, it went fairly well. It wasn't really, oh, it wasn't really until probably 16 or 17 that my life changed quite a bit again, and that's when the care really started to kinda crash.

Scott Benner (23:52)

What's the change that happened to them?

Chris (23:54)

As I got older, my mom remarried. We went from kind of a we were pretty poor to the my stepdad at the time, still my stepdad now, made quite a bit of money. We moved into a nice house and went to a nice school, and everything really turned. But we my stepdad and I struggled quite a bit. And, basically, from my senior year in high school, I moved out on my own.

Scott Benner (24:27)

What was the friction point? Did you just not like him being close to your mom, or did you like you would you have trouble taking direction from him? Was there something you can pinpoint?

Chris (24:36)

Direction, extremely strict and kinda came in. You know, at the time, I was 13 and kinda came in like, this is how you're gonna do it. You're gonna brush your hair this way. You're gonna tuck your shirt in. And I'm like, I don't want any of it.

Chris (24:50)

I it's just not me. And my mom and I, we struggled, but we were a team. And so that being a team, you know, it might have been chicken nuggets on dinners some nights, but at least, you know what, it was a struggle, but it was a struggle with my

Scott Benner (25:06)

mom. K.

Chris (25:07)

And we kinda like we bonded quite a bit, actually.

Scott Benner (25:10)

Did you you liked it better when you were broke?

Chris (25:13)

It seemed like it because we supported each other.

Scott Benner (25:16)

Okay. Did she have trouble pushing back against him? Yes. Probably because she was moving on. By the way,

Chris (25:25)

did she was moving on and happy. Yeah. Yeah. You know, she was she was happy and things were good and money wasn't a problem anymore and

Scott Benner (25:31)

Right. And she's singing that Jefferson song in her head probably.

Chris (25:34)

Right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay.

Scott Benner (25:38)

So she she's got a reason to and did you feel like she let you down by not sticking up for you when the hairbrushing and the shirt tucking and

Chris (25:47)

all that? Yeah. When it came down to it, I was really struggling. And my diabetes started to slip, and I kinda said either him or me, and it ended up being him. So off I went.

Scott Benner (25:59)

Where'd you go, Kurt? No. No. Don't be sorry. Where'd you go, and how did you how did you get insulin and all the things you needed?

Chris (26:05)

So at the time, the state I was living in, which is where I was born, you could get insulin over the counter.

Scott Benner (26:12)

Okay.

Chris (26:14)

So I would basically, I had a pretty good job in high school. Senior year in high school, I was working in a machine shop, so I was making pretty good money. And I could afford all my stuff. And after high school, I moved into another house to start a new job, and that's where my life turned, like, pretty much a 180 degrees. I got into some really heavy drugs

Scott Benner (26:44)

Yeah.

Chris (26:45)

And really stopped basically giving a shit.

Scott Benner (26:50)

Well, it it occurs to me that you you experienced abandonment over and over again from the same people. Yeah. Like, yeah, from, like, a younger age and then again and then it's not that I can't put myself in her position, but, like, I you know, in the end, like, I don't I'm trying to decide if you moved out to avoid the pressure for him or if you moved out to avoid the the letdown you felt when you didn't see her trying to get in the way and help you?

Chris (27:22)

Like I think in my brain, it was, nobody's cared before, so I'm just gonna kinda get the hell out of here and go do what I want.

Scott Benner (27:30)

Yeah.

Chris (27:30)

And with that attitude, I carried it and got into some pretty bad stuff. And

Scott Benner (27:35)

How long did you hold together the, like, Chris is gonna be an adult by himself game before it fell apart?

Chris (27:41)

Oh, not very long. I mean, I

Scott Benner (27:43)

I see.

Chris (27:44)

Yeah. I mean, it it didn't take very long at all, and the people I was around, and it was just a it was a it was as textbook as you could get as the wrong situation Yeah. For for for me. And

Scott Benner (27:57)

People you met at work who were older than you or people you met other where where did you meet these people?

Chris (28:03)

People at a different job and someone said, hey. You know, we got this place for living in. We need help with rent, and it ended up being just an absolute just party house. And I got into some really, really heavy drugs that don't cooperate with diabetes very well.

Scott Benner (28:19)

Can you would you put a name to them, or are you not comfortable

Chris (28:21)

with them? Methamphetamine.

Scott Benner (28:23)

Yeah. I guess that's that that's you started with meth? That's a a hell of a leaping endpoint.

Chris (28:28)

Pretty pretty much I did. Yeah. I didn't really drink or do any drugs in in, like, you know, high school or anything after and kinda went right to that because it seemed like the answer, and it took all the pain away.

Scott Benner (28:40)

Okay. That's why I was gonna ask you, what did it do for you?

Chris (28:43)

Yeah. It made me forget about the situation that I was in.

Scott Benner (28:46)

Okay. Did you have a girlfriend?

Chris (28:49)

I had often on girlfriends at the time. A lot of lot of friends through school, but, at that time, I did not know.

Scott Benner (28:55)

Because you're a father now. Right? Uh-huh. Is there any hindsight at all that you have? Like, what besides I guess this is tough because I think the hindsight is your mom should've stuck up for it and you would've been okay.

Scott Benner (29:06)

But, like, like, after you were on your own, like, is there a moment or something you could've done, or are you at the whim of the of the current at that point?

Chris (29:15)

Yeah. I'm pretty much just whatever will

Scott Benner (29:17)

go and Okay.

Chris (29:21)

Oh, that made a lot of things difficult. Obviously, the some of the drawbacks is you don't eat. So my blood sugar, I had no clue what it was. I didn't check it. I wasn't doing shots like I should have.

Chris (29:40)

And Can I ask

Scott Benner (29:41)

a hard question?

Chris (29:42)

Alright. Go for

Scott Benner (29:43)

it. In that situation, you're not managing your type one. You understand the impacts of not managing your type one at that point? Yeah.

Chris (29:51)

Prob at that point, yeah, but I didn't care.

Scott Benner (29:54)

Okay. And math is, you know, is I mean, it's a pretty big swing. Yeah. So if you're not connected with your mother, your father's absent Yep. You're doing meth and not taking care of your diabetes, this is the hard question.

Scott Benner (30:11)

Day to day, what's the point of your existence? Like, I don't mean I don't do you understand what I'm saying? Like like, what what is what is it you're doing? Is it are you just functioning going from, like, numbing thing to numbing because you're going to work. You gotta make money.

Scott Benner (30:29)

Right?

Chris (30:29)

Uh-huh. Yeah.

Scott Benner (30:30)

Yeah. Yeah. I'm I'm asking where did you I guess I'm asking what did you think you were doing when you had time to think about it, or was there no ability to think about it?

Chris (30:37)

I don't think I was thinking, Scott. I think I was just I think I was I was so in the fog that I just stayed in it.

Scott Benner (30:45)

I see. High blood sugar is on top of the drugs too, probably. I mean Spacey.

Chris (30:51)

Very high blood sugar. I remember there's times where I would you know, obviously, when you get super high and DKA starts to hit, you start to puke on yourself. And I remember that I wasn't eating, and I wasn't doing my shot. But I'm like, well, I'm not eating, so I must be okay. And I wasn't.

Scott Benner (31:12)

You weren't doing And basil even?

Chris (31:14)

Well, so this was still my regular and

Scott Benner (31:17)

Oh, you're still regular in NPH at that point.

Chris (31:20)

Oh, yeah. I was regular in NPH, Scott, until 2015. Get the

Scott Benner (31:25)

out of here. Seriously? Yep.

Chris (31:26)

I'm dead serious.

Scott Benner (31:28)

Holy damn. Look at you. You're a time traveler.

Chris (31:30)

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, yeah. I just well, yeah.

Chris (31:33)

Once again, you could buy insulin over the counter. I struggled through jobs as I grew up, but we're gonna I don't wanna skip ahead. So So in so in this whole deal, speed up a little bit. January 1, we go out on a party.

A Wake-Up Call and Returning to Family

Chris (31:46)

I remember we went somewhere. The whole group, everybody was doing all the same crap. So everybody's, you know, did the same crap. And the next morning, that was January sorry. That was January's December 31.

Chris (32:01)

January 1, I woke up in the ER with a catheter and stuff hooked up to me, and I basically was unresponsive for fourteen seconds, they said.

Scott Benner (32:14)

Oh my gosh.

Chris (32:16)

So my party friends dumped me off at the front door, and they saved me. My blood sugar was 900 when they dropped me off, and DKA had already came in and presented itself. Yes. And that was what we call a wake up call.

Scott Benner (32:36)

Yeah. I was gonna say,

Chris (32:37)

is is that is

Scott Benner (32:38)

that the moment where you go, oh, maybe I should try to stay alive a little harder?

Chris (32:42)

Yeah. I think yeah. I think, and that scared the that scared the me.

Scott Benner (32:48)

I really did. That. The catheter, if nothing else.

Chris (32:51)

Yeah. Jesus. Yeah. God. I can't.

Scott Benner (32:55)

I have to imagine there's a moment when you've you've regained some clarity and you go, oh, there's a tube in my penis. I wonder how that got

Chris (33:01)

there. Yeah. I wonder and how are they gonna get it out of

Scott Benner (33:04)

there? Yeah. Oh. And then you're looking around the room, you're like, which one of these people did that? No.

Scott Benner (33:10)

No. No. I I I imagine. Yeah. So were you high at that time or just in DKA or both?

Chris (33:16)

Well, it was died. Everything's pretty much worn off by then, so it was d DKA that took me down.

Scott Benner (33:21)

I see. Okay. Once you realize there's something to do, you're locked into where you live. Like, how do that's a lot of change to make all at once. I mean Yeah.

Chris (33:29)

You know what I mean? That's where that's where my father comes in.

Scott Benner (33:34)

My dad Not mister Jefferson. The the Not

Chris (33:37)

not mister Jefferson. This is

Scott Benner (33:39)

my real dad. Okay. Okay.

Chris (33:40)

He was, back in town, I heard, and I've always remembered his phone number. I called him and basically confessed. I said, dad, this is what happened. This is where I'm at. You have to come and get me out of here.

Chris (33:52)

And that's what he did.

Scott Benner (33:53)

Wow. No kidding. How long did it have been since you seen

Chris (33:55)

him? Oh, three to four three years.

Scott Benner (34:01)

No kidding. And Yeah. No no judgment? Just came and got you?

Chris (34:06)

No judgment at all.

Scott Benner (34:08)

Does he have a similar background to yours? Could he understand your plight, or is this just good?

Chris (34:12)

He no. He he didn't, but he understood the situation.

Scott Benner (34:16)

Okay.

Chris (34:17)

And like I said, I was straight up with him. I said that I I messed up big time. I I don't wanna be in there anymore. If you don't come and get me, I'm gonna go right back there.

Scott Benner (34:25)

Yeah. And tell me one more time. Your dad not a partier? Not a nothing he wasn't like that guy?

Chris (34:31)

No. Uh-uh. Not like that at all.

Scott Benner (34:33)

Okay. Alright. I have a tiny bit of well, I've I've a lot of knowledge about not seeing my dad for a long time and then going to see him again, and it's an uncomfortable moment for him,

Chris (34:42)

for you. Tough.

Scott Benner (34:43)

Yeah. For everybody. Because everyone is either hurt or embarrassed or some mix of that. You know?

Chris (34:49)

And Or angry.

Scott Benner (34:50)

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. All trust me. I think we could sit down and write down emotions for twenty minutes, and I'd go, yeah.

Scott Benner (34:55)

That one too. Yep. So Mhmm. So so that all gets overcome because he realizes you're in actual trouble. Do you live with him then?

Scott Benner (35:02)

Yes. Wow. How long did you

Chris (35:03)

live with him for? I lived with him for a couple years, and then I moved on and went to some school for some mechanic, like car mechanic stuff Mhmm. Where that ended up taking me to my next venture of traveling around the world racing cars.

Scott Benner (35:25)

Okay. Well, real quick, though. In those years you lived with your father Uh-huh. Do you guys ever talk about where he was? Because, I mean, he's did he mature?

Scott Benner (35:36)

Like, why was he able to be a dad then, I guess, is my question.

Chris (35:40)

I think it woke both of us up. Okay. I think I think it was a ton of a kind of a, like, this has to happen, and it's going to happen, and we're gonna make the best of it, and we did.

Scott Benner (35:49)

Did you start talking to your mom more again or no? Was you and

Chris (35:53)

your dad? I was talking to my mom off and on, but it was still pretty negative because there wasn't much reach out after I left.

Scott Benner (36:00)

Yeah. Well, if you had a nicer house, if she could've lived with you, then she might have been nicer to you. Have you let any of that go, by the way, as an adult? How much therapy do you do exactly?

Chris (36:10)

Well, we have up to Thanksgiving of last year, my mom and I, let it all out, and we are now perfect.

Scott Benner (36:20)

Oh, good for you.

Chris (36:21)

So it's but it's taken that long, Scott. Like, it's been

Scott Benner (36:23)

Yeah. No. I understand.

Chris (36:25)

You know, it's been from the time that I was in high school to yeah. We spoke a little bit here and there. My grandmother ended up passing. I heard about that. But, like, we haven't really thrown it out there to what actually did all this until last year.

Chris (36:44)

Chris, I have to

Scott Benner (36:44)

tell you something. In thirty three minutes of talking, I've just been trying to act as a, you know, as the person kinda getting your story from you. I haven't felt sad yet even though you said a lot of sad things until you said, I learned of my grandmother's passing.

Chris (36:59)

Uh-huh.

Scott Benner (36:59)

That made me sad.

Chris (37:00)

Yeah. That's that was a rough one. She was, she got dementia really bad and that was it. But

Scott Benner (37:09)

I don't even mean that she died. I mean that she died and you were unaware that she died. Yeah. That's the part that made me sad.

Chris (37:16)

Yeah. That that did suck.

Scott Benner (37:17)

Yeah. Jesus. You okay? Is he already talking about all this?

Chris (37:21)

Yeah. I'm fine. I I expected it to. I'm just trying to make sure I don't jump around too much. So

Scott Benner (37:26)

Yeah. No. I just want people to real like, sometimes I get back from people, like, they didn't wanna talk about that. I'm like, listen. I didn't make them come on the podcast.

Chris (37:31)

No. I I I mean, a lot of this has to do with what we're here for. So, I mean

Scott Benner (37:35)

You know? No. I know. I imagine your whole lead up is gonna is gonna is gonna crescendo in a in a pretty interesting way. So, my god.

Professional Racing Career

Scott Benner (37:44)

Wait a minute. So you're racing

Chris (37:45)

what are you what are

Scott Benner (37:46)

you racing? Like, little quarters, dirt track? What are you guys doing?

Chris (37:48)

No. Sports car. So twenty four hour, twelve hour stuff.

Scott Benner (37:52)

Oh, wow.

Chris (37:53)

All the way from all over the country to France to Italy, Germany, all that kind of stuff. And that took me through my career from, let's see, the pretty much the year of 2000 all the way to '14, 2014.

Scott Benner (38:10)

You're a mechanic on a crew? Are you driving? Or what do you do?

Chris (38:12)

Yeah. A crew, over the wall tires and and all that kind of stuff, and I loved it.

Scott Benner (38:18)

Oh, let me ask you a question.

Chris (38:20)

K.

Scott Benner (38:20)

How much did you enjoy the movie Ford versus Ferrari?

Chris (38:24)

So it's kinda funny. I used to work for one of those teams and ended up working for one of the other teams, and that Ford versus Ferrari situation kind of, happened again in 2016 in France. So it kinda relived it, and I worked for both companies that were part of that.

Scott Benner (38:45)

No kidding. I can't tell if I just love that movie or if I love Matt Damon more than I think I do.

Chris (38:49)

It's it's a good they did a really good job. Okay. They did a really good job on that movie.

Scott Benner (38:53)

So here's the question. If I only let you watch one again, Ford versus Ferrari or the f one film with Brad Pitt, which do you choose?

Chris (39:02)

I think that if we're gonna go with the reality basis and the history of it, Ford versus Ferrari for sure.

Scott Benner (39:11)

Yeah. I didn't not like f one, but at some point, I thought this is going on forever, and it feels a little fantastical. I like and I wanted it to be a little more real.

Chris (39:21)

I mean, yeah. And I don't think that a 48 or 40 or 50 year old guy with suntan, wrinkled skin can jump into a Formula one car and do

Scott Benner (39:30)

You think he'd drive eight feet and go right into a turn. Right?

Chris (39:33)

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Mean, there's a lot going on there.

Chris (39:37)

So either way

Scott Benner (39:38)

I'm just gonna admit that I'm 54, and there are times I'm completely with it. Okay? And I'm probably as healthy as I've ever been in my life. And there are some times when you're on the road where you think, like, I was a little better at this when I was younger.

Chris (39:50)

Exactly. Yeah.

Scott Benner (39:52)

So yeah. And I'm not going, however, hundreds of miles. Right. Yeah. Feeling every pebble on the road as the car is dancing over the air.

Chris (40:02)

Right.

Scott Benner (40:03)

But, anyway, I'm sorry. So that's our well, that's a really interesting life. Now during that life, are you married? Do you have kids during that time? Are you drug

Chris (40:12)

are you drug free? Yes. But alcohol started taking over because that kind of flows when you start winning.

Scott Benner (40:19)

Oh, the part the party picks back up and

Chris (40:22)

things are going well. The I started drinking quite a bit. Nothing out of control, but more to where it was really starting to affect my diabetes quite a bit. Okay.

Scott Benner (40:35)

Is that a thing you got under control again?

Chris (40:37)

Yes. You did? Yes. Yeah.

Scott Benner (40:39)

Would you consider yourself an alcoholic or no?

Chris (40:42)

No. It was just too easy.

Scott Benner (40:45)

It's all always there.

Chris (40:47)

It was always there. It's like you you go out, you work all day getting everything ready, and then you go out and have a beer. And then, oh, look at these there's other teams here. Okay. Let's hang out with them.

Chris (40:56)

And then, oh, then, and then you lose, and then you hate each other, and then you love each other, and then it's just it's just a cycle, and it was kinda starting to take over I see. Quite a bit.

Scott Benner (41:05)

Somebody have to step in and help you, or did you figure it out for yourself?

Chris (41:08)

No. I figured it out for myself.

Scott Benner (41:10)

Okay. Any AA or anything like that?

Chris (41:12)

Or No. Nothing like that. No.

Scott Benner (41:14)

Just you just were like, I'm gonna stop drinking now. This is not Yeah.

Chris (41:16)

I'm just gonna I'm gonna yeah. Okay. So that lifestyle, it was difficult doing shots in a porta potty in the middle of the night, but, you know, you gotta do what you gotta do.

Scott Benner (41:28)

That's where you're doing your insulin? Yeah. Because wait. Because, Chris, are you still hiding it at that point?

Chris (41:33)

I'm not hiding it, but the races would go the twenty four hour races would go to the following day.

Scott Benner (41:39)

And you're just looking for a place to be And I

Chris (41:41)

and I'm just looking for a quiet place where I can I have a suit on, so I have to unzip the suit and get the belly out and do all that kind of stuff? And I didn't wanna do that right in front of somebody. So That's what I would be doing.

Scott Benner (41:53)

I gotta tell you, get the belly out is the most descriptive thing anybody said to me all week so far. Yeah. Well yeah. It's like you had to present it to the world so that you could get it.

Chris (42:03)

Well, yeah. They you wear these suits and you're pretty much shoehorned in this thing. You know, it's like a

Scott Benner (42:07)

Yeah.

Chris (42:08)

You're getting they're pretty snug. So trying to get the zipper actually zips from the bottom up, you know, or top down, whatever you wanna do. So you get the bottom when you zip it up and get the belly out and just enough skin and off it goes.

Scott Benner (42:20)

Are they fire suits? Yeah. Yeah. Okay.

Chris (42:23)

Yeah. No mechs.

Scott Benner (42:24)

But you're still a regular on Miles per hour though. Right?

Chris (42:27)

Yes.

Scott Benner (42:27)

Oh, wow.

Chris (42:28)

Sure am.

Scott Benner (42:28)

What are your do you know a one c's? Like, what's the level of health care for you during that time?

Chris (42:34)

During that time, it was it was okay. I was getting my a one c's done. I was running about seven or eight. Okay. Not the best control, but I knew it.

Chris (42:45)

I mean, I I I would I wanted to make sure that my blood sugar was a little on the higher side because when we're doing pit stops, I wanted to make sure that

Scott Benner (42:56)

You don't wanna get low.

Chris (42:57)

I don't wanna get low because that's I feel like of one of the k two cases, I can at least get my job done if my blood sugar is a little on the higher side than it is if it's low.

Scott Benner (43:06)

Okay. And what would management to lower have meant to you? Would it have meant more insulin, or would it have meant different eating? Both. Both would have helped that.

Chris (43:17)

Yeah. Both would have helped that. And to be honest, at that time, I was so in the gray about insulin. I had no idea. I mean, I just was like, this is what you do.

Chris (43:28)

You get this foggy stuff, and you get this stuff. And

Scott Benner (43:31)

oh, you don't have a functional idea of what all this is doing. It's just

Chris (43:35)

I know what it's doing, but I haven't I haven't updated anything. Just still cruising right along with the same scenario.

Scott Benner (43:43)

Whatever your shots used to be is what they are now, and you're you're not thinking about it. I mean, you understand functionally what it does, but you're not you're not looking at an outcome and saying, oh, had I just done this, then this might have gone differently.

Chris (43:56)

Correct.

Scott Benner (43:57)

I gotcha. Okay. Yeah. Alright. 2015 is when you got a faster acting insulin?

Chris (44:03)

Is that what you're when I got so my health care has never been with racing, you don't have your you're a contract employee.

Scott Benner (44:13)

Mhmm.

Chris (44:14)

So you don't have any kind of health care, and everything you do for health care for is kinda up to you. The third party health care for a type one is is insanely expensive.

Scott Benner (44:26)

Right. So that's part of why you stayed with that insulin. Right?

Chris (44:29)

Stayed with the insulin because I could go anywhere and buy it over the counter.

Scott Benner (44:32)

Yeah. But you weren't using a CGM during that time?

Chris (44:35)

Nope. I had my Dexcom that I'm wearing now was started in 2019. Wow. My goodness. Yeah.

Chris (44:44)

Yeah.

Scott Benner (44:44)

I bet you the first four years without the CGM were probably a rocky start, right, to figure out. Yeah.

Chris (44:51)

Yeah. For sure. Yeah. For sure. Trying to figure out this and that.

Chris (44:54)

I was obviously still sticking my finger, but, boy, it sucked because I wasn't to be fair, I wasn't really doing it. You know, I when I got on my own and I didn't care about anything anymore, the last thing I was gonna do is poke my finger.

Scott Benner (45:06)

Yeah. Well, that pivot from regular and Miles per hour later in life to a faster acting insulin, you know, long acting that stuff, most of your knowledge doesn't transfer to the new idea. And No. That's Not

Chris (45:19)

at all.

Scott Benner (45:21)

That really is what I noticed when I talk to people over and over again is that they were they have diabetes and they take insulin. But when you switch them to, you know, I don't know, Humalog and, you know, something like that, then they don't know what they're doing. They start over again as a person who feels like they have twenty years of experience without any of the knowledge that goes along with it.

Chris (45:41)

Right. Yeah. Exactly. Wow.

Transitioning to a Normal Life

Scott Benner (45:43)

Okay. So I'm sorry. The the racing thing, when that ends Yep. Why does it end, and where do you go next?

Chris (45:51)

So it ended basically around COVID. It got really, really difficult to do anything, obviously. Right? Racing is kinda like a it's a it's an extra thing. Right?

Chris (46:03)

It doesn't have to happen. It's all extra money that, you know, I used to call it April 15 racing because a lot of it, you know, is tax Tax tax and all that kind of stuff. And I had a really good friend of mine that I had kept in touch with who is my wife now. I moved to another state when I started racing and stayed where I am now, we'll just call it the South. Mhmm.

Chris (46:34)

Met this lady when I first moved here, and we stayed in contact. She got married again, had some children, and it went really sour. And that's when, basically, I was tired of racing. I got tired of the hotels. I got tired of the suitcases.

Chris (46:52)

I got tired of the horrible breakfast in the morning. Just all of the typical things of travel. And her kids said, you know what? We like seeing you on TV, but if you were here, it would be better. And that's all it took.

Scott Benner (47:07)

That's nice. Look at that. Look at that.

Chris (47:11)

Yeah. You

Scott Benner (47:11)

just went into a I mean, that's a pretty big shift from your story to just a regular, like, I'm gonna live here all the time life.

Chris (47:18)

It but but, I mean, it's yeah, Scott. I mean, I lived out of a suitcase, single life, all the way until 2018.

Scott Benner (47:25)

Yeah. Wow. That is not that long ago.

Chris (47:28)

I know.

Scott Benner (47:28)

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And and how was the transition to being a normie? How did that go?

Outro & Sponsors

Scott Benner (47:41)

This episode was too good to cut anything out of, but too long to make just one episode. So this is part one. Make sure you go find part two right now. It's gonna be the next episode in your feed. Today's episode of the Juice Box podcast was sponsored by the new Tandem Mobi system and Control IQ Plus technology.

Scott Benner (48:01)

Learn more and get started today at tandemdiabetes.com/juicebox. Check it out. The conversation you just enjoyed was brought to you by US Med. Usmed.com/juicebox or call (888) 721-1514. Get started today and get your supplies from US Med.

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Like, I listen back and I'm like, why do I sound smarter? And then I remember because I did one smart thing. I hired Rob at wrongwayrecording.com.

READ FULL TRANSCRIPT

#1835 Bolus 4 - Ultra Processed Food

Scott and Jenny talk about how to bolus 4 ultra processed food. 

Proudly supported by

Key Takeaways

• Ultra-processed foods (UPFs) are heavily altered with industrial ingredients, additives, and preservatives designed to maximize shelf life, palatability, and corporate profitability.
• Food engineering capitalizes on addiction cues: Manufacturers find the perfect blends of fat, sugar, and salt to trigger cravings, overriding natural satiety cues and promoting overconsumption.
• The absence of Amylin makes bolusing harder: In type 1 diabetes, the lack of the hormone Amylin leads to faster gastric emptying and weaker fullness signals, meaning blood sugar from processed foods rises rapidly.
• GLP-1 medications tackle "food noise": These drugs help control constant hunger and improve satiety, enabling weight management even when consuming highly processed foods.
• Refined ingredients spike blood sugars rapidly: Highly processed products, such as high fructose corn syrup and heavily refined seed oils, lack natural fiber and nutrients, making them particularly challenging to bolus for effectively.

Resources Mentioned

• Juicebox Podcast: juiceboxpodcast.com
• The Meal Bolt Framework: juiceboxpodcast.com/meal-bolt
• Omnipod 5: omnipod.com/juicebox
• Dexcom G7: dexcom.com/juicebox
• Wrong Way Recording: wrongwayrecording.com
• Juicebox Podcast Private Facebook Group & Diabetes Pro Tip Series (Episodes 1000-1025)

FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

Introduction & The Meal Bolt Framework

Scott Benner (0:0) Hello, friends, and welcome back to another episode of the Juice Box podcast. (0:15) In every episode of bolus four, Jenny Smith and I are gonna take a few minutes to talk through how to bolus for a single item of food. (0:23) Jenny and I are gonna follow a little bit of a road map called meal bolt. (0:28) Measure the meal, evaluate yourself, add the base units, layer a correction, build the bolus shape, offset the timing, look at the CGM, tweak for next time. (0:39) Having said that, these episodes are gonna be very conversational and not incredibly technical.

Scott Benner (0:45) We want you to hear how we think about it, but we also would like you to know that this is kind of the pathway we're considering while we're talking about it. (0:52) So while you might not hear us say every letter of Miel Bolt in every episode, we will be thinking about it while we're talking. (1:00) If you wanna learn more, go to juiceboxpodcast.com/meal-bolt. (1:05) But for now, we'll find out how to bowl us for today's subject. (1:10) While you're listening, please remember that nothing you hear on the Juice Box podcast should be considered advice, medical or otherwise.

Scott Benner (1:19) Always consult a physician before making any changes to your health care plan or becoming bold with insulin.

Scott Benner (1:29) Today's episode is brought to you by Omnipod. (1:32) We talk a lot about ways to lower your a one c on this podcast. (1:36) Did you know that the Omnipod five was shown to lower a one c? (1:40) That's right.

Scott Benner (1:41) Omnipod five is a tube free automated insulin delivery system, and it was shown to significantly improve a one c and time and range for people with type one diabetes when they switched from daily injections. (1:53) My daughter is about to turn 21 years old, and she has been wearing an Omnipod every day since she was four. (1:59) It has been a friend to our family, and I think it could be a friend to yours. (2:03) If you're ready to try Omnipod five for yourself or your family, use my link now to get started. (2:10) Omnipod.com/juicebox.

Scott Benner (2:12) Get that free Omnipod five starter kit today. (2:15) Terms and conditions apply. (2:17) Eligibility may vary. (2:18) Full terms and conditions can be found at omnipod.com/juicebox. (2:23) Today's episode is also sponsored by the Dexcom g seven, the same CGM that my daughter wears.

Defining Ultra-Processed Foods

Scott Benner (2:29) Check it out now at dexcom.com/juicebox. (2:34) Alright, Jenny. (2:35) I was thinking that today we would, for the bolus four series, instead of talking about how to bolus for something today, I thought we'd dig into what ultra processing means. (2:47) Oh. (2:48) So that we can figure out what foods are made out of.

Scott Benner (2:51) Right? (2:52) Because now we've been talking about bolusing for a while, and, you know, I think people can hear that maybe simpler, more organic, natural foods don't seem like they need as much finagling when it comes to bolusing. (3:07) Right? (3:07) And then they've heard us talk about, like, bolusing for donuts and stuff like that. (3:11) And I thought maybe just taking a pause here in the middle of making bolas for episodes, we could talk more about why that is.

Scott Benner (3:17) So Sure. (3:19) Alright. (3:20) Are you good with that?

Jenny Smith (3:21) Yeah. (3:21) I know that's kind of fun.

Scott Benner (3:23) Okay. (3:23) Well, I knew you'd find it kind of fun. (3:26) And I wanna be clear to everybody. (3:28) This is a fact finding mission for me because I mean, Jenny's got the background to talk about this. (3:33) I don't fundamentally understand all this.

Scott Benner (3:35) I know I don't want processed foods, and I've heard the word ultra processed, and I'm gonna try to break up the difference. (3:42) So I do I just wanna start there, like, the difference between processed and ultra processed. (3:48) And I'm gonna ask you for yours, and then I'm gonna look online while you're talking and try to round up that question and then go to the next one.

Jenny Smith (3:54) Sure. (3:55) Ultra processed foods compared to unprocessed or, for lack of better word, real food, right, is the ultra processed food, also often called UPFs, just a little acronym, are made from, like, industrial based ingredients. (4:16) They've got a lot of additives in, things that don't occur in nature, most often because of the taste profile. (4:25) Mhmm. (4:26) Most often in order to preserve the product and give it the crunch, the appeal, the taste after it's been sitting in the actual package for questionable amount of time on the shelf.

Jenny Smith (4:39) So ultra processed is essentially, like, making something to eat in a factory. (4:45) That's kind of how I think about it.

Scott Benner (4:48) Okay. (4:48) What it tells me is the difference is mostly about how much the original food has been changed.

Jenny Smith (4:53) Yes.

Scott Benner (4:53) Okay. (4:54) Processed foods are foods that have been altered from their original form usually to make them safer, last longer, or be easier to prepare. (5:02) The one thing I've noticed about this, because this is not the first time I've looked into this, is that sorry. (5:07) There's people working in my house today.

Jenny Smith (5:10) I can't hear anything. (5:11) Well,

Scott Benner (5:12) trust me. (5:13) It's gonna get on the recording. (5:14) I'm pretty sure. (5:15) So plain yogurts, canned beans, frozen vegetables, rolled oats, cheese, peanut butter with just peanuts and salt, whole grain bread with a short ingredients list is what they're talking about as processed food, ultra processed soda, packaged snack cakes, chips with flavor coatings, candy, instant noodles with seasoning packets, chicken nuggets made from reconstituted meat, sugary breakfast cereals, packaged cookies, many frozen microwave meals, and things that say cheese product on them.

Jenny Smith (5:47) I think it's also you just said two different things about process.

Scott Benner (5:51) Okay.

Jenny Smith (5:52) Right? (5:52) You said ultra process

Scott Benner (5:54) Mhmm.

Jenny Smith (5:54) Which is more what I defined

Scott Benner (5:56) Yep.

Jenny Smith (5:56) And processed. (5:58) Because quite honestly, in today's world, we don't live like it's little house on the prairie times.

Scott Benner (6:04) Right?

Jenny Smith (6:06) So even something like yogurt, which I wouldn't consider a processed food, it is Mhmm. (6:14) Truly. (6:15) Because unless you're going to take the milk and make it and you've got a yogurt maker at home, blah blah blah, and take the time to do it, your yogurt has been processed in order to package it, keep it contained. (6:26) They use the word safe. (6:28) It does make it more safe because if they didn't do some of the stuff that they did, even a food that's been minimally processed is gonna go bad, and you're not gonna wanna eat it.

Scott Benner (6:40) Okay.

Jenny Smith (6:41) Right? (6:41) So I think it's great that you brought that in because there is a definition difference.

Scott Benner (6:46) I also started to say and then didn't finish my thought that when you Google or chat GPT or however you get your information, this thing is gonna be leaning towards what the FDA said is okay, what the USDA says is okay. (7:01) If you press it a little more, it will, you know, like

Jenny Smith (7:04) Give you more.

Scott Benner (7:05) You'll see later when we get to oil and Mhmm. (7:08) And corn syrup and stuff like that. (7:09) But, anyway, so ultra processed foods are gonna have a lot of chemicals in them or Yes. (7:15) Preserve but more specifically, preservatives.

Jenny Smith (7:18) But Typically yes.

Scott Benner (7:19) Good. (7:20) Good.

Jenny Smith (7:20) Preservatives, but also things like I think we've looked it up before. (7:24) Things that are anti caking agents. (7:27) They don't let the product get all crunchy and gross when it's supposed to be a powder Mhmm. (7:32) Or they help it to retain the crunch and not get soggy. (7:37) Again, all of these things that we've learned in industrializing our world

Scott Benner (7:44) Mhmm.

Jenny Smith (7:45) Have come about because lives have gotten busier. (7:48) We need something that's quick, easy, fast to actually do. (7:52) We don't have time to slice up the potato and put it in the food dehydrator or the air fryer to actually make our own potato chips. (8:00) We wanna buy them easy to crunch out of the bag.

The Engineering of Palatability

Scott Benner (8:02) Yeah. (8:02) I've had this conversation already. (8:05) I'm having it again with you. (8:06) But I asked then, like, why should I care about this? (8:08) Mhmm.

Scott Benner (8:09) And it was interesting because it didn't answer me the way I thought it was going to. (8:12) I thought it was gonna say, like, well, there's additives and preservatives and chemicals. (8:15) It said more about, like, that there's a it's just very low in nutritional value. (8:21) Yes. (8:21) And high intake is linked to chronic disease, but it's more about the the flavor and the salt, sugar, fat Fat.

Scott Benner (8:32) Mix that that slurry they make then spread on your Doritos or wherever they wherever it goes. (8:38) Right? (8:39) Yes. (8:40) It's a perfect blend of the things that your body desires.

Jenny Smith (8:44) 100%.

Scott Benner (8:45) Right. (8:45) Right.

Jenny Smith (8:45) They have hit it. (8:47) I can't remember the name of the book, but years ago, there was a gentleman who wrote a book all about this. (8:53) It was all about the food in quote, unquote, food industry learning to capitalize on fat, sugar, and salt, and how to combine them from a chemical structure that it hits your taste bud the way that people want it to, and then it hits the brain signals that say, take another. (9:15) Yes. (9:16) Take another.

Jenny Smith (9:17) Keep coming back for it. (9:18) And they've they've figured it out. (9:20) I mean, they are absolute, like, chemical geniuses in terms of packing a whole bunch that no human body needs in it.

Scott Benner (9:28) Mhmm. (9:28) So I kinda then I picked her around. (9:30) I was like, why would someone do this? (9:31) So I tried to like, I acted naive for a second. (9:34) Was like, why if I was making food, why would I do this?

Scott Benner (9:36) The answer back was higher margin products, longer shelf life, less waste. (9:41) It creates repeat buying because it's hyperpalatable, and it's also very repeatable. (9:48) So you know that when you buy the chip, it's gonna taste the same time after time after time. (9:53) Like, it's there waiting for you, and you know what you're gonna get when you get it. (9:56) It talked a little bit about the addictiveness, not as much like drugs, but more about just, like, repeat consumption, like, the idea of and because I said, I was like, well, I must be able to eat some of this without it hurting me.

Scott Benner (10:07) Like, can my body process canola oil? (10:09) And, you know, it's like, yeah, your body can process canola oil. (10:12) It can process Sure. (10:13) Yeah. (10:13) Yeah.

Scott Benner (10:14) Then it becomes more about it's not about having a potato chip. (10:18) It's about having a bag of potato chips. (10:20) And it's not even about having a bag of potato chips. (10:22) It's about having 50 bags of potato chips. (10:24) Right?

Scott Benner (10:25) Like Yeah. (10:25) Over a year or two. (10:27) Like, I don't even know how to quantify that. (10:28) Like, I wonder how many bags of potato chips a person eats in a year. (10:32) It could be probably more than I think.

Jenny Smith (10:35) It could be a lot. (10:36) And I think that that also the consideration of I mean, the word addiction is correct to use here.

Scott Benner (10:44) Okay.

Jenny Smith (10:44) Not in the sense like alcohol or drugs or whatever, but honestly, if we imagine that the ultra processed foods are similar in effect over a long period of time on our internal health, on our vessels, on our nerves. (11:02) I quite honestly, right on every little cell in our body that's trying to make energy the right way

Scott Benner (11:08) Mhmm.

Jenny Smith (11:09) They become addictive. (11:10) And so, I mean, what's the is it Pringles? (11:13) It's once you pop, you can't stop.

Scott Benner (11:14) Yeah.

Jenny Smith (11:15) Right? (11:16) It's so salty. (11:16) It's salty. (11:18) It's crunchy. (11:18) It's got all of the hit points that you want, and you don't consider the calorie

Scott Benner (11:25) Mhmm.

Jenny Smith (11:26) That you end up taking in. (11:28) With a product that's mostly it's like air, and you eat it, and you take another one, and you take another one. (11:34) It's very easy to probably eat half a can of them without realizing, and then you've ended up with 600 calories worth of you're still hungry. (11:45) Yeah. (11:45) And then you go to something else.

Jenny Smith (11:46) Whereas had you sat down to a 600 calorie meal that's truly real, mostly not high processed food. (11:56) Right? (11:56) Mhmm. (11:57) You are going to have a fullness, satiety factor in the aftermath of a meal. (12:01) You're gonna have a wealth of nutrients.

Jenny Smith (12:03) You're gonna have all of the macronutrients. (12:06) You're just gonna have better for your body as well as that feeling of I ate a meal, and I am I'm full. (12:12) I'm satisfied.

Scott Benner (12:13) So I asked the question next, and I have, you know, have this experience, so I know this is true. (12:19) And I almost I almost resist saying this out loud, but I've been on a GLP now for, like, three years. (12:26) Mhmm. (12:26) I can eat poorly for days at a time now and not gain weight. (12:32) So that's a little bit of gives with one hand, takes away with the other kind of a situation because you have to, like, thoughtfully anybody who's on a GLP who's trying to do what they're supposed to be doing is always telling themselves, I gotta take in a bunch of protein.

Scott Benner (12:47) I gotta keep moving. (12:48) But, like, I need chicken. (12:50) I need beef. (12:50) I need I need protein protein eggs. (12:53) Like, I think about that all the time.

Scott Benner (12:55) And by the way, that has not been easy lately as four steaks at Costco have gone from 40 to $90 in, the last, like, three months. (13:05) It's really crazy. (13:07) Wow. (13:08) So I'm trying to be aware of that while we're talking about this. (13:11) The food is getting, like, very expensive.

Scott Benner (13:13) But yet so I said, like, why is that? (13:15) And I said, beyond like, at first, it was funny because at first, it ants I said, why would GLPs why would GLPs stop me from gaining weight from eating ultra when I eat ultra processed foods? (13:26) And the first answer that came back was like, oh, well, it you know, satiety. (13:29) It makes you not as hungry so you don't eat as much. (13:31) And I said, no.

Scott Benner (13:32) That is not what's happening. (13:33) Like, I was like, I can eat as much as I I know how to eat through a GLP at this point. (13:36) Like, I understand how to, like, manipulate the whole thing. (13:40) Even if I eat that stuff and in excess even, why don't I gain weight? (13:44) And it started talking about insulin and slowing gastric emptying and kind of the ways my body's manipulating it.

Scott Benner (13:52) And then I said, well, then are ultra processed foods the problem or the way my body works the problem? (13:58) It thought the ultra processed foods were the problem, by the way. (14:01) But Yeah. (14:02) I was just like, maybe we haven't maybe we haven't evolved enough yet. (14:06) I'm not a historian, but the way food's made now is obviously first about money.

Scott Benner (14:12) This is the next thing that obviously is upsetting. (14:14) You look into all the companies that own all of the different things. (14:18) Pepsi and Coke, for example, own a ton of companies that make food.

Jenny Smith (14:22) Right.

Scott Benner (14:22) Okay. (14:23) They're trying to make money, but they're also trying to feed billions more people than used to be standing on the planet. (14:29) So I understand that even. (14:30) Right? (14:31) But I just it gives me the same feeling.

Scott Benner (14:35) And I I'm I'll be brief here because I know I've probably said this before in the podcast. (14:38) But when I caught my little brother smoking when he was a teenager, I said, if I was you, I'd think about the eight rich guys sitting around a table laughing that you bought those cigarettes and that they're rich because of it. (14:51) And I bet you none of them smoke. (14:53) And, you know, so I I I do feel that way about a lot of this food sometimes.

Midroll Sponsors: Dexcom G7 & Omnipod 5

Scott Benner (15:01) The Dexcom g seven is sponsoring this episode of the juice box podcast, and it features a lightning fast thirty minute warm up time.

Scott Benner (15:09) That's right. (15:09) From the time you put on the Dexcom g seven till the time you're getting readings, thirty minutes. (15:15) That's pretty great. (15:16) It also has a twelve hour grace period, so you can swap your sensor when it's convenient for you. (15:22) All that on top of it being small, accurate, incredibly wearable, and light, these things, in my opinion, make the Dexcom g seven a no brainer.

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Scott Benner (15:47) Alerts and alarms that are customizable so that you can be alerted at the levels that make sense to you. (15:54) Dexcom.com/juicebox. (15:56) Links in the show notes. (15:57) Links at juiceboxpodcast.com to Dexcom and all the sponsors. (16:02) When you use my links, you're supporting the production of the podcast and helping to keep it free and plentiful.

Scott Benner (16:09) Today's episode is brought to you by Omnipod. (16:12) We talk a lot about ways to lower your a one c on this podcast. (16:16) Did you know that the Omnipod five was shown to lower a one c? (16:20) That's right. (16:20) Omnipod five is a tube free automated insulin delivery system, and it was shown to significantly improve a one c end time and range for people with type one diabetes when they switched from daily injections.

Scott Benner (16:32) My daughter is about to turn 21 years old, and she has been wearing an Omnipod every day since she was four. (16:39) It has been a friend to our family, and I think it could be a friend to yours. (16:43) If you're ready to try Omnipod five for yourself or your family, use my link now to get started. (16:49) Omnipod.com/juicebox. (16:52) Get that free Omnipod five starter kit today.

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Food Noise and Satiety

Jenny Smith (17:02) And what goes along with it if you're thinking that way is if you can wrap your mind around that, you're probably the person that's gonna start to make changes. (17:13) You're the person, as you said before, how many bags of potato chips could somebody possibly eat? (17:19) And as somebody who has a mindset of occasional in their habits

Scott Benner (17:24) Mhmm.

Jenny Smith (17:25) It's much easier for them to say, even without a GLP or anything else that affects satiety, it's easier for them to say, I'm gonna take a handful, and that's what I have on my plate, and I don't need to go back for more. (17:37) There's something in kind of the the way that we end up learning and thinking about food intake over time that is also really hard to navigate. (17:49) Thus, an interesting reason that GLPs seem to work for a lot of people who had no ability to control before is it brings in you know, we've heard it many times called food noise. (18:04) It brings in the ability to control that food noise. (18:09) It almost brings recognition of how much you've eaten or what you've eaten.

Jenny Smith (18:13) Even if it isn't an apple, you're still eating ultra high processed food. (18:18) It brings in a little bit more recognition of portion

Scott Benner (18:21) Yeah.

Jenny Smith (18:22) Than you may have otherwise had. (18:25) And then the idea of looking at all the foods in a store that come in a package and seeing the brand name on that package has come from, as you just said, a big corporation that has figured out fat, salt, and sugar. (18:40) Yeah. (18:40) Figured it out.

Scott Benner (18:41) I would just tell you be insulted that somebody's taking advantage of you like that to take you take your money from you with no regard for what it's gonna do to your health.

Jenny Smith (18:49) Right.

Scott Benner (18:49) I do wonder as you were talking, I thought, I wonder if food because food noise is a is a trendy thing to say right now. (18:56) Right?

Jenny Smith (18:56) It is.

Scott Benner (18:56) But Mhmm. (18:57) Did it exist five hundred years ago?

Jenny Smith (19:00) I I don't

Scott Benner (19:00) Or did people just call that hunger? (19:02) Or, like, do know what I mean? (19:03) Or, like or has the processing of the food done something to us that makes it so that there's this, like, background noise of I don't know. (19:15) Or is it just a thing that, like, you know, people say nowadays? (19:18) Like, you know?

Jenny Smith (19:19) I think it's a combination of those things. (19:22) We have if you take five hundred years ago

Scott Benner (19:26) Mhmm.

Jenny Smith (19:26) Okay. (19:27) And gosh, that was that was a long time ago. (19:30) Right?

Scott Benner (19:31) That's six of my lives, hopefully, if I make it to 80, which by the way, I've been thinking about a lot lately. (19:36) I don't don't do that. (19:37) By the way, the actuarial table says I have, like, 1,400 weekends left. (19:41) So Oh. (19:42) Don't look into that.

Jenny Smith (19:44) I won't be looking at that at all. (19:46) No. (19:47) As you say, like, it struck me something you said just before about, one, we have a lot of people on the planet to feed Mhmm. (19:54) Comparative to five hundred years ago. (19:58) The second piece of that is we are no longer the majority of people on the planet are no longer in a realm of understanding agriculture in order to actually support their family.

Scott Benner (20:10) Mhmm.

Jenny Smith (20:10) Right? (20:10) I I have mean, a lovely garden, but would it a 100% support our four person family? (20:18) No. (20:19) Yeah. (20:19) By no means.

Jenny Smith (20:20) I I have to go to the grocery store. (20:22) Right?

Scott Benner (20:23) Mhmm.

Jenny Smith (20:23) And so therein food is widely available now comparative to five hundred years ago. (20:29) Yeah. (20:29) And it was much more the the true, again, hunter gatherer type of kind of idea. (20:36) I have to do something to get my food. (20:38) I'm gonna make the most out of the food that I get.

Jenny Smith (20:40) I'm gonna preserve it. (20:41) I'm gonna pack it away. (20:42) I'm gonna do all of these things through the course of the year. (20:46) We also now have strawberries in December when they would not grow on the ground outside my house. (20:53) Right?

Jenny Smith (20:53) So we have the advantage of a wealth of whatever type of food, unprocessed, processed. (21:01) Yeah. (21:02) And we've taken away the hunger cues in a way because it becomes so normal to just have food present at every every occasion that you end up coming to. (21:16) There is always who's gonna bring the donuts? (21:18) Who's gonna bring the muffins?

Jenny Smith (21:20) Who's gonna bring the bars or whatever it's going to be? (21:23) Right?

Scott Benner (21:23) My wife said to me last night, do you wanna go watch, TV before we go to bed? (21:28) And I said, sure. (21:29) It's like 09:30, 10:00. (21:31) And I thought, oh, I gotta get a drink to take with me. (21:33) And then I stopped and I went, why am I doing that?

Scott Benner (21:36) I'm like, it's 09:30. (21:38) I'm good.

Jenny Smith (21:38) Do I

Scott Benner (21:39) need I've drank as much as I'm gonna drink today. (21:40) What am I drinking something for? (21:42) Like, like, I actually I actually thought that. (21:44) Was like, why am I gonna so I thought, well, I'll bring water with me just in case. (21:48) Mhmm.

Scott Benner (21:48) But, like, I was thinking of, like, something else. (21:51) And then I was like, what what am I doing? (21:54) Let me say this about I don't again, I'm not a historian. (21:57) Right? (21:58) Isn't it interesting that people used to have way more kids?

Scott Benner (22:02) Like, were pumping kids out forever. (22:03) And if you're and by the way, if you blew your lady up making kids, you'd grab another lady and start pumping them out with her too. (22:09) Like, so you're making know you know what happened? (22:10) Those ladies didn't they didn't live very long.

Jenny Smith (22:12) Neither did men, honestly.

Scott Benner (22:14) No. (22:14) Well, what you would do, Jen, I don't know if you know this, is your wife, you'd you'd you had her pregnant so many times, she'd just explode or something. (22:19) And then, like, then you'd go find I

Jenny Smith (22:21) don't think so much.

Scott Benner (22:22) Technically how it happens. (22:24) But then, like, then you go find some lady whose husband got run over by a horse and you're like, hey. (22:28) Come watch my kids and I'll pay for yours and why don't we make five more while we're at it? (22:32) And but then those people, they died more frequently. (22:35) They went hungry.

Scott Benner (22:36) They got sick sooner. (22:38) Like, so many more people were being made back then, I bet, than are being made now, but we retain them so much better now. (22:44) Yes. (22:44) You know, like, not for and it is really kind of a I wanna say, it is kind of a miracle that people live as long as they do now. (22:51) And it's got a lot to do with the access to food and shelter and and etcetera.

Scott Benner (22:56) But, man, we could be we could be doing it better. (22:57) Let me pivot here to people with type one diabetes for a second, unless you have something you wanna say.

The Role of Amylin in Type 1 Diabetes

Jenny Smith (23:01) I wonder if you're gonna bring up the same thing I was gonna bring up, but go ahead.

Scott Benner (23:04) This would be crazy if we do that. (23:06) I wanted to talk about Amylin. (23:08) Is that what you were because because if that was what were gonna say, then we should really get married because It have been crazy.

Jenny Smith (23:16) In a way, not Amlan directly. (23:18) Okay. (23:18) My point was, as we were just talking about availability of food and what kind of boils down to is, like, hunger cues as you mentioned. (23:27) Right?

Scott Benner (23:27) K.

Jenny Smith (23:28) Eons ago, you did. (23:30) When you were hungry, your body was absolutely signaling to you. (23:34) It's time to take something in. (23:36) Or gosh, it's lunchtime. (23:38) Mom's calling us in from the field.

Jenny Smith (23:39) It's time to actually eat something in between. (23:42) There was not something called a snack.

Scott Benner (23:44) Yeah.

Jenny Smith (23:44) Like, snack has become such a very, nowadays type of thing to I mean, snacks in the car for kids traveling ten minutes across the city because they can't stand it without a snack. (23:55) Like right? (23:56) So

Scott Benner (23:57) No. (23:57) I mean, yeah, there's food there's literally food everywhere.

Jenny Smith (24:00) Food every my point, though, for type one diabetes or diabetes in general is that I'm trying to think how to say it. (24:07) We all have a disordered way of thinking about food.

Scott Benner (24:11) Okay.

Jenny Smith (24:12) We are we don't all have eating disorders, but because of the nature, excuse me, of how we have to manage blood sugar Mhmm. (24:23) It includes the hormone insulin.

Scott Benner (24:25) Yeah.

Jenny Smith (24:26) Our body doesn't make it the right way in response to something happening that we take in. (24:32) So we have to cognitively pay attention to insulin, food intake, and we have now navigated food has to come in because I have to take my insulin. (24:46) Right? (24:46) Right. (24:47) And it has taken away for I don't know how many people over and over, I hear people comment.

Jenny Smith (24:52) I'm not I don't feel hunger anymore. (24:54) I eat because I think it's time to eat, but I don't really have hunger cues most of the time. (24:59) And that's a disjointed way of considering why you should put food in your body as a basic need. (25:06) Are you saying

Scott Benner (25:07) you hear that from a lot of people with type one diabetes?

Jenny Smith (25:10) Absolutely. (25:11) A 100% that the food hunger cues are gone almost.

Scott Benner (25:18) Arden, all the time, she's like, I'm I'm hungry. (25:21) I need to eat. (25:22) But she's like, I don't, like, I don't crave anything. (25:25) Or and that's with or without by there, it's Yeah.

Jenny Smith (25:28) Yeah. (25:29) It's it's more it's not so much not being hungry. (25:34) It's almost like the hunger cues are they're not right. (25:38) It art you said Arden kind of just is I could nibble on something, like, all the time. (25:42) Mhmm.

Jenny Smith (25:42) Right? (25:44) And that's that's not right. (25:46) Mhmm. (25:46) Like, our body, once we sit and eat something, should feel satisfied, and we shouldn't feel like we could grab something again from the cupboard. (25:55) So I just wanted to throw that in.

Scott Benner (25:56) I would imagine too that in a in a previous, like, time line, you were eating to fuel literally to fuel yourself because you were gonna go keep doing something aggressively, probably active. (26:08) And then come like you said, come in from the field, eat again, then get the hell back out there and do it again. (26:13) And then come in and eat and then go to bed and then get the hell up and eat and do it again, like that kind of thing. (26:18) I I mean, my life is certainly

Jenny Smith (26:20) We don't live like that.

Scott Benner (26:21) I mean, you don't live like that. (26:22) You but you add exercise to it to take almost to, like I guess, you're you're pretending you're in a field by Yeah. (26:29) Running around and lifting things and stuff like that. (26:32) I I try very hard not to do that. (26:35) Back to amylin.

Scott Benner (26:36) Make sure this is right. (26:37) In someone with type one diabetes, beta cells release insulin and amylin together at meals. (26:41) Amylin helps with three big things, slows gastric emptying, suppresses inappropriate post meal glucagon, and increases satiety through central signaling. (26:51) In type one, because the beta cells are damaged, amylin is also deficient, not just the insulin. (26:56) Is that correct?

Jenny Smith (26:57) That is correct.

Scott Benner (26:58) Okay. (26:59) So, practically, it says food may leave your stomach faster. (27:02) Fullness signals may be weaker. (27:04) Post meal glucose rises, may rise faster, and it can create a weird cycle of eat less and and less I'm satisfied less being satisfied signaling, so you still feel hungry and snack more.

Jenny Smith (27:17) Right. (27:17) Which kind of goes along with my consideration of, again, listening to so many people over and over. (27:23) It's like, they don't really have the right hunger signaling

Scott Benner (27:26) Mhmm.

Jenny Smith (27:27) Because I mean, until Simlin, which is a created Amlan product, came out years ago and was never really

Scott Benner (27:37) truly catch on.

Jenny Smith (27:38) Well, it really never caught on. (27:41) And a big piece of the reason is because it did really require a good practitioner to help the person figure out how to use it well for them.

Scott Benner (27:52) Mhmm.

Jenny Smith (27:53) This is a finicky it's definitely a finicky

Scott Benner (27:56) It wasn't easy to dose?

Jenny Smith (27:58) Thing hormone. (27:58) It was not easy to use.

Scott Benner (28:00) Okay.

Jenny Smith (28:00) But it gives as you, you know, just gave the whole definition about it. (28:05) Absolutely gives the reasoning as to why we have such ineffective cues.

Scott Benner (28:12) Yeah. (28:12) I just interviewed, like, a 23 year old girl the other day, and she's like, I just went down the rabbit hole of amylin, and, I didn't realize any of this. (28:21) And she's just you know, she's had diabetes, she was, like, 17 or 18. (28:24) And she's like, I am hungry constantly. (28:27) Like, you know, I'm just always hungry and never feel full and, like, the whole thing.

Scott Benner (28:32) And she's like, I'm gaining weight now. (28:34) So they put her on a GL. (28:34) I mean, GLPs are gonna probably help a lot of people with type one with this, I would I would imagine.

How High Fructose Corn Syrup is Made

Scott Benner (28:40) Pivoting back, I asked, some questions that I wanted the answers to. (28:45) Like, how does cornstarch get made? (28:47) Because I feel like understanding how it gets made, or, you know, and then how they use it to make high fructose corn syrup because I I'm like, I don't really know. (28:56) So do you know how high fructose corn syrup gets made?

Jenny Smith (29:00) Well, I know that corn syrup and high fructose corn syrup are slightly different.

Scott Benner (29:07) Mhmm.

Jenny Smith (29:08) I know that they're derivatives of corn starch, which comes from corn. (29:13) Mhmm. (29:15) I don't know that I know the process of it. (29:19) I would expect that

Scott Benner (29:20) they have to

Jenny Smith (29:21) do some type of pulling of the starchy, sugary through some hydration process. (29:29) They probably use some type of enzyme to pull things out further. (29:34) I would expect, I'm just thinking like food science that I learned eons ago.

Scott Benner (29:39) Love watching you do this because this reminds me of the time we tested out the bolus, estimator, and I was like, Jenny's getting this exactly right. (29:47) Yeah. (29:47) Yeah. (29:48) Hey. (29:48) Okay.

Scott Benner (29:48) You start with corn. (29:49) Corn corn kernels are milled in to sep to separate out the starch from the protein, the fiber, and the oil. (29:57) Okay. (29:58) Then you turn the starch into glucose. (30:00) Corn starch is a long chain of glucose molecules.

Scott Benner (30:03) Manufacturers break that starch down with enzymes. (30:07) Oh. (30:07) So this typical sequence would be starch slurry. (30:10) By the way, every time I hear the word slurry, I think I should do better for myself. (30:14) Starch slurry is prepared.

Scott Benner (30:17) Alpha amylase starts chopping the starch into shorter chains. (30:21) Go. (30:21) Here we go. (30:22) Gluca gluco amylase breaks those chains further into mostly glucose. (30:28) At this point, you basically have corn syrup, which is mostly glucose.

Scott Benner (30:32) Then you have to convert some of the glucose into fructose. (30:35) So now here comes the high fructose part. (30:38) It says, the syrup is passed over an enzyme called glucose isomerase. (30:43) That enzyme rearranges some glucose molecules into fructose. (30:47) This does not convert all of it.

Scott Benner (30:49) A common first product is at around 42% fructose. (30:53) The rest is still mostly glucose at that point. (30:56) That's often called HFCS 42 in Jesus. (31:01) If you need a higher level of fructose needed, the manufacturer wants it sweeter, for example, they can separate and concentrate the fructose rich portion often used processing like chromo topographic separation, and that can produce a much higher fructose stream such as HFCS 90. (31:19) Now we're almost done.

Scott Benner (31:21) They blend the streams together to get a commercial product they want. (31:25) Common versions are HFCS 42, which is often used in baked goods, processed foods, and some beverages. (31:34) Then there's HFCS 55 common in soft drinks, and HFCS 90, usually not used directly much, mostly used to blend into other HFCS grades. (31:45) Then they filter it, purify it, adjust it for concentration, store, and ship it as liquid sweetener. (31:51) The liquid form is one reason the industry likes it because it's easy to pump, blend, and handle in large scale food production.

Scott Benner (31:57) Why do they manufacture it this way? (31:59) It's cheap, stable, easy to transport in liquid systems, and sweet enough for beverages and packaged foods.

Jenny Smith (32:06) Can I ask so the numbers behind those, is that the percentage

Scott Benner (32:12) Looks like the of? (32:13) Oh, of the oh, yeah. (32:14) Because the first one is 42%. (32:16) They call it 42, 55, and 90. (32:19) Oh, look at you.

Scott Benner (32:20) Look at you paying attention.

Jenny Smith (32:21) It's you know?

Scott Benner (32:22) I know. (32:22) Yeah. (32:23) But

Jenny Smith (32:24) you would have never thought that.

Scott Benner (32:25) What is that? (32:26) It's gotta

Jenny Smith (32:26) be percentage of the amount, and that's the reason that it's better in one one product. (32:32) I won't even use the word food.

Scott Benner (32:33) Yeah.

Jenny Smith (32:33) It's better in one product compared to another. (32:37) And so if we if we break this down for anybody to understand, Quite honestly, the whole process that you just went through. (32:49) Mhmm. (32:50) That is that's so much chemical engineering.

Scott Benner (32:55) And processing and and reprocessing and then want and heating.

Jenny Smith (32:58) And just exceeding and processing and pulling it through and adding, like, adding all of these things that weren't meant to be. (33:06) Like, I pull an apple off of the tree, man, and that tree did everything that the universe was meant for the tree to do. (33:12) There was no engineering.

Scott Benner (33:14) It says here, table sugar and HF's high fructose corn syrup wind up in pretty similar places chemically, but they start differently, are built differently, and are handled differently in manufacturing. (33:25) Mhmm. (33:25) Sucrose is a single molecule made of one glucose, one fructose. (33:29) These two sugars are bonded together. (33:31) They usually come from sugarcane or sugar beets.

Scott Benner (33:33) Mhmm. (33:33) They crush the cane or slice the beets, extract the sugar rich juice, clean and filter it, evaporate off the water, crystallize the sucrose, separate crystals from syrup, dry and refine. (33:43) That's how they make that's how sugar is made.

The History of Coca-Cola and Seed Oils

Scott Benner (33:46) I wonder if we can find out the original ingredients in Coke.

Jenny Smith (33:54) Oh, that would be curious.

Scott Benner (33:55) I wonder if we can find out what that is. (33:58) Because I'm gonna guess it's water, sugar, coloring, like like this probably would

Jenny Smith (34:05) Would expect caramel coloring.

Scott Benner (34:06) Cocaine, by the way, but that's not the point of this. (34:09) It's not working.

Jenny Smith (34:10) Is that is that a myth that

Scott Benner (34:12) I don't know.

Jenny Smith (34:13) Used to have it in there? (34:14) I I feel like that's a myth. (34:16) But

Scott Benner (34:17) The original Coca Cola was an 1886 thing soda foundation syrup created by John Pemberton. (34:23) Thanks, John. (34:24) The company does not publicly disclose the exact formula, but its own history confirms the early drink was a syrup mix with carbonated water named for the cocoa leaf and kola nut. (34:34) Oh. (34:35) Sugar, water, caramel for color.

Scott Benner (34:37) That's what I couldn't think of. (34:38) Cocoa leaf extract, kola nut extract. (34:41) That's where the caffeine comes from. (34:42) Citric acid, lime juice, vanilla. (34:45) Flavored oils, spices often described in later reconstruction formulas as things like orange, lemon, cinnamon, coriander, nutmeg oils.

Scott Benner (34:54) That doesn't seem so bad. (34:56) Oh, two important historical notes. (34:58) Yes. (34:58) The earliest Coca Cola did contain cocaine because cocoa leaf extract at the time still carried cocaine alkaloids that was later removed. (35:08) The company name still reflects the original cocoa and cola ingredients.

Scott Benner (35:13) How about that? (35:13) Is that where cola came from? (35:15) Is that why because, like, in your part of the woods, what do they they call it pop. (35:19) Right? (35:20) Or am I wrong?

Jenny Smith (35:21) Like That's more it's honestly pop is more like Illinois.

Scott Benner (35:28) Yeah. (35:29) There are parts of the world where you order a pop, and then you have to tell them what one. (35:33) Like, you say, I just want a pop, and then they look at you you go Sprite. (35:36) Did you know that? (35:37) I didn't know that.

Scott Benner (35:38) Yeah. (35:38) I would never say that. (35:40) I'd be like don't

Jenny Smith (35:41) also We

Scott Benner (35:41) call it

Jenny Smith (35:41) we call it soda, but yeah. (35:42) I

Scott Benner (35:43) Okay. (35:44) Alright. (35:44) Hold on. (35:45) Back to my list. (35:45) Do we have time?

Scott Benner (35:47) Okay. (35:47) So we can't go into all the things I looked up, like how canola is produced, crushed seeds, heat, extract, oil, refined bleach, deodorized bleach. (35:58) Rape, the rapeseed oil, actually did start out as as a motor lubricant, and then they adjusted it so that you can eat it. (36:09) Lucky you. (36:11) But then, again, it I said, they healthy?

Scott Benner (36:14) And they said they are safe in regulated amounts. (36:17) That doesn't seem like yes to me, by the way, when that's the answer. (36:21) They don't add health benefits at all. (36:25) You know? (36:25) So moderation's gonna be

Jenny Smith (36:27) In fact, they're often often and maybe you said the the difference between the type of omegas that's present. (36:34) Right? (36:35) Most of the seed oils and things that we're talking about have a much higher percent of the omega six comparative to the omega threes, which are more from a cardiovascular benefit standpoint and anti inflammation and etcetera etcetera.

Scott Benner (36:48) And as you said in the past, the the things get fortified all the time because when they process, they strip out all the nutrients, and they gotta throw something back into it so you're not just eating a filler. (36:58) I did, look a little bit into some of the list of ingredients. (37:04) You should look them up yourselves. (37:06) I looked into the companies that own other things. (37:11) I I don't wanna dig too far down a rabbit hole or feel political for people, but, like, Nestle, Pepsi, Coke Mhmm.

Scott Benner (37:18) All are also invested in heavily by places like BlackRock, Vanguard, and, you know, the S and P five hundred in general. (37:27) So Right. (37:27) Yeah. (37:28) Money people need those things to make money and they need you to buy more and so on and so forth. (37:35) You know?

Jenny Smith (37:35) And they have no interest in

Scott Benner (37:37) Your health. (37:37) I don't believe. (37:38) Health. (37:38) Yeah. (37:39) Yeah.

Scott Benner (37:39) No. (37:39) And even if they did, I would imagine they could just buy a couple of hospitals and then get your money on the back end too.

Jenny Smith (37:48) There you go.

Scott Benner (37:48) Yeah. (37:49) Yeah. (37:49) I'll take your money for the soda, and then I'll take your money for the, for the health the health things that happened to you afterwards. (37:56) They could get you coming and going as they say. (37:59) Anybody who's ever seen an eighties movie, just remember the first hit's always free.

Scott Benner (38:03) And then, then after that, you're, you're on the corner. (38:08) I almost said paying with forget what I forget what I was saying about it. (38:12) I was gonna say you're paying with your accent at the end, but I guess it's probably that's how it gets you, Jenny. (38:17) Yeah. (38:17) Yeah.

Scott Benner (38:17) It's pretty right.

Jenny Smith (38:18) Trust go.

Final Thoughts

Scott Benner (38:19) Anything I left out of this little chat that you'd like to add?

Jenny Smith (38:22) Oh, it no. (38:23) We could go probably on for three more hours.

Scott Benner (38:27) I honestly think so. (38:28) Yeah.

Jenny Smith (38:28) Yeah.

Scott Benner (38:28) I mean, you could dig into every listen. (38:32) I again, Jenny's, you know, got the background, but I honestly just so you know where this episode came from, this was something I was thinking about. (38:41) And I got up one morning and turned on my chat GPT and started talking to it. (38:47) I was like, explain this to me. (38:48) Explain that to me.

Scott Benner (38:49) And I just kept asking a bunch of questions. (38:51) And then at the end, I said, hey. (38:52) Put all my questions in a list because I think I'm gonna use them to make a podcast.

Jenny Smith (38:56) No. (38:56) It it is very much like a rabbit hole, quite honestly.

Scott Benner (39:00) You can you can get lost really quickly.

Jenny Smith (39:02) You can. (39:02) Yeah. (39:03) So

Scott Benner (39:03) I mean, in the end, around diabetes, I let let's fold it up like this. (39:08) Right? (39:08) The more processed foods you're using, the more fillers, the more emulsifiers, the the more shelf stabilizing chemicals, the harder this stuff's gonna be to bolus for probably. (39:22) And because it's so broken down, your body's gonna grab that sugar out of it so quickly. (39:27) It's gonna shoot your blood sugar up so fast.

Scott Benner (39:29) So if that's if you're wondering why cereal makes your blood sugar shoot up like that, like, this is this is kind of the basis of why.

Jenny Smith (39:36) I Here you are.

Scott Benner (39:37) Yeah. (39:37) I would say take your time, and if you're interested, you know, go look it up a little bit and read through it and find out where I was right and where I was wrong and what you care about.

Jenny Smith (39:46) Then as, you know, kind of a end note Mhmm. (39:50) What you learn, take a look at take a look at your own intake, your own grocery list, and choose maybe one or two pieces that you can change, that you can look at differently and say, well, we could do this instead of doing this. (40:07) I could whole make that by using spices instead of using the packet in this product. (40:13) Right? (40:13) I mean, there are a lot of changes that are not with, again, the cost of food today being what it is.

Jenny Smith (40:19) I understand entirely. (40:21) I have a family to feed as well, but there are some things that are honestly more cost effective when you really start breaking it down.

Scott Benner (40:29) It becomes so much about time. (40:31) I've even see my my wife has come home and been like, I got this packet of sauce to put on chicken. (40:36) I'm like, why don't you just kill us all? (40:38) You know? (40:39) Like, that's wouldn't it be quicker to smother us with a pillow, Kelly?

Scott Benner (40:43) A couple of things. (40:44) A, she's like, I liked it. (40:46) I had it once and it tasted good. (40:48) And I'm like, okay. (40:49) Well, they got her there, you know?

Scott Benner (40:50) And then Right. (40:51) B, she's like, it's easy. (40:53) You fry up the chicken and then you dump it on and, you know, cook it for eight more minutes and it's finished. (40:59) And I'm working and you're working and blah blah blah. (41:01) And I it is I mean, it's not is the rest of it's not lost to me.

Scott Benner (41:05) But a lot like talking about the diabetes, like, I think we can discuss the truth behind this Yes. (41:11) And not be insulting people at the same time. (41:14) Like Right. (41:15) You know, I I Yeah. (41:16) If you can't afford it or you don't have the time or I'm not shaming you about it, but you still should understand what's happening, you know?

Jenny Smith (41:21) Right.

Scott Benner (41:22) Yeah. (41:23) National estimates 55 of calories Americans consume come from ultra processed food. (41:29) 55% of your calories. (41:31) That's crazy. (41:32) Mhmm.

Scott Benner (41:32) Yeah. (41:33) Yeah. (41:33) Alright. (41:34) This is gonna make me sad if we keep going. (41:35) I'm gonna stop now.

Scott Benner (41:36) Thank you, Jenny. (41:36) Have a nice weekend.

Jenny Smith (41:37) Yeah. (41:38) Of course. (41:38) You too. (41:38) Bye.

Outro & Resources

Scott Benner (41:46) This episode of the Juice Box podcast is sponsored by Omnipod five. (41:51) Omnipod five is a tube free automated insulin delivery system that's been shown to significantly improve a one c and time and range for people with type one diabetes when they've switched from daily injections. (42:02) Learn more and get started today at omnipod.com/juicebox. (42:06) At my link, you can get a free starter kit right now. (42:09) Terms and conditions apply.

Scott Benner (42:10) Eligibility may vary. (42:12) Full terms and conditions can be found at omnipod.com/juicebox. (42:19) Today's episode of the juice box podcast is sponsored by the Dexcom g seven, and the Dexcom g seven warms up in just thirty minutes. (42:27) Check it out now at dexcom.com/juicebox. (42:33) Okay.

Scott Benner (42:34) Well, here we are at the end of the episode. (42:36) You're still with me? (42:37) Thank you. (42:37) I really do appreciate that. (42:39) What else could you do for me?

Scott Benner (42:41) Why don't you tell a friend about the show or leave a five star review? (42:45) Maybe you could make sure you're following or subscribed in your podcast app, go to YouTube and follow me, or Instagram, TikTok. (42:54) Oh, gosh. (42:55) Here's one. (42:55) Make sure you're following the podcast in the private Facebook group as well as the public Facebook page.

Scott Benner (43:02) You don't wanna miss please, do you not know about the private group? (43:05) You have to join the private group. (43:07) As of this recording, it has 74,000 members. (43:10) They're active talking about diabetes. (43:13) Whatever you need to know, there's a conversation happening in there right now.

Scott Benner (43:17) And I'm there all the time. (43:18) Tag me. (43:19) I'll say hi. (43:26) My diabetes pro tip series is about cutting through the clutter of diabetes management to give you the straightforward practical insights that truly make a difference. (43:35) This series is all about mastering the fundamentals, whether it's the basics of insulin, dosing adjustments, or everyday management strategies that will empower you to take control.

Scott Benner (43:45) I'm joined by Jenny Smith, who is a diabetes educator with over thirty five years of personal experience, and we break down complex concepts into simple, actionable tips. (43:55) The diabetes pro tip series runs between episode one thousand and one thousand twenty five in your podcast player, or you can listen to it at juiceboxpodcast.com by going up into the menu. (44:06) Have a podcast? (44:07) Want it to sound fantastic? (44:09) Wrongwayrecording.com.

READ FULL TRANSCRIPT

#1833 Stale Doughnuts

Kathy shares her late-in-life Type 1 diabetes misdiagnosis , navigating Graves' disease and Thyroid Eye Disease , the mental toll of visible symptoms , and the vital importance of medical self-advocacy.

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Key Takeaways

• Adult-Onset Misdiagnosis is Common: Adults presenting with symptoms like rapid weight loss are frequently misdiagnosed with Type 2 diabetes, which can lead to life-threatening complications like DKA before the correct Type 1 diagnosis is made.
• Autoimmune Conditions Often Cluster: A Type 1 diagnosis can be accompanied by other autoimmune issues, such as Graves' disease and Thyroid Eye Disease, requiring you to actively monitor symptoms like racing heart rates and extreme fatigue.
• Hormones Must "Play Nice" Together: Insulin, cortisol, and thyroid hormones all interact. A disruption in one (like hyperthyroidism) can drastically alter your insulin needs and cardiovascular responses.
• Self-Advocacy in Hospitals is Critical: When undergoing surgery or hospital care, patients with Type 1 must vocalize their insulin needs, especially regarding suspended pumps and fasting, as institutional protocols are often inadequate for T1D management.
• The Mental Toll of Visible Symptoms: Managing public lows and dealing with visible physical changes (like proptosis from Thyroid Eye Disease) can cause severe self-consciousness, compounding the daily mental burden of chronic illness.

Resources Mentioned

• Juicebox Podcast (Grand Rounds, Mental Wellness, GLP series)
• US Med - (888) 721-1514
• Medtronic Diabetes (MiniMed 780G & Instinct Sensor)
• Eversense 365 CGM
• Every Cure (AI Medical Research & Drug Repurposing)
• Wrong Way Recording

FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

Welcome & Introductions

Scott Benner (0:00)

Here we are back together again, friends, for another episode of the Juice Box podcast.

Cathy (0:15)

Hi. I'm Kathy. I have type one diabetes diagnosed at a later age, thyroid disease, specifically Graves' disease, and thyroid eye disease.

Scott Benner (0:28)

My grand rounds series was designed by listeners to tell doctors what they need, and it also helps you to understand what to ask for. There's a mental wellness series that addresses the emotional side of diabetes and practical ways to stay balanced. And when we talk about GLP medications, well, we'll break down what they are, how they may help you, and if they fit into your diabetes management plan. What do these three things have in common? They're all available at juiceboxpodcast.com up in the menu.

Scott Benner (0:55)

I know it can be hard to find these things in a podcast app, so we've collected them all for you at juiceboxpodcast.com. While you're listening, please remember that nothing you hear on the juice box podcast should be considered advice, medical or otherwise. Always consult a physician before making any changes to your health care plan or becoming bold with insulin.

Scott Benner (1:30)

Today's podcast is sponsored by US Med, usmed.com/juicebox. You can get your diabetes supplies from the same place that we do, and I'm talking about Dexcom, Libre, Omnipod, Tandem, and so much more. Usmed.com/juicebox or call (888) 721-1514. Today's episode is also sponsored by Medtronic Diabetes, who is making life with diabetes easier with the MiniMed seven eighty g system and their new sensor options, which include the Instinct sensor made by Abbott.

Scott Benner (2:07)

Would you like to unleash the full potential of the MiniMed seven eighty g system? You can do that at my link, medtronicdiabetes.com/juicebox. The podcast is also sponsored today by the Eversense three sixty five. The Eversense three sixty five has exceptional accuracy over one year and is the most accurate CGM in the low range that you can get. Ever since cgm.com/juicebox.

A Misdiagnosed Adult-Onset Type 1

Cathy (2:32)

Hi. I'm Kathy. I have type one diabetes diagnosed at a later age. Thyroid disease, specifically Graves' disease, and thyroid eye disease. I guess I am identifying myself by my diagnosis, but lots of other fun, cool things too.

Scott Benner (2:49)

You were diagnosed later in life. How old?

Cathy (2:52)

I was diagnosed at about 50 years old.

Scott Benner (2:55)

How old would you tell me how old you are now?

Cathy (2:57)

I am 62 now.

Scott Benner (2:59)

Okay. So you've had it for a dozen years. What was the diagnosis like? Do you recall?

Cathy (3:05)

Oh, yeah. I sure do. I was the classic misdiagnosed type two. I had recently taken a new job and moved three states away, of course, so no family, no support in the area. Had all the classic things. I lost, like, 80 pounds in, I don't know, two or three months.

Cathy (3:27)

Just all those things. And, of course, in moving a lot, seeing a bunch of different doctors, I didn't have any consistency there and on and off with insulin. And with changing jobs, my insurance changed as well. I kinda had a perfect storm in my diagnosis story that I thought I was type two taking metformin and didn't know about deductibles. The insurance I had previously was not an issue.

Cathy (3:56)

I would, you know, go to the pharmacy, get insulin, everything's fine, but didn't realize I was being reimbursed for insulin. So I'd go in and spend, you know, at that time, $1,200 for a month's insulin supply.

Scott Benner (4:10)

Oh.

Cathy (4:10)

So I thought, well, I'll stop taking insulin for now. Just do the metformin and, you know, eat very low carb.

Scott Benner (4:17)

That didn't seem problematic to you because you thought you had type two diabetes.

Cathy (4:21)

Right. Right. And that that's doable and ended up in the emergency room, crawling to the emergency room in ICU in a state two states away. I was in ICU for a week. The doctor told me he was very sick, I had heart issues, and it was a pretty serious situation, but it wasn't even that I was diagnosed as type one at that point.

Scott Benner (4:47)

Well, we're gonna wait. Crawling to the ER didn't get you a diagnosis? Yeah. Oh my gosh. Really? Okay. Alright. So let me make sure I understand. Like, as you're moving away, your doctors are are getting kinda split up, you're just seeing people to see people. So there's no consistency.

Scott Benner (5:04)

You get the wrong diagnosis. The 80 pound weight loss, I have to ask you, that didn't freak you out or did it? And you just like, how did you reconcile that in your mind when it was happening to you?

Cathy (5:15)

I thought it was pretty cool.

Scott Benner (5:18)

Kathy's like, what are you talking about?

Cathy (5:20)

I'm just trying I I think that's pretty common thing that yeah. Look at me. You know, I'm wearing a size two and, you know, I know that's just just wrong. But

Scott Benner (5:30)

I'd like to say out loud probably, if your body is rapidly changing drastically, matter which direction it's going in, you should probably wonder why that's happening. That's for everybody, not just for you, Cathay. There should be a reasoning behind it that you understand. You're in the hospital, but not getting a diagnosis still.

Cathy (5:48)

Right. Seeing a diabetic educator, and mine was slow coming. You know, I didn't immediately need lots of insulin or for a long time. You know, I could manage that. Finally, I went to my doctor and said, you know, hey.

Cathy (6:03)

I'm doing everything. I'm doing low carb. I can't get a a one c under seven. You know? And he's he looked at me, he's like, has anybody ever tested for type one?

Cathy (6:12)

Like, yeah. Okay. Right? So we did that.

Scott Benner (6:17)

How long into the journey was where somebody finally asked it to test you?

Cathy (6:23)

I think it was at least a couple years.

Scott Benner (6:25)

No kidding. Okay.

Cathy (6:26)

Like I said, I was slow onset using insulin on and off. It just came to a crisis. I kinda had a a perfect storm, came into a crisis, and, of course, I ended up in the hospital. And then I went started to ask questions then. But I I really didn't know. You know? I thought I was moving along fine and a lot of stressors in my life. You know? New job, moving out to a different state, not a lot of people around me that could see, you know, hey. What's what's going on with you, Kathy?

Cathy (6:58)

Yeah. You know?

Scott Benner (6:59)

Yeah. People you didn't look different to people because you just met them.

Graves' Disease & Heart Concerns

Scott Benner (7:03)

What about your heart, Kathy? Like, you said they said heart problems at first. Did that actually end up being true?

Cathy (7:09)

Well, actually, at in DKA in the hospital in Indiana, they did a stress test. I remember a couple of times, you know, there's nurses in the hallway, and I'm setting off the beepers in the machines. They did a stress test or a chemical stress test, and I failed that. Okay. So went to a heart hospital after I got out of ICU, and they did the not remembering the name right now, but when they stick a tube down your vein to check things

Scott Benner (7:41)

Oh, terrible.

Cathy (7:42)

Past that. They didn't they didn't see any blockages, and there was no ongoing issues there.

Scott Benner (7:48)

Oh, they give you, like, a heart catheter?

Cathy (7:51)

Right. That's it.

Scott Benner (7:52)

And then looked around, and they didn't see any. Okay. Good. So so that the heart that they saw in that moment, that was from the DKA, you think?

Cathy (7:59)

I think so.

Scott Benner (8:00)

Okay. So it's not an ongoing issue?

Cathy (8:02)

No. It it hasn't. Well, moving up, I have, another my kind of song and dance right now is I have Graves' disease hyperthyroid. Mhmm. And that ended up in another emergency room visit.

Scott Benner (8:17)

How far into your type one diabetes does the Graves come up? How far into your initial diagnosis? So when you first thought you had type two twelve years ago, how much longer was it after that until you got the Graves' diagnosis?

Cathy (8:32)

Two years.

Scott Benner (8:32)

Two years. Okay. So right around the time you're getting the type one diagnosis, you're getting the Graves' as well.

Cathy (8:37)

What about years ago. 2024.

Scott Benner (8:39)

Oh, two years ago. I'm sorry. Okay.

Cathy (8:41)

Right. Yes. Sorry. A little trouble hearing everything.

Scott Benner (8:44)

Oh, I'm so sorry. I'll I'll, I'll yell.

Cathy (8:50)

Won't be the last time somebody's gonna yell at me today. So that's

Scott Benner (8:53)

Oh, I'm sorry. Why? What do you do for a living?

Cathy (8:55)

Oh, I just have some meetings today. I, work for the Chamber of Commerce area development type of things, lots of small town politics and and whatnot.

Scott Benner (9:06)

Kathy's like, my whole day is people yelling at me. It's fine. Tell me about the graves. Go ahead.

Cathy (9:11)

Yeah. That came again in a movie, and I guess I need to stay put. The company I work for was sold, and so I decided to move back to my home state because, you know, couple years from retirement, I'll just take the paying the bills type of job and and get to retirement. All is good. But I was just really, the moving process, just really tired and stressed out and heart racing.

Cathy (9:40)

The heart rate, like, you know, over a 100 and blood pressure, you know, one ninety over something something. I don't remember at this point, but just always exhausted. I could barely walk across the room without needing to sit down. Know? And, of course, you go to the doctors for that, and they think, well, you're diabetic so that, you know, that's the answer for everything.

Cathy (10:05)

So didn't really get in a read on that until with Graves, for me, lost a little bit of weight and couldn't eat. I literally would go days without eating, and I was on a pump at that point, so it wasn't you know, my my insulin would suspend all day because I literally wasn't eating or drinking anything. So ended up on the move halfway to my new place, ended up in the emergency room, DKA, mild DKA. Luckily, there was a resident there that was pretty persistent, and and I asked too, you know, what what's the deal with the heart rate? You know, why why is that so hard?

Cathy (10:44)

And they did some testing with the antibiotic testing, figured out I had Graves' disease as well, and that was, what was causing the heart issues again.

Scott Benner (10:53)

All those symptoms go away how quickly when you get medicated? Like, how long does it take for the medication to pull you back to a better place?

Cathy (11:01)

I went to primary initially because, of course, you know, like everywhere, an endocrinologist can be kinda hard to get to. And, of course, I'm moving from one state to another, so out of that. But they prescribed beta blocker metoprolol

Scott Benner (11:17)

Mhmm.

Cathy (11:17)

Right away, and that helped tremendously.

Scott Benner (11:20)

Okay.

Cathy (11:21)

So got to an endocrinologist and put on methimazole. And I would say within a couple months, I was in much better shape. The weakness and the fatigue lasted a while, but pretty quickly, I could I could function again.

Scott Benner (11:37)

Okay.

Cathy (11:38)

And that's kind of where I ended up in. I live real close to research hospital for an hour and a half away, so got into clinical trial for another drug that's a treatment for or possible treatment for Grave is impossible treatment for thyroid eye disease as well and feeling better pretty quickly. My doctor is pretty conservative with adjustments to medication, but I did find out on that journey too that type one diabetes, the thyroid issues, and, at one point was concerned about cortisol as well that they need to play nice together. And it's kind of hard to manage all this that I went through a period when we're concerned about cortisol that I dropped my insulin use dramatically, and my heart rate would go down to, like, 80 over 40.

Scott Benner (12:33)

Do you speak to other people in my Facebook group who have similar issues to you? Because I I there's, like, a little group of them talking about, like, cortisol and Graves' and stuff like that. But have you found those people?

Cathy (12:44)

I have found those people and talking back and forth and yes. I think it was a comment I saw on the Facebook page that somebody described it as bumper bowling. I can't think of the exact word, but you've got insulin hormone over here, cortisol hormone, and thyroid hormones that kinda gotta get that ball all the way down and bump off each other. I didn't realize until talking to people like that, and that's that's the huge value of that that it all kinda has to work together.

Thyroid Eye Disease & Double Vision

Scott Benner (13:17)

Yeah. Thyroid eye disease, do you get that diagnosis at the same time as the Graves', or does that come more recently?

Cathy (13:24)

No. And that's that's really a word I wanna put out. That was the clinical trial I was in as well that

Scott Benner (13:32)

Figured that out.

Cathy (13:33)

In a blind study at first and was a nonresponder to that. Then I put an extension trial where it was open label that I knew I was taking the drug and not responding. In fact, the, with the thyroid eye disease, what they look at to judge is some clinical signs, eye redness, dry eyes, and actually, take a measurement of how much your eyes are, can't think of the medical term, but, bulging. Mhmm. Mine was pretty significant.

Cathy (14:05)

A normal white woman average, that measurement's gonna be not over 20. Mine was 28 and 29, so it's fairly significant.

Scott Benner (14:16)

Is it called proptosis?

Cathy (14:18)

That's it. Exactly. Yes.

Scott Benner (14:21)

And so your measurement was greater, and I am interested, though. So you got into this study. How valuable has the study been for you?

Scott Benner (14:31)

When you think of a CGM and all the good that it brings in your life, is the first thing you think about, I love that I have to change it all the time? I love the warm up period every time I have to change it. I love that when I bump into a door frame, sometimes it gets ripped off. I love that the adhesive kinda gets mushy sometimes when I sweat and falls off. No. These are not the things that you love about a CGM. Today's episode of the JuiceBox podcast is sponsored by the Eversense three sixty five, the only CGM that you only have to put on once a year and the only CGM that won't give you any of those problems.

Scott Benner (15:05)

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Scott Benner (15:33)

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Cathy (16:43)

As far as taking the drug, it didn't didn't help, but it got me the right connections. The research hospital I go to, they're very into collaboration

Scott Benner (16:54)

Mhmm.

Cathy (16:54)

That the endocrinologist is talking to the ophthalmologist, is talking to the surgeon. I ended up well, let me back up just a minute with a just try that steady drug, and then there's, TEPEZZA that they offered me to try. And I I had some concerns about that. I'm I'm not bashing the drug or anything. It's just for me, it didn't sound like it would be a good idea.

Cathy (17:20)

So I ended up mid December getting bilateral orbital decompression surgery. It ended up being a ten hour surgery. Mhmm. There's a team of surgeons that will go through your sinus and another team that will remove the fat and move the muscles around your eye. Okay.

Cathy (17:40)

It was fairly intensive, but decided to go not with more drugs and backing up again too. It's a hard thing to diagnose. What they were having trouble with in the trial is that they wanted people that have been less than a year diagnosed with thyroid eye disease, and doctors didn't wreck don't recognize it. They you know, you go to your eye doctor and well, you have dry eyes.

Scott Benner (18:05)

Mhmm.

Cathy (18:06)

So You don't necessarily get the thyroid eye disease diagnosis. Just they'll say, oh, you have dry eyes. You have redness. Use drops, stuff like that.

Scott Benner (18:14)

So we can go undiagnosed for quite some time.

Cathy (18:17)

Right.

Scott Benner (18:18)

Yeah. Do you think that happened to you?

Cathy (18:21)

I, of course, get diabetic eye exams every year and went to that doctor first because my it was very red above my eyes and swollen. And they, of course, sit well, they said dry eyes, you know, you're fine. So there's there's no test that I'm aware of. It's just really clinical. And if you have Graves, I think it's forty percent.

Cathy (18:48)

Maybe I'm just grabbing a number out of my my head, but a lot of people with Graves' is pretty directly related to that.

Scott Benner (18:55)

I see. Do you have any of the serious side effects of it? Do you have damage or vision loss, anything like that?

Cathy (19:02)

Well, right now, after surgery, I have double vision pretty badly and maybe looking at it in a few months, once kind of the healing has died down, looking at some muscle surgery, and that's not as intense at all, but to be able to move around my eyes. It's fairly rare with thyroid eye disease, vision loss. In fact, my vision is twenty twenty, twenty thirty. But the danger is is it starts messing with your optic nerve, which I'm good with so far, knock on wood, with that. But with the dry eye and physically not being able to shut your eyelid, you can get really bad dry eyes.

Cathy (19:46)

And I have some signs of that that you know, some spotting on my eyes that they can see the dry eyes, and that's the danger with, vision loss.

Scott Benner (19:56)

Okay.

Cathy (19:56)

It can literally burn your cornea because you can't close your eyes.

Scott Benner (20:01)

What do you do for that? Do you, like, physically have to remember I'm I'm gonna say something silly, but do you do it with your hands, or do you, like, put drops in, or how do you manage that?

Scott Benner (20:12)

I have always disliked ordering diabetes supplies. I'm guessing you have as well. It hasn't been a problem for us for the last few years though because we began using US Med. You can too. Usmed.com/juicebox or call (888) 721-1514 to get your free benefits check. US Med has served over one million people living with diabetes since 1996. They carry everything you need from CGMs to insulin pumps and diabetes testing supplies and more. I'm talking about all the good ones, all your favorites.

Scott Benner (20:47)

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Cathy (21:16)

I use drops. I use gels at night, and there are people that I don't have to do it, but will literally tape their eyes shut at night. Next month, I'm back to an ophthalmologist looking at maybe plugs in my tear ducts so the the tears stay on my eyes.

The Mental Toll & Stale Donuts

Scott Benner (21:39)

Okay. My gosh. Kathy, are you alone? Do you live by yourself?

Cathy (21:44)

Yeah. Yeah. I am.

Scott Benner (21:45)

Is this I mean, I I'm sorry to ask, but is this all very frightening? How do you find the kinda mental side of your process to be?

Cathy (21:54)

You know what was hard about thyroid eye disease? I had very significant the bulging on my eyes didn't bother me that much. It didn't. But above my eyes, on that eyelid were very pronounced. So like I said, you know, I have a very public job, and I'm out and out and about all day.

Cathy (22:15)

You know, we have in in the boardroom, there's there's mirror a mirrored section on the boardroom, you know, having a great meeting and turn around and and look at my eyes that are look swollen and, you know, something's wrong with something's wrong with her. And it's it it does take a toll, and I find that too. I just had a you know, with a type one, I I wear a pump, but well, I've had a few low situations recently where, you know, I'm sitting in the grocery store eating stale doughnuts that I haven't paid for, and I'm not concerned so much that I'm having a low it's like, are people watching me and and thinking, you know, what's what's wrong with her?

Scott Benner (22:54)

Yeah.

Cathy (22:55)

You know, that's that's the mental toll for me that

Scott Benner (22:58)

Feeling self conscious is what gets you.

Cathy (23:01)

Yeah.

Scott Benner (23:01)

Yeah.

Cathy (23:01)

Yeah. And, of course, when, you know, into a low, your your brain's not functioning, and I've literally stood in grocery lines look deciding which flavor of juice, you know, I'd like and and dropping below 50 and yeah.

Scott Benner (23:15)

Yeah. Well, I have to tell you, I'm definitely calling your episode stale doughnuts. A million percent.

Cathy (23:22)

I'm glad I could help you with that. I I

Scott Benner (23:24)

You were worried?

Cathy (23:26)

I was worried what it was gonna be. Yeah.

Scott Benner (23:29)

There are times I get done, and I leave a voice note for myself and for Rob at the end, and I just I'm just babbling into the note. I'm like, I don't know what to call this. This nothing came up during this one. I don't know what to say. But no.

Scott Benner (23:41)

This if only you would have said you were sitting on the floor eating stale donuts, I would have called it stale floor donuts. But we're just gonna go with stale donuts. And then I just wanted to ask because, you know, you moved a few times and you did a really good job explaining how that feels. You were very descriptive in just a couple of words, like being in a meeting, doing your job, knowing you're doing a great job, and then looking over, seeing yourself, and then having that moment where you think, oh, gosh. Is everyone looking at me and thinking what's wrong with her?

Scott Benner (24:07)

And even at your I mean, you're 62, and that doesn't go away, I guess. You know? Mhmm. Do you talk to anybody about it? Your friends or people you can chat with?

Scott Benner (24:17)

Do you see a therapist? Anything like that?

Cathy (24:19)

No. I haven't. I don't know. With this whole process, I'm I'm kind of always hoping, well, this will resolve. This thing will get better.

Cathy (24:29)

You know what I mean? That that next doctor appointment, that's that's gonna be the answer, and this will get better. And I don't with that clinical drop trial when they were offering me different drugs when the first didn't work, You know, that was part of my decision making process too that the TEPEZZA is is an eight month process.

Scott Benner (24:50)

Mhmm.

Cathy (24:51)

That you know, surgery choice was pretty pretty radical, but I I couldn't hope for eight more months that this was gonna resolve because it's it's it's pretty traumatic. I mean, it's not just that you have a medical problem. It's yeah.

Scott Benner (25:10)

Keep keep talking. It's not just they have a medical problem. It's what?

Cathy (25:13)

I mean, it it becomes your whole being. That's you know, I like to push things push things aside. You know? Love my insulin pump. I rarely have to think about it.

Cathy (25:23)

You know? I'm I'm not good at confronting it. I just assume it not be there. And just my dad used to, tease me that I was just like my mom, and I'm fine.

Scott Benner (25:35)

Oh, you just be like, everything's fine. Everything's fine. Everything and

Cathy (25:37)

I'm fine. I'm fine. Don't don't worry about me.

Scott Benner (25:41)

Do you think it's that you don't want people to worry about you, or do you think that you're trying to just ignore things and hope they they that you get back to some semblance of normalcy that you're looking for?

Cathy (25:51)

I would say I don't want people to work worry about me, but I also I just wanna live a normal life. I think about times where I do a lot of event planning in my work, and I love live music, go out to concerts. I remember a situation where I was at a concert and kinda scouting out all the food trucks, you know, where what do I gotta time my insulin and and get food and get back? And and I started to drop low, and I'm sitting in the middle of a crowd. Just my my pump's alarming, and I'm like, why?

Cathy (26:27)

Yeah. Why can't I just be normal? You know? Go about the day, go to the food truck just and not worry about it.

Scott Benner (26:34)

Do you feel like why me or just

Cathy (26:38)

I don't know if I feel so much why me, but I wanna live my life the way I wanna live my life, and it doesn't always doesn't always jive.

Scott Benner (26:49)

Yeah. I didn't think we were gonna have such a deep conversation at 8AM. It's making me upset. I'm getting I'm getting sad. I

Cathy (26:57)

know. People are gonna be in my office in about forty five minutes, and if I'm in tears

Scott Benner (27:02)

Yeah. She'd be like, why is she crying? She's like, she was on a podcast. I don't know. She said something about the guy.

Scott Benner (27:07)

He asked about her feelings. I mean, I'm trying to think through your life and, you know, the best I can from this position. And when you have situations like that that are not resolvable or something that like like you said, like the pump. Like, you know, hey. I have type one diabetes, but this pump thing kinda takes care of it most of the times.

Scott Benner (27:27)

Like, you know, I can kinda not think about that as much. But the Graves' thing is is tough, and I don't know that people, you know, would understand that if you if you didn't spend the time right now talking about it. So I really appreciate it.

Cathy (27:39)

Graves' has kinda become my my standout. When I see other people posting about things, I'm like, get your thyroid checked to get your I looked back at my medical records, and I've had an endocrinologist for, you know, how many years and how many times I've actually had a thyroid checked. Zip.

Scott Benner (27:59)

Yeah. I feel like that's my secondary cause with the podcast. Like, I I try to ask everybody when they have symptoms like that. Like, have you had your thyroid checked? You know?

Scott Benner (28:08)

And then everyone always says, oh, yeah. It was fine. I say, well, you know, can you get the TSH number? Because it you know, there's a possibility that the doctor saw a number that they think of as in range, but, you know, might be indicative of of your thyroid having an issue no matter whether it's in range or not. You give that whole explanation.

Scott Benner (28:26)

I feel like I've said it a million times, but I feel like sometimes when I say it to people who listen are probably like, oh my god. He's talking about their thyroid again. But it just gets missed for so many people, and it has really serious impacts on your life. And, you know, one little pill once a day. You know what I mean?

Scott Benner (28:42)

And it just I just wish people knew about it more and more. So I appreciate you talking about it bringing it up.

Navigating Surgery & Hospital Care

Scott Benner (28:47)

How did how's the diabetes going? Like, so once you got the diagnosis and, you know, they told you you had type one, was it injections? Like, did they give you a pens?

Scott Benner (28:56)

Did you get on a pump right away? What was that process like?

Cathy (28:59)

I was no. Not not a pump for years later. Started out MDI and had a CGM. That was amazing to me even to have a CGM because I my blood sugar was just all over the place. So I was didn't have any awareness of that and how often I was going low because I was just randomly taking insulin.

Cathy (29:25)

You know? Oh.

Scott Benner (29:27)

What was random about it? Why did you not have a plan?

Cathy (29:30)

I think the doctor didn't have a plan. Started out sliding scale and, of course, you know, they're thinking I was type two, so maybe the insulin wasn't a wasn't a big deal. There didn't need to be a plan to just take a little when you're eating, you know, nothing about pre bolusing, you know, up and down with that. Then went to ended up with a a much better diabetic educator, so got on board once I got the type one diagnosis. Went to a pump three years ago, so it hasn't been terribly long.

Scott Benner (30:07)

Okay.

Cathy (30:08)

But my doctors push technology. She had a rep in the office there, so it was pretty easy. And, she was she was all about Medtronic, So that's what we went with.

Scott Benner (30:20)

Are you on the seven eighty g?

Cathy (30:23)

Yes.

Scott Benner (30:23)

You are. And How do you like that?

Cathy (30:26)

I like it a lot. Recently did the update to get the instinct sensors. Those are being shipped. So the switching over to that, there was, when I had the eye surgery, my the anesthesiologist, I talked to him about it. I'm like, well, I've got a pump on, and he's like, no big deal.

Cathy (30:48)

And I looked at the records afterwards, and it was like a perfect line. So that did really well for me.

Scott Benner (30:54)

How long was the surgery?

Cathy (30:56)

Ten hours.

Scott Benner (30:57)

Ten you were in a ten hour surgery. Seven eighty g kept you stable the entire time in there.

Cathy (31:02)

Yes. I had one slight low, but otherwise, it was, one thirty four the entire time.

Scott Benner (31:09)

A 134 the entire time at ten hour surgery. What was the slight low? What did it go down to?

Cathy (31:14)

There was a bleep, and I'm kind of wondering it's a known thing with the seven eighty g with Tylenol.

Scott Benner (31:21)

Okay.

Cathy (31:22)

If something but it was, you know, it it was dealt with. I'm not sure. It was kinda mid surgery why it went low. But the anesthesiologist, was very comfortable with. He seemed very knowledgeable of my history.

Cathy (31:36)

And

Scott Benner (31:36)

Well, that's awesome.

Cathy (31:37)

So yeah. But I did figure out after surgery, I see a lot of when I'm kinda browsing the the Facebook, people talk about, you know, being able to use their pump during surgery and, you know, what that looks like and how to convince people. My message to folks is that take a look at what your aftercare looks like. I couldn't after surgery, I mean, my eyes were just very swollen. I couldn't even see a pump.

Cathy (32:08)

Mhmm. And the ENT surgeon was kinda imagining the aftercare rather than endocrinology to my awareness. You know, I haven't dig deep into it. Who knows what goes on behind the scenes? But he was like, well, you can you know, it was 07:00 on a Friday night when I got out of surgery, and they're gonna send me to the hotel.

Cathy (32:31)

I'm like, no. That's not safe. So even even in that situation, I'm comfortable advocating for myself that we're we're not doing this. Yeah. But, yeah, I had a kind of a weird situation with that surgery.

Cathy (32:47)

My support person got COVID, so switched it up fast so that wasn't somebody that was really familiar with how to how to manage that. But, yeah, in hospital situations before, they're very diligent about, you know, not leaving until we you could show us, you know, how to use that pump.

Scott Benner (33:05)

Right. Right.

Cathy (33:06)

But that

Scott Benner (33:06)

Kathy, a second. You had a support person set up for after the surgery who understood your pump and everything because you just had eye surgery, and then that person got COVID?

Cathy (33:15)

Correct.

Scott Benner (33:16)

Oh my gosh. Did you come on. That had to that had to kick you in. Right? Were you like, come on.

Scott Benner (33:21)

Really?

Cathy (33:23)

Oh, absolutely.

Scott Benner (33:24)

I'm like No kidding.

Cathy (33:25)

It was my sister, and she called, and she was so apologetic. And I'm like, it's okay. The deal is is like I said, it was a research hospital, so those surgeons were, like, top of the top. You know? You don't wanna lose that appointment unless absolutely necessary.

Cathy (33:42)

I'd never get back in.

Scott Benner (33:43)

Yeah.

Cathy (33:44)

I took it. But yeah. That's crazy. My fault or partially responsible not asking more questions about what aftercare was gonna look like.

Scott Benner (33:53)

Yeah. I understand. Hey. You said you're getting the Instinct sensor. What sensor were you using previously?

Scott Benner (34:00)

The one that has to recharge?

Cathy (34:02)

Yes.

Scott Benner (34:03)

Oh, and so you're making the leap to the new more modern one with your Medtronic. Are you excited about that?

Cathy (34:08)

I am. Because I used to, I used the Libre or CGM the first time, and I really like that. I like that you know, I'm always on the go, like, to travel. Mhmm. Like to be able to just pop it on rather than having to replace a transmitter, charge it up for two hours.

Cathy (34:27)

And, yeah, I'm very excited about that. Hearing good things.

Scott Benner (34:31)

Good. Yeah. No. I am I am as well. I'm I'm interested to know, how it's going.

Scott Benner (34:36)

Speaking of sensors, I think Arden's laying on hers right now because I'm seeing what looks like a, a compression low. People just asked me the other day if she's gonna try the fifteen day sensor. And I said, oh, she's an adult. Like, I don't even know if she knows it exists. I said, hey.

Scott Benner (34:52)

Dexcom just went to a fifteen day sensor. Do you wanna try it? And she's, like, sitting in bed doing her homework. We just gotten done talking about, like, possibilities for grad school. You know what I mean?

Scott Benner (35:02)

And she goes, I don't know, dad. What do you think?

Cathy (35:08)

It's dramatic to have to switch. I started on on Omni

Scott Benner (35:12)

Mhmm.

Cathy (35:13)

And had a lot of problems with the adhesives.

Scott Benner (35:17)

It wasn't good for you. Was it not sticking or sticking too much for you, or did you get a rash from it?

Cathy (35:22)

It was terrible terrible rashes and tunneling and yeah.

Scott Benner (35:27)

Okay. Just didn't work right for you?

Cathy (35:29)

Right. Yeah. Fair enough. No. I I didn't have any problem with accuracy or anything like that.

Cathy (35:34)

It was just the adhesive didn't work for me. And my doctor did say something about as I'm getting older, Medtronic is kind of easier to get through Medicare.

Scott Benner (35:44)

So Medicare likes Medtronic?

Cathy (35:46)

I think so. That's what she said anyway.

Scott Benner (35:48)

Well, listen. Whatever whatever's free and whatever works. That sounds about right to me. What's your management like now today? Like, do you I mean, if you just only had a pump for a couple of years and you're you know, you pretty I mean, they brought you on pretty slow.

Scott Benner (36:02)

You said you started sliding scale even though it was ten years ago. So, I mean, how do you describe your management now? Where does your a one c sit? Do your successes look like what you're, you know, what you're working towards? Does the Graves interfere?

Cathy (36:17)

My last a one c was 6.5.

Scott Benner (36:20)

Good for you.

Cathy (36:21)

And I'm I'm comfortable with that. I because with the with the med tri, I can get the target down to a 100, and that's what I have it set at. But I I, yeah, I feel pretty comfortable with how things are going. It seems like when I go off track, I go off track hard, and it takes it a while to come back. And I'm not but I figured out every once in a while, I do need to calibrate and put in a blood glucose reading, or it will suspend too long.

Cathy (36:50)

When I did the update for instinct, it was suspending too long and causing a problem there. So, you know, of course, bump high and but little things like that to figure out. And with the stale donuts, I figured out that's Tylenol that I was taking for after the surgery. And that's that's a known issue with that, but I was going severely low. In fact, I was at my endocrinologist office getting labs, and they're real good about that.

Cathy (37:19)

But and waiting for that, my blood glucose started dropping, so I'm eating jelly beans that I could find out of my bag at my endocrinologist office. And, they called me at 10:00 that night. I had a blood glucose of 34 sitting at the endocrinologist.

Scott Benner (37:37)

Wait. Are you are you telling me that I wanna make sure I understand. Like, acetaminophen messes up the sensor, and so you were low and didn't know it. Is that the context?

Cathy (37:46)

No. With the it's it reads too high, so it delivers too much insulin is my understanding.

Scott Benner (37:54)

Oh, so yeah. Then the okay. So the the sensor gets messed up by the acetaminophen. It gave you a high blood sugar. You were getting insulin for it, but you didn't need the insulin.

Cathy (38:05)

Right.

Scott Benner (38:05)

Made you low. Okay. Alright. Yeah. I I felt like I was that's what you're saying, but I wanted to make sure that that's what we were getting at.

Aging with Type 1 Diabetes

Scott Benner (38:11)

How do you think about, like, the rest of your life with diabetes? Do you spend a lot of time wondering how you're gonna manage as you get older? Are you making plans for it?

Cathy (38:21)

Yes. I do. And I I guess I'm not even sure how to begin to plan for that because my mom is 92 years old. Bless her heart.

Scott Benner (38:31)

Oh my gosh.

Cathy (38:32)

Yeah. But she's in memory care, so I, you know, I hear things walking by the nurses and the medical assistants and and that type of thing. You know, comments like, well, I haven't given their noon insulin yet and saw somebody being called in to change a sensor. I'm assuming it was a sensor. I'm like, I don't know.

Cathy (38:54)

I don't know how you change those protocols because, you know, I need that pre bolus.

Scott Benner (38:59)

Yeah.

Cathy (38:59)

Or if you don't feed me and I'm just sitting there, my insulin is being suspended that you know, that's a a bad problem for me too.

Scott Benner (39:09)

I have to tell you, Kathy, I find myself when I'm talking to older people who are thinking about this, what strikes me the most is that at the moment, they're trying to plan for the future. And they are people who pre bolus for their meals and take themselves very seriously, and they're really on top of their health. And they're trying to imagine how to do it out into the future. And all they're hearing, you know, from, you know, stories and and whatnot is that, like, you're gonna get into a home one day, and that's all gonna go out the window. And when I talk to people who who work in those facilities, they talk about it differently.

Scott Benner (39:48)

They talk about it like, well, they're older now. They're not gonna live much longer. It's not that big of a deal if their a one c is seven. Like, you you realize that their focus and your focus are not the same thing. And then that realization that comes that you'll get older and you probably won't you won't be able to fight back or you might be in a position where you can't argue or stick up for yourself or advocate.

Scott Benner (40:10)

And even if you could, they wouldn't have the the infrastructure in place to handle it for you. Like, it's such a I find these conversations to be very, I don't know, sullen.

Cathy (40:20)

I come from a very loving family. I have supportive friends, but yeah, that I mean, that is in my thought process that I I live alone, that who's who's gonna advocate for me because even to back up a little bit when I had that surgery, very fine hospital. And I was, you know, at 07:00 on a Friday night, and I just got out of ten hours of surgery. My eyes are practically swollen shut, and I was talking to the medical assistant. I'm like, I'm I'm not comfortable just Yeah.

Cathy (40:52)

Being kicked out here. I don't I don't feel like that's safe, she said. And I I'm not gonna name names here. And she said, well, you could go to the emergency room and see if you can be embedded that way.

Scott Benner (41:04)

That's terrible. Yeah. Yeah.

Cathy (41:07)

So the my support person had had walked away. I don't know. Bathroom break or something. And when they came back, all of a sudden, was going to the hospital. She he's like, what did you do?

Cathy (41:19)

I've learned how to be an advocate for myself even even in this situation that and they said, well, we'll we'll check your blood sugar. And I look back at records overnight there. It was, like, one test in the morning before I left, and I'm like, no. Really. You know, I haven't I haven't eaten in at least twelve hours.

Scott Benner (41:40)

Right.

Cathy (41:41)

In twenty probably closer to 20, and I I can be in just as much trouble when I don't have insulin going in because the pump is suspending as I need to be able to manage that, and they didn't get that. And that's my concern between type one and two. I'm not I understand the issues with type two. I was misdiagnosed that way for a long time, but I need people to understand that I have no insulin going in, and I can be in just as much trouble with nothing as

Scott Benner (42:08)

Mhmm. That's that's too much. Well, isn't that really the point, though, is that institutionally, the understanding is low. I mean, look. You got done with that surgery, and they were like, well, we can't help you.

Scott Benner (42:18)

You gotta get out of here. And so even if you would've went to a hospital, who knows how good of a job they would've done for you? And then thinking about long term care as as an elder person, you're gonna be lucky to even be in a situation that good with as far as people's understanding

Cathy (42:34)

Right.

Scott Benner (42:35)

And and desire to be, you know, desire to to be proactive in a way that lends to health when they're looking at you and your you know, the actuarial table says you're not gonna be here for much longer. So they're not thinking about you the same way anymore. It's like, you know, type one diabetes is like a lifetime of, like, I gotta take a good care of this because I wanna live and I wanna be healthy. What happens when you get to the end and there is no there are just not that many years left? You know?

Scott Benner (43:05)

Like, I don't I'm I'm so sorry. I don't wanna be a bummer, but, like, it doesn't get talked about enough. And I wonder when I'm talking to people who are in the service side of that industry, you know, and and it really is it really is a business taking care of older people. You think about how they think about it, and then you think about how you, the person, thinks about themselves, and that you still have the same desire at 70 and 75 and 80 about your type one diabetes that you had when you were, you know, 50 and 60 and some people for their whole lives. Like, how are you supposed to just give that away and say, oh, yeah.

Scott Benner (43:41)

I I guess I'm probably not gonna live much longer, so this is okay if my a one c is seven or if I don't get my insulin right away? Like, how do you make yourself right with the fact that that's how the system looks at you? And I I don't I really don't know the answer to that at all.

Cathy (43:54)

That's a good point that I hadn't kind of thought about it that way. You know? I kinda take it from my perspective. But, yeah, it is a it is a business, and I I do see that. Yeah.

Cathy (44:03)

I feel like my mom is in a very good place. But yeah.

Scott Benner (44:08)

They're not gonna you're not getting the round the clock attention. I mean, look at yourself as an adult now. Right? You've been taking care of your diabetes for a decade. Think about all the effort and time you put into it.

Scott Benner (44:20)

Like, how could they possibly do that for everybody in the building? Like, you could barely get your doctor to understand your diabetes. You're gonna get you know, every six hours, a new person, you know, streams through your room to take care of you. They're all gonna understand it like that, and you're gonna be older and maybe not in the same I don't know. Maybe you're not gonna be in the same situation where you can actually be directive about it at that point and tell them what to do.

Scott Benner (44:43)

I think in the end, it's just an incredibly unfair fact of life if you have type one and you live a long time. Like, it just sucks, and I don't know if there's much you're gonna be able to do about it. Maybe the automated systems by then will be so much so that, you know, it'll be like a slap it on pump, they'll be comfortable doing it because they won't have to understand how it, you know, quote, unquote, understand how it works because it's just gonna do the thing. You you know, maybe maybe that's maybe that'll end up being the key for older people. It would be nice because I think if you're waiting for the the staff or the institution to get the desire to take care of people on that level, that's never gonna happen.

Scott Benner (45:23)

You know, they couldn't keep my mom free of a UTI. They're gonna take care of diabetes type one. You know what mean? And do a great job of it. I I don't see it happening.

Scott Benner (45:31)

But, yeah, maybe the maybe the automation is the answer.

Cathy (45:35)

Mhmm.

Scott Benner (45:36)

Yeah. I'm sorry. Did I completely ruin your day? Kathy's like, it's nine in the morning. Will you calm down?

Cathy (45:46)

No. I'm I'm pretty resilient type of person. I I I go with the flow.

Scott Benner (45:50)

Well, that's obvious.

Cathy (45:52)

I just wanna live a full life.

Scott Benner (45:54)

Yeah. It's awesome. And you're doing I mean, listen. From what I'm hearing from you, you are putting a ton of effort and time and focus into your health. I wish more people put this kind of effort into themselves.

Scott Benner (46:08)

You were really trying, it sounds to me.

Cathy (46:10)

Mhmm.

Scott Benner (46:11)

Yeah. You feel like you're doing everything you can?

Cathy (46:14)

You know, sometimes I I feel like I need to let it go too. Mhmm. Let those automatic like, you know, like we talk they let those automatic systems roll. And I'm I get all excited about things, and we'll do 20 things at once, and then we're gonna fix this. We're gonna fix that.

Cathy (46:33)

You know, kinda like New Year's resolutions that, oh, we'll do this all at once. And then three months down the line, it was like, I'm tired of doctors. Cancel that appointment. We're not going there. We're not doing that.

Scott Benner (46:45)

Yeah. You did say something earlier that I didn't dig into. You said something about, like, when it goes off the rails, it really goes. Does that mean, like, when you lose your focus on care, you let it go for a while until you decide to pick it back up again, or did you mean something different?

Cathy (47:00)

I don't feel like burnout is an issue for me, but in, like I said, very active, you know, meetings all day long out in the public that I won't take the I've got a sensor going bad or, you know, a fusion set needs changed, then it's have a terrible problem if my infusion set. I've got a bad site and, you know, here I'm up to 400 and don't take the time to say, you know, hey. I need to I need to take care of myself, I think. Maybe it even goes back to that I don't don't want other people to see this.

Scott Benner (47:40)

Yeah. Do you think I've actually just had more conversations with people recently where, you know, they were trying to tell me what was it? Like, Omnipod five has been such a big deal for them. And I'm, like, picking through all the reasons, I think. And they're like, no.

Scott Benner (47:54)

No. It's just it's the phone. And I'm like, what? And they said, you know, I can pull my phone out and give myself insulin without anybody knowing. And I said, oh, were you not giving yourself insulin when you needed to because you didn't wanna pull out a controller?

Scott Benner (48:06)

And they were like, yeah. Absolutely. So that's a problem for some people. Yeah. Yeah.

Scott Benner (48:11)

Just not wanting people to see.

Cathy (48:13)

I kinda I had a situation where, you know, during COVID, worked in an office where we had cubicles and plexiglass up over everybody, and I think I was just diagnosed formally with type one and and well, it would have been a little after. But, you know, if you have the conversation with everybody, if you hear the alarm going off, just, you know, I'm probably okay. Just don't worry about it. But that was a time where I was having a lot of alarms. So so I'm sitting in a plexiglass cubicle, and my alarm's going off, and nobody responded at all.

Cathy (48:51)

That was a poignant moment for me. It's like, okay. Maybe we need to find a middle ground here that maybe sometime, you know, I need some help, and it's a

Scott Benner (49:01)

Yeah. Also, it would kinda tell you, like, nobody's really looking. Like, that's sort of that part's in your head. Like, know, if all that beeping is going and no one's coming, you're just like, oh, I guess nobody gives a crap. You know?

Scott Benner (49:12)

Like, I nobody's really paying attention to all this maybe. Whatever I I'm gonna assume that the thing that my brain's missing where I don't really seem to care what other people know about me, I'm gonna tell you in about a month, there's gonna be an episode of the podcast out where I have a doctor on who did, like, an embolization surgery on me for, like, internal hemorrhoids, and I had, like, this crazy bleeding and everything.

Cathy (49:34)

Yeah. I remember reading about that.

Scott Benner (49:36)

While I'm on the the episode recording with the doctor, it actually occurred to me halfway through. I'm like, what is wrong with me that I don't mind talking about this? There should be a mechanism in my brain that stops me from saying this out loud. Right? I wonder if in my regular life I actually from having all these conversations and from having a daughter with type one, I often wonder if I had diabetes, if especially type one, would I walk the walk or would this all just be academic and it would go out the window?

Scott Benner (50:10)

Like, do you know what I mean? Like, I wonder if I wouldn't be in the same exact situation as that person I was talking to. It's like, well, I didn't wanna pull out that controller and let people know I needed insulin. Like, I wonder if that would happen to me. Or, you know, Arden had a bunch of stuff at college yesterday.

Scott Benner (50:25)

She had to go to a bunch of kinda lectures and stuff, about her you know, what she wants to do in grad school. So she was at these events and people were talking. And you know how they always, you know, say, like, everything happens on the worst day. Right? So her GLP medication kinda waned in the last day or so, and she hasn't injected it again yet.

Scott Benner (50:46)

So her settings that work great for while the GLP's running were certainly starting not to work. So they're starting not to work. She's real busy all day, probably eating at, like, buffet tables at these these events and everything. And I must have and I haven't done this in a long time. I must have texted her three times yesterday.

Scott Benner (51:05)

Arden, you've really simple, but, like, hey. The GLP is gone. You need to, like, put in more manual insulin today. Hey, Arden. Please bolus here.

Scott Benner (51:14)

Arden, would you put a temp basal in for an hour? Like, blah blah blah. Like and I haven't talked to her about, that in a long time. And so she comes home last night. We're sitting together.

Scott Benner (51:23)

Actually, we were sitting with my phone looking at old videos of, like, when she was a baby. It was a really nice hour. I just turned to her and I was like, why did you not bolus yesterday when I asked you to? And she goes, I was busy. And I was like and it wasn't like I'm ignoring it or I don't care.

Scott Benner (51:39)

She's just like there was a lot going on. And I I wish I could dig more into that with her, but because of you know, it's a father son relationship, I can't. You know? There's only so far I can push. And so I but it was interesting to hear her her perspective.

Scott Benner (51:57)

And then I kinda take her perspective back, I blend it in with other conversations about having other people. I basically try to figure out what's going on with Arden through talking to all you guys. I don't know if that's obvious yet or not, but that's my path. Anyway and I wonder if I had type one diabetes, would I be as bold as I say when I'm speaking, you know, without actually having to deal with it? I I don't know.

Cathy (52:19)

I totally get that. And I grew up in a family, you know, we we don't talk about that. You know, I'm I'm fine. We don't talk about that. And even yeah.

Scott Benner (52:32)

The stuff we talk about here, I think, would shock people. And my wife did not grow up that way. Like, it took years to drag her over to our side. I don't seem to care what other people think, and I really don't and I but but I do in, like, other like, in other ways. Like, I'm know, you I wouldn't want anybody to think of me as being coarse in my real life or, like, you know, I wouldn't I don't wanna make people unhappy.

Scott Benner (52:58)

Like, I'm I'm very concerned about what other people think in situations that make sense, you know, structurally with my relationships. But in this other stuff, like, I really don't care. Like, you are gonna listen to an episode where I'm just describing, like, laying on a floor bleeding from my and I realized, like, I I know how many people are gonna hear that, and it really doesn't I don't care. It's kind of fascinating. I don't know if the Internet fixed that for some people, like, knowing that when you have a a, like, a wider audience, like, it's just it is what it is, and it doesn't really matter.

Scott Benner (53:30)

Because maybe I learned the same lesson you learned sitting in the cubicle when it was beeping, which is nobody really cares all that much. Yeah. You know? So and it really is about you. I think it all really goes back to that story that I've told in the podcast a number of times about taking my son to a diner when he was a kid after a baseball game and the and then putting us in a in a table that was in the middle of the floor surrounded by all these different booths.

Scott Benner (53:55)

And I could tell he felt uncomfortable sitting there because he felt like people were looking at us, and I just said, nobody cares. They're eating. No one's looking at us. And, like, when he looked around and realized they really don't see us, and it it was just a it was a great moment for him where he's like, oh, I I don't need to be everyone's not looking at me all the time. I don't I just don't know where I got that from because I grew up, like like, happy.

Scott Benner (54:18)

I was a fat kid growing up. Like, I know how you feel. Like, god, are people looking at my eyes? Is this happening? What are people thinking about me?

Scott Benner (54:26)

I don't know if maybe it's just maybe it's a defense mechanism I built up over being a kid. I'm not I'm not even sure. I don't know. I'm I'm in my fifties. I don't have time to figure all that out.

Scott Benner (54:36)

I just know I feel better not caring. So, anyway, don't worry about what other people think. You know? Did we, miss anything? Did we not talk about anything that you wanted to bring up?

Every Cure & AI Medical Research

Scott Benner (54:47)

Take your time because I have one more question for you. So tell me, make sure we didn't miss anything here.

Cathy (54:52)

No. I I think I've covered what I other than, I am involved in I've been to Philadelphia for the last five years in a rare disease community, and they are working on it's interesting. I I mean, it's not my work, but they're using AI to find drugs that are already being used or off label for other things and finding drugs that they don't have to be developed, for orphan diseases. So that's pretty cool. I'm actually

Scott Benner (55:26)

Kathy, explain that to me. So what do they do? They load the the data about the molecule in and then ask them AI model. Is there something that it's not being used for that it could be valuable with?

Cathy (55:37)

They collect data, and it it's beyond my scope. But to find, hey, doctor. And and this is my understanding. Doctor in Montana used aspirin for rheumatoid arthritis, and that worked, you know, getting results. Pretty high level AI.

Cathy (55:56)

They've getting some grants. But, anyway, he's a doctor that, wrote a book, Chasing My Career, doctor Fagenbaum. I don't know if you've heard of him out in the Philadelphia area. He's at Penn.

Scott Benner (56:06)

Is he running this program?

Cathy (56:09)

What's that?

Scott Benner (56:09)

Is he running the program that's looking into, like

Cathy (56:12)

It's two different things. What I got involved with is I have Castleman disease. It's a enlarged lymph node, and this was about ten years ago. But the subtype I have of that is fine. They removed it.

Cathy (56:26)

I'm I'm fine. But got involved with it because, you know, you go Google this disease. It's like, holy crap. This is bad. And other subtypes are are really very serious.

Cathy (56:37)

So I got involved with this online group, and what they they have some different ideas about medical research, and they actually crowdsource with actual patients. And I've, you know, filled out surveys and what I think the research direction should be and, you know, how I'm doing, and they have every scrap of my medical records possible. But, anyway, he cured himself. He was, given last rites, like, five times, and he found the drug that would cure him. And it's it's pretty cool.

Cathy (57:08)

They fly us out or a group of us to Philadelphia every year, and we have have a summit and participate in Zoom calls. And and with the crowdsourcing, they wrote a paper on there, actually listed as a collaborator on that paper, and they they spelled my name wrong.

Scott Benner (57:29)

It's called ever Every Cure. Is that right?

Cathy (57:32)

Every Every Cure. And that's the other part of it. He's kinda bounced to working on that.

Scott Benner (57:38)

Mhmm. I'm gonna reach out to them and see if he'll come on and talk about it. That's really interesting.

Cathy (57:43)

If you need some connections, like I said, I'm pretty well connected, and I would be happy to get you some connections if you want.

Scott Benner (57:49)

Well, then, Leah, let's make that easier. Would you please tell me somebody I can contact? Because I'd love to have someone come on and explain what this is.

Cathy (57:55)

Going to have to get into my email for those those names, but I'd I'd be happy to do that.

Scott Benner (58:00)

No. Yeah. Send it to me later. That would be great. Okay.

Cathy (58:02)

It's very interesting work. I get to go out there and hear about the new studies and yeah. I mean, it's very top level, but, you know, I don't understand everything. But the to go there and just see those researchers and what they're doing. You know, these young kids at Penn are just really excited about what they're doing and and helping people.

Cathy (58:22)

You know, I see examples of that every day that like I said, I have the type that's not, you know, not an issue. They took it out, and I'm fine. But there's it can cause very serious disease, and to see the work they're doing is is fabulous.

Scott Benner (58:36)

No. This is really, really cool. I'm so glad I asked you if there's anything else I didn't bring up because I'm gonna reach out to them with your contact and try to get somebody on. I'd like to get him on if I could. This is really interesting.

Scott Benner (58:46)

Okay. Oh, well, can I ask my last question?

Cathy (58:50)

Yes.

Scott Benner (58:51)

Why are you buying stale donuts? Why don't you buy the fresh ones?

Cathy (58:55)

You know, I still walk by there in the grocery store. Like, those are really terrible. What's the expiration date on these? But I was sitting in the pharmacy, and it it took I must have been significantly low. But it because it said under 50, and it took a whole package of doughnuts.

Cathy (59:16)

It's sitting in the pharmacy because that's the only place in the grocery store that has a chair. So, you know, of course, nobody's helping me then, and nobody's asking. Hey, lady.

Scott Benner (59:26)

There is a woman sitting in the pharmacy just scarfing down doughnuts. It it's and no one says anything to you. Like, that isn't that well, I get it. So are you talking about, like, the sale table at the front where they're trying to push out the older food and then there's, like, an orange tag on it that's making it cheaper?

Cathy (59:42)

No. It's a it's it was a whole pallet full of donuts. Think they've tried it.

Scott Benner (59:50)

I just think they should sell fresh donuts is all I'm saying. I don't know why they have to sell stale ones.

Cathy (59:55)

I'm a former retailer. Oh, excuse me. I I get this. They were yeah. They were trying to offload the donuts, and I was helping them.

Scott Benner (1:00:04)

There's a little cooler at the front of my grocery store, and it's just full of prepared foods. So prepackaged, like, meals that you just warm up, Right? That they you know, I think they make there at the store. But they just have big orange labels on them, and they are just at the end of, like, their usefulness. Like, you need to eat them today or tomorrow or they're just gonna get tossed.

Scott Benner (1:00:23)

And, man, people buy out of that cooler constantly. Like, they really like, people do. Like, I see them stop every time and look at it, they're like, oh, okay. And, like, I don't know. I just I've never looked in there.

Scott Benner (1:00:34)

I I guess that's maybe I just I'm lucky I don't need to save 75¢ on a piece of meatloaf. At the same time, like, I'm personally fascinated by how frequently people go to and there's a baked there's a table in front of it with baked goods in the same situation, like stuff that's coming out to the end of its date. I thought for sure that's what you were talking about. Anyway, Kathy, you're delightful. I really do appreciate you doing this with me.

Closing Thoughts

Scott Benner (1:00:56)

And I don't know how you got me to do this at 8AM, but I think it's just because I've known your name for a really long time and I was like, I like Kathy. So, I appreciate you coming on and adding your story to the to the podcast. I was just telling somebody this morning. They asked me what my favorite episode of the podcast was, and I said I I genuinely amassed that a lot. I don't know how to answer it.

Scott Benner (1:01:16)

There's 1,800 episodes now. I really see the podcast more like a diary, And it's just sort of instead of my story on every page, I feel like it's just everyone else's story sort of through my lens maybe, you know, because I'm the one that kinda generally directs the conversations based on my interest and, you know, what pops up in my mind. So I said, don't know how to tell you. I they're all like, the whole thing is my favorite thing. I love the collection of what it is.

Scott Benner (1:01:45)

So I just really appreciate you putting your your story into it. Thank you very much.

Cathy (1:01:50)

Mhmm.

Scott Benner (1:01:50)

It's a pleasure talking.

Cathy (1:01:51)

I will get that get that information to you.

Scott Benner (1:01:54)

Kathy, you're lovely. Hold on one second for me. Okay? I'd like to remind you again about the MiniMed seven eighty g automated insulin delivery system, which of course anticipates, adjusts, and corrects every five minutes twenty four seven. It works around the clock so you can focus on what matters.

Scott Benner (1:02:17)

The juice box community knows the importance of using technology to simplify managing diabetes. To learn more about how you can spend less time and effort managing your diabetes, visit my link, medtronicdiabetes.com/juicebox. The podcast episode that you just enjoyed was sponsored by Eversense CGM. They make the Eversense three sixty five. That thing lasts a whole year.

Scott Benner (1:02:43)

One insertion every year? Come on. You probably feel like I'm messing with you, but I'm not. Ever since cgm.com/juicebox. This episode of the Juice Box podcast was sponsored by US Med.

Scott Benner (1:02:59)

U smed.com/juicebox, or call (888) 721-1514. Get started today with US Med. Links in the show notes. Links at juiceboxpodcast.com. Thank you so much for listening.

Scott Benner (1:03:15)

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

Scott Benner (1:03:42)

Would you like a Christmas card? If you're looking for community around type one diabetes, check out the Juice Box podcast private Facebook group. Juice Box podcast, type one diabetes. But everybody is welcome. Type one, type two, gestational, loved ones, it doesn't matter to me.

Scott Benner (1:04:00)

If you're impacted by diabetes and you're looking for support, comfort, or community, check out Juice Box podcast, type one diabetes on Facebook. If you have a podcast and you need a fantastic editor, you want Rob from Wrong Way Recording. Listen. Truth be told, I'm, like, 20% smarter when Rob edits me. He takes out all the, like, gaps of time and when I go, and stuff like that.

Scott Benner (1:04:25)

And it just I don't know, man. Like, I listen back and I'm like, why do I sound smarter? And then I remember because I did one smart thing. I hired Rob at wrongwayrecording.com.

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