Scott Benner 5/24/22 Scott Benner 5/24/22

#687 Go Forth and Be Diabetic

Leigh Anne has type 1 diabetes.

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DISCLAIMER: This text is the output of AI based transcribing from an audio recording. Although the transcription is largely accurate, in some cases it is incomplete or inaccurate due to inaudible passages or transcription errors and should not be treated as an authoritative record. Nothing that you read here constitutes advice medical or otherwise. Always consult with a healthcare professional before making changes to a healthcare plan.

Scott Benner 0:00
Hello friends, and welcome to episode 687 of the Juicebox Podcast.

I'm just going to admit right now that I don't know how to describe Leann, so Leanne has type one diabetes. She's an adult in her 30s was recently diagnosed when she recorded this. And that's all I'm giving you. While you're listening. Please remember that nothing you hear on the Juicebox Podcast should be considered advice, medical or otherwise, always consult a physician before making any changes to your health care plan. Or becoming bold with insulin. I have a buy me a coffee page. It's buy me a coffee.com forward slash Juicebox Podcast. And some people are members and with their membership. Usually they're promised the reading of their of their name, which if I'm being honest, I'm woefully bad at doing but recently Donnie became a member and asked me to read you this. A shout out to Nolan and Jen Dean, and everybody remembered, loved and affected by the combination of diabetes and mental illness. Thank you, Dani very much. And thank you everybody who buys me a coffee

this show is sponsored today by the glucagon that my daughter carries. G voc hypo Penn. Find out more at G voc glucagon.com. Forward slash Juicebox. Podcast is also sponsored by us med Are you looking for a great place to get your diabetes supplies us med is that place, head to us med.com forward slash juicebox right now to get your free benefits check. And if you don't like the internet, you could use your phone by calling 888-721-1514. And just before we get started, please remember to check out touched by type one.org and find them on Instagram and Facebook. Amazing, amazing, amazing organization doing just you'll see you'll see what they're doing for people with type one, when you visit touched by type one.org

Leigh Anne 2:28
My name is Leanne. I am a unfortunate marathon runner and an accountant former bartender and I recently was diagnosed with type one diabetes.

Scott Benner 2:39
You're an unfortunate marathon runner because you're bad at it. Or because

Leigh Anne 2:43
because I just don't know how I ended up being a marathon runner. It happened accidentally.

Scott Benner 2:49
When did it happen accidentally.

Leigh Anne 2:51
I ran my first half marathon in 2017. And I don't know if you know this about runners, but they're a bunch of enablers and I said I would never run a full marathon. And then two years later, I was training for a full marathon and brand one lately. It

Scott Benner 3:11
sounds like you're about to badmouth a big group of people. So that's exciting for me. enablers. What do you mean?

Leigh Anne 3:19
Oh, it's yeah, you I joined a running group. And they know they're enablers. But I join a running group. And I would say I love half marathons, I don't ever want to do a full, there's no reason to run 26 miles, you can do it. And they just kind of like, put little thoughts into your head and they're like, Okay, but you could run a full marathon if you really wanted to. And so, you know, you get a whole bunch of people telling me you can do something you're like, you know what, maybe I'll give it a try.

Scott Benner 3:47
Okay, what's there? When I was a kid, there was this anti drug campaign. And I can remember one of the, one of the sentences from the commercial was like, it'll make you feel good. It was like that. And so is that what they're doing to you? Are they trying to drag you into their hell? What is happening? Yes, yes. Why don't they just stop running? Is it because they bought all those sneakers? What are they doing?

Leigh Anne 4:10
I don't know. I tried to stop running. And then I that's how I learned that I actually really enjoyed it. Because I had to stop for a while, like, right after my diagnosis while I was trying to get things under control. And I was like, wait a minute, what do you mean, I can't go out and just run like I used to? Because, yeah, that was good.

Scott Benner 4:28
I reclined my chair way back. I feel like you and I are gonna have a chill conversation. I want to get in the right mood for this. You tried to stop running? And you couldn't? Yes. Correct. I don't think you understand. So if you just don't run, you've stopped running. So what happened when you stopped running?

Leigh Anne 4:50
I just I went stir crazy and it was just I didn't realize how much I actually enjoyed doing it even though I only enjoy it while I'm running the process of getting ready Need to go for a run is not super fun. Like my wife and I have to go

Scott Benner 5:05
talk my wife was sex. So. Okay, so I shouldn't have said that. I'm gonna end up leaving it in but whatever. So. Okay, so the prep for running sucks. You like the doing it? So what do you just like the I mean, just there's some sort of like an endorphin thing that happens while you're running. Yeah,

Leigh Anne 5:26
I used to think that the runner's high was a myth. I think it's just, there's something about the sense of accomplishment, like the first time I ran a half marathon is just like, I actually did this because I'm not a super fast runner. I average like, maybe a 12 minute mile, which my brother calls jogging. So you don't run you just

Scott Benner 5:49
to him? First of all, that's Yeah. Talk to people that way. Are you an addict? Be honest, in other ways? Yes. Super, is one of the things you're addicted to is being really honest with people. What? What are what are some other things that you maybe do? Is it impulsive, or compulsive or I don't know what the word is.

Leigh Anne 6:12
I just, I think I just really love the race atmosphere. So like this past year to year and a half, two years is kind of sucked because you don't get the excitement of race day and 100 1000s of people running around you doing the same thing happened. And then my running group, we always go drinking after we run.

Scott Benner 6:34
It's just another excuse for people to drink. Is that all this is?

Leigh Anne 6:39
Yes, pretty much.

Scott Benner 6:42
You get the feel healthy, and then get loaded for two days. Yeah, I listen. People are very predictable. You hear what I'm saying? Okay, so that was in 2017. That had nothing to do with diabetes, although I want to try to make the case that running gives people diabetes, we can go down that road, but I don't think it's true. No, so you see you, we should probably talk more about your diabetes. I love it. When I'm like 15 minutes into it. I was like, I think people want to hear about diabetes, too. When were you diagnosed just a year ago?

Leigh Anne 7:15
January 2020 2021. Just this year? Oh, January 2021.

Scott Benner 7:22
What did you do, like get diagnosed and immediately as to be on the podcast? But

Leigh Anne 7:27
pretty much like I well, I found your podcast because I when I was in the ER, I didn't have a room so I didn't have a TV. So I I spent my time on Reddit trying to like figure out what was going on. So I found your like, your podcast immediately. And then I had a very I kind of go into like when I need to learn something about something new. I go into the deep end like it's like, alright, this is my new obsession for the next two months. Everything is about diabetes.

Scott Benner 8:00
We're just having addictive nature. Before we get into that because I have a question about can you pull that bell off that cat or whatever I'm hearing back there? Is it a bell on a cat? It is a bell on a cat. But listen to me closely. I'm a genius. I just spent

Leigh Anne 8:16
like 20 minutes before the show stealing all their toys so they wouldn't make noise.

Scott Benner 8:20
But you didn't tell the people you didn't tell me your tats, right? No, I did not. I don't know if the rest of you are getting this but I might be empathic or something. Or I don't know whatever one of those words. I'm gonna talk over while she's chasing the cat runaway cat run? I don't care if the rest of the podcast is her chasing that cat. Oh used to wait your headphones. Sorry.

Leigh Anne 8:47
Yeah, I have their wireless so I can keep

Scott Benner 8:53
them off. I was bad mouthing you to your face. I mean, not bad. mouthing, I was making fun of you directly to you. I didn't mean that.

Leigh Anne 8:59
No, he was a kitten. So he's hard to rank.

Scott Benner 9:02
I don't want to hear about your problems. I was trying to set up a situation where like six months from now you were listening to your episode and like he was talking crap about me while I was chasing that cat around. But it didn't work out that way. Anyway. I'm getting quite an ear for what's happening in people's homes from doing this podcast. All right. I appreciate that. You didn't hurt the cat, right?

Leigh Anne 9:24
No, I just shut him into a room.

Scott Benner 9:27
You couldn't catch him?

Leigh Anne 9:30
No, he's tiny and wily.

Scott Benner 9:34
Alright, so let's get back into this. Or what was the how was I know my question. I tell you what, I must have slept well last night. I'm very clear headed right now. Reddit. A lot of people tell me they hear about the podcasts on reddit but I don't go on Reddit because the idea of it scares me. Am I generally thought of well there if I'm not gonna tell me make up a lie, but because I'll never go look So just tell me,

Leigh Anne 10:01
yeah, what I did is I made a post on one of the type one, sub Reddits. And I was like I was just diagnosed, tell me what I should ask when I go to the endocrinologist and what you wish you knew at the beginning. And the two things that came up a lot was your podcasts and think like a patriot

Scott Benner 10:22
don't have to bring up what else came up, that's fine. But it's a pretty good book. I can't read. So I'm not sure. But I hear good things about Gary's book for certain and Jenny's on all the time. And Jenny actually works for Gary. So I don't know if people know that or not that Integrated diabetes services is owned by the author of Think like a pancreas. It

Leigh Anne 10:45
took me longer than I would like to admit to put those two together because I was listening to you and reading the book. And then like, three months later, I was like, Oh, wait, hold

Scott Benner 10:54
on. To you. I don't really spoon feed information to people. So there's a way of communicating that I think of is more long form. And I don't just mean like over an hour and a half. I mean, like over the years, like, I feel like we're building a thing here together. And so I think it's weird when people come on and say, obvious stuff. That's not conversational. If stuff comes out in conversation. I'm happy about that. But I don't make like short declarative boring statements. I try not to do that. And like coming on and being like, this is Jenny, Jenny works for Gary. Gary wrote that book, you know, like, I don't talk like that. So. But that's cool. So you went right to Reddit, where I'm generally thought of well, which Thank you, Reddit. I appreciate that. Huge shout, I will never be there. So please don't bother saying You're welcome. I won't say. But. And it's not for any real reason other than I mean, I don't really do social media to begin with. And I think I've read it a social media, right, like it's a message board. Am I right? Yeah. Yeah. I don't have time. I'm busy. I wish I wasn't though. It sounds amazing. I mean, you went there and got what I'm calling rock solid information. Yes. Okay. So you're in the hospital. Reading. There's no word for reading, like you can is reading, editing. You know, when I say editing, like if I'm sorry, let's just rabbit hole for one second. Sometimes I say to people while I was editing this episode, I blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And I hate that word. The word editing makes me like when I say it in context, like I'm editing the episode. I'm okay. But when I use it, descriptively Oh, my God, I sound crazy. I have to stop. Nevermind, reading it is. Okay, so you were reading in the ER and heard about a podcast? You start listening to the podcast in the ER?

Leigh Anne 12:48
Yes, actually, I did.

Scott Benner 12:51
Wow, you're insane. But I love it when people do that. So your doctor comes in and you're like, don't worry, you don't have to explain anything to me. I have a stranger on the internet. I heard about through Reddit. He's explaining the whole thing right now.

Leigh Anne 13:05
I was a little bit in shell shock about that whole period because I no one in my family. There's no history of diabetes in my family. And I originally went to patient first because I thought I had COVID.

Scott Benner 13:21
Okay, to

Leigh Anne 13:22
think that, you know, you have something that you potentially will get better from and now you should go to the ER and I was like, do I have can I just go home and take a nap? Like, please go to the ER, yeah, I'm gonna call you tomorrow.

Scott Benner 13:36
Wow. So you go there. They tell you to go to the ER, you go to the ER finally check the Reddit. I went

Leigh Anne 13:46
and took a nap.

Scott Benner 13:47
Went home and took a nap. Sorry. What generation are you and what are they? How do they classify your age?

Leigh Anne 13:54
I been told I'm a geriatric millennial.

Scott Benner 13:58
Oh my god. I don't know what any of that means. I hate the internet. Now. I'm just realizing I it's at the core of what I do. I hate that everything is brand new.

Leigh Anne 14:07
Give me me. Um, yeah, I'm an I'm 33. So Oh, and then my 30

Scott Benner 14:12
year old. Okay, I'm just teasing you you're not old. Do you have a married right? No, no. Okay. Are you like in a significant relationship? Or were you when you were diagnosed?

Leigh Anne 14:24
Not when I was in diagnosed. Look, not when I was diagnosed, but I am now

Scott Benner 14:30
okay. So what? I want to go back to the shellshock part. Do you remember anything doctors were saying to you in the ER?

Leigh Anne 14:39
I'm not really I know. So. My mom's a nurse and her good friends a PA in an in a different era and a different location in the state. And she was the one who I texted her my labs after I left patient first and she was the one who told me to go to the ER and I was like, Well, if she's saying to go, I should go And I, by the time I got a good doctor talk to me it was, I want to say eight or nine hours after I got into the ER. And the like, the intake doctor finally got out to me because I was like, they had just gotten all of their patients that it was like the rush of COVID cases right after Christmas. Okay. And so I was in the lobby for 12 hours waiting for the doctor to get back to me. Like when I first went in, he's like, I want to put you want to IV drip, and reran these labs, it took them two hours just to put me on the IV drip. And then like another four hours, and the doctor came out and talked to me, he's like, we want to keep you here. I was like, like, here in the lobby. I was like, No, well,

Scott Benner 15:52
how long do I have to sit out here with all the COVID people?

Leigh Anne 15:56
Like, he's like, who's like, well, we'll take you into the bat. And he's like, Well, he's like, I can't guarantee you'll have a room, but you won't be out here anymore. And I was like, Okay. And then he very casually is like, you're gonna keep an eye on your labs, your your pH is a little off. He's like, if it if it changes any at all, we're gonna have to take you to the ICU. And I was just like, okay, like, that's a very casual way of saying that.

Scott Benner 16:20
Yeah. You know, I think it sucks. But one of the like, I have a personal story about this, that I'm not ready to tell you. But having to send somebody into the emergency room during COVID was really terrible, especially if they're overwhelmed, you know, or older or something like that. Like, it's just, you need somebody there who's not going through a health crisis to help you listen to what's being said. I think like, I think that sucks. You know what I mean? Because like you said, it's like he's like, just like, you know, and then we'll send you to the ICU and all you're probably thinking is ICU. I've heard those words on Grey's Anatomy, they sound bad.

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You know like what does that mean exactly? At this point do you have any idea what's actually wrong with you or they're just looking at your labs and it doesn't look

Leigh Anne 19:48
um well the the the patient first doctor mentioned, diabetes and metabolic acid It doses in a sentence when I was there, but both of those words went out my head the second I left patient first. So at this point the, this the intake doctor, he did say we suspect that you have acute onset diabetes, and I'm just sitting here like, I don't even know what that means. But that means like, I do think I was far enough ahead. And just general life of knowing like, there's diabetes, and there's two types, and it has nothing to do with eating sugar or not eating sugar or your diet. Like, that's about what you know. That's about what I knew I didn't.

Scott Benner 20:37
So when did they get you out of chairs? Are you vape? Are you vaping? What is that noise? Oh,

Leigh Anne 20:43
no. All right. Okay, that's fine. I have my hand up my hands on your my face with you're not supposed to do during COVID. But you know,

Scott Benner 20:50
don't wait. Are you by yourself? Yeah, I don't think you can give yourself COVID

Leigh Anne 20:56
No, but you're not supposed to touch your face. Oh,

Scott Benner 21:00
I'm not picking my nose right now. No, I'm just kidding. Or if I wasn't, I mean, how would you know? Yeah, God, they

Leigh Anne 21:06
got me into a room in at midnight, and I got. So that's 12 hours after I arrived at the hospital. Okay. And then they, you know, take blood and all that stuff. Around 4am. A nurse comes in and offers, she's like, we have a round, but you have to transfer to this other hospital. And I was like, I have a room. I'm in a room. I don't my cars here because I drove myself to the ER because I again, had no comprehension of like, how bad things were at the time. And, and I was like, No, I'm just, I'm in bed. I'm asleep. So I declined the room, not knowing I saw on the news later that like, every hospital, like south of the river, had no rooms left the night that I was admitted, like, no rooms in the hospital. So like I just passed up a golden opportunity to have like an actual room. Not in the ER.

Scott Benner 22:09
Oh, okay. Yeah. So you're now you're living in the ER.

Leigh Anne 22:12
Now I'm living in the ER. I was lucky enough that the nurse practitioner came in in the morning. And when I still had the room to kind of explain my diagnosis. And she just kind of went through it. She was great. She went through it. I don't remember any of the exact words. She said. I just remember nodding my head. And I'm, I'm a runner. So I have like, I always had like emergency information on my watch that I wear. So like the first question I asked her, I looked at it, I pointed out my Road ID and I was like, Oh, I guess I'll have to update this then. She's like, Yeah, that's probably a good idea. Do you have any questions about diabetes? I was like, I don't even know what to ask you right. Now you have an idea. I'm so when I went to patient first, my blood sugar was 256. But the last time I had eaten, that was that was a Monday morning. And the last time I had eaten was Saturday around four o'clock.

Scott Benner 23:19
Oh, okay.

Leigh Anne 23:23
And my a one C was 13 and a half. 13.5. So, um, and I was in and I was there all by myself because I was an adult. So I couldn't have any family come in

Scott Benner 23:41
all evidence to the contrary, by the way. You would go into an older age, but I mean, not an adult. Did you call anyone in your family or someone like to tell them? Oh, yeah. Yeah,

Leigh Anne 23:58
I call. I called my mom. When I left patient first, like I talked to her a lot, like, very frequently along the way again, because she's nurse. Um, my dad, I didn't call him until they told me they were admitted me to the hospital. I was like, Well, I guess I should call him now. Because while they live close by, they couldn't do anything. Um, my mom did come up to my house and like, bring me a change of clothes. And then like, she stayed at my house and cleaned it, which was really nice.

Scott Benner 24:33
That's what parents do. They're like, Oh, I'll make something easier. Or how bad is your house? Was it really dirty?

Leigh Anne 24:39
Was it wasn't really it wasn't. It's not super dirty. It's just like, I don't do maintenance cleaning. Like,

Scott Benner 24:46
what does that mean? Or they're stuck to things. What are we talking about? are like, Oh, the toilet?

Leigh Anne 24:52
I don't think I don't think my bathroom looks dirty. But she would come in and like scrub the grout. And like, all right, kids. She really like she like cleaned it cleaned it. Oh, thanks.

Scott Benner 25:03
You mentioned the river. Are you in Ohio? Chicago, something like that.

Leigh Anne 25:08
Virginia, Richmond. Oh, so

Scott Benner 25:09
there's a river there. I only know like two other rivers. Obviously there's probably more than two right? Oh, wait, I Rio Grande. I might know more. Let's not do that now.

Leigh Anne 25:22
So I can't call my mom. She was on speakerphone. While I talked to like the nurses in in the nurse practitioner and she asked questions I think she was on she was on her best behavior. And I'm really appreciated that

Scott Benner 25:37
so your mom was trying to pick out information to At what point do you think you solidly understood what was going on? Like how far from sitting in chairs in the ER until you were like I have diabetes? I have to take insulin, there's gonna be meters and testing. Like, how long were you there till you got to that?

Leigh Anne 25:57
I don't. Honestly, I don't think I really comprehended what this was all going to be until like, a month after I got home because it was just like, I so when I was little, I was supposed to take shots every day like growth hormone shots for like, completely unrelated thing. And I didn't do it because I didn't like shots. So the I knew enough about diabetes. I was supposed to give myself insulin, I talked to the doctor and I was like, I hate shots. I can't do needles, like I don't know if I'll be able to give myself shots. And she just looked at me and she's like, well, you're going to have to I was like, Cool. I guess this is my life now. But while in my heart, I was in the hospital for two days. I never pricked my own finger. And I only ever gave myself two shots. The whole time like the nurses did it for me. They were too busy to hold my hand and walk me through it. And then I think when they told me that they were sending me home, that's when i That was the first time I cried because she just looked at Amazon. Can you just want me to go to CVS and pick up this stuff and go forth and be diabetic? And please don't die. Like

Scott Benner 27:18
are you trying to name the episode go forth and be diabetic? You just did because I only had cat nap up until now because of the kitten. And that you took a nap after you left the urgent care. Which is better? Oh my god. Well, that's not can I get I Hold on, let me just stumble over seven words. Sorry, I wanted so badly when the doctor like when you realize you had to take the shots for you to say Do you see that? I'm four feet 10 inches tall. Do you know why that is? Because I didn't want to take growth. I see my brain would work backwards. I would have been like dammit, I should have taken the growth stuff. Because I have to do the shots anyway. I wouldn't be like I messed up. Are you short in stature?

Leigh Anne 28:04
I'm not I'm pretty average five, six. So I don't. Honestly, I don't even know what happened with that. I think they made a mistake. And I didn't need to take those shots after all, because it's a miracle. I'm as tall as I am.

Scott Benner 28:17
Wow. So there was a time in your life where people were like you have to give her this drug. So she's close to a normal size. And now you're five, six. Yeah. Huh? How that would have been like 30 years ago. How long ago?

Leigh Anne 28:33
Yeah, I think I was like eight or nine like I was old enough that my parents thought I was capable of taking shots on my own and didn't pay attention to it, but not old enough to actually be responsible enough to do it.

Scott Benner 28:49
I'm just fascinated that a doctor said you had to do something and then it didn't happen to be net or do you think you'd be like 12 feet tall now if you did that are your family tall?

Leigh Anne 29:04
Yeah, we're all about the average height of like me and my brother the same height.

Scott Benner 29:09
That's not advertised for a guy though. Five, six.

Leigh Anne 29:12
You might be taller than me. I

Scott Benner 29:13
don't know. You don't know. I'm just, I'm just fascinated that like, at some point in your life, someone said like, we're going to pump this kid for this, whatever this is, and then they were like, Nah, and they're like, alright, don't worry about like, I don't I don't know, like that. None of that makes sense to me. It'd be like if someone said to you, hey, you need insulin, or you're gonna die. And you went, I'm not doing they went, okay. Just like I don't get the like how easy they gave up part for some reason?

Leigh Anne 29:37
Well, it was more of like my mom. So around that time my mom was in nursing school and my dad was in the military. So it was probably more something along the lines of did you take your shot today? And I'd be like, Yeah, I did it and they'd be like, okay, cool. And then we moved on

Scott Benner 29:52
with your little liar. When you're a kid. You're just just lying to them. What were you doing with the injections afterwards? Not taking them

Leigh Anne 30:01
just well, they were it was, it was kind of like insulin where you had to pull it up in a syringe. So they wouldn't, huh. All right. I don't know. You just didn't know.

Scott Benner 30:11
I think your mom could have tried harder. Don't let her Don't let her listen to this. Meanwhile, doesn't seem like it was necessary. I know, I'm past all that. We're in the hospital. Do you think how much of the haphazard way that this happened do you think was COVID? I? There's no way for you to know.

Leigh Anne 30:33
Yeah, I mean, I kind of I kind of suspect if it was related, it would be like I had it. asymptomatically

Scott Benner 30:42
I'm sorry. You misunderstood me. I know. I meant like COVID, meaning the hospital was like crazy. And you weren't me? Oh, getting like, clear direction. I'm sorry.

Leigh Anne 30:52
All of it. Oh, we did. They did send a diabetic educator to come talk to me while I was in the hospital, and I was in the hallway. And it was it's kind of adorable how confused she was, I must have been her first patient to that she had to talk to because like, she'll come she came and she sat a chair next to my bed. And she showed me like the different types like the vibe, she went through, like the blood meters and the vials and the pins and how they worked. But at first she was like really fumbling. She's like, usually there's a bedside table for me to put these things on. And I was like, I don't know what to tell you. And

Scott Benner 31:32
adjust, which

Leigh Anne 31:36
she was very nice. She went through all the things. And then while she was talking me, they brought my they brought my lunch by, and they kind of put it on the nurse's station. And so when she was getting ready to leave, she's like, Okay, well, I'll let you you know, go and eat your lunch. I'm gonna come back and talk to you. Again, tomorrow. You seem very confused, overwhelmed. I was like, I am very overwhelmed. I might not have paid it. Like

Scott Benner 32:00
I would have been looking around, listen to your cast aspersions. You couldn't explain a blood glucose meter to me without a table. Those two things have nothing to do with each other. So

Leigh Anne 32:09
she's, she's looking around and like, again, I don't have this table. So she just kind of looks up at the nurses. She's like, are the patient she's just supposed to, like eat on her bed and the nurse looked up at her. She says, yeah, like, and I feel bad because at this point, the only thing that I feel wrong is like I have a headache. And I'm just sitting here in a hospital bed, like watching everyone, like, run around. I'm like, I'm fine. I'm like the problem was low key patient, just like it's fine. I'm here to get what am I?

Scott Benner 32:40
Did you get insulin for that meal?

Leigh Anne 32:43
Ah, um, I think so.

Scott Benner 32:47
Okay, so the inference was, look, there's no table here. There's nothing I can do about it. Cuz it's COVID time and I don't know what the whole tables are. And I'm busy and leave me alone and eat your food. Yeah, yeah.

Leigh Anne 32:59
I mean, I didn't ask I was fine. I was like, I sit on my couch and eat without a table. I feel like a table is not a requirement for eating. But hey, you're

Scott Benner 33:07
a low expectation haven't girl. I mean, you just balanced your trade on your knees and ate in the hospital. But

Leigh Anne 33:18
um, I sat crisscross applesauce with the tray sitting in front of me. It was

Scott Benner 33:23
like anyone's ever said those words on this podcast. Well, there you go. You are you aren't your I guess you don't you don't have a lot of needs. How long have you in the hospital for?

Leigh Anne 33:37
Um, I'm about 36 hours. I left Wednesday at noon ish.

Scott Benner 33:44
And then you went Fourth? Fourth, how did that go? Like, did you literally go to a pharmacy and buy gear and

Leigh Anne 33:53
go? Yeah, they the doctor sent a prescription to the pharmacy. And I went and picked it up. And that was she did a great job. She did get me in with an endocrinologist. Like, like, the next week. So she she because like they didn't. I didn't understand what was going on. But she said they had a hard time getting endocrinologist to come to this particular hospital. So I didn't talk to him and know while I was in the hospital,

Scott Benner 34:27
just nurses I did and diabetes educators.

Leigh Anne 34:31
I talked to a diabetes educator. And she did come back and talk to me the next day before I left which was really nice.

Scott Benner 34:37
Was it helpful? Nice.

Leigh Anne 34:39
It was it was helpful. Like they were very like, honestly, it was the best worst experience like every every nurse I encountered and every professional I encountered in the hospital was very nice like they would have had every right to be rude and angry in

Scott Benner 35:00
But why wait, hold on a second. So you just said something that a lot of people say that I have to be honest flummoxed is me every time. They were very nice, or I love my Endo. Like there's people all the time with like, at once he's like, Listen, don't get me wrong. I love my end. Don't I'm like what your endo is supposed to be helping with your diabetes your agency's needs. Why do you love your Endo? It would be like if I took my car to get repaired, and it came back without wheels on it. But the guy told a great story. While I was there, I was like, I love my mechanic like, why do we like I don't? Do you know what I'm saying? Like, why does that I, it's, I want people to be kind. And a bedside manner is important. But why do we so easily write off people with poor information or poor communication skills? Because they're nice otherwise? Am I being crotchety? I get

Leigh Anne 35:47
what you're, I get what you're saying. Um, everyone at the hospital did a great job of communicating with me. Like, I think the nurses did a great job. I think the diabetes educator did like,

Scott Benner 35:59
but you didn't know what was happening though.

Leigh Anne 36:03
I just, I think I on a logical level, I understood what was happening. I didn't comprehend what it would mean for my life yet.

Scott Benner 36:14
Okay. But could you take care of yourself when you got home? Could you give yourself insulin for me, I'll test your blood sugar, just know what you're supposed to be doing. And what

Leigh Anne 36:21
I did know that like, they did walk me through that. And I, I mastered insulin shots. That was the one of the two shots I gave myself, when I was at the hospital was with one of the evening nurses like the overnight nurses. And she used to work on a pediatric floor. So she's like, I'm gonna have you give yourself your insulin. And she handed me the syringe and I got very nervous and anxious about it. So I was like, You know what, I can't do it. I went to give it back to her. And she just put her hand on mine. And made me do it. Which was, like, everything I needed, because I realized, oh, it it does not hurt like this. This little tiny needle does not hurt. I can do this. Everything is

Scott Benner 37:10
someone to be parental with you for a minute and and guide you Yeah, right.

Leigh Anne 37:15
But I was like, I'm listening to your stories. And just like the amount of time people have spent in the hospital and, like, a lot more hand holding that has happened, I think I would have gotten that if I actually was not in the emergency room. And I was actually like, up on a floor. Or, you know, with nurses who that was there. Like, that's what they were used to were all of the nurses I was dealing with, were used to putting out fires and like literally preventing people from dying. And well, they were preventing me from dying too. But

Scott Benner 37:48
people were retired, doing jobs that you think they didn't normally do.

Leigh Anne 37:53
Yeah. And they were great. It was just more of like, um, the issue I had when I got home was the finger prick. And with the, I have an anxiety about like, pushing a button that I know is gonna launch a needle into my skin. I can't do it. Like I there was like, one of the times I actually had to I ruined I was so mad because I it took me so long to prick my finger that my glucose meter turned off. And I didn't realize it did that. So I had put the blood on the test strip, and then it didn't work. And I was like, Oh man, I have to get I have to do this all over again.

Scott Benner 38:37
You know, that happens a lot to people. It times out and you're like, then now you're balancing the blood on your finger and trying to pull the strip out and let it restart and push it back in again. But I'm saying I hear what you're saying. You went to the blood when it wasn't reading it. It's horrible. Look at your life is terrible. We get all these problems. Just awful. Well, things are better now. Right? Yeah,

Leigh Anne 39:02
no, I um everything's good. Now. I think I have a pretty decent control. I'm already on. I was blessed that I'm like on the Tesla of insurance plans. You don't take insurance pays for everything. So like my insurance has this program. Like if I participate in like coaching, what's the three requirements if I do like the quarterly coaching, I take my medicine as prescribed. And I get my agency tested once a year. They cover all of my they cover all of my diabetes supplies before I hit my deductible. Well, that's cool. So and then this this recent year Dexcom switched to pharmacy so that counts as a Diabetic Supply, which now makes a lot of money yeah free for So like, basically insolence, so that's great. I did have like, the endo that they set up the appointment with that I got to like, which I learned is amazing that I got in with an endocrinologist, like a week after diagnosis. But I did not like her. And

Scott Benner 40:20
please tell me, I get

Leigh Anne 40:23
well, I went in. And again, I had to go alone because you couldn't take people in. Um, she like, the first thing she does is the the sugar is poison lecture of, as Mike told me all of the terrible things that could possibly happen to me now that I'm diabetic, which granted, I feel that I need to know, but I don't think that should be the like, opening act of the play of like, oh, you can go blind, you can lose your feet, you can have your higher risk for stroke and heart attack, like oh, great, thanks.

Scott Benner 40:59
They should sing the song first. Not not not go right into mama fell down the well. I hear you.

Leigh Anne 41:07
And then, um, so then she goes, you know, so we were talking. Um, I asked her cuz she she was a big proponent of the low carb diet. And I was like, Okay, well, I'm a runner. I eat a lot of carbs. Like, how, like, I train for marathons, like, how is that gonna marry what she's like, well, when you when are you running a marathon is like, Well, I think I have one plan for the end of May. She's like, Oh, that's too soon, you're not going to be able to run that. I was like, Oh, okay. And then she wanted to put me on a pump. She's like a pumps for you. I'm going to send in someone to talk to you about it. And then that she immediately sends, like, this is the first day all this information and she's like, I'm gonna put you on a pump. And I'm going to talk about your, your favorite company. So she sends in the Medtronic rep to talk to me about like, their system. And like, went back when I was on Reddit and doing my research, the number one thing that people said is like, get a Dexcom or a CGM. So that's what I cared about. I at this point, had managed doing shots just fine. I felt like I could continue to do that. But the thing that I really wanted to get rid of was pricking my fingers. So I was like, I want to CGM. So I'm talking to this guy. And I was like, Okay, well, I want the Dexcom CGM. And he's like, Oh, well, we, our system is super great. Because it's like an all in one system. And

Scott Benner 42:47
I don't really wrap in. Yes, that's like a sales guy in a closet. She opened up and went out or something like that.

Leigh Anne 42:55
Yeah, apparently, like, like he uses her office as his office. Like, like, that was like one of the selling points is like you have people here to help you on site. We're here every week. You know, I'm here every Tuesday to like, oh, it's like everything you need. And like they did the diabetes education for her and all this stuff. So like, he assures me that there are three choices for pop like, well, actually, he didn't even tell me that I only knew I knew that from listening to your podcast, because like, he sold it as everything is created equal, like, you know, yeah, you have choices. But in the grand scheme of things, everything's about the same. And so I because I'm thinking like, well, I want the CGM. I want to get back to running because I didn't feel safe running without being able to check my blood sugars constantly. Because I'm so new to insulin. And I was, you know, I don't want to go low when I'm out running, especially since I run like, four to five miles, at minimum at a time. So I get pretty far from my house. Yeah.

Scott Benner 44:09
Just very slowly get far from your house. Did you feel like you got pushed into it? Um, we're not I don't want to say

Leigh Anne 44:21
Not at the moment. It was afterwards that I looked back on and I was like, you know, that was kind of like, an aggressive sales tactic. Not even that there's like, so I agreed to it, because it's like, well, this is my chance. You know, if, if this is as good as everything else, why not? You know, I know that some people wait three to six to a year to get on pumps. I'm getting it a week after diagnosis. Why won't why not jump on this?

Scott Benner 44:52
I see. I see you were just sort of your online where people were saying I'd get a Dexcom a five issue and then somebody saying well, here's an Other CGM is just as good. And it comes with a pump. It's a whole system. I'm here to support it and you're like, alright, well, it's happening quickly. I hear other people saying six months a year. bird in the hand and you're like, I'll take it.

Leigh Anne 45:12
Right. Okay. And and the guy, he was super nice. He was he was type one. He'd been type one his whole life. He was just showing it to me. And at this point, I had no idea what TCM look T slim look like, I had no idea what Omnipod look like, I just saw this. And I was like, Oh, this is the technology. Let's go. And so they like overnighted it to me, I got it. They got me into pump training. Like I was like, two days later. And they were gonna put me on the pump first. And I was like, I care more about the CGM, can I? Because they break it up. They're like it's too much to learn in one session. So they only teach you one at a time. So I was like, Can I get put on the CGM first? And they're like, yeah, yeah, let's do that. And they were fine with that. They put me on the CGM. And it was. It was terrible. Like it was not like the only thing that I liked. Better on that was like it had a reusable inserter. But like, you had to calibrate it twice a day, 12 hours apart. So but they also tell you to calibrate it when your blood sugar's are steady. And I'm like, Well, if so if I calibrated at 6am When I first wake up, then I have to calibrate again at 6pm. But I usually eat dinner at five. So my blood sugar's aren't going to be steady. And if it gets wonky, it'll like wake up in the middle of the night and be like, You need to calibrate me. And if you don't calibrate it, it doesn't do readings, and it wouldn't

Scott Benner 46:48
play the part where I go, Hey, Medtronic, sorry, I don't ask people what pumps they use before they come on the podcast and I don't control what they say about your stuff. Is that about the point where I say this? I think it is. Okay. So I do you still have it now?

Leigh Anne 47:03
No, I don't that. I mean, it's

Scott Benner 47:07
only been like eight months. Since you got it. You don't have it anymore.

Leigh Anne 47:11
So I I'm freaking out about this. Because I go online. I'm doing research. I'm stressed because I'm like, this is this is terrible. Like I can't like this is supposed to produce this. And I made a post on your Facebook page. And people came out of the woodwork to be super supportive. And they're like, you have 30 days. Yes, they sent it to you. Yes, you've tried it on, but you have 30 days to say you don't want it anymore. And I was like,

Scott Benner 47:39
Oh, you returned it like a sweater.

Leigh Anne 47:40
I returned it. And the return process was atrocious. But like, I took my next appointment, I took my mom with me. I had I had found a different endo just like because like, even if this I didn't like the lady I didn't like the the coop the the group, the way she she ran things and I just knew it wasn't gonna be a good fit. So I had already set up an appointment with a new Endo, but she couldn't see me for another month. So when I went to my follow up appointment, I, you know, met with the physician's assistant. And I told her I was like, Look, I don't want this system. I don't think it's going to work for me. I want to get the Dexcom and then I want to like research my options between the tandem and the Omni pod because at this point I had finally found some other runners in the area who were type one diabetic I met other people I've just been having conversations about you know what life was like and I I already called my insurance they said we don't have a particular pump that we cover. Like if you want the teeth you want tandem will cover it you want Omnipod will cover it like it is your choice. So it's like, well, if I'm not being forced into this, I don't want this. So I went and I told her and then she kind of looked at me and she's like, Oh well, Dr. So and so only works exclusively works with Medtronic. Then there was just like this really awkward pause in silence between us and I was like, Well, I full disclosure, I have an appointment with another Endo. She's like, Okay, well, I can't tell you what to do. You know, it's your it's your care. So like without so many words that I was basically told, like if you see this doctor, you have to use the Medtronic pump. And I was like, I'm not doing that.

Scott Benner 49:44
I wonder how much setting aside Medtronic for a second I wonder how much that happens. Like I mean, it felt like a little like mob thing right? Like hey, you come here with dinner. You pay for this. You do that? Do what I tell you like that kind of thing. Like don't say Anything use the pump Shut up or you leave? Yeah. Oh, that's unpleasant.

Leigh Anne 50:06
Oh, yeah. And then like, they were super helpful for getting me off, like on the pump. But the second I was like, I don't want this they the med like it

Scott Benner 50:17
was just are you not at this talk anymore?

Leigh Anne 50:21
No, I am at a completely different practice and my new endo is, is, oh, she's great. But she she listens to me and she, I kind of go in and she's like, Oh, your numbers are amazing. Like, do you even she's like, Do you need anything from me? And I was like, I don't know, I I'm kind of just so she'll just thing so she encouraged us. She says I can run G she supports me and what? And you know, wanting to keep tighter ranges. So you have the gear you want. Now what prompted you and I have the gear I want? Yeah. What do you end up with? But I have, um, tandem I have the T slim with a Dex calm

Scott Benner 51:04
or using the control IQ?

Leigh Anne 51:06
I am How do you like that? I I like it. Okay, um, I kind of just default to it right now. Because I'm still trying to like, get a hold of like carb ratios and all of that. I really wish that they would let me set my target lower. Because it right now it just, it defaults at like the target of 110. I was like, Can I have my target at 100? So like to kind of get around it for now. Right? It is the 10 and call me and they did a survey once and one of the guys he was asking the question. I told him that and he's like, we hear that a lot in that. He's like there's works behind the scenes. Like he, he made it sound like tandem is aware. They're hoping that that's something a possibility in the future. Okay, so I'm

Scott Benner 52:06
sorry, you're about to forget I caught you off.

Leigh Anne 52:10
Oh, the returning of the Medtronic.

Unknown Speaker 52:14
Yeah, I had heard that go.

Leigh Anne 52:17
So I had to cancel my second training appointment, pump, pump appointment, and I am very confrontation averse. Like it gives me a lot of anxiety. So I did not want to call this lady and tell her that I had to cancel. So I called her and she didn't answer. I left her a message. I was like, I have to cancel the appointment. And she calls me back and she's like, Oh, I'm so sorry. She's like, when can we reschedule? And I was like, well, actually, I'm I'm gonna

Scott Benner 52:53
What am I? Your pump sounds like it's gonna sell off the shop.

Leigh Anne 53:01
Oh, what's wrong? My insulin stopped. It stopped. I started. Yeah. That's weird.

Scott Benner 53:09
I don't know about that. Because I don't have no money sometimes.

Leigh Anne 53:11
Um, I think it sometimes it detects occlusions that aren't occlusions. So Oh, no, stop the insulin. I just yells at you. And then I check it and everything's, I make sure there's no kinks in my tubes and started yeah, there's

Scott Benner 53:29
because of no to be on on the pod. Like, I'm not familiar with those kinds of like pump issues, but it's okay. So you're okay.

Leigh Anne 53:38
Yeah, it's good. I'm good. So this lady, I tell her I'm like I'm switching from Medtronic. I'm going to I would like something different. And she's like, Well, can you tell me? Can you tell me why you're switching? And I was like, Well, I don't, I don't like all the calibrations. A lot of people had told you couldn't like link it up to sugar mate or anything like that the data was very locked down. So you can only view it on their reports, right? You could only view on a computer, which I did not have a personal computer at that point. Because it's like, I have my phone and I have my work computer like you don't. Yeah, and I was like, it's the data is locked down. It's just it's not going to work for me. And then she kind of I guess she had access to my crap. So she pulled up she's like, Oh, I see that you're not calibrating at the most ideal times. You really need to calibrate when you're when your sugars are level and I'm like I've been diabetic for two weeks. My sugars are not going to be level. Give me Give me a chance. And was she

Scott Benner 54:55
was she selling to you at that point? Do you think she was trying to talk you out of it?

Leigh Anne 55:00
Yeah, I do. Because like, she's like, Oh, well, you know, our, our, our apps aren't as an aesthetic, like, she thought it was talking about the aesthetics of the app, that they've more focused on their algorithm. And that's what they had to sell was their algorithm was the best algorithm and all of this, and I was like, it's, it's not about that. And I was like, you know, it's like you've been in she was when she was setting me up. I was like, you've been super helpful. It's not personal. I, this just isn't the pump for me. And if she goes, Well, you know, I do I do take it a little bit. Personally, at that point, I

Scott Benner 55:42
would have been like, lady, listen, let me be this, I would have been like, like yourself, alright, because I'm setting the ship back to you. Right. Now. Let's stop talking. I don't know what you think you're doing, oh, I would have been like, out of my mind, I love I would have had a great time.

Leigh Anne 55:56
And then she's like, well, there's a process, you're probably gonna have to talk to the, you know, the rep that he's gonna touch base, and you're gonna, he'll probably want to know why you're sending it back. And like, 20 to tell another person. So

Scott Benner 56:10
I would have been like, I'm gonna leave it on the front step on my house, you should come get it. Goodbye.

Leigh Anne 56:14
Right. So then I, so I call Medtronic to initiate the return process, because I have to call the one 800 Number, do that. And I go through the whole thing, I have to explain to this person why I don't want it and they go, okay. They put me on hold. And they're like, Okay, I've put in the request for return. Someone will get back to you in 10 to 14 business days. Okay. And I was like, Okay, I'm sitting there. I'm like, That person was going to tell me what the next steps were. And

Scott Benner 56:50
this Hi, I gotta be honest, I feel badly saying this. But that seems like they slow walk it so that hopefully you'll give up and just, it gets better.

Leigh Anne 57:01
I'm pretty sure that's exactly what they do. Because like I A week later, I called a check in and I was like, what, what's the next step in i because I'm back to fingerprints at this point until, because my insurance won't cover Dexcom until I start the system drops off my insurance, because they've in their mind, they've already covered one, right. And so the guy is looking at it. And he's like, I just need a shipping label. Like said, Give me a shipping label. So I can ship this back to you. And he puts me on hold the key for anyone in the future. The key words are Is there any way we can expedite this? Because that's what I had to say every step of the way. So he's, he could talk he's like, Okay, I put in a request to expedite this. Someone will call you back in 24 to 48 hours. Okay, just want a shipping label. Like I'll pay for it myself at this point. Like, just so someone told me about it. She asked me she's like, Oh, I have a shipping label. Do you want us to mail it to you? Or do you want to emails?

Scott Benner 58:15
No. staple it to a telephone pole. And I'll come find it. Like, give me the damn thing right now. What are we doing? Oh, well, you stuck to it. And you said you don't like confrontation. But you found your you found your nerve. Right. And you took care of it?

Leigh Anne 58:29
Yeah, yeah, these I, I have a desk job. I work for the government, I have a lot of time on my hands to sit on hold while I'm working. So I it took eight weeks, from the time that I requested to return the pump, to get it back to them, for them to acknowledge that they received it. And for them to tell my insurance, that they no longer had a claim. And actually, what ended up happening is I called my insurance. And they were like, they were phenomenal. They did a conference call to call Medtronic. An event. Eventually the lady was just like, I don't understand how this process works. Because she's like, it's just a request. It's an email. It's not like you can you have to mail things anymore. Yeah. And so when they put us on hold, she told me she's like I heard them say that they have received the pump back and that they're what they are processing the cheque to return the money to us. She's like, you don't have to wait for this. So what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna reverse the claims on our end. So she reversed out the claims, so they were no longer on my insurance. So I then could proceed to get the dekstop the Dexcom in the tandem and start going and start with that which so I was I had that like March,

Scott Benner 1:00:02
I want to tell you something. So I joke a lot about like, like I'm talking to Medtronic. Like I always just assume somebody from Medtronic is listening. And that might sound pompous to some of you. But you know, podcasts pretty big. A lot of people listen to it. fair assumption. I recently became aware that they do listen to the podcast. So I hope that I really hope they heard what you said just now. Like, I mean, you told the story? Well, it's arduous. Nobody should have to deal with that. If, you know, if, if they don't like your product, then fair enough. Like what do you why is this how they have to get out of it? And not for nothing? But I mean, if I'm given advice, you know, make a better one, which I think they're on their way to trying to do, honestly. So you know, do something. When people get it, they want to keep it seems,

Leigh Anne 1:00:49
honestly, it wasn't. If I if my choice was MDI, and finger sticks, and Medtronic, I would, I would 100% Pick that Medtronic pump. Like, it wasn't. It wasn't terrible. It wasn't the worst thing in the world. But for me personally, having the options like I was I was bitter because I was never presented the options before I made the choice. Yeah, I don't want to

Scott Benner 1:01:19
started either. Like it's and I don't know, listen, I don't want to put that on Medtronic. The No, no, no, that was Yeah. It could have been the doctor's office like honestly. Yeah, yeah. The way that

Leigh Anne 1:01:33
when my new endo referred me to the the tan on the tandem rapid she was talking to me, she were going back and forth. She was giving me information. And she was like, oh, was your previous endo so and so? And I was like, yeah, like I thought she had like a chart or something. And she's like, Yeah, she's, she's the only endo in the in the in the region that won't even take an appointment with me. Oh, okay. So this Endo, I think she knows Medtronic. And that's what she likes in that I. Yeah.

Scott Benner 1:02:08
I mean, if I was my child, I wouldn't want to be hooked to a lady who's, you know, getting you on day one and being like, I mean, first of all, the sugar is poison thing. To look at Sugar is not good for you. I'm not making that argument. But it's a weird place to start, like you said in the conversation like with try to scare tactics. And then to say, look, this is the pump that I use here. So much so that watch this next to my broom in this closet. Here's Jim, Jim's gonna tell you about Medtronic pumps, not like wow, that's freaking weird. That seems like a 60s horror movie to me. You don't I mean, like you walk in the door, and you turn there suddenly somebody standing there. The whole thing just seems ill conceived. And you know what I mean? Like, if you want to, if you want people to use your product, make a product they want to use and and not for nothing. I understand they made this thing and now they have to support it, right? Like it exists. Now. They can't just pretend it doesn't need to be calibrated at an optimum time. Like the lady said, she can't just not say that. But in the meantime, it's weird when it turns into a business thing like, well, we don't want to lose the user. Because maybe, I don't know, maybe six months from now they're going to come out with a, you know, another set, like, what is it? 670 G now? Like, maybe there's a 770 G? I don't know, I really should pay more attention to things. But maybe there's something like that coming out. And they could say to you, look, I know this isn't optimal. But at this point, we're going to have upgrades and we can I don't know what they could do. But this doesn't seem like a great idea. The way this went for you. Is she

Leigh Anne 1:03:39
Yeah, yeah, it was. It was very hard. And it was like it was just like and that's about when I emailed you when I was in the middle of returning this pump. And that's why I felt so passionate about it because up until up until this point, I was a very healthy person like i i did not comprehend like what a chronic illness was. I never like I hardly ever missed work like the only times I when I was bartending and stuff. I never called out sick the entire like for like a decade because I just Yeah, I was a healthy person. So to do to be on this one ad of like, in the weird thing is I still oh, here's the train.

Scott Benner 1:04:24
Train. You promised me a train an hour ago, we finally got one

Leigh Anne 1:04:32
it's gonna get louder before it gets quieter. I was impressed. So it's a quick one. He's gone. Okay. Um, he, like I still felt healthy going up until my diagnosis, like up until the day before, because fun fact all of the symptoms of like the warning signs of diabetes can be confused with Oh, well that's just to an unfortunate side effect of trying to training from for a marathon like I lost weight. Oh, I'm training for a marathon. I'm thirsty all the time. Oh, I'm running a lot. I'm hungry all the time. I'm running a lot. I'm exhausted all the time. I'm running a lot. So like, it never fazed me. And I do think that like, as the amount that I was running, like, extended how long it took me to get diagnosed, I would imagine Yeah. Because when I think back, like June of 2020, my my, my doctor noticed I had lost 15 pounds. She's like, did you change your diet? And I was like, No, I crushed a pint of ice cream last week, like in one city. She's like, Oh, well, it has anything else changed. I was like I trained for and ran a marathon. I'm getting ready to run another one. She's like, make sense. And we moved on. Um, and then like I was, you know, but January of 2020 was like, the first time I was aware of being thirsty. Like, before that I was very much like one of those people. I never carried a water bottle with me. But starting in January, I was like, I'm carrying a water bottle now because I just get thirsty now. So

Scott Benner 1:06:16
it fresh back and see it coming.

Leigh Anne 1:06:20
Oh, yeah. And it's crazy. Because it's like, I in so I also didn't didn't realize how exhausted I was all the time. Because like, it was such a slow onset for me. That like until I started taking insulin and getting my blood sugar under control. It's like, oh, wait, this is what it feels like to have energy again. Right? So um, and it was it was a very hard transition for me once I realized what it meant long term because I was under the assumption of like, okay, I'm gonna listen to this podcast, and I'm gonna do a lot of research. And I'm gonna have this under control right away, and I'm gonna go right back to my normal life. And now that I now that I know what's going on, and now that I have insulin, everything's gonna be fine. But there's still the random bounce of like exhaustion. And there's still like, just times where I can't focus at work. And the threshold for where that starts is a lot lower. No, because I'm no longer used to running super high on

Scott Benner 1:07:33
what blood sugar blood sugar do you get out when all that starts happening?

Leigh Anne 1:07:37
I'm, like, 180.

Scott Benner 1:07:41
Yeah, that's where I would guess. Yeah, I think you just, I mean, having watched my own blood sugar, when, when I were a CGM. Last time, I would say that I could eat my way to 160 if I tried really hard, so and then that's when you start getting that like, feeling that I think people who don't have diabetes associate with like, oh, I ate too much, or, you know, like, had too many carbs like that kind of weird, but it really is, it's like a slowing of fogging. Like that kind of thing. And when it happens to you once in a great while, you can write it off, but if if your blood sugar is bouncing around, and that feeling is coming constantly, I would imagine it's just an unrelenting like water torture right? Just a drip drip drip where you need to get away from it. So how do you what have you been doing to try to avoid it?

Leigh Anne 1:08:34
Um, well I would love to say I've been trying to be better about my diet, but before diabetes my my go to dinner was pasta. My cats are named total Leni and macaroni. And my friends have nicknamed my house the castle of carbs. So like all of that is extra ironic now. But um, yeah, I have my I have my Dexcom alarm set at 130 and I don't let it I don't let it go high. I am probably a little over aggressive on correcting. But I'm not I'm more scared of I'm not scared of the highs but I like what you say with the long term facts and I love your sandblasting analogies like I I don't want to deal with that. I just the lows don't scare me. They probably should but I've also not had very many terrible lows. So I just I I think it's still 150 I'm correcting it. And because I just I can't stand that feeling of the exhaustion and it's really hard for me because my work is super understanding And I'll just, you know, I'll talk to my supervisor and be like, Look, I'm not feeling great today. Yeah, I'm gonna take a couple hours off. I'll make up the time later this evening. And they're understanding about that, but it gives me anxiety because being completely honest and transparent six months before my diagnosis, if someone said I can't do something right now, I'm exhausted. My blood sugar's have been crazy. All day. I would, I would be like, okay, and I would feel sympathetic, but I would also have that thought in the back of my head of like,

Scott Benner 1:10:35
one of my hires, okay, up until, yeah,

Leigh Anne 1:10:39
like, like it? I would, I would feel upset because they were like, are they using their diabetes as an excuse to not do something because I, until it happened to me, I had no comprehension of how much I understand. Yeah, like, like sugar can affect things.

Scott Benner 1:10:56
Listen, I do think it's important right to realize, like, I know that you deserve I'm not saying any of this, right. Like I know that you deserve. You know, you're covered by the ADEA. You know, it's a disability, like all that stuff. But I hear your greater point. Like, that's not how you want to be thought of in the workplace, and probably not how you want to feel personally and physically. So is the real. I mean, are we really saying you either need to get better at bolusing or change your diet?

Leigh Anne 1:11:26
Yeah, I'm, I need to get better at Pre-Bolus ing. I even before diabetes, a poor habit that I've picked up from my bartending days was waiting until it was like I'm super hungry to go eat. It's I don't plan to eat. It's just like, Oh, crap. It's two o'clock and I haven't eaten lunch and my stomach growling I need to go eat right now. But that doesn't work with diabetes. Like, I need to have some sort of thought and I'm not like I'll Bolus and then I'll be like, alright, and it's been it's definitely been enough time. I'm gonna go eat now. And it's only been five minutes. Like, that's not enough time. So

Scott Benner 1:12:05
yeah, I just the other night, Arden said that she thought Oreos would help her study at 11 o'clock. And I said, that's fine. Just Pre-Bolus and then like, half an hour later, her blood sugar is going up. And I went and I was like, what happened? She goes, I Pre-Bolus like how long? I said, because I'm thinking 20 minutes for an Oreo. And she goes, Oh, it wasn't that long. I said, well, then you didn't really Pre-Bolus And she's like, okay, so I mean, it really is a likely I joked about it earlier, but like you gotta like, it's time to like, be an adult, you know what I mean? Like, do stuff you don't want to do. Like all I had to be honest with you. If you had a baby, right now, next year, that was yours, you would understand better what I was saying. Like that idea of like, you have to just, it's, um, I really don't like it when like, like married people say like, Oh, you'll understand when you're married, or parents, like you don't know till you have a baby. But there are some things you won't know until you have a baby, you know, like, and the idea of just like, this isn't what I want to do, but this is what I'm doing. And I better do it and be happy about it, or I'm gonna ruin somebody's life is it's a strong, strong pole. And you're in that situation, like you're going to, you're going to be ruining your life, like you can feel it your is how you've described it, like, you know, you're not feeling well, you're worried about your job, etc, etc. And the the answer to well, what can you do about that was a good Pre-Bolus better, so Pre-Bolus better,

Leigh Anne 1:13:34
you know, and that's another strong motivator for me up until like, maybe a year ago, I was very much a fencer of like, whether I'd ever have kids. And then now that's definitely a possibility in my future, and I look at like, the numbers that you need to have.

Scott Benner 1:13:52
Yeah, you're gonna need to Pre-Bolus Yeah,

Leigh Anne 1:13:55
it's just like, oh, man, this is a lot. It's super hard. And I do try. And then it's, for me, it's a lot of struggle between anxiety and motivation. And just it's a lot of work that I was not prepared for. And yeah, but now that you will streamline things.

Scott Benner 1:14:17
Well, now that you're aware of it, though. I mean, what's the plan? Like do you have? Have you thought through what you need to do to make a change? I guess.

Leigh Anne 1:14:29
I have an eye. It's one of those situations where I know exactly what I need to do. I just need to do it. So like right now I'm at Pre-Bolus in about 50% of the time. And when I was doing MDI, and before I got CGM, I was being very good about my diet. But now that I have the pump, and the Dexcom I'm a little bit lazier about it because it's like, oh, well Oh, it doesn't matter that it's 60 carbs, I can just Bolus for it. Yeah. And, and figure it out later. And pasta is just so easy to cook and you don't have to worry about keeping things fresh. So I like got lazy. But um, my boyfriend's really sweet. He he was like, really, really early on into stating he wanted to learn more about diabetes. And it's funny because I, I went on a couple of days with him like four years ago before any of this. And then when we met up again, we went and I pulled on it, and I was like, Oh, fun fact, I'm diabetic. Now. That's the thing. He was like, what? And I was like, yeah, it just happened. And but he he's been really supportive. He tries really hard to like when he cooks to be considerate of like, how many carbs are in it? Good. But he also has a terrible sweet tooth. So he'll just, he'll have candy or sodas all the time. And I'll be like, hey, maybe maybe you shouldn't drink that much. He's like, No, it's fine. He's like, I'll just finish whatever you can't have. So we'll split desserts, and I'll have two bites, and he'll eat the rest of it. Just, I guess, sweet. I don't know.

Scott Benner 1:16:23
I mean, it sounds opportunistic. But I hear what you're saying. But

Leigh Anne 1:16:27
it works out. But he. So we're getting back into, like, I'm starting to get back into a habit of eating better. And yeah, because I don't want to overwhelm myself. Like I have benchmark goals of like, alright, well, this month, I'm going to try to make you know, 50% of my meals, lower carb meals, and I'm gonna, you know, try to Pre-Bolus So I like I loosened up my ranges on my Dexcom, clarity and on the T slim just to try to like don't know, incentivize me to do better with time and range. And then over the next six months, I plan to kind of like, crank it down slowly. So it's not like, I'm gonna stay between, you know, 70 and 120. Starting tomorrow, I'm gonna good plan, bring that down.

Scott Benner 1:17:27
That's a good point. That's a good plan. i It really is, like, shoot for a goal. Once you find yourself in that goal, tighten the range, keep shooting. And before you know it, you should be in a place where you're not getting those spikes that are making you feel terrible. And you're gonna get there through Pre-Bolus thing and actively watching your blood sugar after your Bolus for a meal and not letting it get out of hand. And you know, it'll become commonplace for you if you want it to be if you want it to become commonplace. And you take those steps. I think it will be. Yeah, yeah. Good for you.

Leigh Anne 1:17:59
I'm excited about it.

Scott Benner 1:18:01
I'm happy to hear better. Yeah, no, I mean, you're doing listen. Let's try to keep in mind. It's November. You've had diabetes for like, 10 months. Yeah, you're doing really well. You know that right? You do?

Leigh Anne 1:18:14
I do. I know.

Scott Benner 1:18:17
But they don't help that.

Leigh Anne 1:18:20
Yeah. So one, one thing I just want to because I know it's gonna drive you, you're gonna think I'm crazy. But for so diabetes Awareness Month, I've decided that because I've gotten lazy I'm running to cause my marathon got canceled. I'm running at least a mile every day this month.

Scott Benner 1:18:39
In celebration of the Awareness Month. Yeah.

Leigh Anne 1:18:42
So I also created a tic tock, which is really dumb, because I don't understand tic tock but I was like, this seems like a place that I can flood with videos of me running that no one will care about. Um, so I'm

Scott Benner 1:18:57
currently using Tiktok incorrectly. But I have content coming for it. But at the moment, I'm not using it correctly.

Leigh Anne 1:19:07
I'm pretty sure I'm using it incorrectly too. But you know,

Scott Benner 1:19:10
well, listen. To use it correctly means setting your camera up and dancing in front of it, which I will not be doing. I'm gonna I think I have some content that will work well on and I'll be giving it a try. But listen, I think first of all, I want to thank you for coming on you were really terrific. I appreciate you telling that story. I do think whether we're talking about Medtronic or anything honestly like anything to do with your health. I appreciate that you tried something didn't work for you. You stuck to your guns got it swapped out. There's a lot of accomplishment in there really. And just in general, like getting through being diagnosed with enduring COVID and the kind of like haphazard way that things began. I really appreciate you sharing this whole story with me today. Thank you very much.

Leigh Anne 1:20:05
Yeah, I loved it. I was. I've been looking forward to this for months.

Scott Benner 1:20:09
Oh, I'm glad that's so nice to hear. And you were good. You weren't nervous or not too bad.

Leigh Anne 1:20:14
I didn't get nervous until like, 1059. And then I was like,

Scott Benner 1:20:19
oh my god, like right before it was gonna start. Oh, yeah, like, like, this will be fine. Wait, maybe what if it isn't? You start freaking out. And then you got on it. My audio wasn't set up. Right. I thought that was my fault. But now we're good. Probably got the cat out. Yeah, let that cat that box that you stuck it in? Or whatever you put. I'm sure you didn't do anything wrong to it. Right.

Leigh Anne 1:20:40
Now. He's just in my bedroom. Right? That seems legal, totally destroying something.

Scott Benner 1:20:44
That's your problem. I gotta go. Well, yeah, I have to, I'm going to get my eyebrows. I'm going to get my eyebrows threaded.

Leigh Anne 1:20:56
That is a delight. That fact brings me a lot of joy.

Scott Benner 1:21:00
It all started because Arden gets her eyebrows threaded. And I'm like her ride. And then my family makes fun of me because they say my eyebrows look sad because they crawl around my eyes too much. And so I'm there one day, and we just aren't I just messed around. I'm like, I'm gonna I'll do it too. Like, I'm just trying to be a good, bad, you know what I mean? And so she's like, you're really going to try this. And I was like, I'll try it. And I did. And it hurt really bad. And she got the one I done. I had a conscious thought I was like, maybe I'll just do the one I was really hurt. But then I went back with Arden. I don't know, some weeks later. And the woman's like, again, and I went, yeah, alright, so I did it again, hurt just as bad. But I have to admit, I looked in a mirror last night. I can't believe I'm saying this. And I thought I have to get my eyebrows threaded. And then I got home and art and goes Hey, what are you doing tomorrow? And I was like, What do you mean? She goes like after you're done with the podcast? What are you doing? I said, you know, I'm gonna edit some more podcasts because I gotta get my eyebrows threaded, you want to go? And I went, Oh my God. Yeah, I just realized I need to do that. And it was an embarrassing moment for both of us. I think that's what I'm doing now. Like, I'm gonna get my eyebrows threaded. And by the way, people should know, way cheaper than waxing. I really know I've never had my eyebrows waxed. But I am a person who was paid for it for other people. And that's expensive. The threadings like five bucks.

Leigh Anne 1:22:32
Maybe I'll have to try that.

Scott Benner 1:22:33
But it's, it's, there's this great Indian salon near us. And we go in there and they just like, it's amazing. Like, I do think that we're maybe the only Caucasian people that go there. Because when we call ahead for an appointment, I'm like, Hello. I'd like to make an appointment for she goes Arden and I'm like, am I the only white guy that calls this? I must be I'm like yes Arden house 330. So, anyway, threading, that's my that's my tip to all of you.

Leigh Anne 1:23:04
Alright, have fun. Um, thanks for having me on. Afternoon YouTube

Scott Benner 1:23:18
a huge thank you to one of today's sponsors, G voc glucagon. Find out more about Chivo Capo pen at G Vogue glucagon.com forward slash juicebox. you spell that GVOKEGLUC AG o n.com. Forward slash juice box. I'd also like to thank us med for sponsoring this episode and remind you to go to us med.com forward slash juice box or call 888-721-1514.

If you're enjoying the show, please tell someone else about it. And if you'd like to get even more support in the form of a really amazing Facebook community. Look for Juicebox Podcast type one diabetes on Facebook. It's a private group with over 25,000 people in it just like you. There's also a public page. It's called Juicebox Podcast public page. If you just want to follow the podcast on Facebook. Thank you so much for listening. I'll be back very soon with another episode of The Juicebox Podcast.

#686 Cheese and Carrots

Lorie has type 1 diabetes and was diagnosed as an adult.

+ Click for EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

Scott Benner 0:00
Hello friends, and welcome to episode 686 of the Juicebox Podcast

so today's episode is with Laurie she was diagnosed later in life, very much a surprise to her. But I have a little egg on my face today. This episode was recorded in April of 2021. For context you are currently listening to episodes recorded in, I think November of 2021. So, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, nine months, late and over. Ooh, geez, I'm so sorry, Laurie 13 months after she recorded this. Laurie is terrific. It's a great episode, she's got an engineers mind. And it's interesting to hear her think through her diagnosis as an adult who did not expect to get diabetes in any way. Please remember, while you're listening that nothing you hear on the Juicebox Podcast should be considered advice, medical or otherwise, always consult a physician before making any changes to your healthcare plan, or becoming bold with insulin. For clarity, I just moved Lori's file into the wrong folder. And just like that, it was out of sight and out of mind, I apologize to everyone involved. This episode of The Juicebox Podcast is sponsored by one of our newest advertisers in pen from Medtronic diabetes. Maybe you don't want an insulin pump, but you'd like some of the functionality that they offer in pen is probably for you. Head over to in pen today.com To find out more. The podcast is also sponsored today, by the Contour Next One blood glucose meter, you're going to learn more at contour next one.com forward slash juicebox. There are links to impending contour in the show notes of your podcast player. And at juicebox podcast.com. If you can't remember, contour next.com forward slash juicebox and in pen today.com. So no you don't want your for sure. My I'm recording already and I shouldn't say this probably but my wife's been working from home now for 13 months. And my kids and I just stare at each other because she's just she yells and we tell her you're talking too loud. And she's like, am I am I like yeah, she's just much too loud. And she goes, okay. And five minutes later, she's yelling you know, you know, you know, you know back before the world was a real place and people would talk louder to somebody who spoke a different language like you know that ridiculous like thing you have. My wife appears to do that with Zoom. She just yells like it can't hear. So we've given up now we just snicker behind her back.

Lorie 3:07
I I totally understand that. Because my family tells me that I talk way too loud on the phone that I yell at zoom, I yell at WebEx. I mean, I'm super loud all the time,

Scott Benner 3:19
I have to say that I'm a little. I'm probably spoiled because it is my inclination to be loud. But I'm miked pretty well. So I can't be too loud because the microphone is doing a lot of the work. So kind of calmly but yeah, she's my wife is busy, making sure that your COVID vaccine is safe and at the same time does not appear to know how to talk to people over a computer. So

Lorie 3:44
well, let me know if I get too loud on this, you're

Scott Benner 3:46
fine, you're absolutely fine. But if you yell I will say, I will say okay, great. You go ahead and introduce yourself any way you want to be known. And we'll just start off.

Lorie 3:56
Okay, um, well, my name is Laurie. I have had type one diabetes for about a year, almost two years, actually now. I was diagnosed at 49. So clearly, you can do the math. And I'm 51. And I, it's been very interesting the past few years, I've really had to try to you know, just like everyone who gets diagnosed has to come up the learning curve and figure out oh, my God, you know, how am I going to manage this? And I guess I don't know, maybe that's probably the best introduction. I guess the thing that's interesting, that makes I guess my story a little bit interesting is that I you know, I guess a lot of people that come on the show have lots of reasons for not believing or not understanding that they were developing I diabetes, and that they had all the symptoms. I guess mine was that I thought it was menopause, which, now looking back seems utterly ridiculous. And I should have known but I just kept. I just kept, you know, thinking, Oh, well, it's this, it's that

Scott Benner 5:19
it's, well.

Lorie 5:23
It's menopause symptoms.

Scott Benner 5:25
I've recorded about 500 of these, and you are going to hold the distinction of being the first person who thought that their type one diabetes was menopause, congratulations. Oh, well, there's no truth maybe. But

Lorie 5:36
maybe it's not that common of a rationalization, then.

Scott Benner 5:42
You just it's first of all, it's interesting to hear why you think you're going to be interesting on the show, because the thing that you thought is not what I thought when I read your email. Oh, really? Okay. Well, what did you say? So first of all, you feel you feel a real need, which is somebody who has been diagnosed later in life, because I get a ton of emails about can you please have people on who are diagnosed later in life, too. And I respond to each one of those emails. And I say, I will if you know, I find people who have been diagnosed later in life who want to talk on a podcast about it's not that easy. I think people are starting to believe that I can just stand up and point at people and make them come on the podcast. So that's great. But also, that you're an engineer is Oh, that's fantastic. Because that thing that makes you good at your job. I'm wondering if it makes you bad at diabetes, and I can't wait to find out. Don't laugh. Yeah, cuz I think you don't, don't give away. Let's get to it. We'll build slowly. Also, Laurie, I know we're not I guess we're not saying and it's fine that we're not. But you know, well, first, let me ask you, if you're comfortable doing this, right, you're not nervous or anything like that.

Lorie 6:48
Oh, well, I'm a little bit nervous. But I also kind of feel like I know you because I've listened to so many podcasts. So I'm kind of like, oh, Scott Benner. You know, he's my, he's in my ears a lot.

Scott Benner 6:58
But I'm just saying, I google everybody that comes on the show at some point, and you speak in front of people I know, we're probably not going to maybe maybe that'll come up or it won't, but there's just no reason for you to be nervous. Being on a podcast, I think, Oh, okay. That helps. Thank you. Seems like you've, you've spoken in front of people before so. Okay, so let's figure out let's go slow. How about lifelong any, and really think about it any medical issues throughout your life?

Lorie 7:27
Not you know, not really, I mean, I, when I was a kid, I did have terrible environmental allergies, like, you know, dust, pollen. You know, I that was terrible. And, you know, back in the Dark Ages, when I was a kid, you know, we, you know, there were a couple I had allergy shots, like three times. And then, you know, I had a lot of ear infections, I had tubes in my ears three times also. So there was a lot of struggle with allergies until I kind of I kind of grew out of it. Um, it got I don't know, exactly why this happens. So, you know, I mean, a doctor would probably be able to tell you, but you know, I, I had, um, you know, I kind of outgrew it around 13 or 14, it all got a whole lot better. I just really didn't have problems with allergies anymore. And then, you know, through my 20s and 30s. And most of my 40s I was like super healthy, you know, because,

Scott Benner 8:33
well, a couple of things. It's really a couple things that are interesting. First of all, if you Google pollen allergies, auto immune, you're going to get a return back that says in autoimmunity there are different types of T cell T cells involved them excuse me, in autoimmunity, there is a different type of T cell involved than in allergies. In an autoimmune response, tissues deconstructed. But with allergies, the immune system overreacts to harmless allergens. So while it's not the exact same thing, it is your body overreacting to something because there are plenty of people who walk around in the summer day and whose eyes are not running and they're not banging themselves on the side of the head because of their itchy eyes and stuff like that. So I've always kind of thought of that as an immune response. That's not quite right. Yeah, you know, which I think is is interesting. And you mentioned that they just went away. Absolutely happened to me. When I was young, the worst allergies, like I couldn't go outside. Sometimes my whole family would be outdoors, I'd have to sit inside the air conditioning, you know, stuff like that. And then one day, it just stopped. It just stopped. And it just never happened again. It was absolutely amazing. And I watched it happen to my son very recently. He was fine until he's about 15 had terrible allergies for about three or four years. They just went away out of nowhere. And then a year or so later, he started having trouble with his thyroid. Oh, not crazy. So yeah, I I wonder that's what I wonder because you have a long life in front of you before type one. Any other people in your family line with any autoimmune stuff? Um,

Lorie 10:11
not that I know of. There's been some celiac disease. But really, I mean, not not. There wasn't even that, you know, anywhere, you know, not close relatives. Nobody close has had any of this stuff. There's been some and there's been allergies, there's allergies, but you know, but this, you know, nothing terrible. You know, it's not like you eat a peanut and you almost die. You know, there's nothing, none of our allergies are that bad.

Scott Benner 10:40
Yeah. But it is interesting that you, you know, I said, are there any autoimmune just said no, just celiac. Celiac is autoimmune.

Lorie 10:47
Yeah, well, I guess I forgot.

Scott Benner 10:51
It's not even that it's that it's not it's, it's, I think it's outside of the way. People think about it. Like, once you have type one diabetes, you have in your mind, the worst autoimmune thing, like the only mean, like, this is the bad one. But I think other ones for some people, celiac is terrible for some people. And you know, that kind of stuff, too. So there's a tiny bit of celiac, it's not right. It's not like your mom or your dad have it something like that. You live your whole I mean, let's Can I be honest with you first, I can't like you'd be honest with me, Laurie? I mean, 49 You thought you made it? Right?

Lorie 11:26
Well, you know, I gotta say, you know, getting type one diabetes at 49 did not cross my mind. Ever as something that I, you know, skated past? I mean, you know, I, yeah, I mean, it never occurred to me that this would happen, because, you know, like I said, nobody in my family has ever had type one that I know of, um, you know, and I, I just didn't even it never crossed my mind. Nobody even has type two. Nobody's got any kind

Scott Benner 12:03
and you're an active fit person on top of all that, is that right?

Lorie 12:06
Yeah. So I've been doing, you know, marathons triathlons, you know, I'm just generally, I just like to move around. I like to hike, you know, I like to do go on walks around the neighborhood, even, you know, whatever swim, there's just, uh, I'm busy. So, you know, I mean, I'm, I'm not, I'm not overweight, I was, I've never been overweight, I've never had any other real health problems at all. So, you know, this came as a shocker. I believe,

Scott Benner 12:43
and I'm gonna be 50 this summer. And if I'm being completely honest, I'm down to worrying about, I don't want to have a heart attack, right. I want to dodge cancer if I can. And then I you know, not a slip and fall and then go as long as I can like that. I don't listen, maybe I'm weird. But I've always thought about this stuff. As I was getting older. Like, you know, in your 20s, this generally happens to people in your 30s this generally happens to people I'm even one of those people. It's like, Oh, your kids turning 13 I hope they don't become bipolar. That's about the year when that happens. Like I very strange feelings about like, so I just as so as you ascend the years, it just feels like well, am I going to be one of the people who just gets old and dies? Like, that's so cool. Like, I can't believe I made it. Like, that's how it feels to me. But I don't know, 49. If I were to get type one diabetes right now, I'd be like, Mother, You must have it.

Lorie 13:40
Yeah, that's kind of, well, when I got over the shock of it, that I was, you know, I'm like, Oh, well, I mean, it's better than getting cancer. You know, I did kind of, I did kind of go down that path, then. You know, I was kind of like, Oh, wow. Okay, at least not cancer. And, you know, I guess there's a whole lot worse things I could get that are not treatable. You know, this is manageable. I can manage this, you know, I'm not going to die. I just have a chronic disease I'm going to have to deal with. Okay, you know,

Scott Benner 14:17
well, what did you look like when it started? When it started happening? What were you what was the first sign? And how did you write it off? Well,

Lorie 14:27
there were a lot, I looked back and there were tons of signs. I just, I just blew it off. Well, I mean, when I was 47, I, you know, I was I was dying, well diagnosed or I don't know if you get diagnosed with this, but they know I had the blood work and I met with my OB GYN and she's like, Oh, well, you know, you're having hot flashes because you're in menopause. And, you know, I went through that for several years and I, you know, I thought, Oh, well, that's early. But you know, I just didn't, you know, I was just sort of like, okay, well, I guess I'll just deal with this. And, you know, everybody does that. So it wasn't a surprise, and it didn't feel like a health issue. It's not a health issue. It's just something you're supposed to go through. But I thought I wouldn't do that at 47. I thought I would do it at 55. But apparently, it's not even all that early, but you, you know, 40 sevens on the early Earth side of normal. So, I, you know, I had that. So, you know, everything was fine for a while, and, you know, all of a sudden, you know, I'm kind of 49 and I'm like, Well, you know, I'm drinking a lot of water, and I'm peeing. I'm having to get up every night and pee. And I thought, well, you know, maybe, um, you know, God, I must be true what they say, you know, you get old, you dry up old and cannot really and I'm old. I'm 49 Hmm. And so, I kind of wrote off the water and painting thing is, well, I'm, I'm somehow drying up. I'm needing more water now. And then the peeing thing. I was like, Oh, well, maybe my my uterus is prolapsing. I'm just, I'm just old.

Scott Benner 16:24
So wait, wait, was that happening? Or you just imagine that would be the reason.

Lorie 16:28
That's what I was imagining? That was not happening. Everything is fine. But I I mean, I was there was a little piece of me that was a little bit relieved. Like, oh, okay, it's not a prolapse. I'm not have any actual problems, like gynecological ly, so that's good. But I Yeah, so I was kind of writing that started to happen a little bit. Maybe I noticed it probably in maybe December, November or December. When I was I was still 48. Then kind of around that time, I kind of snuck out I'm drinking a lot of water. I'm pee and I have to get up in the middle of night and pee. And I thought, God, you know, it is it's true. What they say, you know, getting old is not for wimps.

Scott Benner 17:18
That's a boy thing, though, mon. Right, like the ping in the middle of the night. Isn't that a prostate thing?

Lorie 17:24
Well, I wasn't sure. No, I was like, well, maybe it happens to everybody. I don't know. I was. I was like, I'm fine. Don't be wrong with me. Basically. I was like, what could be wrong with me? I am. I am really unfit. I eat healthy. I'm not overweight. You know. And the doctors tell you all the time, you know, well, you know, these are things you need to do to live a nice, long, healthy life. And I was doing all those things. And so what could be wrong with me? That's kind of what I was thinking.

Scott Benner 17:59
Yeah, I Well, I mean, I kind of enjoy hearing the story. Because it's, it's demonstrative that everybody else listening that no matter what age this happens to you, most people are going to try to relate it to something else to write it off. They it's just it's just, it's it's very human and very common. I mean, because you went all the way to maybe I have a prolapsed uterus, which by the way, unless you say something more interesting in the next 45 minutes, Lori's uterus is on the inside might be the title of your episodes. And I don't think you want that. But again, congratulations on that one. But I just yay, I implore everyone who doesn't know what that means to google it later.

Lorie 18:44
I mean, it's a thing it does, you know, these things do happen. And, you know, I've had friends that that has happened to so I was, you know, I like, I don't know, my head.

Scott Benner 18:55
But at what point do you get it out of your head to come up with a reason and start thinking, I don't know what this is, but it needs to be attended to?

Lorie 19:04
Well, there were two things that made me kind of start to get a little bit scared about this.

Scott Benner 19:14
If you're injecting insulin, but have no interest in an insulin pump, and you'd like to have some of the features that insulin pumps have, you can within Penn from Medtronic diabetes. You see the NPN has an application that goes on your phone, and then it connects to the pen through Bluetooth. That gives you a communication between the application and the pen, and then suddenly, Oh Allah, you've got yourself some great functionality. For instance, the in pen can help you calculate the right insulin dose to take when making a dose recommendation. The system considers your current blood sugar reading estimated cost carbohydrate intake and insulin onboard, you can work with your doctor to get the device set up to help ensure that your dose recommendations are accurate. Here's something else that the Impend does. Dose tracking. That means that the system records your insulin doses in a logbook on your phone, making tracking doses easier. The digital logbook can easily be emailed or faxed to your provider before each appointment. You can also print a copy to take with you have it in hand, as they say, Listen, I know you hear about people using insulin pumps, and there's these cool features and you think well, I'm MDI, I can't get that. But you can with Ian pen. In pen also keeps track of how much insulin is still working in your body, that's your active insulin. From your previous doses, it keeps track of that. And that helps you to avoid lows that may result from stacking. In pen today.com. That's all you got to do. Head over there to get started. There are links in the show notes of your podcast player and links at juicebox podcast.com. To in pen from Medtronic diabetes. What do your test strips really cost? You could be even too much insurance may not be the best way to buy your test strips. Find out if Contour Next One, and the test strips that come with it may be right for you. Isn't that crazy? That you might be able to buy your test strips in cash, and it'd be less expensive than you're paying through insurance. Well, that would be worth looking into, wouldn't it? I mean, yes, it would. But what about if you're also thinking? I don't even know what meter I have, like, what is it called? Right? Maybe I have that one? I don't know. You don't? If you had the Contour Next One blood glucose meter, you would know, do you want to know why? Because every time you looked at it, you would think this is the best damn meter I've ever seen in my life. And it's super accurate. And I'm super excited, which is almost word for word. What I think every time I see Ardens Contour Next One mirror really is super easy to hold to use at night or during the day, it's got a bright light, it's got a great screen for reading, even in the sunshine. The testing is accuracy. personified. It's just the most accurate meter I've ever used. The test strips are fantastic. They offer second chance in case you hit the blood but don't get enough, you can go back and get more without ruining the test strip or the accuracy of the test. It's a big deal. I don't think enough of us put effort or time into knowing about the meter that we have. Mostly it's just this thing the doctor gives you and you take it don't think twice. But you could make the tiniest effort and get yourself a great meter. An accurate meter, that Contour Next One, go to contour next one.com Ford slash juice box. You can buy it right there on that link or find out more check into how much the test trips might cost you in cash. It's maybe one of the best setup websites I've ever seen.

Lorie 23:15
I was on vacation with my family. I have two husband and two kids and their their teenagers. So we were on vacation and we were driving. We had like a I don't know we were driving from one place to another on this vacation. And before we got in the car, I had a cheeseburger fries and a Dr Pepper and it wasn't like supersized any of those things. I just I just regular size, had lunch. And in the car we got in the car and then we were driving and I realized I am so thirsty. I drink my water bottle I drink my husband's water bottle and I took the water balls away from both of my kids. So I drank a gallon of water to follow up that it was literally a gallon of water I'm sorry I have to

Scott Benner 24:17
fight off a burglar

Lorie 24:18
say I have to fight off I'm depending low. Let me go ahead get let me have a couple of skittles here. Take

Scott Benner 24:25
your time. What's your blood sugar? Well

Lorie 24:31
it's 91 but I am doubled down. So

Scott Benner 24:35
is this adrenaline this adrenaline hit you like this? Some people it gets backwards. It doesn't drive them down. No.

Lorie 24:43
Probably not. I usually go up when I'm nervous. But what happened was I would just had breakfast and I may have missed my Bolus i over bolused Maybe a little bit

Scott Benner 24:54
for it. I have to tell you while you're chewing on your Skittles that I've come to realize that the older type, like the adult type ones that come on, and even some of the kids, they don't want their blood sugars to be high when they're on the podcast. I didn't realize that until a couple of people started mentioning it over and over again. Did you have any pressure like that? Like, I don't want my blood sugar to be out of range while I'm talking about my diabetes?

Lorie 25:18
I did not want it to Yes, I did not want my alarm to go off during Yes, for sure. Because of

Scott Benner 25:25
the beeping because you didn't want me to think that your weren't in range.

Lorie 25:29
Yeah, I didn't want you to think that I didn't have things under control after having listened to 300 episodes of the podcast.

Scott Benner 25:37
Laurie there 460. You better keep moving. Oh, they're saying while Lori's again, eating her Skittles. Please stop doing that. You guys come on the show you really don't. One time somebody's just gonna pass out. Like I was very aggressive before I was on the podcast. I don't. That is not necessary. But I appreciate everyone's feelings. But you don't have to do that. They take care. Let's stop your double hours down first. And how well the Skittles work for you.

Lorie 26:04
Oh, yeah. Skittles are the best. Like you feel

Scott Benner 26:07
very comfortable about the treatment you just made for even for 91 to down.

Lorie 26:13
Yeah, I have like, I have I had about seven. So I usually do that to get it to flatten out and then see what happens. Because if I eat 10 or 15 sometimes it's too much. So Gotcha. Cool. See, double down is not a good place. But oh, now I'm Oh, yeah. Now I'm starting. Okay. So yeah, I'm actually now I'm at four and diagonal down. So I probably ate about the right amount. So it was going to slow down anyway. So all right. Are you

Scott Benner 26:49
okay? I'm good. How did you figure out how to do that? Did the podcast help you figure that out?

Lorie 26:55
Oh, of course. Well, yeah, I mean, I Well, yeah, I mean, I am yeah. You know, you don't have to stick to this stuff. They tell you like, oh, you know, you gotta have 15 And wait 15 minutes. And you know, you don't have to stick to any the podcast helped me kind of relax and be like, hey, you know, it doesn't have to, you don't have to follow these rules. You can you can figure it out for yourself. And then, you know, now sometimes I screw it up real bad. No, don't get me wrong. Oh, of

Scott Benner 27:33
course. Of course. Everyone messes it up. That's, that's, you know, that just happens. I've had, I've gotten Arden through pasta the last couple of days really well. And I was like, wow, I was even, like, just happy when it was over. Like, I wouldn't want people to think that. It's just like, oh, okay, this this one. I mean, she ate something difficult. And I thought I hope I get this right. And it's worked. And it worked out. And I was like, hey, you know, it's it's not easy. But so you're basically even though you're two hours down, you're using like bumping techniques, like you're just trying to bump yourself back up. You've given yourself enough of something to stop the arrows. Without over treating yourself. That's the goal right here.

Lorie 28:13
Oh, yeah, that's and that's always the challenge. Yeah. So yeah, yeah. I mean, I, I've had enough, I guess I've messed it up enough to, to, to know not to over treat. Because then you end up kind of going up and down. And it's just awful.

Scott Benner 28:31
Yeah. Chasing though I think chasing is the worst thing that you can do. Because you just you can never win when you're chasing, unless you're just, like really so good at it that you can, I mean, there's a way to stop those bounces. But it's not easy to do if you don't understand the whole thing. And it comes in time. Like in time everybody can figure out how to do it. But in the beginning, if you're chasing, you'll chase forever, and I see it happen, there are some people who will get caught in that loop and never get out of it their whole life. Just this is diabetes, I'm always out flying up or I'm always flying down. I'm always scared. Or I'm or I always don't feel good. So it's it doesn't need to be that way. So I'm sorry. So the question, you know, this was listen, if you can't have a low blood sugar on this podcast, there's nowhere in the world for you to do it. So this

Lorie 29:21
story, I mean, everybody's gonna understand this. Yeah.

Scott Benner 29:23
One person judging you right now. Everybody's just like, oh, Laurie, slow. Well wait for the answer to that question. That's fine. Yeah, so the question really is, is what what pushed you to actually go to a doctor to hey, I don't know what's happened to me.

Lorie 29:35
Yeah. Okay. So so one part of the story was, you know, I, I realized that day, I was sitting in the car, and I drank everybody's water. I took water away from my children. That

Scott Benner 29:48
was thirsty, mommy's thirsty. You are

Lorie 29:51
not certain you're not as thirsty as me. So and then, of course, we had to stop three times so that I could pee Of course, you know, that was the So then I was kind of like, man, that's weird. You know, that is weird. You know, but I kept thinking, wow, that's weird. And because it was so dramatic that time. You know, I was like, wow, that's dramatic. Okay, the second thing that happened was that when we were on that same vacation, I was like, Man, my jeans are loose. What is with this? You know, I, you know, am I losing weight? Right? So in my husband was kind of like, yeah, you know, maybe you are losing weight, you do seem a little thin. But, you know, we don't have a scale. We don't have a scale, because we're active. We've I just my weight has been really, really stable for a really long time. And I we just don't have to scale the house. So I never weigh myself. But we're on vacation. The gym at the hotel had a scale, and I'm like, you know, I'm gonna step on the scale and see what my weight is, right? So I started on a scale and I'm like, Ah, you know, so I'm five, five, and my normal weight is about 125 130. So, you know, I mean, I'm thin, but I'm not super skinny. And so I get on this scale, and it reads 115. So I'm like, oh, wait a bit, lost some weight. That's why my jeans don't fit, you know, or, you know,

Scott Benner 31:36
pounds on your frame would be would be obvious. I would think it's just tough when you're around people all the time. It's hard to see. You don't I mean, doing you see somebody every day, you don't notice it like art and look like I look back now. And I didn't look like a two year old runway model. You know, like, you could see our ribs and it just it was it was shocking to look back on it afterwards. But I couldn't somehow see it coming.

Lorie 32:01
Yeah, yeah. I well, I you know, and I think my husband didn't notice either because it was just gradual. It was a No Okay, time or whatever. And my kids, of course, didn't notice they're teenagers, they they have better things to worry about. And then, you know, I didn't notice until my jeans were loose and my clothing not fitting is a big, noticeable thing. Right.

Scott Benner 32:25
So but then does that make you think I have cancer?

Lorie 32:30
Well, it made me think that, you know, that is not a symptom of menopause. I'm like, I don't think weight loss is part of something that happens in menopause, or age or whatever. I'm like, everybody that I know that has gone through menopause. They got heavier, not less heavy, you know, they didn't lose weight.

Scott Benner 32:55
This is your engineer brain way you realize that right? That you're not leaping you're walking through step by step but it's, it's you're lucky you didn't kill yourself going through the 9000 steps that were possible before you got to what you do what you like, Okay, check that off. That didn't work. Now we're going to turn screw number 367 1000 to see what happens there. Like you really are going through it so slowly, but I imagine that's what makes you good at your job. But, yeah, so Okay, so menopause. No weight loss doesn't come with menopause. I'm gonna go to the doctor.

Lorie 33:30
Yeah, so I'm eating six more Skittles. Hey, listen, make sure that this flattens out. I want

Scott Benner 33:38
to tell you no one's ever passed out on the show. But I do believe it would be a ratings grabber so I but I don't want you to do are you okay? Do you need like

Lorie 33:50
yeah, I'm just still dialed down. And are you are you 74 Now I'm 78 diagnose anyone really?

Scott Benner 34:00
Any no one's Laura urine in an emergency situation so you don't have time to be impressed that I knew your blood sugar even though we don't know you just scenario but the people listening right now like god damn Scott newer blood sugar.

Lorie 34:14
I know that's pretty good. And if you're dialed down, we can calculate in the new amount of time we've been talking how what her blood sugar probably is at this point.

Scott Benner 34:26
That's fascinating between you and I didn't calculate anything. I'm unaware of the time. I just have a feeling for it. Like when I when you said when you were doing you were stopping double down arrow double arrows down with that many Skittles. I thought that's probably not going to work. And then you leveled out and I was like, Alright, maybe she knows better than I did. But then when you said you were going for another Skittle? I was like, yeah, she's got to be 2020 points lower now. Like maybe 50 points lower now and it's a diagonal. It's a diagonal down arrow B Because you did take the, the ass out of those arrows a little bit like you took, took some of the momentum out of it, but you didn't, you didn't squash it. So you still have if you did seven, and maybe seven more, do you know your carb ratio off the top of your head?

Lorie 35:16
Um, at this time of day, we'll see it's 930 this time of day, I'm six to one. So it's but um,

Scott Benner 35:28
so I'm gonna say you probably used to units too much in your meal or you didn't Bolus eat in Pre-Bolus. Enough, and you use the little too much. Which do you think? Well,

Lorie 35:40
I was high at the start of my meal. So I was like, so I went up. So yeah, so it was complicated morning for me, which is why this is happening. Sure. So I swam this morning. And then and when I and I was a short swim, but it was still 30 minutes with insulin off. And then when I and what happens always immediately after I plug back in and then I Bolus because you have to Bolus the mist in the mist basil. And then that I miss a lot. And then I was nervous about the show. So there was a little adrenaline so that that drove it a little higher after the swim. And then I saw I was about to I was to 40. So then I

Scott Benner 36:33
you Bolus. You and I started talking and you got more comfortable and the adrenaline part went away and you started the insulin leftover plus the meal Bolus.

Lorie 36:43
Yeah, that totally makes sense. Yeah. It's probably

Scott Benner 36:48
just saying no, if it's not okay, but can I say where I think you work?

Lorie 36:54
Oh, of course. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, I was gonna mention that later. But

Scott Benner 36:57
let's get to it now, because it's insane that you're nervous. Do you work at NASA?

Lorie 37:01
Yeah. So I well, I work at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which is a NASA laboratories.

Scott Benner 37:07
JPL? Yes. Yeah. Right. Is that that's where you're at? Yeah, that

Lorie 37:10
Yeah. The Jet Propulsion Lab. So it's in Pasadena. Yeah. And so yeah, we I worked on, I actually work with people from all over NASA. And so you know, I, I do contribute to the human spaceflight aspects. And then also, the stuff that JPL does in house, which is the Mars missions and all the robotic missions that that JPL does, that you often hear about on the news and stuff. So it's, it's it's fun. It's a fun job.

Scott Benner 37:46
But you were but you were nervous about coming on my rinky dink podcast about type one diabetes.

Lorie 37:52
Yes, because, yes, because I'm like, Well, you know, I'm new to diabetes. I'm like, that's doing I've been doing engineering for a long time for NASA. And that's just you know, a day at the office.

Scott Benner 38:06
But but was new. But engineering about rockets that shoot people into space. Not like not like engineering about whether my, my my door unseats when I crack the door handle on my car, like real like, you see what I'm getting at, don't you? Okay, yeah. How did this

Lorie 38:26
require some much more precision? Yes,

Scott Benner 38:28
you would imagine. How did I do with my interview with April? Did you hear it?

Lorie 38:35
Yeah, she was she the one that was at Johnson Space Center. She's the one in Houston.

Scott Benner 38:40
Yeah, she's she was the advocate here that was not on control officer. Yeah. Yeah, it was I too geeky about space there. Do you think

Lorie 38:49
it was fine. I thought that it was fine. It was really it wasn't really interesting. Podcast actually. The area in which she works, the mission control aspects. I don't know anything about that, that so that all of that stuff was it was really interesting how she got into that. And you know, her work, I thought, yeah, that was a great. That was a great one. I did hear that.

Scott Benner 39:13
I just want I just wanted to know if like you were just like, it was terrible. He did such a bad job asked all the wrong questions. But your again, your engineering brain is so obvious here. So it really is. And the the part that's fascinating to me is I don't understand why you like the podcast if that's how your brain works. How are you and I jiving together. This is the thing I'm really interested in?

Lorie 39:38
Oh, um I Oh, I don't know. Actually. I haven't ever thought about that. You don't

Scott Benner 39:45
think in pictures right?

Lorie 39:50
I don't think in pictures i It depends. Well, graphs. Yeah. Um,

Scott Benner 39:57
so is there a part of me that's totally cool enough that you Do you see what I'm saying? Like I talked about like, I don't know, use more insulin, pump it back this way, nudge it over there. Like none of that is how your brain works for for engineering and it seems in your personal life because we kind of listened to you try to figure out that you had diabetes, the way an engineer would try to figure something out. And so then you bumped into a podcast, where a fast talking guy who doesn't have type one diabetes, is saying things like, oh, just trust that you know, what's going to happen is gonna happen. And you're like, right on. Like, I don't like I don't understand how you didn't go, No, this isn't for me. I gotta go.

Lorie 40:32
Well, I guess I don't think your show is not technical. I think it is technical, I think. I mean, well, I, I'll tell you what, I don't like the end, your show doesn't do this. What I don't like is, you know, the minimal to zero information that I got from my endocrine from the medical establishment, I guess. I, I, you know, oh, you know, give it take 15 grams of carbs to get over your low and wait 15 minutes? Well, you know, I did that at first. And that's terrible. I'm like, that doesn't work at all, you know, your way sometimes. Sometimes it's not enough. Sometimes it's enough. Right? Or, and sometimes it's way too much. And so I guess what I feel like I learned from the podcast is really the, the, the idea that no, no, go and figure out what is working for you and what's not, and pay attention to? What happens when you take more car, you know, when you are when you when you're watching your Dexcom data, you're watching yourself drop. Look at you know, how fast are you dropping? And you know, what has happened in the past and try to figure out, okay, what makes sense for me to do in the next 10 minutes to fix this, either go up or go down or whatever, but don't just be static about it. So I guess that idea is not in the medical establishment. I mean, they want to give you a formula, which, you know, when you're first diagnosed, yeah, a formula makes sense, and is easy to understand, and people can connect with it. But really, you know, there's a lot more sophistication. And, you know, even if it is a experiential sophistication that you get by, you know, just just testing things out with yourself. I mean, that's much more engineering than a cut and dried formula that you would learn in maybe the ninth grade.

Scott Benner 43:08
So when you when somebody hands you a formula, and it doesn't prove, then you don't trust it anymore. You know, it's it doesn't work. Right. And that's it. How are you? How are you? How's your blood sugar by the way?

Lorie 43:19
All right. Oh, yes. Funny, because gosh, I was like, Wow, can you see me swiping my phone to get my

Scott Benner 43:25
No I can. I can hear your concern. And you stammered a couple of times, which you didn't do in the first 20 minutes. So that's why I'm asking if you're alright.

Lorie 43:32
Oh, I am fine. Well, what do you think it is? Let me ask you.

Scott Benner 43:36
Maybe you can well, so how many how many skills did you have the second time?

Lorie 43:40
Um, I had, I think I had five or six.

Scott Benner 43:46
I'm gonna guess your 85 to 89 and stable.

Lorie 43:53
Okay, I am stable. But um, I leveled out at 77 or

Scott Benner 43:57

Still, okay, let's see what oh, I'm

Lorie 44:00
on level at 77 which is good. But no, I

Scott Benner 44:03
did you check with a meter? Or do you do a lot of

Lorie 44:06
hesitating in my speech anyway, so that may not be related to a lower

Scott Benner 44:11
Do you Do you want to check with a meter? Are you comfortable?

Lorie 44:14
Oh, no. The Dex is always accurate. So like

Scott Benner 44:18
it you love it? Excellent. Dex. comm.com forward slash.

Lorie 44:24
Well, if they need if they need me to talk them up, I will.

Scott Benner 44:28
Well, well then. So okay, so you go to the hospital, you get diagnosed, they don't give you great information you leave with needles and a meter?

Lorie 44:36
Oh, no, it was nothing like that. Actually, I called my general doctor and said, You know, I need to come in. They were like, Okay, you can have an appointment in two weeks. So in two weeks I went in. And then the rest then what happened from that point forward was extremely similar to another guest that you had on that was diagnosed is it 44 I think her name was Carrie. That was, I think that episode just came out a couple days ago or last week. But anyway, um, I went in, they were like, Oh, you're you know, you're really healthy. You look great, you know, you're not overweight, they checked me for all the same stuff I had been thinking about, you know, that I knew we're good. You know, you're, you know, you look great. You know, why are you here? And I'm like, Well, you know, I've been paying a lot. And I also drink a lot of water, which, you know, maybe I'm just hold I tried to want I, when I was sitting there, I kind of wanted to poopoo it because it sounds so ridiculous, saying I have a lot and I'm pregnant, a lot of water. But and I said, But you know, but then, you know, I started I realized I had lost about 15 pounds. And the doctor got up and ran out of the room and yelled at the nurse, can you bring a blood meter in here? came and took my blood sugar. Oh, it's 413. So he looks at me and he says, Well, you have diabetes, and I'm like, what?

Scott Benner 46:16
But But I didn't do the stuff they said not to do.

Lorie 46:20
What the hell? Yeah, I. So I

Scott Benner 46:24
would imagine that's how a nonsmoker feels when they get lung cancer. They're just like, Wait, are you kidding me? Like I didn't do the thing that supposed to make this happen? And God, how was it in that moment? He says those words, how do you feel?

Lorie 46:39
I was I wanted to tell him that that was ridiculous. I was like, There's no way that I have diabetes, because I didn't know anything about diabetes. And I'm sitting there and I'm like, Well, I ran a marathon three months ago. And I, you know, I, you know, I'm swim I bike. I you know, triathlons. I'm active. I'm not overweight. You know, I'm thinking, I was I was like, I there's no way I have diabetes. And I'm not. And so what I actually said to him was, well, isn't there more to this diagnosis? I mean, you just check my blood sugar with a meter. Isn't there more you need to do to diagnose it. And he was like, nope.

Scott Benner 47:25
Sorry, lady, you have diabetes. Great.

Lorie 47:28
I mean, I was like, Well, that can't be right. And he looked at me and he goes, You know, I really don't think you have type two. But I don't know. And I'm going to have enum like, type, type two, type one. You know, I was confused. I had never researched this. I kind of vaguely heard about this and but diabetes

Scott Benner 47:52
Wilford Brimley, that's what you know. Yeah. Right, right. The guy kind of looks like a walrus with a big mustache. He has diabetes. That's diabetes. I don't know what the hell the rest of this is. That's interesting. Yeah. So he, what he do, he went looked for?

Lorie 48:07
Well, he. He didn't say anything. He goes, Well, look, come back. Tomorrow, we do bloodwork here in the office, come back in the office, and we'll do a blood draw, make it a fasting blood draw. So I'm like, okay, and then I'm like, How can you check my cholesterol to you know, while you're at it, because, you know, 49? So, he's like, Yeah, of course. So, um, so I go in, I get my blood draw. And he's like, Okay, two days later, he calls me and he says, You need to come back in. I go back in. He's like, Well, you're a one C is 13.1. So your blood sugar has been real high for a really long time. So you are pretty sick. Do you feel okay? And I'm like, you know, I'm like, Yeah, you know, I guess, you know, when you he's like, are you tired? You know, do you feel nauseated? Do you feel anything? You know?

Scott Benner 49:08
I feel irritated. You didn't ask me this two days ago, like I tell you that much.

Lorie 49:12
Well, I Well, and then then there was a beat, you know, there's like a pause in the conversation. He's just looking at me and I'm like, you know, I, I feel okay, you know, whatever. I gotta go pick up my kids. So, you know, is there something I should do? And he looks at me and he says, I'm trying to decide if I should send you to the hospital or not. Right? And I'm like, the hospital. That's ridiculous. I'm, you know, I walked in, I drove over here, walked in the office. Why would I need to go to the hospital? Well, so he's like, he just said, Okay, I need you to contact. Here's an endocrinologist. You know, I know this. You know, he talked about this. He knew he knew this endocrinologist. So Call them see if you can get appointment as soon as humanly possible. And I want to see you in three days. Okay? And don't eat any carbs at all. Eat no carbs, you're gonna have no sugar and no carbs. I'm like, Okay, so, you know, does that just leave me with bacon or?

Scott Benner 50:22
Exactly, so it's already in ham. I'm eating like, what? Could you be more specific? Yeah, especially you just asked about your cholesterol too. He's like, go home and have a cheeseburger. Don't put it on a roll.

Lorie 50:33
Yeah, actually, my cholesterol was fine. So he goes, Yeah, your cholesterol fine. So you know, we're gonna have you can have the meat part of the burger. I'm like, the meat part. What's going to hold the mustard, you know, kind of. So I call the endocrinologist. I radically changed my diet. So then, of course, I felt terrible, right? I mean, because I'm eating only meat and cheese.

Scott Benner 51:00
Yeah, your stomach. I'm sorry, did your stomach not do okay with that?

Lorie 51:08
No, my energy level just tanked. But you know, I got you know, he, he hooked me up with a meter. So I take Metformin, and here's a meter. So I start taking the Metformin. I call the endocrinologist. And now I'm checking my blood sugar with a meter, you know, you know, twice a day, three times a day. So I'm religiously three times a day checking my blood sugar, and it's 300 to 50. I'm like, Oh, it's 250. That's great. It's low.

Scott Benner 51:39
Coming down. I'm fascinated that he was pretty certain you didn't have type two diabetes, but gave you Metformin. And didn't know that if he sent you to the hospital, you'd leave the hospital with insulin. It's like he knew some of it, but not enough of it.

Lorie 51:54
Right? I think he just really did not want to. Well, he really wanted me to go to this endocrinologist. And I'm like, Why call the inter endocrinologist and they say, I can have an they said they have an appointment available in six weeks. So I called him back and I'm like, Can this wait six weeks? You know, I was kind of at this point. I was scared, right? Because I'm like, Oh, God. I don't know what this is. I don't know what to do. I've read stuff on the internet. I've watched the YouTube videos, I'm like, What am I gonna, you know, what does this mean? So he, so he calls the endocrinologist and gets me an appointment for a week later, and he goes, come back to my office, I went back and then he gives me Lantis. So he's like, I, I, the blood tests that I ran show that you have autoimmune diabetes. So that's type one. And he talked about the blood tests and told me what it was and but you know, he and so he said, Okay, so take a shot, take 10 units of this once a day at bedtime, which is the same thing that they told your other guests carry, which is funny, because when I heard her story, I was like, wow, that is super similar.

Scott Benner 53:16
Why? And also, oddly, why not in the morning? Like, why tell you to take insulin that you're not 100% sure how it's gonna work on somebody and then tell them to go to sleep. That seems weird to me, too.

Lorie 53:27
Yeah. It's super scary now. And there's another super scary thing about this that happened, which is, I asked him, I said, you know, I've heard that people on insulin have kin go low and they're exercising, you know, is that possible? And he said, No, this is such a low amount of insulin that you cannot go low on this. So I'm like, Oh, okay. And I should have said, You know what, hold my beer.

Scott Benner 53:54
Are you certain? Cuz I bet you I can tell me something. Now, what's your Basal rate now that you're on a pump

Lorie 54:05
what is my Basal rate? Oh, my Basal rate. I'm I'm a half a unit an hour,

Scott Benner 54:10
half an hour. So you're getting about 12 units of basil a day? Yeah. All right. Oh, he might not have been far off. But still, it's not the point. Like you know, when somebody gets diagnosed and they go to the hospital, you put on an insulin drip you get brought down very slowly. You know, they get your level and then they start working on insulin. You just don't throw it in and you know, I don't know. It sounds like your doctor knew enough to be dangerous and not enough to help you. It's interesting and not that's not uncommon. It's not even a dig on him but just his or her just this how it it's how it goes. Really. So did you get low off your 10 of Lana's? I imagine you did because now you're right away. Yeah. So I eat low carb too, right?

Lorie 54:52
Well, yeah, so I'm eating no carbs. Now I'm eating no carbs. And you know, my pancreas is still kind of wet. Looking a little bit, you know, and mine was still kind of honeymooning kind of period. And I, you know, so I'm eating no carbs. I'm trying to run. So what happened was I got like, I think I had been on it one or two days. And I am I get I run, I managed to run about a mile and a half away from the house. And I, you know, I'm feeling bad. So I get my meter out. I have my meter with me, I get my meter out just blood. I'm like, Oh, crap, it says 55.

Scott Benner 55:38
That's lower than 250.

Lorie 55:43
Okay, so I didn't know what to do. I'm like, I don't think I can make it back to the house. And I of course, I didn't have any sugar with me, of course. Didn't know what you're doing. Yeah, I didn't know what I was doing. And he told me I couldn't get low. So

Scott Benner 56:00
it was like he said, he's like, he hands you a 22 and goes, it's just a 22. You copy can't kill yourself with this. Good luck. And you were like, oh, yeah, watch this. What did you do? Did you call an Uber? Or did you

Lorie 56:11
call my husband I call my husband to come get me. You know, come get me. I'm telling him where it was. The game got me. And I'm like and bring like, so I again, didn't think I could eat carbs. So I was like, bring bacon or I can't aren't cheese? I don't know. I can't tell you to bring some kind of thing with no carbs in it. Right? So,

Scott Benner 56:32
you know, this is not funny. And yet I can picture your husband rummaging around for a cheese stick or something in the in the refrigerator. Before he goes to pick you up probably thinking to myself, like what is happening? You're just scared. And did he come with cheese? Please help me I

Lorie 56:49
did. He did. He brought he brought cheese and like, like a carrot or something. So

I now I look back on that because now you know when I run or swim or bike or do anything I am

Scott Benner 57:09
you know, I'm don't bring a cart with you. Why don't we

Lorie 57:12
uh, Karen, you know, I bring my Skittles I bring my goo I bring you know, Gatorade. I mean, you know, I would never, you know, do this. I mean, oh my god. So yeah, so it was super. You know, it was I just didn't know what I was doing.

Scott Benner 57:30
I just laughed so hard my nose ran I'm sorry. I just I don't know why like the the vision of this poor guy like, you know, you're sitting on the sidewalk and he's digging around frantically for probably the last thing in the world. That's gonna help you bring it like it's the it's the Messiah lifesaver for you. Here here's cheese, which doesn't even have meat in it. So it's not like you could eat it and like later, turn it into glucose. It would just, it would just go in there forever and sit there. I mean, it's just fat.

Lorie 58:00
Yeah, I know. I mean, I think he brought it he might have brought it carrot or something. But like it was like something else that would take a long time. A lot of fiber Have you ever have neither?

Scott Benner 58:09
Have you ever seen a movie where somebody gets loveless? That's

Lorie 58:14
always Steel Magnolias. Right?

Scott Benner 58:17
Like, he didn't bring your own shoes or something like that. Alright, so Okay, well, that's insane. How do you make it to the endocrinologist then?

Lorie 58:26
Yeah, so I get to the endocrinologist and they're like, and they were great. You know, they were like, okay, so yes, we're gonna keep you on the Lantus they gave me you know, so I'm on the pins, right. So they're like, but no, no mention was made of bolusing. Right. I mean, nothing. They didn't say Bolus. They didn't say honeymoon, I had to find out about honeymoon on my own. But they did you know, a real thorough checkup and, you know, check my blood sugar at that time. And I don't know, I mean, I guess, you know, they, they helped me in some ways, but in other ways, they didn't. So one thing they did tell me right away, which, of course, by this point, I already knew is they're like, Oh, you need if you get low, you know, eat sugar, eat fast sugar. You know, and then they explained to me what that was. But, you know, I still meet with a diabetes educator. I've never met with a diabetes educator, which is just everything I've learned I had to learn on my own. So I went home, I watched YouTube videos. I read stuff online. I started listening to your podcast, which I accidentally found because I don't have any friends. I nobody I knew had this right. I

Scott Benner 59:53
accidentally find the podcast real quick, just so I know how to make other people accidentally find it.

Lorie 59:57
Oh, um, well, I I found it online. I saw I was doing an online search. And then I found Arden's de Juicebox Podcast website. Good. And then I'm like, oh, there's a podcast.

Scott Benner 1:00:08
Gotcha. I'm just I'm just, I'm just okay. I'm just reminding myself to keep my search engine optimization up. Because that's how you found it. That's how you googled it and found it because it has the site has strong SEO. So it pops up earlier in, in searches like that. That that's simply you live in California, right? You said? Yeah. You're not from there, though. Are you?

Lorie 1:00:36
Know, can you tell where I'm from? From my

Scott Benner 1:00:40
I want to say you're from somewhere between Texas and North Carolina in that space?

Lorie 1:00:48
Yeah, that's good. Guess and south? Yeah, I'm actually I'm from Texas originally. Yeah, I'm from Dallas.

Scott Benner 1:00:55
And so you don't you don't speak like you're from California? I mean, you do a little bit, it seems like it feels like you took Texas and ran it through like a scrubber a couple of times is how it feels. But, but also also you don't speak the people who are from California talk quickly, like people from the East Coast. And you don't have that as much. That's like, that's not where she's from. But I don't know why I care about that. Just I probably just didn't make myself feel like oh, wow, you are right, Scott.

Lorie 1:01:26
Yeah, you can people ask me about that a lot. Actually. I mean, I've lived here for 25 years, but I actually I'm originally but I didn't, I came here as an adult to California. So

Scott Benner 1:01:40
you're just the blend? And I would say I would have guessed you have lived in California for a long time. But yeah, that's but my point is that you're not going to like a free clinic on the same street with like a methadone clinic, right? Like you're going to a doctor's office that you would imagine you'd be getting some sort of valuable information from.

Lorie 1:02:01
I really wish that now, you know, I of course, I have great insurance. So you know, I really wish that they had sent me to the hospital. Because if they had if my original my my general doctor, if he had just sent me to the hospital that day that he was thinking about that, that would help a lot, I would have gotten a ton of information and help.

Scott Benner 1:02:27
And how much time passed between that moment. And when you started getting it together.

Lorie 1:02:36
Pray a couple of weeks.

Scott Benner 1:02:37
Would you looking back? Would you describe that time as stressful, painful? Like how would you think of it?

Lorie 1:02:47
This price, it was pretty stressful. I was. I was scared. Because I didn't know, I knew I didn't know what I was doing. I knew I needed help. And I did not know the best way to get it. I did not know what I needed to insist on. So all I knew to do was to educate myself. So I actually read a couple of books in that time period to which helped. And then you know, I did stuff I you know, online, you always gotta be so careful. Because sometimes stuff is just stupid online, you know, or, but the YouTube videos helped, right? I mean, I was I was really stressed. I was kind of sad and scared that I had this. But you know, I'm like on YouTube, I go to YouTube, and I'm like, Oh, well, if diabetic Danica can be this cheerful and cute, and, you know, be informative. Well, I guess I could probably survive. You know, I had to kind of really, I just remember being hopelessly distracted. You know, I couldn't work. I really couldn't do much with the family. I was really focused on this for a couple of weeks. But at the end of it, I knew what I wanted. So when I got to the endocrinologist, you know, they were like, Yeah, you know, you have type one and a BA and they were explaining it and I'm like, I want to see I want a Dexcom Can I get the G six? And they were like, Oh, well, let's not get ahead of ourselves. And I'm like, No, we're getting ahead of ourselves. I want done, you know, if my insurance will pay for it, then I want this. And they were like okay, well since you're running and all that. Sure. So I got the decks calm right away. I mean, like, I think I was maybe six weeks in. I had a Dexcom real quick.

Scott Benner 1:04:51
That's excellent. Yeah. And because you educate yourself and you push for it, and you thought if there's a girl on YouTube that can be bubbly about this then like And I'd be happy to

Lorie 1:05:01
fish. Yeah, I was like, look at all these people on YouTube. They're like, living normal lives. They're fine, you know,

Scott Benner 1:05:10
a rocket flying slightly to the left right now because of the strategy where?

Lorie 1:05:15
Maybe? I don't know. So far, they haven't linked it to me.

Scott Benner 1:05:21
We were trying for Morrison, we hit Venus. That was weird. What happened? Laurie got the diabetes a couple of years ago. Oh, my gosh, well, that's Well, good for you. I mean, honestly, being serious, the amount of effort that you needed to put into it, like, listen, we could say everybody should put that kind of effort in, but everyone's not going to put that kind of effort in, you're a success story. And that moat, and you have to understand that most people don't end up having that success, they fall apart somewhere through, you know, you keep throwing Robox up in front of people. And telling them, you know, you're the doctor, you understand and things start going badly for them. They just imagine that's life. And, and then you lose those people. And, and maybe some of them never find their way out of it again, you were, you know, Europe, a studious person to begin with. So you just kind of turned that on to diabetes, and picked your way through it. But of all the things that you found. I'm the best thing, right.

Lorie 1:06:26
You're one of the best things, because I just like you have taught me is that, you know, it's it's timing and amount. That's a big one. And, you know, and also, you know, you might develop rules for yourself for different things, but always be questioning that and gathering data. And you can either write it down, if you can't remember or keep it in your head. But basically, you know, try to pull all of your experience together to help figure out what to do when you're low or high or when you're faced with a food that's difficult, right. And I, I, I still make a ton of mistakes, but it's a lot easier when you don't feel like well, the doctor said I can't correct for this correction. I mean, well, I'm 300. And I, because I overcorrected. My low. And now I've got I guess, according to Dr. I have to sit here for four hours, you know, before it'll slowly start to drop down by itself. Why do that to your you know, that? Why is that the rule don't make that the rule. So I yeah, I mean, not that's

Scott Benner 1:07:54
why I'm really thing. It shouldn't look like yesterday was Easter. The day before I got up in the morning. And I got an email from a woman about a week or so ago. And she's like, I have a four year old. You know, I'm in trouble here. I don't know what I'm doing. Can you help me? And I thought the issue hit all my heartstrings like you know, and I'm getting ready to say sure, like, send me your number. I'll call you. I can talk you through it. And instead I said, can I talk you through it while we record it? And she said, Yeah, sure. So Saturday morning, I talked to her for 45 minutes or an hour. And I tried really hard to just talk to her the way I would have spoken to her on the phone, not like him because when you're on the podcast, you you're trying to be polite. Because there are different people in the world. You're not trying to hurt anyone's feelings. But if I'm talking to you one on one, I'm I mean, incredibly Direct, which you may be thinking, Oh, gods, how are you not being direct on the podcast, there's more directly. I'm incredibly direct. And so I got on with her. I tried to pull out of my head that I was recording myself. I walked her through it. And I said, Alright, send me your CGM. I'm gonna watch it. And then we'll get back together in a couple days, which we're going to do, I think tomorrow the next day, and we'll record again just for 20 minutes to kind of button it up. Well, it turned out as I'm talking to her, that her son isn't just for and hasn't just not, you know, had diabetes for just a handful of months, but he's also autistic, and not that verbal. And you know, she's got a lot of other challenges going on. And I am going to tell you that I made a small adjustment to the kids, Basal insulin kids, MDI. I explained to her how to Pre-Bolus the meals because she's like, I can't Pre-Bolus And I was like, Yeah, you can and I told her how to do it. And the chart that I looked at this morning when I woke up versus the one I saw on Saturday is could you just could be two different people. And so if it can be explained to a tired exhausted scared mother of a four year old autistic kid is at diabetes for five months, by my dumbass in an hour. And then someone else ought to be able to accomplish that for a person like you 49 years old standing at a doctor's office. That's all I'm saying. If that's unreasonable, I'm, then I'm unreasonable. But I think it's just everyone's not trying hard enough. Seriously. I mean, how that, can I do it and your doctor can, Laurie, I missed 53 days in my senior year of high school, you understand what I'm talking about? Right? Like I'm we didn't get a space on me is what I'm saying. That isn't happening.

Lorie 1:10:32
You know it. I mean, I make my own fate. I am bold enough to I make my own Basal changes. I'll calculate it myself. My endocrinologist was like, Oh, you made your own changes. I'm like, Yeah, because here's what's happening. Here's my calculation. Here's what I figured out. You know, does that seem right to you? And she's like, oh, yeah, that's what I would have done. So yeah, we're good. But actually, I mean, anybody can do it. It's not even hard. But you have to know that you can that you that you should that you need to ask or push even for for it. You

Scott Benner 1:11:13
know, what else is hard? For people? It's the, it's the duplication of percentages. I'm saying, I'm not saying that wrong. But there's something about the multiplier that throws people off. So I'm helping a friend right now somebody I know personally, who's, you know, teenage kid hasn't. And kids about 130 pounds, and I'm talking to him, they got the Basal at point four or five. I'm like, that doesn't seem right to me. So kid in his teens growing 130 pounds, like, I don't understand how point four, five could be enough insulin, you know? And they were like, well, yeah, the, you know, the doctor said, we can move like, we tried to move it up a little bit. I was like, how far do you move it they move it like point one at a time. And I was like, I don't know, I'd make the basil of like, one unit an hour. And let's see what happens. Like I'm like, let's, let's just try it and see what happens this afternoon. And, yeah, it was because it was more than double it. I might as well I've said, you know, we should try. Let's hit him in the head with a sledgehammer and see if that fixes it. Like she was scared out of her mind when I said one unit. And I think it's something about the multiplier. Like if I would have said point six, I think that she could have handled, but I mean, but there's and that happens to a lot of people somehow, like oh, that's a that's twice as much. And I'm like, Yeah, but if he needs it, it's not twice as much as the amount of needs and, and lifelong, lifelong type ones. Fight with that, too. Like, I'm gonna find a way to have a conversation just about this. The idea of, I think of myself as a bad diabetic if I'm using too much insulin, but how much is too much, I don't know more than I more than this amount. So they use a little bit have higher blood sugars and higher a one C, but for some reason feel fulfilled because they didn't use much insulin. And then if you get them to use more insulin than they get, then they're like, Oh, this feels weird. There's a guy that was on the show long time ago, who I know won't mind me mentioning his name, who just went through this again, Donnie, he's fantastic, right? He said diabetes a long time. He's an adult. And he told me we were messaging privately. He's like, it seems like so much I have to get over that. It feels like I'm using too much insulin. You're using the amount that your body needs. That's that. Yeah. You know, I don't I don't, I'm not encumbered by that. But a lot of people are.

Lorie 1:13:30
Yeah, people have been scared to death, I guess. So this obviously didn't happen to me when my doctors like, oh, yeah, you know, here's some lamp says you're fine. Just here, just go run. But I guess I meet people who actually, you know, got educated and had help, you know, got scared out of their wits about it. And that's one of the things that I am not afraid of that. And I guess because I had to educate myself on this. Because I mean, I mean, I'm not I'm not all that afraid of it. I mean, I'm like, Well, if my you know, if my Basal is too high, I'm going to notice in the middle of the afternoon, when I'm drifting down for no particular reason. It's hours after I've eaten it's hours before I'm going to eat and I'm drifting down. Why would that be? Well, probably my Basal is too high. I mean, I'm not. Or I'm drifting down in the middle of the night, right? I mean, so you're going to know, but see, I guess. You know, I've never been so low. That because then maybe this because you know, I had a CGM so quick. You know.

Scott Benner 1:14:43
I have to say your low 91. Two arrows down. You've only had diabetes for a couple of years, right? Yeah. You were incredibly calm. Are you alone in your house right now?

Lorie 1:14:54
Um, no, because everybody's my son's still doing virtual school. So he's upstairs. So my husband's working from home too. So he's upstairs, but you were

Scott Benner 1:15:03
you're incredibly calm. Like, what is your blood sugar now? 90

Lorie 1:15:09
is 107.

Scott Benner 1:15:12
Good. I mean, 9095 100 Right there, you're perfect. Like you handled it really well. Most people would have eaten everything. Those arrows, they would have been like, yeah. And then they just would have, you know, most people would be in a situation right now their blood sugar would be 251 arrow up. You know, and then you can't get away from that. But But your point is good, which is that, you know, you got it as an adult, you understood the concepts quickly enough. And so you're not running and you haven't had a bad low, so you're not afraid. And that's not to disrespect people who've lived with this, prior to this technology, who are always just going to have that memory of I passed out in a restaurant. You know what I mean? Like, how are they going to get up? How are they going to shake that? I wouldn't know how.

Lorie 1:15:57
Yeah, I mean, you would have, you know, post traumatic stress disorder from that. I would think, you know, because that would just be Yeah, that would be pretty horrible. I mean, I've had low lows and I have eaten the kitchen before I've done that. It's just

Scott Benner 1:16:13
do you think the Bolus afterwards?

Lorie 1:16:16
Oh, yeah. You know, like, I'm like, Okay, I'm now diagonal arrow up. So now it's time to Bolus right away.

Scott Benner 1:16:23
That's a lot of people can't make that leap.

Lorie 1:16:26
But it is it you know, it's, yeah, it I, I mess it up. I make a lot of mistakes. So maybe that helps. But I don't know.

Scott Benner 1:16:39
You're not afraid to make the mistakes and try to figure it out the next time?

Lorie 1:16:42
Well, you can always I mean, with the CGM. It just gives you a lot of latitude. I mean, I just really feel like it's, that allows me, you know, I would not be doing all of this stuff without a CGM. at all I would, I would be a lot more conservative. So I'm, I don't have to be

Scott Benner 1:17:05
good for anybody who can afford it, or get their insurance to cover it or whatever. I mean, it would be my it would be my absolute advice to get a CGM. Like it just it makes everything a lot easier. Yeah, it really does. Is there anything that we have not talked about, that you were hoping to talk

Lorie 1:17:23
about? Um, you know, I guess the only thing you know, I still I, you know, so I'm, I don't know how this is gonna go. But I'm gonna I'm signed up for Ironman in November. So I'll be doing an Ironman this year. So I've started training for that. And so really, you know, they talked about how triathlon is three disciplines, right, you have the swim, the bike and the run, I got swim, bike and run. And now I have diabetes. So I really have four disciplines in this because I've got to be on top of it for the entire race. So if you're, if you're not familiar, Ironman is a 2.5 mile or 2.4 mile swim 112 mile bike ride, followed by a marathon. And you do that one day. So I have a lot of challenges ahead of me. So I have to try to I mean, people have done this with diabetes, so and some of them have done it successfully. And I am going to try to do it this year, hopefully.

Scott Benner 1:18:36
Have you ever done it before?

Lorie 1:18:37
I know not a full I've done half. I've done marathons and I've done half half Ironman races,

Scott Benner 1:18:45
why are you doing it? Like just to prove to yourself because you want the tattoo? Which is it? Exactly.

Lorie 1:18:52
I don't know I might get the tattoo. I'm actually I'm mostly because I just want to see if I can do it. It's an interesting physical challenge, you know, you know, other races are too, but this is even longer and harder. And it's going to be a really big challenge at diabetes. Hopefully, I won't have to curb sit, which that's, you know, which I have occasionally happens still where you have to sit down, you've had too much insulin on board. When you left the house, you're going to sit on the curb until your blood sugar comes back up and eat Skittles. But, you know,

Scott Benner 1:19:33
so using or using a T slim

Lorie 1:19:37
Yeah, I have a T slim and yeah, yep.

Scott Benner 1:19:43
Did you want to ask? Cuz you mentioned that you had to disconnect at one point. So I was like, okay, tube pump. And then I just thought, yeah, rocket lady, she's gonna have a T slim, not a Medtronic. That was that was my thought process.

Lorie 1:19:57
Yeah, yeah, I really I do like Pretty slim, but yeah, I do disconnect to swim. I've actually swam with it before, which they tell you not to do but it's it's no problem. Okay? They'll tell me you said that. Waterproof and

Scott Benner 1:20:13
people jump in a pool your T slim. And if that was working it's not my fault you call. That's not my fault either. Yeah, call call. I'm not saying that. I've never heard that before. Don't blame me. Thank you goodbye. No, I didn't know you. I said what did they call it? What are proof not what are or what? Oh, I forgot what the terms

Lorie 1:20:33
mean. Exactly. I mean, it's anyway, it's, it's more than splashproof I guess is what I want to say. submerge it. It's kind of be okay. Or mine was maybe it was accidentally okay. They

Scott Benner 1:20:45
call it anyway. They call it watertight IPX seven tested to a depth of three feet for up to 30 minutes. This is from support that tanam diabetes that

Lorie 1:20:57
well, I've tested it longer than that for deeper than that. So.

Scott Benner 1:21:00
Okay, well, they just they're just talking about like, it's peace of mind for their pomp in the event of an accidental submersion. So yeah, yeah. Laurie is just like, whatever. I shoot,

Lorie 1:21:12
I have not I've not dropped it in the toilet. But, you know, I'm sure that's what they were thinking of.

Scott Benner 1:21:17
That kind of an idea. Well, yeah, you know, you're right, that it probably is what they were thinking of, like, how do we how do we keep this thing safer when it takes a swim real quick. That's, that's, that's interesting. Okay. You did you I'm sorry. So you're gonna try this Ironman? How do you how do you practice for it? How do you try to see if you can? Well,

Lorie 1:21:39
I have a long training plan. So you know, the training plan is just like anybody else's training plan. There's nothing special. But you know, I need to be able, during the race to eat and Bolus because I can't, you know, I can't go the entire day. Even though it's intense exercise and long endurance exercise, I will have to eat you can't go all day without eating. And I'm also going to have to Bolus but the Bolus is really different. Right. So you know, it's so I have to I have a lot of things in my training plan that are extra that I put in there, for example, long hikes, I put a couple of long hikes that are you know, eart what I call urban hikes, because I live in near Los Angeles. So what's easier is just a walk out the door and walk down the street, walk a cup, you know, walk for five hours, but, you know, i The idea is that I can practice and figure out how much less Bolus to give myself to account for the exercise. With Basal by itself, I know what to do because I have on my pump I've programmed in reduced Basal for exercise that I do you know, that's shorter that's like on a regular daily basis. But I need to know what how I can Bolus when I have when I'm in the middle of activity. So that I don't over Bolus myself or under Bolus myself.

Scott Benner 1:23:15
Yeah, I would imagine to so that if you aren't going to have a situation where there's active insulin that it doesn't happen while you're in a body of water to

Lorie 1:23:25
well, for the swim. Yeah, so I kind of know what to do at the beginning of the swim because that's first luckily, that's first because I will have my pump with me. I will I'll have my decks calm. But you know, I can't get I won't get readings. So with the swim, I pretty much know I've done that swim distance before by itself. So I know what to do with that. But it's the what I am most worried about really is. I'm worried about you know, the really long bike ride, I'm going to eat like a sandwich. Maybe Maybe twice on the bike, like a small piece of a sandwich, not a big honkin hoagie or anything but like a little sandwich. And you know, I'm, I won't be, I'm gonna have to Bolus and I need to figure out well, how much is protein? Sugar?

Scott Benner 1:24:21
Yeah, it's gonna be interesting. So you're just gonna go out and go on like, kind of intensive hikes and try to test them there.

Lorie 1:24:29
Yeah, and the long bike rides. So there's training bikes and runs that are really long and I have done I did a like a 50k run once and for that. I just kind of snapped the whole time. And so I actually did have to Bolus a couple of times, just for I was just correcting. I was just responding instead of thinking ahead, so I wasn't Pre-Bolus thing I was eating Cheetos. Sorry. Like I can Eat, like I found out, okay, I can eat like eight or 10 Cheetos, you know, the crunchy ones, you know, I could pop those in eat those, and then, you know, maybe 30 minutes later, I could watch what's happening. And then I would correct a little bit, not what I would normally correct from sitting. So I've, you know, that I'm going to have to figure out on and so I've planned in hikes that will help me do that. I think also, the long bike rides, there's lots of long bike rides, where, you know, it's like three, between three and six hour bike rides, there's a lot of those in a training plan. So for those I'll be eating and trying to experiment. And then there's also long runs in the training plans, I'll be training, you know, I'll be trying to figure out how to eat with those as well. And so it's, it's going to be kind of, you know, I don't know, you know, other people have kind of done something similar there. What I, I've learned from I've, one of my internet searches led to type one run. So some of the people that I know they're in on their Facebook page, I was able to kind of get a little bit more information about what other people do for long distance training and racing. And, you know, they're kind of doing the same thing. They're kind of, they're like, Well, I experimented with this or, you know, they may have had other people that said here tried to do this to this to this when you get out of the water from the swim. You know, Bolus, the mist Basal. If you don't, you're going to spike even though you're on the bike, even though you're, you know, you're Yeah, you know, adrenaline is cranking you're, you're and also you've been without Basal for that time. Put it right there Bolus,

Scott Benner 1:26:55
I would be interested to listen, I'm never doing an Ironman. I think you're insane. So keep that in mind. But But I would be inclined to talk about like, how do you tap the Basal back prior to the swim so that you create a black hole of Basal during the swim. So that when you come out of the water, the Basal is immediately back already? And there's a way to do that with timing. Does that make sense to you? So if you're gonna swim from 1pm to 3pm, I'm making up a number. Okay, yeah, for two hours, then I would turn the basil back at 12pm. So that it has time to titrate back so that by the time 1pm comes, you don't have any impact from the basil. And then I'd let that run that Temp Basal, I'd let it run from 12 to one to maybe two or 230, and then have it come back on so that by the time it hydrates back up again, you're out of the water three. Like that's how it would occur to me, I have no idea if that's right or not. But if you asked me to, to make a plan for that, that's how I would think about it.

Lorie 1:28:06
Yeah, I hadn't thought of that. But that would be maybe a good thing to do. I don't, you know, yeah, there might be a better way to do it so that you don't get a spike,

Scott Benner 1:28:15
you're not doing the rob Peter to pay Paul thing, you're just right, you're just kind of you. So I think of doing that as creating a like a pothole or a black hole in the future. So you take the basil away now, so that it's completely gone in the future, when the expected impact is coming. That way, you kind of just sort of float like in a suspension tank instead of dropping down. Yeah, because there's nothing there to there's no insulin there to pull down. So while your body's trying to, because the activity drop your blood sugar, there's no insulin there, so your blood sugar can't drop because there's just not there or can't drop as drastically, right? And then but you have to have it come back on. Because you know, when you set a Temp Basal increase at noon, even if you made it 150% increase, you're not going to start getting the impact from it for a half an hour or more, because it's still just builds up slowly. So you can take it away, slowly create the black hole, put it back in before the swim is over. So the black hole is gone by the time you come out of the water. That's how I think of it. Like I actually thought what you talked about with the swimming this morning. It sounded like you found a way to get through it, but that's not how I would have done it.

Lorie 1:29:29
Okay, yeah, that's true. Um, yeah, there's probably I mean, I'll have to think about how to get that how to do that about it,

Scott Benner 1:29:41
like Pre-Bolus thing. So right, so you Pre-Bolus A meal at 12 because the insulin is going to start working around 1215 And it's really going to start pulling around 1220 1225 And you're going to begin to eat it. I don't know, you know, 1215 So you put the insulin in are always The insulin gets a head start so that when the food starts impacting the insulin is already up to power. With a with a Bolus for activity like this, you take the Basal way so that the Basal is not there. So when the impact of the activity comes, there's nothing there to add to that to that drop. That makes sense.

Lorie 1:30:18
Yeah, that's yeah, that's good. I will. Yeah, let me figure out how to get that done. But yeah, yeah, I think could fire up like, I mean, I can swim with the pump, I can, I mean, I have a little like, waterproof bag thing. I can, I can swim with it. If I could swim it that I could probably get it to also

Scott Benner 1:30:45
don't necessarily need it during that time, either. Because if you temp down before, right, then you could mix then you could bastardize. These two ideas you could tempt down before, bag the pump when you swim, which is I'm assuming what you end up doing with it, and then swim with it off. And then get out, hook it up and do a Bolus instead of a Temp Basal instead of the Basal coming back on before the swim is over. Just put the Bolus in. You'll probably get a similar, you'd probably get a similar thing there. Yeah, I don't know. I'd be interested to hear what you figure out. That's for sure.

Lorie 1:31:21
Yeah, okay. I'll experiment with that. Because even the short swims, I always have a spike. And I know it's coming. So I always get the spike afterwards. Yeah, I get a spike afterwards. So

Scott Benner 1:31:31
coming away while you're swimming? Yeah. Yeah, I hear what you're saying. There's, there's a way Look, it won't be easy to figure out. But there's a way in there somehow. Because in the end, all you're trying to do is put the insulin you need in the places where you need it. Right. That's it. That's all you're trying to do. I kind of think like an engineer, Laurie? Is that what you're saying?

Lorie 1:31:54
Yeah, that's that's what I'm saying. Yeah,

Scott Benner 1:31:58
I'm taking that as a bonus, and we're stopping the episode right here. That's my trophy. What do you think of that? Anyway, I were having a nice time talking. So we're running in the fear of place of going on forever. We've been talking for an hour and a half. But But I want to thank you very much for for doing this. And I tell you that I that your stories is different than most people's. And I really appreciate your sharing, especially. And I know all the people who have had this happen to them, appreciate it as well, because the notes I get from them are they seem kind of desperate to hear from somebody that's in their situation. So thank you very much. Yes, well, thank you very

Lorie 1:32:37
much, too. It was my pleasure, for sure to talk on the on the podcast. I

Scott Benner 1:32:42
appreciate this. I really do. Plus now I'm basically to NASA people in I'm kicking ass on that. Yes, for sure. Doing great. I also think what you do is really cool. So I appreciate I love that there are people wondering about things that are that are so much bigger than than just that day to day stuff. So let's face it to No kidding, I think it's amazing.

Well, first, I have to thank Laurie for being very, very, very patient. 13 months later, this is Lori's episode. Thank you very much Laurie. I am very sorry. I'd also like to thank Ian pen from Medtronic diabetes and remind you to go to ink pen today.com To learn more about the ink pen to find out how much it could cost and to get started. After that you can go to contour next one.com forward slash juice box and get the best darn little blood glucose meter that I've ever used. Contour next one.com forward slash juice box. And if you get the chance and you're a US resident who has type one or cares for someone with type one, head over to t one D exchange.org Ford slash juicebox and take the survey. Thank you so much for listening. I'll be back very soon with another episode of The Juicebox Podcast.

#685 Ask Scott And Jenny: Chapter Fifteen

Scott and Jenny Smith, CDE answer your diabetes questions.

Where does Jenny put her pods?

At what age do teenage years and having fluctuating blood sugars due to hormones get better?
How do you handle Dexcom sensor issues? How many times would you calibrate before giving up on a sensor?
Tips for breastfeeding a type 1 baby or toddler.
How can I reduce post meal spikes? Tips on MDI and pre bolusing.
How do you deal with fat and protein using Loop?
How do you help a college student who forgets to bolus before he eats at least once a day?
Let’s talk about nutrition labels, the impact of dietary fiber and the difference between soluble added fiber versus unprocessed fiber.

+ Click for EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

Scott Benner 0:00
Hello friends, and welcome to episode 685 of the Juicebox Podcast

we're gonna do something today that we haven't done in a little bit. It's an ask Scott and Jenny episode. This episode is full of questions from you the listeners that Jenny and I sat around and mused about. Please remember, while you're listening that nothing you hear on the Juicebox Podcast should be considered advice, medical or otherwise, always consult a physician before making any changes to your health care plan, or becoming bold with insulin. The T one D exchange is looking for US residents who are caregivers of someone with type one, or have type one diabetes themselves to fill out a short survey. It's AT T one D exchange.org. Forward slash juicebox. Your simple answers to simple questions will go a long way towards helping people living with type one diabetes, T one D exchange.org. Forward slash juicebox. I just looked and we haven't done an ask Scott and Jenny since 2020. But this one will be the 15th installment. I hope you enjoy it.

Today's episode of The Juicebox Podcast is sponsored by us med. US med is a supplier of diabetes supplies. And all you have to do to get a free benefits check from them is go to us med.com forward slash juicebox. Or call my number 888-721-1514. The podcast is also sponsored today by Ian Penn, from Medtronic diabetes. Do you wish you had some of the functionality of an insulin pump, but you like injecting, if that sounds like where you're at, you really might enjoy the in pen. Learn more and get started today at in pen today.com

Jennifer Smith, CDE 2:18
really wasn't what we talked about before we

Scott Benner 2:20
really get talking people are like what's happening? Well, they don't, you know, so we just chatted before we started recording. And I think that's important for people to kind of relax and get into a flow, which I think if you look at the episodes where I'm interviewing people, it's why the first 10 minutes are sort of like the way they are just trying to get calm and relaxed. And I know there's a world where you can edit all that out. But I think it's interesting to learn about people that way. So anyway, when I think

Jennifer Smith, CDE 2:47
when you're talking to somebody for the first time, honestly, right, you might have emailed with them or whatever to kind of get things set up. But you've probably never really talked to them before. And it's you have this sort of get to know somebody, you can't just really just start talking about a topic.

Scott Benner 3:05
The top I do not talk to people before I interview them, they fill out this very short form. It says What's your connection to type one? Have you been on another podcast in the last six months? What would you like to talk about? I understand that this is for entertainment purposes only. That's it and then they jump on and I meet them right in that moment. And we start talking so I love it like that. I wouldn't. I mean, I've interviewed people that I've known about, I interviewed Robin ORS on the other day, and the peloton, girl that has type one. And yeah, I mean, everybody loves her. I 100% That's what I tried to tell her. She didn't seem to know. But I, I had notes and you know, she had notes about me. And we had we had in I'd interviewed her for print years before she of course, with no reason to didn't remember me, but her people filled her in about it. And like I don't know, like I would have much rather us just felt like we were like grabbing a drink together, you know? So anyway, it still was a really nice conversation. But Alright, so here's what I did, Jennifer. Last night, I was up editing the show rather late. And about two o'clock in the morning as I was going to bed. I thought I don't want to do a defining diabetes tomorrow and Jenny calls. Oh, so I never know what we're going to talk to Scott brings to the table today. Let's see, I don't treat you much different than anybody else. So. So I put this little post in the Facebook group. And I'll tell you, it just shows how things have grown because you and I've done this before where I'll say Hey, Jenny, I got questions from people. We have eight 510 questions. So I put up a post eight hours ago in the middle of the night. That said, I'm thinking about recording and ask Scott and Jenny episode tomorrow, but it all depends on if there's questions here when I wake up in the morning. There are 100

Jennifer Smith, CDE 4:52
That's like putting something out into the universe, like expecting nothing to ever come back.

Scott Benner 4:57
I'm like, oh, we'll see what happens. Right? It's overnight. But anyway, there are 116 questions in this. It's I don't think we're gonna get to all of them. But now we have something to do for the next couple of times that we talked for sure. Because there's great question. So you want to just kick back and do this together? All right? Do you ever sleep? That's for me? I'll answer that later. Is a simple question. Someone said they'd like to know where you put your pods?

Jennifer Smith, CDE 5:23
Me personally, yeah. Oh, I get asked that an awful lot. So that's actually easy. My, I guess I don't really have favored locations, although they're the locations that I've rotate through, I'd say favored in terms of like one versus another that is better in terms of absorption, because I know some people do notice that. I use the backs and kind of the sides of my arms, and never use the tops of my arms or like the bicep area. I note that people do, I don't I use the front of my abdomen, either above or below my beltline. I use my lower back. Those are my go to places. I do not have luck on my legs. I don't love it on my upper but they just, it's almost like I'm not taking enough insulin there. It's an absorption thing. And I just prefer to not go to those places. So

Scott Benner 6:29
yeah, it's that's a lot of moving around, which makes me think what I wanted to say was Jenny takes her own advice. Like that's, you know, you know how some people give advice, but don't live it. You know, I rotate. Yeah, you really are rotating your sides. I don't know if you're doing it because you think it's right, or because you tell people to rotate. You don't want to be a hypocrite.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 6:49
I think it's probably both I and I've said before, I think it's really important to be a good example. And if you're not going to do the majority of what you're telling people to do, then why are you talking about right?

Scott Benner 7:03
No one asked, but Arden wears hers either side of her belly button, kind of in line with her belly button off to the side a little bit. She prefers the cannula face towards the belly button. But we will also turn it 180 degrees to face away. She uses her thighs, tops not so much more to the outside, she used to she overused the tops of her thighs. So she moved it sort of to the the the outside of the outer part of her legs. And I recently in the last year finally had luck getting her to put it back on her arms. So we now have the way I think of it as the legs are kind of there are a ton of spots because one spot on your thigh an inch over an inch higher an inch lower like becomes a lot of different spots, but her thighs, her abdomen and our her sides of her upper arms. She doesn't like it on the back. Okay, so I think it wiggles too much back there for

Jennifer Smith, CDE 8:02
like she's my I actually have a good friend years ago when I started wearing Omnipod. And it was probably a couple years after that, that I met somebody through like the diabetes community, who I've gotten to be good friends with now but she out of like swimsuit material, she actually made bands that I can put over almost as like a three inch sleeve kind of like a free arm, like a headband for my arm and like I've got my pump my pad on my arm now. And when I run longer, like longer than a 30 minute run, I will typically use one of those because kind of like Arden it it does it wiggles I mean, not enough that it's irritating in terms of the actual site. But just it's something you pay attention to. And it's like change jingling in your pocket, right? Just can't stand it after some time. So

Scott Benner 9:03
for Arden this goes all the way back to when she was young and she played softball, and she couldn't put it on her right arm because when she threw the pod would really kind of like torque around. And sure after that it was just, you know, the I think the funniest thing that happens with people, kids, maybe adults as well is they get rules in their head, like so after a while. She just thought, Oh, it doesn't go on my arms because we don't put it on my arms. And there was a reason that we stopped doing that. And then I had to show her one day I was like you're not throwing a softball anymore. So please,

Jennifer Smith, CDE 9:30
let's try the arm again. Yeah, I will say though, from a site rotation, those sites that I don't use for my pods or infusion from any pump, honestly, not just my pods, or when I when I've used a tube pump to but my upper thigh and my my upper but also they work really well for my sensors. So it's not that those sites don't get used. It's just that they don't use them for insulin. Okay, and Artem

Scott Benner 9:57
Arden puts her CGM on her hips, kind of on the side. So I was gonna say longitudinally and let but I don't, I'm not sure which is which anyway, sort of like, the top of her butt crack and you kind of draw a line around to the her sides and there's sort of like a flat spot in her sides and you can put it there. She just goes left, right, left, right. She's been doing it for years like that. So yeah. Okay. All right, next question. Thank you for that question. Blue. Next question is from Christine. And she said At what age do teenage years and and having fluctuating blood sugars due to hormones get better.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 10:38
So, this isn't like hormones relative to either male versus female. It sounds like it's just in general. I can say though, from female hormone standpoint, is that the cat is the cat that would like to be let out of my office. I'm gonna let the cat or the cat doesn't keep banging on the door

Scott Benner 11:13
you know what arrived at my house just the other day, the Omni pod five. It came to us directly from us men. Here's what I did. I contacted on the pod and I said I would like to get on the pod five. I did it just the same way you guys are gonna do it didn't get any special treatment. On the pod contacted us Med and said I have a customer here that would like to get there on the pod five supplies from you. Okay, not so tough. I think on the pod then contacted my doctor had a script sent and Bada bing bada boom, a box showed up at my house with the Omni pod five starter kit. And we're already set up for future deliveries of the pods that will need to continue with Omni pod five. It was in fact exactly that easy. They can do that for you as well. Maybe you're looking for libre to wear the Dexcom G six. How about the Omni pod dash? US med has it and so much more. At this point, you're thinking Scott, I'm in how do I try it? Well, you're in luck. You can either use the internet us med.com forward slash juice box to get your free benefits check. Or you can use this phone number that US Matt has provided just for Juicebox Podcast listeners. It is 888-721-1514 us met accepts Medicare nationwide and over 800 private insurers they always provide 90 days worth of supplies and they have fast and free shipping. I will now make a seamless transition to the in pen from Medtronic diabetes, are you using an insulin pen but wish it did more? The M pen is probably what you're looking for. Because the M pen is a reusable smart insulin pen that uses Bluetooth technology to send dose information to a mobile app. This offers us support with those calculations and tracking in pen helps take some of the mental math out of your diabetes management. You can get started with in pen today at See what I did there what you don't know yet, but you'll see the second you can get started within pen today at in pen today.com. Take the guesswork out of your dosing. Your in pen app will show you your current glucose levels, your dosing calculator, active insulin remaining meal history, dose history, glucose history, and an activity log. And other reports. The pen itself, it's just what you expect. It's a pen with a cap, an insulin needle, a dosing knob, a dosing window, and a button to do your injections with the implant is also surprisingly affordable. I hope you check it out in Penn today.com. All you have to do head over there right now. There are links in the show notes of the podcast player you're listening in right now to in Penn us Med and all of the sponsors. You can also find them at juicebox podcast.com. When you click on the links, you're supporting the show us med.com forward slash juicebox in pen today.com I'm now going to get you back to Jenny who by the way works at integrated diabetes.com If you'd like to hire her

Jennifer Smith, CDE 14:39
That's too funny. I totally thought that she was out of my office.

Scott Benner 14:42
I heard that noise and I thought hopefully that's Jenny's cat where she's she's abducted a neighborhood child and they're locked in the basement.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 14:51
Oh no, no, no. She thinks on my closet doors not the actual door to get out. She Bangs on the closet doors when she wants I don't know if she's

Scott Benner 14:58
good sound. Me Pay attention anyway. Sorry. So no, I

Jennifer Smith, CDE 15:02
was, I can't remember my thought. Now I was on a pattern. Say

Scott Benner 15:07
you started talking about when I guess we're not talking about hormones for gender specific. Right?

Jennifer Smith, CDE 15:13
Right, right. So hormones from a female hormone perspective, with monthly cycles, I've found that it's when the cycles tend to get a lot more regular, that things tend to get more stable girl or females also tend to stop growing sooner than men do. So from that perspective, when a growth phase for girls like they're no longer getting taller, you can tell visit after visit at the doctor, they're just not growing in height any longer, they might have a very regular cycle, that's when things do tend to even out more, there's not as much of that flux. If the cycle isn't very regular, then it could very well be that you've got a lot more ups and downs still, because those hormones are still so much on a rise and fall. That's not sort of a pattern, right? Guys tend to grow longer than girls do. In terms of the male hormone effect, and growth patterns, so you could have fluctuations, you know, through and up to about the age of 18, sometimes beyond, obviously, but again, some of it also has to do with have they finished growing? Are they more into a pattern of life, all of those kinds of things, because I think a lot of the variability in those teen years is just life as well. I mean, most teens don't have a very rigid schedule outside of a school schedule where you know, the typical pattern other than that sports come in, in the afternoon, extracurricular activities, weekends are completely different. You might have sleeping in compared to getting up early I there's just a lot of stuff in the teen years that I think causes a lot of fluctuation. That because we talk so much about growth, a lot of people think it's just growth. And some of it may just be the variables of

Scott Benner 17:20
the unexpected left turns, you take in the middle of an afternoon, like I'm gonna go run, jump on the trampoline now. Or, you know, my friends came over and we're gonna go play baseball in the backyard. When you're 37. You don't randomly get up at 330 in the afternoon. And go not usually, no, no, if you have kids. If you are, you're an Instagram influencer, and you're living an amazing life, because I just sit here and make this podcast and Jenny sits where she's sitting talking to people about their diabetes. So yes. So let's see. Next question is from Denise, I would love to hear about how you handle times when there are Dexcom sensor issues. How many times would you calibrate before giving up on a sensor? Do you calibrate? And if so, when Jenny and I did an entire episode about calibration, which you should definitely check out? But good. Um, to answer the question. Arden doesn't have a lot of problems with Dexcom it jives with her body chemistry pretty well. I would say that with GE six. It's interesting. I don't know this for certain, but they must make improvements to that device as they go. Like with the algorithm they must. I don't know they must. Because it's never the same. The products always better at the end of its product life. Like as they're getting ready to launch the new one than it is at the beginning. I feel like you sent it to you ever see that? Like it? Maybe I just get better at using it over time? Is that pi d? Right? That could be Yeah. Because I'll tell you like, Arden puts a sensor on. I wish we planned better, but we don't it usually happens like this. someone hears the noise that which is like the out of you know, there's no, there's been no data. And then everybody's head drops and goes oh, how long has it been since we put on a sensor you started thinking and when you can't remember you like this must be it. And you know, like, as an example, we put a new sensor otter at 130 in the morning, Friday, I would have been nice to do it. Put it on came on was pretty accurate, was happy with it. I have had them come on and be wildly off, you know, 8090 100 points sometimes. When that happens. I do what I talked about on the calibration episode is I just kind of I slow calibrate it back to where it needs to be if it's if her blood sugar's really 100 and the things that she's 200 I tell it, she's 170 and then it agrees with that you let it go a little longer that I tell it she's 150 and I calibrated. I kind of move it on my own. I don't know if that's right or not, but it works and we have a lot of success. As far as sensors just going bad. I hate to say this Arden's last ride out 10 days. I mean, constantly, you know, yeah, so

Jennifer Smith, CDE 20:07
I know I, and that's where I really do think that there's more about body chemistry, then there's any information about I think people get the sense that a sensor just doesn't work very well. And they may come from a previous brand to another brand and say, well, it's better, certainly better. But it's still not quite perfect. You know, I also, thankfully don't have a lot of sensor issues, at least not, not recently, the previous two g, six g, five G four in the seven series, I didn't really have much issues with those at all. In fact, my G fives, I could restart for three, three weeks and get like 21 days out of a sensor, and then it was like falling off. So I finally had to change it, right. But the G six, initially, I would almost like clockwork, eight days, I would get the three hour sensor error warning, it would start back up and get it again, I would call that I was calling Dexcom. almost weekly, because it literally was dying on day eight. And, and I don't know what shifted kind of goes along with, maybe they've changed something algorithm or the the sensor coating on the outside of that filament, I don't know. But I've not had that problem. And I can't say that my body chemistry is just decided to do like, you know, a 180 and sort of be completely different. And now it just works better. For me, I don't know, I'm mostly now get 10 days, I typically if I'm going to have a bad sensor, it's usually only bad for about eight to 12 hours after starting it up. And my trend is that it's not high, inaccurate, it's low inaccurate. If my sensors are going to be off, they're going to be off and they're going to tell me that my blood sugar's like 42. Consistently, even though it's in the 80s 90s, low 100. It'll just keep telling me I'm low. And I avoid calibrating at that point, right? Because I've had enough issue with trying to do it in that first kind of startup time that, then I've had sensor fail. So I just I leave it alone, I just opened my algorithm. And don't let my pump adjust off of those funny values. And just go ahead.

Scott Benner 22:34
So it's funny when you're you, you said something that really made me think when Ardennes is off for an extended amount of time. It's lower, when it's high off, I can bang it back down again. And it works. When it's low off. She's 5355 56. It just thinks that's what she is. You text her she's 85 Doesn't matter what she is, right? It does just sort of come online. And just it's kind of magical. And then works great after that, if you're using an algorithm like Arden is and like Jenny was just saying that I just made for this, I opened the loop. And we test. We test like every 90 minutes or so. And then through the health app on the iPhone, just enter it you enter her blood sugar on the health app, and the loop app pulls the number from there, and it's usually enough to get by until it straightens out. That is that concern from people who are new. Or even sometimes I see older people, the idea of I can never go on an algorithm because what if the sensor is wrong? It's gonna kill me. You know? Like, it just doesn't go that way.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 23:42
Yeah, unless there comes to be a system that doesn't allow you to go back to manual use mode. Quite honestly, you came from manual pumping or manual engine. I mean, you have something to go back to. If you know enough that something is inaccurate. Don't use it while it's inaccurate. Right? Do what you know how to do. Even if it means you have to go back to a little bit more old school. Don't use a system that's gonna adjust off of a blood sugar that's 42 When you're not sitting at 42 I

Scott Benner 24:16
think sometimes that people get stubborn. Meaning they have this feeling like this thing that I paid for supposed to do this and it's not doing it so I'm gonna be mad at it. You're like, cool. Yeah, of course, absolutely. I see it. I'm just like, open the loop and test every once in a while this thing will work in a little bit. We'll be fine. It sucks. If it happens overnight, because it's telling you you're low, you're low and you'd like you're not but even that's a mindset thing. I have to say. When Arden was really young, I met this person in the community who had an older child already. And they would tell me, you know, it's great that you guys have the CGM and I think they're amazing, but you know, my daughter never had one. And there she is. Isn't she's fine? And what that made me think was, Oh, okay. Like, it's alright if once in a while, Arden goes to sleep and her blood sugar's 135. And it climbs to 150 overnight, and I fix it at four in the morning or when we wake up or something like that, like, that's not the end of her life. If that happens, you know, but yeah, don't like it back then. When she was

Jennifer Smith, CDE 25:23
young, because you were used to having so much information to utilize to keep her where you really know, is a safe value long term to be sitting. Right. Yeah, but I mean, I, you know, and that's a point that I bring up with people all the time, too. I mean, I had, I had nothing fancy in technology growing up, right. Heck, I made it through college without anything fancy.

Scott Benner 25:47
But you're still paying attention to your health, right? Oh, of course. I

Jennifer Smith, CDE 25:50
mean, I use probably more more test strips in my life prior to a CGM, then yeah, probably was necessary. But I was a little bit OCD. Must Know What My blood sugar.

Scott Benner 26:06
Let's get to. Let's see, the next question just says it's not really formed as a question, but that's okay. It says breastfeeding a type one baby or toddler. So is that do you Bolus?

Jennifer Smith, CDE 26:20
I guess that's, that's a hard one. So talking about not the mother has type one, but the baby or the toddler actually has type one. Yeah, it's a it's a difficult scenario, honestly. Because unless you have a very rigid schedule of nursing, or even formula feeding, I mean, this kind of goes along. Because that age, that's a child's mean nutrition intake, it's either breast milk or formula, right. So unless you really have an idea of how much the child is eating, there's not really a way to carb count that per se. If you have a little bit more regularity, a lot of people tend to sort of coat with a Basal insulin. Knowing that nursing, especially an infant, typically is going to be nursing every three ish hours, until they get a little bit further out into post newborn stage, right. So sometimes there is a coding with a basil knowing that you have a regularity, to nursing or formula feeding. If you have a known amount more like formula, and you can gauge how many ounces the child is going to take at a time. You could base that on a dosing strategy then with rapid acting insulin. The big thing with that is we would usually, as much as we talk about Pre-Bolus ng for something like that. You just you don't Pre-Bolus There's no way to know how much a child who usually drinks, you know, three ounces at a feeding time. Today, for whatever reason, they're fussy, and they're only taking one ounce, but you can't Bolus or do anything for that until you know

Scott Benner 28:08
we're talking them into it if they need more. Right. And there is no more food. What are you gonna do with gummy bear? Yeah, right. Yeah, well, yeah,

Jennifer Smith, CDE 28:15
I mean, it's not really until that child is and I've worked with a couple of people, you know, more recently, who have littles who have either just weaned off of nursing, in that case, their Basal needs actually have gone down. Because what we were doing were We were coding the overall nursed milk intake with basil knowing that it was very regular night and day. And until they were weaned, and we had a little bit more in terms of a breakfast, a snack or lunch or snack and how to kind of coax that with bolused Insulin it and I know it's a difficult time. So

Scott Benner 28:53
it sounds like to me that you adapted that. So there's that. There's that old timey endo idea for people who they think don't Bolus for their meals, right? They jack them up on basil. And then they know they're going to eat. So they're feeding the insulin, they're not really feeding the insulin, they're feeding the drop before the drop happens because they're eating on a schedule. So you keep the baby's Basal at a spot where it's impactful of those every three hour feeding schedules. Correct, right. Yeah. And are you shooting for? What blood sugar are you shooting for?

Jennifer Smith, CDE 29:25
Yeah, it's a good question. I mean, most doctors are happy as long as they're not dropping usually below like 120. Honestly, most most parents find that littles like that will often drop very rapidly. If they get under about one to 101 20 ish. It's a very rapid drop and depending on then what they're able to tolerate in food intake, where they are in their intake of, you know, this kind of food versus that. It becomes really important to know how much does it take to turn that around and Um, yeah, it's a, it's a hard thing a corrections. Correction insulin often is very, very, very tiny. In fact, we often end up dealing with diluting insulin, so that you can actually get a larger dose because again, pens and pens and even syringes, the littlest that you can dose is about a half a unit. I mean, if you're really good on a syringe, you might be able to get, you know, a quarter unit kind of in there. But it's a little bit easier to see volume doses, if you dilute the insulin in a larger volume, you get the same dose. You know,

Scott Benner 30:40
I, there's two things that makes me think of the One is I, at some point, when Arden was super small, I took insulin, and I put it in a dish, and I colored it with food coloring, so I could see it. And then I practiced pulling on the syringe enough to get a drop in. So I could ah, and so it wasn't by eye anymore. It was like feel. So I taught myself how to just pull on it enough to get a drop of insulin out of it. And then I would I would try to correct her with a drop of insulin. That was not fun. I don't know. I don't remember any of that fondly. Yeah, okay, that's a that's good information. And I'm assuming if you can afford it, or have insurance, a CGM with a baby is probably going to be like the best thing you could do, right?

Jennifer Smith, CDE 31:23
A CGM above. I mean, above even a pump. A CGM is by far the best technology that you could possibly get. And even at that age pumps are not necessarily the greatest thing for some kiddos. either. It's a wearability issue, or it's a pull it and target and pick at it. And it's not worthwhile putting it on when it gets picked off by the end of the day anyway. And there's only so much hiding that you can do with a child's gonna

Scott Benner 31:55
find it. Yeah, yeah. All right. Well, that that makes sense. Thank you. Let's see, what does Monica say here? Oh, Monica is going to ask a question. And I'm going to answer by saying, You should listen to the Pro Tip series. But we'll go How can I reduce post meal spikes, my six year old is on an MDI. Hold on a second. This is it. I can't some water, water, a frequent tea I'm drinking alone. My six years, my six year old is on MDI, we always make sure to Pre-Bolus before food, she dips into hypo, but we almost always still spiked over 180. I listen to the podcast, I believe the Basal levels are good. Anything else we can improve or work on to reduce spikes? Also, this is not a question. But I want to say thank you to you and Jenny for all that you do. So that's very nice. Thank you very much.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 32:47
Yes. All right. Yes, you're welcome. Absolutely.

Scott Benner 32:49
So she's Pre-Bolus thing on MDI, dipping down dropping up. Pre-Bolus is too long,

Jennifer Smith, CDE 32:57
I would say either Pre-Bolus is too long. Or to get rid of a potential spike, you could Pre-Bolus the length of time on MDI, you could always do a split Bolus plan, especially if this is for a child that you don't necessarily know if they're actually going to finish everything, right. So you can Pre-Bolus the amount that they that you know that they'll definitely finish up eating. And then you know, by the end of the meal Bolus, the rest of it so you don't you kind of take care of getting rid of that ultimate dip that you end up having to treat. And there in may also be if you're treating a low, and then having a rise later, the rise actually might be going up higher, because you're having to treat the dip first, along with the food being there, right. So it's kind of a double whammy of, well, I have to take care of the lowest something quick because the food isn't obviously all hitting yet. But then the food does catch up. So it could be a double Bolus strategy still with Pre-Bolus or first thing may just be to decrease the Pre-Bolus time. Yeah,

Scott Benner 34:00
I mean, I would either. I mean that's how it occurs to me like just from this small description. Shorter Pre-Bolus Maybe maybe even shorter. Pre-Bolus a little heavier on the carb ratio maybe depending on what happens you know what you see next? Or split it I put some in gets a treat it like a baby, right? Like, baby it's funny, I think of babies and or young people and gastroparesis is the same thing. Put it in enough to get the insulin on your side. And if it starts happening the way you expect them putting the rest. That way you kind of stay out of a spike. Okay. Helen asks, How do you and Jenny deal with fat and protein using the loop? I'll tell you what, as I said it out loud. I thought to myself, does Jenny eat fat by the way now, just now for my description. People believe that you 86 pounds and you're just one muscle wrapped around a bone but no, no I just mean, you're a healthier eater, but you think have french fries? Sometimes I imagine. Oh, of course. Okay. Yeah. Sometimes, sometimes,

Jennifer Smith, CDE 35:09
not often,

Scott Benner 35:11
at the fair, Jenny, is that when you do it, maybe?

Jennifer Smith, CDE 35:18
Yeah, I mean fat and protein. And, again, I think this is where an individual nature of evaluation first needs to be done. How does it seem to impact you or your child or whoever you're caretaking for? Right? There are some sort of starting rules of when to start adding in extras for fats and proteins. And how much of each you should add in, in general, in a looping situation, since that's what the question is really asking about. Forward stamp damping, a fat or protein amount into the future, from the actual meal time. So let's say you have, you know, a whole pizza for dinner like many of my college students may definitely, right, there is a large amount of fat there, there may even be a very large amount of protein depending on what was on that pizza as an example. bolusing for the carbs right now is an important thing that has to get going. The absorption time is also really important here. So you're not going to put in one or two hours for pizza. Because despite the crust being a lot of carb, you're going to have a lengthy digestion of that, because of the slowing factor of fats and proteins right. Now fat and protein then can start to hit later in the aftermath. So one to three hours after a meal protein starts this climb, if you've eaten enough of it, somewhere between two to four hours after a meal is where fat climb typically starts to hit. So determining first how much you might need to cover, most often protein somewhere between 30 to 50% of the total amount of protein might need to be put in as if it were a carb entry, right. And then determine where into the future to timestamp. Let's see it's you know, 5pm, and you're having your pizza, expect protein to probably start hitting somewhere around, let's say seven o'clock, two hours later, give or take, whereas fat, large amount probably is going to take about three to four hours to kind of come into play. So again, how much fat 1020 30% of the fat to maybe get going again, grams of fat are important grams of protein. So this becomes less carb centric counting and more overall macro neural, knowing how much is in the actual portion that you're eating, which most people have never been taught, we are taught how to look at grams of carbs. So it's something new to learn about if you're planning to start using this strategy, but time stamping it into the future. So then loop has an idea in terms of the system loop will see that you stamped this coming forward into the hours ahead. And especially if you save without bolusing then loop will see missing insulin for the carbs that you've already entered. That it's it's watching for because remember, it's predictive glucose line is going out hours into the future beyond this point. Yeah, so it's looking for the impact of that. And if you can give it information about what may be coming into the picture to hit you

Scott Benner 38:50
should aggressively Bolus. It could either aggressively

Jennifer Smith, CDE 38:53
Bolus if you're using auto Bolus or aggressively increase basil if you're using it the basil branch right?

Scott Benner 38:59
I so I know what you do. So there's two ways that you can set up I have in the past set up exactly the way you think way that you just said that the other way, I just sort of think of it as this, that they're just different impacts. So there's an impact from the carbs, there's an impact from the protein, and there's an impact from the fat. They're basically just three different Pre-Bolus and opportunities in my mind. So you Pre-Bolus The meal around 80 minutes later I know the first rise is going to come then you Pre-Bolus That rise and then it's a waiting game. I either do it so well that I see this like 85 blood sugar and I'm like I done it I won this is over like others enough insulin there and the fats hitting at the same time and it's having this fight and we're winning. Or I start seeing the drift up. And then I I'll reevaluate and Bolus for the fat impact as well and add more Yeah, and I'm in my mind I'm thinking of this one specific difficult foods situation. It's this barf Whew that Arden has a number of times a year, she's basically getting a bowl of nachos with cheese steak on top of it. And like guacamole and sour cream, right? Everything it's hard to Bolus for all put together. And then there's french fries. So, you know, so it's fat from the fries. And then it's the french fries are processed. And you know, they're not like, it's not like we cut up a russet potato at home, baked it. Yeah, some frozen thing that shows up in a bag in a bar. You know. That's the I'll tell you what if you can Bolus for that. I'll give away a little bit of where the country I'm in if you can eat. If you can Bolus for cheese steak nachos and crab fries at Chickies. I think you're a ninja, because it's hard to do. But that to me, that's it, I just think of it as impacts. It doesn't matter to me that it's fat or that it's protein. It's a it's a known quantity that is going to happen. I know it's going to happen. I just Pre-Bolus it. Right. So

Jennifer Smith, CDE 40:55
and how much how do you know how much is a try? Right? Because that's that's really the behind the scenes question here. As I said, we're really carb centric. With diabetes and education. We don't talk about fats and proteins, I would say that the majority of people that I talked to, don't even know what a portion of protein is supposed to look like. Some people don't even know outside of butter, don't realize where fat is in the food that they're eating. So then taking the step further to say, well, how to how to add quantity, like what am i How much of this isn't my my eating? How many grams, now you're telling me I have to go back to school to learn again, right?

Scott Benner 41:35
I develop those ideas after you and I, you know, talk through, I have a list in front of me here, actually. And at the end of this episode. If I don't die. At the end of this episode, I'm gonna list other episodes that I think will help people with these questions. Awesome. But here, I'm going to tell you that you and I did a pro tip back at 263 fat and protein, then we defined it again at 360. I had a really great conversation. And in Episode 264, with the person who Bolus is for their keto diet that actually helped. That helped me a lot with the protein. And then in 471, we had a long conversation about the Warsaw method. And about bolusing for fat. It's all of these. Like, I take this question, and I know that how important this is right? And I want to talk about it. But to the person that asked this specific question, Helen, I'm good at this, because I've had 1000 conversations with people about it. And I tried it over and over again. Like it's not because someone walked up to me and said, Hey, fat impacts and protein impacts, you got a Bolus for like, I wouldn't know what to do with that information. You know, right. So

Jennifer Smith, CDE 42:46
Right. Well, and that's where I think even the information in the the Warsaw method, which is really well done in what does it waltzing thing, the dragon, right? I was gonna say dancing the dragon. I was like, That's not.

Scott Benner 43:03
That's the person I did that episode with.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 43:05
Yeah, they have a very good descriptive because they go through all of the calculations and protein and fat. And then at the very end, they kind of give real life and they say, Well, we found that if we cover all of this, as this method suggests, we end up with these issues. So we've found that we have to cover only this certain percent of, of protein, and not very much fat, and it ends up working best for us. So again, there are some starting places some tools to begin with. And then you really have to evaluate, how does it work for you. I mean, I myself have found the meals that I make, like I said, before I make homemade pizza, right? And I typically make like an almond flour crossed or a cauliflower almond flour across, which is almond flour. In general. It's high fat, because it's made from nuts, right? So it's not like I'm pouring in loads of butter and oil. It's just that the nature of what I'm using is high fat. So I've found with that particular meal, a certain strategy that definitely works. My pizzas are not terribly high in protein. They're just a lot higher in fat because of what they're made from. So it's more the fat effect that I ended up covering. Yeah, I don't really even worry about protein there.

Scott Benner 44:21
Right, Jenny? If this was just a regular episode, I would title it fatty nuts. A great title or Jenny has fatty nuts. I don't know.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 44:34
Jenny eats chatty.

Scott Benner 44:37
That's it. Yeah, we workshop that one right to the right when Jenny eats fatty nuts would have definitely been the episode title. Oh, that's funny. Because I'm a child of my mind. Okay, so I think we have we can do one more or you will have time? Yeah, I've got a little time Christina says. This is about her college age type 112 and 12 and a half years live with type one my 18 year old son forgets to Bolus before he eats at least once a day. And she's very clear. She said, this isn't a refusal to use insulin. It's not bad behavior. He just right out forgets. She's not a type one, but she gets frustrated. It makes her angry. She said that she realized the disease sucks. And despite being manageable, it's still not easy. And this is all coming from a place of love. She's just trying to get him through college. Sure. This is tough.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 45:30
So this is a college student.

Scott Benner 45:32
Yeah. Who's had diabetes? A good part of his life

Jennifer Smith, CDE 45:36
a long time. Okay. Is so my first starting things would be since it's not, because this adult child wants to forget, it's just there are a lot of things being a student in general, as well as a college student. There are a lot of there's clutter that gets in the way, there just is. So one, if it's a regular time of day that the Bolus is often forgotten, it doesn't sound like it's what it's every day or it's a couple days a week sounds

Scott Benner 46:07
like it's everyday like like once a day, once a day, the kid flakes and just doesn't Bolus Yeah, okay.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 46:13
Because I was gonna say if it's a regular meal of the day, then perhaps setting a timer. Around that time of day, just as a suggestive even on the phone just. It's noon, I usually eat somewhere between noon and one o'clock. Sometimes it can jog the brain enough to just remind you. Yeah, that's one thing. I mean, the other one that's

Scott Benner 46:39
right on your top of your hand.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 46:42
Oh, it's for food.

Scott Benner 46:45
Yeah, I'll tell you what, this has nothing to do with diabetes, but I'm gonna share this here. My son is 22. He is a senior in college at this moment, he is about to graduate. Yay. We're very excited not to send that college money anymore. And, and oh, for all of his success, etc, but mostly about. Here's something I've noticed over his four years of college. It's fascinating. We don't see him constantly, obviously, right. I talked to him. Every once in a while I text with them sometimes. Go see him here and again. He will tell me the same stories over and over again. He is not that person. He's never been that person when he comes home for the summer. It does not happen. And so I used to think at first I was like, Oh, this kid's doing smack.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 47:38
He's losing brain cells. Something is not right. Yeah.

Scott Benner 47:41
I had a drug thought from the mid 70s. No, but I realized it's not that it's that he is so busy. And so tired. He doesn't even remember having told me the story the last time. And I think this is probably part of this, like 18 years old. This kid sounds like a freshman. Right? It's a lot of adjustment. I think you I think if you want to come from a loving place you say to him, Look, this is going to become it'll become commonplace for you at some point. But until it does. Maybe we got to make up a code word for Bolus and need to write it on the top of a book or I don't know what are your fingernails read so that when you look at it, you think why is my one fingered? Oh, it's because I don't always remind me I don't know something you don't I mean, but that's why I said the

Jennifer Smith, CDE 48:26
alarm. As a reminder, if it is a typical time of day for it to happen within sometimes just that cue in to the brain can, like you said wake them up, in a way as a reminder. College is hard. It's hard. There's sleep patterns are disrupted, you know, at home, if he had been living at home, mom and dad or other caregivers were likely there and or in high school, maybe he was one that had to go by protocol to the school nurse. And it was this pattern of consistency that helped the Bolus always be put where it needed to be right. In college. They have to remember do everything. You have to remember to get food for one thing, actually remember to put themselves to bed, right? Do homework, do their laundry, I mean, all these things,

Scott Benner 49:20
my son plays a sport on top of that. I don't even know how he's staying alive. I'll tell you if he ever hears this or somebody he knows ever hears this in the future. I am going to tell him about this after he graduates. I have never brought it up to him. I just let him tell me the story. And I'm just happy to be with him. And he's just like, he's got a lot going on. You know, right. So yeah, it's just a lot.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 49:41
Yeah. So yeah, reminders, I think are the best little nudge that you can probably do.

Scott Benner 49:49
So about the getting frustrated and angry part. I understand that too. But I think earlier in this episode, we talked about something where I said I realized Is that a 140 blood sugar for a couple of hours isn't going to be the end of Arden. I think that's how you almost have to think of this too. Like, this is not a kid slipping off a slope. This is to me, and don't get me wrong. I've interviewed people. And there are people that are going to ask questions later, where they did fall off that, that edge, they just stopped paying attention and it got easier to ignore and stuff. But in this specific situation, I don't think this sounds like what's happening here. So no,

Jennifer Smith, CDE 50:27
it was she kind of states you know, he's, he takes care of himself. Typically, it's just and that's why I was wondering if it was a time of day because if it was an especially busy time of day, or the first thing in the morning, he's forgetting to Bolus for breakfast pretty regularly. It could very well be he's just like, like getting up. Oh, my goodness, I'm five minutes late. I have to get out the door and I'm going to grab you know, by Apple on the way out the door and Oh, I totally forgot to Bolus last

Scott Benner 50:55
time I went to my to see my son I drove with a bottle absorbtech with me, I took a bottle of Zyrtec 180 miles and a two and a half hour car drive. And I said to him, you know, there's a pharmacy up the street from your dorm, and you have a car, just drive there and by Desertec and he said to me, in all honesty, I would not know when to do that. And I was like, Okay, I got you, even when I take it, like I took them out to dinner the other day after a baseball game, like where do you want to go? Because I don't know this town. I was like, you've been here for four years. He goes, I play baseball. And I go to class, and I sit in my room and I do my homework and I pass out. He's like, I don't have time for any of this.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 51:32
I don't take Well, that's actually from a parental standpoint, you're like, great. All the local bars are local. Right?

Scott Benner 51:40
We walked into a little bar restaurant the other night, he goes, I've heard this is a good place. Let's try this for years. He'd never been there. I was a little happy. A little happier as a parent. Yeah. But can we roll through one more? Are you done? Absolutely. Are the card values you enter into loop usually close to the carbs listed on the nutrition labels? So it does, yeah,

Jennifer Smith, CDE 52:02
yes. Yeah. Yes, absolutely. Yes. And you also, obviously, I mean, we've talked about fiber before, you also have to take a peek at fiber amount, depending on the kind of food that you're eating. But again, all of that is nutrition information. That's it's yours for the picking. Right there. It's not an estimate, there is as much precision as there could possibly be in this carb count. Compared to just staring at the plate and wondering because you have no label. Yes, absolutely. So

Scott Benner 52:36
go into that fiber thing a little more you subtract for what do you do tracked

Jennifer Smith, CDE 52:41
for fiber? I do take it as a little step further, because there are there are added fibers to a lot of the foods in the grocery store today. Because companies kind of have latched on to that, well, gosh, if it's high in fiber, more people are gonna buy it, it's gonna be so much better for them, right? Well, those fibers oftentimes are very soluble added fibers that don't have the same slowing impact as unprocessed fibers, fiber in fruits and natural vegetables and lentils and beans, and some of your whole grains and oats and those types of things. sprouted grain breads, like, like the Ezekiel bread, I mean, the per slice has like five grams of fiber per slice, I think it is just an exorbitant amount. So in terms of subtraction, if you're going to subtract fiber, I recommend subtracting definitely from more of your unprocessed types of foods. Some of the ones that are more like your fiber one types of products or something like that, you'll likely find that if you subtract that fiber, you're going to end up with a higher blood sugar than you want. Because most of that fiber is more of a soluble type of fiber, it'll have a little slower impact. But it's very likely you're still going to need to cover it. There are some more of the like, keto, or those types of breads and grains that are out there that do have added fibres, they may be more like the word is going to escape me now. Like the unprocessed like corn starch, kind of where it has a slowing impact on blood sugar. And it doesn't really get digested if you will. So that's why they can consider it so low carb you know, they list the net carbs as like two grams per slice instead of eight or nine grams per slice. So because the fiber on those labels can definitely mean you would have to subtract it. The big thing is you kind of have to give it a try and see what it does for you.

Scott Benner 54:48
Actually you don't know this but Arden has been eating gluten free for five days now. And we all are doing it with her as a show of solidarity. It's one of the things that her Her doctor, actually Dr. BENITO asked her to try. So like we're debt, we've now like Arden's had a blood test for everything that exists on the planet for like joint pain and stuff like that. And it just, she just luckily keeps coming. You're, it's a happy day When someone says your kid does not appear to have RA, you know, you're like, that's great, but at the same time, you're like, could someone say something, find something helpful, please, you know, so we're giving this a whirl right now. And, and anyway, we'll see how that goes. Thank you for doing this. We there are a lot more here. I'm gonna, I'm gonna save them. And I'm going to tell you that I think the next number of times that we we do this, we're going to do this. So awesome. I like to thank in pen from Medtronic diabetes, for sponsoring this episode of The Juicebox Podcast and remind you to go to in pen today.com To get started. I'd also like to thank us med head to us med.com forward slash juice box or call 888-721-1514 To get your free benefits check. US med has served over 1 million diabetes customers since 1996. Check them out online or give them a call. Jenny works at integrated diabetes.com. And don't forget to please consider taking that survey AT T one D exchange.org. Forward slash juicebox.

If you enjoyed this and are looking for other ask Scott and Jenny episodes, I believe there are 14 previous ones. There's a great list in the private Facebook group. It's Juicebox Podcast type one diabetes, you go to the feature tab at the top, there's lists and lists of the different series within the podcast. Ask Scott and Jenny is one of them. You'll see the episode numbers there and then you'll be able to go back into your podcast player and find them. There's tons of topics. I think somewhere Isabel's made a list of them with what's actually inside of them. But that's beyond my paygrade so I'm not sure what else Oh, if you're enjoying the podcast, please subscribe and follow in the app. You're listening and say you're an Amazon music or audible. Apple podcasts. Spotify doesn't matter what app you're using. Hit subscribe or follow, please. And if you're listening online, I'm glad for you if it works that way, I'm not trying to change you. But the cool kids would listen to the podcast that I'm just saying. You might be falling behind the times. Thank you so much for listening. I'll be back very soon with another episode of The Juicebox Podcast.

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