#1038 Diabetes Myths: And the Rest

October 11, 2023Scott Benner

A brand new series examining the myths surrounding 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 1038 of the Juicebox Podcast

Well Today is a momentous occasion. This is the last episode of the diabetes myth series. I usually end up calling this one all the rest, because I think about Gilligan's Island and all the rest remember this song like they just they listed some of the cast members and that just like blew past the rest of them. I always found that insulting. But here, it's appropriate, because there was stuff leftover to talk about that didn't quite fit into the other diabetes myth categories. So today, Jenny Smith and I will be giving you one more diabetes myth episode. 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. We're becoming bold with insulin. Want to try ag one use my link, drink ag one.com forward slash juice box. Save 40% off of your entire order at cozy earth.com with the offer code juice box and here's something for you. There's a special offer in the contour ads in the remastered Pro Tip series. If you haven't listened, you really should. This episode of The Juicebox Podcast is sponsored by touched by type one. And I'm here to tell you that their dancing for diabetes Program has been announced and the tickets are on sale, touched by type one.org. Then go over to the tab that says programs scroll down to dancing for diabetes, click on it. There you'll see it says a part of our mission to elevate awareness of the impact that type one diabetes has on nearly 1.9 million American children and adults touched by type one holds an annual benefit each fall called dancing for diabetes. It features award winning and nationally recognized dancers and they create an evening of entertainment and hope. Then you click on Buy tickets and it takes you to another page. Tickets start at $20. And the date of the event is Saturday November 11 2023. It's where were they holding it. So what you're asking me, you want to know where it's at right now. Okay. Although Steinmetz, Hall, Orlando, Florida, it's right there on Magnolia Avenue. I think it's South Magnolia doesn't matter. Neither here nor there. Touched by type one.org. Go to the program's tab, click on dancing for diabetes, go get your tickets before they're gone. Touched by type one.org. The podcast is sponsored today by better help. Better help is the world's largest therapy service, and is 100% online. With better help, you can tap into a network of over 25,000 licensed and experienced therapist who can help you with a wide range of issues. betterhelp.com forward slash juicebox. To get started, you just answer a few questions about your needs and preferences in therapy. That way BetterHelp can match you with the right therapist from their network. And when you use my link, you'll save 10% On your first month of therapy. You can message your therapist at any time and schedule live sessions when it's convenient for you. Talk to them however you feel comfortable text chat phone or video call. If your therapist isn't the right fit, for any reason at all. You can switch to a new therapist at no additional charge. And the best part for me is that with better help you get the same professionalism and quality you expect from in office therapy. But with a therapist who is custom picked for you, and you're gonna get more scheduling flexibility, and a more affordable price. betterhelp.com forward slash juice box that's better help h e l p.com. Forward slash juice box. Okay, Jenny, we are looking at I am looking at the rest of the diabetes myth list.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 4:11
I know you're cool equipment.

Scott Benner 4:13
Oh, you saw that? Did you? I did. I'm sitting at a desk that is fairly commensurate to what it should be for what I'm doing. So we hired a I hired an editor to edit the podcast. Right? And he was he and I were talking and he's he's like, how do you do that? What do you do there? And he kind of, like made fun of me a little bit about some of the questions I had. I was like, all right. I was like, Oh, look, I

Jennifer Smith, CDE 4:41
started doing this all on my own buddy. Like, figured it out all me.

Scott Benner 4:47
I didn't know what I was doing. And he's like, he's like, really, this would help and this would help. They weren't big expenses. And I was like, Alright, let me let me try. But of all the little things that I did, like while I was cleaning up the workstation I put I have two monitors, and I put them on these like arms. And it's so nice. Like, I can't believe that should have been the first thing I did. Because there because I'm always sitting here going, like, I can't see it's too far away. I'm leaning across the desk, and now I can just bring it to me. It's very cool. Cool. Anyway, yeah, I didn't know you saw that. Okay, so we're gonna go over like the, I don't want to say the bits, the what's left on the list. Okay, basically, there's a big, long list of random stuff. So everything else kind of fit together under a heading. This stuff is, is going to be a little more, it's gonna feel like it's all over the place a little bit. Jump from topic to topic, and I'm scrolling now. That's fun. Yeah, I think so for sure. So I'm just gonna start strong. With a pump is a bad thing. For a person with diabetes. I know this one makes you a little crazy. And last time you and I were together, we recorded how the pump fixes everything. So you either have people who are telling you, why don't you get a pump? The pump fixes everything. Where there is other people who say, Oh, if you're on a pump? Well, and what is the quote, here I am, I'm on a pump. So I must, quote have the really bad diabetes. Like there's this person says, like there's a scale of diabetes severity. And it ranges from just take cinnamon, and you'll get better too. Oh, no, it's gotten worse. You need insulin, oh, wow, this must be a problem. You've got a pump.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 6:29
Like, wow, this must be really bad. Like your pancreas is like, in flames inside of your body or something. I

Scott Benner 6:35
mean, you got to buy a machine, you're really in trouble. Like, if you couldn't do it naturally. And you couldn't just do it with that insulin. Oh, my goodness, you needed the pump. Why is that? So there's both sides of that there. Because you could be busy running around talking to people who don't know where like, you know, don't use insulin, that means it's getting worse, or you've got a pump. That means it fixes everything, it must pull you in like 16 different directions here and people like that. You know,

Jennifer Smith, CDE 6:59
I would expect so. And I think also from the standpoint of somebody who may not have a resource like your podcast, to have good information about how to think about comments. I think it can it's it's pulling you in multiple directions of I don't know who to believe I don't. Am I really bad off that I have to use this? Could I do it fine if I did something different than better in another way. And then I wouldn't have to use this technology. I mean, and there are many people who do MDI and do a phenomenal job using it by choice. They are not using a pump. Yeah, because they've figured it out in the way that they have. And they're happy with that management. But to tell somebody that they're, gosh, it must be really bad if you have to use a poem. I don't know,

Scott Benner 7:51
it just feels like I don't even have an example. But it just feels like somebody walks up to you and goes, Oh, you're a blonde, you must have such an easy life. And then turn and walk three feet up the street and someone goes oh my god, you're blonde, how hard is that? And you're like, and you don't actually know the answer. So you're like, Well, is it easy? Or is it hard? And why am I not doing it the right way? And

Jennifer Smith, CDE 8:10
why have I not felt like it was easy or hard outside of this comment like you may be going along just fine and dandy, the technology that you're using or whatever it is, and then somebody makes a comment and it almost makes you if you're not strong enough in your own management or you don't know enough to say this actually makes it much better I am doing an awesome job because I have the assistance of this technology then you may 2 guess you might think again Yeah,

Scott Benner 8:40
yeah. So you either know and and you can defend it or you don't want to defend it or you can't defend it or you don't know and you start like it spirals you I would imagine and then you get pulled into different man this is really this series has been interesting actually I'm glad we did this Yeah, yeah. That there's more here you know you have a pump and a Dexcom oh my god you must really have a bed this literally that's a quote from somebody in case you're wondering All right, let's jump about there are a lot of people who when they hear you have a low blood sugar, try to get your insulin for you. I've heard that insulin fixes lows and you know it's it happens in movies sometimes but people are here saying in their real life and I tell that story all the time like I my mother in law you know for years whatever Arden needed she show up, but you know trying to help with the wrong thing in her hand with the wrong

Jennifer Smith, CDE 9:39
thing and I wonder if I wonder if the misunderstanding there come somewhat from some people who may have seen a low blood sugar being treated with again, and injection Jade, maybe Right. I mean, glucagon is delivered with an injection in age old it was a, it was a big syringe with a needle on it right. And so I wonder if it comes from that, as well as obvious television or movie portrayal in which things just clearly said incorrectly know where their medical adviser was, but he had clearly not advised the right way.

Scott Benner 10:26
times you watched you think they didn't take 10 This is before the internet. They didn't know what they didn't know anybody with it. And they didn't ask anybody. And that was the end of it. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Here's a grouping, all called Dexcom stories. I know a lady that told me that she had a Dexcom. I asked her about it. And she went on to say I wear it sometimes. You know, I forget sometimes. She said she talked about like a fashion accessory, which now she sees this kind of, Wow, she didn't know how to handle like, she wasn't seeing it. But back then she thought, oh, that just meant you didn't always need it. Like it's a thing you put on once in a while. Right? That's interesting, too. My Dexcom is bringing low. I'm chugging soda in public. And this woman oh, here's a quote. Ma'am, you really, should you should you really be doing that. I hear your insulin pump. Right? You're high and you could die. Like so. So her Dexcom is dinging she's trying to bank some soda back or something to get something happening. And while that's all happening, because she's so low, she's got someone telling her not to do that you're doing the wrong thing, because they heard a dinging and they've seen an insulin pump. And they know.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 11:47
Right? Absolutely. And I would expect maybe that was a while ago, because I mean, who doesn't ding or ping or make a noise or a bell ringing or something these days with all technology that's available? I mean, you can't sit anywhere without hearing somebody get a text message or an incoming something. Right. So it must have been at a point where the pump was visible. And I don't know.

Scott Benner 12:11
Yeah, here's one. Yeah. I was once in a waiting room. And oh, pump beeps. It's a Medtronic. So when they pull it out, it's the Medtronic with the CGM. The number was their woman next to her said, Hey, I see your numbers, and your organs are failing. Oh, I don't even know what that means.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 12:36
Oh, no. Maybe gasp I'm sorry. Like a weird noise but

Scott Benner 12:41
like your organs are failing. Okay, thank you.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 12:46
And In what regard was like, was this person talking about? Right locations? I'm assuming? Or was the person talking about? Oh, my goodness, like your pancreas is not doing as much as it should be is your organ failing. I mean, technically, a pancreas is bland. So listen,

Scott Benner 13:03
so people are going to hear the begging the dinging and the donkey and they're not going to know and I have luckily for you all listening right now. I have a personal story from the other day. So Arden and I were I took her to a doctor's appointment. And it was not like a diabetes related thing. So these people don't know anything from anything. We're standing at the counter checking in and Arden's blood sugar beeps Hi. So it beeped on her phone. And then my phone like almost simultaneously and it was loud. Like I'm not gonna lie. There are four ladies behind the counter. And they like God, they jumped, you know, and you would think then your brain would go. Yeah, that's probably those people over there. Like, I'll just like, keep this dope. One of them goes, What the hell was that? And so now I I'm standing there, and I'm like, I'm gonna like take this bullet for Arden. Like, that's what I thought. Meanwhile, if I just want to pause I think Arden would have said I have diabetes in my blood sugar. sigh right. But I just went, Oh, I swear to you, I said, I don't know where this came from. I go, that's my acid makes that noise every day at 330. That's it. And I stared back at them. Because I thought this will stop this conversation. Oh my god. So I played I played real straight and I just go I don't know, it's just done it since I was a kid. And the girl like didn't know what to say. And I said, Thank God, I wasn't here at six o'clock. You should hear what my penis does at six o'clock. And I turned around and I walked away and we walked away and Arden goes thanks. And I was like No problem.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 14:48
Oh, that is hilarious.

Scott Benner 14:50
She goes I could have just told them I was like Nana, it's okay. I didn't like the reaction was well and

Jennifer Smith, CDE 14:55
that's just I mean honestly in a clinical professional The setting was totally inappropriate the response that the person had and yeah,

Scott Benner 15:05
I mean, there's a lot of medical devices that beep like, just use your brain for five seconds. Yeah.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 15:11
And Arden is a college age. She's heard words like that before. What if she had been eight years old?

Scott Benner 15:19
And what the hell is that? Yeah. Right. Inappropriate entirely. Because then in your head, you go, Oh, yeah, that's the thing I have to wear because my pancreas doesn't work. And I take shots all day long, like, and then that that's hard on you, you know. So I don't know that any, I just I just diffused that I got in front of it. And I kept it so that we were never going to say what happened. And I also enjoy uncomfortable moments. So it was good for me to. That's awesome. I was once told this one bothers me. You should really just get rid of your CGM and stop micromanaging it. This person was told further Oh goodness, God made you correctly. And if he made you to die, then that's what's going to happen. Oh, no. Jesus, Jesus, that's hard. God, do people are

Jennifer Smith, CDE 16:11
cool. Is this curse? I don't know. I'm not even gonna say it again. But seriously, please rate what comes out of your lips.

Scott Benner 16:19
Yeah, this woman, the person who leaves his comments said, Look, I want to be clear. I'm not bashing religion. You know, I don't care what people believe. But she says two years past. She's now two years past her life expectancy. And she's like, she still thinks about it. She said it actually she curses. But she says that it really hurt. like to hear somebody say that to you. Like it? Absolutely. Yeah. If you're, if your path is you're gonna die, you should just do it. And stop paying such close attention to it. But that's a My goodness,

Jennifer Smith, CDE 16:53
whatever. I don't know, whatever. Faith or whatever this person thought about what was supposed to happen. And like, that is by no means in all the religions that I've studied anywhere near something that should come out of your mouth. I can't even wrap my head around good person. That's just horrid.

Scott Benner 17:11
What if we just said this is true for a second. Okay. Nature, God, I don't care what you say makes you and some people die really early. And it's fate a complete it's a done deal. You get a sticker on you and you come out that says April 2035. You would still say that to someone like No, no, that's not. That's not right. Okay. Here's a big a big header. I used to get upset a lot because injecting in public because of the stares and comments. But when I got older, I didn't I didn't mind just as much. I would just kind of stare back at this point. But this is the ones like my dad was giving himself insulin in the restaurant. My mom noticed the whole table full of people pointing at him. And then her dad went to like the like old like 70s movies, and he slapped his arm like he was going to do heroin first and then he injected which I think that's that's a very funny response. My kids are grown now. But I have two out of three with type one that used to scare other kids in restaurants by keeping themselves injections. She said this was a fun thing we used to do at restaurants. Someone called the police on me once when I was a teenager for giving myself my insulin at a Taco Bell. Wow, yeah. You're a druggie got yelled at me a number of times. Can you please do that in the bathroom? I'm gonna say this. I don't know if this is a myth or not. But please don't inject in the bathroom. Like, just do it in public and let everybody adjust. Like I I really hope people do that. I hate the idea when Arden was growing up. And we were found ourselves in restaurants and we didn't know what we were doing yet. And people would say like, you know, you should do that in the bathroom. Like, I'm gonna go open up a hole into my daughter in the bathroom. I was like, the least clean place and this establishment. I'm like, No, I'm like, I'm doing it right here. And I'm not going to make her feel weird about this. And that's it. Right?

Jennifer Smith, CDE 19:10
Right. No, absolutely. And I think it would be a I think some people it is a by choice. It's not that they've been told, but I do. You know, I've worked with some people that is just a by choice thing, just from how they feel about making other people feel. And there's, again, totally up to you, but you should not have to me may have to feel like you have to accommodate for what other people are looking at if

Scott Benner 19:39
you're more comfortable injecting the bathroom go do it. Like I'm not trying not to but I mean, if you don't want to relegate yourself to that, you definitely I don't think you should. Yeah, just That's it. Just I don't know. It's I'm sure it's hard, but I mean, I don't have diabetes, but I've also been the person sitting there pulling out gear and reaching out cross the table to like, it's I mean, I know I'm not the one with type one. But if I felt like I felt the eyes too, you know this woman just wanted to let us know that she loves yelling Hey, you're Hi. When stuff beeps she's just I just, I just love doing that. My actually Mike used to get up Mike used to inject in the bathroom and he'd get up and people be like, where's he going? And he would announce out loud, like, I've got to shoot up and he would just leave. And I know he enjoyed that. Yes. There's so much here about restrooms and injecting, it's crazy.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 20:38
That's the funny thing in college is my friends loved to use that expression around me, right? Like we I mean, they just knew that insulin went along with mealtimes. And if we were together for a mealtime or something, it was just funny. And I actually I liked the fact that they've found it. Important to understand. Yeah, and in a way, there was a light nature to it. Oh, Jenny's got to inject or not inject. But Jenny's got to gotta shoot off. So they would say Yeah, listen,

Scott Benner 21:06
I think you got to have fun around this whole thing. Yeah. And you're not going to explain it to everybody. So why not like Screw them while you're headed to. In the restaurant, my dad almost went to jail once because of taking insulin, because somebody called the cops on him. And then there's this story here, that the about a person who was arrested in New York City for being drunk in public, and they just don't know their blood sugar was low. I had a card in his wallet that would have shown them that he had type one, but nobody ever looked at it. They told him, it wasn't legal for them to go through his wallet. So you, I don't even know if you know this. But my blog exists because of a story just like that. Like I, before I started writing a blog, I read this news story about this person who was throwing off a train on the Northeast Corridor, I'm trying to go through this quickly. And it was like, late at night, early in the morning. And then the people came in in the morning to get on the train. And he was found like facedown in the in the drive of the parking lot that people were walking by him mocking him like for being drunk. And it was one person for some reason who grew up with a type one sibling that recognized what was happening help the guy. And I just read the story. And I used to think maybe like, I started the blog thinking maybe I could like, educate people enough so that if our never ends up face down somewhere, somebody maybe would have read something. And it was a very pie in the sky idea. But that is what I used to. That's what I thought about in the beginning. So Oh, and what a sad story. Yeah, that's probably not uncommon either. Alright, um, scrolling past Oh, here it is. Here's the miscellaneous says. Alright, this one person just said, I've just been reading through this thread. And we've only had diabetes for six weeks in our house. I had no idea about type one before that. And I've already experienced a lot of the things in this thread in just six weeks of people's kind of ignorance and stuff like that. That's interesting. I think in the first month of diagnosis, I heard every single misconception possible from family, medical professionals, people I worked with people I bumped into just said, Hey, my kid was just diagnosed with type one. Yep, yeah. I, you, you're stuck. We're gonna go through some quotes, you need to get off that stuff. Speaking about insulin. It's just diabetes.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 23:39
It's not something that your own body makes will journey.

Scott Benner 23:42
It's just, it's so I know, it's upsetting. But it's it's the I don't know, I guess this thing. Mostly? The biggest question that's come through my head after finishing up this series, is why don't people keep their mouth shut when they don't know what they're talking about? That's really, and I don't even just mean around this at this point. Like, I don't understand. interjecting yourself into something when you don't have any idea about it.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 24:06
Correct. I would never, I would never try to comment to somebody who is wearing a device. That one I don't even know what it does. They clearly need it for something or they wouldn't have it hooked to their body. And so why would I make a comment instead? If curious, I might actually ask, Hey, you know, I know about this kind of thing. What is your thing do or whatever? Or just don't ask? Yeah,

Scott Benner 24:34
just leave me alone. Running through these that. Everybody every doctor thinks that anything that's wrong with me is my diabetes. We went over this earlier, but this person had a brain bleed that was ignored because they thought it was their diabetes. I don't know how that happens. I was labeled uncontrolled in my chart. And I worked so hard I work so hard for that not to be my existence. And I know the person's point here is that the myth is that they were uncontrolled. She's like, I was working really hard. I was doing everything I could. And it just wasn't. It wasn't all coming together yet. You know, right now it's come together for. And she said she's very proud because it doesn't say that in her chart anymore.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 25:23
And or I mean, as a clarification point to. There are some, there are some ways to get an authorization for a product or medication or something. If the diagnostic code suggests that it's necessary, such as even for CGM, they used to have the doctor and they may still kind of make a note of all of the reasons that that CGM was necessary for this person to have, or the fact that, you know, insurance would only cover six glucose test strips a day, but the doctor is writing it for 10 test trips a day to overcome the inability of the insurance to allow that yeah, sometimes diagnostic code may need to say something like uncontrolled or significant issues with hypoglycemia, and they may not actually be significant in your visual, but it needs to be stated in a way for coverage, which is a really, it's a sad

Scott Benner 26:30
it sucks, but then tell me that just look at me and go, Hey, I gotta write uncontrolled down here. So we get you a CGM. You know, it's like when, when Arden first got a Dexcom they used to put you on a blinded CGM. So you didn't have a receiver. You just wore it. Then you brought it back. They downloaded the information. And then if you were lucky enough to have been low while you were wearing it, then you were allowed to have a CGM. That was how that's how we got Arden's first one. Yeah, so

Jennifer Smith, CDE 26:56
So did you make her go low?

Scott Benner 26:59
Trust me back then I did. I didn't need any help with that. I didn't know what the hell just happened. Let's see, the list of things that I've been told I can't do because I have diabetes is too long. But I would say that they are all a myth. So that was nice.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 27:15
Yes, the only things that I was told three things that I couldn't do. When I was first diagnosed three. And my educator told me, everything else is entirely up to you. That's what she told me. And that's the reason that I really, really liked my educator, she told me that I couldn't sign up to be in the military. Okay, I could not be a bus or a truck driver. And again, this was 35 plus years ago, you know, and I couldn't be I couldn't fly planes. And some of this stuff has actually shifted and changed and laws are different, which is fantastic. But I really think it's super horrible. When you're told a list of things that you can't do in people with diabetes, climb down high mountain. They've done a Brazilian

Scott Benner 28:05
Olympics, they play professional sports, they, yes, have children and live lives and build houses and everything else. I interviewed a guy yesterday for 50 years with diabetes, he owned a sheetmetal shop his whole life. Really hard job, and he did it. No problem. Yeah. This one, I think is interesting. This came from another type one. And the person said that I've heard this a number of times now to the point where I think it must be a misconception for people. My Talking about the second type one, the person writing this, my a one C is so low, that it's normal. And the other type one said, Hey, you might not really have diabetes, and they weren't kidding. So she said, I've heard from enough people who see the low a one C and then say, Oh, you don't have diabetes. And so, and we've gone over this a million ways from Sunday, like yes, yeah, we have right.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 28:59
Just listen to any of the episodes.

Scott Benner 29:01
Talk about it. Hold on a second, this was great. This person said, you can't let your kid wear an insulin pump because it turns them into an antenna. Oh, this seems like a conspiracy theory. Oh, this is excellent. That's it. That's how they track you. Okay,

Jennifer Smith, CDE 29:26
I mean, there's that. I mean, to be fair, there are a lot of considerations around just Bluetooth being so heavily in use and wearing it all that there are there. There's considerable good research about it there is but to turn yourself into an antenna is just,

Scott Benner 29:46
they're just making, they're making you part of the matrix. And then, Alright, listen, maybe Bluetooth isn't good for me, but I don't think I'm being made part of the matrix. I appreciate it. I had short hair and was wearing it on the pod so the person told me that's why they knew I had cancer. Sir. Oh, the short hair part is just fascinating. Why the hell do people say diabeetus? Should we tell them? Do they not know? Do people not know?

Jennifer Smith, CDE 30:13
I don't know. I think it has to do with Wilford

Scott Benner 30:16
Brimley for sure. Do you think people don't know that? He's got to be dead, right? I'm sorry. Well, first, I'm just gonna let just Okay, so I think he did pass. He's got it. I mean, hold on a second. He died. Wow. Good for you. Well, for it, he died in 2020. Okay, he was born in 34. He was an actor who you may or may not know. I mean, he was in cocoon, the thing and the natural there's where you might know him. But he got a work in ads as an older man like he did the Quaker Oats ads, right? Yep. Like, and he would any also would do ads for diabetes stuff. But yeah, he had this really like, what would you call like a Midwestern kind of maybe? Western accent? Like outwear? I don't know. Exactly,

Jennifer Smith, CDE 31:07
potentially, I guess. I mean, if I hear diabeetus. I don't even know that I'm saying it the wrong way.

Scott Benner 31:17
He would say it. He had diabetes. And he would do awareness stuff. And I mean, just doing awareness stuff up to the end of his life, by the way, I think like 85 years old, but he said diabeetus. And so

Jennifer Smith, CDE 31:28
did my grandmother who had type two diabeetus. She said it and she said it as well, even after I was diagnosed, and my doctor said diabetes. And I said that and my parents said that doesn't matter. Yeah, it's there.

Scott Benner 31:49
I am going to bring this up, because it's brought up here a number of times, I don't know that it fits into myth. Exactly. But it is really bothersome to some people when diabetes is like the focus of mockery or joking. Online, you know, comedians, that kind of stuff. I, you know, I don't know, like I, I've heard it. And I'm like, that's not right. But I also think the thing they said before that if they're a comedian, for instance, I probably wasn't right, either. You know, it's all kind of blown up. But if it strikes you that way, I do understand if it would make you feel that way. So I don't know if it's a myth that people don't understand diabetes, and that's why it comes out. Or if it's just people trying to be funny, and not having concern for how other people would feel when they hear it or not.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 32:37
Having heard it from numerous comedians. I would expect that there's an I don't know, but I would expect that there's a lack of understanding even of the differences in the types of diabetes. And so they're in it's the surface level of what they do know, or have heard, which is not correct. And so they can make light of it or make a joke out of it, even though what they think they know. To make the joke out of is totally not right. Anyway. Yeah. So

Scott Benner 33:14
well, you know, and then you get into some things here like this, this miscellaneous thing goes on for a while. But this last one is kind of funny. This person thinks they remember in 1987, being told that they had diabetes from eating too much salt. But they also said, I'm not sure if I'm remembering this correctly. Maybe they were saying sugar and I don't remember it. But there's nothing about there's no. Right? There's no misconception about salt causing diabetes, is there?

Jennifer Smith, CDE 33:40
Not to my knowledge, there is I might have missed something. But

Scott Benner 33:46
yeah, I don't see that as like a thing people say. So I think this was a missile. Remember, it's on her part, but still very funny. Man, he doesn't

Jennifer Smith, CDE 33:52
come up and Dr. Google did not know.

Scott Benner 33:57
So here's some stuff that's a little more like around eating that people take poorly, right? Because I mean, if if somebody's telling me right now, this is a myth about diabetes, that eating low carb and high protein is good for diabetes and health. I couldn't argue with that. You know, like, so that's the thing that, you know, if you eat fewer carbs, you're gonna use less insulin, it might make the whole thing easier. Like, I've eaten low carb times in my life and lost weight. And it's been okay for me. I don't know that. You know, I'm not a nutritionist, and I think everybody's body has different needs. But my point about this is that this person heard that it's not a thing they agree with. So they think of it as a misnomer. It's interesting, right? Yeah. Because the next one the same, I should go see a nutritionist that would help me get control of my diabetes. I gotta tell you, it might. You know, like, if your eating style is so slow such that, like you're having trouble using your insulin, it's possible that somebody could teach you something about eating you didn't know before, and maybe that would help you. But I guess I'm sorry, why they would say no, no. Yeah. As a as a misnomer again. So,

Jennifer Smith, CDE 35:12
right, right. I mean, I think if you did go to see someone, a dietitian, specifically, and they at least give you some idea of maybe what you take in could be cleaned up. And maybe just cleaning it up, helps to even out the action of insulin, even without as much understanding about insulin, which I would say, goes right along with food is the understanding of how insulin supposed to work, and knowing how to dose it and appropriately time it right. And then understanding that, well, gosh, if I did this versus this, the insulin would probably work more to my benefit now that I understand how it's going to work. I can work on the nutrition part of it, but you have to have somebody good, who really can help you piece those things together. You may not know enough, unless you're really good at data analysis. To kind of figure that out. Yeah.

Scott Benner 36:09
All right. So here's some other bad stuff. But let's do a slightly bad one. Before we I actually thought I was gonna say something. And now I realize I needed another second before I'm gonna say it. Okay, this one here is just about being a helicopter mom. And that, like, you can't help them. That's their diabetes. Like, you know, like that kind of thing. I honestly, I'll say, I think that's a myth. Like, I think children need help with things. I don't think you should do everything for them. They should definitely learn and grow and, and have their own experiences. You shouldn't, you know, I don't think you should be doing every last thing forever. But, I mean, this is a serious thing and paying attention to it as an adult, when I mean, when he asked an eight year old to take care of their diabetes, it's not really going to go well. I don't imagine this one. I can't even read it. It's just too upsetting. This one said, I was in line to pick something up at a store. And I knew my blood sugar was getting low. But this person came up and said, Can I just cut in front of you have to grab something real quick. And they let the person do that. And I don't this doesn't really fit this thing. But it's such a story. And so then the person then slows down takes their time starts meandering, this person's blood sugar's tanking. So she reaches into her bag and starts pulling out candy and eating candy. And I guess it got to her a little. And she said that the person had cut in front of her, it wasn't very nice of you to cut in line to say you were just grabbing something and now to take all this time. And the person turned back to her and said, well, at least I'm not a pig eating food out of my handbag. Oh, so yeah. She The woman said, Well, I have type one diabetes, you must not know about this. And the lady said, Who cares? Oh, then she cursed her out. So good for you for cursing her out. But I think that does. To me, that maybe that puts a bow on this whole thing? Because if your expectation is for people to understand this, and these myths that go away, I don't think that's gonna happen.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 38:14
Get agreed? Yeah. 100%? Yeah,

Scott Benner 38:17
I think you can see them laugh at them. But you got to let it go, I think,

Jennifer Smith, CDE 38:21
right. I think what has been proven overall with this myth series, as well as even just the general concept of all of the people that you've had a chance to talk to. We have a public that's very under informed about diabetes and about many things. It's not just diabetes, but because we're in this realm and we see what is not known and what is really not well understood. Things like just grabbing some things out of your purse, may look to another person who doesn't see your CGM or doesn't see your insulin pump or may not even understand what that is. They're just gonna think, like deciding to eat in the middle of a store. I mean, and you know what, I I'm so over like, I years ago, I got over caring what people look at me about. I don't care. I'm me. If you got questions, please come ask me. I mean, I had somebody asked me one time when I was on the metro, if the pod that I was wearing was a monitoring device from prison.

Scott Benner 39:29
Oh, there's one here that says Does that give you your COVID vaccine? That's a great that's a good one. Oh, well you do look rough and tumble like you've been let out.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 39:43
Like a nice summer like business suit and it was like a sleeveless you know, I must actually have had a vest on I had my jacket off right. And I pad was on my arm. And I could tell that the guy was like looking and looking and looking and there were enough people that had gotten off and finally he got back brave enough to actually come and ask. I mean, you can look well, however you look looks are not what you know, would tell you anything about that. But I was like, no, really I have type one diabetes, this is my insulin pump, but you know, it does what it needs to do for me

Scott Benner 40:18
ever being hit on and you didn't realize it by a guy with no game? That could be you know, I

Jennifer Smith, CDE 40:23
kind of comment that is

Scott Benner 40:26
that was not gonna get you. I think my number but yeah, I you know, hearing that, that that last one there about the person who's like, I don't care and you know, like just being you're being attacked, right? I think that's that fear is what stops people from, you know, not going to the bathroom at a restaurant and they don't want to be judged and nobody understands. And I don't know that this. I mean, I hope that this series has served for people as a way to say, I can't expect people to understand this, I'm gonna have to be strong on my own. And not to expect the world to come save you on this one. Because I mean, you're gonna meet a ton of great Pete, listen, here's the problem. You meet 99 terrific people that support you and your diabetes. No one person turns to you and goes, Hey, Piggy, what are you doing with your bag there? And you're like, Oh, Jesus. Okay. Turns out one and 99 is really hard to hear from and but that that person fought back so good, you know, I would have cursed I definitely.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 41:28
You would have told them that your butt makes weird.

Scott Benner 41:32
God, that's what happened to 315 to my ass. Yeah. So but but I mean, just for everybody listening, like, I hope you enjoyed this. Like, I know, it's been funny at times. But it's, it's also it's had an underpinning of sadness through the entire thing. And, you know, I think when I first thought about this, I did think it was going to be funny. Like, I thought it was going to be like, just stupid crap. People say, and we'll laugh about it and read another one from the list. But then I started seeing the pattern. I was like, Oh, wow, this is just this. Yeah, this is it. Yeah. I mean,

Jennifer Smith, CDE 42:06
in some of it was, I think you have to develop, you have to develop a sort of sense of humor. You do. And some of it was funny to read through and think about, well, why and, you know, obviously, but some of it was really sad to hear that, especially in this day and age with technology and everything. But people are still so under informed.

Scott Benner 42:31
Well, my other my other hope for this was that by hearing this stuff, from a different perspective, maybe it would trigger something in someone's mind. Like, for instance, the the idea about insulin like, Oh, you're using insulin and must have been getting bad. Like, I want you to think the opposite. I want you to think if I need insulin, I need insulin. Let me take it right. Yeah, you know, that kind of stuff. And so I do think there's, for some people, I think this series could play like, wow, people are stupid. And here's a list of ways and I think for some of you might have heard stuff and thought, oh, I can do that. You know, I don't have to listen to what other people say. So I hope people enjoyed it, Jenny, I really did. I did as well. Good. Thank you. Oh, it's been my pleasure. I'm excited for the next thing we're gonna record. So I am to excellent. I know you are. Thank you so much, of course.

Starting tomorrow, Jenny and I are gonna start working on a new series that's aimed at doctors and patients, it's going to speak to patients in one way and doctors in another think we're going to call it grand rounds, but I haven't decided yet. You're going to love it. Thank you so much to touched by type one, for sponsoring this episode of the podcast touched by type one.org. Go get your dancing for diabetes tickets go. And of course BetterHelp betterhelp.com forward slash juicebox save 10% off your first month of therapy at that link. And of course, you can hire Jenny at anytime at integrated diabetes.com.

The afterdark series from the Juicebox Podcast is the only place to hear the stories that no one else talks about. From smoking weed to drinking with type one perspectives from both male and females about having sex with diabetes. We talk about depression, self harm, eating disorders, mental illness, heroin addiction, use of psychedelics, living with bipolar, being a child of divorce, and honestly so much more. I can't list them all, but you can by going to juicebox podcast.com. Going to the top and clicking on after dark. There you'll see episode 807 called one thing after another episode 825 California sober. Other after dark episodes include unsupported survivor's guilt spaceview Position dead frogs these titles will make you say what is this about and then when you listen you'll think that was crazy juicebox podcast.com Find the afterdark series it's fantastic