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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
We're all together again, friends for another episode of The Juicebox Podcast.

Ryan has had type one diabetes since he was very young prior to finding the podcast, his management was not terrific, and it led to retinopathy in both eyes. Today, we're going to talk about that and much more. 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. I know this is going to sound crazy, but blue circle health is a non profit that's offering a totally free virtual type one diabetes clinical care, education and support program for adults 18 and up. You heard me right, free. No strings attached, just free. Currently, if you live in Florida, Maine, Vermont, Ohio, Delaware, Alabama or Missouri, you're eligible for blue circle health right now, but they are adding states quickly in 2025 so make sure to follow them at Blue circle health on social media and make yourself familiar with blue circle health.org. Blue circle health is free. It is without cost. There are no strings attached. I am not hiding anything from you. Blue circle health.org, you know why they had to buy an ad. No one believes it's free. This episode of The Juicebox Podcast is sponsored by the Dexcom g7 the same CGM that my daughter wears. Check it out now at dexcom.com/juice, box. The episode you're about to listen to was sponsored today by ag one you can drink. Ag one, just like I do by going to drink. Ag one.com/juicebox, check it out. Hi. My

Ryan 1:54
name is Ryan. I am type one diabetic. I live in Gilbert, Arizona, and I have been diabetic my entire life, pretty much. What does that mean? How old? So I was diagnosed at 16 months old. It was April 3, 1988 it was Easter morning. Oh, Happy Easter. Yeah. My mom came into the bedroom to pick me up to get ready for the day, and lifted me out of my crib, and my body was completely limp. She rushed me to the car, got my dad got to the car, rushed me to the hospital, ran through the front doors and just screamed, there's something wrong with my baby. They took me back immediately, and I don't know the timeline that it took, but shortly later, I was diagnosed with type one diabetes with a blood sugar of like 1000

Scott Benner 2:44
Oh my gosh. And

Speaker 1 2:45
I think we spent like a week in the hospital between getting me kind of regulated, and then all the training and stuff that my mom had to go through, and my dad was my parents owned a pizza restaurant at the time, so my dad was busy with the pizza restaurant. My mom went through all the training, and how much could you have weighed at that point? Right? Oh, man, I don't know. I was a decent sized kid.

Scott Benner 3:09
You guys ever talk about that like as adults? I

Speaker 1 3:12
mean, it's, it's funny, like I had never, I didn't talk a lot about it. I've heard stories throughout my whole life, but only up until, like last year, when I started listening to the podcast and actually, like taking care of myself, is when I started asking her and talking more questions. But, I mean, it was such a long time ago, I don't think my mom remembers quite everything like she doesn't. I asked her the other day if she knew my a 1c when I was, you know, when I was diagnosed, and she didn't remember, but she thought it came on so fast that it probably wasn't that high. Were you in your late 30s now, I'll be 38 next week, next Friday. Oh,

Scott Benner 3:45
happy birthday. Okay, so about 40 years with diabetes, give or take a couple there. I guess I want to understand your mom is the one that did the training, so she did most of the care, and that care. Do you even know what it was like when, I guess, my question is, is, when do you start recall being involved? I was probably

Speaker 1 4:06
five ish, six ish, when I started being involved in doing, like, really doing my own shots and doing my own blood test. I for sure I was, like, six or seven the first time I went to diabetes camp and I and I know I was doing all my own shots and stuff there. I mean, back then it was, you know, I was on regular and mph. And, I mean, even that's another story. The week I got diagnosed, my mom went to pick up, pick up the the insulin from the pharmacist and and she grabbed it and, like, for some reason, my mom just looked at it and was like, and so this is the diluted insulin. And the pharmacist grabbed it out of my mom's hands like it was death, because it was not diluted insulin, my first shot would have killed me. Somehow the script got written wrong, or something happened, and so they almost gave me, like, regular, like, adult insulin, full strength,

Scott Benner 4:48
and you were so small that the pharmacy was diluting the insulin for your mom. Yeah, yeah, wow, before

Speaker 1 4:54
I was able to do anything. I mean, I mean, you know, with art in but, like, obviously, you know, times are different. Every kid is different. My parents used to have to wrap me in a towel to do my blood test and my shots, just because they knew I needed it, and I and I didn't want to do it. And, I mean, it hurt, you know, some kids don't like it. Now it's, I go to get blood drawn and needles. Don't bother me. I'm good, you know,

Scott Benner 5:16
wait, they had to swaddle you, like, like, like they were trying to help a raccoon like that kind of a situation, pretty

Speaker 1 5:22
much, pretty much, at least, those are all the stories I hear. Is I used to be wrapped in towels just to be able to get, get to see what my blood sugar

Scott Benner 5:30
was, so you couldn't flail or defend yourself, that kind of thing, exactly.

Speaker 1 5:34
And I mean, you know, blood testers took a lot longer back then and required a lot more blood. So I'm sure it was even less fun.

Scott Benner 5:40
Okay, so how long? How long did the swaddling go on for? Do you think I'm

Speaker 1 5:45
trying to remember like, I have very I have very little memories of my like, early childhood, like some of my memories do include like, I vividly remember waking up from, like us from a diabetic seizure, like a low blood sugar seizure when I was probably, like, four or five. But other than that, I mean, I probably, probably around that time, four or five years old, I think I was, I don't think they probably swaddled me that long. But again, I don't remember, like, an exact time

Scott Benner 6:11
and so, but by five or six, you were giving yourself your own shots, but you're still doing regular and mph at that point too. What are you doing? Like, two

Speaker 1 6:18
a day? Yeah, I was doing one, one in the morning, one at night, you know, right before breakfast, and then eat, and then two hours later, snack, and then two hours later, lunch, two hours later, snack, two hours later, dinner. It was just very, very regimented. And I think that, like back then it, for me, it really kept, I mean, it kept things more regular, keeping that schedule and not not doing like MDI. What we know of MDI today and my blood sugars were actually pretty good back then. I know when, when, like, for the first couple years of my diagnosis, the the doctor who was the endocrinologist wanted me to be within, like, 100 and 125 and my mom said that she was able to keep me there pretty well. But for the first two years, she was on the phone with that doctor twice a day to get to get my doses, like that doctor alone, I think, say, you know, probably saved my life, just because of, just because of the time he was willing to put in there and never charged my parents a dime. I didn't have insurance my entire life, until I was probably in my mid 20s, and I got a job that that offered insurance, because when I was diagnosed, my parents were in the middle of switching insurance companies, the insurance company they were leaving took on the hospital bill for my hospital stay, and then the new one wouldn't take me on for a pre existing disease. So like throughout my whole life, it was I know for my parents, it was a struggle to be able to pay for things, for my for my care, and then I've had some really great doctors that have really helped out along the way, but a lot of those

Scott Benner 7:46
doctors sadly died from poor nutrition, from eating so much free pizza, though. Is that true? Probably, yeah. Okay, so when you say I started taking care of myself, like, went, like, last year. Is that what you're saying?

Speaker 1 7:59
Yeah. So like, when I said that earlier, I got on a pump in, like 1999 I was, I don't know I was like eighth grade, and I had went to diabetes camp again. It was, like my third time going to diabetes camp, somebody had a pump, and I started asking questions, and I went back, and at that point, like we were finding a new endocrinologist, talked to this doctor about a pump and was able to get on a pump, the pump, I think, really, like, made me feel like I had more freedoms, and I and I took those and then as I got older and I moved out of the house, and between drinking and partying and all the things, I let, I really let my blood sugars get out of control. I let, I let my diabetes, like, go to the wayside. I never didn't do insulin like I was always doing my insulin, but I definitely wasn't doing the right amounts. I wasn't adjusting basal or anything. At a doctor's appointment at the end of 2023 My doctor was like, I really think that you need to get on a on a better pump and and maybe go with like the Dexcom and the tandem, the T slim x2 and because before that, I mean, I've been on so many different mini med pumps, Medtronic pumps and things like that. And I did, I did do the Medtronic pump with with their CGM, and I hated it. I absolutely hated it just because of waking me up in the middle of the night to ask for a blood sugar to stay in auto mode and things like that. And so I basically, I just took it off and I ran it just in manual with me doing my blood sugar maybe once a day, sometimes twice a day.

Scott Benner 9:26
Ryan, go back for a second, though, before you tell me you were asked to go back to where you said, like, the first pump gave you freedom. So am I understanding correctly that you were so regimented on the regular and mph that you were following the regimen? But then when you went to a pump and you're like, oh, I can just like, eat when I want, and push the buttons, but then instead of doing that, you sort of just were like, Ah, I guess now I don't have to be regimented anymore. Like, did you you know what I mean? Like, did it free you, but in the wrong direction. I hope your New Year's resolutions are holding tight. Mine from a few. Years ago, at least one of them is still going very strong. That resolution was to take better care of myself, and I've been drinking ag one every morning since then, it's actually been easy to stay consistent, because ag one mixes easily, tastes great and goes down smooth. I count on ag one every day to support my immune health, it provides me a nutritional supplement that is the foundation of my everyday AG, one is sponsoring this episode. And ag one is offering new subscribers a free $76 gift. When you sign up, you'll get a welcome kit, a bottle of d3, k2, and five free travel packs in your first box. So make sure to check out drink. Ag one.com/juicebox to get this offer that's drink 81 com slash juice box to start your new year on a healthier note. I

Speaker 1 10:47
think 100% I think that. I think it was just like I didn't I didn't have to eat a snack every two hours if I didn't want to. I didn't have to eat lunch at the exact same time or breakfast at the same time. And so it kind of stopped me from having to follow some sort of, like script for the day, and I just would do what I wanted when I wanted. And then, like, I mean, through my life, it, like it took all different kinds of turns. And there, I mean, my very first pump training, the CDE that did the pump training with me, you had to go in for a meeting. And there was, it was like a big group of people all doing the pump trainings at the same time. Fill up your pump with saline for the first three days, and then you come back, and then you do with real insulin. And they wanted you to come at lunchtime and bring your lunch so that we can all do insulin for the first time together. And so we went to Taco Bell. My dad and I went to Taco Bell on the way, picked up Taco Bell, got there, and I did my insulin like I Pre Bolus before I knew what that was. And I got yelled at by the CDE for doing insulin before I ate, because, well, how do you know you're gonna finish it all? My dad looked at him like he's not gonna not finish his food, like I never had a problem not finishing my food. But, I mean, it was like 17 units of insulin, so maybe she was afraid of that. But I think that also set, it set different price, like, a standard in my head of like, okay, do your insulin after your food? And so I got stuck on that for such a long time, going through, like, different endocrinologists. When I got to the endocrinologist, which the is the same office I'm in now, I think at that point, they probably thought like, Oh, he's been diabetic for such a long time he knows what he's doing, and so they just let it go for a while. I I've been at that office since probably 2013 2012 ish, my a one CS have not been below a 10% more than three times in that in those 10 or 12 years. Oh,

Scott Benner 12:37
geez, you figured it out. And then we're told by a CDE, don't do that. You went back in the other direction, and not under a 10,

Speaker 1 12:52
yeah? I mean, I like, I once I started listening to the podcast, I like, well, I'll get to that in a

Scott Benner 12:58
minute, yeah. But there's, like, a couple of

Speaker 1 12:59
decades in there first. So I had them print me out all my ANCs from when I was at the office, from when I was at their, you know, at their practice. And there's twelves, there's elevens, there's, you know, like so many 10s, and then, like, randomly, there's one, like, 9.8 and then there's, like, one 8.8 and that was when I was, I was at the gym, six, seven days a week, eating nothing but chicken, brown rice and broccoli for every meal of the day. I guess I just figured that, you know, the carbs out for it, and was able to do it, but it got my a 1c down to an eight. And I was like, Oh, this is awesome. And then I'm like, and now, like, flash forward, I was like, Okay, that wasn't so awesome, but at least I was able to get it somewhere. But I never had this intervention of the doctor telling me, like, you need to do better, you need to do this. Like they would just say, Okay, well, let's try to do something, and we'll see in three months. And it was just, it wasn't ever a here's why, here's what you need to do, here's how you need to do it. Kind of conversation. They

Scott Benner 13:53
just say random things that don't really do any that don't have value.

Speaker 1 13:57
Yeah. And then so in 2014 is when I first felt the the repercussions of this. In 2014 November, 2014 my best friend was getting married in Mexico, and we were getting ready to go down to to Rocky Point for the wedding. And I woke up one morning and in my left eye, it was like somebody poured oil in my eye and I was and I couldn't see. I could barely see through it. Didn't know what's going on. Went to the eye doctor. He was like, Yeah, you got diabetic retinopathy, and you need to go see a specialist. So he sent me to go see the specialist. I think that was like a Thursday, like the next day we were leaving. So he was like, yeah, go to Mexico. Have fun. We got you, you know, scheduled for surgery for when you get back, don't change anything. Go down there, enjoy yourself and come on back. And so a week in Mexico, half blind and came back. Had had my first, my first eye surgery in my left eye. Like six months later it happened in my right eye, and then about six months later it happened in my left eye again. And so I've had so 2000 14,016, I had two. Two eye surgeries in my left eye, one of my right eye, yeah, and then my left eye. From that point forward, the vision has gone in and out periodically throughout the next, like, eight years. But

Scott Benner 15:10
no one ever said to you, hey, maybe if your a 1c wasn't 11 or 12 or 10 or nine or whatever, like, this wouldn't be happening.

Speaker 1 15:19
It's really funny, because even every time I've gone to the eye doctor like, oh, it's not your fault. It's not your fault. Well, I mean, it is like I didn't, I wasn't taking care of myself. I let, I let my blood sugars get out of control to the point that this is what happened. But no, nobody, you know, I mean, nobody directly said that.

Scott Benner 15:35
It seems ridiculous to me that you'd have those problems and someone wouldn't stop and go, Okay, look, obviously, this isn't going well. Let's examine everything. We'll start over. Break it down to the to the ground, build it back up again. Get you going in the right direction. Like no one, like an endocrinologist doesn't say that. An eye doctor doesn't suggest it. Definitely

Speaker 1 15:58
not an eye doctor. I do think the endocrinologist has tried it. So, I mean, like, Yes, I don't think the endocrinologist have done their job in my life to better educate me on things. And I know for a fact that I also wasn't as honest with endocrinologist growing up as I should be. Yes. I mean, like, back before CGM like, you had the log book, and I filled out that log book in the parking lot of the of the endocrinologist office with just, I think I wanted my blood sugar to be this day, so I def I wasn't doing my part. And I own that 100% okay, but at the same token, you can't look at a log book and see, man, your blood sugars are really good, but you're a one season 11. Well, it just doesn't

Scott Benner 16:33
why your eyes are popping out like the wolf in the old cartoon was that Bugs Bunny cartoon, and, yeah, but, oh, wow. Look at this here. If I look at your logs, you're a one CS, 5.9 You're doing awesome. I mean, you're obviously, you're lying about your about your blood sugars, as you're doing that, Ryan, like, put me in your mindset, like I'm my eyes are popping, like I'm half blind. Sometimes it's not like they fixed it and it went it came back again. What are you telling yourself to be able to lie in that book, and what are you telling yourself about what your future is? At

Speaker 1 17:05
the time that the eye problem started, I wasn't even doing a log book anymore, because I was, I just, I just wasn't. And it was like, bring your bring your meter in. Well, download your meter. Oh, I forgot it today. So, like, I was just, I was trying to get away from, like, bad numbers and whatever they whatever I thought they were going to say. And every time I was, like, I'm healthy, like I feel good, I didn't feel bad, you know. And so I wasn't thinking anything was wrong. I just, I just really wasn't. If you've ever looked, I'm sure you have, but if you've ever looked at the bottom of the paper, PDF, or whatever, for the for the A, 1c, and it says the levels, and it says, like, at this level, you need, like, some sort of intervention. Like, I was never given that, and I and I know that I needed it. I've always, and I've always been the kind of person that, like, once I get this information, like, I'll run with it, I'll do really well with it. I've always been the kind of person that will once I'm in a new a new situation, whether it's a job or, like, when I was going to the gym all the time, like I I would do the research to figure out how to be the best in that, that I could, I mean, it's, it's helped me my whole life, except for in diabetes, until, until last year, when I found the podcast. But up until that, I just, I was just living my life and just enjoying everything I was doing and thinking, You know what? Like, you know, at least I have my toes. Because growing up like I was always told that, oh yeah, you just got to be careful your feet. Like, your feet are going to be the first things that have problems with them. So, like, every time I'd get a cut on my foot or something, like, I'd be like, Oh, I just got to wash that. Really good. I didn't think of anything else, you know. Yeah.

Scott Benner 18:30
So they set the bar pretty low for you, holding onto your feet. Anything better than that to win, right? Because I didn't have the worst thing happen to me that somebody told me was going to happen. Yeah, and when things go wrong, you're aware that they're wrong, but at the same time, this is the path you were put on, and you're doing the thing that the path said, but you're not though, like you were put on a bad path, meaning you didn't have a ton of information right, a lot of actionable tools, things like that. But still, when you saw the numbers, I'm trying to get to that point. So when you see the number, like you said, it's a bad number, it's not what you're looking for. But you don't know how to get to a good number, so you just ignore the whole thing. Is that right? Pretty much,

Speaker 1 19:13
like, I mean, obviously, like, I knew, like, okay, insulin, insulin brings your blood sugar down and and I knew that, but I was, I was in such a bad spot of of not knowing how to make the insulin work for my body right. Like, and, and especially like, without not checking my blood sugar time. Like, I've always had jobs where I was active and I definitely wasn't checking my blood sugar. Like at lunchtime at work, like I would go to work, I would wake up and maybe check my blood sugar in the morning and then go to work and just work, and lunchtime comes, great. I'm eating Chinese food today, and I just ate it. Just wouldn't do my blood sugar. And then, oh, crap, I forgot to do my insulin. So I did my insulin. Just kind of lived that path. And, like, there were so many times that I can remember, like, like, an hour later I'd be like, Oh, I still never did my insulin. Maybe I should check my blood. Sugar, and, okay, I'm just going to do 12 units of insulin. And I would just do insulin because I thought that's what I needed, and I thought that was the right amount. Or I know that this is what I would have done. My blood sugar is probably really high right now, so I just, and I would just give myself insulin. And I never had, like, at like, doing that. I never really had any, like, like, really low blood sugars. But, I mean, even, like, since I've been on the pump, I think I've, I've still had, I think, three or four, maybe five, like, diabetic seizures,

Scott Benner 20:28
because you're just, like, randomly picking numbers and putting in insulin, yeah, I mean,

Speaker 1 20:32
the very, the very first one I had on the pump was just because I was learning and I was new. I mean, it was, like, it was maybe the first couple months after the pump, my blood sugar was low, and I grabbed a peach, and I ate the peach, but I did insulin for the peach, because, hey, do insulin for your food. And I just wasn't thinking straight. And then I woke up, and my dad was like, I don't know, I don't know how my dad it must have been right around the time he was coming home from work anyways, but I was in the on the living room floor, and he I'm waking up to my dad making sure I'm okay

Scott Benner 20:57
during this entire, like, stretch of your life. And to me, the eyes are just very like, I don't know how you ignore like it looking like you're looking through oil, right? Like, do you ever, like, multiply that out and say, Okay, well, right now it's my eyes, but eventually it's going to be my life. Or do you never have that feeling of like, this is going to kill me when

Speaker 1 21:18
the first eye problem started in 2014 I was my now wife, and I were going down to Mexico, and so, like, and then now we and then we got married. We got married. Like, a year after that, she had a five year old little girl, and like, when we started dating her, her daughter was five. And so now I, now I'm like, I have this little family. And I was like, Okay, I gotta do better. And I and I really wanted to do better, and so I did. I started, like the doctors do your bait, your Bolus, you know, 15 minutes before you eat. And so I really actively started trying to do that more and and most of this, and this was after the eye problems, but so I started thinking, Okay, I got to do this. And then, just like, you're so used to these habits that you've fallen into that, it was really hard to just continue it, yeah, for a consistent amount of time to make a difference. And then 2019 I had my my baby was born, and, and at that point I was like, Okay, I like, I like, I really gotta do better. Like, now it's, now it's, I got more than one kid. I got my wife. Like, they need me, and my wife isn't working like she's we made the decision she was going to be stay at home mom, like my family needs me, and I so I really, I did. I like, I started wanting to try to do better. I do feel like I was doing better, but still not to the point where I should be like, I definitely was. I still wasn't checking my blood sugar all the time. My wife would always tell, hey, what you like, go check your blood sugar before dinner. The kids would have fun with it. Well, not my at the time, my baby wasn't old enough, but our older, our older daughter, well, what was your blood sugar? Dad and I, you know, 170 or whatever it was, and so it's still really high. But to me, 170 was always really good because it's a lot lower than it was in the past.

Scott Benner 22:59
Yeah, it's the three hundreds, probably before, yeah, and my family definitely,

Speaker 1 23:03
definitely started making me feel like I needed to do something different. So last year 2023 I don't remember the month of my appointment, but it's when we started talking about Dexcom again, because I had a Dexcom back in like, 2014 or something like that, because the doctors were like, we just want to see what, what's going on. And I hated it, and so I never thought I'd go back. And then she said, Hey, things have come a lot better. Let's try the Dexcom. So I figured it out, and I like, I have terrible insurance, so it's still, like, the pump and the Dexcom and everything started out cost me, like, five grand out of pocket. And I was like, Okay, let's, let's just see what happens. And it all, it all gets mailed to me. Then it's, let's set up your pump training. So I, I I call and I and I start getting the pump training set up. And this lady I'm speaking to, she's like, No days are working for her that our schedules would line up. And so she said, Okay, I'll have a member of my team call you. And so I get a I get a call from from a different CDE, let's meet up. Let's do this, like, anytime that you're available. So it was a Tuesday after work, and we met at the coffee shop down the street from my house. And his in laws used to own that coffee shop before it was, like it was when it was a previous owner. So he's, like, knows the area well. And I went into this pump training thinking, Okay, this is like, my sixth or seventh pump, and I'm going to go in there, I'm going to learn how to put the insulin in and and then that's going to be it. And I'll tell you that I'm so happy that that was not what happened. Because I sat down and he introduced himself, and I know that he won't care. His name is Jordan, and he is a group member in the in the Facebook group. I mean, within the first probably 10 minutes, he was like, Hey, have you ever heard of the Juicebox Podcast? And I was like, I go, No. And like, all of a sudden, just something about that meeting with Jordan, like it opened my eyes and, like, there was just something that clicked. And I was just like, hey, like, I need to do better. He was a diabetic, so that that was a plus for me, like he knew what he was talking about. It wasn't just like somebody that knew how the technology worked. We had a really good meeting. We learned, I think you learned how to use the pump, and before. Before I even left the table, I was searching the Juicebox Podcast. I was got signed up for the Facebook group and and then the next day, I think, I listened to probably my first, like, five episodes of the podcast. That was December 27 that I met with him. And then my next endo appointment was in the like, the second week of January. And I was like, okay, like, I know my, I know my ANC is not going to be good. And at this point now, I know what, like, what to look for on the Dexcom app, or, like, on the clarity app, of like the GMI to see about what it's at. And it looked really great because, like, within the first day of listening to the podcast and and just starting to do what it says to do, and then the Dexcom, and the way the Dexcom works with the tandem, my average blood sugar was like 111 for the two weeks that I had been on the pump when I went to the next endocrinology appointment. That's awesome. My ANC was still a 10.7 Yeah. But the doctor sits down and she goes, your blood sugar looks incredible. She goes, but let's work on these. Let's work on these low blood sugars. I think the lowest blood sugar I've had is like 64 and I'm okay with that. Like, I was so good with that. And I looked at her in the face and I said, I've lived for so long with high blood sugars. I said, I'm not going back to that, and I'm very comfortable with a 64 blood sugar. Like I had my pump set, like 65 as being low, and I've changed that since then. But like, I was just, it was a, it became a comfortable number. How does she respond when you push back? She was like, Well, okay, like, she didn't really say much. She just kind of let it go and right? I laugh.

Scott Benner 26:27
I just laugh all the time. When people are like, they make these pronouncements about anything. Forget what the number would it's like, this is very important. You can't do this. And then you go, I'm going to they go, all right, yeah, oh yeah. I mean, was it that way to stick to your guns anyway, 100%

Speaker 1 26:46
everything that I was hearing you say, I just took it, and I was like, okay, like, I have to do that. I have to do that. And I don't even remember, like, the context of the episode, but there was, like, one episode you said something, like, I was listening to the podcast while working. And so, like, I'm, like, I own a cabinet business. And so, like, as long as I'm not sitting in the front with with customers, I'm moving cabinets or I'm doing something so I can listen on my headphones, I can I can work. I can do things. And you said something about, like, doing extended Bolus with 30% up front, 70% over a half an hour. And I just, and I just started doing it. And like, I was like, Man, this is really working. I did it for every meal, and, like, it just seemed to be working really well. And then, like, I've tailored that plan now, and I do want to talk about that later, but, yeah, one of the episodes when you talked about, like, you said, like, well, ninja level stuff is one year when you do insulin, when, when your blood sugar is low, you correct with carbohydrates, and you do insulin at the same time. And I think that it might have been within the first, like, two or three weeks of the pump that I I put that to the test. I was delivering cabinets, my blood sugar started getting low. I didn't have anything with me, so I was, like, all right, like, before it gets really low, I'm gonna go to the gas station just up the street. So I went to the gas station and I got, just got an orange juice, and then across the street is a McDonald's. And I was hungry, so I went and I got a couple of I got a couple of McDonald's, and my blood sugar at this point was like, 55 diagonal down. I drank the whole thing of juice, and I ate two sausage muffins, and I was like, Oh, my blood sugar is going to go screaming high right now. Like it's, it's not going to take long. And I think at 55 diagonal down, I did like, eight units of insulin. My blood sugar leveled out at like 90. It was perfect. And I was like, All right, like, this guy knows what he's talking about. And I was like, This is awesome. It's all timing

Scott Benner 28:28
and amount, the whole Yeah, yeah, Brian, over and over again. I should just make a new episode every day that just goes you just need to put in the right amount of insulin at the right time, and then just figure out what that is. You can't get to it without the conversations and the weird explanations and, like, it's funny, like, you're talking about, like, putting in 30% now in the rest over a half an hour was how I got around. Pre Bolus thing for Arden's school meals, because she would go to the well, we would, we would Bolus from her classroom, like, remotely, like I she'd text and go, Hey, like, you know lunch is in 20 minutes. And then I'd look into your blood sugar, and it's like, 88 and then you're like, oh, okay, well, I want the insulin to get in because I don't want the lunch to make her high, but I can't put all of it in now, because by the time she gets down there, she starts eating, she's gonna get low. How do I manipulate the tools that the pump has for me to put that insulin, to layer that insulin in such a way that the action of the insulin is meeting the, you know, the the impact of the carbs. And I just bastardized the the extended Bolus feature on the Omnipod to do that. Oh, yeah. The reason, when you share it like, look what happens, like somebody like you, who, for 40 years has not been doing well. You know, give or take, who hears and goes, Oh, I wonder how I could tailor that for me. That idea, and it's, it's just awesome. And I make, you're making me feel like, really good. I appreciate knowing that this is helping you. Well, I'll

Speaker 1 29:54
tell you my next endocrinology appointment from that, from that day was, it was in May. It was like the second. Can't wink of May, my ANC was a 5.5 Wow. I just, like, I went in there, like, and I was like, I go, I know my, I know my a 1c is good. Like, I'm going in here, and I'm super excited. Average blood sugar of, like, 108 on the Dexcom. Like, clarity gap. And I'm, I've, like, I've got this. And I sit down, and she's the endocrinologist is, like, your a 1c is a 5.5 that's pretty good. Let's go ahead and let's, let's try to work on these lows. And I was like, really, like, that's what you're gonna say to me, like, you've seen me for such a long time, and you're just gonna say, oh, yeah, okay, you're doing pretty good with this. But let's, let's work on the lows. And I And again, I was like, listen. And I told her, I said, Listen. I said, You guys are comfortable with me being between 70 and 180 a 180 blood sugar is still not a good blood sugar. I said I am not going to do that. I'm not going to let that happen again, and I'm not going to continue to not have like, five A, one, CS and and I'm okay being low. And I need you to understand that. And I just really want to understand why you're telling me that this 4% below 70 is a bigger deal to you than the 25% that's okay to be above 180 when you're looking at the chart of what your blood sugar is supposed to be. Ryan,

Scott Benner 31:11
was this the same person told you not, the Pre Bolus, the Taco Bell? No, no, okay. Way, different people, okay, the same outcome, by the way, because, isn't it interesting? The reason I asked because that person was back when you were a kid who told you, I don't Pre Bolus that food. You just, you know, after you eat, you take it and then you live this way for as long as you live, and then you figure it out. And then another medical professional, I guess I'm making air quotes, comes in is like, Oh, I wonder. I could this guy back up again. Awesome. You're all doing a great job out there. Keep going. It's

Speaker 1 31:41
crazy. I mean, like, she now she just writes my scripts and, like, that's all she is. Like, like, once I started listening to the podcast. So like, I'm on the T slim, and then I start listening to the podcast, and I'm like, hold on a second. There's a tubeless insulin pump out there. So naturally, I got onto, you know, like, I clicked on the link on the webs, on the Juicebox podcast.com, or the Omnipod. I got information about it and so, and then I got a free trial ship to me. Obviously had to have the endocrinologist writing a script for it. And she's like, she called me. She was like, I just got a request for this. And I was like, I'd like you to just sign that and send it in. And she was like, Okay, I just wanted to learn about it like I and to be honest, I only wanted to get the Omnipod so that when we go swimming, or if we go to, like, the Great Wolf Lodge, like the kids love to go there, that I can wear this, I can wear the insulin pump just all the time, and feel good about it being safe. Like I went to the Great Wolf Lodge with my tea slim, and I wore it everywhere I went, like walking through the the lazy river with my daughter, or wherever I wore it because, like, it's not waterproof, but it's water resistant, and I was never underwater for more than 30 minutes, or definitely not three feet deep. So like, I was like, it's fine, but if I can have the omnipot on, then I can feel better about, like, going down the water slides and doing things like that, and just enjoying the time with my kids getting deeper into, like, the wave pool, like, just having fun. And so I wanted it for that, and I and I I'm glad I did. And then flash forward now and to September of this year, I go back for my endocrinology appointment. My a one sees a 5.6 so, like, I've kept it in the fives for, you know, the majority of this year up to this point. And then the next day, I went to bed, my CGM woke me up at like, 1030 at night, and I went to look at my phone to see what it was, and I couldn't see out of both of my eyes, my left eye, like I said before, my left eye has been the vision has been in and out periodically throughout the last eight years since my last surgery. Yeah, this was the first time that I hadn't been able to see out of both eyes. And the day before this, I put on the omnipot again so that I can refresh myself with how to make it work. But now I can't see. I woke my wife up and I said, Hey, I can't see out of both of my eyes. I think I know what it is. I said, I think that diabetic retinopathy is just coming back to bite me in the ass again, but I can't see. Like, what do we do? She like, she's like, dead asleep, and she's like, kind of waking up, and she's like, I don't know. Like, what do you want to do? And I was like, I think I need to go to the emergency room. In my mind, I didn't think it was going to do anything, but I was like, I think we need to do this, just to make sure it's not something else. I have to give her the PDM for the Omnipod, which I'm barely familiar with myself. So, like, how am I supposed to tell her what to do out even knowing it and not being able to see so she takes it. We get to the emergency room. My daughter's asleep, so my my mother in law, came and sat at the house with us, or sat at the house, just in case, and we go to the emergency room, and they're like, yeah, like, it looks like you got diabetic retinopathy again. Go see a doctor tomorrow. So by the by the time I woke up the next morning, my wife had already had a doctor's appointment made for me, and we were going into the retina. The retinal specialist, they couldn't see into my eyes with, like, the normal test that they do to, like, look and see what's going on in your eyes. So they had to do an out, an ultrasound in my eye. And the way my wife described what was on the screen was like the old TVs where you're trying to find the channel, and it's just static. It. Just looked like white and black, just fuzzes throughout the whole thing because of how much blood was in my eye and both eyes. And so then we started talking about a surgery plan and how to make this work. And the doctor was like, All right, like, I could do surgery tomorrow, but, like, we're only going to do one eye, and I really think you should wait, because I want to do it's an Avastin shot that you get in your eyes, and it's supposed to help with draining blood. It's supposed to help make supposed to help make the blood vessels stronger and all this stuff. And I was like, I just need to see man. Like, you know? I was like, I go, You don't understand. Like, I'm the only one in my family that works. Like I am what keeps my family alive, yeah, like, financially, like, my wife takes care of the kids. She, like, she she's got a harder job than me, but I gotta get back to work. He was like, I know you have to get back to work, but I want you to get back to work and and have it last for a longer time. So by the end of this, like, three hour meeting that we had there, I left with with a shot in both of my eyes and a plan for surgery for the following Monday while we're sitting in this doctor's office. So now, so this is Thursday, we're sending the doctor's office like my blood sugar's going up, and I look at my wife, I go, what's like, what's my blood sugar? And she was like, it's 130 I've already done two units of insulin. You're okay. Like, she's just, like, took control. It was, she's, she's incredible. But like, she, because she's watched me from, you know, at this point, she had watched me for the previous nine months. Like, just really take control of my diabetes and like, I come home and talk to her about what I hear on the podcast and what I'm doing and everything. And so she, like, while she doesn't have the hands on she, I think she knows enough. But so then the whole weekend, I can't see and by the like, when I would wake up in the morning, like, I have really bad foot on the floor, and so I wake up and she had already done, like, a unit of insulin. My blood sugar is, like, 104 and she's, like, I did a unit of insulin so you can have coffee soon, because I know your blood sugar is going to go up. So, like, she's controlling this. Like, I was like, Man, I'm glad that. Like, I knew enough about it, so at least tell her how to push the buttons. But now I don't got to

Scott Benner 36:53
do anything. Well, also you by coming home every day and sharing what you learned, whether she was learning too,

Speaker 1 36:58
oh, 100% you know, I mean, and like, there were, there were times where she was like, All right, I don't want to hear about the podcast. I want to hear what your blood sugar is doing. But I was like, but they're all the same. It like, I need to tell you one, to tell you the other. I can't just tell you part of it, because I need you. I need you to understand why I'm telling you this. Finally,

Scott Benner 37:15
some ladies complaining about hearing from me. Usually it's men who are like, I please stop telling me about this guy's podcast. I like the equal opportunity I have to tell you I'm I've never been proud of a person I've ever met in person before. Like, it's really, it's awesome to see how you just, just made the decision one day. And, I mean, how amazing is it that you, you know, just met a pump trainer who happened to, like, get through to you. You know what? I mean,

Speaker 1 37:40
oh yeah, I'm a Christian. I go to church every Sunday. Like, to me, like, this is a total God thing. Like, it was just, it was just incredible. No, yeah. I mean, Jordan is, he's amazing. I like, he's, he's such a good guy and and now Him and I are great friends. Like, it was, like, it turned out to be a really good friendship, more than just, like, somebody that taught me how to use the pump. Oh, that's awesome. But, yeah, like, so I had, I

Scott Benner 38:01
was gonna say, I've spoken to Jordan. He is a good guy. Yeah, yeah, he's great. So now here you are. You've got these two shots in your eyes. You're getting ready, prepping for the for the surgery. They start with one eye. How long? What's the procedure like? What's the recovery like? How long does it take?

Speaker 1 38:17
All right, so the procedure is, like, it's like a 3040, minute surgery. They put you under just so they can numb your eye. And then you're, you're more in like, of a, like a dazed state during the surgery, and there's a patch on your eye for the whole next day. You have the next day appointment. They take the patch off your eye, and you only need to wear it at night. You have, like, a regiment of drops you have to do for a month. From what I remember, like, again, like back in 2014 when I had these problems, I always had one. Always had one good eye. I had the surgery in my right eye first, and while it's healing, I feel like, okay, things are getting better, and I'm able to see and, like, within the first, like, couple days, I was like, Okay, I'm really starting to be able to see better. And then I was like, it's not getting better fast enough. And I and I was like, I know that my left eye still needs to be done. The doctors wanted to wait until at least, like the, I think, the two week appointment, a follow up appointment for my right eye surgery, to schedule the surgery for the left eye. I quickly learned that, like, my right eye wasn't actually getting better. My left eye was just like the shots were actually working in my left eye, and the blood had more had drained out of it pretty well, and I'm seeing better out of my left eye than my right eye. And it turns out it's because I had a cataract in my right eye that I'm that I have to get fixed and But first I gotta still get the surgery in my left eye so that it doesn't come

Scott Benner 39:32
back. I mean, that's a lot. Yeah.

Speaker 1 39:35
Okay, so we go back for the two week appointment schedule surgery for the following like we're sitting there ready for that two week appointment, like we had something planned for that weekend. That was like, All right, we have to do these things for this weekend. And the doc, the doctor, was like, I could do surgery this afternoon, if you can leave right now and go to the surgery center in Scottsdale. And I was like, two weeks ago, and said, Yeah, let's go and at this. Point. I was like, I want to wait until through the weekend like there was, and I can't even remember what it was now that we were doing. But I was like, whatever we're whatever we're about to do this weekend, is more important. I need to be able to see, make sure things are okay, and and then we'll just do it on Monday. And so the following Monday, going for my left eye surgery, for both of the surgery, so for the first surgery, I was on the Omnipod, and I made sure to talk to the doctors and then or talk to the nurses at the at the surgery center, about, like, I'm, I'm gonna keep the pump on. I'm gonna, like, I would like my wife to be as close to me as possible so she can help manage my blood sugars. And they were like, Okay, well, it's not a possibility, but what we'll do is, is we have a type one nurse that we'll we'll make sure she's with you. At that point I couldn't see anybody. So it could have any one of those nurses could have been the type one nurse. I didn't know who it was, but at least there was somebody there who I thought knew what was going on. I'm on the Omnipod. I went into surgery with my blood sugar at like 106 and I think, I think I maybe went to like 111 through the whole surgery get done. And then over the next couple weeks, like I said, my left eye was getting better, so I switched back to the tandem because I was almost out of pods. Anyways, just because I had just been working through my free, the free trial that they sent me, got got back on the tandem. Now I'm going in for my second surgery. It was the same, the same nurse that had type one, and now her and I are talking, because now I can see so I can, like, actually communicate with her, like I'm sitting here talking to her about the Juicebox Podcast. And she was like, Oh, you're, like, the third person that told me that. I said, well, then you better start listening and get on there. Like, and I was talking about her, talking to her, about her a 1c the anesthesiologist are giving her a hard time. Because, like, I was like, Yeah, I'm at a 5.6 and she was like, Oh, well, I'm at like, a 6.2 and like, they had this really cool relationship where, like, he was given a hard time at 100% joking with her, but it really was cool, because on the on the T slim, I had talked to people in the past about, like, they went, they went in for some surgery, and so they would set it on, like, exercise mode, so that it would target a slightly, like it would be not as aggressive, and when it's going to give you boluses and stuff, because it's thinking you're at your exercising Well, I was like, I'm not like, I don't want my blood sugar to be high like that. So I put it in sleep mode, let the algorithm really take control of itself. And like, up to this point, like, my I feel like my basal were pretty well dialed in. My blood sugar started dropping, and I'm watching the Dexcom, and I like, I hit like, 74 or something. And I like, I was like, I know this is going to drop. And I asked the lady, I said, I need something to bring my blood sugar up. And so, like, they were like, okay, and they got the dextrose. And I was like, and I looked at I was like, Is there any way to know how much is in that? Like, how much carbs are in that? Like, what am I gonna get right now? She was like, Well, the doctor wanted me to give you the whole tube of it. And I told him, maybe half. And he agreed with me, like he listens to me. I said, I don't even want half of it. I just need a little bump, like, I need a little bit just to just to level this out, like, I'm gonna be fine. And so she did it, and within like, the first, like two or, like, the next Dexcom reading was, like, it went from like a 74 to like 120 and I was like, I'm sitting here. Like, Oh, this sucks. So I was like, I'm not gonna let anybody know this. But like, I Bolus another unit while I'm sitting there, because I was like, I don't want my blood sugar to be high. And so I went through that whole surgery, and I think that, like that 124 dropped right back down, and 125 whatever it was, dropped back down. And I rode like 80 through the whole surgery. And I don't think I would have, I definitely would have done that if it wasn't for the podcast. And I mean, I would have been riding through that surgery at like 300 if this was

Scott Benner 43:21
better high than low. Like, you know, at least I'm not gonna, yeah, no, I understand.

Speaker 1 43:26
My last surgery was on on the 21st of October. My left eye is great. Like, I can see really great out of my left eye. I know I need a new prescription for glasses in that eye, but we're waiting for that because next Monday, the 25th I'll be having the cataract surgery to clear that up, and then I should be good.

Scott Benner 43:45
Wow, man, good for you, by the way. What do they think brought on this, like, kind of like, second round of all this? Is it, the fact that maybe you brought your a 1c down so fast,

Speaker 1 43:55
I probably think that's what it is. None of the doctors have said anything that they think that that's what it is. The only thing that the eye doctors have told me is your agencies are perfect, like they're really, really good. I don't think you're going to have problems if you keep this up, that you're not going to have recurring problems again, if you keep this up, that's awesome. A lot of it is just like the years of neglect are catching back up to me, and then probably just dropping my ANC so fast caused it to happen, and now I just got to live with it. But I've met my out of pocket deductible for the year. My out of pocket max. So like, I've got, like, I'm stocked up on OmniPods. I'm stocked up on all kinds of stuff now that, like, I wasn't going to be able to afford to keep doing the omnipot, like, to keep doing Omnipod in tandem. So now I'm happy, at least I got a three month supply where I can use the Omnipod when I want to, like, I'm going to keep rocking the tandem, because I love it. But,

Scott Benner 44:39
yeah, that's awesome. It really is amazing. Do you look back at all that time and have a feeling one way or the other? Are you angry sad when you can see what you know now, how it leads to your better health, and then you look back like, what's your feeling there? Like, who do you hold accountable and and how do you feel about it?

Speaker 1 44:59
I. Look back every now and then, and I'm like, man, like, if only I would have done better before. Maybe none of this would have happened. I only let myself have those thoughts for a very short time because I just I'm like, I can't do anything about it. I don't want to dwell in the past, and so I'd rather just sit and think, you know what? All right, what am I going to do from this point forward? And how am I going to keep the a one Cs that I've had, like, I had my a 1c drawn a week ago or two weeks ago so that I could have a fresh one, even though it was only in September, and my ANC is, it's still a 5.7 so like, I'm, I'm at a point where, like, I know how to do this, and I just got to keep moving forward with this. So I'm not, I'm, I just don't want to let myself, like, get into a a negative thought of, like, what happened in the past. Like, I definitely like listening to, listening to the first. I don't think it was his first episode, but Mike the first, the first episode that he talked about, like, his problems with his diabetes. When he said that the doctor told him they wouldn't see him anymore if he didn't get his blood sugars taking control. And he thought, okay, insulin life. No. Insulin death. Like, I needed that, and I I struggled for a long time. Am I going to continue to see the same endocrinologist office that I've been seeing didn't do anything for me when my agencies were out of control? Or should I start searching for another endocrinologist office? And I did. I looked around at a couple of them, and one office that I looked at actually had working in their office, that same diabetic educator that told me not to Pre Bolus for my meals. So I said, I'm not gonna go to that office. And then I and then I just kept thinking to myself, you know, like, I don't think that I'm gonna go to a different endocrinologist and have any kind of, like, grand, amazing, like, experience that's gonna change my life any more than the podcast is. So I just need somebody to write my prescriptions. And so I'm like, I'm just gonna stay where I'm at. They already have my information. It's less work that I have to do as far as, like, signing up with somebody new, finding out where to go. The last time I sat down in her office, she's like, Okay, well, there's any, is there anything else that I need to write you a prescription for? Like she's just ready to do what I asked her to, because she sees that I'm able to to keep this up and keep going, like I go into the office and, like, average time and range is like 94% and, like, the 94% sure, like, it's, I don't like to look at that one, because it's the 70 to 180 like, on my pump, I said I have it set from 70 to 130 and even that, like, I'm still at, like, most of the time, I'm like, 80% or more in range. But like, wow, I just don't think I can go somewhere else right now. And maybe this is just, like, a, I'm getting too big for my britches kind of talk. But,

Scott Benner 47:24
I mean, I don't even know where you headed from, from this, like, it's, it's awesome. You're doing great, you know? Like, there's, I mean, I guess you could go lower if you wanted to, but,

Speaker 1 47:33
and I and I want to, and so, like, actually, right now, like, I've been working, like, so, like, I said, like, being on the tan I'm like, I love the algorithm. I love how it works. I love how the algorithm works based on the the settings you set in the pump with, like your actual basal profile. So one of the things that I had been doing like to get to the 5.5 so I want to say this, I didn't change how I ate. I didn't change how I did anything in my life, except for how I was doing insulin. Like I eat pizza at least once a week. I mean, I eat Mexican food at least once a week. I eat Chinese food, like at lunch for work, like we're eating out all the time, and then at home, my wife cooks dinner and but I didn't. I didn't want to change anything. I wanted to learn how to continue my lifestyle and and just do better with the insulin. So I quickly learned that, like I didn't, it didn't matter what pump I was on, the algorithms not strong enough to fight a rise from from pizza by itself, right? I started taking the pump out of control IQ so that I could increase my basal over like a four hour period by like 250% I would, I would do insulin for pizza and have like four slices of pizza. Do insulin for pizza, my butcher would be 80. The highest I would get is like 115 and then I would and I would cruise, and I was able, like I can manage that. I don't know if I posted it in the Facebook group, but I had pan express one night, and I did a very similar way. I was really hungry. The meal that I ate was like 220 carbohydrates or something. It needed 28 units of insulin and the pump, like I in the settings, like I could have raised the settings, but the settings were only at, like, I could only do 20 units. So I Pre Bolus 20 units of insulin when I pulled into the parking lot to go order the food. By the time I got home, I was like, I don't know, 94 diagonal down. I started eating. And then I Bolus the other eight units over a period of time. And then I did the extended bait, like the increased basal, I think I touched like 124 something like 100 like, in 100 20s, and just cruised. So, like, I figured it out, like, I need to do this. I want to let control IQ do its job the way that it's supposed to. Because I think it's, I think it's amazing. So I started creating these new basal profiles. Like in the pump, you can create a, like, a personal profile, and you can name it whatever you want to name it. So, like, I have one in my pump now that is called pizza like lunch. When I eat lunch that's pizza or Mexican food or something that's like higher fat and higher protein, I will turn on this basal profile. And in the basal profile, from like lunchtime until dinner time, my basal rates are increased by 250% and then I titrate it down. To 225% and then 200% and so it kind of acted like an increased in basal. It acts also like an extended Bolus, because in the tandem pump, you can do an extended Bolus while you're in control IQ, but only up to two hours. So it's not long enough for to handle like pizza or handle Mexican food and things like that. So I'm doing it using control IQ, and I don't have to turn control IQ off. And not that it matters, because it's not like, it doesn't really learn anything. I'm wanting it to see, to see what, what I can do, and to not have to do it. So many people have, like, I've talked to a few people about this, and they're like, Yeah, but that takes so much time. I'm like, No, it took me like five seconds to change the setting in the in the pump. So, like, it's not like I'm taking like 30 minutes to do all this stuff. It's just, I want to figure out how to make control IQ work the best for me, because it's an amazing tool. I'm

Scott Benner 50:53
not trying to scare people, but I've seen your eye, you know what? I mean, that should be enough to get anybody to go, oh, it's worth, you know, pre volusing, or changing a setting once in a while, or something like that. Like, if this is the alternative, then I'm, I'm in, you know what I mean? Like, it's the photo is shocking. You know what I mean? Like, if you're not ready for it, you're like, Oh my God. If you told me, Hey, look what happened to me. I'm never gonna see again, I would have believed that. Two seconds. Really crazy, man, what you went through? I know sounds strange coming from me, but like, what did I say that got you? Was it just the idea of, like, I think I can manipulate the insulin and put it where I needed, or was it, I don't know, Ryan, how? Also, people should know like you're one of the people in the private Facebook group that helps with like you're a group expert, right? So you leave links to episodes and things like that to help people when they have questions which I can't, can never thank you enough for but obviously, like, the podcast had such an impact on you. They were like, Well, I would like to help because we saw you come into the group and you're, I know you were the kind of person that we wanted to offer the group expert to because of the way we saw you talking to people. What even brought you there? Like, do you have that feeling of like, Oh, I I struggled for so long, and I found this thing I want to show with other people. Or were you trying to pay me back? Or what starts you like, posting like

Speaker 1 52:11
that? No, I mean, 100% it is more more than wanting to help, to help pay you back. Because, like, I definitely owe a lot to you. But

Scott Benner 52:19
do you have that feeling? By the way, I don't want you to have that feeling. But do you have that feeling?

Speaker 1 52:24
I know you don't. And I and I'm like, I'm saying it genuinely, because I tell everybody whether they're diabetic or not, I tell people that, like this random guy in a podcast really helped change my life. And so, like, I do, like, more than that, like, the the bigger part of it is wanting to help other people, because, and up until, like, I was in the Facebook group I didn't like, I'm the oldest diabetic I know, or like the old the longest amount of time diabetes that I've ever met, right? Like, I don't know many people that have had diabetes as long as me, and now I'm in the Facebook group, and there's people in there that are diabetic for 30 years longer than me. And I'm like, this is incredible. You see these posts from New Parents of diabetes that their world just ended. And I'm like, I've went through a lot of that stuff already, but at a time where it took, like, a minute to get a blood sugar reading on your pump, but, I'm sorry, on your meter. And we're at a time now where, like, things are so much different and better that there's, there's just so much more opportunity. And I really just I, like, like, I said before, like, every time I do something, I go all in and so, like, I'm able to take the information that I hear on the podcast and then doing research on my own and figuring things out, and I'm able to just, it's just stored in my head. So when I see somebody talk about a problem they're having, I'm like, I already know where to, like, how to answer this question, yeah, I honestly, I have a harder time, like, remembering which podcast episode to link be like, go along with what I'm saying. But like, I'm able to figure it out.

Scott Benner 53:48
Like, it's very helpful, by the way. I can't keep up with it. I've actually toyed recently with, like, actually making office hours for myself that are just for the Facebook group where I like maybe I have to just sit down every day for an hour or so and just answer questions. You know, it's just the thing I can't keep up with. I could sit down for eight hours and answer questions, by the way, and I wouldn't get caught up. So you're counting on people's kindness, and you're hoping that they, you know, know the right what places to point but it's people like you who like you're motivated. You have that you have good energy about it, like, Hey, I know where the answer is. It's right here. Like, go look. And you can't, you know, you can't force people to listen, or anything like that, but at least you know, you put them on the right path, and if they can get to it, then that's great. If they can't, hopefully they'll come back and try again, but it's just tough, right? When, you know, I mean, when you've experienced the outcomes that you've experienced, to see somebody who's you but 25 years younger and hasn't had trouble yet, and you think if I could just put them on this right path, right like this will never happen to them, absolutely.

Speaker 1 54:57
And I mean, it's just like my daughter. Has a friend. My older daughter has a friend who she's type one diabetic. They were in the marching band together, and she's got gastroparesis now to her, my daughter had a birthday party, her birthday last February, and we had all these kids over, and she was one of them. And so I was talking to her a little bit, and I was trying to tell her, like, listen, like, you should listen to this podcast. And she was like, Yeah, but I'm different, like that. And I said, Hold on a second. I said, watch this. And I took out my phone, and I said, Hey. I said, my daughter's friend. She's diabetic, she's got gastroparesis. She thinks she's she thinks she's alone in this. I can't remember exactly what I how I worded it, but like, within, within like five minutes, there was like, two or three people that commented that they that they had the same thing going on. And I showed her, I said, Look, you're not alone. There's so many people in this Facebook group that it's not going to take long to get answers. I said, I think you should listen to the podcast and join this group. And I don't know that. I don't know if she did or not. Like, I'm not like, I'm not going to keep tabs on my daughter's friends, but I just, I wanted her to see she's not alone. And I and I tell people that all the time that come into the Facebook group, like, there's so many people in here that if you ask a question, you're going to get an answer within minutes, usually. And it's kind of it, it could be a life changing answer if you just implement what you see and what you hear and and I think that's the biggest part, is like, you can tell people all day long to do stuff like you said like, but you can't that person has to implement it into their lives to really make it work for them. I think that some people just, the more you, the more it happens that are, the more they hear it, it might make them do it. So like, I try to, I try to answer as many of them as I can, but like, it's, it's nice when I see other people in the like, other group experts. And I'm like, All right, like, that one's handled. I'm not gonna, like, I'm not gonna beat a dead horse with it. Yeah, I

Scott Benner 56:39
know I feel that way sometimes, like, Oh, good. Somebody got that one. You know, you can expose people to the light. They gotta let it in and, oh, yeah. I mean, that sounded so verbose, like the light, but I just mean, like, good information, you know what? I mean, like, there's, you know, you've detailed it. Plenty of people have been on here, have detailed it. You can live with diabetes for a week, a month or 10 years, and nobody will ever tell you something as simple as, you know, insulin doesn't work right away, so you have to put it in a little before you eat. Yeah, you know, and how life changing that one decision can be seriously, I look back on that moment for you and your story, and I think that person is maybe as culpable for what happened to you as anybody else, just telling you, like, don't put your insulin until after you eat. Like, just being that wrong about something so basic, and look where it led you, you know. Oh, yeah. And if you don't decide to get a pump and don't meet a pump trainer who goes, Hey, have you checked out this podcast? And if you don't, then go actually check it out and try it, or relate to it, or like, you know, you also Brian. You could have logged on and just not liked me. I mean, you might have been like, this guy's voice bothers me, or I don't like his ad, like, who knows? Like, you might not have intersected well with it, and then you're lost again, like, and then you're just blowing around until, hopefully you land on on a good answer that works for you. I just feel lucky that you found it. I feel lucky that everybody finds it, because, again, it's not, I don't know how many times I can say this. It's not like, I know a lot of like, super secret stuff that nobody else you don't even mean, like, it just, we just talk about it in a way that is accessible for people.

Speaker 1 58:13
Yeah, no, absolutely. It's just 100% like, just the way that you talk to people in general is just like you get, you get this information from people who don't even know that they have it, and then they're just telling you their story. And it turns into something that helps, like the management series in the in the podcast, like, definitely are, like, incredible, and everybody should listen to them. Like, I've listened to the pro tips like, three times through, but I learned so much from other like, just conversational episodes that, yeah, I agree that most people don't like if you're not listening to all of them like that, there's stuff that's there's stuff that's left on

Scott Benner 58:51
the table. Listen, I understand everybody's got a different life, you know, but I the people who say to me, like, because I get it all I get, I don't have time for this. And all I could think is like, Okay, I mean, it's just your health, but whatever, the one that recently, somebody will pop in and say, I don't learn that way, or I can't, like, I have ADHD, I can't listen. I'm like, you know, like, I don't know how you can come in here, tell me, Hey, my seven year old needs help. I'm afraid we're killing him. And they go listen to this thing. Oh, I can't listen to a podcast. Like, oh, I mean, what do you want me to do? You may come to your house and whisper it into your ear until, like, you understand. Like, I'm not sure what, like, at what point do you need to like, I have ADHD, well, then listen to it slower, in smaller chunks. I don't know. Like, I have no idea. Like, I'm sure it's not easy to have ADHD, but like, I don't understand, not going well. I have ADHD, but I'm gonna try this, because this sounds important, and Ryan and 9000 other people in here are telling me that I listen to this podcast, and I'm doing great now. And the secret is in there, what you said, By the way, Ryan, like, if you listen to the show every day I put it out, you'd spend about five hours a week. Listening to it. I guarantee you're all scrolling Tik Tok for twice as much time. Ryan's right, like 20 minutes into a conversation, a half an hour into a conversation, sometimes five minutes into it. Sometimes at the very end, a person will just say something almost off handedly, and it could very well and often, is the thing that's going to save you, because eventually you you will hear somebody mimic the problem you're having, and then they're saying it out loud, because they generally have an answer, or they know where to go to find out, or something like that. Like, that's the, that's the key. I mean, oh yeah, you got it right. As far as I'm concerned about the way the podcast works, you have it exactly right? Yeah.

Speaker 1 1:00:39
I mean, it's, it's incredible. Like, like I said, like being diabetic from before, I can remember, like, I listen to every episode, and I'm like, I can, I can almost relate with something that every single person is saying. I don't know, man, I just feel blessed that I was able to, like, find it, and it's just it. It's so awesome that like that. This is out there for people. It needs to be more. I know like, you say it all the time. Like it, I know that you hope it reaches so, like, millions and millions and millions of people. And I do too, and I and I just really think that, like, it could make a huge difference in the world for everybody to know it. So I do, I tell, I mean, I tell everybody about it. Like the babysitter I had when I was a baby, like she was my babysitter before I was diagnosed. And then she, like, learned so much about diabetes. She got diagnosed with diabetes when she was, like, I don't know, 11 or 12 or something. I can't remember how old she was or she had she's probably older than that, because my, she's my, maybe 16. She told me that just from, like, learning from me and like, taking care of me as a baby, it helped her with her diabetes. And like, I told her about it. Like, I still, I still talk to her every now and then and so, like, I'm telling everybody

Scott Benner 1:01:42
I do this thing. I have these charts that I use when I speak in person to try to make that point, which is, I'll say, like, Okay, so here are my friend and my daughter's graphs, and they're really, they're terrible, they're all over the place. And I said, and then, like, I spent some time privately speaking with her, so all I did was download the ideas that I implemented back then for my daughter to another person, and I said, Now look at their graphs. Look how oddly like similar they are to each other, right? These are two people who live in two different places. They eat two different ways. They wearing two different pumps. They have cycles that are on two different cycles. Like, all this stuff about them is different, but look how similar their outcomes are. What is the tie in here? Right? Like, why do these graphs and these graphs look the same in two completely different people? And the answer is, I'm the one who explained to both of them how to take care of their diabetes. When people say I'm different, or, you know, I'm brittle, or you don't hear people sad as much anymore where, like, you don't know my diabetes is different. You're all different. And there's a lot of tons of variables, but the one thing that never changes is that the insulin needs to be in the right places at the right time. And that really is as simple as that. It's not easy to accomplish, maybe, but it isn't more difficult than that. Truth, if the insulin was there in the right amounts at the right times, you wouldn't have excursions like that. You wouldn't get low later, and you can figure that out now, go listen to a free podcast until it makes sense, and then go live your life and don't have an eye surgery one day. You know what? I mean, like, 100%

Speaker 1 1:03:15
and, like, it's funny because, like, I, I was talking to my wife about it one day, and, I mean, this is probably months ago, and I was like, I go, it's crazy how like, easy this actually is. She's like, easy. She goes, You know, this isn't easy. And I said, but it's really not that hard. Like, once you just once you learn the information, like you said, timing an amount, once you and like, and everything's different, right? Like, one of my favorite things in the world is potatoes. And I think I've eaten potatoes like, four times in the last 11 months, because potatoes mess my blood sugar up. And so, like, I'm willing to cut that out. And then every now and then I'll like, Alright, I'm going to try to figure this out. And like, I'm just, but it's okay for me to, like, it's okay to, like, just remove something or to do something different, to be able to manipulate your blood sugars to work with, with what you want to eat. And so like, I can eat potato chips because the fat, or I can eat french fries because the fat helps. But like, if I just eat a potato, my blood sugar just shoots, just shoots straight up. And I know a lot of people are like that, and I know there's different ways to cook them and different things that like that work. But like, You got to spend the time to figure it out, and it really is just implementing what you learn and trial and error. I try to tell people like and without pushy and without being like, I know everybody's different, but don't wait those three months between end of appointments to make a change in your pump. You are allowed to get in the settings of your pump and increase your basal rate, you're allowed to change your sensitivity, factor, your carb ratio. Like, you can figure these things out on your own. And then if, if you really are the type of person that needs to go talk to your acknowledged about it great, make notes. Like, here's what I did, and here's the outcome, and here's this and and just go talk to them and just tell them, hey, look, here's what I tried. Is there anything different that you see? Like. Maybe it's somebody has a great endocrinologist that's like, oh no. Like, what you did really worked. But why don't we try this instead? And like, and really get it going, or you have the endocrinologist that are just like, oh yeah. Maybe you shouldn't have done that, because your drop, your blood sugar dropped down for one for one, CGM reading right? Like, one way or the other. It's your life. Yeah, it's your life. Get out there and just, like, really take control over it and don't turn out, like, my eyes, like it's

Scott Benner 1:05:26
No, I mean, listen, it's sad, right? Like, I mean, what happened to you is really tragic. It really is. I mean, you mentioned Mike earlier, from complications is complicated, and I think buying a condo, condo shopping, yeah, is maybe his other episode. You have no idea how many people, like, adults living with diabetes, have been helped by him sharing his story. And so where, in the past, I would have been afraid, like, oh, you know, you're gonna, Ryan's gonna come on, he's gonna talk about this eye surgery, trust me, if you guys could see it, you'd be fucking freaked out. And people are gonna see that as, like, you know, fear mongering and everything. But I don't know, like, I just, I'm not saying it's gonna happen to you, but I'm saying, you know, wouldn't you like to make as sure as possible that it's not going to happen? And you know, if the answer is just using your insulin better and taking a little control and not being so like, oh well, this is what they told me to do, and I did it. It didn't work out. It's not my fault. I followed instructions. Like, you know, that kind of stuff. It's not unknowable how to handle it, and it is not crazy to think that if you ignore it, you're going to have a significantly poor outcome that will impact your life and possibly in an irreversible way. That's just true. It sucks, but it's true. And if you're listening right now and your kids five, and you're like, upset by it, like, I mean, good news, right? Like diabetes, pro tips, you know, the bowl beginning series, you should be able to absorb everything that Ryan heard that helped him. And if you don't have a clear path after hearing those things, or you have ADHD and it's hard for you to listen, or whatever else is going on in your life that you don't have time, then go to the Facebook group and ask questions to people. And you know, I always tell people, a year later, you're gonna look back and not recognize yourself, Oh, yeah.

Speaker 1 1:07:05
I mean it, it's incredible. Like, my, like, my daughter, she's, she's five years old, and like, she'll just be sitting and she's like, Daddy, what's your blood sugar? And like, I'll say it, and she'll be like, okay, like, I think you like, she's like, maybe I'll go get your glucose tablets. Like, even just like, the talking, like, it's helping my five year old understand, yeah, like, what's going on? Like, I'm like, I'm not gonna lie. Like, I'll be sitting on the couch sometimes, and I'm like, Oh man, I left my water in the bedroom. Hey, Harper, go get my go get my water. She'll come out with my water and my glucose tablets. And I go, what'd you bring me those four she goes, Ah, just in case, when you start learning and you start caring, you start talking, you open up the world to the other people around you of what's going on, and then then you have this group of people that is also able to help you, like I said earlier, like with my wife, like the the two weeks that she was managing my diabetes, my average blood sugar was 124 or like 125 which, like, I couldn't have done That myself years ago, she's only able to do it because of me listening to the podcast, her listening to what I'm saying, and then she figured out how to use the PDM with me, not being able to see to even show her how to do things. Well, that's

Scott Benner 1:08:10
such a good point, really, is that now she didn't grow up with diabetes. She has no background in it other than being married to you, but you weren't exactly light in the world on fire while you were married. So So she's a proxy, and only understanding it through your retelling of a telling of something. And so just, I mean, I don't know, I'm not frustrated right now, but like, if I start talking about, I'm going to get fresh, like, just listen to the stupid podcast and then feel better. It's free. For God's sakes, you don't have to pay for it. Like, there's ads. It'd be lovely if you listen to them, because that's what keeps the whole thing going. But if you don't like all right, I get it. Just do better for yourself, because the truth is, the better you do, you're going to go back to an endocrinologist who hopefully is not going to fight you, and you're going to and maybe you have to tell them a couple of times, like, what's the secret here? I learned how to do this on this podcast. I've heard that from somebody else, they'll say, then they'll tell somebody about the podcast, and then another person doesn't have Ryan's problems, and on and on and on and on and on. And there are tons of people running around in this world using insulin who don't know what the hell they're doing with it, and they're just hanging on until something goes wrong. And it just doesn't need to be like that. It does not need to be that way. Yeah, all I want for all you is to just be as healthy and happy as possible. And to Ryan's point, that it feels easy now, you know, look, look, and if you're not a sports fan, like this might allude you for a second, but everyone's going to know this guy's name right now. So I'll use it as an example, because he's he and his brother are very famous, but I grew up in Philadelphia watching the Eagles play football. And for the last decade, until last year, we had a center who was undersized, Jason Kelsey. He was too small to be center. As a matter of fact, I remember when they drafted him thinking, like, this guy is going to get playing on his ass and never get back up again. Like there's no way he's going to ever play and he ends up being a Hall of Fame. Center, and when you watch him play, it's because he understands leverage and angles and the little things about football and his job in football that, I think, that other people ignore, and just these little things. So when you look up and you see a guy who's six, eight inches shorter than the guy across from and he's throwing him on the ground like a rag doll. It's not because he's stronger, right? It's because he understands the game. And you watched him play some days, and you thought, man, it looks easy for him, you know, like he he transcended to a place where it looks easy. And I know it's not easy. Football cannot possibly be easy, especially at a professional level, right? But you're watching this undersized Guy No one would have ever pointed to and said, Oh, he's going to be, you know, the best at this. And there he is out there, just gliding along and doing it and that that's kind of how I see you and your diabetes. When you say, it feels easy, like you have enough tools now you know enough things. You know how to approach things from certain ways that it just kind of goes your way most of the time. Am I right about that?

Speaker 1 1:11:02
Oh, I'm 100% right. Like, I think one of the first things like that Jordan told me was like, Hey, if you want to have lower highs, lower your high limit. And then I heard you say it, and like, within the first week, I think I went from, like, my high limit being 180 to 150 and then I told myself, like, once I get to 100% in range at that, I'm going to lower it more, and I'm going to lower it more and more and more. And it's just yeah, like, these tools that you have at your disposal are there, and once you learn how to use them, nothing's going to be able to stop you. Yeah, and you just have to, you just have to do it. Just get out there and do it. Listen,

Scott Benner 1:11:38
forget diabetes. Like you've got the right tools. You get what you expect. Yeah, that's most of life is trying, you know? Like, I don't want to, like, turn this into, like, a Chicken Soup for the Soul podcast, but, like, I mean, there are some things in the world that can stop you. There's no doubt, right? But for the most part, you're the master of how you feel, what you think, what you try, and often, just trying is more than enough. You know, like, people will ask me, like, How'd you make this podcast so big? I was, like, I just made the podcast, right? Like, I just, I mean, there's little, there's little things about it that obviously work for people, and I had to get lucky, and know what they are. But you think, like, oh, he just got lucky. He's got a deep voice, or he maybe it's just a natural, like, conversationalist, or something like that, but that's not true. Like, I've tried to tell people, like I grew up listening to talk radio and listening to, like, skilled conversationalists have conversations with people this way, like, I don't look I'm not looking at you right now. I don't look at most of the people I talk to. I've never met them before. They pop on and we start recording. You know, you just went through with it. You know, you went through this with me an hour and a half ago. But I get on with people. I say, Hey, do you have any questions or concerns before we start normally, they don't, or they want to tell me they're nervous. I say, don't worry. It's going to be okay. Let me tell you a couple of things. You don't need to use your full name, as a matter of fact, if you don't want to use your real first name, first name, we'd be happy to make up a name for you right now. That's fine. Don't use other people's names unless you're sure that it's okay. I can't be your guardrail. So you know, if you get super comfortable and start saying something crazy, I'm just gonna ask you questions about it. I'm not gonna stop you and say, Oh, Ryan, I don't think you should say this on a podcast. And then I go, okay, is that it? And they go, Yeah, I'm like, Okay, well, gather yourself, I'm gonna hit record and we're gonna start. That's as long as I know people before I have a conversation with them. That's not because I'm awesome at this. It's because I've been listening to people talk to each other, like, for 30 years. I have tools, so I've got my tools, and then I decided to do the thing. And now it works. There are days, by the way, that you don't walk in here super excited. You're not like, oh my god, I can't wait to record another episode of the podcast. Like, like, you know, like, there's days where I'm tired or I don't feel well, or, like, right before you and I jumped on, like, Arden's having trouble getting your Dexcom to connect. Like, I have actual problems right now that I need to deal with. And it would be great to say to you, Hey, Ryan, let's do this another day. Like, I don't feel like doing this right now, but that's not true. Like I do feel like doing it right now, and I am going to, I'm going to do it every day, whether I'm sick or tired or it's inconvenient, because this is what I do, like, and I don't know, like, people should put that effort into their diabetes and their health in general. Like it sucks some days, it's easier some days, but this is what I do, and it's a net positive for me when I do those things. And I'm not trying to say I don't like making the pie. I actually I love making the podcast. And I know you probably don't love your diabetes, but you gotta love ease of living and health, right? Is that not a thing that you could focus on? It seems to me, oh

Speaker 1 1:14:44
no, absolutely and again, like over the last 11 months now, like really getting control of it, like everything else in my body feels better, like I feel I just, I feel better with my blood sugars being under, under control, like I, you know? I mean when, when my blood I mean, like a 10.7 A, 1c, that I had in. January is an average blood sugar of 278 Yeah, and now at a 5.7 my last one was a 5.7 like, that's such a big difference of the toll that the interior of your body is doing on itself that now isn't there, it opens up so many other things. And I did not know this until listening to the podcast, but proper insulin makes you gain weight. I've put on like, 20 pounds since I started listening to the podcast. Luckily, I'm active, but over the last month, not being able to do anything from all the surgeries. Like, now I'm like, Oh man, I gotta lose weight. To me, it's like, this is awesome. Like, I'm I'm getting chubby because of because of better health, and now I just gotta fix that

Scott Benner 1:15:39
part. So now you're up to the like, maybe now I gotta look at my calories. Yeah,

Speaker 1 1:15:43
now, yeah, exactly like, now I like, all right, I figured out the insulin. Now, let's figure out everything else, to just continue to live a healthy life, like even putting on the weight. Like, my my cholesterol still good. Like, I'm still good. But I need to, I need to at least continue to continue down this health journey and just, and just continue to do a better job. Because, like, I have people that rely on me every day. Yeah, man, no, I hear you. There's so many people in the podcast that I, like, I give it up to all the parents out there and all the and the people who are caregivers for for their little type ones. And it's just like, I can only imagine. Like, I know it's hard for me. I know that it was hard for my parents. Like, I feel for you and like, just, know, like, the group experts, the whole group, like, it's not just the group experts that are there for people. There is, there's 50,000 people in that group, in that Facebook group, that are there for you, get on, ask questions and and just, just take it for what it's worth. But maybe, maybe, maybe there's one person in the in there that will answer something in a way that somebody will be able to resonate with. And it might not be it might not be you, Scott, it might not be me, but it could be anybody. And I just, and that's like when I try to answer questions, I try to answer the question, give advice, but then also tag the podcast that helped me with it, because I know that I'm probably not as good at describing it as what you and Jenny were in the episode about fat and protein, right? Like

Scott Benner 1:17:00
there's so many you taught your wife, like, by bugging the hell out of her. Sounds like, Oh yeah,

Speaker 1 1:17:07
you know. But like, for me, like, part of it for me, like an like, not to get in a whole nother, like conversation, but like, learning about diabetes and how, like, have being a diabetic is like, a bigger chance for my daughter to get it. Like, it's important for me to really learn everything, because if she does get it, I want to make sure that I that we're able to take care of her properly. Yeah, and, and the time that I spent with my wife asking to take care of my diabetes. Like, I know that if, if my daughter did get it for some reason, like, by chance or whatever, she's gonna be fine, right? Like, I'm not gonna be worried about it. I'm not gonna be like, I mean, don't get me wrong, I'll probably worried. But like, I know that I already have the tools. I know how to make it work, and I know what, what technology to get to make to just make it easy for and like, as many times as she's like, I mean, she's told me, Oh, Daddy, I want diabetes. I can be like you, and I'm like, you don't want

Scott Benner 1:17:51
it. I promise you find another way to be like, Daddy, make a cabinet. Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 1:17:55
Pick, pick something else. But you know, she sees problems with she sees my eye problems. And like, she said, like, she said, like, I don't want it, Dad, I said, I don't want you to have it either. Like, but at least I know that, like, if something happens that, like, she's gonna be fine. You

Scott Benner 1:18:07
know what to do? Yeah, I appreciate that. I really Domino. I'm gonna stop at that, because I think that's a I think that's an awesome way to stop Brian, I can't possibly thank you enough for doing this. I know it takes a long time to get on the podcast and everything, so I appreciate it. I appreciate the effort and time that you put into helping other people. I appreciate knowing that this was valuable for you. Because, like I said, I sit in a I'm in like a 10 by 10 room, like by myself, pretty much, like 10 hours a day making the podcast. So I'm only able to do what I think is going to be valuable. But I almost I need more touch points like this. You know, that's why hearing back from people is is really helpful. So I appreciate your feedback too.

Speaker 1 1:18:49
Well. Thank you, Scott. I really can't say it enough. Thank you. Thank everybody in the group and just this is awesome. It's

Scott Benner 1:18:54
absolutely my pleasure. I had a great time talking to you. Hold on one second for me. All right.

Speaker 2 1:19:02
You stay tuned

Scott Benner 1:19:07
till the end to learn more about blue circle health. If you're looking to get care for free or other support, blue circle health might be where you need to be. You can use the same continuous glucose monitor that Arden uses, all you have to do is go to dexcom.com/juice, box, and get started today. That's right, the Dexcom g7 is sponsoring this episode of The Juicebox Podcast. When you place your first order for ag one, with my link, you'll get five free travel packs and a free year supply of vitamin D drink, ag one.com/juice box.

Earlier you heard me talking about blue circle health, the free virtual type one diabetes care, education and support program for adults and. I know it sounds too good to be true, but I swear it's real. Thanks to funding from a big T 1d philanthropy group, blue circle health doesn't bill your insurance or charge you a cent. In other words, it's free. They can help you with things like carb counting, insurance navigation, diabetes technology, insulin adjustments, peer support, Prescription Assistance and much more. So if you're tired of waiting nine months to get in with your endo or your educator, you can get an appointment with their team within one to two weeks. This program is showing what T 1d care can and should look like. Blue circle health is currently available in Florida, Maine, Vermont, Ohio, Delaware, Alabama and Missouri. If you live in one of those states, go to blue circle health.org to sign up today. The link is in the show notes, and please help me to spread the word blue circle health had to buy an ad because people don't believe that it's free, but it is. They're trying to give you free care if you live in Florida, Maine, Vermont, Ohio, Delaware, Alabama and Missouri. It's ready to go right now. And like I said, they're adding states so quickly in 2025 that you want to follow them on social media, blue circle health, and you can also keep checking bluecirclehealth.org to see when your free care is available to you. I can't thank you enough for listening. Please make sure you're subscribed or following in your audio app. I'll be back tomorrow with another episode of The Juicebox Podcast. The episode you just heard was professionally edited by wrong way, recording, wrong way, recording.com.