#1419 Death Farts

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Thalia's son has diabetes, gut issues and she shares a glucagon story. 

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

Scott Benner 0:00
Hello friends, and welcome back to another episode of The Juicebox Podcast. Today's guest is the mother of a son with type one diabetes. He's eight years old and has some gut health issues. There's lots of thyroid stuff in the family. We'll even have a glucagon story towards the end of the interview. And this mom has some health issues of her own. 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. Don't forget to save 40% off of your entire order at cozy earth.com All you have to do is use the offer code juice box at checkout. That's Juicebox at checkout to save 40% at cozy earth.com, 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. If you or a loved one was just diagnosed with type one diabetes, and you're looking for some fresh perspective. The bowl beginning series from the Juicebox Podcast is a terrific place to start. That series is with myself and Jenny Smith. Jenny is a CD CES, a registered dietitian and a type one for over 35 years, and in the bowl beginning series, Jenny and I are going to answer the questions that most people have after a type one diabetes diagnosis. The series begins at episode 698, in your podcast player, US med is sponsoring this episode of The Juicebox Podcast, and we've been getting our diabetes supplies from us med for years. You can as well. US med.com/juice, box or call 888-721-1514, use the link or the number get your free benefits check and get started today with us. Med, this episode of the juice box podcast is sponsored by Medtronic diabetes and their mini med 780 G system designed to help ease the burden of diabetes management, imagine fewer worries about mis Bolus or miscalculated carbs thanks to meal detection technology and automatic correction doses. Learn more and get started today at Medtronic diabetes.com/juicebox

Thalia 2:17
Hi. I am Thalia. I'm a mom of one type, one diabetic, a boy who's eight years old.

Scott Benner 2:24
How do Caucasian people mispronounce your name?

Speaker 1 2:26
Talia, Thalia, Delia. Talia, Talia. Sometimes I'm just t at work, just a letter. Because,

Scott Benner 2:35
why is it? Because I have to, like, I don't know how to salsa up your name when I'm talking, because I'm so I'm so Caucasian, that is really the problem. Like, say it again, Thalia, Thalia, yeah, did I do it? Ah, a little bit, a little bit. You're like, No, you didn't try. Yeah, hold on, Thalia, yeah, that's good. All right, I'm gonna try, but it's definitely going to come out, like, I'm ordering a taco, and I'm definitely going to be like, can I get the chimney? I'm definitely going to mess it up, but I'm going to try my video. Okay, so what's the deal? Like? Do I just kind of have to feel it in my soul or something? Is it in my hips? Where am I not getting it?

Speaker 1 3:18
The th is a lot softer. I mean, you said it pretty softly. Is Thalia? Thalia

Scott Benner 3:24
like that? All right? I'm gonna do my best, but, you know, I'm gonna call you t at some point, yeah, and I apologize ahead of time, and that's what I'm gonna say. That's okay. Just the letter is fine. I also can't dance, so please don't judge me on this. I'm judging you. What? Thank you. What made you want to come on the

Speaker 1 3:43
podcast? Why I wanted to add my voice to all the others? You know, I the podcast really helped me have all these experiences under my belt. So when things happened in my daily life with my son, I just I felt like I I had already had those experiences. I was there. I did that. Okay, I can do this. Move on, even though that really never happened to me. So I just wanted to to add to that

Scott Benner 4:10
so someone else could do it so interesting. I'm sure sometimes I say stuff like this, and people like, yeah, dummy. You don't know that about your own pocket, but I really don't. I don't say this much anymore. I used to say it more when I, you know, when I was starting out, but I'm just recording, and I don't really have, like, there's some things I plan for but generally speaking, I'm not thinking, like, Oh, I'll say this and then they'll understand that. Like, I don't really do it that way. But are you saying that the podcast acts almost like a flight simulator for you? Yes. Is that right? So once you're in the plane, you're and a bird hits the engine, you go, Oh, I've already done this. I know what to do

Speaker 1 4:45
exactly. I feel like everybody's collective experiences on the podcast are my own. That's how I feel, because I'm I already know what to do, like, Okay, that didn't work for that person. I'm not going to do that again. It's exactly the way you described. It. Oh, that's so

Scott Benner 5:01
interesting. And so when something pops up that is technically the first time for you that a lot of people find, like frightening or overwhelming or something, does it actually alleviate those issues as well? Yes,

Speaker 1 5:14
yes, I don't. I don't feel stressed out. I used to feel a lot of stress and anxiety in the beginning of his diagnosis. I mean, I've even had like seizures related to stress, and I don't feel any stress at all about unknown situations or random things that happen anymore, just because it's these are all tools in in my belt now, all these experiences. Well,

Scott Benner 5:39
Philia, you had stress induced seizures. Yes, tell me about that. In

Speaker 1 5:45
the first, like three months, I remember not knowing what low was like we left the hospital. His lips were blue. His blood sugar we tested was like 40. And I'm like, This is great. He's not through 300 you know, I didn't know what low was. And then once I finally understood weight, like doing my own research, low means, like, death, basically, you know, seizures and horrible things can happen. I used to run around the house like he's 50, he's 60, whatever. And it got to the point where we check his blood sugar, my son would see his number. He was four at the time, and he would also run around. It was like crazy in my in our house in the very beginning, and I would just be sitting down doing nothing, like playing chess, or, I don't know, just doing nothing, anything at all. And I would just like, pass out. I don't know if it was because of lack of sleep. I don't know if it was just me thinking about the overthinking things, but I would just like, have tunnel vision and just pass out.

Scott Benner 6:53
You pass out. You wouldn't cease. Would you shake and and have, like,

Speaker 1 6:57
a family have has told me that I would shake a little bit. My eyes would roll back. I wasn't foaming I wasn't like spitting up, but that's what would happen to me. Wow,

Scott Benner 7:07
did you end up going to a therapist or psychologist for that? Or how did you handle that? Today's episode is sponsored by Medtronic diabetes, who is making life with diabetes easier with the mini med 780 G system, the mini med 780 G, automated insulin delivery system, anticipates, adjusts and corrects every five minutes. Real world results show people achieving up to 80% time and range with recommended settings, without increasing lows. But of course, Individual results may vary. The 780 G works around the clock, so you can focus on what matters. Have you heard about Medtronic extended infusion set? It's the first and only infusion set labeled for up to a seven day wear. This feature is repeatedly asked for, and Medtronic has delivered. 97% of people using the 780 G reported that they could manage their diabetes without major disruptions of sleep. They felt more free to eat what they wanted, and they felt less stress with fewer alarms and alerts you can't beat that. Learn more about how you can spend less time and effort managing your diabetes by visiting Medtronic diabetes. Com slash Juicebox diabetes comes with a lot of things to remember, so it's nice when someone takes something off of your plate. US med has done that for us. When it's time for Arden supplies to be refreshed, we get an email rolls up and in your inbox says, Hi, Arden, this is your friendly reorder email from us med. You open up the email, it's a big button that says, Click here to reorder, and you're done. Finally, somebody taking away a responsibility instead of adding one. Us. Med has done that for us. An email arrives, we click on a link, and the next thing you know, your products are at the front door. That simple, us, med.com/juice, box, or call 888-721-1514, I never have to wonder if Arden has enough supplies. I click on one link, I open up a box, I put the stuff in the drawer, and we're done. Us. Med carries everything from insulin pumps and diabetes testing supplies to the latest CGM like the libre three and the Dexcom g7 they accept Medicare nationwide, over 800 private insurers, and all you have to do to get started is call 888-721-1514. Or go to my link, us, med.com/juicebox, using that number or my link helps to support the production of the Juicebox Podcast,

Speaker 1 9:42
I got better with diabetes. That's what happened.

Scott Benner 9:46
I don't need a therapist. I just need to stop seeing a 50 blood sugar so much. Yes, listen, just for people's edification, a stress induced seizure, also known as a psychogenic non epileptic seizure. Is a type of seizure that occurs due to psychological factors rather than abnormal electrical activity in the brain. It goes on and on, but that's apparently actually a thing I had never heard of that before, that's so interesting. I love that people still say things that I'm like, I've never heard that before and so, so let's be clear. Instead of going to a psychologist and saying, Hey, I keep like, having seizures from stress. You listen to a podcast, got better diabetes and they stopped happening. Yeah, exactly, for free everybody. I didn't charge her for that

Speaker 1 10:29
free after a $300 bill from a brain doctor, they're called, I was like, I'm just gonna listen to this podcast. The Brain

Scott Benner 10:38
guy got 300 and I got nothing. Nothing unbelievable. Sorry, I'll use the advertisers money and pay my bills. It's not a big deal. Thank you. Honestly, like, I'm joking about that, but I'm super proud of that, by the way, again, so many episodes, so if you're newer to the show, I'm proud that, like some people, like, oh, you take ads. Like, I take ads so that Leah can listen to the podcast for free, like, and then I can make the podcast like, It's nine o'clock right now on a Wednesday morning, six months before this podcast is gonna air, like, this is a real job, you know. And you know, somebody's gotta pay the water bill, etc, and send my kids to college and everything. And I don't want it to be you, like, I don't want to take $300 from you and from the other and from everybody listening, so that I can make a podcast like I want to. I want it to be free. I don't think your health and happiness should cost you extra money, and

Speaker 1 11:32
I don't think people would listen if I had to pay $1 every time I listened to an episode. There's definitely going to be limited amount of episodes I could listen to. So I hear that I

Scott Benner 11:43
made that point to a company a few years ago. They came to me and they said, You should monetize your podcast. You can get rid of all your advertisers, and your fans won't have to listen to ads. They'll be so thrilled, etc, and you charge them a monthly fee to listen, or a buy the episode, fee listen. I sat in a meeting, and the lady said to me, how many downloads Do you have? And it was a few years ago, and back then, I think I had like 10, 10 million downloads. And she goes, What if you just charged each one of them $1 for a download? You'd have 10 million and I went, No, I wouldn't. And she goes, Oh no, no. And she's, I was like, stop. I was like, as soon as you put a barrier to entry, people are gonna stop. They're not gonna listen. You can't promise. Like, I mean, your story is really cool, and I appreciate you sharing it. But can you imagine the ad I'd be like, Listen, are you having stress induced seizures? Just listen to the podcast, they'll go away. Like, you know, no. People would be like, Oh my gosh, crack pot. I shut the meeting down very quickly because I was like, This is not okay. I'm like, everyone who wants it needs to be able to get it. I'm just gonna stick with my ad model. And she really, she tried, she pressed and pressed. And I was like, No, it's not how it's gonna work. Like, I'll keep a small percent of listeners, I won't make nearly as much money as you're saying, and on top of that, I'm gonna feel terrible about all the people who are now not listening to the podcast. And I take your point too, because when it's free and it's a story of you like a lady who's got a kid with diabetes, but I'm an adult and I have diabetes, and I don't listen, because I'm like, oh, that has nothing to do with me, and I'm not going to pay $1 for it. But if suddenly it's free, maybe you wind it up and give it a shot. And, you know, 20 minutes into it, you're like, Oh, my God, I have stress induced seizures. I didn't even know what they were like, you know, who knows, right? So, okay, nuggets

Speaker 1 13:38
of information in every episode, like small little things. Thank you.

Scott Benner 13:43
I try. Okay, by the way, how long into the chat, into your child's diagnosis, did those seizures happen? And how long did it take you to get rid of

Speaker 1 13:51
them? Not long. So it was like two months into diagnosis that that started happening. And then once, I got pretty good at diabetes, because I got pretty good pretty quickly, because I found you like out of the hospital. It just took me a little while to start listening, and maybe within five months post diagnosis, they were gone like this. One day they just stopped. I'm so glad. I don't know exactly the day they just stopped.

Scott Benner 14:18
Yeah, no, no, I'm so glad for you. Tell me a little bit about the diagnosis story. How did you figure it out? So

Speaker 1 14:24
We're originally from New York, and we moved to Georgia sometime in 2020 so in the summertime, and suddenly my son starts school. He's four, and he's in pre K, and he just is sleeping all the time, like he comes home from school and he sleeps, and then he eats like crazy and just sleeps, and his behavior is the worst. I'm like, what is happening? And I go on Google, and Google's telling me he's depressed because we moved and that's not at all what happened. Yeah. I'm like, my four year old is depressed, whatever you. Do we gotta go back to New York like, this is terrible,

Scott Benner 15:03
honey. Put all this stuff back in the truck. We gotta get out of here. Look, this happened to the boy. He doesn't like the south

Speaker 1 15:08
Exactly. I'm like, I don't like the South. He doesn't like the South. Let's go. That's not at all what happened. So one day in school he, you know, he's hyperventilating. I forgot what that's called,

Scott Benner 15:21
The Kuzma respirations. Kuzma respirations, he's doing that

Speaker 1 15:25
he's got throw up on his face because was throwing up. He was in, DK, his lips are blue. He's passing out. I'm like, smacking him in the back of a car, like, wake up, wake up. And we take him to, like, a local urgent care where they test a bunch of things. They finally check his blood sugar, and that was over 400 we go to the hospital. I think I heard this on a recent episode too. The doctor just comes in, this is classic type one diabetes and walks out. I'm like what I hear? I hear the word diabetes, and instantly cry like every time somebody walks in and says diabetes. At that point, I just, I just cry. And then my son again, he's four at the time, he just looks over and says, I'm so sorry I have diabetes. And it was like a light switch. I just, I said, I'm not gonna cry anymore. Every time somebody says diabetes, I'm it just was a moment for me,

Scott Benner 16:21
your four year old was apologizing to you for having diabetes. Yes. Would

Speaker 1 16:27
come in, yes, yes. They would say, Oh, the diabetes. And I would just cry and cry. And I don't, I don't ever want him to feel like he did it to himself, or it's such a burden on me. Yeah. And from that moment, I was like, Okay, this is not gonna be hard on me. I'm not gonna let him show it. And then I have seizures, right?

Scott Benner 16:48
Yeah, you push it like, I'll hold it in, like, and your body was like, No, you won't, right? How old were you at that point? That was four years ago, and I'm 31 how old 27 Yeah, 27 There you go. Is he your first? Yes, he's my first. Okay, How long had you been married?

Speaker 1 17:07
Well, we've been married for 10 years this year. So since you were 21

Scott Benner 17:13
you had been married for like, six years at that point, and he was four. So you're married for two years. You made a baby four years later. It's telling you, I'm sorry, in a in a hospital, and you're like, Oh, this is going great. I used to live in New York. I used to be cool. I lived what happened

Speaker 1 17:27
exactly? I went from, like, New York Life to this,

Scott Benner 17:31
wow. Can I ask, like, about family background, like, now that you've had time to look at it, are there other autoimmune issues in your family on either side your husband or you. So we have

Speaker 1 17:41
a lot of thyroid disorders. My husband has Hashimotos. A lot of my cousins, my sister, my aunts have, I don't know if it's Hashimoto or not, but they have thyroid diseases, like they have some kind of disorder, whether it's overactive, underactive. My husband has a cousin, two cousins, to have type one on his side, so and then I have some type two on my side. What's your background? Me, I'm Dominican and Puerto Rican. Okay, how about him? He's Yemeni. Wow. Look at where'd you get him? That's amazing. Yeah,

Scott Benner 18:14
I know at university. Oh, you got him gone to college. Very nice. Do you miss New York

Speaker 1 18:21
a lot? I went through a year of depression when we first came Are

Scott Benner 18:25
you sure you didn't have type one diabetes? I'm just kidding. Arden went to college in Georgia, and she completed two years, and then came home and this summer said, I do not want to go back. And it wasn't just about the South, like she didn't love it in the south, but like, if that was the only issue for it would have been fine. She had a lot of other issues. I don't know that I'm like able to talk about because they're not mine, but they were a lot about the ineptitude of the school and the lack of direction she was getting. So she's pivoting and going to a different school. Now, actually, she's gonna change her major and go to a completely different place, but as soon as I took her to another place and it was more city, like, she's like, this is better. Like, just talking about the geography, she's like, this, this is better for me. And I'm like, okay, so it just wasn't for her. And I know other people, by the way, who live there and just love it. So I'm, I'm not saying you know anything, but you know, if you're used to something, if you're used to walking to things, if you're used to, you know, even the landscape, what things look like, it can be shocking to to change drastically, I would imagine, yeah, especially

Speaker 1 19:40
seeing people every day, whether they care about you or not. Just like seeing people and then going to a place where you literally don't see people unless you're in a supermarket or something like that. Like, that's a big change. You felt alone, yes, very, very, very long.

Scott Benner 19:57
And then the diabetes happen on top of all that. Yeah.

Speaker 1 19:59
Yes, and I have a really nice support so support group, like my family is so, so supportive. My son was diagnosed, and my mom retired and moved in with me. My aunt, who has type two diabetes, was like, I'm gonna come down for a week and help you. She didn't help at all, like she just sat around, talked at eight and didn't help me with she didn't help with one finger stick. I'm like, Why did you come?

Scott Benner 20:22
She's like, I could use a vacation. I'm going to your house,

Speaker 1 20:25
right? But at least, like, she came, you know? Yeah, that's

Scott Benner 20:29
funny. She didn't help at all. That was hilarious. I'm sorry. My aunt came. She didn't help. I'm like, you have type

Speaker 1 20:36
two diabetes. Like, this is where you tell me what high and low. Help me with a finger stick. Help me with something. Help me with one overnight, because we didn't have a Dexcom right away. Like, I don't know nothing.

Scott Benner 20:48
Do you think she got there and just recognized that what she knew didn't feel applicable to you?

Speaker 1 20:54
I don't know, but she didn't even really talk about diabetes where she came it was like, let me hang out with my sister. Who's my mom, you know,

Scott Benner 21:01
I see Gotcha. Yeah, let's go somewhere warm, and I'll talk to my sister for a week. I hear it Okay, never mind. I thought maybe it was diabetes related, but it's not okay. So people come down so you were, you did have some support, but they don't really know what to do, right? It's just sort of like they're there exactly.

Speaker 1 21:16
They're just there. And I'm left with this new thing that I don't know anything about. I got really, really great support from my husband's mom, so my mother in law, who has type two diabetes and she's on insulin, and she called me maybe three days after his diagnosis and gave me this huge lecture. And she kind of reminds me of you now that I've listened to you a lot, and she just said, like, nobody's gonna know his diabetes, like you, you are the master of his diabetes at this point. You have to educate yourself. You have to advocate for yourself. You have to make your own decisions change as he's changing. And you can do this like, you're going to do this day and night, day and night, day and night for the like, until he can do this on his own and you're going to be able to do this. No doctor is going to know more. No school nurse is going to know more. She said, I have type two diabetes. I'm not going to know more than his diabetes in you. And she gave me that that empowered me to go like, okay, now I need to go find what I need to know. She didn't tell me what I needed to know, but she gave me that, that power of like you you have to do this,

Scott Benner 22:30
right? What did you think initially like when you're in that hospital and you're crying and you pull yourself together and you listen to what they're saying, I guess, what did your marching orders feel like leaving the hospital, and then what did they end up actually being? That makes sense. Yeah,

Speaker 1 22:48
it was, count the carbs. Give insulin. You can give insulin after food. You can give insulin before food. It doesn't matter, and everything will be fine. Check, two hours after he eats, because he was poor at the time, and he is an eater. He's been an eater since the day that he could eat, you know. And I told my doctor that, and I guess they, you know, they just assume all kids sometimes have picky eaters or don't want to eat. So they said, just give it him insulin after. And so it was just that, just count carbs, and everything will be okay. Check the budget earlier, and then it was just like a set number of basal. It was like six units a day. And that's that I

Scott Benner 23:31
remember being told, like, these are the measurements for the thing. And then I remember the day that I realized, oh, that that's gonna change. Okay. Even I didn't even recognize that. Didn't I mean, like, I guess on some level, you get like, they're small, and when they grow they might need more, but nobody, like, generally speaking, says that to you. And so then your kid puts on a couple of pounds because they're growing, and you that that's great. And then all of a sudden you start having bad blood sugars. And, you know, just, you're like, I don't know what happened. I go, I'm doing the thing. It just stopped working. And then people say, I really should say this more now, because I just have gotten away from saying things. Because I used to feel like, Oh, I'm repeating myself, but I'm 10 years later, and some of this stuff is really important. I should keep saying it. You start with two units, they gain weight. You need more. All of a sudden, like I said, you don't know what's happening. It's not working anymore. And you default to, well, that's just diabetes. Because people say that, you go, Oh, I don't know there was a high blood sugar, and then overnight, and people go, Oh, that's just diabetes. Then you you accept that as though there's this unknowable force in diabetes, and things go wrong, and that's to be expected. And once you accept that, you stop looking for answers, and now diabetes is happening to you instead of you impacting it. And anyway, it's a phrase that really bothers me, that's just diabetes makes me it actually makes me upset. But I apologize. Go ahead, keep telling your story.

Speaker 1 24:58
I noticed. Something like, I couldn't trust those marching orders right away, because the doctor that we have, who you really love, by the way, I won't say her name like we had open access to her. We couldn't message her anytime until our three month appointment. Wait, she's been

Scott Benner 25:14
on the podcast. You could say her name, okay, Hasn't she been on? Yeah, she has. Yeah. Go ahead if you want to tell your doctor's name, go ahead.

Speaker 1 25:23
So she told me, you know, go ahead and we'll start Bolus before meals. Because I kept telling her, Well, he's high. He's 400 after meals. I realized, Wait, if she can change it from after meals to before meals, and then she can change my car ratio from this to this with one phone call. Like, I thought about my mother in law. I'm like, wait, I can do this. Like, this is like, she's guessing. She's get like, this is a guess. This is hopeful thoughts and praying for good outcomes. Like, I can have hopeful thoughts and pray for good outcomes too. And then that's when I started, because she gave me your your podcast, well, then the name of your podcast in the hospital. So I was like, Okay, I just need to listen to this thing, because she told me about it. She wouldn't tell me about it if it wasn't something good. And then that's when, like, everything changed. I started doing basal testing, even with just, like, a meter. And then I was able to go from six units a day to three units a day, and that helped a lot with the random lows and running around screaming. Okay, yeah, so let's first start.

Scott Benner 26:31
I'd like to highlight that idea for a minute that a person using man made insulin, once you realize what comes if you, if you you know you have autonomy about making decisions about dosing, like, once you figure out you don't have to go ask somebody to try something you know how to do it safely. It's an absolute game changer. It's a level up, like it really is, like, the minute you decide I don't have to wait three months to be told that I can increase the basal or that my carb ratio might not be working. That's the Fast Pass to figuring all this out. That's right, yeah, it's a big deal. Like, if you are sitting on a notebook, did you Yeah?

Speaker 1 27:16
That where I would write down, like, like a mad scientist this, did this at this hour, this hour, this hour, this meal. And I think that's where kind of the stress came from, because that was just logging everything on, like pen and paper. But it did help, because I felt the strength to be able to do it myself. I mean, we got in our three month appointment, his agency went down to 5.4

Scott Benner 27:41
okay, but you had a lot of lows in the beginning or no,

Speaker 1 27:44
we did have a lot, a lot of lows in the in the first month. Yes, yeah, and that's because of the basal and but once I fixed the basal through the basal testing, we were good.

Scott Benner 27:54
The cause and effect is so important. Like you said, you use the notebook. I don't write things down, but I quickly, well, quickly is the wrong word, because I wasn't great at this for a number of years. CGM really helped me. Like, the advent of the CGM really helped me, but I would just do that, like, I did this and then that happened. Like, what would I do for that to happen 10 minutes later, or five minutes sooner, or 20 points more in one direction, like, sounds like more or sooner or later. And I was like, oh. And then I would just keep, like, adjusting it around. And then you figure out, like, Oh, if I Pre Bolus a meal, I don't get a spike, you know. Like, okay, if you know. And then people like, Oh, don't you get low, like, before. I'm like, not if you do it right. Like, and I don't know how to explain that. I guess it's probably explained much better in the Pro Tip series, and if I dug into it right now. But it's the idea that's freeing. Like, oh, I can move this. I can try this. Like, it's not going to kill anybody. If you know the insulin to carb ratio was, I don't know, one unit covers 25 carbs, and I try to change it to 23 to see what happens. You know what I mean, like that kind of stuff,

Speaker 1 29:04
and waiting get, like, hours or days or months and weeks for a response back on that, that's useless. Yeah,

Scott Benner 29:12
you send a note even to great doctors. I'm reading between the lines, but if you live in Georgia, then I think I know who your doctor is. You don't have to say their name. But even when you have a very good endocrinologist, and that very good endocrinologist is saying to you, you should listen to a podcast like it tells you there's more to say than I can say to you in this in this visit, and you just gonna have to go immerse yourself in it for a while, until you pop up and you're like, Wow, this is I understand better now, yeah, and there's no quick answer. I've had people ask me for like, it's not as much now as it used to be. But people would say, like, well, I don't want to listen to the Pro Tip series. Just tell me what to do. And I thought, I always thought the same thing. I'm like, if I could just tell you what to do, I wouldn't have made the Pro Tip series. I would have just i. Don't know, written down the things to do. It's not it's just not that easy. Like, there's a little more to it than just tell me what to do. So you have to be invested enough, and have the time and the brain, the headspace to put yourself into it, to figure it out. Were you working at that time? Yes,

Speaker 1 30:17
yeah. I work from home, so I was working also. Were

Scott Benner 30:20
you working? Like, or were you, like, trying to figure out diabetes and, like, pushing buttons so they didn't fire you?

Speaker 1 30:25
Yeah, maybe just, like, clicking my mouse around so it'll keep me active.

Scott Benner 30:30
Remember when COVID started and there were these guys online that were, like, setting up these things that would move your mouse for you, to keep your computer awake, to make it look like you were working. I was like, Oh, my God, people are devious, but yeah. But my point is, is that whether you were in an office or at home, you were distracted and out of your mind. So, you know, it's understandable to not be able to focus and you're trying to, like, you said, hours move into days, right? Like you have a blood sugar gets crazy, and the next thing you know, you're chasing it around and it's getting high and it's getting low, and you're bouncing and ping ponging back and forth, and you don't know what you're doing. So it just keeps happening. And the entire time that's going on, there is a necessity inside of your heart and your gut telling you, I have to fix this, and yet you have no idea how to do it, and it's overwhelming, yes,

Speaker 1 31:25
and it's for your kid. Like, we all want the best for our children. Sure, it's like, how do I give that to them when you don't know what you're doing? Well, you have to educate yourself, and this podcast is the education Well,

Scott Benner 31:37
thank you. I'm glad, I'm glad it helped you. Do you remember where you started with it, and what kind of made you think, Oh, I am gonna listen to more of this. I think I just picked

Speaker 1 31:46
a random episode. I was like, holding clothes in the middle of the night because I couldn't sleep at that time. And I just picked a random episode and just listened and listened and listened until I was like, okay, like, I see I'm gathering the experiences, kind of, what I said before, like, I hear this, okay, then I stumbled across, across, I think it was the beginning of the Pro Tip series. I'm like, Okay, let me start listening to these. I think you started doing the defining diabetes at that time those. And it's just, like, gathers over time, like, so I just picked the random one, and I liked it, and I kept running. It's like, Tetris.

Scott Benner 32:23
Yeah. You know Tetris? Yes, yeah. That's how I think about the podcast. Because there's no, there's no way for me. People will say, like, why are the series not all together in the episodes? I'm like, well, that's not how it works. I can't, like, I'm not a machine. I can't turn out 25 episodes. Hold on to all of them and put them out in order. Plus, you don't understand how people listen to podcasts. If I put 25 out in row that built the series, the people who weren't interested in this series, I'd lose as listeners and like, so you put one out, you know, you work to put another one together. Back then, I used to do the editing myself. Like, so it takes time to put them out, but that's how I think about it. Like, keep listening, and you'll see a shape, and it'll fit in, and eventually you'll fill in your box, and you'll be good, you know, so

Speaker 1 33:10
and to be honest, from the beginning, I don't listen straight. I just jump around. I tried to listen from the beginning once, like, we're start from episode one, and I think I got to Episode 30, I was like, No, I can't do it like this. I want to just click and listen, click and listen,

Scott Benner 33:26
because it felt like it was going to take forever because it was older. And you're like, he wasn't as good at this as he is now. Or, like, because

Speaker 1 33:31
it felt like it was going to be like, I'm never going to reach to episode 1000 something like listening this way. I'm like, I just want I went and I also want to listen to what's current. Yeah, I don't want to wait for, like, the CEO of, you know, the the company that that makes a Fresa to I want to, I want to. I want to listen to that. Now I'm not going to wait, so I might as well just jump around and listen to what I want. My favorite

Scott Benner 33:53
way that people listen is they listen in two directions. So they'll listen to an old episode, and then listen in order, but at the same time they're listening to the new stuff. They kind of go backwards. They almost like burning a candle at both ends. They kind of listen towards the middle. I always thought that was an interesting way. I mean, listen in a perfect world, the podcast wouldn't have, I don't know it has now probably close to 1300 episodes, but, like, I get it like, you know, it's a lot. And I hear people sometimes say, like, well, there's 1000 episodes, like, what am I gonna I don't know where to start. And I always tell them to just start listening. Like, just start with this one. Start with the latest one. You know, do whatever works. You know, jump around. Who cares, do what works for you. And then hopefully you'll, you'll have the experience like you were the perfect listener to me, like the way it happened to you is great, like you heard it enough to make you think, like, Okay, I should keep listening to this, and then you find a little more, and find a little more, and eventually you get what you need. And that, that's my intention. I wish there was a better way to do it, but the way podcast apps are set up. Apps. Apple does not let you group things. If they did, I would, you know what I mean? If Apple let me, I'd you'd be able to click on a button that said defining diabetes and see all of them. But they just that's not. Most people don't build podcasts that are this. You know what you mean? You know what I mean? Like, it's usually just like, here's today's episode, here's tomorrow's episode. They're not connected to each other. It doesn't matter. You know, they're almost like a radio show. But, you know, I just happened to have like a, like a, there's like, courses in here, basically. And then I've had people say, like, Well, why don't you set up courses? And I was like, because I'm not a teacher and I'm not a doctor, like, I can't just say to you, like, this is a course that'll definitely teach you how to take care of diabetes. I have to tell you, like, I'm not a doctor, and this isn't advice, and you're just telling stories and having conversations based on what I've seen, and hopefully it's going to help you. And there's so

Speaker 1 35:53
many variables for you to teach every single person, like, there's there's too much to teach so that every person can get it right? You have to go through so many different things with them. Yes, they're different pumps. They're different insulin that, you know, the way they eat. There's just so many their activity level. Are they in school? Like, what kind of work do they do? There's too many things to teach everybody, like one person at a time. Yeah. And then people

Scott Benner 36:16
are busy, or they're fickle, and they go like, This doesn't have anything to do with me. I'm not gonna listen to this one. Okay. Well, there was something important in there. Important in there. Like, I can't, like, yeah, so I'm, I mean, the answer is, this is the best way I've figured out how to do it. So far, it seems to be working for a lot of people. So, like, right on, yeah, okay, well, that's, that's really lovely. So can I ask you a little more about the stuff that you put on your list? Yes, who has gut issues? My son okay. And did they start with diabetes?

Speaker 1 36:46
No, not at diagnosis. So he was diagnosed again at four. Around six is when we started noticing his stomach was hurting all the time. I mean, crippling stomach pain is and headaches, migraines where he wouldn't want to be out in the sun, he didn't want the lights on. I mean, a little six year old, like, crumpled in his bed crying because his head hurts and his stomach hurts, like it was really bad. And that's about the time we also notice, like, really crazy behavior, I mean, literal, jumping off the wall. You know, people use the phrase, oh, my kid is jumping off the wall. I mean, like feet on the wall, jumping from couch to wall to wall to couch. Like it was nuts.

Scott Benner 37:30
He wasn't yelling parkour in the middle. Was he? No,

Speaker 1 37:35
okay. I kind of wish he was. And then there'd be like, reason behind it, you know, it was just like crazy. And so then we did a few tests, and obviously we took him to the doctor and specialist, and he had like, he has gastritis. It turns out he still has gastritis. So to this day, his gastritis has never gone away. So he's been taking omeprazole since he was six. He has pica, so that is when you want to eat non edible items. He eats rocks, he eats paper, he eats tissue. He'll eat like candy wrappers. He'll eat cupcake liners. He'll eat lollipop sticks, like he eats things that you shouldn't eat.

Scott Benner 38:15
Is that anything you've ever seen with other family members?

Speaker 1 38:19
No, I've never even heard of this until this happened to my son. Interesting, yeah. How

Scott Benner 38:25
is this nutritional like? Does he have nutritional deficiencies? Is he have low iron or zinc, stuff like that?

Speaker 1 38:32
So we've, we've done a lot of blood tests, and nothing comes up deficient. He just enjoys, he said, he says it's satisfying. And so now I have to be very aware of, like, Hey, where's your popsicle stick? Put in the garbage, or give him a cupcake without the liner. Or, like, ask him to empty out his pockets after school to make sure, like, the school, like, like, the rocks from the playground aren't in his pocket. Or also, like, snack on them. Can

Scott Benner 38:59
I go through what I've learned? Yeah, so pica is often linked to deficiencies in minerals such as iron, zinc or other nutrients the body may trigger cravings for non food items and temp to obtain the lacking nutrients. There's also a possibility that there are psychological factors more common in individuals with mental health disorders such as obsessive compulsive disorder, autism spectrum disorder or schizophrenia. It can also occur in individuals with intellectual disabilities, cultural and societal factors. Consuming certain non food items is considered normal or holds traditional. He's not doing it for religious reasons, never mind Environmental Humanities like well, I'm going to tell you why. Let's see stress, neglect or lack of appropriate stimulation in certain environments, sounds like you're a good mom. I don't think that's probably happening. Not pregnant developmental I shouldn't have just skipped over that pregnant women sometimes develop pica, possibly due to hormonal levels, increases in nutritional needs or cultural practices more common in children, especially the. It was with developmental does? Does he have developmental delays? No, he is a very smart boy and certain medical conditions such as iron deficiency anemia or celiac. So that's what I got out of chat, G, P, t4, oh, which, by the way, is so far the bestest version. Yeah. So that's it really interesting. What do you do for that?

Speaker 1 40:21
A watch him like a hawk. Like, what's in your pocket, don't empty them. Like, just watch him. Like, and we have to, obviously, we talk to him a lot about it, like, this is not okay. It's gonna cause blockages in your intestines. Like, we've had to do multiple clean outs on him, like giving him MiraLAX and making sure his colon is cleansed, like, get

Scott Benner 40:43
a Lego out or something like that.

Speaker 1 40:44
No, thankfully he hasn't eaten Legos. It's, it's not toys he eats. It's like, it's like rocks and paper. That's what I noticed that he that he enjoys eating rocks and paper, that that's his taste.

Scott Benner 40:57
Wow. We used to chew on paper when we were kids. But I think we're just bored out of our minds, right? He's not

Speaker 1 41:04
bored like he's doing it while he's doing something else, I don't know. Sometimes I think about autism, but he's he's just so bright, and he does so well in school and, like, even if it is, like, he's just a weird, a little bit weird, it's okay, you know, do you think it's connected

Scott Benner 41:19
to his stomach issues at all? Like, what if his stomach issues are stopping him from absorbing nutrients?

Speaker 1 41:25
Yeah, I think about that all the time. Like, and I just can't get my doctors to see things together, because, like, his gastroenterologist says, Okay, well, we've looked at his stomach. He still has gastritis. He doesn't have celiac. He just needs to poop more. Oh, he's had pica taken to a therapist, you know. So

Scott Benner 41:46
they don't want to talk about anything that's not their thing. Exactly, exactly. Have you heard my episodes where we talked about art and stomach pain a lot?

Speaker 1 41:55
Yes. So we do digestive enzymes now, okay, we do have to, like, we get the capsules that have powder in them, so we can pour half of it away, because if we do the whole capsule, it gives them diarrhea, okay, but just half of it is perfect, and it does alleviate a lot of stomach pain. So like we struggled with this for a year and a half over the summer, I won't say the summer, let's say around April, we started doing the digestive enzymes, and that has helped tremendously. So, but there's still underlying pain, like, if he doesn't have the digestive enzyme, or in

Scott Benner 42:33
the as an issue, does, I can't believe, I'm gonna ask you this, does this poop come out well formed? Or is it? Yes, it does okay, it does. Does he have trouble passing it? Does he go every day? He

Speaker 1 42:45
goes almost every day, but his farts smell like death.

Scott Benner 42:52
It's not funny, but

Speaker 1 42:53
terrible. It's like we know when he's passed gas. Everybody knows. How do you guys eat? Do

Scott Benner 42:59
you eat well? Or is it real cultural maybe there's cultural issues, like with the food you're eating,

Speaker 1 43:04
we definitely eat very American food. Okay, he does. I mean, we eat Spanish food. We eat rice and beans and chicken weeds. So he doesn't eat salad, but he'll eat vegetables. He's a big vegetable and meat eater, so even when I eat rice and beans, he's eating the zucchini and chicken. And that's not because I tell him to not eat rice. He just doesn't want to eat rice.

Scott Benner 43:25
You know, we just went on, just had our first family vacation in like, six years. And my son commented, as soon as we got there. He's like, you know, all the like, little issues I have with my stomach are gone, like, he's like, and I'm looking at everything we're eating here, and it's all kind of fresh and, like, it was a lot of seafood stuff like that. He's, like, everything's great. And he said he got home the first day he was home, he ran out to deli and got a bagel with, like, an egg and bacon on it. And he's, like, an hour later, I was sick, and, you know, and don't say, Oh, he's probably, he had bread in the other place too. You know what? I mean? Like, he was like, He's 24 he's like, you know, this food is probably killing us, right? And I was like, I mean, it's hard to argue with. So have you tried, like, an elimination diet, like remove certain things, stuck with real foods to see if they alleviate his problems? Because maybe he just isn't doing well with that stuff.

Speaker 1 44:19
Well, when he was first diagnosed, we threw out all the carbs, and, like I it was very extreme, but we've gone through a lot of different styles of eating since his diagnosis, so we've tried, like, no carbs, like just meat and vegetable, and like best, not even fruit, like just minimal amounts of carbs. And I could tell he was stressed out about it, so we had to add fruit, we had to add, like, tortillas back and things like that. Like, I made my own breads. And, I mean, I think every weekend I bake, and so that way he has, like, chocolate chip muffins or whatever. And it's all from, from home, yeah, even when we go. Too, because he's lactose intolerant. I forgot to mention that when we go to birthday parties, like, I make my own pizza so he can have pizza with the other kids. Oh, that's lovely. So, like, we try to make food at home and Whole Foods, and it just doesn't, I don't see that. It helps. I'm

Scott Benner 45:19
sorry. It's very upsetting. I I've been trying to get answers like, and I, you know, I was, I don't know if I should say this or not, but like, I was working with somebody, and I, at first, I was like, Oh, I think this is going well. And then at the end, I was like, I don't think it is. But I learned a few things that I haven't talked about on the podcast yet, but just not a lot of answers in modern like modern Western medicine about gut health issues. And I wish there was, I wish there were, because even, like, what's the med? You said he was taking omeprazole? Spell it? Oh, I don't know. I probably found it, O, M, E, P, R, A, Z, O, L, E, medication commonly used to treat conditions, about stomach acid. Okay, so do they think he has reflux? Because this is the almost cursed. And if I curse, I charge myself an editing thing. This is the crap they do, like their stomach hurts. Give them a Pepsi, right?

Speaker 1 46:14
Yeah. Well, he used to complain about acid reflux, like he would describe it as it feels like there's acid coming up my throat. He

Scott Benner 46:23
did feel like that, okay? And this is stopping that. Yes,

Speaker 1 46:27
and they said it was to treat the gastritis in his stomach.

Scott Benner 46:32
I don't know if that is that, is that a real word, or is that a word gastritis? I know it's like inflammation

Unknown Speaker 46:38
of the stomach, yeah, yeah. I know

Scott Benner 46:40
it's a reward, but I'm saying, is it a thing that they get? They say that once they don't know what's going on there. Yeah, you got gastritis? Yeah,

Unknown Speaker 46:46
there's something happening there. I don't know. Have you

Scott Benner 46:49
tried balancing his gut somehow with probiotics? Or, I don't think we try probiotics. I mean, if he's got, like, an imbalance in his gut. If there's, you know, certain microbes that he has too much of or too little of, has he was he ever on a lot of antibiotics as a kid? No, no, all right? Because I was wondering if maybe, like, sometimes you get a lot of antibiotics, and it kind of kills off good bacteria, and then you can get an imbalance that way. But this is, like, this is hard to talk about because there's just not enough good science about it. Like, like, I keep wanting to have somebody on to talk about this, but everybody I bump into is like, a little, like, crunchy, you know what I mean? And you're like, I don't really know if you know what you're talking about. And like, I don't want to just have somebody on to like, you know, talk about their hippie focus, pocus. And it not be right, like I'd like them to know

Speaker 1 47:42
something. Well, I'll be waiting for that episode when it comes.

Scott Benner 47:45
Now I got the pressure of helping your kid. Jeez, now it's real. Okay, all right. Well, I'm gonna, I'm gonna try to find more information about that for the podcast. The last thing on your list that I you said you have a glucagon story. Did you have to use glucagon?

Speaker 1 47:57
Yes, actually, we even recently had a gluten gone story, even after we set this up and I wrote that message I saw just talk about the most recent one. First my son gives. Well, we've had conversations about it, and he's eight, he has been giving himself big boluses because I taught him what a super Bolus was, because I did it once. He's like, What are you doing? And I was like, I'm just gonna give a bunch of insulin right now, because you're gonna eat this really big meal, and we haven't Pre Bolus for it, and I don't want you to go high. So I'm just gonna cover the carbs, and I'm gonna cover the high that I know is gonna happen, AKA a super Bolus, which I learned on the podcast, thanks to you. And so he went on his own one day and gave himself a bunch of like, and we have it capped at a certain amount of units, because the Omnipod does that, yeah. And he just gave himself the max amount. Like, I'm gonna give this myself the max amount so I can have as many cookies as I want.

Scott Benner 48:59
Oh, he thought, if I just put enough insulin, I can just eat unobstructed. Yes,

Speaker 1 49:03
like I said, my kid likes to eat, right? And he tells me maybe, like, 30 minutes after the Bolus. He's like, Hey, Mom, have you looked at my pump? I'm like, What do you mean? He's like, Yeah, I gave myself insulin for cookies. I'm like, oh, and we have that open policy because of other experience in the past that if you want a piece of bread, Bolus for the bread. He knows, like, if you want a mini croissant, about 12 grams of carbs, Bolus for that, you can have one croissant. You don't have to wake me up at five in the morning for it. Just, you know, kind of do it. I'd rather that then you go high and not tell anybody you're eating a croissant anyway. So he tells me about this big Bolus, and I asked him, Well, did you eat the cookies then? And he's like, No, actually, I forgot. So you forgot to eat the cookies, but you remember to tell me about the Bolus. I said, Okay, I check on his phone. He gave himself seven units of insulin, which for him is a lot, right? I think it's like, I think he put in 150 grams of carbs, oh my gosh, yeah, all at one time, 30 minutes ago. And he's on FIAs, which for him, works really fast. And at this point he's, I think he was like, 90 double arrows down. I was like, Oh my God. And instead of just trying to shove carbs in his mouth, I just took the I think it's, I don't want to mispronounce it, but basking me,

Scott Benner 50:31
I think, yeah, I don't know exactly, but Yeah, something like that. That sounds about right

Speaker 1 50:36
in the nose. And we just, you know, I put it in his nose. I had him inhale it. He hated it. He said it burned like crazy. And then even after that, I still gave him another juice box, just in case. Like that didn't work. It was our first time using beskini, and then he leveled out around 70. So I can't imagine what it would have been like if we didn't use the best

Scott Benner 50:57
game. He never got high afterwards. No, he didn't get high, yeah?

Speaker 1 51:01
And we actually had to add another juice box, like, 20 minutes later, right?

Scott Benner 51:05
Wow. Because that, that insulin was gonna it was crushing him, right there.

Speaker 1 51:09
Yes, I can't imagine what it would have been without it. Like we he needed that, that group gun, the first

Scott Benner 51:15
kid ever to forget to eat cookies, yeah?

Speaker 1 51:18
But he remembered to tell me, like, it was funny. I'm like, This is not he

Scott Benner 51:22
was proud of himself a little bit, actually, wasn't he? He was like, Oh, I really took care of this cookie problem, except the part where I didn't eat the cookies. Uh,

Speaker 1 51:30
yeah. And once he felt that the burn of the best game, he was like, Mom, I'll never do this again. I'm like, Yeah, you better not. My

Scott Benner 51:37
gosh, well, I mean, there's a lot to say there, like, you've got a limit on the pump, that's great, because he could have put it even farther. And, you know, it might have, might have happened much faster. He's trying to help himself, which is wonderful. He just, he's eight. He needs more direction and a little more common sense, maybe, and he'll get that as he grows older. And exactly, yeah, did you pause? Or did you just say to yourself, like it's been a half an hour? That's a lot of insulin. I got two hours down here. I'm going right to this. Did you? Did you test with a finger stick? Even

Speaker 1 52:09
I did, I did do a finger stick, and he was with 90 double arrows down. I think he was 75 Yeah,

Scott Benner 52:15
I was gonna say it was really flying down. You probably caught it within minutes of him having a seizure?

Speaker 1 52:21
Yes, yes. So I didn't even hesitate. I was like, Oh, we're just and my husband was like, let's just give him more juice boxes. I'm like, No, so he can throw up while he's seizing on the floor. Like, no, no, we're just gonna do this thing and move on. Where'd

Scott Benner 52:36
you get the confidence for that? The podcast, I have

Unknown Speaker 52:39
so many experiences because you've heard

Scott Benner 52:41
people talk about 300 of them, three I have 1300 different experiences to draw from. Oh, wow, that's awesome. I mean, not the part about the too much insulin. It's awesome that you've felt like confident in a situation where most people freeze and spin in a circle. You know? What

Speaker 1 52:58
was it? What was it Jenny, who described her being in a house, like in a mall once, and having to give herself glucagon because she was going low while walking to the mall. And I thought of that when I gave it, I'm like, she gave herself this glucagon so she wouldn't be low while she's sitting down in a mall trying to feel better. Yeah, I

Scott Benner 53:20
remember that story. Was she pregnant? Even, no, was she had just had a baby? Maybe I don't remember she just had a baby. Yes, I do remember that story. And yeah, she's, she was out shopping, and she was, she holding the baby, and she sat herself down on the ground. And, yeah, no, I remember that story. Okay. Oh, she'll love to know that that helped you. Oh, that's great.

Speaker 1 53:42
Yes, that helped me. That I was like, okay, she did this. I got this too, and he'll be fine, you know. Oh,

Scott Benner 53:49
that's wonderful. Oh, okay, all right, we'll see. What a lovely story. Okay, let's see. I have artfully avoided using your name today, but that's, that's okay.

Speaker 1 53:57
That's neither here nor there. You have one more goo. Goo Gone story before

Scott Benner 54:01
you tell it to me, Yeah, can I remember to tell you, to tell your husband that one of my chameleons is from Yemen.

Speaker 1 54:08
Oh, really, do you know what part of Yemen? What kind of is he? The north or

Scott Benner 54:13
south? He didn't come with a driver's license, but I don't know where exactly they're from. It's a Veiled Chameleon. And they, they live in Yemen, and I think Saudi Arabia, so they come from like that region right there. Wow, that's pretty cool. Yeah, he's, she's awesome. I should know she I misgendered her. I hope she doesn't cancel Me, neither.

Speaker 1 54:35
Proud of the Yemeni heritage. He'll be so excited to hear that. Easy, really. Oh, that's great. Oh, yeah, we've definitely got new flags around.

Scott Benner 54:43
And I've spoken in the Dominican Republic about diabetes. I heard, yeah, actually, it just came up Monday for someone. I was in a family event. My nephew's girlfriend was, like, you speak places, and I, I guess when you see me out of context, and I'm not, like, doing the. Podcast, you're probably like, Wait, who? Who's looking for you. And you know, so I explained to her some of the stuff that I do. She goes, where do you do it? And I jumped around, and I was telling her different places that I've done it over the years. I said, once I did it in the Dominican Republic, and she's like, did they speak English? And I said, No, not really. I spoke through a translator. And so I explained to her how, you know all that happened. And then I told her my favorite part of my story, which is, of course, that the hotel I stayed in had a guard out front who just stood there with a shotgun. And I remember getting there and walking to the hotel and thinking, Did I make a mistake coming here? But I had a lovely time. It was really great. But yeah, there was a man with a shotgun standing outside of my hotel. And I was like, Who's he? And she's like, Oh, he's security. I was like, okay,

Unknown Speaker 55:48
very common in third world countries, yeah.

Scott Benner 55:51
I was like, okay, okay. I guess I was happy he was there, but the whole thing was lovely. But yeah, I spoke into a microphone. It went only to a woman in a soundproof booth wearing headphones. She heard what I was saying, then she spoke into her microphone, and then everyone in the crowd got it through their

Speaker 1 56:10
earphones so they didn't hear you speak. They only heard her. They

Scott Benner 56:14
heard her. But it was so interesting. It was so interesting to say something and then watch her like, because I could look her in the face, we could see each other. And so she would absorb it, and then I'd see her understand what I meant. Then she'd, you know, regurgitate it. And then there was a pause, and then I'd watch the people in the crowd get it. And it was so interesting to like, to have it slow down like that, to see it happen. And then I remember, like, 15 minutes into it, I was like, I'm gonna try to be funny, just to see if it translates, you know, so, like, I said the thing, and then I pause, and now I'm looking at the translator, thinking, like, God. And then she smiled. I was like, oh, okay, she sees the humor. And then she said the thing, and then the crowd laughed. And I was like, this is magical. Really, really interesting

Unknown Speaker 57:04
little lag. But I guess that works.

Scott Benner 57:05
Yeah, I'm telling you, though, like, there was something about the lag that just made it super interesting. I don't 100% know how to explain it. I was like, I wonder if this is gonna translate, you know what I mean? And then it

Speaker 1 57:18
did not. All things can be translated like, literally, like, like, like, if you make a phonetic joke, how does that translate?

Scott Benner 57:27
I don't know. I was like. I was fascinated by the whole thing. I really did enjoy it anyway. Go ahead, do you have another gluten story? Tell

Speaker 1 57:32
it to me. Yes. One more. I believe my son was five, and he was feeling really, really sick. I think he got the flu. He got something, a stomach bug, and he couldn't keep anything down, and he we were on the dash, so we were manual at that time. And, you know, we shut off basal. He was at a point where he was honeymooning really hard, and he was at zero, 0% basal anyway, or zero units of basal hour. And he just kept tanking, so we just, we took the DevOp pen,

Scott Benner 58:06
yeah, oh, the vial. The Gosh, what was that? The hypo pen? No. Anyway, go ahead, you used to vote, yeah,

Speaker 1 58:14
yes. We use the gun in the vial, and we just drew some up. And then I would just give him little amounts to keep him stable. And that worked. And that was that's my other non crazy glucagon story, that we use it in a totally different way. He couldn't keep any food down, but we still, you were able to use the glucagon to keep his blood sugar up while he was really sick. So you micro dose, the glucagon, yes, we didn't give the full amount. Okay, yeah, I think,

Scott Benner 58:45
because they're a sponsor, I have to say that you used it off label, and that I don't think you should do that. But I know a lot of people do that, and it's interesting. I've been talking about micro dosing glps lately with people, and it hasn't really been on the podcast yet, but I'm gonna have some more people on to talk about it. And you know, an example of, you know, the GLP medications come out in these pre measured vials, and type ones are using them off label and finding help with insulin resistance, among other things. But some of them just needed for the insulin resistance. But now they're, you know, their appetites being suppressed, and they're like, I I want to eat like I wasn't looking for that to happen. And now you're seeing people start to microdose their glps off label again. But I'm very hopeful that they will make it available for type ones in the future, so that you know, you're not limited to, like, 2.5 milligrams or 2.4 milligrams as your smaller dose. Like, wouldn't it be cool if you talk to your doctor, and your doctor was like, Look, we're just going to inject this much of it, you know. We don't need the full impact of it, you know. So I

Speaker 1 59:55
really want them to test glps with pediatrics, because I hear so many things. Things about it helping with acid reflux, yeah? Like, bound. And I'm just like, Man, I know that would help

Scott Benner 1:00:06
my kid. I'm telling you right now, I don't have acid reflux anymore because of glps, right? Yeah, and my iron level doesn't drop anymore because I'm absorbing my nutrients

Speaker 1 1:00:17
better. My sister is super iron deficient. No matter what she does, she always has to get infusions, yeah, because of her iron. And I'm just like, I don't know. I really want more testing to be done in the pediatric world with glps, because I know I'm never going to be able to get it for him at this point.

Scott Benner 1:00:36
Does your sister have any weight issues? Could she qualify for, like, we go over your zbound,

Speaker 1 1:00:43
no, she's, I mean, she, no, no, I don't think so.

Scott Benner 1:00:46
Like, that's a shame, but no, but like, I was, I was looking for, I've

Speaker 1 1:00:49
tried to, I've tried to hustle some off of my aunt that came over and did nothing. I'm still waiting for her response. Let's

Scott Benner 1:00:56
see, just to see if it helps. Like, because I'll tell you, I had reflux, like my whole life, like, to the point where I don't know how much I've talked about it, but like, I was told, you know, at my last scope, like a couple of years ago, like, I have to watch for Barretts, which is, like a precursor to, you know, esophageal cancer. And, you know, from from the reflux. But I just do not have reflux anymore, and the GOP is definitely what stopped it. Like, from my perspective,

Speaker 1 1:01:22
I'm worried about for my son, like, all the stomach problems, all the acid. I'm like, What is this? He's eight, yeah, what is this? What is this going to be like, when, when he's 40, when he's 60? I don't I don't know, so I'll let you know if I get my hands on a GOP and I do

Scott Benner 1:01:39
it, yeah, I want to hear more. I think we're going to be talking about them for years on the podcast, for a number of different reasons too. So I'm excited to see, okay, well, you were terrific. This was wonderful. Thank you so much.

Speaker 1 1:01:53
I'm so glad we talked. I'm so excited that my voice and my story and the things that I had to say get to be part of, like this, this podcast. Oh,

Scott Benner 1:02:04
thank you. I really appreciate. I mean, sincerely, it's, I've had people say at the end of their episode, like, I'll get done recording, and we'll talk for a minute or two afterwards and and they'll be like, Well, if you end up using this one, and I'm like, how many of these do you think I record and I don't use she goes, I don't know, I imagine, like, there's some I'm like, everyone I use everyone. I've had, like, a small handful of times where there's been something crazy happen and people are like, don't put that out. Or, you know, like, that's pretty much it like, it's not, it's not like I hear and I go, that one's not a good podcast. I think people coming on and telling their story. I don't know that I, or anyone else, singularly, can decide is this valuable? Because someone's going to find something in it really valuable. And that's to me, is like, just it. I I've told this story before, but I finished, and I hope the person never figures out who I'm talking about. But I finished one recording, one time. And I thought, this is horrible, like, I Oh, my God, it was so boring. I hated the conversation. I hated being involved in the conversation. No matter what I did, I couldn't find a way to make it interesting for me. And I thought, this is the one I'm gonna just I'm gonna can this one. I'm not gonna put it out, right? And then I, you know, went through the editing process, and it came back to me, and I was like, you know, what? Who am I to say? What's interesting? Like, I really, it's not that I didn't like the person. I just I was so bored, like, so bored by the conversation. And I swear to God, I put it out, and it is, it sticks out in my head as being one that I heard so many good things back through social media about, and I was like, Oh my God. Like, people love this.

Speaker 1 1:03:51
People are in people are in totally different places in their lives.

Scott Benner 1:03:54
Yeah, everyone's not me, is what it taught me, and not that I didn't know that. But like, you don't even mean like us anyway. I will not tell you which one it was, but it bores the living out of me.

Speaker 1 1:04:07
I've thought that about one or two also I'm listening. I'm like, I can't this is too slow. Next episode, I can't do it.

Scott Benner 1:04:15
Maybe that is more about it is that I have like, a pace that I speak at, and it took me. The podcast has taught me so many things, like, right? Like, it just, it's been a real value to me as well, and not just about diabetes, either. Like, I, I know for sure, if you go back far enough, I'm talking over people, which is not a thing I do anymore. It's not that I wasn't listening to them. It's like, I get excited to say something, and you like, don't know how to hold your thought because you're afraid you're going to pass it by and then it's not going to fit. But I figured out it's okay if that happens sometimes, and, you know, let people speak. I've also learned that there are times where people just don't speak very much. They want to come on, but they they don't have a lot to say. So. I feel for them. And every once in a while, I get a note back, like, he didn't let that lady talk, and I want to respond and be like, if I wouldn't have said anything, she wouldn't have said anything, like, you don't even like to listening to you. And that happens too. Sometimes, I think sometimes people come on and it they turn into a listener. They're so used to listening to the show, they're almost like waiting for me to entertain them.

Speaker 1 1:05:21
I have to remind myself, even through this conversation, I'm like, this is a discussion. Yeah, I'm not waiting

Scott Benner 1:05:28
for him to tell me something, yeah, yeah. And then I can also misinterpret that, like I can think, Oh, they're not talking a lot I need to fill when maybe what I should be thinking is like, No, tell me. Like, it's okay to talk, you know, it's been a great experience. Like, not only do I get better at diabetes for my kid and, you know, not only do I, like, get to have conversations where I'm like, wow, you're micro dosing glps. Like, tell me more about that. Like, stuff that I wouldn't have learned about just being in my house by myself, you know. But it's also taught me, I think to be a better communicator. And I don't think I was bad to begin with. And you know it, it's been, it's just been a real joy for me. So I appreciate you adding your voice to it as well. Question for you, oh, okay, sure, yeah. How does it feel

Speaker 1 1:06:14
having your diabetic daughter, having Arden out of the house and having less diabetes. I don't want to call it a burden, diabetes, tasks to do a day.

Scott Benner 1:06:28
Yeah, I mean, the flipping answer is, it's awesome, but it's not, you know what I mean? Like, I would think it's stressful. You see, I take your point about, like, what happens, like, when I put so much of my time and my life into this thing, and then one day, the kids like, I'm gonna go now. And they're just, they're gone. It is a multi tiered experience. So in the beginning you're just like, Oh, that's it. I spent she got diabetes when she was two. She's leaving for school. She's 18. I kept her alive for 16 years with diabetes, and now she's gonna die. That is how it felt at the beginning, like it's over. I just sent her off to die. Like, is how it felt. And then I was like, Oh, that's not gonna happen, you know? Like, it doesn't happen to somebody. It does, but it's not that common, and this is gonna be okay. Like, there's gonna be bumps along the way, and it's going to be scary for me and for her and for my wife, but, you know, and maybe even her new roommates, like, it becomes a bigger thing. You know, you kind of expand your your sphere a little more around it, and you're thinking, my biggest concern was what a lot of people's concerns are, which is for 16 years art and never woke up once when she had a problem, never and she, I mean, I've told stories about her eating bananas in her sleep, you know, like there's she never woke up. Alarms blaring, high blood sugars, low blood sugars. Doesn't matter. She's not she wasn't waking up. But what she told me was, is, as soon as it became hers completely, that was it. She started waking up. It was a mind shift for him. She could not even explain why she's like now, I wake up and she goes. I maybe don't sleep as soundly, I'm not sure, but I take care of myself. Now we still follow her Dexcom, and there were a handful of times in the first year of college, where we had to wake her up to take care of herself, where maybe she wasn't going to wake up in time, and she's going to get too low. But you know that all worked just like it, just like it worked in the house, right? Like, instead of up the hall, she's, you know, seven at that time, 700 miles away. So your biggest concern is like, what if she doesn't wake up when I call? And most of the time she did call, and then there's that, like, hey, and she's like, and I'm like, Arden, you're low. I need you to drink a juice. Like, okay. And then I'm like, I'm gonna stay on while you drink the juice. Just you don't have to. Then she hangs up, and I'm like, oh, like, so now you're like, I don't know if she drank the juice, so you sit up and you wait and you wait, and you're like, you're trying to give her the benefit of the doubt, but what if she was low enough that she just kind of couldn't do it? And like that, anxiety is there, and then her blood sugar starts to go back up, and you go, Oh, she did it. And then you go back to sleep. Yeah, there's a couple of times where it didn't work and I had to wake her up again. There's a couple times where the phone rang and she didn't wake up. I sent a Find My iPhone message that like, jolted her out of bed. And one time while she was at college, I had my finger on the button to call a roommate. I had it there, and I was like, I'm gonna call a roommate, and I know the cascading event that's gonna happen. Either she's really in trouble and I'm gonna about to save her, or she already took care of this. She's asleep, and I'm gonna piss her off, so I'm gonna wait as long as I can. And you're trying to keep in mind that the CGM is probably really behind real time, and she looks lower than she is, or she's lower than she you know, you're like, Huh? And just as I went to push the button, I thought, let me call her one more time, and I called her. And she woke up, and I was like, Hey, you okay, you're low. She goes, I eat gummy bears, like 10 minutes ago, I'm gonna come back up in a second. I was like, Okay, goodbye. And I hung up and literally, like that. The next reading on the CGM was like, 20 points higher,

Speaker 1 1:10:13
and same stress, but different scenarios,

Scott Benner 1:10:16
yes. So the players are different and the distances are different, but it feels exactly the same way. But as time went on and as we you know, even fine tune algorithms even better learn about like walking from this class makes me low, so I'll eat something before I walk. Like the little things that you figure out those lows become. I mean, they were already very infrequent, but you can almost make them not exist, because it's still a repeatable process. She's getting up, she's doing a thing on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, you kind of figure out where to, like, put your efforts to stop those things from happening. And then for that, yeah, we never had a, like, an emergency, like, oh god, she's gonna die, like, that thing that I was so frightened about never happened. Okay? So, yeah, so that's it, and but on the psychological side, it's less for me and my wife and so there's a relief for you personally, but then it's just replaced with a guilt, because you understand that that work doesn't disappear, it just transfers to her. Yeah, you know, I think

Speaker 1 1:11:24
about that with school now, like he's starting to text me for for snack times and things. I'm like, Man, he's the only kid that has to text his mom for, hey, I want to eat. Yeah. What do I need to do? Like, or, Hey, Nas, you're on the bus, you know, you need gummy bears. Okay, how many like he's he has to count the gummy bears. So I think,

Scott Benner 1:11:48
yeah, there's little things that you'd wish people didn't have to go through. But at the same time, if this was 30 years ago, he wouldn't know he was low or high, and he'd just live his life, and he'd wake up one day and be one of these stories that, you know, you hear from, like, the old heads that are like, I can't feel my toes, but that's the only thing that happened to me. And they're like, they're thrilled about it, because they're like, I thought I was gonna die, but I'm alive, but I can't feel my toes. And like, you know, like, you're like, things are much better now than they were, and they'll so much better, yeah, and they'll keep getting better. Listen, adding, I know it's not on label, but adding a GLP to Arden's life significantly reduced her need for insulin, and it significantly helped balance her blood sugars out even more. So, you know, wait a couple more years till medicine figures that out and they start prescribing that for type ones, and you're gonna see another like, significant lift in outcomes and day to day stress. It's just gonna get better and better. No, I think it really will. I mean, it's not fast enough for everybody, but it's happening. So, yeah, okay, you were terrific. Thank you for doing this, yeah, thank you for having me on Yeah. Let's see an hour and 15 minutes later, Talia, did I do it? Yes, did I do it? Thalia? Thalia, yeah, that was good. God damn right, yeah, just that's what you should remember, going away, yeah. Also, I mispronounce other people's names too, all the freaking time. It doesn't have to be a Dominican name. I'm not good at I'm not. I mean, you guys know I can't say water so

Speaker 1 1:13:21
well when we named my son, his name is NASA, I was like, nobody's gonna be able to pronounce that. It was like, the first thing I'm like, we gotta name him something that everybody can pronounce. And his name is still something complicated. NASA, so we just say NAS Oh,

Scott Benner 1:13:37
I shouldn't say people's names. My daughter has a friend whose father is Ethiopian. Her name's Nasra. Very pretty name. Oh, that's a nice name, yeah, yeah. So okay, I like when people have different I have

Speaker 1 1:13:54
another daughter. Her name is going to be Zahara, and then people are going to struggle with that

Scott Benner 1:13:58
too. Oh, I am so glad you didn't say Arden, because that would piss her off. Just so you know, if I came to her one day and said, Somebody did it, by the way, somebody who listens, named their baby. Arden, no, and they told me about it. Sent me a picture of the baby, and it was beautiful, and I showed it to Arden. She goes,

Unknown Speaker 1:14:19
babies are being named after her. So

Scott Benner 1:14:21
I can't tell you how irritated she was.

Unknown Speaker 1:14:26
I know she found that cringy. She was like, That's

Scott Benner 1:14:27
my name. And I was like, Well, now it's that baby's name too. She and I was like, you know, other people name their babies Arden, and they don't know who you are. And she goes, whatever. Are there any Scott babies? Not yet, but one of you is gonna stop letting me down and do it eventually. Maybe I don't think so. You're referring to something that I joke about on the podcast, that I'm like, and what am I gonna get a baby named after me? I get license plates. And to be honest, I think that's great. Yeah, I

Speaker 1 1:14:56
really like the license plates. I'm trying to convince myself I need one.

Scott Benner 1:14:59
I'm gonna get a juice box license plate. Yes, it would be amazing. You'll probably just get a bunch of like, young guys come up to you and think that it's about drinking. Oh,

Speaker 1 1:15:09
I didn't think about that. I hope not. Okay, all right, now you're making it easy. I'm trying to convince myself, and you're not helping.

Scott Benner 1:15:15
I'll talk you out of it. Don't worry about thank you so much. I appreciate it. I'm gonna, I'm gonna say goodbye. Now hold on one second. Okay? You Arden has been getting her diabetes supplies from us med for three years. You can as well us med.com/juice, box or call 888-721-1514, my thanks to us med for sponsoring this episode and for being longtime sponsors of the Juicebox Podcast, there are links in the show notes and links at Juicebox podcast.com to us, med and all the sponsors. Thanks for tuning in today, and thanks to Medtronic diabetes for sponsoring this episode. We've been talking about Medtronic mini med 780 G system today, an automated insulin delivery system that helps make diabetes management easier day and night. Whether it's their meal detection technology or the Medtronic extended infusion set, it all comes together to simplify life with diabetes. Go find out more at my link, Medtronic diabetes.com/juicebox Are you starting to see patterns, but you can't quite make sense of them. You're like, Oh, if I Bolus here, this happens, but I don't know what to do. Should I put in a little less, a little more? If you're starting to have those thoughts, you're starting to think this isn't going the way the doctor said it would. I think I see something here, but I can't be sure. Once you're having those thoughts, you're ready for the diabetes Pro Tip series from the Juicebox Podcast. It begins at Episode 1000 you can also find it at Juicebox podcast.com up in the menu, and you can find a list in the private Facebook group. Just check right under the featured tab at the top, it'll show you lists of a ton of stuff, including the Pro Tip series, which runs from episode 1000 to 1025 thank you so much for listening. I'll be back very soon with another episode of The Juicebox Podcast. If you're not already subscribed or following the podcast in your favorite audio app, like Spotify or Apple podcasts, please do that now. Seriously, just to hit follow or subscribe will really help the show. If you go a little further in Apple podcast and set it up so that it downloads all new episodes, I'll be your best friend, and if you leave a five star review, ooh, I'll probably send you a Christmas card. Would you like a Christmas card? The episode you just heard was professionally edited by wrong way, recording, wrong way recording.com.

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