#1493 Logging Trauma
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Ellie, 33, diagnosed young, defied doctors’ warnings; managing T1D, PCOS with GLP, she used Jenny and celebrated ideal A1c pregnancy.
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Scott Benner 0:00
Hello friends and welcome back to another episode of The Juicebox Podcast.
Ellie 0:15
Hi there. I'm Ellie. I've been type one for almost 30 years, and I am a mom of two twin toddlers.
Scott Benner 0:24
Please don't forget that nothing you hear on the Juicebox Podcast should be considered advice medical or otherwise, always consult a physician before making any changes to your health care plan or becoming bold with insulin. AG, one is offering my listeners 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 you check out drink AG, one.com/juice box. To get this offer, 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. Are you an adult living with type one or the caregiver of someone who is and a US resident? If you are, I'd love it if you would go to T 1d exchange.org/juice box. And take the survey. When you complete that survey, your answers are used to move type one diabetes research of all kinds. So if you'd like to help with type one research, but don't have time to go to a doctor or an investigation and you want to do something right there from your sofa, this is the way t 1d exchange.org/juice, box. It should not take you more than about 10 minutes. Today's podcast is sponsored by the insulin pump that my daughter has been wearing since she was four years old. Omnipod. Omnipod.com/juice, box. You too can have the same insulin pump that my daughter has been wearing every day for 16 years. This episode of The Juicebox Podcast is brought to you by my favorite diabetes organization, touched by type one. Please take a moment to learn more about them at touched by type one.org, on Facebook and Instagram. Touched by type one.org. Check out their many programs, their annual conference, awareness campaign, their D box program, dancing for diabetes. They have a dance program for local kids, a golf night and so much more touched by type one.org. You're looking to help or you want to see people helping people with type one. You want touch by type one.org This episode of the juice box podcast is sponsored by us Med, US med.com/juice, box, or call 888-721-1514, US med is where my daughter gets her diabetes supplies from and you could, too use the link or number to get your free benefits check and get started today with us. Med,
Ellie 3:08
Hi there. I'm Ellie. I've been type one for almost 30 years, and I am a mom of two twin toddlers.
Scott Benner 3:19
Two twin toddlers. Yes, does that mean you have two children or you have two
Ellie 3:24
children? No, I have two children, just my twins.
Scott Benner 3:27
Gotcha, I wasn't sure. Was I misunderstanding that two twin toddlers?
Ellie 3:31
I made that more complicated than it needed to be. Yeah, because you
Scott Benner 3:35
would be the mother of twin toddlers,
Ellie 3:38
true, but they're twins, and that's a big part of our existence, is the fact that they're twin. I
Scott Benner 3:43
was just like, Oh my God, how did she have four kids in such a short amount of time? Now I understand. How long ago were you diagnosed? I
Ellie 3:52
was diagnosed in 1995 I was two and a half. So few months I will be marking my 30th anniversary.
Scott Benner 4:05
Wow, good for you. That's a stretch. Has it been hard? Has it been easier than you thought it was going to be? How do you describe it to people as
Ellie 4:14
a journey? It's definitely been up and down over the years. I did really well as a younger kid, especially when my parents were super involved. This was, you know, pre Dexcom days and testing in the middle of the night and all of that. But definitely in teenage years, struggled big time into early adulthood, dealt with burnout, really a big piece that was very hard for me is I was trying very hard, or felt like I was trying, pre burnout and back then. And I don't know it sounds like from various episodes I've listened to that many of the endocrinologists out there today are much more respect. Full of including teens in their care. When I was a teen, the attitude was that, from the end, does I worked with, they didn't trust teenagers. I mean, I went to a number of them over time, I switched a few times, and there really just wasn't trust there. They felt that many of them made up their log entries, and people did. There was a lot of pressure around going to those visits. I really like to do well in school, I had kind of a good girl personality, and so I would go to these appointments. And it, it very much felt like a judgment session of, you know, how our How did the log sheets look? And I definitely carry log logging trauma to this day. Anything I need to track or log is like, Oh God, I don't want to do that. That was really hard. And I think eventually, as you know, puberty hit, and my numbers started going up, and I wanted to do better, but was really struggling to do that. I wasn't getting the support I needed, and over time, they just kind of artificially kept hitting me with more and more basal to kind of cover, cover the bases. We really weren't doing carb testing or really even basal testing. It was like, well, you're running high. Let's just give you more insulin all the time. And when you do that over time, I ended up being more resistant, you know, it just it led into this really negative loop that lasted into early adulthood.
Scott Benner 6:31
Can I dig through that a little bit with you? Yeah, yeah. Absolutely. Before I do, I want everyone to know that if you go to YouTube and search logging trauma, you get a surprising number of videos about people being hit or killed by trees while they're being cut down, and a lot of instructional nursing videos about how to turn people with something called the log roll. Just so, you know, I want to make sure I understand. You're a rule follower. You're a young kid. You want to get good grades. You want people to think of you well. And this visit to this doctor's office was in no way pleasant for you, and on top of that, they probably weren't even including you in the conversation. So you're there feeling like this whole thing hinges, like your personality hinges on the outcome of this, and they're not even talking directly to you. Yes,
Ellie 7:15
exactly. And that really started around puberty, when my numbers started getting worse. You know, before that, when you're getting sixes, low sevens, every time for a one, CS, like, good job, you know, we'll see you next time. And that was it, when my numbers started going up. This is my my endo trauma story, a little bit of trauma from childhood in 30 years, my endo story was the first time my a 1c really went up. And I'm guessing it was like mid sevens, maybe low eights at the time. I don't remember. I was probably 11 or 11 when this happened. My endo came in the room. And, I mean, I picture this image in my head retelling the story of her coming up to me and saying, Do you know what happens to little girls who don't take care of their diabetes?
Scott Benner 8:11
Oh, what happens to them? They die? Oh, I thought they got a fairy. Okay, so
Ellie 8:17
I wish that's not what happened.
Scott Benner 8:21
That's what was said to you. How old were you under
Ellie 8:23
12? Like 10 or 11. And I happened to have had my best friend with me at the appointment. She asked her to leave the room. Left the room after she said that to me, and went to the bathroom and cried. Apparently I didn't announce where I was going, and the entire office was looking for me because they didn't know where
Scott Benner 8:43
I went. They probably thought you were looking for a rooftop or something. Probably Do you remember the you probably have a photo of them in your house. But like, is it an adult male female in their 60s? Now,
Ellie 8:54
how old was she? Now? How old was she? I don't recall that. I do know she's semi still practicing awesome. I worked in the same facility as her for a brief amount of time, and I'm an architect by training, and I worked as a project manager in a children's hospital. And at the time, one of one of the facilities people who I was close with, he said, you know, if there's anybody you ever have an issue with, I can manually control the temperature in their office, and whatever they set it to, it won't matter, because I have master control. Listen,
Scott Benner 9:32
I just need to know, did you freeze this lady out? I have always disliked ordering diabetes supplies. I'm guessing you have as well. It hasn't been a problem for us for the last few years, though, because we began using us Med, you can too us med.com/juice, box, or call 888-721-1514, to get your free benefits, check us med has served over 1 million people living with. Diabetes since 1996 they carry everything you need, from CGM to insulin pumps and diabetes testing supplies and more. I'm talking about all the good ones, all your favorites, libre three, Dexcom g7 and pumps like Omnipod five, Omnipod tandem, and most recently, the I let pump from beta bionics, the stuff you're looking for, they have it at us. Med, 88887211514, or go to us. Med.com/juice, box, to get started now use my link to support the podcast. That's us. Med.com/juice, box, or call 888-721-1514, today's episode of The Juicebox Podcast is sponsored by Omnipod. And before I tell you about Omnipod, the device, I'd like to tell you about Omnipod the company. I approached Omnipod in 2015 and asked them to buy an ad on a podcast that I hadn't even begun to make yet, because the podcast didn't have any listeners, all I could promise them was that I was going to try to help people living with type one diabetes, and that was enough for Omnipod. They bought their first ad, and I used that money to support myself while I was growing the Juicebox Podcast. You might even say that Omnipod is the firm foundation of the Juicebox Podcast, and it's actually the firm foundation of how my daughter manages her type one diabetes every day. Omnipod.com/juicebox whether you want the Omnipod five or the Omnipod dash, using my link, let's Omnipod know what a good decision they made in 2015 and continue to make to this day, Omnipod is easy to use, easy to fill, easy to wear. And I know that because my daughter has been wearing one every day since she was four years old, and she will be 20 this year, there is not enough time in an ad for me to tell you everything that I know about Omnipod, but please take a look omnipod.com/juicebox. I think Omnipod could be a good friend to you, just like it has been to my daughter and my family.
Ellie 12:13
I want to do so many times, Scott, but I did it. Did
Scott Benner 12:17
you ever say anything to her? Do you ever say, Hey, you ruined my life.
Ellie 12:20
I never even crossed paths with her, and I'm not even sure if she was working in that building at the time or one of the off site locations, because I just didn't want to, I just didn't want to go
Scott Benner 12:31
there. Let me tell you this, like, odd little side story. So my wife would tell me about this very like, harsh, mean, nasty teacher that she had, and she'd tell the story, sometimes almost like she was a little girl, you know. And I don't know like what to think about that, like I had horrible teachers too. I want to say Mrs. Nelson, my second grade teacher. She and I hated each other with a passion. I've never seen an adult hate a child like that, or the child hate an adult like that, but she and I had an adversarial relationship for every day of school the entire I was in second grade, so much so that on the last day of school, for just bits and giggles, she put me in the hallway for the entire eight hours, while everyone was in that room having a party and enjoying themselves. She made me stand leaning against the locker from the bell to the bell, and I'm telling you, she looked at me, and the look in her eye was you, and then she stuck me out in the hall. I know what it is, but I didn't have like. My memories of it are just funny. I just think it's funny. My wife did not does not talk about that way. We walk into a restaurant one day to give our name at the front, to wait our turn, and we step back to wait, and that woman is standing there. She's also waiting for a table. And it turns my wife to jello. Was really interesting, because she's not that person, like my wife's not like fragile, you know what I mean? And she really like crumbled, and I was like, what's going on? And she goes, that's her. And she, you know, she said her name, I'm not gonna say her name here. And I was like, are you okay? And she was shook. So I stepped up to the woman and I said, Hi, this is my wife. She had you in kindergarten, and she's still scared of you today. And the woman thought it was funny, wow. So I don't know what to make of all this. Like, I don't understand, like, under 12 years old being approached by an adult, hey, little girl. You know what happens to little girls like and you weren't not taking care of yourself, right? No.
Ellie 14:36
I mean, it was not like gross negligence by any means. My sugars started going up because I was getting hormones, that is what was happening, and we needed to adjust. And I'm not sure what possessed her to say it people have bad days, but it's one of those things that, yeah, it stayed with me for a long time.
Scott Benner 14:56
You can't use I people have bad days as an excuse when you're. Bad day could, I mean, how old are you today? 32 Uh huh. Do you still remember like it was yesterday? Oh yeah, yeah. Well, then it's not okay for her to have a bad day on you like that. You know what I mean. Now, if you sat her down here and she said, listen, the 1000s of girls I saw hit puberty and then their blood sugars got out of control. And no matter what I did, it didn't work. So 10 years in, I just started trying to scare them, like, I mean, I might understand the thinking, but like, I don't. I don't understand actually doing it for sure. Yeah. I mean, it's your job. Just have the fight every time, and it'll work for some of them and not work for the others. But anyway, I'm sorry, go ahead.
Ellie 15:36
No, it's okay. Yeah, that's just, you know, said part of my story, so that happened. I left her after that, obviously, we moved on to another Endo. Eventually, my parents were really into trying to help me be independent. And, you know, prepare for leaving home post high school, they were very there for me, very supportive. Really helped me with my diabetes as much as they could, but really wanted me to be independent, and so I studied abroad. I went to Israel after high school for a year, and then I went to college. And during that time, in both places, actually, I found endos just for extra support, or in case I needed, had an emergency or something. And my endo in New York saw where my basal were at, and he artificially just flashed them in half. He's like, you're just taking entirely too much insulin. I don't believe that you need this much insulin, and we need to step back. And it was so interesting because he did that, and it really helped, at least with some of the resistance piece. Was not a big fix by any means, but it did help just to sort of start over at that time, trying to remember exactly when Dexcom was introduced to me. They were that office was really pushing me to use it. And I really struggled with the insertion back then with the old ARPU
Scott Benner 17:08
style, that clear tube one where you push the plunger exactly
Ellie 17:12
I would every time I'd be so anxious about it, I'd shoot it halfway in and then stop because it hurt, and then would get anxious for another 30 minutes to finish pushing the fan. It was just a mess. So it was not using it consistently by any means. Around the same time, though, back at home, I was diagnosed with PCOS, which for me, was a game changer, because I finally felt like it gave me some explanation as to why things just seemed harder for me. I didn't know why it was very frustrating for me that I felt like I was putting in the effort and I wasn't getting the numbers I wanted. You know, like my a one CS, would hover around somewhere in the eights, sometimes low sevens, if it was really good, sometimes higher. I just really struggled to have the control I wanted. And you know, on occasion, when I ran into another diabetic, I could tell them all the things you're supposed to do. But taking my own advice, I wasn't getting those results. So PCOS really helped me understand that there's hormones going on in the background that are sort of unpredictable, that are making this harder.
Scott Benner 18:33
Yeah, I have a question. If you had PCOS, how did cutting your basal improve things?
Ellie 18:39
It didn't improve things necessarily right away. I think just starting over at a lower place and then doing more at meal times, I see we weren't just blanketing, giving more basal all the time to as a band aid. Like, let's give more at meals. Let's figure out, you know, my sensitivity factors were off. That all helped.
Scott Benner 19:02
You were being over basal to cover for not bolusing at meals Exactly. Gotcha, okay, all right. I was like, How was less insulin helping if you have PCOS? Okay, Sue, how did you get the PCOS diagnosis? What testing did they do? I had
Ellie 19:15
an ultrasound at some point, and I think I was complaining of heavy bleeding, and so my my gynecologist worked me up, and she said, that's probably what's going on. And so, so that was that. And then at that time, I actually went on Invokana to help with resistance, which I loved at the time, I thought it was the greatest thing ever. I felt like it was this boost in the background that just made everything easier, so that that really helped a lot. I lost weight with it. It really kept my sugars down in a lot of ways, but I knew that, you know, it was in my. A future that I wanted to get married, have a family, and knew at some point I wouldn't be able to stay on it. Fast forward, I got married in grad school. My husband encouraged me, really to start wearing my Dexcom all the time. He's like, sorry, my husband is a chemist and he's a data guy, and he's like, you have this tool. We can get tons of data. You need to wear this all the time, yeah. And so he started helping me by putting it in, which was a huge thing. I was like, here, you help me do it. I can. I don't have to deal with the mental piece of this trying to insert it. At that time, it was already spring loaded, which made it better, too.
Scott Benner 20:42
Your thumb was the spring back. Then you were like, Bush,
Ellie 20:45
oh yeah, oh God, by the
Scott Benner 20:48
time he helped you, it was the Star Wars ship with the orange button on the top. Exactly. Okay, right, yeah, hey. Just for people's knowledge, invocana is a sglt, two blocks, reabsorption of glucose into the kidneys, causing excess glucose to be excreted in the urine, not a GLP one, which is probably what people might think when they just hear like a medication word, I'm gonna guess you're on a GLP one. Now I am. I already knew it. I know. Thanks. Okay, I've told this story a couple of times in the last couple of weeks, but I was at this big dinner with a bunch of people that I didn't know, and this one guy is kind of like, you know, a couple seats down from me, he's a physician. And he stops me at some point. He goes, Hey, I'm so sorry. What kind of doctor are you? And I was like, I make a podcast. I barely got through high school. And he goes, Oh, I thought you were a physician. Sorry. Keep going. GLP ones mimic the hormone GLP one increase insulin secretion in response to meals. Slow stomach emptying, reduce appetite. They have impacts on digestive and pancreatic function. So I'm sorry. I just want people to understand the difference between the two, because I figured we were going to get to it at some point. Yes, you've got your husband sticking it in, and you start getting data back. So what do you learn there? Did he help you read the data as well?
Ellie 22:02
He did, and I remember thinking it was the funniest thing, because he was putting it into PowerPoint and making graphs and all of that for us to start really digging in and looking at it. And about a year in to our marriage, I started working with Jenny, oh, and I still work with Jenny, and that's actually how I found out about the podcast a number of years ago. Is when she told me about it. So I kind of had a backwards path. I know a lot of people find Jenny through you. We don't
Scott Benner 22:35
have to say where, but did you find Jenny through Gary? At the thing that I think you might have gone to No, no. How did you find Jenny? Then
Ellie 22:43
at that point, I had a nice endo who was supportive, but I just felt like I needed a refresh. I just felt like my numbers were not, my settings weren't where they needed to be, and I just felt like I needed more help than I was getting in my private office, and started looking online for where I could get that and found integrated, wow. And I was looking specifically for a nutritionist at the time to kind of talk through my struggles with covering for protein and fat, and those were things I was having a hard time with then. And actually, it was funny, I saw a nutritionist at my college campus, or my it was grad school at the time, but I saw one there, and her response was, you're not eating enough carbs for your body. And it was like, contrary to everything I had ever been told for anything related to diabetes, and I'm like, This is not sitting right with me. I need someone who knows diabetes really well to be helpful, and I feel like I have a good understanding. You know, I'm not trained or certified in anything, but just about basics of nutrition, I'm like, That's not my problem here. I'm struggling to cover for my food appropriately. Jenny really, really helped with it, so I started working with her in I think it was like 2017
Scott Benner 24:16
I have to stop you for a second. How do you stop yourself in that appointment from going, I'm gonna go now, because
Ellie 24:23
that's really hard. Like, I get that you think you know what you're talking about, but this is not
Scott Benner 24:30
you're there struggling with, like, higher a one season you want, like, you're using a lot of insulin, you're not getting the results you want. And this person looks you straight in the face and goes, You know what? You need? More carbohydrates, right? Yeah, and you didn't laugh or curse or bang your head on something or nothing like that.
Ellie 24:47
I politely smiled and nodded. I'm in the Midwest. Scott, so that's what we do.
Scott Benner 24:51
Wait. They're letting Jews in the Midwest now. What's going on? We've been here for a long time. I didn't know that's insane. Of. I don't know, like, I don't know what's with me, but I think I would just go, okay, hold on, stop. I'm gonna leave. You can still send the bill if you want, but I gotta go. Did you misspeak? Did you mean protein? Were you trying to say something else? You meant carbs? She
Ellie 25:13
really meant carbs. We talked about it for a while. Thankfully, I did not have to pay for this, because it was during grad school and it was through, through student health. But
Scott Benner 25:23
wait, so you've been working with Jenny for seven years. Yeah, every week. Do you see her once a month? How do you do it? Once a month? So, like a like a tune up, like a check in, Mm, hmm, valuable still. Yes,
Ellie 25:35
incredibly so. And I don't plan on stopping. I have to sign up for another year, something up in a month, it has been the best investment in my health and my life that I could have ever done.
Scott Benner 25:49
Same thing. When people tell me about how after they understand how to use their insulin, they understand what they're doing, etc, and they say, Well, I keep listening to the podcast as like a touch point, like, it keeps me connected to diabetes. I don't have to think about it constantly every day to day to day, because I stop every once in a while, and I'm kind of kept in it without it being pushed right in my face. Is that like, what you get out of seeing Jenny like this?
Ellie 26:12
Yes, and also, things evolve, you know, like, we don't stay the same. Circumstances change in our life, and things like your settings, we all have this experience where you go to the end, oh, they give you your settings, and then you don't touch them again for three months. And having this touch base is having somebody else step outside of your life and look at this data and be able to give you real feedback. We email in between. It's not even just the once a month, I can say, hey, I'm having a bad week. Can you look at my night scout? She can say, make this adjustment. Make that adjustment. I mean, there's so many pieces of my story I can point back to and say, I don't know that I could have done it without Jenny.
Scott Benner 26:55
Yeah, awesome. So she tells you to check out the podcast. At
Ellie 26:58
some point, she mentioned it to me and brought it up, and we've talked about different things that have come up before that. I'm like, Hey, Jenny, on this episode, I heard about this, or they were talking about that. What do you think? And we've chatted about it. What
Scott Benner 27:13
makes me happy? I don't Yeah, I don't know another way to tell you, like that there's an ecosystem makes me very happy, and that people can find it from different avenues and be introduced to it different ways. Is it's all just very cool. How about the Facebook group? Are you in the Facebook group?
Ellie 27:27
I am, and I was just gonna say that. I think that was the first thing she was pointing me to. I don't remember what it was for, but I joined the Facebook group first. I did everything backwards. I worked with Jenny first, then went to the group, then started listening.
Scott Benner 27:44
That's awesome. I mean, any way it works to me is, is awesome. You know, it's funny. I had a person in the Facebook group yesterday who just was hell bent on arguing about something, like a sub comment of of another post. And I don't get involved. Like, I don't know if people understand my management style, but my management style is, you're adults, you'll figure it out, but at some point that the person gets reported a number of times about being kind of, like, overly aggressively pushing an idea and that the point's been made, and they just keep, you know, like, hammering at it. So I stopped in. I tried to make it better, it got worse. I tried again to make it better, it got worse. So then I was more pointed, and I was just like, you know, trying to tell them, like, like, just count, you know, like, let's just let it go. Like, we're good. Now you've made your point. You know, everybody's heard it, and when it became clear that they just really, like, wanted to argue, uh huh, what strikes in my head about what to do next is that's not what this place is for. Like, it's helping so many people. I can't let it get sidetracked with this nonsense. So I just said to the person, look, this isn't good for you. I'm not interested in this. And that's not what this place is for. I'm suspending your account for a month. If you come back after a month, that's awesome. Like, please just find a kinder way. Like, stop proselytizing so much about your idea. It doesn't matter what the idea is. Listen, if you made 10 posts about rainbows, I'd be like, it's enough. We get it. You know what I mean? Like, you love rainbows, you know? So it doesn't matter to me. But what rings in my head over and over again is that that's not what this place is for. This place is helping people, and it should not get sidetracked, because what I think is when sometimes 2030, 4050, new people come in every day, I don't need the first thing that they see is a person having a nutty because then they're just gonna leave, and then they're gonna miss out on All the stuff that comes once you get ingrained in it and really start learning how to use it and how to interact with people in the community that comes from it, et cetera. So anyway, I see that place is very sacred.
Ellie 29:50
It is. I mean, I can't tell you how many times I've gone and searched for something, and there was a post about it, and there's a recommendation, and it. Is, I think it helps people in so many ways.
Scott Benner 30:03
That's crazy. I just never imagined, honestly, so it's to see it. I think it went to 56,000 this year. I think we added 18,000 new people in 2024 that's incredible, which is really insane. It means it started it's something like in the mid 40 1000s at the beginning of the year. So that means that if it grows at this pace, next year, it'll be more like 75,000 people. It's really just, it's awesome, like, it's just a wonderful little thing in the internet that hopefully people find out about and and like you said, sometimes people find the Facebook group first, and then they'll eventually find the podcast. Sometimes people find the podcast, they go to the Facebook group, but I'll tell you right now, like it's there, it does exactly what I think it does, and it's free. That, to me, is the best stuff, because I don't talk about that enough anymore. It's just such a big part of when I started all this, it's hard to explain. This is my last recording of 2024 you are my last recording of 2024 I put out 299 episodes this year, and I don't remember five years ago, like right? But I, as the host of the podcast, I'm also, I'm also telling a story about me. You don't need to be interested in it, but by who I am and how I grow and how I change. Like you're following my progression as well, whether you realize it or not. And back in the day, I would really bang the drum of this should be free. Like, nobody needs to be paying for this. Like, no, don't get me wrong. You want to pay Jenny and, like, hang out with her once a month and get what you get out of it, and you can afford it. Like, I think that's awesome. But for the people who can't or don't know that that's even possible, or crappy insurance, or whatever they end up, where a doctor that tells them that little girls, you know, catch fire if they don't, whatever right, the information should be free, and it's always been a focus of mine to keep it free. Like, like, if you think I'm saying something that's magical, you're wrong, like I'm you know, I'm saying something that oftentimes you won't hear doctors say for varying reasons, that we've gone over ad nauseam. But there are people out there running coaching plans and charging people to tell you to pre bullish your meals, right? And I'm not okay with that. For me personally, if they want to charge you $1,000 or $2,000 to come on and hear, from what I've heard from some people, it sounds like maybe they listened to the Pro Tip series and took some notes. If you want to, like, pay them for that. I'm not going to stop you. I'm just saying it's here for free. You can have it for free. And you know, it exists for free because of the advertisers, because they they pay my bills basically like I've got lights on in my house. It's warm in here, in the winter time I drive somewhere in a car, my kids go to college, like all that is taken care of with my wife's job and my job, and it allows me to spend my time doing this right? I'm not against people who are health coaches. I think that's a perfectly legitimate way of making a living. It just seems weird to me that you should have to pay to hear something that is just information living in my head, and so like, I'm happy and proud that I found a way to get it out into the world at no cost to people anyway.
Ellie 33:15
No, I think that's amazing. And because it's a Facebook group, and through the podcast, it's so accessible. I think that's the biggest thing I remember. You know, when I was younger, there were various cat rooms on the different diabetes websites, and it wasn't easy to sort of get in and talk to people and find out what they were doing. And you know, I felt a lot more isolated back then,
Scott Benner 33:40
can we be philosophical about this for a minute? I don't have diabetes, so some people would tell you, I have no business doing this. I think I'm the perfect person to do this, because I do have a person who I love who has type one diabetes, and I did spend my life as that person was born with type one at two years old, I had to learn through the thing. Jenny and I were talking about this the other day. She's like, it's, you know, you taught yourself through experiences. I'm invested completely, 100% invested. Used to say this all the time, like, sometimes I meet people with type one and they'll tell me that they listen to podcasts and forget I don't have type one diabetes. I take that as a huge compliment. But my focus here, whether you guys all realize this or not, is for my daughter to be okay. You guys get to come along for the ride, but I'm here for her. I'm here for all you, by extension, but I make the podcast to talk to you, to hear things, so that one day I can turn to my daughter and say, Hey, you should try this, or think about this, or maybe I drop dead one day, and she comes back and listens to this straight through, and gets to see my progression as a human being, get to know me, and, you know, see where I have, you know, weaknesses, foibles, all that stuff, and at the same time, teach herself diabetes and live her life healthily. And maybe she'll have a kid one day and she'll be like, hey. Is this podcast your grandfather made like, go like, I don't know what's going to be, you know, but for me, the one thing that I have that those people might not have had in those groups that you're talking about back then is I have distance from it too, so I don't have any baggage. No one told me I was going to die when I was 12. I didn't lose my sight and have to get lasers. I don't have any the agony and the trauma and the pain and the resentment that you can have if you have type one diabetes. I do have all the love, the care, the support and the motivation. So I do think that's probably the difference. Like, I'm not saying because I'm the parent of someone with type one. I know better. There's a ton of stuff I don't know. That's what the interviews are for. You know what I mean? Like to get those bits of information right out of people who have type one. Anyway, you see that your episode is turning into my like 2024 recap for some Okay, sorry about that
Ellie 36:00
part of No, no, that's all good part of the reason, because I think I booked this many, many months ago. I wanted to sort of wrap up the year on a high note and with a lot of gratitude. So I think
Scott Benner 36:11
it's beautiful. Oh, you're lovely. Thank you. You're helping me do the same thing. Because, like, I can I be honest with you, I don't want to, like, I'm not on anybody, but when I see those, like 2024, recaps, like, these were the best episodes of this. And I'm like, uh, nobody cares. You should just say I'm trying to make content so that the algorithm doesn't forget about me at the end of the year. But I'm also trying to hang out with my family at Christmas. Like, like, that's what those episodes say to me. But I keep recording. Like, my kids are like, Are you recording a New Year's Eve? I'm like, Yeah, I make a podcast like, this is what I do. I'm recording tomorrow. Oh, wow, I recorded three times. But anyway, I'm so sorry. I don't even know where we're at. It's
Ellie 36:52
we were talking about Jenny. I was just gonna jump into the my sort of next piece that came working through Jenny was I started looping. That was transformative for me. And talking about gratitude, I think I posted in your group and the looping group at various points, just how grateful I am for loop, and especially with PCOS. And I use loop throughout my pregnancy, everything else. I think it was just that extra help in the background that can do what a human can't. You know, you can be looking at your Dexcom, 24/7, but to be able to micro correct throughout the day. I mean, I don't think things would have turned out the way they did, so that was a game changer for me. That was kind of funny, because a friend of mine had posted on Facebook this News Week article a number of years ago that was talking about how people were buying, you know, old pumps on eBay to do this sketchy, scary thing. And she posted the article, and I hadn't heard about looping yet, and I reached out to her and said, Hey, are you doing this? And she was like, Yeah, and it's pretty awesome. And so at some point, I asked Jenny about it, and I remember being super tentative, because, you know, this is not an FDA approved thing, and asking her about it. And she gave me this big smile and said, Yeah, I know what it is, and I don't I think if Jenny hadn't been up to speed on looping and had guided me through it, I don't know that I would have been brave enough then to start. I had a really tough time getting going with loop, mainly because I discovered in that process that I'm severely allergic to OmniPods. The adhesive. Okay, the adhesive. And that was also funny, I don't remember if that was the reason I found I went to your Facebook group at the time, but I went back to the Arden day blog, and one of your early early episodes was about adhesive allergies, yeah, in the first year. So there was a page there that had all these tips. I was trying everything, and I tried everything, and I could not get it to work for me. So I am looping with a 20 year old Medtronic with this incredible technology.
Scott Benner 39:27
It's awesome. Yeah, no. I mean, the people who helped me to learn how to do it for Arden, like, I'm so I'm grateful for that. Like, you know, I whoever you know, all the people who were involved in just bringing it up from the ground to where it is now, it's awesome, like every last one of them is their angels. Yeah, for putting their time into it, they're
Ellie 39:46
all incredible. And like you said, too, the and they made it free and accessible also, and you know, the loop docs and all of those resources that make it easy to do yourself. If you're not a coder, you. That was just so incredibly wonderful. Yeah,
Scott Benner 40:02
yeah, a number of wonderful people, and some of them have, you know, they come and go and they don't, they don't stay involved, but they all deserve, I think, like, an equal amount of credit, adulation, Joy. You know, absolutely well you're right. Like watching those algorithms work, those aggressive, you know, the iy algorithms that aren't held back by, you know, the fears that companies have when they're making things, and that's awesome, like it just really is. And I also think that I learned so much about how insulin works from watching, watching loop work. You know, I mean, back then, when Arden first started to loop, I was like, was like, Oh my god. This is what I've been doing. Like, this is how I had my daughter's a 1c in the fives with Temp Basal off, and Temp Basal increases. And, you know, more here, less here, give it away. Bowl is here. Like, I was like, it's just doing it all. I'm like, wow, and that. And while I'm sleeping, it's doing it where before I was awake, doing it. And right, it was killing me. Anyway. It's just, it's awesome. So Jenny was looping. When you approached Jenny about looping, that gave you the the courage to do it exactly.
Ellie 41:07
So I, I started looping, and I finally got my agencies where I needed to and and then I got pregnant with twins. Yeah, that's awesome. It was one of those things I was so worried about for years, not being able to get those kinds of numbers. And like I said, feeling like I was really putting in the effort and not feeling as easy as it seemed to be for other people. Whether that was true or not, that was just my experience. And so then, you know, when I was able to get those low sixes, A, one, CS and got pregnant with my twins, and it was a very healthy pregnancy. Thank god. I'm so, so grateful for that, and I really worked hard during that time, but also is having the tools and the resources, and Jenny during that time was immensely supportive as well. I mean, we were making changes all the time to my numbers, and you know, I was incredibly resistant at that time, as you may imagine, especially caring too. It happened much earlier my my MFM, high risk OB, at the time, she said to me, Well, we're not going to really treat you any differently with the type one versus the twins. You would have been here either way, but you're kind of double high risk. You check two boxes. I
Scott Benner 42:32
need to ask you if you think that part of what burnout is is trying so hard but not having the right tools. So you're putting in the work, but you don't have the right knowledge or tools, or whatever you want to call it, and so all the effort ends up falling flat. You don't get the return that you're hoping for. And then that's where the burnout comes from. Like, that's what I feel like I hear from people, but I'm wondering if that was your experience.
Ellie 42:59
It was, it absolutely was my experience. And then at some point in my college years, it turned into, I guess, what you'd call more classic burnout, because I wasn't checking as frequently as I knew I should have, and it was like, I feel X, I'm gonna Bolus y, and it's gonna be good enough, and it was good enough to not ever end up in the hospital. But I was running, you know, eight, eight and a half, eight, one CS, doing that. Yeah, but it's exactly that it was after years of trying, and then you stop trying because it's too much effort to continue when you're not getting there
Scott Benner 43:37
Right. And then I think the mistake is then the doctors see the give up, not the work, and they go see they don't care. They're non compliant, or whatever, like instead of like, like, I'm talking directly to doctors now, instead of seeing that you did not give them the right tools, and all that effort they put in, felt like it was fruitless, like it was never, ever gonna work out. And so why try this? Is just diabetes. I'm just going to let it be what it's going to be, and that's where you get like, Jesus, take the wheel from people, and then they exactly, they spiral. I'm always going to say that with the right tools and the right knowledge, people can do this, and that a lot of people who end up or people I'm thinking about right now, who I've watched online struggle, who still believe that they're brittle. But when you look at the their story, like, really stretch out their story, they started with bad info. It was reinforced along the way. You're not doing what I'm telling you to do. You know, like, blah, blah, blah. They go back and beat their head against more walls. The doctors should tell them they must not be listening. This would go back and forth, back and forth. Their blood sugars go up, they go down, they go up, they go down. The doctor says, You're brittle. They believe they're brittle. Because what they need to know, they need to think something's happening. You know what? I mean, that's diagnosable, that you know is written down in the book somewhere, right? You know, eventually they just give over to it. You. But the psychological implications do not stop afterwards. There are a couple of people I'm thinking of like you have all of my compassion, like they're spiraling and they can't find a way to listen to what we know now, probably because of glucose sensing technology and everything that they're very likely not brittle. They're just their settings are wrong. They eat at the wrong times. They use insulin incorrectly. They don't know what they're doing, and it's not their fault, and it looks like it's all out of control. And then then that psychological impact, I think, can stop them from stepping back, seeing the light, starting over again,
Ellie 45:39
exactly. Yeah, it's tough. It is. And I think, you know, for me, there was a goal in mind, and I knew I wanted to have a family, and so that at me going, and that's why I reached out to Jenny for that first time, was I need that restart because I'm stuck and can't figure out my way out of it. And like you said, I was lucky enough to do you know, to be able to afford her services, and to do that and continue working with her and with my pregnancy, I will say too, when you have that motivation, and if anyone you know thinking about Becoming pregnant, there's a huge difference about from thinking about becoming pregnant and being pregnant and the diabetes motivation. Tell me, I think when you're thinking about it, you're you're definitely trying, and, you know, I got to that place. But when you are actually pregnant, that motivation sky rockets, because these kids are growing inside you, and you don't want to mess it up for them. Getting teary eyed. Go ahead, but take your time. You want to do well for you so you can be there for them. You know, in my experience, you want them to be as healthy as they can possibly be. And so, you know, I had the lowest A, 1c, in my entire life, during my pre can see, and it was hard, but I did it, and that reminds me today that I continue to do it, and there's still challenges. And I'm not going to say I'm as tight now as I was then, but I'm a heck of a lot better than I was years before.
Scott Benner 47:20
What made you cry? I think just
Ellie 47:22
thinking about, you know, parents wanting to do everything for their kids and the best that you can do. And I think what you were saying before of being kind of separate, separated from having diabetes, but being a parent and wanting to do everything you could and you can do for Arden, it's that same feeling of you're willing to stay up in the middle of the night and watch her graph. You know, we're not always willing to do that kind of thing for ourself. I
Scott Benner 47:53
don't even know how you're supposed to, like, how are you going to live and not sleep,
Ellie 47:57
right? And at the end of the day, you can't, right? It's just
Scott Benner 48:01
It sucks. I mean, in case people don't know, diabetes sucks. Wasn't sure if everybody knew or not. It's also tough, because you can come to this conclusion, or at least I did at some point, that how do I say this? The podcast is in a place right now that you all don't know it's in yet, because I haven't spoken about it enough yet, but I'm still having the experience, so I can't talk about it yet, but that experience is hard, and going off to college and becoming an adult and taking more responsibility for herself, and how well that goes in a lot of circumstances, and how poorly it goes in others, and where the pain points are. What I had to learn to shut up about, what I had to learn to push more about, like, how important communication was the relationship we had previously, because I had to trade off of a little bit of our goodwill during the bad time. Does that make sense? Right? Had I started off with a bad relationship with her and then hit one of those speed bumps? We wouldn't have gotten past that. She would have written me off. But I had enough good will that I could, in small places, assert what needed to be asserted without overwhelming her freedom, her growth, which is also very important. And so why we spend so much time talking about that stuff with Erica, and she and I are still growing through it, and I'll probably start talking about it maybe the end of this next year. But you know, the one thing you can be comfortable with about the podcast is like, I don't, like, have a thought and just randomly blurt it out very frequently at all. Like, if I'm saying something, I've lived through it. I believe in it. It's I've seen it work over and over again. It's interesting to think that, like a part of this, like, I'm still growing through being the parent of a child with type one, even though she's going to be 21 this summer. I hear that, and you guys are all helping me. I. Because I get to absorb all your good stories, your bad stories, your you know, your like, your tales of like, Oh, be careful here, you know, like, that kind of stuff Arden has been able to avoid. I just talked to somebody the other day whose kid got an eating disorder because of how a parent pushed a certain eating style on the kid. And I knew not to do that from recording with 50 people who told me about how it worked out for them between that and everything else, from like the first person, like Arden uses a Pedra because a mom with a blog told me to try it 10 years ago. I didn't know about it. Dexcom is the thing I learned about through another person, and I ignored it, and then it came up again in a doctor's visit. But because it came up and I had heard about it before, like, I slowed down enough and heard what they were saying, you know, like, that kind of stuff, trying to make content for you guys helped me. You know, I don't know, like, actually stop and look at data, because I'm not really a data person, like, and that's strange, like, I'm not a sit down like and break the data apart person like, I do it visually with the graphs, but I'm not very good at looking at the numbers and where they are, etc. I'm making in a new series with Kenny. Do you know Kenny Fox, the fox and the loop house episodes? I'm making a new series with him right now, and there's still things that he's explaining, and it sounds like Charlie Brown's teacher to me when he's talking 100% and so I'm just like, I don't know what he's saying. Hopefully someone does. I'm not going to be the one who understands this. I see it a completely different way. But you guys help me with all that, like the conversations and the feedback and, you know, everything, like, even people have been shitty to me, have been helpful to me at some point or another. Like, and not always. Sometimes people are just mean, but sometimes they say something. You're like, oh, that's, you know, it's valid. So it's been a really interesting experience. Can I be honest with you about your note? Yeah, it's too long. I didn't read it. So are we getting are we getting through it? We are. It's all good. Can I ask about glps. Yes, that was the last thing on my list. Don't worry, go for it. When did it come up? When did you start trying? I started
Ellie 52:07
trying almost a year ago. I think it was maybe February. I did not start it while I was still breastfeeding. I waited till I finished, and that was really my time that I wanted to start it, my endo had brought it up as an option to start on. I started with ozempic first, and I'm now on one jar. Oh, it just works for me better, yeah, and I've had a really great experience with it. I mean, some ups and downs, no no real sickness. I've had nausea here and there, but it's been, it's been a big help. In a lot of ways. My basal dropped by 30 units a day. Wow,
Scott Benner 52:55
it's awesome. Did you have weight to lose? Or was that not part of it? It
Ellie 52:59
wasn't the main goal, but it, you know, was a welcome, welcome thing.
Scott Benner 53:04
Everybody over 30 is like, listen, it's cool. I took it, you know what? I mean, it wasn't a problem
Ellie 53:11
that desperately needed, but it was all right, yeah, it's, it's just helped so much. And again, you know, I was mentioning before, like, we, we keep changing in life circumstances, you know? Now I'm I work full time. I have twin, two and a half year old. I'm busy, and so it's between GLP one and loop. I feel like it's that extra help I need in the background. You know, I don't always Pre Bolus. I love to always try. It doesn't always happen, but I'm not having such negative effects when it doesn't happen, yeah.
Scott Benner 53:43
What does that mean? Like, what's your spike? Like, more like, 180
Ellie 53:47
instead of 252 70, yeah,
Scott Benner 53:51
yeah. How about your PCOS? Is it helping with that?
Ellie 53:54
I think so. It's a little hard to tell, but I think overall, in a bunch of different areas. I think it's helped. I think, you know, the weight loss has helped with the PCOS. Because of it, some of my labs have improved. So I think all it's all around been a positive thing for me, being on it.
Scott Benner 54:13
What were your PCOS symptoms? Did you have acne? I did
Ellie 54:17
not. It was really just irregular periods.
Scott Benner 54:22
Were they painful? No, they were just sometimes heavy. Okay, like, heavy, like, did you ever need iron infusion or anything like that? No,
Ellie 54:29
no, thankfully, I didn't, and it's one of those things, like, at the time, I told my doctor about they checked for it and found it. But none of us really know what anybody else is experiencing when you say you have, you know, heavy people, like, what exactly does that look like? But that's what I was saying, and it made sense from the diabetes picture. So that all really helped.
Scott Benner 54:52
Yeah, that's good. I'm glad you got what you needed. It's awesome. How did you get your insurance to cover it? Are you paying cash?
Ellie 54:58
I'm really great. Grateful my insurance is covering it, and knock on wood, I hope they don't dig into it too much. They have not asked. They haven't they just approved it right away.
My doctor keeps saying that too. He's like, this is not going to get covered. This is not going to get covered. I'm like, just, just write it. I already called them and they said it's going to be fine, and it has been. He's like, Well, don't, don't poke around too much, because they haven't noticed that you're type one. I don't know if they haven't noticed or not, but they're covering it.
Scott Benner 55:35
You shut up and do it
Ellie 55:39
on the funny thing about it, it's a really wonky program, and I can't really talk about it on here, but I have to get three months at a time for it to be affordable. It's a special diabetes program within this insurance okay? And so even when I'm testing out a dose, let's say I have to get it three months worth for it to not be like $500 it's $50 for three months. That's awesome. I can't complain. I'm very grateful. Yeah,
Scott Benner 56:08
I pay, I mean, we have good insurance, obviously, but I think I pay the co pay $20 I think I pay for a month. So you're doing better than me, because I'm paying 60 every three months. Close enough? Yeah, no. I mean, let's close enough. I'm over here. I'm looking for that. $10 is what I'm saying. But no, that's awesome, like and you know, people are finding a ton of different ways to get it, and I do think that it's going to get easier over time. The companies want to sell the drug, obviously, right? And there's such a demand for it, I don't see how the insurance companies can Stonewall on that. Ellie, listen, I got up this morning and I I put on jeans and a white t shirt. I would not have worn a white t shirt for money or love prior to me finding a GLP medication. Yeah, oh, I hear you. In a million years, I would not have and I happened to walk past Arden just brought her stuff back from college, and so there's a number of items strewn about my house. Still, if nobody's ever had a kid come home for college, you just they find, like, open space and drop things like mattress pads and ice makers and things like that. Like things they just like, suddenly don't need anymore. And they're like, where did we put this? Is this a good spot? I'm like, in the middle of the floor. No, it's not a good spot. One of the things that's abandoned is like, the back of a door mirror. And I walked past that mirror and I thought, it doesn't look like me. Yeah, and I feel so much better. And it's not just because I lost weight like the DLP is helping me in a this has been Christmas week for us. I have probably, in the last seven days, had more chocolate chip cookies than I've had in the last two years. I've eaten pizza twice. I've had pulled pork at a meal a number of other, you know, things, and my weight hasn't changed in the last seven days, and I have not once found myself in the bathroom talking to Jesus, yeah, that hasn't happened, and none of the terrible things that used to happen to me. So when people ask me, like, what does GLP do for you? Like, I'm like, I don't really know, but my life is better. So exactly
Ellie 58:27
I feel the same way I feel like, and you know, everyone who's been on has talked about the food noise reduction, but when I had heard episodes people talking about that before I started, I thought to myself, like, that's great for them, but that's not gonna be the case for me. And then when I took it, once the noise stops, you don't realize how loud it is until it's gone. How
Scott Benner 58:54
about the fact that I can still taste things, but it doesn't taste like rainbows, sunshine and orgasm all at the same time, like, it just tastes like food, right? Somebody can give me a slice of pizza and I can eat it and go, that was good, and I'm full now. Like, my brain's not yelling, salt, fat, do it again, right? It still tastes like pizza. And then I hear people who are new to GLP, they'll complain about it, like, well, it's ruining food for me. And I'm like, I think you're missing the point of this. You're taking this because you you need it, like, you know, for whatever reason you need it for part of your problem is that that pizza tastes like crack cocaine to you, like, like, that's part of the problem, you know. So take it, you know, food, noise, whatever you want to call
Ellie 59:38
it, right? And I, I'll say for myself, it took a longer time, and I think a lot of people don't give the drugs enough time to adjust in their bodies, like I stuck at the same doses before I went up for longer than that month to adjust to it, to feel good being on the dose and. And for me, that was very helpful. I'm going
Scott Benner 1:00:03
to tell you that I haven't quite found a way to, like, articulate it yet, but I've been thinking about this very same thing, which is, like, people talk about, like, like, I'm not saying if you have like, a real problem, like, if you're one of the people who gets like, you know, blocked intestines or something terrible. Like, I'm not saying, like, power through it. Ellie, are you okay with this conversation? I didn't take a reasonably human looking poop for like, nine months. I did not give a Yeah, I feel better. I don't know what's happening right now, but I figured I, you know, it took 50 years to get here. It isn't going to be like, you know, rainbows and sunshine getting away from it exactly the way the inside of my body adjusted and how whatever horribleness was in my cells was coming out. Like, it wasn't pretty, but I didn't give up on it. I wasn't like, Oh no, this is unpleasant. I'm gonna stop. But I've heard people do that like, Oh, I'm not, you know, like I'm running to the bathroom. I'm like, Well, yeah,
Ellie 1:01:00
right, but give it a little bit of time and see if you get benefit out of it, because if you are feeling better everywhere else, then it's it's worth trying to keep going with it. For me, I was pretty lucky. I mean, I just felt queasy. I mean, it really felt like morning sickness. For months, I'd wake up, I'd feel nauseous and not really want to eat anything, and started eating breakfast way later in the morning. I used to be someone who woke up and needed to eat pretty much right away. That went away. But you know, as I adjusted to different doses, that went away too for the most part, there's still days right after I take it, I get that. It hasn't been too, too rough. It is
Scott Benner 1:01:41
so funny that you bring this up because the other day, like a personal friend of like somebody I know personally, like a person I was in the room with said, you know, I wake up every morning and I feel nauseous, and I'm like, Well, what happens then? Like, well, I get up and I eat and it goes away. And I'm like, Uh huh. I'm not saying people are soft, and I'm certainly but, but if she said, Well, I don't want to feel nauseous, and I'm like, too bad,
Ellie 1:02:05
right? Some things are worth it. When I saw after the first week, I don't remember how much my basal had dropped even after the first week, it was significant, though, I mean, and my resistance, and I'm sure inflammation and all of those things are better being on it, oh, a million
Scott Benner 1:02:23
times. You know, you brought it up earlier about, like, not liking to insert the CGM, right? And we don't talk about it a ton on here, because it it wanes and it ebbs and flows in her life. But at the moment, is very bad. Like Arden has a significant needle phobia. Like a significant needle phobia. It got to the point where she was off at school, not having a good time at school, and, you know, I think, like, stress and was piling up on her. And one of the things that, like, she was just like, I like, her needle phobia got worse, yeah, and she's like, I can't do this. So I'm not sure if I've talked about this on here or not, but for about a month, every Sunday, I drove from New Jersey to Pittsburgh to give Arden, her her GLP medication. I'd get up in the morning, drive six or seven hours, give it to her, spend the hour of like crying and pleading that because she's really scared, and then it stops immediately. Like, if nobody has a needle phobia, like, if you've never really seen a real needle phobia, like, good for you. It's like she's begging for her life. Like, do you know what I mean?
Ellie 1:03:30
Oh, I 100 I have, I mean, I, I've never really called it that, but that's what it is. Yeah, I totally relate to her. She is not alone. And people often think, because we're diabetic, we're not, we don't have an issue with needles, and it doesn't go away. That's
Scott Benner 1:03:45
the dumbest thing I've heard people say. Is like, Oh, she's had diabetes forever. She's not over that yet. I'm like, no, she still has a phobia of needles. Like, you know, like,
Ellie 1:03:54
I don't give myself my GLP one the first time I tried, I tried to give it, and I hit the button, and I didn't know what to expect, because, you know, it's like, spring loaded, or whatever it is, and I jerked back, and it just squirted all over the floor. I was devastated
Scott Benner 1:04:13
for like, that was very expensive. That was very expensive, and
Ellie 1:04:17
I didn't know I had to wait another week, because I wasn't sure if I got any of it, and I was, oh, eyes, not to give. Give it again. It was my very first one, so I didn't want to give
Scott Benner 1:04:28
more than the dose. That's upsetting. It was so frustrating.
Ellie 1:04:32
After that, I was like, I can't do this, honey. You do it.
Scott Benner 1:04:34
To describe it like, if you've ever watched a bad movie where someone's about to execute somebody. And the begging that starts like, that's how she begs, like, no, no, no, wait, wait, wait, wait, I have to say one more thing I have to do. No, no, like that, like that. It's terrible, right? And so it's hard on her. It's hard on my soul, yeah? And you think like, well then Scott, don't do it. Well, you should see the physical health benefit. She's getting from it. It's not a thing she can avoid. But in those last few weeks before she came back from school, I'm gonna stop doing this. And I said, All right, Arden, you know what's gonna happen? It's up to you. Blah, blah, blah. And she stopped, and I stopped driving to Pittsburgh, and, you know, watching the Eagles games on my phone, like, sort of while I was driving. You know what I mean? By the way, I know that's probably not legal, but they're having such a great season, and I'm trying to be a good dad and like, something's got to give somewhere. She stopped, and now she's home. She got home, she was home for three days, and she said, I gotta start taking that job. He again. And I was like, Okay, now, if a person who feels that way about it and is still that young understands the impact it's giving to her, like it's significant, like her acne comes back with a vengeance. Without it, her blood sugars are significantly difficult to deal with. It takes a lot more insulin, everything for her. And I'm not saying it's everybody, but for her, everything is better with it. I hope people find value in it. They're going to be plenty of people, by the way, don't respond to it. It isn't good for them. I'm not saying it's good for everybody, etc, and so on. I mean, if you've had diabetes for a very long time and you have, like, any gastroparesis symptoms, like I would, I would be very, very cautious, like that kind of and that's not coming from an from a study or anything like that. Just seems to make good common sense to me. But for the people, it's going to work for and for the people in the future, I mean, and when they figure out how to put it into a pill form, which I'm pretty sure Novo is working on, right? Novo makes ozempic, is that? Right? Novo makes exempic, I think they're working on a pill form that's going to be more aggressive. Because right now the problem is there are pill form glps, but they just don't work as well as the injectables, right?
Ellie 1:06:45
Yeah, I honestly just wish they would give it in vials and not. Ozempic is a pen, which I preferred to. Benja, Rose spring loaded thing. I wish it was just in a straight up vial. I would much prefer that. Ellie,
Scott Benner 1:06:59
I can tell you how to do that. That's how we do it. For Arden, do you okay? So we go on Amazon. All right, listen to me. First of all, there's a phase one trial for Novo Nordisk experimental obesity drugs, blah, blah, blah, 13% weight loss three months. It's a GLP Lake pill. So they are working on it. You all do not go to Amazon and me up on this. Okay? We go to Amazon and we buy vials. You can get little packs of sterile, brand new medication vials, right? Then we balance the Manjaro pen over top of it, hold it firmly so it doesn't kick out, and then hit and hold the injector. The injector from the benjaro pen goes through the rubber in the vial, and then it's like you're almost like you're milking a snake. And then it just squirts the bonjaro into the vial, then you draw it back out with an insulin needle and put it
Ellie 1:07:55
in. That is brilliant. I'm so glad I mentioned that. Yeah,
Scott Benner 1:07:59
so, and by the way, that's not my idea. It's somebody who told me about it, who learned about it from YouTube. So well, kudos to whoever figured that out. And it allows you to modulate the amount, because the 2.5 of Manjaro is a little too much for Arden, because she's not looking for the satiation part and everything. So we are able to give her a little less also, she does better with the insulin needles than she does with the injector. And for those of you out there, Arden describes being hit with the injector as lightning flying through her leg.
Ellie 1:08:32
It burns, I don't know if she has that too, besides the jolt of you know, the injector kind of launching. For me personally, it burns terribly when it goes in, yeah,
Scott Benner 1:08:44
yeah. She says it feels like lightning. She's not a fan, and worth it. I still have enough fat on my midsection that, like, I can find, like a real, like jelly place and stick it in, and it's, you know, it's not bad. But if that ever goes away, I'm gonna be screwed too, and I'm not going to stop taking it. I just want you all to hear me. I'm going to find a maintenance level of it and stick with it because of just the digestion part. And you guys know I don't have to get, like, iron infusions anymore, because I'm on it. If I eat something that's not slightly from what my body doesn't like, I don't find myself in the bathroom talking to God and promising him things if he'll just let this part stop, which was a pretty big part of my life when I was younger, and not because I was crazy, overeating or anything like that. So my body just didn't do well with a lot of foods that now it it handles just fine. So anyway, good luck to everybody. 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. How about that? Do that off the top my head, like it's nothing, and I haven't said it in a long time. Do you guys know I pre record that stuff and then we drop them in as files.
Ellie 1:09:56
I assumed as much, but you sounded just I wasn't sure there for a second. It. You jumped it in right now.
Scott Benner 1:10:01
So for years and years, I'd say it in every episode. And then one time online, this guy, I said that must have said on the podcast. This guy online goes, Wait, that's not pre recorded. And I went, Wait, he thought it was pre recorded. Why the hell am I not pre recording it then? So I did, I think three slightly different versions of it, and then we just mix and match them as we make the episodes. That's great, all for efficiency. What I'm saying is I can't believe I just said it without thinking, because I haven't said it like I don't know that I've said it in like, a year and a half, actually,
Ellie 1:10:37
that's crazy. Oh, good job. Oh, good this
Scott Benner 1:10:39
is where I get my pats on the head. Just sad. I'm gonna ask you one last question. First of all, I want to make sure, did we go through everything that you wanted to go through? We did. Okay? I'm gonna ask you a question as an adult. Okay, if I were to put effort this year into making content that encapsulates each episode of, like the Pro Tip series, for example. So, like, if you got like a 20 minute talking head episode from me about each episode of The Pro Tip series, but it was also in video on YouTube, do you think that it would reach new people, or am I just a podcaster and that's I'm not going to be able to do that,
Ellie 1:11:18
I think it absolutely would reach new people.
Scott Benner 1:11:23
I really do think I'm going to try. There
Ellie 1:11:25
are some people, and I know you'd still be talking, but that visual component, I think, helps a lot of people process watching something. And I also think that there are people who may not be in the Facebook group and might not be listening to podcasts that would very likely find you through YouTube. I
Scott Benner 1:11:45
want more people to be able to find it, and I want it to be more accessible for non podcast people. So like podcast people don't care. They'll sit and listen for an hour. That's what they do, you know. But for people who have become accustomed to 62nd videos and they think that's content, or people who've been accustomed to YouTube and there has to be visuals with it, or that's not the kind of content that they get served. Even, like, I can't sit down and remake an episode of the podcast, like, visually, like, and we've actually tried before to animate them, oh yeah, people don't respond to that. It doesn't work because I tried, like, I took a couple of, like, defining diabetes episodes and had somebody like Punch and Judy Marionette, like Marionette, like, animate them, just so there'd be video running in front of them. Didn't matter, like, people didn't care. So I'm trying to find a way to find those people, because they're out there and I see them like you. I mean, you talked about coming in through a different pathway, but I get to see how people make it to the Facebook group, and they make it through friends, through other Facebook groups, through Reddit, through their doctor, through a person they bumped into at a store. You got to it through Jenny. And I just think that there's so many more avenues out there, and people that I think would find you know it interesting or valuable, or entertaining or whatever, and try to figure out how to get to them. So anyway, all right, now I need something to sit in front of. It doesn't look like I put too much effort into it, but it looks like I put a little bit of effort into it. Isn't that what a background of a YouTube video is, that's
Ellie 1:13:15
pretty much I mean, you could get some AI generated something there make it a little more exciting.
Scott Benner 1:13:24
Seems like a lot to me. That's my other problem too. Is that like, I'm not like, of that generation like, so like, I'll do it. I'm gonna do it under protest. Anyway, I just wanted to know if you thought, if you thought, what you thought of that. So I appreciate
Ellie 1:13:38
you. Thank you. Think that would help reach another group of people. Thank you. Well, I
Scott Benner 1:13:42
appreciate very much all you sharing this with me and letting me chat extra today and helping me end my 2024 I don't know how many times I recorded this year, but I'm gonna guess it's somewhere along the lines of probably 350 episodes this year, maybe, wow, maybe so, and you guys haven't heard. I had to look, I don't know, but I think I have like, 70 ready to go that are done and edited, and you guys haven't heard yet. And 22 episodes in that folder, two in that one. There are eight and that one, and then over on Rob's server, he has, oh, wow, Rob has been working hard. There's 16 over there that haven't been touched yet. I don't there's like, 50 or 60 that are available right now, that are ready to go. And like I said, I recorded three yesterday. I did you today. We'll do one tomorrow, one the next day, one on Friday the following week, 1235, yeah, five times the next week. I probably record every day. My God, somehow I'm recording three times, two days in three. Oh, my God, on Monday, on Friday. All right, I'll be all right.
Unknown Speaker 1:14:57
That's a lot. It's amazing. I'll be all right. It's. Be
Scott Benner 1:15:00
fine. Thank you for this. Really, it was very nice of you.
Ellie 1:15:03
No, thank you and Happy New Year to everyone for whenever you're listening to this. Yeah, they're gonna be listening in July. But that's nice. That's fine. It should be happy then too. Yeah, I hope
Scott Benner 1:15:13
your New Year's going well, hold on one second for me. Okay. Okay. You a huge thanks to Omnipod, not just my longest sponsor, but my first one, omnipod.com/juice box. If you love the podcast and you love two plus insulin pumps, this link is for you. Omnipod.com/juice box, us. Med, sponsored this episode of the juice box podcast. Check them out at us. Med.com/juice, box, or by calling 888-721-1514, get your free benefits check and get started today with us. Med, this episode was sponsored by touched by type one. I want you to go find them on Facebook, Instagram and give them a follow, and then head to touched by type one.org where you're going to learn all about their programs and resources for people with type one diabetes. Hey, thanks for listening all the way to the end. I really appreciate your loyalty and listenership. Thank you so much for listening. I'll be back very soon with another episode of The Juicebox Podcast. If you're looking for community around type one diabetes, check out the Juicebox Podcast. Private Facebook group Juicebox Podcast, type one diabetes, but everybody is welcome. Type one, type two, gestational loved ones. It doesn't matter to me, if you're impacted by diabetes and you're looking for support, comfort or community, check out Juicebox Podcast, type one diabetes on Facebook. The episode you just heard was professionally edited by wrong way recording, wrong way recording.com, you.
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