#274 After Dark: Drinking Edition

ADULT TOPIC WARNING. Frank discussions about drinking that includes words like F@#*, $%it, and more… (bleeped)

Maia shares her real-world knowledge of drinking with type 1 diabetes.

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

Scott Benner 0:00
this episode of the Juicebox Podcast contains frank discussion about alcohol. We also curse a lot, but it's beeped out. But I mean, it's still cursing, like, you know if I say, but it's beeped out like it just was, you can still tell I was saying. So, you know, consider that before you let your kids Listen, we're, if you're a little squeamish about stuff like that, consider it before you listen, but just know you're going to miss a fantastic conversation about real life issues surrounding type one diabetes. And I think if you're the parent of a child with type one, this is the kind of stuff you're going to want to know for the future. If you're a kid right now, experimenting with drinking, you definitely need to know this. And if you're just an adult who likes to get a little boozy, might as well learn from a pro. And this episode isn't completely about drinking, we still learn about the guests and their upbringing and where they're from and how they got to where they are not a monster. I didn't just start yelling booze and talk for an hour. Actually, this one's like an hour and a half. But that's not what happened. It's still the Juicebox Podcast, you know, and love. Nothing's different. For instance, you still shouldn't take anything you hear on the Juicebox Podcast is advice, medical or otherwise, you should of course, always consult a physician before making any changes to your health care plan for becoming bold with insulin.

I'll tell you what, though, we curse a lot, Sofia, like the cursing really starts to kick in around halfway, and then it's just much quicker this year. Actually, it's not a lot of that. It's just a couple curses. Sorry, guys. You ready? Here's what I was thinking my and you tell me if you're comfortable with it. And if you're not, I'll revert to my original idea. Okay. Are you comfortable doing like a, a looser adult version of this conversation? And I can just mark it for adults and bleep out cursing if we curse.

Maia 2:00
Yeah, for sure. Okay.

Scott Benner 2:03
You just did something just now. And whatever it was, it's louder than you expect it to be. So

Maia 2:09
okay. I have let me just check something. Because the headphones I'm using. If I'm not moving around, is it good? Or

Scott Benner 2:22
I don't know what you're doing because I can't see you. But

Maia 2:24
I'm actually changing my pod right now.

Do that I can hold when I'm not changing my pod. I can just hold my speaker or my receiver thing away from away from my jacket.

Scott Benner 2:39
Yeah, that's all sometimes if you're wearing a corded headset with like, just an apple headset. If you start moving in that mic, hit your shirt hits your hair or something like that. It just makes a sound that I hear that you don't hear.

Maia 2:52
Yeah, for sure. Okay, cool. Okay. Great. Riley. Link sounds the pod.

Okay.

Well, if we can hang on for just a second so I can get this pod on and then we should be good to go.

Scott Benner 3:09
My I think this is the absolute perfect podcast for you to be changing your insulin pump as it starts. And by the way, I'm recording so we're good. Okay, great. You're absolutely fine. This is it's actually kind of nice. It probably in a few minutes, we're gonna stop and do Arden's insulin for her lunch too.

Maia 3:25
Okay, great. It's perfect. Yeah. Yeah. And I'm I'm cruising a little low, too. So you'll probably hear me eat a date here.

Scott Benner 3:34
That's excellent. I think that's actually Arden. 71. And her blood sugar just shifted to, like a diagonal down arrow. Yeah. And so I'm, like, wondering what's about to happen. I really think she's about to go to lunch, which then I just love. I love the low as a Pre-Bolus. It's perfect, but

Maia 3:53
it really works the best. You can't. You can never make it happen when you want it to. And then, you know, when it does, you're like, yeah,

Scott Benner 4:02
I'm winning. Listen, can you talk while you're while you're swapping your body? Oh, yeah. Yeah, for sure. So I'll just I'll lightly start chatting with you here but and I don't want to take your focus away too much from what you're doing.

Maia 4:14
Oh, no, you're good. You're good.

Scott Benner 4:16
I loved the way you reached out to me. idea that somebody you know, eight was your husband? Is that who you're talking about? or boyfriend?

Maia 4:25
Yeah. What my husband and one of my friends two people told me that this was my moment

Scott Benner 4:31
to people in your life after hearing me on the podcast say well, I'm looking for a professional drunk said oh my god, my it's your turn to be on the jukebox back.

Maia 4:42
I know. made me a little nervous.

Scott Benner 4:47
You know, was there any self reflection after this happened?

Maia 4:51
You know, there, there wasn't a little but I think the reason that that might husband said that it was my moment was because he's, we've been together like the whole time that I've been diabetic. And so, you know, we were together in college when I was figuring out how to drink. And so I think, you know, you know, is that I actually put some thought into it. But my other friend, that that's the one that makes me nervous.

Scott Benner 5:23
So, okay, so your husband had some perspective, and he's like, I've actually seen my work really hard at understanding how alcohol affects her with her blood sugar. And your friend just went my drinks a lot, and she has diabetes. Is that?

Maia 5:40
That is, that is how it went.

Scott Benner 5:43
Yeah, yeah, I can see you thinking, Oh, damn. So my, I'll say it here, because people won't know this before I this is gonna be part of sort of an after dark series, we're going to talk to you about drinking today. Later, we're going to talk to a professional pot smoker. And since we're gonna call you a pro drinker, and, and also going to get a male and female adult, on two separately to talk about what it's like to have sex when you have diabetes, too. So I do this whole little trifecta of, of adult activities and diabetes. But you and I are going to be a little looser, while we're talking about this today. So there's going to be cursing in this episode will all be beeped out. But if you're one of those people who normally lives a life where your kids are listening along with you, or, or for the the few people who tell me that they're like, really young kids listen by themselves, which I think is awesome. This is probably not the episode, but for your kids to listen to it. It'll be you know, Mark, Mark, dwell on the title and everybody will know ahead of time. Oh, here we go. I just said to my daughter is lunch. And she said, What? And then I wrote when is sex? So is lunch? Sorry? I didn't do that. Did I do that? subconsciously while I was talking about the podcast, maybe? I mean, there are three letters and sex and five letters in lunch. So

Maia 7:20
like, you know,

Scott Benner 7:22
I don't know. She's so helpful. I don't know, because they did this award thing this morning.

So she's not heading to lunch that like I thought she was. So she needs to take carbs here.

Maia 7:44
I'm drinking my juice box as we speak.

Scott Benner 7:46
Apparently, it's going to be too because she's not to lunch also. All right. Have you hopped the rails? Are you running away from home on the train?

Maia 7:56
No, I am. I'm sitting in my car. I teach yoga. Okay, so I'm sitting in my car outside my yoga studio, which is right by the train tracks. But that should be the only train that passes us during our podcast app, so that will be good. That's totally

Scott Benner 8:13
fine. I feel like it adds flavor. Cool.

Maia 8:20
Yeah, I got I actually have a great view. I'm right on the water. I'm on the waterfront, I'm in this nice park. It's really not

Scott Benner 8:26
part of the country.

Maia 8:28
I live in Washington State,

north of Seattle. So I'm up in Bellingham, which is, you know, right in between Vancouver, British Columbia, and Seattle.

Scott Benner 8:39
And so to start slow, because we're gonna get into you and your diabetes for a second before we get to, you know, the other stuff. But any pause at all on your part? Like, I'm looking for stigma? Like, is there any concern? Like, I really can't go on a podcast that people get here and talk about how much I drink? Or do you not

Maia 8:57
know about it? No, not at all. Good. I don't

Scott Benner 9:00
think you should. I mean, you know, I don't, I don't think anybody should feel self conscious about who they are. But I just didn't know if it was something that gave you pause. If you thought, I don't know if I want to say that out loud. Would you have more more reservation? Saying something private about diabetes or another part of your life? Or do you feel like you're just an open person in general?

Maia 9:20
I think I'm a pretty open person, I think, I don't know. I called my dad when you responded back and I had a chuckle about how you saved all your funny questions for the podcast. And I called my dad and I was like, Dad, I'm gonna be on on a podcast and when it's gonna be about how much I drink, I'll see you there was my low glucose alert. But uh, yeah, no, I, I really don't and i think i think the reason is that if you know me, you you should probably know, most of me, you know? But that's always just been kind of my opinion cool.

Scott Benner 10:01
But Maia is referring was that when she and I went back and forth a couple times, because, you know, normally I'm just like, hey, would somebody like to come on and talk about whatever they want. But when you were coming on to talk about something specific, I soon as we started chatting back and forth the the question started popping into my head, and I stopped myself and I'm like, I'm not gonna do the podcast over like, messenger, you know, where I'm like, what's this? Like, and that kind of thing. So. So how's your blood sugar? Are you okay?

Maia 10:29
I'm good. I got I had a, I had like, 20 carbs. And I should be all good to go.

Scott Benner 10:34
Nice. So you changed your pump had stopped the low end of doing a podcast on your car? That's excellent. Yeah, yeah, people. This is for the newer diagnosed people who are just like, I don't understand. It's so overwhelming. My it's just like, if I had another hand, I could be brushing my hair.

Maia 10:52
So actually, you know, I just got out of the shower, I'll probably put on mascara while we talk to.

Scott Benner 10:57
Excellent. All right, so my welcome to the show. One of the longer preambles of any show is gonna have How old are you now? How old were you when you're diagnosed? I am 28. And I was diagnosed at 17.

Maia 11:15
So I just celebrated my 10 year anniversary in June gratulations. Wow, I made it.

Scott Benner 11:23
I'm still here. You are the perfect person for this, as I didn't know your age range from diagnosis to now until just now. But you're perfect because you're in your later 20s. So any of the incredibly stupid things you were going to do? You've probably done already. you've figured out which one of those things you're probably never going to do again, which one of those things didn't, you know, wasn't so bad? And yeah, and you were diagnosed right in, you know, write in a really kind of pivotal age. So, alright, let's talk about that. Were you a senior in high school or a junior?

Maia 11:56
So I had actually just graduated from high school. I was diagnosed like, two, three weeks after high school graduation.

Scott Benner 12:04
Okay, were you almost 18?

Maia 12:07
It was a couple months before I was 18. I'm an August, baby.

Scott Benner 12:11
And so yeah, so Okay, so you just graduated from high school? Were you planning on going to college? or What was your next step? In your mind?

Maia 12:18
Yeah. So it's a little, it's a little bit of an interesting situation. So I actually grew up overseas, and I lived in New Delhi, India, for all of my childhood, I moved there. When I was six, I lived there for my whole life. And I had just moved back to the US to go to college. And my parents were going to be staying in India. And I had, you know, like, classic diagnosis of weight loss and everything, but kind of stacked on top of that was that I was in the fashion industry, and I was working as a model. So I wasn't in school, I was exercising a lot. I was losing a little bit of weight and toning up. And I was like, Man, this is awesome. Like, I never dieted and, and always was really pretty proud of myself for that. And, and I just tried to take good care of myself. And so I was like, Wow, this is great. You know, they're gonna be so happy at my agency that I'm a little bit thinner. And then it just kind of kept going. And I was like, well, this isn't super great. And, and I knew I had a problem, because my aunt threw me a graduation party, and I peed my pants at the graduation party. And I was like, because I just had, so I was drinking and peeing so much, and I was like, Oh, my God, this is not good.

Scott Benner 13:40
For clarity. Not like, I got drunk. I peed my pants or I get excited. No, my pants. It just happened. Like, you're like, I have to pee so bad. I can't stop it.

Maia 13:47
Yeah, like and I just, I, you know, I wasn't drinking that night. I maybe have like a glass of champagne or something, you know? And we were having this like family event. And I was like, Okay, this has gone far enough. And I've been dating my boyfriend for a while. And he actually lived where I was moving. And he was part of the reason that I was moving there. And I was planning on going to visit him and and my mom was like, You can't go until you go to the doctor. I was like, Yeah, I probably have like a urinary tract infection. Or, you know, I'm taking supplements that are messing with, you know, other medication that I'm taking or whatever. And I walked in and they were like, yeah, the nurse like the doctor wasn't even though she's like, Yeah, you got type one diabetes. She just

Scott Benner 14:30
knew right away,

Maia 14:32
right away. And my grandmother actually knew which is so unfair. She goes, Oh, you go into the doctor. Have your HBU and z check. I'm like, Oh, okay. Yeah, I know seriously. So so they're like you're gonna go drive we were out in that we live out my cat ruled at that time. My folks had a place out in the county and, and so we like you're going to go into the city and go to the hospital and and I called my boy friend who's not my husband and, and I was like, Hey babe, I think I have diabetes, I'm going to the hospital. And I was in a kind of unique situation because my best friend in high school was type one diabetic is type one diabetic. And, and my, my, one of my first boyfriends was type one too. And so I had known both of them at the time that they were diagnosed. Well, maybe I didn't know Brendon when he was diagnosed. But I was I was friends with Audrey when she was diagnosed. And, and so I remember what happened. It was like, one day she was there. And then she was gone. And she was like, missing for a week. And then she came back and everything was different. And, and so I was just really like, Oh, my gosh, what is about to happen to me. But I also have these examples of two humans who like, lived pretty normal lives. So that gave me enough perspective to not totally panic. And I was in that weird space of like, Mom and Dad are not going to be in my life in a month, you know, they're going to be across the world. So I got to figure this out on my own. And I thought I was in the hospital for for two days. And kind of figured everything out. My parents are like, how much do you want me to be involved? And, and the people at the hospital are like you're turning 18? And a couple months? Do you want to go through peed? Were your parents have to be involved? Or do you want to go through this as an adult? And I was like, I want to go through this as an adult. So I'm in a unique situation where if my I asked my mom how much insulin I needed to take for a meal, she would have no idea she would she would not change a pod or, or do any of that stuff. So

Scott Benner 16:54
yeah, her perspective is as an adult, as the parent of an adult person who was diagnosed.

Maia 16:59
Yeah, yeah, for sure. I wonder

Scott Benner 17:01
was six months earlier, what you would have said, like, right before you graduated, like if you would have still felt? It's interesting. Like, it's such an I mean, it's really cool that you chose I'll do it on my own. Did they come with you, even though you went through the adult path,

Maia 17:15
they never went to an endo appointment with me. They were there at the hospital and you know, being good parents about it, but they, they never really went with me. But my boyfriend did. So for the first probably three years after I was diagnosed, he was at every endo appointment. Every every CD appointment pump training, and everything with me, which was super cool. See?

Scott Benner 17:41
Lucky guy really, cuz, you know, the secret is, is that guys are always looking for something to be involved in where you look sweet. And so he was like, This is perfect for me. I could just go to these. I'm just kidding.

Maia 17:52
I know what,

Scott Benner 17:53
but that's really that's excellent. Because I I'm even like, was he much older than he much older

Maia 17:58
than you? Are? You guys say four years older than me, okay? Because that's

Scott Benner 18:02
the other thing. Like when you at 17 you're like, Hey, I have, you know, almost 18 Hey, I have diabetes, that he didn't go I'm sorry, you have the wrong number. And then, you know, and, and was like, Oh, I wasn't up for this, but he's got enough. Just enough adult life in him to not panic when you hear something like that?

Maia 18:19
Yeah, yeah, for sure. And I think, you know, I've always been a person where if something didn't matter, I just didn't put any effort into it. You know, like, I, if I, I was in when I was in high school, you know, like, if a class I didn't find in an application to what I was learning. I was just like, Yeah, whatever. And, and I always did, okay. But, you know, I think that really suited my personality that diabetes really suited my personality, because then suddenly, this stuff mattered and, and I could apply myself to it. And I was like, Okay, so the American Diabetes Association and their pamphlet that they give new, newly diagnosed type one says that you need a support network. And I'm like, okay, building support network, you know, and so I think that that was really helpful. And I'm also super lucky because I had been with trained in the shop and, and at the time that I was diagnosed, he was a chef, and he had a restaurant and we went to the restaurant. And we carb counted every meal, every menu item, so I could go and Bolus for it. And so like the first I don't know, I didn't eat anything else, except for there for a little bit because I could reliably bolus

Scott Benner 19:38
Yeah, it was great. probably helped you put some weight back on to nothing like eating Oh, yeah. Nothing like

Maia 19:44
a couple of pounds. I know. And it was all Italian food too. So I feel like everyone talks about this struggle with like pizza and pasta and whatever. But that was the first stuff I learned to Bolus for. So I kind of dialed that in quick and then you know, went back and was like, Wait, how do I get it done?

Scott Benner 20:00
He did the hard the hard stuff first. And by the way, I bet going backwards from more like carbon intensive foods to less you probably had a similar struggle adjusting from one to the others, somebody would going from salad to pizza. I don't think it's much different. It's a it's a big adjustment one way or the other, right?

Maia 20:17
Oh, yeah, yeah, I was still learning a different way, you know, of giving myself insulin for sure.

Scott Benner 20:25
You've done a very unfair thing to me here, you've said a lot of really interesting things that don't have anything to do with drinking. So I have to I'd be, you know, completely remiss if I didn't ask you why you were living in India.

Maia 20:40
So my parents are teachers, and they taught at an international school there. And you know, when I was born, they were teaching at a at an international school in Taiwan. And then later on, they moved to India, we lived in the states for a couple years in between, but they taught at the American school, they're

Scott Benner 20:57
very cool. And they're not like international jewel thieves who are hiding out overseas or something like that. They're just really teachers, as far as you know, I'm not to my knowledge. But if they were, that would be cool. As long as they leave you the jewels, I guess at the end, I know, one guy got up. And I have to say to again, I can't spend too much time on this, which is hurting me inside. But I am going to go back to India for a second before I ask him my second question. How did you find living there? Mom, I have friends who have lived there. My wife's visited kind of extensively for work a couple of times. And I'm interested.

Maia 21:29
I mean, it's a kind of an unfair question, because I don't know what it was like to grow up where you grew up, I live there, I moved there when I was six. And, you know, like, it was super cool. One year, my parents got like an elephant to come to my birthday party. You know, like, people would get a pony or whatever, and I got an elephant. And that was super rad. But I, I don't really know, because it was my whole life. I know that it was vastly different than my experience here. And

and so I think that was

an incredible, you know, asset to me, coming back to the states and having this global perspective. And I traveled back to the US frequently as a kid. So I didn't have that, like, big culture shock when I moved back. But I definitely think that it gave me a global perspective and, and a lot of gratitude for what I do have, you know, like, just on a basic level access to influence. Because I, I definitely did get to see a lot of hardship in my life. But I also got to meet incredible human beings and travel so much as a little kid. And anyone who says that, that traveling with kids is not worth their time or money is just needs to reevaluate because I've had so many, I had so many experiences when I was a little kid that really changed me, you know, getting to see the world.

Scott Benner 22:58
Well, I ever, I guess I have some follow up questions. And they're not about drinking yet. But hold on. Trust me.

Maia 23:05
I promise. Right. Yeah.

Scott Benner 23:07
So I guess what is, you know, what's one thing that sticks out to you about India that you don't miss? And something about here that you wish didn't exist?

Maia 23:22
Well, we'll just start with something that I wish didn't exist, which is the price of insulin because my parents are still living in India for a few years after my diagnosis, and I would go back and visit them and get my annual supply of insulin, or $150.

Scott Benner 23:38
Wow, for the for like, as long as you need it. For a year a year. Geez, that's amazing. Yeah.

Maia 23:44
Okay. It wasn't, it was the same insulin made in the same factory in the same vial. You know, it was not.

Scott Benner 23:50
That's something. What about India, like, so I'll give you a little perspective. My, one of my daughter's best friends, is Indian. She goes home, but she doesn't go home. She goes to her parents home a couple of times a year. Sometimes they go for visits, sometimes it's amazing. They go to shop for clothes, and, you know, people and I said to her one day, I was like, Sandra, what's the, what's the worst part about India is a bad part. And she goes, I have to poop in a hole when I stay at my grandmother. Say again, and she was he go outside and you know, dig a hole and poop in it. And I was like, Oh, yeah, that doesn't sound good at all. And she was it really isn't. And so and then my, my wife, when she visited for work the first time, I don't know where she was in fairness and what city she was in. But she sends me a message one day, and it just says, I have never seen so many penises in my entire life. I texted her back and I was like, hey, two things. I think you sent this to the wrong person. And I'd like to get divorced. And you know, and she was like, No, no, she's like, everyone pees on the street.

Maia 24:57
Mm hmm. I'm

Scott Benner 24:58
like what she goes when men are walking If they have to pee, they turn to the curb and they pee and then they keep going. She's like, it is so pervasive that written on the walls of buildings, you know, it doesn't say no loitering, it says like, nope, no urinating, and I was like, Oh, that is different. Well, something that does that surprise you?

Maia 25:20
Well, I mean, this is the thing. I grew up with it. I mean, I started you know, pooping in a hole. I don't, I don't, I mean, I, I remember not doing it. I we had we had a toilet at our house, but we, you know, like, I don't know, I was just always there didn't seem that that was hard for me when I came back was like, you know, there was a lot more like, Oh, you you can't just use the restroom, wherever you want or whatever. There's, there's a culture shock, but I always explain it, you know, with this with this cereal aisle. Okay. So when I was growing up, you could go to this one little store in this big market, and they had American food. And, and so you could go to the store and they had Cheerios, you could go buy stale super sale, expired Cheerios for, you know, like double the price that you'd buy them at a Safeway. And, and when I come back to the state, every year, there was like a new flavor of Cheerios. And by the time that I graduated from high school, there were 13 different kinds of Cheerios. And I just thought that there were Cheerios.

You know, I didn't know that. Like, I was like, What is this

Scott Benner 26:38
world had grown without you?

Maia 26:40
Can I? Yeah. And that was, that was the rest of the world.

Scott Benner 26:42
Have you ever, almost mistakenly back here in America, a flowerbed outside of McDonald's or something like that? Or does that never happens?

Maia 26:52
Luckily, that never happened. No matter how much alcohol I couldn't do

Scott Benner 26:57
it I'm like, it's completely possible that my it could be drunk in public think she's in India and just be like, I know what I need to do.

Maia 27:07
Oh, that's funny.

Scott Benner 27:11
There's a good time for a break Arden saying lunch soon. So we're going to Bolus for Arden's lunch together, chips. She's asked me what's in there. So I've eliminated some processed foods from Arden's life this week, because we're trying to figure something out. And not being exactly fun about it. I'm trying to think she's gonna be so personal I Tara Watson, so she has a sandwich and chips, bell pepper, carrots, a little chocolate and a banana. And I'm so hungry. And I said, She goes, did you give me real food? I'm so hungry. And I said yes. Um, and she goes, like, what? And I told her and she goes, so then No.

Maia 28:00
Oh.

Scott Benner 28:03
I'll tell you what. She eats all that. Combine one thing from school. So for now, I think we'll do try to thank chips 18 sandwich 24 What's up 4050 6070? Let's do 40 carbs, two hours and 30 carbs three hours. Tell me if you buy something else. Sorry about this. It's a little different than it has been. She gets she's getting like muscle. She's like muscle cramps a lot and our shoulders and her neck. And you know, we've done all of the conventional things that we can think of. It doesn't seem to alleviate it. So sort of in a wild swing I just removed like processed stuff for a couple days from or like not a lot like she still has some like natural potato chips. I know people are like what a natural potato chips. But there are potato chips that have like very,

Maia 29:23
very few additives. Oh, yeah. You know, and I live in granola land. Okay, so you're in. Yeah,

Scott Benner 29:30
you've probably eaten a raw potato and somebody's like, it's a potato chip. And you're like, No, it's not. Don't Don't tell me it's a toilet. Seriously. So diet and

she said, I'm glad we're cursing. Let's see. She goes No, I can't because there's nothing here that fits in in diet. So I said that I didn't say she was so can I get a cookie? And I said, Yes. Let's see what the answer is gonna be to that cuz I'm starving the garden zero carb kind of girl hit on a man. You just need a cookie. No, but No kidding. She did really well actually. My stomach is eating itself. Oh, just polish. She just loves to. She said, Okay. So anyway, she just she's just me and like a smaller female body. So she's just been sick. Finally, some people listening in to be like, I knew that guy. Now he's at one time joke.

Maia 30:50
Yeah, but you? Do you admitted it by calling your daughter? And

Scott Benner 30:54
did I? It's hard to know what I did right there. I hear what you're saying. Myself. One time I joke. I joke about an episode of mine. My ego really got away from me today. And I was so clearly joking around. And somebody left a review that's like, see, he even admitted it.

Maia 31:14
Oh, that's funny.

Unknown Speaker 31:17
India,

Scott Benner 31:19
a different place to live first. Yeah, for certain.

Maia 31:23
If we want to loop it back to drinking, okay, one of the crazy things about my knee growing up was that I could go out to a bar. And so I mean, I don't think I don't even know what the drinking age was. But there was no restriction on drinking. And so you know, people had birthday parties at at, you know, nightclubs. And, and in high school, we would go out to the bar. And my rule for my family was always that I could have a beer, I could drink a little, but I couldn't ever come home, drunk. And so that was already like, part of my life. Coming to the States, I would like walk up to the counter at the grocery store at 18 years old, try to buy a bottle of wine. And I'm like, I can't do that here.

Scott Benner 32:11
I'm imagining your parents having a parenting talk off to the side. And they're like, you know, my look says she asked if she could get a beer. And I don't know what to say. And one of them said, we make the whole we should probably let her have a beer if she wants.

Maia 32:25
She's earned it.

Scott Benner 32:26
Yeah, you need to be a little drunk to plant your feet firmly and kind of squat. Hey, you know what, while we're doing this man, can you describe how you do poop in the hole? How does it go? Exactly?

Maia 32:37
Well, um, I think the big thing is, is that you develop special muscles, and a little more hip flexibility. But you just you just pop a squat, you know? I mean, imagine just a little bear. I mean, I think they're, I mean, they're ergonomically laid out holes. There's normally like a foot pad on each side. A lot of them are like porcelain. Yeah. And there's like a little foot pad on each side. And, and the whole, the little, you know, behind you, and they just do your business. But a lot of places don't have toilet paper, and they have like a little sprayer. So you use of the day instead of toilet paper, which I know that for sure.

Scott Benner 33:24
Well, first of all, people who love the day, speak highly of them. And my other question is, there's a custom in India, right? Like you don't shake hands with a certain hand because of the wiping, right?

Maia 33:34
Yeah, because you use the one hand to clean yourself. And the other hand is for eating and greeting.

Scott Benner 33:40
It's so. So basically, there's so much good that's come in this podcast already. We have not even talked about drinking yet. I am, in my mind, what the subtext of this podcast episode to be. Does my the woods? Yes, she does. And

Maia 33:58
I do that too.

Scott Benner 34:00
I'm right now picturing the people listening to this at home going, wait, did she say clean their self with their hand and that's why they don't shake with a certain hand. And like, everyone who didn't know that I'm watching like in my mind right now then the process all that? But yeah, that's, that's 100% how that goes.

Maia 34:21
Oh, yeah, for sure.

Scott Benner 34:22
So I have to ask one. I have to preface before I ask. Right. So my I'm not a drinker. And I don't just mean I'm not a drinker. I mean, and I've said on the podcast a couple of times I don't drink it's not for moral reason. I haven't had a problem that I you know that I'm staying away from it. It's just never really occurred to me to drink in my life. To the point well, I always say that I definitely have not had the, the, you know, a case of beer in total in my entire life, like not even that much. And I think I've had hard liquor a few times, you know, which people would consider like a whiskey or something like that. I don't particularly dislike it. I just, it just doesn't occur to me. So I am going to be a complete neophyte on this in a lot of ways, but, but having said that, and please understand, like, you're not going to get a judgment out of me. But I am asking the question, right. Oh, as an adult now, do having the experience you would have had, if you were in the same situation, would you say to your kids, hey, it's cool. Just have a beer when you go out? Or would you? Yeah, you would be? Yeah. So you don't you haven't had any, like, there's no scenario in your life where you're like, wow, someone should have kept that away from me for a little longer?

Maia 35:40
I don't think so. I mean, I think my mom had the best torture mechanism ever, if I would come home having too much to drink, which was that she would talk to me until I was sober. So it would be like 430 in the morning, and she's still chatting away and making me engage in conversation about my latest essay that I wrote for school, and it was just torture. So I didn't wish she

Scott Benner 36:03
was she just tried. Oh, yeah, she was.

Maia 36:05
Oh, yeah, she was just trying to make my life you know, not so fun. But, uh, but no, she. That was a really good waiter.

Scott Benner 36:16
I don't want to drink too much and be forced to speak to my mom about current events. Yeah, that doesn't make sense. I again, I haven't I have no, like, no perspective on it. Like, my son doesn't drink at all. And when we talk about it, I do see that I don't think it's because I told him not to. I think it's because it's just who he is. Like, I look back now. And I realized No one told me not to drink. Yeah, that never happened in my life. Like no one ever said to me, you're going out? Don't forget you're under age. You can't like it just never. I just went my way. And you went yours. And he like everybody goes in their own, I guess.

Maia 36:51
Yeah. I think that really, if you want to be a responsible about drinking, you need, you need to start to drink in places that are safe, and not be afraid to ask questions. Because I mean, I can't imagine being a teenager and getting drunk for the first time. And already having diabetes, I already had had that experience by the time that I was diagnosed. And I can only fathom that if you had, you know, a parent helping you manage, like really helping you manage your diabetes, that would be a really challenging experience. So I can only like, hope that people and parents feel comfortable having that conversation with their kids, and maybe even helping them figure it out. If you know, it's like, Okay, so how many carbs are in this beer? They don't have carb counts on them. You know, you've got to figure that stuff out on your own. There's no nutritional facts for alcohol. So. So I think, you know, being in that space where you have someone to help you figure it out, is so helpful. Yeah,

Scott Benner 38:01
no, well, I so as you're talking, you know, the, the serious side of parenting is coming up in my mind, right, which is you don't we do this a lot is we throw kids into situations that they're not prepared for, because we don't want to talk about one of the things they need for preparation. And whether that's around sex, or drinking or drugs or anything like that. You can't just pretend someone's not going to do something. You know, like, my, my son drove back to school the other day. And I didn't say, you know, Hey, be careful driving, you know, cuz I love you, buddy. I said, Look, it's raining out. And you drive fast. And everyone drives fast. And please don't follow closely. I don't think you do. But please don't. And here's why. And, you know, like, like, a little more context around it not just be careful. You know what I mean? Like, you can't just look somebody I remember, um, my wife would say, when she would go out on a date, her mom would say, respect yourself. And that's, that's not direction. Do you know what I mean? That's like, your mom's like, afraid to say to you, Hey, you know? What? Actually, I guess we are talking pretty freely on this as I think that's your mom. Yeah, use protection. Don't every guy that smiles at you, like like, you don't mean like that kind of stuff. Like really be respect. But wouldn't it be nice if there was context to that? Like from

Maia 39:21
Yeah,

Scott Benner 39:22
from a parenting person, like a real person who would sit down. I always have this kind of regret that my mom would talk to me in platitudes. And I wrote a parenting book, and I spoke about a little bit in there. But like, Here was a woman who had the benefit of a life's worth of information and experiences. And then she would just tell me this surface, that wasn't helpful. Like, why not? Tell me your one time when I was 35. Here's what happened to me. And it was terrible. And here's why. And I think you could avoid it if you paid attention to this. Like Wouldn't that be great to get the benefit of someone's experience? Yeah, You know, and so I think I like what your parents did. And I think that if my son didn't have the vibe about him that he had, I would have stepped in and been like, Alright, look, I'm not, you know, I don't know a lot about this, but we're gonna help you because I feel like you're gonna leave this house today and you're gonna drink. I don't want to just cross my fingers. And hope that all goes well.

Maia 40:20
Yeah, and I mean, I think worst case scenario, is that your, your, you know, I think it would have been way worse if I was hiding from my parents, you know, if I was, instead of coming home being like, Oh, I'm going to stay out. And, you know, do you know, go sleep at someone else's house? So no one knows. I think that's a

trickier path. Right? Yeah.

Scott Benner 40:44
I hear what you're saying. And I also hear what you're saying about like, having drank before. Maybe you were diagnosed. So you had a tiny bit of expectation about what it was. And you knew how to maintain yourself a little bit. And did you when you were earlier? Like you weren't just a blackout drunk, right? You didn't just like every time you drank, it wasn't till you couldn't see yourself anymore?

Maia 41:03
No, I mean, I had to talk to my mom, if I got that drunk.

Scott Benner 41:06
Do you think you would have had your mom not done what she did?

Maia 41:09
You know, I would definitely happen. I think like, there were those moments when you're young, and you don't know if you know what you're drinking or not paying attention to how much I mean, it happens where you get really drunk. And of course, now that's like the equivalent of one cocktail and drink that because you know, I have way more and I'm a, you know, adult who drinks a glass of wine with dinner every night. So, two glasses of wine isn't going to make me Blotto. But, but, yeah, it happened for sure. And I think that, you know, I think that just setting the expectation, you know, the other thing that my parents would do is if I did come home drunk, in the morning, my dad would put on Formula One, which is you you've never had a hangover, Scott. But if you've had ever had a hangover, the sound of the racecars, like droning on for hours, is like the worst hangover exacerbate, or on the planet

Scott Benner 42:07
will get a great job in hell one day torturing people. Yeah, I have all kinds of good ideas.

Maia 42:13
They're great at it. I mean, they're awesome people. And I think those were really good, you know, kind of passive torture techniques.

Scott Benner 42:21
Yeah, no kidding. That's, I see what you're saying. So they were kind of digging you along the way, like making sure that you knew what was happening and that they were aware. It's just, I think that it's incredibly important for people to hear, you know, we'll get to the how you manage the, the alcohol with with insulin and everything. But I think it's incredibly important for people to hear who have younger children. Because when you have younger kids, most people's expectations are like yours gonna be the one that comes out just perfect. You know what I mean? Like, some people, listen, some of your kids are such like monsters that you're like, No, no, but it's not gonna be like it. I know my kids. But, but a lot of people have that feeling right? Like you have this, like, I have a good plan, you know, we're putting effort in, it's going to work out. But you know, when kids go to a party, and there are 40 and 50, high school kids at a party, 98% of them are drinking. You know, it's not, it's not like a few of them are like if your kids wants like, Oh, it's not me. And I'm like, now you're like, oh, but Scott says his kid doesn't like I get that like, but there's going to be my kid there. And he's going to have a couple friends with him. And they're all going to be off in a corner, just not understanding drinking at all. And they'll hang out for a little bit, and then they'll leave. And the rest of them are some level of drinking out of control. Because they don't have any expectation for what that means. Yeah, yeah. And so you, you're going to need to be ready for this. Like if your 16 year old has diabetes right now is going out on the weekend. They're like, Don't worry, we don't drink. I think it's probably still important for them to hear what my has to say about how to manage it. So

Maia 43:54
I mean, I'll tell you, my best friend in high school had type one and she was out there drinking right next to me. My, you know, my boyfriend in high school had type one. And and he would party way harder than me do. And, you know, they're okay. It's gonna be

Scott Benner 44:12
okay lived through it. Yeah. And and so, did they know what they were doing back then? Like, were those people who had had diabetes for a long time? Or were they figuring out drinking with diabetes at the same time, too?

Maia 44:23
I don't know if either of them listen to the podcast, and I don't want to like, gotcha. Oh, make them feel bad. But I would say that. Now, I would guess both of them have a pretty good handle on it. But back then, I don't think that they did. But I also think, you know, we didn't have the tools that we have now. Right? Like we didn't have continuous glucose monitoring. So, you know, I think on a baseline level, like, just, you didn't, you couldn't look at your phone and see what your blood glucose was. Or set your phone alarms super loud so that you know if you did get low, you You'd wake up. So I think that that changed a lot, especially when it comes to drinking, you know, it used to be kind of a, you want to ride a little higher going, you know, going to bed at night, because you didn't have any alarm that was going to wake you up if you went low. And now you can play it a little bit closer, you know, and instead of Temp Basal and not stress about it too much. But I think, yeah, so I don't think that that they necessarily had it figured out. And neither of them ever had a major issue while I was there, you know, they, they did well enough,

Scott Benner 45:42
let's you're talking even 10 years ago, you really are still speaking about a time with diabetes where the goal was don't feel dizzy, don't pass out, right? Like, oh, yeah, that's what it looked like back then. I just don't Yeah, I don't want to lose control of myself and pass. I don't want to get too low. And yeah, yeah. And so staying higher. I mean, if even today, people are being diagnosed, they're being told, like better high than low, like all that stuff. And that's still leftover from that was the way like you just better high than low. And you know, we'll trade you know, trade tomorrow just

Maia 46:15
bought two because how you feel is so like, I can tell you that without ever, like, I have no knowledge of any blood glucose value from either of the two type ones that I interacted with every single day for years of my life. But I can tell you that they were not running, you know, good Awan deeds, they weren't feeling good every day, the amount of water that they drank, and then the amount of you know, times they use the restroom in the day compared to me as a non diabetic at the time. Like, I know, that was not, those weren't good glucose values. And I don't begrudge them for that. Because it was such a, it was what they were told and what they were taught, you know, and even, like, when I was diagnosed, I think I did the math, and I think I might have started the AMI pod around the same time as Arden and it was the old bigger pods and and I would still I mean it was like right when they were released pretty much and I loved the pod but the text just was not like that original PDM was like it was like a brick

Scott Benner 47:34
made out of like hard plastic even right like it did it was gonna break and like the Oh

Maia 47:39
no, I did drop it and it did break.

Scott Benner 47:43
It was made out of that kind of plastic like, like when you go to a bubblegum machine and get a ring out. You're like if I squeezed this bubble too hard this this, it felt like that. shatter. Yeah. No, I hear you.

Maia 47:56
Yeah. And then I got that original, the first Dexcom that I only wore that thing for like, maybe a month and was like, nope, that was a waste of $1,000. Right.

Scott Benner 48:08
And now what? What do you use now?

Maia 48:10
I'm on the G 66. And I have the Omni pod.

Scott Benner 48:13
Right? Complete night and day from those things till now.

Maia 48:16
Oh, yeah, for sure. Yeah, for sure. And I think, um, you know, with those tools, like you can look at your yourself or your kid and be like, Okay, if you're drinking, like let's shoot for you know, you want to be at the high higher end of your range. Well for me for me, which would be around like 140 if I'm going to bed and I'm not setting attempt bazel. But honestly, the biggest thing for me in the last year has been starting to look, if you think about my best blog Lucozade This is hilarious. I love this. My best blood glucose day, this diagnosis

was the fourth of July this year on loop.

Scott Benner 49:01
And you were and I think had a drink or two maybe?

Maia 49:04
Oh yeah, I was drinking. I had jello shots. I had, we had a couple bottles of champagne. It was great. But the thing was, is that what loop enabled me to do on that day versus on a regular day was I'd already got done a lot of deep like, settings testing. And so my settings are really dialed in. And and I just input my carbs. And I didn't touch it. And it was the first time where I never like since I started living because I started in June. And it was the first time where I didn't fuss with it because I was so used to like, you know, oh, like little Temp Basal here, a little extra insulin there, whatever. And I just input my carbs and let loop loop and it was amazing.

Scott Benner 50:00
Your, your settings are very like right on then.

Maia 50:04
Yeah, you're doing pretty good. I did a lot of testing though. Like, I think my husband would tell you that I was just the biggest Pan iapp. Because I basically, you know, only ate every other day for like, three weeks trying to figure out what my settings were.

Scott Benner 50:20
So you get a setting right without eating like, like a bazel testing situation. And then you would like, right, tomorrow, I'm going to try it and you tried that didn't work, you'd make an adjustment, get it straight again, and then go back and try again.

Maia 50:30
Yeah, that's really cool. That's Yeah,

Scott Benner 50:34
I like that a lot. All right. So listen, for so far into this now. How do you handle like, like, take the take, you know, an algorithm out of this scenario for a second and you know, just be a regular person with diabetes? When do you start thinking about drinking and your blood sugar? Like if you're going to be at dinner at six with a glass of wine? Is that something you have to think about ahead of time? Or is that different than I'm going to go to a party at eight and when I walk in, I'm grabbing a glass and I'll probably have a glass in my hand of something all night long.

Maia 51:07
Um, I think honestly, I think one of the gifts of alcohol is that the thought can happen when you're holding your first drink in your hand. You don't I most of the impact. When we're talking about drinking and blood glucose, it's all after the fact right? It's that you talked about this as Jenny and your recent episode, you can go back in and listen to some of the science about why this happens, but you get low later. So unless you're drinking something where you know you need to Pre-Bolus or if you're starting out of range, you know, getting yourself in to your desired range is helpful. But I really think the nice part about alcohol is that the tricky part is delayed. So you can say okay, so I'm going to have this drink. I'm gonna give myself my insulin for whatever I'm drinking. And if it has carbs in it, and sometimes you don't you know, I think for me, a light beer I'm not bolusing for now everyone drinks those spike scalpers. I don't Bolus for those they only have, you know, one to two carbs in them. A red wine I don't normally Bolus for dark beers don't have a ton of carbs. But some of those like lagers, and, and a lot be a little bit curvier. So I might get myself, you know, a unit here, unit there. But what I'm really looking at is like, what time do I start drinking? And how much do I drink, if I'm only having one drink, my liver is not going to be overwhelmed, I'm not going to need to set a Temp Basal later, I'll probably just if it's not, you know, like a rum and coke with however many carbs for your coke. I'm not gonna give myself any insulin for it. And I'm not gonna change my, my thought process later in the day, if, if I am drinking a little bit heavier, let's say I'm drinking hard alcohol with a no carb mixer. So that's no insulin in but a potential negative effect on my blood glucose, or decrease in my blood glucose later on. Then I'm saying okay, well, I started I had my first drink at 923. And, and four hours from there, I'll see start to see a little decrease in my blood glucose. And I actually, so because I was diagnosed between high school and college, one of the big things for me, was I wanted to figure out how to be a college kid, I wanted to figure out how to just be like any other kid. And if that meant I wanted to go out and party or go on a weekend trip to Lake Tahoe, or whatever it was, I wanted to be able to do that. And we didn't really have the Dexcom back then, until I sat down on this big party weekend, everyone like four days of like, drinking and waterskiing and, you know, playing on the lake and, and I was trying, I was kind of running a little low on insulin and I didn't want to be like giving myself too much insulin and then then, you know, correcting lows, and using more insulin than I needed. So I was like, I'm gonna figure this out. So I took a shot of vodka, check my blood sugar every, you know, 15 minutes for four hours and saw what it did. I was like, okay, so at the end of that experiment, I said, Hey, if I take four shots of vodka, I get a free pb&j in four hours.

Scott Benner 54:46
Okay. I like your Pre-Bolus thing for a meal for a snack later.

Unknown Speaker 54:52
But yeah, yeah.

Maia 54:54
So set the alarm on your phone and be like, Hey, if you're not running to CGM set an alarm. on your phone and say I had five drinks. And I'm probably going to be tipsy or asleep. So I, I need to have a snack. And I think now it's easy because just like your bazel testing, you can test what different drinks do to your blood glucose, right? Like, you can say, happy hour is the perfect place to do this. It starts at 2:30pm, you have a drink an hour before you're going to eat, you can have one beer and look and see what it does to your blood glucose. And and learn from it. And I think that is it's just like everything else, right? It's like don't beat yourself up if you don't get it right. But take what you learned. And this is the tricky part about drinking is that you have to remember that you learned something because your inhibitions are down and you're not paying attention.

Scott Benner 55:51
Now what did I learn from what could I learn with the vodka? I can't

Maia 55:57
remember, so I went, I upped it from four shots to 10 shots, and now it's all getting fuzzy.

Scott Benner 56:05
Well, you know what, it's interesting what you just said, let me jump in for a second. It occurs to me that what you did was just perfect. And it would work too with food. If food didn't keep you high for so long afterwards, like, was realized that if food impacted is quickly and went away, like alcohol did, it would take us all like a week to sit down, have a great snack every night and figure out every one of our favorite foods. But it's Yeah, it's the fact that food keeps you high afterwards, it stops you from doing that experiment.

Maia 56:36
Yeah, you don't get the low. Right, right. And then you know, you can't test it with with, like, with vodka, you don't have any carbs. So there is no initial spike. Right? If you don't have a mixer, it's just that drop later.

Scott Benner 56:52
And so even without insulin for vaca, there's a drop later. Yeah. And so can you Temp Basal back earlier to try to avoid it, or is it unavoidable?

Maia 57:03
It's just a little far out. So like, what I found is that, if I can't bazel in advance, I wind up high, because I'm too aggressive, it's too soon. And it's not like a, there's not everything you drink is different too. So if you have, you know, you might have two different kinds of cocktails or whatever. And then that's going to impact you a little bit differently. So I haven't found a lot, I've had a lot of luck with that. However, what I have had a lot of luck with is just decreasing my Basal a little bit overnight when I'm going to bed. So if I just decrease my bazel, if I know I've got some insulin on board, and I've got some alcohol on board, I'll just decrease my bazel a little bit overnight, and I normally wake up in range.

Scott Benner 57:57
So two questions around that is that is the biggest concern that you'll get really low and be drunk at the same time and can't help yourself. Is that like the if you if there was a thing that you're worried about? Would that be the worry?

Maia 58:13
I think that's honestly, for me, my biggest concern is impaired decision making of like, do I input my carbs correctly for the Wendy's burger and frosty that I'm getting as my drunk monkey food on the way home, you know, when I make the Uber pullover and my bowl thing right for that, and and the only times I've gotten myself into any sort of trouble has been when I gave myself like way too much or not enough influence. Except for there's this one story that I will tell you. So this is a great diabetic in the wild story. I was at a water ski tournament, which are if there's any water ski skiers out there, crazy parties, they're just huge parties with like a side of waterskiing. So those waters de tournament, and my army pod PDM I dropped it and that shattered and it like exploded. And I was like I don't know what to do. I don't have any bolus insulin. I have nothing. I was talking to my husband and well then boyfriend now husband, and like, what do we do? You know, and he's like, well, none of us can drive.

You know.

We're all drunk. Like we could call a cab, it's gonna cost you know, 100 bucks to get a cab out here and get you home. But we can do that. Or you can not drink or, you know, or, you know, not eat anything until someone's sober enough to drive like maybe we can find someone who's planning on going home. And we're sitting there chatting and this kid comes up, Connor, and he's like, uh, you know, I'm type one, right? Like, what do you need? Did your meter break and I was like, No, my pump broke. And he's like, I have an idea. So he gave me he had an extra infusion site. And my blood glucose was high. It was I mean, I was like probably like 250 or something. And he had an extra infusion. But he just had his one pump. We popped to the infusion site on me, which I do not medically recommended us and gave me a bolus with

Scott Benner 1:00:19
wishes. Don't worry. At the beginning, we're gonna say that nothing you hear on the podcast is advice.

Maia 1:00:24
Not advice. Yeah. We're also gonna say that we're gonna swear, but that was cool. Like, that was so cool. We're still friends. And it was like this great moment of camaraderie, you know. And then in the morning, he you know, he gave me a little extra hit for breakfast. And it was, it was really great. I still have my basal insulin from my pod, I just couldn't bolus,

Scott Benner 1:00:48
you basically did the the diabetes version of like, guy in the action movies mask gets knocked off underwater, and they share like a scuba mask on the way back up again. That is exactly what we did was very cool. I love that i'm used, we're able to think of a drunk. So you are a professional drunk.

Maia 1:01:07
I told you.

Scott Benner 1:01:10
How did you find Jenny's conversation about alcohol in that? In that episode? Did you find it pretty accurate to your experiences?

Maia 1:01:18
Yeah, I did. I think, you know, I think there's this thing that happens where you know, as we age, we become more reasonable. And, and you're not going to drink like you did when you were young. And I think you can blame that on diabetes. Or you could start that sooner because of diabetes. I think generally, being type one just makes you slightly more responsible than the average human and take a little bit more personal responsibility. But I also think that it doesn't have to get in your way. And my number one advice for anyone ever, especially if you aren't familiar with alcohol and diabetes, is I make my DD my designated driver, my designated diabetic, and I give them glucagon, I give them a bottle of a tube of frosty and to put in the glove compartment of their car. And I let them know that they're responsible if something happens to me, just like if something were to happen to anyone else that night, you know, but if something happens to me, this is what you need to look out for. And I'm probably not too drunk, I'm probably low. So

Scott Benner 1:02:27
that was in college was a game changer for me. Always having someone who knew what was going on, where if something happened, they could help me and I rarely use it. But I definitely did. Hand my CGM off to people and was like, hey, if this alarm, I am not hearing it right now, like I am in some other universe. And I need you to like, come get me. You know, I was wondering, is there a difference that someone's ever said to you between like, hey, low looks dip, like how does low look different from drunk or vice versa? Or is it hard to distinguish between?

Maia 1:03:05
If you don't know what you're looking for? It's really hard to tell. And I will liken it to this. If you are not diabetic, you probably have experienced global glucose before and thought you were just starving.

Scott Benner 1:03:21
Yeah, we're pissed, right? or angry sometimes here.

Maia 1:03:24
Yeah, the minute you have type one, you begin to distinguish between the feeling of low and the feeling of hunger. Right, there are two separate feelings, and they have a lot in common. But for most people, they're the same feeling. And I think for most people, if you look at a drunk person, you know, you know, though they're drunk, but it's gonna look really similar to type ones. I think, like a lot of times in the news, if someone the type one have a seizure while they're driving, and they get into an accident, they get characterized, like a drunk driver, you know, and I think it's that, that like, cognitive mismatch, if my husband looked at me, he can tell you if I'm drunk or low, you know, mostly because he had and, and mostly because if I'm low, I am sweating profusely, and I'm shaky and my voice is, you know, wobbly. And if I'm just drunk, I'm just, you know, like slurring and and having fun.

But I don't have that like, core shakiness.

That comes with a low Yeah. So I also think for me, it's, I can tell I don't lose hypo awareness when I'm drunk. I can normally tell.

That's tricky.

But normally, I can treat a low when I'm drunk. Sometimes I can't catch a high a lot of times I can feel when my blood glucose is is trending upwards and I can't feel that Not so much when I'm drinking. But where I struggle is in the morning, especially now as I'm aging and my hangovers are getting worse. In the morning when I have a hangover, which is when I'm most likely to be low, I have a hard time distinguishing my hangover from a low. Because, you know, you think about, you're like, I'm shaky, I'm nauseous, My vision is blurry. My head hurts. I don't even want to look at any food or anything to drink right now. I just feel terrible, you know, and that's how I feel when I'm on over. So it's really the same. That's something where I start to lose a little bit of my awareness. But at that point, I'm sober. So I can make a decision. Do you have any tips not

Scott Benner 1:05:49
being hung over?

Maia 1:05:51
Ah, I always just stick with one thing when I drink, you know, like, and it also makes it easier to Bolus if I can stick with the same type of alcohol, similar type of mixer that normally works really well. I think if you don't want to be hung over, you just shouldn't drink that much, traditionally. But I also just think that's a good guideline. And they always say, you know, beer before liquor never been sicker. So, liquor before beer, you're in the clear.

Scott Benner 1:06:25
I bet you a drunk person thought of that. Now, I bet. I have to tell you, it's again, I genuinely mean absolutely no judgment, as you've been describing all this, and I listened to the joy in your voice. I, I can't imagine like everything you've said. I think Oh, God, I can't, I would never want to do that. Like that. Like, the biggest thing I could come up with, and I was like, oh, wow, drunk girls in bikinis in a lake sounds fun. But like, that was the that was the best part, I could come up with anything. I wonder what it is in me because I really am not an uptight person at all. As a matter of fact, I do a pretty good job on this podcast of reining myself in, in, you know, in ways you guys might not really know. I just, I just can't like, I can't imagine like, I don't like the idea of being out of control of myself, I already think I say enough stupid stuff. When I'm not like, not like not drunk like I don't, I always feel relaxed, like I'm happy most of the time, like, I'm

Maia 1:07:27
trying, that's just it. That's it, people drink because they want to drop their guard. And if you're a person who walks around with your guard down and you're relaxed, and you're happy, and you don't need to, like get your brain out of work mode, you know, I think for so many of us, we are so plugged in to school or work or life and you we have a hard time unplugging. So to at the end of the day, be able to sit down and have a glass of wine and just make that go away. I think that's the drive, right. And I find people who are really relaxed and easygoing, like you, they tend to just not need a drink at the end of the day because they can choose to not be stressed about their work day, it makes so much sense. I was I was listening

Scott Benner 1:08:18
the other day to the Howard Stern Show. And it was out in Los Angeles for some special show and in studio with Snoop Dogg and Seth Rogen together. And they made smoking weed sound like the best thing on the planet. To the point where as you're listening to them, you're going I should try this. Like this seems like such a good idea. You don't need me like no differently than when like somebody is telling you like, oh, gosh, you know, I, I used to have a problem with this. But now I take vitamin D all the time. And it's trading, right? I'm like, Damn, but I'm gonna get some vitamin D. This is like that's that was like the vibe it had when it was over. And then when it ended, and they weren't there talking in my ear anymore. I thought I don't want to be high. It was so funny how quickly I went from like, Oh, that sounds like such a great idea. Because it really, they just described it in such a wonderful way. Like when you're talking about drinking. I'm like, this sounds wonderful. And then the minute you kind of wind down I'm like, all those drunk people, like like this.

Maia 1:09:17
But here's the other reason to drink. Because if you're drinking, you can't tell that everyone around you is also drunk

Scott Benner 1:09:24
that I believe Yeah, no, I know that you

Maia 1:09:26
don't get that like deep frustration with the drug people around you.

Scott Benner 1:09:31
Yeah. And that's amazing, because I have an amazing tolerance for people. But when I get when when you lose that much of yourself, I'm just like, Oh, stop talking. Or sometimes you can get somebody right in the right space. And you can chat with them and they're just, like, endlessly entertaining to me. Because it's so gone, that they can't keep their thoughts together, but they're just doing so many silly things like oh, it's like having a it's like having a puppet show in front of me.

Maia 1:09:59
For sure.

Scott Benner 1:10:00
Do you see a time in your life where it stops? Or do you think it's just a part of who like, do you? Can you imagine like a 68 year old Maya at the lake? Just like drinking and waterskiing? Like, do you know what I mean? Like, is there?

Maia 1:10:12
Oh, yeah, that's the goal. That's the dream. It's excellent. It really is. I mean, that's a dream. And I don't think, you know, like, every year, I probably drink less than I did the year before. But I'm a social drinker, my husband and I love to cook and, and eat and drink. And, you know, I, it's nice to have a glass of wine at dinner, it's nice to last night, we were we got elected to the Board of our neighborhood association. And so we, you know, we all sat around everyone who, who got elected, and we had a beer together. And it was like, you know, that's just great. And it's fun, and it has camaraderie with it. And, and I also don't have to drink I right now. My husband and I are getting ready to have a baby and, and so I'm emotionally preparing myself to not drink for, you know, an extended period of time. And, and so I think, you know, it doesn't have to be a part of your life for you to have fun, but, but for us, it just is part of the way that we live our lives. And I love sitting down with my parents and having a glass of wine. I love you know, going in floating the river with my dad and drinking a case of beer. It's super fun. It's wonderful. It feels communal to you, I guess.

Scott Benner 1:11:35
Right? Do I seem uptight? Do I seem uptight to you? When I say oh, my God, water and beer seems like you're trying to drown yourself to me. And I it's funny, because I really am two different people inside, like, very uptight feelings about some things. And that there is some things I'm just like, Oh, I don't care. Like I don't care that you drink and float on a tube. I have no like problem with it. I would never try to talk you out of it. But for my personal self, I'm thinking, that sounds like a recipe for disaster. And it's just, obviously it's not, you're doing very well. And everything's fine. You figured it out. You know, and you know what you're doing? Obviously, I just like, there's weird things like I just have very, I don't know what it is. I have no bad stories. My parents weren't alcoholics like like, nothing weird. Like, I've never have never had one reason for me to tell you this. But I was God, I was 13. The first time I went to a party where there was drinking. And I went into this party. And I was milling around a little bit. And I'm trying to talk and I realized nobody's here to talk. And I'm like, okay, and they were drinking and I swear to you, 15 minutes later, I found my way upstairs, I found a telephone. I called my dad, I was like, you got to come get me. I'm like, I I just I don't belong here. Like, that's how it felt to me. I was like, I this is not the right place for me. And I left and I think that was probably like, one of the few times I've ever been in that scenario ever. And I yeah, it's just very strange how, because what you're saying again, to me right now, you're Seth Rogen and Snoop Dogg rolled up into one. I'm like, my is making a strong case for me to have a glass of wine at dinner tonight. And I'm feeling like, it's such a great idea. But I know if I went I have wine in my house. It's so that I can hand it to other people when they're here. But I always go, I don't know. Take one. Just take the one out you think is right. But I know that I won't do it. It's so weird. I'm now wondering what's wrong with me? To be perfectly honest, in case you're wondering where my brain is at the moment?

Maia 1:13:39
I mean, I know plenty of people who don't drink and I think it just you just have to be the person who is the relaxed person who's not, you know? Doesn't if you don't need it, you don't need it. And if and, and if you had it, then maybe you might know that you would like to have like the feeling of having had a few drinks. But I just think, you know, at the end of the day, you know yourself and if you're listening to your body, I think that's another thing about diabetes and drinking, specifically, is that as a type one, you learn your bodies so much better than like a muggle

Unknown Speaker 1:14:23
right now for sure.

Maia 1:14:24
And so, I think you develop these spidey senses for when things are going wrong and your body and things aren't right. And it makes it really easy to be like, okay, that's my last drink. You know, and, and, and that comes from self awareness, right? People who aren't type one, they develop that too. But I think we just innately have it because we spend so much time asking ourselves how we feel.

I think that that part of it

Scott Benner 1:14:57
is important. I would say two more things and I know you're gonna have to go But I got I got time It feels incredibly important me to point out the difference between like you just said something like, I know when it's time to stop and I just stop, which is a great indication that you're you know, you're drinking the way you mean to be that you're not you know that you don't have I guess they're people probably go back and forth on it for me alcoholism seems like a disease and, and ya know, alcoholics who they could their face could be on fire, but they would still just keep drinking. Like if it was there, they wouldn't stop. But you you have the ability to just say like, oh, cool, I'm done now and I'm done. And that's it. That's even that's a comfort to you like that You don't? Like I guess if you were an alcoholic, you would just, you'd be in a different scenario, you wouldn't be having this conversation like this. So but it is, you know, because I can I can feel people in my minds listening and going. You know, drinking is not funny because my dad's an alcoholic, or I'm an alcoholic or something. I want to be clear. That's not what we're talking about right now. I don't mean like, I am not. Yeah, I'm not talking about that. And so I do feel like some people could kind of commingle those two ideas. I to me, they're these are they would be two completely different conversations.

Maia 1:16:13
Yeah, for sure. And, and I definitely, my grandfather was an alcoholic, and my mom never really drank so because her dad had a drinking problem. And it's been really interesting to see, as, you know, me and my sister have gotten older and, and we're both social drinkers. You know, my mom was always the person who would like open a beer, she liked it, but she would never finish it. And now to watch her, like have two glasses of wine, or have a, you know, make a Moscow Mule for herself at the house, because she is interacting with social drinkers, because that was never on the table for her. Right? She didn't know that that was a way that you could

Scott Benner 1:16:59
do it. She was afraid she was afraid to drink. She thought she'd end up being an

Maia 1:17:02
alcoholic. Yeah, because the only example she had was somebody who did drink had a problem. And that doesn't mean that everyone who has alcoholic parents should go out and start socially drinking. But I

Scott Benner 1:17:14
wonder, I wonder if I've been avoiding this for no reason. It's not my goal to like, create a whole bunch of alcoholics out of people who've been holding really tight their whole life. But that's a great, that's a great point, though.

Maia 1:17:27
But if you know like, you don't have to go have a bottle of whiskey, you can have a Manhattan and see what happens. And set yourself up for success. Like, okay, we're gonna try and figure this out. It's the same as anything else. And if you go slow, you'll figure out what works for you. And maybe that's having one drink at a time. Yeah, I know where the risks are low.

Scott Benner 1:17:52
Right? If you would have just said to me, do you know what a Moscow Mule is? I think I would have guessed, a sexual position you saw on a weird old porno. I don't think I would have guessed that drink. Just in case you're wondering. I was like, fascinating. No, I'm just sitting here listening to you.

Maia 1:18:12
Ginger, beer and vodka with lime.

Unknown Speaker 1:18:15
Okay,

Scott Benner 1:18:16
I if, if this this, it's a shame, because the title of this episode is gonna have to be more descriptive. Because if it didn't have to be, it would totally be called Moscow meal, just so you know. I would have 100% go with that. I appreciate this, by the way, like you seriously are, this is a void in this space, that I can tell from the position I'm in that no one ever This is the kind of stuff no one ever speaks about? And and if they do they do it in tight circles. You know what I mean? So then everyone else doesn't get to hear about it. I think that what I learned here from you today is that I need to be clear with Arden that if she's going to drink, we need to talk about it. First, I'm not just going to pretend she's going to end up being like my son or like me or something like that. Because of the of all the reasons that you outlined. And that we're going to have to sit down and figure out how to make these different alcohols work with insulin and that because even as you were I asked you earlier, I said something that was so like, oh, couldn't you just set a Temp Basal. But that was me not realizing that that Temp Basal would need to be three hours into you drinking and how are you really going to be like, cognitive about it at that point. Like you don't even like for for drinks into your party. You're not going to be like you know what I need? I need a Temp Basal decrease of about 50% for I'm going to save up

Maia 1:19:35
where Arden is lucky right? If she wants to go have a beer. She can be like, Hey, Dad had my first beer set my Temp Basal in three hours.

Scott Benner 1:19:43
Yeah, right. override Jojo. You're like my Snoop Dogg was drinking at this point is what I'm realizing. Seriously. So what do you What's the rest of your day look like? Are you you haven't been drinking while we're talking. You're going to work?

Maia 1:19:57
No, no. It is a it's It's like nine in the morning here. So no, no drinks yet. I had a cup of Chai this morning, I'm going to go teach a couple yoga classes. And that's kind of what the rest of my day has in store. So, yeah.

Scott Benner 1:20:14
I have a question about that if I could. It's nowhere near drinking. And I actually have two questions. Did you hear the episode that I'm doing where it's gonna be four times with a person who's pregnant? We did their first show after their first trimester. We're gonna do after the second. Yes.

Maia 1:20:28
Do you like that? Oh, exciting. I love it. Good. I'm glad.

Scott Benner 1:20:33
Yeah, Arden is supposed to be starting up yoga. But she start in the house. Is there Okay, wait for her to do that, like sort of get into it on her own.

Maia 1:20:44
Yeah, there's a lot of like, different kinds of apps, YouTube is a really good resource. And especially if she's working on something specific, you can hop on YouTube and search like, you know, yoga for shoulder mobility, or yoga for back pain, or whatever. And there's a million options. There are also like subscription services that you can do online that have you know, series that you can follow where you have lots of different classes to try. But you can definitely, you know, find a great, great yoga practice at home. I think it's a really wonderful way to start because it can be intimidating to walk into a room with a whole bunch of other people who know what they're doing. And you're like, What?

Scott Benner 1:21:33
You told me That's great. Yeah. Yeah, you want

Maia 1:21:36
me to put my leg behind my head? And

Scott Benner 1:21:38
I can't do that. You know, I can't do that. I don't know any of you. And no, thank you. Yeah, no, I wouldn't. I would completely agree it's hard enough to walk into a gym and start doing something that you're on your, on your feet for see it on something that looks like it means to be sat on to done like, you know, on the floor on a mat. Having never done it before. I think that's kind of her, her, her impediment with it right now. She's I think she might be embarrassed. But that's why I was asking if there was a good way that you thought, Oh, yeah, but

Maia 1:22:07
I also would say like most yoga instructors, any yoga instructor who's, you know, worth going to, is going to be so excited to have her in class, right? I think I love having new students, I love working through their injuries and figuring out how their body works and moves and how we need to accommodate for their individual body. And that's something you can't get when you hop online, you can get the poses, right and figure out what down dog what, you know, Chaturanga, but you know, having someone to work with you and and figure out your body, especially since she's an athlete is so helpful.

Scott Benner 1:22:44
Thank you very much. I really appreciate that. Yeah, yeah, you were terrific. I really, first of all, tell your friend and your husband, they're 100%. Right? You were the right person, you were the right person for this. Not just because of your, you know, your drinking, but because of your ability to talk about it and how open and clear you were, really, really appreciate this, you took something that I have absolutely no context for and gave me context around it. And I think you did that for a lot of other people to really well done. Thank you. After every episode, I take a moment to thank the person that I've spoken with, but maybe no more big, what am I saying? It might be? How come I can't talk mother. In this situation, I mean, at times 100, Maya came on talk about something that some people might judge her about. And she knew that going into this and that really is brave, because she's trying to bring good information to the people living with Type One Diabetes. So I commend Maya for coming on. And I want her to know how much I appreciate it. Last couple things. If you're looking for Juicebox Podcast merchandise, or something to wear for diabetes Awareness Month, it'll start a conversation about type one diabetes, check out Juicebox podcast.com. Scroll down to merge. And as you heard me say earlier, I would like to keep this after dark series going a little longer. I'm looking for a smoker to come on and talk about balancing Type One Diabetes with pot weed. ganja grass, what do you kids call it nowadays? Anyway, looking for somebody who has type one who smokes regularly who can kind of you know talk about it in an open way. And I'm looking for two adults, one male and one female so we can get both perspectives who are comfortable coming onto the show. And talking about working with Type One Diabetes. I want to know all about the psychological part and the mechanical part and everything in between the stuff that maybe people don't think about, that you know about, you know, like, what's it like to bump your nose into a CGM when you think you're gonna bump it into a? Yes. Okay. That's pretty much it. See you next week.

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