#465 Easy Rider
Kyle was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes as an adult.
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**DISCLAIMER: This text is the output of AI based transcribing from an audio recording. Although the transcription is largely accurate, in some cases it is incomplete or inaccurate due to inaudible passages or transcription errors and should not be treated as an authoritative record. Nothing that you read here constitutes advice medical or otherwise. Always consult with a healthcare professional before making changes to a healthcare plan.
Scott Benner 0:00
Hello everyone and welcome to Episode 465 of the Juicebox Podcast. I'm happy that you're here.
Today I'll be speaking with Kyle who was diagnosed as an adult has a number of people in his family with Type One Diabetes. It's a very interesting story. I really enjoyed our conversation. Here's the one thing though Kyle has a very deep voice, he's gonna make me sound like a soprano. So get ready made vibrator right out of your seat. I wonder if I could mess with my settings and make myself sound even deeper. 1234567 how's that sound? Nothing you hear on the Juicebox Podcast should be considered advice medical, let's go farther, medical or otherwise, always consult a physician before making any changes to your health care plan. We're becoming bold with insulin. And at work, we put that back to like normal.
This show is sponsored today by the glucagon that my daughter carries g vo hypo pen. Find out more at G Vogue glucagon.com forward slash juice box. The episode is also sponsored by touched by type one, you can find out more about them on their Facebook page on Instagram, and it touched by type one.org. Do you ever look at your blood glucose meter and think I wonder if that thing's accurate? If you do, and you don't wanna have to worry about it anymore, you really should check out the Contour Next One blood glucose meter. And you can do that at Contour Next one.com forward slash juicebox. There's links in the show notes and links at Juicebox Podcast comm to these and all of the sponsors. When you click on the links, you're supporting the show. All right. If you got any glasses near the edge of the table and you're not listening through headphones, now's the time to slide them towards the middle of the desk before Kyle's massive voice shakes them free.
Kyle Knudsen 2:33
Well, I'm Kyle Knudsen. And I live just outside the Minneapolis area.
Scott Benner 2:39
Okay, Kyle, parent of a type one type one yourself.
Kyle Knudsen 2:43
I am a type one myself.
Unknown Speaker 2:45
When were you diagnosed?
Kyle Knudsen 2:47
I was diagnosed August 1 2019. As a 39 year old later in life.
Scott Benner 2:55
Just got interesting. Right off the bat, didn't I? Yeah.
You know, I expected you to say like I was diagnosed in 1974 or something, you know, something like that. But but just recently at 39. Okay, so, you know, requisite question any diabetes in the family or other endocrine issues?
Kyle Knudsen 3:12
Yeah. So my older brother was diagnosed at 19 years old. So that would have been in 1997, I believe. So he has been, he has been, you know, 20 plus years as a type one diabetic and my younger sister was diagnosed, I believe at 33 or 34 just a few years ago. So I am the third of my three siblings to be diagnosed with Type One Diabetes. So
Unknown Speaker 3:43
you were the holdout?
Kyle Knudsen 3:45
Yeah, I was the Hold on. I thought I had made it you know, I figured if I hit four oh, I was going to be good to go. But 39 it's not getting there. I'm super interested in that. Did
Scott Benner 3:53
you have like a arbitrary cut off in your head?
Kyle Knudsen 3:58
You know, I'm so so my, my older brother was the first of anyone in our family to get it. So we kind of just thought it was a fluke. Okay, right. I mean, that's, that's the premise we had lived with for the better part of 20 years. It wasn't within my aunts and uncles or grandparents that there was no Type One Diabetes anywhere in our family. And then my sister got it and I had that little bit of like, Alright, well, maybe there's something more to it, but I'm a healthy 30 something at the time I you know, I didn't think a lot of it. And then my my personal diagnosis story, I didn't go into decay. I didn't luckily have to go through that. But I had a couple of weird things going on. Again, not paying that close attention now knowing the signs that would have been pretty easy to pick up on. But I was at a normal checkup mentioned a couple of things to my doctor. You know how You know, he said how you feel and I said, Fine, I had a little numbness in my right caption area. And then I had lost weight prior to diagnosis and then stopped losing weight and then started losing weight again without trying. So it's just kind of a weird, you know, little thing. Next day, he called me and said, your blood sugar registered at 429. Pretty sure you're type one diabetic, like your siblings. Wow.
Scott Benner 5:30
Hey, you said that you you just kind of offhandedly said like I'm a healthy person in my 30s. Did you think of your sister as not optimally healthy? Or is it? No, no, no, I
Kyle Knudsen 5:41
would say no. All three of us, you know, no major health problems take reasonably good care of ourselves. And you know, we're there was nothing that when she was diagnosed, that would have led me to believe she was going to be diagnosed either. Yeah. Maybe it was just, you know, blissful denial on my part. That's why
Scott Benner 5:59
I was wondering like, if it was, if you would just like drawn an arbitrary line in the sand. You're like, obviously, I'm healthy. So this will be fine. I always think of friend of my parents when I was growing up, who was super skinny eight, whatever you wanted, and, you know, had a heart attack and died in his 40s. Yeah, but he was never heavy. So he just thought, like, I must be the person food doesn't impact.
Kyle Knudsen 6:19
It's what's inside, right? Yeah,
Scott Benner 6:21
yeah, sure. But it was just, it's interesting. And I like people have context too, because, you know, you just said it, but you can't look at somebody and tell if they're gonna get type one diabetes or not. And it but it was just interesting how it was building up around you, and you were probably looking for any kind of false flag that would keep you thinking that wasn't gonna happen.
Kyle Knudsen 6:40
Yeah, right. Exactly. That's that Well, one of the one of the unique things about when I was diagnosed, so I had just, from a personal standpoint, decided I was going to get in better shape, lose some weight, I was approaching 40. So I had been doing intermittent fasting as a part of my weight loss. So there's so many things with that, that that would create similar symptoms to early stages of diabetes, right. So I'm guessing I probably missed some of those pieces because of what I was doing from a dietary standpoint leading up to it.
Scott Benner 7:15
So with both your siblings being diagnosed as adults, do you have any feeling before you're diagnosed for what it is to live with diabetes? Or is it just something you see them do across the room? Like how involved or aware were you?
Kyle Knudsen 7:31
Yes. So no, no idea what it's like to live with it as an adult prior to diagnosis. I, you know, 23, four years ago, when my brother was diagnosed, it was a different time and diabetes, we're close. He's two years older, and we've always had a great relationship. We went to college together, and he got it in college. So I was two years behind them, but you know, just being around him understanding kind of some of the signs of when there might be a low or, or some of the stuff he was dealing with being aware, somewhat of a type one diabetes, but really, you know, it was it was an afterthought for me so I never dove in to really understand what it was what it meant, how it changed your life, what you know, the steps that you have to take everyday to effectively manage it was a completely new learning curve for me.
Scott Benner 8:27
What would you say? Was the the first Stark thing that struck you after you were diagnosed and you were home and trying to manage like, what did you like? What What were your like inner monologue? concepts?
Kyle Knudsen 8:41
Yeah. So out of the gates a huge fear of hypoglycemia. Because they were so aggressive, what I saw was the aggressiveness that my my brother's doctors used with him to get his sugar's down to a normal level. So he had lows quite frequently when he was first diagnosed. So that's just kind of what rang in my head. Right and not scary lows. I don't know that have you ever had a seizure or anything like that, that I'm aware of, but but lows, you know, wake up in the morning and be often strange and you know, all the things that happens to type one diabetics when you go into hyperglycemia. So so getting over I mean, that was kind of the first phase is just not being willing to, not not being willing to manage it somewhat aggressively because of that. So right out of the gate, my whole thought process was around, I don't want to go low. I mean, that kind of dominated my thinking. And that's, unfortunately, how a lot of care teams train you right out of the gate. Don't go low, right. here's, here's how you manage it. Don't go low, but not really having an understanding of all the other pieces of it.
Scott Benner 10:01
So interesting. He's got a completely different management style because it was so many years in the past, but it was the one thing that resonated with you when you look back on that time. Right? Yeah. Okay. And so there, you don't want this to happen to you. Now, what kind of gear Are you using as you begin?
Kyle Knudsen 10:20
So out of the gates, man,
Scott Benner 10:22
you're in Minnesota, they gave you a Medtronic pump, right?
Kyle Knudsen 10:25
Yeah. You know, no, no Medtronic, they
Scott Benner 10:28
don't take them to your forehead when you leave hospital.
Kyle Knudsen 10:31
They don't. It's funny actually, my so my farm D I've actually, quick side note, I've never met with an actual endocrinologist, I use my primary care doctor and then the farm D, okay. And he, he was not a huge proponent of Medtronic out of the gates, not that he didn't dislike it, he threw it out there as an option, but he was much more on the Omni pod or T slim option. So, so out of the gates, I was MDI, for MDI and finger sticks. From August 1, the time I was diagnosed until I think it was right around October 1, actually, that I ended up getting the Dexcom. Okay, so it was a it was a couple of months of time. In that time is where I discovered the Juicebox Podcast, I'd also started reading sugar surfing, and the type that dives into it. So I wanted to learn and understand and you know, I try to control my existence. I'm a controlled person. So this was one piece where I needed to figure it out. So out of the gates, it was sticking my finger, trying to understand the trends that my blood sugar was doing, you know, what it was doing, and waiting anxiously and bugging my care team daily about when I was going to get the prior authorization for my Dexcom. So I could get it, use it and start to actually see what my blood sugar was doing.
Scott Benner 12:01
You were really proactive then. And I like this. I want to understand this a little better. Did you build this care team purposefully on your own? Or were there just no endocrinologist near you?
Kyle Knudsen 12:13
So No, I didn't. It wasn't on purpose. And there is. There is an endocrinology team within the system that I that I've, you know, gone to for a while now. But my my primary care doc who actually the day before I was diagnosed was the first time I met with him. He was a new doctor, to me, kind of has a specialty or a liking for the endocrinology system, so it fits within his wheelhouse. So we spoke about it. And I said, So when do I go see the endocrinologist and he said, You don't have to, he said, you can we can set up that appointment. But he said, I'm in touch with him, I'm happy to handle your care. And then your farm D would be kind of your primary, you know, toys and gadgets and dosing and all that stuff. He works with us on that. And he's focused specifically on type one diabetics. And I said, Alright, let's roll with it. I didn't know any better. So I said, let's give it a shot. And it's worked out really well. For me, I
Scott Benner 13:16
tend to agree with that idea. I know that people, especially as adults talk about having trouble finding good endos that are helpful with diabetes anyway. And you got people who are thoughtful about it, and they can write your prescriptions. That seems like most of it, you know?
Kyle Knudsen 13:32
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And he's been really good about letting me do what I want to do. He sees my numbers he understand you know, he sees my my graphs, my numbers. He understands he hears me understanding dosing and what I need to do for my body and he says, Look, you're you know, you're better than us. So do your thing. Let me know how I can help and that that's been great. So
Scott Benner 13:52
hey, Kyle, you're riding the rails you're going across the country there's just a satchel thrown over your shoulder eating out of the can is that what's happening?
Kyle Knudsen 14:02
Yeah, there's a train about three blocks away that is blowing it's on the train that goes by about once every three days. So I'm it's decided right now is the time to go by.
Scott Benner 14:14
This is the time of year while I'm recording where my neighbor will pull out. It's I can only describe it as a lawn vacuum. It is a giant thing that is gas propelled. It has this incredible motor on it that creates this suction. And he pulls it behind a lawn mowers, the lawn mowers running, and the blade and the lawn mowers running. And then the vacuum is running. And it it's actually quieter outside than it is in my house for some reason. So every once in a while it happens like once a year. And he's sort of neurotic about it. Like I don't know how everyone else feels about their lawn. I'm not messy. But if I see some leaves in the backyard, I'm not like oh gosh, this needs to be rectified immediately, but If he if leaves fall, which they do all season long, he jumps out there and vacuums his whole lawn. I imagine he's got a mental illness, but he's a lovely man. I very much like it very particular about his lawn. And now
Kyle Knudsen 15:15
you got to talk him into doing your lawn while he's at it. Well, yeah,
Scott Benner 15:17
I don't know, I were on opposite political side. So I'm not sure he would just keep coming over. But But when he's out there, it would if I have to stop the recording, or otherwise, it would just go. Like the entire time. It just vibrates in my house. It's fascinating.
Kyle Knudsen 15:33
I think the trains done now. Ryan's done. Well, we
Scott Benner 15:35
have three weeks that noise. Exactly. Okay, so I had a thought before we move forward. Much. I don't want to lose my question. I'm trying to imagine having two small children and a wife I'm imagining that you have and then you're coming home from the doctor with a with a really serious illness. What's that? Like? for your family? Like, what did you see the impact on them? How did they do they treat you differently?
Kyle Knudsen 16:03
Yeah, no, that's a great question. So a couple of things that helped with my, with my wife in particular. So she has a she has two cousins on her side that have from different not they're not siblings, either their cousins as well, that have type one diabetes, one was diagnosed, I think at like age 910 11. And the other one was late teens. 1819. So she had a familiarity with it. Obviously, with my siblings having it she had a familiarity with it as well. So extremely supportive. out of the gates, right. I remember when I when I found out I was driving home from work, it was 530. At night, my doctor called me, which is never a great thing. So it was I was 10 minutes from home and he said, Hey, I'm just gonna cut straight to the chase, do the blood sugars for 29 year, you're pretty sure you're a type one diabetic. I need to see you tomorrow. I said great. There wasn't a whole lot of conversation, because there's not much to say. I said, We'll talk tomorrow. And I had 10 minutes to think about it. I got home and walked in and looked at her life. And I said, so. I'm a type one diabetic, and she kind of gave me the look of was for real, like, you know, it's just that, that, wow, okay, this changes things. And that, that it drastically changes things. And now it doesn't affect our lives a whole lot at all. But really supportive out of the gates and the girls, you know, my girls at the time were nine and six. And they, you know, we haven't we have a great family relationship throughout. And they didn't really understand it, but wanted to understand it and saw things and ask questions. And, you know, I've just tried to be really, really open with them about what I'm going through and what it means. And now it's become just a normal way of life. They joke with me make fun of me at times about stuff and and you know, they have a healthy comfort with it.
Scott Benner 18:09
Do you think they're scared that they're going to get it? Because I mean, at this point, it looks like the one thing your parents are really good at is making babies with diabetes?
Kyle Knudsen 18:16
Yeah. You know, I think I'm probably more worried about it than they are I tried to shield them from concern. I know what to look for. My wife knows what to look for. So we pay attention. But luckily at this point, we have two healthy girls that are showing those signs. So
Scott Benner 18:34
is the population where you live? Particularly Nordic? Yes, okay.
Kyle Knudsen 18:41
Most most of Minnesota has is Nord. I'm Swedish, Norwegian and Danish. My wife is mostly Swedish with a little bit of Norwegian I believe so mostly Swedish. Yeah, yeah, we're a bunch of nerds.
Scott Benner 18:53
Yeah, your last name is spelled incorrectly. Like it's got letters where they don't belong.
Kyle Knudsen 18:58
And so that's the Danish version of it.
Scott Benner 19:01
It looks like someone took your last name and shook it up. Just a little bit, but but you know, I think that that's really the diabetes is prevalent through that. That lineage. Is that correct? Do you think
Kyle Knudsen 19:15
that's my understanding? Yeah, I haven't looked deep into it. But I have read a handful of things that have said that, you know, that the diabetes is is more prominent in that part of the world
Scott Benner 19:27
that type one and super pale. People don't go well together for summer. Yeah,
Kyle Knudsen 19:30
exactly. Yeah. Well, it's
Scott Benner 19:32
either that or Vikings football gives you diabetes. And I was well, I was willing.
Kyle Knudsen 19:37
Yeah, Vikings. Football gives us a lot of
Scott Benner 19:39
at least heartburn. Right?
Kyle Knudsen 19:40
Yeah. A lot of herper. A lot of hurt.
Scott Benner 19:44
Okay, that that makes it easier wife. similar background. As far as, like from a kind of European northern. Yeah,
Kyle Knudsen 19:54
yep. Yep. Sweet, mostly Swedish. She grew up we both grew up in and around the Minneapolis St. Paul. area so, yeah, we have we have color heritage.
Scott Benner 20:05
Let me ask you a question that has nothing to do with anything. Are you guys really tall?
Kyle Knudsen 20:09
So I am I'm about six, three, my brother's about six, six. My wife is not she's five, six or five, seven. So we're
Scott Benner 20:18
one of the girl. I like that you're like my wife's not tall. She's just two inches taller than the average woman. Arden five, seven, and she looks like a giant walking around her her high school.
Kyle Knudsen 20:32
So my oldest is very tall. She's always been about three, four inches taller than the next closest in her class. The boys are starting to catch up now. But she's taller than my my youngest is. She's She's on the taller side of normal. But
Scott Benner 20:49
I don't know if you realize just your voice makes you feel tall.
Unknown Speaker 20:53
Well, good. I appreciate that.
Scott Benner 20:55
I was starting to wonder how people are going to tell us apart but your voice is deeper than mine. So and by the way, my deep voice is no inclination of my height whatsoever as I'm a completely average height. But actually to you I probably look like deficient somehow you'd probably look at me and think oh my god, something happened to that guy.
Kyle Knudsen 21:13
Yeah, well, it's funny, funny story about my height. And I said my brother's six, six. My dad is five, eight. And my mom is five, eight as well. So, you know, it probably came from my mom's side. But
Scott Benner 21:25
that is absolutely I know, my son. My son is legitimately 511 like he plays baseball. So people think that people who say they're 511 are five, eight, and people who say they're six feet or 510. But he's actually 511. And he did say to me recently, he's like, why don't we tell people I'm six feet tall. I look six feet tall. And I was like, Listen, man, what's the difference? You know, but I know he's pissed at me. He's got to be because my wife's father is six one. her brother's six, four. They have a cousin who's like six, eight. They've got an uncle who was six, nine and Mike sons. Like, I know. You're the reason I'm not that tall. Like he's just I think he sees me as what held him back from being over six feet tall. I'm sure it'll it'll it'll last in Burnham for the rest of his life.
Kyle Knudsen 22:08
Yeah, it's gonna affect the relationship long term.
Scott Benner 22:11
It's difficult not to not to feel it. You know, sometimes even like at a baseball game, he'll do something kind of extraordinary. And I know when people look at me, they think, hmm. Wonder if he stole that kid from a mall or something like that? I know. I know. They don't think we're like related by blood. I they can't pop. I don't look sometimes I'm like, Oh, my mailman must be incredibly athletic. Is
Kyle Knudsen 22:40
my dad got that several several times through high school college. You know, we're both my brother and I both being athletes looking at him looking at us looking at him like this matches together. Do you
Scott Benner 22:52
know that during college recruiting, I'd sometimes I'd walk away from him so people wouldn't associate me with him. So they wouldn't look and go. Oh my god, that kid's gonna get fat before he's on college. We'll just take care. He's too much of a risk. Oh, that's
Kyle Knudsen 23:07
funny.
Unknown Speaker 23:07
Oh my gosh. Okay, so
Scott Benner 23:08
you said you found the podcast? How does a 39 year old guy find a podcast?
Kyle Knudsen 23:14
Yeah, good question. You are officially the first podcast I have ever listened to. So, you know, kind of navigating through the front side of it. As much as I didn't want to be hypo. I got i did i in the same respect, I got, you know, anxious about my numbers being too high. So trying to find that balance. There's not a lot of resources and on Facebook. My, my doc had said, Hey, check out. Type One is not beyond type one. It was a Minnesota type one community. Okay, blanking on the name right now.
Scott Benner 24:01
Doesn't matter. Okay. It's not me. Yeah. Juicebox Podcast and other stuff. So right.
Kyle Knudsen 24:07
So So I said, Alright, cool. So I checked it out. And truthfully, out of the gates, I was like, well, this is everyone's just scaring me more when I you know, and read through this group and all the problems and people are this and, you know, it's like, it kind of made me a little more nervous. Well, through that some of those people were connected to the juicebox community on Facebook. And we're talking about the Juicebox Podcast and I never really thought much of it the first few times I heard it, you know, just still early on. What resonated? Was your bold with insulin. I saw that a few times and I saw some people posting pictures of them wearing your T shirts of all things. And it just piqued my interest or like all with insulin. Alright, that seems like what I want to do. How do I find out more about that? That's, that's honestly how I landed. And then I dug and landed on your podcast and listened to a few and then kind of went right into the pro tip series because you were early on the pro tip series. Yeah, at that point and kind of follow that through from there.
Scott Benner 25:15
Kyle, it's fascinating that you found a podcast because people badgered me into making a T shirt.
Unknown Speaker 25:23
That's how it worked. Really,
Scott Benner 25:24
it really is interesting, because I am not a person who's interested in you know, being in the T shirt business. It's not. It's not a fun idea for me, and it's just not something I but everyone's like, Can you make a T shirt? I'm like, I'm alright. You know? And then it really is kind of insane that it got to you like that. That's it? And isn't it interesting, too, that you had to? how, you know, listen, it's marketing when you come down to it. But obviously, in a personal situation, it's not you had to see something, three separate ways. And then you were finally like, Alright, I mean, I guess this sounds reasonable. I'll take a look. And it's something way out of your wheelhouse. Because you have no idea how difficult it is to explain what a podcast is to most people how to get it. There's a woman right now online, saying to me, I want to subscribe to the podcast, and I can't figure out how she's in a podcast app. And I'm, like, you're looking at the show in the app, but push the button that says subscribe now. And then, you know, it's just it's an arduous process to get people to it. So I have to thank all the other people who who talk about the show, so fervently, because you're a person I never would have reached. So yeah,
Kyle Knudsen 26:39
no. And I, I will say that it truly, it was life changing. And I you know, I'm not I'm not saying that to pump you up, just having a community where everyone is trying to figure out how to be better at managing type one diabetes, whether for themselves or someone they're caring for. And, you know, props to you, Scott, you've done a just a fantastic job of putting your energy into trying to help people live better lives with a disease. That's a total pain in the, you know,
Scott Benner 27:11
I appreciate that. I really do. And I have to tell you, that it's me, is confounding to me. Did you know I don't know if that makes I get that? No, I
Kyle Knudsen 27:21
don't I get it. Yeah,
Scott Benner 27:22
I get it. It's just I look up every day. And I'm like, really, like, you know, like, the emails come and they come constantly, and I love them. It's hard for me to answer them. I'm like, actually, today's email day, I've already spent two hours before talking to you trying to respond to people's emails. And and it's just once in a while I stopped but I think, how am I the guy that? How is that? How is this the thing? Like, do you mean like, like, I'm happy it works. And it really is just a slow building of it. What is it? It's the reason it's sad that you die when you get old, because I'm finally getting good at being alive. You know what I mean? Like, I finally learned enough things and was able to step back far enough to see them as a bigger picture. And, and even that, I think it's kind of a, I'm gonna say blessing, but people who listen know that I'm not religious, but I do see it as a as a blessing that I'm even able to communicate my thoughts, because I think that's one of the bigger problems around managing insulin is that nobody knows how to explain it to someone else in a way that's digestible and doesn't take, you know, seven years, you know, 15 minutes at a time. And I don't know, like, I can't believe that I'm the one that understands this. I mean, not that there aren't other people don't get me wrong, I'm just, it's weird that it's that I'm one of them,
Kyle Knudsen 28:43
I guess, you know, you it comes across in listening, and maybe it's different being you know, now 40, but pushing 40 when I was diagnosed, it just comes across that you're, you're genuine about it, Jenny is also genuine about it. So it's not like someone's preaching or, or telling you how to do things. It's it's exploring, you know, your path and managing Arden's diabetes through her life. And just making it practical and applying it and welcoming the input of others. And it's, it makes it really easy.
Scott Benner 29:19
I'm glad I wouldn't know another way to do it, honestly. And I am lucky in a couple you know, I was having this conversation with somebody yesterday, I'm getting ready to write a blog post for for a website. And they asked me to write something and I was having this conversation and she said, Why do you think the podcast is so popular? Because she reached out to me, she's like, you're it? She's like that podcast is all I hear about everywhere? And I was like, Oh, that's cool. Great. You know, and she's like, why do you think it's, it's gained traction like this? And I said, I just really don't want people to be unhealthy. And, and I figured out how not to do it. So feels weird not to tell somebody else right. You know, and And I'm lucky, I went on to teller and I'm happy to tell you I'm lucky My wife has a comfortable job. And so I was a stay at home dad. And so I actually got to witness it live through it not have to get up and go to work every day, not you know, not think about it from five in the afternoon till nine at night and pass out, go to sleep, get up in the morning, put eight seconds worth of thought the diabetes, worry about it all day do it again, like I was actually able to really diagnose it. There was a person that came into the private Facebook group yesterday and said, it was kind of funny. The private Facebook group has become so popular that people show up there but don't know what the podcast is. So this guy comes in and says, Hey, um, you guys are all having all this great success. I'm dying to know, like, what is it you're like, do like, where do you like, Where'd you learn this? I think what's the question and people like the podcast? And he's like, what podcast? Like, that's really like, trippy, you know, but I thought about going into the thread and saying, the way I learned about diabetes was to stare at my daughter for years, and figure out how to help her. And then I wrote about it on a blog until I was really good at explaining it. And then I started this podcast, because that's really the truth if I didn't have the time. And I guess the desire to I guess if I was a different person, the time might not matter. But I'm just the I'm the perfect blend to figure this out. I had time. I'm a caregiver at heart. I'm kind of emotional. So when I was failing her, I, I felt it very deeply. And at the same time, I'm a guy, so I didn't like fall down a rabbit hole of emotion. I was just like, damn it, I gotta fix this, you know, right. So it's just, it's a lucky dumb random mix. If I could try to get thrown into a different life. I might be, you know, a complete failure. Like who knows? Seriously.
Kyle Knudsen 31:51
Well, I'm glad you landed on this one, because it's been helpful.
Scott Benner 31:55
While I'm happy, you're better off I'm pretty sure Arden doesn't share your sense.
Kyle Knudsen 32:01
I get that.
Scott Benner 32:03
But it's even she's really even. That's a good example. Like, she's completely comfortable. Like, think of all the personal things we talked about on here about Arden. Yeah, she doesn't care. She doesn't know. She's never thought in the world about it. She doesn't know who any of you are. And I don't think she cares though. She's just she's like, if it's helping people. That's cool. And that's it, you know? But yeah, so what what struck you first so you're you you're scared of lows, but you realize you don't want to be higher. You don't want to have that variability like what was what was the breakthrough thought for you.
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Kyle Knudsen 35:48
when I was diagnosed you know my blood drop blood sugar level was we unfortunately nine like I said but my my a once he was 14 too so quite high Yeah. And and that that 14 two is what I started kind of doing some research around like what do they want see me? What is that? What is that? You know, what does that telling me and and that's where probably some my anxiousness about the highest came around. So trying things, you know, I was on Lantus and novolog pen out of the gates and just trying things and watching you know, watching my trends through fingerprints that first night, once I found your podcast, I still didn't have my Dexcom. So I'm trying to establish trend lines through I don't know, 15 fingerprints a day. I mean, I was you know, mildly obsessive about it. Because I really wanted to understand what my blood sugar's were doing. Getting the Dexcom obviously made a huge difference. And with before that I was already just being more bold, right? If something wasn't working, I wasn't just saying, Okay, well, you know, 15 grams of carbs is one unit. And that's just is what it is, if if something was sideways, I was correcting, I was I was starting to pay more attention to what different foods were doing to me, you know, from a glycemic load standpoint, whatever else, you know, maybe a protein bar at certain grams of carbohydrates is going to be true to, you know, one to 10 or one to 12 ratio. But that same carb load in a piece of white bread is much different. So I started just to pay more attention to that. And then really started to just be more aggressive and be more bold and try things and know that if I could catch it a low wasn't really scary anymore. The other thing that really resonated with me, and I think I mentioned to you in our first kind of communication a few months back, is stopping the arrows. And stopping the arrows is so key to my daily diabetes management. Because again, another one of your sayings. If you prevent highs, you're just as likely to prevent those lows, right? If you keep yourself from going high. So I try to make sure my trend lines are are stable, I try to make sure all of those things and that's really what I started to focus on is understanding when you have to take the infant, when does it need to hit? When when do I maybe have to do a split dose because I was MDI at the time, so on and so forth, and really honed in on that. So I went in end of October for check on not a diabetes related check. But I what since I was in I said well, you might as well do a blood draw and see and I had brought my a one c down to 6.8. So from August 1 at 14 to to end of October, I was 6.8, which I felt like was a pretty great start to my diabetes journey
Scott Benner 38:55
and listening to the show. It didn't resonate with you immediately. Did you have trepidation that you were able to blow past because I'm asking because I see people intersect with the information in a couple of ways. And one of them is they'll see it. It'll make sense to them. But their fear so overwhelming. They can't they can't break past it. And like you're, you're not, you're not the typical like archetype listener for the show. Do you know what I mean? Like you're I there are men listening. But I don't know how to say this. Like, I've interviewed a lot of guys. And you know, most of them are more like me. They're you know, I don't know, I don't know what to say here. Hold on a second. You're a very manly guy, Kyle, is what I'm saying. Right? Like, you're a big motorcycle riding guy. And and you know, I think of Jeremy who was on a few weeks ago who's you know, like works at a Harley dealership. And I'm like, I'm like how did I reach Jeremy because it seems like you and he shouldn't intersect Well with this but you did better than a lot of people.
Kyle Knudsen 40:04
Yeah, I I jumped right in, once I once I, once I had kind of affirmation of there's a better way to manage it. And that was both through your your podcasts or reading what people were posting within the online community. You know, reading a couple of the books that I was reading, I, I kind of made that switch right away to say, I'm going to give it a shot. I'm going to get aggressive I'm going to do this because what I'm currently doing isn't working the way I want it to. So it's, it's, I'm making the change. Yeah. So it didn't take long for me to really just embrace it and go with it and get bold and, and do it. It hit right away. And yeah, again, you were my first podcast. So I would imagine that I am probably not the normal listener, the normal one, you know, I ride a Harley, I snowmobile, like, you know, we boat all summer and it looks like you build something
Scott Benner 41:04
with your hands at some point, or at least a bow and arrow or something.
Kyle Knudsen 41:08
I you know, I hunt some Yeah. Yeah.
Scott Benner 41:12
I'm good. Imagine you riding an elk? That's all.
Unknown Speaker 41:17
I haven't done that yet.
Scott Benner 41:18
We'll get to that guy. What the hell? No, but even like, I'm trying to imagine you intersecting with me through a podcast. And sticking with it, you must have really been desperate.
Kyle Knudsen 41:30
I guess I probably was. Yeah, I was
Scott Benner 41:33
from New Jersey, just talking a million miles an hour about a lot of things that no one has said to me yet. And you you stuck in and listen, that's really cool. It really,
Kyle Knudsen 41:43
I know, I can say this to because I appreciate your sense of humor. But I do remember early on reading, you know, the way people were writing about this Scott guy, you know, and how he's changed their lives. And I'm like, you know who who these people think this guy is like some diabetes Savior. podcast, you know, that was early on. But then I got it. I understood, right. I it resonates
Scott Benner 42:08
I have to tell you, man, I see some of the really kind things that people post online or you know, an Instagram and stuff. And there's part of me that wants to jump in and be like, Hey, you guys gotta calm down a little bit. I swear to you, there are there are moments when I feel like I'm being spoken about like a deity. And it really is. It's strange for me, just so you're like, I'm not. I know somebody out there thinks I'm lying. But I don't see that and just go, oh, finally being treated the way I deserve. Like, I just I'm like, Oh, this is it feels weird to me. I'm really thrilled that people are having such great success, and that they're willing to tell other people, but you have to understand that I don't see me the way you see me. It's,
Kyle Knudsen 42:47
you know, I I can tell that very readily. Thank you. And I totally get it.
Scott Benner 42:53
Because I my family teases me constantly. I walked in the room the other day. Alright, hold on. I need a drink. Sorry. No, I got this really nice email. I get a lot of really nice emails. And apparently, if I think to tell my wife about them, I apparently start the conversation by going Hey, I just got a really nice email. Would you like to hear it? So I guess I've used the phrase really nice email enough. So I come in the room literally last night. And Arden and Kelly are together. Our house is so strange. Now Kelly's taken over the dining room. And you know, like she's working in there. And Arden was doing her homework in there. And I come into the room and I pause and Arden's got my sense of humor, like, exactly. And before I can open my mouth, she looks at me goes, any chance you received a really nice email you'd like to share with us. I was like, so I said no. And then she laughed. She goes, were you coming in here to tell us about that? And I was like, well, I did just get a really nice email.
Kyle Knudsen 43:52
That's really great.
Scott Benner 43:53
It's, um, if I really stopped and thought about it, I think I'd be overwhelmed by it. Yeah. And so I try to just keep going. I see the podcast is growing, and it's reaching people, and it's generally helping people. And so I just want to keep going. I also don't have the burden of how do I want to say this? There are a lot of people who share things online. And I don't know that they're not sharing it, because I think it's a business first to them, I guess, is what I mean. And, you know, I just don't have that feeling. I think that the podcast, I mean, it makes money because it has ads, but it has ads, because it's helping people. And because I don't, I don't do anything to grow the podcast, I can't, I couldn't afford to buy an ad or note, nor would I know how to do that. And so people are helped by it, they tell somebody else about it, it gets bigger, because it's bigger, it can support advertisements. And And to be perfectly honest, at this point, it takes up so much time that if it couldn't support advertisements, I don't think I'd be able to do it. So I think it's a pretty fair trade off. It's been Basically my full time job at this point, and you got it for free. And so and so I feel good about that. What I don't feel good about sometimes is, you know, seeing people say like, Hey, I bet you don't know about Pre-Bolus singing, of course, people don't know about it a lot of times and they go, if you just for $60, I'll explain it to you in my one month course. I'm like, Ah, that feels dirty to me. But then I don't need $60. I don't know if I don't know what I would do. Kyle, if I did, like if I was financially struggling, like, would I pimp this podcast out? I'm not sure. I don't think I would. It doesn't seem like me. But it's also it's not my life. So I'm not I'm not certain. So I'm not judging anybody. I'm just saying that I think it's easier for you to accept, because I don't appear to be asking you for anything. And you know, that makes it? Or am I am I overthinking it?
Kyle Knudsen 45:48
No, 100% I that that's that's what got that's what got me into listening to it is I could tell you, we're doing it to talk about the different products within Type One Diabetes that support your podcast, right? That's not why you were there. You're there to try to get the information out to people who who can really benefit from the information.
Scott Benner 46:09
I'm glad I'm very it's hard to know if you're doing what you mean to be doing sometimes. I don't know if that that makes sense or not. Yeah, that is my intention. I just, I I've probably said it 1000 times, but I used to cry in the shower. And I don't think that's how people should have to live. Especially if, if I'm if I'm telling you like if I said to you right now. Hey, Kyle, now that you've heard the podcast, does it make sense that I think that you can manage your type one diabetes really well manage insulin? Well, if you just get your Basal insulin straight Pre-Bolus your meals and understand that different foods have different impacts? Yeah,
Kyle Knudsen 46:46
that's it right? Yeah, that's it. Yeah. Yeah, it's almost that easy. It really is. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I've you know, I'm a 15 1414 months 14 and a half months into my journey at this point in time. And, you know, if I look at my two week Dexcom right now, it probably says my averages 106107. And my standard deviation is somewhere around 15 to 18. And that's not difficult for me to maintain. Week after week, month after month at this point. It's, it's once you have and it's a few basic tools I Pre-Bolus. I you know, I watch my Dexcom around the time that I'm eating so I understand what's going on. I'm now I'm I'm I'm on the pod as well. I'm not looping at all, I just kind of do it organically at this point. Yeah. And I got both of my siblings on to Omnipod as well. And neither of them were on a pump. My brother the 20 some odd years in wasn't on a dex or up pump. He was still just finger sticking and doing multiple daily injections. And I've since turned him into a dex and Omnipod user and he loves it. And he's lowered his agency and he's doing doing really well with it. So
Scott Benner 48:06
do they listen, or do you kind of pass what you've heard to them? How does that work?
Kyle Knudsen 48:12
My sister listens. And then I just talk their ear off all the time when we're together and ask them questions and push them and you know, they probably get sick of me, but I don't know if it's a good question. I don't know if my brother's listened to or not. He's certainly familiar with it. And I know he is a part of I believe he is part of the the Facebook community.
Scott Benner 48:35
Is the IGN or Thor or something like that.
Kyle Knudsen 48:38
Yes, it's Yes. That No, it's Kirk. So
Scott Benner 48:41
close. Actually, I would have gotten to it if I guess three more times.
Kyle Knudsen 48:45
That's right. Yeah, that's right. Yeah, we're all Ks. Kirk and Kim and Kyle nice.
Scott Benner 48:51
I I'm I'm falling for children. Right now. My daughter being one of them. It's 11 o'clock here. Arden's just powering through a school she probably hasn't even eaten yet. There's a little boy, whose mom I would describe as patently lost eight days ago, my daughter's friend and mother of a 11 year old who again three days ago, whose graph was a disaster. And I have blood sugars in front of me that are 126 148 120 and 119. And they're all stable. So it really isn't, I'm not trying to say diabetes is super simple. I'm saying that there are steps you can take that will lead to that. I mean, three of those kids have eaten breakfast already. And two of them were what I would call bad at diabetes less than a week ago. And and now they're not and they're getting over their fears. They're understanding how to use their insulin, and I'm going to, you know, these two other people that I'm following, I'm going to be unfollowing them, probably today. They don't need me, they're fine. And get it you know, it just it comes to them and I I don't want to. I don't want to say there's three things you understand. You know, what I'm saying is, is that the culmination of this podcast will lead you to Kyle's outcome. If you can hear it and and not be afraid of it. I don't see how it doesn't I by now I keep Arden's a one C and the fives by mistake. You know what I mean? Like I'm not even trying anymore. So it just it just happens you do the things and then it happens. I don't know yeah,
Kyle Knudsen 50:29
I checked I mid summer I had my you know, annual a one c check. It was sometime in July and I was at I was at a six. That's excellent. And, and the month leading up to that I had a motorcycle trip and a couple other things where my blood sugar was probably higher than it normally would have been. So Truthfully, I would guess I'm consistent five and a half to six. Point.
Scott Benner 50:52
How is it? Did you keep your blood sugar higher to ride on purpose?
Kyle Knudsen 50:56
No, I didn't. So that's a that's an interesting dynamic to my life as being on motor sports and, and where the blood sugar threshold crosses, right. I I probably would knock back my, my mealtime insulin by maybe a half a unit while a while if I knew I was gonna then hop on my motorcycle and ride just to be on the safe side because I tend to be a little more aggressive. So you know, I just dialed it back slightly. With a with kinda in my head, if I could kind of land in that 100 to 110 range. Once everything settled down, then I know I'm comfortable. And I have time to react. But I didn't I didn't want to get into that. I'm going to keep it up at 130 or 140 all day long, just because I don't want to have to think about it. Because, you know, it's just that gives that makes me anxious to be at that point for that long so. So a little bit like right now I'm looking at it right now I'm at 91 straight as an arrow, and I've been that way for the last 45 minutes and I low 90s. Kyle, you're a disciple of this podcast.
Scott Benner 52:13
You're gonna have a T shirt one day. I don't know if they come in your size, but I think but
Kyle Knudsen 52:20
I'm only an XL. I'm taller than I am. Why?
Scott Benner 52:23
Well, listen, let me let me run my male bone a few days up the pod up the pole for a second here. I only wrote a motorcycle for years. I didn't have another form of transportation I grew up I was so broke growing up that I need to look I need a way to get to a job. Right. So my job I worked in a sheetmetal shop making $5 an hour is about 20 minutes from my house. Now I couldn't afford car insurance. My father left my mom my mom didn't drive so nobody in the house was insured. So the state of Pennsylvania thought that I needed to pay $4,000 a year to insure a free car my uncle gave me you know, that was worth eight cents. And so I couldn't figure out how to get on the road. So I went to a local motorcycle place my dad had written off and on. You know, when I was younger I so I had been a passenger on a motorcycle but not frequently. And I had never ridden a motorcycle in my entire life. So I go to this place. I pick out a motorcycle that looks like it's, you know, a good starter bike for lack of a better term. I think it was a Suzuki something 500 has had a little 500 cc engine. And I was broke. But it was only I think the bike was like 20 $500 brand new, so I could get like this loan on it where I paid like $89 a month for this motorcycle and insurance was like free, basically very inexpensive. So I do all this and the guy's like, okay, when do you want to pick it up? I said, I need you to deliver it. And he said, We don't deliver them. And I said well, I don't know how to ride a motorcycle, so I'm going to need you to deliver it. And they they begrudgingly brought it to my house and left it there. And then I would go outside in the afternoon after work in a parking lot next to my house and taught myself how to ride a motorcycle. And I just did it over and over again. The first time I went out on the road I thought my heart was going to explode. You know from my nerves, by remember that feeling horrible, but by the time I was done I had written almost 200,000 miles on a bike by the time I last wrote one and you won't be you won't care about this but I wrote a GS xr 750 for a really long time. It's a great bike. I love that bike so much. I miss riding motorcycles in a way that's hard to put into words. But I lost my nerve one day in the strangest way I'd been hit by a car didn't bother me. I'd laid my bike down a couple of times never bothered me. One day I parked it outside of a store on a hot day. And the the kickstand kind of melted into the blacktop and it fell over. And when I picked it up, it had like $2,000 worth of damage on it. And for some reason, my brain said, Hey, if that could happen to it falling over, why aren't we worried about it when it's moving and I swear to you after 200,000 miles, I lost my nerve to ride. Just I don't know what happened. I just lost my nerve. I sold it. And I I've never been on a bike since then. But
Kyle Knudsen 55:20
I laid my bike down. Last spring, last May, May of 2019. I someone was in my lane, so I had to lay it down to not run into them. And I wondered if I would lose my nerve. But you know what? I knew my bike was totaled right away. It was a Friday night. Saturday, I was bike shopping. And I just hopped right back on and kept going.
Scott Benner 55:44
I am a person who was comfortable. 90 miles an hour was 40. To me. And, and I've been, I got the 165 once and let me explain that to you. It ain't fun. And so I
Unknown Speaker 55:57
haven't done that. I was
Scott Benner 55:59
on this highway one morning. It was like four in the morning and the sun was up. And there was like just it felt like there was not another soul in the world that was out there. And I was at a light, you know, and it was one of those. It's one of those. It's in the Southside of Philly. So people who know there's like lights on the highway, and then there's not for a while. And so I'm sitting at the light. And I looked down at the speedometer, and I thought 170 wonder if it goes 170 It's the first time I ever thought that my life. I'm gonna find out. What I can tell you is that at 160 miles an hour, you can't focus on anything. But things are flying past you so quickly. Like I picked a point off in the distance, and I just tried to stay on it. And I got to that speed. I think I counted the two and I brought it right back down again. I was like, Well, I'm never gonna do that again. But that was it.
Kyle Knudsen 56:50
But you did it. Yeah, it was.
Scott Benner 56:51
It was exhilarating. I have to tell you, oh, my God, I was pulled over one time. What a good story. It doesn't fit here on the podcast. But let's just say that if you appeal a ticket enough times, you can't get out of it.
Kyle Knudsen 57:03
Good to know. Notice.
Scott Benner 57:06
by a third of the first judge, Kyle, I, she comes in she reads the thing. And she says you're being charged. You're being charged with going 105 miles an hour over the speed limit.
Unknown Speaker 57:21
How do you plead?
Scott Benner 57:24
started to speak, I swear to you as a female judge. I got a half of a word out of my mouth and she slammed the gavel down I went guilty.
Unknown Speaker 57:36
Oh, wow.
Unknown Speaker 57:36
I was like, Thank you, Your Honor. How do I appeal?
Unknown Speaker 57:41
Word.
Scott Benner 57:41
So by talking skills, eventually I eventually ended up in a court in Center City, Philadelphia. And I talked my way out of it. I explained to him that it was stupid. And that I you know, I my family, you know, counted on me. And my mom doesn't drive. My dad's not with us. And I don't know why I did this I shouldn't have. And I don't know what I said I was in a I was in a zone, you know. And when I got done, he said okay, and he found me guilty of avoiding a stop sign. And, and as I turned around, the district attorney said, We owe you a refund. And I said you can keep it and I walked out the door because I was afraid somebody could change their mind, you know?
Kyle Knudsen 58:22
Yeah, right. I don't need it.
Scott Benner 58:23
I paid them like $400 fine. I ran out of the courtroom. I got outside and that officer comes out and he goes, Yo, man, that was impressive. And I said thank you. I don't even know what I did. You know, and then you hear a voice and it's the judge. And they want me back in the chamber. And I walked back in and I I honestly was walking towards him thinking he can't change his mind. Like he already hit the table with the stick like, Yeah, he did the thing. And he and I was like 21 years old. And he said, Hey, man, what do you want to do with your life? And I said, right now I just really want to get out of here. And he laughed, and he goes, No, I mean, like for a job. And I said, I have no idea. He said, what do you do now? We're working a sheetmetal shop and he goes, you should be an attorney. And I was like, yeah, how come and he says cuz I have no idea. Why just let you out of that.
Kyle Knudsen 59:12
That's a great story.
Scott Benner 59:13
It was like excellent, man. I gotta go goodbye. By the way, props to Philadelphia three and a half years later, that money showed up in the mail refunded to me.
Unknown Speaker 59:23
Oh, wow.
Scott Benner 59:24
They actually found me and gave me my money back. And I was so broke. It was like somebody sent me a million dollars. Anyway, I love writing and and i but i am interested. Like when if if you see a number because you I'm assuming you bump your numbers a little bit. Can you bump while you're while you're going? Or do you pull over to do that? How do you handle it?
Kyle Knudsen 59:45
Yeah, so um, my buddies will make fun of me here and there. If you know they call it the beetus. Stop. There's there's times where it if I'm going high, I'll pull over and just say, you know hey, I I need five minutes just to do something with my pump here quick and then we'll be back on the way. If I'm trending low, and again, I'm normal. I'm not in a situation where I'm where it's a freefall, right? It's a slow trend with me generally, I keep a couple of lifesavers in my jacket pocket and, you know, pop it out and Papa lifesaver in and keep heading down the road. And I mean, if it gets more than that, I'll certainly pull over and make sure that it's safe. But for the most part, I can manage it while I'm on the road, and we do trips. We're in Utah for five days. And we're riding three 400 miles a day, this last summer, and I managed pretty well for the whole trip without any major incidences. So
Unknown Speaker 1:00:41
yeah, beautiful there. Right, Utah.
Kyle Knudsen 1:00:43
Oh, Unbelievable. Unbelievable. There's a lot of writing I've ever done.
Scott Benner 1:00:47
Yeah, there's a lot of listeners to the show that I get emails, so he should move to Utah, because I always talk about like, I want to retire somewhere where there's no humidity, and I don't want snow. And sometimes you're like, well, the snow, but look here and they'll send me like pictures of places. I'm like, Man, that is gorgeous. You know, like really something? Plus, I'm huge. I'm huge in the in the Oh my god, we're just slipped out of my head.
Unknown Speaker 1:01:11
How would that happen? Not hunting? No, it's the church in in Utah.
Kyle Knudsen 1:01:17
Oh, the Mormon Church.
Scott Benner 1:01:20
I'm the diabetes like, like, I think I'm the diabetes guru in the Mormon Church
Unknown Speaker 1:01:24
within the LDS. Yeah, I
Scott Benner 1:01:26
don't know how that happened. And I'm thrilled about it. By the way, in case people are listening, I would also like to be huge. And all the other churches in case you're on Yeah. steadfastly trying to get people listen to the podcast absolutely everywhere. That's really something so you can I don't want to talk about people who aren't you because it seems unfair. But your brother seems to fall into a category for me is that time when people were diagnosed, were really it was just about like, Hey, man, eat at the certain time, give yourself this insulin. You know, it was all very just regimented and not specific, I guess, at the same time, which is interesting mix. And they don't those people so frequently don't seem to translate out into a modern management system. Do you have any idea why? Like, why did you have to push him out of it?
Kyle Knudsen 1:02:15
Yeah, I think it was probably just not knowing, you know, not, again, to your point not to necessarily speak for him. But I started talking to him about Pre-Bolus Singh. And I'm like, and then at the same time, he had a CDE that he met with that had pushed him on Pre-Bolus Singh. And I remember he and I talked about it probably 30 days after he started doing it like that, that makes a huge difference. He said, You know, I rarely see myself go above 200 anymore, because I Pre-Bolus. So it wasn't an unwillingness it. I think it was just in not knowing, not knowing that there's another way to go about it. But I think it's as simple as that.
Scott Benner 1:02:58
Yeah, the most heartbreaking notes that I get, usually include the sentence, how could nobody have told me this? Yeah. You know, for older people who've been living with diabetes for a long time, like, it's, it's confounding to them as it is to me, but to them, especially when you've been living with a seven, five or an eight a one see your whole life and someone tells you, you're doing great, you're doing great. You're doing great. Yeah, like, Oh, I'm doing great. And then, you know, three weeks after, I mean, let's be honest, college, if nobody can say you, and I can say, I'm 49 years old, and I have a podcast, it's kind of ridiculous. And you know, and you're listening to it. So, you know, yeah. Yeah. But it, it shouldn't be this isn't where it should come from. Right? You know, right. It just isn't. And, but it is, and it's going to be like we could say, you know, we could pick any number of political, you know, or society type ideas and say, This isn't how it should be. But it is how it is. And I guess that I'm glad that it works and that it's helpful to people. It just is, you know, on a on a very basic level. It's sad that no one ever said that to your brother before and that you had to get diabetes for him to find out.
Kyle Knudsen 1:04:10
Yeah, you know, yeah, I wish there was another way.
Scott Benner 1:04:13
I mean, honestly, stop and think about your brother knows the Pre-Bolus because, three years ago, I got so many emails where he was like, Can you make a T shirt? And I was like, Oh, God, alright, I'll do it. But But you know, like that's, that should not be the pathway to health. Here's what I'm getting back.
Kyle Knudsen 1:04:30
No, it's in that you know, I have another friend a gal that's had diabetes longer than my brother She's. She's from Minnesota and was on a certain, you know, Minnesota manufactured insulin pump with with reasonably good success, and asked me about the Omnipod Dexcom set up and was astonished that there was another option. Like I my care team had never talked to me about anything, but You know, the Medtronic system. And she switched. And there's nothing bad about Medtronic in that she just the tubeless the fact that it was a little The Dexcom was a little more reliable than than the Medtronic CGM. And she's had great success with it since switching and was like I would if I hadn't asked you I would have never known and had I not gotten on your podcast, I would have been on the T slim. That was my plan from my early listening. But the Omni pod was ultimately what I landed on because of the other features, the flexibility that you said, the ease of use, you know, no tubes, so huge for me. No tubes, I
Scott Benner 1:05:42
just want to say out loud in case someone from Omni pod is listening, let's not go round and round about the ad costs next year. Did you hear what Kyle just said?
Kyle Knudsen 1:05:50
That's right. That's my stamp of approval.
Scott Benner 1:05:52
I gotta be honest with you. They're actually very nice to me, that we don't argue about stuff. But I just want to tease there for a second.
Kyle Knudsen 1:05:58
No, they're, they're great.
Scott Benner 1:05:59
They're, they're great. You know what, it really is lost on most people, and there'd be no reason for them to understand that sales. People come to your doctor and talk to them about drugs. And I mean, it's it's not nefarious, it's just it's the only way that drug companies can you know, if there's three different drugs that lower your blood pressure, you know, and I'm drug B, how do I get the word out? I send somebody to your office to tell you about drug B. And and if I get there first, that's the one you prescribe. And I think that you being in Minnesota, where I mean, I don't know how aware people are, but that's where Medtronic is, and and they probably just have a stranglehold on the area because it's easier for their salespeople to get out. I would think, you know, they don't they don't have to travel. You don't have to set up a remote office. You're right there.
Kyle Knudsen 1:06:46
Yeah, and Medtronic has such huge name recognition in Minnesota, and they're a great company, and philanthropic and all of those things. So there's so many good things about Medtronic. Yeah. But I had no idea who insulet was before, you know, but truly listening to your podcast. But looking into it in general, I had no idea. I didn't even know it was an option.
Scott Benner 1:07:07
That's real. I'm glad that said I'm glad you had the option in the end. Joking aside, I don't care what insulin pump you use, I want you to be happy. But if you know about them all, then you can make a decision. It's not just like, Oh, this must be the insulin pump. It's how I and I feel that way because that's how I felt about insulin. Like my daughter struggled using novolog. But I just thought that's what the doctor gave us. So this is insulin. I never imagined there was others and, and Arden is you know thrives on a Piedra. And not that not to say that there aren't people who use Nova Laude with a ton of success. And I'm sure there are plenty of people use Medtronic pumps with a ton of success, etc tandem whatever, but you need to know so you can choose. And yeah, you know, I think I I started on novolog and actually switched in for some reason with me, I'm on humalog now, because I had to try to humalog before I can try it for biography as you say, that's what I wanted to try but I had to try both human log is a completely different experience for me my I Pre-Bolus the 20 to 30 minutes to get Abend as opposed to novolog there was some times I had to wait 60 minutes for my blood sugar to start to bend after Pre-Bolus Singh. My my I have friends and siblings that are on novolog that don't have that same experience. So it's just it's very it's a very personal everything about this disease is very personal in art and novolog would take forever to work mpwc at the wrong time and Crusher, a Peter piedras super smooth for Arden so I could I could Pre-Bolus have an 8920 minutes out like it's nothing and it just it's super smooth and consistent for she tried fiasco recently. And I'm going to tell you, it was great. It was an absolutely great but it burned her constantly. So you know people talk about injection site burning. So with with V ASP. I guess there's I don't listen, I'm out of talking about school here, but I think there's a protein in there or something that makes it work the way it works, etc. I don't know. Obviously that's not very technical, but it whatever it was. Not only did it did she have injection site burning at a Bolus, but she'd wear a pod for three days. And when she got done, it was brew, it felt bruised. She said it's really just from the basil rate. It's thung constant and she was a real trooper. She went through two vials because some people had reported it going away after a while so Arden's like I'll tough it out and see what happens but she was sore for a while while she was wearing it and when it came off for a day or so afterwards. And so we wanted to keep using it because the Pre-Bolus time was real short and it and she was not having any If the lows at all, after meals, and not to she is a ton, but they were even better, like her time and range got better, her line got more stable and we wanted to keep using it. And it just it. It just wouldn't because of the burning sensation in that, but what feels like, you know, bruising when you're done with it.
Kyle Knudsen 1:10:19
Yeah, that's it. I had read about that, that burning sensation when I was looking at it. So that's interesting. My experience with humor blog is very similar to hers with a Piedra, I can Pre-Bolus 2025 minutes on 85 to 95 with confidence knowing that it'll pick up right where I needed to be once I eat. So it's been a good experience for me,
Scott Benner 1:10:41
we actually did a thing last night, her pump site, just, you know, when a pumps like goes, and you and you really start getting good at it, you can see right away like, Oh, this is it. Like even though the pumps not done for seven hours, like I'm gonna, I'm gonna try it now. Right? So last night, she's sitting around doing homework around like seven at night, and I'm watching her blood sugar go up for reasons that I don't think makes sense that and that when you hear me talk about like when the insulin doesn't do what I expected to do, like that's what was happening. I knew it wasn't food. I know. It wasn't a Bolus. I was like this is I think it's the site. So as she climbed over 140, and we Bolus and she didn't move. I was like, Hey, you gotta change your pump. So she's doing something, I'm cleaning the kitchen, we finally get the pump on. And she's gone. Like she popped right up to 190, which is fairly uncommon for us. And she's like, I'm hungry, too. So we switched the pump, which now has a pager in it again. But we still had the fiasco. So we injected a couple of units of, of the fiasco. And I was like, Huh, let me see what happens here. So, you know, because you change the site sometimes, and they're not as reactive right away. So I was like, well, this is like, so I put in a little fiasco, it ate up her blood sugar. I Bolus, we Bolus 10 units, or 10 grams, excuse me for a cookie she wanted to have. And then we watched the this very slow decline, like 191 8171 60, she got the 130. And I was like, you still want that cookie? And she said, Yeah, I said, I think now it's time to eat it. So she eats the cookie, I swear to you, goes down to 69. And levels off and comes up to 85. And when it was over, I was like, I'm so good at this.
And to this moment, the only way I could describe to you all listening about how to do it is that after enough time, you can see when to eat. You can just see it on the on the on the Dexcom I just number and and and I took the right steps to use the right amount of insulin. I knew the two units of injected was the right correction for the 190. And then, you know, we put in insulin for the 10 carbs. And I could just see it. I don't know, I don't know another way to explain it yet. I'm gonna figure out a way to explain it one day, but for now, he just, you know, after a while, you know?
Kyle Knudsen 1:13:06
Yeah, I totally agree. I mean, getting to that point, I know that's, that's made my life even that much easier as not looking at my decks and saying, alright, either I need to do something to correct this, whether it's, you know, turn, you know, turn my basil down or just have something to eat to stop it, or vice versa. Just knowing it's gonna go too high and knowing Alright, I gotta act now, knowing knowing when to step in, this makes such a huge difference. I mean, for me to get, for me to see north of 160 or 165 on my decks is rare because of reacting FDA at the appropriate time.
Scott Benner 1:13:46
I'm thrilled for you, man. I really am. I'm, I'm kind of a little amazed that it got to you and that, but and I'm just, you know, I'm listening for people listening. I'm older. I generalize about people, just so you know, it's part of how I grew up. And Kyle doesn't fit the profile for listening to this podcast.
Unknown Speaker 1:14:05
I agree.
Scott Benner 1:14:07
Thank you. Obviously, I'm wrong. And anybody can be anything. I hear you. I hear millennials. I hear what you're saying to my ear. And I'm not I'm not resistant to the idea. I'm just telling you that as a person. Listen, if you've listened to this podcast long enough, you've heard me guess about people a lot and be right about people I've never met before. Sometimes my generalizations work out this one just really surprised the heck out of me. It really did. So I'm thrilled for you. And I'm super happy you came on into this. Did we not talk about anything that you wanted to
Kyle Knudsen 1:14:36
know I really enjoyed the conversation. It was good. I would just add I one of the reasons I reached out to you when you put a posting out about an adult that you know might want to talk to you is that I feel like I don't fit the profile. I feel like I've I was blessed with the ability to get this disease later in life. Not that it's a blessing. To have this disease, but I'm so glad that I didn't get it at age five or 10 or 15, that I was able to get it as an adult. And I just encourage anyone who is listening or know someone that doesn't need to listen to, to take control, because it's doable at really any age.
Scott Benner 1:15:18
It's so just be bold, right? Be bold. Yeah, I can't believe that that turned into a, you know that in Episode 11. I just, I was just searching for words. And I said, I don't know you have to like be like bold with insulin. I had never said that before. I never, I don't think I ever wrote it down. I never had the thought. And as my process is I record and then I go back and edit. And, and I don't edit for content as much as I edit for sound and flow and things like that. And, as I don't, I never know what I'm going to name the episodes. And when I got done, I thought oh, I'll call this one bold within. So I said that in the podcast, and that seems like catchy. And I put it on the episode. And like a year later, it took like a year because the podcast was not particularly I shouldn't denigrate it, it was more popular than most podcasts. But it wasn't like it is now in the first you know, couple in the first year, so but like a year into it, I started seeing people were hashtagging bold with insulin. And I was like, that's me. Like, I don't I've never heard anybody else say that anywhere. You know, and, and that was I was like, Oh, that must be resonating with people. And that's really how I that's all man, I just said something randomly into a microphone that made sense to you. So
Kyle Knudsen 1:16:32
yeah, that's what grabbed my attention. And that's what truly has been a big part of being where I am today from a management standpoint. Now
Scott Benner 1:16:40
again, I'm I'm genuinely thrilled for you. And I appreciate you coming on here spending the time and then talking with me. And I love that your ride. So I don't understand that you sit back like that while you're writing but
Kyle Knudsen 1:16:51
it seems so comfortable that backrest and kick the legs up and high handlebars, it's great. I love it,
Scott Benner 1:16:59
I used to just lay on the gas tank and hold my head up with my left hand. under my chin, we'd go out and ride. a close friend of mine is a police officer, and he's actually bursal old now he's getting ready to retire. But when we were younger, they do three, two elevens. And then there were a handful of guys that rode and you've never experienced motorcycle riding until you've written in the dead of night with a bunch of cops. Because you just you know, no one has a fear of getting a ticket. So it's Yeah, it's very interesting and fun way to ride and, and I'd go out with them sometimes, and they'd go on these long rides. And I would just like, I'd be tired at some point. It's like, had these guys ride forever. Like my riding was more like, you know, transportation, and then a little bit of leisure. But at the same time, like I was the guy, I'm the guy that like I'd come up to a left turn. And I'd be like, I wonder how far I can lay this bike over before that foot peg hits the ground. Like, you know, like, more like that. And so I'd get bored because they cruising along and I jump out then come back and jump out and come back. I think they hated me. But uh, but when they got real cruzi I just lay on the gas tank and put my hand under my chin hold my head up. And they were all just seated back like they were in a Barco lounger. So
Kyle Knudsen 1:18:16
yeah, no that so you're not understanding how I ride the way I ride. I'm the same way How can you lay down and look up and that just sounds uncomfortable. But hey, takes all kinds and I'm a motorcycle enthusiast. So I love motorcycles.
Scott Benner 1:18:28
I really do. I genuinely hope that I like to move somewhere more rural and and
Unknown Speaker 1:18:34
do it as an older person for leisure, but I don't know Utah's pretty good for it. So my wife,
Scott Benner 1:18:41
my wife's gonna make me stay near these kids. I know she I mean not that I don't want to but here's my biggest fear cause one of them's gonna go live one place one's gonna live in the other place and my wife's gonna be like, we have to pick a spot in the middle of an airport. And then I'm gonna end up in somewhere I don't want to be you know,
Unknown Speaker 1:18:57
Omaha.
Scott Benner 1:18:58
I'm not denigrating the insurance capital of the world. I'm just saying that I don't I don't want humidity and I don't want snow and can the kids please move like that? Because as I get older alright man, thank you so much. I really appreciate it.
Kyle Knudsen 1:19:12
Yeah, thanks for having me, Scott. It's great time.
Scott Benner 1:19:25
A huge thank you to one of today's sponsors, g Vogue glucagon, find out more about chivo hypo pen at G Vogue glucagon.com Ford slash juice box you spell that GVOKEGL you see ag o n.com Ford slash juice box. Thanks also to touched by type one, check them out at touched by type one.org and the Contour Next One blood glucose meter which you can find out more about at Contour. Next One COMM forward slash juice box
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