contact us

Use the form on the right to contact us.

You can edit the text in this area, and change where the contact form on the right submits to, by entering edit mode using the modes on the bottom right.​

         

123 Street Avenue, City Town, 99999

(123) 555-6789

email@address.com

 

You can set your address, phone number, email and site description in the settings tab.
Link to read me page with more information.

Screenshot 2023-03-12 at 2.41.02 PM.png

Podcast Episodes

The Juicebox Podcast is from the writer of the popular diabetes parenting blog Arden's Day and the award winning parenting memoir, 'Life Is Short, Laundry Is Eternal: Confessions of a Stay-At-Home Dad'. Hosted by Scott Benner, the show features intimate conversations of living and parenting with type I diabetes.

Filtering by Category: Dexcom

#630 Back When Sperm Was Cheap

Scott Benner

Suzy has child with type 1 diabetes.

You can always listen to the Juicebox Podcast here but the cool kids use: Apple Podcasts/iOS - Spotify - Amazon MusicGoogle Play/Android - iHeart Radio -  Radio PublicAmazon Alexa or wherever they get audio.

+ Click for EPISODE TRANSCRIPT


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

Scott Benner 0:00
Hello friends, and welcome to episode 630 of the Juicebox Podcast

on today's show we'll be speaking with Susie, Susie has, you know, I, I don't know if you know this about me, I don't like doing these opens, I do it because I think you deserve it you deserve me to say like what the show is about. But in truth what I'm thinking while I'm doing these is just listen to the show. It's really good. Please come on jump in there have I ever let you down? You don't mean like, that's what's going through my head when I'm like on this episode of The Juicebox Podcast. And then I don't know, then I usually do the you know, I give you the disclaimer, nothing you you know, nothing you hear on the Juicebox Podcast should be considered advice, medical or otherwise, please Always consult a physician before making any changes to your health care plan. Were becoming bold with insulin. And listen, I understand that you deserve to know a little bit about what the episode is about. But I don't want to ruin anything. I mean, look at the title of this one. For example, do you really want this ruined? You don't I mean, don't you want to find out where the title came from. But I'll do it anyway. Bullet points, lesbians, sperm donors, type one diabetes. If that's not enough for you. I don't know what else to do. Alright, there's going to be a little swell in the music. I'm going to do an ad. And then I'll get right to the show.

This episode of The Juicebox Podcast is sponsored by my daughter's blood glucose meter, the Contour Next One, go to contour next one.com forward slash juice box to get started today. And to find out more about the best little Darn. Gosh, darn, this little great little blood glucose meter I've ever seen. Actually, it is really terrific. I'm not joking. It's easy to I'll tell you about it mad. What am I doing here? Contour. Next One calm forward slash Juicebox. Podcast is also sponsored by touched by type one touch by type one is a diabetes organization that is doing many things for type one diabetes. And I really just love what they're doing. That's kind of the simplicity of why they're able to be advertisers on the show. I said, I'd love to help people learn more about touched by type one. And they said Cool. We'll buy ads. And I was like right on. So touch by type one.org. You can also find them on Facebook and Instagram. It's a great organization, doing things for people with type one diabetes that you would love. Go check it out.

Suzy 2:39
Hi, my name is Susie. I'm from Utah, and I have an eight year old daughter that was diagnosed about a year ago. And her name is Parker.

Scott Benner 2:50
Let's just get to it now. Susie, do you have any other kids?

Suzy 2:53
I have one other son, five years old.

Scott Benner 2:57
Are you part of the large group of people who love me in Utah? Or are you just

Suzy 3:01
Yes, you are. I am in this. Scott fan club. found you on the second day of diagnosis. And you are talking about all the time in our house.

Scott Benner 3:12
Oh, I'm going to move to Utah one day where I will match that can be mayor or something.

Suzy 3:16
Or I think we would have a Cray for you for sure. Okay,

Scott Benner 3:19
that's that's my Yeah, my new plan.

Suzy 3:22
As soon as COVID is over, we will plan to pray for you.

Scott Benner 3:26
I would like that I'm not gonna lie to you. Yeah, I could act all like, oh, that's silly, but I think I gave you love it. Definitely, I would complain about the plane ride the entire time. And you'd be like, Oh, we brought Scott out the whole parade for him. He just complains about having to fly here. Right. We'll take care of you. I love to complain. Okay, so how old is that kid with diabetes?

Suzy 3:55
Eight years old.

Scott Benner 3:56
Eight. How long ago? Was it? She?

Suzy 3:59
Is she? Yep. And it was September. So we're going on a year next month for diagnosis. Oh, wow.

Scott Benner 4:05
That's pretty. Yeah. pretty recent. Yeah. Was it a surprise? Or were you like, Oh, fine. It's here. No, it

Suzy 4:13
was most definitely, um, Harper and my son Grayson, we use actually we use donor sperm and donor aid for them. And obviously, when you pick out your donors, you pick out the best medical history you've ever seen in your life. So, you know, no history of type one whatsoever. So we were very surprised Harper was actually played in two soccer games that day. And she had to pee on the way down and she had to pee on the way home. And it was just and she she was like, Arden, she's a water slipper never likes water. So she had drank an entire jug of water during the game and I'm just thinking, well, she's working hard and she's drinking water. Yeah, well, when we got home my wife that night said to me, you I had a friend in high school and she had diabetes. And the way they found out was for drinking a lot of water and pee. And I immediately went into defense mode, denial mode. No way couldn't be. And then the wheels started turning and kind of thinking about it. And that night, I put out five pair of socks. And I told Harper in the bathroom, I said, if you go to the bathroom in the night, each time you go, I want you to take a pair of socks, and put it in your bedroom. And that morning, we woke up and all five pair were in her bedroom, and my heart dropped. And we went up to the clinic. They took her blood sugar, she was 750. And they told us to get to the hospital right away in a day. Yep, I mean, it obviously now like everybody says, looking back, she had lost three pounds for about two weeks, saw some irrational behavior, you know, freaking out. And obviously she was high at that time. And then just a notice that she'd been drinking a ton of milk and water but not really cooling in the after we stopped that we had. I mean, she could usually hold it for days. And she never went at nighttime. And then after we had to pull over to stop on the way to the soccer game. 20 minutes away. This kind of started adding up. So definitely, thank God, we caught it. I feel like we cut it early, even though she was 750. She was perfectly fine. So it was tough. In a way. I'm taking her down to the hospital. And she feels totally fine. And she's about to get pricked and prodded. You know, quite a bit, and she doesn't understand why.

Scott Benner 6:34
Before that I'm very, I'm sorry, I cut you off.

Suzy 6:37
No, you're fine. I'm just very grateful. Obviously, I hear all the DK stories. Very, very grateful for my wife to have that information about her friends. But you know, it's still tough, obviously, going down with a kid that things are perfectly healthy,

Scott Benner 6:49
right? Hey, Susie, I'm gonna have to stop here for a second because at the beginning, I said you're part of my fan club and Utah. I meant the Mormon church but not the lesbian army. Which one did you mean? Exactly.

Suzy 7:00
Not the Mormon church. I'm just going to Utah fan club. Oh, God, that. Obviously, we are not attending the church anymore.

Scott Benner 7:08
I was gonna say I was like, I got something wrong. I misunderstood something.

Suzy 7:13
Yeah, so we were both raised Mormon. Yeah. We're both raised Mormon, which, obviously, most people are here. But no longer in the Mormon fan club.

Scott Benner 7:23
Okay. I that. I mean, I don't know. I was about to say, I don't know much about the Mormon religion. But what I really should say, I don't actually know anything about it. Other than a lot of Mormons love this podcast. And that my expectation was you weren't allowed to be gay and be in the Mormon church. Am I about right about that? That is absolutely correct. Okay. Yeah, these were my assumptions. I just wanted to make sure they were right before we moved on, because as we all know, I will think about it incessantly the entire time.

Suzy 7:53
We're talking exactly.

Scott Benner 7:56
Okay, right. So that is really lucky that that your wife knew somebody and that you got that information. So very quickly. That's that's definitely. Do you feel like, I know, you're crestfallen? It's terrible. But was there any point in the future where you're like, proud of yourself for how quickly you figured it out?

Suzy 8:13
You know, I thank her all the time. And I'm grateful. Obviously, still devastated. But very grateful as I hear the different stories with the K M and the DK on a plane to God. So very, very grateful. Very great, because I don't if she wouldn't have said anything that night, I think I would have let it go on. Longer just thinking, Oh, she's exercising while she's playing a lot. I definitely would have let it go on longer. I would have I would not have taken around that soon.

Scott Benner 8:42
Where did you get the sock idea?

Suzy 8:45
I I just thought there's got to be something that every time she goes, she could tell me. And I'm thinking she's gonna remember to tell me hey, I went like five times last night. So I just thought of I pulled out the socks and put them in there and thought this is easy. Just grab a pair of socks each time you go back to your bedroom.

Scott Benner 9:04
Kind of brilliant. Susie. Thank you. Thank you. Brilliant simplicity.

Suzy 9:08
How to diagnose diabetes? Yeah.

Scott Benner 9:12
A whole pack of socks now, right? Follow me on this. It's really well, what made you want to come on the podcast?

Suzy 9:24
You know, I signed up last January. As I'd been listening, and I thought, I'm going to sign up for this. And I obviously didn't sign up till August because I thought what is my life gonna be like, in almost a year from now. And I also thought about, you know, you have so many episodes which have so much information and I thought to get to an episode of say, Okay, this is what, this is what you got to do. First couple days, you got to get these things done. And then getting on the right track of listening to the Pro Tip series, The defining diabetes series. And I just thought, you know, let's see what I'm gonna be able to talk about a year. From now going through all of this

Scott Benner 10:02
interesting, your site, yeah, I'm not accustomed to Yeah.

Suzy 10:07
So I'll say I am that type a person, type a athletic, we're very competitive family. So diabetes is obviously a tough one when you have those traits in ways. You say I'm dealing with it,

Scott Benner 10:23
you're saying type A you plan to head for wanting to be on a podcast? That's exactly. That might be. It might be. Yeah, maybe

Suzy 10:32
type A plus a little bit of issue.

Scott Benner 10:34
Yeah, you might want to talk to somebody. Does it make you uncomfortable to see things left on countertops?

Suzy 10:43
100%.

Scott Benner 10:47
Well, if it wasn't for a couple of small issues, you and I could definitely be married because I know how to live with somebody like that.

Suzy 10:53
There you go. That's hilarious. What my wife is the complete opposite. So she is the Yang to my Yang

Scott Benner 11:01
does she make is to make you crazy when she doesn't care about the things that your brain cares about.

Suzy 11:06
You know, he just, it's been 17 years. So you just obviously any marriage, you find a way to deal with their fault. And she deals with my faults and I I love a clean house and she's okay. It's not a big deal. So you just learned that hey, this is if it's my problem that comes on the counter, then I'll fix it up more her issue

Scott Benner 11:29
she ever tried to get you to count like shivers say something I would assume would be infuriating. Like you should relax or calm down to shivers

Suzy 11:35
Oh, yeah. That's the number that's like saying when a woman says I look fat in this dress. I mean, you do not say that to a type A person to calm down or relaxed. Those are like, those are poking the bear for sure.

Scott Benner 11:47
Yeah, I know not to say those words. I understand what happens afterwards.

Suzy 11:52
So when she says she said are with them? But yes, they have come out but those are not the words to pay for. I pay for sure.

Scott Benner 11:59
She's y'all making a mission. I do it once in a while still, but now I do it on purpose. Because I know it's gonna piss her off.

Suzy 12:05
Right?

Scott Benner 12:08
You just calm down. I am. Just doesn't seem like you're calm. And meanwhile, that's a lady trick from 20 years ago that like meet meet your aggression with calm to make you feel like you're crazy. You know? They mean like, yeah,

Suzy 12:22
I learned it. Yeah. 100%. Yeah,

Scott Benner 12:23
I didn't know. Yeah, I didn't I didn't know that move till I was married, by the way. So Right. So your daughter starts with injections upon? How?

Suzy 12:35
Yeah, yeah, you know, that's one thing was in Utah, we have an amazing Children's Hospital. And so by going there, I'm feeling like we're going to get the best care in the United States, this is going to be great. Obviously, a few days in start learning that it's the same as a lot of places are I mean, they didn't even talk about a Dexcom. I had to find out on my own. And so obviously, I put that as the number one thing to do is the minute you get there, start working on getting that Dexcom. So we had our Dexcom within two weeks, but if I wouldn't have found out about it or thought about it, I think it could have gone on for a couple months. So they didn't they never mentioned it. So we got on the Dexcom. Within two weeks, those obviously those two weeks without it were rough, you know, just for night sleeping?

Scott Benner 13:26
How did you know to ask him? I'm sorry, am I? Am I missing something? Did you find the podcast quickly? Or did you find that information somewhere else?

Suzy 13:33
I found the podcast within the second day. Okay. All right. So and then I did find obviously it's looked at saw your advertisements, and then obviously only got diabetes Dexcom pulled up. And then I did mention it in the hospital. I said, Why don't we have one of these? And of course the usual line is, well, we want you to get familiar with fingerpicking. And and I said well, it doesn't take rocket science after the fifth one. I think he got it. You know, I just I'm exactly so we got it down. So let's move on to the next thing. But again, just really silly with the technology out there that you send parents home, you're guessing on their ratios and send them home without knowing much and putting insulin at a kid and you don't have a Dexcom to see what you've done to him.

Scott Benner 14:21
Doesn't make a lot of sense. Right she using an insulin pump now.

Suzy 14:25
Yes, again had to fight for that we were told one year at the hospital six months to one year. But I did understand after doing research that she had to be on at least 10 units to make really the pump work for you. So we did finally get to 10 units total back in February. But still with the process of getting the pumps she finally started at the first week of May.

Scott Benner 14:48
Which pump did you get?

Suzy 14:49
We went with tandem

Scott Benner 14:51
okay and 10 units because you're saying Basal insulin

Suzy 14:55
Yeah, to get the to for the Basal for the minimum amount of Basal

Scott Benner 14:59
Yeah, what's the Were the tandem pump. I'm sorry, what? What is the minimum on the tandem pump?

Suzy 15:05
It was Tam, you have to fill it with the minimum of 100 units. For the three days that you have to be on at least can is what I mean, we call the rep, we were making sure the hospital was just saying that to say that, but the reps and everybody said you got to be on at least 10 units of discipline to make this work.

Scott Benner 15:24
10 years of Basal a day.

Suzy 15:27
No 10 units total total. Yep. So at that time, she was only three units. Well, about four units of Basal. And six about for boluses. So 10 total?

Scott Benner 15:38
Yeah, because I don't I mean, listen, you're gonna waste some insulin, but and I guess you're saying it takes 100 to fill the tandem and only take 85 on on the pod. So But still, if you I mean, it's a thing you hear people worry about all the time, like I'm wasting all this insulin and I mean, listen, if you're paying cash for it, then you know, 100%, right, like I understand, right? There's some people who can I see people draw insulin out of pumps and movements, and stuff like that. But you know, I mean, if it works for you, it works for you. I think you just in my mind, you can't have a pump until your minimum Basal rates fit the pump, you know, so I think yeah, I think the dash is point o five an hour, an hour maybe is the lowest or maybe it goes to zero even now, I'm not sure but that to me, like for people listening. If your Basal needs are lower than the lowest thing the pumpkin do, then you're in a bit of an issue. Having to use Ryan. I don't know how I feel about that statement. But I'm glad it worked for you. So

Suzy 16:39
Oh, yeah. And so and again, a fight we had to fight to get it. We had this. And just so grateful that we were we were able to get that balance. So we got it about eight Muslim, we were able to get on it.

Scott Benner 16:51
That's excellent. Yeah. What about this was during like, COVID? Right, so has your daughter been? Oh, yeah, during any of this?

Suzy 16:59
Yes, she went back to school, the day she was the next day after she was released from the hospital. They did have mandates at that time. They don't anymore here in Utah. So but yeah, it was all during COVID.

Scott Benner 17:22
Somewhere in your bag on your person or on your child's person, there is a blood glucose meter, you use it to test your blood sugar, it comes with test strips, your doctor gave you the meter, you didn't ask for the meter, you have, you didn't check into the meters that were available. You just took the one that the doctor gave you. It's not a big deal, I did the same thing at one point happens to everybody. But did you know that all meters are not created equal, that happens to be true. The meter that I like the most that I find the most accurate, that I enjoy using holding, shining the light in the middle of the night, etc, etc. You know blood glucose meters, how they work is the Contour. Next One. If you go to contour next one.com forward slash juicebox you will be met with all of the information that you need to make an informed decision about your blood glucose meter. That's all. If you want to stick with the one you have. You should. But if you want a great one, you at least deserve to check out the Contour Next One. Contour Next One actually might be right actually might be not English, but you know what I mean? It could be cheaper and cash than you pay for the current meter you have through your insurance. Wouldn't it be crazy and not for nothing but the Contour Next One has Second Chance test strips, which means that if you touch the blood, but don't get quite enough, you can go back get the rest that you need without harming the test strip, or the quality of the result you're getting back. Second Chance test strips, it's a big deal. Contour next one.com forward slash juicebox. There's links in the show notes and links at juicebox podcast.com. If you can't remember, Contour Next One comm forward slash juicebox. Ellison. There's actually a lot more to this meter. You could pair it with your smartphone through Bluetooth and an app and get all kinds of reports and information back for your blood sugar tests. It's very handy if you don't want to use the phone. For that you don't have to you can just use it like a meter. So there's some versatility there. It's super easy to hold and carry and use transport. It's not too big, and it's not so small that you can't hold it. It's got a super bright light for nighttime testing and an easy to read screen. There's not much more you could ask for out of a blood glucose meter. And before I let you get back to Susie Let me remind you to go to touched by type one.org. And check them out. That's really all they're asking. Go to their website, see what they're about? Follow them on Facebook, follow them on Instagram. Give them a like, touched by type one.org. Alright, I did that all in one breath. No edits. Feel I'm pretty proud of myself. And I'm going to get you back. Here comes Susie again

Gotcha. What was it like sending her to school right away? Like right after the diagnosis?

Suzy 20:44
Oh, it was tough. If we would, because at that time, no Dexcom, you know, and so we actually, we went to the school every day to take her lunch, give her her dosages. They have a school nurse that's only there once every two weeks. So we would go every day to give her her shot. But it's nerve racking. I mean, because you're she had an experience, what a low low really felt like, so it's just kind of crossing your fingers that she can acknowledge that when it happened. It was very scary.

Scott Benner 21:15
Okay. So you said you didn't prepare for the podcast, but you have a list? Right?

Suzy 21:20
I only wrote three things down, which you could be proud of me.

Scott Benner 21:24
So we did two of them already. But I mean, I so I take your point about there should be some sort of a crash course thing for the beginning, right? Like to think about things to learn. But at the same time, every time I try to build something like that, and people put in their, their opinions, it feels like it gets too big. Right? And then right. And so like that you but what was your third thing?

Suzy 21:53
A Basal. So first is Dexcom. Second is Juicebox. Podcast, definitely. And then my third would be getting your Basal right, which you always talk about and is huge. And that took us. I mean, it took us months to really figure that out. And I think doing that learning about Basal testing. And we got that off the Integrated diabetes website. But that was huge. Which helped out Did you know, I did have four things. Oh, go ahead.

Scott Benner 22:23
Did you use Jenny?

Suzy 22:24
Yes, I'm we're signed up with Jenny since January. Oh, listen. Yeah. You know, with all the stuff we did, we did everything right. We listened to juicebox. We got all the tools. But I feel like we are in the matrix, but we don't see it yet. So I'm hoping that will come soon. Because we're certainly still go through our roller coasters. But I feel like we have all the knowledge. We understand all the knowledge. But applying it is. That's the stage we're in right now.

Scott Benner 22:54
Susie, you You love this podcast, don't you?

Suzy 22:58
Oh, my daughter says you listen to that guy way too much.

Scott Benner 23:01
Well, first of all, she's wrong. Tell her to shut her mouth. And this guy, like these downloads? Kid? Just calm yourself. Okay. And the second, the reason I said that was is because you said something that you didn't completely explain. But you said it like you knew it. Like everyone listening would know. So you said like, you feel like you're in the matrix, but you don't like so things are moving more slowly. You just you don't know how you're making it happen yet. So you you think you're doing the right things and the right things are giving you the outcomes that you want. But you're not 100% sure that you're doing them on purpose yet.

Suzy 23:40
We're and and doing the right timing, because we understand the fat rises coming. But you know, we're still new into this too hesitant to slam that with insulin to prevent that. But then of course, the fat rise comes she's up to 190 We're like, why didn't we do it? So it's just trusting ourselves. And you know, when you you're able to see it, and we know it gonna come but still figuring out what does it come at that three and a half hour mark or three hour mark or two and a half? Because at times we have tried to catch it and then it's too much insulin dropper low. At times we missed it. So it's just trying to get a feel for it more and figuring out the meals. I mean, the saddest thing is girl eats the same thing. You know, maybe 20 mils Max, and we still are still trying to figure out 15 of those meals and the impacts they have on her and just trying to get to that point.

Scott Benner 24:31
rd went out with a friend last night and I think they just went to like a sort of like a bar type restaurant. I think Arden just got like french fries. And she's like, I didn't even eat that many she came home. She's like, look how good my Bolus is. And I'm like, yeah, it looks great. And they were still hard. I said to her, I was like, you know, you might get a rise from the fat from the French fries later. And I looked at what she Bolus and I thought she is gonna see arise. And then I just let it happen. So she could say it. Yeah, I didn't get ahead of it when I knew I could have I was like I'm just gonna let it work and then See how much insulin we have to use here to stop it. And then I can go by go back later and explain it to her because it is one of those. That's a tough leap to make. Putting insulin in for for, in your mind something that doesn't exist because you think of insulin as covering carbs. And yeah, and you're just like, No, there's going to be a rise, it's been delayed by the fat and the French fries, we have to Bolus here it's going to happen. And you need to see it a number of times before you believe it.

Suzy 25:28
Exactly, exactly. So we're we're in that stage now. And and you know, getting to where you can start thinking clearer. I mean, those first few months are just foggy. And so getting to that stage, but we're getting there and, and trying our best.

Scott Benner 25:42
Yeah, good for you. What are some of the things that if you can think like, what are some of the things that had to happen that were kind of teaching moments along the way?

Suzy 25:54
Oh, just that, I mean, those given up in the 252 80s. And just sitting there is excruciating. And obviously, just sitting and watching it, especially when you know, and then you have Scott in your head, you need more insulin. And then you give more, but you don't give enough because you're still nervous. And so then it doesn't come down enough. So I think it's just getting in that trusting that it's just so many frustrations of being afraid of food. And then when you do try the food, it just turns into a hot mess. But again, you know, one out of 10 will have a success. And we'll be like, okay, we can do this. We've we've learned what to do how to do this. Let's work on the next thing.

Scott Benner 26:35
Good. That's excellent. Are you guys managing equally you and your wife? Or is it more you?

Suzy 26:44
It was because of my personality? I mean, I think I could win a contest of how often I look at the Dexcom number for sure. I think I'd be in the top in the nation. So I'm obviously watching it constantly. Not that my wife is not care, but also those times erotic and watching it constantly. She's very great. She's great at the food, you know, measuring the food and getting all that out. And I'm, you know, we like I said, we're the yin to the Yang. She has her strength with the diabetes, I have my strength. And then it's just a matter of using those to try to help her.

Scott Benner 27:21
But your personality helps you. I'm imagining watch things, learn from them re implement stuff like that.

Suzy 27:30
Right taking notes. Okay, this is what happened. Let's, you know, let's try this different next time. Yes, exactly.

Scott Benner 27:36
Susie take notes.

Suzy 27:39
Unfortunately, I have a beautiful little paper that has I mean before she was on the pump and have lunch or breakfast, lunch, dinner, total carbs. And then we just make a little note to the side. Okay, this happened. Two hours after this happened are you need for insulin at this point, and, you know, hopefully getting to a point where that's all going to be in our head. But it certainly helps to look back and be like, Okay, well, we ate pizza. This is the disaster that happened. Let's try this next time. So yep, I'm a I'm a note taker. I'm a sticky note freak and a note taker.

Scott Benner 28:12
Do you have Are you having any? Like, aha, when moments like are some things becoming easier? Like you feel that happening yet? Because I agree. Well, I don't agree. I should have said I agree. But I think that after these things happen frequently enough that you shouldn't have to look at the CGM as or frequently at all. Does Does that make sense that one day you're just like 100%?

Suzy 28:39
Yep. Right. So depending on the meal, like we were a family of Cocoa Pebbles Captain Crunch every sugar cereal you could think of we had. So switching Harper switch to magic spoon. When she has magic spoon in the morning, I hardly look at my phone, because I know it's guaranteed I know that where it's gonna stay. We don't get a spike. So I feel I definitely do not look at my phone, lunch and dinner. I'm still looking at it because we're still figuring those things out. Especially when we just add something different or add something new. I just don't trust it. And just, you know, she's gonna drop low or she's gonna get up too high. So but I think gradually I definitely hope because I listened to you at a parents that hopefully down the road. This will just be life and it won't be something that's consuming us like it does. Because we're definitely in the stage where it concerns us.

Scott Benner 29:34
I'm going to be honest for a second I am my wife bought some of that magic spoon cereal after watching you guys talk about it online. And then I were like, What is this? And so we tried it together. We both took like a little handful out of the box dry and we put in our mouths and then we both just stood over the trash can with our mouths out Arden's like it. It feels like she said It feels like a unicorn died in this box or something. She put it. But I'm happy for anybody who enjoy it. I see people who love it like I'm not if you love it great

Suzy 30:10
we went. She went from Cocoa Pebbles, her all time favorite magic from cocoa. And the fact that that happened is the miracle of all miracles. Because obviously Cocoa Pebbles tastes a lot different than cocoa magic soon. But again, it was a lifesaver, because we have not, we're not you know, a low carb family. I mean, we were the worst eat. We're very athletic, skinny, that we are not we were not good eaters, not healthy eaters whatsoever. So definitely getting her to do that one switch, I bought probably $400 of different cereals, just because I remember your episode when you wanted to get art and you want to get your a Wednesday down, taking away the sugar cereals, a big step. And so that was where we started first, that I spent $400 on cereal, and we she tastes tested probably 30. And we hit magic spoon, and she went with it. And I'm happy. That's great.

Scott Benner 30:59
Listen, I could probably Bolus cereal every day really well. But right I didn't wouldn't eat it that she doesn't eat it frequently at all. Now, like I think there's like a box downstairs and it sits there for a long time. And then somebody eats it. And then it's open. And then I'm like, the poor kid inside. And he's like, Oh, that's gonna go bad. Because no one's gonna touch it again. So then I eat cereal. I don't want to save $3 which is in health terms, stupid. So, you know, I feel like that, but I could. It took me a long time to figure out how to do zero. When people are like, I don't know how to you Bolus for zero. The secret is Pre-Bolus and use a lot of insulin. Right? Exactly. Which is not something you want to be doing every day, obviously. Sure, sure. You can find something else. I think that's terrific. I just maybe I had the wrong flavor. I don't know. But I was like, like, he didn't even want to like move your tongue for fear that your tongue tasted more. So you just were using gravity to let it out. I was like, Haha, like, just please fall out of my mouth. That I felt bad because I thought maybe I was like, you know, him, you know, making an impact on art. Maybe she was over there loving it. And I'm like, Oh, God, this is terrible. But she was like, What is this? And I was like, I don't know. And now it just sits there. And we said, and Kelly goes, he didn't like it. We go, why don't you try it? And she goes, I will. But she never had.

Suzy 32:28
Yeah, I think it's acquired taste. That's why I'm nervous. Because you know, I'd give Harper a free day and say, okay, Saturday, let's have sugar cereal. But I'm, I don't want her to remember what it tastes like. Because then she'll she might do say, Well, no, this is not as good as this. Yeah,

Scott Benner 32:42
I have to tell you, for anybody who's younger, they ruined cereal like 20 years ago, I don't remember what happened. But it used to just be sugar. And like, I would tell you that when I was 1510 that age in there, if you asked me what the best thing on the planet was, I would have said Fruity Pebbles. And I would have been right. And now when you eat them, you're like, This just tastes like somebody said, Can you try to make this taste like fruity pebbles? And right, it just it's not it. So I don't know what has happened to listen. None of it's good. I'm not saying that. But right. Yeah, the flavor has changed. So Arden's not like a big circle person anymore. Yeah, but everything I learned about Bolus thing for cereal. I translated into other foods. Because right, you know, like that, that's the first time cereal getting cereal, right? The first time was the first time that I thought, Wow, that's a lot of insulin. Like no one would have ever told me it and the insulin amount did not seem to have any correlation to the carb count whatsoever. It was just, it was that amount that worked. And, and that was that was a big lesson for me. So anyway, we talked about

Suzy 33:55
that. And that's a huge that what your point is, is that, obviously, again, we follow the rules, we were told, count the carbs, we got the scales, we're measuring it ridiculously. And then come to find out. No, you need more insulin like on on different foods. And just accepting that when you follow the rules, you counted the carbs. Right, you know, you got it right. But that's not, you know, that's not the case.

Scott Benner 34:17
Yeah, it's not what works for that one thing. Exactly a great lesson when everybody listening when you figure that part out when you figure out the part about like, glycemic load index, and just you know, more commonly the idea that some of these foods just take they, you know, they take more insulin than their carb count would indicate, or less sometimes, by the way, there's some foods that take right, less insulin than their carb count in account, once you figure that out. It's such a big leap. You know, it's a great thing.

Suzy 34:44
Yep. Yeah. And that's just that's just probably something that's come to us in the last few weeks and just starting to clue in that, you know, we counted the carbs, but nope, she needs an extra 1015 carbs to cover this. So

Scott Benner 34:56
we take a detour for a second because I have a question. Yes. How do you explain to a child that you borrowed parts from different people and made them?

Suzy 35:10
Well, I was older. I was four. Well, by the time I got pregnant 39, I was older, I had tried for five years. IVF, three times, miscarriages, all of that. So explain that to Harper. More like, you know, I wasn't able to create my own eggs. And then obviously, we're women. So we needed a man. So we needed a donor, and you have a donor, and we've just explained that to him, since they were little, kinda like if they were adopted, you talk to him when they're little and not this big surprise that comes out when they're 12. I'm adopted and what happened and it's just a natural, and it's never, you know, it's really never talked about never brought up. It's always there. Like, if you ever want to talk about it, we're here to talk.

Scott Benner 36:00
But it just becomes normal, because it's taught, it's brought up at the beginning. It's you the same way every time, right? Like there's no, you don't turn it into a dramatic thing. Like just this is what right, because and here's why.

Suzy 36:14
Exactly. And what a blessing they are for us. Great kids. And just Yeah, and I'm sure more questions will come as they get older, but they haven't come and I'm you know, you don't keep shoving it down their throat. Now just remember, this is how you're created. Yeah, just

Scott Benner 36:30
breaking up on Wednesday morning during

Suzy 36:33
Exactly. Let me remind you. Yeah, but I'm sure at some point it will be and, and you know, another thing to point out is, when we picked out the sperm, there's we know of 24 other, we call them doublings. Because it's a donor siblings. So it's a dribbling out there. We know 23 Other kids this guy's produced, and not one has type one. So pretty sure it didn't come from his side. Yeah, so it's kind of like a little research project you can do and no, no, this is your player.

Scott Benner 37:07
What do you get paid for a donation? I want to do that math times 23 Real quick. You have any idea?

Suzy 37:11
Okay, well to buy this firm back in my day, so she's eight and probably had it for two years. 10 years ago. One thing at this firm was $1,200. So I'm guessing I would think they'd get at least 500 For a little donation. A little donation, but they're doing a lot of donations to make 23 kids.

Scott Benner 37:35
Yeah, well, I say I came up with 11 and a half 1000 I'm, I'm subtracting some handcream here some of the like 45 as the YouTube, it's not a bad take at all. Also, you've just said maybe the greatest thing that anyone's ever gonna say on this podcast. Back in my day, sperm cost,

Suzy 37:58
right. Now, I don't know what the going rate is today. But back in the day, you know, we bought eight vials of it. Well, 100 bucks. Eight tries. That's what it came out to be.

Scott Benner 38:12
I I imagined it's gonna take me years for someone else to put words together that I didn't expect, like you just did was really wonderful. I could stop the podcast right now and cancel the whole thing and never put up another episode. Be completely happy with it. Right? That was really, really wonderful. And you said it so matter of factly I was like, that's absolutely perfect. Back in my day. This is what sperm cost. I thought who have those words ever been spoken before? Get an A mean?

Suzy 38:43
Oh, I don't think my just my language.

Scott Benner 38:47
The last time someone said back in my day to me they were talking about a candy shop that used to be in town you'd go in and like for a nickel and get like a handful of candy. And back in my day there was this thing and I am just absolutely delighted right now I don't even know where to go next. I don't think anyone I can do any better than that right now. I think

Suzy 39:05
I was gonna say you say that you make up words. I'm very known as making up words as well. So I thought if I can go this entire podcast without making up a word, that's not really word. It'll be a miracle.

Scott Benner 39:15
You made up a phrase. I don't think anyone's ever spoken before. So there you go. That's it. I have an inappropriate question. Can I ask it here?

Suzy 39:26
I knew you're gonna ask me an appropriate question. So I've been prepared.

Scott Benner 39:29
Are you Goldstar?

Suzy 39:31
Ah, no,

Scott Benner 39:32
no. How about your wife? Neither one of us. Neither one of you. Okay. No.

Suzy 39:37
In our case, I feel like you got to get that out of the way to be 100%. Sure.

Scott Benner 39:43
I say. So there's nothing like being near a penis for you to make sure you know, you don't want to be near one.

Suzy 39:51
No, it doesn't revolve us. It's not a big deal. I think it's just more that we found each other and this is where we wanted to be with the rest of our lives. That's Lovely. Now Could I could I have married a man? Yes. But lots of

Scott Benner 40:04
same interesting, you think you would have been?

Suzy 40:08
I think it would have been just kind of a yeah, we're doing this, this is what you do, especially, you know, growing up in Utah, and gay. I mean, it's not it's definitely, I mean, things have changed. So, so much. I mean, from when I was 20, to now close to 50, things have changed tremendously. I mean, back then you had everything. Nothing was talked about. So it's now you go out to the mall, and you see people holding hands left and right. So it's definitely different times. But I think I could have and I know a lot of people that have, um, as you know, in the Mormon church, you have missionaries that go out or maybe people don't, you go out for two years on a mission. And I know, probably, in my personal group of friends, at least 10 returned missionaries that are now with loved ones and living a happy life. Okay.

Scott Benner 41:00
So you're aware of people who have come back met a man there with them, and you're fairly certain that they're in their heart, they're playing for the other team?

Suzy 41:10
100% Gotcha. And it usually takes him about 2030 years of marriage to finally you know, except that, and then you go your separate ways. Yes.

Scott Benner 41:20
Interesting. Oh, yeah, probably happening to me.

Suzy 41:24
That's the irony in the church is like back at this day, back in the day, because you love that thing. Thanks. So back in the day, and I already the churches, the they would go to their bishops and say, Hey, I'm really struggling, I have feelings for my same sex. And they'd say, go on a mission. And what a mission is, is you're placed in a room with the person of the same sex for two years, not to leave each other site. And that's going to fix the problems. So unfortunately, I think that's where I believe those things to change now, but that's, that's what they used to do. And that caused a tremendous amount of problems for these poor kids.

Scott Benner 41:59
So they would they would take a if we're talking about a female, just for example. So if you said that, then they'd send you away, basically, for two years to live with another female, well,

Suzy 42:08
just say, Go on this mission for the church, you know, devote your life to the church go on this mission, but then you're going to be with the companion because you're always with the companion on a mission, who was the same sex? So if you really think about it, if someone says, I'm struggling with feelings for someone with the same sex, and then they put you in a room for two years for some of the same sex, that's really not going to help the problem?

Scott Benner 42:31
No, it seems like if you were to get lucky enough to be in the room with another person in your situation, it would just be 24 months of bang, bang. That doesn't make any sense.

Suzy 42:41
Yeah. Yeah, that is, I hope they've changed their ways by now. But very a lot of in my wife's family, three out of the seven are actually gay. And the other two had gone on missions as well.

Scott Benner 42:55
Oh, super interesting. Yeah, nothing. diabetes, but I'm fascinated.

Suzy 42:59
No, here's your class. 101.

Scott Benner 43:02
Excellent. When we're done recording this, I'm going to ask for your best trick. Because it's not appropriate for the podcast, but I want to know, like one thing I'm doing wrong, that you could like, straight me out on. Oh, listen, you have a different perspective. So you might really understand this. Can you imagine if you're like, I don't know, I'm not really very good at it. That'd be the most amazing conversation. Like, I Scott, I get a lot of complaints. You really don't want my tests?

Suzy 43:29
I don't think that would happen. Okay.

Scott Benner 43:31
All right. Well, then I'm in. Okay, so reason control. Are we using control IQ or Basal IQ?

Suzy 43:38
Yeah, control IQ, but not we're using sleep mode 24/7 i We just struggled that control IQ, you know, that that would leave him up there the 220 from just way too long. And so we would like to correct it on our own. I would love to know out there who the Kenny is of the tandem pump. Because I know with Kenny with a looping that we just cannot figure out the algorithm to make it work with for us on the control IQ because we just it just stood out that high way too long. We do sleep mode now.

Scott Benner 44:11
Okay, I just did an interview with a trainer for control IQ which will be up pretty soon and by the time people okay, then like six months ago, but I don't know that I got the answers I was looking for either. So yeah, so we'll see.

Suzy 44:27
And the one frustrating part is the sleep the sleep mode is great, you know during the day and but at night it's again trying to figure out the algorithm to how can we make it work for us because it's keeping her you know, before we switched over? We were nice 85 9500 area and now it's obviously helps us sleep at night because we're not we know she's not gonna have a low but just having her sit at 110 120 all night is frustrating because we know that that you know she could be lower she should be lower but it's preventing her from going down low. So I know that other people out there getting a one piece in the fives with this pump, but it's just figuring out how to make it work for you to be able to achieve that

Scott Benner 45:10
this for some of the questions I was asking is like, is there a way to like trick the settings or, you know, make things, that you make something more aggressive that it takes away the Basal and then that kind of has the the opposite effect that you're looking for, it's going to be all the algorithms are going to be really interesting. They're obviously in their infancy right now, the ones that are retail, and the the next real goal you have to hope for here is for the companies to go back to the FDA and get more approval for a lower target. Right? Exactly, I should then just allow you to, you know, tune a pump to look for, you know, just say, Oh, I'd rather this be my target and then let it Yes. That way, I don't know if that's gonna happen or not. But when I have the opportunity, and I'm with those types of people, I do advocate for that all the time. And I just think it's incredibly important, because you don't want to, you know, some people use and do it yourself algorithms that are, you know, you can target it lower and right. You know, it would be nice if the ones that worked, you know, with less intervention from you, you know, you're not having to build an app on your computer or something like that. If they would let you do the same thing. That would be great. Exactly, exactly. Yeah. Hey, if anyone listening is a podcaster, or anything like that. You really, I just recently trans. I just moved the conversation effortlessly from sex tips to algorithm. I didn't even see it happen. I'm a genius. And it flowed. Yeah, it flowed. Damn right. And, and I just been really proud of myself since it happened. So was it awkward? Didn't anything I just went right from that to zoom. And I was like, Man, I'm good at this. That's what I was thinking. As I was saying, like, damn, this is good. This is why Suzy loves this podcast. Oh, crap. So how does your daughter well, actually, hold on? I have one more question. Before I get to that. Does your son have any concern about diabetes or because he understands that you guys that they're not natural from the two of you that that that maybe isn't an issue? That's a new spot here for me, the the siblings and being worried because,

Suzy 47:24
right, he's he we had him tested. He doesn't have any of the betrayed. So we know it can still happen. But we did have with the trial that we had him tested. But he's, you know, he's still five and he's a boy. So kind of more like three in mentality. But he he did ask one time, am I gonna get this? But other than that, not really.

Scott Benner 47:50
Is he from the same donor egg or sperm?

Suzy 47:52
Yep. They're 100%. With their their full siblings.

Scott Benner 47:56
Oh, wait a minute. I didn't realize that. Yeah. All right. Yeah. So that is a concern.

Suzy 48:03
Right. Yeah. In the fact that again, we had him tested in

Scott Benner 48:08
No, no. Yeah, it's reasonable to think that way because, right, a mother and father. Yes. Do you? Do you talk to talk about that way or you don't say the same mother and father, it seemed donors,

Suzy 48:20
donors, okay. If you say donor, because we're, we're the mom,

Scott Benner 48:23
right? Yeah, no kidding. I just want I knew there was probably better words in there. I just didn't know what they were fine. Oh, please. Look at me. I'm a little too old to be woke. I'm good. I'll just say, I don't understand what I'm saying. You can just tell me I'm saying it wrong. I'll go Oh, yeah, yeah.

Suzy 48:38
And I do not take any offense. But we got we go by mama and mommy. So

Scott Benner 48:41
cool. Well, what do you want for grandparents names? Given the idea? We started teasing Kelly the other day about it. Like what do you want to be called? Like, Grant? She got all like, no, then we landed on Special K to make fun of her. Stick. It's gonna be terrible. But do you ever think about that? I know your kids are so young. But no, no. Yeah, I

Suzy 49:05
don't know. I'm just hoping I make it but when did you when we had these kids. I was I till I was 40 when Harper came and then Grayson came at 43. So oh, I just need to I got to pull off somehow to make it to 90 to enjoy these grandkids.

Scott Benner 49:22
No kidding. Is that um, how long have you been married?

Suzy 49:26
We've been together for close to 17 years. Marriage obviously because it wasn't legal. For quite some time. So married six years.

Scott Benner 49:36
Seven. How long did you fight with IVF before you did what you did

Suzy 49:42
IVF was four years $130,000

Scott Benner 49:48
Oh my god. Yeah. Wow. could have bought a person for half that. It wouldn't have been legal but it would have been quicker. That's really insane. Do you ever look at this case You're like, put a lot of money into this guy's better. Better go to college and learn something because mama is over.

Suzy 50:10
Yeah, I need you to take care of me when you're older. So come on,

Scott Benner 50:14
I look at the kids. I'm like, What do you better pull me out of the fire when college kicks me out here. It's gonna happen at some point. And so Exactly, yeah, no, totally. Oh, very bizarre. Oh, okay. So you have been together? 17 years. And and that's

Suzy 50:30
often on dating. Obviously, you go through your, your times of dating, but I would say 70

Scott Benner 50:36
Oh, okay.

Suzy 50:37
So we dated for 17 years, and then officially married six, officially living together. Nine.

Scott Benner 50:46
What's the old joke about U hauls and lesbians what I can't think of

Suzy 50:50
lesbians meet and then within the first week, you got the U haul the movement? That would be

Scott Benner 50:55
That's the joke. Yeah, I couldn't I couldn't. I know it's there. Because a friend of mine used to say it all the time. And I was like, what did she used to say? Yeah, that's it. I have a friend. Here you go. But for all you out there who don't know any lesbians. I have a friend who owned a home. Like as a younger person, like really hard worker is an amazing, has amazing career helping people bought herself a home in her 20s sold the home so that she could move in with a woman. And I would say that within 18 months, she didn't live with her anymore. But she used the money from the sale of her home to put a down payment on another home that they all moved into. But because the other woman had children, she felt bad and let her stay in the home. So then my friend had to go to an apartment.

Suzy 51:44
Pretty common.

Scott Benner 51:47
And what I said to her, Oh my god, this is horrible. She goes, this is a story of my people. It's not a big

Suzy 51:51
deal. Happens all the time.

Scott Benner 51:56
I'm like, What are you talking about? She goes, it's probably gonna happen to me again. I went, Okay. I just have been, I just thought that's just such a long time ago. I still feel badly when I hear that story. But that's really, I mean, it's really cool. Because, I mean, honestly, you work really hard to put your family together. You know, like most people, most people don't have to put this much effort into being together. No, we're gonna have no children. Like, you guys are really gone for it here. Like, do you get a lot of joy out of it? Or is it? Or did you find out it's just like everybody else? And you're just like, ah, hi, mom. It's fine.

Suzy 52:32
Oh, no. 100% Joy, I mean, worth every penny worth every rd worth every tear. Where's all the happiness? So? Definitely worth it.

Scott Benner 52:43
Do you think the work made it sweeter? Like, like the the journey you were on? Do you think it makes you appreciate it more?

Suzy 52:51
Oh, 100%. I mean, when you go through four years of trying and all the emotions and the miscarriages and and once you have the children I mean, it is just it's an amazing feeling. We're very blessed. But you know, and you have that helicopter next to you too, because you know what it took to create these kids. But also trying to let them live their own life. But definitely, you know, when we'd be with other heterosexual couples at a park, you know, we can see the difference with us. I mean, we're watching every little minute because, again, we know the how hard it was to create where the others you know, it was a quick night of fun. And hopefully, we went through a lot of pain. Yeah, we definitely kept an eye on our kids a lot more than others. For sure.

Scott Benner 53:39
I have I have friends. I would never say their names, but they have three children. And she told me one time she was each one of those kids was conceived after a drunken wedding. She's because had I not been invited to those three weddings. I don't even know if I'd have children. I take your point. I really do. It's kind of it's lovely. Honestly, it's really great. And also I'm thinking this episode's totally gonna get me kicked out of like that. That that Mormon group that loves me so much. I think that's it right here.

Suzy 54:10
They're, they're they've come a long way. They're very open minded now. I think it's

Scott Benner 54:15
cool. I don't want to get out. I totally think you know, the places I could end up retiring to. Awesome. We would love to have you. It really does look nice there. Anyway, well is there. I feel like we didn't talk about diabetes. That's your fault, though. Cuz you have like seven great things going on in your life for a podcast. So um, but is there like, what is your next steps? I guess like you've been at this about a year. You're right. Like, what do you think the things are? You have to get accomplished? Like it must be in your head

Suzy 54:46
where? Yeah, we're our next thing to conquer is the glycemic indexes and just just learning those getting a feel for them understanding them, and I that's our next thing to conquer.

Scott Benner 54:58
Okay, so just being able to look Food and thinking this is going to need more than than yesterday.

Suzy 55:03
Exactly. Because we second guess ourselves all the time, well, what's gonna get what's going to be in 30? What's going to be an hour, I think just getting more comfortable. This is when it's going to happen and just trusting it. And if we fail, it's, you know, it stresses us out. And so just trying to get word paid, we felt we're gonna try again and just trying to adapt that so it yeah, maybe we're gonna fail 10 times but one time we get it and be well worth it.

Scott Benner 55:30
I'm so I'm not like the taking notes. I've never done that, like the, the nuanced stuff, like really knowing technically detailed what's going on, like, I've become good at explaining it for the podcast, but in my personal life, I just like roll, I just go hard, right? Like, you know, like, I used to say, all the time, when we were using the on the pod PDM you just like I'd push the up button, like, as you're like, you know, trying to choose carbs, and it's 12345 and starts going a little faster. And I think, Oh, 16 I stopped and it stopped at 66 I wouldn't even bother, like going back down to 60s. Like that's close. Right? You know, right? Yeah. Not weighing the food either. And you're I started learning that more often than not, I was I was erring on the side of caution with the insulin to begin with. So more was always seemed to lead to better outcomes for me to begin with, like, don't get me wrong, not like, you know, this thing is five units. And I've chosen 12. Like, it's more like it's five units. And I went with six or right, you know, so these like glycemic impacts, or even fat and protein stuff, or like the hard hitting stuff like cereal. Once I learned to just be aggressive, then a lot of the problems went away. Now I know people end up being too aggressive when they hear that and they get lows later. And then that becomes more of an issue of timing. It does, it does take like you said, it just takes time to like see it happen over and over again. Until one day you just go this meal is eight units. I know it you know or five or four, whatever. And then you just kind of go with it. I don't pay that close attention to I mean, we Pre-Bolus But I don't like I don't like set a timer or something like that.

Suzy 57:13
Yeah, but I got the timer going. Yeah, I

Scott Benner 57:16
don't have a timer. I have like this. It's been long enough. Or Arden came out of those French fries yesterday. And she's like, she had like gelato or something in the freezer. And she's like, I wonder when do I get my gelato? And I was like, Well, you didn't Bolus for the fat. So we're bringing that down. Now. I said if you're, if you're hungry, I could make it fall faster. And then we could catch it with the gelato and she goes, Okay, so then I just, I Bolus, like 35 carbs. I don't know how many carbs are in gelato. I don't know how much July is gonna eat like I just I don't even know, you know, like, here's, this seems like a reasonable amount. And then we just caught her like, she was like 140 Diagonal down. And I sent her a text and I said I'd start getting the gelato together now. And she's like, Oh, great. And then a couple minutes later, she's like, Can I eat it? I'm like, it seems like now's a good time. And, you know, then later we probably missed by it'd be a unit, you know, for her. So maybe I should have said it was more like 39 carbs now was the gelato 39 carbs, or did a lot of 20 carbs and 20 of that I needed to continue to fix the fat rise from the French fries like right? I don't know. And I personally don't I don't kind of don't care. Like I just right. made it happen. So

Suzy 58:34
and hearing you say those things is what we hold on to because we are beating our heads against the walls or like, it's gonna come it's gonna come we just got to keep trying.

Scott Benner 58:42
Yeah, yeah. For anybody listening. I've never written anything down about diabetes in my life. I don't even like I would know that. That makes me upset. I have to take notes. There'd be stickies. Yeah, I just go with, like, just find the rhythm of it kind of thing. And it's also why I'm so grateful to Jenny and I got together on the pro tips and stuff like that, because she does have like, based on experience some mathematical ideas around, you know, for people who want to hear about it that way. So, yeah, but for me, I'm just like, I'm just like trying more. I bet the only person in the world who was brave enough to put a hashtag up more insulin one time. I don't think exactly what are you doing? Oh my god, it looks Hi, I'd use more of our zoo. How much like I don't know. I mean, you know, till it comes down. Like I get to it, you know, is that is actually helpful for you.

Suzy 59:44
I mean, there's been so many times where you're in our head saying more insulin, more insulin, and, you know, it's just it helps because it just makes you feel better. I mean, you shouldn't be panicking at 250 Well, she's already got this much on board do I drink For more, and it's been two hours you got, obviously she needs more. And you know, we kept going back and forth, we counted the carbs, we did it right. But it's just finally getting comfortable knowing, okay, she's gonna be fine. We can catch it, you know, feeling more comfortable that you can catch it as it comes down. I think a lot of our issues too is just is She's a very active kid, and just never wanting to, you know, go into the playground. And oh, here's the low, here's a low, you got to stop. And that was what was killing us. Playing soccer, playing basketball. Oh, you got to stop. And just finally figuring those out. And we're still not great. I'll give us a B now. But we're certainly better, that she's not having to stop all the time because of lows. Because we've, we really, we just counted the carbs, like, the doctor office told us favor the carbs. And then of course, she goes out and plays a half hour early. Well, now we realize what's going to happen. You know, she's gonna drop low, because she's got all that insulin in there. And just things like that, that they don't tell you that you finally start pulling into and we learned from you.

Scott Benner 1:00:59
I think just not having active insulin during activity is a big step towards getting that all together. 100% Yeah, yeah. Yeah. It's funny that you think well, why wouldn't somebody just tell me that but if they didn't explain the timing of insulin to begin with to you, then the idea of having active insulin is meaningless to be right. Because even if it's well covered active insulin, like even if you've done a great job timing, it still might be an issue during during exercise, if the exercise is vigorous enough, having said that, like, I've never, I don't shy away from it. Like if Arden's gonna be active. I still Bolus for things like but but you know, those bonuses are also fairly well timed and considered, and her Basal is right, and her insulin to carb ratio is correct, like, so it's not like, it's easy for people to say, like, Oh, I did a good Pre-Bolus I'm like, Yeah, but, you know, we don't know the rest of this, like, maybe your Basal is, you know, too strong or too weak. Or maybe you're, you know, maybe you're using too weak of a Basal and making up for it with a strong meal ratio, and now you have way too much insulin. And during this activity, there's just, you know, I don't say it for my health, like it's Basal, right, Pre-Bolus real impact that you have to those are the things you get those things, right. And then a lot of these problems disappear. And you're a one C sits about where you want it and your time, and range is way better. And so it's just, it's just what it is. It's just then everybody has to go through the process on their own of figuring it out. Right. I'm going to ask you in a second, if there's anything that we haven't spoken about that you want to and I'm going to tell you that I will resist every urge and I won't do it. But I want to call this episode like former Mormon lesbian mom or something like No, I'm not gonna

Suzy 1:02:51
I still live in Utah. I feel need to have my Mormon. Do you

Scott Benner 1:02:54
think they'll come find you?

Suzy 1:02:57
Hey, my the pitchforks might come out.

Scott Benner 1:03:00
Let's say you're a little tight about that, right? Yes, yes. There's never been has there been a pitchfork mob ever? Like no. I'm, well, you tell me if there's anything we haven't spoken about. I'm gonna Google Mormon pitchfork.

Suzy 1:03:14
Oh, boy. I think we're talking about you know what I wish I would have known those first couple days and we hid everything. The only other thing I'd say in those first couple of days compression lows when she gets the Dexcom, which you've talked about, but just to have on an episode with a few other tips, when you first get diagnosed, that you know those compression lows when you don't know that that's a compression low and you're newly diagnosed, and you got a 50 arrow down. I mean, running down that hall to her room thinking I've killed her. I mean, those are excruciating. And then not knowing and we didn't hear the episode about the compression was in for like, probably five days after we had had a bunch of them. And we're finger picking the poor girl in the night, we're juicing her up and she was never that it was never 50. So definitely know that you can have a compression low, it is not there. It's not true number and it's just because they're laying against it. But that would have been nice to know because that was probably there's probably a good six days of health that we didn't clue into that and we would occlude in more. Obviously we would have been sleeping and we had our brains intact, but at that time, you're just you're you're a caveman. You don't even know what's going on. Yeah,

Scott Benner 1:04:23
no, I agree. Good news. There's no Google returns for Mormon pitchfork.

Suzy 1:04:28
Thank god, okay. I'm okay. Good. You're gonna be fine. I'll be safe.

Scott Benner 1:04:34
I'm hopeful that the g7 because of its new form factor the way it's flatter right. I'm hopeful that that yes, does away with with compression lows a little bit or at least helps a little.

Suzy 1:04:48
And I think it'll help with littler kids too. I mean, obviously, our daughter skinny, athletic. I think it'll help be able to place it more. She has she has not wanted to try the legs at all that she's a great one that G seven comes out. She'll try The lake. And I think that'll help just, you know, maybe get in an area that will not have a compression low. But with it being so much smaller and flatter, I think the kids will be willing to try new areas as well.

Scott Benner 1:05:11
I've been thinking about that, too. I'm wondering if Arden will say, because Arden is very regimented where her Dexcom goes, it's just one side, other side, back and forth on her hips, just back and forth, back and forth is where she always wears some she always has. And maybe the new size will make her feel like, Oh, I could probably like, put that somewhere else and on the back of my arm. Yeah. You know what I mean?

Suzy 1:05:33
Yeah, that's what we're hopeful for. Because we're just back and forth on ARM left, right, left, right.

Scott Benner 1:05:38
Okay. Yeah, I tell you, when you start them when they're little. In their head, it becomes like a rule. Yeah, like this. My Dexcom goes. And so why don't we try it here? Like, that's not where it goes? Yeah. That's sort of it. Hey, um, since neither the kids are naturally either of yours. This is such as I'm gonna ask a question that I find really interesting. Do they pick up any of your personality traits?

Suzy 1:06:06
100%. It is very, you know, nature versus nurture. It's very interesting, because I carried Harper has a lot of my personality. And my wife, Nicole, she carried Grayson, and he is exactly like her. So it's very interesting, like, personality wise, and how they are, it is definitely a you know, how each carried on they are very similar to us. Yeah.

Scott Benner 1:06:34
Is there any auto immune in your or your wife? I know, this isn't related to your children. But is there any auto immune in your families? Did you know what you were looking for? Did you?

Suzy 1:06:43
None? Nope. Nothing ever. I thought I would be old school diabetes was didn't make right. I'm not really knowing a lot about type one. And then the only other thing is the donor donor aid. She had. The only thing negative was or not negative, but she had a forecast where it would just say every now and then she'd needed an inhaler after she played sport, which is no big deal. But I don't think that really contributed. I think I do know exactly when Harper got sick. And you know, six months later, she's got type one.

Scott Benner 1:07:21
Sports asthma can't be Yeah, let's look just the exercise induced asthma, autoimmune what triggers exercise and to size well.

This is an NIH article asthma and autoimmune li a complex but intriguing relationship. It's interesting. Yeah. Trying to see when this was written. I just, you know,

Suzy 1:07:53
was it written back in the day?

Scott Benner 1:07:54
Yeah, it was back in the day when sperm was cheap. Men were men. It was about 2008. Actually, I guess it is about right. It's when sperm was exactly. An autoimmune disease cause that these are things that people Google, clinical manifestation of asthma are mostly the result of dysregulated immune systems, similar to autoimmune diseases. So that made me think of that, because my son has a couple of like, normal things in the world that he's allergic to go, ragweed trees, stuff like that. And he just developed Hashimotos this past year. Oh, wow. And true. I don't know. Like, I'm literally just spitballing here. So yeah, yeah, no, just to think about, um, same thing is like eczema, and autoimmune. Like, even if you just say, a little dry, patchy skin somewhere, stuff like that. I think a lot of immune issues are popping up in the world as we as we populate the planet longer. And as we microwave more plastic and

Suzy 1:09:00
exactly what we're eating. What's her environment? Yeah.

Scott Benner 1:09:03
All that stuff. Oh, cool. Well, Susie, you were delightful. This was oh, I'm

Suzy 1:09:09
so glad I got to delightful. So I wanted in life.

Scott Benner 1:09:14
You said you said back in the day when sperm was cheap. So you get this right away. And we know are you kidding me? This has absolutely been like the this is gonna be the best hour of my old of my day. I

Suzy 1:09:26
really, thank you for all you do for all of us. We really appreciate you

Scott Benner 1:09:29
Oh, you're very kind. It's um, I you know, I end up repeating myself a lot because people reach out a lot, but it really is my pleasure. I I love making the podcast and oddly enough, I really enjoyed the Facebook group, which I say off because I did it under protest. I really did not want to be the you know, quote unquote, owner of a Facebook group. But I watch how it helps people and definitely, it's really kind of it's just really nice. So it really is my pleasure. I appreciate you saying thank you But I would do it. I can't think of a scenario in which I wouldn't do this. So it's, you know, it's my pleasure I really liked doing it. Plus I love talking where else when I talk finally the situation we're talking a lot is it's not just okay it's, you know and permissible it's necessary so. Alright, well I'm gonna push stop and you're gonna tell me your best sex tip

a huge thanks to Susie for coming on the show and sharing her story. I'd also like to thank touched by type one and the Contour Next One blood glucose meter for being sponsors on this episode, go to touched by type one.org or find them on Facebook and Instagram. And to get that meter really accurate one that's easy to carry. You heard the whole thing in the middle contour next one.com forward slash juice box. There's music left. This always makes me feel pressure. Oh, geez. Oh, I know what I need to know. It's not too bad. You just do it after the music. If you're a US resident, and you have type one diabetes warrior or euro, you're you're where you are a US resident who is the caregiver of someone with type one. Please go fill out the survey AT T one D exchange.org. Forward slash juicebox. You have to be a US citizen as I just said, but it's a big deal and helps people with type one diabetes supports the show T one D exchange.org. Forward slash juicebox thank you so much for listening. I'll be back very soon with another episode of The Juicebox Podcast juicebox podcast.com Find us on Facebook and Instagram Juicebox Podcast looking for a private Facebook group for support or community or whatever you need. Juicebox Podcast type one diabetes 22,000 members strong head over there now. There's a conversation happening right now I guarantee it that you will find interesting, fun or informative Juicebox Podcast type one diabetes on Facebook


Please support the sponsors

The Juicebox Podcast is a free show, but if you'd like to support the podcast directly, you can make a gift here. Recent donations were used to pay for podcast hosting fees. Thank you to all who have sent 5, 10 and 20 dollars!

Donate

#629 Type 1 and Juvenile Dermatomyositis

Scott Benner

Tiffany's father and daughter have type 1 diabetes. Her daughter also has Juvenile Dermatomyositis.

You can always listen to the Juicebox Podcast here but the cool kids use: Apple Podcasts/iOS - Spotify - Amazon MusicGoogle Play/Android - iHeart Radio -  Radio PublicAmazon Alexa or wherever they get audio.

+ Click for EPISODE TRANSCRIPT


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.

COMING SOON


Please support the sponsors

The Juicebox Podcast is a free show, but if you'd like to support the podcast directly, you can make a gift here. Recent donations were used to pay for podcast hosting fees. Thank you to all who have sent 5, 10 and 20 dollars!

Donate

#628 Defining Thyroid: T4 and T3

Scott Benner

Scott and Jenny Smith, CDE share insights on thyroid disorder.

You can always listen to the Juicebox Podcast here but the cool kids use: Apple Podcasts/iOS - Spotify - Amazon Music - Amazon AlexaGoogle Play/Android - iHeart Radio -  Radio Public or their favorite podcast app.

+ Click for EPISODE TRANSCRIPT


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

Scott Benner 0:00
Hello friends, and welcome to episode 628 of the Juicebox Podcast.

Today is the fourth in the defining thyroid series. And today Jenny Smith and I will be talking about T three and T four. The defining thyroid series will be a short but important series of information about living with thyroid disease, also about how to identify it, test it, get your doctor to take you seriously how to get the medication, right, and all kinds of other stuff. It's possible that thyroid is going to come up in your life with type one. And knowing what to do if it happens is a big deal. Wasted diagnosis time is wasted lifetime. Please remember while you're listening that nothing you hear on the Juicebox Podcast should be considered advice, medical or otherwise, always consult a physician before making any changes to your health care plan. We're becoming bold with insulin.

If you're a US resident who has type one diabetes, or is the caregiver for someone who has type one, you could take the survey AT T one D exchange.org. Forward slash juicebox in fewer than 10 minutes. When you do this, it will be completely anonymous. They will be HIPAA compliant, you will be helping people with type one diabetes, and you will be supporting the podcast T one D exchange.org. Forward slash juicebox. If you're looking for the defining diabetes series, they're available in your podcast player or at Juicebox Podcast calm. At that website you'll also find the diabetes Pro Tip series. Ask Scott and Jenny. The diabetes variables episodes after dark episodes algorithm pumping based episodes, how we eat series. It's all right there. It's either in your podcast player or at juicebox podcast.com. At the end of this episode, and at the end of every defining thyroid episode, I will list the symptoms of hypothyroidism, hyperthyroidism, and Graves disease. Want to do t 43? Next? Sure. All right. Okay, Jenny, my wife has explained this to me 16 different times. I had Dr. BENITO explained it to me once. And I'm still confused by it. So I'm not sure how much help I'm gonna be here. But when you have hypothyroidism most doctors are just going to test your T for and you're free to wait, right? See, am I right? And All right, hold on thyroxin t for the primary hormone produced and secreted by the thyroid gland. In treating hypothyroidism manmade forms of T four are the standard method along with T three, T four controls your body's metabolism. If you don't have enough of them, then your metabolism slows down. In essence, T three and T four are in charge of how your body uses energy. Correct, but most people are just on a T for replacement.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 3:41
Well, T four is really that's where potentially based on where your levels go after you start using some type of hormone you know, replacement therapy, therapy right? Or some assistive medication right. Essentially, T four is the storage form of the active version of thyroid hormone you want to get to and so it needs to be converted into T three to get used. Right? Okay. So, three, T four is a more active form of just T four. And then once activated, this is like the baseline like in a nutshell, right? I'm certainly not a hormone therapy specialist, but right and then it has to move to be sort of T four. And the second hormone that's essentially you know, created and put out by the thyroid gland again regulation by TSH, which is being put out by your pituitary gland, right.

Scott Benner 4:52
So free a free T four test is a measure of the level of free T four in your bloodstream. This test is complimentary is a complimentary test to TSH if you're, if you're free T four levels are too low. It's a strong indicator that you have hypothyroidism. So let me let me see if I understand a little bit. Your body makes T four, and then from T four, it derives T three. Is that fair? That's fair. Yes. So T four is crude oil. T three is gasoline. Yeah, there you go. Okay.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 5:27
All right. That's a good yes.

Scott Benner 5:29
I don't put this to a picture. I'm never going to understand because you're being clear. And I'm like, my brains going. Oh, Scott, You're a dummy. You don't understand. I can hear her talking to me. So okay, so yeah, so. So you make

Jennifer Smith, CDE 5:44
and also, I guess, one another with the T for specifically, it's a good one to get a check if you're symptomatic, but your TSH is showing normal. Okay, an additional to check if it hadn't been checked at the same time would be a T four.

Scott Benner 6:02
Okay, that's good to bring up here. I am going to get that information real quick. So a thyroid panel. Right. So you can get a thyroid test. Even have at home tests, by the way, but fun. I didn't know that. Yeah. thyroid stimulating hormone TSH, free thyroxin, which is free tea for right Give me learning. And then well, I don't know this one free trial. Dr. Ryan, Holy God,

Jennifer Smith, CDE 6:35
three days just call it T three T's much easier.

Scott Benner 6:39
So that would be a thyroid test. But you could get a thyroid antibody test these are you know, which is free thyroxin free T three thyroid stimulating hormone. And then I actually know this one thyroid globulin antibodies, thyroid para oxidase. Yeah, antibodies. Right. So

Jennifer Smith, CDE 7:00
and that one is really specific. Hashimotos.

Scott Benner 7:03
Okay. But I think my point was, is that don't just let the doctor send out for your TSH and nothing else. No, right. At least correct. Yeah. Okay.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 7:13
I would say especially then now, I always, I mean, knowing what I know, obviously, from a clinical standpoint, I still always ask for those along with a TSH, even though I don't have any diagnose that, you know, thyroid disorder whatsoever. I still want to know that where TSH is, where are my T three and T four because also, if I ever did have a movement towards symptoms, I have a baseline of this is where I was, this is where these have moved to now and I am symptomatic. So clearly something is not right.

Scott Benner 7:51
Okay. All right. So, okay, so now, let's, let's say, we'll give a definition for T three here. Sir, that long word that I don't know. triode daugther. Okay, I'm not saying that T three. The second hormone produced by the thyroid gland is more active than thyroxin, which is T four. But most medications from hypothyroidism do not include T three. It says then kind of in quotes here, your body can make T three from T four and taking for a loan is usually sufficient to achieve normal thyroid function. Along with T four, T three controls your body's metabolism. If you don't have enough of them, then your metabolism slows down. In essence, T three and T four are in charge of how your body uses energy. Now, correct. Interesting. My wife used to take T four and T three. And it was very valuable for her but eventually gave her like heart palpitations. Oh, yeah. So she had to get off of it. Yeah, I'm wondering which I mentioned in another episode, my son said, I might have mentioned this one where he's grinding his teeth. I'm wondering if they're not going to take away a little bit because my son takes so our doctors a bit of a she's an outside of the box thinker. So my son takes here Osint which is a T for replacement. Very clean T for replacement. It's Yes, che and he takes Armour Thyroid. Oh, yeah, the more I think that's derived from a pig,

Jennifer Smith, CDE 9:26
like more natural version. Yes, exactly.

Scott Benner 9:29
And I'm wondering if she's going to adjust it around a little bit. So this one because I'm because I'm not following? Well, this one's a little like scattered but your body makes T four, T three. When you have hypothyroidism your doctor is likely going to replace your T four with a medication. I'm going to give you a couple of like it's Synthroid I think Synthroid is pretty much the most

Jennifer Smith, CDE 9:56
correct and armor I've actually heard a lot more in probably the past five years, I've heard more people using the armor.

Scott Benner 10:04
Yeah, you might you most commonly might see it this there's a synthetic form of of the, you know of the, of the hormone like we're just saying that armor or natural but you might you might see a called Synthroid, which I think is so named a name brand, you'll probably more often see it as Levo thyroxin. Think is the combat it's that's the actual molecule name, I believe, right?

Jennifer Smith, CDE 10:30
Yeah, it's, yeah, it's essentially Synthroid. Yeah, it's just that, yeah,

Scott Benner 10:34
I can tell you that Synthroid works for my wife, but the generic of Synthroid doesn't.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 10:41
And that's a really important piece, too. I mean, there are lots in terms of talking about those hormones, and then the replacement therapy meds for them. Because there's a whole bunch about the medication, that's really important to pay attention to for yourself, like you just brought up. If you've been using the brand named product, and you switch over and something doesn't feel right. To go back, something's not right, and that you might even need to have your prescriber write the order as no substitutions on the prescription, please prescribe only this brand, this dose, etc. I mean, that also goes into like, how to take the medication, foods that might interact with the medication. I mean, there's a lot with the thyroid meds, you can't

Scott Benner 11:33
take your right and we're going to do we'll do an episode probably at the end of this where we just talk about how to take the medication, cool time of day, what you can't take around it, you know, there's,

Jennifer Smith, CDE 11:45
yes, there's a list. Ready, get your notebook out.

Scott Benner 11:51
Vitamins, you can't take at the same time, you know, like all kinds of stuff and

Jennifer Smith, CDE 11:54
how many hours between taking the vitamins and things? I mean, it's

Scott Benner 11:58
Yeah, yeah, it's um, it's really something. Nothing else fits with this one, right? I don't think so. No. Okay. So we did teeth for T three.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 12:13
On my list here,

Scott Benner 12:14
we're doing really well. I'm very proud of us. Because, you know, we'll get the thyroid. I don't think we have enough time to do thyroid hormone replacement right here. I'm looking for something that fits in the time you have left. We could do antibodies, which I think this, I think they deserve their own.

Alright, now I feel like we've given away that we record these in big bunches. But hey, Jenny, I was hoping today that I was hoping today that we could define antibodies in general and around thyroid disease. So I'll read

Jennifer Smith, CDE 13:03
you how to read the definition. Yeah, sure.

Scott Benner 13:05
Why not? proteins produced by your body's immune system that attack invaders such as a virus. However, antibodies may also mistakenly attack healthy tissue. When it when antibodies attack the thyroid, it can stunt thyroid hormone production, this may result in hypothyroidism. So I think everyone listening who has type one diabetes, if you don't know, this is what happened to you. And you have type one now, right? So these so antibodies are, I mean, what's it? What's a simple way to think of it so that, you know, make it cartoonish for me so I can follow?

Jennifer Smith, CDE 13:46
Make it cartoonish? Um, it's like an invader, right? Okay. So if you think about an antibody, it's essentially something that your body produces to attack the invader. Okay. So you're, it's like calling out the troops, right? They're sitting and just like playing cards and doing whatever. And then they're like, oh, my gosh, they've got this strange looking blob floating around in the body, we have to take care of this, right? But sometimes, it's, your body gets overboard, right, especially with autoimmune disorder, and those, it doesn't know when to stop that sort of attack on what it sees as a foreign body and in somebody with autoimmune disorder. Unfortunately, that foreign body isn't really foreign. It's a part of your body that's supposed to be there such as the beta cells or such as, you know, different parts of the thyroid gland, etc. So,

Scott Benner 14:46
so these antibodies are a good thing. Until they get confused, or supercharged maybe by

Jennifer Smith, CDE 14:54
supercharged Yes, they've had way too much Red Bull or whatever is the newest thing.

Scott Benner 14:59
All right, so I think I so I understand so. So an antibody is Superman, right? Until all of a sudden it turns into that like creepy version of Superman. What was that called? Oh,

Jennifer Smith, CDE 15:14
he was like the bizarro world. His

Scott Benner 15:16
name was good. Yes, Jedi. Thank you.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 15:18
Well, you know, I do have two little boys as well. They love the superheroes.

Scott Benner 15:23
Really well done. Yank that right out of your S.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 15:31
Let me do get the superhero comic books from the library. And we read them many times. Okay,

Scott Benner 15:37
well, that's obviously stuck in your head, because I couldn't think of it. I could picture in my head. I couldn't come up with a name. So okay, so generally speaking, my antibodies are a good thing. Get a little. Yeah, correct. Right? Yes,

Jennifer Smith, CDE 15:49
there we want. I mean, that's obviously also how our body deals with attack from typical viruses, right? You build up an antibody. And then if your body encounters that, again, essentially, it's supposed to be able to manage it either better, or it manages it, and you never actually get symptomatic.

Scott Benner 16:06
Yeah. But yeah, sometimes things go crazy, especially if you have autoimmune disease. And these antibodies will do the wrong thing. So you know, just because we're here right now. And it's such a super simple thing, but I bet you we've never said it out loud. It's the antibodies in the in, in the situation of type one diabetes, they actually go after the beta cells in your pancreas like this, I think people just think of the pancreas is being

Jennifer Smith, CDE 16:32
a pancreas is not dead, just because you have type one diabetes,

Scott Benner 16:35
it actually still does things that are very important. They're actually alpha cells also in the pancreas, look at them. So it left them alone. It just went and got the beta cells takes care of the beta cells. And there are people to who I mean, there's researchers that believe that the beta cells aren't destroyed as much as they're frozen in inflammation. The Have you ever heard people talking about it that way? I've not

Jennifer Smith, CDE 16:57
I've not heard it talked about that way. Although I have. I mean, even years ago, when I was working endocranial in DC, there were tests that were being done on people with 20 plus years with type one diabetes. And what they were finding is that their what's called C, C peptide levels, were actually not nothing. Your C peptide levels are nothing essentially means that no, you no longer have any assisted beta cell action happening in the body. But many of those tested actually did have a small level of continued insulin secretion from the betas that are left essentially working in the body. The problem being the auto immune system continues over time to identify those as foreign bodies. Right, right.

Scott Benner 17:48
They don't just come in and attack once though. They keep coming back. If you know, if the beta cells relight their campfire, they're like, oh, no, no, no. There we come again. I got it. So anybody's little invaders. Are there actually do attack the invaders nearby, they're there to attack the invaders sometimes get confused and attack the good stuff. So just think of antibodies as Superman until you have an autoimmune disease when they become bizarro? There.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 18:16
We call that the bizarro episode,

Scott Benner 18:19
if I hear anyone in the diabetes community refer to that like this. I'm going to assume that you and I did that. So I have never heard anyone talk about it that way before my life so. Alright. Well, Jenny, thank you very much for doing this.

Jennifer Smith, CDE 18:31
Absolutely. Bizarre was planted a square by the way, if you didn't know that either. Sounds like it'll let you know.

Scott Benner 18:37
Is it really? Yes. All right. I'll look that up. Hold on a second. Thank you very much. I appreciate this very much. Thank you. Yes. Cool. So we got through a good

thanks so much for listening today. Please stop back frequently for more episodes of The Juicebox Podcast and to continue with the defining thyroid series. If you like Jenny, she's for hire. You can find her at integrated diabetes.com. She helps people with their type one diabetes, she really good at it. So if you're enjoying the Juicebox Podcast, and you're listening in an app, but you're not subscribed or following, please hit subscribe and follow on that app. And don't forget to tell a friend. Hey, if you find the podcast on YouTube, we started putting up animated versions of the defining diabetes series. They're really cute, great for kids. Very visual. Go find it. Alright, now let's go through the symptoms. We will start with hypothyroidism. Hypothyroidism signs and symptoms may include fatigue, increased sensitivity to cold, constipation, dry skin, weight gain, puffy face hoarseness, muscle weakness, elevated blood cholesterol level, muscle aches, tenderness and stiffness, pain stiffness or swelling and your joints heavier than normal or irregular menstrual periods, thinning hair slow heart rate depression impaired memory enlarged thyroid gland. In infants you're looking for a yellowing of the skin and whites of the eyes which is commonly called jaundice. In most cases this occurs when a baby's liver can't metabolize a substance called bilirubin, which normally forms when the body recycles old or damaged red blood cells. You also might see a larger protruding tongue, difficulty breathing, hoarse crying, or an umbilical hernia. As progression happens in infants, you may move on to constipation, poor muscle tone, or excessive sleepiness. Hypothyroidism in children and teens may indicate with poor growth resulting in a short stature, delayed development of permanent teeth, delayed puberty, poor mental development. That list is from the Mayo Clinic. Let's move on now to hyperthyroidism. This list is from the Cleveland Clinic. Hyperthyroidism may present with rapid heartbeat or palpitations, feeling shaky and or nervous weight loss, increased appetite, diarrhea and more frequent bowel movements, vision changes, thin warm and moist skin menstrual changes, intolerance to heat and excessive sweating, sleep issues, swelling and enlargement of the neck from an enlarged thyroid gland. Hair loss and change in hair texture it would get brittle, bulging of the eyes as seen with Graves disease and muscle weakness. Okay, back to the Mayo Clinic for Graves disease, you're looking for anxiety and irritability. A fine tremor of the hands or fingers heat sensitivity and an increase in perspiration, or warm or moist skin. Weight loss despite normal eating habits, enlarged thyroid gland changing menstrual cycle erectile dysfunction or reduced libido. frequent bowel movements, bulging eyes, fatigue, thick red skin, usually on the shins or tops of the feet. Rapid or irregular heartbeat palpitations, sleep disturbance. If you your child or someone you love has any of these symptoms, please seek medical attention. I want to thank you so much for listening and remind you again to please go to T one D exchange.org. Forward slash juicebox. If you're a US resident who has type one, or you're a US resident who is the caregiver of someone with type one, your quick and easy answers that are HIPAA compliant and completely anonymous will be of great value to people living with type one diabetes. It will take you fewer than 10 minutes at T one D exchange.org. Forward slash juice box to make a huge difference in someone else's life. And you'll be supporting the podcast. Thanks so much again for listening. I'll be back very soon with another episode of The Juicebox Podcast.


Please support the sponsors

The Juicebox Podcast is a free show, but if you'd like to support the podcast directly, you can make a gift here. Recent donations were used to pay for podcast hosting fees. Thank you to all who have sent 5, 10 and 20 dollars!

Donate