#800 Lazy Control IQ Ninja
Megan is the mother of a type 1 who uses Control IQ.
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Scott Benner 0:00
Hello friends, and welcome to a wow and welcome to episode 800 of the Juicebox Podcast. If I was the kind of person who celebrated meaningless milestones, I would definitely celebrate this
so Meghan was coming on to talk about control IQ. She said she thought she was terrific at it. That's why she booked to come on the show. Then she heard the episode called control like you, Ninja, she rethought it, but she's still here. Turns out she had a lot more to talk about. So this episode sort of broken, I mean, a little bit in half, there's a lot of her story up front, a lot of control like you on the back end. But don't miss Megan story. It's really interesting. And I think you're gonna like it. While you're listening, please remember 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 healthcare plant, or becoming bold with insulin. I say that 200 more times there'll be 1000 episodes. Here, here's something I didn't think I'd be saying for this long. But I'm back to tell you that if you're a US resident, who has type one, where is the caregiver of someone with type one, I need you to go to T one D exchange.org. Forward slash juice box and fill out the survey. That's it, join the registry, fill out the survey takes like 10 minutes, you just have to complete the survey and you're done. You know the whole thing. You're going to help people living with type one diabetes, you're going to use the music, you're going to sorry, you're going to move diabetes research forward, you might help yourself. There's a lot that could happen. It's all good. Nothing bad. This, this whole thing is 100% HIPAA compliant, absolutely anonymous. I mean, I've done it. A lot of people who listen to podcasts have done it, but just not enough. They need more people. And as soon as you guys go and do it, and they get to their limit, I can stop saying this T one D exchange.org. Forward slash juicebox. And I know you think, Scott, I know you don't want to stop this. You're getting paid to say this. But it's not the truth. Really, I don't get paid to say it. I get paid when you complete the survey. So honestly, I do want to stop saying this because there's a limit. And I just want to get to it. And I don't know what I would say in this space. If you guys would just go fill out the survey and then we'd find out if you just go do it. But no, no, you don't have time for this. Oh, whatever. Sorry, that got away from me. This episode of The Juicebox Podcast is sponsored by Dexcom. Makers of the Dexcom G six find out if you're eligible for a free 10 day trial of the Dexcom GS six at my link dexcom.com Ford slash juice box, find out the speed, direction and number of your blood sugar right on your phone or on your Dexcom receiver dexcom.com forward slash juice box. podcast is also sponsored by us med get your diabetes supplies the same place we do at US med to get started, all you need to do is get a free benefits check by calling 888-721-1514 Or going to us med.com forward slash juicebox. Getting your diabetes supplies does not have to be a hassle. Try us med if you have trouble remembering my links, you can always go to juicebox podcast.com. Scroll down a little bit. They're all right there. Just tap tap. When you click on my links, you're supporting the podcast and keeping it free. So I appreciate it when you take that extra step.
Megan 3:39
My name is Megan. I'm married and I have three kids. My oldest is my type one. He's 12. So he was diagnosed four ish years ago. I'm really bad at math. He was diagnosed at nine. But it's he's got a summer birthday. So
Scott Benner 3:56
let's spend 45 minutes but no, I'm just kidding for three or four years. Yeah,
Megan 4:01
it's been we're coming up on our pump is going to be replaced
Scott Benner 4:04
soon. Oh, that's a nice way to keep track of it.
Megan 4:08
And then I have two others. An 11 year old boy and a nine year old girl.
Scott Benner 4:13
No diabetes there.
Megan 4:16
No, I am currently being in the process of being diagnosed with thyroid stuff. They're thinking Hashimotos I've got the marker the whatever tests they did was really high. Maybe for one of the antibodies or whatever.
Scott Benner 4:32
Okay, do you have you can you did they feel it like that?
Megan 4:36
Oh my gosh, you can see it. Oh, really? And I can feel it's right on my vote like you know, a little indent is in your neck.
Scott Benner 4:44
Let's say I do. Wait. Okay,
Megan 4:46
well, wait, what do you like that little like the front indent in the front? Yeah.
Scott Benner 4:50
It's it's there. It's my thing different than yours.
Megan 4:53
I don't know. Like, I'm like you have that little like, I don't know. It's like an indent on your neck. If you if I lean up, there's like this big bolt right there instead of an indent. I
Scott Benner 5:05
know where you mean, I found it. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. And then
Megan 5:09
I have all the classic symptoms, but I have other issues. So I was attributing them to other illness issues that I have. And it was like, Oh, no.
Scott Benner 5:17
Do you mind picking through this for a minute? Before we talk about Yeah, you're here. Okay, that's fine. What other issues,
Megan 5:23
um, I am freezing all the time, which I didn't think anything of until we had like an 80 degree, one of those random 80 degree days in the Midwest in the winter, and I was still freezing. I could sit in front of a space heater and still feel cold on the inside. But I'm sweating on the outside, like, my skin is warm, but I just can't physically feel warm. And I'd wake up in the middle of the night drenched in sweat, and have to change several times. I keep waking up drenched in sweat. I'm super fatigued. I could fall asleep at the drop of a hat. Which normally is a big problem for me. Like I can't sleep. Changes to my menstrual cycle.
Scott Benner 6:12
Hold on one second. unrested doesn't sleep 12 hours wake up.
Megan 6:16
Doesn't matter. What like I'm sleeping 12 hours but no, yeah.
Scott Benner 6:19
Well, you have kids, I've got kids.
Megan 6:24
And what else? I've been losing weight on purpose. And then suddenly, when all of these symptoms kind of started, I started gaining weight no matter what I was doing. I have like water retention stuff. I have headaches. I have vision changes. My eyes went really dry. Gosh, there's been a whole bunch of them. Like when I look at the list. It's one of those like, Yep, yeah, yep. No.
Scott Benner 6:51
Do you have any other medical issues that you thought were causing some of this stuff?
Megan 6:56
Yeah, I had really bad pregnancies with HG hyperemesis gravidarum. And they were severe. Like had a patch tube had, you know, organ failure and all that. And so when I came back from that my body hasn't worked properly and couldn't process any medications. And we didn't know that until I got scary side effects from the medications I used to take. And so I ended up with all those like really scary side effects. Hyper that you read on the side. Oh, like you're gonna take this antibiotic and it says, Hey, you don't you could end up with like nerve damage and peripheral neuropathy. tendinitis one in
Scott Benner 7:35
4 billion people think they can fly on the leg tracks Yeah,
Megan 7:38
that's me. I just made up a word or medication I take
Scott Benner 7:42
Yeah, made up a word I'm hoping isn't really a drug. Okay, I'm
Megan 7:45
probably is hyper Wyatt. hyperemesis gravidarum Whoa,
Scott Benner 7:50
whoa, whoa, I barely got through high school M S. MSS. So like throwing up I got it I got it.
Megan 7:58
So
Scott Benner 8:00
we and you have a this happened with your first pregnancy?
Megan 8:03
It didn't it got worse with each one.
Scott Benner 8:05
Do you love babies or sex or something? Why did you do it again?
Megan 8:10
They were all we wanted kids but we did not intend to have them when we
Scott Benner 8:14
did. Megan did you go to a couple of weddings happen? No,
Megan 8:19
my husband's a pastor and
Scott Benner 8:21
hold on a second we had Go ahead.
Megan 8:25
And so we had some you know, stressful times. And so we're not
Scott Benner 8:34
Oh, okay. You guys want to go on vacation or have sex? Well, we can't afford vacation everyone to the bedroom. Gotcha. Oh,
Megan 8:43
my gosh. My 12 year olds gonna listen to this and be mortified one
Scott Benner 8:46
day 12 year olds gonna be like, Oh my God, my mom is just banging all over the house there for a while until her hyper MSMS is great gravid dari I'm got it. Wow, you aren't? Well listen, mad respect. If you made three babies going through what says severe nausea vomiting weight loss possible dehydration feeling faint may also occur. It is considered more severe. The morning sickness symptoms often get better in the 20th week that that
Megan 9:12
mine did not. Like I was throwing up approximately like 30 times a day. I couldn't keep down any food or any water. I couldn't even swallow my own spit. And I lost more than 10% of my body weight in. Gosh, I want to say it was less than less than six weeks.
Scott Benner 9:32
Did you have any thyroid markers back then anything that you were aware of?
Megan 9:38
So looking back, I was mismanaged medically. And I ended up with PTSD induced medical trauma stuff from what went down in the hospital and how I was treated. I was told it was all in my head. Which really messed with me psychologically.
Unknown Speaker 9:58
I'm so sorry. That's terrible.
Megan 10:01
It is, but I'm better now we don't. We don't talk about there. Well, no, I can talk about it. Just I can't go to that medical system.
Scott Benner 10:09
Hey, did you did you see here on the Wikipedia, which I have no reason to doubt. It says other potential causes of the symptoms should be excluded, including UTIs and overactive thyroid.
Megan 10:21
Yep. So what happened afterwards is I had, I went through about one year of having the most doing blood draws multiple times a week, because my thyroid went crazy afterwards, it went super high, and then would crash and go super low, and then go super high and then crash and go super low,
Scott Benner 10:42
hyper hypo, hyper hypo bounced around. Yep, for about
Megan 10:45
a year. And I was a hot mess. But I was also hating all medical stuff. So I wasn't willing to pursue anything beyond just making sure I wasn't going to die. So they thought something was going on, and then it kind of leveled out. And by the time I got into see a specialist, they were like, I think I think we're okay. And I was like, okay, don't want to push it. If I don't have to deal with medical stuff, I'm not going to. And then once mica got diagnosed, I started, I had no choice but to be super involved in medical stuff. And now I'm much more comfortable. I listened to the thyroid series, which pushed me to talk to my doctor and pushed him to be like, like, oh, no, but your levels are fine. I know. It says you're high on this and you feel really crappy. But your levels are fine. And I'm like, but my levels are elevated compared to what they used to be. So maybe I'm just sensitive to it. And can we just treat the symptoms? And they were like, well, you can go talk to somebody else. So I'm doing that, that appointments in two weeks.
Scott Benner 11:53
Oh, what lovely, what a lovely group of doctors.
Megan 11:57
I mean, I'm, I'm a complicated case. So I'm aware that they look at my medical file and go oh,
Scott Benner 12:03
to me, though, that would make even more common sense to just say, well, you mean, why don't we just try the sense right for a couple of weeks and see what happens.
Megan 12:11
They think I might be allergic to it. So they know that I'm sensitive to hormones. Because every time of the month, my I have similar symptoms, he I get really sick, I get really tired, I get headaches, I get migraines, I get like, it's it's just a really crappy couple of days of you more so than it used to be.
Scott Benner 12:31
I'm wondering, I'm not suggesting I'm wondering, have you thought about maybe like losing your lady parts inside? Like,
Megan 12:38
um, they did. But they said no to that, because they were afraid what? What hormone therapy would do? Because, again, they're not sure if that would work or not. And if we remove it, then we're stuck having to figure it out. Instead of working with what we got. You know,
Scott Benner 12:57
Megan, you're quite a catch. Pastor Bob is very lucky. Very, very lucky. I don't know his real name. It's not important. But yeah, this the episode told him
Megan 13:06
that I was like, I hope you love me. I'm really expensive. I'm a cheap date, but I'm really expensive to be married. To have on your health insurance, now there's two of us.
Scott Benner 13:17
Oh, my gosh. Oh, I'm so sorry. It's, um, it's horrifying. I mean, a lot of what you described about the thyroid symptoms. I mean, Arden is often very cold. And and we just actually went back to managing slightly differently. It's too early for me to say whether or not it's it's having good effects or not. So I can't really say here, but we've we had added a T three supplement to her regimen. And we thought it was working really well. But then she started having this odd side effect that we attributed to the T three. Turns out it was probably the birth control pill. And so we went for months without it and then have just recently re added Saito mil which is T three. We tried. What did we try? We tried to armor the T three, I think it's that didn't know what you're talking about. Yeah, that didn't help her. So we went back to the site Omo, which we now see helped in the past, and her energy has returned. And now Now I'm waiting to see if hopefully it balances out her body temperature because she's the same thing she touches you she like, she's like, I'm so cold and she touches you and she's warmer than you are. Yep.
Megan 14:30
So that's what's been going on. And that's the thing that was most concerning to me is everything else I can attribute to other things. I mean, I'm tired. Well, I'm also getting older. I've got kids. Life is just exhausting. We just came through a pandemic, like, you know, I could just be over it.
Scott Benner 14:46
Megan, from my perspective with the experiences I've seen and had and talked about with other people, I'd say I hope that you're not going to have a weird like reaction to it. You should try it A replacement. If that replacement helps but doesn't help completely, then then get somebody to help you with the T threes, the T three side of it, too, I can't tell you that Arden Arden's energy returned in like four days on site.
Megan 15:14
I'm excited to just do something. Like I thought it was cancer for a while. So like, I'm just really grateful. It's not that. So, you know, let's just let's, let's figure this out. I just need a doctor who's willing to work with me. Yeah.
Scott Benner 15:28
Okay, so I'm
Megan 15:30
just gonna find one.
Scott Benner 15:32
Is that become problematic? Or have you been able to,
Megan 15:36
um, we live near a major metro, near in rural terms, we live an hour and a half away from major metro area. So I feel pretty confident we can find someone. It's just the process, I'd like to just find them right away, instead of having to, I would have to start with a surgeon because that's what they're having me do first. And the surgeon I've already talked with on the phone who was like, Yeah, I'm not the right person. But I will see you and we can refer you to the next person,
Scott Benner 16:07
I would try to find, although they sometimes don't take insurance, but I was gonna say more of an integrated, integrated, like situation, they're usually more willing to try things on the fly. They work through email, like there's like when ordered needs an adjustment. I don't go to an appointment, I send someone an email. And I'm like, this is happening. What do you think and the return email says, I think we should lower it to six times a week instead of seven. Go ahead and do that. Okay, that's over in five minutes, you know, because that's the thing that you would appreciate that many people wouldn't, which is the the span of time in between. First you have a problem, then the problem impacts you enough that you actually look into it, and you look into it, inevitably, someone doesn't help you, you've got to go find somebody else. Before you know it. It's nine months later, it's a year later, you're beaten down by the whole process, you're almost hostile to feeling terrible. And you start getting it in your head that no one's going to help. Right? And then that's very frustrating and off putting and makes it difficult to kind of soldier on so yeah, yeah, I say. I say that a month on T four. And you should feel much better. And if you don't, then you start looking at the T three aspect of it. And yeah, I mean, I can't tell you the again, four days of cider mill, and no more like Artem was coming home from school. And if her head went over, she'd fall asleep like she had to purposely stay sitting up after school, or because if she laid down or laid back, she just felt right asleep. And she'd sleep for four or five hours in the afternoon, then wake up and be tired. Yep. And now suddenly, everything's better, you know. So, anyway, good luck. And that, of course, 15 minutes into it. It's not why you're here. Although I would tell everybody to check out the defining thyroid series. It's helpful, right?
Megan 18:03
I feel because I have, you know, that medical anxiety that I feel better prepared to go and speak with a doctor and not take no for an answer. Because that's been my concern is the doctor says no, and I go, Oh, I really don't think so. But okay.
Scott Benner 18:19
Well, I mean, we kind of skimmed over the the point that we kind of skipped over the point that you're being treated like while you're really sick. It's a shame. That's your life. Goodbye. Let's go live with it. Right like that basically happening to you. So
Megan 18:36
yeah, I have a bald spot starting on the back of my head that hasn't been there. I have used to have really thick hair and whatnot. And all of a sudden it's really starting to fall out. And the doctor looks at me and goes, Oh, yeah, you do have a bald spot. And then like, that's a bummer.
Scott Benner 18:54
How can somebody not see that and give you a thyroid replacement hormone? It's terrible. Yeah, you know, so sorry. My God. Episode 413. thyroid disease explained is a comprehensive episode with the person who manages Ardens thyroid, so yeah, check it out. Alright, but you're here Megan, because you feel like a control IQ ninja. But then tell me tell everybody what you said
Megan 19:20
lazy ninja.
Scott Benner 19:21
Oh, lazy. Hey, that's all right. Lazy control IQ ninja. Yeah, I think that's valuable. Tell everybody what you said right before we started recording though. Arden gets her diabetes supplies from us Med and you can too. Now why would you want to do that you're probably getting your supplies from somewhere already but us med has quite the bone of P days. You know what that means? I can tell you if you want. I'll tell you at the end. For now just know this. US med is the number one distributor for FreeStyle Libre systems nationwide. They are the number one distributor for Omni pod dash. They are the number one fastest growing team am distributor. They are the place where Arden gets her on the pod supplies. They are the number one rated distributor in Dexcom customer satisfaction surveys and I haven't taken the survey but I am very satisfied with how they send art and stacks comes to us. And they've served over 1 million diabetes customers since 1996. Is that not enough, I can give you more an A plus rating with the Better Business Bureau. They accept Medicare nationwide and over 800 private insurers. US Medicare has everything from insulin pumps and diabetes testing supplies to the latest CGM like the FreeStyle Libre three and the Dexcom G six, white glove treatment is what you're going to get a US med now here's how you get started. You call 888-721-1514. Or you go to a link on the line online is another way to say that US med.com Ford slash juice box either call the number that's a special number for Juicebox Podcast listeners. That is what you are. Or you go to the link especially for us to and you get things moving. Next thing you know your stuffs just showing up. And it's easy, because that's how US med does things. They do it easy. They want you to have better service and better care. And so far that's what I found that I get from us med you can to 888-721-1514 or go to us med.com forward slash juicebox oh hell i for i promised Tiwa bone a few days means bone a few days bone fee days. It's bone the feed is bona like that with a knee bone a fee days spelled with an A sounds like a a person's honesty and sincerity of intent or documentary evidence showing a person's legitimacy or credentials. I guess maybe do you need to be a person to have bone a few days? You'd be a company couldn't you? Alright. I don't know we've gone too far down the rabbit hole. Let me get you back to my oh real quick. If you've never seen a Brother Where Art Thou the movie, there's a great scene where George Clooney his kids tell him he's not bonafide it's it's worth. It's worth your time
Megan 22:12
I said I listened to Jeremy's podcasts, the control HQ, Ninja one. And then I felt like a total imposter. I had a moment of panic long moment of panic, that, well, maybe I should cancel my thing because that was that was good. Like, that's probably better than what I could say. So I don't want to confuse anyone.
Scott Benner 22:34
Luckily, you have so little energy, you weren't able to email me.
Megan 22:37
I have anxiety. So I just didn't. Oh, interesting. So I was like, you could just say no.
Scott Benner 22:44
So your anxiety, okay. So you have that you have anxiety, generally speaking throughout your life.
Megan 22:50
No, that came from my pregnancy issues with the doctor and whatnot, that I couldn't trust myself to make decisions for myself. Because I was constantly told that I was doing it to myself, and that what I was feeling was wrong, what I was thinking was wrong, the actions I was taking were wrong, and that the doctor knew better. And I just needed to ignore myself and focus on some have somebody else make all the decisions because I couldn't be trusted. And so that really messed with my head. So like, I used to not be able to go into grocery stores because I didn't trust that I could buy the right things afterwards. Like I would have major issues and breakdowns in the store, and flashbacks and all that stuff. Because I you know, pasta was on sale, and it wasn't on my list. And I buy it and it's like, Oh, that's too much. And you know, that whole would send me spiraling and it was really humbling. Yeah, but so for that reason, it still pops its head up in some situations, but I've always been a bit of a perfectionist who likes to do everything perfectly and right. So
Scott Benner 23:59
well, I know, I've ever thought but first, let me just say this. Has it ever gotten to the point where someone actually had to help you out of a public place? Like yes, so if you heard like, there's a lady laying over top of the fresh cheese in aisle seven, please somebody go get her. Like
Megan 24:14
the pharmacist at Target got to know me really well because I had a bench
Scott Benner 24:19
company come in and have the magnets Okay, have a seat, honey, we'll get you some water about like,
Megan 24:25
you still like sit in the middle of an aisle and just be like, I'm fine. Just need to get through it.
Scott Benner 24:30
Everything's fine. Everything's not fine. Someone help. Here's what I'm gonna tell you. Don't be surprised if balancing your thyroid helps with your anxiety. That'd be great. Yeah, seriously. I don't know if I've ever said this. I probably have. It's fine. We're like 700 episodes into it. Now Megan, I don't think there's anything left to hide. Not that I was hiding anything to begin with. But my wife as people have heard was Couldn't find treatment just like you for like seven years. And and when she finally when we finally kind of badgered someone to giving her Synthroid, I told the doctor in the room, I'm like, listen, you're going to be saving her life. And he said, This is not life threatening. And I said, Oh, no, no, I'm going to kill her. I was like, that's that you're saving, I have a whole dog in the backyard already to push her into because I can't take. She is not pleasant. Like it was it was like she was very short tempered, and she'd fly off the handle about things she didn't even know she was doing. It like really starts taking that Synthroid. And everything was just ooh, she's all good. As a matter of fact, there's a lady that lives in the town I live in, who there's no way she listens to this sober, safe. She was well known as maybe one of the most unpleasant people you've ever met in your life. And we used to bump into her a lot because of something with kids. And then years went by where we didn't, and then we bumped into her again, years later, a completely different person, so much so that she was aware of it, apologized for how she may have been in the past, and then told us about how she's now medicated for her thyroid issue. So you don't sound nasty. But are you? No, no, you're not saying unreasonable.
Megan 26:24
I've worked in customer service a lot. So I have that whole thing. No, but
Scott Benner 26:28
But I mean, we can filter it to Pastor Bob, though not not to other people. My wife wasn't unpleasant to strangers, please.
Megan 26:35
No, I don't think so. I mean, I definitely have moments of being Hi strong. When I get stressed, it's amplified. More so than it used to be more so than it feels normal. So I generally try to avoid being stressed if possible. funny when people do a lot of it's avoidance. But I do I quilt when I get really stressed, I go and quilt, and that stab things, lots and lots of times at high speeds. That helps.
Scott Benner 27:09
Oh, there's a joke in there about you and your husband. We're gonna just go right past. Going back to being on the podcast to talking about control like you. When you said anxiety stopped you from like, so if you didn't have anxiety, do you think you would have canceled? No, okay, good. Excellent.
Megan 27:27
I used to be much more. I'm amazing. type personality.
Scott Benner 27:32
You? Well, let's find that. Also, do you think that people find it incredibly distasteful to joke about the sex life of a pastor? Because I think they probably
Megan 27:41
I don't know, guy, right. We're, we're people. We have children. I think for some people, it's an uncomfortable topic. Just because they like to think of their pastor one way and not as you know, he's, he's my husband. You know, that sort of thing. But people around us tend to get it. So good.
Scott Benner 28:03
Excellent. Okay, so how long is your 12 year old been on control IQ?
Megan 28:09
We got it. I actually looked back because I know I had messaged you way back in the beginning. When we first were diagnosed because I was super frustrated with our endos office. Because I just I'm a control person. I'm a data person. And I was frustrated at the pace at which they were moving was not as fast as I wanted to move. And so we got our pump pretty much right at six months. The Windows Office would not budge on that. They required six months waiting.
Scott Benner 28:41
Okay. So you've had three and a half ish years?
Megan 28:46
Yes, I believe so. Because we get a new one in. Yeah, sounds right. Three and a half years because we're right at like six months to go. Okay, so
Scott Benner 28:57
has it always been control like you or were you just using a tandem pump it were like even
Megan 29:02
it was Basal like you Okay, when we started,
Scott Benner 29:04
how long did you base like you for
Megan 29:07
until the day control IQ dropped when he got it right away that night.
Scott Benner 29:15
So that doesn't sound like a ringing endorsement for Basal IQ. So tell me just a little bit about or was it How was it?
Megan 29:22
Um, I liked Basal IQ. I, we did okay on it. We actually did correction. We did well on it. We were 5.6 ish. And so I liked it. But we were still touching the pump a lot for corrections and things mica has this. We used to have this issue because he had he went from lunch to recess to PE and how to dose for lunch because he would eat school lunch which is notoriously high carb and you know that whole trend manage that and he would go outside and running with active insulin makes him drop. But then he had like, you know, he would have one class between recess and PE and he would skyrocket during that. And then he would drop back down. Once PE started, and that was just always the bane of our existence. All throughout stuff and control IQ fix that but Basal like you did not hold on. My son is asking me if he can eat. No,
Scott Benner 30:29
he cannot eat. We're making a podcast. This is unbelievable. Tell that kid? No, just kidding. Go ahead.
Megan 30:34
Yes, Pre-Bolus.
Scott Benner 30:37
Mega, do you think we should put the ad right here? Sure. Okay, then we'll come back in
Megan 30:42
10 minutes. There we go.
Scott Benner 30:50
longtime listeners will know I haven't put ads in two different places in the years. But this just works so well. I couldn't, I couldn't say no. I'm here to tell you about the Dexcom G six. And if you're using control IQ, you already have the Dexcom. But if you're thinking about the control, like you are on the pod five, or just being able to see your blood sugars in real time, right on your iPhone or your Android device, or on your Dexcom receiver, well, then, in fact, you might want to write this down. Dex comm.com forward slash juice box, go to that link. Learn more about Dexcom find out if you're eligible for a free 10 day supply of the Dexcom G six. A lot can happen at that link in just a few short minutes. The Dexcom G six is gonna give you customizable alerts and alarms, show your glucose readings right on your smart device. And are for you a world where zero finger sticks can be your norm. It's time for you to take the next step with dexcom@dexcom.com forward slash juice box just go to the site. Scroll down a little bit, fill in a tiny bit of information and you're on your way. Everything we do with insulin at this house is predicated on the information we get back from Ardens Dexcom G six. It helps us make great decisions. It helps us to feel safe, it helps us to see Arden's blood sugar when she's not with us, you can do all of that as well dexcom.com forward slash juicebox if your glucose alerts and readings from the G six do not match symptoms or expectations use a blood glucose meter to make diabetes treatment decisions Good job pausing so I can cut it right there. That was excellent Meghan. Very well done. Yeah, no problem. I don't know if he did that on purpose but if you do, I really appreciate it. Okay, so basil like so Basal IQ helpful but not wasn't able to overcome those kind of like real intense situations at school is that right?
Megan 32:53
Yeah, and we always had an issue and we we still do but we've managed it now it's control IQ with as soon as he falls asleep he would skyrocket and so I would be constantly going in there and having to touch you know, go dig it out of his pocket and dose and then wait and then go back and dose and so I was hoping control IQ would really help with that. You know, it did a really good job of getting rid of pretty much the lows but we were having some serious issues with the highs and it's not that we weren't doing well it's that we were just touching the pump more than we wanted to
Scott Benner 33:32
Yeah, you know it's funny you just said something but it's never occurred to me once you said I digging it out of his pocket so when you have a to pump you have to sleep with it on your person. Yeah. Oh, I never considered that once it's not funny. Yeah, yeah, that
Megan 33:48
it's fun because before bed I memorize what pocket it's in that way when I go in there I know what side he needs to be on so I can get it out.
Scott Benner 33:57
You think you could go out into public and steal people's wallets with any kind of like certainty or you're not that slick? Probably like 75%
I think we should try I really think you should go out and report back it's got to be in their
Megan 34:11
front pocket though in a jersey type shorts or pants
Scott Benner 34:14
when they just got to be pretty specific mega we don't want you reaching down in people's front pockets out in public but when you when you get arrested just tell people my thyroid is very unbalanced. This is not my fault.
Megan 34:25
I thought it was an insulin pump.
Scott Benner 34:26
They made me call a surgeon first or I might have the medicine by now. A surgeon by the way. What Yeah, I don't want to go backwards but that's Miss Oh my God Who told you to go to a surgeon for art once the doctor
Megan 34:39
just thought maybe I just want it removed. Maybe because it's right on that border of size. And I'm like yeah, but I think it's gonna go down if we manage it.
Scott Benner 34:50
Very well good. Is it coming up the goiters you're not getting a goiter right. This is I have 120 You have a goiter edit enlarged thyroid. Yep. Megan you are painting a sexy picture. Okay. Okay, so back to this. So you switch to control IQ about how long ago just roughly
Megan 35:10
whenever control IQ drops, so that had to have been at least
Scott Benner 35:14
two years. It was about two years now. Okay,
Megan 35:18
I think so that feels about, right. It dropped the for the pandemic, to talk about, oh, it's gotta be. It's been two years.
Scott Benner 35:28
Has COVID been going on so long? We're measuring stuff by it.
Megan 35:31
Yeah, that's kind of how we do it. Because I have no sense of time. For that.
Scott Benner 35:36
I have. I'll tell you the one thing you know how they talk about long COVID, where some people lose their, like, smell forever, or something like that. Here's something I've lost from COVID Being clear that I've never actually had COVID. But from the experience of COVID I never know what fucking day it is, ever. I never ever ever know what day it is. And I blame, I blame the lockdown. I really do. Like, I don't even know if it matters. Now. I'm not even sure if I should be upset by it. I just don't
Megan 36:04
care. I just wish everyone looks so much older. I'm like, How long ago was was that? Three years ago? No, it was just like last year. Right?
Scott Benner 36:14
Okay. Oh, that's interesting. Okay. All right. So I'd like to ask you about when you switch from basically Basal IQ, which was just shutting off your Basal if it thought he was gonna get low, right? To control IQ, which is an algorithm and you know, for everybody listening, control IQ, do it yourself loop. Android, APS is another do it yourself, right? On the pod five. The thing that Medtronic is gonna come out with Next, all that stuff. They're all algorithms, but they're not the same algorithm. They're all proprietary in one way or another. I mean, do it yourself not proprietary, but you don't I mean, they're different programs, they work different ways. They accomplish things differently. If you're saying to yourself, I don't understand why that is, you probably don't understand patent law. Or why TiVo has a 32nd, Skip, but your DVR from other companies can't have it. It's because TiVo patented it before your other company thought about it. So you know, like theirs. They can't just copy it, it's got to be this is my guess it has to be slightly different somehow. So all this stuff? Yeah. And trust me, I don't know, I could have made that all up. But what I'm saying is that none of them are exactly the same. So you switch to control like you, what's the first hurdle going into an algorithm for you?
Megan 37:30
Um, it was, at least, gosh, I want to say six months before we started working with the algorithm. I was still trying to manage the way that I always did. And just hand over stuff to the pump instead. But then, we started getting crazy lows, because I wasn't working with the algorithm. So what was happening was the algorithm would do at 60% dose dosage correction thing, because it saw him starting to go high. And then I would go in and be like, super aggressive and be like, hit it. This is it's always a unit, not knowing that it had done the 60% like 10 minutes earlier, because my son's at school. So we're texting and whatnot. And I started to get really frustrated. Because our text conversations, instead of me just going manually, dose one unit, you know, basically override in the pump that you're just going to do a one unit, because I know that's what it needs. Instead, I was having to go when was the last time the pump, you know, do you have insulin on board? Okay, what's it doing? What's the you know, and having to go back and forth on that and really interrupt his day was bothering me. Yeah. But control IQ wasn't being aggressive enough. In my opinion at that time, so we ended up going to sleep mode 24/7 Which basically made it so I could still do all the high corrections, but it could, you know, everything was a little bit easier. But then we ran into problems when we would do. Mike is really sensitive to exercise. So on days where he's really active, he needs drastically less insulin all across the board. On days where he isn't really active, he needs a lot more insulin all across the board. I'm talking about Basal swings from 10 to 17. So it matters for a long time afterwards. We tried exercise mode that was a hot mess. And we just kind of wrote it all off and just dealt with the fact that control IQ wasn't everything we wanted and sorted the look into loop. And then I listened to Fox in the loop house and he was talking about Would ISF changes throughout the day, instead of basil changes? And how it's not the basil that's changing, it was how you react with that insulin, you know, now the insulin is doing this much more instead of this and thinking about it that way. So I immediately scrapped all the settings and started over trying to see if managing it through ISF would work. And that got us dramatically better results. But we were still in sleep mode 24/7. And then he was gonna go to diabetes camp, and they're like, he can't be in sleep mode. Like, well, shoot.
Scott Benner 40:42
Well. Okay. So first of all, I don't understand why they care how you're achieving your success. And secondly, how did it feel when you heard Jeremy say, like sleep mode all the time? I don't do that for you like,
Megan 40:55
Well, I agree with that now, but back then I would have been highly offended. I was one of the people on posts where people are like, what do you do? And I'm like, sleep mode 24/7. The way to do it, it's the only way the algorithm works. And people would comment below me and be like, you just don't understand the algorithm. And I was like, this woman doesn't know what she's talking about. Turns out who didn't know, clearly you don't understand?
Scott Benner 41:18
Hey, you know, what's interesting is that you are going to hear this in the, on this podcast for years to come. Settings, it's all settings, its settings, whether you're doing it manually, whether you're doing it with needles, or whether you're doing it with one of these algorithms, if your settings are wrong, it's just not going to work. Well, you know? Yeah. But and so settings is the
Megan 41:42
Yeah, it's a lot easier. Now, I'm a big data person. So I, I have Excel spreadsheets, I plotted everything, I tracked everything. I've done that since the very beginning, trying to find patterns trying to find this and it was such a mental burden. But at the same time, it's it's something I do like it's my personality. So it's not as big of a burden as some people would think it is. But because I needed to figure out control IQ, the regular way for camp, to not have to go through all this whole thing. I just we sat down. And we've just dedicated ourselves to figuring it out. We had a higher a one C in it was like 5.9 While we were figuring it out. But since then it's dropped back down. And I will probably not go back to sleep 24/7 ever again. Because this is so much nicer. We touched the pump so much less there are days where all we do is Bolus for food. You know, when something does go wrong, we know how to work with the algorithm instead of against it. It feels much more like the pump is helping. Instead of just being that annoying little kid like I'm helping. Don't know you're not stop it. I can as long as it's a steady rise going up, I know that I my high alarms are set for 160. Because I know that the pump can handle anything under that, you know, our settings are good enough that it adjusts. And on days where it's off. I know why it's off and we do a full settings change. And I know what it needs to go to generally, like yesterday, yesterday. Just yesterday. Yeah. We were having issues where all the sudden he was going into the three hundreds just guy rocketing after everything. And it was like, Okay. Obviously, the settings that were nailed in, you know, two days ago, are no longer. Right. And so we went back to another one that, you know, we don't make those really small changes that Jeremy does. I will least change by point five each time. Because Mike is so sensitive. I know that that's what we need. We went from 15 units of basil to 17.6. And you know, carb ratios went from nine to 5.5. Because I know that's what it needed. And today we have a nice, a nice line, assuming you know has been a little bar he just decided to eat doesn't mess it up. But we've been in range since we made those settings changes last night.
Scott Benner 44:34
That's all ballsy moves. That's really well done. Good for you. That's excellent. I just had we just switched port art and spent on like 33 Different kinds of birth control pills in a year and a half. But she just went back to one that we thought was working and it's not important anyway, there's a switch that was made. And about six days ago she started having a Lowe's and I moved her basil by point one and her in some sensitivity by by one number. So I made her I took her insulin sensitivity, maybe it was two, maybe I moved it from like 41 to 43. And her Basal from 1.2 to 1.1. During the day, it worked great for three days, and then zoom, it came back around, and suddenly I couldn't get her blood sugar below 190. And then all I did was put the point one back in the Basal and move the insulin sensitivity back to 41, or blood sugar went right back. It's crazy how like, how how, because that's not something people would think of, I think that most people hear that and go 1.2 to 1.1 That's meaningless, or 41 to 43 these seem like small adjustments, but they're just, they're just so important. You know, it's and I listened to I don't adjust things as frequently as Jeremy does, either. He's He's incredibly good at it. And you know, I mean, it's amazing. I'm gonna have him back on again to talk about it more. But I mean, it's, it's more, you use the phrase earlier, like touching the pump. That's more that's more touching the pump that I'm I might be able to do, I guess,
Megan 46:10
see, we make those changes when he's in the shower. So like when the pump is charging. So technically, it doesn't count as touching the pump to me because he's not there. To him. It's not in his Yeah. And we used to have to make settings changes multiple times a week, I was constantly chasing his insulin sensitivity. I didn't know it at the time, but that's what I was doing. And so we heavily rely on exercise mode. Exercise mode is kind of our What is it ace in the hole or pocket or whatever, whatever, it's our ace up the sleeve. There we go. It is it is one of the things we probably that has changed us the most is using exercise mode. I'm not sure we fully use it as intended, but it works for us. I know you're supposed to do it when you know hours ahead of time, which the only time we do that is he has double PE on Mondays where he has two peas right in a row. So it's always at the same time I know it, he knows it. So when he leaves for school in the morning, we switch to exercise mode. So that way, he doesn't have to eat as much. Because his insulin sensitivity, he goes from super sensitive, or no super resistant in the morning. And then somewhere around 10 3011 o'clock, he becomes super sensitive to insulin. Like he's been up and moving around for the day, he's hydrated, he's moving around. And all of a sudden, around that time, a couple hours after he wakes up, he becomes really insulin sensitive. And so the problem we were having is, how do you dose him in the morning when he's resistant, and not skyrocket the blood sugar but not crash a couple hours later, when he's now sensitive. And now that little bit of tail end of insulin that's left is now going to go further. And that insulin sensitivity catches it. So we'll go from 60 insulin sensitivity and I think at like 1030 or 11, I have like 130 to account for. If he's going low, it's going to catch it. But we generally don't have a problem with high so I'm not going to worry about it trying to correct anything right then in there. And then it drops back down into the 90s in the afternoon. And kind of stays there until bedtime when we drop it again. Because the the problem we have is using the sensitivity is what we're able to do is account for times when he's going to go low. So it catches it. Yeah, but also not be so aggressive. Because if we increase the basil, he's gonna go low when he doesn't need it, because he doesn't always need that much basil, but if we tell the algorithm, sometimes he's going to go low. And here's what it's going to take to catch it. But otherwise, this Basal is on point that then works then it works. We don't have to do a bunch of Basal rates we just have a bunch of insulin sensitivity is telling it Okay, right now it's gonna go further right now it's not going to right now it is right now it's not
Scott Benner 49:31
change the algorithms understanding of the impacts of the insulin.
Megan 49:35
Yeah. And so you know, there's some bad times where he will go crazy high and somewhere he won't Well, that's fine. We'll just have the Basal where it needs to be when he's fine. And then drop that insulin sensitivity or raise it, tighten it there we go to like 45. So that way we know if he's starting to rise. We've got to hit it hard. So we're telling it if you see that rise, you need to adjust it really hard at that point. Yeah. But otherwise, if he's fine, it's not really caring what that insulin sensitivity is doing. If you have a good blood sugar,
Scott Benner 50:10
I see what you're saying I use insulin sensitivity stop Arden from getting low overnight, because some, sometimes she'll try to get a little low around three, four o'clock in the morning. So in a while, and she has a less aggressive insulin sensitivity at that time of night that takes care of it.
Megan 50:29
Yep. So we've managed a lot through that. It's excellent.
Scott Benner 50:33
It really is. I can't tell you how exciting it is to hear someone just talking about this stuff on this level. And I'm wondering how you got to it, like, what is it? Like? What was what was it about your journey that led you to understanding this? Where did you get information from?
Megan 50:52
I have always felt that there is something like I always felt there was this like something that I was just always missing. And so that has led me I like to understand all aspects and all facets of a problem. So I started listening to Juicebox Podcast, the day of diagnosis, it was somehow in our welcome packet. And that was before the Pro Tip series. So I remember listening to it, and it'd be a completely foreign language. And just like I just got to push through. And just we'll figure it out as we go. And then ordered things like a pancreas and sugar surfing. And I think I started off with a good level of information, our endos office for as frustrated as I was with them, and the beginning, did a really good job of setting us up for success, I now understand that their job is to make sure that nobody dies, and that everyone feels supported. And then those early days you are going through it with such a large group of people in some of these larger practices that they've got to teach to the common denominator, and they can't, they can't allow me to do certain things without putting somebody else in that same class at risk. You know, because that person just isn't at a place for that.
Scott Benner 52:17
Do you feel like? Do you think that you can feel that way? Because you dug yourself out of a hole? Like what if you were still down in the hole? Wouldn't you think differently about how they managed, you
Megan 52:29
know, because they were, they were still presenting good information, just not as fast as I wanted it. And I remember other people in our class struggling with some of the same concepts where it was like, got it done. Next thing, like I had that a week ago. And you know, I know why they needed to go slower. I was just really frustrated. It took a lot of convincing me on their part, like I would call them when you when you're supposed to call and they'll give you your numbers, like you read your blood sugar numbers, and then they tell you what changes to make. I use that time as practice. And so I would come up with I think all the changes that need to be made. And then I will call on the numbers and say before you say anything, here's what I think. And here's why. What do you think, you know, and they will be like, Yeah, that sounds good.
Scott Benner 53:21
See, I may I say something? Not that, obviously, just a side note for a second. I see that as a slight negotiation. And I think that sometimes not your specific situation. But I used to do that I used to give my opinion before getting the other person's opinion. And then I started realizing that my opinion was impacting their opinion. I don't know. Anyway, that doesn't sound like it happened there for you. But I'm just always careful about that, like you can you can involve somebody in a thing and then put them in your mindset and then you don't get the benefit of what they were going to say. Had you not spoken first anyway.
Megan 53:58
Well, we had let them talk first. But what was happening, this is when I would say okay, but here's what they were like, oh, yeah, that's because you heard what I said. Like, you clearly still need our opinion, because that's where this is coming from. And so it was the Can we can I just tell you how I came up with my numbers, right? And why? And then we can have a discussion as to where the flaws are in my thinking why you think, you know, this number that you came up with is better, you know, helped me understand. And they were very willing to do that.
Scott Benner 54:31
Just generally what part of the country you're in.
Megan 54:33
Yeah, I'm we attend in Omaha. So we're in really rural Western Iowa.
Scott Benner 54:40
And you and there was something in your welcome packet about the podcast.
Megan 54:44
Yeah, we got like a JDRF. Like the blue backpack thing and somebody else had put other stuff in there, like some local parent or whatever. And there was a list of resources and think like a pancreas was on there. Juicebox Podcast was on there. And there were a couple others have Like just things you might be interested in, my husband is visually impaired. And so he stayed with my son in the hospital in Omaha, and I was the one who was driving back and forth and back and forth, and back and forth, you know, to take care of our kids. And then when they would go to school, I would drive to Omaha for education, and then stay there all day and then come back. And so during those drives, I was listening to Juicebox Podcast.
Scott Benner 55:27
Wow, that's very cool. You know, I'm unaware of what you know. But it's not like somebody calls me and says, Hey, we're gonna put your name on a thing, like, so I don't know if that's very cool.
Megan 55:37
Well, and I'm not sure how many people actually I'm one of those people that reads everything. I don't know how many people have actually read that known that that was there. But it was one of those. No, I'll take whatever help I can get. I am out of my element here.
Scott Benner 55:52
Good for you. Yeah. I mean, it's obvious that your, your, you know, how do I want to say this? After I speak to somebody privately, I can usually tell if they're going to be okay. And most of the time, it's more about their desire to be okay. And to meet things head on, I guess. And to do whatever work is coming their way than it is about anything else. Like, like, I think I really do have a very childish expectation that you get what you expect most of the time. So
Megan 56:25
Well, I remember in the very beginning, our Endo, the first indication they had that we were different. was we got in trouble for poking too much. Finger poking because we didn't have the Dexcom. At first, we were having issues with our insurance covering it, and it was a whole thing. And so we weren't on Dexcom. But you know, Miko was going to school. And I was like, Okay, well, he needs to poke when he you know, before breakfast, like half an hour after breakfast. So I can see what's happening. Is it? Is it going low? Is it going high? Did we miss and then before PE after PE before lunch by like a little bit so that way I can see if we need to Pre-Bolus or not. And then actually before, right after lunch before he goes out to play when he comes back when he and I like that's a lot. And I was like, but I need in order to manage properly. That's the information that I need. And that's why we want the Dexcom. And then I got the Dexcom. And that was overwhelming at first. Interesting because it was almost too much information.
Scott Benner 57:31
I got what she asked for. Hmm, yeah.
Megan 57:34
But that was a game changer was having all that information,
Scott Benner 57:38
we we would test 1110 1112 13 times a day when ordered. And I learned later after seeing Dexcom I actually did this with an adult through the Facebook group. She didn't have a CGM, yet she was trying to keep up with what we were talking about. So she made a plot and just kept test testing herself. You know, I'm making dots in front of me now testing yourself testing yourself testing yourself. And then she'd come by later and then connect the dots. And it would within reason give her a Dexcom graph. Not a great one, obviously. But it gave her the the better idea by just by connecting the dots.
Megan 58:17
We used to Well, we still do, we use tide pool. And so we would upload our pump, not our pump data. Our CGM, not CGM meter, there we go gonna get the right word, our meters into there from the school and from home in order to get the graph and whatnot. Before we had Dexcom. And actually, we still do it now because you can overlay the Dexcom with the finger graphs. And so it kind of when we have compression issues or like we have bad, a bad sensor that just calibration and won't hold and whatnot, we can still see what the numbers were actually doing overlaid on the Dexcom graph.
Scott Benner 58:57
Great at it when you talked about a meter. Were you talking about the contour meter available? No. Okay, that's what we got sent home with. Oh, you did? In fact, get sent home with the Contour Next One blood glucose meter?
Megan 59:08
Yes, we did. And I really liked it. And then they came back and said, Oh, whoops, your insurance doesn't cover that. You gotta go with this other one. And we are on a high deductible plan. Yeah. So we make it work with what we got. Gotcha.
Scott Benner 59:23
Well, I'll say that that sucks. But I do wish that you were able to go to contour next one.com forward slash juice box. And
Megan 59:33
actually, the thing that I loved the most about it was the size. Yeah, it was much, much smaller and the ability to do to try again,
Scott Benner 59:43
the second chance test trips. Yes, yeah.
Megan 59:46
Yes. That was a huge adjustment. Not to have and it still is super frustrating at times when you have to throw a strip away because you get an error for not enough blood.
Scott Benner 59:59
I'm really sorry that that was your experience, because it's possible that the test strips could cost less than cash than they do through your insurance for other meters.
Megan 1:00:08
Yeah, but because we're high deductible, we need everything to go through, because we hit that deductible every year. So for us, it makes more sense. And that was one area where I differ from Jeremy. I don't care about the numbers being super accurate, as much as the trends. That's one thing that makes us really lazy. If it's close enough, it's close enough. And we just,
Scott Benner 1:00:32
it's working with what you're saying is whether a blood sugar's really 110 or 115 or 120. You don't care if it's I don't care. Yeah, it's right. It's I'll tell you. That was a thing. So it's weird because there's, you know, there's before and after, right, there's before CGM, and after CGM, in my mind managing insulin. And before CGM, I had to give over to that idea. Like, one day I was just like, it can't matter. If he can't matter if she's really 80 or 90. It can't, it can't matter if she's 150 or 140. I just have to treat 80 and 90, and 70 and 100 as good and 140 and 150. And one ad is not good. And 200 to 10 is bad, like, you know, or whatever. However, I was thinking about it like simply in my head right? And move things in the direction that that indicated to me because because meters were not as good, but I'm joking aside. That Contour Next One meter is legit accurate, and the meters that I've had prior were not. And so I didn't know what was going on. And there was no CGM, and no, God knows, like, you didn't really know what your blood sugar was. I had that thought. Day four in the hospital when they brought out this. You know, this big thing that has starred in is blood sugar with and I said, are we getting one of those? And the nurse laughed and she goes, No, this thing's like $10,000 You're getting this. And she handed me that old like Gumdrop looking freestyle light meter or whatever it was, I forget exactly. So she tests Arden's blood sugar with the $10,000 meter, I test Arden's blood sugar with the freestyle meter. The tests are like 60 points different and I go, Well, how am I supposed to make a decision? She goes, just use that one. And I'm like, You just told me this one's accurate. And it's 60 points lower. And she was like, Yeah, I mean, this is the one you're getting.
Megan 1:02:27
Yeah. Okay. Yeah. So we kind of just roll with it. It's kind of a general, is he going higher? Is he lower? What are we working with and just making sure that the algorithm is taking care of it. And if it's not, we usually tweak ISF before we tweak basil. I'm not too worried if Basil is on point, more so than ISF. And every so often, I'll upload our information into T connect, and I look at the logbook report, which gives you the average basil delivered per hour. And I have an Excel spreadsheet, I input all those numbers, I average it out to kind of what it works out to be and that's my new Basal give or take how I feel.
Scott Benner 1:03:10
Wouldn't it be crazy if you started taking thyroid medication, your anxiety went away and you weren't able to pay as close attention to blood sugars.
Megan 1:03:18
I actually, um, I'm pretty chill when it comes to blood sugar really now, comparatively, having control IQ nailed down, there'll be whole days where I'll go, oh, shoot, I never looked. Is he like, Is my phone okay? Like, did did I miss something? And it's like, oh, no, no, we were good. And we've had a lot more days like that than not. Especially we were having issues with the cannula. And we switched over to the true steel sites. And that has been world's better. I'm excited to see what our a one C does, because we're not dealing with failed sites anymore. Because we were getting multiple field sites a week. And we'd catch them. And we were able to hit them hard and you know, manage it really well because of the pump. But it was still higher blood sugars than we would have liked.
Scott Benner 1:04:07
Yeah. Wow. That's really I mean, I'm generally Jen, Jesus. Oh my god, Megan, I gotta record twice today. And I gotta go get a COVID test for my pre op for my knee surgery. I'm sorry, I'm starting to feel the pressure. I can't find the words I'm looking for. But I am genuinely excited about the success you're having. It's really it's really, I mean, just It's heartwarming to hear how well you've done with all this, you know, especially while you're dealing with other stuff personally, that you're still you're still able to get to all this. What do you think the um, I don't usually ask questions like this, but I'm going to what do you think the secret is to getting through all this and kind of coming out the other side?
Megan 1:04:49
Knowing what's good enough. I was convinced the entire time for well, the long time that if I just got the numbers perfect. If I just figured out, you know, I got the data just right that everything would be okay. And it turns out just knowing the numbers isn't enough, you know, a lot of it is just guessing. And going with instinct, what feels like a good number, what doesn't, you know, the numbers will get you close. But you know, your, your kid or yourself best? You know, there are days when it's 120 at night, and you know, I'd like it lower, but like, I haven't slept in a few days. And you know, what, when 20 is good enough, I'm just, I'm just gonna leave it, it's fine. Sleep is important, you know, or he's in a test, it's okay. If he runs a little bit higher for the test, you know, he'd rather just not be interrupted. And that's, that's fine. You know, taking a longer term approach to every day isn't a test. But, you know, I look at when Jeremy was talking to him, I went looked at those same reports, we had the exact same results he was. And I was like, Okay, I guess what we're doing is work. And
Scott Benner 1:06:09
we'll see that's the other part of it is that you have to find what works for you. You know, and listen, your situation could change. I mean, your kids 12. Which are the hormones here yet? Yeah, right. How long did that start?
Megan 1:06:24
Couple months ago?
Scott Benner 1:06:25
Did things change when that happened? Yes.
Megan 1:06:30
Drastically are Ioss. tightened. We used to be like one to 10 for breakfast. We are now one to 5.5. And still, that's on days where he's active.
Scott Benner 1:06:44
So your car? Your Car? ratioed.
Megan 1:06:47
Yep. And we will basil used to be pretty steady around 10. And when he would exercise and whatnot, it would drop down. And we're now at 1718 with corrections. Still and whatnot. What's the way 8590? I don't know. He's growing like a weed and eating everything. Well, I don't know anymore.
Scott Benner 1:07:11
Interesting. What's his basil right now?
Megan 1:07:14
Seven teen, I think it's 18. Right now, for today. And it's still it's probably increasing it. So I'll have to look at it.
Scott Benner 1:07:23
Yeah, at the general theoretical point one per 10 pounds. That that at 80 pounds brings you like 19 ish pounds. Like, like 19 1819. Us. But before? How so? Just six months ago, you were getting away with 10 units of basil a day. versus 18. Now? Yep, yeah, and 10 divided by 24 is point four an hour. And now you are you more like point eight an hour. Now? Where are you? Um,
Megan 1:07:55
we are at this is gonna sound weird. We're at point six, five, okay, for most of the day, because he has PE and he does spontaneous play and all that other stuff that that is our conservative number and then our ISF will adjust it as needed. So that's kind of the midpoint between days when he's really active and days when he's not.
Scott Benner 1:08:16
So you have you have a lower Basal but a more aggressive insulin sensitivity factor?
Megan 1:08:21
Um, generally, yes. And then we kind of fudge it around. But point six five cents to be where he is he'll go sometimes. His evening Basil is 1.20 That's just overnight.
Scott Benner 1:08:39
Wow. So the insulin sensitivity then get weaker overnight.
Megan 1:08:46
It is at 45 Around eight and then at 10 it drops or raises whatever 270 And then at one o'clock it goes to 130 Well to account for any that is I'm pretty sure because we're really aggressive and that other part of night that basically that's to catch it in case we were too aggressive. And then he has we doesn't really have much Dawn phenomenon but he does have feet on the floor. I can see on his grasp the exact moment he woke up and got out
Scott Benner 1:09:25
of bed here. You described it earlier without actually calling it that. Yep.
Megan 1:09:31
So it'll it'll just rise like crazy.
Scott Benner 1:09:34
Do you think it would be cool if I call this episode lazy control IQ ninja? That's fine. I don't by the way, I did lazy I just think you found what works for you.
Megan 1:09:44
Yeah, I did want to touch on exercise mode because I mentioned it before how we use it. Besides PE we also use it Mike have on days when he's active will stay sensitive for hours later. So we keep it Going during that time to prevent those lows that happen, you know, four or five hours later after, you know swimming or after running or whatever, you know those lows that come later, we'll leave exercise mode on that. And then our endo had a great suggestion that we have started using, which is on days worth the he just goes low for no reason, you know, we just we can't seem to get him up, we will switch it to exercise mode while we figure it out. And that has saved us so many times from having to do full setting changes and whatever, we just have that one random day where they're just low, or their pancreas seems to be working. Exercise mode fixes that for us. Nice, you know, not treating it as exercise mode, but going like, no, what's 140 What you the algorithm thinks is 140 is actually 110. For us, in reality, for however his body is reacting to this insulin. So it's not that it's targeting more, it's just that we're telling it Hey, back off. And using it as a way to do that, instead of actually thinking of it as exercise.
Scott Benner 1:11:11
Yeah, interesting. I mean, there's, I kind of think of it as impacts, right, like so the exercise the exercise has an impact for him that you know, results in lower blood sugar. So if, if the impact is lower blood sugars, but it's not from exercise, who cares? You know, if the settings on the pump help from exercise, they very well may help for other reasons why blood sugar's would fall, even though they're unknown to you at the moment. Yep, that's great. I mean, calling it exercise mode is reasonable, but I mean, they could call it like, Hey, you're gonna get low mode, and
Megan 1:11:44
we treat it as a low Temp Basal mode, like a reduced Temp Basal mode is what we treat it as
Scott Benner 1:11:51
smart. That's great. Is there anything we haven't talked about that we should have?
Megan 1:11:55
Um, I don't think so. That was pretty much it.
Scott Benner 1:12:01
Do you still feel nervous about this? Are you okay with what you
Megan 1:12:03
know? I'm an extrovert. I feel comfortable once I start talking.
Scott Benner 1:12:07
I know that you were hard to shut off a couple of times. Yeah, sorry. It's okay. I'm very happy when people are excited to talk. That's excellent. I just want to make sure we don't miss anything. And I don't want to like I noticed this a little shorter of an episode that maybe you were expecting, but I literally have to get in the shower, get out of the shower and record again. No, you're fine. Yeah. Now everyone knows I'm showering in the middle of the day, although they didn't know it was the middle of the day till I just said it. So now. Now I feel silly for mentioning any of this. I want to just say one more time. I'm incredibly impressed with what you've figured out. And so many people that have come that come on here figured out I'm really grateful that you come on here and share it with other people as well. I do think these are the conversations that will lead to others finding their what works. And I think that's what's most important. Not that there's rules and we have to follow them. And if you don't follow them, then you're not going to succeed. I think there's a way for everyone to get the help they're looking for. Oh,
Megan 1:13:06
real quick, go ahead. The other difference between Jeremy and the way we manage is we do Pre-Bolus? Yeah, we have to with the way we manage, because for us, we have it set up so that way, you know even if it suspends when we're in that Pre-Bolus I know that it's going it increases the Basal on as soon as he starts to rise again. So it increases to cover that next bit. So we're not concerned with that with the way that our numbers are input in there. Okay, all right. Yeah, that makes sense. So it suspends a bit but then as it starts to see that rise, it adds that insulin back in.
Scott Benner 1:13:42
I was incredibly impressed when he said that because I don't know how to I don't know how to manage food without Pre-Bolus thing. So I
Megan 1:13:48
mean, there are times we don't, you know, sometimes we'll treat a dropping blood sugar as Pre-Bolus Or we'll add some extra because I know he's gonna want to eat right away. Yeah, well, that's my son's preference,
Scott Benner 1:13:59
word or pizza or stuff like that. I don't care if you Pre-Bolus Before you start eating. I don't even think about it's funny. I don't think so much about Pre-Bolus thing. Here's a deeper look into my mind. I don't think so much about Pre-Bolus thing about its connection to when you start eating I think about it as with the connection to when the food starts impact. Yep.
Megan 1:14:19
Yeah, so we do cereal once a week. His current kick is Reese's puffs. You know, it's been lucky charms or whatever. And that definitely needs that needs a 25 minute Pre-Bolus
Scott Benner 1:14:32
You know, you almost have to be falling when he starts to eat
Megan 1:14:35
it. Yeah, sometimes if he's falling too quickly, we will have him take up he eats a banana, too. You know, we do all the foods that are scary in the morning. He eats chocolate chip Eggo waffles and bananas and regular yogurt. You live
Scott Benner 1:14:50
in Iowa. You're nowhere near an ocean. You don't know how to live. I mean, you're landlocked. What
Megan 1:14:55
do you want? 28 pre diagnosis. We just decided we'd sit down and figure it out.
Scott Benner 1:14:58
I understand. Have you ever had a good piece of fish or you wouldn't even know. Right?
Megan 1:15:02
I grew up in Southern California. Yes. Okay.
Scott Benner 1:15:06
How do you make it to Iowa from Southern you follow that boy there?
Megan 1:15:09
Yeah, I did. I love them.
Scott Benner 1:15:12
I can tell. All right, well, I really appreciate you doing this. Thank you so much.
First, let's thank Megan for coming on the show being so honest and sharing her lazy ninja perspective with us. And of course, we want to thank Dexcom, makers of the Dexcom G six and remind you to go to dexcom.com forward slash Juicebox Podcast of course was also sponsored today by us med head to us med.com Ford slash juice box or call 888-721-1514. And don't forget to go to T one D exchange.org. Forward slash juice box and take that survey. I'd like to thank you for listening today. And if you hold on one second, I'll give you the the episode number of the control IQ ninja episode which people uniformly seem to love. Episode 662 titled control IQ ninja. Jeremy is a tandem control IQ Ninja is the description. Jeremy is the father of a boy who has type one diabetes. And I was incredibly impressed with his knowledge of control IQ. It's well worth your time. That's pretty much it. Check out the Facebook group Juicebox Podcast type one diabetes. I'm on Instagram if you care. holidays are coming up. I appreciate that you continue to listen and download the show. I hope you have a happy holiday. A merry whatever. Happy this and that. Whatever you do you know what I mean? I will be back soon. And by soon I mean tomorrow with another episode of The Juicebox Podcast. There's no holiday here, baby. We make a podcast here. All right. Every day one's supposed to come one comes quality, quality, quality, non stop. Doesn't stop doesn't stop. Here it comes again. I'm feverish a little bit from the illness. So let me just apologize and bow out of this
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#799 Type Two Stories: Michael
Michael has type 2 diabetes and uses insulin.
You can always listen to the Juicebox Podcast here but the cool kids use: Apple Podcasts/iOS - Spotify - Amazon Music - Google Play/Android - iHeart Radio - Radio Public, Amazon Alexa or wherever they get audio.
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DISCLAIMER: This text is the output of AI based transcribing from an audio recording. Although the transcription is largely accurate, in some cases it is incomplete or inaccurate due to inaudible passages or transcription errors and should not be treated as an authoritative record. Nothing that you read here constitutes advice medical or otherwise. Always consult with a healthcare professional before making changes to a healthcare plan.
Scott Benner 0:00
Hello friends, and welcome to episode 799 of the Juicebox Podcast.
On today's episode of The Juicebox Podcast, we'll be speaking with Michael Michaels in his early 60s. He's a teacher, a musician, and he has type two diabetes. That's right, today is another in the type two Story series, as I try to have as many conversations as I can with people living with type two diabetes, so that we can understand it more fully. While you're listening, please remember that nothing you hear on the Juicebox Podcast should be considered advice, medical or otherwise, always consult a physician before making any changes to your health care plan, or becoming bold with insulin. If you have type one diabetes, or are the caregiver of someone with type one and are a US resident, I'm asking if you'll please go to T one D exchange.org. Forward slash juice box and fill out the survey. T one D exchange.org. Forward slash juice box join the registry complete the survey whole thing should take you fewer than 10 minutes, you're going to be helping people with type one diabetes moving type one diabetes research forward. And you might even be helping yourself T one D exchange.org. Forward slash juicebox.
This show is sponsored today by the glucagon that my daughter carries. G voc hypo Penn Find out more at G Vogue glucagon.com forward slash juicebox. today's podcast is also sponsored by the Contour Next One blood glucose meter. Get yourself accurate results. With this easy to carry, easy to use, and beautifully made blood glucose meter contour next one.com forward slash juice box check out the Contour. Next One. There are links in the show notes of your podcast player and links that juicebox podcast.com to G voc Contour. Next One and all of the sponsors. When you click on the links, you're supporting the podcast. Hi, everybody.
Michael 2:14
This is Michael. I'm a type two diabetic since 2006. And I live in Oklahoma.
Scott Benner 2:22
- That's a good long time. That's excellent. Not excellent for you. It's excellent for the conversation. Why do you have such a nice microphone, Michael?
Michael 2:33
Oh, well, I'm a musician. Oh, no kidding. Yeah, and a music teacher. And during the pandemic, I did quite a bit of teaching from home. So I put together a really good gear. I actually had a better camera than this. But I know we didn't need a camera. So I didn't set all that up there. I had to have good sound to effectively teach. How's my level?
Scott Benner 2:56
Your listen besides Jenny, you're gonna sound the best anybody's ever sounded on this podcast. That's terrific.
Michael 3:03
I understand. Yeah,
Scott Benner 3:03
I just sent me a new microphone. Oh, good. I did you can really she had a good one. Well, yeah. And then I got her a better one. And then one day, I was like, What am I doing? I just sent her a really good mic. And she sounds terrific now. So
Michael 3:17
people always asked me if I'm a podcaster. Because when I do zoom meetings, I've got all this good gear. Yeah,
Scott Benner 3:25
I actually have a second computer that you can't see. So when I do business stuff, I'm not sitting in front of this microphone talking to people, because that's a good idea. It became obvious to me that people are just the whole time like, what is he wearing headphones, you know? Anyway. So you know, I guess I'd like to really, you know, I'm doing my best. And it's funny, you corresponded with me the other day, and you were almost like, do you really still want to do this, because you haven't had many type twos on, but it is not for lack of trying. Gotcha. And as a matter of fact, I had an interesting conversation, I don't think I should say with the company, which company it was, but I had an interesting conversation the other day with my liaison at one of the companies. And I said, You guys are going to get more to type two in the next couple of years. Right? They said, Yeah, we want to and I said, Well, I want to as well. I'm trying to have more type twos on the podcast. It's very difficult to get them to, to talk about it. And I think and I feel like I understand why but it wasn't an impediment for you. So my first question is, did you have any, any thoughts of like, oh, I don't want to do this or do you not mind people knowing
Michael 4:36
I had none of those thoughts. I actually like talking to people about it, particularly people in the same kind of situation that I was in. So no, I have no reservations whatsoever. I appreciate that. And I think listening to the podcast is one of the reasons why you have so many people on and they're you know they're they're also forthcoming for the most part I'm, and I thought, well, I've got a story. And I've got things that I can share that are not only similar but different. I think there'll be some unique things about my story that you may not have heard before.
Scott Benner 5:12
Okay, well, I'm thrilled about this, I really am, I want so much for people with type two to be able to understand their situation better. I feel like I speak to a lot of people with type two who just this thing is happening to them. And they're on a ride and wherever it leads them is where it's going to lead them. And I don't think that needs to be the case for them. So I guess tell me how old were you when you were diagnosed?
Michael 5:36
Let's see. 2006. Terrible. Listen, how old are you now? I'm 6363. Yeah, so you do the math from
Scott Benner 5:48
let's say 2006 to 16 is 10. And then four more gets you to 20. And then two more gets you to 22. So that's 16 that we take six minus three. That's 41567. And then that's now a five. You were 47.
Michael 6:06
Okay, well, yeah, I was I was pre diabetic for many years, my mother was diabetic her entire adult life, my sister is very severely diabetic. So I knew it was coming. And I still didn't do anything about it. I
Scott Benner 6:19
knew it was coming. Like you saw symptoms and and similarities. Were just you thought this has to happen to me, it's happening to everybody else
Michael 6:26
a little both by you know, I had doctors telling me, you know, I've always been overweight, and the doctors knew my history. And it's like, you know, you're pre diabetic, and you need to change your ways, or it's going to happen to you.
Scott Benner 6:42
Was there anything about their warning that led you to change preemptively or No,
Michael 6:49
not a thing. I, you know, I have had a very busy life and career and I just basically ignored it for a long time until I couldn't ignore it anymore. What happened
Scott Benner 7:02
that made it impossible to ignore?
Michael 7:07
Well, I did doctor a lot, you know, I have a couple of other things that are, you know, major health issues, you know, and they check your blood sugar, and they just kept saying, you know, you're there. And I didn't really feel symptoms, like excessive thirst and, you know, excessive urination for a few years after that. They immediately put me on Metformin, and Glyburide. And a couple other things, you know, so I took pills for a long time. And Metformin, for me has been toxic, which is part of my story. You know, I just pretty much took the pills and ate what I wanted to hardly ever exercised, I worked a ton raised a family all that is just basically something that I had to take pills for. And, you know, we all know now I was so uneducated, it was ridiculous. We all know now that you know, it's not and that's gonna catch up to you. And it did. It clearly did catch up to me.
Scott Benner 8:15
I have a question. Two questions, actually, when they're telling you, you're there. Do they give you context to that and a one C or Yeah, okay. Do you know what it was?
Michael 8:24
I don't remember. I know, I can't remember. I do know the highest my once he has gotten through all this was 8.9. Which, you know, isn't ridiculous. My my sister sometimes is, you know, in the teens. Really? Yeah. Yeah, she's
Scott Benner 8:45
uptight, too. Yes, she, oh, gosh, these I'm not as practiced as these conversations. But do you have to eat yourself to an agency like that? Or is it a severity level inside your body and doesn't matter what happens just some people have higher frequencies?
Michael 9:01
I think, you know, it's a little both with her. She she's, you know, really taking care of herself now, but still struggling. Sometimes her agency is great. Other times, it's really high. She sometimes has blood sugar levels in the five hundreds, you know, and she has infections in her feet that have gotten really bad. So, you know, she's been hospitalized several times for these infections and almost lost one of her feet. And she's not you know, she's so scared to death of it. Now. She's, it's not a matter of her food intake. Okay, something else going on with her and her her diabetes is much more severe than mine is her body's
Scott Benner 9:41
just Yeah. And I want to be clear about when I said food intake, I didn't mean like, it's weird. I didn't mean just like massive over eating. I just meant I meant carbs that your body can't cover like you put in more carbs than your system can handle. Yeah. And but that's something else. Okay, so so back to you. You're there, but you still wait a little bit, but then once they, I'm gonna guess they push the pills on you right? At some point. Oh, yeah, they try to scare you in a doctor's office or do you get one of those conversations? No, no,
Michael 10:14
I have great doctors. They're not scaring me. They're just saying, you know, we need to treat this and this is how we treat it, bam. And I'm doing it. And then, you know, I graduated to injectables. And I did that for a long, long time, until actually a year ago, when I went MDI,
Scott Benner 10:36
okay, so you started with metformin? Yeah, but did it leave you with a feeling of like, Oh, I'm taking the pill now. So I don't have to change anything. Exactly. Okay.
Michael 10:47
Being go. You know, it was just a kind of a thing I did every day, and I ignored it. I hardly ever checked my levels. And I did that for, you know, 10, well, longer than 10 years,
Scott Benner 11:02
10 years, 10 years, you're taking the Metformin, eating what you want? Yes, not really checking your blood sugar, when you say not really checking your blood sugar daily, weekly? How do you do it? Oh,
Michael 11:15
just every once in a while it was you know, sometimes I'd go months without checking it. You know, my brain was like, you're taking the pills. It's okay. They check your agency in the doctor's office. And, you know, we get up to seven, something. I wrote, I wrote it seven to seven, three for a years and years and years. So then it started creeping up a little bit, and I got an endocrinologist. And he got me down to like 6.5. With other medications. That's when I went on trulicity and some other things before we still on Metformin. Before
Scott Benner 11:57
we talked about that. Let me ask one last kind of backward looking question. I'm sure with 16 years of hindsight, taking the pills, I'm okay, I'm taking the pills. Did you believe that? Or did you talk yourself into believing it? Or is that what you? Do you know what I'm saying? Like, or was it just a convenient way to ignore what was happening?
Michael 12:16
Yeah, that it was more that. You know, I was, like I said, working a lot. And I had a high of other health issues that were bothering me too. And it was kind of hit just head in the sand. Yeah. You know about my health in general. That wasn't a priority, or you put it that way. Are you comfortable
Scott Benner 12:35
sharing your other health issues? Or are they not sure? No.
Michael 12:39
I have psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis, which is an autumn immune thing, and I take some pretty heavy medication for that. You know, and some other things, but those are the biggies. Those are the two biggies in my life. Okay.
Scott Benner 12:53
So the idea there is it's cascading right, you pick the what seems like the worst thing at the moment. And you focus on that. You go to doctor's appointments, use up your thought process your cycles on that, and then there's nothing left for the rest of it afterwards. Is that about right?
Michael 13:11
Yes, I think that's a really great way to characterize it.
Scott Benner 13:15
Yeah. I've noticed that in even my own life with myself or hand helping my kids, there's just not enough hours in the day, there's not enough energy, there's not enough time, you still have to work and you start, it's, I don't know, it's like the house is burning down. Just put the water where the biggest fire is, is how it feels sometimes,
Michael 13:36
you know, it's procrastination and taking the easiest path for the moment because you've got everything hitting you, you know, and that that's pretty much the way I live my life.
Scott Benner 13:45
Part of onslaughts if part of what I noticed with Arden, is that even after you, you stop everything, and you think, Okay, I'm going to focus on this problem. And you find what looks like a direction, and you decide, I'm going to handle this. And then you go to the doctor and you leave the doctor, and it doesn't feel like anything happened. And you go it was whole thing was just the waste of time. We're not we're not getting anywhere. You know, the truth is, though, it's persistence. Like you just had to keep hammering away, and you have to have the mind to collate everything or to make lists and draw lines and make yourself see see the connections, you know, because I do think as great as some doctors are, it is still on you a little bit to connect the dots. A lot, maybe.
Michael 14:40
No doubt. Yeah, no doubt about that. Yes. You know, and if you put it off, it's going to be harder and harder. It's just like, any habit that you need to form. If you don't face it, I tell my students face your weaknesses with sword in hand. You know, it's kind of a dramatic statement for saying don't Don't put off, you know, fixing these issues that you have. And I did that for, you know, 16 years, right. Finally, finally, a year ago from now, I got another endocrinologist, the old one left the country. So I kind of just was going with my GP, who was keeping my medications up, and, you know, trying a few things here and there. But finally, I, I, I was having a lot of problems with my professional life related to the side effects. And that's what, you know, that's what gave me the wherewithal to really go after it,
Scott Benner 15:42
meaning, the side effects like gastric issues and trying to do your job at the same time or one,
Michael 15:48
that's one of them. You know, I was thirsty constantly. I had to pee all the time, it was really an inconvenience. But the thing that really put me over the top is, I'm a trumpet player, professional trumpet player. That's how I make my living. I teach trumpet at the university level, and I play in orchestras and all sorts of things. And suddenly, you know, here I am 60 years old, and my endurance on the instrument, which is a factor, you know, you have to have great endurance to be a working trumpet player. It just, it just went in the crapper. I couldn't, I would play great for 10 or 15 minutes, and then crash, everything would crash. And this went on for a long time. And I was thinking I'm gonna have to quit, you know, which of course I can't do yet. And I started researching why this would be a talk to a lot of people. And I started checking on the side effects of metformin. And I didn't really find anything at first. And then I discovered a, an academic paper on Metformin, and lactic acid buildup. Oh, and I discovered that Metformin causes you to hold on to lactic acid longer in some people longer than normal. And you know, the muscles here are the muscle in my face, you know, next to my lips, would be the muscles that would break down. And I thought, Gosh, I wonder if that's a Metformin doing this because nothing else made sense. So I went to my endocrinologist and I said, first thing, I have to get off Metformin, I told her why she was all for it. Up to this point, I should say that I had a misconception about insulin. In my mind, somehow, I don't know how going on insulin, to me was just the beginning of the end, I thought that I should be delaying going on insulin as long as possible. I just didn't know. I don't know where I got that thought. But I thought that insulin was like the last resort, which of course, is, you know, a terrible way to think. So, you know, I was doing all these other drugs in Bacana. You know, Metformin, and trulicity. So, I just, I found a Facebook group, it was a, you know, maybe the Dexcom group or the Omni pod group, and then I found your group. And she got me off Metformin, and on on MDI, and she did it right away. And within three or four days, my endurance started to come back. I mean, it didn't take long at all, it suddenly, these issues that I have not been able to get through a concert or even a practice session. were gone. It wasn't it wasn't gradual at all. It's just almost instant. So she got me on MDI, and I read, think like a pancreas. And I started listening to your podcast, I listened to all the, the basic ones, and, you know, not to be too sappy about this, but I think that saved my life. That saved my career without question that saved my career. Because it taught me that using insulin in the right way was a very healthy way to deal with your diabetes. I also changed my diet of course, you know, I didn't just, you know, go on insulin say it's good. Well,
Scott Benner 19:34
were you able to start exercising?
Michael 19:37
I still haven't really done that. Okay. You know, I still have all those jobs. My kids are grown and out of that house, but yeah, the swerea Attic arthritis is a is a factor there. I have also really big time back issues. So I can't really walk very far I don't have the ability to swim anywhere or do Anything like that regularly? So, you know, I have terrible discipline when it comes to exercising. So unfortunately, I have not been able to throw that into the pod maybe, I don't know, maybe you want to retire, but I won't make any promises there.
Scott Benner 20:12
You know, I find myself right now recovering from COVID, which turned into bronchitis. And so I'm currently on a, on a steroid pack. Yes, it's I find myself twice this year on a steroid pack. The first time was in the summer when I got hit by something and had like this very bizarre allergic reaction. Anyway, the point is, is I've now used the steroid pack twice in like a six or eight month, eight month span. And as soon as I start taking it, I start losing weight. My back stops hurting. My digestion gets easier. And I was standing in the shower today getting ready to talk to you and I thought, I'm going to call a rheumatologist. And I'm going to set an appointment and just tell them that story and see what happens. Because I'm, there's it's clear that some sort of inflammation is slowing me down. Yes, I mean, on a normal day, I couldn't sit here and twist in this chair like this. My back would be stiff and it would hurt. And I mean, painful. And if I overstretched it, it would hurt for days after that. Yeah, and steroid pills three days and mom, okay.
Michael 21:22
Prednisone is a magical drug. I thought it was working like that, though. They thought it was going to cure everything. And then they discovered the long term side effects. I had COVID for eight weeks, I had long COVID. I'm just now getting my taste back. The first time I had it, it was like a cold for two days. But the second one really killed me. And I had terrible fatigue every day, for two months. Fortunately, I'm on sabbatical. So I was able to handle it schedule wise. But I had some dose packs in there, too. There are terrible lung issues. You know,
Scott Benner 22:03
I had six, seven days in the middle where my fevers just went, I was just hot and cold, hot and cold, constantly couldn't sleep. But I was incredibly tired. I'd sat I'd sit up to five in the morning, just like a wake like I was like I was on something, you know, that I'd fall asleep at six wake up at nine, there are five or six episodes of this podcast, where I don't know how I did them. And I'm never gonna tell you which ones are which. But I would get done sometimes and be like, Well, that was it for me today. Like focusing and having a conversation for an hour, then I was done.
Michael 22:34
And you didn't have any choice is like, Okay, I have to lie down now no matter what's on your schedule. Yeah, it happened to me.
Scott Benner 22:41
Right? How were your blood sugar's during the illness?
Michael 22:45
Well, they're kind of up and down because of the steroids. You know, I was trying to compensate for them, but didn't have a lot of experience with that plus them getting steroid injections into my back at the same time. And so I think I handled it okay. But, you know, my agency went up a little bit during that time, you know, two points. Well, two tenths of a point, I should say. So I think I weathered it pretty well, actually.
Scott Benner 23:13
Great. So you said you went from Metformin to injectables? And I want to clarify that for people who might not understand because they might have thought you went right to insulin, but you didn't you went to some of those medications. You said trulicity. Were there other things in there?
Michael 23:27
Oh, I was on trulicity and other pills for a long time, until a year ago is when I went MDI, okay, but trulicity or something like it, you know, I tried ozempic for a little while. And I was doing Invokana, Metformin. Glyburide. Want maybe one other in there. And, you know, in November of last year, is when I went to her and said, I want to get off that so that I can save my career.
Scott Benner 24:04
Yeah. Did any of those medications impact your weight?
Michael 24:09
Yes, actually. Trulicity helped me keep my weight down. For me, that's still really high. But I was very consistent while I was on trulicity. And since I dropped her licitly and went on insulin, I've gained 30 pounds. Okay, which is the issue I need to address now. I didn't know at the time that insulin can cause you to gain weight and that it's very common to gain weight on insulin. Everything else got so much better. I was just giddy. You know, my plan came back to normal and
Scott Benner 24:43
felt like you could eat again the way you wanted to and all that.
Michael 24:47
I actually changed and, you know, went low carb. And that was a discovery period. You know, I discovered that I have to eat some carbs. I can't go no carb
Scott Benner 25:00
making crazy after a while. Oh, gosh.
Michael 25:03
It's amazing what that does to you.
Scott Benner 25:05
So long time ago before people talked about it like this. I read a book. And the doctor was like, you know, if you go low carb it was this the diet kind of like a diet fad. I forget what it was. And my wife and I did it when we were really young. We were like, in our 20s. And I lost like, a bunch of weight. She did too. And, but there was this day, we sat down at dinner, and I was like, I can't eat another fun chicken wink. Like, I'm gonna, I'm gonna I'm gonna I'm really I can't, I can't, like I just can't like and the grease that would go not even like not like we were cooking pounds up hamburger and drinking or anything but like, just something with like grease in it. Like every day. You're like, I can't I just can't do this anymore. But I can't believe I can't think of what that diet fad was called back then. Yeah, Atkins. Atkins. That's exactly right. Yeah. But yeah, I know, I know what you mean, like, every once in a while, you're just like, Can I have a piece of bread please? Like, I just want to, I want the texture my mouth to change, you know?
Michael 26:06
Well, that's that's one point. But for me, it was, you know, I would eat to get through to my island. Next meal without shakes or weakness. Oh, and if I didn't have any carbs at all, I couldn't do that. I would be really out of sorts, mentally and physically. So I finally discovered I had to have a little bit for each meal. Do you
Scott Benner 26:30
think some of those injectables, were lowering your blood sugar too far without the carbs?
Michael 26:35
No, I wasn't having lows. Okay. Just, it feels the same. But for some reason, I need that in my diet. It's interesting, okay, I, you know, kind of cut way back on them. You know, I used to, you know, not concern myself with any carbs at all. And so I became more aware of how damaging that is. But I, I really, am careful to not overdo it.
Scott Benner 27:03
Okay, I do want to highlight one thing you said and talk about it for a second, he said, I didn't realize that the insulin caused me to gain weight, I always think it's important to tell people that insulin doesn't make you gain weight. Insulin helps you store the calories you eat. And it's just important for them to have that context. So if you're taking in a surplus of calories, your body's gonna store it as fat. And the Insulin helps the storage process, you may not be gaining weight, while your blood sugars are super high. But you're just you're killing yourself in a different way. And your body's not able to store some of those calories the same way. So you can like you know, when you hear people's diagnosis stories with type one, and a lot of them will say I was eating everything I wanted and losing weight. And I thought I finally did it. You know what I mean? I finally figured out the code. It doesn't work that way. But then people get it into their heads. Well, I can't take insulin, because insulin will make me gain weight. And so I'm here to tell you insulin doesn't make you gain weight. Insulin stores the food that you take in those calories. That is where that comes from.
Michael 28:07
Well, I knew that and, you know, my agency has gone up a little bit and my weight has gone up a lot. And, you know, I think I don't have as much I figured out how to eat less carbs. Right. But I'm a lot hungrier and I think not being on trulicity as part of that I might go back on it. I saw my endocrinologist yesterday. And she wants me to put put me on a new drug that name I'm blanking on right now. It's brand new, it's only been out a couple of months. It's used for diabetics, and also, you know, weight control.
Scott Benner 28:46
You know, there's a lot of consternation right now in the media, because when I forget one of the drugs, it's a type two drug injectable that also helps with weight, I must say got popular amongst influencers online. Yeah, now there's a shortage of it. And there's a section of people are very upset, like, you know, they're using diabetes, drugs and everything. But what people might not know, is companies are marketing those drugs that way. And then they develop them while they were developed them, developing them for type two. And along the way, they realized this is an effective weight loss thing to they're not trying to hide that it isn't people. It's not like people going like, ooh, could I figure it out? I mean, it's all in the company. They they marked it for two different things. If they're running out of it, they need to make more of it not right. You know what I mean? Like you can't blame the guy on tick tock, you figured out he could lose 100 pounds on trulicity euros and pack or something like that. So and we'll
Michael 29:44
Trulicity is made by Lilly, and they that's exactly what happened with them. So this new drug is also made by Lilly, and it's supposed to be improved trulicity Okay, so basically they, they refined it. And it's supposed to be much more effective in both areas weight loss and in blood sugar control. And it's only been out like two months. So I think maybe this new drug is in part a response to what you just said. Yeah.
Scott Benner 30:21
Well, I hope it will. I hope you get it. And I hope it works for you. Yeah, I hope to Yeah. I mean, it's, listen, like, well, we can sit here, you know, there's a whole different way to have this conversation, right? You could be on a different podcast, they might be like, you know, get out there and work out. I don't care if your back hurts, blah, blah. And listen, they might be right. I always think those people don't take into account. You know, when you you know, when you hear somebody say, it's a famous personal say, like, just work out. It's not that hard. And I think, yeah, sure. You have $1.9 million in your bank account. You get up in the morning, and you go, here's what I'm gonna do today, I'm gonna have a breakfast, I'll sit with the kids for a bit. I'll go for a walk with the dog. I'll work out. I'll go make my podcast for two hours. And then like, yeah, if we all had lives like that, then I can see turning to everybody go on, you're lazy, go work out like you've got all this free time, your life and my life, to be honest, but yours more specifically? I don't imagine you find yourself standing around a lack of oh, I don't know what to do next. Yeah, right. So you can tell people, and I don't think it's wrong, get exercise, move around. You have to It's incredibly important. But I don't think that means that for the people who can accomplish that for either reasons of, you know, deteriorating health, time, money, whatever it is, that doesn't make those people right off. If injecting something in their ass once in a while, he's gonna make him lose 50 pounds, like, you know, like, alright, it's not the perfect way to do it. And it might not be the way that some people want. But everybody deserves to have the best, healthiest, easiest life possible. And I say do what works. You know,
Michael 32:02
fortunately, that's what my Endo, that's her approach. Right? Now. She's she's not lecturing me about less calorie intake. Although she did want me to do bariatric surgery, that's a whole nother issue. She was really pushing that on me. And, you know, I really looked into it. And it just decided it wasn't going to be for me. I mean, I was pretty positive. I couldn't even do what's required to qualify for the surgery. You know, there's a whole laundry list of things that you've got to prove to them that you can do in terms of diet and exercise, right? that I thought would be unrealistic for me plus, I, you know, you just hear all the horror stories. My daughter is has a master's degree in nutrition. And she was adamant that I not do it. So other than that, and you know, she accepted my decision, she did not press, and she doesn't press on. The other thing is either she just helps me deal with things. I mean, after a month of listening to your podcast and reading, think like a pancreas. I went to her and said, I want to be on in CGM, an insulin pump and she did it immediately. That's great. I mean, I got on Omni pod five weeks after I started in MDI. So you know, it takes an endocrinologist support to make that happen. Sure
Scott Benner 33:25
to us. Yeah, especially right now. CGM. For example, if you're type two, you could really benefit from a CGM. I don't think it's available to you through insurance unless you're using insulin. I think that's how it's written right now.
Michael 33:44
And I got the CGM first,
Scott Benner 33:46
did you really? That's great. Yeah,
Michael 33:48
I got the CGM when I went on an MDI when I started in,
Scott Benner 33:52
but you're on insulin? Yes, yeah.
Michael 33:55
Oh, that's right. Yeah.
Scott Benner 33:57
To get a CGI at the way it's written. Now, I know that. Yeah, I don't think it should be that way. I believe that. I think if someone would have put a CGM on you, 10 years ago, yes, it would have made you think, oh, hell, this is not going nearly as well as I thought it was, I did have to do something else.
Michael 34:16
Without a doubt, having that information in your face on a daily or hourly basis would have changed things much earlier for me. And if I just simply had the information that insulin works better, and is not the beginning of the end, if I just known that. I think I probably you know, could have gotten to this point five or six years earlier.
Scott Benner 34:41
Yeah. It's such a shame when you were talking about earlier because by thinking that, Oh, insulin, that's the last step before I die, because that's what you were thinking, right? Yes. So, you know, so you're trying to stave this off? Yes. Meanwhile, had you started it the last decade of your life might have been In a better I guess is the word you know
Michael 35:04
yeah I think probably overall I would have been much healthier and much more aware I I just pretty much you know put it on the bottom shelf and didn't really think about it and took the pills religiously you know I did doctor you know, I got my a one C checked every three months and it stayed fairly in the range until it didn't.
Scott Benner 35:33
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If you could put yourself in front of a bunch of people who are in your situation. Why do you think a couple of questions? You're here doing this so you don't have whatever issue it is that I kind of brought up at the beginning. But when you look online, there's this vibrant community around type one diabetes. Yeah. And you would think you would think the numbers were mixed. You would think that there were hundreds of millions of people with type one diabetes, and a million and a half people with type two diabetes based on the on the way their voices are amplified. But instead it's completely flip flopped, right? There's so many people who have type two, it's not a big community people I've seen companies and organizations try to start type two stuff. It they never take off, communities don't take off. I have type two people on and then get a couple of notes inevitably stop having type twos on. And I'm like, this is a podcast for type ones that I'm like, this is a podcast, people have diabetes. And it's not a contest. Yeah. And if you you know, people are gonna hear your story. And previous I have been able to get some people with type two to come on all of their stories. I have to be honest with you, I don't know them up front when you come on. And but now you're the third person that told me I have type two diabetes, I found your type one diabetes podcast. And I'm better off now. I did not expect that. I'm happy about it. But now how do you like how do I get this information into the world so that other people in your situation list that and go okay, so insulins not death or I'm not failing if I do this? Or if I can't lose 100 pounds magically on my own first. Do you have thoughts about how to get through to people on that?
Michael 39:33
Well, first of all, I would say that most of us that are on some kind of pills or even injectables, its head in the sand. We're not dealing with it like type one people are when it's life and death. You know, I feel like a second class citizen in these forums. And when I listen to the podcast because type one is so much more serious. I feel so the pain I feel For these parents who are up all night and scared to death, their child is going to die in the night. And having to deal with that seems just so much more significant than what I've had to deal with. And I think a lot of type twos, you know, they're just, it's, they say it's a slow death, but you know, there, it's not in their face. So it's really easy to put it on, like I say, on the bottom shelf, or put your head in the sand. And, you know, I wouldn't have read that book, there's no way I would not have found your podcast, I had to go after it, I finally had enough and just decided I needed to figure this out. And I, you know, like everything else, I did some research. And that, that's what led me to it. But I don't think a lot of type twos, you know, who are not feeling great symptoms, and they're, you know, I was that way for over 10 years. I just don't think it's on their plate, or right in front of them on a regular basis. It
Scott Benner 41:04
really is, I guess it really is what I've been thinking forever, which is just that if it's not going to kill you today, then it doesn't put it at the top of your list. And then it It eats at you so slowly. And then there's this moment where you fall off a cliff. And it's too late by that. And so so when it's when you have time to handle when there's when it's the time to take care of it, you don't feel the push to take care of it. By the time you feel the push. It's probably over.
Michael 41:32
I don't think it's ever too late. No, no, tell me. Well, I'm a good example of that, you know, my symptoms went away, just, you know, by controlling my sugars that I had totally ignored before. And, you know, I think I'm gonna live a long life. There's no indication otherwise, heart is strong. So I don't think I mean, sure, you can keep your head in the sand until you're on death's door. But at some point, even for me, he's 1516 years after diagnosis at some point, if you can get to the point where hey, I really need to address this, I can't ignore it anymore. Right? Then I think you can not recover, right? You don't recover from it. But
Scott Benner 42:28
the back manage it and your and your body can recover. It just might not be back to when you were 25 but I appreciate you putting more context to that because that is what I meant. I didn't mean like you know, if you wait five years, it's too late. Just jump out a window. I you know, I meant like what happens when your body tips over to the point where there's no return? But yeah, there. If you're listening to this, today's the day you don't I mean that you weren't great wasn't Yeah, your agency needs to be lower and it needs to be stable. You need to be able to eat food without seeing large spikes that lasts forever. I if it's a CGM that helps you, you know, being fastidious with a meter using insulin. You know, I don't know some of these injectables are once weekly. I don't know how much they help people or don't I've never talked to anybody that's, you know, I mean, do they keep your agency to seven but you don't check all week. So you don't know if your blood sugar's 250 or 300. It's like I don't know how it works. You know, that's how it works. Yes. Eisley so so you, so it's giving you it's giving you lower overall numbers, but it's not. Yes. He's not killing a lot of variability. Nope. Okay.
Michael 43:40
Let's still have the spikes. It just takes you back. Yes. Yeah.
Scott Benner 43:45
What was it? What was it like to go from those injectables to insulin? What was your learning curve on? on figuring out how to cover your meals and you're taking basil? I imagine too. Yeah.
Michael 43:57
Yeah. Well, I'm a gadget guy, man. I love gadgets. I love figuring out technology. And so I went all in. You know, I put a ton of effort into learning about how these devices work, and, frankly, your podcast defining diabetes that that series and it was eye opening for me and it, it just made me want to get it to work like you make Arden's work. Right, I was I was inspired to do that. And so that, you know, I wanted the tech and I wanted it fast. And fortunately, my endocrinologist knew how to get that out of my insurance company. You know, because I didn't like MDI. But I saw the results through MDI, and then, you know, I'm hearing about Omni pod and I'm like, that it's going to work with my lifestyle better than anything else that I've seen, and I can't wait until I can get Omnipod od 500. That's
Scott Benner 45:01
so interesting because that stuff should work with that should work so well for a typo. It really should. Right? Yeah, that's, that's an exciting idea. Are you eligible for that?
Michael 45:14
No, no, it's, it's not indicated for type two. But my endocrinologist told me yesterday, I saw her yesterday that she has one patient whose insurance is paying for it now. So I think there's, I think there's hope for that, pretty soon. For I'm gonna go after, you know, and there's a lot of travails with learning how to use this. You know, even with the podcast, which is just remarkably helpful. And the forums, you know, I'm in a couple of Omni pod forums, you can ask questions there and get great answers. It still took me a long time to figure out how to make it work in my lifestyle. A lot of trial and error.
Scott Benner 45:59
What were the first stumbling blocks,
Michael 46:03
controlling spikes, I still have problems Pre-Bolus thing I forget. It's just, you know, so commonplace now. I think, for me to really control spikes better, I need to Pre-Bolus 45 minutes in an hour in advance. And you know, my meal is the last thing on my mind at those times. So often, I'll be cooking the meal. It's like, gosh, I need to Pre-Bolus and I hadn't done it. So then I have to stop what I'm doing. And find my PDM and calculate what I'm going to eat. I don't really do that anymore. I kind of ballpark it. Right? Which is probably why am I a one C went up to two tenths point.
Scott Benner 46:47
Is that because you're using too much insulin or too little?
Michael 46:51
Yeah, well, well, I'm just not nailing it. Like I used to. Variability ago. Yes. And I've had some lows that were scary for me. Yeah, and I never had lows the day in my life. So that was a new experience for me. So you know, it just, it seems to be a moving target. But you know, I just am not giving quite as much brain space to it as I did in the beginning. No, I'm not really counting carbs. I'm, like you I'm looking at a meal and saying, Okay, that's 35 or that's 40. Or that's 45. I hardly ever think it's 50. But you know, I just sometimes I have to Bolus and then two hours later Bolus again, because I missed it.
Scott Benner 47:44
I would also wondering if you're doing a lot of I mean, you still lower carb. Right. But But you've had you're eating carbs. Do you? Are you seeing protein and fat rises? Do you think?
Michael 47:53
Yes. Without question. You know, so earlier on, I was doing extended Bolus isn't, you know, now, I don't do that as much or if, if at all, and I should, but you know, I'm staying in range. You know, my, my clarity says, I'm 94% in range. Well, the range is too wide. You know, and I think if my range on my CGM or narrower and I don't think I've haven't figured out how to change it, and she said, I couldn't change the range, because I think it's 70 to 180.
Scott Benner 48:29
In the clarity report, yeah, you can change that. Okay. Yeah. I mean, off the top my head, I'm not sure where but my my clarity reports 70 to 140. For RT
Michael 48:40
see that? I think that would be much better for me. Yeah. Because it'll spike up to, you know, 161 70, sometimes one ad, because I didn't Pre-Bolus And I know that's why it's doing that. Or I didn't extend the bowls, because I'm eating a lot of protein, which I usually do. I you know, I'm a barbecue guy. I do a lot of cooking. I love to cook, you know, so I'm just not giving it quite as much thought. I mean, it might even see yesterday was six. It was it for that it was 5.80. Good for you. Yeah, I went from 8.9 to 5.8 in three months. Wow. That's excellent. So you know, I think I'm doing really well. And so I can kind of put it back aside a little bit. And I realized yesterday that No, I can't do that. I really need to stay more on top of it and use the tools that I have more effective, right?
Scott Benner 49:34
And it's not the numbers. I mean, the numbers help you they guide you through it. But you're not just trying to not be 160 for three hours. That's not the point. The point is it's health. It's the thing, it's the thing you can't track until you don't you mean like it's either feel okay, or you don't and the oddity of course, is that once you don't feel okay for a while that feels okay. And that's that's part To the slippery slope, right? The Norm Yeah, it's just it's a little bit of crack Michael, just a little bit. Then two years later, you're laying on the sidewalk folded in half. And you know, you know, and that really is that it's what happens. It says, it's a slow water torture, you don't notice it at first it's drip, drip, drip, and then suddenly, you're a one C seven, then it's eight, then you're tired, then the muscles in your mouth don't want to work. And then you know, and you just like, and you can only compare back over a week or two in your mind. That's why pulling up that report is helpful. And what you're saying is if the report said to me, Hey, I'm not in range, as much as I want to be that would fire you to do the things you know, you need to do.
Michael 50:43
Yeah, I came in, after I got the pump on my next appointment, which was three months later. And, you know, my agency had plummeted. And my clarity said, all that time, I was like, 95 96% range. And I was man, I was the king of the hill, or mountain, I should say, you know, I felt so good about myself and how well I had done. But I think that's a little bit false.
Scott Benner 51:10
Well, nothing wrong with it, but then know what more, right?
Michael 51:14
Yeah, like, you want to be more accurate, you know. And so I think if I can figure out a way to change it to 140, you know, I'm going to be maybe 80% in range, you know, and she, she told me that, you know, my number is ridiculously high compared to her other patients. You know, so again, you know, that's an ego boost, and you feel like you're you're really kicking ass, but I think I could kick more ass if I if it was just in front of me all the time. Oh, I'm high. I'm 160. And that's high, I agree with you. I can do that mental calculation that I don't write on the screen telling me that that's high. And reminding me of it would be better for my health.
Scott Benner 51:57
What you're describing is no different than 16 years ago, where you said, I took the pill, so I'm good, right? No one wants to listen, like no one wants to do this. You know what I mean? Like no one, there's no one who's sitting around going, I'm super excited to take care of my diabetes today. Right? It's a it's a, it's a situation you find yourself in, you have to, you have to read level your brain and, and read, I don't know rejigger your expectations for what life is because if you keep having the expectation that I'm Superman, nothing's ever gonna happen to me. And then this stuff comes on your life? Well, you might get to be Superman for a much shorter time than you were hoping to be, you know, so why not? Why not? Me? Why not bet on yourself and give yourself longevity. And like, I mean, imagine that, you know, maybe one day, you'll get to stop playing the trumpet for money, but still get to play it for pleasure. You know, imagine those sorts of things being the truth for you. I just think it's impossible for us at any age, to imagine the future. And you have to try hard to do that. I've been talking a lot lately about watching my mother get older. And I just heard myself on an episode I put up yesterday, but that I recorded six months ago, where I told the person on the episode, I'm 50. But now I'm 51. And, and my mom is 80. And I am now believing that I'm in the last 15 good usable years of my life. And she says that 65 And I was like, I don't think I'm going to die at 65. I don't think that I'm going to be infirmed. But I see my mom and ad and that this is not a party. And then I start looking backwards at her through her 70s That wasn't a party either. So these are my 15 years to do something amazing. And then I'm going to decline. And hopefully it's a slow decline through my 60s and my 70s. But the person I am in my head today. And the things I want to do. I don't imagine a 68 year old me is going to be able to accomplish right and and if you don't take the time to stop and think of it that way and not be burdened by it. I'm not upset by the idea. I'm actually excited by the idea. Like for the first time in my life. I can I have enough context to realize that this time is not infinite. You know, you know, I was 20 I thought it was infinite. I was 30 I thought it was it. I remember being in my 30s and thinking I'll raise these kids. And then that's when Yeah, but what I didn't know was that and that's when COVID was gonna come and my knee was gonna need a surgery and like, I didn't have those expectations when I was 30. So you will apply this idea to diabetes. I mean, live now. Yeah, you know, live as best as you can now, and that's gonna give you more later. I yeah, I think you know,
Michael 54:55
my mom died at 68 and you know, the last 10 years of her life she was me miserable. And I'm just like her. I mean, I look like her. She was overweight, I'm overweight, my sister's overweight. I mean, it's it's a, you know, a jeans thing too. And, you know, even that wasn't enough for me to change anything. You know, I was motivated by career and family and hobbies, things that I really enjoyed doing,
Scott Benner 55:24
that you can control and that you are good at controlling to. Yes, right. Whereas the weight and the exercise all feels Yeah, I know, subconsciously, it feels like this is definitely gonna happen to me. There's nothing I can do about it. You didn't grow up? In a, I'm imagining you didn't grow up in a household where you had tools for that stuff. No. Right. And had somebody you grew up in a household where people worked hard, and had fun and cooked food, right? Yep. Yeah. And then precisely,
Michael 55:50
yeah, yeah. Yeah. You know, there are times when I really tried hard on the exercise and diet thing when I was in my 40s. And, you know, I had some success, but it took so much time and energy and brain space. And this isn't a cop out. But, you know, so I would yo yo for a while, and finally I just said, Screw it, I'm not going to do this anymore. I'm, you know, I'm gonna make use of this life in this time now, you know, in career and family and other interests, because it was just dogging me constantly. And, you know, to lose the weight that I did, you know, I think the lowest I ever got as an adult was like, I was 325 at this time, so I really needed to do it. And I'm glad I did. I think I got down to 216. Okay, you know, and so creeping up to 270. And staying there for years and years and years was okay, you know, and the diabetes was looming, but you know, I was taking the pills and then taking the injections. So, you know, I didn't make exercise, and diet at all, priority now that I'm on the pump, and, you know, very hyper aware of this, I'm still not exercising, I have great excuses for that, you know, and play those. But, you know, at some point, I'm going to have to figure out how to do some of that.
Scott Benner 57:21
Well, listen, you know, I, I play devil's advocate a lot on the podcast, and I argue both sides, because, you know, I think it helps. And I said earlier, you're not rich, you don't have infinite time in the gym in your house. But no one can tell me that they don't have a half an hour to just walk out the door, walk 15 minutes in one direction and walk 15 minutes back in the other direction. And that would be I think back to when I was a kid and my my aunt and her kids one summer just decided they were going to go for a walk every night. That's all they did. And I'm telling you this in the 70s. Right? Nobody understood nutrition. Trulicity didn't exist. If you had psoriatic arthritis. You know what that meant? Your elbow hurt? Nobody. You don't. I mean, like, nobody was looking at it anything. And so my point is, is that with very little fluff for the things that are available now, my aunt started going for a walk. And I'll be damned that three months later, when summer ended, she looked terrific. You know what I mean? Like she just was a person who worked hard. She owned her own business. She was pretty sedentary. And she made an hour for herself to go for a walk. It changed her life. Yeah, it genuinely did.
Michael 58:34
Well, we have a new puppy. So I have an another excuse to, you know, do a half hour walk. And I have actually started walking with the puppy for, you know, like a week now, just to try to train them up, you know. And my wife did exactly what you said she went on neum. And she lost. She's a small woman, but she lost a lot of weight and has maintained it. But she also retired in that time. She had more time. Yeah, when she started, she was still working. But
Scott Benner 59:04
I have a friend. I'm gonna say her name. I've never said it on here before she's done so much for this podcast that you guys will never know about. But Natalie, and she went on Noom. And to be honest with you, when she did it, I didn't think she like she was not a person I looked at and thought well, you better find a diet plan of some court. Like she looked terrific to me. But my goodness, is she in? Just I don't know what the hell it is. I don't know what they do, man. Terrific shape.
Michael 59:31
Yeah, it's really worked for her. Yeah, that's excellent. You know, so I'm looking at retirement probably in two and a half, three years, hopefully, if things work out well. So, you know, maybe then but, you know, I'm on sabbatical now, which is kind of a mini retirement. I'm still playing the trumpet at night. You know, like always, so that's that's a factor. But I've got more time than ever and I haven't used it to exercise.
Scott Benner 59:58
Well, I hope you do. And And, and I hope you I mean, these other things are obviously working great for you. I just saw it the other day, it was, like more of a Financial Times News story. But I think on the pod, I don't want to say this if I'm wrong, but I think I'm right, they're going to try a basil only, they're going to I think they're going to try to introduce a Basal only pump. And I assume, I assume that might be for, you know, the type two, emerging type two market where people are like, you know, you're, you could use a little help, but you don't need injections. You know, Bolus that meal. I don't, I don't know, I just saw it come across my newsfeed. I think it's great. Like, I know there are people are gonna say like, oh, it's Farman. That device manufacturers trying to push it, just do a sit up and go for a walk, you know, and I don't know, like, I've never had type two diabetes, you've just described something to me? Where do I sit up wasn't going to help you? Right? And you don't deserve for your life to go to hell because of that, you know? And nobody else does. Either. The people listening like you guys have got to just, you got it. I mean, I think the first thing is to get your information together before you go to a doctor. Because otherwise you walk in and you get the first thing that comes to their mind, or the thing they do in the office or whatever you need to go in and say, Hey, I think this is what's happening with me. Do you agree? And if you agree, I think this is what I should be doing about it. Can you help me?
Michael 1:01:26
That's precisely what I did. Right? You just described it to the tee. And, you know, fortunately, I found a young, knowledgeable, dynamic endocrinologist. I was like, Okay, I think you're right. Let's go. Yeah. And we did it fast.
Scott Benner 1:01:43
Good. Yeah. I mean, listen, Metformin has a ton of great uses. It's really a good drug. But you go to a 60 year old doctor, he's gonna give you Metformin. Yeah, you start talking to him about a continuous glucose monitor, and he's gonna stare at you going, I don't know what the hell that is. So you know, you need to, you need to go to somebody who I've had a friend on here, who's a doctor who told me he won't go to a doctor who's over 50. And he's a doctor who's over 50. So
Michael 1:02:13
no, you know, that happened to my sister her her. She was being treated and still is by her GP who's older than I am. And he she finally convinced him to give it give her a CGM. Yeah, but she's still, you know, MDI, you have to understand many, many problems, that your
Scott Benner 1:02:31
goal for yourself might not be the doctor's goal. The doctor might see you in a completely different way. Yes. Listen, you know, when we talk about big ideas, like you know, you know how, you know, when you talk about like government issues, and people get upset, well, they're not thinking about me. Well, they're not. You're right, your your your number, your statistic, and they are statistically trying to keep the country moving in a direction that's good for most people. And that can happen in medicine, too. Like, you might leave there thinking, I'm going to kick this. Michael is going to be the guy, I'm going to pull this together. And that guy might look at you and think, hey, if we can keep that guy alive five more years, that'll be great. Yes. I don't want people thinking about me that way. You know what I mean? Yeah.
Michael 1:03:19
Great characterization. Yeah.
Scott Benner 1:03:20
Right. You you, your desire for yourself might not be their goal. Right? And they're not going to tell you like, you can't look the doctor in the face to go, Hey, you're just managing me into the grave. Right? That's what you're doing here. They're not gonna go Oh, yeah, that's exactly what we're doing. They're gonna say no, this is the best idea. They might look at you as a statistic. And you shouldn't treat yourself that way. You know, my Listen, apples and oranges. But my mom three days ago, oh, god, my goals. This is not going to make me cry. It will thank but three days ago, my mom moved into a new place. A year and a half ago, my mom was preparing to move from Pennsylvania to Wisconsin to live near my middle brother. We were getting things in order for that. And she was staying in in Pennsylvania long enough for my younger brother to get married in October. And in the weeks leading up to my brother's wedding. My mom's health deteriorated in a way that was it was frightening. She was clearly dying. To the point where we had had her in the hospital a couple of times. Nobody was giving her answers. And we had to take her to my brother's wedding in a wheelchair. A woman who did not walk us a wheelchair like a week before that. And the day after the wedding, my brother and I might my middle brother and I sat down and I said mom's dying. Like, I don't know what's happening, but she is we're going to stop listening to whatever these doctors are saying I'm going to take over and I put her in a car and I took her to a cardiologist. I literally made them see her. And I said, if this is not cardio, tell me right now she examined her. She said, It looks like heart failure. But I don't think that's what it is. Back to the hospital. It's COVID time we're sitting in the waiting room for hours. My mom's bladder is so full, it's just spilling out of her. She can't but she can't urinate. This has been going on for a while. I go to the woman at the desk and I say you have to go drain my mom's bladder. I made the woman at the desk do it like and she was kind and she did it. But she she was a nurse. She went and did it. And then later when my mom got imaged because that two liters, Michael of urine, they thought, oh my gosh, they were able to see her cancer when they imaged her. But every other time she was in the hospital. They imaged her with the full bladder and couldn't see the tumor. That crazy. So it's crazy. You figure out it's cancer. It's bad. It's a, you know, softball size on one of her ovaries. She's got it in a couple of other places. Doctor comes in looks at her says she's not strong enough for surgery. He sends her to a rehab center, go to the rehab center for two weeks, really kick ass, get yourself in shape. A week before Michael, my mom was fine. Like this had just deteriorate her so much. And then she does the rehab passes everything. And we just don't hear from the doctor. He had no interest in doing the surgery on my mom. So I pin him down on the phone. I'm not going to kill your mom in surgery. And I'm like, is she going to die anyway? And he goes, Yeah, in like a month or two. And I was like, well, then she wants the surgery, give her the surgery. Now I'm not doing that. If my neighbor's son doesn't grow up to be an orthopedic who went to medical school with a girl who grew up to be a guy, no oncologist. I don't know if my mom's alive. All right, take her to the doctor's office doctor says you're gonna be dead in two months. If we don't do this surgery. I'm happy to do it for you. A year later. And a month later, my mom moved to Wisconsin and moved into our new place. Wow, if we would have listened to the first doctor, she would have died about nine months ago. Right? It's just you have to be the one to say I don't accept what you're saying. And you keep saying that until either you get success. Or it's over. But you don't give up while you have the breath to say it. That be your own advocate 100%. Yeah, but it's easy to say that to people be an advocate for yourself. But what does that mean? Like? Like, it's why I tell my mom's story because, yeah, a lot had to go into this to make it happen. You know, my mom doesn't have any money. We had to run this through Medicare. My brother had to teach himself the Medicare system like, like it was we were going to appointments and sitting in Ha I would record this podcast, go to a hospital sit with my mom all afternoon. Right? I'd leave my brother would come and sit with her all night. You know, and it up. It was hard. But now it's fascinating. You should say her. And then by the way, then she had to live in a home for a year to get her cancer treatments. My mom then had to go through chemo. And she, she fought through the whole thing. But while she was there, there were things about our health where we were like, hey, you know, she seems like she's retaining water. And they would make 1000 excuses. In the month that she in the last 50 days, my mom's lived in Wisconsin, she had to stay with my brother to establish residency. My brother focused on her health. The picture I saw her yesterday, she looks incredible. They changed her medications and did things for that the place she was living at was supposed to do and they weren't. You know, I don't know. You just either want to be alive or you don't? You know? Yes. And it's not as easy as just get up in the morning and go to work. And I'm sorry, it's not but it isn't. So yeah. Take care of yourself. That's all. Yeah. I'm sorry. I got it. No,
Michael 1:09:22
no, no, it's important.
Scott Benner 1:09:23
What are we not talking about that you want to talk about?
Michael 1:09:30
Seriously, Scott, I think we covered it really well. I had a few talking points in my head as I prepared for this. And I think I think we've hit them all. You know, the overall message that I want to send to type twos is to just do a little research. There's so many resources out there. You know, I read one book and my life was changed. I discovered one podcast and it isn't even done by a doctor. her, right, I found one podcast was captivated by the subject matter and the way it was delivered. And anybody can do that anybody, anybody can find a book or an online forum, where people have been through it who know a lot, who knows, some people know as much as your doctors do. So I would just encourage those of you that are in a position where you're just now starting to deal with type two, just get your fingers going and find out that information. I delayed it way too long. I'm a smart guy, I read a lot. You know, and I am professional. And in a lot of ways, you know, I have a lot of interests and things that I can do. And if I had just made this one of them earlier on, when I was first diagnosed, you know, I'd probably be in a lot better shape than I am now.
Scott Benner 1:11:00
So I'm glad, glad you found it. And that's a great message, I put up a, you know, you've talked about the Facebook group. So for people who are listening and don't know, I have a private Facebook group that has 30,000 Plus members in it. They're all talking about, you know, day to day stuff, management ideas, they help each other with problems. You know, it's I find it to be the kindest place on Facebook I've ever seen. And it's awesome. I worked hard to get it that way. So I'm proud that it works that way. But I put up a post the other day. I put up a post the other day, because you know, a couple of times a year. I my frustration gets to be too much. Right? So my frustration, right? I my background frustration is constantly that I know what this podcast does. Right? I've heard your story, and almost 1000 others like it. And it's still hard to get the word out. Like it's hard to get people to start to listen. And so my biggest hurdle is to get just try it. Because I think if you try it, you're gonna be okay, you know. So I put up this long post, and I just said to people, like, you know, I wish you would listen to the podcast and share it with people. You know, it'll help the podcast grow. When it grows, it gets bigger, when it gets bigger, someone else's diagnosed, then they find it. And then the post sort of started hard turning into like, well, here's what the podcast has done for me. They're trying to keep the posts alive. So other people see it, which is lovely. And one of the people said, I was an adult type one. And I found this thing, because so many people told me, and then I get there, and the host doesn't have diabetes isn't a doctor, you know what I mean? And she said, she was like, What? What am I doing here? You know? And then she said, it was just kept happening. Just people kept saying, You should do this, watch this. Listen to this. And she finally did. And then she describes her success. And it's wonderful. I don't know why. I don't know why I'm gonna talk about this Michael. Like I really don't like I you know, I mean, we can all guess about it, that helped my daughter and everything. But it all just comes together for whatever when you and I got on before we started recording. He said, Oh, you have a great voice for radio. Even that is dumb luck. And maybe wonder why the podcast works. You know what I mean? So part of it? Definitely. Yeah, you know, so anyway, I know I don't have diabetes, and I don't have type two diabetes. I'm type one diabetes. I've never been to medical school. I barely graduated from high school, Michael, for all being really honest with each other. But I'm good at this. So yes, let it go. Go find the defining diabetes episodes, the Pro Tip series. What else helped you?
Michael 1:13:39
Well, I've read think like Pancras. Yeah, Gary's book was before us before I started on the podcast. And he mentions the podcast in there, and a bunch of people online had mentioned it. So you know, it was multiple mentions, like you. You said a minute ago that pulls you along. They got me listening to it. And I listened to it in the car when I'm commuting.
Scott Benner 1:13:59
Right. That's perfect time. And Jenny, who, by the way, works for the guy who wrote the book that that Michael brought up. That's right. Yeah. But she's on the show once a week where we talk about stuff. So I love her. Yeah, terrific. All right. Well, I can't thank you enough for spending the time talking about this with me. I hope more people with type two. I hope they find ways to help themselves really is what I'm, I guess I'm I'm hopeful for and I am going to go quickly pack a bag and drive down the eastern seaboard to pick my daughter up from college. That's the rest of my day. So right yeah, great for you, but I'm going to be in the car for 12 hours.
Michael 1:14:36
I know but you get to see her. It's exciting. Yeah, we're all
Scott Benner 1:14:39
really excited to get her home
a huge thank you to one of today's sponsors. Je Vogue glucagon, find out more about Chivo Capo pen at G Vogue glucagon.com Ford slash juice box. You spell that? G V O KEGLUC AG o n.com. Forward slash juice box. And I'd like to thank the Contour Next One blood glucose meter and remind you to go to contour next one.com forward slash juice box, get an incredibly affordable and accurate meter. You deserve it. If you're interested in being on the podcast and you have type two diabetes, please find me and reach out through my website juicebox podcast.com. If you're looking for support, check out that Facebook page Juicebox Podcast type one diabetes, it's a private group, you'll answer just a couple of questions to be admitted. And then you'll be in there with 31,000 Plus members, all who have diabetes, use insulin, understand what it's like to have to watch what you eat, count carbs, the whole thing. Go find them. It's a great resource. Thank you so much for listening. I'll be back very soon with another episode of The Juicebox Podcast. Don't forget when you support the sponsors with my links, you're supporting the production of the Juicebox Podcast and keeping it free
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#798 Chicken Thighs
Kristie has type 1 diabetes and she just made a human being.
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DISCLAIMER: This text is the output of AI based transcribing from an audio recording. Although the transcription is largely accurate, in some cases it is incomplete or inaccurate due to inaudible passages or transcription errors and should not be treated as an authoritative record. Nothing that you read here constitutes advice medical or otherwise. Always consult with a healthcare professional before making changes to a healthcare plan.
Scott Benner 0:00
Hello friends, and welcome to episode 798 of the Juicebox Podcast.
On today's show we're going to speak with Christie. She is an adult living with type one diabetes, and she's going to talk to us today about her journey through pregnancy. While you're listening, please remember 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 healthcare plan, or becoming bold with insulin. You're on the internet constantly clicking and tapping and swiping. I just need 10 minutes from you. Head to T one D exchange.org. Forward slash juice box join the registry complete the survey. They're looking for people living with type one diabetes, who are US residents, or who are the caregiver of someone with type one. This is all you need to do. There's a great episode about why this is so important but you're going to be helping people with type one. You might be helping yourself you're going to be moving type one diabetes research forward and supporting the podcast all by filling out a survey. T one D exchange.org forward slash juice box
this show is sponsored today by the glucagon that my daughter carries G voc hypo penne Find out more at G voc glucagon.com. Forward slash Juicebox Podcast is also sponsored today by ag one from athletic greens. Every morning I wake up take a scoop of delicious ag one and I'm on my way, when you use my link athletic greens is going to give you a free one year supply of immune supporting vitamin D and five free travel packs. Visit athletic greens.com forward slash juicebox. If you're looking for a great type one organization to support check out touched by type one at touched by type one.org.
Kristie 2:14
I'm Christie and I was diagnosed in April of 2020. With type one, it was actually at the height of the pandemic. It was just a few weeks after the whole world shut down. And I can just dive right into my story if you want me to
Scott Benner 2:33
Well, yeah, let me just make sure I understand the timeline correctly from when we're doing it now like are you just up on your two year anniversary?
Kristie 2:40
Just about next week is my two year anniversary.
Scott Benner 2:43
Wow. Cool. That's excellent. I mean, cool in that you're ended up on here at a anniversary. It doesn't matter. Christy what does it matter what when you're doing this? I just I found it interesting that it's been like kind of exactly two years. So yeah. All right. You seem excited to tell me what happens. happened?
Kristie 3:00
Yeah. So my husband and I got married in 2017. And we wanted to start a family in 2019. And after a couple months of trying and not being successful, we decided to go to a fertility clinic. And this was again, kind of as COVID was breaking out was during our first appointment. So he said we're just going to start with some blood work and kind of see if we can see anything from that before we actually have you come into the office. And so I went in for bloodwork and my fasting glucose was 305. They called me and said do you need to see your PCP and find an endocrinologist and figure out what's going on. So that kind of put all the fertility on hold fertility treatments on hold, and really got got to learning about what even diabetes was. So I was originally diagnosed with type two, which is very common to misdiagnosed at the beginning. Especially not having I didn't go into diabetic ketoacidosis I just had the high blood sugars. And so when I first saw my, my PCP, he just kind of walked into the office, you know, again, it's COVID petrified to go anywhere. Double mass walked in, and he's like, so I hate to break it to you, but you have diabetes. And I was like, okay, he's like, so do you know what a carb is? And I chuckled, I was like, yes. You know, I'm relatively familiar with nutrition and I had done the keto diet in the past and knew what carbs were. He said, Okay, avoid those and you'll be fine. And here's a prescription for Metformin, and kind of set me on my way.
Scott Benner 4:45
I have a couple of questions. Yeah, let's start with one that you can't really answer. Who do you think? thought let's call primary care physicians PCPs, also known as Angel Dust, a didn't I mean like Don't? Don't you always wonder like who comes up with stuff? Like, why is there no one in the room? Here's what I think. I think in every room where something gets named, you need a person like me, who sits there and goes, I think PCP also means Angel. Das, we probably shouldn't use that. You know, instead of people just think, oh, primary care physician. Yeah, that sounds right. We'll do that anyway. Because every time you say that, what I hear is, every time I hear Angel Dust Angel, my other question is, when you decide to have a baby, you want to try to make a baby. I'm being serious. What happens first? Do you get tired of having sex when it doesn't happen? Or do you start worrying that hey, this should have happened by now? Like, what was your first like, were you like, I'm being serious? Like, which? Which came? Yeah.
Kristie 5:45
I really just expected it to happen so quickly. So I'm the youngest of five. And my grandma, my parents had 18 grandchildren from my other siblings. Oh, my goodness. So I was like, Oh, this is gonna be so easy. You know, I'll be pregnant the first month. And so when we were about six or seven months, and I was like, Okay, maybe we should just get things checked out. And kind of did it just as a precaution. You know, most people say it takes at least a year, but I was impatient. And I'm very type A and wanted on a specific timeline.
Scott Benner 6:19
Are you like sitting in that room going like you get me pregnant right now? This is what it has. No pressure at all right? Yeah, yeah. So a lot of fun. You are okay. Okay.
Kristie 6:32
Yeah, so then when it wasn't happening, that's when we decided to check it out. And that's, that's what kind of changed my whole course.
Scott Benner 6:40
Even from his perspective, do you? Do you ever walk like in that process? Did you walk into the bedroom and go, I can't believe we're doing this again? Like it? Did it? Did it get it get? Clinical? I guess, is my question.
Kristie 6:53
Oh, definitely. When you're trying for that long. It definitely it's like, you know, you have all the apps and you're tracking everything. And every morning, I was checking hormones, and it's like, it's like, okay, like I do it again.
Scott Benner 7:05
Okay, so Is it as bad as someone's like looking at their phone while you're having sex or not quite that badly.
Kristie 7:12
It's not that bad. You still get to enjoy it. All right.
Scott Benner 7:15
Excellent. i So wait, tell me again, your grandparents made like, like most of the people under the state my parents.
Kristie 7:23
So I was saying my parents have 18 grandchildren, your parents have 18 grandchildren. So between my four siblings, there's 18 kids. I see.
Scott Benner 7:34
So just even more specifically, your brothers and your sisters have no trouble knocking out the babies. Correct? How much is this? All sisters? Okay, how much of this? Well, I'm probably skipping ahead. Oh, look at me. I almost asked the question that ruins the story. Okay, go ahead. You got so they put you on Metformin. And then what happened?
Kristie 7:56
So I ended up going to Amazon and getting a glucose meter and was taking my blood sugar kind of, you know, a couple of times throughout the day and sent an email through the portal to my doctor saying, hey, you know, I'm still seeing blood sugar's around, you know, 275 300. And he wrote back, stop obsessing about your blood sugar. It'll take a few weeks for the Metformin to kick in,
Scott Benner 8:22
kick in is that how drugs work?
Kristie 8:27
So I again, being type A impatient called Joslin diabetes Center, and just said, you know, I got bloodwork done, my agency was, I think, 11.9. And my fasting again, was 305. And so the operator was like, we will see you tomorrow, we'll get you in right away. And they were able to do a virtual visit and correctly diagnosed me and that day, I had insulin in my body. So it really took kind of advocating for myself and realizing that it just, you know, there was a difference between type two and type one and it just didn't fit the profile of type two.
Scott Benner 9:06
You know, Was I too harsh earlier? Were you calling your primary care physician PCP because he was actually on Angel Dust. You know,
Kristie 9:14
I quickly I quickly dropped that doctor and found a new one right after
Scott Benner 9:18
stop worrying about your health so much.
Kristie 9:21
Well, I think the best thing was the day that he had diagnosed me with type two and put me on the Metformin I said, you know, we're trying to get pregnant with this affect my ability to get pregnant, or does Metformin safer pregnancy. And he said, Oh, diabetes, you should just look at adoption. But that was the most heartbreaking sentence I'd ever heard.
Scott Benner 9:42
This was still the PCP guy. Yeah. Wow. What a bedside manner on him. Hmm. Right. It was a guy, right? There's no way a woman said that to
Kristie 9:51
you. No, it was definitely a guy.
Scott Benner 9:53
I figured. Okay. Wow, how many people do you think right now we're like, I don't know what PCP or Angel Dust is. And I don't understand why they're talking about so much. What age do you have to be to understand that lingo? Do you think?
Kristie 10:06
Probably, yeah, probably 25 plus 30 plus?
Scott Benner 10:09
Yeah, I think if you know what, Molly anyway, I don't know. Listen, I'm a funny person talk about this. I only know these things from television shows I watched as a child. So okay, so you got away from the bad doctor? Who told you not to worry about your who gave you Metformin, not even a meter sent you home? And then when you checked on your own health, told you, please stop paying so close attention to this. And by the way, you probably shouldn't have children. Yeah, so no good information came from this doctor whatsoever. No, not at all. Geez. Hey, did you know if you go to my link contour next.com forward slash juice box. There's a place there where you could actually get a meter right through Amazon. Just wanted to throw that in for people because apparently you guys are buying stuff on Amazon. So please, you could still use my link. I know that was inappropriate. Let's move on. So you get to Jocelyn and I assume they give you I mean, they they to appropriate testing to find out that you have type one diabetes. Yeah. So
Kristie 11:11
they diagnosed me with Lauda with the we had an episode on late and autoimmune diabetes and adults. So I was 30 when I was diagnosed, and when they looked back at bloodwork, I had had a relative Lee higher fasting glucose a year prior. And my great PCP hadn't flagged it or really done anything about it at the time, but it was evident that my pancreas was slowly losing its function.
Scott Benner 11:42
I assume that Dr. Just thought you had had a sandwich before coming in. So yeah, that's fine. She probably had something with bread. Don't worry about it. Well, what a what a go getter. Jeez. Oh, yeah. Does it make you look back at the other things that you had seen this doctor for in the past? And do you like wander through all of them?
Kristie 12:03
Well, luckily, I had only seen him for about two years before. So I had just moved to my village back to my hometown. And so I just started seeing him.
Scott Benner 12:15
Is this a case of a small town doctor or an older person?
Kristie 12:20
Very small town rural hospital.
Scott Benner 12:24
Okay, like the only doctor there? Yeah, yeah. Like if he if he doesn't kill like half of you. It's a good thing. He's like, I saved half of what do you want for me? Like that vibe? Yeah, I gotcha. Do you pay him and chickens? How rural is? Well, not that well. Okay. So he took money and everything. You didn't have to bake a pie in exchange for like a thermometer or something like that? Which doesn't that sound better? By the way?
Kristie 12:53
It does. I was just gonna say, with all the baking I was doing in March of 2020.
Scott Benner 12:58
All of all of us are inside. Like, we should bake something, cook something I was making potato chips for a while? And do you have any idea how much time that?
Kristie 13:09
Well, that was a big one. He diagnosed me as type two. I was like, Wow, all the bread I made the cakes and the cupcakes like I really killed myself. That's just, you know, I had that assumption that that's how you cause diabetes. And of course, I learned so much more of the last two years.
Scott Benner 13:26
So how long did it take you to? I mean, it sounds like you're the type of person who's gonna dig right in. So you know, what was care like in the beginning.
Kristie 13:35
So at the beginning, definitely was a little bit more challenging, because of everyone's telling me to restrict carbs. But you know, everybody said, the long term complications of type one. And I immediately was like, I'm only 30. I want to live a long life. And I wanted to have, you know, that flat CGM line. And so I'd say the first couple of months, I definitely really struggled with food issues. It was really hard to kind of go into the summer with the world kind of opening up a little bit. I live in a resort town. And so it was summer and the beach and everything was fun. And I was sitting there like, oh, I don't want to have ice cream. I don't want to do any carbs. I need to keep my sugar's under control. And just kind of it's just said those first couple months, like mentally were really challenging because I knew I wanted to prevent long term complications, but thought that the only way to do that was to restrict and that was not how I want to live the rest of my life.
Scott Benner 14:37
Yeah. So what were you when you were really restricting what were you eating?
Kristie 14:42
A lot of eggs. A lot of eggs and bacon. And like chicken thighs and veggies vary keto based, kind of 3030 carbs 30 to 50 carbs a day,
Scott Benner 14:54
right. chicken thighs that was so specific. Christy.
Kristie 14:57
I hate to compress so much. Coming to
Scott Benner 15:02
you from the south. No, northeast. Northeast but you like you like a darker chicken meat? Yeah, a little greasy. Look at you. How'd you how'd you prepare it? I don't. This has nothing to do with anything. Just in the oven baked in the oven. Yeah. Interesting. Look at you. You're You're a different kind. Christie, I like you. Okay. Christy wants the thighs. That's for sure. Like chicken breasts. Oh,
Kristie 15:33
it's so dry.
Scott Benner 15:34
It's what eat this garbage. So funny. I don't know why I was so amused by that I was really taken by that as like, because most people would have just said chicken. You don't I mean? Yeah, like chickens. chicken pies, dammit. Don't give me any of that white meat. The stuff that people say is healthy. I don't want that at all. That's excellent. Okay, so Alright, so you have a skewed vision of what you're supposed to be doing at first, I understand it, by the way, because for five seconds. I've said this on the podcast before but somebody. It turned out my iron was very low. I was just unhealthy. But my dentist looked at me one day and said, Are you sure you don't have type two diabetes? And I was like, I don't think so. But even in the 24 to 48 hours that it took me to get to a physician. I had trouble making myself eat. It was interesting how it impacted me. Like right away. I became I don't know just paranoid about food. Yeah. And that, that. So I do. I think I understand what you're talking about a little bit there. How long did that last? That process of just eating chicken thighs and eggs?
Kristie 16:47
Um, so that was probably till about July or August.
Scott Benner 16:52
How long was that in months? Do you think?
Kristie 16:54
Oh, like three months? Okay. So I had amazingly gotten my agency down to 5.5 in July. And that was really just through that restricted eating and really not having a fun life. And then I specifically remember the day in August, when I went to work out. And I've made kind of a home gym during COVID and had a low blood sugar. And it was just like feeling really defeated. Like this is just too much to conquer. I, you know, not eating what I want to eat. I can't work out like I usually do. And I went on to Facebook to find a support group. And they recommended listening to the Juicebox Podcast. And so it was literally that day in my gym, I started to listen to the podcasts and was like, wait, I can eat cars, and have a normal life and have a normal agency and not have these long term complications. So that's really kind of when everything kind of turned around for how it was managing and kind of not having to have this food restrictions and fear food. Lifestyle.
Scott Benner 18:02
How many chickens have I saved?
Kristie 18:05
A lot of chickens?
Scott Benner 18:06
I have right? I am. Yeah, I've liberated chickens. Oh, now I'm feeling good about this. Okay, great. I was gonna call this episode thighs and eggs. But I might now consider myself the great liberator of chickens and the episode. But so the podcast? Well, what happened to me you started thinking, maybe this this guy voice notice something about using insulin like I could figure this out?
Kristie 18:34
Definitely. And I think one of the biggest things was hearing about the Omni pod. And so when I first was diagnosed, I didn't even want the Dexcom I didn't want anything. I was like I don't want to wear anything on my body. I didn't want anyone to know I was diagnosed. I should also backtrack and say I had a lot of kind of like work stress going on. So I was the president of our Chamber of Commerce, the executive director. So helping businesses get through COVID. And at the same time, I serve on my town Select Board, which is kind of like a city councilor. So trying to save the town trying to save all the businesses and also trying to learn how to save my life and deal with diabetes. And so I didn't really want to be wearing anything was nervous or, like what people would think that I had this perception that people would think that I couldn't lead having this complication. Oh, wow. And really, yeah, I think just mentally I just thought it again, just kind of thought it was going to interfere with kind of the perception of me, which I now realized it I think it makes me stronger and more badass, but I can handle everything and you know, monitor my blood sugar's daily. Yeah, maybe
Scott Benner 19:46
we'll save that belltower. Exactly. Isn't that the theme of like, half of the movies in the 80s, right, like a town has to sell save a bell tower or something like that. What's that back to the future? We're getting off the subject here. Hold on. That is really well it's it's not surprising I guess that you would think I don't want people to know especially being diagnosed so late and you make a good point about all the different stressors fit in the one you left out was that you? Did you still think you couldn't have kids at that point?
G voc hypo penne has no visible needle and is a premixed autoinjector of glucagon for treatment of very low blood sugar. In adults and kids with diabetes ages two and above. Find out more go to Jeeva glucagon.com forward slash juicebox G voc shouldn't be used in patients with insulinoma or pheochromocytoma. Visit G voc glucagon.com/risk. Today The podcast is also sponsored by ag one and I began taking ag one because I was concerned that my diet didn't include all the vitamins that I needed. Now every morning I wake up take one scoop of delicious ag one. And with that scoop I get 75 high quality vitamins, minerals, Whole Foods sourced ingredients, probiotics and adaptogens. These helped me to start my day, right? This special blend of ingredients supports my gut health, my nervous system, my immune system gives me more energy recovery and focus. And ag one is lifestyle friendly. Whether you eat keto, Paleo vegan, dairy free or gluten free. And did you know it contains less than one gram of sugar, no GMOs, no nasty chemicals or artificial anything's. Tons of people take some kind of multivitamin. But it's important to choose one with high quality ingredients that your body can actually absorb. And don't forget that when you go to my link, athletic greens.com forward slash juice box, your subscription comes with a year's supply of vitamin D, which is also so important to add in these winter months. So go ahead and check it out athletic greens.com forward slash juicebox. There are links in the show notes of your podcast player and links at juicebox podcast.com. To G voc ag one touched by type one and all the sponsors. When you click on my links, you're supporting the show. And before we get back to Christie, if you're looking for the diabetes Pro Tip series, the bowl beginning series or any of the series within the podcast, head over to juicebox podcast.com Go up to the menu and they're all broken out there. They have their own page each one. And if you're on the private Facebook group, and you should be those same lists can be found in the feature tab at the top of the page Juicebox Podcast type one diabetes on Facebook.
Kristie 22:57
So at that point, it was actually one of the first podcasts I listened to was somebody. They were talking postpartum about their pregnancy. So I was like, okay, I can get pregnant with type one. And that's really why I started to kind of look into it and research and I switched endocrinologist to somebody who specializes in pregnancy, but type one. So trying to get that ball moving as well. Nice. Yeah, it was really being put on the Omni pod is what helped me because my insulin doses were so small at the beginning. And I don't know if this is common with everybody, but they started me off on the sliding scale. Where if your blood sugar's you know, say above 150, you take half a unit of insulin when you go to eat, but they don't account for any of the carbs that you're eating.
Scott Benner 23:48
Yeah, so the good old sliding scale.
Kristie 23:51
Yeah, so I'd be like, okay, my blood sugars are under 150, I'm not gonna take insulin, and then I eat what I wanted to eat. And I would, you know, go through the roof. So none of that made sense to me. And it was kind of listening to the podcast about, you know, your example of tug of war and like, the insulin has to get in your body and be able to compete with the carbs. And then I realized you actually had to take the insulin for the number of carbs. So I ended up meeting with my endocrinologist in September and was like, I think I know my insulin to carb ratio, and this is what it is, and I want to be on a pump and like, can you set all this up for me? She was like, Okay, nice to meet you.
Scott Benner 24:29
Hey, everyone, Christine here, and she doesn't need us so much. How did they How did the doctor accept that? Was that excited for them? Were they like, oh, great, this person knows what's up. Let's just double check it or is it off putting to them? How did you
Kristie 24:44
know she was really excited? And I think it makes their lives easier when they don't have to do as much work or, you know, constantly over explain, like I feel like they monitor my first appointment. They again always go into it with a longterm The impacts are and all the complications and she kind of started off with, you seem to already have a good control on this and as long as you kind of keep maintaining it, you know, you'll you'll be in the clear.
Scott Benner 25:13
I'm feeling like I deserve some money from these appointments now because you're right, she got paid that day. What do you think your insurance probably paid her a few $100 Don't you think?
Kristie 25:24
Well, that was the thing during my pregnancy. You have to meet every couple of weeks and she'd be like, Oh, I'm not gonna make any changes because you already did is like yeah, I already did all this. I don't even need an endo.
Scott Benner 25:35
Don't forget to pay us on the way out and then Scott, anything yeah, basically I this baby. Let's just jump to the this this baby named Scott. Yes, sir. No. Dammit. Okay, that's fine. Did getting your blood sugar's under control, make it easier to get pregnant.
Kristie 25:53
So we ended up still going through fertility treatments. But we were successful in April of last year, getting pregnant regulations.
Scott Benner 26:02
So because I was wondering, like the whole time you're telling the story. I was like, I wonder if her blood sugar gets back in range if she gets pregnant, or if it just makes the IVF possible. So I wasn't certain where it would go, how many rounds did you have to go to get pregnant?
Kristie 26:17
We did two rounds. And we ended up being successful with an IUI which is kind of the precursor to idea. Oh, can you? I don't know what that
Scott Benner 26:25
is IUI. It's
Kristie 26:26
an intra uterine either.
Scott Benner 26:30
You don't know what it is.
Kristie 26:33
Uterine insemination, I think. And intrauterine insemination.
Scott Benner 26:41
So what is they just like? Is it like turkey baster time? Is that what they just took the boys and jam them? Yeah, I gotcha. All right. I feel like you need a lot of big words for that. So it doesn't sound like what it is. I understand why they. So what's the difference? Can I ask like, what's, I can't believe this? What's the difference between your your husband's penis still in it? And whatever they use? Do they take it more to the source or so it doesn't have to travel this far? Yes.
Kristie 27:08
Yes. They have the two posts a little bit deeper. So
Scott Benner 27:13
drops it right on. So they don't walk first. Right. I gotcha.
Kristie 27:22
And so that ended up being successful, which we're about to start IVF. And we're very lucky.
Scott Benner 27:28
Yeah, well, yeah. It sounds like it's a nice if not easier, but maybe easier, but also probably less expensive. And a number of other things, no drugs, right.
Kristie 27:38
We still use drugs, just to try to increase the number of eggs to I'm sure that it will be successful. But I would say typically, IUI is of a very low success rate, people do a couple just to try before they go to IVF. So I was very lucky to be successful. And I really think it was I had kind of everything in line with my blood sugar's I had gotten diagnosed with Hashimotos in the fall, and had to kind of get my thyroid under control. And so it wasn't till about January. So that was kind of 10 months, eight to 10 months after being diagnosed with type one that we were able to start resuming the fertility treatments.
Scott Benner 28:19
Oh, and the Hashimotos came after the Typhon
Kristie 28:23
Yes, so probably the two were related, but nobody tested my thyroid
Scott Benner 28:27
at the time you think maybe they they both might have Oh, interesting. I have more questions now. Anyone else in your family like all those those girls that you're related to the sisters? Did they have any autoimmune stuff?
Kristie 28:40
No other sibling but both my parents have hypothyroidism
Scott Benner 28:45
interesting. And there's 18 grandchildren
Kristie 28:50
and all of them are fine I won the jackpot with the auto autoimmune diseases the
Scott Benner 28:55
listen I'm what I'm hearing is I've got 18 more possibilities of people that could be on this podcast one day, so I don't want to jinx anybody but you know, let's keep them aware of the show because I'm going to need content moving forward. I mean, that's really going to be interesting for you I obviously don't wish any ill will on anyone but 18 people descended from three are sisters you gotta like I mean I wouldn't bet on it but maybe I would like it maybe I'd start like a like a raffle thing or somewhere you bet money on the kids or i It seems wrong let's take that back. I don't mean that but I do think it will you know when you pick the squares for the Super Bowl right? I don't think you should do this but it's a delightful I don't know why I'm amused by this idea. I know I shouldn't be but yeah, you put all the kids names on a little chart and people lay money on it and then somebody wins the pot one day
Kristie 29:48
that would be right chose me they'd been big.
Scott Benner 29:51
Okay, then you have to already you have anything else coming? You feel anything coming on? Or? Or is it been pretty good since then?
Kristie 30:00
No, it's been pretty good since then, with pregnancy, I was definitely at risk for preeclampsia. And with that, they think that's also an autoimmune and I ended up with postpartum preeclampsia.
Scott Benner 30:13
They think preeclampsia is autoimmune.
Kristie 30:17
They're starting to dig into that. And yeah, that's what my OB was talking to me about. And I was confused as to how they were. They were monitoring throughout the whole pregnancy for preeclampsia. And I ended up with postpartum so it's three days postpartum, that my blood pressure skyrocketed.
Scott Benner 30:37
And I ah, article here is preeclampsia an autoimmune disease from Wow 2009. Numerous recent studies have shown that women with preeclampsia possess antigen tensin receptor agonist I should not be saying these words auto antibodies that bind to and activate receptors instruction of these auto antibodies in pregnant mice. Look at that. I'll be done. And that interesting. We'll learn a lot here in this generation of doctors, not your PCP. He was an idiot. He's out there doctors seem to sometimes understand what's going on. Wow. So how was the pregnancy? Did it go pretty? Well, it sounds like you're really whelming tamed as far as your blood sugar's go.
Kristie 31:28
Yes. So I really got to experiment with insulin with all of the insulin resistance. And I, you know, very thankful to be able to have Dexcom and Omni pod. And I worked with Jenny from Integrated diabetes services, and was just be able to have a very successful pregnancy may when she was under 5.1, the whole pregnancy. And then I did deliver at 37 weeks just because my blood pressure started to increase.
Scott Benner 32:01
Okay, was that does that cause any issues or No?
Kristie 32:06
Nope, they were able to induce me. And after 31 hour labor, I had my son. It was fun. I actually didn't find out the sex during the pregnancy. And so it was really fun for that surprise, but I really, it was a long lever. So it was a good surprise at the end.
Scott Benner 32:26
31 hours a very long time. You were like in just 31 hours later. Just a day or so later, the baby came? Well, yeah, definitely wasn't done cooking yet. You were just done baking him. That's all. So yes. How much did the baby when
Kristie 32:41
he was six pounds, eight ounces.
Scott Benner 32:43
Nice. And at any point that we consider naming them Scott.
Kristie 32:47
Unfortunately, now
Scott Benner 32:48
wasn't ever joked about. Did you ever think of it in the back of your mind for a split second? Hey, the guy on the podcast is probably gonna want me to name this baby after him. Maybe really? All right. No, you didn't think about it like fine. That's how it's healthy for me to know you didn't think about it at all. I appreciate that. It actually it's good for me. I and even if you did think about lying to me is the right way to go. Because it makes you sound like a really so nice, healthy, baby. Everything's been good. How long did you give birth? Oh, he's three months. Wow. So new. Yeah, you're making me sad. It's been fun. Yeah, it's the best time really. It's, I'm just my son's finishing up college and you're making me sad. You to make me sad. Don't hold on us. Like a little air on my face here. I don't want to get all likes my kids. You know, he's in his last few weeks of college. It's his last few weeks of college baseball most likely unless he goes and plays a grad year somewhere or something like that. So since a lot of things coming to an end of my life that I thought of is what my life was about. You know what I mean? So Oh, yeah, try to
Kristie 34:06
I just went back to work and just dropping him off. We're lucky. Both grandparents live in the same town. So the grandmothers are watching him and just dropping him off at daycare. It's like a huge adjustment. We cried. And he's like, Well, this is just one phase and we're gonna cry kindergarten drop off and high school and college and everything else. Yeah, I
Scott Benner 34:27
cried. When Cole got on the bus for kindergarten the first time. I went back in the house and basically fell apart. My wife's like, are you okay? Then she laughed at me for a while. It was not pleasant. But I was very upset. I had been with him like every second for five years, you know, basically. And then all of a sudden I just put them in like a giant like tin can missile with a lady I didn't know and I was like, here you can drive them away now and it was very upsetting. I will tell you that. I know everyone's gonna say it to you and You're going to think you're hearing it. But it goes by way faster than you think it's going to. It just I, there's no way to prepare you for it. Because days feel like they take forever and weeks feel like they take months and months feel like they take years. I know that that like while you're living life, you can't tell the passage of time. But it is absolutely shocking how quickly it happens.
Kristie 35:23
So, yeah, trying to enjoy every moment. Yeah,
Scott Benner 35:27
do your best is. It's the it's the one thing I wish I could fix. Which is time passing. And I don't think I'm gonna figure that out. I figured out the diabetes thing pretty well. I wouldn't look for a Scott stop stops time podcasts coming anytime soon. I don't I don't think I can. Although I guess if I figure it out. I've got all the time in the world. But that's not the point. Yeah, I haven't been working on that as what I'm saying. If I do I will. I think I know exactly. Some of the days I'll go back to it just sit around and stare at for a few years. But anyway, are you thinking of more children? Or are you going to like stick with the one baby situation for a while.
Kristie 36:06
Just one for a little while. With having the postpartum preeclampsia. I think that was a lot. So for anyone who doesn't know that's high blood pressure. And it was just like one more thing to manage. So I became a new mom was managing blood sugars, and then all of a sudden had to take my blood pressure a couple of times a day. And, you know, just be on the lookout for all the different symptoms of higher low blood pressure. And it just is a very overwhelming experience to kind of be thrown at everything at once.
Scott Benner 36:40
Was your husband working? Were you on your own during it? During the day?
Kristie 36:44
He had three weeks of maternity leave?
Scott Benner 36:47
Okay, it's still you're you've done it for over two months. How long? Does it take the preeclampsia or has it not? resolved?
Kristie 36:55
It has not resolved yet.
Scott Benner 36:57
Wow. What's the expectation?
Kristie 37:00
They say it can take days, weeks or months?
Scott Benner 37:05
Well, that's a polite way of saying we don't know. Yeah. Christy, you know, all the measurements we have for time could take any of those. So well, what what's been your experience so far? Is your blood pressure elevated or lowered? Or does it bounce around?
Kristie 37:24
About the first six weeks it was elevated and then it finally did stabilize but I'm still on medication. And now it's it's pretty stable with the medication. But looking forward to not having to take one more medicine a day.
Scott Benner 37:38
You're comfortable that your Hashimotos is well maintained.
Kristie 37:42
Oh, so postpartum, it flipped and I got thyroiditis and had hyperthyroidism. Like I said postpartum was like it was a beast. So as much as I loved pregnancy, and I love my son, I'm not sure what to do postpartum again.
Scott Benner 37:58
Hey, listen. Whateley drawers on the wall, or takes a crap on your floor or something like that. You'd be like, yes, was fine. Once good. Okay, so you had so tell me about this. So the baby comes out we and then you? How long until you your hypothyroidism turns to the hyperthyroidism.
Kristie 38:20
So I'm not actually sure and they didn't diagnose me until 12 weeks, but every time they checked, my TSH, it was extremely low. And they just kept reducing my medicine, check it again, extremely low, reduce my medicine. So finally at 12 weeks, they said, Well, I think we can tell you that it's postpartum thyroiditis, and it should stabilize shortly. Again. Good a good time measurements.
Scott Benner 38:48
Yeah, you know, weeks, months or years, perhaps even days. Did Has that happened yet?
Kristie 38:55
It hasn't happened yet. So they're still just adjusting the medicine.
Scott Benner 39:00
So are you taking any Synthroid, are you on Synthroid? Yes. I'm still taking How much do you know how many micrograms?
Kristie 39:09
75 five days a week.
Scott Benner 39:12
Oh, I see what they're doing. Okay, that's still 70 fives not I mean, that's a fair dose for an adult sized person. So and your and your TSH is still like, is it what is it? Is it in the ones is it lower?
Kristie 39:26
Lower like point one.
Scott Benner 39:27
Wow. Why are they giving you any at all then I wonder? You know, I was wondering the same thing. Like because you could just move on because you're not going to know when it flips back. I mean, how many blood tests have you had in the last couple of weeks?
Kristie 39:41
It's like every three weeks we've been testing it.
Scott Benner 39:44
Yeah, cuz that's that's the problem is that they probably think it's just going to stop and then they don't want you without the medication when it actually stops. Right. How is being hyper different from being hypo?
Kristie 39:58
You know, they're very similar like It's a lot of fatigue, which I was like, Oh, my new mom, of course I'm fatigued. The only big thing that I noticed was the heart palpitations.
Scott Benner 40:10
Oh, okay. They're scary too, aren't they? Yes. Yeah. How often? Were you having them?
Kristie 40:18
At least every day? Fun times?
Scott Benner 40:21
Are they gone now? Or no? Yes. Okay. Well, that's good. I, you don't? I mean, how many things do you need going? Are you breastfeeding on top of all that?
Kristie 40:35
Oh, yeah. So there would be days where I'd be like, Oh, I'm having heart palpitations. We're gonna check my blood pressure and my blood sugar. Oh, and I'm in the middle of breastfeeding. So my husband come in like one arm. He's taking my blood glucose, the other arm? He's taking my blood pressure?
Scott Benner 40:51
How? How has that been on your relationship? So far?
Kristie 40:56
It's been good. I mean, I really lucked out. We've been together 11 years. And he's, you know, he's always been my best friend. But he really has like, taken all this on and, and just been such an amazing support person. And, you know, I think it's challenging having a son now. Like, when we were in the hospital, it was like, Oh, my gosh, do I, my son had a low blood sugar when he was born. So I was like, do I go to the NICU with him or stay with you? Because I had a postpartum hemorrhage. And he's like, I'm so used to being the caregiver. He didn't know which way to go. Obviously, with my son. It was I think he's really, he's thriving in the role.
Scott Benner 41:33
Excellent. So hold on a second. So I have to wrap my head around your situation here. There's many, many things happening here. What what Tell me again, why did you have to go to the hospital?
Kristie 41:47
Oh, when my son was born, he had a low blood sugar at delivery.
Scott Benner 41:53
Okay, all right. Okay, that hasn't been a problem.
Kristie 41:58
No, no, it was just one and they attributed it to him being born at 37 weeks and a 31 hour labor.
Scott Benner 42:06
Okay, he was just cold, hungry. He was stuck in there. He was he was on that slip and slide way too long. It was like, Listen, I'm wet and I'm cold. And I haven't eaten anything. This lady How did your blood sugar's react after he like during that long? Delivery? Like so? Did you still need the the jacked up insulin that you needed in the third trimester? And then how soon? No, you didn't not during the delivery or not in the trimester,
Kristie 42:34
not during the delivery. So during the delivery, I ended up cutting back because I was induced. I was on Pitocin. And I couldn't eat anything. So Pitocin helps speed up the delivery. And so without eating anything, I just cut back my basil. I think like 20%. I was this is a great tip that I got on Facebook was I used the sugar main app to have my blood sugar's on display. So wherever I was in the hospital room, I could still see all my blood sugar's were. So we could kind of see if they were rising or falling pretty quickly. And didn't have to pull up my phone every five seconds, or have the nurses prick my finger.
Scott Benner 43:18
You and your husband were kind of managing that in conjunction with the health care team or just on your own.
Kristie 43:22
On our own, we actually were fighting very hard to manage my own blood sugar. So that was something that was really important to me.
Scott Benner 43:28
Was it a was it a fight? It was they didn't want you to do it?
Kristie 43:34
No, I gave birth at a big hospital dimensioned them in a rural area. So they couldn't I couldn't deliver a high risk pregnancy here. So in in Boston, they were not happy to have me manage my own chippers.
Scott Benner 43:51
Can we talk a little bit about that? How long was that process of you? badgering them into doing what you wanted? How long did it take you to get? Get that on your, you know, set up the way you wanted it.
Kristie 44:01
Um, it was probably like, three or four hours of going back and forth and then having to, like, I just like signed paperwork and say everything of like, they want to know every time I gave myself insulin, I was like, Oh, I'm on a pump. And they were like, Well, every time you give yourself insulin, let us know. And I was like, No, it gives me like every hour is a basil. And they were like waiting to write it down. I'm not gonna write down every hour while I'm in labor.
Scott Benner 44:27
Every hour, by the way, it's broken out of over the hour. You'd be yelling like, I just got point. Oh, four. I just got point. Oh two. I just got no algorithm for you. Right? You're just using Omnipod straight up. Yes. Okay. And he sounds like so, how did you get? What is my question here? How did you get so proficient about your diabetes in such a short amount of time?
Kristie 44:55
Um, I think as I mentioned being type A and then I My background is in data analytics. And so I kind of looked at Dexcom and was like, Okay, here's where I see trends, how can I fix it? And obviously, it just kind of being COVID in the world slowing down a little bit. I had a lot of time to do research and listen to podcasts. Yeah,
Scott Benner 45:16
I understand it time really is the time to look at it, and enough understanding to make sense of what you're saying. Right. That's it.
Kristie 45:26
Yeah, and I think it just really helped some of like, things that I had early on, you know, I had worked with a nutritionist who had type one. And she was telling me how important it is to Pre-Bolus. So basically, the first day that I started using insulin, I was Pre-Bolus thing. And then I was learning that other people were like, Oh, I don't Pre-Bolus And I was like, No, you have to like that's, that's how I was taught to use insulin. So it just, it wasn't difficult for me to start introducing it. As soon as I think I'm gonna have a snack. I take insulin, and I set a timer for 15 minutes.
Scott Benner 45:59
Wow. Good for you. It's a It's that easy. Not all the time. No, I was gonna say also nothing about this story is really easy. I mean, you had trouble getting pregnant, you had trouble getting through to a doctor, you. I mean, you get pregnant, there's issues with your pregnancy. Your Hashimotos is, you know, morphing in and out. Like a bad sci fi movie just turning from one thing to another. You're managing that along with the preeclampsia along with being scared. I mean, honestly, how scary was it when the baby's blood sugar was low? Oh, super scary. Yeah, my wife, my son didn't warm up for a couple of hours. And I remember just being scared about that. They're like, we can't bring you the baby yet. He's not warm enough. And I was like, what? And you know, there was a knot as umbilical cord when he came out. And something like you don't know what you're doing. I remember I know I've said this on here before but the I cut coals umbilical cord, and they are holding the scissors. And he comes out and the doctor's like running though the umbilical coordinate this not an IC the not I point to it, I go, is that a problem? And he holds up the baby, indicating to me baby's alive. And he goes, apparently not cut it here. And you know even that you're like, Well, isn't the thing how he breathes? Like the cord is not where the air and the like I pretty sure I learned that in health class. Like so there's this stuff you don't know. And all of a sudden you care about something more than anything else in the whole world. And you're trying to you're trying to make sense of it. I would think that low blood sugar thing. I mean, did you wonder for a second, the baby got insulin through you?
Kristie 47:44
Oh, there were so many things running through my head and the so mentally gave birth at a big institution. And so they had you know, 100 doctors and as a teaching hospital and everybody's in the room, it was great. Not really. They are like, Oh, it's because that the moms diabetic that the baby has a low blood sugar. And you know, in that moment, like very much like I'm blaming myself and crying and my blood sugar's had been between like 80 and 110 throughout the whole delivery. And I just kept saying like what, you know, what did I do wrong? And I was very lucky that I had hired a doula who also had type one. And she very quickly was like, Could this also be because he's cold? And, you know, he was having trouble warming up? And they said, Well, yeah, that's that could also be a factor. And it was like, they just immediately jumped to it because I was diabetic, they get a low blood sugar. And it was, you know, traumatizing for me as well. Like, you know, I just spent nine months growing this human and I felt like I had failed right off the bat.
Scott Benner 48:46
I heard somebody say recently, something that I've thought, kind of privately most of my adult life, I've never, I don't know how much I've said it out loud or not where I'm being recorded. But, um, medicines a thing, we're still figuring out. You know, we don't, we don't know everything about the body and about medication, about surgery and about procedures and all the stuff that goes along with being alive and the things you need to stay alive. You know, all the things that have to happen so that you don't die along the Oregon Trail when you're 17. You know, like, my appendix needed to come out and stuff like that. I mean, we know a lot and doctors do an amazing job, but there's still a lot more to know. And they're not perfect, and they don't certainly know everything. But we hope they do or act like they do like I don't know exactly, but that um, oh, the mom has diabetes. I heard blood sugar. That's probably because of the diabetes lady right here like they don't I guarantee you the person that said that out loud. Didn't know that as a fact. They just put two and two together and set it out loud. Yeah, the problem with human beings is we don't know everything. So but we act like we do, and write good on So if we didn't know, I mean, how would there be any podcast? I know. And I'll just be mine. I mean, all of them. Were everybody's like, here's what I think. Great. So are you? I mean, I think we've heard here you're thinking just one baby, which I'm on board with, by the way. But overall, glad you did it still.
Kristie 50:22
Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. I love being a mom. That's excellent.
Scott Benner 50:27
It's just it's, you know, it's an important question to ask, because there could be people here, all that and go. I'm not doing all that. I mean, not that some of the things that happened to you are going to happen to everybody. But know. Your parents pretty proud. I imagine that you got Hashimotos to just like keeping the family tradition go. Oh, yeah. We're how aware of their Hashimotos they've Hashimotos. Are they not autoimmune? Do you? How aware of that with your parents were you like growing up?
Kristie 51:07
Not aware at all, just, you know, I remember my mom actually had her thyroid removed at one point. And she's kind of I was in college, and she called, she's like going into surgery. And I'll call you when I get out. And never really thought that much about her having thyroid issues, that it would impact me. So I'd never had ever researched it, or new signs to look out for it. And I look back, and I'm like, I'm pretty sure I've had Hashimotos for like, five years before I got diagnosed.
Scott Benner 51:37
Can I tell you that that part that haunts me about being a parent, with my daughter having autoimmune issues. I don't want my kids to waste time or to have poor health and not know why. Like, like, I constantly think about like, should I just sit down and write down everything I know? Or would that freak them out? Like maybe I'll just stay alive and call them every six months and ask them how they're feeling? You know what I mean? Like, but you know, I'm saying like, if you had this for five years, you look back now in hindsight, you see how it impacted you? Right? Yeah, like and isn't that does that sorry, looking at your posts, you're still just had a baby? I shouldn't say anything sad do But doesn't that make you sad? A little bit?
Kristie 52:21
It really does. And, you know, I look at kind of like my quality of life. I was always fatigued, always, you know, exhausted. And I just always chalked it up to the fact that I was busy. Now I had a really high profile job. I had ran for public office, it was like I was always on the go and doing things. So I was like, of course, I'm tired. You know, I'm working a lot. And it's, it was so much more than that. And I kind of felt that when I got diagnosed with type one, it was my body saying like, please just stop doing everything you're doing. I ended up quitting my job. And I just kind of got a new job. That's way less stressful. And I really kind of dived into my health. And previously, I'd always kind of been, quote, healthy. You know, I was a runner, I was a spin instructor. I ate healthy. And so like, outside, I looked healthy, but I felt like on the inside. My body was just kind of overstressed and overworked and just kind of helps me stop and reevaluate life, which I think COVID did for a lot of people, but it was really kind of this diagnosis that made me pause.
Scott Benner 53:27
Oh, yeah, there's a ton of people every thought thanks. Because I can't go into any store now and get service with any kind of expediency. People are like, we don't have enough. There's not enough people working our it's my first day. I'm like, Okay, I'm just I'll stand here. Just yeah, everyone lost their will to make money. I need you ball out there. Again, get out there. I didn't stop making this podcast, you don't get to stop going to work, then, you know, just live the American dream. work yourself into the ground and die. All right. I need my Nuggets. Or whatever
Kristie 54:03
it is. Like I said, I am in a resort town. So it is challenging. We have we have no workers and with the paws on J one visas and h two BBSes we've had a very challenging two years and it doesn't look like it's getting better anytime soon.
Scott Benner 54:19
Yeah, well, listen, everyone's gonna run out of money pretty soon, and they'll go right back to work. Don't worry. You know, listen, it's nice to talk about in that kind of like, you know, real progressive way and I agree with you, like we shouldn't work ourselves into the ground, you know, etc. There's too much stressed with work, but what really is the alternative? Because the alternative sounds like no money and no place to live. So, you know, I think you got to get into this is I mean, you want to try to change society, okay. But for the moment, like this is how it works. And, you know, people have been working themselves into a heart attack for many generations in America. It's a tradition so Keep up the tradition. Do your part Christie.
Kristie 55:06
Or you can find the happy medium. Yeah, a bit less stress and some time to be a mom.
Scott Benner 55:10
That's excellent. That's really great. So are you working every day of the week? Do you work from home? Do you work out of place of business you have to go to.
Kristie 55:19
So I'm working from home, which has been really nice to kind of ease back into it.
Scott Benner 55:24
Nice. That's excellent. I don't think Kelly's ever leaving. I said, I was like, why don't you go back to work? The Office everybody's okay. Now they say you don't even have to wear a mask on an airplane. Get out of here. Yes, silly kid. It's just like, I get more done here. And I'm like, I know. But
Kristie 55:42
yeah, it's so my husband's the same. He's been able to work remotely, since COVID. And now, everything's opening back up. And he's still remote. So it was definitely interesting with both of us being home for the past three months. And trying to get work done and just being in the same space as much as we've been.
Scott Benner 56:02
Yeah, a lot. A lot of office buildings that aren't being used right now. I keep wondering what anybody's gonna do with them.
Kristie 56:08
Like, well, it's like malls are not as much use anymore.
Scott Benner 56:12
Yeah, yeah, no, I was at a mall recently. They're very sad. Used to be a bustling place. And now you're walking and you're like, anyone else here. I feel weird.
Kristie 56:24
Just there to get some exercise,
Scott Benner 56:25
I just need to walk around and go to the Apple store and look at the things I can't afford that I'm gonna leave out of here. I need a pair of sneakers. That's really something, you know, so at the beginning, you said you love telling your story? Have I let you tell it? Or are you not gonna do anything? We're doing good?
Kristie 56:42
No, that that was? Yeah, that was just No, I think the the education out there. I always tell everybody, you know, how I was misdiagnosed, and how you have to be an advocate for yourself. And I feel like, that's what I've really learned over the past two years from everything from as calling Jocelyn myself and getting an endocrinologist. And then throughout my whole labor, and pregnancy, just I kept having to advocate for everything that I wanted. And I feel like this is kind of like not enough people know that, that they're in charge when they are at hospitals. And they think that the doctors know everything, which they do know more than us. But a lot of times you know your own body a lot better.
Scott Benner 57:23
In fairness to your statement, Christy, everything that happened to you was met by misinformation from a doctor. I mean, they got the baby out, but also took him 31 hours. So Well, I think that's just nature. I know. But while we're busy blaming them, let's blame them for that as well. Yeah, maybe the 31 hour thing? No, but everything else from the Pete from the original PC. I guess? You were pretty happy with your OB, right?
Kristie 57:54
Yes, I did luck out with a really great OB. Good.
Scott Benner 57:58
Okay. But I mean, they brought everybody it sounds like everybody in Boston saw your hoo, ha, right? They brought everybody into the room, and then made you feel bad. Oh, yeah.
Kristie 58:08
And they were, they just kept telling me, it is medically necessary to get this baby out. And like, one sentence I heard the whole time I was there. Now I was like, I think we're okay. Because, you know, I had gone in really wanting a different birth experience than I had. And I wasn't excited about being at a big hospital. And so I pushed back on every single thing. And every time I pushed back, it was like, it is medically necessary. It's like, is it really? Is it life or death right now? Once you reach life or death, I'll give it but until that point, I'm going to keep advocating
Scott Benner 58:40
for you. That's really something that's great. What else? Is there anything I didn't ask you that I should have?
Kristie 58:49
What can I can think of?
Scott Benner 58:53
I feel like we did such a good job. I'm just looking up and it hasn't been quite an hour. And I'm like, we did it. But usually it takes longer than this. Did I not talk as much is that what happened? I feel like I've talked a lot. Thinking people are like, Yeah, well, here's what happens. Got you shut up and let her talk. And that's how we got the story.
Kristie 59:11
No, but I'm only two years into it. So
Scott Benner 59:14
yeah, that's right. You don't know enough yet. I didn't have enough to ask you about. Well, what about? There's a couple of things for me to ask you about. So did you find the episodes of the podcast where we talked about pregnancy? The pro tip did you go through the one person who I interviewed at every step along the way? First second trimester all that stuff. Did you hear all was any of that valuable for you?
Kristie 59:40
Oh, definitely. And really just hearing experiences and yeah, it sounds so cliche, but like you, you don't understand things a lot of times until you can see it in somebody else. And so I felt like even when listening to the podcast of that first episode I listened to it was a very similar story. You're talking to somebody The who had gotten diagnosed at 30. And kind of how she was navigating, like a few change jobs and trying to navigate that. And it was like, Hey, here's somebody kind of like me going through the same experience I am and they're okay. And I'm going to be okay. And then just hearing successful pregnancy stories was like, okay, I can do this too. And I was very prepared at every step when I would know when the insulin resistance was going to hit. And now I was able to look at my Dexcom data and be able to evaluate things. You know, I didn't want to be looking in the rearview mirror constantly of like, what was happening the week prior, but I would say, I'd also know, okay, I remember that either hitting, you know, week 32, the resistance was going to kick in a little bit more, and so I would know what to expect. And also be able to look at what was happening.
Scott Benner 1:00:51
Oh, that makes me happy. I'm glad. I just think it's so cool. Like, really, you didn't need to lay the baby after me. I was teasing you. But I'm just, I'm just happy that you, you had a better experience because of this thing we put together here. You know, it's
Kristie 1:01:05
definitely really cool. I think about it. I was like living this life of not eating carbs. And yeah, I know that some people choose to do that. And there's a lot of days where, you know, if I've had a roller coaster day, the next day, I'm like, I'm gonna go easy on the carbs today. But I like having the choice of, okay, I can go easy on the carbs today, or it's my birthday, and I'm going to eat all the cake. And I just now I know how to dose for it. I have the tools to be successful.
Scott Benner 1:01:30
Yeah, no, it's so I'm genuinely like, I have so many feelings about it. That I can't, I can't even I can't get them all out. I'm tickled. Like I'm happy. I'm happy for you. I'm proud of myself for making the thing like it really does like it. It's awesome probably end up saying it over and over again till the end. But I didn't know when I started this that. You know, Christie was going to not have to eat chicken thighs and have a baby and stuff like that. You know what I mean? Like it's, it's cool to reach people and to and to help them. It's hard to put into words. Anyway. If I was on PCP, I could probably be more eloquent. What is Angel Dust? I mean, Christy, don't you feel like we have to find out now because I really don't know. Do you know your big Angel Dust fan? As a child? No. You don't strike me as a drug user at all, by the way. No, fence like Ledeen? Okay, here we go. Then cycling or Fen LIS cycle flicks. I don't know. Pepperdine PCP, also known as Angel List, among other names, is the disconnect of hallucinate. hallucinogenic drug use for mind altering effects PCP may cause hallucinations, distortions, perceptions of sound, and violent behavior. Is this like when they talk? Oh, you can smoke it. snort it? Look at this kid stop listening. Looks like Oh, wow. There's all kinds. It is not a good thing. I'm not saying that. Nobody do nobody do Angel. Schizophrenia. What happens here? Wow, can you get flipped into being a schizophrenic by by smoking the Angel Dust? Definitely don't do that kids. No drugs. I want to say right now, Christie, who is delightful doesn't do drugs. And I've never done drugs either. And you can actually believe that I just know. I just know PCP is Angel. That's that's all I know. That's the extent of my knowledge. Will you stop your child from smoking the weed 20 years from now when they try?
Kristie 1:03:42
Oh, they're gonna have to try if they want to.
Scott Benner 1:03:45
Okay, it's completely Lila. Did you hear cops can smoke weed now? Really? I swear. Christine, do you mind if we take the end of your episode to look up things that I've heard but haven't had time to look into? I think in New Jersey Okay, in New Jersey, the Jersey City Mayor says cops who use marijuana even if they're off duty will be fired. But that's not what I heard. I heard New Jersey cops won't be banned from smoking weed. So I guess you made it. Oh, it's going back and forth. It's turning into a political thing. So I guess they made it legal. So how do you stop somebody from doing something illegal right like vodka is legal so cop can go home and have a gimlet if they want to. Right so if you make the weed legal why can't they go home and have an edible or smoke and now the governor's like he's open to banning off duty hops from using marijuana. Interesting. This is gonna go back and forth forever. Watch New Jersey mess this up. They mess everything else up in New Jersey. By the way, it's just a bunch of banks and pharmaceutical companies and a big highway. There's nothing else here. Don't don't visit we have nothing
Kristie 1:04:59
you where I am, we get a lot of visitors from New Jersey. So we don't like the people from New York or New Jersey?
Scott Benner 1:05:05
Ah, well, you would like me. Although I would drive very fast through your town that would be irritating to you probably. Yeah. And I'd stop and want to use your facilities and stuff. And then I'd spend money while I was there, though. So I need a drink. side of the road kind of a thing. Let's see, what does your husband do for a living?
Kristie 1:05:28
He works at a bank? He does. He's a credit analyst. And does mortgage evaluations.
Scott Benner 1:05:34
Nice. So like a nice little family? We get you are? What are our hopes and dreams for this little baby? What do you plan on being serious? Do you want it to grow up to be relaxed and happy? Or do you want to be a go getter? Or because you you've kind of seemed like you've had both in your life? I mean, you were out there, like doing a lot at one point. And now you're thinking the other way. But how do you think about the baby? Like, what should the baby do?
Kristie 1:06:03
Yeah, it's really interesting. I've never thought about it. But you know, I think I just want him to be happy. I definitely don't want to put as much stress on him as I felt like, I had a lot of stress. I was the first in my family to go to college and graduate, and kind of be this star child. I feel like I don't want to put that pressure on him, especially if he's the only kid. But I think it's more so I just, I'm looking forward to having fun with him.
Scott Benner 1:06:31
Yeah, that's the way to think about I approve your message. Christine, what do you think of that?
Kristie 1:06:36
And I really hope he doesn't get type one. But yeah, if he does, then I have the tools to help them.
Scott Benner 1:06:43
The podcast, you meant the podcast right now. Yeah. Like you'll make him Listen, please. I need the listeners, Christy, I
Kristie 1:06:48
gotta keep this guy. That's all he's done his first three months of
Scott Benner 1:06:52
listening to this. So Oh, my gosh, I I was just interviewing somebody the other day. And I brought this up. So it'll be six months ago, people you might have heard it before. But this this kid, this mom shared this, this image online of this child kind of drew himself as a robot with things on his shoulders talking to him. And one of the things was a juice box, telling him that he could eat whatever he wanted if he balls for it. And she said she couldn't believe like, he's a little kid. But he's hearing the podcast ball. She's listening to it and helping himself that way. I was so like, I thought that was really kind of like adorable. But yeah, I mean, listen, I, I don't, here's where I'm at, if anybody cares. I don't want my kids to live with me for the rest of their lives. Not because I don't like them. But because I don't think it would be healthy for anybody. I want to, I want to be able to die thinking they can take care of themselves. But I do just want them to be happy. But I also think there should be somebody making the nuggets. So I'm very conflicted. I want them to get out there and work and be happy at the same time. Is that possible? Can you work and be happy? I think so. Yeah. But everybody can't have a YouTube channel. Christy. Somebody's gonna have to actually go make the french fries. You know what I mean? Yeah, somebody's gonna write.
Kristie 1:08:14
It's gonna, it's gonna equal itself out and balance itself. I think soon.
Scott Benner 1:08:20
You think so you think like one day, we'll all just have like little tasks that we do and money will be free and you won't need it or something like that? Or what do you think?
Kristie 1:08:28
I don't think I don't think it'll go that far.
Scott Benner 1:08:30
But you're just gonna get all Star Trek,
Kristie 1:08:32
I think that we're starting to figure out ways to balance. I always say like, work life balance, but there's no such thing. But, you know, I think things that have come out of COVID like being able to work from home. Yeah, I think I would have quit my job. Honestly. You'd have to go back three months after giving birth. It's a lot, but being able to ease into it is something that is gonna make me keep working.
Scott Benner 1:08:57
Can I go out? I'm gonna give you a hot take. It's gonna go the other way. Right. I think the working from home thing is ruining people's work life balance, not making it better.
Kristie 1:09:07
Oh, yeah,
Scott Benner 1:09:08
I can see that too. Yeah, I think that it's easier to start working. So you start earlier, you probably go longer. You start to get this feeling. There's nowhere to go. So I might as well do this. If I'm not doing this. What else am I going to do anyway? I think they're getting free work out of us by working from
Kristie 1:09:24
home. Yes, I definitely saw that at the beginning of COVID. It was like 24/7. Non stop. Yeah, it could be alright. There's nothing else.
Scott Benner 1:09:34
I sat down the other night at like 11 o'clock. It was like a Friday night. And I was like, I'm gonna edit another podcast. No, I mean, it's a you know, it's a business I own. So I mean, I obviously didn't have to do it if I didn't want to, but I'm just saying like, my wife was out somewhere. And I was like, I have nothing to do. I'm not tired. I mean, I'll go to work. If I had to go into an office building. I would not have gotten in my car and driven to a Building at 11 o'clock to edit a podcast. So, I do think there's I think there's good and bad as with everything we're gonna see. But my heartache is before long we're going to be opening those office buildings back up. People are going to be thrilled to go back to work. Yes. How many people do you know that got divorced during COVID? Do you know any? Yeah, quite a few. Yeah, quite a few. Yeah, of course you did. I did. I, I had a guy told me. I swear to God, beginning of COVID. Everybody's like, oh my god, COVID We're all gonna die, blah, blah, blah, it looks me in the face. He goes, Oh, I'm getting divorced. I was like, what he goes, I am going to end up getting divorced. And I said, What do you mean, he goes, the only secret to keeping my marriage going is that we don't see each other very much. I was like, yeah, and he also for sure. Six months later didn't live there anymore. Wow, divorce now.
Kristie 1:10:52
We see now
Scott Benner 1:10:53
older people. Like not like, you know, 29 year old or somebody who's like, you know, it's just like, Yeah, whatever, like, spent a good life together. And, and he knew, as soon as COVID came while everyone else was like, I don't know, I'm gonna get the COVID I'm gonna die. I'm gonna do this. My grandma. Like, all everybody's thinking about all that stuff. He's like, Oh, I'm getting divorced. happened, like, Oh, my goodness, it
Kristie 1:11:19
was it was really something he knew the key to success was not being
Scott Benner 1:11:23
his key to success was going to work. And I don't know why, like, I don't know, his particulars, you know, they could have just talk to each other. You know, what I'm saying? But, but he knew where it was headed. So really interesting. All right, Christine. You're too nice. And we're just talking at this point. So I'm gonna let you go. All right. Thank you very, very nice. Did you have a good time? I did. I feel like a hostess in this situation. Like, if you didn't have a good time. I worry about my skills.
Kristie 1:11:54
Now, it's, it's funny, because I listened to you so much. It's actually nice to have a conversation back and forth.
Scott Benner 1:12:00
It's nice when you can talk back to the voice makes you feel more safe. You know, I had a, I said, we're gonna stop. But one more thing. I clear my throat though. Sorry. This morning, I was talking to a business associate Who's moving on from a job. And we were saying goodbye. And we'd done a lot of stuff together for the podcast. And at the very end of the conversation, she said, just want to tell you what, it was a great pleasure working with you. And I said, thank you. And but part of me is like, why, you know, but I didn't say why. But she just went on into it. And she said, You're such a great facilitator of good conversations. And then that got in my head. Because then we got on and like, 15 minutes into this, I started thinking, Am I doing a good job in this conversation? Because I can't tell like, so the secret is, is that if I am a good facilitator of conversation, it's not something I'm setting out to do. It's happening. Does that make sense? Right, and so then I got into my head and I was like, Am I doing the thing that makes me good at this right now? Like, I actually, like, had my son I was a little twisted up in the first like 15 minutes we talked because I had her voice in my head telling me you do a good job at this and I was like, what does that mean? So
Kristie 1:13:12
anyway, freaks you out like stage fright.
Scott Benner 1:13:15
I got a little freaked out. Hopefully no one will notice.
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