Juicebox Podcast: Type 1 Diabetes

Episode #1635: This Just In
Host: Scott Benner
Guest: Andrea
Release Date: September 23, 2025

Episode Overview

In this episode, Scott Benner is joined by Andrea, a 59-year-old health journalist diagnosed with LADA (Latent Autoimmune Diabetes in Adults), often referred to as "type 1 diabetes" to the general public. The conversation blends Andrea’s personal diagnosis and family background with broader reflections on living with diabetes later in life, shifting perspectives on health and luck, the challenges of health journalism today, and the importance of community and access to reliable information. Both Scott and Andrea share authentic, relatable stories, illuminating the realities of managing diabetes and engaging with the diabetes community.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Andrea’s Diagnosis and Family Background

• Late-in-Life Diagnosis: Andrea was diagnosed with LADA just before turning 56, three years prior to the recording, experiencing a rapid and severe onset of symptoms.
• Explaining LADA: She often describes LADA as "autoimmune diabetes" or simply "type 1" to avoid confusion. She uses relatively little insulin and suspects she’s still honeymooning, but her onset was not gradual.
• Family History of Autoimmune Disease:
  • No Type 1 Precedents: No known type 1 diabetes in her immediate or extended family.
  • Crohn's & Hashimoto’s: One daughter has Crohn’s disease; both Andrea and that daughter have Hashimoto's autoantibodies but are asymptomatic.
  • Vitiligo: Slight autoimmune clustering – her daughter and sister have vitiligo; various thyroid conditions run in the family.
• Screening and Awareness: Andrea encouraged her children to get screened for autoantibodies. TrialNet played a role in this early detection approach.

  “Turns out she had [Hashimoto's] too… She’s also asymptomatic."
  — Andrea (06:00)

2. Living Without a Diabetes Community

• Isolation in Diagnosis: Despite living in a populous city, Andrea hadn’t met anyone with type 1 diabetes in person since her diagnosis—her connections have been solely online.
• Importance of Community: Both highlight the significance of finding and fostering diabetes networks, whether digitally or through events like Scott’s Juice Cruise.

3. Health, Genetics, and the Randomness of Disease

• Changing Perspective with Age:

  • Andrea reflects on entering her 50s generally healthy, then suddenly being hit with diabetes, likening it to "sniper alley" when random health issues start appearing among peers.
  • Scott shares thoughts on life’s unpredictability, using humor and analogies (baseball, divorce rates, “frozen urine” falling from airplanes) to illustrate how luck and randomness often shape health outcomes.

  “You’re just rolling along… and then all of a sudden you hear plink and you’re gone.”
  — Scott (08:29)

• Acceptance over Self-blame: Both recognize that sometimes it isn’t about personal choices—genetics or plain luck often play a bigger role.

  “You know, there are some things that we can do to control our health, but… there’s a lot we can’t.”
  — Andrea (08:06)

• Gratitude for Late Diagnosis: Andrea expresses thankfulness for being diagnosed later in life compared to young children facing diabetes from birth.

  “I’m really grateful that I got this as late as I did… This sucks, but it could suck a whole lot worse.”
  — Andrea (12:14)

4. Symptoms, (Mis)Diagnosis, and Navigating Healthcare

• First Symptoms: Persistent yeast infections, fluctuating vision, exhaustion, unexplained weight loss, and severe thirst led Andrea to suspect diabetes. Her background as a health journalist equipped her to recognize warning signs quickly.

  “When I started waking up… dying of thirst… I was like, oh man, this is probably diabetes.”
  — Andrea (17:07)

• Struggles with Initial Medical Care:

  • Andrea’s doctor first suspected type 2 and prescribed metformin. She was advised not to monitor her blood sugar, despite her request.
  • Blood sugars remained high, with metformin having no effect; only after Andrea’s persistence did an endocrinologist (found via telehealth) run the necessary tests and confirmed type 1/LADA with positive autoantibodies.

• Healthcare System Frustrations: Facing difficulty getting timely appointments, Andrea had to be proactive about her own care—a common experience for newly diagnosed adults.

5. Professional Lens: The Evolving Landscape of Health Journalism

• Transformations in Media: Andrea recounts how health journalism has changed—magazines have died, misinformation is rampant, and social media has both democratized and diluted information.

  “Everybody can put up a blog. Everybody can be an expert now, which is great, but it’s also not great because then we have people who… spread misinformation.”
  — Andrea (23:58)

• Difficulty Making a Living: Discussion of how economic models have shifted; the erosion of traditional journalism makes it harder to build a sustainable career or disseminate vetted information.
• Information Overload:
  • Scott describes how an overabundance of content leads people to “shut down and just stop completely,” hurting both consumers and quality creators.
  • Both lament how the glut of (often unvetted) health advice makes it challenging for patients to discern trustworthy guidance.

6. Living Boldly with Diabetes & Public Perceptions

• Fear versus Facts:
  • Andrea reflects on how people often believe type 1 is a childhood disease—adults are unaware they can develop it or misattribute long-standing health to “doing things right.”

  “There are a lot of people waking up one day going, oh, I did not know I can get this. This was not on my bingo card.”
  — Andrea (48:39)

• Communicating Diagnosis: She stresses why sharing stories of late-onset type 1 is important—normalizing it and improving awareness.
• Psycho-social Adjustments:
  • Both discuss the mental transition following diagnosis, including the temptation to seek causes and the value of accepting life's uncertainties.
  • Andrea describes the ongoing worry about “the other shoe dropping”—when her remaining beta cell function will be lost.

  “I keep on thinking I’ve got to save these beta cells... But I also wonder, when’s the other shoe going to drop?”
  — Andrea (42:03)

7. The Challenge of Passing on Diabetes Knowledge

• Parent-Child Dynamics:
  • Scott shares his journey as a caregiver as his daughter transitions to independent diabetes management. He describes the anxiety and pride that come with watching her achieve good (but different) outcomes on her own, as well as the need to move from protector to supporter.

  “If I don’t pass it on to her, then it dies with me, and then she struggles forever.”
  — Scott (59:22)

• Letting Go:
  • Both agree that part of maturing with (or supporting someone with) diabetes is learning when to step back and let the person with diabetes forge their own path.
  • Andrea affirms, “It’s your party. This is your life. You’ve got to live it the way you want to.” (59:46)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Andrea on randomness and blame:

  "All you had to do is give that away. Just say, look, I'm lucky that I've been healthy this long. And now you're not." (08:05)

• Scott’s “frozen urine” analogy:

  “Did you know that frozen urine falls out of airplanes? Have you ever been hit with frozen urine? Never in your life. You never will be.” (10:28)

• On the flood of information:

  “It’s overwhelming… there’s so much. Where do you even begin? Everything is wrong with you, nothing is wrong with you…”
  — Andrea (31:23)

• On letting go as a parent:

  “It’s been years of like slow handoff… It’s not a rom-com, it’s not one lunch and shopping montage and then everything’s okay afterwards.”
  — Scott (58:32)

• On being a caretaker at heart:

  “I guess you’re a caretaker at heart, first with your daughter and then the rest of the community extending out.”
  — Andrea (66:41)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• [02:41] – Andrea shares her diagnosis and family background.
• [07:04] – Reflections on health, aging, and randomness.
• [12:14] – Gratitude for later-in-life diagnosis and technological advances.
• [16:54] – Andrea details her first symptoms and experiences seeking diagnosis.
• [23:58] – The changing landscape of health journalism.
• [32:11] – The problem of information overload in diabetes and health.
• [38:04] – Andrea’s specifics about her LADA progression and “honeymooning”.
• [44:00] – Discussion of anxiety, philosophical vs practical worries since diagnosis.
• [47:39] – Why Andrea wanted to share her story: raising awareness of adult-onset type 1.
• [54:19] – Scott on the “hand-off” of diabetes management to his daughter.
• [62:16] – Andrea reflects on the conversation and being at ease on the podcast.

Summary Takeaways

• Living Well with Diabetes at Any Age: Andrea’s story spotlights the challenges and nuances of a late-in-life type 1 diagnosis, highlighting both the emotional adjustment and the practical realities of navigating the healthcare system.
• Health is a Mix of Choices and Chance: Both hosts reinforce that, while self-care matters, much of health and illness is out of our hands—a philosophy that encourages acceptance, flexibility, and gratitude.
• The Value of Community and Good Information: Facing diabetes is easier with access to reliable peers, sources, and platforms like the Juicebox Podcast. Andrea and Scott champion the importance of community (offline or online) and the need for accessible, quality education.
• Changing Media and Information Overload: The landscape of health journalism has transformed, leading to both a democratization and a glut of information, underscoring the need for trusted guides and resources.
• Diabetes Isn’t Just a Childhood Disease: Both statistical and personal evidence reveal that a significant portion of new type 1 diagnoses occur in adulthood—awareness is crucial for earlier detection and appropriate treatment.
• Caregiving and Autonomy: Parents and loved ones of people with diabetes must ultimately let the individual lead, offering support and trust as they build competence and confidence in their self-management.

This episode is an insightful, honest, and often humorous conversation that will resonate with anyone living with diabetes, newly diagnosed adults, caregivers, and those seeking clarity amid the noise of health advice and misinformation.