Juicebox Podcast: Type 1 Diabetes

Episode #1693 After Dark: Mod Podge

Host: Scott Benner
Guest: Stacy
Date: November 28, 2025

Episode Overview

This episode of Juicebox Podcast’s “After Dark” series features a candid, vulnerable conversation between Scott Benner and Stacy—a 39-year-old woman from Texas who has lived with type 1 diabetes since age nine. Stacy shares deeply personal stories around her family’s struggles with diabetes, addiction, mental health, and loss. She details her path from poor diabetes management and substance abuse to sobriety, self-discovery, and a newfound sense of peace, including how she’s built a unique life centered around independence, cats, and hard-earned resilience. The episode is raw, honest, and frequently darkly humorous, helping listeners see the complex intersections of chronic illness and lived experience.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Stacy’s Family & Diabetes Background

• Early Diagnosis & Family Prevalence
  • Stacy diagnosed with type 1 at nine; her older sister (Sarah) was also diagnosed at nine, eight years earlier (02:01).
  • Diabetes, both type 1 and 2, is rampant in her family: father, grandmother, grandfather, aunts, and cousins affected (02:11).
• Family Losses & Impact
  • Sarah passed away at 30 from diabetes complications (never coming out of DKA) (02:51).
  • Stacy’s mother died at 46 from Moyamoya (a cerebral vascular disease) when Stacy was 16 (04:27-04:34).
  • Both losses left lasting fears in Stacy: “I always thought I was going to die when I was 30. So now that I'm 39, I'm happy... technology and things are just getting better.” (05:06)

2. Growing Up with Diabetes and Family Dysfunction

• Medical Misinformation’s Effects
  • Growing up in the 1990s, doctors often said, “Don’t worry, there’ll be a cure soon.”

  “I felt like I could do whatever I wanted because it'll be okay in a couple of years.” (05:57, Stacy)

  • Led to feeling “invincible” and less careful about self-care.
• Parental Support/Neglect
  • Parents were present but not proactive:

  “They'd be like, ‘How's your sugars?’ Oh, it's fine. Okay, good... They weren't on my ass about anything.” (07:46)

  • Relied on quantitative markers, not attentive to high A1Cs or management issues (07:37–08:17).
• Family Struggles with Addiction
  • Mother was an alcoholic, worsening around Stacy’s diagnosis (09:29).
  • Household experienced no abuse, but addiction influenced everyone—brother became a heroin addict during the Plano, TX epidemic (09:49–10:17).
  • Addiction, alcoholism, and substance use prevalent across extended family (11:04, 18:36, 39:10).

3. Personal Journey: Adolescence to Sobriety

• Substances and Mental Health
  • Started drinking and smoking at 16, weed by 17, mushrooms occasionally for “recreation and spiritual” purposes (11:26, 13:02).
  • Experienced repeated hospitalizations for DKA (at least 10 times), largely linked to poor management and drinking (08:33, 30:02).
  • Describes using substances to escape:

    “So I could feel like something else... feel normal.” (31:44, Stacy)

• Sobriety and Support
  • Entered AA at 21, with some relapses and time in rehab.
  • Has not drunk alcohol in almost 16 years, now uses weed to manage anxiety and depression (12:31, 17:28).
• Mental Health Diagnosis and Medication
  • Diagnosed with depression and anxiety, improved with the right medication:

    “The anxiety and depression are better now, since I found the right medicine combo.” (17:44)

  • Notes genetic family connection to mental health struggles and addictive personalities (18:03, 18:36, 39:28).

4. Building a Life: Work, Independence, Self-Acceptance

• Career Shift: Cat Sitting
  • Formerly worked in dad’s restaurant; after complications and pandemic, became a professional cat sitter (14:30–16:59, 20:13).
  • Developed sustainable independent income through neighborhood word-of-mouth and social media (25:09, 25:55).
  • Find joy and pride in her laid-back, flexible lifestyle:

    “Honestly, it is. Every day I'll be chilling with the cats and I'm like, I can't believe I do this for a living.” (21:24)

• Relationships, Autonomy, and Boundaries
  • Prefers not to marry or have children, values autonomy:

    “I want to be able to do whatever I want to do, whatever I want to do it.” (20:03)

  • Past relationships ended largely due to attempts at control or red flags (33:26–34:33).

5. Psychedelics and Philosophy

• Purposeful Use of Mushrooms
  • Sees psychedelic use as recreational at concerts or spiritual/self-care at home (13:02–13:21).
  • Credits mushrooms with providing a sense of profound comfort and changed worldview:

    “You get this feeling that everything's going to be okay. In the end, it's all gonna be okay.” (47:05)

• Belief in a Higher Power
  • Finds meaning in a belief in “something bigger,” influenced by AA:

    “There is a higher power, whether he's God, whether he's Buddha...There's a higher power out there that's in charge of everything.” (49:20)

6. Diabetes Management and Health Challenges

• Current Management
  • Uses Omnipod 5, struggles with its target range but actively self-adjusts (55:57).
  • Lives with gastroparesis since 22, fluctuates with stress, managed with medication and reduced life stress (56:30–57:43).
  • Recently switched to Dexcom G7, skeptical of online negativity:

    “The Internet is always going to tell you what's wrong with everything.” (59:00)

• Other Health Considerations
  • Monitors thyroid activity, prolactin levels (potential tumor ruled out by med change), family history includes multiple autoimmune diseases:

    “My dad has vitiligo. My aunt has graves.” (55:34)

7. Personal Reflections, Humor & Lessons Learned

• Perspective on Early Death & Living Fully
  • Formerly sure she'd die young, now finds each year a blessing:

    “I'm just happy I didn't die when I was 30. Every year a nice surprise.” (59:37)

• On Not Wanting Kids
  • Initially driven by fear of dying young and leaving a child, later by preference for autonomy (59:50–60:49).
• Favorite Quotes & Running Gags
  • On living with diabetes from a young age:

    “That night, I was told I could eat anything I wanted...because it would be the last time I could eat whatever I wanted without worries.” (22:31)

  • On childhood diabetes mishaps:**

    “For Christmas we got stockings full of sugar free candy...me and my sister...ate all of it and we were shitting our pants all night long.” (61:08)

• Running Podcast Humor: Scott’s Common Phrases
  • Stacy’s top three: “fascinating,” “in the end,” and Scott’s funny regional accent on “water” (64:19–65:11, 66:37–67:36).

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments (w/Timestamps)

• On “Invincibility” from Misinformation:

  “I felt like I could do whatever I wanted because it'll be okay in a couple years... I'm invincible.” (05:57 - Stacy)

• On escaping with substances:

  “So I could feel like something else... feel normal.” (31:44 - Stacy)

• On mushrooms and comfort:

  “You get this feeling that everything's going to be okay. In the end, it's all gonna be okay.” (47:05 - Stacy)

• On the darkest family moment:

  “...my mom tried to commit suicide and... I had to run over to her house, get her dad, all this stuff. That's the only violence that we ever had.” (19:22)

• On building a new life:

  “Every day I'll be chilling with the cats and I'm like, I can't believe I do this for a living.” (21:24 - Stacy)

• On empathy and lessons from the podcast:

  “...when I'm driving and someone's driving like a jackass. I always tell myself they might be in their pants.” (69:56 - Stacy, referencing a Scott classic)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• [01:49] Stacy’s diabetes background and family history
• [02:51] Loss of her sister; impact of DKA
• [04:27] Loss of mother; further family impact
• [08:33] Recurrent DKA and parental response
• [11:26],[12:31] Substance use beginnings; sobriety attempts
• [17:28] Mental health diagnosis and management
• [20:13],[21:24] Cat sitting career; life transformation
• [39:28] Family inheritance of mental health and addiction
• [47:05] Mushrooms providing comfort and change in worldview
• [55:57] Current diabetes management strategies
• [61:08] Humorous anecdote: sugar-free candy and consequences
• [69:56] Podcast lesson: assume the best in others; humor about “in their pants”

Closing Tone

The episode is both sobering and filled with dark humor, candid confessions, and cathartic storytelling. Stacy’s journey is marked by trauma yet punctuated by resilience, acceptance, and a measure of self-forgiveness. Both host and guest maintain an informal, approachable conversation, with Scott guiding gently and Stacy reflecting honestly, both vulnerable and dryly witty in turn.

As an “After Dark” installment, this episode stands out for its depth, realness, and the way it threads diabetes experience into the broader tapestry of life’s struggles and triumphs.