#1821 After Dark: Bigger Fish to Fry

Summary

Juicebox Podcast: Type 1 Diabetes

Episode #1821 – After Dark: Bigger Fish to Fry

Date: April 10, 2026
Host: Scott Benner
Guest: Rachel, mother of four, including a 13-year-old son with Type 1 Diabetes

---

Episode Overview

This "After Dark" episode dives into the complex realities of living with type 1 diabetes within a family facing significant additional life challenges. Guest Rachel shares her candid and often humorous perspective on parenting four children, navigating trauma, ADHD, family abuse, and the intricacies of chronic illness. Her story is marked by resilience, real talk, and plenty of laughter as she and Scott connect on the importance of community, openness, and being bold with insulin—and with life.

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Rachel’s Family & Personal Background

• Rachel, age 36, is a single mother of four: ages 17, 15, 13 (with type 1 diabetes), and 9.
• Both she and her son have ADHD. Rachel manages hers without medication.
  • (“Unmedicated ADHD all the way. I just wing it.” – Rachel, 03:09)
• Rachel’s upbringing and adulthood have included experiences with abuse, trauma, and resilience.

2. Parenting Through Trauma & Single Motherhood

• Rachel’s early motherhood began at 19, under difficult circumstances—including a child from sexual assault and tumultuous relationships.
• She’s frank about her marital history, including surviving abuse (emotional, verbal, and financial) and navigating divorce and the death of her youngest child’s father.
• Openness with her children is a central parenting value:
  • She ensures that her kids know they can share anything with her, no matter how hard.

3. Diagnosis and Diabetes Management

• Rachel’s son was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at age 12 after a head injury and was initially being assessed for concussion complications and POTS (Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome).
• The diagnosis was accidental—a high random blood sugar flagged during unrelated testing.
  • (“Life was great. We were having so much fun… then we got to the hospital, and they took his blood sugar, and it was 448.” – Rachel, 23:23)
• Rachel is proactive about independence; her son uses the Omnipod 5 and Dexcom, and the family trains for everyone to pitch in.
  • Her anxiety about her kids' future independence drives her to prepare: service dog, tech, and community resources.

4. Compounding Health Challenges: ADHD, POTS, and Autoimmunity

• Multiple children in her family have POTS; one has diabetes, others are being screened for thyroid and other autoimmune issues.
• Rachel uses her lived experience to advocate fiercely for her kids with schools and healthcare providers.

5. Service Dog Journey

• After a service dog helped her manage PTSD, Rachel is now training a new service dog for her son’s diabetes.
• The service dog detects hypoglycemia early—sometimes before technology (like Dexcom) registers the drop.
  • (“She was pawing at me and trying to get into my lap… Five minutes later, I checked again. He was down at 66.” – Rachel, 34:17)

6. Family Teamwork & Building Resilience

• All four siblings are trained to support their brother: giving shots, checking BGs, knowing emergency procedures.
• Rachel credits her children’s mutual support and growth to their close-knit, honest family culture:
  • (“Every single one of my children has given their brother an insulin shot… We all dove in, we all helped each other.” – Rachel, 58:01)

7. Adverse Childhood Experiences & Breaking the Cycle

• Scott walks Rachel through the ACEs (Adverse Childhood Experiences) checklist, highlighting how high scores correlate with future adult challenges.
• Rachel is consciously protecting and nurturing her kids—despite criticism from others about “coddling”—to break generational cycles of trauma and neglect.
  • (“People say you spoil your kids… No, my kids focus on being children. I’m the adult.” – Rachel, 64:24)

8. Using Technology & Community Resources

• Rachel discusses leveraging tech, support groups, symptom tracking tools (being developed by Scott), and diabetes camps to enhance her family’s wellbeing and autonomy.
• She celebrates discovering the podcast and online communities for the sense of belonging and learning they’ve provided in her diabetes journey.

9. Humor and Openness as Survival Strategies

• The episode is marked by laughter and straight talk:
  • Rachel and Scott use humor to defuse heaviness and build connection.
  • Rachel is honest about her triggers, mental health struggles, and the work it’s taken to find peace and positivity.
  • (“It took a long time to get here. I spent a lot of years in anger, a lot of years in fear… but now I live under the philosophy that the Lord has not brought me this far to let me fall.” – Rachel, 77:21)

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Resilience:
  “Things happen. You’re gonna make mistakes. It’s gonna be all right. Everybody’s gonna live through it.” – Rachel (05:32)

• On Openness:
  “Something I say might help somebody, and you never know.” – Rachel (11:01)

• On Service Dogs vs. Tech:
  “Five minutes after she warned me, Dexcom finally caught up.” – Rachel (34:31)

• On Breaking Family Cycles:
  “If I have control over it, I will fight you to the duel… and protect my children.” – Rachel (64:15)

• On Community:
  “Everything was so crazy because everything happened so fast. But my support group grew so early on… [the podcast] made me feel less alone.” – Rachel (56:09)

• On Future Planning and Letting Kids Be Kids:
  “My kids have what they need, most of what they want, I will always figure out a way.” – Rachel (65:45)
  “There’s a difference between being responsible and having responsibilities.” – Scott (67:54)

---

Timestamps for Significant Segments

• Rachel’s Introduction & Family Structure: 02:16 – 07:11
• Diagnosis Story (Diabetes after Head Injury): 19:55 – 24:54
• Service Dog Experiences: 18:56 – 27:12, 33:00 – 36:07
• Family’s Mutual Support in Diabetes Management: 58:01 – 58:46
• Discussion of ACEs & Trauma Cycles: 59:55 – 64:15
• Parenting Philosophy (“Let them be children”): 64:18 – 68:03
• Advocacy in Schools & Medical System: 72:53 – 75:28
• Finding Community & Hope: 56:09 – 57:19, 77:21 – 78:37

---

Episode Tone and Takeaways

The conversation is candid, warm, and punctuated with humor—anchored by Rachel’s resilient, optimistic philosophy and Scott’s signature empathy and quick wit. It’s a raw look at surviving—then thriving—through trauma, single parenting, and complex medical needs. Practical strategies, honest reflection, and laughter abound, making this episode an encouraging resource for listeners navigating profound challenges with diabetes, parenting, or trauma.

---

For More

• Visit JuiceboxPodcast.com, especially the “After Dark” series for similar real-life stories.
• Explore private Facebook communities for ongoing support.
• Check out mental health and positive childhood experience series referenced in the episode.

---

“Diabetes has made me appreciate all of my children a lot more... We live every day with happiness, and we're not afraid anymore.” – Rachel (57:10)

Transcript

[A]

Hello friends and welcome back to another episode of the Juice Box Podcast.

[B]

My name is Rachel and I have a 13 year old son who has type 1 diabetes. I don't know, I get nervous when I'm on the spot.

[A]

If you're living with type 1 diabetes, the after Dark collection from the Juice Box Podcast is the only place to hear the stories that no one else talks about. From drugs to depression, self harm, trauma, addiction and so much more. Go to juiceboxpodcast.com up in the menu and click on After Dark. There you'll see a full list of all of the After Dark episodes. If you're looking for community around type 1 diabetes, check out the Juice Box Podcast. Private Facebook group Juice box podcast type 1 diabetes but everybody is welcome. Type 1, type 2 gestational loved ones. It doesn't matter to me. If you're impacted by diabetes and you're looking for support, comfort or community, check out Juice box podcast type 1 diabetes on Facebook. Nothing you hear on the Juice Box Podcast should be considered advice, medical or otherwise. Always consult a physician before making any changes to your healthcare plan. This episode of the Juice Box Podcast is sponsored by the Omnipod 5 and at my link omnipod.com juicebox you can get yourself a free. What'd I just say? A free Omnipod 5 starter kit. Free. Get out of here. Go. Click on that link omnipod.com juicebox check it out. Terms and conditions apply. Eligibility may vary. Full terms and conditions can be found@ omnipod.com juicebox links in the show notes [e-mail] Today's episode is also sponsored by Dexcom, the Dexcom G7, the same CGM that my daughter wears. You can learn more and get started today at my link dexcom.com juicebox My

[B]

name is Rachel and I have a 13 year old son who has type 1 diabetes.

[A]

Why did you just giggle through your name? What was that?

[B]

I don't know. I get nervous when I'm on the spot.

[A]

And then you giggle.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

All right. I can't match that energy. I'm sorry.

[B]

Okay. Sorry for you.

[A]

I don't have giggle energy. Although sometimes I do, but takes longer.

[B]

Well, you better go find it.

[A]

Maybe you'll find it for me. Challenge accepted. You should have said. You said, all right, I'll get you there. Don't worry. Rachel, why are you nervous?

[B]

I'm always nervous when I talk about myself.

[A]

Really?

[B]

My kids. Yeah.

[A]

Are you always nervous or just in certain situations?

[B]

No, I think it's all the time.

[A]

Do you have ADHD or anxiety?

[B]

I've got bad adhd. Unmedicated makes type one a fun thing to deal with.

[A]

Wait, wait, you're unmedicated?

[B]

Oh, yeah. Unmedicated. ADHD all the way.

[A]

Oh, wait, wait. You're medicated? Not unmedicated?

[B]

No, unmedicated. Oh, I don't take ADHD meds. I just wing it.

[A]

You're just riding it.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Like you're on a bowl.

[B]

Yep.

[A]

The rocket up.

[B]

We'll see if we remember what we're talking about today.

[A]

We're going to see if your episode doesn't have a picture of a bull with a rocket up. It's. That might be it right there. Well, let's see if we can stay on. I must already have an episode called 8 Seconds, and if I don't, we're well on our way.

[B]

We're on our way. My Type one kiddo. He has adhd, too.

[A]

Yeah, it's not uncommon.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

How long do you think you've known about yourself? How old are you?

[B]

I'm 36.

[A]

Oh, you're young.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Do you feel young?

[B]

No.

[A]

You're young.

[B]

I feel so old.

[A]

Are you from the Midwest?

[B]

No, I'm from. Well, I'm originally from California, but I live in Alabama.

[A]

Do you?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

It's a lovely mix in your voice, of the two things. I like it.

[B]

I like it.

[A]

All right. I just want to say to Rob while he's editing this, leave all the giggling in. It's fine.

[B]

No, there's gonna be a lot of giggling. I giggle a lot.

[A]

Just leave it in. I think it's gonna be delightful. Yeah.

[B]

You know what? It's gonna make somebody's day, because laughing is contagious.

[A]

So I hope so. That's nice.

[B]

Maybe somebody will be listening, and they're just feeling really down, like I was in the beginning, and they'll hear my giggle, and they'll be like, oh, it's all gonna be okay.

[A]

Can I tell you, Rachel, that not only do I believe that's true, but I've watched it happen, and I've had people tell me the very same thing. Very recently, a woman told me that the first episode of the podcast she landed on was the one where the lady came on to talk about the school nurse mistake that was made on her daughter. And if you haven't seen or heard that one, if you haven't heard that one, you really have to go find it. The school nurse gave the daughter two full syringes of insulin.

[B]

I did hear that.

[A]

Yeah. Right. Instead of, like, think. Instead of two units, she gave her 200, if I'm not mistaken. Right, kids? Okay, nobody panic, but this poor lady finds the podcast. That's the first episode she listens to, and she says at first it's like a panic for her, but then she realized that the woman was there. We were talking about it, I was joking about it, the kid was okay, and she. She said it made her feel like it was going to be okay to relax and. And be a real person around all this. So I think you're right. So giggle away. Okay. Giggles.

[B]

Things happen. You're gonna make mistakes. It's gonna be all right. Everybody's gonna live through it.

[A]

Yeah. Try not to give 200 units of insulin. You mean to give two, because that's not one that everybody definitely lives through, but yeah, definitely. But if you listen to the story, it's fascinating how it all works. Worked out and. And how it ended up working out well is. Is fascinating too, but that's neither here nor there. So you're 36. How many kids do you have?

[B]

I've got four kids.

[A]

Four kids?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

When did you start? When you were 12?

[B]

19, bro. 12's too young.

[A]

19. I'm glad. You know, the loss.

[B]

Hey, you know what, though? I'm pretty sure my grandma started when she was 12.

[A]

Are you. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. What? Are you being serious?

[B]

No.

[A]

How old do you know?

[B]

Because in the old days, people got married when they were, like, really young and they had kids really, really young, and that was, like the thing.

[A]

Oh, okay. Yeah. You just think she was younger. Younger.

[B]

Yeah. Yeah.

[A]

In California.

[B]

No. Oh, no. She grew up in South Dakota.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

Most of my family is not originally. My family is not originally from California.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

My family is originally from, like, South Dakota and the South.

[A]

Oh, well, South Dakota sounds like a place where there's nothing to do but have sex.

[B]

There's nothing to do there at all.

[A]

Well, you spend eight, 10 minutes looking at one of those animals and you

[B]

go, okay, it's literally the middle of nowhere.

[A]

Yeah. Now what do I do? It's cold.

[B]

It is. Oh, my gosh. And you know, their speed limits are like 80 miles an hour. That's the speed limit.

[A]

I would like that.

[B]

It's nice.

[A]

I do like a fast driving. Okay, you have four kids. How old are they?

[B]

Yeah. 17, 15. 13 and 9.

[A]

17, 15, 13 and 9. And the. I don't know which one has diabetes.

[B]

The 13 year old.

[A]

I was gonna guess that. I should have guessed. I would have looked brilliant. If I would have just said what I was.

[B]

You would have. You would have looked like people, would

[A]

have been like, he might be an or. And then instead I just didn't say anything because I thought, oh, I've got a one in four chance I'll be wrong. And then I was going to be, Ah, damn it. Well, now you don't even believe me, that I was going to pick the right. But I was. I was going to say, next time,

[B]

just go with your gut. It's okay.

[A]

How old was that? 13 year old when they were diagnosed?

[B]

He was 12.

[A]

That's last year?

[B]

Yeah, we just hit one year, January 11th.

[A]

Oh. Are you okay? How's it going?

[B]

It's going. You know, it's. At first we were dealing with a lot of lows, and then we were dealing with crazy highs, and now we're back to lows. So, you know, I'm sorry.

[A]

I think there's something about your roller coaster. I think there's something about your speech and your voice pattern that's going to make me laugh at things that aren't funny.

[B]

Yes. It's okay. My kids do it, too.

[A]

Laugh at you?

[B]

Yeah, at everything. Everything. Like if. If somebody's crying, they laugh. They don't know or, you know, somebody died, they're just giggling and they don't know how to be serious.

[A]

That's fairly inappropriate. I. I mean, in the wrong setting, don't you think?

[B]

I mean, I hope they laugh at my funeral because I don't want them crying. I don't know.

[A]

Do you feel like you're a decent parent or maybe not.

[B]

I think I'm a rock star. Given everything that we've been going through, the situation.

[A]

Is there a boy living there with you and those four kids?

[B]

Oh, no.

[A]

You let him go.

[B]

Oh, long time.

[A]

Was he let go? Let go for poor performance. What happened?

[B]

You know, it just didn't. Things just didn't work out. It wasn't a good situation.

[A]

You're telling me. When you crank out four kids in four years at the age of 19, things get dicey.

[B]

Well, you know, sometimes you're just not somebody's person. So you guess.

[A]

You don't notice that when they're on top of you making babies.

[B]

Listen, narcissists are really good at putting on a show.

[A]

Are you talking about you or him?

[B]

Him.

[A]

Oh, okay.

[B]

No. So actually, my oldest. I was actually, when I was.

[A]

Holy Jesus, Rachel. Maybe a preface or something. I'm so sorry to know that. Why now? I feel like I can't joke with You. And then everything you said is wrong.

[B]

I'm not easily offended. And you know what? I'm not even ashamed of my life, because things that happen happen, and it made me who I am, but I don't. So I got my oldest. Oh. I kept the baby.

[A]

Oh. Oh, okay. I get. I don't want you to feel. I'm not. All right, let me start over. You took me out of left field. Hold on a second. This has happened once before in the 12 years that I've recorded this podcast, and the last time, I did not pivot quickly enough. And so this time, I am. And if you want to go look for that one, you can't find it, because it is one of the. It is one of the three episodes that never aired, because at the end of it, the person I spoke to and I both went, you want to delete that? And we both went, yeah, let's do that. Because we were having this fun, laughy conversation that suddenly took a weird, like, not a weird turn, but like a stark turn. And I wasn't. I don't know what happened. It's hard to know. Like, you're vibing and you're talking and everything, and, like, I just didn't pivot quickly enough, and it just felt strange. So this is why I put my foot in the ground when you said

[B]

that it's okay, because I can pivot Us, too, if you can't. So, okay, so I have my oldest and then my ex husband that I was married to for seven years, together for nine is my boy's dad. And then my little girl I actually had after I got divorced, and her dad actually had passed away in 2023.

[A]

Can I ask questions about the thing you just said, or do you prefer if I.

[B]

No, absolutely. Ask all the questions. I'm an open book. Because you know what? Something I say might help somebody, and you never know.

[A]

Well, that's what I'm hoping. What prompts you to. To keep the baby after? I don't know what to call it. The event. We'll call it the event. Okay.

[B]

We'll call it the event. That's fine. I actually wasn't sure at first, and then I just prayed a lot about it, and I just took some time to really think instead of just jumping to a decision. And, you know, it's not a baby's fault how they get here. And who am I to say that she wasn't supposed to be here, even though it happened in a bad way? Like, what if she changes the world? What if she creates a cure for something. What if she. You know what I mean? Like, and she's super talented. Super talented. She sings really well. She's in marching band. Super smart, like, reading at a college level at. In the fourth grade. She's just amazing.

[A]

I'm so glad you didn't say she got fired from her job at the Piggly Wiggly because she couldn't run the deli counter. And I would have been like, oh, gosh, no.

[B]

So she actually hasn't had a job yet either. So she keeps asking me to get a job, and I'm just like, I want you to focus on school. School's important. Marching band, choir, all the things you're doing is what's going to get you into college. And she wants to go to Juilliard. And so I said, you need to. You need to focus on your career path, focus on school, focus on getting your portfolio together. Like, there's more important things than having a job.

[A]

Good for you. I take it back. You're a good parent now.

[B]

Thanks.

[A]

Did you know the assailant?

[B]

Not, like, personally. Like, I had met him a couple of times before, and then we were at a party and things happened.

[A]

Did that person go to prison for this? No.

[B]

I actually never told anybody until, oh, I think she was about four months old. And my mom kept telling me, like, she had gotten me a, like, spa treatment thing for my first Mother's Day. She's like, why don't you go and do that? Like, you haven't even used it. Get away and let me watch the baby and stuff. And then I finally broke down and told her, and then I said, it's not because I think you're going to hurt her, but I'm just so afraid. And then, you know, things spiraled from there.

[A]

How did you deal? Well, I mean, I have a lot of questions, but first of all, personally, how do you make yourself, I mean, right with all that, or right as you can be? You can manage diabetes confidently with the powerfully simple Dexcom G7. Dexcom.com juicebox the Dexcom G7 is the CGM that my daughter is wearing. The G7 is a simple CGM system that delivers real time glucose numbers to your smartphone or smartwatch. The G7 is made for all types of diabetes, type 1 and type 2, but also people experiencing gestational diabetes. The Dexcom G7 can help you spend more time in range, which is proven to lower a 1C. The more time you spend in range, the better and healthier you feel. And with The Dexcom clarity app. You can track your glucose trends, and the app will also provide you with a projected A1C in as little as two weeks. If you're looking for clarity around your diabetes, you're looking for Dexcom. Dexcom.com Juicebox when you use my link, you're supporting the podcast Dexcom.com Juicebox Head over there now. Today's episode is brought to you by Omnipod. Did you know that the majority of Omnipod 5 users pay less than $30 per month at the pharmacy? That's less than $1 a day for tube free automated insulin delivery. And a third of Omnipod 5 users pay $0 per month. You heard that right. Zero. That's less than your daily coffee. For all of the benefits of tubeless, waterproof, automated insulin delivery, my daughter has been wearing an Omnipod every day since she was 4 years old and she's about to be 21. My family relies on Omnipod and I think you'll love it. And you can try it for free right now by requesting your free starter kit today at my link omnipod.com Juicebox Omnipod has been an advertiser for a decade, but even if they weren't, I would tell you proudly, my daughter wears an Omnipod omnipod.com/juicebox. Terms and conditions apply. Eligibility may vary. Why don't you get yourself that free starter kit? Full terms and conditions can be found@ omnipod.com juicebox you just have to do

[B]

a lot of work, therapy and, and self reflection and you know, with my kids, I keep the line of communication open. Always, always you can. It doesn't matter what anybody tells you. It doesn't matter what you did. Like, you. You're never going to tell me something that's going to make me not love you. And even if somebody says they're gonna hurt, hurt me, like, they have to get through me, so. And they're not gonna get through me.

[A]

Does she know?

[B]

I actually just told her, yeah.

[A]

What goes into that decision?

[B]

Well, for a long time I wasn't gonna tell her. And then she said, you know, I really want to know who my dad is and like, why he's not around and all the things. And so I told her, you know, as nicely as possible. And I told her, this is why I'm so crazy about Internet safety and physical safety and, you know, don't put yourself in situations that could lead to something dangerous. Like, this is why I'm so crazy about people not Staying the night. You not staying night at other places. Like, this is why all these decisions all the time.

[A]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[B]

Like, this is why.

[A]

Have you ever seen this person again? Do you see him?

[B]

Nope. No, it's. Last I knew, he was in California.

[A]

God, I'm so sorry. I mean, it's a long time ago, but still.

[B]

Yeah. You know, but like. Like I said, it. It made me. It's one of the events that made me who I am today. And I'm stronger that I got through it, and I have an amazing kid from it, and so. And she looks just like me. I copy and pasted her.

[A]

That's lovely. You are. That's always maybe one of the somehow saddest, nicest stories I've heard in a while. Like, after all I've been through and like, sometimes people say that and then the stuff they talk about, I'm like, it's really not a lot, but you have a different pathway, different perspective. Yeah. Yeah. Wow.

[B]

Yeah, I have a lot. You know, my marriage was a not a good situation and very emotionally, verbally, financially abusive and, you know, and then my little girl's dad passed away, so I'm parenting her all by myself and his family's not involved, so.

[A]

Wait, hold on. So you have four kids?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

The one the oldest is from. What we just talked about is the second. The girl you just brought up.

[B]

No, my last is the little girl.

[A]

Okay, so you have every word I want to use. Sounds like not enough. But your oldest is from the incident, then your middle tour. From your marriage.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

To the seven year marriage.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

That you got rid of that guy for the reason you just said. The youngest is from a different guy.

[B]

Yes. So I. He was my best friend. My youngest one's dad was my best friend.

[A]

And he's passed away recently, and he

[B]

passed away in 2023.

[A]

My gosh.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

My God. I'm so sorry. Wow.

[B]

So it's been a lot of things, but you know what?

[A]

We.

[B]

We've all gotten through it, and we're all stronger for it, so.

[A]

Yeah, well, that's why they made that song.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

I mean, this song's not. What doesn't kill you, makes you weaker. Like, that's right. That's not the song. If it was, then, you know,

[B]

then we got diabetes diagnosis.

[A]

What else is. Before we get to the diabetes? What else is happening? Is there. Are there other things, or are we gonna get to the diabetes as the last thing?

[B]

No, I mean, I don't think that there's much else, like, oh, well, we have a service dog. Well, she's a puppy, but she's training to be our service dog.

[A]

That's fun.

[B]

So that's really exhausting. No, it's fun now that she's a little older, but when she was. When we first got her, it was crazy. This dog was like a tornado.

[A]

What leads to that? Like, the kid gets the diabetes and you. Somebody says service dog and you think, yes. And then dive into quickly.

[B]

My mom had a service dog for PTSD and hearing.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

And then I also had a service dog for PTSD and hearing. And so I don't know. So it's crazy how it all kind of happened though, because part of my service dog's story leads into like diabetes. You know what I mean?

[A]

Start there. I'm impressed that the service dog has a story. I don't have a story. What's your. Go ahead.

[B]

Okay. So we had our. We had. Well, we had the dog. I say we because my 15 year old son bonded with our. With the dog so well that if she had to save one of us in a fire, it would be him and not me. Like all the rest of us would die. He'd be the sole survivor. Him and the dog.

[A]

I can't believe that's the example you brought up. We just talked about this in my house last night. About who you'd go grab in a fire?

[B]

Yeah. No, I'm telling you, she would. She would get him and that would be it. Like, we would all perish. I found out that she had cancer. She had mammary gland cancer. In April of 23 is when I found out about it. In October, on the 24th of October, I let my dog out to go to the bathroom and she was taking a really long time, so I walked down there to find her. And she's just like laying in the grass and I'm like, okay, come on, let's go in the house. And she could not get up. And when she did get up, she was stumbling a lot and I'm like freaking out. I'm hollering for my oldest kid to come out and help me pick her up and bring her in the house. And so we pick her up, we bring her in the house, and I made a floor, like a bed on the floor so I could sleep next to her and, you know, away from all the kids. So just in case she didn't wake up in the morning, you know, I could handle it before the kids got up.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And so me and my daughter lay her down right next to the bed I made on the floor. And she stayed in that spot all night long. She did not move. When I fell asleep and woke back up, she was still in the exact same spot. So I was like, okay, this is. This is not going to end well today. So I wake up and I take her to the vet, and we ended up putting. Well, I picked up my oldest son before we went to the vet, but I picked up my oldest son. We went to the vet. We ended up putting her to sleep. I went home and got in the shower, you know, because I just had a long tears and dog hair, and I was on the floor at the vet's office, like, you know, while we're putting my dog to sleep. And five minutes after we get home and I get in the shower, my oldest son says, hey, you have a missed call from the school. Hey, you have another missed call. And I'm like, well, answer it. So he answers my phone. He said, mom, it's the ambulance. They have to talk to you. And I'm like, what? So I hop out of the shower, and I'm like, hello? And they said, hey, your son was assaulted at school. He was knocked unconscious, and we are taking him to the hospital. I said, okay. So I'm, you know, I don't know the whole story. I don't know what's happening. I just know that my kid is on his way to the hospital. And my brain says, do I go to the hospital or do I go to the school and beat up the parent? Like, you know what I mean? Like, what do I do?

[A]

I mean, you're at the hospital. I'm assuming I did.

[B]

I went to the hospital because, you know, my kid is more important than any revenge or any anger or whatever. So I meet him at the hospital, and he want. They roll him in, and he just looked so out of it. Like he was just staring off into space, looking around. It was very sad. It was probably the worst thing I'd seen up until that point. He was out of school for a little while, you know, and then for almost a whole year after that. Now this happened. The assault happened October 25th of 2023. At the end of 2024, he was still having what we thought were concussion symptoms. So his doctor finally sent him to the concussion clinic here in Alabama, and they diagnosed him with pots. They diagnosed him with post concussion syndrome. And then they wanted him to go get some labs done. And they were looking for something, I don't know, something in his blood that had to do with the concussion, right? They weren't looking for. Really looking for, like, blood sugar or anything like that. That was on a Thursday. When we went to the clinic on Saturday, I got a call, and I was like. I looked at my phone. I'm like, well, I don't know anybody in this town. And so I didn't answer it the first time. And so I sent it to voicemail, and it immediately called me right back. And so I'm like, thank you thing. And I'm like, oh, that's the town the doctor is in. So I answer it. She said, hey, you know, Grayson's test results came back, and you need to get him to the emergency room to have them recheck his blood sugar. It could be a lab error, but, you know, the endocrinologists here at the hospital think that it can't wait till Monday, so you need to go. Probably about 10 minutes before that phone call, me and my three youngest kids were outside building a snowman. Like, life was great. We were having so much fun. I mean, I even have the last picture we took before we got to the hospital and got a diabetes diagnosis. But, like, it was just. It was such a fun day. And then we got to the hospital, and they took his blood sugar, and it was 4. 48. And they were like, yeah, he's definitely got to stay here. And then that's how we got our diagnosis.

[A]

My gosh, That's a. That's a whirlwind.

[B]

Yeah. And then I started thinking about it. You know, like, a lot of stuff was happening. Obviously, it was a lot of, like, education and stuff. And then I started thinking about the fact that my son is 12 now, but soon he's going to be 13, and then soon he's going to be 16, and he's going to want to drive, and when he drives, he's going to want to go places with his friends by himself. Obviously, he's not going to want his mother toting along around with him all the time. And then shortly after he turns 16 and wants to drive, he's going to go to high school or he's going to go to college because he's going to graduate high school, and I can't go to college with him. Like, you know what I mean? And so my brain just started spiraling about this whole future that he has that hasn't even happened yet.

[A]

Right. No. And how you trying to get ready for it somehow?

[B]

Yeah. And so before you even know what you're doing, like, maybe I'll look into that.

[A]

Okay. You're like, you know what'll help? A four legged dog.

[B]

Yes. That will always be with him and we'll have his back. You know what I mean? And then it's actually funny because I had mentioned to the endocrinologist that we use. I had mentioned to the diabetic educator there that I was thinking about maybe seeing about a service dog, and she put me in contact with another parent in my same area that has a service dog.

[A]

I'm sorry, do you still have your dog? Are there three? Like, when you get together with your mom, are there three service dogs there?

[B]

There's. Well, my mom lives in California, so we don't get together really, but.

[A]

Okay. Okay.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

But do you still have one?

[B]

No, no. She. I put her to sleep the day that my son was assaulted. Remember I post.

[A]

That was that dog. That was the. Oh, my gosh. Okay. I thought the service dog was a thing in the past. That was the dog and that was the dog.

[B]

And then, you know, everything sp after that.

[A]

So you haven't had your dog for the last year or so, and has that been an issue for you?

[B]

No, it's been. All right.

[A]

So you didn't need the service dog?

[B]

No. Well, the thing is, is that I had to learn how to. To just do things, you know, like when I'm having an episode and I'm, you know, freaking out and I don't realize where I'm at. Like, I just have learned to get through it. Like, just to sit down and breathe for a minute and tell myself, like, hey, you know, it's okay. You're not in the past. The past is not now.

[A]

So, you know, my next question about

[B]

getting another one, but I just couldn't. The pain of losing her was so.

[A]

I imagine. Yeah, but you know what I mean. You know my next question though, right? You had a service dog. You don't have it anymore. You don't feel like you need it. You got your son a service dog.

[B]

Well, so I actually decided to get him one instead of myself.

[A]

Oh. It was a decision like you could only have.

[B]

Yeah, Like, I had to. I had to make the decision of, like, obviously, you know, service dogs can be expensive and the training can be expensive and everything. And so I. I care about my kids before myself, so I will suffer severely for my children not to suffer.

[A]

Are you suffering?

[B]

I mean, every day is a struggle. Like, you know, I told you, I'm an anxious person. I'm anxious all the time.

[A]

How does a dog help you with ptsd?

[B]

So there's, you know, they can just kind of sense when you're starting to get into that moment of, like, panic. And she would come over and she would just lay her head down on me, and it's almost like a. She would kind of put her body onto me, and it was like I felt almost like if you're getting a hug, you know what I mean? And so it's just like, she brings a calming emotion to a bad situation. And she could always tell when even. Even other people. She could tell when anybody was upset. And, you know, she wouldn't leave you alone until she knew that you were better.

[A]

The way you describe yourself, adhd, anxiety, etc. Would you have described yourself that way prior to being 18?

[B]

I know I had ADHD before that, but no, I really didn't pay no mind to any of it. Like, I know my mom had done, like, some testing for me when I was a kid, and, you know, she got some diagnoses for me, but she was like, I'm not gonna put my kid on medicine. I'm not gonna put my. Make my kid a zombie. Like, she was all against medicine. So for the longest time, like, that was kind of my outlook too.

[A]

I'm wondering how much of your. I mean, the PTSD is obviously from, you know, what we talked about earlier, correct?

[B]

Huh? Yeah, that and my marriage. The marriage is bad.

[A]

How do you financially abuse somebody? You said that during your financial abuse.

[B]

Yeah, so, okay, so that's the thing. When I was in my marriage, I didn't think that there was any real abuse. Like, you know what I mean? Like, there were some times where, like, a beer bottle was thrown at me or, you know, things. Like, it was a little bit physical. Not a lot, but, like, one or two times it was physical. But I was like, no, no, it's not. It's not domestic violence. It's not that. When I got divorced, my mom said, can you just go to one domestic violence counseling group? And I said, no, no. And she said, just one, and I'll never bug you again if you say you don't belong there. I said, okay. So I went. And when the women that were there started talking about their stories is really when it clicked for me that, oh, my gosh, I have been abused for years. Years. And that just because it's not physical abuse doesn't make it any better. And actually, a lot of the women in that room said that the physical abuse was the easy part because bruises heal and your brain is hard to heal.

[A]

What's an example so of throwing a beer bottle Is an example. Physical. Yeah. And demeanor.

[B]

So, like, financial. So, like, I didn't have a job. I was a stay at home mom for most of the time I got a job. Only he would let me have a job before, like the Christmas season for holidays. And then he would go. He made all the money. So he would go and take money out of the bank account and only leave in there a certain amount of money that I would need. Like, and I all. I could never access any of the money without permission. Like, I had to ask for money.

[A]

Where did the rest of the money go to? Smart investments. Building a future.

[B]

No, to his affair.

[A]

Oh, awesome.

[B]

Yep.

[A]

How long do you think that was going on?

[B]

It was at least a year that I know of because I remember the day I found out about her. Me and him were with our kids that we had, and the three kids, we went with a friend and their kid to a fish boil or a crawfish boil. And he went to the bathroom and his phone went off and I had just picked it up to look and it was another woman. And I read their messages and they were talking about, you know, all our marital problems, blah, blah, blah. And I remember we fought about it that day. And he's like, well, she's just a friend. And I'm just venting to my friend. It's no different than you. I said, no, it is different because that is a friend of opposite sex. You don't talk about your marriage problems with your friends of opposite sex. I'm sorry, you just don't. It's not appropriate. You know what I mean?

[A]

No, I'm. Listen, I'm with you. But he was cheating at that point. You believe?

[B]

Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. There's no doubt in my mind. Because also somebody that worked with them, so they worked together, and then somebody that worked with them actually ended up delivering a pizza to me one day after me and him had separated. And he said, hey, you know, such and such, Such and such is actually pregnant by your husband. And I was like, what good time? He was like, oh, yeah, they've been dating for a long time. And I was like, are you kidding me? He said, no, they're always together holding hands and stuff in the workroom. Like, I'm like, okay, so all of my thoughts around that were correct.

[A]

At the fish fry, when you pick up the phone, you can be honest with me.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Before you pick up the phone, are you already wondering and you're thinking, let me catch him here, or were you literally just like, oh, your phone's Going

[B]

literally just was like, hey, hey, his phone's going off. Let me check it. Because he was at, you know, the bathroom.

[A]

Up until that moment, you thought you were. Up until that moment were in a regular old relationship where just beer bottles got thrown at you and you weren't allowed to have money.

[B]

Yeah. So, you know, in the beginning, like, in the very beginning of the relationship, there was something that was kind of weird, and then I decided to ignore it, and we talked about it, and that was it. You know what I mean? And so I really thought that that was just it.

[A]

Oh, you sniffed it out once. And then. And then.

[B]

And then I ignored it for what I, you know, wanted the life that I thought was gonna be.

[A]

Gotcha. My goodness. Yeah, so I can't keep apologizing to you because it's weird, but, like, sorry.

[B]

It's weird, but yeah, don't be sorry. Like I said, it made me who I am. It made me strong enough to help my son through his stuff. And, you know, it's. We're getting through it, so.

[A]

My goodness.

[B]

But yeah, that's kind of like the whole process that kind of led up to. To me getting him a service dog.

[A]

Gotcha. I understand. You did a good job.

[B]

She's great. He just joined. Yeah, he just joined the baseball with the high school that we were.

[A]

Wait, the dog did or your son did? Okay, because I thought it was gonna be one of those Disney movies where the dog was playing left field or something like that. So cute. No, no.

[B]

I told them they need to change their mascot from an eagle to a golden retriever, and then she could just be their mascot.

[A]

And they were like, this lady's got a lot of ideas. We gotta get her out of here.

[B]

Yeah, yeah. But no, so she actually, she has been fan phenomenal through, you know, his first sports experience with diabetes. Because, like last night, for example, I brought her with me. Me and her were sitting in the car. He was out on the field, and she was pawing at me and like, try. Literally trying to get into my lap from the back seat. And I'm like, what? What is it? And then she, like, that's kind of her phrase. Like, what is it? And she was like, oh, yeah, now I can really tell you what's going on.

[A]

Oh. And so he's low or high at that point.

[B]

Low. Yeah. So she's telling me he's low. So I. I check his dexcom. His Dexcom says he's 90 something. And I'm like, okay, well, let's just check anyways. So we do a finger poke, and it says 80. And so I look at her and I'm like, okay, we'll watch it. Because that's still not what Dexcom says. Like, that's still lower than Dexcom. So we go sit back in the car, and maybe five minutes later, she's like, lady, I'm telling you, something ain't right.

[A]

The kid.

[B]

Yeah, five minutes, like, chill out, you

[A]

know, and she's reading the fall of the blood sugar. You think?

[B]

Yeah. And she's like, no, something is wrong. I went and checked him again. Like I said, within five minutes, he was down at 66.

[A]

Oh, pretty cool.

[B]

And then by that time, Dexcom had caught up a little bit and said, you know, 78 arrow down. And I'm like, okay, Dexcom. Like, this could have been really bad if he kept, you know, being out there running bases and stuff. And he's at 66. I don't even want to know what would have happened by the time Dexcom caught up.

[A]

Can I ask you, prior to the prac is a practice, right? It's early in the year.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

You're in the south, though, so you could start playing outside. But prior to the practice, did he eat something?

[B]

Did you have a meal prior to this practice? He actually was low at school, and the nurse gave him some carbs and some protein and stuff like that. And then before we went to practice, I gave him a protein bar and, you know, some stuff to kind of just keep him going.

[A]

But did you bolus for it?

[B]

No, no. I told him, I said, don't take any insulin because you're. You know. His doctor wants him to be 100 at least to be able to exercise. And how many carbs is in. I'm. That's sitting right here. The wrapper is because he didn't even finish the whole bar. Let's see. He. This one is 47 carbs, and it's like a. It almost is like the size of two protein bars in one, but 49 carbs. And I said, don't. Don't take no insulin for it. It's fine because you're about to go to practice.

[A]

And he got low anyway.

[B]

Yeah, even. And it happened twice.

[A]

How do we get insulin? MDI.

[B]

So he is on a Omnipod now.

[A]

The five.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Interesting.

[B]

How long he's on Omnipod 5. We started in August of this past year of 2025.

[A]

Do you adjust targets for activity? Do you.

[B]

Yeah. So while we go to, like, we'll put him into. I always Call it sports mode. And he laughs. Yeah.

[A]

Yeah, I think your car has sports mode. It's when it drives. Like, it shifts a little sooner and it's a little faster.

[B]

Well, no legs. The other day, I would. I usually. I'll check him before we get there, and I'll. You know, I told him, I said, when you go see the nurse for your last school check, switch yourself into sports mode. And he's like, mom, what do you mean, sports mode? And I'm like, you know, like, when you put your Crocs in sports mode? He's like, I don't know what you're talking about, but usually I'll make sure he did it. But this time I didn't. So I ran onto the field, and I was like, hey, Grayson, sports mode. And he's like, what?

[A]

He's like, oh.

[B]

I'm like, exercise mode.

[A]

I gotta get out of here.

[B]

Yeah. He's like, I don't know what you're saying. I was like, omnipod, Mom, I want

[A]

to go away to college. I don't know if I've mentioned that before, but I just decided I. Pretty far. I'd like to go far. Can I go far, please?

[B]

And then I said, omnipotent. He was like, oh, I know what you mean.

[A]

Okay, so when he's diagnosed this a year ago. When he's diagnosed a year ago, he's not really diabetes wise. I'm guessing they caught it kind of quickly because they were looking at the other stuff from the head injury.

[B]

They caught it pretty early because they were looking for something else and happened to stumble upon it.

[A]

Do you think he has pots or do you think he had post concussion stuff?

[B]

Oh, no, he definitely has POTS because they did the test in the room, like, so they'll have you lay down, they'll take your vitals, and then they'll have you, like, they have you lay down for quite a while so that your body can just kind of relax, right? So they can get your, like, starting vitals. And then after that, they'll have you stand for 10 minutes, just in one spot. Just standing. No exercising, no walking around, nothing. Just standing.

[A]

Sounds exhausting. Sorry.

[B]

Yeah, it's very tiring.

[A]

My. My iron's just a little low right now. When you said that, I was like, oh, ten minutes. Not today.

[B]

I know, not today. No, not for me. So then they'll take your vitals again, and if your heart rate goes up by 30 points or higher, that is an official diagnosis for POTS. Upper or down, it can actually go down. Too. So, like, I actually have three children who have pots of my four children.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

And my oldest. Her heart rate goes down.

[A]

Her heart rate goes down. But does she have a POTS distinction?

[B]

So she. Her official diagnosis, because there's a thing around pots, is that doctors don't want to diagnose it because it's. You only get to that diagnosis after ruling everything else out. Right. And so. And then there was that whole, like, oh, Covid conspiracy. Covid, you know, causes pots. But this really just is not the truth. You know, Covid can trigger your autoimmune gene. Yes. Which can happen, but then once that is triggered, you can get any plethora of autoimmune diseases. Like, it's not directly. You know what I mean? Related, but so doctors, you know, they. It's hard to find. I actually had a doctor tell me. They described pots. They said this. She's gonna have these episodes her whole life. Just make sure she has good salt and water levels. You know? So she. He described it. He told me how to. To treat it. And then he's like, pots is a dirty word. Because my mom was with me. She's like, oh, so, like, pots? And he's like, pots is a dirty word? And I'm just like, okay, whatever. So my oldest daughter's official diagnosis is orthostatic intolerance, which is just another name for pots.

[A]

Okay, well, you know, sometimes the POTS and the pans are the last thing to get washed. Everybody runs out of steam, and they just sit there, and people do that. They go, I'm gonna let that soak a little bit.

[B]

Just leave it. It's gonna be all right.

[A]

I'm gonna let that soak as code for. I'm done with the dishes now. Thank you. Also, you know, there's actually a medical issue called pans, too.

[B]

Yes, I know. That's. That's crazy. I'm just like, okay, well, I have pots and pans then, so let's go.

[A]

Clank, clank, baby. Okay, so. Wow. Okay. The POTS things. It is interesting. It's. It's right up there with the other stuff that's difficult to. To, you know, to diagnose. To diagnose, right. Yeah, for sure. I don't know why the word diagnose wouldn't come into my mouth just then, but that was ridiculous.

[B]

What's crazy is I have a niece with it too. So autoimmune obviously runs in our family, but nobody else in my family has diabetes.

[A]

Well, that was going to be my next question on your side. Of the family. What other autoimmune stuff are we seeing?

[B]

We're seeing pots. We're seeing. I mean, he has diabetes. I don't really know what else. My family has a lot of crap.

[A]

Let's go through it together.

[B]

I don't. I don't know what all is autoimmune, but I know that those two things are for sure.

[A]

Thyroid celiac.

[B]

Oh, here we go. My oldest actually is getting blood work because her skin is getting dark. She's having hyperpigmentation. All of a sudden, all coming. Started at the top of her arms and it's all coming down. So they're going to be checking her thyroid and they're going to be checking for, like, other things and. But they said she might have some insulin resistance.

[A]

Oh, does she have other thyroid like issues?

[B]

I have no idea. I wouldn't even know where to begin to know what that would be.

[A]

You have the Internet, though, is that correct?

[B]

Yeah, but. Oh, God, I don't go to the Internet. That's just scary. That'll have you thinking you're dying tomorrow.

[A]

But. But if you. Why not say. Why not, like, use the machine and say, list all thyroid symptoms?

[B]

Did I tell you that I'm already an anxious person? Yeah, but I'll be like, oh, my God, she's dying in five minutes.

[A]

Well, I don't think it's gonna kill her in five minutes, but wouldn't it give you an opportunity to stop that from happening?

[B]

I mean, I guess it could.

[A]

Is there not more anxiety with the unknown?

[B]

No, I. For me, I think it's. I. I think it's hand in hand right there. The same level. Because I feel like once. So, like, okay. With my son, I had no idea at all. I was completely oblivious. So was he, so was his dad. We didn't know nothing, and we were living life. We were. We were building a snowman the day he got diagnosed. We were out there having a lot of fun, and then. And then, you know, bam. All of a sudden, life has changed and I'm like, oh, my God, what if I can't keep him alive? What if I mess things up? What if? You know what I mean?

[A]

So that stuff's going to happen anyway.

[B]

Yeah, it is.

[A]

Ready?

[B]

I slept through a low, and that triggered me to get a sugar pixel, so that was great.

[A]

Did you use my link customtypeone.com juicebox?

[B]

No, because I didn't know about your podcast.

[A]

Well, thanks a lot, Rachel, because I think I would have made a dollar if you would have done that.

[B]

But now, I didn't even know about your podcast until I met the other type. One mom that has the service dog. Because you actually, you did a interview with her, and she's the one who even told me about your podcast.

[A]

Was she nice when she told me about it when you saw it?

[B]

No. She was like, this guy, he is so rude. No, I'm just kidding. No jerk.

[A]

But a couple of the episodes were helpful. Hey, really quick, it's a yes or no. We're talking about your daughter, right?

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Fatigue, extreme tiredness or lack of energy.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Weight gain, unexplained increase in body mass.

[B]

No.

[A]

Cold intolerance, excessive sensitivity to cold temperatures.

[B]

Oh, yeah.

[A]

Constipated, infrequent or difficult bowel movements.

[B]

No.

[A]

Dry skin, rough, scaly or flaky skin texture.

[B]

No.

[A]

Puffy face, swelling or puffiness around the face and eyes?

[B]

I don't think so.

[A]

Hoarseness, rough or raspy quality to the voice?

[B]

Nope.

[A]

Like Marge Simpson's sisters? No, nothing like that. Muscle weakness, Reduced physical strength?

[B]

Maybe Sometimes, yeah.

[A]

Elevated blood, cholesterol.

[B]

Oh, she did have that.

[A]

Muscle aches, pains, tenderness or stiffness in muscles, sometimes. Joint pain, discomfort, swelling or stiffness. And joints?

[B]

No.

[A]

Menstrual irregularities, heavier than normal or irregular periods?

[B]

Nope.

[A]

Thinning hair, loss of hair density or increased shutting up. Slow heart rate, fewer heartbeats per minute

[B]

than normal when she's having a POTS episode. Yeah.

[A]

But other than that, no depression, persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness?

[B]

Nope.

[A]

Impaired memory, difficult recalling information or concentrating?

[B]

Nope.

[A]

Is there any lumps on our neck or swelling in the base of her neck?

[B]

No.

[A]

Okay. But she has some of those things. She has the. The thing with the thing. And the doctor says, let's look at the thyroid. Is that right?

[B]

Yeah. So she. I don't know what all she wanted to.

[A]

Full thyroid.

[B]

Let's hope she wanted to look at her thyroid. And then she said she was going to check, like, her A1C and all that stuff, so. Okay, we'll see what comes of it.

[A]

When is that happening?

[B]

This weekend. I gotta take her on Saturday.

[A]

Well, first of all, I hope you get good news. And. And if. If not, if you get news on the thyroid issue, it's one little pill once a day.

[B]

Well, that'd be fantastic.

[A]

And then all the things you said yes to, if they're caused by that, go away, hopefully.

[B]

Yeah, that would be fantastic.

[A]

Much better. And then. Then where's your anxiety? Your anxiety is much better, right?

[B]

Oh, yeah. For that, I'm just an anxious person.

[A]

I understand.

[B]

You could Drop a cup next to me and all of a sudden I'm in a full blown panic attack and I'm just, I'm done for the whole day.

[A]

Listen, you get a pass. No one's going to hold your feet to the fire on this. But what I'm saying is.

[B]

But no. Yeah. Then the worry for her goes away a little bit. Yeah.

[A]

In a world where you're going to be anxious anyway.

[B]

Right.

[A]

Why not do the things that help yourself and be anxious instead of not doing the things that help yourself and be anxious?

[B]

Right, Right. Oh yeah. Well, and then the thing is, is that, you know, I've been working with the doctor on her symptoms for a long time and it took a long time to even get to where we're at now. Like when with a we. I started with doctors on this in California and then it took moving all the way to Alabama and finding a good doctor to, you know, actually look at anything further than

[A]

it's, it's, it's just a check engine really. Like you go through and check things and then it tells you, you know, if it, if it connects to something. And I'm wondering, just as you're talking about it, if it would have helped. Like. So there's like a symptom selector. Right?

[B]

Right.

[A]

Insulin resistance, weight gain, weight loss, salt cravings, heat intolerance, cold tolerant intolerance, frequent thirst. And you can go through and check off any of those that like you may have. Then it goes on. There's gastrointestinal connective, structural issues, joint pain, hypermobility, stuff like that. Neurological like brain fog or migraines, sleep issues, dizziness. And in the end there's, let me see here. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. There's maybe 40 things you could check off. Right, Right. And it's trained on, I think at this point it's 70 over 70 different clinical autoimmune related conditions. And you check all those.

[B]

Fantastic.

[A]

You check all those things off and then like watch. Let's just do, let's do easy ones. Let's do frequent thirst, I don't know, delayed digestion, brain fog, fatigue. All right, I scroll down and it's highlighted any of the things that, that connect with that. And so it's not, you know, a lot of, a lot of autoimmune issues overlap there.

[B]

Right.

[A]

So it brought up just to give you a couple. What did you just say? This, how do you say that word disorder dysautonomia. That one. POTS, non celiac gluten sensitivity, long Covid chronic Lyme type 1 diabetes. Like, you know, Hashimoto's.

[B]

So that's fantastic. You said you have that on there already or that's what you're working on?

[A]

I'm working on it right now. So, like, using Hashimoto's as an example, I chose fatigue and lethargy.

[B]

Right.

[A]

So it highlights Hashimoto's. It shows you that you chose fatigue and lethargy, but there's also cold intolerance, unexplained weight gain, constipation. And so, like, if you go through, you know, using what you were saying with your daughter and we start adding the things like that you. That you said yes to. So.

[B]

Right.

[A]

So we'll do them again for her. Right. What were the. What were the things that you said? She has fatigue, right? Did you say constipation?

[B]

No. Hair thinning.

[A]

Hair thinning.

[B]

She's always dizzy.

[A]

Really?

[B]

Always, Always dizzy.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

She's got hyperpigmentation on her skin now.

[A]

Always dizzy. Mm. Tissue, unexplained rashes, dry eyes, mouth elastics.

[B]

She's intolerant to cold.

[A]

Cold intolerance. Okay. So now while we're like, starting to click on the. I don't even have them all checked, but now when you scroll down and it gives you a more highly. You're more highly likely to have thyroiditis at this point. Like, it's just.

[B]

It's just right.

[A]

It really is. What. I know.

[B]

That's fantastic.

[A]

I hope so. Like, I, I especially to see a

[B]

list like, of, okay, here's a bunch of symptoms. Do you have any of these? Because sometimes when people are putting their symptoms together, they don't. They don't know what is relevant.

[A]

That's what I was.

[B]

What goes together.

[A]

Yeah. And, And. And it does little nice things like, like there's something here called HPA access issues. Like, and I thought no one knows what that is, so I changed the program. So if you hold the mouse over top of it, it says disruption in the communication between the hypothalamus, pituitary gland, and adrenal gland. So. Yeah, isn't I.

[B]

That's amazing.

[A]

And then I put it on everything else. So, like, even stuff like salt. Salt cravings, which are like, I mean, pretty obvious what that means. But if you mouse over it, strong and persistent urge to consume salty food. So everything has a definition to it. So people can choose. And then once you cluster a cup, once you have cluster together, like, let's just throw brain fog on here. And that's it. Right. And there's a button. You can do an AI analyzation to, like, look at clusters. So you click on it. It kind of uses AI to analyze clinical clustering. And then it kind of comes back with a little report for you to look at. You know, get more context from. You can scroll down again. It tells you, like, the type 1 comorbidity delta, like, thyroid has, like, a bigger connection to type one than celiac.

[B]

Right.

[A]

Potts is third. Like, this kind of stuff. Right. And then there's just all kinds of.

[B]

Well, that could be fantastic, too, for people who. Who are wondering about Type one, too, because a lot of. I've noticed a lot of stuff. Stuff that he had that they were calling post concussion syndrome or whatever. We're also like, I think that those were diabetes. I don't think that those were post concussion.

[A]

I was gonna.

[B]

You know what I mean?

[A]

I was wondering about that, too. Like.

[B]

Yeah, so, like, his brain fog, like, he's like, it's always hard to remember stuff. I can't ever remember anything. And, you know, like, that could be adhd. That could be a hundred thousand things.

[A]

But it also could have been the diabetes. Yeah. That went away, right? I'm sorry.

[B]

Yeah, it started to go away. Like, a lot of the things that they were telling me. Oh, it's. It's just from his concussion. It'll get better. It'll get better. And then they finally were like, oh, it's post concussion. But then at, you know, right after that, they found diabetes. And I'm like, I think a lot of that was diabetes.

[A]

Did he start that fight when he got clocked?

[B]

No, no. So. So this is what happened, actually. So it was him and two other boys, and they're. They're sixth graders, Right. They just started sixth grade. He had had trouble with this boy the first month of school. And then in October, the three boys were trying to get into their lockers. This boy came up and was slamming their locked lockers closed every time that they would get them open. So my son, like, turns and I saw the video of all this happened because our schools have recordings.

[A]

Oh, my God. How would I have gotten away with any of the things I got away with if there were cameras?

[B]

Terrible. We would be caught right away.

[A]

Absolutely.

[B]

So he turns around and, like, flings his arm behind him, like, to tell him to knock it off. Right? And then the other kid said something. And then my son got up, and then the two of them moved down the hall, and they're, like, tussling. And then this boy grabs my Son by his shoulders and rams him head first into the concrete wall.

[A]

It's an escalation.

[B]

And my son collapsed, I imagine. And immediately collapsed.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And that boy was just standing there staring at him. Wasn't calling for help, nothing. And then when my son first woke up, like, he couldn't even talk. He couldn't even make words. He couldn't fill the whole right side of his body.

[A]

Jesus.

[B]

And so, you know, I.

[A]

Scary.

[B]

I wonder sometimes. I wonder if the concussion, you know, kind of triggered his autoimmune stuff, because he had absolutely no medical problems before this at all.

[A]

No. There's a lot of autoimmune in your life. So I don't know.

[B]

So I don't know.

[A]

I was wondering if brain fog and other issues of undiagnosed type 1 maybe led him to get into a fight. Actually, maybe. I don't know. You know, because you kind of act a little differently. I didn't get to say. At the end of this thing that I'm working on, you can click a button to generate a script to talk to your doctor with.

[B]

Oh, that's fantastic. Because most people wouldn't know how to bring that up.

[A]

Right. My persistent cluster of symptoms, including chronic fatigue, debilitating dizziness, cold intolerance, and brain fog, suggest a systematic imbalance that requires targeted investigation, not just the symptomatic management. I am requesting appropriate comorbidity screening to rule out underlying autoimmune, endocrine, or nutritional deficiencies. Specifically, I need a comprehensive panel, full thyroid panel, ferritin. Can we please partner together to. To look at these deeper markers? I'm committed to finding the root cause, so it helps people to, like, talk about it when they maybe wouldn't know how otherwise. I also have this other button here. I'm not this. I haven't completely decided if this one gets to stay or not, but it's. It kind of just gives you more of, like, a holistic plan for yourself at home, like, things you could do with food. That would help. Anyway, this is what I do in my free time.

[B]

No, keep working on it. Because I think that that. That really has. I mean, that's really got something there.

[A]

I hope so. Especially for someone like you. And you are much more like other people than you think. Like, the people I talk to all day long have stuff like this going on, their family all the time. So, like, I just thought, like, maybe instead of having to sit in your house and wonder, right? Just sitting down and going like, click, click, click, click, click, click, click. Oh, hell, oh, now? Yeah, now I have a way to look at this, like. Right. Because I'm not saying it's gonna. I'm not saying it's gonna diagnose you.

[B]

Well, no, but it can definitely help you to. It's almost like when you people tell you to ask your doctor, what's your differential diagnosis? So that they, you know, think outside of the box, not just what's normal, you know, what typically comes with these symptoms. Okay, but what else can happen?

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

What else can it be?

[A]

This is not an announcement of it. So if you're listening, you're like, I really want to hear it. You're going to have to wait for another episode. When I say I put it on my website.

[B]

Right.

[A]

I don't know if I told you how I got to it. It's. It's a big part of why I think the community's, like, really important. I. Yeah. Like, I look at people's struggles where they're coming up short with things that are stopping them that I wish, you know, wouldn't get in their way. I asked a bunch of questions about. I put up a post about asking people what other autoimmune issues they have in their lives. And you should have seen the incredible list that came back. And so I took that list and basically pulled it all together and created. I don't know. You know, I love that. Started making this up from that.

[B]

I think it's gonna be so helpful for people, especially, like, you know, for me, like, I live in California or Alabama. I'm from California. I don't have my family here. I don't have, you know, really anyone here. Like, so sometimes it does feel very lonely.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Diagnosis for, you know, diabetes. And so you're like, okay, what else can possibly go wrong?

[A]

Well, especially in autoimmune, in a situation where you can, you know, using this as an example, like, you can click on brain fog and dizziness. It doesn't point to one thing. It points to, like, nine things.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Right. And so, yep, when you go to the doctor, you say, I have brain fog and dizziness. They're not going to say, oh, you know, I. I don't know. I think you have MAST cell activation syndrome. We should look into that. And I'm not saying that would be that, but at least you now have, like, well, it's possible it's one of these nine things.

[B]

Right? Yeah. Like, let's. Let's.

[A]

Right.

[B]

Like, let's get through and make sure that none of these are happening so that we can figure out what. As is actually happening. Yeah.

[A]

Yeah. Anyway, what made you want to come on the podcast?

[B]

I listened to a couple of your podcasts after that other mom had told me about them, and it just. And I found it so, like, everything was just so crazy because everything happened so fast. But my support group grew so early on, and honestly, a lot of the episodes were. They made me feel less alone, you know, Like, I live in a state where I don't really have. I don't have my family here. It's just me and my kids and my ex husband's family's here, which they're fantastic. I love them. But, you know, they're not always involved all the time, like, day to day. But it just made me feel less alone to know that, you know, there are people that are having the same fears that I have and experiencing the same things, and you know what I mean? So I just was like, well, if our story can help anybody, because our story isn't just about, you know, my son got diabetes. We had a lot of things that led up to. To our life story. And sometimes, you know, it's hard to deal with the present when you have your past still that you're dealing with. You know what I'm saying?

[A]

Yeah. No, you have a bigger. You have a. I mean, obviously you have a bigger thing going on.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Quite honestly.

[B]

Yeah. But you know what? We live every day with happiness, and we're not afraid anymore. And, you know, honestly, like, honestly, diabetes has made me appreciate all of my children a lot more because how. It's not just him. Like, my oldest, you know, the boys go to their dad's house every other weekend, and I usually work the weekends that they go. And my oldest will call me, and she'll be like, mom, the sugar pixel went off. Grayson's low. He's not even there. You know what I mean? Like, he's with his dad, but she's still. That sugar pixel went off. We've gotta deal with this. And I just so, you know, and then, like, his brother. His. His brother, they share a room, and I'll wake my son up, you know, four or five times a night sometimes. And his brother gets disrupted, too. His sleep gets disrupted. And he still goes to school every day. His grades are good. He still goes to baseball. He doesn't complain. He. You know what I mean?

[A]

So you got a little team there. You're realizing that those kids are all on each other's side.

[B]

Exactly. And all of my children, like, from the very beginning, I. Every single one of My children has given their brother an insulin shot. Every single one of my children has poked their own finger. Every single one of my children has poked his finger. Every single one of my children knows where all the emergency medicine is, you know, so, like, we all dove in, we all helped each other. And I was like, wow, I really did. I really did get lucky with some fantastic kids.

[A]

How much of that do you think is the way you built your family, though, based on your upbringing and your experiences?

[B]

You know, I don't know. Sometimes I wonder. Sometimes I wonder if I'm doing a good job. And then diabetes came, and I saw all my kids rally around my son, and I said, okay, I think I did do a good job.

[A]

I mean, when I hear you talking, it seems like. And I don't. I know you an hour, but it seems like that, you know, you have a feeling of like, we need to be self reliant.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Right. Because it's hard to trust other people. And you know, that, that, you know, other people can be brutal at times. And so. But it doesn't feel like your kids are, like, hunkered down in a bunker, like, you know. Yeah, right. But they still feel like they have everyone's back. From your description.

[B]

Right. Yeah. Well, because family. Family is one of the. I mean, family is the most important thing. Friends come and go, partners come and go. But, you know, your family, you're supposed to be there for your family, you know, till the end, no matter what. Like, your family supposed to be the one thing that you're always gonna have.

[A]

Yeah. Did you feel like you had that growing up?

[B]

Yeah. So my mom was really big on that. That's who I got it from. My mom was like, family. First family. You help your family no matter what. You stick with your family no matter what. And if you make mistakes, that. Okay. That's okay. You go and you clean up your mess. So, like, my family's not perfect. We. But we clean up our messes.

[A]

Did you grow up around any of. Do you know what the aces are?

[B]

No.

[A]

All right, you want to do something? Hold on. We'll do something together. So. So when you were growing up.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Did you have brothers and sisters?

[B]

Yep. I sure did.

[A]

A lot of them.

[B]

I have one brother and two sisters.

[A]

One brother and two sisters. Okay, and did you experience any. Let's see. Did you experience. Did you see a parent abused by it? By another parent?

[B]

Oh, yeah. My. My. My mom had an abusive husband. It was really bad sometimes.

[A]

Did anybody in the household go to prison?

[B]

Yeah, her husband Was in and out of prison. When he wasn't in prison, he was beaten her. So. So yeah, my childhood was traumatic. It was very traumatic.

[A]

Yes or no? Real quick. Physical, ab. A parent or an adult in the house hit, beat, kicked you.

[B]

I mean, spanked, but no.

[A]

Emotional abuse. A parent or adult in the house swore at you, insulted you, humiliated you, put you down as a child?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Were you abused sexually, as a child?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Neglect. Physical neglect. You didn't have enough to eat, you were wearing dirty clothes, stuff like that.

[B]

Well, I always worried where my next meal was coming from.

[A]

That's a yes.

[B]

When my phone bill would be paid.

[A]

Yeah. Emotional neglect. Did you as a child not feel loved, important or special?

[B]

Yep.

[A]

Mental illness. A parent or an adult in the household was depressed, mentally ill or attempted suicide?

[B]

No.

[A]

Incarcerated relative? Yes. Yeah. Mother treated violently. Did you see your mom treated violently?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Okay. Substance abuse. A household member was a problem drinker, alcoholic, or used street drugs very early in life.

[B]

Yes. But once I. My mom actually was on drugs until I was six.

[A]

Did you witness a divorce of your parents? Yeah. Would it surprise you to know that this list indicates that the problems you had as an adult were very easy to know were going to happen?

[B]

No, it wouldn't surprise me.

[A]

You should really check out there's, if you're interested in it, some mental health episodes. I'm trying to find it for you right now. And we talk about this. We're actually doing. I'm actually making a series right now. Basically the opposite of the aces. So the aces are. Are what we just went over.

[B]

Okay, gotcha.

[A]

And I'm looking to see where I can put you on that episode. There's so much. Where is it anyway? It's somewhere. I'll get it for you when we're done. And you can go to juiceboxpodcast.com go to the top of the menu. There's series. And you can, like, look at the mental health series there or juiceboxpodcast.com lists and you'll see them all. But yeah, so there's this. Basically, it's the adverse childhood experiences list. And it's not perfect, but if you have a certain number of the things in that list, you are at a much higher risk of having things like this happen in your own life. But it doesn't mean that you can't stop that from happening.

[B]

Stop it from happening? Yeah.

[A]

Or that you can't stop it from happening, you know, for your children. Like, so all those things I just read that you've experienced, have your children

[B]

experienced any of those things they did experience. Well, my oldest three experienced the abuse I went through with me.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So they saw, they saw a parent.

[B]

The boys were really young, but my daughter remembers a lot.

[A]

Okay. And you don't, you don't, you don't get higher drink of the house?

[B]

Oh, no.

[A]

But they saw a divorce. Yeah, like, so.

[B]

An ugly, ugly divorce. Like that.

[A]

But isn't it interesting, though, you. By the way, Rachel, you said yes to a shocking number of those things.

[B]

And do you see why I'm so anxious?

[A]

I mean, I'd be giggling too, if I was you, but your kids have been exposed to far fewer of those things.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

You're doing a really good job.

[B]

I'm trying. You know, I really, I really try to, you know, and I've had people be like, you're just, you're just coddling them yours, baby. No, I'm protecting them. I'm protecting my children. And there's going to be things I can't protect them from, like diabetes or my oldest just recently got diagnosed with a double food allergy. Like, there's going to be things I can't protect them from that I have no control over. But if I have control over it, I'm gonna. I will fight you to the duel. Like, I will duel with you till the death and protect.

[A]

Telling you you're coddling your kids by protecting them from stuff like this.

[B]

It's. It's been thrown around at pickup and drop off before heads.

[A]

Is that what you're talking about?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Yeah, yeah. They're everywhere, you know?

[B]

Yep. Yeah, they're everywhere. But, you know, it's your job. It's your job as a parent to protect your children and, or they'll, you know, you, you do a lot. You spoil, you spoil your kids, blah, blah. No, my kids are focusing on being children. I'm the adult. I had children, you know, they don't do chores every single day. They do chores, but not every single day.

[A]

They, you know, I'll give you one here because I heard you say it earlier, my son is going to be 26 next month. I'm not going to tell you what he. I mean, he's a, he's a good job and he makes a, a good living, especially for his age. Right until he graduated from college and looked for a job, he had never had a job once in his life.

[B]

Yeah, right.

[A]

His job was, there's no need. Go to school.

[B]

Go to school.

[A]

Your job is go to school. Understand what it is you're learning exactly have fun, Enjoy your life. Play baseball. That's what he was doing, you know, and focus on kids. And guess what? He got a job as soon as he got out of college.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So.

[B]

No. And that's, that's what I want my kids, I want my kids to focus on what's like having a job. Okay. Yes. It's fun. And, and my oldest is like, well, I need money. Okay. But I can give you money. You know, I'm where I'm not super rich. I struggle a lot every day. Like, but then my kids have what they need, my kids have most of what they want. Like, I will always figure out a way.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

You know what I mean? And I didn't have that when I grew up. I had to raise my sister, I had to have a job, I had to clean the house, I had to get us to school, I had to drive my mom to work most days so that I can have a car for me and my sister to get around. Like, I want them to be children.

[A]

Yeah. And there's a difference between having some responsibilities, which my children have, and, and being responsible for everything. That's different. Like, I grew up being responsible for people's well being. That's not a good position to put a 13 year old in.

[B]

No, not at all. And I started at 13 doing that.

[A]

Yeah. Trust me. Me too.

[B]

So.

[A]

And I don't think that that's necessary. Like, and there are, there are people in my life who will make fun of my kids too. They, you know, when my son was in college, people in our family would be like, he's never had a job. He won't be able to make it. I was like, okay, he's getting an econ degree. He's not at home smoking crack.

[B]

Exactly. Or sneaking off with boys or.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

You know what I mean?

[A]

I hear you, like, think so. Anyway, it's easy for people to judge, but they're only judging based on what they know. And it doesn't mean they don't know your stuff. So.

[B]

Right. And, and I want my children to be children as long as possible. And that doesn't, that doesn't mean my kids have no responsibilities. Like, you know, I will wash and dry clothes and separate. You have to put away. You have chores a couple times a week. You know, like my oldest, she babysits sometimes when, you know, I go work on a weekend or something or, you know, and then they all take care of each other. Like, I say, okay, I'm going to go work for five hours. You guys take care of each other.

[A]

And they do. Yeah, look at that.

[B]

And they do. And everything's fine. Nobody dies. The house doesn't burn down. Nobody's bleeding when I get home.

[A]

Like, I wouldn't listen to those, I wouldn't listen to those people at the drop off line. Don't worry about them.

[B]

And you know what? My child has really good grades. My child, my 17 year old who has no job and I don't put a ton of responsibilities on, has a good life. She has fantastic grades. She is in a marching band, she's in the advanced choir. She has friends. She. You know what I mean? Like, I didn't have any of that fun growing up, like without having to worry about somebody else's well being.

[A]

I'm with you. I. There's a difference between being responsible and having responsibilities. You can give them responsibilities without making them responsible. So.

[B]

Yeah. And then part of, like we were talking about the service dog. Part of that is for my son to be able to have the same experiences as his other two older, older siblings who can hop in the car and just go with their friends. And I don't worry about, you know, like, obviously I'll worry, but I'll worry less knowing that he has this dog that is relentless and will be like, no, bro, stop right now. Stop right now and check something is wrong. And you know, when he goes to college, she'll be there to wake him up. And I don't have to get up and wake him up.

[A]

Yeah. Can I tell you something? Our conversation has led me to the believe that when I'm done with this autoimmune thing, I'm gonna build one of these for the, the adverse childhood experiences list too.

[B]

I think you should. I think you should because people need to, you know, people need to know what they've experienced. I said what I went through. It was traumatic. My life was not the best, but it, I believe that it made me who I am today. It made me strong. It made me be able to be strong for my children.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And it, you know, made me aware of. It sucks that it made me aware of the dangers in life, but now I'm able to know what to look for to keep my children safer.

[A]

I mean, listen, I take your point. It would have been nice if someone would have just told you those things instead of like, you know, accosting you with them, but. Right, right. Yeah. Instead of putting you through it. But I, I do take your point. And you are, are, I mean, I think a shining example of someone who's been Resilient against a lot of odds and.

[B]

Thank you. I appreciate it.

[A]

That's awesome.

[B]

And you try.

[A]

Yeah. Listen, you're not like, if you're not doing crack in the. In the private of your own home.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Or, you know, outside pulling the wings off of flies or something like that. I think you're doing great. You know.

[B]

No, I actually, you know, I never really. Like, I think I experienced with weed when I was a kid and I drank when I was a kid. Like, I experienced that. Other than that, like, I grew up in Narcotics Anonymous. My mom got clean when I was six, and the stories that I heard growing up were enough for me to say, no, that's not for me. That's not the life that I want to have.

[A]

Yeah. Yeah. You. So you were. Somebody put you on a path early.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Even.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So difficult question at the end.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

What happened to you at your 8 when you were 18?

[B]

Yes.

[A]

It happened previously as well.

[B]

Yeah, well, sort of. So I was molested when I was 10 by my best friend's dad, and she was too. And we had never told anybody, and she still actually talks to her dad, and her siblings will have their kids around her dad, and I'm just like, I. I kind of crazy lost touch with her because I'm like, how can you be around this person and let your nieces and nephews be around this person, knowing what he did and not telling them?

[A]

Do you think, you know, do you think that there's anything about your first experience that in any way. I don't know what the right terminology here is. Led to or influenced it happening again? Like, are you around certain kinds of people? Is it a certain area you live in? Like, is it.

[B]

Well, so I did grow up in a bad area, but, you know, I wasn't even at home when all of that happened. Like, I was out of my home

[A]

at a friend's house.

[B]

You know, Like, I was at my friend's house when her dad did that. I was at my cousin's. Not really my cousin. It was just a friend, but, like a family friend that I called a cousin. I was at her house when we were, you know, when I was 18. Like, every example of sexual abuse that happened to me was outside of my home.

[A]

Right, but the way you described your. Your. Your family growing up with the drugs, is it a birds of a feather situation? Like, your mom's not really good friends with, like, the. I don't know, the Queen of England, too? Right. You know what I mean? Like, it's. It's Sort of like, I don't know if she's a good example or not.

[B]

By the way, my, I'm. My mom is fantastic. So, you know, she probably wasn't around the best people growing up, like, when I was very young, because obviously she was on drugs and stuff. But when she got clean, she made the decision to really, like, change our life. And for a long time we did live in a, in poverty. We lived in a bad area. But she went to college. You know, she was. Four kids. She went to college.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Four kids, no help. She turned our lives around, you know, and she worked really hard to do that. And now she has 30 years clean.

[A]

Oh, good for her. Isn't that great?

[B]

So, and she, you know, the, the people that I grew up around in Narcotics Anonymous, like, there are people that have been in there for 35, 40 years that have known me since I was a little kid that really helped to shape who I am. You know, the parties that we would go to, the, the, you know, they would call them little birthday parties for. To celebrate your clean birthdays. And like, the group of kids I hung out with, like, it really kept me away from, I think, a lot of the bad stuff once I was in my, like, teenage years.

[A]

Well, I don't, I don't doubt at all that there are a lot of people who go through these things also end up being like some of the greatest people once they've gone through them too. And it's. And they do often stay behind to help others, which is, which is really wonderful. Yeah. Do you think if I read that list to your mom, she'd be like, about her, her childhood, she'd be like, yep, yep, yep. Or do you. Or no, no.

[B]

Yes. I think she definitely would. I think she definitely has my mom. You know, my mom didn't come from a good family either, but, you know, hopefully my kids will be stronger. And honestly, like, sometimes I look at what, like with my son with Type 1 when it has been a fight with his school from the beginning, and I feel like everything I went through helped make me stronger to be able to fight for him. Because before I probably would have just been silent and just let, you know, them do whatever they wanted. Like, they didn't want to follow his health plan, they didn't want his ip, they didn't want to do none of this. They. You know what I mean? And I was like, no, you're going to do this, you're going to do that. He's doing this. Like, I pushed back against them and I had the confidence and the strength to do that. And I think that all comes from what you experience when you grow up.

[A]

Yeah. Well, I hope you and everybody listening take some solace in the idea that there's actually as much as there's an ACEs list, there's a PACE list, too. And it's positive situations you can put your kids in to give them good childhood outcomes. And I am building a series with Erica Forsyth right now about that. She's a therapist, and she has type one. You know, we talked about the Aces a couple of times on the podcast, and then there was this day I was just sort of sitting at my desk thinking about, like, what do I do for the podcast? What I do for the podcast? And I thought there must be an opposite list, right? Like, if there's a list. If there's a list of things that you're around and it possibly could lead you in this direction, is there not a list of things that you could put yourself around that could possibly lead you in an opposite direction? It turns out there was. And I was like, I'll be darn. I thought I figured something out, Rachel, but it turned out it already existed.

[B]

Well, and with my sons, you know, they go to a household that's not the best. They go to a household with somebody who's not. Is not even somebody I would be friends with now. Like, when I look back, I would not even choose to be friends with my ex husband. And then they come to my house where, you know, it's more positivity. It's more, let's talk about things. It's, you know, I get to have conversations that are trying to help teach them stuff. Like my son, when I would make a fuss about, you know, them not following things at school for his type 1 diabetes, he'd be like, mom, just please don't say anything, because, you know, the teachers were treating him different. He's like. And I feel bad when the teachers get mad. And I said, well, you should not feel bad about advocating for yourself.

[A]

Yeah, it's tough.

[B]

You advocate for yourself of no matter what.

[A]

That's a tough position to have to put a kid into.

[B]

You know what I mean? And so, like, they. Even though they are going between what I would call a good home and a not so great home, I feel like they're pretty level, you know? And so I think that a big part of that is that the positive is trying to combat and defeat the negative. You know what I mean?

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So definitely, I think there are some good things. And then you know, just putting them around positive people. Like, in the very beginning, I found Camp Cell Harris, and I found the Junior breakthrough. Type one is what they're called now, but, like, I found those early on, and I got to be around some amazing people who have type one who are so positive and so caring, and I got to bring him into that so early. You know what I mean? And so I think that that also helped him have good. You know, learn to have good habits with his diabetes. So I think there's definitely things that you can do and you can choose to do to put those positive things in your kid's life to help, you know, lead them down the right path and help their life be good.

[A]

Yep. Hey, listen, I think Dr. King said it right. Darkness cannot drive out darkness. Only light can do that. So you just keep lighting candles and creating light, and. And it makes the darkness go away.

[B]

It does.

[A]

Rachel, you were delightful. I was. I was pretty good. But you were. You were better.

[B]

You were all right.

[A]

Yeah, I did my best.

[B]

You know, try again next time.

[A]

No, I'm just gonna. Listen, I'm just gonna keep plugging away till I get this thing right. That's all. I really do appreciate you doing this. I. Yeah, I did.

[B]

Not letting me.

[A]

Oh, it's a pleasure. I didn't expect this story. I think it really went in some interesting directions and I hope left people with a lot of ideas about how to help themselves, and at the very least, they can. They can walk away from this thinking, I did not go through half of the stuff she went through.

[B]

Right.

[A]

And feel better about that. Nothing wrong with that. Every once in a while, just looking over and going, I'm doing better than her.

[B]

It's okay. You know what? And. And hopefully somebody will hear it and say, you know, just because we have diabetes in our life now doesn't mean that all of our. The rest of our life is null and void.

[A]

You're a very upbeat person.

[B]

So it took a long time to get here. I spent a lot of years in anger, a lot of years in fear. I was afraid of my children even going to a playground and falling down. Like, it. It really did take a lot of work, and I've really. Honestly, I got it. I went. Started going to church again about a year ago, and, you know, I'm just living under the philosophy that the Lord has not brought me this far, to let me fall and to let me fail. And as long as I keep living true to myself and being a good person and being who I am, then only Positivity can come into my life.

[A]

Good for you. That's awesome. It really is. That's fantastic. I am very happy for you. I. I think you are a success story of the highest order.

[B]

Thank you.

[A]

And I. It was kids and you are sound like you're off having a nice time. Enjoy baseball season. I miss going to watch my kids play baseball.

[B]

Oh, my gosh. And he's enjoying it so much. And I didn't think he would, but. And his whole team is so supportive. And his coach is awesome. His coach had a type 1 on his team before, so it's really great. And they all. And Halo is his service dog. She loves to say hey to everybody. So in the beginning of practice, I'll take her over to the field and everybody comes and says hi to her and all that. And then we go and focus on what we're supposed to be doing. And I mean, it really is like, I found some really great people, you know, for him to be around.

[A]

Do you ever make it over to the college? That's some pretty good baseball in Alabama.

[B]

So. Actually we have a team that we got matched with through Team Impact and so crazy. They're my next door neighbors and they play lacrosse. You know, we hang out with them all the time. And we're going to start doing some more stuff with the lacrosse team at the college and. And those boys are really fantastic.

[A]

Yeah. We won't hold it against them for using a stick while they're playing, but that's fine.

[B]

But you know what? They're really great. And actually, lacrosse is really fun. Have you ever watched it?

[A]

I mean, I like when they hit each other with the sticks. I think that's pretty cool.

[B]

It's kind of like hockey, but not hockey.

[A]

I like how they run behind each other and just like.

[B]

And just push people down.

[A]

Yeah, you're like, smack people in the back with this. I'm like, man, it reminds me of ice hockey that way. Like, the ice hockey players just right at the end, they just chop at your legs. You're like, hey, I'm trying to hit this little thing with this thick. Cut me a break.

[B]

Yeah. The best part of the game is when they get in the fights and you're just like, yeah, fight.

[A]

All right, Rachel, I know you said you've done a lot of work, but I do think you're still itching to.

[B]

There's still something to go through.

[A]

You're itching to punch somebody in the face. I think you need to get through that. Okay.

[B]

I always tell my kids I'll be like, guess what, mom? And I'll be like, punch in the face. And they're like, no, mom, let's not do that.

[A]

Let's not do that. All right, hold on one second. You were terrific. Give me a second.

[B]

Okay, thanks.

[A]

This episode of the Juice Box Podcast is sponsored by the Omnipod 5. And at my link omnipod.com juicebox you can get yourself a free. What'd I just say? A free Omnipod 5 starter kit. Free. Get out of here. Go click on that link omnipod.com juicebox check it out. Terms and conditions apply. Eligibility may vary. Full terms and conditions can be found@ omnipod.com juicebox links in the Show Notes Links at Juicebox Podcast Dexcom sponsored this episode of the Juice Box Podcast. Learn more about the Dexcom G7 at my link dexcom.com juicebox okay, well, here we are at the end of the episode. You're still with me. Thank you. I really do appreciate that. What else could you do for me? Why don't you tell a friend about the show or leave a five star review? Maybe you could make sure you're following or subscribed in your podcast app. Go to YouTube and follow me. Or Instagram TikTok. Oh gosh. Here's one. Make sure you're following the podcast in the private Facebook group as well as the public Facebook page. You don't want to miss, please. Do you not know about the private group? You have to join the private group. As of this recording, it has 74,000 members. They're active, talking about diabetes. Whatever you need to know, there's a conversation happening in there right now and I'm there all the time. Tag me. I'll say hi. How would you like to share a type 1 diabetes getaway like no other? Join me on Juice Cruise 2026. You may be asking, what is Juice Cruise? It's a week long cruise designed specifically for people and families living with type 1 diabetes. It's not just a vacation. It's a chance to relax, connect and feel understood in a way that is hard to find elsewhere. We're going to sail out of Miami and the cruise includes stops in Cococay, San Juan, St. Kitts and Nevis aboard the stunning Celebrity Beyond. This ship is chosen for its comfort, accessibility and exceptional amenities. You're going to enjoy a welcoming environment surrounded by others who get life with type 1 diabetes. I'm going to host diabetes focused conversations and meetups on the days at sea. There's thoughtfully designed spaces, incredible dining and modern amenities all throughout the celebrity beyond. Your kids can be supervised and there's teen programs, so everyone gets time to recharge, not just the kids going on vacation. But maybe you get to kick back a little bit, too. There's going to be zero judgment, real connections, and a whole lot of sun and fun on Juice Cruise 2026. Please come with me. You're going to have a terrific time. You can learn more or set up your [e-mail] JuiceCruise get a hold of Suzanne at CruisePlanners. She will take care of everything. Links in the show notes [e-mail] if you have a podcast and you need a fantastic editor, you want Rob from Wrong Way Recording. Listen, truth be told, I'm like 20% smarter. When Rob edits me, he takes out all the, like, gaps of time. And when I go and stuff like that, and it just, I don't know, man. Like, I listen back and I'm like, why do I sound smarter? And then I remember because I did one smart thing. I hired [e-mail].