#1880 After Dark: Fallout

Summary

Juicebox Podcast: Type 1 Diabetes

Episode #1880 After Dark: Fallout (June 18, 2026)

Host: Scott Benner
Guest: Jessica (anonymous, mother and person with type 1 diabetes, Texas)

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Episode Overview

This compelling After Dark episode dives into the complex and often unspoken intersections of type 1 diabetes with personal adversity, family, trauma, resilience, and identity. Jessica shares her extraordinary journey: living with type 1 diabetes alongside her son, navigating a life-altering prison sentence, coping with stigma, rebuilding after hardship, and confronting additional challenges like narcolepsy and employment discrimination. Along the way, she and Scott discuss themes of forgiveness, community, management strategies, and the realities of seeking connection and care as a person living with diabetes layered atop an unusual life story. The conversation is candid, heartfelt, humorous, and refreshingly unfiltered.

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Key Topics & Insights

1. Family History and Dual Type 1 Diagnoses

• Jessica’s son was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at age 9; Jessica herself was diagnosed several years later, as an adult.
• No known autoimmune history in her family, though some speculation about distant relatives.
• Both parents have type 2 diabetes (03:32).
• Jessica’s son’s father also has type 1 diabetes (genetic consideration—03:32).

Notable Moment (joking about the genetic connection):
“Maybe his penis gives people diabetes. Is that possible?”
—Scott, 03:58
“Very possible. Have you ever thought that he injected it?”
—Jessica, 04:08

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2. Jessica’s Incarceration & Family Impact

• At the time of her son’s diagnosis, Jessica was serving a year-plus sentence in a federal prison for accepting bribes while working as a correctional officer (04:51).
• She describes the darkness of that period, the guilt around being absent, and the pain of limited access to her son as he learned to manage diabetes.
• Attempts to learn about type 1 in prison involved outdated books and prayer (08:10–09:55).
• Her faith evolved—she moved away from the idea that her son’s diabetes was a punishment or a test of belief (09:56–10:25).

Memorable Reflection:
“When I was in prison, though, I had a lot of faith that God could heal my son. … It started to feel like blaming the person who didn’t get the healing because they didn’t have the faith. So I don’t subscribe to that anymore.”
—Jessica, 09:39

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3. Prison Experience & How She Got There

• Detailed account of accepting bribes under life stress (addiction in marriage, financial need).
• Open and honest about being caught: she confessed under pressure (06:17–07:05).
• Prison was minimum security (“Club Fed”); unexpected positives—physical health, humor about prison culture (10:35–11:05).

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4. Reintegration & Career Rebuilding

• Jessica faced job loss due to her record but found support from a former factory employer and later worked as a waitress and a USPS mail carrier (11:19–12:18).
• Re-entered family life post-release, living with her mom and son as their home was rebuilt post-fire (33:18).

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5. Interpersonal Life & Trauma

• Reflects on patterns of unhealthy relationships, emotional vulnerability after trauma, difficulty dating in a transient, oil-industry-heavy town (20:01–27:26).
• Candid about using dating apps and the challenges of connection and trust after her experiences (21:03–23:34).
• Expresses fears about aging, vulnerability, and who will care for her as a person with diabetes and narcolepsy (22:49–23:49).

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6. Diagnosis & Management: Type 1 Diabetes

• Her son tightly managed his care (self-sufficient, private); Jessica eventually diagnosed as well (40:30–43:11).
• Experiences with doctors offering little education or type confirmation—relied on her son’s expertise and her own research.
• Importance of diabetes camp (Camp Sweeney)—life-changing for her son both in education and in sense of belonging (43:43–45:49).

Impactful Quote:
“For the first time, I felt like… he really felt like he belonged there. … After Camp Sweeney, he’s able to say, ‘My life is so good.’”
—Jessica, 45:11

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7. Co-Management & Learning from Each Other

• Both Jessica and her son use advanced diabetes tech: looping with Omnipod/Dash, Eversense implantable CGM, Afrezza inhaled insulin (47:02–54:09).
• Both help each other—her son set up her loop system.
• Real-world pump and sensor preferences, candid user-experience feedback (54:10–54:45).

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8. Additional Medical Complexities

• Jessica developed narcolepsy (type 2, without cataplexy).
  “It was happening for… maybe two and a half years ago, I had an incident where I woke up, and for like five or six seconds, I didn’t know who I was or where I was.” (30:08)
• Discusses employment struggles related to narcolepsy accommodations, eventual job loss (28:27–35:18).
• Open about menopause and possible thyroid disease overlap; discusses symptoms, the challenge of getting adequate care as a woman with layered diagnoses (58:02–65:47).
• In-depth segment exploring the overlap of menopause, thyroid dysfunction, and autoimmune risk (62:05–66:09).

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9. Thyroid, Autoimmunity & Tools

• Jessica and Scott discuss how hypothyroidism/Hashimoto’s could be masquerading as menopause. Scott demos the podcast’s new digital tools for autoimmune exploration and episode-based advice (65:42–69:50).

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10. Boldness & Education in Diabetes Management

• Jessica credits both her son’s experience at diabetes camp and Scott’s “Bold with Insulin” podcast philosophy for her comfort and success in managing her diabetes.
• She delights in the practical, real-life management tips from the show, including the value of not letting insulin fear dominate (73:26–74:33).

Memorable Quote:
“When anybody gets first diagnosed, insulin is scary...but you and your podcast taught me, you can always catch it.”
—Jessica, 74:25

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On stigma and healing:
  "What do you mean, my son is sick because of me? Or my son can't get healed because of me? ... I let that go." (09:39)

• On returning home and family:
  "It took about a year for us to get back into the swing of familiarity with each other." (39:41)

• On resilience:
  “Right now, I’m going through a really hard time and I just have to remind myself I’ve been through worse.” (34:36)

• On belonging:
  “He really felt like he belonged [at camp]...he was just so happy. ... I’m gonna make it my goal every year to make sure he goes back.” (45:08)

• On adaptation:
  “I feel a little less diabetic.” (56:22)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

| Timestamp | Topic | |-----------|-------------------------------------------------------------| | 02:11 | Jessica introduces herself—living with T1 and as a T1 mom | | 04:51 | Jessica reveals her incarceration when her son was diagnosed| | 07:28 | Reflects on being a different person, personal transformation| | 08:10 | Struggles learning about diabetes from prison | | 09:39 | Faith, prayer, and shifting perspective on diabetes blame | | 11:19 | Jessica’s supportive employer, post-release employment | | 20:01 | Childhood, relationships, dating vulnerability | | 30:08 | Onset of narcolepsy symptoms | | 33:18 | Home burns down, post-prison reintegration | | 35:39 | How her son managed his diabetes in Jessica’s absence | | 43:43 | Camp Sweeney’s positive impact on her son | | 54:45 | Tech reviews: Omnipod, Dash, Eversense, Afrezza | | 58:02 | Thyroid symptoms, AI tools for diagnosis support | | 65:42 | Demonstration of podcast’s autoimmune/thyroid advisory tool| | 73:26 | “Bold with Insulin” and overcoming insulin fear |

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Tone & Style

Jessica and Scott’s conversation is frank, vulnerable, and often laced with humor—even as they discuss extremely difficult topics. The tone is warm, non-judgmental, and empowering, modeling a spirit of communal support and radical transparency that is rare in diabetes media. Their exchanges include lighthearted teasing, honest admissions of struggle, and direct confrontation of stigma—always returning to a spirit of possibility and hope.

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Conclusion

“After Dark: Fallout” offers a unique window into the lived complexities of diabetes against a backdrop of trauma, resilience, family, and evolving self-discovery. Jessica’s story is both singular and universal—highlighting the intersections of chronic illness, adversity, stigma, and the redemptive power of knowledge and community.

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Recommended for listeners seeking:

• Authentic, real-life diabetes experiences—beyond the “highlight reel”
• Candid discussion of family trauma, incarceration, and reinvention
• Management tips grounded in lived expertise
• Humor and hope in the face of adversity
• Perspective on coexisting with other health issues (narcolepsy, menopause, possible thyroid)

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Resources Mentioned:

• Camp Sweeney (for youth with diabetes)
• Juicebox Podcast management FAQ, autoimmune explorer & tools
• Episode 413: “Defining Thyroid” with a noted endocrinologist
• [Omnipod, Eversense, Afrezza links via show notes/website]

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Community Note:
Jessica’s openness demonstrates the power of story in the diabetes community—making “taboo” experiences visible, relatable, and hopeful for others. “After Dark” episodes are a vital resource for anyone navigating diabetes and the messy fullness of real life.

Transcript

[Scott]

Friends, we're all back together for the next episode of the Juice Box Podcast. Welcome.

[Jessica]

I have type 1 diabetes and so does my son and I live in Texas.

[Scott]

If you're living with type 1 diabetes, the after Dark collection from the Juice Box Podcast is the only, 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. Foreign. Of the Juice Box Podcast is sponsored by the Contour Next Gen Blood Glucose Meter. This is the meter that my daughter has on her person right now. It is incredibly accurate and waiting for [e-mail] Juicebox Today's episode is also sponsored by Medtronic. Diabetes is making life with diabetes easier with the MiniMed 780G system and their new sensor options, which include the Instinct sensor made by Abbott. Would you like to unleash the full potential of the mini med 780G system? You can do that at my link medtronicdiabetes.com juicebox I have type 1 diabetes

[Jessica]

and so does my son. And I live in Texas.

[Scott]

Texas.

[Jessica]

Excellent.

[Scott]

You and your son have type one?

[Jessica]

Yes, he was diagnosed when he was nine years old and I wasn't diagnosed until later when I think he was 16. Around 16? Oh yeah, he was diagnosed.

[Scott]

First, let's figure this out. Then first let's ask about your extended family. Your mother, father, aunts, uncles, grandparents. Anybody there have autoimmune issues or type 1 diabetes?

[Jessica]

No, not that I know of. But my great grandmother on my mother's side had something like 13 children and seven of them died very, very young. And they never really figured out, you know, what it was. So I wonder sometimes, was she murdering them, you think? Say that again.

[Scott]

Do you think she was murdering them?

[Jessica]

No. I wonder if they had maybe autoimmune and like nobody knew.

[Scott]

I thought we were going to shift this into a true crime Podcast. I was like, oh, fuck, finally we'll get some big numbers, you know what I mean?

[Jessica]

Some true after dark stuff.

[Scott]

Yeah, people love those true crime podcasts. By the way, if anyone's listening who has like a true crime story, please come on and tell it. And, you know, we'll weave your diabetes into it somehow. Don't worry. Okay, so how about just in general, your mom and dad, healthy people.

[Jessica]

Well, type two for my parents. What's funny about my son is his dad is type one, so I never expected to also be type one. We're divorced now, but whenever we met, he was type one. So when we had our son, it was always kind of something we would watch out for. And when he was diagnosed and, you know, I just thought, oh, well, that comes from his dad's side. That doesn't do with me. But look, me too.

[Scott]

Well, you know, I mean, there's a crass joke to be made here, which I've made before in the podcast, so I don't feel like I have to make it again. But maybe. Maybe his penis gives people diabetes. Is that possible?

[Jessica]

Very possible. Have you ever thought that he injected it?

[Scott]

Trust me. Listen, we can put this on me if you want, but you've had that thought already, right?

[Jessica]

No, actually, no, don't put that on me.

[Scott]

You're like, listen, you're the lunatic in this conversation, not me. Scott, that's not how science works.

[Jessica]

But you know what? If I hadn't gone through learning with him first, I might have thought that if it had happened the other way around is your fault.

[Scott]

Okay, so are you married when he's diagnosed?

[Jessica]

No, we were divorced by then.

[Scott]

Trust me, I'm getting to a reason. Like, are you like, amicably divorced? You guys have conversations like, are you good co parents or is it a mess? Where were you at that point?

[Jessica]

Oh, yeah, we. Oh, well, actually, funny. Not funny story. We are amicable, but when my son was diagnosed, I was in prison. I was in federal prison for like a year and some change. And it just happened to be right at the time when my son was diagnosed and he was with my mother. And my mom called me and she's the one who told me. And that, of course, was devastating. I was already stressed out and I

[Scott]

would imagine also we're not a sound effects podcast, but if we were, you would have heard screeching breaks when you said that. So I guess we're going to pivot for a second. You were in prison for.

[Jessica]

I was a correctional officer. I was also in a really Bad marriage. And that's not my son's dad. It's a different marriage. And he was an addict. And there was a lot going on in my life. It was a really dark time. And I got offered some bribes as a correctional officer. And I had been in corrections for about four years and had never done anything like that. But, you know, when life piles up on you and you need to pay the bills and.

[Scott]

You took one?

[Jessica]

Yeah, I took one. I took a couple.

[Scott]

Can we get details? Like, what is it? Like, cigarettes, drugs, money? Like, where you move stuff in and out of the prison for people?

[Jessica]

Yeah, yeah. Mostly prescription drugs. You know, there's pill poppers.

[Scott]

Wow.

[Jessica]

So, yeah, I took some.

[Scott]

How do you get caught?

[Jessica]

So the way I got caught was. It was actually really common in that facility. There was a lot of people who. A lot of officers who were doing stuff like that. And one officer got caught, like, outright, flat out caught, and she was doing a whole lot more. And so what she did was, in order to reduce her time, she told on a bunch of other officers. And what I hate to think about now is what she said about me wasn't even true. She just kind of made it up. And so whenever they came talking to me, like, you know, to follow up on the investigation, I ended up telling on myself. And, yeah, that's how I got in trouble.

[Scott]

You. So they came to you with something that you could have said, I didn't do that.

[Jessica]

And they would have never been able to prove it.

[Scott]

But the pressure got to you, and you were like, I did it. And then you started and you spilled

[Jessica]

your guts pretty much.

[Scott]

Oh, no kidding. Is she still in prison?

[Jessica]

No, this was back, like, 20. It was more than 10 years ago.

[Scott]

It was a long time ago.

[Jessica]

Yeah.

[Scott]

About how old are you now?

[Jessica]

I'm 46 now.

[Scott]

Okay. It's about 10 years ago. Okay. Wow, that's great. Now, as you're telling that story, does it feel like you're telling that story about yourself or does it feel.

[Jessica]

I feel like I'm not that person anymore. My life has changed so much since then. Like, even thinking about, like. Like whenever I said that my life was in a really dark place at the time, it really, really was.

[Scott]

Yeah.

[Jessica]

And I'm not in that place anymore. Don't get me wrong. I'm going through a hard time right now, but I'm glad I'm not that person anymore. So, yeah, a lot has changed. A lot has gotten better.

[Scott]

Wow, that's really something. That's a hell of a story. I Appreciate you sharing that for context. I really do.

[Jessica]

Yeah.

[Scott]

So, like, so you are in the middle of being incarcerated at the time your son is diagnosed. You want to talk about that from a mother perspective? What. What that was like?

[Jessica]

Yeah, I remember calling my mom because, you know, it was in federal prison. I don't know if it's still this way, but there's a limited number of minutes you get every month to talk on the phone, and so you kind of ration them throughout the month. So I remember feeling like, oh, I just wish I could call and talk more and figure out more, but because of his dad, I was married to his dad. I did have some knowledge, but not near as much as I needed or as I do now. So I remember being in prison and, like, there wasn't a decent library there. Not certainly not with anything related to diabetes. It's not like I could go on the Internet and Google, you know. So I remember, like, you had to fill out a form to rent a book or to rent. To borrow a book from the public library. So I was borrowing books from, like, 1980s. They were not very current. But, yeah, I was just trying to learn the best that I could. And, you know, a lot of worrying, a lot of prayer. I don't mean to offend anybody, but I had a different. I don't believe the way I used to back then. So I know sometimes. Well, when I was in prison, though, I had a lot of faith that God could heal my son. And it wasn't until I got out and I saw a Facebook post where somebody was making comments along those lines. And, I mean, if. If that's what you believe, and, you know, that's great, but to me, it started to feel like blaming the person who didn't get the healing because they didn't have the faith. So I don't subscribe to that anymore because it was a really difficult time. Because, I mean, what do you mean, my son is sick because of me? Or my son can't get healed because of me? And I just. I let that go a long time ago.

[Scott]

The idea being like, that your son would be okay if you just believed enough that feeling. Oh, okay, yeah. That felt insulting to you or how did it feel?

[Jessica]

So at the time of his diagnosis, No, I really hung onto that. And so I didn't realize that it was just the honeymoon. Whenever his insulin needs dropped, I was like, oh, it's because, you know, the Lord's stepping in. Exactly.

[Scott]

I gotcha. Yeah, I guess the Lord's busy because a lot of people with diabetes.

[Jessica]

Exactly.

[Scott]

Well, okay. Oh, that's really. That's really something else. That's kind of crazy. What kind of a security level prison were you in? Like, were you in a place where you were worried for yourself?

[Jessica]

No, it was minimum security, so they sometimes call it Club Fed because it's really laid back. There's a walking track, a volleyball court.

[Scott]

I've never been in such good shape.

[Jessica]

Yeah, yeah, exactly. No, I really did. I lost like 40 or 50 pounds when I was in prison. Just walking the track and. Yeah.

[Scott]

Oh, that's kind of nice. Did you get a girlfriend or did it not get that far?

[Jessica]

No, I was not gay for this day at all. I was. That's what they call it. And it happens a lot. But yeah, yeah.

[Scott]

Also, what a great episode. Episode title. Not gay for the stay. Wow. I really do appreciate you. Did you. When you get back out, I mean, obviously now you can't get that kind of job. Were you able to get employed again?

[Jessica]

I was. And I really feel very fortunate in how much I have not really struggled getting a job because of that. Okay. So when I was on my way to prison, I knew I was going to prison, but I was out. I don't remember what term it is, but I self surrendered when it was time for me to go to prison. So I was working at a factory and my boss there said, you know, whenever you get out, give me a call. You've got a job. So I did. That was probably one of my first phone calls. Whenever I hit the halfway house, I called him and he's like, okay, yeah, come out. And so I started working pretty much right away. And then from there, the only probably job that wasn't. Well, I don't want to say it wasn't a good job, but because I was a waitress, that's the only job that I really didn't want to keep doing. But I waitressed for maybe three or four months and then after that I started working for government agency. Oh, yeah, Can I say it? The United States Postal Service. I was a mail carrier.

[Scott]

Yeah. Oh, that's a cool. Did you drive one of those Jeeps?

[Jessica]

Yeah, I did. I didn't like it though. It's too much walking.

[Scott]

Too much walking. Well, but.

[Jessica]

And I didn't so much mind the walking. It was that you had to go really fast and I'm like, I got short legs.

[Scott]

But you were in such good shape after the. After the prison, though.

[Jessica]

And can you imagine how many people

[Scott]

did you bump into afterwards? Like my crack girl you look fantastic. Where have you been? You're like, oh, it's on the walking track.

[Jessica]

Yeah. You know, I was away three squares

[Scott]

and a long walk. Let me tell you about it.

[Jessica]

I was on mandatory vacation.

[Scott]

How do you turn yourself in? I've thought about this a million times. I feel like I would run.

[Jessica]

Yeah. So they give you a date and a location. And I flew to the closest airport, and I had somebody that I knew drive me from the airport to the prison. I really pissed off. I don't remember the name of the officer, what her title was, but basically the officer that checks you in. It was after hours. I didn't know. I mean, every prison I'd ever worked at was 24 hours. I didn't know I had to be there at a certain time. But, yeah, she was really pissed off because I got there, like, at 5:30. And it might have also been no. I was gonna blame the time zones, but no, it's not.

[Scott]

You know, how crazy it is, is you're one of the few people who understands their job. While you're checking, you're like, oh, I'm so sorry. I know this must be an inconvenience. I know when I had this job, I wouldn't have enjoyed this at all. Do people know what you're in for?

[Jessica]

I only got indication one time that people knew what I was there for because an officer said, hey, and they call me by name. And I went up to the little picket and they talked to me for just a few seconds like I was one of them. Kind of like, so what'd you do? How'd that happen? But it was just for a few seconds because I obviously didn't really feel comfortable talking about it. So I just said, oh, you know, a couple things. And then that was it. Then they sent me on my way and treated me like a lowly inmate. From there on out, she was probably

[Scott]

looking for pointers so she wouldn't get caught.

[Jessica]

Oh, maybe. Maybe.

[Scott]

There was a great documentary recently about, like, the Alabama prison system, and what you're talking about is incredibly common. Yeah. So, I mean, even that's got to be hard, right? Like, you're working the job and you see other people doing it and you're struggling financially and you're not doing it. It must feel like a sucker at some point. Unlike other systems that will wait until your blood sugar is 180 before delivering corrections, the MiniMed 780G system is the only system with meal detection technology that automatically detects rising sugar levels and delivers more insulin as needed to help keep your sugar levels in range even if you're not a perfect carb counter. Today's episode of the Juice Box Podcast is sponsored by Medtronic diabetes and their MiniMed 780G system, which gives you real choices. Because the MiniMed 780G system works with the Instinct Sensor made by Avid as well as the Simplera Sync and Guardian 4 sensors, giving you options. The Instinct Sensor is the longest wear Sensor yet, lasting 15 days and designed exclusively for the Mini Med 780G. And don't forget Medtronic Diabetes makes technology accessible for you with comprehensive insurance support programs to help you with your out of pocket costs. We're switching from other pump and and CGM systems. Learn more and get started today with my link. Medtronicdiabetes.com Juicebox the contour next Gen Blood glucose meter is sponsoring this episode of the Juice Box Podcast and it's entirely possible that it is less expensive in cash than you're paying right now for your meter through your insurance company. That's right. If you go to my Link Contour Next Juicebox, you're going to find links to Walmart, Amazon, Walgreens, cvs, Rite Aid, Kroger and Meijer. You could be paying more right now through your insurance for your test strips and meter than you would pay through my link for the Contour Next Gen and Contour Next Test strips in cash. What am I saying? My link may be cheaper out of your pocket than you're paying right now, even with your insurance. And I don't know what meter you have right now. I can't say that. But what I can say for sure is that the Contour Next Gen meter is accurate, it is reliable, and it is the meter that we've been using for years. Contour next.com juicebox and if you already have a Contour meter and you're buying test strips, doing so through the Juice Box Podcast link will help to support the show.

[Jessica]

You know Scott, for sure, because I had actually told someone about it, about what was going on, said, hey, there's such and such happening in this wing. And it was like, well, you know, that's just the way it is. The inmates run this place.

[Scott]

Yeah, yeah, keep your mouth shut.

[Jessica]

Yeah. So at that point I felt like, well, what's the point of being one of the good guys? Y' all are paying me something like $12 an hour.

[Scott]

That's the other thing I heard is it's not exactly a great paying job either. So you put people in A bad situation and then put them around. The ability to, like, for people to try to bribe them. Yeah, yeah, it's a bad mix. Listen, when I was a kid, I got my first, like, you know, real, real job out in the world. I worked in a sheet metal shop. And I'd come in and, you know, we start at 6, and I come in and I'd get going. You know what I mean? Start working and everything. And I had older men come up to me and be like, hey, hey, hey, slow down. What are you doing? Like, don't. Not so fast. Why are you working so hard? You're making the rest of us look bad.

[Jessica]

Like, yeah, they don't want you to raise the bar.

[Scott]

Yeah, it's exactly it. Like, don't raise the. Don't point out when something's going wrong. Don't do this. Like, let's just all sit in this stew together and we'll all benefit by not having to work quite as hard and. And always having a job, because we'll never be able to if we don't get it done, they can't fire us. And I'm like, oh, my God. I'm like, this is like, I was young. I was like, that's fascinating. You know, so anyway, well, okay, so when you get out, your son's been living with your ex at that point, right?

[Jessica]

No, with my mom.

[Scott]

With your mom. Okay, so I just. For clarity for people, you were married when you were working in the prison, you were married to some one person, but between the time you worked there and you were incarcerated, that marriage ended and you got married again to your son's father. Is that right?

[Jessica]

No. Other way around.

[Scott]

Other way around. Okay. Son's father was first new guy as you're going in. Does he stick with you while you're

[Jessica]

in prison, the second guy? Yeah, well, he was an addict, so, yeah, he did.

[Scott]

We, you know, I was fine for him. He wasn't.

[Jessica]

Oh, gosh, I was so dumb.

[Scott]

Well, no, I'm talking to you now, Jessica. And you seem intelligent and reasonable. Like, how'd you end up with those guys?

[Jessica]

I don't know. Honestly. Sometimes I ask my. Okay, I just saw a movie the other day. It was called Big, Bold, Beautiful Journey.

[Scott]

Okay.

[Jessica]

And there's the actress that plays Barbie. I keep on forgetting her name. Margot something.

[Scott]

Robbie.

[Jessica]

Yes. So she's. Her character is bad with men. And she said, basically, she said that I'm afraid to, like, commit fully to a good relationship because I don't want him to find out who I really am. Like, she had a sort of emotional imposter syndrome.

[Scott]

Okay.

[Jessica]

And that really resonated with me, but I don't know. I probably need therapy.

[Scott]

Well, I'm gonna say yeah. Yeah, yeah. Did you have a happy childhood?

[Jessica]

I did. Yeah.

[Scott]

People care about you.

[Jessica]

I had a very religious childhood as well. Like, it was very strict, but my parents did care about me, but I think I was overly sheltered.

[Scott]

Okay.

[Jessica]

So whenever I first was able to, like, come out of that, it was very much God was gonna give me the perfect man who was just for me. And, you know, I just expected that. And then when that didn't happen, I was like, oh, no, something must be wrong with me. And then it was like, okay, well, will anybody have me? And I'm sorry. It's kind of tough.

[Scott]

Hey, I just. Listen, probably shouldn't say this, but when we first, like, logged on. Your camera is on. You're adorable. What are you talking about?

[Jessica]

Oh, thank you.

[Scott]

Of course. That's ridiculous. Yeah. No, no, no. When you find these guys, initially, you're not like, oh, this guy's an addict. Perfect for me. Like, it's a thing that gets uncovered as time goes on.

[Jessica]

Yeah.

[Scott]

Okay.

[Jessica]

It got uncovered. I had no idea. So we were. We were, like, blissfully happy for, like, six months. And then he went home to visit family, and, you know, those were his stomping grounds. And, yeah, he got going again. Had a relapse. Yeah.

[Scott]

Yeah. Oh, I'm so sorry. That sucks.

[Jessica]

Yeah.

[Scott]

So you're not actively dating right now,

[Jessica]

I imagine here and there.

[Scott]

You use the apps. What do you do?

[Jessica]

I. I do use the apps, and I hate them because everybody. Well, not everybody, surely, but the ones that I've come across, they just want to, like. I don't know, like. Like, like.

[Scott]

Yeah, I mean, I think I know what you're gonna say.

[Jessica]

Shopping for groceries. You know what I mean? Like, left, left, left, left. Oh, right. That one looks nice. Left, left, left, right, right, right. You know, right. They. And it just wants to be like, no one commits to anything anymore. Which is fine when you're just getting to learn somebody, but at least have a good attitude of, you know, this isn't just my groceries for tonight.

[Scott]

Maybe, you know, does it feel as, like, overly simplistic is like, you get together and you're like, he's looking at you like, are we going to have sex? Or what? Is it like that?

[Jessica]

Sometimes, yeah. Yeah.

[Scott]

I don't even think I could get my wife to be that aggressive given the better part of the last Three decades of my life to her, and I think she'd be like, listen, we're at dinner. Just relax. Okay. Well, yeah, that's a tough one. And you're so. Son's how old now?

[Jessica]

Oh, I'm sorry. Let me go back a little point, because I just. I think that there's part of me that. Because I've been through something so traumatic that now my defenses are, like, super sensitive. So every little thing that goes wrong, it's like, oh, nope, not doing that. And so I exit immediately.

[Scott]

You're cutting guys loose before you should.

[Jessica]

Yeah, okay. Yeah.

[Scott]

By the way, I love that you wanted to go back to explain that part. You're nice and relaxed. We're having a good time. Awesome.

[Jessica]

Yeah.

[Scott]

Good, good, good. Okay, well, we'll keep going for a second. So you have been burned enough, had enough problems, you're far enough into your life, you're not looking for it, but because of that, you're not letting things develop long enough to even know if there's a there.

[Jessica]

Yeah. I think once bitten, twice shy is what they say.

[Scott]

So you're getting rid of them before they can hurt you.

[Jessica]

Yeah. And it's probably a disservice to myself. Yeah. At this point, because honestly, Scott, and I hate to say this, because I feel very capable. I'm a capable person. I've taken care of myself for the last, you know, 12 years completely alone. And I'm very much a go getter and, you know, a high earner, you know, stuff like that. But now I have diabetes, Now I have narcolepsy and sleep apnea. You know, like, I worry sometimes, especially when I'm, like, really low and emotional because I get super emotional when I'm low, like, who's gonna take care of me? And I don't like those vulnerable moments, but they happen. So I don't know, sometimes I thought maybe I should just get a dog.

[Scott]

I don't like a dog. You need a dog with thumbs and it needs to be able to reach the countertop. You know, there's some. And it needs a job too, so. Oh, so you're not only trying to find a person, but you're also trying to find a person who you can grow old with.

[Jessica]

Yeah, exactly. And I don't think very many people are looking for that.

[Scott]

I gotcha.

[Jessica]

I think people maybe want it to happen perhaps, you know, like, you know, if it happens, great. But a lot of what I see is I'm not looking for anything serious, but, you know, if it happens, it happens. Like, well, it doesn't just happen. You have to be intentional about it.

[Scott]

Yeah. And you have to spend time with people. You should get one of those really, like, younger go getter guys. Like, you know what I mean? Like, date younger. Find a guy in his, like, 30s who, like, got screwed by, like, a really crazy lady, but really intently wanted to have a life. And then he'll be happy just having a dog with you. And then you can make him take care of you. What do you think of that idea?

[Jessica]

I'm taking notes. I think this is great. Is he rich, too? Well, is he rich and handsome?

[Scott]

Is he rich? And could he be rich, handsome, really

[Jessica]

tall and young with lots of stamina?

[Scott]

Yeah. Yeah. And I hear the four cars I like. And the colors. Scott, just in case you're wondering, I don't want to ride around in one of those. No, I take your point, though. Like, it's. It's also difficult not to be choosy. It's funny, isn't it? Because the choosy is what ruins it. But you're also at an age where you're like, I can't screw this up a couple more times. I don't have that kind of time anymore. Right.

[Jessica]

Yes.

[Scott]

And do you still not trust your judgment on guys as well?

[Jessica]

Nah, I don't think I do.

[Scott]

You should just let me pick a guy for you.

[Jessica]

Oh, great.

[Scott]

Yeah, that's okay.

[Jessica]

Wait.

[Scott]

Why don't we turn the podcast into a dating service? I am good at figuring people out. Do you want to bring on some people and I'll try to get through them and figure out what's going on with them?

[Jessica]

Yeah, I'll send a list.

[Scott]

I mean, I got you to talk about your life in 15 minutes. I don't know if you noticed that I'm so good at this, so I could. It's also Friday. I'm so free and loose right now. I feel so good about the weekend coming. And I had lunch with a friend today, so my brain's all warmed up because I've been, like, talking with somebody who I know for a couple of hours, and we're complaining about politics and all kinds of fun stuff, so I'm all lubricated in my mind and ready to go. Wow. Okay. Well, gee, I'm so. You know what? It's funny. Like, I'm hearing you talk about this. I've interviewed people half your age about dating, you know, because the way I get to dating on the podcast, because I am very interested in that part of it that you Just brought up, like wanting to have somebody not only just to share your life with, but like when you have a medical issue and you are concerned, like, who do you. Who helps with that burden at some point or, you know, who can you count on? You know, who's going to. Who's going to follow your Dexcom? You know, I mean, like that kind of stuff.

[Jessica]

Yeah.

[Scott]

And when you talk about younger kids about dating, they're just. You think you sound lost. You ought to talk to a 25 year old about dating. They're like, I don't know. I don't know where to meet. People's always been hard, right? But like something about making it digital somehow made it easier and harder all at the same time, I think. Because yes, it's easier to match up with people, but then in five seconds people turned it into a sex app and not a dating app. And now like, no. How do you know who you're getting? Like, how do you know the guy that shows up at your door and is he there? Cause he wants to hopefully fall in love and take care of you and be with you and have you take care of him? Or is he there cause he thinks he caught you in the right part of your cycle and you're horny and he's gonna bang one out in you and be gone in an hour. Like, you know what I mean? Like. And how the.

[Jessica]

Exactly.

[Scott]

Yeah. How do you figure out who's who?

[Jessica]

Yeah, yeah. It's so hard. And then the area that I live in is very. There's a lot of men here who are just here for work and then they travel. So they travel here for work and then they go home.

[Scott]

Okay.

[Jessica]

So it's another. That's a whole nother element. They might have a whole wife back home or family back home.

[Scott]

So definitely.

[Jessica]

It's another thing I gotta navigate.

[Scott]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, are you. You're in Texas. Is it oil?

[Jessica]

Oil, yeah.

[Scott]

Yeah. Guys are coming in and out to work field and stuff like that.

[Jessica]

And rigs.

[Scott]

Okay. I watch Landman. I know what's going on.

[Jessica]

You know, I've never seen it. I need to watch it.

[Scott]

Billy Bob is so good in it. It's fantastic. If any of you were thinking of Billy Bob back when he was wearing Angelina Jolie's around his neck, this is a completely different Billy Bob. You should go check it out. He's really aged well. He's got no ass and he's in these big jeans walking around. He's just constantly annoyed by everything. It's Fantastic. I mean, really good. Nevertheless. Wow. Okay, so the people are transient and taking their rings off when they get there. Hey, honey, I'll be back in six months. I'm gonna go make a bunch of money and I'm gonna hang with girls I don't know for a while, and then I'll come. Oh, my God. Can you move?

[Jessica]

Yeah, I need to. You know what? Now would probably be a good time for me, too, but actually, I don't know if it would be a good time. I got fired from my job in December.

[Scott]

Oh, okay. What happened?

[Jessica]

So I've been without work for about what, December 9th to now, so four months almost.

[Scott]

Yeah. You kind of told me about this before we started, but then you told me you weren't sure if you're going to talk about it. But now you're anonymous, so maybe you're going to.

[Jessica]

I can talk a little bit. I needed accommodations, and I was given them to a certain extent. But then when I didn't meet them exactly right. I was disciplined for it. So, yeah, eventually I got fired.

[Scott]

Accommodations for the narcolepsy or for the diabetes?

[Jessica]

For the narcolepsy.

[Scott]

When did that start in your life?

[Jessica]

I think it started. So there's two. Let me preface this. There's two types of narcolepsy. There's narcolepsy, type one, and so that's where you have cataplexy, which is what you see, you know, like in the movies, where the girl is afraid to eat soup because she's afraid to drown. It's not really like that, but that's. You know, you just basically lose your muscle tone suddenly and can fall out. But I have type 2 cataplexy where I don't fall out, but I do feel very intense sleep pressure at random moments. So also with it. So what it basically is, is there's a disagreement, so to speak, between your brain and. So your brain is trying to enter REM sleep, but your body's still awake. And so it kind of forces you to feel super sleepy. And also, whenever you do fall asleep, you fall into REM pretty quickly. I think I'm explaining that the best that I know is kind of new to me. So hopefully I don't get it wrong.

[Scott]

Was it happening for a long time and you didn't realize what it was and it got diagnosed, or did it come on all at once?

[Jessica]

It was happening for. So maybe like two and a half years ago, I had an incident where I woke up. I kind of think this is related, although I'm not sure. I woke up, and for like five or six seconds, I didn't know who I was or where I was.

[Scott]

Okay.

[Jessica]

And I was looking around and I was like, who am I? And I was in my own house. And then suddenly, like, I woke up. I was like, okay, cool. I'm fine. And then it was, as things progressed, I would be, like, in the middle of my day and just feel like I wasn't fully awake. Kind of. Kind of, like, dissociated. But more. More than that. Like, I was walking around like, I need to wake up. I need to wake up. And I couldn't really snap awake. And then, like, maybe a couple minutes later, I just would be like, oh, okay, I'm awake now. I can feel it.

[Scott]

Yeah. That's crazy.

[Jessica]

Yeah.

[Scott]

What a, like, thing to have happen to you out of nowhere.

[Jessica]

Yeah.

[Scott]

Is it involved? Like, do they tell you that it has any connection to any other issues in your life, or is it just a thing on an island by itself?

[Jessica]

I think it's a thing on an island by itself. Type one is autoimmune.

[Scott]

Mm.

[Jessica]

But like I said, right now I have type two that. But there's still kind of a jury out on that because I'm learning that the cataplexy that I told you about, where people just lose muscle tone.

[Scott]

Yeah.

[Jessica]

That. There are other variations of that, although the most common is where you just, you know, fall and, you know, fall asleep, where it looks like you fell asleep, but you really just lost all your muscle tone. There's also other variations, like maybe your eye might droop or something like that. So I. I suspect that maybe I. I do have cataplexy, but I'm not. I'm not sure. So out of respect for those people that do for sure have type one with full cataplexy, I just. I'm type two.

[Scott]

Well, this is for the people listening. Current consensus is that narcolepsy type 1 is the form with the strongest evidence for an autoimmune mechanism tied to a loss of oryxin hypercreatine producing neurons. Narcolepsy type 2 is less well understood, usually has normal hypocrine levels and no cataplexy, and is not established as an autoimmune disease. That's interesting. Geez.

[Jessica]

Yeah.

[Scott]

I did ask a little more if there's any connection between type one and that. And there's a plausible autoimmune overlap between type 1 diabetes and narcolepsy type 1, because both involve immune and narcolepsy type 1 is widely thought of to be autoimmune. Stanford's narcolepsy center even describes narcolepsy type 1 as in many ways similar to type 1 diabetes for that reason. But for type 2, the situation is different and the cause is still unclear, and it is not established as an autoimmune disease. Boy, I'll tell you what. I don't know that maybe eventually it won't be understood differently because it sounds like they're still digging through it. But that's really. You're the first person that said. I'm telling you, like I'm 1900 episodes in now. You're the first person that said narcolepsy, I think.

[Jessica]

Oh, interesting.

[Scott]

Well, congratulations on being different. Yeah, you're the first. You're the first con with narcolepsy I've spoken to. I just want you to know.

[Jessica]

So.

[Scott]

Wow. Okay, so let's go through your. Your son's diagnosis. Right? So he's diagnosed back. Then you get out, you know, you gotta go through the halfway house, get re established he's with your mom. Do you go live with them?

[Jessica]

Yeah. So more depth to the story. So before I. Before I went to prison, my house burned down. Not burned down to the ground, but burned down to where it was not livable. So I was essentially homeless before I went to prison anyway. But I had house insurance and stuff, you know, home insur. And they were fixing it, but we were all living with my mom anyway, so whenever I got out of prison, my. It was. I was in prison for a little over a year. So my youngest son was living with my mom, and so was I. So, yeah, I moved. Well, I was only in the halfway house for a couple of weeks.

[Scott]

Okay.

[Jessica]

And then I went to, you know, go live with my mom until our house was done.

[Scott]

I have to just ask. Did somebody nod out and burn the house down? What happened there?

[Jessica]

No, actually, I don't know. I was home. I remember I had an earache and I had put a towel in the microwave to warm it up. And then I was gonna put it on my ear, but after it was cool, I threw it in the trash can. And the fire marshal said that it caught fire. I don't really believe that. Cause I don't think it was hot enough.

[Scott]

How would a wet towel catch fire?

[Jessica]

Yeah. Yeah, I guess he's saying the heat caught other things on fire, but it

[Scott]

was wet, so that doesn't make any sense. Let me ask you a question. Don't take offense to this. Just answer it. Okay. Has Your whole life been a disaster or is it just a portion of it?

[Jessica]

It's so funny that you say that because whenever I do look back on it, I think, man, it's been one thing after another after another. And so right now I'm going through a really hard time and I just have to remind myself I've been through worse.

[Scott]

Yeah, well, I guess. So if anybody can say that, it's definitely you, I would imagine. So when you wanted an accommodation like you said you didn't like, I would imagine you asked for an accommodation, they gave it to you begrudgingly. And the first time you screwed up, they were like, finally, we can get rid of her. And you feel like that's about what happened to you.

[Jessica]

Yeah. So my write ups increased suddenly. There were some other things that happened in between, but for the most part, yeah, it was, it was like, okay, we'll grant you this, but yeah, you step outside of line just a hair

[Scott]

and we're gonna manage you out of it. Right up, right up, real quick.

[Jessica]

Yeah, yeah.

[Scott]

So. Okay, I'm sorry. So going back, you come into your mom's home with your. Your kid reasonably freshly diagnosed in the last year, your mom and your son have probably been managing it. Are they doing well? How long does it take you to get up to speed? Do you ever really get involved or are you kind of frozen out because they have a plan already? How does all that work?

[Jessica]

They're doing well. But my son was very independent. He was very selfish with his. Not selfish, like hoardy of his care, you know what I mean? Like, he didn't want to let anybody else help him. He was very in control of it.

[Scott]

Okay.

[Jessica]

So even with me, he didn't tell me a whole lot. He wanted to handle it. Now looking back, I wish I had taken more control. I wish I had given him more of a relief, I guess, because he was going through so much. But at the time, I just wanted to let him have his way. You know, I felt guilty about having left for prison and you know, basically the trauma that he had been through because of me. So I think I just wanted to let him, you know, decide. And I let him, you know, take care of his diabetes. And he was in. He went into TKA not long after I got home and that was his first dka. So when he was diagnosed with my mom, she just noticed that he was really thirsty, he was peeing a lot. So she took him to the doctor and they diagnosed him in office. He never went to the ER or anything like that. But whenever, a little bit after I got home, he went into DKA and we went, you know, helicopter ride and.

[Scott]

Oh gosh, the whole thing.

[Jessica]

Children's hospital.

[Scott]

Did your mom leave the God thing on your son too? No, no, she let him up. She gave up on that. She got too old to.

[Jessica]

She wasn't the one that was really pushing that on me to. It was more like the people that were involved in the church community in prison.

[Scott]

Oh, oh, I see, I see, I see. Okay, so he's how old at that point when he's diagnosed? I forget.

[Jessica]

I think he was nine.

[Scott]

Nine. Okay. So he's working on it on his own, best he can. I mean, I, I think it has to be asked right here, like, how do you tell an eight or nine year old mommy's going to prison for a year? Like, how do you do that?

[Jessica]

Oh my God.

[Scott]

Were you able to rebound from it, your relationship when you came back, it was so rough.

[Jessica]

That was for sure the worst day of my life was the day that I left. So I was grateful that I was able to self surrender that it wasn't just all of a sudden, you know, like, oh, mommy's locked up, she's not coming home. It was like I went and got sentenced and I was never, I say that I was never in jail. I've never been to jail. I've only been in prison. So I was able to tell my kids, like, I'm leaving on such and such day. I'll be gone. Yeah, it was really sad, like to tear away from them and drive myself to the, you know, to the airport and go to prison.

[Scott]

Yeah.

[Jessica]

I can't even put it in words. It was the most painful day of my life.

[Scott]

Do you remember what you told him though?

[Jessica]

I have two sons.

[Scott]

Okay.

[Jessica]

They kind of knew about everything because it was on the news locally. Yeah, yeah, everybody knew. And the school even called out of supposed concern to check.

[Scott]

Oh my God, you were the lady on the news.

[Jessica]

Yeah, yeah, I was.

[Scott]

Oh my gosh. That's. That's really crazy. I'm so, I'm so sorry. So when you come back, does it, is it just like, hey, look who's here? And I mean, is it standoffish at first? Is it just like, oh my God, mom, you're here. Like, is there like a lot of just instant happiness or does it take time to put it back together?

[Jessica]

Yes. And yes, we were happy. I was happy, my kids were happy. I did speak to them, you know, periodically. Every week, at least once a week, sometimes more and so they knew I was coming home. The Bureau of Prisons puts you on a bus to the closest halfway house, and they let your family pick you up and take you to the halfway house. So I saw them for just a few minutes. But then, you know, they give you a time that you have to be, you know, this. You only get a few minutes. So, you know, we gave our hugs and kisses and I went back to prison, but at least we could visit, you know, and. But I was only there for a couple weeks, so that was. That was really good. Okay. I knew it wouldn't be long before I was home, but it was a little different because, you know, they had changed. Both of my kids had changed. They were right at that age where, you know, they start to grow up. They're not just little kids anymore. You know, like, from little kids to adolescents right in there. I think there was a little bit of awkwardness at first, probably for like a year. Not. Not full awkwardness. But, you know, it took about a year for us to get back into the swing of familiarity with each other.

[Scott]

People were probably talking you the whole time you were going to those kids and behind your back and to your mom and everything else.

[Jessica]

Right. They've never told me that, but that's very possible.

[Scott]

Yeah. That's gotta be hard on them, too. Cause somebody's gotta mention it at some point. Like, you know what I mean? Like, I mean, kids are kids, but if I was beefing with a kid and I was like, your mom's in jail. I would 100% say that if I was 10 years old, you know, so that sucks.

[Jessica]

Yeah. Oh, gee. But now we're good now, me and my. Both of them, we're so. We're so close now, especially. Yeah, yeah. I'm. I'm. We're close with them. And then me and my youngest son, we. Since we both have type one, we kind of shut. He set up my loop, whereas it's kind of backwards because, like, you know how you set up Arden's loop? Well, my son set up my loop. If something goes wrong, I always have to ask him, like, hey, how do I fix this? I'm like the old lady who doesn't know anything about tech. But.

[Scott]

So you've had type one for how long?

[Jessica]

For. Since 20. 20.

[Scott]

Okay.

[Jessica]

So six years.

[Scott]

Six years. So he's. How old is he now?

[Jessica]

He is 22.

[Scott]

22. So he's had diabetes, like, 13 years. And so for about six years into his diabetes, you get diagnosed. What's your diagnosis? Like, did Your mom figure it out and take you to the doctor, too, or how did it work?

[Jessica]

No, my mom had already passed by then. I lost my mom in 2018.

[Scott]

I'm sorry.

[Jessica]

So, yeah, that was rough, too. I remember going to the bathroom not long after, and, you know, you talk to people who have already passed sometimes, like a ghost. And I remember saying, mom, you wouldn't believe. Isn't it crazy? So anyway. But, yeah, I kind of thought I was developing type 2 for a moment because both my parents had it. And like I said, my son's dad had type one, so I didn't even think that I would have type 2. But I was making cookies, and pretty much every year, right around Christmas time, I'm. It's a little side hustle of mine that I do. I make these little. These little sugar cookies. They're kind of a cultural Mexican thing, because we're Mexican, and I make a lot of them, and I sell them by the gallon. So I'm used to, like, making three pans at once and just go, go, go, go, go.

[Scott]

Right.

[Jessica]

Well, I remember feeling so exhausted after just putting, like, one pan in the oven. I was like, what is wrong? Wrong with me?

[Scott]

Okay?

[Jessica]

And I checked my fasting. Blood sugars were around, like, 1:30, and in the morning, so I knew that it was diabetes. And so I was trying my best to, like, fight it. I used to feel, like, the swelling in my hands, and I was fasting. I was trying to control it that way. And I ended up checking my ketones with a meter. And I was trying to be in ketosis, like, for weight loss, but whenever I would eat sugar and I would not knock myself out of ketosis, I was like, okay, something's wrong. But I still thought it was type two. So I went to the hospital, and it was right around Covid. So it really sucked because my kids couldn't even come visit me. I couldn't see anybody. I was stuck there with no visitors or anything. But, yeah, they diagnosed me there. They didn't give me a type. They just gave me diabetes. And there was no education at all. It was like, okay, here's the vial of insulin. Take 10 units at every meal. And I was like, oh, God, crap. Y' all are going to kill me. But I did know at least enough about it. Like, my son was very, you know, private with his. With his care, but not so private that I didn't know what was happening and that I didn't, you know, he didn't consult me sometimes. Like, mom, what do I Do you know? So I knew about it. He just liked to manage himself. So I was like, I'm not taking 10 units.

[Scott]

Did he step up and, like, try to help you? Did he say, hey, mom, I can help with this? Or, you know, when you first were

[Jessica]

diagnosed, I think it kind of became understood, you know, like, he knew so much about it, you know, And I remember, like, asking him questions, and he would say, oh, yeah, well, duh, Mom. Like, I remember asking him. I was like, I feel like there's some carbs that, you know, if I'm on a 1 to 10 carb ratio, but this carb, I need more insulin. And with these 10 carbs, I need less insulin, but it's the same amount of carbs. And he's like, well, yeah, he's like, some things are going to have a higher glycemic. I was like, oh, okay. So that's normal.

[Scott]

Now, where does he learn that from?

[Jessica]

He was big Camp Sweeney person. He went from age since. Since his first year of diagnosis until he graduated out.

[Scott]

Oh, no kidding. I've. I gave away, I think, six slots at Camp Sweeney this year.

[Jessica]

Yes. Love Camp Sweeney.

[Scott]

Yeah, that was a nice thing I've been doing for a couple of years. I just. I don't mean nice like I'm doing something nice. I meant. Sorry, that came out, like. That's not what I meant. What I meant was, is, like, it. It's nice for me because I get to see. I don't know, I just, you know, when it's over, the kids send notes and they're like, you know, they send some pictures and they're like, you know, I really appreciate it, but the truth is, it's Camp Sweeney's giving it away. They're just, you know, I'm just doing it through the podcast because I can, you know, I have a pretty wide reach, so I can get a pretty wide reach. But the giving the last bunch of them away this year, I'll tell you, just. It just made you sad, like, because for everybody who didn't get one, I was like, oh, these people all deserve this. You know what I mean? Like, and it is expensive to go to camp.

[Jessica]

So, yeah, the good thing about Sweeney is they do give you, like, payment plans and they do give out scholarships based on your, you know, income. So his first year, I struggled to come up with the, you know, there's an initial deposit amount. Yeah, I struggled to come up with it, but I think we did a GoFundMe or something like that or some kind of Fundraiser and put him through that first year. And when I picked him up, I remember thinking, I'm gonna make it my goal every year to make sure he goes back.

[Scott]

Tell me why and what about him was different.

[Jessica]

He was so happy.

[Scott]

Yeah.

[Jessica]

He. And I don't know if it was me being in prison or I don't know what. I just. I just. For the first time, I felt like. He looked like. He really felt like he belonged there.

[Scott]

Okay, that's awesome.

[Jessica]

And he felt like normal. Everybody, you know, he didn't. He was just so happy. And I remember whenever we went to breakfast right after I picked him up, because still pretty early, and we went and had breakfast, he's like, ah, my life is so good. And that just touched me so much.

[Scott]

Yeah.

[Jessica]

Because as much as he had been through and he was still after camp swing, he's able to say, my life is so good, or I have a good life. Something like that.

[Scott]

Yeah.

[Jessica]

And I was like, yeah, yeah. I'm so glad to hear you say that. And, yeah, it really changed his life.

[Scott]

Yeah. No, I mean, people should check it out. It's Camp Sweeney.org. it's in Texas. Right. You know, you can be from anywhere. I think I had somebody. I think I had somebody come from, like, Michigan last year. If I'm not mistaken, they, like, flew down. I forget where they were coming from, but the mom told me, like, she flew down, and then, like, was nervous to leave the kid there, so they kind of hung out for a while in Texas till eventually her husband was like, what are we doing? We got to go home. And then they went home or something, and she's like, oh, he was okay, you know, and he had a great time. No, it's cool. Yeah. It's funny. Like, I don't think my daughter's a camp kind of person, but through having this job, I've just spoken to too many people who have thought of camp as, like, a real seminal experience for themselves. So he learned about how to take care of himself at camp, and then he was able to teach you about it later when he was like, yeah, that takes more insulin because it's got fat in it. And you were like, get out of here. Really?

[Jessica]

Exactly. Yeah. Through his own research and camp. Both.

[Scott]

Yeah.

[Jessica]

Yeah.

[Scott]

Really good. That's really awesome. You must be proud of him.

[Jessica]

Oh, super proud.

[Scott]

Yeah. Yeah. And then when you are diagnosed, they give you a pump. They give you cgm. Do you, like, how do you start your process off? And how does your son manage, too?

[Jessica]

My son now is On. Well, no, he's on Moby, but Moby cartridges and stuff are kind of expensive and I don't know if our insurance has it yet toward its pharmacy, but I think lately he's been on Omnipod. And we're both looping right now, Omnipod, Dash and Eversense.

[Scott]

Oh, wait, so he's running Omnipod as a loop. Wait, with the implantable cgm. Okay, let me just, for everybody listening, if you're interested in any of these things, I have links for all this. Tandomdiabetes.com juicebox omnipod.com juicebox and I believe I have eversensecgm.com juicebox it's right there in the show notes of your podcast player. Please support the podcast. Let's move on. What made you get the implantable cgm?

[Jessica]

So when I first saw the advertisement for the Twist pump, I thought that was best thing ever. I really, really wanted it. So I decided I saw that it was going to be they were going to make it to where you could use it with the implantable. So that's why I went with it. But then whenever I got the Twist, I didn't really like it. It wasn't for me.

[Scott]

You didn't like this, West? Okay, because can you, like, contextualize?

[Jessica]

Yeah, sure. I'm used to using Dash at this point. I just really like it. I started off on a medtronic pump because that's what my son was using at the time. So I remember telling our rep, hey, I got diagnosed. Could you get me a pump? Which they got that taken care of right away. I started on a pump within like a week of diagnosis. I found out through my job at the time that the insurance was going to be cheaper if I went with Dexcom. And I also really wasn't particularly happy with the Guardian sensors at that time. So I went with Dexcom. And then I was on, yeah, Omnipod Dash.

[Scott]

Nice.

[Jessica]

And I remember it was right around when Omnipod 5 came out. Like I was going to be the very first person on Omnipod 5. But something happened and I didn't get it. So I just ended up going with Dash and I stuck with it. And I like it.

[Scott]

You like it? Okay, cool. And he put Loop together on his own just from like figuring out online. Is he in college?

[Jessica]

He has somebody else that helped helps him. Yeah, they work together on it.

[Scott]

Does he work now? Is he in college? What's he doing?

[Jessica]

He's in college now. He's about to graduate next Month, and then he goes to grad school.

[Scott]

Congratulations.

[Jessica]

Yeah, look at that.

[Scott]

This is going to feel like a left turn for a second, but I can't believe I didn't ask you. How do you smuggle the pills into the prison?

[Jessica]

Super easy. So I'm sorry, let me not say that.

[Scott]

Do a how to for all the prison guards out there that haven't thought to do it yet.

[Jessica]

Good. You acquire the good. No. Oh, gosh.

[Scott]

But you have to pick up somebody's prescription or they're like, you're buying them on the street for them. Or like, do you have to do the. Like, what's the process?

[Jessica]

There has to be another person involved.

[Scott]

Okay.

[Jessica]

Yeah. So they give you the thing and then you just take it in. It was particularly easy for me because I had a position where I went around the whole prison every day to pass out medication. That was part of my job description. So.

[Scott]

But how do you get into the building? Don't they scan you or wand you or like, oh, working there. Oh, so they don't pat down the people who work there at that place?

[Jessica]

No. Oh, at that place, they did it. Yeah.

[Scott]

So you didn't have to, like, put it in your lady box or anything like that. You could just. Okay, Just take it in your pocket. I was kind of, you know, I was kind of hoping for, like, a better story, but.

[Jessica]

Okay, sorry, Disappointed. I think I put it in my boot or something like.

[Scott]

Yeah, what's in my shoe, Scott? So, by the way, you're not disappointing anybody.

[Jessica]

You're.

[Scott]

You are what is known in the podcast world as a home run. So don't worry about that. Okay. It's a matter of fact. You'd like to be the co host of the show and tell a different prison story every day. I'm sure we could work it out. Okay.

[Jessica]

So, you guys, my family. If you're embarrassed, nobody will have to know.

[Scott]

They don't know who you are.

[Jessica]

Right.

[Scott]

Also, you think you're who you think is listening to this.

[Jessica]

Trust me, that's true.

[Scott]

How do you know about the podcast?

[Jessica]

I mean, who doesn't know about your podcast, Scott?

[Scott]

Is it really that? Are we at that point now? All right, yeah, I gotta stop asking that question. I gotta stop being like, golly, how did you find out about this?

[Jessica]

I don't even remember how I first found out about it. I do remember my son saying something about. I don't remember what. What practice it was. I want to say crash and catch, but I don't think it was that.

[Scott]

Okay.

[Jessica]

He's like, yeah, that's what they say on Juice Box. I was like, oh, okay. And I didn't know what he was talking about. And then later it came up. I was like, oh, that's what my son was talking about. And then I started listening.

[Scott]

And do you listen to it for the stories or for management, or do you like, what. What is it you like about it?

[Jessica]

I listen to it for the stories.

[Scott]

Yeah, me too.

[Jessica]

I mean, management, too, but you got that part first. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Pretty much like, yeah, I'm not gonna say I'm perfect, but, you know, I'm. I'm good enough.

[Scott]

I'm doing management.

[Jessica]

Yeah, I'm doing all right. But it's always good to learn new stuff, though.

[Scott]

Oh, of course.

[Jessica]

Yeah.

[Scott]

Yeah. It's. I think it's sometimes just interesting to hear people talk about with different language or from different perspectives so that you can kind of just check yourself once in a while. But I have to tell you, I think you just helped me inadvertently, because when I ask people, like, how did you find out about the podcast? That's coming from a very genuine place. Like, I really do feel like I can't believe you guys are all listening to this. Like, I really do have that feeling still. Like, so it's hard for me to. Like, I probably don't see myself in the same light as other people do who are listening. Right. And. And when I asked that question, I. I am genuinely going like, God, how did you find out about this? But it was something about the way you answered that made me think, like, maybe I got to stop asking that. That sounds. Maybe I. Maybe I sound like a. Maybe I sound like I'm fishing for a compliment when I say I'm really wondering how the hell you found out.

[Jessica]

And you're like, I didn't take it that way.

[Scott]

You're. And you're like, oh, don't we all know? And I'm like, okay, maybe I'm gonna have to let go of that. Oh, this would be a growth moment for me. We can make this all about me if we keep talking about this for two more minutes.

[Jessica]

That's fine.

[Scott]

I'm just teasing. I do want to ask you, like, a little bit about management. So, like, you are. You're using Omnipod Dash with. With Loop, and are you having the outcomes that you're looking for? Like, are you happy with your time and range, your A1C? Do you and your son have little races to see who's better? Like, how do you. How do you think about all that stuff.

[Jessica]

No, he's still pretty private with his management. I can see his. I don't think I can see it anymore, actually. No, he took that from you.

[Scott]

He's like.

[Jessica]

So when we were on Dexcom, we followed each other, but now that we're on Eversense, we don't see each other anymore.

[Scott]

Okay. Okay.

[Jessica]

But, yeah.

[Scott]

How are you liking the Eversense?

[Jessica]

I like it.

[Scott]

Yeah. Cool.

[Jessica]

I really do. Oh, and plus, now I think that the final piece of the puzzle that makes me feel like I have the best management I've had is that I'm on an inhalable insulin now.

[Scott]

Oh, you're.

[Jessica]

I take a Farrezza.

[Scott]

So you. What do you do. You offset your liquid insulin with the frezza sometimes to, like, fight highs and stuff. Okay.

[Jessica]

Yeah, so I. I'm looping with the dash, which I forgot to mention earlier. The dash is easy because it's just like, you take one pack and go. Like, if you need to take one or whatever.

[Scott]

Yeah, no, I know what you mean with the twist.

[Jessica]

It was too much stuff. You had to have the cartridge, you had to have the tubing, you know, and I wasn't used to that anymore, and I just. Yeah.

[Scott]

So of all the things. The simplicity of it is, is that the tubing threw you off.

[Jessica]

And also, the. The infusion sets were awful. Like, I'm sorry to disparage it. It's a good pump, but for me, it was hard. Like, you had to do things just right to get it to stick, and I just wasn't used to that with the dash. I just. You know, it sticks every time. Well, yeah, for the most part, Unless you're greasy, dirty, but. But for the most part, you stick it on and you go. And it was so much extra steps to get the twist to stick on. Anyway, let me get back on track.

[Scott]

Well, no, that's. By the way, that's probably good feedback for them, and I'll say they used to be a sponsor, and they. Very. Well, maybe again, but I would, you know, you say whatever you want about your experience. I don't. You know, I don't care about that, so.

[Jessica]

Yeah.

[Scott]

Okay, good. Go back on. Although, can I just say, ever since cgm.com juicebox now we can go. Go ahead.

[Jessica]

Okay.

[Scott]

Scotty got bills. I got bills. Jessica, you understand the electric sky. I got my electric bill the other day, and I almost had a stroke. I don't know what's happening, but Jesus Lord, it was expensive. No, I just. I. You know, how are Your outcomes. Like, where do you think of your management? Like, you know, when. When do you think, oh, gosh, I made a mistake. I. I need to bring this down. What do you think of as low? Like, how do you, you know, just tell me about how you manage.

[Jessica]

Okay, yeah, I. I do the loop and. And dash pretty much as my basal. And my algorithm, like, I feel like the algorithm sees I. I'm a little off, you know, it'll bring me back. But if I do take a frazzle with my meals, I like a frezza because it's. I don't have to do a lot of math, you know, and not that I mind math. I don't have a problem with it, but whenever I first started on it, they said, you're going to take twice. Basically twice the amount of afrezza units that you would, you know, injectable. And so I remember I was counting the carbs. Like, okay, this is 30. I would take, you know, four, but with this, I'm taking eight, you know, and I don't do that anymore. Now I just, you know, and I guess we all get to that point, even with just injectable. But especially it's easy for me with the frazz. I'll be like, okay, this is about a 12.

[Scott]

Yeah.

[Jessica]

Okay. Okay. This is just a piece of bread. Let me just take four, you know, and I'll. It's easier that way. So I feel a little less diabetic.

[Scott]

Cool.

[Jessica]

But sometimes I get it wrong and, you know, I'll inject. The reason that I'm on a freza is because I do get, like, some sight irritation whenever I'm on injectable insulin. And I can't ever bolus more than, like, four or five units or it'll swell up and my pod will fail.

[Scott]

No kidding. So you have an allergy, you think? To some degree.

[Jessica]

Something. But it's like, no matter what I take. Maybe just sensitive skin.

[Scott]

What's the insulin you're using?

[Jessica]

Right now? I'm on Lume Jav, but I've been on everything.

[Scott]

Oh. Because I will tell you that, like, Arden can't use Lume Jev or Fiasc because of whatever the agent is that speeds it up.

[Jessica]

Yeah.

[Scott]

She said it feels like she's bruised. So when she uses fiasp, like, she's like, it feels like it's bruised where the pod was now. But when she tried Lume, Jeff, she. She made me take it off. Like, she. She tried freaking hours. She's like, you have to take this off.

[Jessica]

Yeah.

[Scott]

And and she's like, so maybe you just have that kind of sensitivity. Can you not use, like, FIASP or Novolog or something like that? Humalog.

[Jessica]

It doesn't matter what I use. I can use Novalog or the generic even. I've. I've tried everything, and it all does the same thing. Like, I can only take small boluses, which is fine for how I'm using it. Yeah, it's a pain whenever it's time for insurance to approve it, because they always say no every year, and every year I have to fight it.

[Scott]

Yeah. Hey, are you allergic to anything else?

[Jessica]

No.

[Scott]

You have bad seasonal. I mean, you're in Texas. You. If you have seasonal allergies, you're probably going crazy there. But nothing like that, huh?

[Jessica]

No, not really. I do, you know, I have, like, a little bit of sneeziness when it gets really dusty or something, but nothing crazy.

[Scott]

Crazy, huh?

[Jessica]

Nothing that I medicate for or anything.

[Scott]

Do you have any other autoimmune stuff at all?

[Jessica]

No.

[Scott]

Thyroid, celiac eczema, anything like that? No. Okay.

[Jessica]

Just type one narcolepsy, ADHD, and menopause.

[Scott]

Menopause. And I was in the clinic for a bit, Scott. That's about it.

[Jessica]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Scott]

You know, I got two drug addicts in my.

[Jessica]

In my past, but menopause is worse than prison.

[Scott]

Oh, I'm gonna tell my wife you said that. I think she might. She hasn't been to prison, but I think she's going to agree with you. She wakes up, she's like, why am I so hot? What's going on? Like, you know, turn that fan off. It's so cold in here. But I'm like, wait. You just. You just wait. What?

[Jessica]

Yeah, it's just hard to regulate. And you would think it's thyroid. I thought it was. Sometimes I still think it might be thyroid, but, man, it's. It's soft.

[Scott]

Do you ever get a thyroid panel?

[Jessica]

I do. You know, of course, everything they say comes back normal, but do you know

[Scott]

what the numbers are?

[Jessica]

Not off the top of my head.

[Scott]

You should. Look, just do this for me later. Look at your TSH level. If it came in above 2.1 and they told you it was in range, but you find that you have symptoms, maybe go back and ask them about it again and say, hey, look, I know you're saying I'm in range, but I have a lot of these symptoms. Would it hurt to try this?

[Jessica]

Okay, what is the clinical in range? This isn't like, 11 or something.

[Scott]

The problem is that in range just means where most people fall.

[Jessica]

Yeah. So I think I'm like, if you. If. If it's like 11 or 9. That's what I'm trying to figure out. I think I was like, four. I don't remember.

[Scott]

Honestly, I would. I. I know I probably do this too much on the podcast, but if you're a 4tsh and you have symptoms, I'd ask for the medication.

[Jessica]

Okay.

[Scott]

Okay. Why don't we. Real quick, we'll. We'll run through the symptoms real quick and just see if I'm pulling them up right now. People are probably.

[Jessica]

Pull them up. I'm gonna pull up my. My last.

[Scott]

Your TSH do that? Yeah. People are probably like, you don't just know these off the top of your head. I'm like, I do. I just don't want to misspeak because then I gotta go online and hear, like, he was wrong about this. And I just. I don't have the energy.

[Jessica]

You can't ever be wrong.

[Scott]

I can't. I just can't. I don't have the energy for assholes. I can't do it. You know what I mean? Like, yeah, you go ahead and make 1900 episodes of a podcast. See if you don't misspeak once in a while. Pricks. Or. Or somebody. Listen, I say some lady. It could have been a guy, but I don't see a lot of guys out there leaving podcast reviews for people. But she's like, I was disappointed in that. I was like, oh, okay, sorry.

[Jessica]

Yeah, probably a lady.

[Scott]

You can be disappointed without hurting my feelings, can't you?

[Jessica]

Yeah.

[Scott]

Also, a lot of people like it. Maybe it's you. Why are you putting it on me right away? You know what I'm saying? Yeah. That's all. I mean, I'm not saying I'm for everybody, but you got to be so nasty. Let's see what she said. There's a lot of information. However, there's a lot of repetition. And the host is obnoxious. The host is obnoxious. My goodness. He's busy talking about himself versus the information needed. You make a podcast. By the way, she put her name on this. You shouldn't have put your name on it. It would also be helpful if the titles told the user what the podcast subject is about. That's fair. But

[Jessica]

I mean, okay, you have a topic, right? I mean, an overall arching topic is diabetes. Like, how many different titles can you come up with without getting creative?

[Scott]

I know. Yeah. By the way, I'm calling yours after dark. Fallout.

[Jessica]

Okay.

[Scott]

Because you used the word fallout at some point and I was like, yeah, that makes sense for this one. Oh, wait, wait, hold on. The titles. So the user what the podcast subject is so they can listen to podcasts about a needed subject. By the way, I'm not going to say her name, but by the way, lady, the ones about the management all are titled. About the management.

[Jessica]

Yeah.

[Scott]

Like, yeah. And you and I have been talking for an hour. What should I call this? What should I call it? Formerly incarcerated mom of type 1 also has type 1 diabetes, and guys hit her up on apps. Like, what am I supposed to call like?

[Jessica]

And how is that helpful to anybody?

[Scott]

Yeah, how is that going to help you choose what to pick? Like, seriously, like, what would I. You make your own damn podcast and tell me how easy it is to come up with titles. Everybody's a critic. Anyway, what was your TSH?

[Jessica]

It's actually 2.9, this last one.

[Scott]

I'm not going to tell you. That's good. I don't think it is. Do you have you ready? Tiredness or low energy?

[Jessica]

Yes.

[Scott]

Feeling cold more easily?

[Jessica]

Yes.

[Scott]

Weight gain? Trouble losing weight?

[Jessica]

Yes.

[Scott]

Constipation?

[Jessica]

No.

[Scott]

Dry skin?

[Jessica]

Yes.

[Scott]

Dry, thinning hair?

[Jessica]

No.

[Scott]

Puffy face?

[Jessica]

Yes.

[Scott]

Muscle aches, Joint pain or weakness?

[Jessica]

Yes.

[Scott]

Slower heart rate. You're not taking your own pulse. Probably Depression or low mood?

[Jessica]

No.

[Scott]

Sometimes heavy, sometimes me too heavy. Or irregular periods? No, you're past that.

[Jessica]

But this is all. You know that this all could be related to menopause. I'm sorry, go ahead.

[Scott]

Yeah, I know. Decreased sweating, hoarse voice, memory or concentration problems.

[Jessica]

Yes. Okay, so listen, but I also have adhd.

[Scott]

Okay. How many of these overlap?

[Jessica]

I probably have all but, like four of those.

[Scott]

Yeah, that's a lot, by the way. By the way, we're not going to do the aces list with you, but I bet you got a couple of those, too. Hold on a second. Actually, this is a good time for me to tell you all that. @juiceboxpodcast.com, if you go up in the menu in the top right side, you can click on a thing that's called autoimmune Explorer and you can click on stuff like that. So like, you know, back pain, belly pain, brain. So you said brain fog, right? Cold intolerance, you said. Fatigue, you said. So there's a list I'm looking at right now. Hair loss, did you say? Or hair.

[Jessica]

Just dry skin.

[Scott]

Okay. Heat intolerance, inflammation, itchy jaundice, Jaw pain, joint pain. You said yes to joint stiffness? Yes. See, like, so there's a ton of these on the side. Like, right, like, so you kind of like go down, you check off the ones that you know you have skin issues. And I'm getting down through the, let's see, tremors, vision loss, weakness, weight gain. You said weight gain, right? Okay, so I clicked on, I clicked six things that you had trouble with. Right. And it references what it could be attached to. And your top matches are Hashimoto's.

[Jessica]

Really? Okay.

[Scott]

And then like it also matches to. It doesn't mean you have any of these things. It just, it shows you overlaps. Lupus, Sjogren's, ra. There's three matches to that. There's three matches to celiac. It helps people psoriasis. Like, it helps people say, like this is what's happening, what could it be? And it kind of narrows it down a little bit. So then once you get to something like Hashimoto's is an example, you can click on it and expand it and then it shows you other stuff that's not on there. So like weakness, you said? Yes. Do you have any sexual dysfunction, like a goiter, inflammatory shift, depression, hair loss? And you can check off as many as you want. And then if you want the way I have it set up, you can prep a note to the doctor. So it'll make a suggestion to you about like what to like to discuss with your doctor. You can say like discuss managing brain fog or the in context, the Hashimoto's. And you, you can like just kind of like, okay, like this is cool. And then you can say save a note. Then you can copy it or email it to yourself in case you have trouble, like kind of knowing what you want to say. When you get to the doctor's office, sometimes people have trouble. So like I just generated an email and it says reference prep for Hashimoto's. And it gives you just talking points. So when you go to the doctor, you can kind of remember what you wanted to talk about.

[Jessica]

That is so cool.

[Scott]

Yeah, I made that myself, by the way.

[Jessica]

What a great tool.

[Scott]

Thank you. It's Juicebox podcast.

[Jessica]

Good job, Scott.

[Scott]

Thank you. Juiceboxpodcast.com, go up in the menu right now. I have it called jbp A I E X is the extension. But go in the menu and just look for it. It's not a diagnostic tool. I'm not saying it's going to tell you what's wrong with you. It's just going to help you kind of quantify a lot of Common ailments and where it might point to. So you can go talk to your doctor about it later.

[Jessica]

Yeah.

[Scott]

I also have a fat and protein estimator. I have a bolus estimator, a basal estimator, a 1C estimator. I have this really cool interactive Defining Diabetes thing where you can go learn, like all the terms from Defining Diabetes. You can take a little quiz that's like a game where you can, like, take a quit. It's in English, Spanish, French, German, Hindi. I have it on a bunch of different languages. I've been working hard over here. You know what I mean?

[Jessica]

Yeah.

[Scott]

Check out the website, people. What the heck?

[Jessica]

You've been working hard in multiple languages?

[Scott]

Well, I don't actually, I did chat. I just want to be clear that AI does most of this. Like, I sit down and I. I wonder out loud what I want the thing to do. And Claude actually seems to code it all pretty well, in case you're wondering.

[Jessica]

Yeah.

[Scott]

How that all works. So. Okay, I would tell you 2.9. What I would tell you, like is. Is go listen to episode 413.

[Jessica]

Okay.

[Scott]

Okay. 413 is an endocrinologist and she is describing how she manages. She's a. She's an excellent thyroid doctor. And what she would tell you is that over about 2.1 with symptoms, probably needs medication.

[Jessica]

Okay. 4:13.

[Scott]

413 is the episode. It's called. Actually, can I primp for one more second? Juiceboxpodcast.com, go back to the little menu. And right now it's called Episode faq. I gotta call it something different. So this is. I'm super proud of this. This is the top 250 most Googled type 1 diabetes questions. The nine pages of struggles. Because I had everybody in the group, like, list all their struggles and then we kind of collated it down. So the struggles from the group that people list about diabetes, the top 250 most downloaded or most asked Googled questions about type 1 diabetes. And I also took a bunch of advice from people with type one for kids, for parents of type ones. I took their advice and then reverse engineered the advice into what would you ask? Like, what question would you maybe need an answer to that would get you back to their advice? And so basically what I did was I mapped all of those questions back to the content of the podcast. So you can go to this search bar and type in, I don't know. I can't get rested. I can't get rested. Okay. And no lie, all the thyroid stuff. Pops right up in front of you. So I keep being told by my friends I'm fine, but I feel terrible. Always cold, never rested. That's a quote from a defining thyroid episode. Then you click on that, it expands, it tells you what you'll learn in this episode, and then ways to go listen to that episode right now. Okay, yeah, so you could have gone there and said, my TSH is 2, I don't know, 0.9. And right away it says, you should try episode 6 16, 4 13. And it gives you. It matches to you to the episodes you might want to hear. And then that's it. 4:13 is right here. You can say listen online if you want. Pops up, hit play, and it's right there. That's really crazy. Yeah. Yeah, that one's one I don't even expect everybody to understand. Like how it's insane to like map just English language, just typed ideas back to a podcast episode. It's. It's a lot harder than you think. I've been working on that for like two months. So.

[Jessica]

Yeah.

[Scott]

Anyway, right now the FAQ page does that if you want to, and it's pre programmed with a bunch of common questions. So if you just click on the search bar, a bunch of commonly asked questions come up. You can just like, you know, Omnipod 5 settings, click on it and boom, there's the Omnipod Pro tip series, like right in front of you. It's pretty great. So anyway, God bless AI. Unless it kills us all and then shame on you. Is there anything we didn't talk about that we should have?

[Jessica]

I don't know. Not that I can think of.

[Scott]

Okay. I did ask our overlord real quick though, about the overlap, and I want to find it for you real quick. Is there overlap between thyroid and menopause symptoms? Because I heard you say it could just be menopause. But I think that's the mistake that people make is that they're like, oh, I'm probably just getting older, or it's probably this or it's probably that. And you're not wrong. I was going to tell you. I think there is a lot of overlap between the complaints between the two. But at the same time, if your TSH is higher, if you listen to 413 and believe what that lady's telling you and you try the medication and these things go away, then. Then it wasn't the menopause. And if you try the medication for a few weeks and it doesn't change anything, then fair enough. Then you know what I mean, stop taking it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But.

[Jessica]

And a lot of it too, is. Is finding a doctor who will. Who will do that, though.

[Scott]

Oh, yeah.

[Jessica]

Sometimes doctors, like, they're not receptive to, like. Well, no, everything looks normal. There's no reason to give you any medicine.

[Scott]

You know, actually, ChatGPT said more suggestive of menopause earlier perimenopause would be hot flashes, night sweats. Sorry about this one. Vaginal dryness, changing periods, lower libido, more suggestive of hypothyroidism, feeling slowed down, constipation, dry skin, feeling cold, weight gain, hair things. So you lean more towards hypothyroidism.

[Jessica]

I really do. Yeah.

[Scott]

In that. And you already have autoimmune issues, so it's not crazy to think you might have another one.

[Jessica]

Yeah.

[Scott]

Your mom ever tired or have any of this stuff and just never do anything about it?

[Jessica]

Yeah, she used to. She used to get brain fog a lot. Yeah.

[Scott]

Just find a concierge doctor.

[Jessica]

I remember hearing her say that too. Like, oh, I'm so tired and I don't understand why.

[Scott]

Yeah, yeah.

[Jessica]

And so, yeah, we just always said, oh, you know, that's what happens when

[Scott]

you get older or when you have hypothyroidism and you don't have the medication for it.

[Jessica]

Yeah.

[Scott]

If I end up saving your life, I don't know what to say about that. I don't.

[Jessica]

You're not, Scott. I'm gonna die anyway.

[Scott]

No, you're not. You're gonna be great. Are you kidding me? You know, the one thing I wanted to ask. I will let you go. But the one thing I wanted to ask. Ask you that. I just. I try to ask everybody with your cultural background, is diabetes tougher if you try to eat culturally? Is that because I. I've talked to just a fair amount of Mexican people are like, look, the way we eat is just hard. And is that a thing you've run into or do you not bother with it or you just find a way around it?

[Jessica]

I still just eat what I want.

[Scott]

Yeah. And you're making your way through it.

[Jessica]

Yeah, I. Yeah, I. I eat everything. I don't limit my. My diet at all.

[Scott]

What is. Would you share your A1C with me?

[Jessica]

6.1 was my last one, I think.

[Scott]

Oh, that's awesome.

[Jessica]

It's not. It's not fantastic, but it's not bad.

[Scott]

Well, yeah, I think it's fantastic considering

[Jessica]

I eat everything, you know?

[Scott]

No, I think, first of all, I think it's fantastic. And secondly. So did you Learn any management stuff from me or did you learn it from your son?

[Jessica]

Oh, yeah, Both.

[Scott]

Oh, okay.

[Jessica]

Both. I learned. So of course, I knew the basics from helping, you know, from raising him and also from him teaching me. But then whenever I was working and I had an hour commute to work every day, so I would listen a lot to you. And that's where I learned about being bold with insulin, because I think when anybody gets first diagnosed, Insulin is scary. And also because I remember my first shot of Insulin. And it's funny because it sounds like heroin or something, but I felt so different, and I feel like I've never really felt the same, like, the way I was without insulin. It was a different feeling. So when I first got Insulin, it changed, like, even my headspace a little bit. I don't know how to. How better to say that, but my. My. I don't know. Like, I just felt a little spacey without insulin.

[Scott]

Yeah.

[Jessica]

And so the difference was. Was huge. But it was scary, too, because I don't want to take too much. And if you ever have a low, that's scary.

[Scott]

Yeah.

[Jessica]

So, you know, there's a tendency to be scared of it, but you and your podcast taught me, you know, you can always catch it.

[Scott]

Well, it's easy for me to say I don't get low, but, you know,

[Jessica]

oh, it sucks for me. I get so emotional. I get so sad when I'm. When I'm really low. Not. Not just regular, you know. Yeah, yeah, no, I understand degrees of low. You know what I mean? But whenever I'm, like, in the 50s or something, oh, my God, I'm so alone.

[Scott]

Well, listen, I had a great time.

[Jessica]

You're a.

[Scott]

You're a party.

[Jessica]

There's. I think.

[Scott]

I think you might have been wild when you were a teenager is what I'm getting at here.

[Jessica]

No, I wasn't. I was so good.

[Scott]

Oh, you were afraid of God back then. That's right.

[Jessica]

Yes.

[Scott]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Jessica]

Absolutely.

[Scott]

All right. This was awesome. Hold on one second for me, but we're done. But thank you so much. I'd like to remind you again about the mini Med 780G automated insulin delivery system, which, of course, anticipates, adjusts, and corrects every 5 minutes, 24, 7. It works around the clock so you can focus on what matters. The Juicebox community knows the importance of using technology to simplify managing diabetes. To learn more about how you can spend less time and effort managing your diabetes, Visit my link medtronicdiabetes.com Juice Box I'd like to thank the blood glucose meter that my daughter carries the Contour Next Gen Blood Glucose Meter. Learn more and get started [e-mail] juicebox and don't forget, you may be paying more through your insurance right now for the meter you have than you would pay for the Contour Next gen in cash. There are links in the show notes of the audio app you're listening in right now, and [e-mail] to contour and all of the sponsors. Thank you so much for listening. I'll be back very soon with another episode of the Juicebox Podcast. If you're not already subscribed or following the podcast in your favorite audio app like Spotify or Apple Podcasts, please do that now. Seriously, it just a hit, hit, follow or subscribe will really help the show. If you go a little further in Apple Podcasts and set it up so that it downloads all new episodes, I'll be your best friend. And if you leave a five star review, oh, I'll probably send you a Christmas card. Would you like a Christmas card? When I created the Defining Diabetes series, I pictured a dictionary in my mind to help you understand key terms that shape type 1 diabetes management. Along with Jenny Smith, who of course is an experienced diabetes educator, we break down concepts like basal time and range, insulin on board, and much more. This series must have 70 short episodes in it. We have to take the jargon out of the jargon so that you can focus on what really matters, living confidently and staying healthy. You can't do these things if you don't know what they mean. Go get your diabetes defined. Juiceboxpodcast.com go up in the menu and click on Series. Have a podcast. Want it to sound fantastic? Wrongwayrecording.com.