I go back to thinking about the . There's this Kubler Ross , it's the five stages of grieving , and five stages of that are anger , denial , bargaining , depression , finally acceptance . Would you rather be out of pump supplies or CGM supplies , like you know , just kind of a what if ? And it was pump supplies Back when I got diagnosed . This went all the way back again . My mind was thinking ahead and I remember crying one night to my mom and she I said what if I pass this down to my kids ? Should I not have kids ? That started kind of , you know , going through my head and welcome back .
Speaker 2This is episode number 146 of the healthy diabetic podcast . As always , before we get started , please remember that nothing that you hear on this podcast be considered medical advice or otherwise . Please always consult your medical team before making any changes to your diabetes management . As a reminder , I release a new episode every single week , so if you haven't had a chance to click that follow button or that like button on your podcast player , please do so . That way , you're notified of new episodes every week . Also , if you enjoy this episode or if you've enjoyed the previous episodes that you've listened to , I'd really appreciate if you take a couple minutes and go on to your podcast player and just leave a five-star review . If you're on a podcast player like Apple podcast that allows you to write a rewritten review , I would love that as well . The written reviews really helped me understand how you guys are enjoying the podcast , and you can also send me an email or just DM me on Instagram and give me your thoughts as well . Really appreciate everyone's support every single week . All right , now that that's out of the way . Let's get to today's guest .
Speaker 2I had the absolute pleasure of sitting down with Jessica Dazinsky . She is a certified RN . She's worked a long , long time in the clinical setting in hospitals and she's also a certified diabetes educator . We talked a lot about her time in the clinical setting . She's doing a lot of stuff outside the clinical setting now too , and I'll let her explain that because I don't want to , I don't want to mess up any terminologies or anything that she's doing in that realm , so I'll let her talk about that . But just an incredible individual type 1 diabetic . She's a mother , which was another really good conversation that we had about her pregnancy and how that went , how it went on the from the patient side , how it went from the clinical side , all that type of stuff . So I really hope that you guys enjoyed this conversation is another really really good conversation I had with another great type type 1 diabetic . So without further ado , let's get with Jessica Dazinsky hi everyone .
Speaker 1My name is Jess Dazinsky and I have been living with type 1 diabetes for 17 years and I am also a certified diabetes care and education specialist , and I've been working as a nurse for the past eight years in several different settings hospital , clinic and now community education settings and I am so happy to be here with coach Ken on his podcast and I can't wait to get started awesome yeah awesome it off topic because it when did .
Speaker 2When did we add all these letters to CDE ? I don't understand this .
Speaker 1Even saying that I was like okay , I have to remember to say this word , that word , that , yeah , so yeah , feel free to say CDE I . It took me a while to figure out you know the right wording , lettering , all of that . They changed that not too long ago , so right before I became one .
Speaker 2So huh , yeah , it's just interesting . Like I have a , I have good friends here in Columbus , that the one that used to be a CDE , now she works for Dexcom , and then I have other really good friends that are really close with other CDEs and and we were talking about that the other day , like last week of like when did we add all these letters to CDE , to CDE ?
Speaker 1right . I remember hearing about it and and people trying to explain it's . It's just because it should include a more specific blah , blah , blah , blah , blah .
Speaker 2I'm like okay , whatever , I'll just add . I'll just add five more letters to my title .
Speaker 1I know you know , yeah , it looks a little bit more professional . I guess , I don't know yeah , anyways , okay cool .
Speaker 2So you've been diabetic for how long again ? So 17 years , so yes , yeah , and if you only ask how , what are you ?
Speaker 1so I'm 30 so I was diagnosed when I was 13 gotcha .
Speaker 2How was that ? When you're like , when you were first diagnosed , like you know , 13 years ago , is different than three to five years ago . Like you know , if I remember right , cgm's really started coming on to the market around that time .
Speaker 1I believe like because I remember I started on Medtronic pump and then Medtronic CGM and that was like the very first generation of the closed-loop system right , yes , so I remember becoming diagnosed and then , shortly after , I got on a pump , the Medtronic pump as well , and then I did try out that CGM . I don't remember the exact name of what it was , but all I remember is that it was terrible .
Speaker 2I don't know if you can hear it . I had the same experience , yeah .
Speaker 1It was so different than the ones that we have today . It was larger , the needle was visible and it was six inches long that you could see . And I remember in the instruction specifically it said you will see blood and it's okay , but just try to make the sticker like the adhesive stick . And you know that's never a good thing and I think a lot of people struggled with that and unfortunately , I think it deterred a lot of people to try out a CGM later because they were kind of just terrified , because I was one of those guys .
Speaker 2I was one of those people , yeah yeah , I've heard that a lot , so yeah , yeah , I was one of those people , but you know , good thank God for me , because I had other people that I was really starting to connect with , colleen Ryan Hart being one of them . She's a CD I was mentioning earlier and she really pushed me to do the Dexcom . I'm like , okay , I'll try it . So then , I tried it and my god , never gone , never , never have gone back , never gone back .
Speaker 1Yeah , it's my husband and I were talking the other day . He's like would you rather be out of pump supplies or CGM supplies , like you know , just kind of a what if ? And it was pump supplies . You know I can do an injection of insulin every once in a while but that CGM is really changed my mindset on how I approach my treatment of diabetes , just because you can see that rate change and kind of anticipate the next steps and what's gonna happen in the future . So definitely very pivotal in the whole diabetes treatment yeah , yeah , for sure , yeah , I .
Speaker 2I say the same thing . I always tell people that you know , if you could only pick one , it would be CGM all day long , because it can just give you so much more data and so much more . You know at ease mentally and physically by understanding what that data is .
Speaker 2You know we can learn to continue to carb count and give ourself and give ourself MDI shots all day long but it's very hard to be super , super technical when we're having to stick our finger every couple hours , because really that's what it should be . Is we should be sticking our finger every two to three hours ?
Speaker 1yes , and I calculated one time it was like 288 blood sugar checks a day is what the DEXCOM can give you .
Speaker 1And so you know , thinking of actually poking your finger that many times , first of all wouldn't be possible because insurance would never cover that , yeah , but secondly it , you know it just technically and lifestyle wise it obviously wouldn't be something you could do . So , yes , if and when I was in the hospital teaching kids , and you know , back to your question of 13 years old , that's a hard time in life sometimes for teens , because at that stage of development , really wanting to fit in , be normal and so having a medical device visible to your friends , to boys you have crushes on , you know , or girls whoever , can be really , really scary and daunting and it's just a hard time in general with hormone and puberty . But we always tried to say , okay , if you don't want to do the pump , at least maybe let's try and start with the CGM and there's ways you can hide that , just to kind of to , you know , give them that freedom of not having to do the finger sticks either , you know .
Speaker 2So it's kind of a give and take , but at least starting slow with you know one or the other and we recommended that the CGM first yeah , yeah , it's an interesting thought and and I actually want to I want to flip gears here because you said something that I want to kind of come back to and get your , your feedback and thoughts on .
Speaker 2I'm a big component of really not trying to hide who you are , and we are our devices , we are diabetes , like that's . It doesn't necessarily have to define us , but it's who we are , and so many of us are scared to show the world who we are and and I know that , like a lot of like you know , the doctors and you mentioned , like how you guys are communicating to the newly diagnosed person do you , in your experience , do you feel like that is the best way in this scenario , in that situation , or does there need to be more education of , hey , this is , this is a really good thing that you are , you know , a diabetic ? There's so many people that are flourishing with this disease . Here's some examples . Like you know , what's your thoughts about that ?
Speaker 1yes , that's a great question . So I am really feel strongly about , you know , advocating for not only the physical health of diabetes but also the emotional health .
And I go back to thinking about that . There's this , kubler Ross , it's the five stages of grieving and five stages of that are anger , denial , bargaining , depression , finally acceptance .
Speaker 1So I read that you it took you about three years to kind of finally fully jump with two feet in accept diabetes and it changed your life in a great way , to live with it instead of against it , and so that's . That process takes people a while and everyone is different , so it kind of clearly when someone was struggling at my mind would go to that okay so by what they're doing are they denying diabetes ?
Speaker 1they don't want to show it and so , taking those small steps , I I never forced someone ever do that , but just encouraged , and so maybe they were okay with just starting to hide it on their stomach .
Speaker 1So let's start there and then once they we kind of got them locked in liking the Dexcom , then you know they can at their own pace then show it on their arm or wherever they felt comfortable . And like I said so , the teenage years are are a little bit more tricky to navigate because , of all of the other emotions that go with it . Yeah , so like I saw in your five pillars of health , that first one is how you view diabetes in your mindset .
Speaker 1So if they're not in the mindset they're gonna get there with support education , but it's okay to kind of take small steps towards that yeah , I just I remember .
Speaker 2I love this because I remember back to the whole denial process and I have thought about it a lot Ever since I got out , ever since I really started getting to coaching , and I believe that one of the main reasons I was in denial for so long was because I didn't have that support . I didn't have people I could talk to . I didn't have other people that I recognized or identified with , that were showing it and living the life that I possibly wanted . And that's where I always go back to . If we have more understanding of that piece , would denial not last as long . Would kids even get in denial ? Those are the things I always think about . But I do 100% agree with you If someone's not open and ready for that , then you can talk to them to your blue in the face .
Speaker 1All right , and it's going to backfire and it probably won't be the best . So , yeah , the way the person will change , like you're saying , it's not going to be until they are ready for it and they want to change . That's the only way . So we would do something called motivational interviewing , so it's making someone realize on their own terms what is best for them truly best for them and how to take care of themselves .
Speaker 2Yeah , that first three to six months it's so crucial and it's so crazy that the emotions and everything that we go through in that time frame . I remember vividly the emotions and different things I was going through because I didn't know , I didn't know anything . And I also think it is 100% a different ball game when you're talking about an eight-year-old compared to a 13-year-old , compared to an 18-year-old , compared to when I was diagnosed at 25 .
Speaker 1Or compared to a three-year-old who doesn't know different . And so then it's also kind of the parents are going through that process of all those emotions and no matter what age you are , it does affect your family too . But as a pediatric educator , it is really hard for those parents because it's their child and they take responsibility for taking care of them , and it's hard not to blame themselves . And there's a lot of players that go and do that .
Speaker 1So , yeah , each stage has a different . There's never a great age to get diagnosed at . So a three-year-old they kind of live with it , they're kind of used to it . But then , once they get a little bit older and they start to take care of it themselves , sometimes they don't get that education that they missed at three-years-old because they aren't paying attention then . So it's important to kind of circle back around to them and teach them the why behind what they're doing too . And then 13 is puberty and hormones , and then 25 , you've already kind of have your life going , and then you just get this curve ball , and I'm sure that that was really tough .
Speaker 2And .
Speaker 1I can't even imagine that .
Speaker 2Yeah , I've always thought about too , like in just a weird way , is like you know , we know there's not a right time , there's never the right time , no one deserves to have diabetes . But I always think about , like if it from the way my life was , from my parents getting divorced at five-years-old , having an emotional trauma , going through that , like all these different emotional traumas I was going through as I was a kid . I feel blessed that I got it when I did , because I was emotionally in a place where I could take care of it , where I don't know if I would have been in that place at five-years-old , 10-years-old , 15-years-old , 18-years-old . So that's kind of like some stuff that I kind of like sometimes think about too . It's like , you know , was I diagnosed at the right time and I was yes , for sure .
Speaker 1Right , yeah , and you hope that that kind of is the same for other people . But as a nurse , we saw some families who are already really struggling and then you know this diagnosis come on top and then they need extra support and it is the layer of things that you have to approach and kind of take one thing out of time and try to address again not only the physical but the emotional health of everything that goes along with that .
Speaker 2Yeah for sure . Ok , that was great . That was exactly what I was looking for there . And then segment perfect , switching gears to your nurse . You've worked a lot with patients . Why did you become a CDE ? Was it because you're diabetic ? Because you wanted to be in that field and help people in that field or in that realm ? Like what was the kind of the driving force for you ?
Speaker 1Yeah , so the driving force . So when I was diagnosed at 13 , first of all I was so scared of needles ever since I was little my mom said I would cry on the way of the doctor's illness .
Speaker 2Yeah .
Speaker 1Now my two-year-old is kind of like that , so it's kind of coming around . But so I had a really hard time in the hospital . I was a very I was kind of a perfectionist type A person already at seventh grade . I wanted to have straight , as I wanted to be great at sports . So this diagnosis was a huge uncertainty for me and in a lot of ways . And then you add needles into it and I was like no way .
Speaker 2Thank you , thank you .
Speaker 1So I think the nurse is caught on . As a nurse I kind of think like we don't ever talk bad about people , but we're like , hey , this little girl is really struggling , she hasn't stopped crying , sort of thing . So they must have talked to one of their friends who , she , was , also a nurse . I think she was a nurse , I was . I never when you're in the hospital there's so many people that come in and out . But she came in and she was tall and pretty and looked normal . So again , that was my whole thing I want to be normal . And she said my name's Jessica too , and I have diabetes and if you take care of yourself , you're going to be just fine . And that was a turning point for me , because I didn't listen to anyone else , because to me they just didn't seem to know what I was going through .
Speaker 1And I knew that this woman had and that she was successful and she was thriving and working in a hospital with kids and living her life the way that I wanted to . So that planted a seed in my mind that I wanted to provide that comfort and education and be that reassurance for not only the patients but the family too that everything is just , it's going to be okay .
Speaker 2Yeah , what's ? What do you feel has been the most impactful thing in that role ?
Speaker 1Yeah , I feel like there's been so many times in my career and my experience with diabetes that I think it just , it just can't get better , like this is it . This is full circle and it just keep , it just does .
And so I so , then , kind of fast forward , and I went to nursing school and fast forward , meaning through , I went through all of those stages of grief pretty strongly and I struggled with denial , to the point where I was running across country race and I my blood sugar spiked to the 400s and I almost collapsed Like I had to finish and I stopped the race . At that time I wasn't wearing a CGM , so that was a whole mess , but I was kind of trying to work against my body over exercising , disordered eating . You know , again , like I mentioned , I'm a very , that was a very sensitive and I still am a sensitive person . So some of that depression not full blown depression , but just I'm sad about this- yeah .
Speaker 1So then finally it came to an acceptance through my faith . I had kind of just a little something that hit me over the head . I was at a youth group camp and I realized that I wanted to be that diabetes educator for someone . I realized when I was praying and figuring out how how can I make this a part of my life ? And so then I go to nursing school and I'm working in children's mercy in Kansas city and I was in a room taking care of a 13 year old girl who had diabetes as well and I was diagnosed at that hospital , actually in that same room , so I got my health records because I was like I don't remember much of the logistics of that and so you know , I'm like this can't get better .
Speaker 1And then it just did so I went on to work in a clinic up in Omaha , nebraska , in the children's diabetes clinic . Several great experiences there , full of emotion . So again , just there's sadness , there's joy , there's fulfillment , there's purpose and just kind of that true , genuine love between people of what we get through this together , sort of thing , teamwork .
Speaker 1And then I worked in a behavioral health clinic and helped with the emotional side too . So we had a medical professional for diabetes and then emotional health professional , psychologist so doing a lot of that work and then again I kept saying it keeps getting better . So then I got asked to be one of the nurse educators that went to Rwanda in Africa , to help educate people in their community , the healthcare professionals in their community , and work with some of the patients . And that was just really eye-opening and something that I'll never forget and that stuck with me a lot . So now I'm in a community setting and I'm volunteering and again that is a whole new world for me , because when you're in a healthcare setting as a professional , you're kind of in this bubble of what you can say and what you can do .
Speaker 2Yeah .
Speaker 1And not that it's totally different , but you just kind of hear what people don't really prefer , as in healthcare . So that's been really fun for me and I've learned a lot through that .
Speaker 2So yeah , that is very interesting because it's I feel like that I would love to like put more of myself into medical , because for two reasons One , because I feel like I want to be educated on things that I have my own personal bias about , and two , because I'm just I'm an advocate and a supporter and a coach for diabetes in general , and it's very interesting when I like do things with JDRF or I do things with these other organizations and their first thing that we're always talked about is , like you know , we can't say X or we have to say this way , and that's why I'm like , really I love being in the independent space because there's no filters on me . I can say what I feel , I can say what I want to say without having to put any filters on it , and I know like I have felt so much passion being able to do that . Then I can't imagine what you're going through , coming from the medical field and now being able to really dive into , like you know , things that maybe you've had to hold back , that you couldn't .
Speaker 1Right , and it's all about safety and liability . So things like check your blood , check your ketones over , you know , 240 or you know , make sure you check your blood sugar at this time , this time , this time , if your DEXCOM or your CGM is not working . So , yeah , some of those things that you don't want to stray too far from and then you know , document everything .
Speaker 1So yeah , like you're saying , now I'm kind of I have that background , but then able to kind of sprinkle in . But this is when it's really important to do that and you know , take it or leave it , and see what works for you .
Speaker 2Do you feel like coming from the medical side , do you feel like there's things that , now that you're doing some of this independent stuff that you're like , okay , well , here's what the book says and this is what actual real life tells us , from real life experiences from myself , from people that I've talked to , people in the community . Do you feel like you run into those situations more often than not ?
Speaker 1Yes , so I feel like there's only so much that a book can teach you , and we all know that with diabetes . Um , I kind of going back to your other question , too , about why I wanted to become a nurse , I always just I feel like I had a better relationship with doctors and nurses who also have diabetes , because I just know that there's so much that they understand that I don't have to explain , and um coming back to like some stigma that might not be there but I at times have felt be there .
Speaker 1So , yes , I feel like there's there's so much that that you can just say and educate people on through the day to day of how you live and what works for you and and like you're saying , just kind of tweaking it so that it's a more personal experience and education .
Speaker 2Yeah , I love that . Um , I love that , okay . So I want to . I want , I want to dive into motherhood , because this is something that's very fascinating to me . Um , having two little girls myself and just hearing so many stories on the good side and the bad side of our , of your guys's experience , or you ladies experience One going through the pregnancy piece , thinking about should I get pregnant or not , going through the whole process and then the birthing process , how , how was your experience through that ?
Can you take us through that ? Emotions , conversations , good , bad , whatever it was , yes , I would love to .
Speaker 1Um , so I have a little boy who's three right now and then another little boy who is 16 months . Um , so , just kind of recently going through this did this and I remember back when I got diagnosed this went all the way back again . My mind was thinking ahead and I remember crying one night to my mom and she I said , what if I pass this down to my kids ? Should I not have kids ?
Speaker 1that started kind of you know , going through my head and she said you know what , jess ? There's so many . You passed down everything . So there's people with anxiety , they can pass that down . There's people with depression , and they passed that down . So some things you see physically and some things you might not see , so emotionally . We all have stuff , and so that kind of really helped me get over that . I said , yeah , you know , you know well , if that is what's going to happen , it's going to happen , and I and I do want kids if I find the right person , which I did . My husband is great , he's amazing and better than I could have ever thought .
Speaker 1You know , with all the things that get thrown his way too yeah .
Speaker 2Yeah , and that's like a whole nother conversation . It's like you know I need to . I need to do some . See some like episodes on like spouse and like you should have a spouse , yeah . Yeah , yeah .
Speaker 1Yeah . So I always knew I wanted kids . Then kind of after that and processing all of that , and so I got pregnant when I was 27 and I had gone to some pre-education , pre-pregnancy counseling and consulting at the doctor's office they said you know , it's a good idea to do that , but didn't really feel like they told me much specifics . They just said , oh , you're A1C , looks good , it's less than seven . You're , you're a great candidate for that . Okay .
Speaker 1So then I get pregnant and I call the doctor's office right away and they were like okay , well , we don't need to see you for eight months . I'm like , but I have diabetes . Like I feel like there's a lot that might go into that eight weeks . What am I supposed to do ? And they said , okay , call your , call your endocrinologist . I'm like , okay , what if I hadn't never said I had diabetes ? What you know ? What would happen if you have a lack of knowledge there ? There's so much that happens at that cellular level for brain and heart and everything . So I reached out to my , my , my doctor and I had known a little bit , but I'm a pediatric educator so this really wasn't my . Whenever we ever had a patient get pregnant , we would ship them off to adult right away . We want to talk to them , really need to get help over here fast .
Speaker 1So my doctor , she said you have to have your blood sugars between 63 and 140 . I don't know why the number is 63 , but it's 63 . That is a very interesting question .
Speaker 2Interesting number yes .
Speaker 1Yes . So I strive between 63 and 140 and greater than 70% of the time . You know you don't want to be low , less than you know more than 5% of the time you know breaks it down on the time and range on your , your CGM pretty well . And for my first pregnancy I would say that that was a little bit more of a shock and harder because I had never had my blood sugars been that strict . So you know , I was , I was good if I was in the 100s , I was like that's great , but you know , if you're above 140 , I that's not super . I don't want to say great , but you just want to get it lower for your , for your pregnancy , because it does make a difference for the development of the baby and then the health of the mom too . Yeah , so I had to work a little bit harder than I would say my second pregnancy because I had kind of learned how to get my numbers down that way and being a little bit more aggressive with insulin .
Speaker 1Yeah , interesting .
Speaker 2Now do you know if those , if the numbers are kind of the same for gestational diabetes ? So gestational diabetes .
Speaker 1I don't know exactly what they want your numbers in . I do know that it's typically your numbers aren't as high , but they stay at that 140 , 150 , 160 , you know , or it could go higher Because of resistance .
Speaker 2Yeah , stagnant there and they never dip lower , so that's why sometimes it can be well 100 , but it's not that high .
Speaker 1It can be well one harder to diagnose unless they do the , the tests , the oral the host tolerance test , which has a type one you don't have to do , which is a big perk because everyone dreads that . And then you're like well , I'm , you know , that's one thing .
Speaker 2I don't have to do .
Speaker 1So I had , and then there's certain medications that you can be on orally . For that I think it's . I don't want to say the wrong things , I'm not even going to say it , but there's some oral ones that the doctors have studied that are safe during pregnancy .
Speaker 2Yeah , Interesting . Yeah , I just as you were talking about the numbers and I was just thinking about oh yeah , what about gestational diabetes ? That's you know , if you have a lot of friends that have been diagnosed with that as well .
Speaker 1Right , talk about a shock . So you're pregnant , you're already kind of worried , and then you have you get this , you know you got another thing that jumps out at you .
Speaker 2Yeah yeah , it's crazy Hard . It's crazy , yeah . Okay , so that whole process . How was the process of being pregnant ?
Speaker 1Yeah , so I . Whenever I find out I'm pregnant , I we make sure that we get a treadmill .
Speaker 2Sounds funny .
Speaker 1Okay , so you know nine months is a long time . So I live in the Midwest and so a lot of times it falls during the winter and I just find that if I'm walking for 10 minutes on the treadmill and my blood sugar will not come down from 140 , 150 , whatever it is , it makes a huge difference . So there's times throughout both pregnancies that my husband and I were done on the treadmill . He was sitting on the couch there for support , but I was on the treadmill walking for 10 minutes until I saw that dexcom arrow kind of start to level out or you know , slightly go down just a little bit after an insulin dose .
Speaker 1So it's a mix of you know you have so much going on on the cellular level of hormones and the baby and your body changing , and then also you know that's stressful , so then you had to stress and what you eat and exercising . So I do feel like for my pregnancies . You know you don't you can eat cookies and you know all that stuff . But people would ask me , what are you craving for pregnancy ? I'm like I don't even go there with myself because I'm not going to crave something if it's like a big bowl of ice cream , because you know I don't want to cause something that's going to make it harder for me to get out of it .
Speaker 1So I would say , though , I ate very balanced meals and I didn't restrict too much . But you kind of have a different level of motivation or at least I did because I knew that it wasn't only for myself that I was doing all of this , but it was also for my baby , and you kind of feel like you were going through this journey together with someone , and I always felt like , once the baby was born , I'm like yay , we did it , we did it together . You hung in there . Thank you so much for hanging in there like you did , and it just adds another layer of bond that I can't even explain , because it's a really cool journey .
Speaker 2Yeah , childbirth and what you guys have , you know , what you ladies have to go through is just it's so fascinating and interesting , it's so amazing on so many levels of everything that has to happen in that nine months , and I just think that you guys are troopers , you guys are warriors , troopers for especially type ones , for everything that goes into that . So it's just congrats for you , congrats yeah .
Speaker 1And it's hard . So , you know , on a physical level , I'm also emotional because you're a little .
You know , my husband and I were both worried for the 20 week scan because I want to make sure the heart is okay and all of that and then also just being really versatile . So , and on your numbers , because your body changes . So the first two , you know the trimester . So the last trimester is when it got really hard for me for insulin resistance . Yeah , it's actually a good sign that you need a lot of insulin because that means that your placenta is doing its job . So the placental hormones really , really crank up your insulin needs . So I remember one morning you know multiple mornings actually eating just eggs and having to give 10 units of fast acting insulin in the morning to just fight .
Speaker 2Wow .
Speaker 1And then you know the doctor's really try to help . But I felt I didn't feel like both of my experiences were super great at the hospitals . Because they're trying to . They're trying to have you see high risk , but the high risk team doesn't specialize in diabetes , so I kind of got shipped off to them . When I think if I ever get pregnant again , I think I'm gonna ask to have my diabetes doctor Review my numbers and then I'll go see high risk on top of that .
Speaker 2Yeah .
Speaker 1Again , we all know diabetes is super specialized . In there they're seeing other , lots and lots of other conditions besides .
Speaker 2It's interesting like we were Were you being , were you , were you being like kind of educated or told about . Okay , well , once we get to this point , we need to increase our basal and we need to make and we needed to like Understand what that is and like how much we're gonna increase it and communicate like was those conversations happening or is that kind of like ? Okay , well , I got to figure this out .
Speaker 1Yeah , so I . I was told sometime in the third trimester , you know , and I get that because it's different . Everyone , yeah so I was anticipating that , and they actually wanted me to send in my blood sugars every week . But my the thing that I was struggling with is that they would send me something back that I knew was not right , so I had .
Speaker 2I had the point yeah right , a nurse practitioner .
Speaker 1Also , they wouldn't take my dexcom clarity reports . They wanted me to make a log and then they wanted me to put my pre-prandial and my post-prandial , which you know . So then that's just extracting a bunch of numbers from my dexcom report , because they didn't know how to read the dexcom report . So and I get that for knowing when you give insulin . But they didn't even want pump downloads and all of that . So that's so crazy . That's kind of my first red flag that you know maybe I shouldn't have done .
Speaker 1I mean I know what on my own .
Speaker 2So yeah , I was just gonna say that it's like you know you , you being in that space or being that Educator and understanding how to read it a dexcom report , understanding how to read a pump , how to bring , read pump data and being able to recognize and view trends . It probably was a lot easier for you than maybe the Someone else that doesn't have the education or doesn't know how to read that stuff . And I think one of my big messages to the community and the people in general is , like you , I think that is a specific skill that we have to like Understand is how to at least navigate our own data . You might not be able to understand everything , right , I look at my dexcom , you know , clarity app . Sometimes I'm like , okay , well , I don't know what this means , but I can see this trend happening .
Speaker 2Let me , let me navigate and think about what was I doing at that specific time that may have made that happen . Oh , okay , well , I did this , this and this and I actually didn't . I forgot to pre-bolus . Okay , well , cool that now I can start navigating that , and I think that's a big message , because I don't feel like that is something that we're educated or talked about is how , how that that process really works right . Our interconelders are amazing at reading this data and telling us a specific thing , but they're not teaching us how to look at it . They're not teaching us how to go through and navigate all that stuff . So I think that's that's a . That's a and a very important piece that I try to really hammer in on people .
Speaker 1Yes , and you're right on track . So the word trend is the keyword . So , yeah , I have one one random day that maybe you do know what happened , maybe you don't . But if you're having a consistent Pattern I'm always high after lunch or I'm always low after lunch then that's where you need to make the change . And if you know if it's after a meal time , it's most likely your carb ratio . If it's overnight or when you're fasting fasting maybe you haven't dosed for eight hours Over night or in the morning then that's probably your long acting or your basal .
Speaker 1So , yeah , so it's teaching people to be empowered and independent and make and take charge of their health . Because you know , we see a doctor Maybe for three to four hours a year . So if you have a one-hour appointment , you see him every three months and you mostly , you know , a lot of times you don't talk to your doctor for an hour and then the rest of it's on your own . So it's really , really important , like you're saying , to be able to know and to have that knowledge , to also be more confident in advocating for yourself too , and you do .
Speaker 2Yes , yes , and and I love that you brought that up and I and I can segment into this next question for you , and then we can come back to the pregnancy thing
. But being a CDE in that , in that role , what are some questions that we as patients can be prepared for when we're coming in and seeing our CDs , our endos , or medical , our medical team ? Basically , because I feel like a lot of times we're , we're , we go to these appointments and then they're five minutes because at least and this happens to me a lot I'll go in all your a1c , 6 , 6.1 . You're good , like we don't need to make any adjustments . Okay , we're done .
Speaker 2I'm like wait what ? And then so I have learned over time specific questions that I need to ask beforehand of Either trends that I'm seeing from my data , or like , hey , what do you think about this ? Or I was researching this , what's your thoughts about this ? That's how I kind of navigate my appointments and I know that people would love to hear from you . What are some things that they could be thinking about when they're going into these appointments ?
Speaker 1That's a great question . So we did have , you know , when we do have a lot of patients that Don't really think about it until they get there and they have , they don't know how to look at their clarity , they don't know , yeah , pump . And so I would first start off by clarity . If you have dexcom I'm you know I can't really speak for the Libre because I don't use it day-to-day , but they do have the same sort of system where you can kind of see your your friends , yes , in your reports .
Speaker 1Just take that night before , take 30 minutes to look at it so that you're prepared , and then maybe , like you're saying , pick out a few points in that day To ask and to say you know , I have a question about my morning high numbers . I've heard of donp and I'm out you know , whatever it is asking those questions to kind of pick their brain , because I don't know about you , but my endo is hard to reach , so you you know it's in working in the healthcare setting .
Speaker 1But you know only the questions that couldn't get answered by all of the nurses in the clinic will go to the doctor Outside of an appointment . You know otherwise you have to schedule an appointment a lot of times because health care is .
Speaker 1Trained . Right now the doctors are busy with back-to-back appointments , seeing people in the hospital . So Having those questions ahead of time , but also preparing yourself to be educated and to to be prepared of what questions you actually have , or Just making a list because maybe something pops in your head in the day to day and you have an appointment in a month , but it can wait , you know . Just writing it down so that you're ready to ask it at the appointment would be a good strategy .
Speaker 2Yeah , I love that . That's perfect , thank you . Okay , going back to the pregnancy thing , did you , did you see , like how long did it take you once you got through the birthing process ? Did it take you a lot ? Did it take you some some time for your levels to kind of Level off ? And your insulin needs to level off and that type of stuff ?
Speaker 1so that's a great question . I Was prepared and my my endocrinologist helped me with this for my first pregnancy , and so then I knew for my second to have a different basal program Already ready .
Speaker 2Gotcha .
Speaker 1So that I could just switch . So I took my pump off for both birthing processes . I have spoken to some other moms who who kept theirs on , but for me I kind of and maybe this will change if I again have kids in the future but I kind of like you know , if you're here to help me with it , go ahead , put me on a trip so I don't have to worry about it . There's some people that are like no , I want to control this and it , and there is kind of a give and take for that , because at times I was like I really wish I could just give myself a little bit of insulin right now because I see my numbers going up a little bit . But that's kind of another another story for that . But so I had that program To kind of go back to what my pre-pregnancy rate was . So Then , once I put my pump back on , I wasn't getting as much insulin as I would , because it for me it was a very instantaneous change .
Speaker 1So the placenta and there's other hormones that cause that insulin resistance , but a lot of it is the placenta . So the placenta comes out and the baby comes out and your body is just rapidly changing and adjusting , trying to get back to normal . It takes some time , but for me the blood sugars happen pretty quick . You're also MPO , so you can't eat anything . But you can't take anything by mouth if you're on an insulin drip . So then you really , really want to not give too much insulin right afterwards because of that as well , because you already have some insulin on board without eating anything and with the drip they have dextrose to make sure that you're not going to go low .
Speaker 1But that time and that transition afterwards is what I don't feel like a lot of people talk about enough , because there's so many worries . The pregnancy part , the giving birth part , but then the after you have the baby part was probably not as challenging , but kind of challenging because your sleep deprived , your hormones are all going crazy again , but your blood sugars don't have to be as strict as they did during the pregnancy . So that's a little bit of an adjustment too .
Speaker 1So if your blood sugar is in the 200s , it's okay . But you kind of feel like okay , for the past nine months I was programmed to think that that really wasn't okay . So your body might not be used to that higher number either . So it just kind of adds another layer of feeling like crap .
Speaker 2Another layer of complexity and stuff here , I'm curious what your thoughts are , and again , this is the health professional coach in me . Do you think it's different in terms of the duration , of how fast your levels and insulin requirements are going to go back to the way they were before pregnancy , if you are in good control in the first place , not necessarily with your blood sugars , but also with your eating habits , your relationship with food , your sleeping habits If your hormones are all jacked up anyway before pregnancy , do you think that process and that duration might be different ?
Speaker 1Yeah , I think it could be very different because , again , like you said , your relationship with food if it wasn't great before , hopefully has changed for the better and kind of eating better , and if you're implementing exercise throughout that , then yeah , it could look very different . Which again is why the CGMs are so important , because when you have a newborn and you're up at night , I can't even imagine going to find my meter and getting it and checking on top of feeding the baby a bottle , changing their diaper , going on one hour sleep . I think that would be really hard . So I think it again is just like it is with the story of having type 1 diabetes is being flexible and adapting and making the changes and just trying to get back on track to those stable in range numbers , which is easier said than done .
Speaker 2Yeah , of course , definitely easier said than done .
Okay , my next motherhood question . I guess this is more of a parent question . I always ask parents this do you have an emotional attachment to the feeling of your kids being diagnosed at one point , at some point ?
Speaker 1Yes , so we actually have the trial net auto antibody testing kit .
Speaker 2Okay .
Speaker 1Opened upstairs .
Speaker 2Opened upstairs .
Speaker 1Okay , we haven't done it , so we looked at it and we know we need to do it , and I talked to my husband last week and I said , okay , we got to just put a day on the calendar to do this , and because it's an at home test kit , so you do have the option of going in to do it . And he's like you know , I'm just , I'm busy , I'm busy this week , let's do it later , okay . So then I kind of asked him again and I think he'll be okay with me sharing this , but he was talking to my dad the other night and he said that it makes him really , really sad that we have to do that . To think about that . Right now we're only going to test our three , three year old , because our our 16 month old we're just going to wait a little bit . Yeah , I think that they say that two and older is when you can test . But he broke down with my dad saying that that makes him really sad and it makes me really sad too .
Speaker 1And he was so sweet because he told me later . He said and it makes me sad because of the fact that there's a chance that they could develop it , but it also makes me sad because I don't want it to make you sad , Jess . So it's kind of like he's worried about not only our kid but also me and my emotional health because he can just brush me . That , yeah , not a great thing for either brand to , because he'd have to take care of me . He's sad about it .
Speaker 2Yeah .
Speaker 1So we're going to do it , and we're going to do it sometime soon , but I'm okay waiting just a little bit until we're ready to go forward with that . And what makes me feel more it's more promising to me is because we can do something about it . Now there's the to Ziplamab I'm not sure if you're familiar with that TZIL .
Speaker 1So it's a delaying treatment that you could get , and we're fortunate enough to be in Kansas City , which is one of the hubs for that research . Children's Mercy in Kansas City is actually one of the two sites in the United States that have started this up and researched this drug and are giving it out , so they're very , very knowledgeable here for that . But yes , it definitely makes me very , very sad because I just can't imagine what feelings would go into that too .
Speaker 2Yeah .
Speaker 1How about you ? How do you feel about that ?
Speaker 2Yeah , I'm going to tell you here in a second , but I actually have a couple of follow up questions about this because , again , I'm trying to educate myself and I really , really try and want to be and take my personal bias out of the equation when I talk about this stuff . And so my first question to you is there , is there a reason that you decided ultimately to go with even doing trial net now , or thinking about doing it ? Or , like you know , you said you're going to delay it a little bit , like because I've thought about the same thing . So I'm very curious about what your , what your thoughts on that .
Speaker 1Yeah . So I think for us it's thinking of . The other side of that is if he did get one of them gets diagnosed with diabetes and we didn't do something . And again , this is different for everyone , but I feel bad if my own fear held me back from something that could help him . So , and that can be different for everyone , though , because , again , if you , if you know , and that's going to derail your whole life , then maybe that's not the best , because then you're you're not being your best self for your kids and your family , if you know that it's packed you like that , so there's different ways of looking at that .
Speaker 1And it's one way is not correct over the other . It's just what works best for you . But for us it was again like I said . There's something out there now that could help and so we would look into that and we have again to be . We have the treatment here in Kansas City and the knowledge for that .
Speaker 2Yeah yeah , because the interesting thing to me is I love that there's a treatment for people , especially to help people put their minds at ease and like go down that route emotionally . My thoughts are with it and you tell me if I'm wrong is I believe that isn't that drug . It just delays up to three years , right ?
Speaker 1at a minimum . So they're still studying and they don't . So it's pretty new in the FDA yeah . So and Juicebox podcast has a really great he . He's actually the CEO of prevention bio , which is what came up with it , which was really helpful for me to kind of digest and learn about it . And in he said it was a pretty safe drug . But yes , it's not a totally prevent diet sort of thing , but in my mind if my kid could delay it from having it at three years old versus six years old , yes . Yes .
Speaker 2Yes , yes .
Speaker 1Getting him to eat and sit down for dinner is hard anyway . So if we could just put that off a few more years , or even , you know , if it's in his teens , delaying it from 16 year old to 19 year old , that's going to be really helpful for us . So that's kind of my thought process behind that . But I did talk to my husband . I was like doesn't it make you a little bit nervous , though , if he did come back positive for that , to give him a drug that ?
Speaker 1is still experimental and like yeah , there's a lot of unknowns about all of that still too . Yeah , yeah , I'm living the hesitation and all of those thoughts that go into that .
Speaker 2Yeah , for sure , for sure , I think about it . I mean , there's people that listen to this show know that I don't hold anything back , and I've had multiple conversations with my wife . Both of us are like very holistic mindsets . We are very holistic mindset and she constantly keeps telling me is like why would we , even if they are , we're still not going to change up the way we raise them , the environment that they're in , we're still not going to change up the way they eat . We're not going to , like , restrict them from that stuff . Right ?
Speaker 2Because the way I think and then it comes back to me and way I think about it is like there's , we know that the type one diabetes is caused by some type of trigger . So as long as long as even if I , even if they do have the antibodies , that doesn't necessarily mean that they're going to get diabetes . There has to be some type of trigger and Not not to say that I can even prevent that trigger whatsoever , but that's just kind of the stuff that goes through my head , like you know , like we live this healthy lifestyle and that that doesn't mean that that's going to prevent anything whatsoever , but there's just that's kind of how we think about it , or I think about right , I know , and in my mind too .
Speaker 1I don't want it to change anything .
Speaker 2Yeah , I .
Speaker 1Except in a good way . So I want to be . You know , if I did know , I think I I would definitely be . I Would have to find a balance , but be prepared and be looking for those signs if they started . So there's a less likelihood of Someone going into DKA if they know that it's coming , which makes sense .
Speaker 1But then another layer to that is that Studies have shown that if someone doesn't go into DKA at diagnosis , it's a little bit easier to To control their blood sugars later on . I don't really know the exact science .
Speaker 2That's interesting yeah that is .
Speaker 1But years afterwards , maybe it again is so damaging to your body and at that time of the diagnosis , whereas if you didn't go into that acidotic state , Mm-hmm something changes , um , so that that again , to me , is Another kind of reason why we're leaning towards doing that .
Speaker 2Yeah , yeah , interesting , and I would . I would say this to people too , because this has been said to me by my wife , this has been said to me by so many other of my colleagues and friends that that they they do say like you know , if Either one of them or both of them are going to be diagnosed diabetes , who better to help them than me ? Who is a diabetic Right and that has ?
Speaker 1those yesterday yeah that's perfect right .
Speaker 2That is amazing and and I have been deathly afraid that one day I'm going to wake up and one of them are going to start showing signs and symptoms .
Speaker 2I've been so afraid of that ever since they've been born and ever since my wife started telling me those words and my friends have started telling me those words , that fear has dramatically decreased and it's put my mind at ease Of that whole process and just thinking that like , yeah , absolutely , if they were diagnosed , who better to help them than another diabetic who's their father and a diabetes coach ? Who better to help them than than that individual and that person ?
Speaker 1So , yeah , it's different , though , and it's your own kids , absolutely .
Speaker 2Absolutely 100% .
Speaker 1It just is you have a different . You're such a good parent because you feel like that , and Um , it just does take a different layer , though , of of , you know , unconditional love , and all of that that's added on in with that , and another thing that's hopeful for me about about that is how far diabetes has come .
Speaker 1Yes treatments and what's happening out there with it , the cgms , the accuracy , all of it is
Taken off . I recently did a little deep dive into the diabetes history which I have a timeline on my instagram account that I I I did have diabetes , starting back in 2000 BC .
Speaker 2So oh , my gosh , gosh . Yeah to the very first , the very first Check it out . But they .
Speaker 1It has been around since the ancient egyptians wrote about it on their , their manuscripts and it's it's kind of um , really eye-opening . But then so you get from 2000 bc to 1920 , 1921 and From 1921 on it . Just , I had to make a whole separate page for that because it's boom , boom , boom , boom , boom , boom , boom Of what came out . So and we're still going at that rate of one thing after the other to make things better and better and better . So I'm really hopeful that we're I mean we are going to keep going in that trajectory of of great things coming our way in advancements . So I'm really hoping that if either of my kids have diabetes , it's going to be once it's cured and we don't even have to worry about it .
Speaker 1So that would be the best case scenario that we were , you know , going to have to go through that so yeah , I'm gonna have .
Speaker 2I'm on your page right now . I'm gonna have to find this .
Speaker 1Yes , you should . It's so , it's the it's the timeline of diabetes .
Speaker 2In your highlights .
Speaker 1What was that ? In your highlights no , it's a post , so it's um the third one . The third post back , so timeline of diabetes pre and post . Oh , I found it .
Speaker 2Oh yes , oh yes . Okay , everybody , we are going to get this link to this post and it's gonna go in the show notes , so don't worry , you'll be able to find in the show notes . Awesome , this is amazing .
Speaker 1Yeah , one of the funniest things not funny , because I know you know everyone has their own time set and cultural studying for this but , um , one of them was treatment is putting them on horseback or exercising specifically riding on horseback , and that was like , was that it was ? It's on here ? Um , oh yeah , 100 , 180 . So that's like a long time ago , so that's the year one , um , but it's like I wonder what the mindset was behind that , that it was to treat excessive urination so maybe they didn't have to go I don't know go bathroom as much on horse . I would feel like it was the opposite , that's crazy .
Speaker 2But just because I've read stories about even in the in the 1920s , you know All the different symptoms and how they actually realized that diabetes was a real thing and actually started calling it diabetes . Just , you know they . They were it's it's dogs , like dogs were . They were like figuring out with dogs and experimenting with dogs and like testing their urine and like it's so it . Yeah , this is . I'll have to . I have to definitely put this on the show notes . Thank you so much for that .
Speaker 1Yeah , and it it just kind of puts in perspective to where we fall in the diabetes timeline . I'm so thankful that I fall after 1950 , even because they're still kind of tweaking that 1920 , you know , first in slum doses that they were giving people , um , but Diabetes has been around for a long , long time , at least 4 000 years that we know of . And we fall in the latter 100 years like , really , how lucky are we ?
Speaker 1and yeah my husband's great great aunt died of diabetes in 1910 and this is another one on my page , um , but it's her story and she Lived a year and the treatment at that time was the starvation treatment . So she she had to eat like 400 calories or less a day , so she ended up dying of starvation and then Dka , which was a really slow , painful death . I just you know , you just think of that and it just gives you goosebumps , because People went through a lot and to get to where we are right now .
Speaker 1Yeah , right , exactly , yeah , that's crazy .
Speaker 2Well , we do live in a great time . It is a good is a good time to be a day , but I'll be a diabetic . If you're gonna be a diabetic , for sure I agree . Yeah , for sure . So so many amazing things that are happening , even with all this stem cell stuff . I'm skeptical , but it's , it's very , very fascinating With all , even just the stem cell research . It's really , really cool .
Speaker 1I agree .
Speaker 2So awesome . Well , jess , thank you so much for doing this . This was incredible . I'm so glad that I got to connect with you and we got to hear your story . Um , I'm so glad I got to talk to another mother , another parent , which is I . Just I love talking to mothers .
Speaker 2I love talking to parents because it's it's just something that a lot of people don't talk about as as parents of , as parents living with type one and , on top of that , being a caregiver of someone with type one . So I'm glad we were able to shed some light on that stuff .
Speaker 1Yeah , and thank you so much for having me . I loved talking to you as well and sharing our stories , and I'm hoping that you know this can help some of your listeners too , and just everyone know that they're they're doing such a great job living with diabetes and and you guys are all warriors , so yeah , if you're listening and you're in the kind of city area , make sure you reach out to Jess and connect with her .
Speaker 2Connect with her , yes , I would connect with her so you can connect with her on instagram anyway , but connect with her and just let's go to that . Like um , can you just tell everyone what your handle is On instagram , if you have any other handles on , if you're in any nail on any other platforms ?
Speaker 1Yeah , so I am just on instagram . It's embrace , underscore type one and um . So again , I'm just going to just go to , then ski and then all my credentials . That cd ce is on there as well , so you'll remember that . Um . But yeah , it's just , it's an educational page for not only physical health but also emotional health , um , and in real life stuff with diabetes . So yeah , if you're you're interested , go ahead and give me a follow . I'd love that and reach out . If . If you have any questions , I'd love to connect .
Speaker 2Yeah , if you're someone that is , you know , type one or heck , even type two , and you're thinking about having children , reach out to Jess . She's got . She's got some good knowledge on that because she just went through that Right . Yeah , so perfect . Thank you so much again , jess . This is amazing . Um . I look forward to further connections with you and being able to continue to watch your journey on social Um and uh . Thank you so much .
Speaker 1Thanks .
Speaker 2Awesome . Thanks everybody . We will see you guys next time . You .