Welcome back to yet another episode of the Campaign Away series . I'm your host , coach Ken Kines , and this is the Healthy Diabetic Podcast . As always , please remember that nothing that you hear on this podcast should be considered medical advice or otherwise . Please always consult your medical team before making any changes to diabetes management . Okay , a couple things before we jump in with Bethany .
Speaker 1Remember to like subscribe to the podcast , whether you're listening to audio form or whether you're watching on the new video form . Yes , that's right , we are video form . These podcast , these Camp Hamway episodes . Some of them are not video form . A lot of the ones with the kids we recorded while I was at camp in July , these ones that you're listening to right now , and some of the ones with the campers , they are not video form , so you will not find them on YouTube . But a lot of the counselors that I'm talking to , they will be video form so you can find those episodes on YouTube . There will be links and stuff in the show notes , so please make sure that you check out all the links , because I think there's a lot of them in there now . Check out the links in the show notes and navigate to whatever you want to navigate to .
Speaker 1If you're interested in some additional guidance . My coaching doors are always open . It's been so much fun taking people through this more than A1C coaching program . It's a 10-week program . We dive into so much . We dive into the individual's diabetes management style . We develop a new management style . We look at nutrition . We look at the individual's mindset . We look at what are they doing activity-wise . We look at how they view themselves with diabetes . We look at the words that you're using or that they're using when they talk about diabetes , and talk to their friends , their family members , whoever it is , because these things are really important when it comes to developing your own management style . So you guys always hear me talk about this concept of figuring out what works for you , and that's what this program is all about . There also be coming soon .
Speaker 1In November , there will be a nutrition course , but it's going to entail some of the things that I talk about in the more than A1C program . The more than A1C program is more of an individualized program that's going to dive into a lot of these nutritional concepts , but we're going to dive into things like your relationship with food , how you think about food . We'll look at food labels . You'll be educated on different types of foods . I'm going to have presentations in there on actual foods that I consume that are super energy boosters for me breakfast , lunches , dinners , snacks , you name it . We're talking about in the nutrition course . So much really cool information . I'm really pumped to bring that to you guys . It's being filmed right now and edited and it will be out for the world here soon .
Speaker 1Okay , let's get with Bethany . She is just an incredible young woman . I was so excited to be able to talk to her , and I was excited when we had all of the campers and we were trying to figure out who wanted to get on the podcast and speak , and I was really pumped that she volunteered to speak . This is another really good story from another really really cool young woman . Without further ado , let's get with Bethany . Okay , bethany , how are you ?
Speaker 2I'm good .
Speaker 1Yeah , you doing good . Yeah , yeah , awesome . Tell me a little bit about yourself .
Speaker 2Like what do you want to know about me ?
Speaker 1I want to know let's start with your diagnosis story . Okay , let's start with your diagnosis story and then we'll go into camp , and how long you been at camp ?
Speaker 2Okay , so I was diagnosed and I think 2017 , that's six years ago right , okay . And the reason why I was diagnosed was because I already had a thyroid issue and was going to co-peeds , and then I was losing weight very fast , even though I was eating a lot and I was also drinking a lot of water and wetting the bed at night .
Speaker 2We went to my pediatrician and they said to not drink water before bed , but that still didn't help . And then my mom called my endocrinologist one night and he was like , yeah , you need to come in tomorrow . And my mom searched up the symptoms and she was like , oh no , oh no .
Speaker 1Did she know anything about diabetes ? Nope , nope .
Speaker 2No one in my family that we know of has type 1 diabetes . They may have further down in our family tree , but we don't know that far . But my dad did have type 2 diabetes . So a little . But my dad never really took care of his type 2 diabetes till I got type 1 , and then we started pestering him more . Yeah , because I was like dad you also need to make sure your blood sugar's in check .
Speaker 1Yeah yeah , this guy set a good example for you . Yeah , yeah , I love that .
Speaker 2Well , it's mostly me setting a good example for my dad .
Speaker 1Good , yeah , awesome . So what is one thing that you have learned that's kind of helped you at camp , and actually my first question is how many years have you been coming to camp ?
Speaker 2I've been coming to camp for five years . The only year that I didn't come was during the CDL year , when it was all online , so yeah , Nice . So I've been coming ever since I was diagnosed . I first started off going to the day camp , but then I asked Russ about the sleepover camp and he said that there were spots left . And then when my mom came to pick me up , I was like mom , there's still spots left , can I go to sleepover camp ?
Speaker 1So you stayed two weeks in a row , or did you just leave in the camp ? Well , it was junior week that . Oh gotcha Since .
Speaker 2I was nine years old when . I was first diagnosed and that was the first year I went to camp . Yeah , the first year I got diagnosed I went to camp . Yeah , wait , no , yeah .
Speaker 1Yeah .
Speaker 2Though I was diagnosed in the fall , I think yeah .
Speaker 1Nice .
What's something that has been very impactful in terms of you learning about yourself , your diabetes ? Has it been the connections and friends you've made , the education from dietary or medical , or the counselors ? What's been the biggest impact for you over the past ?
Speaker 2One thing with gang diabetes is that I've learned is that many people are very ignorant about other people's medical conditions and think they know better than you do , because I've had instances , especially with my grandma , where she's like you can't eat , that you're diabetic .
Speaker 1Yeah , yeah , I love that . I love that . See , we all love that . The audience even loves that . Yeah , that's great , that's awesome . Yeah , people , it's interesting when you think about diabetes .
Speaker 2Mm-hmm .
Speaker 1And then if you don't go into the med , there's a difference in the way you treat it , the confusion between type one and type two . Even though the mechanisms are similar , they're also very different .
Speaker 2Yeah , it's probably because in media , type two diabetes is used to make fun of people more , because it commonly occurs with people who are considered overweight and that's why people are like you should eat less if you have diabetes and stuff like that , and you always see advertisements for medicines for type two diabetes and never . Well , there are some DEXCOM ads , but it's rare to see them .
Speaker 1Yeah , there's not a lot of type one advocacy in media right now .
Speaker 2Before I was diagnosed with type one diabetes , I never even knew about type one diabetes .
Speaker 1Yeah . So , Is there anything else that kind of you can think of that's impacted you ? Being at camp or just even being a diabetic and being on social media , learning from other people or whoever it is ?
Speaker 2One thing that has impacted me is going to camp and finding people who understand me . Have been through the exact same things as me and it helps me not feel as alone .
Speaker 1Did you feel alone at first , when you were first diagnosed ?
Speaker 2Yeah , when I was first diagnosed . A lot of times I would be like why was I diagnosed with diabetes ? Why did it have to be me ? Yeah .
Speaker 1A lot of us go through that and do you still feel that way ?
Speaker 2Sometimes , but I know that I'm not alone and I have other people I can turn to , and there are people that have gone through the same exact feelings and thoughts as me .
Speaker 1I love it . Are there specific things that you tell yourself , stories that you tell yourself in your head , affirmations that you tell yourself when you kind of feel like that ?
Speaker 2that you can share .
Speaker 1Is there anything that kind of jumps out at you like hey , I say this to myself when I'm feeling down .
Speaker 2Well , I do tell myself that I'm strong for being able to push through it . Not a lot of people would be able to deal with needles and blood because diabetics , they have to deal with needles and blood all the time . And a lot of people that I know who aren't diabetic are like how could you ever prick your finger like that , or how could you give yourself a needle like that ? I'd be scared to do that .
Speaker 1Yeah , were you scared to do it at first ?
Speaker 2No .
Speaker 1No , that's good , yeah , that's good . When I my first time every myself a shot , I was in tears , not because of having to give myself a shot , but because of the emotions that I was feeling at that point , and those emotions basically coming out and saying like , trying to figure out , understand , because I had no support . And this is why I love that you guys are at camp . This is why I love that I'm here this weekend and being part of your guys' journey is because I didn't have that when I was first diagnosed and , speaking of first shots , I actually never had to go to the hospital for my diabetes .
Speaker 1Wow , yeah , good for you .
Speaker 2And I never went into DKA .
Speaker 1That's awesome .
Speaker 2Even though when I first checked my blood sugar , the meter was like high Couldn't even read my blood sugar .
Speaker 1Who's the first medical professional you saw ? Was it family practitioner ? Was it ?
Speaker 2It was , I think , dr Lozano .
Speaker 1In the hospital .
Speaker 2No , dr . Lozano , at Copeds .
Speaker 1Okay , yeah , yeah , that's cool . Yeah , that's awesome that you didn't have to go to the hospital and deal with all that .
Speaker 2Yeah , and then my brother was with me for the first day and he because my mom didn't think it would be like a full day of school being missed .
Speaker 1Yeah .
Speaker 2And the first meal I had as a diabetic probably wasn't the best choice . It was Wendy's , it was chili baked potato and fries .
Speaker 1Okay , yeah , probably not the best choice , but okay , I get you Cool , awesome . Thank you so much for doing this , beth , and I really appreciate you opening up and talking about your journey and your diabetes .
Speaker 2This has been great , Thank you yeah , thank you , yeah , you're welcome .
Speaker 1Thank you so much for listening everyone . Again . It's been a pleasure continuing to build these episodes and create some really good content for you guys . So thank you again for tuning in every single week . Make sure you're subscribing to the podcast on audio form or video form . Make sure that you share the podcast with someone that is near and dear to your heart that you believe can get some really good value out of these conversations . I really appreciate everyone for sharing these conversations with someone very special . Thank you again for listening and I will see you next time . Previously , töfo Maika .