Welcome back to the Healthy Diabetic Podcast . I am your host , coach Ken , 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 your diabetes management . Make sure that you are subscribing and liking the podcast Again , whether you're watching on YouTube with our new video form or whether you're watching on your podcast player , please make sure that you like , subscribe and leave a five-star review . It really helps to show growth . All right , let's go into dive into today's guest .
Speaker 2Today I got to sit down with another friendly face from Camp Hamway . This is a counselor , alyssa . It was such a pleasure to sit down with her . I've been really trying to get her on the schedule and her work schedule hasn't been able , hasn't allowed her to get onto the podcast schedule , but we finally got her scheduled .
Speaker 2My conversation with Alyssa was incredible because it takes us to a different part of diabetes the pharmaceutical industry that she now works in . She talks a lot about her time in the pharmaceutical industry , like her perspective . I've talked a lot of different things over the years about the pharmaceutical industry and it was refreshing and a really cool conversation to have with her about a different perspective of that industry . We talked also about her diabetes story , her journey , all of the triumphs that she's had , all of the successes that she's had and some struggles that she's had . Just like anything , the way people struggle and being vulnerable on this show is something that I think that a lot of people really relate to . I'm really excited to get this episode out to you guys Without further ado . Let's get with Alyssa .
Speaker 1Yeah , cool . My name is Alyssa Lewis . I was diagnosed when I had just turned 11 , which I'm dating myself was about 18 years ago now , I think .
Speaker 2If I did that math right .
Speaker 1I always joke that my diabetes is officially legal this year . So she's legal , she's a full-blown adult . My diagnosis story so I have one that is not as dramatic as probably people usually have when they get diagnosed Mine is literally to the day . A month after my 11th birthday had just a typical doctor's checkup . They asked me if I've ever peed in a cup before and I said nope , no , I have not .
Speaker 2So they had me peed in a cup First time for everything .
Speaker 1It was time for everything . They came back and they were like , is she a diabetic ? And of course my mom and I look at each other and were like I don't even know what diabetes is , so no . And they go okay , well , go home , have some dinner . Like we're going to do some more tests , we'll call you .
Speaker 1I vividly remember my mom putting a very I love my mom , but she's not the best cook a very nasty cheese quesadilla in front of me , and that's when we got the call . That was like she needs to go to the hospital right now . So my parents are divorced . My mom , bless her heart , doesn't really know how to drive around Columbus very well , so my dad had to come get us and take us to the hospital , and that's kind of all I remember of it . I know I stayed in the hospital for like three days . They did a bunch of tests . My mom said actually the day before I left they wanted to do like a spinal tap , just to make sure it wasn't that . And my mom was like , absolutely not . Like , if you think she's got diabetes , like , let's go with that and avoid a spinal tap .
Speaker 2That's not even on the spectrum of what you would even test for .
Speaker 1I know , I know I think they were confused because I wasn't sick , like I didn't have any symptoms . Looking back at it now I can see that I had lost a lot of weight . But that was right in kind of those tween years where you're probably shedding some of your baby weight anyways . It was right around that tween puberty weird girl age . I would go to the bathroom like once or twice a night , but nothing like super excessive to like that .
Speaker 1We thought it was anything crazy and even though I think my blood sugar was maybe in the four or five hundreds when they found it like I didn't feel sick , I wasn't exhibiting any symptoms . So I think that kind of stumped some of the doctors in the hospital . But yeah , I mean I kind of just there wasn't super like anything dramatic about it . I feel like I'm very fortunate that I wasn't rushed after urgent care or sick for months or anything like that . I could feel very fortunate that we caught it when we did and I remember saying I'm glad it was me and not my brother because I was like between the two of us , if anyone was going to give themselves shots and have to deal with like this stuff , like I was going to be the one to do that .
Speaker 2I say that literally I say the same thing about my brother . Like literally the same thing I say about my brother . That's hilarious yeah .
Speaker 1I'm like , out of the two of us , like I'm probably the one that could handle it .
Speaker 2So the question is because you were high and you didn't really didn't have any symptoms . Do you feel the symptoms when you're high now ? Do you have symptoms when you're high now ?
Speaker 1No , and that's been my struggle I really do not feel my highs . I have to be very high for I either have to be like very , very high or high for a really long period of time for me to feel just kind of like like I just get kind of sluggish and really tired and like maybe a little nauseous when I'm high , but I really don't feel my highs . So that's been something I've struggled with throughout , kind of middle school , high school and even those college years of really taking care of myself . And you know , when you don't feel sick , it's really sometimes hard to take care of yourself the way that you should , because nothing feels wrong . So you know , it's been a battle for . You know , for me more recently now , in my late 20s to I've kind of flipped the switch . I guess is what I'm trying to say . I really care about what my numbers are now , whereas I might have been a little bit more relaxed about it in those younger years .
Speaker 2So yeah , really unfortunate . So then , do you have the same when you're low , do you not feel lows ?
Speaker 1I do feel my lows . No lows . I've become a like snack monster and I have to go eat everything in my kitchen . I get very just not externally shaky , but it feels like everything inside of me is shaking . It almost feels like I've equated it to almost feeling a little bit like anxiety , like it's like your whole insides are just stirring . If I'm really low or dropping really fast , I do get really sweaty and then , yeah , I just wanted to eat my whole kitchen . So , yeah , I do feel my low .
Speaker 2Yeah , is there a specific low ? Does it have to be really low , or is there like 80 ? You start feeling it .
Speaker 1I would say because I spent a lot of my years being naturally more high , I do feel low right around 80 , 70 . I've got now that I'm sitting at a better range , at the last kind of five to seven years I do . I don't feel as low at 70 and 80 anymore as I used to , but I remember like even being 90 , sometimes feeling low and being like this is ridiculous , like 90's , fine , I just shouldn't feel like this .
Speaker 2Yeah , it's interesting and I was like trying to move down this path of this is I don't feel my highs either , and half time I don't feel my lows , unless I'm under 60 , 65 . And it's funny because it wasn't until Tom Mr Mott was listening to the podcast when it was the old podcast , he was listening to me and Graham talk one time and sent me an email and said amen , you might have hypoglycemic unawareness . I was like at the time I was like what the hell is that ? I've never heard of that . And then I started to look it up and I'm like , oh my God , this is exactly me . And then I looked at hyperglycemic unawareness . I'm like , oh my God , that's so me . So like I think I suffer from both .
Speaker 1Yeah , well , I think what I've learned too . I mean you always hear , with other illnesses or ailments or whatever people go through , health wise , chronic illnesses , chronic pain , things like that People learn to live with their pain and people learn to live with their symptoms to the point where , if it's been long enough , you really don't recognize them . I'm somebody that also I have , and it's taken a very long time to learn how to be even somebody that can listen to my body that way , because I just never recognized things . But I'm somebody that I've had a pinched nerve in my back for three weeks and I'm still managing . You know what I mean .
Speaker 1You just learn to live with it and I'm like oh , that's my back's gonna hurt today and that is what it is , and I have to move on . So I think it's crazy how our minds can really just ignore and almost cancel out that noise of pain or illness or whatever if we're going through it for long periods of time . It's just incredible .
Speaker 2Yeah , yeah , our body is resilient . It runs away from our body , runs away from pain , and that is why we have so many chronic physical problems because the body's overcompensating in other spaces and other places to go away from that pain . And that's why people have knee problems , hip problems , back problems you name it Neck problems , and we don't ever get this stuff taken care of , when really it could be as easy as go exercise , stretch and get some better sleep . Those three things could ease , could potentially be part of the remedy for all those pain , all that pain that you have , you know . And then times you got slip discs and there's no amount of stretching that's gonna help us slip disc .
Speaker 1So much fun getting older . It's like you go to bed and you've hurt yourself Ha ha ha .
Speaker 2Put on a shoe like oh , got my back . What did I do ?
Speaker 1Yeah , that's literally how I pinched and nervous my back Like I was laying in my bed reading . And then I went to bed and I was like , oh , something doesn't feel right and it's been that way for three weeks now , so about to start physical therapy to try to fix it .
Speaker 2Oh God , what's been kind of the biggest impactful thing that you've learned about diabetes in your now long career , long journey with diabetes .
Speaker 1Yeah , and I would say I'm kind of alluding to an answer I probably started saying with the last question and I'm gonna go a different route of it of not just like how I've learned about diabetes or what I've learned and things like that , cause I think you know it's . I always say diabetes is part science and part art , because you could have the same thing every day bowl is the same way , have the same amount of exercise and your numbers look vastly different . Absolutely . Your friend over here could eat the same thing as you and take , you know , a different dose of insulin and it's different . So I think everyone as a diabetic , you have to just learn right . You have to learn what works for you and what doesn't . But I think what's been most impactful for me throughout the last few years , especially that I've recognized it , is , like I said , just learning how to actually listen to my body and learn like , okay , I might wanna go eat that fried chicken , but I'm gonna feel really nasty after I do and every time .
Speaker 1I , like you know , I do it once every once in a while because , like , I'll put myself through that pain and it's fine cause I want it , but this makes me feel the same way every single time and you know that's just kind of a dumb example , but there's so many things that I think you know as people we learn growing up , but I do think learn about their bodies , I should say . But I do think diabetics have , I've always said , like an interesting gift of we almost get to appreciate and get to learn our bodies in a different way than anybody else that doesn't have diabetes .
Speaker 1I love that and that's been something that's been hugely impactful for me in my 20s and I would say like not to take this away from you know other diabetics either but as a female in general , like really just learning to like love my body and learning to like listen to it and give it what it needs and not try to force it to do something or be something that it's not . That's probably been like the most impactful lesson , I guess , that I've learned from diabetes .
Speaker 2Yeah , I don't know if any of that makes sense , but no , it makes a hundred percent sense to me , because it's what I'm constantly talking about , Right ? I mean it's yeah , I love that .
Speaker 1I've almost feel like people should be a little envious of us because we do get to like learn our bodies in a different way and learn about ourselves in a different way that they like that . Anybody , you know I say normal or healthy or whatever person doesn't have to . They can go on their whole lives , usually without having to think about certain things .
Speaker 2So yeah , yeah , I love that .
Speaker 1Something unique that we get to live through .
Speaker 2Look , I want to take a small pivot from because you had mentioned something that I don't get a chance to talk to a lot or talk about a lot , and that is the female cycle and being a diabetic going through that process . Does your insulin needs change month to month , year to year ? Going through that process ?
Speaker 1So I'm so sorry . I wish I was a better person to talk about this . I feel like I have not mastered that and I haven't that's one thing I have not learned of like when you know what I mean Because I've got a couple other hormonal issues working against me too .
Speaker 1So partially I don't think anything's taboo and I think that's kind of the point of your podcast here is I'll just go ahead
and say it . I have struggled with being regular , having a regular cycle , pretty much my whole life , okay . So I haven't really gotten to the point of realizing if diabetes is being like , if my numbers are affected during that time . You know what I mean . I've tried to be better about that as an adult , of being like , okay , am I seeing higher numbers ? Am I seeing anything out of the ordinary ? And I , as far as I can tell , I haven't .
Speaker 1So I think I might be kind of unique in that sense because I know a lot of my female friends that are diabetics talk about like needing more insulin and , you know , having a little bit more like insulin resistance , insulin sensitivity around those times . That's more something I've always struggled with . I think in the 18 years that I've been a diabetic , insulin resistance has been a huge struggle for me and I'm now , you know , kind of on some of those more traditionally type two diabetes drugs to help with that and it's been complete night and day for me . But it's hard for me to then be like , okay , what's actually helping , right ? You know what I mean . Like I don't know if something's being affected from that or if something's being affected during my cycle , so that's probably not a great answer . Yeah , no .
Speaker 2I think it is a good answer because it alludes to a couple of different things . Right ? One , it alludes to the fact that every person's different right Just like hyperglycemic unawareness or hyperglycemic unawareness like every person's different and your body just might not be affected by the cycle right or the other medications that you're on for hormonal disruption is helping with that process , helping with that cycle and helping so you don't necessarily need more insulin , right ? So there's a lot of things that could be unpacked there and I think that's really cool that you I'm actually glad that it came up that way , because I haven't talked about I've talked about the female cycle and your insulin needs increasing and you need to stay attuned to that , but I haven't been in a position to be able to talk about this , which is awesome .
Speaker 1Yeah , well , I think a lot of us that were diagnosed , like I said , I was diagnosed at 11 , so I hadn't even gone through puberty yet , right ? So I've never had a period not being a diabetic . So it's also that like give and take . Two of a lot of us were so young when we were diagnosed and it goes back to kind of what I was saying about learning our bodies is . I have to learn is . Am I feeling this way at 29 because of diabetes or am I feeling this way at 29 because that's just what a 29 year old feels like ? I think there's also that split of healthcare as well that I think we probably all struggle with .
Speaker 2Yeah , interesting . What's been the biggest impactful thing that you've either taken away or learned from camp is there's something that has allowed you to kind of put like , oh , this is an interesting thing that medical is talking about , this is an interesting thing I've learned from either colleagues or campers that you've kind of implemented into your management style .
Speaker 1Yeah , I don't know if I have . Well , I think so . Back in the day I learned basically what the like , the temp basals and things were like . I had never knew what a temp basal was until I had gone to camp .
I think the main things you learn at camp , or the main things you learn from other diabetics , are probably the things that most pharma manufacturers don't want us talking about and don't want us using their products in that way , the little kind of tips and tricks of like how do you get your dexcom out so that you can reuse it without having to , you know , take it off ? Things like that , yes , yes , something that are probably frowned upon in that community , and I work in pharmaceuticals , so I don't know how far you want to go through that way , but if we ? I know we're on the topic of camp , so if I can pivot that conversation a little bit and share a bit about my camp story , because I think it's a bit different than everyone else that goes to Camp Pamway .
Speaker 1So I started going to camp not right as when I was diagnosed I was a brat . I remember looking at that , but Darlene will laugh at me . I remember looking at the pamphlets back in the day and being like that doesn't really look like my crowd , it doesn't really look fun , like I don't want to go to camp . I was a competitive dancer at the time so I was always kind of doing summer dance camps and things like that . And then , right around like seventh or eighth grade , my mom like finally , was like I think you should go to this camp , like you should do this , and so I went for like three or four years before moving away for college . And , all that to say , I spent 10 years away from camp before I started going back again three years ago . Wow , and that's probably , if I'm gonna talk about the words impact and camp together , it's . I had found myself in 2021 at a time where I was really broken . I was really I had just gone through a super bad breakup , didn't have any plans in the summer , still had a few friends at camp that I talked to here and there , but they weren't like my best , best , best friends . But something just told me like you should go back to Ohio and go back to camp , and so I did , and now , like this past summer was the third year in a row that I've been back and now I me and Jeremy run the CIT program and I think I really just found that community and that home again of just people that understand me , cause I live in Atlanta . Now I don't have I really don't have any diabetic friends . I have some diabetic acquaintances that live here through kind of some initiatives with JDRF , but I haven't really found that home here . And I think camp found me again at that time that I really needed it and kind of picked me back up at the time that I really needed it . And that was something that just like I couldn't even tell you why I decided to go back to camp , other than the fact that Jeremy for years had been begging me to come back , cause him and I have been friends for God knows how long and it was just like I remember being at camp with all these people like 10 years had gone by , right , so it was a time capsule for me . The last time I remembered camp was what happened 10 years ago , whereas everyone that goes to camp every single year had lived 10 seasons of camp without me .
Speaker 1So , going back that first year , I was like so nervous cause I remember like my history of like growing up with some of these people and different things that , like you know , we did or talked about it like 17 , 18 , like and I'm now 20 , I think I was 26 or 27 at the time . It was just different , right . So I was really nervous and I remember sitting in the Med Cabin one night was super stressed out cause I had a pretty crazy cabin that year was changing my pump site which , like I'm a baby , even though I've had diabetes for 18 years , it still gives me anxiety to change my pump site . Like I don't change it as much as I should . Sorry , mom and dad , but and Anthony was sitting there and Anthony and I went to camp together as teenagers and now he's running the whole camp and he just turned to me and said I'm so happy you're here and I just started a ball laying because if you know , anthony , that's not something he willingly would like probably say to people that often , yeah , and I'm a crier . So that is like my reaction was pretty typical for me , but it was just like I'm talking in circles here and I know that . But it was just one of those moments I'll carry with me for the rest of my life because it very much was just this healing of content or calm , or this is where I should be and this is what I should keep doing .
Speaker 1And as much as my parents and friends and family are supportive of me continuing to go back to camp I drive from Georgia to go to camp every year . It's logistically harder for me to get to camp than it is for everyone else . And I know my family have questioned like why are you ? Like , why are you do this ? Like it's so hard , like you're taking a week off of work , whatever . And I've told them multiple times now I'm like , as long as I'm able to do it , I will continue to go back , because it's not only like I want to be able to be a role model and provide that week of safety or that week of fun or whatever those kids need from camp , but like it also healed me in a way , like I needed that week and I want that week going forward as well . So I don't know if any of that makes any sense .
Speaker 2But it makes total sense . It makes total sense because the original question was what's been the biggest impact ? And for you , the biggest impact has been community and the friendships that you've built . That's what's been your biggest impact , which is interesting because I've asked a lot of people that same question . Over the last three years , Not one person has gone towards community as has been the biggest impact ever .
Speaker 1So that's shocking to me Every time I talk to new counselors or first year people or you know , I'm one of the CIT directors , so I help the that kind of bridge the gap between being a camper and then becoming a counselor . And I think what's what I have realized and I knew it as a camper , but it even kind of shown through even more in the last three years is our camp is really like a haven for some people , like it's .
I don't mean to go sad about this , but there are some of our campers and of our kids that that one week is the only week of the entire year . They get to be whoever they want to be . They could go by a different name if they want to be . Like we don't care , they can go by different pronouns , they can go by . They can do whatever they want to do and they have .
Speaker 1I'm getting chills talking about this and I always do , but it's like they have a hundred people there plus , however , many campers are there that are going to accept them , no matter what . Like if it's just like you don't . Where in the world do you see that ever right ? Like it breaks my heart that some of these kids only have this one week and they don't feel that kind of sense of community or that sense of love outside of this camp . But by God , like I'm going to keep doing it If I can help be a part of that one week or two weeks of that kid's life , it's just , ah , like I don't know , I feel like I'm preaching to the clock .
Speaker 2But people don't , I think the rare . The one of the most interesting things about this is that people don't understand that thought process Right . So for people about support system , the first place they go is friends and family which they are amazing , our friends and our family . They have our emotional well-being , they're our emotional rocks . My wife is my emotional rock . My kids are my emotional rock . Hands down , no one else is more emotional , has my emotions and emotionally has supported me more than those three individuals .
Speaker 2But the people that live with diabetes , the people that are in the diabetes community they are 100% is who helps me thrive every single day with my purpose of this podcast , my coaching business , everything that is who I am passionate about and I love that you brought that up and it's funny to hear you say like that .
Speaker 2You were very surprised that no other people have said that community has been an impactful thing . Of course people have said when I ask them which I'll ask you this question at the end but when I ask them about what's pieces of advice that they can give to other diabetics or caregivers or whatever parents , then the community comes back into play . But in terms of impact , what has impacted you ? Everyone talks about the lessons they've learned from their mistakes , which is amazing . That's amazing impact that happens and I love the fact that when we talk about community , it is such an important piece to understand that we're not just talking . Or when we talk about support system , we're not just talking about our friends and family and our medical team if they're part of your inner circle , we're talking about other people that live with diabetes 100% .
Speaker 1Yeah , and I think for me too , I have such a hard time explaining to others who don't have diabetes , like what does a low blood sugar feel like , or what does a high blood sugar feel like , or what does burnout feel like to us and versus , when you're around other diabetics , it's like it just comes naturally right Because you know they get it and you can start talking about weird things , that kind of filter myself when it comes to diabetes when I'm with my friends . Yeah , and I mean and I do think so I kind of mentioned that the call to go back to camp kind of came out of the blue and it came from this place of just kind of being a little bit lost and not knowing what to do with myself . And I think I would take it even a step back further of I was never one of those kids . Like you know , sometimes when people get the diagnosis as a young age , they're like okay , then I want to come , I want to go be a doctor or I want to be a nurse or I want to be a you know , a diabetes educator , and that's their calling , right , like from that diagnosis , that's the point that they find out , like where they want to go in life with their career . That wasn't me .
Speaker 1I started off in marketing and advertising for like soda like , literally , my last client was a soda brand , and it wasn't until COVID that I actually got the opportunity to work and I never really was interested in the healthcare field , despite having diabetes . Like it was wasn't where I wanted to go , but during COVID had the opportunity to go to a pharmaceutical industry company that I'm now at now or with now , I should say I'll be two years in January , which is wild , and I was also never somebody that like was like , oh , I want my values and what I like to do outside of work to align with my career . But now that they somehow have , kind of on accident , like I work , some of my clients are diabetes brands . I'm physically helping patients that have diabetes with things that , like , they don't even know are happening behind the scenes at their pharmacy , and so that's just been like , so beyond what I could have ever imagined for my career , and so beyond like what I even dreamed of what I wanted to do with my life , and so I think I'm a firm believer that everything happens for a reason and I truly believe that , like where I'm at right now .
Speaker 1Without diabetes , like would not have happened , I would probably not be in this job . I wouldn't have the friends that I have . So for me , I've never tried to look at it as , like you know , yeah , it sucks that I have to care about a couple more things that other people have to care about , and there are some really shitty days . I'm sorry I don't know if I'm allowed to cuss on this , but it also has made me who I am , like I would not be who I am without that , as cheesy as it sounds and it's like . In this past year I've realized , like , how interconnected my whole life has been to bring me to this point and that's been really cool .
Speaker 1And like I think even the last person that I that I dated , who I was in a very serious relationship with , was the first person to truly like care about my diabetes , to and kind of care about me caring about my diabetes .
Speaker 1So while that didn't end you know the way I would have wanted it to like , I'm still thankful for that relationship because , you know , nobody that I've ever dated like had problems with it or whatever , but nobody like like this band had the follow app on my phone , like following my blood sugars , and I would get text messages when I was high or low , being like , hey , you want to go look at that number . Like there was another level of support that just took my own care off of my shoulders , which was awesome , and like that's now , you know , set the standard of like the next person I date , like I want them to feel the same way or to take it that direction , yeah , and so I think kind of all of those things mixed together was really where that call to then go back to camp and back to that community came from .
Speaker 2Yeah , I love that . It's interesting the experiences that we have throughout our lives it really shapes who we are . Like I , when I first got into coaching and I first got into the career of trying to coach people and be an entrepreneur , I was told one time that like who you are and like your personality , like it doesn't change . You just evolve and become better in that personality . And now I say to myself that's BS , because who you are is going is shaped by your experiences and then your own specific reality and your own specific perspective . And my perspective on life now is totally different than it was 10 years ago . My perspective on diabetes is totally different than it was even five years ago . So it's like this thought process I'm always having of you know your reality shapes who you are . It really fuels my passion for not just diabetes but to continue to evolve into the person I ultimately want to be . And you know so it's a very interesting
thing .
Speaker 2I like the saying I was thinking about you know different tag lines the other day and I love the saying of diabetes didn't choose me or I didn't choose diabetes , diabetes chose me , like . So it's one of those things that it's like yeah , you think that why did this happen ? We constantly go through those emotions . Why did this happen ? Why did this happen ? But it's like it happened for a reason . Yeah , and I know that sounds so cheesy .
Speaker 1Yeah , it does . Yeah , I know that sounds so cheesy and I also know , like you know , I mentioned earlier like , is what I'm going through now as a person because of diabetes or is it because I'm just in my late twenties ? And that's what everyone kind of goes through ? And I think it's a little bit of both . But truthfully , like you know , when you're in the present sometimes or maybe the present is not the way to look at it but I think sometimes when you're more short-sighted and you're looking at like why did this happen ? What it ? You know , why is my life turning out like this ? What's going on ?
Speaker 1It's so easy to say nothing is working out for me or nothing is the way I want it to be , and it's so short-sighted .
Speaker 1But then when you take a second to actually look at all of these little woven pieces that are bringing you to where you're at now like again , my job camp .
Speaker 1I started teaching dance again because I think camp kind of inspired my love for children and I kind of was called to teach dance again and so I do that on the side now , on top of my job , and it's just there's all these little things that you figure out that are interconnected and so then it I don't know that helps me feel more at peace .
Speaker 1Sometimes when you know in the short term it might look like something's not going my way . It's like hold on , if I were to actually look at what's happened in the last you know , even three years since COVID , like I'm a completely different person today than I was back in 2020 and everything that happened with that , and it's just you find like I wouldn't even call it . I don't even know if I call it gratitude . I know a lot of people do like gratitude journals or you know , just taking a moment to be grateful for things . I don't even know if I would call it that , but it's just taking a moment to see that interconnected thread of your life and how everything like has been nuanced and how everything has kind of made sense . To be where you're at now , I think is really cool .
Speaker 2So I want to pivot because I want to know more about your job and what you're doing , and tell me about that .
Speaker 1Yeah . So I don't know how much I can say because I want to be vague about certain things , but I work for a . I work in the pharmaceutical industry . My main clients are pharmaceutical manufacturers . So if you were to think of , you know , if we're using diabetes as an example Dexcom , novolog pump manufacturers , insulin manufacturers , test strips , things like that those are the people I'm working with day to day and our software .
Speaker 1Essentially , patients don't know this is happening , but it's all based on co-pay assistance . So we work with the biopharma manufacturers to they put up their own dollars of their own money towards patients' co-pays to help it buy them down further and make medicine more affordable , which I think , as a diabetic , we all know how expensive medicine can be and then our care can be . So it really it's been cool , it's been a really interesting role . It's also , I think , pharmacy and pharma . You know , big pharma gets a bad rep sometimes and I'm truly working with the ones that want to do good in the world and want to help their patients . Right , they're not worried about you know . I mean they're worried about their dollars from a business standpoint because you have to have a run-off successful business .
Speaker 1But yeah , that's just part of the world we live in . But they want to help their patients . They want to help their patients more so than just what insurance companies are doing . Right , because you might , the insurance company might be putting up money for your prescription and it's still $500 and you can't afford that . Well , our software allows that biopharma to , let's say , put $400 towards that prescription . So they're buying you down to maybe $100 instead of $500 and it's much more affordable to walk away in that way .
Speaker 2Yeah , that's awesome .
Speaker 1That's probably the easiest way to explain it .
Speaker 2Yeah , no , that makes total sense . Yeah , that's awesome . It's something that I never really thought about in terms of like , because you think about face value on different industries , right , you know the tech industry you think of , you know Microsoft and Apple and everything that's out in front to the world , and you don't think about the nuances that happen behind the scenes , to that go into the innovation or that go into the production and distribution of that specific product . So that's interesting that you're kind of in that realm and in that role .
Speaker 1Yeah , it's also been really cool because I had no prior pharma experience coming into this role outside of my dad's been in the industry most of my life , so I kind of knew the back ends of pharmacy and pharmaceuticals from him because he was a pharmacist by trade and then , obviously , being a diabetic , I've had to be my biggest advocate you know , my own biggest advocate when it comes to like calling health insurance companies or talking to my pharmacists , or even talking to the manufacturers , being like where do I like ? What the heck Like ? This was this price one month and now it's . You know double that and you know what happened . So I've always been very well versed in my own care , because I think we all have to be and that's a piece of advice If you aren't like , you have to do that for yourself when , like , if you're going to take anything away from listening to this podcast understand your health insurance benefits and understand who you need to go to to fight for yourself , because not everyone's looking out for you . Let me just put it out that way .
Speaker 2I was waiting for it , I was waiting for it , I was waiting for it , I was waiting for it . Not everyone's looking out for you .
Speaker 1You definitely have to look out for yourself and understand kind of the complex world of it , or at least try , like you .
Speaker 1Just making an effort I think is even half the battle , but anyways , like it's , it's I kind of lost my train of thought there , but it's just been oh , I know what I was going to say it's been really cool to come through .
Speaker 1A lot of people that I work with were either pharmacists by trade and then came over to the corporate side or have just been on the corporate kind of pharmaceutical world . But me , coming in as a patient , like I look at our products and solutions in a much different way than people that were pharmacists or people from our industry do . And so I've been able to even work with not only our clients but our product team being like , well , hey , this was set up for this type of drug or this class of drug , but like , what about durable medical devices like insulin pumps , like that makes no sense for this and it's , we're not helping in that regard , right ? So it's been cool to really kind of almost have the patients back when I'm looking at how we go about our programs and implement them , and I think that's been , you know , super , super beneficial for me and kind of my success at my job and beneficial on both sides of that too .
Speaker 2Yes , and I think that's why I'm doing that right , because they're they're having insider information .
Speaker 1Well , not , I mean what's not to call it insider information .
Speaker 2I definitely don't get away Well , I'm just saying someone that lives with it and has to deal with it . Like they got information from the inside .
Speaker 1Yes , yes , I mean I definitely have . I do feel like I have helped patients you know myself , friends , things like that look into things and when they need to , and also I help my clients understand what a patient perspective of this might be going through . Like I use myself as an example all the time with my clients because , not to get it too technical , but especially when we look good , get into looking at like abandonment rates or why somebody doesn't go pick up a prescription at the pharmacy . You know farmers are like well , they , they ordered it , they should have picked it up . Why didn't they pick it up ? And I'm like I mean , sometimes pharmacists just fill it and they don't need it , or maybe that's something that maybe they're not changing their pump site as much as they should so they don't need to reorder it right now . Like there's there's a hundred and fifty different ways or reasons why a patient might go not go get their prescription on time . So even helping them kind of realize some of those nuances has been fun .
Speaker 2Let's shift back to your diabetes . Let's go and shift back to your diabetes . What's one to three things that you think that a piece of advice that you could give a diabetic that has either been impactful for you , or just three pieces of really advice that you could give someone .
Speaker 1Yeah , I mean definitely my number one is going to go back to community . I think with something as complex as diabetes , if you're newly diagnosed and you don't know anybody that's diabetic , it's going to be life-changing to even just have one friend .
I feel like I'm always kind of jealous of the campers nowadays because they go to school with like three or four other diabetics that they knew , whereas , like I , was the only diabetic growing up and camp was the only time I met other diabetics or got to hung out with other diabetics . So I think the diagnosis is a lot more prevalent now , unfortunately , and diabetes is more well known now , I think more than it was back in the day . But finding that at least one person that you can talk to about things and be open and honest with them , I think a lot of times we don't want to talk about the bad with diabetes , like , oh , I let my blood sugar run at 300 for four hours today , or I didn't change my pump site for a week , or you know what I mean , and we feel so much shame about being a diabetic Like being a bad diabetic is what I call it . And it wasn't until I kind of had a community and friends that were like , oh no , I do that too . Like that it really made me feel like , okay , I'm not the one that just isn't caring , like this is a completely normal behavior . It really helped kind of bring some normalcy to it .
Speaker 1So community , I guess , would be one Second I'm going to have to advocate for . You know , whether you're a parent and your child has diabetes , or whether you are now going off to college and or you're out of college and you're the one kind of managing your own diabetes . Like , take a minute to like comb through your medical benefits and your pharmacy benefits , whether it's through you know your work or independent , and really understand , like , what resources are out there for you and what is being covered and what's not being covered , because most corporate companies are not looking out for you . Even sometimes your doctors don't have your best interest at heart because they're so busy . So you're the only one that's going to be able to advocate for your care , and that's just , you know , not even important for diabetics , that's important across the board . But yeah , that would probably be my second point of advice . I don't know if you're still there .
Speaker 2Yeah , we're still here .
Speaker 1You're still here , okay , third , oh , third . Maybe my third goes back to kind of what I started the conversation with about is not only like learn , like taking the time to like learn your body and learn more about yourself , but giving yourself a lot of grace too , because we were not perfect , you know . Let your body kind of be what it is and then do what it can do . I think there's , you know , for emails growing up , there's a lot of societal pressures of what we should look like and what we should act like , and you know all these things .
Speaker 1And I very clearly remember trying to hide my insulin pump under my clothes when I was a teenager , or even , you know , looking down at the little pinprick scars that I have all over my stomach now and I used to hate them and now it's like one . Nobody's looking at them , like I'm looking at them , so nobody's going to notice them when I'm in a swimsuit and it's fine . But also appreciating that I might have some scars . But I've also lived the last 18 years with diabetes . Like it's probably pretty hard to not have scars when you've had diabetes for 18 years , and back in the day diabetes used to be a death sentence , so like I'm thankful that I've had the last 18 years to still be alive , so just giving yourself some grace and appreciating your body for what it does .
Speaker 2Yeah , I love that last one of grace because it's 100% something that people just don't remember . And there's this disease . This condition is so complex . It's so complex on every scale , from the time you wake up to the time you go to sleep and even when you're asleep . It's so complex of things that could happen . And the quicker that we understand that complexity , understand one that is complex but then understand the actual complexities of it and the actual complexities of the trends that happen every single day , is going to help us get in a position where we're good , like we can live with it . It's not , it just it now becomes part of our routine , becomes part of our daily life , instead of like constantly pushing against it and getting pushed back , and then pushing against it and getting pushed back , so it's yeah .
Speaker 2I love that you brought that up , because the because of how complex this thing is , it is important for us to give ourselves grace and be thankful for the things that we have , for sure .
Speaker 1Absolutely .
Speaker 2So awesome girl . Well , this is just . This has been awesome being able to chat with you and talk to you again outside of camp .
Speaker 1Yeah , thanks for letting me go .
Speaker 2Yeah , I'm so glad that we were able to do this and I am excited to continue to be with you at least once a week a year and continue to watch your journey you know unfold and just hear all the great things that are going to be continue to happen in your life .
Speaker 1Awesome . Well , hopefully I gave you enough material that you can edit around .
Speaker 2Oh yeah , this is going to be really good . It's going to be really good .
Speaker 2So , yeah , I'm excited . I'm excited for this one . I will .
I'll connect with you when this is getting ready to air and then before , actually before we , before we end things , can you just tell the audience what your social handles are if they have questions ? You know , I really like pushing people to my guests Social media platforms because it's just it's it's one another Diabetic that they can connect with , but also there might be a female that's going through some of the things that you're going through , that that has questions that maybe they don't feel comfortable enough talking to me about , that they love to talk to you about . So what are , like your ?
Speaker 1Yeah , absolutely yeah , and my DMs are always open . I leave my profile public so , for sure , if anyone wants to reach out , has any questions , wants to talk to me , I am like I said , I have a busy corporate job and I teach dance on the side and I'm getting my MBA right now . That's something we didn't talk about yet , but Wow . So give me give me some space to respond back to you . But I will respond to people that reach out to me . But my Instagram platform is the period real period , al , so just a L my initials , so the real Al , with a period between both of those words and then on . I would say you know I'm very heavy on LinkedIn as well , so if people had any corporate questions or conversations that want to happen there , they can look me up on LinkedIn as well and I'll give them a follow back . But yeah , however they'd like to reach out Love it , love it .
Speaker 2Yeah , thank you again and I'll be in touch soon , okay awesome , awesome , thanks Ken .