Diabetics Doing Empowerment with Jill Rippolone

[00:00:00] Rob Howe: Welcome to the Diabetics Doing Things podcast. We're back with new episodes in 2017 telling the amazing stories of type 1 diabetics across the world. I'm your host, Rob Howe, and if you'd like to get involved with Diabetics Doing Things, all you have to do is shoot me an email or reach out via Instagram. Hey everyone, before we get started, I just wanted to say thank you for listening. We had a great first year of the podcast, but none of it would have been possible without you and your support. I love getting messages, emails, and comments from type 1 diabetics all over the world. It really makes my day. So keep sharing, searching, and commenting, and I'll keep tracking down the people behind the amazing type 1 stories out there. Now, let's get back to the episode. Hello and welcome to another episode of Diabetics Doing Things. We're back on our 2017 episodes, and today I'm very, very pleased to announce and introduce you to Jill Rippolone. Jill, thanks for coming on the show.

[00:00:58] Jill Rippolone: Thank you for having me. I appreciate it.

[00:01:01] Rob Howe: And now some of you may know Jill as T1Dchick on Instagram rather than her real name. So Jill, how about you give us some background on yourself?

[00:01:11] Jill Rippolone: Well, like you said, my name is Jillian. I'm 28 years old and I'm from Long Island, New York, but I'm currently living in Michigan. And I've been a type 1 diabetic for going on almost 20 years now.

[00:01:26] Rob Howe: Awesome. I wouldn't have been able to tell that you were from New York at all from your accent.

[00:01:33] Jill Rippolone: I get that a lot out here. I definitely stick out, that's for sure.

[00:01:37] Rob Howe: So tell us a little bit about your background. You mentioned 20 years. What was that like? So you're eight years old when you were diagnosed. And that's a big part of what we do on the show with diagnosis stories. Kind of give us a little bit of the, you know, set the stage for us.

[00:01:56] Jill Rippolone: Yeah, sure. So I was about eight years old when I was diagnosed. And it seems to be crazy because, you know, coming up on like my 20th year living with type 1 diabetes, it's just so crazy like how far technology has come. And so when I was diagnosed, it was like diabetes, I felt like it was kind of new. I felt like not many people really knew about the disease. and finding others to relate to you was almost kind of like near impossible. The one thing that I was really fortunate for in a way, so I have a brother and him and I are one year apart and we are both type 1 diabetics. So he was actually diagnosed one year before I was diagnosed. So it was definitely an interesting case. Doctors, you know, they said how rare it was for a brother and sister to both come down with type 1 diabetes, and especially because we have no one in our family that's a type 1 diabetic as well. So it was definitely not an easy road growing up, that's for sure. It wasn't easy at all.

[00:03:09] Rob Howe: Definitely. So you mentioned your brother was a year older than you and that he was diagnosed a year before you. So you guys were really diagnosed at the same age.

[00:03:18] Jill Rippolone: Yeah, well, he's when you're younger. Oh, younger. Yeah, and he got diabetes. He was diagnosed one year before I was diagnosed.

[00:03:27] Rob Howe: Okay, so you were then two years older than he was when you got diagnosed. Okay. Well, that's super interesting, and I think very rare that I get to hear a story where you have somebody to really kind of go through it together. I imagine that you guys are pretty close.

[00:03:46] Jill Rippolone: yeah him and I are 13 months apart and we've been close our entire lives and I think having each other to deal with the same disease and deal with the same obstacles together it just kind of made it easier because we you know we had each other um and when him and I were growing up and in school together, we were the only diabetics in the school. So it's just crazy how once you, you know, as you get older and it's just years past, it's like you kind of realize that you're not the only ones anymore. It just feels like it's so common now where you're just meeting more and more

[00:04:30] Rob Howe: diabetics everywhere. Yeah. And I think I experienced a little bit of that myself. I'm the only one in my family with diabetes as well I don't have any extended family, no distant relatives No grandparents or anything like that I feel like I had a few people that I came in contact with Very early on When I was diagnosed or I had known people throughout my childhood Who had had type 1 diabetes but then for years I uh I kind of kept it under wraps not by choice but just I didn't have any issues and I was kind of just going through uh and just living my kind of normal life and I think one time I ran into a guy who saw my pump tubing sticking out of my pocket at Chipotle and was like hey he's like hey I have this pump I have a pump too and uh this was in college and it was just like a cool like kind of surreal experience and now yeah and now I feel like I run into people all the time, not as much in person, I guess, but, uh, you know, via Instagram and social media.

[00:05:35] Jill Rippolone: Yeah, it's definitely more common. Um, I, when I was in college, um, I was serving tables and I would actually have customers that were testing like their blood sugar right there at the table. And I had another customer, um, she actually had, I'm on the Medtronic mini med pump, but she had the Omnipod and she had it right on her arm. And I meet immediately. I was like, oh my god you're one of me so it was really cool because we were we were just talking and um i could tell like she was happy that someone could relate and there was someone else you know out there like she was and um it's just really cool to see other people out there and um just kind of it's it's not hidden anymore that's the thing diabetes is hidden there was a time where no one had you know you didn't think anyone had diabetes and you would hide your shots, you would hide your, you know, testing your blood sugars. And now it's just, you know, it's so second nature and there's just no more hiding it. People I just feel like are much more comfortable, um, who they are now with diabetes. And like I said, thanks to social media, I think that really helps people a lot as well

[00:06:46] Rob Howe: when they see it. I think so too. And I think part of that is technology a little bit. Um, You know, we are very fortunate to kind of have been diagnosed when we were. Obviously, you have the last 20 years, and I'm sure your day-to-day maintenance is so much easier now than when it was when you were diagnosed. And, you know, talking to people who have had diabetes for, you know, around 40 years, and, you know, they're looking at, you know, mirrors that take a minute to process your blood sugar and injections with glass syringes and, you know, having to boil syringes and things like that. Like it was sort of a very kind of gross. And like you said, people kept it very secret. And I think now with technology and like the different accessories, and I think it's much more, it's much easier to live as a diabetic now and be a little bit more public with it than it used to be.

[00:07:37] Jill Rippolone: Yeah, for sure. I think one of the most amazing advancements is the CGM. I'm actually newer to the CGM. I'm on the Dexcom G5 and I've had, I've been on the Medtronic Mini Med now for, I want to say, I mean, at least 12 to 15 years now. It's been a really long time, but I just never wanted another device and attachment on me. I thought dealing with insulin pump was, it was just, it was a lot to begin with. And then having another device, I just didn't want any part of it. And so I kind of shut myself off to that idea until I joined kind of social media on Instagram. And I, you know, I came up with my T1D chick account and I just saw more and more people and connecting with everybody. They kind of opened up my, my mind to the idea. So I met this one guy and he said to me, Hey, listen, I really want you to try the Dexcom. I said, well, I don't really think it's for me. He goes, no, no, no. I'm going to send you one of mine to try. So I was like, okay. So he sends me. I never met this guy a day in my life, okay? We were just social media buddies type of thing. And he sent me his Dexcom. And I was so nervous putting it on. Super, super nervous. So there's a diet support group on Long Island. And we had a meetup. and I made friends with just so many other diabetics and I brought my Dexcom and there was a couple of people there that had the Dexcom and they put it on me and it was just, I couldn't believe how simple it was and ever since that day, that was this past August, it just changed my life forever. I don't know how I honestly survived without it. It's like you could keep track of just everything and you're in full control and I just think it's just technology is just a beautiful thing that's so great and I think I want

[00:09:42] Rob Howe: to back up a little bit as well because that's the exact reason that I don't use a cgm like I hate having more than like because I don't have to have it and I actually got fitted for uh an early like cgm this is probably like five years ago that worked with the the mini med because I'm a medtronic mini med user as well yep that um and i think you you might have broke up a little bit

[00:10:06] Jill Rippolone: there so say that one more time the Enlite CGM, correct, with the Medtronic yep that's the one

[00:10:11] Rob Howe: and so it had like the little like it kind of looks like a horseshoe crab and it like yeah it looks like a little bit of an egg yeah and it had the like tape that went over it and i like I had this meeting with um a medtronic diabetes educator and we had this one-on-one and she came to my like college and we talked for a couple hours and I was like look like I want to use this technology but I'm also very active and at the time was still like actively playing basketball as my like job so I was training like four to six hours a day and so having like an extra piece on me. I was like, okay, well, I'll like go to the gym and take it really easy. And that'll, and I'll see if like, it'll work for me, if I'm going to be able to keep this on. And literally within five minutes of my first workout, it fell off. And I was like, okay, this is just not, this is not for me. And so, uh, it always sort of deterred me, but it looks like I might have to give a Dexcom another look. And I've been really on the edge about it as well. Like I've been really close to the, to jumping in and just doing it. So, uh, I think I might just have to. Honestly, it's like

[00:11:17] Jill Rippolone: when you have someone that is so just passionate about something you're kind of like oh my god and it just like i said it opens your mind and when you try something and you have i mean you have to give it a chance you know overnight you're not going to be convinced when i was on the medtronic pump i i hated it it was just it was it was horrible and i hated it i wanted nothing to do with it, but it grows on you and it just becomes a part of who you are. But with the Dexcom, I actually tried the Enlite. I wanted to stick with, you know, my Medtronic products. I love Medtronic. Like I said, I've had this pump now for almost like 15 years. But the Enlite with the Medtronic, even though it connects to each other, it wasn't for me. It's like there's always pros and cons to everything so i was fortunate enough to try the Enlite, i want to do kind of like a trial, and while i was on the Enlite doing the trial that's when i decided i'm gonna also do the dexcom at the same time because i wanted to compare notes i didn't want to be on something because you know just someone suggested it i wanted to see from myself which would be this better cgm and you know there there's pros and cons to everything but the dexcom g5 for me was the best fit and it's super accurate it doesn't lose signal and um you know if you're really that if you're really like willing to try it i'll even send you one of mine oh my gosh i might have to take you up on that so yeah yeah and i'll definitely you know i'll help you online if you want me to like set it up for you and i could like put it on myself and then you know you could do step by step

[00:13:05] Rob Howe: I'll definitely help you. Awesome. So let's, let's talk a little bit about, about your T1D chick account. Obviously, you know, you've got, you know, a lot of followers and you've been over the last year, you know, just getting a lot of, you know, engagement and talking to a lot of other type 1 diabetics. What sort of inspired you to do that? Well, I started off by kind of like

[00:13:35] Jill Rippolone: wanting to make like a meme page. So I started off doing that on my original T1D chick account. And then as I was kind of like looking at the hashtags like diabetes type 1 and all that, all these images would pop up of people of like videos and their insulin pumps and their CGMs. And I just got kind of hooked like, oh, my God, you know, there's other diabetics out there. And once I saw that, I decided to kind of change the T1D chick page to my own personal life living with type 1 diabetes every day. And that's exactly what I did. I just kind of posted and, you know, just kind of looking at other followers and seeing how brave they are just to even post this kind of stuff. And like I said, I felt like it was overnight. it was just the just the followers kept coming and coming and coming and um i really decided that i wanted to to do something large with with it with the community and um so i just stay active and i'll be out and i'll be posting you know my blood sugars and the thing about social media is that you have all these people that always want to show you the best the positive right but what I do is I post the good, the bad, the ugly because my life isn't perfect. I wake up with blood sugars 300. You know, I'll drop to let's say 50 and it happens because no person is perfect and with diabetes to kind of give a false image that, you know, I have a flat line with my, you know, with my CGM and my numbers are always perfect. That's not the case and people have to see that you're an inspiration and you want people to look up to you, but you also want people to, you want to inspire them and they're going to get discouraged if they just see all like this positive stuff all the time. So I felt like giving just a daily, you know, a picture, a glimpse of my life could really help people and we can all relate together.

[00:15:50] Rob Howe: Yeah, I totally agree. And I think obviously you're doing a fantastic job and I think and people really respond to that. Talk a little bit about some of the messages you get and some of the, you know, either questions or different scenarios or, you know, different types of type ones or maybe parents of type ones that reach out to you.

[00:16:11] Jill Rippolone: I, my followers are from all around the world. And I think it's really interesting, um, that I have people reach out, you know, it could be as, you know, close as New York or California, or I'll have, you know, followers hitting me up from Spain, Turkey, Australia, literally all over the world. And, um, it really opens up your mind a little bit because I have, um, for example, Actually, this was yesterday. There was a girl from Turkey and she was asking me about my Dexcom. And I was explaining how, oh, you know, my insurance covers it. And, you know, this is the one I decided to go with. And it was really sad because she was saying in her country that the technology isn't so advanced. And certain things over in other countries, they're not up to the speed where we are with it. and um and she was just you know saying like you're an inspiration and I I want to be on a CGM just like you she goes but I you know I can't afford it and um and it's like the models are just so different but then I'll have other people that um I'll have parents and they'll hit me up and they'll just say you know thank you for all that you post and you really helped my daughter out and you know, she's going to the gym more or being more conscious of her blood sugars. People tell me that their A1Cs have gone down because of just the little things that I post, whether it's a simple like a meal prep that's like easy to do or if it's just going to the gym. And we just we all have to encourage each other and inspire. And that's what it's all about.

[00:17:57] Rob Howe: it really is because you know i think something that we talk about I'm a JDRF mentor in Dallas and you know a lot about what what we talk about is sometimes especially as a young uh young person or even a teenager who gets diagnosed with type 1 you're only hearing diabetes related advice from your doctor or from your parents right sometimes they don't see the whole picture and i'm not saying don't listen to your doctor absolutely 100% listen to your doctor but it really helps to see somebody who is going through what you're going through living and thriving with type 1 diabetes and I think that's why it's so important that you know accounts like T1D Chick or you know beyond type 1 are out there because they tell the stories of people outside of what they of what they do and And they sort of humanize diabetes and say, oh, like this person is normal. They care about the same things I care about. And they have type 1. And it doesn't dominate their life. It's just a part of their daily routine.

[00:19:00] Jill Rippolone: And that's the thing. The best advice comes to those who are living with diabetes every day. Not the doctors who see you once every three months and they're not a diabetic. Yeah, they know all the medicine aspect of it. But they don't really know what it's like to actually live with diabetes. day to day. And, um, I think another thing is too, it's like, you also have all these misconceptions out there about what diabetes really is. And you have these large accounts, just like you said, beyond type 1 and, um, you know, and your account and my account. And it's like, we, we just show the world that, you know, diabetes, is it because, you know, you ate all this junk food and you're obese and now you have diabetes. No, that's not what diabetes is. And it's just, we just have to educate those that don't know. I know that there was something just posted online, actually, that SNL put out, and kind of like, I want to say mocking diabetes a little bit. And, you know, there was an outrage in our community about it, because you have like this big network and these shows that are just giving people misconceptions. And I mean, it's just, it's just not fair. And people need to really understand that diabetes isn't a joke. And it's our lives. And, you know, we need to just educate those instead of, you know, just kind of having these false accusations of what diabetes is.

[00:20:26] Rob Howe: Right. And I think, you know, misconceptions and like, you know, type 1 versus type 2, to the average person. And, you know, I'm not I don't blame people for their misconceptions, because I didn't have that much deep knowledge about diabetes before I was diagnosed. So a regular person, I give them a pass. And most of the time, people are just curious. But what are some of the other misconceptions that you run into, maybe interacting with your community?

[00:20:54] Jill Rippolone: I think a lot of people just assume it's like, oh, you ate too much sugar when you were a child. And of course, I mean, that is not the case. My pancreas is broken. and it doesn't produce insulin. And a lot of people just assume it's like, oh, you didn't eat right. Like you're to blame for it. And it's like that's not it. That's not it at all. God, what are other ones that people say? Something really like it's just mind-blowing. But, you know, I have so many people say to me, well, you don't look like a diabetic. Right. And I just have to laugh at that because it's like, like I said, because of all the misconceptions out there. People just assume you look a certain way if you're a diabetic. So that's definitely a big one too. But those are the ones I can think of at the top of my head.

[00:21:49] Rob Howe: Yeah, and I think, you know, I'm just trying to sort of paint a picture of, you know, what it's like to be somebody who's in the spotlight a little bit more or who has allowed a community to experience their life with them. um what are some maybe some instead of misconceptions uh what about other questions that you get um from you know either people who are within the t1d community or uh maybe outsiders just uh you know who are making comments like uh you don't look like a diabetic what other uh

[00:22:19] Jill Rippolone: sort of reactions do you get i have a lot of people um question me about my pump um i know Most diabetics at this point kind of have one, but there are people out there that are like, oh, do you still have a beeper? And I was like, oh, no, that's my insulin pump. And then they're kind of curious about it and what it does. But I'm trying to think of some others. But, yeah, a lot of people actually ask about my pump, too, as a diabetic. um people that are you know taking shots every day have so many questions and they're so afraid to kind of take the plunge with the pump and um it's just nice that you can kind of give them all the inside information but i think the the most important thing is not you know people that don't have a pump or cgm telling telling them like oh yeah it's great you know you'll be fine with it No, you have to explain to them, yeah, in the beginning, it's going to be difficult. You know, it's not going to be easy. You have to get used to it. But over, you know, over time, it just becomes second nature like anything.

[00:23:28] Rob Howe: Absolutely. And I think even when I think I've had my pump for almost 10 years, I guess nine years. And, you know, at first I was playing basketball. That was always a big part of my decisions. Like I didn't want it to change the way that I interacted with the game. and I so I just stayed on pens up through my freshman year of college and then at the start of my sophomore year my endo was like you know we can give you a little bit more flexibility you'll probably have better control if you switch over to the pump um and the whole time my my biggest like my biggest drawback all along was because I had these two friends when I was younger before I was type 1 who both who both had pumps but they had like the port so like they had surgery and like they injected them with or like, you know, put the port in there and that's where they connected their pump. Oh my gosh. Wow. It was, um, so I thought it was way more intrusive than it ended up being. And I also thought like it was very not sexy. It was very not attractive. And I was like, no, I'm not about to put a port on my body about this. I can just give myself shots. And my, and so it took a little bit of education as well. So, um, but yeah, I mean, I love my pump and there was certainly a little bit of, you know, an onboarding timeframe. It was like six weeks of, you know, keeping track of all my, you know, levels and really, really closely monitoring it to get it right. But once it's right, I think I've probably gone through like adjusted my basal, you know, less than 20 times over the last 10 years. And that's another thing

[00:24:59] Jill Rippolone: that you kind of touched upon about people not getting an insulin pump or CGM because they don't think it's sexy, or they don't think other people will find it attractive. And I wanted to kind of take that and build it into my account, into my T1D chick Instagram account, because, you know, it's like you see all these models out there, right? Everyone's skinny and everyone's posting these perfect pictures or whatever it is. And then, you know, there's diabetics out there that have, you know, things attached to them. And not all the time we feel sexy. But once I got into fitness and working out. And, um, I was like, you know what, I'm going to just post everyday photos of, you know, in the gym. And when I go out to let's say a bar or a club and, you know, my pump is out and kind of just take pictures to show people that, you know, you can be sexy with a pump you can be sexy with a cgm and um it just takes it just you have to build up to it you have to it's nice to see other people and um and that's kind of you know that i feel like that kind of helps as well when you see others that are flaunting their pump and you know wearing a sexy outfit and having your pump out um it definitely takes it definitely takes a little bit but you know, you have to be confident. You have to be happy with yourself. Yeah. And I think that's,

[00:26:37] Rob Howe: that was the biggest surprise for me about the pump. Like I thought it was going to be this issue where I wasn't going to have confidence, but it just integrated so much easier. I, I mean, I always have things in my pocket. Like I, like I, and I have this weird habit where I like slap all my pockets whenever I stand up to like go somewhere just to make sure that I have everything. right right and so the my pump just became another thing that i check for so uh like some days i'll have like my keys in my jacket or my phone in my jacket or something and then i'll like tap around like what's missing like where's my stuff um and i think that it was it was very interesting to see like that i got confidence from this thing that i thought for so long i was gonna have an issue with um and yeah my pump's just like you know really all it is is that i have to or that i usually wear gym shorts because they have pockets and you know because I need to carry my pump around in it

[00:27:30] Jill Rippolone: right right well um well I so I'm a world traveler I love traveling and I do everything alone so back about I want to say it's going on almost two summers now um I was living in Italy I was teaching um English in in Italy and um I had my pump I had backup supplies I had everything with me and my pump I want to say it was like I think it was the beginning of August so I still had like another month um in Italy where I was out one night and I had my insulin pump in my chest like in my bra and it must have pushed all my buttons in at some point and my pump just it just died like there was no turning back I couldn't get the pump on at all so I called McTronic and I explained to them, hey, listen, I'm out of the country. I'm, you know, I'm going to be here for another month. You know, you guys have to send me a replacement. So, you know, in different countries, things don't operate like they do in the States. So they said, okay, no problem. We're going to send you a pump. And I, they actually had to give me like a different model because of like the customs. They wouldn't, they wouldn't allow, I guess, the model that I currently have in their country. And not only that, but it took weeks to get the pump. So you have to think of, you know, I'm someone on the pump now for 15 years not having my pump. It's like, what do you do? So I actually for those few weeks that while I was waiting for my pump to get delivered, I was actually taking shots. And it was just so crazy because it was as much as I didn't have my pump, I felt a sense of freedom. It was kind of like almost like a little mini vacation from my pump, you know, not having it always on me not having to worry about the heat and swimming and things like that. But I couldn't wait at the same time to have my pump back. It's just it's just part of who I am. And I can't imagine not having it just can't. It's interesting that you mentioned

[00:29:37] Rob Howe: the, you know, being without it, kind of being a little bit freeing. Because that that happened to me as well. And that's in the way that I view playing basketball. And obviously, I keep coming back to it, it's gonna always be like my favorite thing. Right? I, you know, when I got my pump, I just would suspend it, and I take it off. And sometimes we'd have two, three hour practices. And in those times, I'd have to step out and give myself a little bit of insulin or test my blood just to make sure I was okay. Um, and I had an awesome training staff that helped me with that, but I also felt exactly the same. Like I get on the court and I'd be like, yeah, like I'm the same as everybody else. I don't have a pump holding me, holding me down or it's not going to get caught in anything. And yeah, certainly I had my pump site get ripped out a few times or like sliding on the floor or whatever, but I just, you know, put it back in, you know, put a new one in as soon as I got off. It was, and it'll always be that way. And I think it's also why I like swimming. like I can just take my pump off for a little while jump in the pool and it's a little 45

[00:30:40] Jill Rippolone: minute break from exactly from everything else um back to what you were saying earlier about what people message me um with some questions that they have now that I think about it one that's actually really common is people are very seem very discouraged with doing activity I guess is the best way to put it or traveling anything. I had a girl say to me, she's like, Oh, I've never been I never traveled before. I was like, Oh, well, why not? Well, with the diabetes, I'm afraid of my blood sugars. And I'm like, Wait a second, you're not you're you're being held back. Because you feel that, you know, because of your diabetes, if you're gonna have a low blood sugar high, I was like, how can you live your life like that? She's like, I don't know. But I you know, I see you, You're traveling the world and you do all these sports. She's like, I want to do that. And I said to her, well, you can, you know, it's things are going to happen. Yeah, you're going to get a low. You're going to get a high. You're going to feel, you know, a little overworked sometimes. But you have to just find your balance. And and people can't be discouraged to try different things because of diabetes. Perfect example. Yesterday, I took my second yoga class ever. and I was like oh this is great you know a break from lifting I get to kind of just meditate be a little relaxed what can possibly go wrong and I made sure my blood sugar was stable before doing some yoga and I actually had like an urgent low while I was doing yoga and I kind of disregarded it because I wanted to just, I just wanted to get through one activity, just kind of feeling normal. And I was pushing through, pushing through. And finally I was just so shaky and I was really overworked at the time. I had to just stop. And I was like, what am I doing? You know, I have to, I have to have my juice box. I have to have my glucose tabs. Um, and it's just, you know, as much as sometimes you want to forget about diabetes, it's, it's who you are. And, um, and no one looks at you differently. That's the thing. When I sat there, um, and I was very quiet about it. I had some juice and this girl looks over, she goes, Hey, are you okay? And I was, you know, I was like, Oh yeah, I'm a diabetic. I just, I, my blood sugar is a little low. She goes, Oh, okay. If you need anything, let me know. And there's other people out there that, you know, that are helpful and they're going to be supportive of you. But nothing should stop you from doing anything, especially diabetes. You just have to work through it and be strong.

[00:33:27] Rob Howe: And I think that's something that we've just got to get more okay with talking about as a whole. I think there's a lot of really encouraging messages out there from really inspiring people. And almost everyone comes onto the podcast and says, Like you can do anything with diabetes. And that's a message that we've got to continue to like perpetuate and put out in the universe and like tell people one person at a time. But also I think it's important that like we're not so hard on ourselves to think that we couldn't handle a blood sugar overseas or we couldn't – a low blood sugar incident or that we wouldn't be able to think far enough ahead that we pack enough supplies for a long trip. Right. You know, we it's that's, you know, all the comfort zone talk or, you know, adventure starts when you just leave your fear behind. I love traveling as well. I've you know, I've done 19 countries over the last few years and. Wow. It's amazing. Been very fortunate to go on a lot of awesome trips. And last year was the last the last time I went overseas. I went to Japan and I was I was by myself and I was climbing up at the Inari station. and there are these arches that are like 10,000 years old. It's like the most popular thing that people visit in Kyoto and Japan. And I was climbing up and I thought like based on these little maps, it looked like a really quick walk up like a hike up a hill, like not a big deal. It ended up being like a mile and a half. And I had been walking all day. I think I walked like an average of 13 miles a day and I was just having the most fun. But I was climbing up this mountain. It's the middle of the day and I didn't have like a very big lunch. So my blood sugar was like kind of going low and I felt a little bit lightheaded and I was climbing up and I like tested my blood sugar and I'm up on this temple, this 10,000 year old temple in the middle of Kyoto, Japan with like a bunch of other people. I don't speak Japanese and I'm, and I test my blood sugar and I'm like 52 and I'm like, okay, like I need to figure something out. And I had already eaten my granola bar from earlier and I looked up and right at this little place where I pulled over, like I pulled off to rest on this temple was a Coke machine. And I put in my, I put in my coins and I got a Coke and I corrected my low. I was like, you know what? We're going to be fine. We can go, if I can, on this crazy Japanese temple, and I've been walking for an hour and a half, I'm almost all the way to the top, and I can get a Coke up here, then diabetics are going to be fine. We're going to make it, guys.

[00:35:55] Jill Rippolone: That's another thing I learned, too. No matter where I go, lows can come on at any time. and it's I always keep at least like two juice boxes or two granola bars or you know just a couple different snacks on me just because of those reasons when I was in Ireland when I um I took a train out to the country because I was staying in Dublin at the time and um I there was like this cross and I just love crosses so there was like this cross at like the top of like this mountain in the country so I was like oh I'm gonna go check it out I thought it was like super super close, but it wasn't. I ended up hiking this mountain by myself. It was very desolate because it wasn't really, you know, there wasn't really too many people over there. So it was a small little, a small little village. And I ended up hiking about, I want to say it was about four miles with my backpack. And, you know, just while I was crashing, there was like this little like fishing village and, you know, a little cafe. And, you know, I had a delicious cupcake. But yeah, like things can happen at any time. You just have to be prepared for it.

[00:37:05] Rob Howe: And I think it also goes to show that no matter where you are in the world, there's always going to be some sort of sweet thing you can eat, right? Everybody, every culture, everyone loves sweet things. So you can always find a sugar rush somewhere to correct a low.

[00:37:20] Jill Rippolone: Well, people always say like, oh, what's it like never having sugar, never having cake or cookies? And I look at them, I'm like, what are you talking about? you know, as long as you have, if you're going to have something, if you're going to, let's say, quote unquote cheat, right? It's like, no matter what you do in life, it has to be in moderation. You know, if there was a piece of cake, let's say it was someone's, someone's birthday, you know, do you think I'm going to watch someone eat cake? No, I'm going to make sure my blood sugar, you know, is stable. Um, you know, I give myself the proper dosage of insulin and instead of having a huge piece of cake, maybe I'll cut that cake in half and just have a smaller piece of it. But yeah, I mean, nothing could stop you, even with food. It doesn't have to stop you from living. As long as you do things in moderation, I think that's the key.

[00:38:15] Rob Howe: 100%. 100%. This interview is going really well, and I love this conversation. Something that I don't always get to talk about with my guests is what sort of, you know, since You've put yourself in this position of influence to help other type 1 diabetics and help educate people in their journey as well. What's your favorite interaction or favorite time you were able to help somebody out?

[00:38:44] Jill Rippolone: Well, oh gosh. I think with social media because you're behind a screen essentially. So I think when people message me privately and they ask for support and they ask for advice, I think that's the most rewarding part of, you know, what I kind of stand for. Because I want to help people. Because when I was younger, I never had people to really inspire me with diabetes, with living with diabetes. And if there's one thing I want, especially the younger generation to know, is that you have to take care of yourself. You can't think that you could just drink and you can party and you're going to live a healthy life. And I came across so many people, actually, that had so many complications in their early 20s because of all their partying and stuff. And if there's one thing that I could get through, especially to like the younger, the younger generations is that, you know, diabetes isn't a joke and you have to take it seriously. And as much as you can have fun, I mean, it's not something that you could, you know, you can mess with. Like your life is on the line. and I just really want to be able to reach out to those kids and those teenagers and those, you know, adolescents, just letting them know that, you know, there's other people like you and living a good life and you just have to inspire them.

[00:40:23] Rob Howe: Totally agree. And in that same vein, how do they get in touch with you? If somebody's listening to this and maybe they don't already follow you, although they probably do, how do they get in touch with you or reach out with any questions they may have either on different social media platforms or what have you?

[00:40:41] Jill Rippolone: Well, I have my T1D Chick Instagram account. And then I have – I created a meme page for diabetics as well, and that is Kiss My Pancreass. So I have that account as well, because I think that it's nice to kind of, you know, joke around and make light of diabetes. And, you know, it's just like people's comments and reactions are just priceless. And I just love it. And then I also have a Facebook page. There's it's I get messages on there as well. If you do facebook.com backslash type 1 Titans. Titans so it's T-Y-P-E the number one Titans T-I-T-A-N-S and that's another um another social media that I have going and that's more um I feel like I get a lot of families on there as well um trying to just you know ask for advice on what to do as like a type 1 parent so um so that's another another um another social media outlet as well but I always another other thing that I always tell people, you know, reach out, feel free to message me about anything. And if people want to Skype or if they want to FaceTime and they just want, you know, someone to talk to, or, you know, let's say if it's some simple as, you know, showing someone how to do, you know, set their, their pump up or their CGM, you know, I, I don't mind doing that. I want to be there for people just how I, you know, I, I expect those people to be there for me as well.

[00:42:26] Rob Howe: absolutely well thank you so much Jill for coming on the show um you know i think this is going to be this is going to be great i love your insights and um you know really hope that um and wish you the best on the type 1 chick endeavor and i know i'm sure that we're going to be working together more in the future and um trying to bring more uh type ones together and you know really spreading the word and building awareness on how many awesome people there are out there with that just happened to have this disease.

[00:42:56] Jill Rippolone: Yeah, thank you so much. I appreciate it. I wish you the best with everything as well.

[00:43:03] Rob Howe: Thanks for listening to Diabetics Doing Things. Subscribe to our newsletter for weekly emails and behind-the-scenes content. And if you or someone you know has an amazing story to share, send an email to rob at diabeticsdoingthings.com.