Diabetics Doing Transformation with Alexa Pearlmutter

[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. What's up everybody? Rob Howe here. Just wanted to throw some gratitude your way this afternoon because we just crossed over 25,000 downloads all time for diabetics doing things and I owe that all to you. So thank you guys so much for listening. It totally makes my day whenever you tell me that the podcast has affected you positively in some way. So keep listening. I appreciate you to the max. All right, let's get back to the episode. hello and welcome back to diabetics doing things uh we're here with new episodes in 2017 and my special guest today from new york is miss Alexa Pearlmutter welcome to the podcast hey rob and everyone else that's listening you got to give the shout out to the listeners uh it's a huge part of this um definitely so welcome um tell us a little bit about yourself You and I connected on Instagram as all great type 1 diabetics do in 2017.

[00:01:18] Alexa Pearlmutter: There's nothing quite like going on Instagram and finding all diabetics all over the world.

[00:01:23] Rob Howe: How many photos?

[00:01:24] Alexa Pearlmutter: I feel like that's where I find most people because I really only know in person probably two maybe.

[00:01:32] Rob Howe: Yeah, isn't that cool? It's hard to believe how many photos I've liked of someone's blood sugar reading in the last six years.

[00:01:41] Alexa Pearlmutter: Oh my God. A hundred percent. Every time I see like a unicorn when someone's Dexcom or something matches their meter, I'm like, oh yeah, you go man or female. I feel that struggle, right? I get that.

[00:01:56] Rob Howe: Yeah, totally. So, uh, so tell us a little bit about yourself. Tell us about your, uh, your journey with type 1 and kind of how we got to today.

[00:02:04] Alexa Pearlmutter: Okay. Well, I'm Alexa. I'm 25. I'm an occupational therapist in Staten Island, New York. I work with high school students with autism, mental disabilities, Down syndrome. I also teach yoga. um what else let's see my my type 1 story I was actually diagnosed pretty late I was diagnosed in college it was after my second semester freshman year so I went all through high school I was an athlete I played basketball soccer I swam for a little bit um and then my second semester I came home from college and I guess I was talking to my friends and they started realizing things. Like I lost like, I don't know, 20 to 30 pounds at the end. I was like falling asleep at my friend's house. My friend's parents thought I was like on drugs. It was actually pretty scary. I guess I was always thirsty. I pledged a sorority. I was always carrying around like this gallon of water and I never really thought like that something could be actually wrong with me. I never gave it a chance. And then one of my friends was like, hey, like maybe you should look into like seeing if something's wrong because I was always so tired and um so I did I drove home actually from college and I had to pull over like on the Bingham I went to school in Buffalo so about like seven or eight hours upstate and I had to pull over like three times because I was so tired I was falling asleep at the wheel and when I got home from school um I was out with my parents I was always so thirsty buying things. And I started looking up, actually looking into diabetes. So I was one of those people that went on like the WebMD. And you know how it's always like you scare yourself into don't look up your symptoms because you scare yourself into thinking you're dying. Right. Well, I pretty much like diagnosed myself. I was like, I told my parents, we have to go to the doctor. I think I have diabetes. And they kind of looked at me like I had five heads. They're like, what? Sure, I guess. We'll take you to the doctor. You're crazy. and so I went and I told him and I was like can we just run some blood tests like I think I'm diabetic I have all the symptoms that it lists online and he was like oh you're like I think you're fine you look fine you look healthy um and then they ran the test he was like oh I'll see you in like a year for your checkup and the next day we got a call from the doctor and my a1c was 15.5 Oh, boy. Yeah. So I had I mean, I didn't even really know what diabetes was, to be honest, as a freshman. I knew that I knew type 2 diabetes, but I didn't know. So I didn't really I didn't really know what it was like the severity of it. So I was like, oh, it's no big deal. Like I have diabetes. And then I actually like started learning, like going to the diabetes educator. And that was just like a shell shock for me. I started crying. And then ever since then, it's just been a learning experience for sure.

[00:05:13] Rob Howe: So I really want to focus on, you know, something that you said at the beginning, because, you know, you were like a totally normal, functional college student, right? So you were talking to your friends about like your symptoms, like, hey, I'm like losing some weight. I'm drinking a lot of water. I'm like, I'm thirsty, probably going to the restroom all the time, like, and being really tired. Like those are common symptoms to a college student, right? Right.

[00:05:36] Alexa Pearlmutter: Right, and I was tired from finals, and we were pledging, so we were going through a lot all together, so it kind of made sense that we were tired, but one of my friends, her name is Dina, she was pre-med, so she was like, you know, it sounds like diabetes, and I was like, no way, but then I started really looking into it, and when I got home, I was like, I have to go to the doctor, like, I think I have this.

[00:06:01] Rob Howe: And that's interesting, because even your doctor looked at you and examined you, and was and thought that you you know looked fine so right only after like the lab work came back did they did they know that that it was diabetes that's interesting and i think and yeah go on

[00:06:18] Alexa Pearlmutter: no no go ahead i didn't want to cut you off oh um i was just gonna say and even when i was diagnosed they thought like maybe it's something else like they sent me to a nutritionist instead to see like maybe they didn't really know what it was they they just thought oh maybe something's going on with your pancreas some things go on like maybe it's something else so I went to a nutritionist and she was convinced I didn't have it because it was so late in the game but now that I'm like I've had it for like almost seven years now I and I'm on all the communities and Instagram and all that like I've I've been seeing it's diagnosed a lot it's a lot more prevalent like even when you're

[00:06:56] Rob Howe: not a child right I think like uh I saw some numbers from JDRF it's almost like 50 50 like Like if 20,000 people or 40,000 people get it every year, then half and half are below and above 18. So, yeah. Wow. I didn't know that.

[00:07:12] Alexa Pearlmutter: That's really interesting.

[00:07:13] Rob Howe: It is. And I think a lot of the reason is like awareness. Like when you're an adult, like you didn't have to spend any time in the hospital. Like there was no really dramatic event. And you can sort of learn and take care of yourself on the fly. And I think when you're a kid, there's just a lot more, you know, education for you and like parents and things like that. So, yeah, I mean, I even had a conversation with someone, I believe it was like episode four or five of my podcast with a girl who didn't even go – like the doctor just gave her a DVD that was in Spanish and she didn't even speak Spanish. So she learned how to test her blood sugar, give herself insulin based on a DVD in another language. Wow.

[00:07:57] Alexa Pearlmutter: That's awful. I went to, when I got diagnosed, like I said, they sent me initially to the nutritionist and I was on metformin. They put me on pills because they didn't know exactly what was going on. And then that was not working. I think I was on Actos too. And that was just not working. So then I started taking insulin via pens. And then that transitioned to a pump. And I was educated. Actually, that was like one of my horror stories going to the diabetes educator because, I don't know, I was like 18 years old and then they start talking about how it's really hard to have babies and basically in my head they were like, you're never going to be able to have a kid. So at 18, like that's just what I interpreted it as. So it was like horrifying to me. I was like, oh my God, what's going to happen in my life? Not that I was thinking about having kids at 18, but it was just like scary. Like this is a real disease that's going to really affect me. like throughout my whole life. So that's when it was kind of like a shock to me that it was real. Well, and I think there's definitely education that can get like misconstrued, especially like

[00:09:10] Rob Howe: how old you are, depending when you get it. Well, and I think bedside manner has a lot to do with it, like how you get the news delivered to you. I was very fortunate. I say it all the time, like Children's Medical Center in Dallas is amazing. And my and my diabetes educators made me feel like anything was possible from the first minute that I met them. But your experience is very common. Like people leave with misconceptions all the time. And like you said, it could just be misinterpretation. It's not necessarily that the doctors told them anything wrong, but you focus on one thing and you're in that sort of emotional vulnerable state. And, you know, you can leave

[00:09:49] Alexa Pearlmutter: with a lot of misconceptions. Right. Like it was so new to me. And of course, I'm going in with my perception of, oh, I'm going to be okay. This is not a big deal. And then you learn what it really is. And you're like, holy moly, this is actually a really big deal. So I think that's what hit home. But then the women that came to my house that taught me how to use my pump, they were excellent. I really had good experiences since then. My endo is great. it's just that that's where like that experience for me I know I manifested like a few years ago that ever since then because I'm an OT I can go for my diabetic educator certification so I eventually really want to do that and especially just target I mean I don't really want to target anyone but if there are people like me that are going through it at an older age that have no

[00:10:46] Rob Howe: idea just going into it maybe a different way you know yeah and I think um getting involved with like an organization like I'm a I'm a JDRF mentor so we have a great JDRF chapter in Dallas and there's a lot of mentors that um get paired up with people who get diagnosed recently and it's harder for adults like that age group I think um because they're so independent is because there's not a centralized like diagnosis location like kids get diagnosed at children's hospitals so it's pretty easy to get them the right information. But, you know, mentors get paired up with people within the same age group where they were diagnosed for the most part. So I was diagnosed when I was 16. So most of the people that I've been, you know, fortunate enough to get paired up with are like teenagers. So it kind of, you know, share that experience. And I think that's a, you know, now, especially that there's more awareness around getting type 1 later in your life. You know, I think that's something that would be super valuable and talking about, you know to college students because I want to talk about that as well like you go back to school like second semester what was that like right I mean like I said I was diagnosed so I came home

[00:11:56] Alexa Pearlmutter: second semester um it was May and then I went to the doctor was diagnosed I had to go right back sophomore year and that was tough um I moved into a new apartment I was off campus I was um I guess you could say partying more, partying more with my friends, having more freedom there. And to be like 100% honest, I was really irresponsible. You know, it's like all this new freedom. I had no idea really what this disease was all about. I'm eight hours from home. I'm, I mean, I was always responsible with school, that aspect of it. But I do, I even to this day, Like I have a great job and everything, but I still like to go out and have fun with my friends. But at that point it was just so new. And I think I was like in the resistance stage, like, oh, this thing isn't real. Like I don't have to care. Like nothing's, nothing's going to happen. And I look back now and like, I'm just so thankful that nothing happened to me. You know, like, um, I couldn't recall waking up and having like my blood sugar be like 430, like something like that. And then just being like, oh, it's no big deal. you know? And now I'm like, Oh my God, if that ever happened, my, my meter scared me the other day. I took my sugar and the blood went in slower. So, you know, it never is going to give you the accurate reading that way. It was like blood sugars over 600. I was like, no way, no way. And I took it again and it was one 30. So I was thankful. But I mean, I woke up a lot with sky high sugars. Alcohol does not do well on a 19 year old newly diagnosed diabetic. Yeah. So it was just a tough, it was like a, it was definitely a learning, learning experience.

[00:13:46] Rob Howe: So let's, let's talk about that a little bit. Cause I think it's very important, right? And everybody goes through it sort of in spite of your, you know, lifestyle, party lifestyle, whatever. I mean, most people eventually want to have a drink. And I think everybody's doctor warns them at some point that there's a serious risk. I know mine were extremely like over the top about it. But yeah, you're 19. You're now living off campus. So there's less oversight, less rules. You get to make your own decisions. And like every normal college kid, you want to feel like you're normal and part of the group. So let's talk about it. What was that like those decisions that you had to make as a diabetic, paint a picture for somebody who might be going through that.

[00:14:36] Alexa Pearlmutter: Right. So like I said, college, I personally had a great college experience. I met my best friends there. I was away from home, and you just get into the peer pressure aspect of it all. Like, all my friends are doing this. And not to sound like I needed to impress anyone who I'm with, but yeah I wanted to go out and have fun with my friends and experience the college lifestyle I guess you would say but being so newly diagnosed it was just I honestly it's like scary to me thinking back on it because it's so real right you go you look at all these pictures of young like 19 that's so young um that's first of all probably illegal that I'm saying this because it's the 21 drinking age, but it's college. So people do that. But I look, I look back on it. And it's just wild to me. I was obviously informed that all the dangers of drinking, even if you even if you're not diabetic, there's dangers of drinking, of course. But it's like, that resistance was nothing's wrong with me. I'm fine. No matter like I have to bring a pump. So what I have to give myself insulin. So what I'm just like everyone else. when really it's dangerous. And like even today, like I'll at 25, I'll still go out and have drinks with my friends. But I'm so aware and conscious of my alcohol and make sure that I eat something before I go to sleep so that I don't wake up low because you can get dehydrated and your sugar could actually go lower.

[00:16:12] Rob Howe: Well, I mean, let's let's let's be fair, right? Like alcohol is sugar. Yeah. I mean, it metabolizes the sugar and like, you know, you mix some things up like you have a rum and coke and you've got like 40 carbs in like a tiny little cup. So it's like something you don't think of. But also, like you said, empty carbs. So, you know, you're going to go up and down. And like especially if you're wearing like a CGM, you're going to be going spiking high and going low. It's sort of like a roller coaster.

[00:16:39] Alexa Pearlmutter: And you never know. It's just like I eat a banana in the morning, right? One day I'll eat a banana and I'll give myself the same amount of insulin for it and my sugar will be sky high and I'll eat the same banana and I'll be perfect and I'll eat the same banana and I'll be low. Like it's kind of it's hard to gauge. It's not all the same. Right. So in college, you're at you're at a party and there's they make the drinks for you there. Right. So you're having this sugary, sugary blue drink and you have no idea what's in it. And it's just so like I go out now and I'll have a nice water, like a vodka soda or something like that. Very like I'll never have a ginger ale or anything sugary. It's just it's it's really wild how you mature and you really grow into acceptance rather than denial. That's what I find for myself. Like I was definitely in denial that first year. And then, you know, it was a learning. My junior and senior year, it got better and better. And then I stayed in Buffalo another year. I did a five-year master's program. And I still lived in the house with all my friends. But, I mean, you're in graduate school. You're studying. You're doing your thing. Like, I was less concerned about that. and you just start to your perspective really starts to change and I think it doesn't even matter like whether you're in college or whether you're a kid there's definitely a resistance or a denial aspect like the stages of acceptance right so there's just like a turning point when you realize this is my life like I either have to own it or let it own me and that and it just

[00:18:29] Rob Howe: wasn't going to own me. And as you were going through that transition, because I think that's something that, you know, a lot of people go through or are going through on a consistent basis. And like you said, you know, five stages of like grief or whatever, you know, denial and anger and, and, you know, depression. There you go. Those are the words. Right? Yeah. Yeah. So, I mean, this is what you do, right? You know, occupational therapists, like you, you talk to people about these types of feelings like as a diabetic you know and for you specifically what do you what were those triggers what were those things that would kind of send you into a bad headspace or um and then once those things started to you started to accept them what were

[00:19:11] Alexa Pearlmutter: things that changed for you i think the real big thing for me has always been comparison when i start comparing myself to other people, even to this day, like you can get, anyone can get so caught up if you're on Instagram and you're on the explore tab and you see all these people that are like, their lives are perfect and they have these perfect relationships and these perfect meals and all this stuff. When really, um, a lot of that stuff is like the highlights of your life put on, put on display, right? You're not going to put the lows and things like that unless, unless you want to get really real about something. So I think comparison for me would be the thing that just got made me get in my head and get down about myself like, oh, my friends could go out, they don't have to worry about, you know, going to the bathroom, taking their blood sugar, or they don't have to worry about how many carbs are in this drink or this meal that they're eating. They don't have to wear a CGM and a Dexcom and a pump and carry apple juice and tabs and a banana every single place they go. They don't have to beep in the back of class, you know, so all these things would go through my head. And that's really where it comes where it would come from getting down on myself or being embarrassed because I was, I lived my whole life until I was 18 without it. So it was new. And then, And then, I don't know, it was tough comparing myself. So then I realized that comparison, it took a while. It wasn't just overnight, right? So I graduated with my master's. I was still not as upfront about it. I wouldn't tell people if I didn't really know who they were. and then recently I started practicing yoga and I got my teacher training in that and I I just came to more of an acceptance around everything around myself I'm never going to be anyone else in this whole entire world why should I be ashamed of something when I could really just be a stand for people with diabetes I could be a stand for education and acceptance around something that you can't really prevent or know what it comes from and doesn't change you as the person you are on the inside. So, um, ever since then, like even it's, it's still new this year. It was the first year I did the JDRF one walk and I talked about doing it last year, starting a team, but I never did. And then this year I started a team and it was just incredible. Like the amount of support, the people that came out, I led a yoga class donation based for it. We raised like $400 alone doing that. My friends and family came and donated my co-workers. It was, it's just so empowering to be a stand for people that are going through what you're going through and, and empowering rather than being in that comparison mode that I spent a lot of my

[00:22:22] Rob Howe: college years in. Yeah. And I think, you know, compare, you talk about comparison, you know, know for diabetics and non-diabetics alike like that's a it's a huge trap and especially today with social media right like nobody shares how well i say not nobody but most people don't share how tough their day's going um or that they're struggling nobody wants to say hey look at me i'm

[00:22:44] Alexa Pearlmutter: having a tough time right so and if they do it's from it's from complaining aspect rather than like the vulnerability aspects like i'm vulnerable here but that's also a strength right that that could also be like a superpower like I'm vulnerable enough to show you exactly how I feel in this

[00:23:03] Rob Howe: moment rather than complain about it exactly yeah and it goes back to that like acceptance and openness and you mentioned your yoga practice and like yoga yoga certification what about that specifically was um were the triggers that kind of made you you know feel like hey I need to be

[00:23:20] Alexa Pearlmutter: more open and outward with this? So I was never a yogi. Like you, my best friend ever since kindergarten was into yoga in high school. And I was the basketball, soccer athlete player that couldn't touch my toes because my hamstrings were so tight. And I was embarrassed to do anything graceful. And I considered yoga to be like on the opposite realm of my life. And then here I am 25, like a hardcore I love yoga yoga instructor but I really think that was the turnaround for me even with OT I loved OT because it gave it empowered people it anyone with a disability anyone with an injury anyone with anything mental health illness whatever's going on with you like OT is for enabling you to do your meaningful activities your occupations and then along with that, I started practicing yoga in college, just at the gym. And because it was really, it was actually a real challenge for me. Like I said, I was really tight. Like it wasn't about touching my toes. And that's what I realized. So I went home, I moved back home from Buffalo, and I got involved at, I just started practicing randomly at this yoga studio around my job. And I fell in love with the practice. Like I fell in love that it wasn't kumbaya chanting, like um not that there's anything wrong with that but it was more of like a realness like people the teachers would speak about their real experiences like day-to-day stuff and they weren't scared of letting people know exactly how they felt and there's like a like a staten island edge to it i feel like at this you do because you wouldn't really expect it to be talking about i don't know people like we will some classes people will be talking about like the bachelor or something like that, but it's, you can relate everything back to your life and everything back to how you show up on your mat, your mat's a mirror. So when I'm really hard on myself on my mat, like when I can't do something or if the person next to me is doing something and I'm like involved with that when I was, when I first started, your mat's your mirror. So if you're really hard on yourself during your practice, you're really hard on yourself everywhere in your life. So I definitely realized that through my yoga practice, I was really tough on myself. Like I would, I don't know. I like if I couldn't do something, I'd get mad and frustrated. And then I found myself if I didn't look a certain way, or if I didn't present myself, if I didn't sound smart, I would get hard on myself. I would be in my head at night thinking about what I could done better, what I could have said better, what, how I could have presented myself better. And then with diabetes, it just, I did a 40 day program, which is kind of a program where you shift your diet, you meditate every day, you practice six times a week. It's based on a book by Baron Baptiste. And through that, I realized, like, I'm the only, I went, I looked at my journal from day one, and it's like, I hate that I have diabetes. Like, it sucks. It's such a damper on my life. Like, I'm trying to do good. And, you know, I'll wake up in the middle of the night with a low blood sugar thinking I'm, like, dying and other things like that. And then by week six, I was like, I'm awesome. Anyone that doesn't like me, it's their loss. Like I have, you know, seriously, these are things I'm worthy of whatever is coming to me. Like, you know, diabetes helped shape me as a person. It gives me a better understanding of others. It really gave me empathy for other people's situations and that you could still be strong and like meaningful even when you're going through struggle and struggle makes you stronger. So ever since then, I was really just inspired to not only inspire other diabetics, but inspire other people. So that's why I did my training. That's why I reached out to Beyond Type 1 and wrote a story about when I went to Vietnam and traveling with diabetes. probably before this if anyone would have asked me to do a phone interview or an interview or any sort of anything about it I don't know if I would have said yes but I mean if you can reach one person and connect with one person and help or just be a stand for one other person then I think

[00:28:07] Rob Howe: that's a success I couldn't agree more and I think you know what is what a strong message to send to our listeners and to diabetics really everywhere. I'm glad you said yes. I'm glad you said yes to coming on the podcast. It was great to have you.

[00:28:24] Alexa Pearlmutter: Me too. I'm glad I said yes.

[00:28:27] Rob Howe: So if our listeners want to connect with you either on social media or maybe a website, where are they going to find you?

[00:28:35] Alexa Pearlmutter: You can find me on Instagram. I'm a.pearls. P-E-A-R-L-S. you can find me on Facebook, Alexa Pearlmutter, just that name. You can connect with me there. I can send you my email address. We can connect. We can snail mail. I don't know. I'm open to anything. I told you, I only have two diabetic friends. I need more. You do. And I tell you

[00:29:01] Rob Howe: what, as someone who was very not involved in the diabetic community, it's nice to check my inbox every day and have one or two emails from diabetics that I don't know that are going through stuff that we all go through.

[00:29:19] Alexa Pearlmutter: Exactly. And it's nice to have someone that you can just understand. I always read the articles on the JDRF, whatever they send out their emails. I'm always on Instagram looking at like the hashtags, the die badass, like the funny ones, you know. And really it's just uplifting to know you're not alone.

[00:29:48] Rob Howe: It is. And you're definitely not. And, you know, anybody, you know, out there listening to this, you just know you're not alone. There's plenty of us out here that love to talk about it and will even just overshare blood sugar stories or whatever the case may be.

[00:30:02] Alexa Pearlmutter: Oh, I have so many of them.

[00:30:05] Rob Howe: Well, thanks so much for coming. and yeah, I'd love to stay in touch and to keep following you on your journey.

[00:30:14] Alexa Pearlmutter: Thank you so much for having me and absolutely.

[00:30:19] Rob Howe: Thanks again for listening to Diabetics Doing Things. I'm gonna try a new thing. I'm gonna start sending out a Friday newsletter with just my thoughts for the week and some questions that you guys have asked either on social media or that you emailed me. So if you wanna do that, just subscribe on the website, DiabeticsDoingThings.com. See you again next time.