Diabetics Doing Life Down Under with Luke Armstrong

[00:00:08] Rob Howe: Welcome to the Diabetics Doing Things podcast. We've been telling the amazing stories of type 1 diabetics all across the world since 2015, and we have over a thousand years of living with T1D on the podcast. The interviews range from incredible feats to everyday victories, and we celebrate them all just the same. Thanks for listening, and if you want to get involved even further, just send me an email. at rob at diabeticsdoingthings.com. This episode of the podcast is sponsored by Diathrive, which I'm really excited to tell you about. And as anyone living with or taking care of someone with diabetes knows, the financial costs of treatment can be extremely high. Diathrive takes some of the guesswork out of that, with hospital-quality testing supplies and testers starting at just $8 per month. No prescriptions, no insurance, just FDA-approved test strips delivered straight to your door. Pay as you go, and if you want to change your subscription, you can. Strips are delivered in just two to three business days from your first order. Replacements are available anytime and Diathrive has real people working customer service to solve your problems on web, phone, or social media. So if your tester breaks or you need more strips, you can reach out to them and a real person will help solve your problem. Best of all, listeners of this podcast can get their first month free. Just use code DDT, that's D-D-T at checkout and whatever subscription you choose, you'll get the first month free. So head to diathrive.com today and check it out. Hello and welcome back to another episode of Diabetics Doing Things. We are telling the amazing stories of type 1 diabetics from all across the world. And across the world is the key word today because joining me from Melbourne, Australia is Luke Armstrong. Welcome to the show, sir. How are we, Rob? Hey, we are doing just fine. It's about 7 o'clock here on Tuesday evening. And I know it's about midday over in Australia.

[00:02:19] Luke Armstrong: Yes, it certainly is.

[00:02:21] Rob Howe: Well, Luke, let's waste no time in getting into the story. I really want to dive into and start with how you joined the T1D family, but introduce yourself to the audience and let us know a little bit about you.

[00:02:38] Luke Armstrong: Beautiful. So, my name is Luke Armstrong. I was born in Shepparton, which is about two and a half hours north of Melbourne, so a small country town. I was actually diagnosed with type 1 diabetes when I was 14 months old. So I'm currently 24, so I've been living with it for just over 23 years now. So pretty much known, no different. With my diagnosis, I think it was more scary for my parents than what it was for me. I was going into consciousness, turning blue. the ambulance paramedics actually had to revive me.

[00:03:25] Rob Howe: Wow, I imagine that was extremely traumatic for your parents, right?

[00:03:31] Luke Armstrong: Yeah, yeah. So to be honest, mate, it didn't affect me one bit because I didn't have a clue what was going on. So yeah, it was obviously quite traumatic for my parents getting diagnosed at such a young age. But personally for me, it's probably been a benefit because whilst whilst growing up, I've sort of had no choice. I learned and dealt with it from an early age. Obviously, I learned about the key elements of nutrition, exercise, lifestyle, all that sort of stuff and how to best manage my diabetes whilst growing up.

[00:04:13] Rob Howe: um and also i do want to touch on that for a second because i was i was having a conversation with uh somebody on instagram the other day and we we touched on the fact that when you have type 1 diabetes you overcome obstacles easier than kind of normal people you just expect that there's going to be something that kind of throws a wrench in your engine um do you feel like that's been the

[00:04:38] Luke Armstrong: case with you? Definitely, definitely Rob. The way I see it is I'm a normal person. I can work, I can go out with mates, I can play sport. Diabetes isn't stopping me from doing that. Obviously then there's people a lot worse off. So that's the way I look at it. Cancer, chemotherapy. My father actually is a paraplegic. He had a motorcycle accident when I was about seven. So just seeing what he actually had to go through through rehab, it just puts things into perspective. Just coming to the realization that there's people a lot worse off than what we are. So that's sort of how I learned to manage my diabetes as well.

[00:05:33] Rob Howe: And are you the only type 1 in your family?

[00:05:37] Luke Armstrong: Yeah, yeah. I'm the only one.

[00:05:41] Rob Howe: Yeah, I am too. I'm the only one. So I relate. You know, you mentioned perspective. It's interesting to me because, you know, so much of our life is perspective. And you mentioned, you know, your dad and his accident. What kind of perspective do you have, you know, especially when you get involved online with the diabetes online community? When you think about people who are maybe diagnosed later in life and you talk to them, what kind of perspective do you offer really not knowing any different?

[00:06:14] Luke Armstrong: Well, that's the thing. A lot of people say to me, oh, you poor thing, getting diagnosed from such a young age, it must have been so hard. To an extent, yeah, but I dealt with it. But, you know, kids in their mid-teens, adolescence, early adulthood, they have no idea about what type 1 diabetes is. Being diagnosed at a later age, I find I'm more sympathetic for them just because they have to learn to deal with the changes that are happening. You know, they've got jobs, they're at high school, you know, that relationships, body image, um, they're, they're big, big sort of problems that, um, people getting diagnosed later in life have to deal with. Um, so I just thought, feels I'm sort of lucky that I've had to deal with it from an early age.

[00:07:16] Rob Howe: That's really interesting. I, I feel like I've heard that, but I don't know if anyone's ever put it that way. Uh, because like you said, you didn't know any different. There was no big change that you had to go through, nothing to really overcome, except for every day, obviously, has been more difficult. Is that for you, and I know you're very involved in sport and athletics, and that's your career as well, that you're working towards on the diabetes education side and nutrition. Does that mindset and your sort of natural, competitive, overcoming obstacles, kind of attacking the day mindset how does that serve you in your day-to-day yeah definitely um i think

[00:08:00] Luke Armstrong: i think it was also learned through seeing what my dad had to deal with um he was a country boy grew up on a farm raced raced motorbikes um you know he was an active individual he was very particular in the way he'd done things and seeing seeing him go through what he had to deal with and overcome it as well. So from the accident, he was in intensive care for three months. He got revived on the ambulance journey to the hospital. Then obviously he had to get flown from the country to Melbourne. And just to see all the challenges that he has to overcome, you know, he has constant pressure injuries, urine tract infections, and those things affect his daily living, whereas diabetes, you know, I'm still able to do everything that I sort of set my mind to. The only – probably growing up, there was probably a little bit of resent, you know, probably mid to late teens where, you know, going to parties, alcohol was coming onto the scene. um my parents mommy in particular was was a lot more protected or protective of me than probably what other my mates parents were towards alcohol um so i so that was probably the only sort of resent i had but realistically it's it's something i shouldn't you know hold resent for but um yeah i learned learned to overcome things and realize that you know it was best for my health

[00:09:44] Rob Howe: So, well, let's let's talk a little bit about that, too, because I think that's an important part, especially for young diabetic men. I feel like I can't speak for the ladies that I don't have that sort of introspective on what it's like to talk to your parents about drinking when you're when you're a woman. I think there's a lot of different things that go into that as well. But when you're a young man, you want to go out and drink with your boys and you don't want to be told what to do. And you kind of have, you know, this Mr. Know-it-all type attitude. dude. I remember a lot of, especially when I was in college, a lot of arguments on the phone with my parents about, you know, going out and drinking and staying out late because they were afraid for my blood sugars. What were those like for you, especially with your mom?

[00:10:30] Luke Armstrong: She was very limited with the amount of drinks that I was having, you know, teenage parties sort of thing. Dad was a bit more laid back towards it all, you know, because I think I sort of had his trust and he thought his idea of it was the only way he's going to learn is by making a mistake and learning from experience. But I think I was more conservative than say what my friends were towards alcohol and something that I probably hold to this day still.

[00:11:08] Rob Howe: Yeah, and I think that's certainly not a thing to be embarrassed of, right? And I think a lot of people, something I've been dealing with a lot lately and hearing from a lot of people is that diabetes is a disease that you can keep a secret if you really want to. It's not that hard, right? um so you know when you're in those pressure situations where there's a lot of drinks going around and you don't want to talk about it or you don't want to uh let people on that you're different um you know i think it's one of those things that immediately in those situations people try to stay out of the conversation yeah maybe you know you could be with your good friends and they already know or and not be around there but let's talk about that for a minute like how important is it to be yeah sort of open have you always been open is or is that something that yeah

[00:11:58] Luke Armstrong: along later yeah um so i think from from an early age i was pretty open about letting people know about type 1 diabetes and the possible adverse effects that that disease could have um because you know if you're having a hypo you know someone could be like oh shit what's what's wrong with Luke. That's unlike him. But really, I'm having a hypo and they won't know how to treat it. They won't know what's going on. So I think from being open about it, it's actually beneficial to your health in case something wrong does go, something wrong does happen. But it's funny you actually say about hiding hiding the disease um last week i was actually volunteering for a diabetes victoria so victoria is the state um that i live in um i was actually a volunteer on the teenage camps for type ones and there was this one boy i was talking to who had been diagnosed for six months he was 14 and he was actually that scared to let people know that he'd actually have to go to the bathroom to have his injections just because he didn't want people to know about it and yeah I find I found that really really hard to listen to just because being aware of the possible side effects that could happen. But yeah, so it is obviously an issue with a lot of teenagers. I think especially with women as well, with their dress, their appearance, and people being so judgmental. So yeah, I think it is a big issue for the adolescents.

[00:13:59] Rob Howe: I mean, man, it's tough. I mean, I think it's tough to be a teenager anyway, you know, without something like a diabetes or another chronic illness. Yeah, definitely. You know, you're just going – your life's changing. You've got to make big decisions. You know, you're trying to – you're starting to mature a little bit. You've got a lot of hormones and just things are happening. Like you said, the ladies, I think, have a lot harder than the guys do in that department as well just with body image and the things that people say and the standards that which, you know, society has held. So, what would you tell somebody who, you know, let's go back to that kid, that friend from your camp, who was so embarrassed he had to go to, you know, the restroom. Is that something where you say, hey, you know, it's okay, look, I'm out here giving my injections, or what do you say to that person?

[00:14:51] Luke Armstrong: Just, you know, we've got no control. Like, it's not like we had this choice to get type 1. the more open you are with people the more they're actually going to care for you they're going to keep an eye out for you and obviously if that situation goes down where you are hypo in they're going to know how to treat it so I think it's just it's hard for me to answer that just because I never had that problem but I understand And yeah, it is tough for some kids.

[00:15:30] Rob Howe: Isn't that interesting though? And I think that's, to me, one of the most fascinating things about type 1 is how different everyone's experience is. Because there are so many inputs. If you were looking at an experiment, like a science experiment, there are so many inputs. Food, exercise, insulin sensitivity, diet, sleep, stress, genetic makeup. And then, you know, throw in the mental side of it as well. That's just the physical, right? So, you know, confidence and self-esteem and just, you know, anxiety and depression and all those different factors. Not one experience is the same, right? You can't, there's no one size fits all approach. And I think that's really frustrating for people sometimes. and then I think the people that I've found and met through this podcast and on Instagram who are the most successful with it are able to kind of roll with the punches just like whatever comes at me I'm going to you know respond in a way that I'm just going to keep pushing forward

[00:16:36] Luke Armstrong: but like back back to this kid I was talking to you know if he if he is having trust issues or appearance issues maybe maybe just let the people know that he's close to um you know at least telling someone is better than no one um that way yeah so building trust talk talking to someone you you generally trust um is probably what i'd i'd probably say

[00:17:05] Rob Howe: do you do you have a person like that in your life

[00:17:10] Luke Armstrong: um i'd say my parents i'm quite quite close um since since i've moved out of home i'm quite close with my parents now um growing up as a kid we used to oh there's a lot of conflict just because they were so particular with with everything um when when i actually left school I did a building apprenticeship and so I did my four-year apprenticeship. Then once I finished that, my parents were actually moving house. They bought a block of land and I was actually fortunate enough to build it for them. So I was quite in regular contact with my parents through that stage And dad, being as particular as he was, had a lot to say in the way he wanted things done, making sure it was done his way. So we had a lot of conflict through that stage. But to be honest, ever since I've moved out, I think I've gotten even closer with my parents. It's more genuine when I see them.

[00:18:24] Rob Howe: And I think that's something that comes a little bit with age. but yeah maturity as well well and i think you know responsibility there a little bit of trust um and you know they're they have trusted you obviously your whole life with your with your diabetes in there and and now you know you do a project for them and you work really closely and your relationship changes for the better i think yeah i uh i'm really close to my parents as well and i think that's a big part of why i've been able to live as well as i have with type 1 Yeah. It's just a good, it's good to have a solid foundation, you know?

[00:19:02] Luke Armstrong: Definitely, definitely agree with that.

[00:19:06] Rob Howe: So, obviously, you're not building houses now, right? You're not full-time, and you previewed it a little bit about your career path and your career choice and how you're going and studying and working to be in the diabetes education on the medical side of things.

[00:19:24] Luke Armstrong: Yep.

[00:19:25] Rob Howe: So, why don't you talk a little bit about that?

[00:19:26] Luke Armstrong: Um, so, so once I, once I finished my parents' house, um, I sort of started to question, you know, is this what I want to do for a full-time job? Um, don't get me wrong. I still enjoy building. I'm actually currently building GetUp as we speak. Um, but I just thought, had a really good hard think about it. And a lot of people I worked with, you know, early 30s, late 30s, early 40s, their bodies were knackered. Their backs, their knees were gone. And I just thought, do I really want to be like that in 10, 15 years' time? So I sort of just had a bit of a think about it. And I thought, wow, you know, I've had type 1 diabetes for 20 years. Why can't I have a career out of it?

[00:20:22] Rob Howe: Right. It's like you put your time in. I do want to back up one second because you said, I think it was the word knackered. Knackered? Is that what you said? That means like messed up, right?

[00:20:33] Luke Armstrong: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Sorry. A bit of Aussie slang there.

[00:20:36] Rob Howe: I like it. I just want to make sure that I was tracking with you. It was great. Okay. A little Aussie slang for everybody.

[00:20:44] Luke Armstrong: Yeah. So, yeah, I just had a really good hard think about it. And in Shepparton, where I grew up, I actually didn't have access to an endocrinologist. So I dealt with a diabetes educator who managed my diabetes. And I pretty much had a chat to him, to be honest, and he sort of got me in that sort of idea path. so anyway so once I decided that was the go I had a look into the different the different pathways to get into that position and then there was nursing podiatry pharmacy dietetics and each yeah so I think it was four there's four or different health professional careers that you could take to get into diabetes education and the reason I chose nursing was purely due to a three-year degree yeah why not yes so compared to the other two degrees they were four and five years. And to be totally honest, I'm coming into the final year of my degree, nursing degree. And to be totally honest, I think having that nursing background is the best way to pick up on treatment strategies, dealing with patients, just because obviously a large percentage here in Australia of the patients are dealing with type 2 diabetes. So I, to be honest, haven't had a massive background on type 2 just because I've been mainly interested in type 1. But getting that sort of all-round approach to diabetes in general through my nursing degree

[00:22:49] Rob Howe: has really helped. Well, and I think, you know, when you talk about diabetes education, or endocrinology, to me, it was always interesting to me that my first endocrinologist who I haven't seen in a while, but I'm actually going to be speaking at an event with here in Dallas on Sunday, which I'm pretty excited about because it's like, hey, I haven't seen you in over 10 years. But he was great. He was a huge part of my successful start with diabetes. But he's not a type 1. So he has gone into the study of the field of endocrinology, by choice, but he doesn't have the lifestyle piece. And since I've become more involved in the T1D community, talking with CDEs, so certified diabetes educator, endos, nurse practitioners who all have T1D, I mean, there's really no better patient or no better doctor than someone who was a patient their whole life, right? Like all the experiences that you've had in your 20 plus years will, you know, now that you have the science in the nursing background will inform the decisions that you make kind of going forward just a reminder that this episode is sponsored by my friends at Diathrive they're making test strips convenient accurate transparent and affordable with prescription-free insurance free subscriptions use code ddt at checkout to get your first month free at Diathrive.com yeah

[00:24:18] Luke Armstrong: Yeah, and on this diabetes camp I went on last week, I actually, it was great for me to network with fellow endocrinologists, type 1 diabetics in general, and other type 1 health professionals. So it was sort of a stepping stone into the field, which was really good.

[00:24:44] Rob Howe: and you know what do you think you know when you when you think about the most important moments in growing up or you know accepting your type 1 what do you what do you think those most important moments are for for for someone like if you were telling a kid if you're looking at yourself you know 15 years ago what would you say is you know most important for you you know in

[00:25:07] Luke Armstrong: in your development um i think the earlier you come to the concept comes come to deal with it i think the more more um success you'll have with your management um and also saying to yourself that diabetes isn't going to stop me from doing anything you know i'm still i'm still going to be able to do things that my friends are, enjoy those experiences. I think that's probably what I'd say. But in saying that, come to terms with the condition as soon as you can, learning to accept it and learning to deal with it just from that sort of onset. But understand that it is going to be tough. You're sort of going to have to grit the teeth for a bit there. And the earlier you do that, the easier you'll be in the long run.

[00:26:14] Rob Howe: Yeah, totally agree. Any piece of advice that you wish you had been given early on that maybe you didn't get or you had to learn the hard way?

[00:26:35] Luke Armstrong: Probably with alcohol. You know, some kids' parents might be overprotective, and I think the more overprotective your parents are, the more you just want to shove it back right in their face. So start small. Work your way up. learn how your body deals with alcohol understand that you're going to need to have some low GI carbs on board you're probably going to have to wake up during the night to check

[00:27:18] Rob Howe: while we're on the topic how does your body respond when you're going to go out and drink some beers or drink some cocktails because I know Australians can drink just they have to drink barrels of beer to get drunk and that's the that's yeah so um

[00:27:34] Luke Armstrong: to be honest the last probably two two or three years i've been pretty just just because i've been so my head i've had my hands tied up with um work commitments um uni commitments playing sport it's actually it's actually been hard to get a good session in um but but to be honest i i I learnt from my mistakes. So when I was living home in Shep, my mates and I, we used to come down to Melbourne every couple of months to just have a bit of a boys weekend. Anyway, so we were at the pub having a few beers from quite an early time. Not much was getting eaten at all, but a lot was getting drunk. that led to the shots then we were actually walking our way towards a nightclub and a mate and I were just having a bit of a biff throwing a couple of punches just having a wrestle it wasn't serious or anything but yeah anyway so we were just doing that then all of a sudden I've hit the ground and wasn't moving at all and then luckily enough these two girls walked past and they said to my mate, you know, is your mate okay? You know, he's not moving at all. And mate, he probably didn't really comprehend what these girls were saying because he was quite drunk himself. He was like, no, no, no, no, he's fine, he's faking it, he's faking it, he'll be all right. Anyway, so all of a sudden I've snapped back out of it and I saw these girls and I was like, whoa, whoa, I'm on here. Um, so even though I can't remember it, this is what I've been told. Um, so I've started to schmooze these girls and, um, I don't think it was really working that well. Then my mate started, we started wrestling again and all of a sudden I've hit the deck and, um, then my mate came over and I've started throwing punches and I think by this stage it was starting to get a little bit serious. um then the girls said to my mate you know you sure your your friend's okay you know he's not moving and luckily enough my mate remembered i had diabetes so he's like oh he does have type 1 diabetes um then all of a sudden the girls were like crap so luckily enough they've called called the ambulance for me um but as this was happening there was two police policemen walking past and they've saw me throwing a few punches at my mate um so they're actually they're making their way over about to arrest me um oh no yeah so whilst whilst that was happening that they're stepping on my ankles and apparently i was having a swing at them um because when i when i'm not drinking or you know i'm as placid as anything like you know i wouldn't harm a fly but i think some of my symptoms of um hypos is i i do tend to get aggressive um but yeah luckily enough these girls called the paramedic and um yeah i end up spending the night in the emergency department instead of behind bars so that's that's probably the that was the reality wake-up call i had um

[00:31:13] Rob Howe: well and i mean i think everybody responds different right and uh you know when i'm when i'm having a hypo i'm pretty uh i'm i'm just annoyed i don't know you you know you said you kind of you kind of get feisty i get real uh just sassy just like real smart aleck yeah and especially especially if people try to tell me what to do yeah um and so you know Sometimes it's just, like you said, luckily one of your buddies remembered that you have type 1 and it could be an issue. And like you said, everybody responds in different ways. But the awareness, the key there is that one of your friends knew. Yeah. So even if you're not yourself, and every now and then we all have moments that we're maybe not all the way in control, that somebody knew.

[00:32:02] Luke Armstrong: Yeah, that's the main thing. so um i was as a kid i was never my parents always bought me the the medical alert um right but i thought they were not cool oh man they're super not cool thank you for saying it they're

[00:32:20] Rob Howe: super not cool i uh i think i wore one for maybe three days like right right at the early days

[00:32:26] Luke Armstrong: um so after this incident happened i actually got a tattoo on my wrist just so um it doesn't

[00:32:34] Rob Howe: come off yeah no and i was gonna ask because i've seen a lot of people with type 1 tattoos i don't i don't have one what is so what is yours on your wrist what does it say um hang on i'll try and

[00:32:47] Luke Armstrong: there it is yep yeah so that that's the medical alert symbol um and the the writing just says type 1 diabetic so pretty simple yeah i like it easy to uh you know if they're

[00:33:03] Rob Howe: if the paramedics or if you're unconscious, easy to recognize, right? Yeah. Well, no, and I, and I didn't mean to put you on the spot about sharing a, uh, one of your, one of your drunk tales with your, with your buddies, but I think it's important to talk about, you know, that a, a, not every, every, uh, jaunt like that ends in tragedy, right? Uh, that sometimes they just go and they're totally uneventful, but also like the importance of, you know, your friends knowing and, and, you know, being able to be open enough about it that if something does happen, that it's going to be okay.

[00:33:34] Luke Armstrong: Yeah, definitely. Definitely. And I think after that incident, obviously I got a bit of a wake-up call and I think it put more of the onus back on me to be like, right, you know, something could have gone, that could have ended really badly.

[00:33:55] Rob Howe: Yeah, what did... Sorry.

[00:34:01] Luke Armstrong: Continue, mate.

[00:34:02] Rob Howe: Oh, yeah. Sorry about that. I was going to say, when you kind of came around the next day, what was your response? Did you obviously probably didn't feel great about it, but did you say, hey, I wonder what happened to my blood sugar? What was the reaction?

[00:34:20] Luke Armstrong: Yeah. To be honest, actually, I think the most thing I was annoyed about was I actually paid for the accommodation that night. I didn't even get to spend the night in it.

[00:34:31] Rob Howe: oh yeah so yeah you had to spend the night in the hospital

[00:34:35] Luke Armstrong: yeah I think just being a bit more aware of like right I probably didn't do a lot of things right then being in that situation the next time what can I learn from this experience so whenever I go out for a drink now obviously I've always got some sort of lolly or high GI food on me, the blood tests are in the back pocket. Then, yeah, so I think, yeah, learning from your mistakes is probably the best way to learn.

[00:35:15] Rob Howe: Yeah, and, you know, fortunately for many of our, you know, type 1 diabetes, you know, quote-unquote mistakes, we're able to adjust on the fly. Like, you know, yesterday I'm doing this over-the-counter type 1 challenge. I'm not sure if you've seen it, but in the U.S., we can buy some insulin just over the counter without a prescription. The R and the NPH, it's called. It's from just like over at Walmart. And I'm doing that to show that if you do lose your job or lose your insurance, that you can treat your type 1 for a relatively low cost. And yesterday, my blood sugar was all over the place.

[00:35:57] Luke Armstrong: Yeah, I saw that, dude. I saw that.

[00:36:00] Rob Howe: I feel great. I'm back today. I feel fine today. But yesterday was tough. And so, you know, go ahead. What did you say?

[00:36:09] Luke Armstrong: It's funny how actually, how lousy you feel when your blood sugars are so high. It's ridiculous. It feels like you've run a marathon.

[00:36:20] Rob Howe: Yeah, you feel beat up, like you've been put through the washing machine. Just awful. and uh you know i was just sitting back and and i've got this great new pump that i haven't used yet it's sitting under my desk at home and i've got like two weeks left and i was like man like i cannot wait first of all i can't wait to put this on and like you know i'm very tempted to just stop and stop this challenge and do because i want you know my blood sugar to be right but but also you know how much we can learn from just one little mistake like you said one little adjustment and how to go to the next day and say okay well i'm gonna approach this a little bit differently today. Yeah. I want to ask you this because, you know, I'm really interested to hear your answer because I really like your perspective and, you know, having lived most of your life with diabetes and just the way that you think about it. I asked this question on all my podcasts. So imagine you're in an airport and they're about to close the door to your gate and whatever the reason is you can't miss the flight. There's something important waiting for you on the other end, but you run into somebody who's got type 1, uh, recently been diagnosed or they're struggling with their, their diabetes. What is, uh, what's the one thing you say to them in that 30

[00:37:38] Luke Armstrong: seconds? Um, everything's going to be okay. Um, you know, if they're, if they're a bit depressed or a bit anxious about it all, just try and reassure them that they're going to be able to live a normal life with good support, good nutrition, exercise. It shouldn't be a burden to have type 1 diabetes. Obviously, we've got to be a bit more mature and proactive. with the way we look after ourselves, but just, just probably that reassurance that, you know, you're not alone. Um, you're going to probably freshly diagnosed at that age. You're going to, you're going to go through some tough times, but, um, yeah.

[00:38:36] Rob Howe: Yeah. No, I think that's a great answer. And, you know, for me, getting involved in the community has been one of the most important things. and I continue to say that. I'm like a broken record by now. But I can literally point on the diabetes continuous glucose monitor of my life and I can point to the moment where I got more involved in the community and how much my blood sugars have been better as a result since then without really changing much about my life except the way that I think about it.

[00:39:12] Luke Armstrong: So just on that, Rob, So here in Australia, we have the Medtronic insulin pumps and the Dexcom. And obviously, there's the CGM equipment that's attached to those devices. Late last year in Australia, the government announced that for people under the age of 21, that it was going to be fully subsidized. So they could actually get those CGM supplies for free. Oh, wow. Which is a great incentive because, you know, that's the age where kids are probably going to have the most difficulty with their management and control. But for me, being over the age of 21, It's still going to cost me $3,000 a year to use. I'm on a Medtronic insulin pump, and I've had it for about eight years now. It's probably been the best thing possible for my diabetes. When I was 16, we used to do long bike rides after school. the hypos would hit me the next morning. I think there was four or five days in a row where my parents had to assist me to get out of bed and the glucagon injection came out. So that was sort of the wake-up call when things were like, right, it's either I don't ride my bike anymore or something's got to change with my diabetes management and there's no way I wasn't going to be active anymore. So it obviously came down to the change of approach. But the insulin pump for me has been the best thing ever since.

[00:41:17] Rob Howe: Yeah, I resisted the insulin pump myself for a long time. I was like, I didn't think I wanted it. And then when I got it, I was like, wow, this is the best. Yeah. This is so perfect. And now being off of it, I've only been off it for 15 days. Yeah. Or I guess 16 today. and um man i miss it because it's so easy it's so convenient and it fixes things right away like if you're going a little bit high you can just pop a little insulin and you're good to go if you're running a little low you can just suspend and kind of come back up

[00:41:50] Luke Armstrong: it's um it's a it's a great way of management isn't it um i think here in australia there's Because out of the type 1 diabetics, I think there's only 20% who actually use an insulin pump.

[00:42:04] Rob Howe: Yeah, I think I remember talking with someone else about that, that a lot of people treat with multiple daily injections. Yeah. And I believe it's something with that health bill you were talking about, about coverage.

[00:42:17] Luke Armstrong: Yeah. I think because the initial startup cost is about $10,000.

[00:42:22] Rob Howe: Yeah.

[00:42:23] Luke Armstrong: So obviously, it's a lot out of your back pocket initially. And some people just aren't prepared or aren't in a situation where they can pay that.

[00:42:35] Rob Howe: Yeah. I mean, let's be fair. $10,000 for an insulin pump, that's a lot of money.

[00:42:41] Luke Armstrong: Yeah. I was just sort of lucky enough that my parents were in that position that they could. but whilst I was on camp last week I actually there was a lot of kids who sort of reminded me of myself they were that sporty active sort of person and they were still on the multiple daily injections having a lot of hypos the actual education behind the pumps I don't think is up to scratch yet. A lot of people don't actually know what they do.

[00:43:21] Rob Howe: Yeah, I feel similar to like the CGM. I feel that way about a lot of diabetes technology that most people only know one or two ways to treat their diabetes. I don't think they really know like how many different products, how many different treatments there are out there.

[00:43:41] Luke Armstrong: Definitely, definitely agree with that. But yeah, I sort of gave these kids a bit of an intro into what the pump was about, how to manage it whilst they're playing their sport. And yeah, I think a lot of people by the end of it were like, wow, why haven't I heard of this earlier?

[00:44:03] Rob Howe: Right, yeah. And that's a question I think a lot of people ask here in the U.S. as well. Because not everybody sees an endo because endos aren't everywhere. You know, some small towns, you only have your primary care physician and they may not even know either. So I think it's interesting. It's interesting. You know, I and that's one of the reasons, again, why I'm doing the challenge is so that people know what other options are out there. I read a story today that a guy died because he was waiting to get enough money, waiting to get paid so he could buy insulin. And, you know, it's a tragic story, but there's just no reason for that. There's so many other treatments, so many ways to get help. and I think people just need to continue to know that and so that's what I'm trying to do.

[00:44:46] Luke Armstrong: That's very tragic, mate. That's quite sad. Really, being in the 21st century as well, we're still things like that happening.

[00:44:58] Rob Howe: Right.

[00:44:59] Luke Armstrong: But yes, obviously the government over there has got some things to deal with.

[00:45:05] Rob Howe: Yeah, you know, we definitely don't have a lot of things figured out yet. But, you know, hopefully, you know, there's a lot of, you know, there's a lot of awareness right now around the price of insulin and the cost of insurance and the cost of living with type 1. So I'm hoping that here in the next few years that we, you know, climb some big hills and do a really good job here because we can learn a lot from Australia and also the UK and Sweden, some other countries, Germany, doing a really good job of taking care of their type 1 diabetics. and we don't necessarily do a great job of it here, but we're getting there.

[00:45:40] Luke Armstrong: That's the way. There's always that stepping stone. There's always things we can do better.

[00:45:47] Rob Howe: Always work to be done.

[00:45:49] Luke Armstrong: That's it.

[00:45:51] Rob Howe: Well, Luke, man, thanks so much for coming on the show. I really like you. It's good to just kind of have a good chat with a buddy about some diabetes, and I'm really glad we made it happen. If our listeners want to connect with you online, what's the best way to do that?

[00:46:06] Luke Armstrong: So they can follow me on Instagram, Lukey underscore Armstrong. You know, more than welcome to DM me or even shoot me an email, lukey at iCloud.com, whatever works best for them. But yeah, if they've got any questions they feel they need to ask, they'll be more than welcome to answer.

[00:46:32] Rob Howe: Well, I love it. And we will definitely tag you in the show notes. in the posts for the podcast. But again, thanks so much for coming on this show. It was really great to finally chat and looking forward to seeing all the things that you do.

[00:46:48] Luke Armstrong: Beautiful, Rob. Thanks for your time, mate.