Diabetes Tech & Dating with Diabetech Justin

[00:00:00] Rob Howe: Hey guys, welcome back. My guest today is Justin Eastzer. He's the host of Diabetech, the Diabetech Podcast and Diabetech YouTube channel. You've definitely seen his TikToks. You've definitely seen his YouTube videos. And he and I had a great conversation on the Diabetech Podcast just earlier this week. So you can go check out my interview. And this is part two of our collaboration. And part three is really exciting. We're going to be doing a meetup at ADA in Orlando on Saturday, June 22nd. So if you are in the area of Orlando, be on the lookout for us to announce more details about that event Saturday, June 22nd at 7 p.m. Justin's interview is part of our ongoing coverage for Pride Month, which is June. And to celebrate pride in the diabetes community, we're highlighting amazing stories from the LGBTQ plus diabetes community to show that diabetes doesn't have to stop you from being who you are and living your best life. Please be welcoming and respectful to our guests. And if you feel the need to be bigoted, hateful, or discriminatory, we will protect our guests and respond in kind. And this even applies to Justin, who's a large creator in this space, who earlier this week posted a very simple pride celebratory message, and there were hateful and bigoted comments in his post. So please respect each other and listen to these stories. You may just learn something and be inspired. Now let's get to the interview. you. Hello, and welcome back to another episode of Diabetics Doing Things. We're telling the amazing stories of people with diabetes from all over the world. Very special guest for you guys today. If you have been involved in diabetes social media community in the past three or four years, you are no doubt familiar with my guest. Justin, welcome to the show. You know him as the host of Diabetech and the Diabetech YouTube channel and podcast. Welcome to the show, my friend.

[00:01:48] Justin Eastzer: Thank you. It's great to be here. It was great to have you on my show a couple days ago. And I'm loving this collaboration. So this will be fun.

[00:01:58] Rob Howe: Me too. I, you know, I think you, when you meet other podcasters and you meet other creators, I love the opportunity to like do the collab and like the synchronicity and just saying yes to things and finding that, you know, momentum. This is now, I think the third time I've done this sort of similar same week podcast. So just excited to keep things going. And I want to focus because your diagnosis story is fairly unique in the modern age. And I love hearing you share it on other episodes over the years. So why don't you tell us how you became a part of the T1D community? Because originally there was some misdiagnosis associated.

[00:02:37] Justin Eastzer: Yeah. So I was diagnosed officially with type 1 diabetes three years ago. So at first I was misdiagnosed as type 2. and I was given metformin. That wasn't working. I was feeling terrible. I had all the symptoms that, you know, you hear thirsty all the time, blurred vision, mood swings, peeing all the time. And I also lost a ton of weight, at least 20 pounds. And it wasn't until I had some friends tell me, you know, you look really skinny that I really, and they were like, no, you look sick skinny, that I was like, okay, this is an issue. So I went to another doctor. This other doctor put me on long acting insulin, had me testing blood sugar, still that type 2 diagnosis. And I just started posting videos on TikTok because I thought what I was doing, it was so new to me. I thought it was cool. And I was like, you know, let me share this with people and show them what that what I'm doing so I just started posting videos of me testing my blood sugar showing like you know my blood sugar is 350 is that high of taking long-acting insulin for the first time and these videos pretty quickly just blew up the type 1 community found them they told me Justin you have type 1 diabetes you need to get screened You need the C-peptide test. You need to get an endocrinologist, a pump, a CGM, all this overload of information, which felt like a lot too. I mean, I was already feeling so ill, getting all of these like to-dos. It was a lot, but I took their advice and I got an endocrinologist, got the C-peptide test. And after six months of being misdiagnosed as type 2, I got my diagnosis of type 1. and that really happened because of all this feedback on TikTok. And it just shows the true power of these social media apps. You know, we hear so much bad and there is bad on these platforms, but there's also so much community and I just landed in one, one that found my content and saved me and has helped me get on track. And that's kind of why I do what I do today. I decided that as I was learning all of this, you know, there's an overload of information that you're given at early diagnosis. Like, oh, you're going to have to start carb counting, measuring out insulin. This is what a low is. This is what a high is like this. There's so much to learn. And I realized, you know, a lot of people can't afford this information. They don't have health insurance. They don't go, they don't see a diabetes educator. So why don't I just take the information I receive and make a 60 second video on TikTok about it? And so I just started doing that and it resonated with people. And so that's why I just continue to create it.

[00:05:53] Rob Howe: Yeah. And I'm a fan of your content and a fan of your channel. And I think you do such a great job. And we're going to talk a little bit about your background as well, kind of prior to diabetes. But I want to focus because, like you said, there are a lot of sort of negative headlines that come out about social media and about how much content we're consuming, how much time we're spending on devices. In our episode, we talk about the power of community. And I share, you know, I agree very much with you about whatever your story is. Sharing it is, you know, the first step that you need to take to see what sort of world can open itself up for you. because if you don't share those videos, maybe it's years before you realize, you know, or something harmful could have happened to you before you realize that you were misdiagnosed. But also, like when you're hearing that feedback, especially from strangers, sometimes it feels like a little bit overwhelming. So what were you going through as those comments and messages started to come in about, hey, Justin, I think you maybe don't have the right diagnosis or maybe you don't have all the information that you need? How did you feel when those messages started coming in? I felt very alone. And also, this was at a time, this was during COVID. So we were all feeling a

[00:07:03] Justin Eastzer: bit isolated. But having all of these symptoms, feeling like my body wasn't functioning at the age of 30 years old when I was working out, I was eating pretty well. Like I was doing all of the things I needed to do, I thought, to have a healthy body and lifestyle. And I just wasn't okay. So I felt very alone. So when I received all of this feedback from people, all of these comments and support, it really was just that it, it felt like I had this entire team of people behind me that cared about what I was going through and understood what I was going through and also normalized what I was going through because I was, it felt also new to me. It felt like I was, I felt like I was dying. Like I was like, something is, something is not okay. And having all of these responses tell me, no, you're okay. You just need the right treatment made me feel like, like I could tackle this and I could do this. And that's why I also, I also kept going back to social media, not just to help people, but also to ask questions to help me. And I was like, wow, we can crowdsource information here. That's what's so powerful about this. These platforms is that I can share something, you can share something with me and we can learn about, about something together. So, you know, I was, they were helping me just as much as I was helping them. And, and you just, you saw these repeat characters, you know, everyone's just, I think we talked about this on my, on my episode, you see just like these photos of people like they're real people you know like these the and you see they and I you know months later the same people would be like oh like you're doing great I was there you know in the very beginning I'm so happy to see where you're at and it's always so great to like especially when you meet these people in person at like a convention or something like these are real people they're they're awesome they they they're just it's just so it's so easy to just I don't even know what I'm saying, but you know what I'm, do you understand what I'm saying? I do. Can I, can I attempt to

[00:09:20] Rob Howe: translate a little bit? Because I know, I know exactly what you're saying and I've experienced it because I think the first time I met internet friend. So for me in 20, at the beginning of 2018, so, you know, over six years ago at this point, my local JDRF chapter allowed me to bring some of my first internet friend to a social media panel at, at a JDRF type 1 nation conference. and I remember being so nervous to meet those people in person because I had talked to them online and I had messaged them but like you know there is a little bit of a difference between having an internet conversation with someone and meeting them in person and that first dinner they all sort of like came we're coming in from the airport like one after the other after the other and I just remember we got to skip all of the explanation of who we were and how we manage our diabetes and like what even diabetes is and like why are you pulling out a glucometer at the dinner table and that type of interaction like if i could bottle that up and just give it to everybody with diabetes that that feeling of connecting with someone really for the first time in person is it's second to none so yeah i'm glad that you've gotten to experience that but like if you hadn't had shared your story and shared that journey and continued to come back you know that would be a missing piece for both of us.

[00:10:39] Justin Eastzer: Yeah, I'm really glad that I found this community and have people to talk to about anything that I'm going through. And I also feel honored to be someone that others can look at and feel less alone and feel supported and also come to me and DM me with their own questions, their insecurities, their anxieties. And even if I can't necessarily solve what that is, I can let them know that I feel the same thing or I've gone through the same thing. And I think that's what's most important.

[00:11:19] Rob Howe: That normalizing, right? Like getting back to like, oh, yeah, I've experienced this too. You're not the only one going through it. And I think especially, like you said, during the pandemic, especially the early pandemic years, like we were all very isolated, all very online and like looking for that connection. So I'm glad that you found it. I found you. I'll say, I think I had seen maybe a couple of videos, but the one that really resonated with me the first time was one of your diabetic mom sketches where you put the wig on and you do the big New York accent. So like, obviously your tech content and you as a tech reviewer and the diabetic show is great. And I love your perspective, but getting outside of that a little bit, like being a little bit silly and a little bit zany, like talk about like, where did that come from? That was, I love those videos.

[00:12:04] Justin Eastzer: Yeah. So my inspiration for that character is from a guy named John Roberts. He's the voice of Linda on Bob's Burgers. Years ago, he had a YouTube channel. He was like one of the first YouTubers, like one of the first big ones, at least in my local area where he did this impersonation of a Long Island mother. I'm from Long Island. I grew up with the same people surrounding me that, you know, say, you know, if it says diabetes, it's supplies. It's got to come down like that. That is how these people talk. And it feels like home. So his sketches, I was always a huge fan of his sketches. And I think it was like five years ago that I dressed up as that character for Halloween. And I and I made a whole video and it was just so much fun. And I had this idea to recreate that character, but as like a mother of children with diabetes. So, you know, there's there's so many different situations I've put her in, whether it's her children having a high and needing to go out on a walk, going to the pharmacy, all all very relatable things. but through the through the eyes of her child looking at her and what she's doing the outrageous things she does she's just she's just so much fun and my I mean my favorite accent to do is just a Long Island accent both my parents have a pretty strong accent like that and it's just been such a great time I haven't done one of those videos in a minute and I I owe everyone like a bunch I I I really need to make it a routine thing. It was for a second and then I stopped and I really need to get back into it because she's just her, her and her purple velour outfit and her jumpsuit and her big wig and sunglasses. And John Roberts followed me. He found my videos and he now follows me on Instagram.

[00:14:04] Rob Howe: Look at that. See, you know, you find the right content, right? And you find that community. I will say if that video has no fans, I am dead because I am a huge fan of those videos, the velour jumpsuit, everything top to bottom, really top notch. I also want to talk to you. So June is Pride Month and you are active in the LGBT community. And I love to talk about, you know, you, you and I mentioned on our podcast on your show that, you know, you've done some content about dating and diabetes and it was really popular. And, you know, that's also, I get a lot of questions, especially from like parents or young people about how to be open about your diabetes in romantic situations. So I'd love to talk to you about dating in the community and your experience with talking about diabetes in your dating life.

[00:14:52] Justin Eastzer: Yeah, so I think I'm very lucky to have been diagnosed later in life at 30 because I was able to build up my confidence and self-love up to that point to a point where now having diabetes and wearing the technology, I don't think it phases me as much as it may have if I was diagnosed a lot earlier. I don't care what people think about, you know, especially something like diabetes, something that's out of my hands, especially also like even just being gay and coming out and like coming out as that something I also didn't choose, but also I'm very happy. I'm happy to be gay and I wouldn't give it back for anything. I think that that has all allowed me to have the confidence level that I have today. And I try to spread that on social media too and let people know like if anyone gives you anything or acts weird about it, then they're just not a good person. They're not the right person for you. and that's not a it's not a reflection on you it's a reflection on them so you know I always try to have fun with it there's so many there's so many different situations that you'll come into whether it's dating sex meeting meeting people for the first time going out dancing all these different scenarios that you'll need to navigate and that I've had to learn how to navigate but I just have fun with it you know if I meet someone on and I'm sure you have some questions but like Like one example is like if I meet someone on the dance floor and I just start dancing with them. And, you know, if we're like, I don't know if there's if we're like touching each other in some way, like I'll sometimes grab their hand and put it on my insulin pump and be like, that's an insulin pump. And then I'll take their hand and put it on my CGM and be like, and that's a CGM. And I'll even say like, and I'll say one to one. Literally. And there's a couple, another thing I'll do is like sometimes I'll like, sometimes if I'm like being sexual with someone and I often find that most often people aren't weirded out by the tech. They're worried that they're going to hurt you or rip it off, but more so hurt you. So I try to show them with my Omnipod. I like lick it. I hit it and I like slap it. I'm like, it's fine. This doesn't hurt. Like just so you know, you know. So I try to get ahead of all of their worries or anxieties about the technology so that they're not in their head and so that I'm not in my head about them being in their head.

[00:17:34] Rob Howe: I love that because I think it really does stem from a place of curiosity, right? And in those intimate moments, like they're very vulnerable for everyone. You know, being intimate with someone is a very vulnerable thing. And, you know, it even comes back to like my experience and even in my marriage with my wife. Like if she pulls on my pump tubing and my sight, you know, she feels my sight pull, she feels like it caused me a ton of pain. And like most of the time it doesn't, even if a sight gets all the way ripped out, it's not the end of the world. Right. And people, I think, are just trying to be courteous and try to understand. And, you know, like you said, if they're not that way, and this is something I've said to people in the past who have asked about, you know, or in these similar types of conversations about how to be open. And I think especially young women, really, and women in general, deal with a lot of judgment about, you know, their bodies from other people. But it really is a great filter for a good person, somebody who is like just curious, or, you know, if they are, you know, overly judgmental about your diabetes or about your devices, you might have just saved yourself a lot of time by, you know, before you found out something else about this person, you know, organically. But it is a really interesting, like, you know, it's mostly curiosity. And like you said, you know, you got to touch it, introduce them to it. And that's diabetes awareness. Now they've experienced an insulin pump and a CGM. Now they know a little bit more about life with diabetes. Exactly. So for you, like, you know, if you were going to encourage someone who has had diabetes a while, maybe was diagnosed when they were younger is it feels like they like, man, I really wish I could be proud of my devices or proud, you know, and wear an outfit that maybe displays them or shows them or be comfortable talking to a stranger about them. How would you encourage them to

[00:19:24] Justin Eastzer: kind of adopt your mindset there? Yeah, I think it's an exciting moment when you get to share how cool this technology is. I mean, my whole brand is Diabetech. It's all about the technology. I have so much fun explaining how all of these work and doing it in a fun way. And I think that if you approach it like that and make it less of this medical terminology and just be kind of very layman, explain to people how the how all the devices work I think that that's just going to make people more aware of it in general and I I think one thing I love about teaching others about all of the gear is that when they then see it out in life again a few things can happen I mean so I've had friends that tell me oh I saw someone wear a Dexcom and I went up to them and I was like oh my god I here at Dexcom, like my friend has type 1 and they have a, you know, a channel you should watch, whatever. I think that the more we educate, the more, the more awareness we build, the better, the less awkward moments there may be for people and the better off we make it for people who don't feel comfortable about talking about it. And it's totally okay to not want to talk about it. It doesn't need, you know, that's another thing when it comes to dating and meeting new people. Oftentimes for me, a point of conversation winds up becoming type 1 diabetes, what it is, because it's my career. And oftentimes one of the first six, seven questions that someone asks you is, what do you do? and I'm kind of like over answering that question a little bit because because I have to explain my whole like I feel like in order for me to explain what I do I need to say like my diagnosis a little bit as to how I got into it so I enjoy telling that story and explaining all of it to people but it does get old a little bit. And especially when like I go on a date and, you know, you're going to talk about what you do. Like it becomes this whole long conversation. And I will say, you know, people do see the passion I have and passion's a turn on, right? Being able to educate people about something is also a turn on, I think. when someone wants to take you through a whole story and the mechanics behind something. So I do it. But there are moments where I'm starting to be like, I just met this person. I'm telling them all this stuff. It's like, why does the conversation need to always be diabetes?

[00:22:34] Rob Howe: I'm glad you brought that up because I obviously similarly have conversations with people, not in a dating way necessarily anymore, but meeting new people, networking, sharing your story, what do you do, or, you know, talking about podcasting or social media or whatever, whatever the case may be. And I also get that feeling of, you know, because your story to yourself seems old and like, oh, like, no, nobody wants to hear this. You're like, oh, here we go. We're going to hit all the beats. You know, I was here and this is what I did. And, you know, we got the podcast. We're doing all this stuff. Do you ever find yourself opting out of that? because I have found in some cases I try to just just to make it easier on myself most of the time it's just interactions with strangers where I just don't I don't dig into the whole thing I'm

[00:23:19] Justin Eastzer: trying to move past it has that ever happened to you yeah I try it depends on how long I'm going to be with this person right so if like we're going out for the night I think it's okay to like tell them a little bit of the story because we're getting to know each other if it's a if it's a passerby or I'm at a house party and I'm leaving soon. I don't want to get into all of it. I'd rather the conversation be about something else than me and my whole career and my chronic illness.

[00:23:50] Rob Howe: Your deepest darkest secrets about your diabetes, right?

[00:23:54] Justin Eastzer: So I try to filter out who I'm, you know, going into the whole discussion with. And yeah, Yeah, just because I just don't need to take up the whole conversation of this person I just met. I don't need to tell them my whole life story. And sometimes I'll just say, yeah, I create content. I say like I'm a tech content creator and I kind of just leave it at that. Because I also before diabetes, I was doing a lot of doing all content creation on technology. So and I still consider myself that.

[00:24:30] Rob Howe: I agree. And I think like when I think of the simple way to describe it's like, oh, Justin, Diabetech is the diabetes tech reviewer. And, you know, most people I think who are familiar with YouTube channels and things like that understand, you know, a tech reviewer and what that looks like. I sort of love this shift in the conversation because I wasn't necessarily sure how to bring that up of like, you know, prior to your diagnosis, you did have experience in content creating. And that was your career at production and reviewing technology, which is a passion for you. So like going through that diagnosis experience and learning about the technology, you know, you talked about passion and how that connects people. I really believe that that's a huge part of why so many people love your channels, because you are passionate about technology and teaching other people about it. And you throw diabetes in there, it becomes even more personal and more tangible. so for you as you started to discover this technology did that kind of inform you're like oh I can I can continue to do what I'm trained to do and what my career has been but just with the

[00:25:32] Justin Eastzer: new lens yeah absolutely so I my whole career has been in content creation in some form I started in LA at like a at a trailer house where we made TV spots and trailers I was a PA assistant editor Then I moved into TV development, Syfy, America's Got Talent. Not America. America's Got Talent. Yeah. So I've always loved story producing, video editing, storytelling content. And then I went into tech content creation. When I was diagnosed that or before I was diagnosed, me putting all those videos on TikTok just felt very natural already to want to show people something cool. Techie ish. I mean, a glucometer was techie to me. You know, it was so new to me that I was like, check out this cool device. I put a drop of blood on it and it tells me my my blood glucose. How cool is that? So as soon as I found that these videos were resonating with people that I was learning and they were learning, it felt only natural to continue doing what I was already doing, reviewing technology, explaining how it works, but kind of do it in this other area. At the same time, Diabetech for the longest time, maybe it was two and a half years, was a hobby of mine. I was just throwing videos whenever I had a chance, putting them up about a new piece of tech or an experience I had, a bad low, something I learned about carb counting, a new app I was using to carb count. And I was doing that on the side while I was still doing my Justin Tech YouTube channel, which was all about smart home, VR and AR wearables. And now it's been a bit of a reverse. I'm more so focused on diabetic tech. And Justin Tech is a little side project that occasionally when I have a new piece of technology, I'll throw up a video. and you know something I realized Justin Tech grew to a to a large you know to a fair amount of people 35,000 subscribers on YouTube but Diabetech's been growing a lot faster and I realized a while ago now that the reason for that is community with Justin Tech I was pulling at so many pieces of technology. I didn't have a niche. I was having fun. I wanted to be a YouTuber and create all this content, but there was really no mission or goal with it. It was just to create cool content and hopefully something sticks. With Diabetech, I've been able to harness this community that exists, bring them in and create my own microcosm community of Diabetechese. And that's why Diabetech continues to grow at a strong pace because the passion is obvious. One thing I've realized with Diabetech is that I can just keep talking and talking about all of the tech. Whereas with it, because I've become a professional or, or a pro or so like, I just learned so much. I can, I can speak to a lot. And that's why I love my podcast is because I can bring people on to answer questions. And then I know the answers. Whereas Justin tech, I felt like I was like, Oh, there's a new iPhone. Like, what are the specs? Like, I don't care what the resolution of an iPhone is anymore. I mean, I do, but like, I don't care to be the one telling you because it's kind of surface level to me now.

[00:29:23] Rob Howe: I find too that using myself as the filter and trying to say, oh, I'm genuinely curious about this. I have this great guest or this expert who's going to come on and talk or, you know, this amazing story that we get to be a part of and kind of put myself in the listeners and say, hey, we can all learn along this together. And I think what it, you know, when you're talking about that community aspect, it's, we care so much more about this than the resolution of an iPhone or, you know, some new feature in the next iOS that all the other, you know, tech, you know, reviewers are focusing on because these little updates, these little, you know, collaborations, these, you know, recently on the podcast this week, we talked about companies collaborating for a bi-hormonal insulin pump. Like these things are going to make huge differences in people's lives like us. And while it is a smaller group, you know, there's, you know, one and a half million people in the U.S. with type 1 diabetes. And even the type 2 diabetes population is much smaller than the general population of people who use iPhones. But, you know, all these things make a huge difference. So it's a smaller amount of people, but it's a bigger impact. And I think connecting with those people is so important and is added so much to my life. And I also learned, And I think we share on this on the podcast, but like people who are connected to other people with diabetes, either via blogs and social media, not even in person, have better clinical outcomes 100 percent of the time. So like just listening to a diabetes podcast, watching a diabetes video, creating a diabetes video or post literally makes you healthier than if you didn't do that. And so I think that that's an extremely exciting part of the benefit of our community compared to, you know, a more generic like tech platform.

[00:31:09] Justin Eastzer: Yeah, I my favorite comment that I get on my videos is that I didn't know there were so many choices or options. My doctor has never told me about any of this. So the fact that I can create content that people then feel like they have options and can do better or be happier, that just feels amazing.

[00:31:35] Rob Howe: Well, I think it comes back to, and we can talk about this in the community as well, because I think it's important during Pride Month to talk about the power of community. But also, you know, when you're in a community and there's something like diabetes is the filter, diabetes does not discriminate. There's a lot of different kinds of people within that community. And, you know, I think from from my perspective, the most important part of being a good community member is being a kind human and being willing to listen and accept other experiences that are very different than your own. And, you know, being an ally and making sure to call out when, you know, people are either saying the wrong things or have perspectives that are damaging or misinformed or, you know, are bad actors or, you know, hate speech. And we've experienced a lot of that in the community over the years. So, you know, for you, you know, coming into the community and experiencing these folks, like how can somebody who is not a part of the LGBT community be an ally to other community members with diabetes?

[00:32:38] Justin Eastzer: Yeah, I think I lightly touched on this earlier, but that's why I try to tell I try to explain how the technology works to people who are very curious or or include it in my in my story when I explain it, because I want allies, people who don't have diabetes, who have never even experienced or know anyone with it to understand how all of the technology works. If I'm having a low, I will, because you have low brain and it's kind of uncomfortable, I'll sometimes have to tell someone in the situation, depends on the situation, that I'm having that low. I also want people to be that support for other people they may encounter who are also having a low. If someone passes out, know what to do. You do not give them insulin because a lot of entertainment movies in the past have have created misinformation there that that people need insulin at that time. So sometimes I'll casually throw that into conversation of like if I'm on vacation with a group of people, I'll be like, yeah. And like if if I went low, like you'd give me like orange juice or like if there was icing somehow, you know, you put some icing and, you know, know, any type of sugar that will kind of just like soak in whatever if I'm, you know, passed out. So I think that what people can do allies is they don't need to outwardly tell people that I'm here for your diabetes. But just if you know someone in your presence has diabetes, just be just be a support for them. Be aware. You don't need to babysit them. But if you notice something's off, I don't love when people ask me how my sugar is when I'm like looking at my watch or my phone because I'll find that that happens, which is kind of like a drawback to like me explaining everything to people is like when I look at my watch, someone's like, hey, is your sugar? OK, I'm like, I don't need you asking me that. Yeah, but I understand why they're asking. So I think that that's another aspect of the whole. How can you be supportive? I think you can be supportive, but through actions less than words. I don't think you need to ask someone how their sugar is. But if you want to have some M&Ms in your bag for someone that has diabetes, sure. But I don't think you need to outwardly tell them. Because, yeah, sometimes for me, I get a little annoyed. I can't help it. I understand where their heart is. But when someone asks me how my sugar is, when I'm looking at one of my devices.

[00:35:12] Rob Howe: I love that you're saying that because there are so many videos online of you explaining diabetes technology and talking about diabetes in general. And you still feel defensive or feel encroached upon sometimes when people ask you about what you're doing or how your sugars are. I'm the same way. I've told the story a lot that one of the first times somebody who was just a teammate of mine in college just asked a really simple kind of curious question about my glucometer and an insulin pen. And I went off on him like worse than any that I've ever really like gone off on anyone about anything. And I, you know, later I explained and apologized and I realized that like that's a really personal question sometimes. And, you know, sometimes we don't have the tools or the words or the experience to let other people know how that feels. So I think it's super important to talk like, you know, someone who's so outward about their diabetes and who, you know, it's their career and they, you know, they lead with it. It's the name of their their channel and the filter by which they create is still it's still a very personal thing. And so it's OK if someone asks you about your sugars and you feel defensive about it.

[00:36:21] Justin Eastzer: Yeah, you know, going back to the whole like living my gay lifestyle, you know, there is things aren't perfect. I know like I make we all make like my sugars are great, but I'm still constantly going through the struggle of having diabetes, going out and just wanting to have fun and have drinks and whatever else may come my way. and there being a part of me that's worried that what could happen. I can't, I don't think since diagnosis, I haven't fully let go the way I could before. And so that's something that's been hard being diagnosed later in life, going to music festivals, going on vacations, running around, doing what other people do, eating whatever I want, substances. And now I'm on, I'm on edge with all of that. And while I have moments where I can be free and can feel free, there's always going to be that diabetes nagging you a little bit behind you. And I do my best. I found ways to cope, taking my smartwatch off, listening to my body. And I think that people who have had diabetes their whole life, they may be a little better off in that sense. It's something you've always dealt with. You don't know life outside of that. And you probably aren't as on, possibly aren't as on edge as I am.

[00:38:03] Rob Howe: So, yeah. And I think, you know, four years seems like a long time sometimes, right? but it's also a very short time. And you talked about something like you can still have freedom and you can still do things that make you happy, but there is that loss of like the carefree side. You know, you're talking about like a music festival where I saw a story online the other day of someone who in a scrum at a music festival, their pump got pulled off and they lost it. And, you know, like the amount of anxiety, like I just felt it in my bones, like how terrifying that would be for that person, because it's not something that you can just, you know, pull a replacement out of or you carry on you most of the time. And it's not just like a phone where you can go buy a new one so quickly and be back to what you're doing. And this person was looking for long acting insulin to help them, you know, manage their sugars while they while they got a new pump. And, you know, I think that's what really you're talking about is like you can go experience these things. I encourage people to do so, you know, if that's what you want and make a plan. But there's always that kind of in the back of your mind, you know, real danger that kind of prevents you from living carefree. Yeah. You know,

[00:39:17] Justin Eastzer: I think something that hits me is, and it hit me recently, it feels very fresh. I must have been out at like a Sunday, fun day rooftop party and I, and I'm just looking around and I see, you know everyone has their struggles too so this is but I was just so internalizing that I was having I was having some sort of diabetes moment maybe a low blood sugar that happened a couple times and and I just looked around and everyone just seemed like they were running around carefree and it just hit me that I feel like I haven't I'm not able to do that the way I used to want to do that. I'm still having a lot of fun, and I encourage everyone to do all of this stuff. Go to music festivals, be prepared. I brought a bunch of stuff, a bunch of extra stuff, and I dropped it off at the medical tent when I went to Coachella. So do what you can there. But sometimes, no matter how prepared you are, you're not prepared for the one thing that's never happened before and just happened.

[00:40:20] Rob Howe: Right. That's really well said. I love that you brought it to the medical tent because then you have to worry about losing it, right? You're able to check it in. And that those resources even exist. I wouldn't have even thought of that. So I learned something new today.

[00:40:31] Justin Eastzer: Oh, I become best friends with the medical tent. So for the three days of Coachella, it was the same people there every day. And I was like, I was arriving like in my crop top, my like short shorts, like hopping, hopping in like, hey, everyone, like, okay, so this is my pump. This needs to be refrigerated, please. Thank you. Okay, I'll see you guys later. Okay, awesome. You know, and then there were moments where like maybe a pod ripped off. I had to go get one and I was like, oh, hey, what's up? Oh, you know, showing them what I'm doing, like having a lot of fun with it, making it less of like a weakness and more of like this exciting strength.

[00:41:05] Rob Howe: I think there's a lot that we can learn from that. I love that approach. And that is like making diabetes again, like your superpower and leaning into it in a way that, you know, brings positive awareness. It's like, oh, look at this guy. He's having a great time and he's being proactive about his management and we're able to help him. I do want to shift a little bit back to technology because, you know, as we are kind of coming towards the end of our time today, what gets you the most excited? Like you have so much passion about technology in general and about diabetes technology. You've got some amazing content that you posted recently about sort of the history of diabetes technology. But when you think about the future, we're about to go to ADA and we're going to do a little plug for what we'll be doing there at the end. But what gets you the most excited about diabetes technology, like where we are today and where we're going?

[00:41:53] Justin Eastzer: So I think what gets me most exciting, and I know you asked for technology, but like I think at the root of it, insulin is an amazing technology. And there's a lot of innovations going on there. theoretically an insulin could remove the need for all technology and just having like a shot a week a shot a day could potentially manage diabetes and the idea of that sounds amazing so that there are there is one insulin in in specifically that that could do this and it's smart it's a smart insulin and the way something like this works is you'd take the insulin you could take like a bunch of insulin, whatever, put it in your system, but it won't activate until it's needed. That's where the smart comes into play. So whenever it senses that there's too much glucose in your bloodstream, it's activated and whatever insulin isn't used just goes away. It just leaves your system. So I would love that at the root of it. Just give me some smart insulin and I don't have to wear anything on my body. I'm fine. There's also some other innovations where they found the potential to speed up insulin. So there is a snail, a marine snail. There's a bunch of them. I have a video coming out soon on social that goes into detail. It also has video of this snail. So there is a snail that in order to catch its prey, it releases insulin to give the prey a hypo. So passes out and eats it. So there are studies, but incredible, right? So there are studies right now looking at these marine snails and the insulin they produce mainly because of how quickly the insulin activates. So in this case, this would just mean a faster insulin right now. The way we're delivering insulin, it's a pretty slow process. It can sit in the skin and fat tissue for a bit of time, doesn't activate very quickly. There's 20-ish minutes until it actually starts doing something. And then it can also get stuck. So it doesn't leave your system quickly enough. It can take like four hours plus to leave your system. So faster insulin would be amazing. One piece of technology that I'm very excited to see is the new Twist Pump 2i's coming from Sequel MedTech. This company was founded by Dean Kamen. Dean Kamen invented the first wearable insulin pump called the Auto Syringe. I get into this on my journey to an artificial pancreas video where I get into like the history. So basically this new pump is like the sequel. That's why the company is called Sequel MedTech. And it is a small round disc, holds 300 units of insulin. But what's most exciting is it's powered by Tidepool Loop, which is an algorithm that comes from the open source space from DIY loop. So it allows for iPhone control, smartwatch control with the Apple Watch, pre-meal target that starts lowering your glucose levels before you eat, the lowest target range of 87 milligrams per deciliter, some great stuff. So I'm very excited to see that come out. It's supposed to come out this year. and with that what I'm most excited for and hopeful for is I hope that all of these companies and I think they will in time will bring smart watch control to insulin pumps that the DIY that all the open source apps allow this you can bolus and log carbs on an Apple watch and the twist pump's going to have that I could see Tandem Medtronic and Omnipod also bringing that especially since all of them are either have or are moving to iPhone control. The Apple Watch, it really, it just connects to the phone. It just acts as a remote. So it's not that far-fetched. And, and I think that that's going to be one of the next steps for them, especially if a pump's coming out with smartwatch control, like you gotta, you gotta compete. Yeah. And I think, you know, when,

[00:46:15] Rob Howe: when we hear about, you know, the, in the industry talking about competition breeds innovation, I think that's what they're talking about. And that like that fast tracks, you know, we've seen in the past in the past five years, the more hybrid closed loop systems are approved, the more come to market, the algorithms get more advanced, the targets get lower. And, you know, as a result, the outcomes for patients get better. I'll go ahead and link in the show notes your interview with about this and your videos about the twiist pump so that, you know, our listeners can catch up on that if they haven't already. But Justin, as we're kind of coming towards the end here, I think we have an exciting announcement that we can make on this podcast. And we'll be promoting, obviously, shortly after this episode airs and probably before. But we're going to do a collaborative meetup, Diabetics Doing Things, working title. We haven't quite got there yet, but we're going to be doing a meetup in Orlando during 80s. We're both going to be there. And we're going to be doing that Saturday night at 7 p.m. And so that location will be TBD, but Florida Diabetes Community, we're going to take advantage of being in the same place during a conference. And while not everybody will get to go to the conference floor, we can bring at least some of the people out and about to go have some fun in Orlando and meet other people with diabetes. So excited to see you again. We got to link up at ATTD in Italy, which was exciting. It was great to meet you. But you know, when you get to meet your internet friends, IRL, that's where the real magic happens. So excited to work on that with you.

[00:47:38] Justin Eastzer: Yeah, it'll be great to get everyone together. I'm going to go talk to all of my creator friends also and make sure they come. Maybe we can, you know, spark some future collaborations. And I guess for people wondering about the location, it's not locked yet, but we will update on like social media. Is there any other way that we can let everyone know?

[00:48:00] Rob Howe: Are you throwing me a lob for something? I'm not, I'm missing it out. Do you have like a newsletter? Yeah. I don't have one yet. It'll definitely go out in the drip from diabetics doing things. So if you subscribe to that, you will get that. And we have some local diabetes friends that I've known over the years from Orlando that are going to help us spread the word. So we're going to do our best to get it out there, but definitely social media, email newsletter, we'll get that going. Yeah. And even

[00:48:26] Justin Eastzer: like you said, I'm happy, like on my podcast, even if it's just 10 people, I'm just happy to be in a room with a bunch of people who want to talk about anything, who happen to have diabetes and create

[00:48:38] Rob Howe: content, whatever, or consume it. Absolutely. Well, Justin, thank you so much for your time today and for all that you're doing for people with diabetes. And again, I think I told you this when we met in Italy, when I started creating content about diabetes in 2015 and 2016, people welcomed me to the community and made me really feel like I was part of something. And I made a decision then to try to do that for others. And so I'm just so excited that you are here and you're creating content and you're building community and you're pushing things forward for people with diabetes. So I know that takes a lot of time, effort and energy. And I know now it is your career. And so thank you for choosing that and opting in and leaning into that for people with diabetes. I know it makes a huge difference. Of course, I'm happy to be here. I'm here to stay

[00:49:28] Justin Eastzer: and I've got a lot more coming. Happy Pride, everyone.

[00:49:32] Rob Howe: Happy Pride, everybody. And thank you again. Diabetech on all platforms. YouTube, go from there. But Instagram, TikTok, and really just an example of the power of sharing your story. Justin Tech, Justin Diabetech, thank you for coming on today, man. You got it.