#ToolsofType1s - 026 - Alex Stein

[00:00:00] Rob Howe: It's currently May 2019, so it's getting to be summertime. You're getting out there, you're more active, or maybe you're just active all the time and it feels better because it's warm outside and it's not cold when you have to go to the gym. But you also want to get the most life out of your sensors because, let's face it, they're expensive. So you need to try SkinGrip Adhesive Patches. They're water-resistant, latex-free, and hypoallergenic, which is great because if you've worn other tapes, you know how irritating they can be on your skin. Skin Grip set out to fix all that. They have patches designed for Dexcom, Medtronic, Freestyle Libre, Omnipod, and various other patches for pump infusion sets. You can check them all out at theskingrip.com. We know there are tons of tape options out there, and you need to pick the one that's best suited for your active lifestyle. And you can save money. Listeners of this podcast can get 15% off their order if they use code DDT for diabetics doing things. Nice. If you order from theskingrip.com, that's T-H-E skingrip.com. 15% off your order if you use code DDT. If you're listening to this in real time, there's also a giveaway on the Diabetics Doing Things Instagram page. So make your way there and you can win a year's worth of free tape from Skin Grip. Tools of Type 1's podcast. We're back. More episodes in 2019. Alex Stein, her tool, The Balancing Act. Tools of Type 1's podcast. More episodes coming your way.

[00:01:19] Alex Stein: Hi, I'm Alex. I'm originally from Seattle, Washington, but I came out to Utah to attend the University of Utah and to swim for their team. I was diagnosed exactly nine years ago today. I was diagnosed October 30th, 2009, and I was in seventh grade.

[00:01:43] Rob Howe: What is your tool of type 1s? And what's the one thing that a person living with T1D could learn from you or your experience?

[00:01:53] Alex Stein: I think the biggest thing for me is just realizing that you can accomplish so much with diabetes. And that doesn't have to stop you from doing anything that you really want to do. but at the same time it's also okay to recognize that diabetes does have an effect on you and it does add an extra aspect to your everyday life I guess and it's okay to recognize that and to feel those emotions that come you know in waves each and every day and it's okay to acknowledge that But at the same time, don't let that stop you from, you know, accomplishing what you want to do. For me, when I was diagnosed, I was in seventh grade and I had just really started ramping up my competitive swimming career and I was really performing well. And once I got diagnosed, I remember the doctors telling me you might not be able to swim. and hearing that might not be able to that wasn't a no for me that was kind of like an extra push to to see what my limits were and how far I could go with swimming because it was something that I enjoyed and that I loved and that I could see myself doing so yeah I think it's just important to to recognize that there's a balance between the two but you shouldn't let it stop you just

[00:03:29] Rob Howe: because you have diabetes. What is the simplest thing you've done that has helped you with the management of your type 1 diabetes? Where did you learn it or who showed it to you?

[00:03:39] Alex Stein: The simplest thing that I've done that's helped me manage my diabetes would probably be discovering the type 1 diabetes community on Instagram. I just discovered this over the past summer and it was so amazing because I didn't have any diabetic friends in person in real life and I had a lot of people that supported me but no one could really relate to me and what exactly I was going through and so when I found this community I remember I was sitting at the kitchen with my mom and I started to like freak out and scream and I was like oh my gosh mom there's this giant community on Instagram that I had no idea about for nine years. I had no idea about this community on a social media platform that I'm on every single day. And I got emotional and me and my mom just sat there with like tears in our eyes and we were just so relieved that I had finally found this community that I could relate to and that they could relate to me and I was reading these things where people were identifying these emotions that I had but I didn't even know what they were so it was so cool um and it really helped me overall just manage my diabetes so much more um so much better because I had these people that related to me and they were you know commenting different ideas that I had never heard about that my doctors haven't told me about or just different practices that they would do to help them kind of cope with diabetes and how they really kept pushing because it can be really, really tiring to always work on improving your diabetes every single day. So that has really helped me manage my

[00:05:40] Rob Howe: diabetes, which has been awesome. What failures or apparent failures with T1D have made you better at living the rest of your life or made you more well-rounded as a person? As I was about to retire

[00:05:54] Alex Stein: from swimming, I went into DKA and that was the first time that I had ever gone into DKA and it was really, really scary because I didn't have anybody there in Utah that knew what was going on. My family was all in a different state. My friends had no idea what was happening to me. So I, when I was hospitalized, I was really lonely and I was really isolated. And so it gave me a lot time to think about my priorities and what, um, what I was doing with, you know, my life and diabetes. And, um, after I got out of the hospital from that, it really, that was the kind of the final straw. Um, and I decided that I needed to retire, swim, um, early and focus on my health and my diabetes and managing my diabetes because that ultimately is the most important thing in my life and for you know basically nine years I had put swim first and and really neglected the fact that I had diabetes yeah I would control I would try to control it and I would always you know do the things that I was supposed to but it was so hard controlling it um it was never in a good range while I swam and that was really really frustrating um and not only did I have you know terrible A1Cs and I felt terrible but mentally I was not in a good spot either just because it was so draining um the whole time trying to really control my diabetes so I think a lot of people could look at going into DKA as a failure and I know I did for quite a while but after I quit swim and and really worked on um my diabetes and focusing on that I realized that it was a blessing in disguise to to go into DKA because if I didn't I would still be swimming, I would still be feeling really, really bad and have my diabetes just be at a very bad spot. And so I think that was a really important lesson that I learned and turning point really in my life, which has led me to being healthier, happier, finding this community on Instagram, being on this podcast, so many things has happened because I made that decision to put diabetes first and my health first. And so I don't look at it as a failure. I really look at it as

[00:08:50] Rob Howe: a blessing in disguise. What unusual or absurd opinion or approach regarding your diabetes do

[00:08:56] Alex Stein: you have? When I first got diagnosed and I was in the hospital, I remember the doctors telling me that diabetes is not black and white and there's a lot of gray when you are trying to monitor and regulate your blood sugars. And that was really hard for me to take in because I'm very much a black and white person and I don't like it when there's a lot of gray area and so I had to learn how to navigate this whole new life of diabetes and this whole gray area of what to do when it doesn't fit in the black and white boxes. And so I think when times get really tough and I'm feeling burnt out from monitoring my blood sugars and trying to get it regulated, I always come back to that, that diabetes is not black and white. There's going to be gray areas. and within those gray areas the cool part is that you get to decide what you're going to do how you're going to control your blood sugars and be the healthiest that you can be so whether that's you know going to Instagram and looking at other people's pages on what they recommend or what they do or if that's, you know, doing yoga or going for a walk or, you know, just little things that might not fit the formula that the doctors give you when you leave the hospital. Whatever it may be, just kind of filling in that gray area gives you a lot of flexibility and allows you to be creative in how you're going to manage your diabetes and really make it your own.

[00:10:46] Rob Howe: What's your favorite thing? What gets you to smile or laugh almost every time?

[00:10:52] Alex Stein: I love dogs. I've always been a huge dog person. Whenever I see a dog on the street, I'm that girl that goes over and becomes best friends with the owner and the dog and wants to take it home, wants to babysit it, like whatever it may be. I'm that girl. So I think it'd be really cool. And I've always said this, but one day I'm going to live on a ranch and I'm going to have a hundred dogs, but I think it would be really cool if I could somehow be part of a company or maybe start my own where I train dogs to become service dogs and give them to people with diabetes or just people who have disabilities in general. Because one, it's working with dogs and that would just make me so happy, but two, then I'm involved in the type 1 diabetic community. And that's really something that's important to me. And, and so cool to see how a dog can change someone's life. It's just, I think it's really cool. So, um, hopefully one day you guys will see me on a ranch with a whole bunch of dogs.

[00:12:04] Rob Howe: In the last five years, what new adjustment to your lifestyle has improved your life with

[00:12:08] Alex Stein: diabetes the most? For me, I didn't get the pump and sensor until after I retired from swimming. The biggest reason was just the fact that the adhesive was not staying on my body for the amount of time I was in the pool swimming. So that was the number one reason. The other reason, and I don't think I wanted to admit it at the time, but I was really insecure about having this two things actually on my body that were gonna be there visible for everyone to see basically for the rest of my life or you know for the time that I chose to wear them and I yeah I was pretty insecure about that and self-conscious and I liked the fact that I could choose who I told and when I told people that I had diabetes. And when I had these things on my body, it was a conversation starter for people to come up and ask me, you know, what's that? What's on your body? Like, what are you, what's going on? And I'm a fairly open person, but that not having, I think it was the loss of control and not having that control to kind of hide that I had diabetes was really hard for me to overcome. But once I decided to get both the pump and sensor and put my health first, it was a game changer and my A1Cs have never been better. It has been so amazing to just watch my body work in such amazing ways and just to see how these devices can improve someone's life so much it's just so amazing and um I really don't know how I lived without these two the pump and sensor I I have no idea how I made it this far but that has been really really cool and awesome to just even now I've had it for almost two years and still it's, you know, I'm working on improving my numbers, but it's just so cool to go into the doctor each and every time and see the improvements that these little devices have made on my life.

[00:14:35] Rob Howe: While you're listening to this episode, let me ask you a question. Do you know how much sensor tape you have left? Because if you're like me, you'll need to order it last minute. So with plenty of tape options out there, pick the one that sponsors this podcast, Skin Grip. order from theskingrip.com that's theskingrip.com and get 15 off your order if you use code DDT for diabetics doing things hopefully that reminder helped you and we'll get back to the episode what challenges related to t1d did you encounter or have to overcome while you were doing your thing

[00:15:05] Alex Stein: so some challenges that i encountered while i was swimming um was just controlling my blood sugar and having it in a stable range whether that was high or low or you know in a controlled area but it was never stable and that was really really frustrating for me and emotionally so draining and it really just over time I learned to kind of push those emotions away and kind of push the fact that while I was swimming I kind of pushed the fact that I had diabetes I shoved that away And I didn't want to accept that. And I just thought I could train and perform like everyone else. When in reality, it was very different than that. And I needed to train in a different way. And I was going to perform in a different way depending on my blood sugar. And that was really hard for me to accept. And I really don't feel like I accepted it until I left and retired swimming because I had so much time to reflect back on my career and, you know, how my diabetes and my health has changed over this past year. and I think if I would have really processed those emotions while I was swimming, I would have been so much happier and would have had so much more success in the pool, but also with my blood sugar numbers. And I just, yeah, just accepting the fact that I have diabetes. If you're going through something that's similar or you're struggling with that, just don't push away your feelings. Let your emotions come out and feel what you are feeling and understand that those are okay to feel that. And your teammates might not feel that and your coaches might not feel that, but you're different and it's okay to feel those things. And then and move on from that and go on from that to perform and practice and work really hard so you can have success in whatever you're doing.

[00:17:26] Rob Howe: What bad advice regarding diabetes do you see or hear that you'd like to address?

[00:17:32] Alex Stein: I think there's just the typical ones that, you know, type 1 and type 2 are the same, that people don't really understand the difference. I hear a lot of times like oh so you have type 2 or isn't type 1 and type 2 the same when in reality we all know that they're not another one that I've heard recently is the whole cinnamon and apple cider vinegar trend the fact that if you eat enough cinnamon and And you drink enough apple cider vinegar that you'll cure diabetes or like your autoimmune disorders and diseases. And I'll tell you that I love cinnamon, so I have it every single day. And I still have diabetes. So I think it does not work, unfortunately. But if you guys try it and it works, let me know because that would be awesome.

[00:18:30] Rob Howe: What priority are you focusing on in your own life currently? This can be diabetes related or not.

[00:18:36] Alex Stein: I'm focusing on my mental health and overall happiness. That is so important to me right now and that has never really been a priority of mine. I thought that swimming was my happiness and that I was okay, but it wasn't and it was a thing that I did at the time that I really enjoyed and over time it started to become something that I didn't. Um, but right now focusing on what I really enjoy doing and, um, and what makes me happy is so important and it really helps with monitoring and regulating my blood sugars and giving me, um, good A1Cs when I go into the doctors, you know, just being happy allows me to continue to to work on my diabetes every single day because we don't get holidays. We always have to deal with diabetes. So having those little breaks and figuring out what makes you happy is so important in your overall health and regulation of your diabetes. Who is someone that you look up to

[00:19:48] Rob Howe: and what have they taught you? How do you apply that to your life?

[00:19:52] Alex Stein: my old swim coach ken is someone that i really look up to um i i've looked up to him for a long time he has trained me or he had trained me for the majority of my competitive years swimming before i went to college and he always understood that i would need to train differently um or i would have you know some good days and some bad days while training under him just because of my diabetes and that made me different but um but once I you know handled my low blood sugar or if I was really high and once I handled that he never let me hang on to that he would always you know push me to work my very hardest and I was just like any other one of my teammates um so that was really really good for me personally just because I knew that he knew I would have to do things differently, but he didn't let me feel like I was an outsider of the group. And I was still able to train and do the same things for the majority of practice that all my other teammates were doing. And he was really big on working hard and getting your work done, but then also having time for fun and I think that relates a lot to diabetes and management of diabetes because you do have to work really hard every single day every hour of the day you're working at and with your diabetes it's a constant battle you never get a break so that's really hard work and it's draining and it's tiring but you also have to have some times where you have fun and whether, you know, that's eating a donut for breakfast and understanding that your blood sugar is probably going to go high or if that's, you know, taking 30 minutes a day to do something that you enjoy doing, whether that's going for a walk or, you know, watching a TV show, whatever it may be, finding those little times throughout the day where you get a break and you get to have fun because that's what really revitalizes you and gives you all that strength that you need to continually work on controlling your diabetes and your blood sugar.

[00:22:20] Rob Howe: What advice would you give someone who has T1D and is trying to pursue a career in your line of work?

[00:22:25] Alex Stein: For someone who wants to be a college athlete who has type 1 diabetes, I would tell them that they can do it. And there might be people that tell them that you can't or the doctors might warn you. But I would say you can do it. You just have to work probably twice as hard as your teammates or someone who doesn't have diabetes. because you have an added stressor in your life constantly on top of your sport that you're doing. So just working really, really hard day in, day out at your sport, but also with management of your diabetes, making sure that your mental health is in check, making sure that you're doing the best that you can to regulate your diabetes, um being in close contact with your doctors and your coaches and your teammates um and really letting them in on how you're feeling what you're going through is a really big factor and something that I did not take um I I didn't really understand how important that was when I got to college, I wanted to kind of hide that I had diabetes and I didn't want to fill my coaches in on how I really was feeling. I didn't want them to know that I was struggling or that I was having a bad day with, you know, my blood sugars. But it's really important to have communication because ultimately that is the most important thing is controlling your diabetes because if it's not in control, you're not going to perform well. So just being in contact and communication with all those important people in your life. That is probably the biggest factor and the most important thing I would say that you should be doing while you're a college athlete. But yeah, don't let diabetes stop you from being an athlete. If that's what you want to do, whether it's at a high school level, college level, whatever it is, you're still able to do it. You just have to work a little bit harder.

[00:24:40] Rob Howe: what's the one facet or trait that you think makes you uniquely you explain why i am an extremely

[00:24:47] Alex Stein: hard worker and i think this comes from swimming for 15 years um you kind of have to be a pretty hard worker to swim um that long so i think swim ultimately gave me this trait and i really mastered it, but maybe almost to a fault because, um, because I, I want to have controlled numbers and I, I want to make sure that my blood sugar is, um, in the right range. But like I said before, it's not black and white and sometimes I'll do everything I can, but it, it just might not be a good day. So, um, and I think that's hard for me because I work so hard at trying to manage it and trying to control it. So it's definitely a balancing act, but I'm really grateful that SWIM has given me, you know, the trait of working really hard because I need that when you have diabetes. That's a really good trait to have. So I think anyone who has diabetes honestly is an insanely hard worker because you really have to be. It's just something that you have to do every day. So you, if you do it every day, you have to work hard at it. So where do you get plugged into the T1D community the most? So I would say the type 1 diabetic community on Instagram has by far been the best thing, um, for me getting involved in the community and, um, and just meeting people from across the country or even in a in a different country um that has been really cool and has helped a lot in just continuing to work on managing my diabetes so i'd say get involved in the instagram community look up um you know hashtags like type 1 diabetes or diabetic communities, things like that. So you can find some more people, DM people, you know, communicate with them, talk with them. Everyone is so friendly and wants to share their experiences and what they've learned. And so, you know, don't be afraid to reach out to people because everyone that I've talked to has been so generous and we all want to help each other and be there for each other. um if you are going into college or in college and you're looking for a community that's in person look at your university's clubs and see if they have a diabetes community um or club already established because I know a lot of universities have those um if they don't a lot of times clubs are really easy to start so um I would contact your university see how you can get that started Um, another thing I found was on Facebook. You can look up your state's, um, your state's Utah, like for, sorry, my pod keeps beeping at me, so I'm trying to cover it up. Um, another thing that I found was that you can go on Facebook and you can look up your state's diabetes group and a lot of states have their own. So for me, I joined the Utah type 1 diabetes group on Facebook and, you know, depending on what group you're in, they will talk about, you know, different scenarios that they've gone through or, you know, different situations that have happened to them. So that has been really helpful as well. But overall, I think it's super easy to get involved once you know where to look. And for me, I started on Instagram. I really recommend that you guys get plugged in there. It's so fun to meet all these people, and it's really encouraging as well.

[00:28:48] Rob Howe: Plug yourself. Tell us where we can find you in the Diabetes Online community.

[00:28:52] Alex Stein: You guys can find me on Instagram at underscore Alex K Stein. Um, I am pretty new at this whole diabetes community, so I'm planning on doing some more posts about my experience with diabetes and what has helped me. Um, and I really hope to get connected with all of you guys. Um, if you're visiting Utah or if you're from Utah, you guys should definitely shoot me a DM so we can, um, connect in person. I would love to meet anyone that is in the Utah state and meet with you guys because, like I said, I don't have really too many friends that are diabetics in person. So that would be awesome to meet you guys. I would love it. Give me a follow on Instagram. Super excited to meet all of you guys. And I'm so glad that I was able to be part of this podcast. And I just want to thank you. um so yeah i hope you guys liked it and thank you rob for letting me be part of this thank you for

[00:30:02] Rob Howe: listening to the tools of type ones podcast on diabetics doing things i'm rob how and every tuesday and thursday in 2019 we are posting the next tools of type 1 episode so you follow us on instagram hashtag tools of type ones or just on diabetics doing things we will post those regularly every Tuesday, every Thursday. My favorite type ones are answering the questions I want to know the answers to. And hopefully you'll learn a few things as well. If you like this episode, be sure to review us on iTunes. And if you didn't like it, go ahead and let me know that too. I want to know. All the feedback is good to me. Thanks again for your time. I value that more than anything you could possibly give me. Thanks so much. Bye-bye.