Any level of exercise can be more challenging when you live with diabetes. When Eoin Costello was diagnosed with type 1 at age 19, he was worried that his love for fitness and sports would have to be put aside. Instead, he found a way to not only stay active but to coach other people with diabetes to do the same. Whatever level of fitness you're looking for, Eoin is all about having fun and making it work.
He's also the host of The Insuleoin Podcast. Stacey appears on a recent episode talking about her parenting experience.
Also this week, In Tell Me Something Good – type 1 diabetes and space force? Did we just see a big barrier – military service – come down? Link to the article here.
This podcast is not intended as medical advice. If you have those kinds of questions, please contact your health care provider.
Check out Stacey's book: The World's Worst Diabetes Mom!
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Episode Transcription Below:
Stacey Simms 0:00
Diabetes Connections is brought to you by Dario health manage your blood glucose levels increase your possibilities by Gvoke Hypopen the first premixed auto injector for very low blood sugar and by Dexcom help make knowledge your superpower with the Dexcom G6 continuous glucose monitoring system. This is Diabetes Connections with Stacey Simms. This week exercise with type one can be a challenge. You know there are a lot of variables Eoin Costello was determined to make it work when he was diagnosed and says the key is don't expect perfection.
Eoin Costello 0:41
When I start something new, I'm probably gonna see some highs and I'm probably gonna see some lows. And I think being aware of that, first of all is very important because you're not going to be as frustrated or discouraged when you do inevitably see these highs and lows
Stacey Simms 0:57
Eoin was diagnosed as a young adult. He has his own podcast and we talk about managing different kinds of workouts, treating lows at 3am. And lots more
in Tell me something good type 1 diabetes, and space force. Did we just see a big barrier US military service come down?
This podcast is not intended as medical advice. If you have those kinds of questions, please contact your health care provider.
Welcome to another week of the show. Always so glad to have you here. You know, we aim to educate and inspire about diabetes with a focus on people who use insulin. I'm your host, Stacey Simms, my son was diagnosed with type one back in 2006, at the age of almost two, and he is now 16. My husband lives with type two diabetes, I don't have diabetes, I have a background in broadcasting. And that is how you get this podcast.
I am just back from podcast movement, which is a really big podcasting conference. I've gotten to it in years past, but I haven't been in a while it was really fun to catch up just like diabetes conferences, you know, you see all your friends and you do learn stuff. And I was there in a different sort of capacity, not just learning about my own show. But I'm working a little bit with a group called sheep podcasts, which is of course, podcasting for women. And I bring all this up just to say, it was really interesting to see the difference between travel at the beginning of July, which was the first time I really went to any kind of conference or in person gathering that wasn't, you know, immediate family. And in July, we were certainly very cautious. And friends for life, the organization there did a great job at being smart about COVID and doing everything they needed to do. But the difference this time was just the attitude and the feeling because of the Delta variant. You know, it was very interesting. Many more people were masking indoors than in July, many more people were expressing concerns about traveling back and forth. And I don't bring this up to say anything other than it was an interesting observation. You all know as you listen, you know, this is a very educated audience What's going on? I don't have to tell you anything.
If you follow me on social media, you might have seen that I was wearing a mask outdoors in downtown Nashville, I was kind of reluctant to go to downtown Nashville at all, but I'd never been there. And I wanted to see all the bridesmaid stuff myself. Because it is like the National Capital now in the US for bachelorette parties. And yes, it lives up to that hype. It was amazing. But I was wearing my mask outdoors. If you followed me on social you saw that. And I haven't done that before but it was crowded and a lot of young people and you know in the US the younger the less likely to be vaccinated. So we took more precautions than we know I say we then me than I normally would have
also was so much fun to meet some diabetes friends just as an odd coincidence in Nashville last Wednesday. As you listen children with diabetes, the group that puts on friends for life had a very cool event with mankind, the people behind Afrezza inhaled insulin, and they sponsored a fun time at a go kart track with Conor Daly. He is an IndyCar driver who lives with type one. And he was in town because Nashville had their very first Music City Grand Prix. I will link that up. It was a very cool, very different kind of race. But Connor was very cool himself. He was super engaging with the kids. I will link up some coverage. There was a new story come up some of the local news stations came out and made some videos which was really nice. I got to meet Rachel Mayo, who is a very cool lady who lives in Nashville. And you know, we're we've connected on social media for years. She lives with type one. She works with the JDRF chapter there. And Ernie Prado who's been on the show before he works at NASA. I saw him with friends for life. And he told me if I was going to Nashville, I had to look her up. So Rachel, it was so great to meet you. And maybe next time we will get in the go karts. I don't know. It was really fun though.
you know, one of the things I mentioned podcast movement, but one of the things that's really fun about going there is meeting other podcasters you know, we already have fabulous other shows in the diabetes community. There are lots of podcasts and more of them. keep popping up all All the time, I did sort of a swap with this week's guest, but we did it kind of backwards. I taped the interview you're about to hear with Eoin first. And then he interviewed me about a week later. But he has already aired the interview that he did with me. His turnaround time was quicker. So I'll put the link in the show notes to that Eoin Castillo's show is the Insuleoin podcast, it is great. Oh, and you can hear the name in the title there Eoin was diagnosed almost 10 years ago at the age of 19. And he was very active very much to sports at the time. And as you can imagine, very worried about whether he'd be able to continue. It's a bit hard to imagine now. But even 10 years ago, there wasn't the social media there was in the communication we have now in the diabetes community. I mean, it's taken off for sure. But when you think about it, 2011 was still at the very beginning. So there wasn't a lot of information out there for somebody who wants to run marathons or lift weights competitively, you know, that sort of thing. We had a great conversation about how Eoin you know, kind of found his way and he is now helping many, many other people. And he is Yes, he's from Ireland. I think his accent is much nicer than my my New York accent which occasionally comes out I know you hear it here and there.
But first Diabetes Connections is brought to you by Gvoke Hypopen. Our endo always told us that if you use insulin, you need to have emergency glucagon on hand as well. Low blood sugars are one thing we're usually able to treat those with fast acting glucose tabs or juice but a very low blood sugar can be frightening. Which is why I'm so glad there's a different option for emergency glucagon it is Gvoke Hypopen. Gvoke Hypopen is pre mixed and ready to go with no visible needle. You pull off the red cap and push the yellow end on to bare skin and hold it for five seconds. That's it. Find out more go to Diabetes connections.com and click on the Gvoke logo. Gvoke shouldn't be used in patients with via chromosoma or insulinoma. Visit Gvoke glucagon comm slash risk.
Eoin Welcome to the show. It's great to talk to you today.
Eoin Costello 6:59
Thank you, Stacey. Thanks for having me on. I'm actually a longtime listener of the podcast. I was a pleasure. So I appreciate it.
Stacey Simms 7:05
Thank you so much. I was just about to say I really enjoy your podcast. It's kind of funny talking to a fellow podcaster. This will be nice.
Eoin Costello 7:14
Absolutely. At least we were both used to speaking on a mic.
Stacey Simms 7:17
Oh, we see now you set it up. Now we have to like up the game. We really have to be good today. I want to talk about your show and what led you there. But let's just start at your story's beginning. You were diagnosed with type one at at 19. What's going on in your life during that time?
Eoin Costello 7:35
Yeah, so I was kind of transitioning from high school, we just call it regular school in Ireland into college. So I had done a year of like a portfolio course I was actually going to art college for animation. It was around Christmas time. And I had noticed some differences in terms of how I was feeling. Obviously, I was very tired. I had lost about a stone and a half in the space of a month. I was really thirsty all the time. I just didn't have any energy. And I suppose because I was 19. And I was kind of into fitness and train and and keep myself healthy. I had this I had this naive attitude of I'm 19 I'm invincible. How could there be anything wrong with me, therefore, I'll just brush it off to the side. And it was around Christmas time and and in Ireland, we like to go to bars, we like to have a good time around that. Obviously, in France, I was having a few drinks. And if I was tired during the day, I would say it's only because I was out last night or if I was thirsty. It's because I've had a few drinks the previous night. And it wasn't until my parents were kind of quietly concerned. What they had mentioned that I should probably go dEoin to the GP get a blood test and just to see if everything's okay. And I reluctantly agreed because I was kind of saying, Look, I'm fine. I'm fine. I'm fine. There's nothing wrong with me. But I I gave in, because I just wanted to keep my parents happy.
Stacey Simms 8:59
Let me just interrupt you real quick. Just to translate over here. A stone is 14 pounds. So you lost 21 pounds.
Eoin Costello 9:06
Yeah, it flew off me. Right? Yeah. And in a very, very short space of time was about a month, a month and a half. But the thing about it was because you kind of see yourself every day, I didn't notice it as much. And it wasn't until I'd seen a friend who I hadn't seen and maybe six months or so I just bumped into her in the street. And she said to me, You look really different. And I said how would you mean and she goes I don't know you just look different. And she she kind of blurted it out and was embarrassed nearly but from saying it, but it was obviously because I had lost so much weight in such a short space of time. So basically I went down to the GP got a blood test. And a couple days later I got a phone call saying this is all I said it is blood test come back. You have type 1 diabetes, you need to go to the hospital right now. And I went in and my bloods were like six 40 640 so very high. And then that led me to my new life.
Stacey Simms 10:05
Was there any confusion about which type it was? Because sometimes, as a young adult, they don't go type one initially,
Eoin Costello 10:11
no, straightaway, they they had told me it was type one. But I had barely even heard the word diabetes before. I obviously knew that it was a condition that people lived with. But I had no idea of the complexities of it, or just the, the detail that you have to now live your life by. But no, there was no confusion. It was type one straightaway.
Stacey Simms 10:31
And while I'm sure your parents were supportive, but very worried, I heard your brothers gave you an interesting well, while you were in the hospital, is that true?
Eoin Costello 10:40
Yeah, it is true. So I was I was in hospital. I think I stayed there for about three nights while I was on an IV and obviously getting the crash course and diabetes management. And my family, in a good way have a dark sense of humor. We're nice people we like to think what around difficult times like that sometimes it can be nice to try and keep things light hearted. So my two brothers got a cough my brother and or my my dad. And we're obviously informed that Eoin has been diagnosed type 1 diabetes is in hospital. And on their way to the hospital. They picked up bottles of CO sweet jellies, these kinds of things to bring in as a joke. It kind of sounds weird. If you don't if you don't know. It came, it came from a good place.
Stacey Simms 11:30
That's funny. Yeah, I think sometimes dark humor has its place for sure if you know it's coming with love. That's really funny. Exactly, of course. So you're already very involved, as you said in fitness. I assume you played sports all growing up. What were you thinking at the time about what was to come next?
Eoin Costello 11:47
Yeah, there was a lot racing through my mind, obviously. But one of the big things that stood out to me and one of my main concerns was, can I continue to play sport, can I continue to be active, and for my whole life, I, I played a lot of different sports. But at the time, I was playing football, or I was playing soccer at a very high level. And I wanted to continue doing that. And because I didn't know anything about diabetes, I had almost automatically assumed that this would prevent me from being as active or playing sport. So it was obviously a big adjustment in terms of how to manage blood sugar around exercises, as we all know. But as time went on, I kind of quickly realized that look, you can of course, still play sport, you can be active, as long as you're still prioritizing your diabetes health. But the first while I was I was very concerned.
Stacey Simms 12:41
It's interesting, when you were diagnosed, you know, almost 10 years ago. Now, this is a time before a lot of social media. I mean, it's kind of just starting. But I guess what I'm asking is, you have a huge Instagram following, and other social media following and you post advice, and you talk very openly about how to do what you do with type 1 diabetes, I've got to assume that wasn't available for you. When you were diagnosed? How did you figure it out? How did you know what to do?
Eoin Costello 13:07
Very, very good question. It reminds me of when I kind of first got back to college. Because when I was in class, obviously, I had just been recently diagnosed. And as you say, Stacy, there was no social media, there wasn't really any, any sort of community based support groups that I could kind of connect with online and learn from other diabetics. And as we know, it can be very isolating to live with diabetes, because it's sometimes are consuming in your life. So at times, I was thinking I only person in the world left with this thing. And obviously I wasn't, but sometimes you can feel like that because it is so just on your mind all the time I was in college, I remember, some days, I was supposed to be doing work, but I might be behind the computer or laptop, just researching diabetes, because I became obsessed with in a really good way. Because I knew that. Okay, this is a very, very serious condition. It's something that is out of my control. Now I have it, there's nothing I could have done to bring it on. There's nothing I could have done to prevent us. But it's in my best interest now to know as much as possible. And for any diabetic out there, the more that we know, inevitably the easier things can be. I kind of just became obsessed with obsessed with trying to understand how different exercise would affect me how stress would affect me how lack of sleep would affect me, how hydration, different foods, these kinds of things. And it was it was almost like a guilty pleasure. I was just constantly constantly looking at open research and
Stacey Simms 14:42
we're going to talk about what works and I'd love to get some advice for everybody from you know, the very casual athlete to somebody who's really, really more involved in fitness. But I got to ask, did you have any mishaps in the beginning? Did you try anything that you said that's not going to work?
All right back to Eoin answering that question. But first bottom line, you need a plan of action with diabetes. We've been lucky that Benny's endo has helped us a lot with that and that he understands the plan has to change. It's been he gets older, you want that kind of support. So take your diabetes management to the next level with Dario health. Their published Studies demonstrate high impact results for active users like improved in rage percentage within three months reduction of a win see within three months and a 58% decrease in occurrences of severe hypoglycemic events, try Dario’s diabetes success plan and make a difference in your diabetes management. Go to my dario.com forward slash diabetes dash connections for more proven results and for information about the plan.
Now back to Eoin answering my question about whether he's tried something in his workout or his diet routine that just didn't work.
Eoin Costello 15:59
Thankfully, I didn't have anything dramatic. Thankfully, I highlight. But yeah, of course, there's so much trial and error with diabetes and from throughout throughout the last 10 years, I have just had thousands of highs, maybe not 1000s of lows, hopefully keep them keep them less. But the more that I tried different things, the more that I tried to get out there the more exercise that I did on a test and different foods with different amount of amounts of insulin. There's just so much trial and error. But hopefully, I didn't have anything like decay or I wasn't kind of rushed into hospital board. Well, fingers crossed. Yeah, let's keep let's keep it. So it was more so just the highs and lows as they call them rather than anything too serious. Thankfully,
Stacey Simms 16:47
well, and I'll be I'll be clear on I was thinking more like you ate a banana before a workout. And it was not the right idea or wasn't so much like DK. Okay, I'm not too worried about, you know, that kind of mistake. I was just thinking about something smaller. But that's up to you.
Eoin Costello 17:03
Yeah, of course, there's times where I remember when I, I think it was been a few weeks after I was diagnosed and I was kind of getting back into the gym. But I was also kind of coming into a honeymoon phase quite quickly after I was diagnosed. And I was taught and I was learning to carb count for one unit of insulin for 10 grams carbohydrates. And I remember, I finished the workout in the gym, I went down to the changing room to get changed up shower, and I had a banana. I weighed out the banana. It totaled 50 grams of carbs. So I thought, Okay, perfect. I've waited out I've done everything I'm supposed to do. I took five units of insulin and ate a banana. But I hadn't fully realized the impact of a potential honeymoon phase. So I quite quickly plummeted. And I now have to get two liters orange juice in quite quickly. But I'm just mistakes like that. Just where you think you're on the right track with an insulin dose of carb count or something as diabetes does. It sometimes surprises you?
Stacey Simms 18:06
No doubt. I hate bananas. That's funny. That's why I gave that as an example. I'm not surprised that you had an incident with a banana. No, no, don't. Not one of my favorites. What kind of technology do you use? Do you use a CGM? Do you use an insulin pump?
Eoin Costello 18:24
So I've always used MDI, my mom, Nova rapid and Lantus. But only this year, I've got a Dexcom G6. And as you can imagine, that's completely opened up my eyes to a 24 hour period with my blood sugar rather than just that snapshot in time with a finger prick.
Stacey Simms 18:41
What motivated you What led you to start using a CGM,
Eoin Costello 18:45
it was more so they had become available in Ireland. So thankfully, in Ireland, we are with something called the long term illness scheme. So if you're diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes in Ireland, all of your supplies are covered, which is unbelievable. But only recently they had included the Dexcom G6, so it was actually only offered to me almost a year to today. It's been a game changer. It's just and particularly with exercise, it gives you so much more freedoms or much more confidence when you are to go to the gym or you are to go for a run or whatever it might be. It's so
Stacey Simms 19:19
interesting with exercise because my son who lives with type one has played lots of different sports. And it's always amazing to see those rises in blood sugar that comes not from food, but from exercise and the different types of exercise you have to learn what to leave alone with treat for. Did any of that take you by surprise? Did you see those? I call them adrenaline highs?
Eoin Costello 19:43
Absolutely. Yeah, I suppose what really surprises me and still to the day What surprised me so much is the drastic difference between and this is obviously from my own experience, the drastic difference between heavy weight training and something like a rant So to give you an example, if I was to actually, only this morning, I was in the gym, and I was doing relatively heavy squats. And when I work with heavier weights, my blood sugar skyrockets. So I've now gotten to the stage where more often than not, I will have to pre bolus for a heavy leg workout, because I'm anticipating that big spike. Whereas if I'm to go for a run, I'll know that after, say, 2030 minutes, my blood sugar's are inclined to trend lower. So ideally, I always try and go for a run with little to no insulin on board. That's why I like to run first thing in the morning. And then we're training in terms of weights, depending on what it is. I'm training. Like, if I'm doing heavy squats, I may need to pre bolus as if I'm having a meal, which is strange.
Stacey Simms 20:52
Yeah, yeah. But you have to figure all that out. I mean, it's it's incredible. And I always feel like just when we have one sport figured out, he decides to change. keep you guessing, right. You can't quit baseball. We figured it out. Now. He's done baseball, and basketball, football, a little bit of lacrosse, and now he's really enjoying wrestling. So I think wrestling is going to take us through high school, we are still figuring it out. Because it is you know, practice is super intense with lots of cardio and then sometimes wait on alternate days. And then the meats are just a lot of standing around and then these bursts of energy. So you know, it's
Eoin Costello 21:27
what would Benny's blood sugar? How would it react if he was saved on an intense wrestling session?
Stacey Simms 21:34
Well, the practices are to the point where we have the example, the very first wrestling practice he ever went to he ate 85 uncovered carbs during the two hours, he just liked having to stop No way. It was real. It was unreal. He was he's an active kid. But at the time, this is two and a half years ago. Now. He wasn't as fit as he is. Now to be quite honest with you, he had taken himself on as kind of a project and between eighth grade, and now he's about to be a junior. So two and a half, three years, he's really transformed his body. He's gotten a lot more fit. He's lost weight, he's muscled up. It's been it's been fun to watch, and kind of inspiring as the mom who just like walks the dog and works out a couple times a week. But he's really done well. So that first practice, though, was amazing. So we knew we had to make some changes. So we you know, we adjusted insulin. And as he exercised and became more sensitive, right, he responded better to the insulin, we were able to make a lot of adjustments. So if we knew it was a heavy cardio day, he would change his basal rates going in, in having control like you with Tandem has kind of changed that. But still, if it was a heavier weight day, he actually he kind of wait, no pun intended, he waits out the high, he doesn't like to dose for it too much because he will drop. And then during a meet, he just tried to kind of ride it. But he's 16 on. So sometimes that means ignoring it. To be quite honest with you, I can imagine and just getting through. So as his mom, I'm like, you know, if you just gave yourself a little bit you could He's like, it's fine. It's fine. It's fine. And it's fine. He's doing very well. He's very healthy. Our endocrinologist is pleased. So I can't really criticize him. But I but I'd like to
Eoin Costello 23:23
as mother's ward. Well, I'm sure look, he's he's in fantastic hands, obviously. But it's it's amazing to hear that he has stayed so active. And as you say he changed his body and seeing the difference with even the insulin requirements. Oh, yeah. Amazing.
Stacey Simms 23:37
Yeah, it's been great. So let me get I don't want to talk all let us let me get back to you. Sorry. When you talk to people about diabetes and fitness, and let's be honest, you are you know, fitness seems to be kind of your job. This is something that you are really passionate about. I'll share some videos and some photos if you haven't seen Eoin he's he? Are you a model? You're a fitness model in some ways, right? Terrible question. You're
Eoin Costello 24:03
gonna laugh at regression? Well, yeah, I'm with a model agency in Dublin, but it's not my my full time job.
Stacey Simms 24:09
Okay, so you can imagine how fit he is to have that as even a part time job. So let's start though by talking about people who are moderately active with diabetes, right? They may not they may not expect to be on the cover of, you know, a Fitness magazine, but they want to get in better shape. What kind of advice do you have for somebody who is worried about going low? Or is hearing us talk about these highs and isn't quite sure what to do? Where do you start?
Eoin Costello 24:35
Yeah, absolutely. Good question. And it's, it's something that I always touch on too. I make it quite clear that because I am so into fitness, I would never expect anybody to, you know, go to the gym five or six days a week and go out for runs multiple times a week. It's what I do with what I love. It's not for everybody else. But it's important that as a diabetic, we have some sort of activity in our life. Whether that be Going for a short walk a day, whether that be playing tennis, whether it be going for a swim, anything that you enjoy is the first piece of advice. It's important that if you want to exercise or if you're trying to introduce a new sort of regime or routine into your into your life, it's important that you enjoy it. Because if you do, you're a lot more inclined to continue to do and continue to see the benefits from it. So if somebody is concerned about the highs that I was speaking about, or the lows that I mentioned, what Ron's there is so much trial and error. And it's important that people always remind themselves of when I'm starting something new. And this can be with any aspect of your life. But particularly with diabetes, when I start something new, I'm probably gonna see some highs, and I'm probably gonna see some lows. And I think being aware of that, first of all, is very important, because you're not going to be as frustrated or discouraged when you do inevitably see these highs and lows. But if I was to offer somebody advice, who is trying to start walking or trying to start, say, even a light jog a couple times a week, the first thing is always be prepared for a high or low blood sugar, particularly low blood sugar, because the impacts of a low can obviously affect you quite quickly. So the first thing is always have your low treatment and start small, you don't need to aim to run a marathon quite quickly, you can think, Okay, I'm going to start this week, walk around the block, see how my blood sugar react, I might do to walk around the block, see how my blood sugar reacts to that. So instead of that kind of all or nothing mentality, you really need to ease your way into it. Because when you ease your way into things, you can steadily see any patterns or trends which approach, it might not be the best idea for somebody to say, Okay, I haven't gone to the gym ever before, but I want to start going, therefore, I'm gonna go to the gym six days a week, yeah, it's gonna be very, very, very difficult to understand how your body and how your blood sugar reacts to that. It could be I'm gonna go to the gym one day a week, and I'm gonna see what my blood sugar's like before, I'm gonna see what my blood sugar is like, during, and after. And if you're aware of the trends and patterns, like I said, with your blood sugar, it gives you more confidence over time. And the more confidence you have with your blood sugar, the easier it is to continue to do more.
Stacey Simms 27:27
And then for the people who want to do more, because we have quite a few people who listen to this show who are very much dedicated to fitness activity, athletics, you know, for those high achievers, any tips to kind of stay at that high level or get there,
Eoin Costello 27:43
I think a lot of that would depend on what that specific person's goal is. But if it is, say, to change your body composition, for example, and you really enjoy going to the gym, you like lifting weights, you can see your body changing over time, and you want to continue doing that, because it's it's what you love. Again, it's about enjoying it. But the priority will always be your blood. And I think no matter who you are what you do in terms of your exercise, whether it be intense, or just kind of casual each day, the priority is always blood sugar. Always, always always, for me anyway, that's how I feel about. And I think if you have a good understanding of how you're reacting to these certain things, then again, it gives you the confidence to push further and further and further and further, if that's what you want to do. So, to give another example from from my own experience, since the lockdown in Ireland, the gyms high close now, they're opened back up, thanks, thankfully. But when the gyms closed, I got big into running. And the first few rounds that I went on, it was again, a lot of trial and error, I would see a few lows, I would see my bloods dropping at a certain distance or a certain time. But the more I did it, the more my confidence grew. And then the more you do, you can kind of see yourself setting yourself goals. So I did a running challenge, which was 48 miles over 48 hours. So you'd you'd run for miles, every Yeah. So it was four miles, every four hours for 48 hours. And before I started running, I was thinking arc like could I could I do that, like with my butcher we get in the way is that realistic foot The more that you do, you can kind of see yourself getting closer and closer and closer and closer to doing these things. So if there is somebody who, as you say Stacey is a high achiever, or really enjoys their training, if you have that goal that you want to work towards, you can tweak your training or, or even tweak your diabetes management towards that, if that makes sense.
Stacey Simms 29:50
Yeah, I'm curious though you said you know the blood sugar is your top priority. What do you mean by that? Do you mean staying in range just knowing where it is? You know? When you say your blood sugar is the most important part of your workout, can you just talk a little bit about what you mean by that?
Eoin Costello 30:05
Yeah, of course. So I mean, not even specifically with training just in general, I always went out obsessing about it too much, I always like to prioritize my diabetes health. And for me, that is trying to keep my time and range in range as much as possible. Because I know that if I'm fluctuating high and low, and my time and range isn't where I would like it to be, that can almost immediately affect my quality of life for that for that day. Because I know that my clothes are up and down, not gonna feel the best and gonna feel as if I'm on the backfoot to my blood sugar kind of chasing them. So I always like to be as prepared as possible, so that I can almost look ahead those 2345 hours into a time where I'm working out to see, okay, I've eaten I've eaten this meal, I've taken this insulin. How can I expect that to react when I say I prioritize as I prioritize it, because I know that I won't be in the best form or I won't be able to train as much as I would like, if I'm having difficulties with my blood sugar.
Stacey Simms 31:12
What do you like to use to treat Lowe's Do you have a go to
Eoin Costello 31:16
when I'm disciplined with Lowe's, my go twos are these lift glucose drinks, or else dextrose tablets was easier said than done. When you when you're not having low blood sugar, but it's a whole different story, when you're waking up at 3am with a low blood sugar. And if I wake up at 3am, with a low blood sugar, the kitchen is just raided. And it's I always say I'm like a bear going into a picnic sometimes just can't be stopped.
Stacey Simms 31:44
Let's you know, it's nice to know you're human. I mean, that's that that takes a lot of discipline to just go for the tabs.
Eoin Costello 31:51
It depends on how low I am. If I'm dipping just underneath the time and range, it's easy enough just to stick to the glucose. But if I know I'm going lower, it's game over in terms of the treatment. And I know that then I'm going to inevitably see that kind of rebound. Hi, yeah,
Stacey Simms 32:09
do you have any foods that you really like to indulge in every once in a while
Eoin Costello 32:15
there is chips or crisps? We call them over here. And they're like, we thought they're beautiful things really crunchy. You're making me think about them. They're just these really crunchy salt and vinegar chips, as you call them. And they do these massive bags in Ireland. So I always have a few of them in the house. Just I probably eat them too often. Maybe that's why I train so much.
Stacey Simms 32:42
You know, I did want to ask you about your podcast. I'm curious. You know, I mean, I was in broadcasting. I know why I started my show, gosh, many moons ago. Why did you start your podcast? How did that come about?
Eoin Costello 32:55
I had never planned on us to be honest. And I think when I initially set up an Instagram page two, as you said earlier, Stacey to kind of help give people advice that I might be able to offer or what just experiences from my own life, it was almost like a snowball effect where the more that I shared, I felt as if the more I had to say. And then it almost came from a sort of selfish standpoint because I really wanted to interview other diabetics. And like throughout the past 10 ish years, I've always learned more from other diabetics than I have anybody else. So I felt that having a podcast gave me an opportunity to speak to as many diabetics as I could and to hear from their experiences. So it was to get other people on to share their experiences. And some of the guests that I've had on have been amazing. And I know you're going to be on shortly, which I can't wait for, for as well. I call this the insulin podcast redefining diabetes. I call it that because, well, for two reasons. Number one is I feel that diabetes is so globally well known. Everybody knows that it exists. But it's so widely unknown, and people don't truly understand the the intricacies that you're just a normal day entails. So I call that redefining diabetes, because I want to hopefully redefine what society see diabetes as and also, more importantly, what a diabetic sees that IBS is, it's really important for me that any diabetic out there realizes that look, it's not an ideal situation to be in as we know, it's a difficult condition to live with. What if we can learn to redefine that in our own head and kind of scratch on the surface to see what positives can we take from this, it doesn't have to just be a negative impact on our life. There can be positives from it, and I feel from sharing some of my own experiences and more, I suppose particularly more with the guests. It helps get that point Cross I've had people who've climbed Mount Everest ran across Canada, Chris Rutan, who was a motivational speaker who has obviously been on your podcast too. And I just think it can offer a lot of people value as your podcast those you've, you've been going for years now. And I know there's obviously 1000s of people that get such a massive benefit from this. So I'm hoping that they do too from my podcast.
Stacey Simms 35:23
I'm sure they do. It's a great show. But before I let you go, I'm curious, you know, you want to redefine diabetes. So if you look back at Oakland, 10 years ago, right, in the hospital, your brothers are bringing you soda and candy. And, you know, giving you a hard time, would you say that, at least to yourself, the definition of diabetes that you got that day, that in these 10 years? Since that you, you've redefined that for you?
Eoin Costello 35:51
I would like to think so. Yeah, I think if I was to put myself back in that hospital bed that was that 10 years ago, and to see how far I've come even just in terms of my own management and how I view my own diabetes? Yeah, I think I've redefined it for myself, which I'm proud of, I have to say,
Stacey Simms 36:09
yeah, you shouldn't be It's okay. That's great. Eointhank you so much for joining me, it was a pleasure to talk to you. I'm looking forward to talking to you for your show. I'm always it's a little weird to flip the microphone around and be interviewed. But I'll try to behave myself. Thanks. Great. Thanks so much for joining me today.
Eoin Costello 36:27
Thanks, Stacey. I can I just quickly say, I just want to thank anybody who's listening. I know that anyone who listens to the podcast is obviously looking for value. And I know that your time is an important asset. So I hope you've been able to get something from this episode. And Stacey, I'd like to thank you because this podcast for me personally has has brought me a lot of value. And it's offering people 1000s of people out there huge support and reassurance around their diabetes. So from a type one diabetic. Thank you, and I appreciate you.
Announcer 37:03
You're listening to Diabetes Connections with Stacey Simms.
Stacey Simms 37:08
For more information about Eoin in my show notes, you can always find out everything at Diabetes, Connections comm if you're listening in the podcast player, it may be a little difficult to see everything. Some of them don't support the links or the transcript I put in you can always come on home to Diabetes connections.com I so appreciate talking to Eoin. It was so kind of him to say what he said there at the end. I never know what to say. But what a nice comment. And I really do appreciate that I do highly recommend his podcast, the insuleion podcast. It's a lot of fun. He's so engaging, as you heard, and it really is terrific. Please check it out.
Up next, we're gonna talk about space force. Did you hear about this guy with type one made it in? What does that mean for military service in the US? We'll talk about it. But first Diabetes Connections is brought to you by Dexcom. Dexcom has a diabetes management software called clarity. Do you use this because for a very long time, longer than I'd like to admit, I thought it was just something our endo could see. But it's really helpful. Now I have it on my phone, you can use it on both a desktop or as an app. And it's an easy way to keep track of the big picture. I find I use it a lot when we're adjusting things you know, which felt for a long time like it was non stop at age 16. Any kind of seems to be leveling out on growth and basil rates, at least for now. But clarity really helps us see longer term trends and helps us not you know over react, the overlay reports help put context his glucose levels and patterns. And when you share the reports with your care team, it's easy for them to get a great idea of what's going on and then they can better help. managing diabetes is not easy. But I feel like we have one of the very best CGM systems working for us find out more Diabetes connections.com and click on the Dexcom logo.
And an article from Stars and Stripes was making the rounds. This is a military publication. And you may have seen this really interesting. Tanner Johnson was due to graduate from the US Air Force Academy in Colorado. When he was diagnosed with type one. They allowed him to return but they referred him for counseling and they told him this is going to be the end of your military career. But he told the counselor, I want to stay in what if we could demonstrate that I could do it. He was able to get in front of the academy superintendent and talk to him. And apparently that personal meeting made a big difference because the 10 General Richard Clarke reportedly went to bat for Johnson. There's not a lot of detail in the article about the process here. But Johnson was allowed to graduate in 2021 and he was accepted into the space force.
If you are not familiar. This is I don't blame you because it's very, very, very new. Us space force is the sixth independent US military service branch. Of course it is tasked with missions and operations. In the space domain, it was signed into law at the end of 2019. And honestly, I know a lot of people think that this is something that former President Donald Trump just kind of made up and put into existence. But the idea has been around since the 50s. And it was seriously considered in the early 80s by Reagan. So I only say that to say, this is part of the US military. I saw a couple of Facebook comments about Tanner Johnson questioning whether this was really a military service assignment for somebody with type 1 diabetes, I believe it is, is it combat? Ready, right? Because Can you be deployed when you have type 1 diabetes is still the question. And that certainly doesn't seem to be something that is being planned for with space for so I obviously have a lot of questions, as I'm sure you all do, as well.
So I reached out to the reporter who wrote the story and said, you know, can you connect us I'd really like to talk to Tanner, and she reached back immediately. It was fabulous. I was so grateful for that. Thank you, Karen. And she said, I will ask him, I will reach out but he just started training with space force. And he will need authorization from leadership to talk to you she said quote, they tend to say no. So we'll see what happens. If you know, Tanner Johnson, or you could get me an interview with him. Please reach out. Let me know how to be connected. Because I have a lot of questions as I know you do, too. But what an inspirational story, what a big first step for the US military. We've talked to other people who have been diagnosed while they are already in the military, and they've been able to stay active. But I don't know anybody who was diagnosed during training, who was able to stay in.
So we'll keep following this one. But I'm putting this under Tell me something good because man, that's the last big barrier. We've got, you know, airline pilots in last couple of years can be type one now. Military service is the one that we still, you know, after that it'll be astronaut. So I think it's fantastic. If you have a Tell me something good story, please reach out Stacey at Diabetes connections.com or post in our Facebook group. I ask there periodically. I love sharing good news.
Okay, before I let you go, just a reminder, join me on Wednesday, every Wednesday on Facebook Live. I do a very quick five to six minute newscast give you the headlines in diabetes of the last week all types of diabetes, not just type one. And then I turn that around. We make it a podcast episode on Fridays. But if you want to watch that Facebook Live, then it's on YouTube. And I you know I put it all out on social this week. If you're listening as this episode goes live on August 10, the Facebook Live is going to be earlier. I'm still actually making my schedule because Wednesday just is some kind of bananas day. And I have to do the newscast earlier. So watch the Facebook space. It'll probably be three o'clock in the afternoon 330 something like that. It's usually 430 and I am getting a great response. So I'm so glad you all seem to enjoy it. Thank you very much. If you have news tips, send them my way too. And that's it. Thank you so much to my editor John Bukenas from audio editing solutions. Thank you so much for listening. I'm Stacey Simms. I'll see you back here in just a couple of days until then, be kind to yourself.
Benny 43:11
Diabetes Connections is a production of Stacey Simms Media. All rights reserved. All wrongs avenged
