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Episode 20: From Teen Diagnosis to Diabetes Coach: Lachie's Story
120 Plays2 months ago
In this episode of the Type 1 Club Podcast, host Jacqui Kidman chats with Lachlan Trowell — a Type 1 diabetes coach, content creator, and passionate advocate for holistic diabetes management. Diagnosed just two days before Christmas at age 14, Lachie shares the story of his diagnosis, the emotional and physical toll it took, and the unique challenges of navigating adolescence while learning to manage a chronic condition.
Lachie opens up about how his family — especially his mum — rallied around him after his diagnosis, the role sport and nutrition play in his management, and the importance of trial, error, and resilience. Now, more than a decade into life with Type 1, he’s built a coaching business to fill the education gaps he wishes were there for him.
This conversation is packed with wisdom, lived experience, and relatable laughs. Whether you’re a parent, newly diagnosed, or decades into life with Type 1, there’s something for everyone in this episode.
💡 What We Talk About:
- Lachie’s diagnosis story and catching it before DKA
- Managing Type 1 as a teenager (and how puberty complicates things)
- Confidence, mental health, and the social dynamics of injections
- What Lachie wishes more newly diagnosed families were told
- Why movement, sleep, stress, and food timing matter
- Coaching others through the ups, downs, and data
🔗 Connect with Lachie:
Follow Lachie on Instagram: @trainer.trowell
He shares practical advice, training tips, and honest insights on life with Type 1
Further Resources:
Type 1 Foundation Website
Follow us on Instagram
Join the Facebook Group
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Purpose
00:00:00
Speaker
The content provided in this podcast is for informational purposes only and is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.
00:00:14
Speaker
Reliance on any information provided by this podcast is solely at your own risk.
00:00:23
Speaker
Welcome to the Type 1 Club. Whether you're a parent grappling with a new diagnosis, a caregiver seeking guidance, or simply someone wanting to learn more about type 1 diabetes, this podcast is for you.
00:00:36
Speaker
Together, let's dispel myths, break down barriers, and build a community of understanding and resilience. Join us as we embark on this journey together, because with knowledge, compassion, and support, no one should ever feel alone in managing type 1 diabetes.
00:00:54
Speaker
Welcome to the Type 1 Club.
Meet the Host: Jackie Kidman
00:01:00
Speaker
Hello and welcome to the Type 1 Club. I'm your host, Jackie Kidman. I'm a mum to Harvey who was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes in June 2022, just after his seventh birthday. We've actually recorded an episode all around Harvey's diagnosis story on episode one. So if you if you're new here and you haven't listened to that episode um We'd love you to go back and you can hear a little bit more about me and my family.
00:01:26
Speaker
As always, I'm very excited to be back in the the host seat and I'm especially excited when I get to um talk to people and other type ones and other people in the type one community.
Special Guest: Lockie Trowell's Journey
00:01:38
Speaker
And today I have a special guest in the in the other seat um across in Sydney. that where you are, Lockie? Yeah. yeah in Sydney. Lucky I got that right.
00:01:49
Speaker
So we've got Lockie Trowell. So Lockie, welcome to the podcast. Jackie, thank you for thank you so much for having me on. it's It's a pleasure. So do you want to start by doing your little intro of who is Lockie Trowell?
00:02:03
Speaker
Yeah, of course. So obviously my name is formerly Lachlan, but if everyone now after you're done watching this podcast would always refer to me solely as Lockie unless I'm in trouble or you're my mum which mum if you're listening to this I'm not doing anything bad so my little story I'm also obviously a type 1 diabetic I actually happen to have a job which revolves around coaching other type 1 diabetics and and some type 2 diabetics as well diabetics really in general all around the world
00:02:36
Speaker
And I am in the midst of what is now my 12th year of having type 1 diabetes. So we will be lucky year number 13 this year, two days before Christmas, as it is every year.
00:02:49
Speaker
a sad reminder. Wow. Two days for Christmas, Lockie. Yeah. Okay. no Yeah. Yeah. That's always, it's always a, it's an interesting story kind of revisiting like my diagnosis and everything.
00:03:04
Speaker
My birthday is in October, so I'd only just freshly turned 14 and and I think I had thought I was naturally just a skinny kid and obviously not knowing too much about any of the symptoms of type 1 diabetes, like as a 14-year-old as well, really having a lack of understanding of diabetes in general, let alone type
Symptoms and Diagnosis Story
00:03:26
Speaker
1.
00:03:26
Speaker
ah I was just your average kid when I was growing up. I was quite sporty, engaged in quite a lot of sports. But yeah, obviously towards the towards the back end of, I think it was year eight, I started to get like, not not sick by any means, but I think i I started to pick up on a few more obvious symptoms. Like obviously thirst is a huge one for a lot of type one diabetics.
00:03:49
Speaker
And I was probably the epitome of thirsty, like the entire time. moment that I woke up until the moment that I kind of went to bed, I would have used to have been drinking about eight to 10 liters of water a day, probably minimum, I would say. And obviously, as a result of that, then you're visiting the bathroom all the time, probably about every 30 minutes or so, in my case, towards the end of it.
00:04:11
Speaker
And that was funnily enough, what actually drove my mum, so thank you, mum, for are picking up on some of the symptoms and my dad is actually a type 2 diabetic, coincidentally enough, so that somehow feeds into this diagnosis story. So we had some of the equipment available to us to obviously do a fingerprint test and to sort of get an understanding, obviously, as to where my blood sugar was at.
00:04:34
Speaker
sir the The distinct night I remember, I think I would have hopped up maybe, can't tell you the exact number, but it would have been about five times to go to the bathroom overnight. And when I was growing up as a kid, me and my mum's or my parents' room were right next to each other. So I shared an ensuite bathroom with my parents when I was younger.
00:04:52
Speaker
And I think my mum is a very light sleeper. So every night every time that night when I was going to the bathroom, she woke up. And obviously in the morning, I woke up. very indifferent to the fact that I've just been going to the bathroom five times over night.
00:05:06
Speaker
She was quite frustrated and quite moody. So she yeah she made do she made me do a fingerprint test, just more so out of curiosity, more so than anything else. And um that was fasted.
00:05:18
Speaker
My fasted blood sugar, I think it was like 17.3 17.6 memory. point three or second eight point six from every Both of us still don't really have too much of an idea like what target blood sugars were or anything.
00:05:30
Speaker
And I'm going to throw my dad under the bus here. yeah My dad wasn't the best type 2 diabetic at the time of my diagnosis either. So I don't think he was too much of a help in regards to yeah like ah't guiding us on what goal numbers were. But I went about i basically went about that day as normal.
00:05:48
Speaker
I went out and I hang out with my friends at the beach. just live the life of a normal 14 year old for one more day and then came home that afternoon we tested my blood sugar again it was like 26 so that basically prompted us to go down to our gp tested at the gp again it was even higher it was like 27 or 28 and then the gp was like do you have uh do you have type 1 diabetes and i was like i wouldn't have a clue i don't even know what that is my mom was like what we're trying to get to the bottom of here aren't you the gp and And then that was it. lift They shipped us off to the children's hospital and tested again. It was like just under 30 or just about 30. And then from there, was instantly a needle straight into the leg. And that was that was it.
00:06:29
Speaker
Wow. Officially diagnosed. And that was all, yeah, the 23rd December.
00:06:34
Speaker
that played out my goodness wow so apart from was just thinking like so you're 14 right you're at your you know you just had you lost weight or anything so you're just naturally skinny anyway is that what you how you felt yeah yeah i was i mean i've been quite blessed with genetics that i'm i'm kind of tall but i was still quite i was quite tall i'd done most of my growing vertically by the time that i got diagnosed i think i was like 5'9 or 5'10 at the time that i got diagnosed but i was a that was 43 kilos okay oh okay obviously you can imagine how that was on someone of that stature it it looked uh it didn't look the healthiest so you know i just saw things going through my head was when you were saying that story like of you know that it's not naive naivety at all on like either your mums or your dads or
00:07:24
Speaker
It's just you just don't know what you don't know, do you? And it's interesting when you said, like, even though your dad's type 2, it's still they're still quite a different disease. So like, you know, and you didn't know your mum still doesn't didn't know, like, that it really should between be between four and seven. That's the that's the the natural, you know, kind of.
00:07:44
Speaker
non-diabetic kind of range and yeah, having a morning finger prick of 17 and then you quite, you must have then, even though being quite thirsty and all that sort stuff, you must have sort of still caught it quite early in the fact that if you're sitting at 26, 20, you know, to 30, that yeah, that you were, there was no,
00:08:04
Speaker
d k So that was the, I think yeah that's the blessing obviously that story is that obviously the way that I got diagnosed, it wasn't by, you know, going into DKA and kind of ending up in the icu Obviously that would have been substantially worse for everyone involved so i mean i'm always grateful for for for lots of different things but i am grateful that i guess in terms of getting diagnosed it was like in the way that it was obviously i wouldn't really wish wish it on my worst enemy but still yeah i would obviously the way that i got diagnosed i was think me, my mum, my dad, the entire family obviously was much happier that it happened that way before Christmas as opposed to us not kind of turning a little bit of a blind eye to maybe some of the really obvious symptoms, letting it go on for another couple of weeks and then me inevitably just kind of like passing out, ending up in the ah ICU and yeah and getting the diagnosis. so Yeah.
00:08:53
Speaker
Harvey was similar. We caught it very early.
Adjusting to Life with Diabetes
00:08:56
Speaker
So I understand what you're saying about that sort of blessing in disguise of... that you almost start off, I think if you with the deep families and children and people that go into DKA, you know, you're sort of starting off on the back foot almost because then you've got to build up your strength and then you've got to learn, you know, like while also learning all about this new kind of life and process. So being a 14-year-old, I've got um've got a nearly 13-year-old in my house so um I can understand, can just imagine James being diagnosed and
00:09:28
Speaker
you know, you've got puberty, you've got like a whole range of stuff going on What was that sort of the challenges like of just adjusting to this new sort of life of of saying to your mates that, well, you know, now I'm a type 1 diabetic, I've just got to hold up and I've got to make sure I've got to have sugar and I've got to do...
00:09:46
Speaker
I would honestly say the transition into being a type one diabetic in terms of like the actual management side of things when I was like by myself or with my family, that wasn't really too hard. i think it weirdly enough kind of gave my whole family a bit of a kick up the bum to then all of a sudden start to just kind of live, you know, a slightly healthier lifestyle than we were previously. So My mum, I just imagine just as you would be, Jackie was a godsend for me and my management because obviously she took on a lot of the load initially in terms of like carb counting and and just kind of trying to, I guess, remove some of the mental burden that type 1 diabetes does have, you know, from from my life and put and obviously take on take it on a little bit more so herself.
00:10:34
Speaker
And that made things really easy just purely because we were pretty... repetitive, I guess, in terms of what we were eating as well while then, trying to figure out, you know, how my blood sugar would respond to particular foods. But we didn't necessarily cut anything out when we when I first got diagnosed. It was just kind of like learning a lot about like what foods obviously work and what foods don't.
00:10:57
Speaker
The hardest part for me, yeah, obviously at that age is trying to reintegrate yourself into your social group. And yeah, obviously being 14, you know, obviously going through puberty and everything, it's not just kind of, you know, males as well. Like obviously as a male, then you start to kind of start chatting with the opposite sex and then my confidence really took a big hit just in terms of like socializing with anyone whether they were male or female because then you know at the time obviously you're walking around with a finger pricker you're walking around with whole bunch of jelly beans you're walking around with needles in your pocket or like in your back in your backpack with you all times and you're like
00:11:35
Speaker
tell people that this is now what you have to do when you eat. And, you know, we would I would go to the beach sometimes, not and he anywhere near as much as I would have prior to my diagnosis, but I used to generally hate it just because all my mates would obviously go and buy food and I had no problem with buying in the food, but it was the biggest problem I had was the fact that I had to bring my backpack with me and then the backpack came out and I had to pull the needles out and i had to do my insulin shot in public. and That's a lot for someone who at the time wasn't super confident as it was anyways. And then obviously you you you layer ah how a whole new way of life on top of that. And yeah, my confidence and and everything definitely took a little bit of it ah hit at that time. And obviously now being so much older too, I feel like
00:12:16
Speaker
being a little bit wiser, probably slightly less naive ah about the mental burden that diabetes has kind of put on us as well. i feel like that probably did take a little bit of a toll on me mentally at the time as well. But obviously being 14, I wasn't super, super in tune with all that.
00:12:30
Speaker
Yes. And I can imagine that you're also not that comfortable with being told what to do by your mum. but think I don't think anyone would be.
00:12:42
Speaker
Regardless of whether you've got diabetes or not. Yeah, I about to say. It's like, I know, mum. Yeah, like, you know. As you're speaking there, I'm sort of, you know, I ah i often, you know, with anyone that I speak to in with type 1, I always put myself kind of in their shoes and obviously there is elements there with your mum and stuff that I can very much relate.
00:13:03
Speaker
But I can also see like Harvey was diagnosed at 7, so I'm not really sure that he'll ever remember life itself. not being a diabetic, you know, whereas I think maybe that's a good thing.
00:13:15
Speaker
But then also versus if he was diagnosed later in life, that I think it's the this trying to get this balance of, I mean, we do go through, that he does go through those stages of why, you know, it's not fair. Why am I the one that has, you know, diabetes? Yeah.
00:13:30
Speaker
But we're kind of moved on from that a bit. Like I think he's just like he's realised that he can we can pretty much do everything that anybody else does. And to a degree he probably does a lot more because I put him in all the sports and all the activities to keep him really busy.
00:13:44
Speaker
And he is that type of kid anyway that needs to be kept busy. But I do think that that adjustment, if he was a teenager, for example, or just a little bit older in life, that you've you know it would be actually harder to navigate because you've already lived this life and you know everything.
00:14:02
Speaker
um and then And then you've got to then kind of do this complete, almost my like feel like it's a bit of a 180, um But really, once you get into the groove of it, you know, that it's just, then it just becomes part of sort of life.
00:14:17
Speaker
I mean, it's like with anything, obviously, like once you kind of do or experience, practice anything enough, it becomes habitual. So I think that's the thing, obviously, but with diabetes, any chronic disease management, really. Obviously, there's always going to be that short period of time where you need to acclimate and and pick things up and and obviously learn things. But, yeah, once...
00:14:39
Speaker
Obviously, some people would take a little bit longer, but for me, it was like fairly habitual within a couple of months. I want to say like after about three months or so, was like, I know what I need to do. Like a finger prick, I stick a needle in myself before I eat, stick a needle in myself before I go to bed.
00:14:53
Speaker
i drink I drink juice and eat sugar if my if I feel a little bit shaky and get sweaty. And I do the opposite and I put insulin in if I feel like I have really, really fruity breath and I can't think straight for more than three seconds.
00:15:05
Speaker
Did you notice that high quite quickly? I think that was like what my normal was prior to getting diagnosed. So that kind of felt normal to me, like waking up in the morning and and obviously being super, super parched, but then on top of being very parched, having that sort of like fruity taste to your breath and and everything. Yeah.
00:15:29
Speaker
I could only imagine how yeah how how bad that would have been for someone who wanted to chat to me in the morning. But yeah, that's what felt normal to me at the time. So then when I experienced highs after I started insulin therapy, it was like, this is what I used to think was like normal. Obviously, like the only difference was, know, I felt what being actually normal was like.
00:15:52
Speaker
And then all of a sudden, you know, I said, but feeling normal doesn't come with the fruity breath or the brain fog or the um my mental health is very affected by high blood sugars especially for prolonged periods of time and that's another thing like I said I think I was quite naive to to that obviously when I was younger and if I would have quite chaotic days uh after I got diagnosed even if it wasn't too long after I got diagnosed like I would I would feel that if that makes sense in regards to like how I would be able to go about my day just from a social standpoint and a confidence standpoint and everything.
00:16:27
Speaker
Yeah, and that's interesting. I mean, I feel like people can know the lows, like you've got those kind of like the dizziness, yeah yeah you know, that sort of stuff. But then the highs, you know, it's varies it varies from what I've, when when I speak to people, it varies how they feel. And and I've noticed that a little bit with Harvey actually, is he gets quite emotional if he's been running high a bit.
00:16:48
Speaker
a bit too long but he would be more than happy to run high than to run low so it's this kind of it's kind this this little this dance all yeah yeah i know i know the exact dance you're talking about i i would i would say i would probably be the same to be honest yeah those are can be a punish especially when you're in public and that can definitely be a pain and yeah but you can in the middle of like a basketball game or something and then all of a sudden you're like, oh, I've got to sit out. I'm too dizzy.
00:17:17
Speaker
Wait till Harvey starts going yeah out on dates. That'll be be be a new one for him. Oh, yeah. That's not even gone that down that down that path. That's a whole other chat, isn't it, around dating with type one. Yeah.
00:17:32
Speaker
Just preparing you for the future there, Jackie. Yeah. Oh, gosh, I have to make sure I'm around to debrief. So, 14, your mum's taken on a lot. You feel like your mum has taken on a lot for you, but you pretty much are doing your own needles, finger pricks, all that sort of stuff. you You're really independent,
00:17:54
Speaker
to do to do that straight away. And then who else was around to support you? Yeah, so I got diagnosed at Sydney Children's Hospital and then I just went and ah went straight into the diabetes centre at the children's hospital. so I was working obviously with like my doctor there and the educators team.
00:18:14
Speaker
They were obviously quite active initially at the start just to make sure that like my transition was like as smooth as it could be. But yeah outside of that, far out, just trying to get my best friends on board with like, hey, by the way, now when we go back to school, I can get you out of class five or 10 minutes early you come back to If you come and be my diet buddy, like if I go if i go and i need to inject my insulin, because I would i didn't even know what a pre-bolus was when I was doing the pre-bolus back in the day, but I i used to pre-bolus and now I'm aware of the fact that that's what it was.
00:18:46
Speaker
But I would generally leave class like 10 minutes before like one of the lunch breaks, whether it was the smaller one or the longer one, um just to put insulin before I started eating. I didn't even know that was a thing at the time. So there you I was actually slightly further along than I thought I was.
00:18:59
Speaker
But um yeah, it was just trying to get my mates on board. Obviously, everyone at my school knew. Not everyone, but the tap all the teachers that I had knew. Obviously, like all the health staff and everything. But yeah, other than that, it was pretty much just... ah so It was mainly my flight still, me and my mum.
00:19:14
Speaker
I feel like we were the one-two team for the majority of that transitional period. That's interesting. So then, so i guess now leading into what it is you do now, do you feel like you created your coaching based off an element of what you were missing when, what what was missing when you were diagnosed?
00:19:35
Speaker
Yeah, yes and yes and no. i think that the way, ah what I look at my coaching as now is more so to essentially fill the void in education that are very evident in the medical system when it comes to diabetes and obviously diabetes diagnosis. Like you learn, unfortunately, so little. And it's not to kind of slander the medical system by any means here either because obviously I understand that is it is such a complex disease and there's so many moving parts to it at any one time.
00:20:08
Speaker
But the level of education that you still get is obviously
Coaching and Education Gaps in Diabetes Management
00:20:11
Speaker
so, so basic. So what I try to do for my coaching – is Obviously, yeah, there's some big rocks that I teach to all my clients that I feel like should just be like almost like a base syllabus when it comes to diabetes education for newly diagnosed diabetics.
00:20:29
Speaker
So things that I just consider like your big rock habits and they're going to give you the biggest return on investment when it comes to your blood sugar management. Some things that, you know, obviously people would just kind of like, glance over once and and not necessarily assume like they're super, super important or anything by any means. But that's obviously the thing with with diabetes. You mentioned before that type 1 and type 2 are actually quite different.
00:20:52
Speaker
This is my slightly controversial opinion on the both of them, but obviously type 2 diabetes predominantly, there are obviously some genetic tie-ins here, but it's predominantly a disease that has lifestyle factors accompanied to it.
00:21:07
Speaker
Type 1 is obviously completely autoimmune, so lifestyle that ties into that. But I do feel that type 1, as with type 2, if you have poor lifestyle habits, that exacerbates diabetes. the the disease So it obviously does make things substantially harder to manage.
00:21:21
Speaker
Whereas like type type two would just continuously progress until the point where you can basically become a type one. Type one, if you just if you don't clean up your lifestyle a little bit, you know, make some necessary adjustments where you need to, you are going to be continuously chasing your tail. i do I do feel quite strongly ah about that that's why I do I do one thing that the medical system likes to teach is like we can do everything and we can that's 100% something that I wouldn't disagree with but should we do everything as often as some of us do that's a that's another question so can you just elaborate on that a little bit for me of course yeah so give me an example of what you mean by that
00:22:01
Speaker
I believe that like with obviously with type one diabetes, like you said before, like we, i could eat anything that I wanted to. You and i for instance, we could and have a whole big plate or bowl of lollies and we could share it together if, if, if, if if I really wanted to, yeah,
00:22:18
Speaker
I think the the way that I look at diabetes and blood sugar management is like everything in life has like a little bit of a trade-off. So yes, I could do that if I wanted to, but the trade-off there is the likelihood that I'm going to be able to perfectly manage my blood sugar is potentially quite low.
00:22:33
Speaker
And there's obviously other foods that sort of then feed into that same sort of scenario. So Your more commonly challenging foods, like harder to predict blood sugar response would be like things like pizza, you know, pasta, ice cream, things that generally tend to be like quite high carbohydrate and ah in quite high fat.
00:22:51
Speaker
Like those are foods, once again, i wouldn't want to sit here and be like the type 1 diabetic that's telling other type 1 diabetics to not eat any of that stuff because obviously I eat that stuff. But it's, I think that...
00:23:04
Speaker
How often I do it is probably slightly less and less and less just purely because I notice that there is much more difficulties around blood sugar management when it comes to those things. Don't ignore the four.
00:23:16
Speaker
The four early warning signs of type 1 diabetes. Excessive thirst, frequent urination, unexplained weight loss and extreme fatigue. If you or someone you know is experiencing these symptoms, don't wait.
00:23:30
Speaker
Get checked by a healthcare care professional. Early detection and treatment are key to managing type 1 diabetes effectively. That makes sense of what you're saying because like I've had people sort of say, oh, so have you had to completely change, you know, Harvey's diet since he was diagnosed? And I was sort of like, and I was like, no you know, but we always ate quite quite well.
00:23:53
Speaker
You know, we still we still do. But he's also is a boy that does love the lollies and that that sort of stuff. So when I was, you but then when I really sort of thought about it, I was like, oh, actually there are some things we, it's not necessarily he doesn't eat them, but we modify of when he might have them.
00:24:10
Speaker
So something like ice cream, I'm always like, that's not a nighttime thing. That's the during, I feel like it's more of a during the day thing for me because I know that it tends to be this, you've got to be continuously on it because we we are manual injections.
00:24:26
Speaker
So um you've got to really watch it because it sort of can go fine and then it just creeps and then creeps and then it creeps. That's a delayed spike. um So it's doing that split dosing and stuff. So I'm like, you know, like as much as I'm defensive of like, well, he can eat whatever he wants.
00:24:41
Speaker
There's definitely, I'm always like, you know, with you know, I'm sort of like, just, just no lol, like lollies is what we use for hypo treatments. You know, like we just like, I'm like probably better off going to chocolate to be, to be honest, like for him at this, you know, like with things like that. So it's just interesting of, yeah, like as much as you kind of go, or you could eat whatever you want, but you're right. It's that trade-off of, well, the results might be different.
00:25:04
Speaker
yeah Yeah, yeah, 100%. And that's why i like it. That's the one one thing that I do try to teach my clients. It's not like there's good and bad foods or foods you should have and you shouldn't have. It's foods that are easier to predict what's going to happen with your blood sugar. And there's foods that are harder to predict what's going to happen with your blood sugar. And generally, a lot of the time, you obviously want lean more towards those foods that are going to be easier.
00:25:26
Speaker
If, you know, your goal outcome is improved diabetes management, if someone was consistently eating pizza every day and they're like, oh, I wish I could manage my blood sugar, but you know, better, I would be like, there may potentially be something that you can have a look at that's in front of you.
00:25:42
Speaker
Yeah. Do you work with newly diagnosed people who have had diabetes for a long time and just want some extra support in managing their ah blood sugars? All of the above. I just had a client finish up working with me and she has been type one longer than I've been alive.
00:25:58
Speaker
So she's been type one diabetic for 28 years. One of my newer clients, when he first started, he was two weeks freshly diagnosed.
00:26:09
Speaker
So I definitely do have a quite wide variety of of experience, I guess, in terms of the diabetics that come on board, which is always cool as well, because it's quite interesting to hear ah the level of knowledge of someone who's two weeks diagnosed versus the level of knowledge of someone who's 28 years diagnosed, depending on like where they come from and you know the medical system that they kind of get put through and Obviously, i' work with people all around the world as well. So the the quality education, for instance, like here versus America or America versus Europe.
00:26:43
Speaker
It's always, yeah, super, super interesting. Yeah, that is interesting. Right. Oh, that's awesome. And they find you. How do they find you? I think still primarily probably through Instagram for the most part.
00:26:55
Speaker
Yeah. Some of it would obviously be word of mouth as well, just because of the people that I know in the art in the diabetes space, you know whether or not they put a nice word out for me. So thanks to anyone who who has ever done that. yeahp but But then, yeah, obviously with Instagram, I do just try to push out like as much somewhat educational, but also enjoyable content on diabetes management. And I do feel like obviously the more content that I'm putting out, that the bigger the audience is getting and the more people are finding me that obviously want a little bit of support with the diabetes management. So I just keep doing my thing. If people find me, or that's that's awesome. If they don't, ah fun they'll find me one day.
00:27:28
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely. And so you're doing the balance of you sort of teaching people around, not just around the food, but also i guess how exercise and all that sort of stuff, how that works with the body and how that can change what your blood sugars and stuff.
00:27:45
Speaker
So i I have a very personally, and this then has leached into my business, but I, in regards to my own diabetes management, have like a very holistic approach. So I think like if someone did ah and ah complete lifestyle audit of my life from top
Holistic Diabetes Management
00:28:02
Speaker
to bottom, like it's substantially better than it used to be And it's because I just focus on There's like five key areas that I think that are really important when it comes to diabetes management. Obviously, like the insulin and the diabetes is are always going to be one.
00:28:15
Speaker
But then nutrition is also obviously a big one. Training, exercise in general is also a big one. Sleep is a huge one that so many people overlook. What's that?
00:28:27
Speaker
Far out, to be fair. The past few days, i should I shouldn't necessarily be talking like I'm some saint when it comes to sleep. But generally speaking, quite good at it. And then the last one, which is another huge one, stress management.
00:28:40
Speaker
Obviously, everyone, not everyone, but the majority of people know about the dawn phenomenon. And stress management obviously does feed into that to some degree, but stress management just really in general, because stress makes you more insulin resistant.
00:28:55
Speaker
People get stressed out about their blood sugar. Little do they know they're actually then making their blood sugar harder to manage. It's a bit of a weird cycle where to get caught up in, but I generally will just focus on those five key areas.
00:29:06
Speaker
Then depending on the person and And obviously, like the level that they're at sometimes, I'll suggest some supplements as well, but that's just more so to cover basic needs for like vitamins or minerals that diabetics need just to help with their insulin sensitivity levels. Because if they have a ah diet that could potentially be deficient in some of the you know the vitamins or the minerals like magnesium, zinc, chromium, for instance, like these are all like really, really important minerals that help with diabetes management. so Little things like that, but supplements are obviously not super, super important. Those other key pillars are are where I focus my coaching on.
00:29:40
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. I think it's amazing. Like, you know, we're in the hospital system um and I guess I could kind of, you know, ring them every day if I wanted to, to sort of try and be, get information about how to get a better, like, you know, better blood sugar. What am I doing?
00:29:57
Speaker
you know, can I do differently? you know, that sort of stuff. But I think it is mainly around like the food and the carb and the insulin ratio at the moment. And that's one thing that, I mean, that's for that that's just for us personally. I know that it might not be like that for everybody um with their hospital experience. But yeah I think that adding in the importance of that physical activity um and,
00:30:21
Speaker
it's hugely important. But I think ah there was some stat that, I might be getting this wrong, but I remember in the hospital, they had said that type one or diabetics that are ah that are more more physically active in their lifetime can end up using 40% less insulin in their lifetime, you know, which I think is amazing.
00:30:40
Speaker
And that's always sort of stuck with me of that, you you know, if we can just continue as a family, know, like just moving our bodies and keeping Harvey really active that that can limit the amount of insulin he needs but it's also very tricky to work out you know um because sometimes you overshoot it sometimes you undershoot it and it's it's it's really tricky how do you support people with with that do you find that a lot of people struggle with that as well Yes, initially. i yeah i'm I'm not going to sugarcoat it.
00:31:12
Speaker
I think that is there's always a little bit of a resistance as well to giving insulin so close to working out based on the fear that they might give a little bit too much insulin. And that's obviously completely understandable.
00:31:26
Speaker
What I do try to encourage a lot of my clients to do is obviously like in regards to insulin dose reductions, whether it's like pre or post exercise is ah want them to be realistic in their expectations around their blood sugar management.
00:31:42
Speaker
The likelihood that you're going to be able to maintain a blood sugar, type like a blood sugar in range. The first couple of times we are trialing these insulin dose reductions is, is to be honest, it's pretty low.
00:31:53
Speaker
black And it's just purely because like with diabetes, one thing that I like to think of myself as is i am just a human experiment. I think we all are slightly human experiments, which is a bit of a weird way to think about it, but obviously we are our own scientists of our own experiment.
00:32:11
Speaker
Type 1 diabetes is the experiment. Everyone that has type 1 diabetes is the scientist. sorry This is how I live my lifestyle. Everything is just like, I love playing my life like it's a game because it does obviously help to to pick things up and to learn what works and what doesn't.
00:32:25
Speaker
But I do try to put my clients in not obviously the same situations as myself because I feel like I'm quite psychotic with the amount that I exercise. But put my clients through similar experiences like with having insulin on board and and you know still going to the gym or having insulin on board going for a run or obviously just trying to put them in situations where the outcome isn't always going to be guaranteed 100% time and range.
00:32:51
Speaker
Like I want them to go through the the process of reducing their insulin and ending up high or, you know, still red reducing their insulin but potentially not enough and and maybe going a little bit low.
00:33:04
Speaker
Always obviously educate them on the fact that they need to have hypoids like within a half a centimetre reach from from themselves. but Yeah. We're always going to go high. We're always going to go low, no matter how many of the variables that you control as a type 1 diabetic. So I think that the as with anything, and as that old saying goes, you know practice makes, not perfect, I hate actually saying that, practice makes for improvement, especially with type 1 diabetes that works so much better in this context.
00:33:27
Speaker
But if you only do it once and you go low then that kind of scares you from ever doing it again, you're obviously never going to be able to, faint like you're not facing the fear That was the low blood sugar. um But by not facing the fear, never going to get any better at managing it in the future.
00:33:43
Speaker
So I generally with like lots of clients, it's like, let's be way more conservative than we need to be at the start so that they inevitably go very similar to like Harvey, myself, like most of us type one diabetics would prefer to go high because at least you can kind of bring your high back down and you don't have to kind of worry about anything that kind of comes with the low.
00:34:00
Speaker
Obviously, don't want to go super high, but like if we are more conservative with the reductions, then it means that you might go a little bit out of range. And that's like, okay, awesome. We have a look at your CGM response. We have a look at you know the active insulin time as well. So like over the four hour or five hour window that the insulin was active, what kind of happened with your blood sugar?
00:34:17
Speaker
Did you give any additional dosages? it's so It's just like data collection essentially. So I do i want i want them kind of doing this, you know not as frequently as possible, but we do want them doing this multiple times over because the more data we collect,
00:34:31
Speaker
the better we can interpret it and the better we can interpret it the better recommendations I can kind of give my clients in the future in regards to what they need to do. But obviously, like you would know, Jackie, like you said, like there's obviously, it is quite tricky because anaerobic exercise, aerobic exercise. Are you exercising in the morning? Are you exercising at night?
00:34:47
Speaker
Are you doing two sessions in the day? You're only doing one session in the day. What did you eat beforehand? What's your blood sugar management been like the past 24 hours? You know, there's obviously so many different factors that always work against us.
00:34:59
Speaker
it's always a game, 100%, like I said, but it's just exposing yourself to those things You know, those those little adjustments with your insulin, with your food, with anything to do with your diabetes management, and I guess ah assessing what happens. And then basic based on that outcome, you obviously can just adjust the inputs.
00:35:20
Speaker
maybe more carbs, maybe less insulin, you know, maybe a little bit more time between like your last bolus dose and initiating exercise. Like these are all obviously the things that CGMs help with so much these days.
00:35:31
Speaker
um You know, yeah, when I got diagnosed, I think I was like only a couple years off the the CGMs coming out and being mainstream. Like back in the fingerprint days, that was a lot harder to pick up on. I can only imagine what people were like 10, 15 years prior to me getting diagnosed.
00:35:45
Speaker
Crazy. Absolutely. Yeah, we were only, we only had to do three months of a, of finger pricking and that was and then when I went to the cgm I remember thinking we just had so much I actually had too much information to work with that it was overwhelming you know going from every sort of four hours to it you know to of knowing what these sugar levels were every five minutes it was like what am I doing wrong like you know yeah with that sort of stuff I think that it it's such an interesting, it's such a great concept of of a of ah support that you offer because, you know, we people have business coaches, they have, you know, personal trainers, they have, you know, like people employ people to support them in in lots of ways in their life.
00:36:30
Speaker
And to be able to have some some someone with the skills to look at the data and just and have an independent kind of overview of, well, maybe try this. And also, you've got to do that completely different. Like it's not just saying, no, this is not how you do it.
00:36:46
Speaker
It's around, okay, well, let's see if we try this a little bit differently and giving people that kind of understanding that it's that perfectionism is probably not the thing that you need to be aiming for. And i think, but I think that is quite difficult for some people to kind of go, why can't, you know, why can't I just...
00:37:08
Speaker
have that straight line every day, all day. why why Why can't I be perfect? Yeah, yeah. And then it's interesting what you said around, um you know when you said influence the 24 hours later, because quite often I'll go like, well, tomorrow's a new day, let's start that again. But it's not necessarily like that because it is also, yeah, okay, well, what happened yesterday? Let's have a look at how many hypos he had yesterday and knowing that that can actually influence the night.
00:37:35
Speaker
And I mean, obviously even things like exercise, like depending on how hard or intense somebody exercises that can obviously impact their blood sugar with the following day as well. So yeah, like for me, that was something that took a while to figure out like my insulin to carb ratio difference on a training day versus a rest day, because obviously I'm not moving anywhere near as much as I would on a training day on a rest day. And I'm obviously substantially more insulin resistant as a result of that. Like,
00:38:04
Speaker
I'm here at year 12 and I have some people that will kind of join me and they would have been dealing with their diabetes management for like 10 years or plus and they couldn't even tell me what their actual insulin and carb ratio is.
Empowerment and Community Support
00:38:16
Speaker
let alone different times of the day, let alone different days of the week, let alone different times of the month as well, especially for females. So yeah, its so it's just, I think that's the thing. i genuinely, and some of my clients probably hate me for doing this, but I like to make my clients feel slightly uncomfortable.
00:38:34
Speaker
I guess, in terms of their diabetes management management initially, because when you push people outside their comfort zone, that's where the growth starts to happen. That's where the better understanding starts to happen. And obviously, it's and it's a big sense of empowerment as well.
00:38:47
Speaker
I try to remind my clients, I'm not here to manage your diabetes for you because it is your diabetes, but I am here to help you manage your diabetes. So use me as a tool, but I am you know i am not...
00:38:59
Speaker
the the the next version of you. I'm not here to to save you by any means. I'm here to help you, but you have to save yourself essentially. That's right. And I think if they've made that step, you know, to engaging with with ah with a coach, that you can't be dragged by somebody else to do it.
00:39:18
Speaker
So, you know, you've kind of already knowing that, okay, they're already here. They're wanting to learn. They're wanting to change. And, you know, and it's great that you can offer them that. as ah as a tool to support them with that.
00:39:31
Speaker
Lockie, I've really loved this chat. I sort of feel like I sometimes get a bit more out of these chats than anybody else. But, you know, hey, I've got to use it to my advantage because I can definitely see that down the track this sort of information would be helpful and supportive for someone like my son.
00:39:50
Speaker
So, you know, it's great that there are now people out there in the world that are, you know, creating these opportunities to have these this extra support, making people feel more confident when it comes to their sort of lifestyle and living with with type one.
00:40:06
Speaker
So I really do appreciate you sharing your um your expertise today. People can get in touch and learn a lot more about Lockie. He's got a really active Instagram.
00:40:17
Speaker
What's the, I'll put it in the show notes, but your Instagram, do you want to share how people can get in touch with you and learn more about Lockie? Yeah, so my Instagram is trainer trowel, which is my last name. but Trowel, spelt T-R-O-W-E-L-L.
00:40:31
Speaker
So you'll get to see Lockie shares a lot of information about training and um and diabetes and, um you know, it's it's really, really informative. So um I do appreciate everything you do for the Type 1 community.
00:40:45
Speaker
As a Type 1 mum, I sort of feel that my child, as he gets older and gets into the, you know, that sort of the tech world or the social media world, that he will not feel like he's the only only person that has Type 1 because,
00:40:59
Speaker
There are so many type ones on socials that I just think it's just amazing. And i always like to wrap up the podcast because I think we could continue to talk forever. Yeah, for years.
00:41:13
Speaker
But I always like to wrap up the podcast with the type one guests by asking what is your go-to hypo treatment?
Practical Tips for Managing Low Blood Sugar
00:41:22
Speaker
Oh, wow. I was actually going to make a post about this, so this is quite funny when you ask me.
00:41:28
Speaker
ah Look, i honestly would say um probably still drink a fair bit of juice. Like I feel like juice is is just always ah ah the go-to for me. Whether I'm out or whether I'm at home, it's like there's always a bottle of juice nearby.
00:41:42
Speaker
There you go. Very good. It's so funny because people often find that a difficult question to answer when I think it's just like, I'm like, is it difficult? I don't know. its Yeah. Maybe if you've been because you've evolved, do you think?
00:41:56
Speaker
It's, yeah, I would say so. Like I um i actually bought a ah thing of like those glucose, those glucose chews or glucose tablets the other day from the chemist just to actually make a post about hypo treatments.
00:42:09
Speaker
And just because I made the post, like just because I recorded the video, obviously I have them here now and I used them the other day when I was trending a little bit low and they are substantially faster than juice because they are just pure glucose compared to fructose that's in juice and they all get digested at different rates.
00:42:25
Speaker
So... That in itself was kind of interesting enough for me because I was like, fire out. I haven't had actual glucose, you know, whether it's the jelly beans or whatever for quite a while and they're actually substantially better than juice. ah Interesting. Okay.
00:42:39
Speaker
Yeah. Because I feel like Harvey reacts quicker with juice, but we only really save that for night. theres a Yeah. See, there's another layer to that as well because then juice is liquid.
00:42:50
Speaker
that digest fast and solid food. Yeah. this this yeah there's always theres there's There's always some different factors. Variables into it, isn't it? Yeah, absolutely.
00:43:02
Speaker
ah Awesome. um Thank you, Lachie. I've really, really appreciated this chat and I'm sure that our Type 1 community and all the listeners of the Type 1 Club will get a lot out of our chat today.
00:43:14
Speaker
Thanks so much for having me on. It was awesome to join you. And we hope that you've all enjoyed this episode and we look forward to bringing you another episode very, very soon on the Type 1 Club.
Conclusion and Call to Action
00:43:25
Speaker
Thank you for tuning in to the Type 1 Club podcast. We hope you've enjoyed today's episode and gained some valuable insights. If you like what you heard, be sure to subscribe to our podcast on all the platforms so you never miss an episode.
00:43:39
Speaker
We also appreciate it if you could leave us a rating and review. It really helps us to reach more listeners just like yourselves. For more updates, behind the scene content and to join the conversation further, follow us on Instagram and Facebook, the Type 1 Foundation, or visit our website, type1foundation.com.au.
00:44:00
Speaker
Thanks again for listening and we will see you next time on the Type 1 Club.