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Episode 69- Given "25 years of a good life to live"
184 Plays11 days ago
In this episode, we chat with Transcend founder and fellow type 1 diabetic, Ethan Lewis. He dives into his diagnosis story, his management styles over the years, and his overall outlook about diabetes now that he's lived with this disease for 25 years. Learn more about how he started Transcend Foods, the why behind his product, and what's in store for the company's future. Join us for a unique and refreshing perspective on diabetes!
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Transcript
Intro
Ethan's Introduction and Transcend's Beginnings
00:00:23
Type One Together
Hi everyone. Welcome back. We're so excited today. We have Ethan who lives with diabetes himself and also is the founder of transcend. You've heard us talk all about their glucose gels. They now have electrolytes as well. Man and I are both huge fans of the product, but we're really excited to kind of hear Ethan's backstory today and just all the things about growing up with diabetes. So welcome to the show.
00:00:46
Ethan Lewis
Thanks for having me. I'm excited to be here.
00:00:48
amanda
We're so excited to have you. but's i mean Well, first of all, let me say that Transcend Gels literally save any and every crashing load that my five-year-old has, which is so helpful.
00:01:03
amanda
Um, and they are so amazing for, this is not an ad you guys, but they are so amazing for, um, slipping in her spy belt because she wears her phone around her waist at school.
00:01:10
Type One Together
and
00:01:16
amanda
And anytime she's like crashing at preschool or whatever or at ah recess or PE, they just like slip it out really fast and give it to her and it's been saving some serious lows. So um your product's pretty incredible, but we'll get into that in a minute.
Diagnosed at 12: Ethan's Journey Begins
00:01:34
amanda
Let's start off with, can you introduce yourself and then share a little bit about when you were diagnosed and we'll just go from there.
00:01:41
Ethan Lewis
Sure. So, um as you all mentioned, my name is Ethan. I was diagnosed when I was 12, I'm 37 now so I've had it for 25 years. um When I was diagnosed, it was the summertime which added a little bit of confusion. I'll get to that in a second. It was the summertime. I had flu like symptoms for a couple weeks, um like most people do. um But because it was summertime, I was ah was ah sweating a lot and you know that i was kind of confused with, oh, maybe it's just hot out, maybe it's just a summer. um And it was like the week before school started, I went to a doctor.
00:02:25
Ethan Lewis
Doctor walks in the room and and he says, you've got diabetes. And he says, you'll get 25 good years out of life before you you know price to come to a lot of the complications, including amputation and blindness and things like that.
00:02:37
Ethan Lewis
So that was kind of the catalyst here in those words ah from the doctor who did not end up being correct. Bad doctor.
00:02:45
Type One Together
Whoa.
00:02:46
Ethan Lewis
you know that That was kind of the catalyst in my life to to you know, start businesses at a younger age, do more in life, because I thought I kind of had this compressed timeline of of opportunity to do what I wanted to do in life. um So, you know, I've used that as motivation throughout my life.
Founding Transcend: A New Vision for Diabetes
00:03:02
Ethan Lewis
And, you know, fast forward to today, I started Transcend with with the goal of making living with diabetes easier, of making the living with diabetes more discreet, you know, let's make products that look cool and look normal, not like, hey, I have a medical issue, um and really solve problems quickly and hopefully cost effectively.
00:03:28
amanda
okay we We're going to get into transcend and the gels and everything and like the business development. I need to go back to a doctor telling a 12-year-old that you have 25 good years, live it up, and then your limbs and your eyes and your kidneys are gone. like What in the actual fuck fuck are you kidding me?
00:03:53
Ethan Lewis
Yeah, that that was that was before Google. And and so I think clearly clearly the information is different today.
00:03:59
Type One Together
Thank you so much.
00:04:00
Ethan Lewis
And the truth is different today. The truth is different back then. um it was you know This physician was just misinformed in living in kind of the brittle diabetic stone age.
00:04:14
amanda
Yeah.
00:04:15
Ethan Lewis
um I think it was just a function of you know wrong frame of mind. um But yeah, that was um that's how I started my career with diabetes.
00:04:26
amanda
Yeah, I mean, that's so incredibly formative. It obviously is like a core memory and um it's It very likely is like a pivotal moment in how you decided to address diabetes management.
00:04:43
amanda
And it's just so wild. um Okay. So a couple, I have a couple questions. Sorry, Raquel, if you have questions, stop me. But I, my mind
Early Challenges and Misunderstandings
00:04:53
amanda
is just blown.
00:04:54
Type One Together
I do, but ah you go first.
00:04:56
amanda
My mind is just blown at that. First of all, was that a pediatrician or was that an endocrinologist?
00:04:59
Ethan Lewis
It was. No, it was a PDF.
00:05:01
amanda
It was a pediatrician. Okay.
00:05:04
amanda
I mean, that's a little better. At least it wasn't an endo, but still. And then two, were your parents with you during that?
00:05:12
Ethan Lewis
ah Yeah, my my mom was with me. Yeah, my mom was with me.
00:05:17
amanda
Okay. And then wait no, Raquel, you go. Sorry.
00:05:21
Type One Together
Well, I'm just wondering, like, were you immediately crushed? Like, I know when you kind of explained how it went from there, it was like, okay, then it really motivated you. But how was it in that moment? Do you remember? And then at what point did you realize that that was not true?
00:05:35
Ethan Lewis
Yeah, i think um you know I think it was a lot to digest. first ah First and foremost, I didn't quite know what it was. I didn't know anybody with diabetes. my my it's not um It's not hereditary. It's not in my family. you know So if I had other family members that had it, it would have been like, oh, yeah, that's that's what that is. But I didn't really know i didn't know anything.
Teenage Trials: Managing Diabetes with Technology
00:05:58
Ethan Lewis
um ah Soon after seeing that doctor I went to a endo um And you know the endo had better information and wasn't so scary um I think back then they used and I don't know if this is true today Maybe Amanda you'd have you know better insight on this you know back then they used a lot of fear tactics um You know if you don't do this then this will happen um and so
00:06:26
Ethan Lewis
You know, that that was still present in my mind, but guess I didn't really know what I was in for, to answer your question. I didn't quite understand everything that goes into it, um you know, as as basic as the amount of work it takes and the amount of mind space it takes every day.
00:06:43
amanda
Yeah. Did you quickly figure that out or did it take some time, like weeks, months, or years before you realized, oh, there are so many decisions that I need to make at any given point in order to manage this properly?
00:06:59
Ethan Lewis
Yeah, I think things were pretty different pretty quickly. i i i miss So so um yeah I missed the first week or two of school. And then when I went to school, um I was a special kid. right the The school had the kid gloves on. And I'm like, I don't and don't blame the school for that. the school school The school was doing the best they could with limited information, just like we had limited information. It was all new.
00:07:26
Ethan Lewis
um So yeah, it was it it was a shock and it took time to to understand how much this would consume and how it would change every day, right? Whether that's sports or recess or before school or after school, like it took time to figure out.
00:07:47
amanda
Yeah. Can you take us through um your management style? Because 12 is like pre-teen and then you immediately go into teenage years where you want all of the flexibility and you just want to be normal and you don't want to be different. um Were you like that fear tactic that was presented first thing, did that contribute to you being hypervigilant or did you like rebel against that?
00:08:15
Ethan Lewis
I did, I think I did everything a good teenager would do, which was, you know, i I would conform and then I would rebel and conform and rebel and I couldn't, I couldn't find, I'm like all or nothing, right. I couldn't find that middle ground many times.
00:08:30
Ethan Lewis
um I had one of the original mini med pumps. I forget the model number. um So pumping helped. Obviously, we were still doing finger sticks. It took 30 seconds to a minute. I carried around a backpack that weighed 40 pounds of juice boxes and snacks and this and that and whatever. It's like insane to think about now. But um you know it was... um
00:08:56
Ethan Lewis
it it My management style back then doing the best I could, but then rebelling a bit because I was just sick of it.
00:09:05
Ethan Lewis
like I was instantly sick of it, you know?
00:09:08
amanda
Yeah. Do you want to speak to that?
00:09:09
Ethan Lewis
And by the way, I'm still sick of it.
00:09:10
amanda
ri recall ah Yeah, I know the burnout.
00:09:12
Ethan Lewis
Everybody is.
00:09:13
amanda
So real.
00:09:14
Type One Together
Well, yeah, I'm curious about that, especially that age, like being diagnosed at 12 and then going through those really challenging teen years with it.
00:09:14
amanda
Can you speak? Yeah.
00:09:23
Type One Together
And then with the technology we had, I mean, I agree. I also, well, I wasn't on the mini-med, I was on the animus, but they all kind of worked the same at that time.
00:09:31
Ethan Lewis
Yeah.
00:09:31
Type One Together
And we didn't have CGM's and.
00:09:33
Ethan Lewis
Right.
00:09:34
Type One Together
you know, you're just kind of, it was easy to turn a blind eye to it because you didn't know what your blood sugar was.
00:09:39
Ethan Lewis
That's right.
00:09:39
Type One Together
So it's like, okay, like I'm just living and I'm fine.
00:09:40
Ethan Lewis
That's right.
00:09:42
Type One Together
And like, unless I pick my finger, I don't really know. So it was just so easy to ignore in a way without even purposely ignoring. um So yeah, do you remember any like specific stories from that time or just how it was mentally?
00:09:55
Ethan Lewis
Yeah, it was, you were so spot on. Like if you didn't check your sugar, you didn't really have a problem, unless you're like keeling over because you're low, or you felt atrocious because you're high, right?
00:10:03
Type One Together
Yeah.
00:10:08
Ethan Lewis
So that that middle band sometimes, and that band always changes, right? Because the body's ever changing, of feeling kind of like nothingness in a good way, just like not feeling not feeling bad.
00:10:22
Ethan Lewis
It was really, um You know, it is really like, see no, hear no, almost.
00:10:29
amanda
Mm hmm.
00:10:30
Ethan Lewis
you know And today, like I wear Dexcom, for example. um I purposefully set my limits. um you know I have a large range on my limits, because it's kind of the same way.
00:10:42
Ethan Lewis
like I don't want to be pinged all day long. I don't need that.
00:10:44
Type One Together
Yeah.
00:10:45
amanda
Yeah.
00:10:45
Ethan Lewis
I don't need all that information. That exhausts me. um So so you know I think I was doing it that same way back then, just in different fashion. I was like, I wouldn't check my sugar. And then it was time to go to the endo. you know And i I had my log book. I had to write in all the numbers. I would just make that up. like I would just make up every log book. I'd be literally writing in my logs on my my whatever last two weeks, be writing the stuff on the car ride to the doctor. And they'd look at it. And they'd say, oh, you're running a little higher here. I'm like, you think?
00:11:17
Ethan Lewis
um But yeah, that's how I did it.
00:11:18
amanda
Oh my gosh. That's so funny. I feel like that's very real for um any anyone who lives with diabetes who had to go to the end out before.
00:11:28
Ethan Lewis
And let's be honest, like if there's no CGM's today and we're still using logbooks, I'd probably do it the same way.
00:11:30
amanda
Yeah.
00:11:36
amanda
I mean, yeah, the I i remember
00:11:37
Type One Together
Same.
00:11:41
amanda
when we, even with, so my daughter was two and she was diagnosed and we left the hospital, thank goodness, with a Dexcom on because she had a severe low that first night.
00:11:49
Ethan Lewis
ah cool
00:11:52
amanda
um because She had so much insulin that was required like in the hospital and then her body adjusted and it was just a mess. But um even even with that, we still would like show up to our endo appointments and they'd hand us these sheets of paper to fill out like every last little number before and after each meal and what the ratio was.
00:12:11
Ethan Lewis
Oh cool.
00:12:14
amanda
And I was like, what? This is exhausting. So I can't imagine having to do that without the ability of like having continuous monitors with you.
00:12:25
Ethan Lewis
Yeah, yeah it's um it's very funny in retrospect. um
00:12:30
Ethan Lewis
yeah it's very It's very funny in retrospect because there was so much pressure, and I don't know if you all felt this, but there was so much pressure for me every quarter going into that doctor.
00:12:40
Type One Together
Mm-hm.
00:12:41
Ethan Lewis
handing them this book of fabricated numbers, and then seeing if they're gonna one, believe it, and then two, you know, like tell me I'm doing a good job or bad job, like it even mattered.
00:12:52
amanda
Yeah.
Innovating for Easier Management: The Birth of Transcend Gels
00:12:53
Type One Together
Yeah.
00:12:53
Ethan Lewis
But that's very much like to your point earlier, like that's very much a point of like, you know, kind of turning a blind eye to it, because it was just so much, it was so much to ah process at all times.
00:13:06
amanda
Yeah, this is super interesting and kind of a nice segue. I think your explanation of setting your alarms in kind of a large range because you're like, I don't need all that information. I don't need to be pinged. I need to be pinged when there's an actionable item.
00:13:24
amanda
That is something that we preach a lot to the parents who follow us. It's like you have to look internally and protect your mental health and that changes all the time. So it's not necessarily like if you set your high alarm to 300, that's where it has to stay. But maybe that's where it stays for 12 hours or three days because your brain needs that break.
00:13:48
amanda
so that you can be a more present parent in other ways besides being a pancreas. right And then you can like shift back. And so that is just one of those ways that you lighten the load. And so my segue and into transcend then is I want to hear about why and how transcend came to be because before we press play, or maybe when we did press play,
00:14:13
amanda
You had mentioned that transcend kind of came from a way to make diabetes more discreet and easier, right? So can we get into that?
00:14:21
Ethan Lewis
Absolutely. Sure. So, so I have always been like firmly embarrassed by having diabetes and I don't really have a good reason, but this is just me, right?
00:14:29
amanda
Hmm.
00:14:32
Ethan Lewis
This is the me stuff and ah you know, part of the conversation. And so. I always hated having a massive backpack of stuff. right I just ah couldn't stand it. I always had the kid gloves on everywhere I went. And I'm um yeah like um lucky you know to have that much care and attention in my life, but it just it just weighed me down. And so um you know I was in a point in my life where I was working full time.
00:15:04
Ethan Lewis
and I was going low all the time. And I would go low.
00:15:12
Ethan Lewis
They'd call the ambulance. I'd wake up. ah There's four paramedics standing over me. To be clear, my sister has been a paramedic her whole life.
00:15:21
Type One Together
Hmm.
00:15:21
Ethan Lewis
They'd be standing over me. It's the middle of the night. The lights are on. I wake up. I say, oh, no, not again. and But I'd have these tubes of glucose hanging out of my mouth.
00:15:33
Ethan Lewis
So I knew that tubes of glucose, or glucose in general, gel specifically, was the fastest way to allow, it was the best option in all scenarios, whether the person is sitting here and just drinking a gel or somebody else has to administer it.
00:15:52
Ethan Lewis
So I would go to the store, I'd buy the replacement tubes of glucose gel. And it was like stupid expensive. It was like five or six dollars per tube. It tasted like junk. It was medical. It was scary. It was like, hey, let's wave a flag and say this guy's got a problem. Right. And I just said, like, like, there's no reason for that.
00:16:14
Ethan Lewis
To be very honest, it's a, it's a special type of sugar, but it's glorified sugar water. I say this all the time.
00:16:19
amanda
Mm hmm.
00:16:20
Ethan Lewis
Right. So like, can we package it in a way that I could consume it right now? And it doesn't look like any big deal. Can we make it taste good? Can we make it small, portable and convenient?
00:16:30
Ethan Lewis
so Since you have carrying a big bottle of a Gatorade and carry a little gel, right? So here's a 15 gram gel. Here's our new mini eight gram gel. Like these things are tiny.
00:16:41
amanda
Yeah.
00:16:41
Type One Together
They're so light, which I really appreciate.
00:16:42
Ethan Lewis
like Like, you know, and like the fun part is like, I take this, I fold it in half, it's tiny.
00:16:44
amanda
Yep.
00:16:48
Ethan Lewis
You know, it's just like, it goes with you everywhere you go. The burden of, the mental burden of thinking to myself, do I have something on me in case I'm having a well?
00:16:58
Ethan Lewis
That part was exhausting for right?
00:17:00
amanda
Hmm.
00:17:00
Ethan Lewis
So I have this big backpack of stuff. Versus, okay, if I just throw one in my bag or in my pocket, I'm good.
00:17:07
amanda
Yeah.
00:17:07
Ethan Lewis
So that was really the that the the goal for starting the business. And yeah that's that's what we focus on.
00:17:15
amanda
When, what year did you start the business?
00:17:17
Ethan Lewis
2015.
00:17:19
amanda
Okay, um can you speak a little bit more about your lows that resulted in you actually passing out? Like were you living at home? Was this during college? Who found you?
00:17:34
Ethan Lewis
Yep, so so my girlfriend, who's now my wife, ah would call 911, was not at home, was out of college at that point. But I had this growing up, too. I had this in my own house growing up when I was in yeah grade school and high school. um that that That sensation of waking up and somebody standing over you, terrible yeah it's It's just terrible.
00:17:58
Ethan Lewis
um and and lows are funny because they come in all shapes and sizes. so The worst part about low blood sugar, it's never when you're prepared. like It's never when I'm sitting home and I just bought a brand new like seven layer chocolate cake.
00:18:12
Ethan Lewis
It's not then. right It's like in the middle of this podcast and trust me, i like I went a little bit higher on my sugar so I didn't have that problem here.
00:18:13
Type One Together
Yeah.
00:18:31
Ethan Lewis
goal.
Transcend's Mission: Discreet and Simple Solutions
00:18:33
amanda
So with those lows, wine what's the lowest number that you've ever finger pricked or someone else has finger pricked and seen?
00:18:43
Ethan Lewis
So so the one ah the one that I really thought was going to get me was I was actually at the ah American Diabetes Educator Conference. And I was there for the conference, and it was in the middle of the night.
00:18:56
Ethan Lewis
I was 19. And that that one like really shook me up.
00:19:00
amanda
Yeah.
00:19:01
Ethan Lewis
And now now I try and make it a point to stay in hotels, because I travel a lot, stay in hotels that like have a refrigerator or even like a mini bar in the room. um Because although I have gels with me at all times, like yeah know sometimes you need more than two gels.
00:19:16
Ethan Lewis
Sometimes you need three.
00:19:17
amanda
Yeah.
00:19:17
Ethan Lewis
and like Every load is completely different. so
00:19:21
amanda
Did you wake yourself up for that?
00:19:21
Type One Together
Yeah.
00:19:23
amanda
Sorry.
00:19:23
Ethan Lewis
I did.
00:19:23
Ethan Lewis
I got lucky. I got very lucky. I had no yeah and no Dexcom, no nothing. I just woke up, sweaty the whole nine yards, checked my sugar, and then I just, I devoured everything I could find.
00:19:38
Type One Together
That's so terrifying. I've never passed out from a low knock on wood. That won't happen, but I do. You brought back this memory of growing up. I always had to have two things in my bag and my mom would always explain these two things to any teacher, or coach, dance teacher, whatever.
00:19:54
Type One Together
I would have glucagon and then I would have that scary looking medical gel that they would sell at CVS.
00:19:55
Ethan Lewis
Yeah. Yeah.
00:20:00
Type One Together
there was like it was like a tube of this orangish gel and i remember they would get so disgusting in my bag like they would start to peel and it was just like this gross thing that i would never touch and i actually never used it but she would always tell people if she's completely passed out use glucagon if she's like not really there but she's still awake use the gel
00:20:06
Ethan Lewis
Yes.
00:20:19
Type One Together
And that's how I feel about transcend. I mean, I'll use them for regular lows too, but having them in my bag as a backup all the time, it does give a sense of security that I don't have from like a granola bar or sometimes even fruit snacks.
00:20:31
Type One Together
Those can take a while for my body to actually take up the sugar.
00:20:35
Type One Together
But with the gels, like it's always there in case I need it and it's so light. And I really mean that. I mean, I didn't try them until like within the last 12 months and it really has been like a nice mental thing.
00:20:35
Ethan Lewis
Yeah.
00:20:46
Type One Together
So thank you for creating it. It's cool.
00:20:48
Ethan Lewis
Of course. And that's exactly the point. like you know, I don't, I don't want people or need people or expect people to use gels for every low, like, like switch it up, like, like do it, do whatever you want to do. the The important part though, is whether it's your backpack or your work bag or your car or wherever you go or your nightstand, always be ready. Like,
00:21:15
amanda
Yep.
00:21:16
Ethan Lewis
Always be ready. And if you do that, if you just kind of stash them everywhere you are in life, like like you will find, I find um that you can relax a little bit.
00:21:28
Type One Together
Yeah, this all goes so much deeper too than just a low treatment. Like we talk a lot in our community about taking away the fear of lows in order to allow yourself to have the management that you really want because a normal in range blood sugar is unfortunately really close to being low.
00:21:42
Ethan Lewis
That's right. That's right.
00:21:43
Type One Together
And so you're kind of always riding that fine line and parents are you so scared and adults to give enough insulin sometimes because they're scared of going low. And so having something like this is really, really cool.
00:21:54
Type One Together
How are you managing diabetes now? Do you have a pump? Do you have like a different outlook on diabetes now that you're older? Share about that.
00:22:01
Ethan Lewis
Sure. So I word a ah Dexcom G6. um And currently, I'm on MDI. I've been on the Omnipod. I've gone off. Diabetes, for me, is a quarterly challenge. Every quarter, I approach it differently. And I you know i have burnout from having stuff hanging off me. So some some quarters, I just rip it off. I'm like, hey, we're going old school here.
00:22:28
Ethan Lewis
um
00:22:28
amanda
Yeah.
00:22:28
Ethan Lewis
And that feels amazing. And some quarters, I'm like, ah, this really is kind of a lot of work. So I put all the stuff back on. And, um you know, like I tell people all the time, like.
00:22:39
Ethan Lewis
This is a long game. This is like a mental health long game as far as you know managing the disease versus it managing you. So like me personally, this is just me, I'm not like crazed about how low my ONC can be. like I could care less. like Good is good enough for me. um Really, it's a question of like know how much is it interfering in my life or how much is my life interfering with it?
00:23:08
Ethan Lewis
um And if I can manage that, if I can find a balance there, and again, every quarter is going to be different. Some quarters I do a great job, some quarters it owns me and that's okay, right? But this is not four quarters, this is like the rest of my life. So, you know, in today's world, I use the Dexcom, which is like the greatest gift ever, right?
00:23:32
Ethan Lewis
I'm using MDI, which is working right now. And that's it.
00:23:39
amanda
I love that outlook. Love it. And it was so beautifully said, and it aligns very well with what we try to like preach to the Taekwonegather family, which is just find find your management style, plus your A1C, plus the amount of effort that feels okay to you as the parent and to your mental health and to your psyche and your well-being so that you can show up for yourself, your partner, your friends and your child and then like balance it all out. Where does it all meet? Where everything's okay, you know, because there have been periods of time where
00:24:25
amanda
I devote everything I've got. Every part of me is devoted to diabetic management. And that's when her A1C has been 5.5, which I'm really proud of, but it's not sustainable long term. It just isn't. Like we're in a stage right now where she started public school, I have to relent to the hours between eight and two.
00:24:47
amanda
to what the school is actually capable of doing mixed with what they should do for her health, you know? And we we're probably, we haven't had an A1C check in a long time, but I can almost guarantee she's probably going to be in the sixes and that's okay.
00:25:04
amanda
And I'm like really mentally working on letting go of that and just like shifting the perspective.
00:25:04
Ethan Lewis
yeah
00:25:12
amanda
So, Yeah, I don't know. I love that you have explained that. And it's also interesting. I personally love hearing from adults who have used pumps and choose MDI for a little bit because I think that's another thing that a lot of people get stuck on is like you have to choose one way to manage and that's it.
00:25:34
Ethan Lewis
Yeah.
00:25:35
amanda
and people forget that like it's your disease process or your child's and you can flip the switch and literally change how you manage in a matter of one minute. If Hattie comes home and says, get these things off of me, that is one minute of taking two things off of her and how we handle diabetes is completely changed moving forward. and that is That's power when you don't have a whole lot of power with this disease. right
00:26:04
Ethan Lewis
Yeah, it's I'll give you i give you a funny example. And the body to me is so fascinating. It gets used to certain things. Like I always tell people like, you know, if, if my sugars are running, let's pretend one 70, very consistently, one 70 starts to feel normal. One 20 will make me feel low. Right. And you see this a lot with type twos. Type twos is like, this is very true. They could live at 400 for years and they go to 200 and they, that they will tell us like, Oh, my sugar's low. I'm like, no, you're just, but your body recalibrated. That's how powerful your body is.
00:26:38
Ethan Lewis
So, you know, being on MDI, I i was using Fiasp as my short acting insulin. And when I first moved to Fiasp, I thought it was the greatest gift ever. Kind of like the Dexcom. I was like, this is crazy. I can't believe this is what I've been waiting for. Great. So I was using Fiasp forever.
00:27:00
Ethan Lewis
like two weeks ago, no lie. The ah pharmacy like had a shortage on Fiat or something. And i was I was, of course, out of insulin, right? I'm not like, I'm not like, oh, I have a perfect stockpile forever. I'm like, no, I kind of need this like yesterday. So, you know, so anyway, so they switched me to Novolog. Just, they just switched the script. And I'm thinking Novolog, oh, there's no way that's that could be as good as Fiasp. Well, guess what? My body got used to Fiasp.
00:27:27
Ethan Lewis
I switched to Novlog. Oh my God, my body of loves Novlog. Everything's working so much better. It's incredible. and And that's not really, I don't think that's really reflective of the power of the medicine.
00:27:39
Ethan Lewis
I think it's the power of the body getting used to certain things. So changing it up is not a bad thing. You know, change up everything we do.
00:27:46
Type One Together
I love that.
00:27:48
Type One Together
I feel like you spoke about your diabetes almost like a business, like a true entrepreneur that you are in the quarters and everything.
00:27:53
amanda
but
00:27:55
Type One Together
So I'm kind of curious, like, is that an official kind of check-in you have with yourself every quarter ish?
00:27:56
Ethan Lewis
yeah
00:28:02
Type One Together
Or is it more just like, oh, I'm kind of feeling tired of injecting right now. I'm going to make this switch to Omnipod.
00:28:08
Ethan Lewis
Yeah, it's literally a quarter. I say quarter really because of, you know, going to um my educator to get checked every quarter.
00:28:17
amanda
Ha ha ha.
00:28:17
Type One Together
Mm.
00:28:18
Ethan Lewis
um It's kind of been, it started when I was younger and it's kind of just turned into this theme of my life where like, every three months I kind of like just say, okay, like, Like, is this working? Like, am I doing a good job? I know I know it can always do better. Like, that's the given, right? Like, do I choose to do better or not? That is that is the outlier. And that's that that's my choice. Like, that's, you know, I literally do i choose to do better some cores than others. Like, and that's okay. um It really just depends on how I'm feeling about everything going on in life. I've got two little kids and so like, you know, I'm i'm trying to be,
00:28:56
Ethan Lewis
You know, I've got other responsibilities in life. And so sometimes like diabetes has to take a backseat. Um, or, or sometimes diabetes is in the front seat.
00:29:07
amanda
Um, yeah, God, this is all really good stuff. Um, can we, can we get in a little bit to, um, more of like transcend and the products and stuff?
00:29:20
amanda
Cause I personally am curious. We love the strawberry. My daughter will stomach the orange. which is just a personal preference.
00:29:20
Ethan Lewis
Sure.
00:29:30
Ethan Lewis
Yep.
00:29:31
amanda
It's not about the fact that orange actually tastes bad.
00:29:32
Ethan Lewis
No, totally.
00:29:33
amanda
It's just her her thing.
00:29:34
Ethan Lewis
Yeah.
00:29:35
amanda
She's not a citrus girl.
00:29:37
Ethan Lewis
Sure.
00:29:37
amanda
um Do we have other flavors coming out or any other products or any anything you want to share about the business specifically?
00:29:45
Ethan Lewis
Sure. so So I'll tell you a secret. So um you know we sell more strawberry than orange. um not Just like you said, not for any particular reason, people it's like strawberry more than they like orange. We weren't bored about 70% of all ambulances in the US use our product you know for their low treatment if they're not going to give somebody an IV.
00:30:02
amanda
Wow.
00:30:05
Ethan Lewis
um
00:30:05
amanda
That's awesome.
00:30:06
Ethan Lewis
And so orange really came about because strawberry, oddly enough, is the number one allergen as far as fruits go. That being said, ah we use natural flavors, but there's such a trace amount.
00:30:19
Ethan Lewis
We've never had an issue. Like, never had an issue. But anyway, so our invoices said, hey, we need something in case somebody's allergic to strawberry. So we said, OK, great, orange.
00:30:26
Type One Together
Thank you.
00:30:28
Ethan Lewis
To your question, ah instead of focusing on new flavors, mean We did something different. So we were at the diabetes educator conference a couple of years ago, I guess last year. last sir And probably the educator said, hey, do you have anything less than 15 grams of sugar? And I, of course, said, no, no, no. The ADA says the ADA rule of 15, blah, blah, blah. And they said, no, no. No, no, Dopo. They said, you know with all the MDI systems,
00:31:01
Ethan Lewis
Yeah, the lows are less severe for people, not all people, some people, right? So I said, okay, well, you tell me, like, what's what's a good amount? They said eight grams. Eight grams of sugar, because there's less severe lows, less often. So great. So we took that advice, we listened to them. So this is the regular 15 gram, and we made the eight gram. So it's literally like half the size, it's tiny, it's amazing. So here's how I use it.
00:31:30
Ethan Lewis
So when I'm 70 or 80, if I was 80 coming on this podcast, I would have taken a mini. And so the 80 for me would take me from like 80 to 105, right?
00:31:41
Ethan Lewis
We'd have this conversation. I'd probably end up background 80.
00:31:43
amanda
Hmm.
00:31:44
Ethan Lewis
Great. Done. If I was 50, I'll take a 15 grammar. What we're doing in you know low treatment is giving it a little bit more precision with these minis, right? So instead of a one-size-fits-all approach, we're saying, okay, if you have a ah small low, use a mini, if you have a big low or a normal low, use a regular size.
Evolving Management: Embracing Technology and Community
00:32:08
Ethan Lewis
So that was kind of like the first thing that we worked on. We worked on it for most of the year, and we just rolled it out like it's like brand new.
00:32:16
Ethan Lewis
The next thing was um something I struggled with, which was hydration, like not just drinking water, but getting the right nutrients um that tasted good, like good quality ingredients, things like that throughout the day.
00:32:31
Ethan Lewis
I drink a lot of coffee. I drink a lot of coffee.
00:32:33
amanda
Mm.
00:32:34
Ethan Lewis
I live for coffee. However, ah that dehydrates you. Among other reasons, like, you know, um people walk around dehydrated pretty often. And so we worked for almost a year and we just came out with these new hydration drink mixes. What's cool about them is here's what they look like. um
00:32:58
Ethan Lewis
What's cool about them is there's no sugar, obviously, but like, what does that mean, right? um We use monk fruit as a sweetener. Monk fruit's like the best sweetener you can find. Like, we're anti-stevia.
00:33:11
Ethan Lewis
Not for any reason, I just don't like the taste profile.
00:33:11
amanda
Yeah.
00:33:14
Ethan Lewis
um So we use monk fruit as a sweetener. We use magnesium, pure ocean sea salt. like We use the best ingredients we can find. So it actually hydrates the cells. like There's so many like hydration products on the market. They're like, hey, we've got 10,000 grams of this and 20,000 grams of this. And that's all great, but like that actually doesn't work. like We followed the science from the World Health workers Organization and made the best product possible. So so and those are some of the new products we have.
00:33:41
Ethan Lewis
And yeah really, we're just focused on what actually works in the body. like you know If we can help somebody making a small little thing, like that's what we want to do.
00:33:47
amanda
Yeah.
00:33:53
Ethan Lewis
like We just want to make life easier.
00:33:56
amanda
Yeah. Are those, um, those hydration packets, are they safe for kids to consume? Because I know a lot of parents struggle with getting their kids to drink water.
00:34:03
Ethan Lewis
Absolutely.
00:34:08
amanda
And the trick for us and our family is to let them have a little bit of like the liquid IV powder, but it freaks me out because it's not made necessarily for little bodies.
00:34:21
amanda
So these are safe for kids.
00:34:23
Ethan Lewis
Absolutely. Yeah. I mean, some of the other products have so much like their products out there that have so much salt in it that like, and and I see people drinking it like at their desk, like not exerting and anything.
00:34:35
Ethan Lewis
And so like, like in some of those products, like there's so much salt. It's like not good for you unless you just ran a marathon, right?
00:34:43
amanda
Yeah.
00:34:43
Ethan Lewis
um We take a much more balanced approach, which is like the right amount of everything actually helps you.
00:34:50
Type One Together
cool. I tried them guys, they're really good.
00:34:52
amanda
Are they good?
00:34:52
Ethan Lewis
Good, thank you.
00:34:54
Type One Together
Yeah, they are. And I've tried a lot of the products out there. So yeah, it's very exciting.
00:34:57
amanda
Oh, I'm excited. Cool.
00:34:59
Ethan Lewis
Yeah, we...
00:35:00
Type One Together
But I personally love the the eight gram pouches too, because I'm also very big on not over treating lows because once you get on the roller coaster, it's like really hard to get off.
00:35:03
Ethan Lewis
It's the worst, isn't it?
00:35:09
Type One Together
Yeah.
00:35:10
Ethan Lewis
And look, you you know, you'd think I know better. i' I'm guilty of it too. It's just like, once you once you start that cycle, of high to low and low to high, it's over.
00:35:22
Ethan Lewis
It's like 24 hours of like, okay, you just might as well give up on that day and just start new next day, right? Because it's just for whatever reason, it's very hard to get back in that rhythm.
00:35:27
amanda
Yeah, for real.
00:35:32
Ethan Lewis
It's kind of the same way ah as like taking a walk. Taking a walk in the morning for me, a short walk, does wonders for my sugar. It just makes everything easier. I don't know why it just gets things moving in the body. um And the lows are no different, right? Like titrating in the amount of sugar you need, adding a little precision to the process, feeling better faster.
00:35:59
Ethan Lewis
um Like I so you said, this expression is like, treat fast and move on. All we want to do when we have a well is just like get on with it.
00:36:08
Type One Together
Yeah.
00:36:08
amanda
Yeah.
00:36:09
Ethan Lewis
I want to think about it the rest of the day.
00:36:11
Type One Together
Yep.
00:36:12
amanda
So awesome. um Well, Raquel, do you have any questions before we wrap up? Any others?
00:36:19
Type One Together
No, I think this was a really, really awesome episode. Thank you.
00:36:22
amanda
Yeah, I agree. Ethan, is there anything else that you want to leave the audience with? We have a discount code with you guys, so we will be sure to include the link to purchase um any and all Transcend products as well as the discount code in the description below or the bio, what's it called?
00:36:42
Ethan Lewis
Yep.
00:36:43
Type One Together
the show notes, yes.
00:36:43
amanda
The show notes.
00:36:44
Ethan Lewis
Yep.
00:36:46
Type One Together
I think it's a TOT in all caps, TOT 20 exclamation point if you're listening and you want to use it right now too.
00:36:46
amanda
Like where am I?
00:36:53
amanda
Perfect.
00:36:53
Ethan Lewis
yep
00:36:54
amanda
um But yeah, Ethan, go ahead if you have any any last minute thoughts words of wisdom or anything about the products.
00:37:03
Ethan Lewis
Yeah, no, I appreciate you having me on on here. i Really, it's it's just a general statement when people think I'm crazy for saying it. like This is an amazing time to have diabetes, specifically type 1.
00:37:13
Ethan Lewis
It truly is.
00:37:13
Type One Together
Yeah.
00:37:14
Ethan Lewis
there There are so many tools and yeah some tools we we can opt into and some tools we can opt out of. like That's on our terms, but I think for a first time in a very long time, like this disease is back on our terms to some degree.
00:37:28
Ethan Lewis
And these tools definitely make things easier. um And so you know like shows like this in didn't exist when I was growing up. So like I'm grateful for the resources that we have um and the shared knowledge and learning from others is just like an amazing tool. So thanks for what you do.
00:37:49
amanda
Thank you. It was so nice chatting with you.
00:37:51
Type One Together
Yeah.
00:37:53
amanda
Loved, um yeah, all your insights and your take on diabetes. It's really, it's really refreshing and for some reason just gave me like, it it felt like I was forced to take a deep breath about it because I've been so wound up ever since I've had like this loss of control sending her to school.
00:38:13
amanda
So I appreciate it.
00:38:13
Type One Together
Yeah, if nothing else, I can walk away just being really happy that we have more than 25 years.
00:38:14
Ethan Lewis
Of course.
00:38:19
Ethan Lewis
That's right.
00:38:19
amanda
Hahaha.
00:38:20
Ethan Lewis
That's right.
00:38:20
Type One Together
We can do this.
00:38:21
Ethan Lewis
That's right.
00:38:23
Type One Together
um We usually wrap up with a little blood sugar roll call. We just share current blood sugar if you're open to it.
00:38:27
Ethan Lewis
Sure.
00:38:28
Type One Together
I am 184, although this Dexcom has been very off, so I really don't know.
00:38:35
Ethan Lewis
I am 237. However, I did prop myself up for this. Like I said, I hate to have a low mid conversation.
00:38:41
Type One Together
Worth it. Yes.
00:38:44
amanda
Patty's 205 and just had one big giant jump and they're at PE. So I'm curious if they gave her something beforehand without without asking or texting me.
00:38:56
Type One Together
Oh.
00:39:02
Type One Together
Wonderful.
00:39:02
amanda
Cause I don't know going high in P doesn't really make a whole lot of sense unless they gave her something extra.
00:39:05
Type One Together
No.
00:39:10
amanda
All right. Well, thank you so much. And, um, we appreciate everything you do and all of transcends products are truly incredible. We're not just saying that we believe in them.
00:39:22
amanda
So thank you.
00:39:23
Ethan Lewis
Thank you.
00:39:23
Type One Together
Thanks Ethan. Bye everyone.
00:39:26
amanda
Bye.