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Episode 16: Thriving with Tech: Matt Pontel on Travel, Exercise & Connection
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In this episode of the Type 1 Club podcast, Matt Pontel shares how his insulin pump gives him the freedom to thrive in a career filled with business travel and shifting time zones. He talks about the practical strategies he uses to manage type 1 diabetes on the go—and how exercise plays a key role in his downtime.
Matt also opens up about the challenges of balancing workouts with pump management, and how he’s built a strong type 1 community to stay informed, supported, and connected.
Highlights:
- Managing diabetes across time zones with pump tech
- Using exercise to decompress—and the challenges it brings
- Building a T1D community to grow knowledge and support
A real-world look at living well with type 1, no matter where life takes you.
Connect with Our Guest on Instagram
Further Resources:
Type 1 Foundation Website
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Transcript
Introduction and Disclaimer
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.
Welcome to the Type 1 Club Podcast
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.
00:01:00
Speaker
Hey everybody and welcome to the Type 1 Club.
Meet Matt Pontell
00:01:03
Speaker
I am your host, Jackie Kidman. I am a mum to Harvey who was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes back in June 2022, just after his seventh birthday.
00:01:15
Speaker
Today I have a guest with me. His name is Matt Pontell and he is a Type 1 diabetic and he's going to share a little bit about him and his story. And we're particularly going to touch on some things around life.
00:01:26
Speaker
career and travel which I know is a bit of a topic of conversation that tends to be for type 1 diabetics particularly when we're having to go through airport security so I think Matt will be able to share a bit of insight and a little bit of his experience and knowledge will help us in the future to navigate some of that airport stuff, not only security, but how to get into time zones and all that sort of stuff. So really looking forward to this chat.
00:01:58
Speaker
So Matt, thank you for your time and welcome to the podcast. Thank you. so first of all, maybe do you want to just share your diagnosis story and what you remember about the diagnosis and that time?
00:02:11
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. I'm getting very close to my anniversary, actually. it's It was the 9th of April, 2001. I was 10 years old, so you can do some math there to figure out how old I am. I'm now in my mid-30s and i'm I'm doing pretty well.
00:02:27
Speaker
So I've had T1 for quite a while. um I've had it through many different stages of life. Obviously at the start there with my parents, very much looking out for me. Within two years, so in 2003 when I started high school, I jumped onto the insulin pump and I've always been on a Medtronic insulin pump.
00:02:46
Speaker
That gave me an incredible amount of flexibility and freedom that that I've been grateful for for a very long time. That first couple of weeks were quite difficult, I guess, trying to navigate, you know, how to go to school. What does it mean now for for food and exercise? I was quite active. was swimming. i was playing soccer.
00:03:05
Speaker
My parents were trying to make sure that my blood sugar was was all stable and and secure during that time as well. And then they had to transition to me being a little bit more independent, becoming a teenager, going out, getting my license, going on holidays, going to remote parts of the world or islands or what what have you, know,
00:03:24
Speaker
As I started to meet people and and got married, relying on someone else to be my T1 carer and my carb camel when I go on holidays. sorry um never heard carb camel. Okay, that's a new phrase for me. That's my wife's backpack that's just full of all the goodies when you we go. so i So look, I think it's it's been it's been quite the journey. um Every year is different for a number of different reasons.
00:03:52
Speaker
Given lifestyle choices, given the change in tech or the change in treatment or something radical that one of my healthcare professionals has helped me try.
Impact of Technology on Diabetes Management
00:04:03
Speaker
Probably the most radical thing was in the last eight years using CGM that I don't know how i ever survived my teenage years with it Europe trips and trips to the US and being away from for weeks and months on end.
00:04:17
Speaker
Now it's just, it's just part of it. And it just takes away so much burden and it allows me to, to be a little bit more free and, um, stress-free as well. um Recently getting on the new algorithm with the Medtronic 780G. I know this is revolutionizing care.
00:04:35
Speaker
across so many different pump platforms at the moment, all these automatic algorithms, if you do it, um the the open source ones or the the ones that come from the manufacturer, this is absolutely changing the the way that folks live their life and and manage their type one. and And I'm a huge advocate of that and and what it's enabled me to what we're talking about today, which is, you know business travel and and leisure travel and and how I let type one ah come along for the ride and instead of been being the thing that I focus on.
00:05:03
Speaker
Yeah, that's amazing. So do you remember the moment from, so from 10 to 12, you were multiple daily injections, MDI. And then was it because you were going to high school that you moved on to a pump?
00:05:16
Speaker
Is that part of that? Or was it just you thought that it would manage your and like sugar levels better? Do you recall what the change was? it was It was probably a combination of things. um I think first and foremost, i think my parents were really trying to make sure there was more control.
00:05:35
Speaker
NPH and R, which was about to turn into Humalog and a long acting, was just too unpredictable given how much sport I was doing and and everything else.
00:05:47
Speaker
So at the time, the pump was the best way to be able to use basal rates and suspend and, you know, try and really tune in what it was that I was doing. I didn't like injecting.
00:05:58
Speaker
um I remember the first couple of months at high school, was just really awkward to to use the crayons or to use the pens, I guess. to do what needed to be done. um And I think quite quickly I was falling into some bad habits in relation to that.
00:06:13
Speaker
I was also, you know, doing a lot of exercise. So at night, you know, my parents were still doing the 12 o'clock and 3 a.m. m glucose checks on me. And I think what they wanted to do was know that if I had swim training and I was doing that three times a week, that they could dial down my basal overnight just to add an extra um level of safety as well. So couple of reasons there, but so I really don't remember much.
00:06:40
Speaker
And to be fair, I
Exercise and Diabetes Management
00:06:41
Speaker
think I've probably used a pen about a dozen times since then. I've actually only gotten off the pump for about 36 hours.
00:06:53
Speaker
s between 2003 today wow that's amazing we're not there yet with Harvey so we've in the three years where um but the more people I talk about the pump with who are using the pump I'm kind of like we're very close to moving on to to a pump and just yeah I can feel like that would be give give us me as a parent but also him a little bit more kind of flexibility with all that sort of stuff. So i I love hearing all about it. I am learning a lot, but some of the the acronyms and stuff really do go over my head. But anyway, um it's it's all it's all part of the learning process.
00:07:33
Speaker
So, yeah it's fascinating to to hear. And I was just thinking because only eight years ago you also went on a CGM. So then to have that integrate must have then added another layer of just taking another thing off your plate and allowing it to kind of do what it's got to do. Yeah, absolutely. Look, I went through phases of doing a finger prick maybe twice a day and then doing finger pricks eight to 10 times a day. It really depended on where I was in life.
00:08:01
Speaker
What really started to compel me to take more care and control was when I started to run a lot more. So i was in my mid-20s. Exercise was just a great way to balance work.
00:08:15
Speaker
It's starting to get deeper into my career and at the same time ju juggling a postgrad um that I was doing. Exercise was just a mental health thing. And being able to go to the pool, being able to go for a run, that was my way is of being free.
00:08:31
Speaker
um And unfortunately, we can't just stop what we're doing, throw out exercise gear on and go for a run. It takes about 90 minutes to plan that before you go, right? And the CGM allowed me to dial it in. It wasn't talking to the pump at the time. I had it on my phone, but it gave me an extra level of control that really helped me to understand how my body reacted to exercise and everything else, actually, whether it was lack of sleep, hormones, food, different types of food, experimenting with different diets.
00:09:02
Speaker
I learned so much about not only dieting, how the human body works and what a mess of that of chemical reactions we are, but also how my T1 was very different from some of my friends who were also T1, were seeing and noticing things at the time with the same technology.
The Role of Community Support
00:09:18
Speaker
Quite often I talk to people and they don't actually have anybody else with type 1 around them. Do you want to just elaborate a little bit like on who's around you and how that's helped to support you?
00:09:31
Speaker
I think it was definitely my mid-20s when I realised there was an entire community of folks here in Perth and especially around Australia. I actually went to an event at ah at a local T1 centre here in Perth and discovered there were other folks with T1. It wasn't just me.
00:09:48
Speaker
They were all exercising. They were running marathons. There was one particular gentleman who had climbed Mount Everest and I'm thinking, well, what am I doing?
00:09:59
Speaker
right? i mean, how can I compare myself to this? And I went to a type one health and exercise conference in Canberra, met a whole bunch of other truly inspiring T1s there as well, and got in touch with the community. It was Facebook, there were coffee meetups once a month in Perth, there were dinners, there were run clubs.
00:10:20
Speaker
We were just all a bunch of cool T1s that decided that You know, we wanted to be able to learn from each other and and and really ensure that we're able to to get the most out of life.
00:10:32
Speaker
That helped me, but you know, both from a ah learning from other people perspective. There's still little tips. I know um the the two ladies that that taught me how they suspend their pump before they go on runs.
00:10:43
Speaker
And i use that technique multiple times a week. They were the ones that told me this over a coffee or a Facebook message and conversation one day. Whereas then I know one of the gentlemen that I was speaking to that told me how he carbs up and and keeps himself at a confident level of blood glucose during his run and reminded me that I have to fuel myself as an athlete and don't fuel myself as a T1.
00:11:10
Speaker
That's the trick. And all of these things have played into my strategy and just part of how I do things dayto- day to day. Wow, I love that. that it's Quite often people just don't tend to tend to reach out. It's often referred to as a very isolating disease, but it sounds like you've got a great community that have helped you to build this like very confident type one life.
00:11:35
Speaker
So I think that's that's amazing. It's so great to hear that. Yeah. And I think it' it goes beyond just exercise, right?
Managing Diabetes While Traveling
00:11:41
Speaker
So quite often you see on you know the the Facebook groups, you see and yeah there's some of the little WhatsApp groups and everything else I'm part of, yeah folks are saying, hey, I'm going to the US and who can tell me about how airport security works over there? Or You I'm going to a remote island in Fiji for three months.
00:12:00
Speaker
How am i going to keep my insulin cool when I hear there's rolling um power outages? All of these things where all of a sudden you see people come together and suggest accessories and talk about their experiences and and everything else.
00:12:13
Speaker
You feel like when you're going through these things for the first time, you really aren't because you you're carrying the wisdom of some of your other T1 peers with you as well. Yeah, that's amazing.
00:12:24
Speaker
So let's talk about like your career. it sounds like you do from what you've shared with me, haven't shared with anybody else yet. You do a lot of travel in your career, but also not just for career, obviously for fun as well. So maybe share that experience together it's quite often a little bit daunting for me. my per Personally, I'm working on this, so I think I'm going to learn a lot from you that I try and kind of regulate my nervous system when i'm when I'm walking with Harvey through that security sort of, and I know that I'm, you know, kind of how I pack things and all that sort of stuff when we've got to go through security. And and Harvey quite often
00:13:06
Speaker
I try not to put my stress onto him through that and I act really cool but I'm probably not. So maybe share that for us of how you manage this and it sounds like you do it really well. Well, I guess i've I've had to, right? So, you know, last year alone I think I've It was close to 40 flights and that's you know around Australia through to Asia. i think there was one trip to the United States where it was nine flights alone, including you know the 17-hour flight to get over there, right? So um yeah' you're traveling for 40 hours at a time to get to to Orlando and don't have your own bed. You're living out of your backpack or whatever you've got carry-on and airport food and plane food and everything. So it pays to be prepared.
00:13:53
Speaker
right And I think over time, how I've refined things is really just trying to, I guess, visualize where am I going? How long am I going to be in situations for?
00:14:04
Speaker
What could go wrong? Where can I get food? Where will my sugar be? If something fails, what is my redundancy? And this this this comes down to like the lists and the Chinese takeaway containers full of supplies that I've got.
00:14:18
Speaker
stored amongst both my checked in bag and my carry-on bag that I've got with me as well. So I carry a second pump. So I know if my pump fails, that's the next best thing.
00:14:29
Speaker
um I carry crayons. I carry pens. love how call them crayons. I've never heard that either. Yeah. so um So then i I've got those to fall back to And then in my um in some of my kit, in fact, in with my glucose meter, I've just got a standard orange tip syringe.
00:14:47
Speaker
So if push comes to shove, I could just pull insulin out of my pump and I can just inject that way. I've got three layers of redundancy there. I carry a spare CGMs with me.
00:14:57
Speaker
i pre-calculate with, again, more redundancy just in case when it comes to my supplies. I've stacks of lollies with me. Now lollies always get through customs, so don't worry about that. Alan's snakes is my go-to. I know that one of those will fix a low, two of those will definitely fix a low.
00:15:15
Speaker
I carry some prepackaged trail bars. So if I need 15 or 30 grams of carbohydrate, both because I'm a hungry guy or because I need a bit of a bump um with blood glucose. I do that as well.
00:15:30
Speaker
Sleep really is an important factor. If I don't get a good night's sleep, my shugs are pretty trashed the next morning. And that's all due to all the reasons of of you know stress hormones and and insulin sensitivity when you don't have good sleep.
00:15:45
Speaker
So whilst I'm heading over there, and if I'm sitting upright or if I'm laying down, I'm still not sleeping properly. I'm still not eating the same food I'd eat. I feel like that the air pressure on the planes has an impact to the way that my body uses insulin, although there's no science to that. I just just think it does.
00:16:06
Speaker
Yeah. i I reckon there's something with that, the the air pressure. Because, yeah, I know that when we've travelled with Harvey, i I feel like I have to give him way more insulin than what, like, we would.
00:16:20
Speaker
Well, the parallel I draw to that actually is quite interesting. So whenever I do, like when I've done long runs, so if it's, you know, anything more than 12Ks or when I was doing half marathons, I would, you know, your muscles would be sore and and you'd have swelling and you'd have everything else that creates, ah inflammatory creates insulin resistance. So I'm sort of thinking, well, my legs are getting puffy in the sky. You know, it's a 15 hour flight. I'm not on the Dreamliner, so I don't have the luxury of the better air pressure.
00:16:49
Speaker
um Yeah, maybe I do need some more insulin. But Now, it all self-regulates, right? So I've got my CGM and my pump talking and it just keeps me where I need to be.
00:17:00
Speaker
I get terrible low blood sugar anxiety, but I find that I'm comfortable well knowing that we don't need to land the plane ah to treat the low. I'm on plane that is full of sugar, right?
00:17:14
Speaker
Right. So I can just go and grab myself a lemonade whenever I need. If I you know i can't reach the snacks that I've got placed everywhere around me. um So I've been able to really work on that.
00:17:27
Speaker
I've changed my CGM in the sky. I've done set changes in the sky. I've refilled my reservoir. I've done all that because I've forgotten to do things. I've done it in the lounges as well.
00:17:39
Speaker
I've had my pump get stuck in the in the bed mechanism in the business class seat and I went to go upright and I i felt like, wait a minute, something's pulling. And you know in the video, they say, don't try and get your electronics. I thought, oh no, my pump's going to explode. So I managed ah to weave it out. So that was that was an interesting near miss.
00:17:58
Speaker
So there's been a lot of Little disasters, um but really what I know is that my confidence in is in what I've packed and what I know i can handle if something does go wrong.
Navigating Airport Security with Diabetes
00:18:13
Speaker
Don't ignore the four. The four early warning signs of type 1 diabetes. Excessive thirst, frequent urination, unexplained weight loss and extreme fatigue.
00:18:24
Speaker
If you or someone you know is experiencing these symptoms, don't wait. get checked by a healthcare professional. Early detection and treatment are key to managing type 1 diabetes effectively.
00:18:39
Speaker
Okay, so take me through, get to the airport, do you get there a little bit earlier because you're a type 1? Do you feel that you have to get there a little bit earlier? Walk me through the security part, because I think that would be a good um lesson for us all.
00:18:56
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. So my motto is I want to get out of the car and walk straight onto the plane, which is not a good motto to live by, trust me. ah For the 5am flights in Perth, um when it's it's full of FIFO workers and you're like, oh no, I'm really going to be getting on at the last minute here.
00:19:14
Speaker
But I do try and leave some time. There are the scanners that I will not go through. And those are the scanners that the revolving ones, um you see them more commonly in the US.
00:19:25
Speaker
I will always politely opt out of those and um tell them that I wish to have a pat down. can talk about that experience in just a moment. But usually when it comes to Australian airports, you know, i don't take anything off. I leave everything on.
00:19:42
Speaker
I'll go through the metal detector. I've never had a problem with that. I know that some people do. I'll go through the the the one where you stand in front like this. um but So just so, you know, Matt's holding his hands out like a bit of a Lego kind of character there, I guess.
00:19:59
Speaker
um And pretty quickly they discover that it's in my pocket. Look, I'll only do that if I'm flying domestically. If I'm about to get an international flight, I will opt in for a pat down at that point. So hang on. So you don't say, oh, hey, I'm type one. I've got stuff on. You don't declare that straight up? Not more unless I'm getting on a flight that's longer than four hours or five hours.
00:20:20
Speaker
What I've noticed is that um some airports are better than others. So Perth Airport are pretty good. If you say, I'm ah i'm a type 1 diabetic, I'm wearing devices in my body that cannot go through these machines as per manufacturer's recommendations, can I please elect to have a pat down?
00:20:40
Speaker
They immediately tell me at most airports, your devices are allowed to go through this. And I say, i will believe the manufacturer over what you're telling me with respect. May I please opt out?
00:20:51
Speaker
And I'm electing to have a pat down. And eventually, sometimes you wait five minutes, sometimes you wait 15 minutes and they come and give you a bit of a pat down. And they're pretty good about it. Probably the worst experiences I've had.
00:21:02
Speaker
and that most people have in Australia is Melbourne Airport, the worst place to go through airport security if you have a ah visible or non-visible disability, I think, unfortunately.
00:21:13
Speaker
But hopefully enough advocacy throughout our community can fix that. We've had, just to jump in, and I've said to anybody, like, if you do have an issue, you need to highlight it in and writing because it's the only way that we're going to be able to get some change happening is to you know, we can go through and we can kind of then go like, oh, that was terrible. But if we're not going to put in writing and hope for some change and raise awareness to the powers above, then, you know, these these ah people who are working in in these positions are never going to be able to learn. So raising things like the time, the carousel thing that you went through, like so each of them have like a number, just keep being aware of that. Like, so sometimes I might even just quickly take a photo of so that then I can just go back to it when I'm
00:21:58
Speaker
when i'm when I'm sending that email and just just even if you can get the person's name to help you with that. Yeah, and and even copying in Diabetes Australia, right? so You know, so so they can start to hear about what's happening and they can help as part of the advocacy, i guess, for our rights. And, you know, i don't see it as don't get smug and go, well, I'm allowed to bring food into a movie theater.
00:22:21
Speaker
You know, therefore, I'm allowed to get through security differently. No, it's for me. And one of the things I say to them, you know, after I get the pact out, I always say, look, thank you. This allows me to feel safer flying.
00:22:34
Speaker
This is allows me to feel confident. It's it's not about anything else. I would hate for something bad to happen to that device and have to be stressed for the next however many hours. um You know, obviously more protective of my mental health than I am of my devices in that respect.
00:22:50
Speaker
You know, if I didn't have a spare pump with me and everything else, yeah, maybe I would be a little bit more stricter about what I walk through. But, you know, having boarded hundreds of flights, I've never had an issue from from walking through some of those machines, but but definitely avoiding the ones that um I definitely like to avoid.
00:23:09
Speaker
Did they ever ask you to to provide a letter? I have only been asked four times in my life. Were the four from Melbourne Airport? Well, recently, yeah. So I made the – actually, I had ah one of my colleagues book flights for me and I was on one of those domestic flights that come through the international airport. So it's one of the Qantas flights that comes to Perth but through international airport.
00:23:33
Speaker
And I didn't realise, and we'll split across two flights because there was about 50 of us flying back to Perth. And i was on that flight and I thought, oh, no, oh, well, you know, what's the worst that can happen? So I go to security.
00:23:47
Speaker
I say, look, I don't like to go through that machine. Can I get a pat down? Well, no, everyone has to go through the machine. I tried to quote the daffodil project and I didn't have the lanyard. I've got a lanyard. I didn't travel with it.
00:23:59
Speaker
um And i didn't have my passport with me. And my letter is... in my passport holder um because you only need a driver's license to to to get through this one. And they're like, well, prove to us you're diabetic. And went, oh, that's easy.
00:24:14
Speaker
ah just lifted my shirt up. I pulled my trousers down. opened my bag up. and like, what do you want to know? like, well, you could just have all this with you. We need some proof. And I'm like, okay, look. This is not going to go the way that either of us want it to go.
00:24:27
Speaker
How do we resolve this where I'm not forced to go through this machine and I'm able to do one of the redundant security checks, no matter how thorough, to make sure that I can get on that plane safely?
00:24:39
Speaker
And they weren't great about it. um that They were bullies. and And unfortunately, I think that the domestic Melbourne side is okay. The international side is, yeah, that's it's pretty bad.
00:24:53
Speaker
I'm so sorry that you had that experience. We had a similar one with Melbourne International. I kind of, I find that, you know, they sort of just rushed through. Yeah, you're good. You're good. You're good. And then you're so bamboozled. And then all of a sudden Harvey was going through the scanner that he shouldn't have gone through.
00:25:08
Speaker
And then literally 15 minutes after, and it was kind of like, I was like, oh shit, you know, like you're already a bit stressed anyway. And then um i was like, okay, we'll just have to see. And then he 15 minutes, literally 15 minutes later, he said to me, my CGM is, he goes, it's really stinging.
00:25:26
Speaker
Like, and I was like, what do you mean? Like, he's like, like inside, it's really stinging. And I was like, oh, okay. And then li and then another 15 minutes later, it just stopped working. We were heading to Bali and um I was kind of like, oh, okay. And I'd had a spare Dexicon to change it, but I was not sure that the transmitter hadn't been.
00:25:50
Speaker
ah actually hadn't a forgotten to get another transmitter just as a backup. and then um so we And then we had to wait two hours for the warm-up, you know, all that sort of stuff.
00:26:01
Speaker
Yeah, that window where you're not being monitored and and you're travelling, right? Yeah, and I forgot his finger prick kit.
00:26:10
Speaker
but I was messaging my sister-in-law that was already in um Bali saying, can you go to the chemist and see if you can pick up one? Because I was nervous that we'd get to Bali and it was going to be like midnight and we weren't going to have anything. And I was just like, it was just this spiral of, anyway, good news is everything went back online, but for whatever reason, the CGM stopped working, which I guarantee was from him going through that machine. We've never had that happen before or ever since. and And so I did write an email sort of saying,
00:26:40
Speaker
This is what's happened. And I did say, yeah, I sort of had said, no, this this machine isn't fine. And they were like, no, no, this is. They kind of really like, what would you know? You know? Yeah. then the manufacturers say, well, no, please don't.
00:26:54
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. And don't want to avoid the warranty when that it fails because of it. And they've said, well, we've told you not to. And I'm without a pump until my next private health comes up or I have to fork out, right? So, again, there's this's there's some risks there for us.
00:27:10
Speaker
But, you know, it's... yeah hopefully the Hopefully we can continue to advocate and and airports can get better. I feel like in the US, they really do respect that quite well.
00:27:22
Speaker
you know I think there's there's obviously a lot of you know visible and non-visible things that that people are dealing with. and you know for For me, it's the non-visible and I will elect to ah get a pat down when they're using those crazy body scanners over there.
00:27:37
Speaker
And look, sometimes i have to sit stand aside for 10 or 15 minutes and wait for someone to come over. It's way more invasive over there, I think, than than what it is um here in Australia.
00:27:48
Speaker
know, they feel up your leg and until they they they they get to your bits and and they're really feeling around um your waist. They're checking all of the um the lining of your your clothes. They're looking under your watch. So it's more thorough.
00:28:04
Speaker
But you know what? I'm glad they're doing it because it keeps us safe and I'm glad that I've got that option to do it because you know i feel safer as a result of it. right so Yes. I do have to say when I in domestic, like when I have asked like airports with Harvey and they do a pat down, they're always making sure that I'm standing there with him.
00:28:24
Speaker
So i I never take my eyes off him and I make sure that he feels comfortable with that person that is giving him the pat down. So i think that's particularly important with kids. like But they've actually always been amazing. They always talk directly to him and say, are you okay for me to do, you know, like that, explain it and stuff. So i do We haven't travelled to America yet, so I don't know how you'll feel if, you know, with that kind of level. But, yeah, I definitely think it's something to be aware as a parent to be there and to keep your eyes on them as they're getting a pat down, just to make sure that that chart your child feels comfortable with that because they would never have had that happen sort of to them before. Yeah, absolutely. so
00:29:05
Speaker
So what about the time zone changes?
Insulin Dosing Across Time Zones
00:29:08
Speaker
Can you talk me through a little bit about that? Yeah. So time zones are an interesting one. I've been on the 780 and the new algorithm on that for the last...
00:29:20
Speaker
Oh, gee, probably two and a bit years now. I haven't had to worry about time zone since I started with that. So let's go back to what it was like. So before I was on a automated algorithm, I had my basal rates and, you know, every five minutes it's giving me a micro dose and it's it's telling me, and oh sorry, I'm telling it what I need every hour.
00:29:41
Speaker
And if I'm about to shift three hours, know, let's say I'm flying to Sydney or Melbourne and I'm sort of accelerating or decelerating the the the shift and the change in my basal rate. And whilst I'm on the flight, I'm boarding it and I'm changing my basal rate or changing the time on my pump, which changes my basal rate.
00:30:00
Speaker
I didn't notice anything, right? I'm going to bed at the same time. I'm waking up at the same time. Hopefully my hormones are doing the big rush and my basal rate's covering that in the same way at five o'clock in the morning. Meals will probably be at the same time.
00:30:13
Speaker
Everything should be somewhat normal. and And to be fair, I never really had issues. Good thing about Perth is when we fly up to Asia, there's almost no time change difference at all. You know, if I was going to Europe, if I was going to the US, what I'm doing is I'm changing my basal rate or was changing my basal rate.
00:30:31
Speaker
right at that point where I'm getting on the plane to to make that big hop. So if I'm going Perth to Sydney, then Sydney to l LA, it's when get on the flight to LA is when I'm doing my big change. That's a big one, right? Because we're talking, you know, 14 hour time zone change. We're talking eight hour time zone changes.
00:30:50
Speaker
And that can flip you from being on a, let's say for me, it would be 0.8 units an hour to a units an hour very quickly So really what I was doing was I was moving myself at a time that I thought that, okay, look, I need to now start eating and I need to start getting myself into a routine. I need to make sure I sleep at this time that I'm wanting to sleep at just to get my body chemistry into that time zone where it has different metabolic needs for the insulin that it has.
00:31:24
Speaker
So there was a lot of this could go really wrong or this could go really right. Now, with these automated algorithms, there is no basal rate. My pump is looking at the CGM.
00:31:37
Speaker
It's looking at the past. It's looking at the future. It's looking at the settings and going, all right, what's happened over the last five minutes? Where do I think Matt's going to be in the next five minutes? Let me make a dosing decision right here, right now.
00:31:48
Speaker
So I haven't had to worry about time zones at all. And to be fair, um i don't know what the metric of success would be, but it has been a success. That's one less thing to stress about when I'm jumping on a plane and and and arriving You know, especially when I do the US, I try to get into the time zone a little bit before I go.
00:32:09
Speaker
Maybe I just sort of, you know, go to bed a bit earlier and wake up a little bit later on. I don't know. I usually try and do something weird. That's more so for, from my human perspective, less of my T1 perspective, but the sensitivity to insulin is pretty rough, you know, when it comes to when I touch down. So again, you've been traveling for 30 to 40 hours, ah especially to the US. It's been three flights and ah waiting and and airport meals and plane food, dehydrated sometimes.
00:32:39
Speaker
um You know, my my insulin sensitivity is pretty rough. I need way more insulin. My corrections feel like they're not really doing much. um It just takes me, ah you know, yeah that 24 to 36 hours maybe stabilize.
00:32:52
Speaker
And that's probably the only thing I really need to concern myself with at the moment with the with the tech I've got. Wow, that's so good. Sort of having type one for, you know, 20 odd years, you know, and the evolution of what you've had with your tech, like, and to get to to this point where you've just got that flexibility to be able travel, to be able to to live this life.
00:33:15
Speaker
It's very inspiring for newly diagnosed, you know, sort of, um so particularly for newly diagnosed type ones when you feel like your whole world is just being flipped upside down, but yet you know, the type ones that you talk to who have been, you know, living these incredible lives are just, you know, putting it down to ah bit more discipline, you know, relying on like exploring tech and just giving it a go, you know, which I just think is just so, so amazing.
00:33:47
Speaker
Is there anything else before we wrap up um Is there anything else that you wanted to share with the type one community before
A Positive Outlook on Life with Diabetes
00:33:54
Speaker
we finish? Yeah. You know, all I'd say, you know, especially when it comes to the tech is, know, I work in AI and data science and and I'm in the technology field, right?
00:34:04
Speaker
Data is your best friend. And sometimes you can get a little bit lost with it all. The CGM has given us an unprecedented amount of data. What we've learned as well is that everyone is different, right? When it comes to time and range, response to exercise, HB1ACs, everyone is very unique. And maybe that's genetics, maybe that's just the uniqueness of us.
00:34:28
Speaker
So two things about data. One, find a way to make it your friend and to find patterns and work with your healthcare professional to use that data to make really good decisions for you know adjusting doses and and preparing for for trips or what have you but also just don't get too hung up on the data you know ah there's there's there's so much in looking at your time and range that can just really stress you out i will go high after every run that i do um my liver just decides i'm gonna dump glucose now
00:35:00
Speaker
And i'll so I'll shoot up. And that hurts my time and range. But you know what? I went for a run. And it corrects itself pretty quickly. I'm doing all right. and And just to the fact that, you know, it has been, you know, 24 years nearly, you know, and I'm doing fine.
00:35:16
Speaker
um You know, my my body is hes okay. i'm I'm fit, I'm healthy, I'm happy. There is nothing that I've never been able to do because I'm type one, ah except become a pilot.
00:35:30
Speaker
But I think I use that as an excuse. And now with all the regulation changes, I could become a type one pilot. There's a few of them that have gone back. which is super cool.
00:35:41
Speaker
But, you know, I think, you know, reflecting on on the life that I've had, you know, T1 has come along for the ride. And um what would my life be like without T1? I don't know. Maybe I wouldn't have, you know, it's such a great diet most of the time. And maybe I wouldn't be so hyper-focused on exercise and keeping fit. I probably would anyway.
00:36:01
Speaker
But, you know, there's there's nothing that it's led me to regret. So, you know, as a ah parent of, you know, a newly diagnosed type one, hopefully, you know, speaking to people and hearing people like me talk about very normal, fruitful life.
00:36:18
Speaker
um You know, I'm in my mid-30s now, know, married and and, you know, got a career. You know, it's very normal and and it should be for everyone in this day and age.
00:36:29
Speaker
no that's ah That is like a beautiful message that if you could tell your 10-year-old self. that's That's probably exactly what you would just say, which is, yeah, really, really beautiful, Matt. I have one last question that I like to wrap these podcasts up with.
00:36:43
Speaker
And you have probably already mentioned it, actually, but what's your go-to hypotreatment? Oh, it's it's definitely the snakes. But i've that evolves over time. I used to see it as this great opportunity to go, I'm going to eat the kitchen now, but I don't need a lot to correct because because of the algorithms. um yeah little Little micro adjustments means you know little micro adjustments to get you out of trouble. Whereas yeah I would have a ah can of lemonade and feel bloated and you know, regret some of the the bad choices I would would eat to get myself out of it.
00:37:15
Speaker
One snake, it's all I need. um And then I can continue to do what it what it was that I was doing before I went low. Yeah. Oh, that's amazing. That's so good. And do you share a little bit of your type one sort of journey online as
Connect with Matt on Social Media
00:37:31
Speaker
well? Like if people wanted to follow along a little bit more and hear a bit more about you and your travels?
00:37:37
Speaker
Yeah, I do. So I've got an Instagram um at Notorious T1D. um I like to put some of my travel tips on there. I've got how I use Chinese takeaway containers to to pack my bags, um you know some of the food that I like to eat, some of the strategy that I like to use for exercise on there.
00:37:57
Speaker
And really what I'm doing is every so often, I need to complain about something or if something cool happens, that's That's my outlet and if it can help anyone, then then that's a bonus.
00:38:08
Speaker
Yeah, that's so awesome. And I'll put those details in the show notes as well for people who um to follow you and show some love, but I just wanted to personally thank you very much for ah um your time and jumping on the podcast.
00:38:22
Speaker
I feel like everybody will get a lot of um great information out of the stuff that you've shared. And it's so great to hear just the confidence that you have of walking through security and at airport security and and all the organisation sort of things and tips that you can you know have to help us make life a little bit easier.
00:38:43
Speaker
Thanks, Jackie. That was awesome. Appreciate it. And to everybody else ah listening to this podcast, thank you so much for listening. We hope you've enjoyed it as much as I have anyway. And we look forward to bringing you another episode for the Type 1 Club.
00:38:58
Speaker
Thank you for tuning in to the Type 1 Club podcast.
Conclusion
00:39:02
Speaker
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00:39:12
Speaker
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00:39:33
Speaker
Thanks again for listening, and we will see you next time on the Type 1 Club.