After being diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes at the age of ten years old, Naomi had struggled to keep her condition under control throughout her teenage years. It could be very challenging to manage a condition at this age as work and socialising took priority.
“I had real trouble managing my diabetes, I’m a little bit embarrassed to say, I also had Diabetic Bulimia. I was worried about taking my insulin because I thought that it would make me put on weight.”
Naomi, at the age of 20 with a busy social life and full-time job, managed to transform her diabetes after she was introduced to Florence by Michelle Denyer, Lead Specialist Community Diabetes Nurse at Derbyshire Community Health Services. In 2014 she was one of the first patients in Derbyshire to try it.
At first, Naomi was involved in a lot of trial and error with Flo and initially opted out of the service. However she subsequently requested to be put back on the system and Florence had a huge impact on her life.
I’m thrilled at the difference it has made to my life. Taking my background medication was not a problem but the insulin I would leave, it became normal not to do my insulin so I needed to get into a new routine which Flo has helped me do.”
Flo gave Naomi the independence she needed and helped her to self-manage her condition. She received three text messages from Flo to remind her to take her insulin, which helped her keep track of her medication.
In November 2011 Naomi’s HbA1c was 16.4%, in July 2015 it had reduced to 13.2% and in November 2015 it reduced further to 8.6%. This huge reduction was a significant achievement for Naomi.
“I’m very proud of myself, to think I would be down to my last dose of insulin before I would ask for more, I’m so organised and focused that I rarely forget to order my medication now. Flo has made such a big difference to my life. I would definitely recommend it to everyone, not just for diabetes. I would recommend Flo to help people that take any kind of medication it would be excellent for contraception – it’s done the world of good for me.”
Naomi has shown how Flo can help patients to self-manage their conditions and take control of their own healthcare, resulting in an improvement in patients overall quality of life.
More on Blood Glucose levels from Diabetes UK
