Stories from people like me

I love swimming, but it was really challenging to overcome my fear of people seeing my skin, and I was worried they would freak out, not wanting to be in the pool with me. After ‘taking the plunge’ (sorry for the pun…) I realised people were more curious about me rather than finding me unattractive, and more concerned with their own looks. My main worry with swimming now is the chlorine irritating my skin, so I always make sure to shower and moisturise as soon as I get out. Applying some emollient before going in also stops my skin drying out so much.

I've had nasty comments in the past, where people have asked me if my skin is contagious. It really affected me at first, but I learned how to explain what psoriasis is and assure people they can’t catch it. Kids at my school have been harsh or asked really personal questions too, but by then I’d got my script learned off by heart. It usually makes people feel more comfortable, and I feel like I’m helping the community by spreading awareness about the condition!

I’ve usually managed my flare-ups with different creams and some changes to my lifestyle, and also light therapy when it’s been at its most severe. I always got frustrated at those times – I was doing everything I could to look after myself and it just kept on getting worse. I know there are always options now no matter how bad it gets. I massively value the time I have when my symptoms are mild or gone, but I also do my best not to get stressed when they come back so that doesn’t make it worse.

Dealing with psoriasis hasn’t been easy. It’s taken a lot of time to find out what works for me and to feel comfortable in my own skin. I used to let it stop me from going about my life, but I refuse to let it get in the way anymore. I really hope the challenges I’ve overcome inspire others to try and overcome theirs.”

Sleep has been a huge problem over the years, usually down to the itching driving me mad. Itching makes it hard to fall asleep and when I do, I often wake up scratching myself making it worse and sting. It makes me really exhausted and stressed the next day which just makes my skin get worse. I experimented with a few things – antihistamines from my GP worked well. Wet wrap therapy took ages to do but it saved my sanity when I was having massive flare ups. I tried meditation but couldn’t get into it. I just did usual sleep stuff too – consistent routines, getting ready for bed early, that kinda stuff. It’s much better now even when I’ve had a bit of a flare.

Nothing properly worked to clear my skin up or help my joint pain until I got tablets. I tried a couple of them, methotrexate and something else, which worked well for a while. I’m on biologics at the moment.

Flaking has been difficult to manage. Flakes would cover everything. I found that my work chair and keyboard were noticeably covered after a day and needed cleaning a lot more regularly and sometimes felt the need to apologise to the people around me. I feel like there wasn’t much else I could do apart from keeping on top of it until it cleared, so I had to get used to it. However after a while I found that most people didn’t even notice it much. I was far more sensitive about it than my workmates were. For the most part they were oblivious or supportive.”