Rosie's story

Rosie has had psoriasis since she was 16. She talks about the ups and downs of living with the condition and how exercise has helped her to cope with flare ups.

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I have had psoriasis for as long as I can remember. My psoriasis started in my scalp and when I was 16, I had my first guttate psoriasis flare up. Growing up I had some understanding of what psoriasis was thanks to my Poppa, as he also had suffered with severe psoriasis over the years. I rarely saw anyone with skin conditions on social media or television so I thought it may just happen to older people.

When my first guttate psoriasis flare up came out I was so scared. I thought that there was something really wrong with me because the only psoriasis I had seen was on my Poppa and this was not the way my psoriasis looked as they were circular in shape. After a doctor’s appointment I was told that this was guttate psoriasis.

I have had a total of four flare ups in the last four years and have found that each one has got increasingly worse. In December last year I was really sad hearing the news I could not get light therapy for another 6 months and my mum told me to post on social media. This allowed me to share how I was feeling with people and reach out to those who are also going through similar. I found this very therapeutic and got multiple messages from other psoriasis sufferers thanking me for the honest posts I was sharing. I felt we were then going through it together.

One of the lovely friends who I made through our psoriasis stories recommended to me that exercise could reduce my flare up and of course I was up for anything that meant my psoriasis would calm down. I have a bike at home and found that going on it every day really helped me mentally and it did seem to calm the patches a little. I would recommend this for anyone with psoriasis because even if it does not change your psoriasis, it is extremely good for your mental health during your flare up.

Throughout my last flare up I came to the conclusion that my psoriasis has made me the person who I am and I no longer feel as self-conscious as I did in previous years. To me the patches of psoriasis on my body are my beauty marks.