Caity’s journey with guttate psoriasis, coeliac disease + TSW
Caity was hit with a double whammy — two late diagnoses of guttate psoriasis and coeliac disease. It left her with extreme anxiety over the potential damage she’d already done to her gut by her early twenties.
Our friend with dramatic skin, Caity, lives the dream life. She studies teaching online and follows around cool seasonal jobs — currently living in Norway. Anything board sports is her vibe.
She had a loooong, frustrating battle trying to diagnose the raindrop-like spots on her body. No doctor could identify them — it was TOUGH. Finally at 19, after years of feeling self-conscious, the diagnosis came: guttate psoriasis.
The National Psoriasis Foundation says guttate psoriasis appears as small, round spots called papules that are raised and sometimes scaly, it often develops suddenly. It may start after an infection such as strep throat.
But oh boy, it didn’t stop there. Caity dealt with huge, sore mouth ulcers that wouldn’t go away. Again, she was shooed away by doctors with no diagnosis — being told she was perfectly healthy, just to eat more iron (like that was gonna help). It wasn’t until she told a friend, who suggested it could be from coeliac disease.
As soon as Caity cut out gluten — they went away.
“At 22 years old being diagnosed with a serious gluten allergy I was terrified at the damage I had already done to my gut. It was around this time I started university and also starting dealing with pretty bad anxiety.”
As her psoriasis flared from stress, acne popped up on her face. She was prescribed a bunch of creams and became super overwhelmed. She applied a steroid cream on her face without really realising the risks involved. Eeeek. For those playing along at home, this was a recipe for disaster.
A few months later, she realised her skin was addicted to topical steroids, and was thrown into the world of TSW. It was sore, painful, and made Caity feel really self conscious, especially while on uni placement trying to interact with new people every day.
“This was when I stumbled upon Yours Only and fell in love with the content of real people having skin issues I could relate to”.
She started with the BALM Bundle to simplify her routine for her psoriasis and acne, and she said it changed her life. Shucks.
“COAT is so soothing and my dry sensitive psoriasis prone skin loves it. I’ve seen a huge transformation in my skin and even my acne has mellowed out with the super simple skincare routine of CLEAN and COAT”.
Caity’s other top tips:
- Simplify what you put on your skin
- LESS is more
- Be kind to your gut, and your mind
- Get some sunlight (with SPF, obvi)
