Stephanie's Story

Stephanie quickly realised after her first psoriasis flare up that sugar was a trigger for her. In her story, she shares some tips on her diet changes in the hope that it will help others.

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We were building a new house in 2015. Finally at 66 and 67 years old, we were realising our dream of living permanently in the Isle of Wight, where I’d holidayed all my life. My husband loved the island too. We needed a house for our children and grandchildren to visit as well as a home for ourselves. We were lucky enough to have a cottage next door so we could supervise the build. However, having builders and piles of mud everywhere is tiring. I have never had sugar in tea or coffee and rarely eat puddings and chocolate. But I had a store of my own delicious homemade damson jam, so felt justified in tucking in to some brown bread and jam for tea every day. I also drank pure orange juice in the morning, because I thought it was health giving.

Suddenly I had itches and a nasty set of red spots all over my body. Clear liquid oozed from my skin particularly from under my breasts where my bra rubbed the skin. Then I had itchy spots in every orifice and on my scalp. My hairdresser was horrified. I’d never had a skin problem, except the odd spot as a teenager. My GP referred me to a dermatologist. I had tests of the skin for bacteria etc. but there was nothing unusual. I was told to visit the pharmacist and buy all the creams. The only one that worked at all was the one for the scalp. I spent a fortune.

I was becoming more and more desperate. I was told it was probably stress. I didn’t agree. I bought a book, about diabetes. I knew that even slim people can get diabetes and was interested in prevention.

In this book, I read that giving up sugar could also help some people who had Psoriasis. I was willing to try anything, so I cut out any added sugar, especially wine and just ate protein, meat, fish, nuts and dairy, vegetables especially soup, plain oat cakes, a little whole grain bread, butter, olive oil and whole fruit. Within 24 hours I felt better but persuaded myself it was just the placebo effect. After a few days the spots faded and within two months they had all gone. I continued to feel better although slightly hungry and lost weight. I wasn’t in need of losing weight, but it was still a bit of a benefit! Soon, I found replacements for jam, including toasted coconut flakes, marmite, and my own fruit jam made without sugar, thickened with apple puree.

I found I could drink whiskey and rum with water and that was fine but I’m not a big drinker anyway. I ate 90% chocolate with a banana and now find any chocolate that isn’t 90% cocoa rather boring and not chocolatey enough for me.

10 years on I’m fitter than I’ve ever been. I do Silver Swans ballet three times a week and also yoga and use weights. I also garden, walk and swim. I work as a full-time volunteer running independent registered charity CO-Gas Safety www.co-gassafety.co.uk and have done since 1995.I have tried to raise the issue of sugar many times but so far only pharmacists and one doctor have been interested. The doctor said, ‘of course sugar is an inflammatory so giving it up helps lots of conditions.’ I read recently that yeast can be a factor in Psoriasis. Yeast loves sugar. It all sounds perfectly logical to me.

Whilst we recommend a balanced, healthy diet to help with overall wellbeing, it is also important to remember that everyone’s psoriasis is different.