A TEENAGER whose allergies mean she spends most of her days wrapped in bandages insists she would not have it any other way.

Brianie Copeland from Bearpark, County Durham, is constantly in agony because she is allergic to almost everything.

The 17-year-old suffers from extreme eczema, dermatitis, arthritis and asthma along with multiple food and skin allergies.

She endures horrific allergic reactions to foods, cleaning agents, dust, strong light, heat, man-made fibres and even the grass in the back garden of her home.

She is also a virtual prisoner in her own home as exposure to the outside world leaves her with blistered skin and crippling rashes.

Brianie said: "I have to apply cream two or three times a day and I wear bandages every night to keep the cream on my skin.

"I also have to have a bath at least twice a day. If I don't my skin cracks and dries out. It is really painful.

"I have to avoid certain foods such as dairy products, wheat, soya, nuts and oats. If I eat them my throat starts to swell up and close.

"I also take ten tablets a day."

Brave Brianie, who has three sisters and three brothers, has been restricted from doing things other teenagers do because of her illness.

She is unable to wear makeup or hair products and will never be able to get a tattoo or a piercing.

Brianie has never visited a farm as she is allergic to all animals except birds and she is unable to spend time in the countryside due to the high levels of pollen.

She is also unable to swim in the sea whilst on holiday as the salt makes her delicate skin blister.

But despite being cursed with the conditions, of which there is no cure, Brianie has not let her illness hold her back.

She left school with a hoard of GCSE's and is now studying childcare at New College Durham in the hope of working with children with special needs.

Brianie said: "I grew up wearing bandages constantly so I don't know any different.

"People say to me if there was a cure would I take it but I don't think I would.

"Although it is hard sometimes, I like being different to everyone else.

"I wouldn't have it any other way."