Some Thoughts on the Publication of ‘Brave Inked Emotions’ – an Anthology I Have Contributed To

By now many of my readers will be aware of the publication of the recent anthology to which I’ve contributed – Brave Inked Emotions. It contains the work of 31 bloggers and has been edited by Roma Gupta Sinha. I received my physical copy last week and immediately dove into it. However, as I’m a contributor to the book, I won’t write a review of it. Instead, I’ve decided to share some other big news and a story that is related to my chapter in the book.

First of all, here’s my big news: I’m expecting my second child!

Now, you may be wondering what this has to do with my chapter in the book?! To be honest, the connection hadn’t even struck me till I read the chapter again once I had the physical copy in my hands. But there most certainly is a connection.

This pregnancy has happened after a gap of eight years. After giving birth to my son in 2016, I had initially decided against having a second one (the pregnancy, PPD and caring for a new-born phase had been very tough). When he turned four, and Covid led to us spending more time at home, my husband and I felt that we were better prepared for a second baby at this phase in our life. So, we started trying for a second one. But nothing happened for years. We made peace with being a happy family with one child but were always open to the possibility of a second one.

Yet, in the back of my mind, I wondered what could be wrong. Medical tests had proved there was no physical problem, and I was dead against trying medical interventions like IVF. It never occurred to me that the problem could be related to my emotions.

In 2023, as I’ve documented in my chapter in this anthology, I embarked on a serious mission to deal with what I thought was the autoimmune disorder called psoriasis. Things went well at first. I did the gruelling detox procedure known as Panchakarma which practically amounts to a clean-out of toxins at the cellular level, and the initial results following this were very promising.

However, just before my birthday last year, I got a terrifying inflammation attack around the psoriasis spot. I continued treating it with Ayurvedic medicines, but things kept getting worse till it spread throughout my lower left leg. My entire leg was swollen and red. That’s when I knew I had to show it to an allopathic doctor. I was immediately put on antibiotics, which calmed the inflammation down. However, the marks remained.

Finally, after much research and speaking to other patients of psoriasis, I decided to consult a very senior dermatologist in Delhi – Dr. Sanjiv Kandhari. He was the only one prescribing an experimental injection to treat psoriasis. The treatment was new and expensive but so far, results seemed promising. As I was sick and tired of dealing with this physical illness and the resultant emotional turmoil, I decided this may be the best course of treatment.

Fate had other plans though. Dr. Kandhari took one look at my psoriasis patch and immediately declared, “But this isn’t psoriasis at all.” And he had good reasoning for it too. Apparently, psoriasis almost always occurs symmetrically. So, a patch on my left foot would necessarily have meant a similar patch on my right foot too.

Yet, I insisted this couldn’t be the case because in the past, multiple different doctors – both allopathic and ayurvedic – had confirmed the diagnosis of psoriasis. Unfazed, he asked me to get a skin biopsy to be assured. As it turned out, he was right.

I do not have psoriasis. Mine was a very extreme case of neurodermatitis, which basically translates to bad eczema triggered by food and atmospheric allergies as well as stress and is easily treatable. He started me on a dose of steroids which helped clear up most of the problem.

Most importantly, his diagnosis led to the removal of a huge invisible load weighing on me. I felt subconsciously lighter and happier for the first time in months, if not years! As soon as the steroids stopped, and I moved on to topical cream applications – I got the wonderful news that I was pregnant.

So, there had never been anything wrong with me physically, but I needed to heal emotionally in order to welcome this baby into my life.

That’s it from me today – do share this post with other women who are hoping to conceive. Sometimes, the problem is only in one’s head. It could be an unnamed worry or stress that affects our physical ability to conceive.

And do buy a copy of the book so you can read more important life lessons from a wide variety of women.

LINK TO BUY: https://tinyurl.com/brave-inked-emotions

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This blog post is part of the blog challenge ‘Blogaberry Dazzle’  hosted by Cindy D’Silva and Noor Anand Chawla in collaboration with Mads’ Cookhouse.

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*This is not a sponsored post.

**Copyright in pictures and content belongs to nooranandchawla.com and cannot be republished or repurposed without express permission of the author. As I am a copyright lawyer by profession, infringement of any kind will invite strict legal action.

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