I've had Granuloma Annulare lesions on my hands for 6 years. While I was pregnant it completely cleared up, but now my son is 9 months old and it's reappearing. Could you give me insight into what is causing it and how I can help it?

This is an interesting case, thank you for getting in touch.

What is Granuloma Annulare?

Granuloma Annulare is a chronic skin imbalance, where small bumps that clump in a circular formation like a rash, appearing in specific sites on the body. In your case they are on your hands, which is where they often appear (as well as the feet and other joints of the body). From an Ayurvedic perspective, Granuloma Annulare is called Mandala Kustha (which roughly translates as ‘circles of the skin'). Generally, any skin condition signifies a pitta imbalance in the body, meaning there is excess heat and perhaps toxicity, looking for an exit in an attempt to regain balance, and finding it through the skin. As everything in Ayurveda eventually boils down to the five elements, let me jump straight to them here. This disorder is an imbalance of water and ether elements. We know we’ve got an ether issue when symptoms appear on the joints of the body, for ether inhabits spaces and orifices (joints are spaces, allowing for movement). Arthritis is another example of an ether element pathology. And this segues neatly on to why your symptoms disappeared during your pregnancy: because the most major space of your body (your womb) was being filled with your foetus. The ether was being filled, so it didn’t have to find an imbalanced way of filling itself up. This may sound ethereal, but the body works as one in Ayurveda.

Incompatible food combinations

There are a few Fundamental Rules of Ayurveda when it comes to eating and food-combining. These are universal, regardless of your constitution, and are complete no-no’s across the board. The reason these laws are laid down so strictly is because the enzymes in our stomach and gut simply cannot deal with these food stuffs in their arena at the same time. They have incompatible virya, meaning their heating or cooling qualities oppose one another. Eating these combinations then leads to toxicity circulating around the body (sometimes finding an exit via the skin). Do not combine:

1. Fish and dairy produce
2. Fish and fruit
3. Dairy and fruit
4. Melon with anything
5. Eggs and dairy, kichiri, pulses, fruit
6. Pulses and dairy, meat, fish or fruit*

*if you cook the pulses with the fruit such as in a Moroccan tagine the incompatibility is reduced as they become used to each other in the pot. There are some other exceptions.

Fish and Dairy Appears on the Skin

I am highlighting this food combo no-no here, because one of the major ways it shows up is on the skin. It rears its imbalanced head in the form of itching, rashes and other skin disorders.

So what can be done about it?

The first step is always a systemic cleanse, if you’ve read my articles before, you will know how I often advocate them as a first step. This is something I would suggest you do with a practitioner as a guide and support system. If you have in the past eaten any of these incompatible combinations, then there will likely be some toxicity or ama circulating in your system, which needs to be addressed by a cleanse and reboot. When excess spaces appear in the body because of an ether imbalance, ama or toxicity is ready to fill them up. So we need to get rid of this toxicity before it up with goodness and positivity, in the form of particular herbs, food and if you want to go down this route: mantra (Durga Ma is the goddess of ether element, so she is a great way of subtly loading up spaces with her positivity). The other area that needs to be addressed is the water element: this concerns the first two layer of tissue in the body, namely rasa (lymph and circulating fluids such as serum), and rakta (blood). So once you have cleansed, I would suggest you drink cooling rasa-rejuvenating tonics like coconut water, lime, rose + maple syrup water, and take medicines such as Amalaki (Emblica Officinlis), Mustaka (Cyperus Rotundus) or Shatavari (Asparagus Racemosus). But please consult a qualified Ayurvedic Practitioner to understand how, when, and how much of these medicines you should take. Love, Selina By Selina Van Orden atyourbest.one @_atyourbest