Brain On Fire by Susannah Cahalan – 264 pages
Book Blurb:
One day, Susannah Cahalan woke up in a strange hospital room, strapped to her bed, under guard, and unable to move or speak. Her medical records—from a month-long hospital stay of which she had no memory—showed psychosis, violence, and dangerous instability. Yet, only weeks earlier she had been a healthy, ambitious twenty-four year old, six months into her first serious relationship and a sparkling career as a cub reporter. Susannah’s astonishing memoir chronicles the swift path of her illness and the lucky, last-minute intervention led by one of the few doctors capable of saving her life. As weeks ticked by and Susannah moved inexplicably from violence to catatonia, $1 million worth of blood tests and brain scans revealed nothing. The exhausted doctors were ready to commit her to the psychiatric ward, in effect condemning her to a lifetime of institutions, or death, until Dr. Souhel Najjar—nicknamed Dr. House—joined her team. He asked Susannah to draw one simple sketch, which became key to diagnosing her with a newly discovered autoimmune disease in which her body was attacking her brain, an illness now thought to be the cause of “demonic possessions” throughout history.
My Review: 4.5 stars
I’m so thankful for my readers who follow my blog and my Facebook page for recommending this book to me. It’s an amazing story of a young woman whose body is having a full on war against her brain. The author writes neither of being a victim who needs pitying nor a heroine who needs accolades. Instead, she writes as researcher, a journalist and a novelist about her harrowing, almost deadly experience while trying to uncover what she forgot during this month of madness.
Her family’s support, their acts of journaling, the chance encounter with the doctor that saved her life, her co-workers and her steadfast friends were all a big part of the storyline as well. The medical and scientific jargon was written for the layman so it never stopped the flow of the story.
This book has since saved hundreds, if not thousands, of misdiagnosed psychiatric diseases from schizophrenia to autism.
I highly recommend this medical mystery memoir. It was like reading an episode of House.
FYI: It’s being made into a major motion picture, so as always, read it first!
Quotes I liked:
We are, in the end, a sum of our parts, and when the body fails, all the virtues we hold dear go with it.”
– “Sometimes, Just when we need them, life wraps metaphors up in little bows for us. When you think all is lost, the things you need the most return unexpectedly.”
– “I understand her relief, how important it is for your illness to have a name. Not knowing is so much worse.”
– “Studies seem to point to all autoimmune diseases in general as being about two-thirds environmental, one third genetic.”
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