Brain on Fire‚ my month of madness review
A woman on the verge of a successful journalist career‚ a budding relationship‚ young and vibrant‚ walks into her New york apartment one morning to find two insect bites on her arm. From that day‚ it was a downward spiral of her losing her mind. Her boyfriend finds her on the floor having a seizure and rushes her to the hospital. They give Susannah seizure medication‚ release her and tell her to see a neurologist in the morning. As Cahalan tries to get answers‚ a doctor tells her to stop partying and get some rest. She goes to another psychologist and she diagnoses her bi-polar‚ gives her a prescription‚ and sends her on her merry way. Cahalan ends up having another seizure and the same doctor insists it is from alcohol withdrawal. The mother says to the doctor‚ “I haven’t seen her drink in a week. She needs to be hospitalized now. Not tomorrow. Now.” The next day her parents take her to NYU hospital so she can have an EEG done and another assessment. As Susannah says‚ “In essence‚ I was gone. This was the beginning of my lost month of madness.” In the next thirty days‚ her team of doctors would shell out a million dollars to figure out what was going on. The doctors said she had the signs and symptoms of schizophrenia. However‚ they kept on taking tests and everything was coming back negative. Another doctor couldn’t figure it out. However‚ a brilliant doctor‚ Dr. Najjar joined the team and shortly after he knew what she had. After several tests‚ there was a diagnosis. It was called anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis. The body attacks the brain and in return creates all the symptoms of schizophrenia‚ seizures‚ and catatonia. Part of her brain was inflamed and causing the same bizarre behaviors as someone losing their mind.
I am a health care professional in the hospital and this made me think to always get a second opinion. Also‚ to be in charge of my care. No one else is going to push and ask the hard questions except for the person having the issue. Doctors are brilliant but they are not God. People are fallible and can make mistakes. It is important to always ask as many questions as possible. Miss Cahalan is brave to share her story with the world. Hopefully‚ people who have these symptoms will know to ask the doctor to see if they have this immune disorder. Luckily‚ Miss Cahalan had loving parents who kept pushing her to keep investigating what was happening to her body. This book was a wake-up call to always be taking care of my health and get my yearly doctor examines.
Susannah Cahalan has been a writer at the NewYork Post for ten years. She lives in Jersey city with boyfriend and dog. You can find her book
Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness Hardcover – November 1’‚ 2012
at amazon.com.
As of now (3) people have had something to say...
Jeri -
May 8, 2015 at 5:53 pm
I’ve heard about this book a few times now and find everything about Brain on Fire intriguing. I am going to add it to my reading list. It’s so true that second opinions can make all the difference in medical treatment.
Jeri recently posted…#AmWriting: The Five Ws and One H of the Writing Process
crystal -
May 8, 2015 at 10:18 pm
Jeri‚ we read it in book club and it made for a great discussion. =)
A.K. Andrew -
May 18, 2015 at 3:50 pm
Wow – what a scary nightmare for this poor woman. I’ve long since realised that medicine has a good deal of art thrown in with the science. In other words doctors are often guessing or making an informed opinion. Informed not always the right word! The book sounds scary but fascinating. Thanks of the post.
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