The story of the Brain on fire

 

So this is a true to life, Dr. House MD

medical

thriller.

When we're first introduced to Susannah

Cahalen she's a 20-something reporter

for

the New York Post when one week she

notices

two tiny red dots on her arm.

Absolutely certain it's bed bugs she hires

an exterminator to examine her

apartment and

when he comes up empty she still insists

he

fumigate the entire place.

Meanwhile at work she's having a hard

time

concentrating, is having sort of mild

mood

swings and vacillates between bouts of

euphoria

and feelings of inadequacy at work.

Bit of an imposter syndrome.

Nothing too remarkable.

Frankly that's me on any given week.

But the paranoia is starting to mount.

She's starting to snoop in her boyfriend's

email account, absolutely certain he's

been

cheating on her.

And she's having bouts of numbness,

delusions,

hearing voices, having out of body

experiences,

intense hallucinations, she absolutely

certain

she can age people with her mind.

It's all starting to sound like someone

spiked her breakfast omelettes with a

hefty

dose of shrooms.But visits to the doctor come up empty.

Her MRIs come back clean, blood tests

find

nothing.

Doctors are simply dismissing it as too

much

stress, maybe a little bit of anxiety.

One especially helpful doctor wags his

finger

and is absolutely certain that this is just

the result of her clearly drinking and

partying

too much.

But things are getting worse.

Susannah's absolutely certain now that

her

father has killed her mother and she

almost

leaps out of a second story window.

Later she will try and jump out of a

moving

car.

And then one evening at her boyfriends

home

she erupts in this massive seizure with

blood

and foam filling her mouth and proceeds

to

descend into a month of darkness.

Susannah Cahalen applies her reporterly

acumen

to uncover what happens in the ensuing

month.

She relies on medical records, her own

frantic

scribblings at the time, video footage and

countless interviews with friends, family

and medical professionals who would

eventually

piece together what was happening to

her and

give it a name, NDMA autoimmune

encephalitis.

OK so some of you are probably

screaming spoilers

here.But I mean this is a work of non-fiction.

The subhead is My Month of Madness.

You could pretty safely assume that the

author

made it out to the other side.

And let me tell you it is no less

compelling

knowing that.

This is truly a real-life episode of House.

While cutting edge diagnostic equipment

and

countless doctor visits had come up

empty,

it is a simple pencil and paper test

administered

by one Dr. Souhel Najar that leads to the

path of discovery.

Susannah Cahalan understands how truly

lucky

she is.

Lucky that her and her family were in a

position

to afford treatment that would run up to

well

over $1 million dollars by the time it was

done.

Lucky that her parents refused to dismiss

it as schizophrenia, mental illness or take

the word of one especially stubborn

doctor

that wanted to dismiss it as her being a

party

girl that had overindulged.

Lucky that when it happened.

Had it happened even 2 years earlier

there

wouldn't have been research in place to

properly diagnose her.

And lucky truly to have run into Dr. Souhel

Najjar.Centuries earlier Susannah might have

been

considered possessed in need of an

exorcism.

In fact symptoms of autoimmune

encephalitis

parallel that of the Exorcist including

deepened

vocal affect, rigid body postures and

evidence

of a patient crab walking.

Susannah's boyfriend still can't watch

the Exorcist after having witnessed

several

intense episodes.

Cahalen a reporter of the old school and

she

gets her hooks into you early.

She is unflinching in her reportage even

when

she herself is the subject and it makes

for

an intense read.

Lives have been saved as a result of this

book.

Often misdiagnosed she shines a light

Often misdiagnosed she shines a light

on a very rare disease.

Thanks to Marianna Neal from

Impression Blend

for the Goodreads recommendation.

It's been sitting on my TBR for awhile but

that nudge also knowing that it premiered

at TIFF recently finally got me to pick up

the book and I'm glad that I did.

The movie stars Chloe Grace Moretz and

getting critically savaged so do yourself

a favour and read the book instead.

You'll be glad you did.

In the meantime - Keep reading and we'll

talk to you soon. Bye.