Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness (edition 2012)

Wow, once I started, I could not put it down. This book is excellent. I experienced Susannah’s confusion, fear, and incident by incident descent into the hell that followed the onset of her strange illness. A perfectly normal young woman, she is suddenly exhibiting some not so perfect behavior.
The idea that medicine is in its infancy, and that we are sometimes at the mercy of its incompetence, hits home. Susannah’s odd assortment of symptoms eluded all of the professionals she visited. They could not offer an accurate diagnosis. Doctors, family and friends were at a loss to explain the changes in her physical and emotional health, in her work habits and in her behavior, yet she needed their support. Luckily, she is here to tell the tale.
This book will surely raise many questions about the state of our health care system. ( )

2013


“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 (p. 206).”

Imagine being a normal, healthy young adult with a promising journalism career until your body attacks your brain and you go mad. And, as your condition continues to deteriorate, no one can figure out why…not even the best doctors in the country. Brain on Fire tells the nightmarish experience of Susannah Cahalan as she struggled with just such a medical mystery and a frightening, nearly fatal experience.

Brain on Fire is based on Susannah’s award winning article, “My Mysterious Lost Month of Madness.” It is at once a fascinating and disturbing look at an experience that could happen to anyone. Right from the preface, Susannah draws the reader into her mysterious nightmare and her confusion. Because much of that month of illness is lost to her, she drew on her skills as a writer and journalist to piece together her experience. Not only is light shined on a relatively rare, but very disturbing medical condition, the story is a personal one. The entire family drops everything to save Susannah. In the end, no one is ever quite the same.

The devotion of Susannah’s family and friends, her honest and unflinching look at this devastating experience, her triumphs and her fears, and the brilliance and compassion of Dr. Souhel Najjar whose refusal to give up saved her life, all make for one of the most amazing stories I have ever read. Not only do I admire Susannah for looking her nightmare in the face and sharing it with the world, I see Brain on Fire as a work that will continue to have a profound effect on neurology and the study of the brain.

On a personal level, I was left with the feeling that I will never again take my brain for granted. The simplest tasks require complex actions from our brain. And damage, infection, or this newly discovered autoimmune disorder can take all of that away. As a person who has lived with bipolar disorder all of my adult life, I was particularly fascinated by Susannah’s story and her research. It hit very close to
home
. I’m so glad she was brave enough to write it, and I applaud all of the people that refused to give up on her. Because of her experience, many others have already been helped. Brain on Fire is more than a memoir of a hellish experience; it is a groundbreaking book in the field of medicine.

I highly recommend it. It will touch your heart; it will fascinate you, and it will forever change the way you look at mental illness. ( )

A personal look at the descent into catatonia and the crawl back out. Brain on Fire shows both the great achievements of modern medicine and the many pitfalls that still plague it, especially in matters of the mind. Well written and insightful. ( )

Fascinating account from the inside on what it's like to be manic, depressed, and psychotic. I found it especially interesting on how Ms. Cahalan's family initially responded to the obvious and rapid disintegration of her mind. It also raises the chilling issue of how many persons with chronic schizophrenia really have an undiagnosed auto-immune disorder. ( )

The best thing about Brain on Fire, by Susannah Calalan, is that it puts you right in the mind and body of a bright young journalist succumbing to, and ultimately surviving, a horrifying neurological disorder. You get to feel—minute by minute, almost—what it is like to become a victim of a terrifying disease that in many ways mimicked demonic possession. This is not a clinical overview. The author doesn’t explain anything medically upfront. The reader is taken down all the same diagnostic blind alleys that Calalan and her parents experienced as they struggled to find an explanation for what was happening. Reading it is like being there. This is an ace first person journalistic description of the whole experience, from beginning to end…and it’s nearly impossible to put down.

Susannah Calalan’s body was attacking her brain and slowly, everything that she was as a person was disappearing. How frightening can that be? In its place were sudden burst of violence, hallucinations, seizures, extreme memory loss, schizophrenia-like symptoms, and ultimately catatonia.

The disorder is called anti-NMDA-receptor autoimmune encephalitis. And although the disease deprived the author of a great deal of memory about the events, she was able to reconstruct them and write about them by applying her journalist skills. She interviewed everyone who came into contact with her, studied all her medical reports in detail, and analyzed any videos that existed from her hospital stay.

Brain on Fire is a brilliant and eye-opening piece of first-person journalism. I recommend it highly…and I enjoyed it immensely. ( )