Helpful Score: 3
Like Mystery Diagnosis on television, this young lady goes from doctor to doctor, each giving a different diagnosis and treatment until she finds the right doctor who figures it out. An infection that makes her seem psychotic. Very odd, very scary.
Helpful Score: 1
Brain on Fire is a true account and it will leave you, at times, speechless. I love watching medical dramas on television, but this is a real person. And what happened to her is very scary. I couldn't even imagine waking up one morning, strapped to a bed, and not knowing what happened in the past month - especially when told you've been awake the whole time.
From the medical dramas I watch, there is usually a team of doctors trying to diagnose someone or someone gets misdiagnosed because the symptoms present themselves differently. That's pretty much what happened to Susannah, but with quite a bit more things that convoluted things and made her sink into madness for a month. It's fascinating reading, if not horrific at times, and Cahalan does it with complete candor. I felt a myriad of emotions reading this book- - it was very hard to put down. A fascinating, brilliant book told by a courageous woman. Highly recommend!
From the medical dramas I watch, there is usually a team of doctors trying to diagnose someone or someone gets misdiagnosed because the symptoms present themselves differently. That's pretty much what happened to Susannah, but with quite a bit more things that convoluted things and made her sink into madness for a month. It's fascinating reading, if not horrific at times, and Cahalan does it with complete candor. I felt a myriad of emotions reading this book- - it was very hard to put down. A fascinating, brilliant book told by a courageous woman. Highly recommend!
Helpful Score: 1
"Dedicated to those without a diagnosis."
If that doesn't get you to start reading this book, I don't know what will!
Okay, how about in the "Author's Note" where Susannah Cahalan states: "...I readily admit that I'm an unrealialbe source." She openly says she is an unrealiable sourse on herself?!? Completely and utterly sane people won't admit to that, but she did.
However, extracting a bunch of quotes from a good book isn't the equivalent of a review. So...what happened?
The preface of the book opens up with Susunnah waking up in a hospital where she is strapped down to a bed - but perhaps the first signs of something going wrong was when she became adament that her studio apartment was infested with bedbugs. From here she has emotional ups and downs, numbness, paranoid episodes, delusions and hallucinations.
Other symptoms included a lack of appetite, emotional outbursts and seizures, but as Susannah herself stated - the seizures were practically a godsend since it was the anchor that tethered her friends and family to believe that something was physically wrong and not simply mentally. In fact, the first neurologist that saw her said she was an alcoholic. Other doctors diagnosed her as some sort of schizophrenic. Without revealing too much...none of those were it!
Throughout this book, what makes you feel for Susannah Cahalan? Quotes like this:
"I would soon learn firsthand that this kind of illness often ebbs and flows, leaving the sufferer convinced that the worst is over, even when it's only retreating for a moment beofe pouncing again." (Pg. 26)
Or how about: "Now that we had a diagnosis that had never before been seen at NYU, young MDs, hardly a day older than me, stared at me as if I were a caged animal in a zoo and made muffled assessments, pointing at me and craning their heads as more experienced doctors gave a rundown of the syndrome." "...The group ogled me and a few even let out a few quiet 'ooohs' and 'ahhhs.' My father gritted his teeth and tried to ignore them." "...this patient may have her ovaries removed as a precaution...As the spectators nodded their heads, I caught this somehow, and began to cry." (Pg. 160)
"I couldn't read, could hardly make small talk, and couldn't drive a car, but, dammit, I was going to have a few glasses of champagne at a wedding." (Pg. 187)
Moments where you think, your brain doesn't have to be on fire to feel that way or yea me too:
"In this short line, I don't betray the disappointment I felt about having to not only officially abandon my self-sufficient life, but also give up my first real apartment, the symbol of my forgone adulthood." (Pgs. 202 - 203)
"Often I would sit outside Starbucks and take stock of the many different types of women walking by: 'I'd take her thighs,' or 'I'd trade bodies with her,' or 'I wish I had her arms.' (Pg. 204)
If that doesn't get you to start reading this book, I don't know what will!
Okay, how about in the "Author's Note" where Susannah Cahalan states: "...I readily admit that I'm an unrealialbe source." She openly says she is an unrealiable sourse on herself?!? Completely and utterly sane people won't admit to that, but she did.
However, extracting a bunch of quotes from a good book isn't the equivalent of a review. So...what happened?
The preface of the book opens up with Susunnah waking up in a hospital where she is strapped down to a bed - but perhaps the first signs of something going wrong was when she became adament that her studio apartment was infested with bedbugs. From here she has emotional ups and downs, numbness, paranoid episodes, delusions and hallucinations.
Other symptoms included a lack of appetite, emotional outbursts and seizures, but as Susannah herself stated - the seizures were practically a godsend since it was the anchor that tethered her friends and family to believe that something was physically wrong and not simply mentally. In fact, the first neurologist that saw her said she was an alcoholic. Other doctors diagnosed her as some sort of schizophrenic. Without revealing too much...none of those were it!
Throughout this book, what makes you feel for Susannah Cahalan? Quotes like this:
"I would soon learn firsthand that this kind of illness often ebbs and flows, leaving the sufferer convinced that the worst is over, even when it's only retreating for a moment beofe pouncing again." (Pg. 26)
Or how about: "Now that we had a diagnosis that had never before been seen at NYU, young MDs, hardly a day older than me, stared at me as if I were a caged animal in a zoo and made muffled assessments, pointing at me and craning their heads as more experienced doctors gave a rundown of the syndrome." "...The group ogled me and a few even let out a few quiet 'ooohs' and 'ahhhs.' My father gritted his teeth and tried to ignore them." "...this patient may have her ovaries removed as a precaution...As the spectators nodded their heads, I caught this somehow, and began to cry." (Pg. 160)
"I couldn't read, could hardly make small talk, and couldn't drive a car, but, dammit, I was going to have a few glasses of champagne at a wedding." (Pg. 187)
Moments where you think, your brain doesn't have to be on fire to feel that way or yea me too:
"In this short line, I don't betray the disappointment I felt about having to not only officially abandon my self-sufficient life, but also give up my first real apartment, the symbol of my forgone adulthood." (Pgs. 202 - 203)
"Often I would sit outside Starbucks and take stock of the many different types of women walking by: 'I'd take her thighs,' or 'I'd trade bodies with her,' or 'I wish I had her arms.' (Pg. 204)
Check out the full review at Kritters Ramblings
A young woman at the beginning of a promising career at the New York Post as a journalist, when a few random occurrences linked together put her in the hospital with no explanation the story takes off. This non-fiction memoir was my favorite non fiction read of 2012. Because she is a journalist, she was able to piece together moments that she may have missed by using the resources around her. She wrote this book in such a way that it was easy and enjoyable to follow.
A young woman at the beginning of a promising career at the New York Post as a journalist, when a few random occurrences linked together put her in the hospital with no explanation the story takes off. This non-fiction memoir was my favorite non fiction read of 2012. Because she is a journalist, she was able to piece together moments that she may have missed by using the resources around her. She wrote this book in such a way that it was easy and enjoyable to follow.
Is there a possibility that children who are diagnosed with autism or adults who seem to have schizophrenia actually are misdiagnosed? That instead they are victims of this rare and hard to track disease instead? This book shows how the author had all the symptoms of madness and was on the verge of being admitted for mental illness. The doctors who persisted in finding the true cause of her sudden onset of illness had only recently discovered this brain inflammation...and brought her back to her self again. An amazing story of her lost month. D.
I just finished reading this book and I think anyone with brain injuries or brain tumors can relate to some of what she went through. I was diagnosed with brain cancer 3 years ago and a lot of what I went through was similar to what she dealt with.
Fascinating account of a horrible disease. Fortunately the author was led in the direction of a very capable doctor. She also had a great support team making sure she had the best of care.
I ordered this thinking that it was a memoir of a psychotic break or manic episode the author had had. It's that, but in a much more complicated way: The author's "month of madness" was the result of a rare (but, thanks to her, increasingly known) viral infection that causes people to, essentially, lose their minds - and then die.
The chronicles her friends' and family's rising alarm over her increasingly erratic and uncharacteristic behavior. Teams of doctors are baffled by what is going on until one of her specialists recalls a recently published study... and he and the doctor who published it brink her back from the brink of death.
The book is a part of her effort to raise awareness about the disease. As a reporter, her writing is crystal clear; excellent at conveying complex medical terms, concepts and descriptions; and able to touchingly convey the suffering of the people who love her, as well as her own. One of the sweetest parts is the incredible devotion her relatively new boyfriend shows.
SO worth a read.
The chronicles her friends' and family's rising alarm over her increasingly erratic and uncharacteristic behavior. Teams of doctors are baffled by what is going on until one of her specialists recalls a recently published study... and he and the doctor who published it brink her back from the brink of death.
The book is a part of her effort to raise awareness about the disease. As a reporter, her writing is crystal clear; excellent at conveying complex medical terms, concepts and descriptions; and able to touchingly convey the suffering of the people who love her, as well as her own. One of the sweetest parts is the incredible devotion her relatively new boyfriend shows.
SO worth a read.
Great book about bipolar disorder
I've been wanting to read this book since my grandmother passed away from encephalitis years ago. The book is well written, with short chapters so great for a pick up/put down kind of read. Most of the book gives great details into how her illness and seeking answers affects her, her friends and family. Super interesting. The last few chapters about recovery are a little slow and full of a lot of medical jargon that left me struggling to finish it. All in all a very interesting look into the health of the brain.
Fascinating study of a young woman fallling rapidly from apparent good health to a deeply psychotic state, ultimately revealed to be an autoimmune response attacking her brain. Cahalan tells her own story billiantly, using her regained investigative reporting skills, but perhaps the most fascinating portion, to me, was kind of an aside in the main book.
Cahalan's behavior at the height of her illness bears a remarkable likeness to "demonic possession" reports from historical documents. One cannot help but wonder if this insidious condition was present then.
Cahalan's behavior at the height of her illness bears a remarkable likeness to "demonic possession" reports from historical documents. One cannot help but wonder if this insidious condition was present then.
I really enjoyed this book. It presents a malady new to me. Very interesting book. Recommend.
