Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness
Author:
Genres: Biographies & Memoirs, Medical Books
Book Type: Hardcover
Author:
Genres: Biographies & Memoirs, Medical Books
Book Type: Hardcover
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)
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