Brain On Fire coverI just finished reading Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness, by Susannah Cahalan, and although it’s a cliche to say so, I truly could not put this book down. I read it on the bus; I read it on my lunch break; I read it at home when I was supposed to be washing dishes. What about this memoir makes it so engrossing?

The story begins when then-24-year-old Susannah Cahalan, a sparky and driven reporter for the New York Post, suddenly starts acting strange: erratic behavior, wild mood swings, and symptoms like numbness and hallucinations. As her condition worsens, she’s handed off to a series of baffled psychiatrists who diagnose bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and even alcoholism. Only when Susannah has several intense seizures — foaming at the mouth, rigid limbs, vacant eyes — is she finally admitted to a hospital in the midst of some kind of breakdown. But what kind? As neurologists fight to save her with unsuccessful treatments, one doctor recalls an extremely rare auto-immune disorder about which little is known. But even if they’re able to identify and treat her, will she ever be the same person again?

Well, I guess one part of the suspense is removed by virtue of the fact that she’s written a book about her ordeal (by herself, too; no ghost writers here). Still, it’s a nail-biting thrill ride as you read along with Susannah’s terror and confusion, her sorrow about those lost weeks, and her haunting doubts about whether she’s the “real” Susannah that her friends and family knew, thought they had lost, and mourned. She’s clearly a talented writer, articulate and self-aware about her experiences; she originally wrote a feature article about her illness that developed into this book. I’d been simmering in self-pity this week after a relatively minor doctor visit, but her story really put my trivial woes into perspective. An enthralling real-life story that you simply won’t want to stop reading until the last page, Brain on Fire is a sobering reminder that we should appreicate, and not take for granted, our own good health, because things can change in an instant, and even in our era of amazing medical advances, so much depends on timing and chance.

 

Stephanie Perry
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