Susannah Cahalan’s memoir, Brain on Fire, went on my To Read List immediately following a review I read here on CBR7. A junior reporter for the Post begins having personality changes, mood swings and forgetfulness- symptoms she blames of having a cold, or the flu. When her symptoms persist she calls her gynecologist; she recently changed her birth control and is hoping what she is experiencing is related. She gets an MRI but there isn’t anything abnormal in her test results, however she returns to her neurologists when she starts having seizures. She is diagnosed, by her neurologist, as a party girl going through alcohol withdrawal; her mother is adamant something more serious is going on and get Susannah admitted into the Epilepsy Ward of NYU. Her condition worsens, her mood swings seem to have altered her personality completely and no one can come up with an answer until Dr. Souhel Najjar joins the team.
Cahalan documented her journey as well as she could; she filled in the blanks watching hospital videos, reading journals and talking to the people involved in her diagnosis. Brain on Fire is one part memoir and one part medical mystery or thriller. This one is a page turner; a real life House episode. However, unlike a television show, Cahalan’s journey is real and focuses as much on getting to a diagnosis and it does on her recovery once shes been diagnosed.
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