Review: Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness by Susannah Cahalan

5 stars for Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness by Susannah Cahalan.

This book unfolds like a heartrending drama of a person's descent into madness, but sad to say, it is a true story, a work of non fiction, a blend of both memoir and reportage, of a girl's struggle against losing herself.

The author, Susannah Cahalan, is diagnosed with a rare auto-immune disease called anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis. Put simply, it is a condition caused by the body's antibodies going haywire and attacking normal, healthy brain, leading to brain inflammation. This book is a detailed account of her tumultuous journey, her long and painful road to recovery, from the onset symptoms of headache, insomnia, forgetfulness, numbness, loss of appetite, nausea, confusion, hallucinations and seizure to her hospital admission, brain surgery, diagnosis, treatment and finally rehabilitation. This book is also the result of her attempt to uncover the time lost, to piece together the events which she has no recollection of, and to share those confusing months with the world.

In reading the dark period that Susannah Cahalan has put together, it is petrifying to imagine teetering on the edge of existence between the real world and a murky fictitious one filled with hallucinations, paranoia, seizures, strange thoughts and visions. As if these are not enough, she also suffers from high blood pressure, erratic heart rate, breathing difficulties, psychosis (disconnection from reality which results in strange behavior), catatonia (abnormal state of unresponsiveness, affecting behavioral and motor functions in a person who is apparently awake), language impairment and motor speech impairment (inability to speak properly and express oneself coherently).

As a result of all the horrors that the author has to go through, it is especially touching and heartwarming to see how her family and friends and even her appointed doctors stand by her and fight for her throughout this difficult period in her life. Her recovery process is filled with love and care and unwavering support from her parents and boyfriend. They believe that though Susannah's personality is buried under all those fuzziness, deep down, she is still there, and that things will get better, with time. It is equally heartening to see how she slowly recovers, gains back her health, confidence and sense of self.

All in all, Brain on Fire is a remarkably well written book. The fact that the author is a journalist working for the New York Post, in all likelihood, contributes to her excellent writing and great arrangement of events in chronological order. Though the book is a long account of her illness, including the before and after, author Susannah Cahalan makes it easy to read by breaking down the lengthy narrative of connected events into short manageable chapters.

At the end of the day, what stands out most in the entire story, is not the illness itself, nor what happens before the diagnosis or after, but the realisation of how critical it is to be at the right place, at the right time, without which there can be no comfort to finding the cause to the unpredictable changes in behaviours and symptoms, and getting the correct diagnosis and receiving the appropriate treatment. It is scary to think of the flip side to being at the right place, at the right time which translates to being wrongly diagnosed and wrongly treated - which is as good as being left untreated - and subsequently condemned to a life in a a psychiatric ward. *shudder*

Brain on Fire, a powerful account of one girl's struggle to find back herself, is a riveting story of survival, faith and love. It is a memoir worth every bit of my time - and yours - to read.


Publisher: Simon & Schuster; Reprint edition
Publication date: 6 Aug 2013

*** Favourite Quote ***

We are, in the end, a sum of our parts, and when the body fails, all the virtues we hold dear go with it.

~ Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness
Susannah Cahalan

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When twenty-four-year-old Susannah Cahalan woke up alone in a hospital room, strapped to her bed and unable to move or speak, she had no memory of how she’d gotten there. Days earlier, she had been on the threshold of a new, adult life: at the beginning of her first serious relationship and a promising career at a major New York newspaper. Now she was labeled violent, psychotic, a flight risk. What happened?

*Blurb from Goodreads*

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