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Why was Susannah Cahalan, a promising, articulate reporter for the New York Post, suddenly rendered afraid, confused, awkward, lethargic, regressive, suspicious, and forgetful in 2009? Why did she sometimes explode in anger? Why did she lose her appetite and interest in almost everything? With test after test showing her to be normal and healthy, why was she losing control? One of her family's doctors assumed she was partying too much. Others thought she exhibited various psychotic diseases, but for weeks the condition could not be identified and worsened. Having read her book Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness, I can now tell you what was wrong, but you may not want to know quite yet. Cahalan reveals the solution late in her book, so I'll wait, too.If you enjoy puzzles, stop reading this review now and get the book.
Brain on Fire may just seem to be a well-written true medical thriller and not much more, but there is much to ponder. The recently identified infection that debilitated Cahalan may have infected many people throughout history. They may have been unjustly branded shameful and locked away in mental institutions for life. Other just died suddenly without explanation. Our current thinking of some historical figures could change if we knew something like this infection was behind their behavior.
Cahalan is very fortunate to have been diagnoses and treated. Another thing to consider is our health care system. Because Cahalan was covered by a generous insurance policy from her employer and because her family kept insisting on further tests, she was cured. She could have been written off easily when her condition was at its worst.
I am assuming if you have read this far, you do not mind a spoiler. The culprit in the story was anti-NMDA-receptor autoimmune encephalitis. Cahalan reports on the research being conducted on this assumed to be rare disease. No one knows how she contracted it. When interviewed by Cahalan after her recovery, some doctors involved in the early parts of the story claimed to have never heard of it.
Cahalan, Susannah. Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness. Free Press, 2012. 264p. ISBN 9781451621372.
2 comments:
Rick,
You state...."Another thing to consider is our health care system. Because Cahalan was covered by a generous insurance policy from her employer and because her family kept insisting on further tests, she was cured."....
Not sure what you are getting at; under any healthcare system patients need to be informed consumers that advocate for their own care. This is true irregardless if one is covered by private insurance or the statewide exchanges under the PPACA. I enjoy your reviews but I wish you would steer clear of hotbed political issues; rather you should stick to what you are great at reviewing based on content and style.
I am repeating what Cahalan expresses herself in this case. She felt very fortunate and doubted that people without well-paying insurance would have received the care that she did.
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