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Brain on fire : my month of madness

Title
Brain on fire : my month of madness / by Susannah Cahalan.
Author
Cahalan, Susannah.
Publication
New York : Free Press, 2012.
Supplementary Content
  • Contributor biographical information
  • Publisher description

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Available - Can be used on site. Please visit New York Public Library - Schwarzman Building to submit a request in person.

TextUse in library JFE 13-5525Schwarzman Building - Main Reading Room 315

Details

Description
xii, 264 p. : ill.; 24 cm.
Summary
  • The story of twenty-four-year-old Susannah Cahalan and the life-saving discovery of the autoimmune disorder that nearly killed her -- and that could perhaps be the root of "demonic possessions" throughout history.
  • One day in 2009, twenty-four-old Susannah Cahalan woke up alone in a strange hospital room, strapped to her bed, under guard, and unable to move or speak. A wristband marked her as a "flight risk," and her medical records--chronicling a monthlong hospital stay of which she had no memory at all--showed hallucinations, violence, and dangerous instability. Only weeks earlier, Susannah had been on the threshold of a new, adult life, a healthy, ambitious college grad a few months into her first serious relationship and a promising career as a cub reporter at a major New York newspaper. Who was the stranger who had taken over her body? What was happening to her mind? In this swift narrative, Susannah tells the astonishing true story of her inexplicable descent into madness nad the brilliant, lifesaving diagnosis that nearly didn't happen. A team of doctors would spend a month--and more than a million dollars--trying desperately to pin down a medical explanation for what had gone wrong. Meanwhile, as the days passed and her family, boyfriend, and friends helplessly stood watch by her bed, she began to move inexorably through psychosis into catatonia and, ultimately, toward death. Yet even as this period nearly tore her family apart, it offered an extraordinary testament to their faith in Susannah and their refusal to let her go. Then, at the last minute, celebrated neurologist Souhel Najjar joined her team and, with he help of a lucky, ingenious test, saved her life. He recognized the symptoms of a newly discovered autoimmune disorder in which the body attacks th brain, a disease now thought to be tied to both schizophrenia and autism, and perhaps the root of "demonic possessions" throughout history. Far more than simply a riveting read and a crackling medical mystery, Brain on Fire is the powerful account of one woman's struggle to recapture her identity adn to rediscover herself among the fragments left behind. Using all her considerable journalistic skills, and building from hospital records and surveillance video, interviews with family and friends, and excerpts from the deeply moving journal her father kept during her illness, Susannah pieces together the story of her "lost month" to write an unforgettable memoir about memory and identity, faith and love.
Subjects
Bibliography (note)
  • Includes bibliographical references.
Contents
Bedbug blues -- The girl in the black lace bra -- Carota -- The wrestler -- Cold roses -- America's most wanted -- On the road again -- Out-of-body experience -- A touch of madness -- Mixed episodes -- Keppra -- The ruse -- Buddha -- Search and seizure -- The Capgras delusion -- Postictal fury -- Multiple personality disorder -- Breaking news -- Big man -- The slope of the line -- Death with interruption -- A beautiful mess -- Dr. Najjar -- IVIG -- Blue devil fit -- The clock -- Brain biopsy -- Shadowboxer -- Dalmau's disease -- Rhubarb -- The big reveal -- 90 percent -- Homecoming -- California dreamin' -- The videotape -- Stuffed animals -- Wild at heart -- Friends -- Within normal limits -- Umbrella -- Chronology -- Infinite jest -- NDMA -- Partial return -- The five w's -- Grand rounds -- The exorcist -- Survivor's guilt -- Hometown boy makes good -- Ecstatic -- Flight risk? -- Madame X -- The purple lady.
Call Number
JFE 13-5525
ISBN
  • 9781451621372
  • 145162137X
LCCN
2012012670
OCLC
779265873
Author
Cahalan, Susannah.
Title
Brain on fire : my month of madness / by Susannah Cahalan.
Imprint
New York : Free Press, 2012.
Edition
1st Free Press hardcover ed.
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references.
Connect to:
Contributor biographical information
Publisher description
Sample text
Research Call Number
JFE 13-5525
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