I could stop this review with a single word. Wow.
Brain on Fire describes Cahalan's terrifying experience with seizures and psychosis. It is a true story about a normal, healthy, young woman who is suddenly overwhelmed by a disease and unable to function in life. She has an entire month lost that she doesn't remember at all, but researches through interviews with her friends and family, doctors, and video of herself in the hospital. Cahalan was a journalist (and is now after successfully recovering), so she has creating a stunning memoir of her experiences. I worried that reading this would feel voyeuristic, but it didn't - undoubtedly assisted by the fact that you know she recovers.
The book humanizes a newly discovered category of autoimmune diseases in which your body actually starts to attack your brain. The symptoms are predominantly behavioral/emotional rather than physical - paranoia, hallucinations, etc. Cahalan was lucky in that her original symptoms were physical - physical ticks, seizures, blackouts - so she was placed in a neurological hospital rather than a psychiatric one. She was lucky again to have family that fought for her and doctors that took a personal interest in figuring out what was wrong. And lucky one more time that her disease was first discovered in 2007 and she became ill in 2009.
Long Story Short: Gripping and fascinating read for anyone interested in science and the brain and the most amazing things we are still discovering.
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