Brain on Fire: A Fabulous Read and Insightful Look into a Disease

Normally our blogs hear at The Lab World Group are about new and emerging technologies and studies in the industry. This is a review of a book by Susannah Cahalan called “Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness.” The book is an insightful look into the diagnosis and events of someone with a rare disease that was hard to diagnose and little known at the time. It is a journey through the events of her initial symptoms, her advanced symptoms, her hospitalization (which she painstakingly pieced together) and her recovery. The book in addition to having been written beautifully by a very talented writer provides a patients view into a rare disease. In addition Susannah has researched her condition and situation and worked to provide a complete picture. 

 

In addition to the narrative of a trip through her disease, Susannah takes you down an emotional roller coaster. She explores her own perceptions of herself, family members experiences, experiences of her many doctors and many other insights of others involved. It is a wonderful read for anyone that is working in the medical and/or research field. It will provide an insight into how the things we do every day in laboratories actually impact the lives around us. In addition there are some valuable lessons about bed side manor, keeping updated in our fields and the way this all impacts the end users of this field; the people we are trying to help. 

 

One of the other items it reinforced is just how little we sometimes know about the human body and diseases. If you asked most people what is the biggest risk to humans, most would answer cancer. However, this book truly brought to my attention how many people suffer from diseases we may not even know about that are affecting so many people. The human body can sometimes be its own greatest enemy; a machine built so complex and self-evolving that it will often confuse itself for the enemy. I won’t say too much more or dare tell you what the rare disease is, this is for you to discover in your read. Also be careful in reading other reviews as many I read after the fact would have surely spoiled the book if I had read them before. 

 

I want to provide a quick excerpt from the preface

At first, there’s just darkness and silence.

“Are my eyes open? Hello?”

I can’t tell if I’m moving my mouth or if there’s even anyone to ask. It’s too dark to see. I blink once, twice, three times. There is a dull foreboding in the pit of my stomach. That, I recognize. My thoughts translate only slowly into language, as if emerging from a pot of molasses. Word by word the questions come: Where am I? Why does my scalp itch? Where is everyone? Then the world around me comes gradually into view, beginning as a pinhole, its diameter steadily expanding. Objects emerge from the murk and sharpen into focus.

I know immediately that I need to get out of here.

 

I encourage you to read the book, it’s a 250 or so page fantastic journey into the mind of someone suffering from a disease that transforms them into a person we would simply place on the fringes of society. It will make you wonder about other diseases and diagnoses that plague our society. Beyond that it will make you think about many common diagnoses and their validity and if there is something more we can do. 

 

I always believed that the human body is nothing more than a complex machine. One of the simplest and truest notions in the world was said by Newton, “To every action there is always an equal and opposite reaction.” We diagnose people with disease and provide no cause and simply say something is wrong with a part of the brain or body. Is that an effect of some other force and nothing more than a result or is there more to it? I have always believed there is more and that even with modern medical we often miss the causes and root problems and simply spend our time treating the symptoms, which in the end makes everything much more complicated. Even if you are of the same notion this book brings to light an example of a rare disease and that exact situation that occurred.

 

For more information about the author and this book click here or watch the video below

http://www.susannahcahalan.com/