Brain On Fire Summary

Words: 508

Pages: 3

Open Document

Brain on Fire: Summary
In Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness, Susannah Cahalan was living an ordinary life in New York City as a journalist when her life changed forever. What started as a simple paranoia over common bed bugs led to weeks in a hospital and no recollection of her stay. In this autobiography, Cahalan uses what little memory she has along with accounts from friends and family and video surveillance to piece together her month of illness. She goes into detail about the stages of her disease and the hardships throughout. Her experience brought people together, pushed people apart, and ultimately affected everyone close to her.
Cahalan first noticed something was wrong when she was at work. She started having mental breakdowns and became scared over the smallest things, like bed bugs. She found two small bites on her left arm and eventually, that whole side went numb. Colorful, neon signs in the city became too bright and she couldn’t focus on simple tasks like walking. After experiencing a …show more content…
It took a lot longer than she anticipated because she was still slow in speech and unable to retain her old personality. This was one of the most frustrating parts for Cahalan because she was fully aware of what she could not do. Her recovery was strongly benefited by the help of friends, family, and her boyfriend Stephen. Without their help, her recovery might have been nonexistent.
In Susannah Cahalan’s month of madness, she was a completely different person. By watching the hospital videos and listening to the stories from friends and family, Cahalan was able to recreate her life in that time. Because of the early diagnosis, Cahalan was able to make a full recovery. She wrote a column in the newspaper she previously worked for and with her story, many people were able to reach out and get diagnosed. Now she runs a nonprofit organization to help others like

Summary: Brain On Fire

In the memoir, Brain on Fire, Susannah Cahalan was a victim of a rare disease that not many people know about. She went to many different doctors and no one knew what was going on with her. The doctors mislabeled her illness because her disease was rare and the disease caused her to go through different symptoms. The disease she has is anti-NMDA-receptor autoimmune encephalitis, since she was going through different symptoms the doctors weren’t able to diagnose her with a correct mental illness…

Words 1240 - Pages 5

The Tyger Figurative Language

figurative language. Some examples of diction portraying a tone of astonishment include “thy fearful symmetry” in line 4, showing that the subject is so utterly amazing that it’s something to fear, “burnt the fire of thine eyes” in line 6, “the sinews of thy heart” in line 10, “in what furnace was thy brain?” in line 14, “did he who make the Lamb make thee?” in line 20, and “burning bright/ in the forests of the night” in lines 21-22. These uses of diction all help show the speaker’s admiration and respect…

Words 398 - Pages 2

Scientific research synopsis Essay

Final Article Summary Precise Firing Events Are Conserved across Neurons Pamela Reinagel and R. Clay Reid Department of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115 The Journal of Neuroscience, August 15, 2002, 22(16):6837–6841 Right now as you read this article summary your eyes are picking up visuals that your brain is processing. More specifically photons are striking photoreceptor cells in your retina and exciting a signal transduction pathway involving opsin proteins…

Words 719 - Pages 3

psych notes Essay

Chapter Summary/Lecture Organizer I. NEURAL BASES OF BEHAVIOR A. What Is a Neuron? – The brain and the nervous system consists of as many as one trillion special cells called neurons that communicate information by sending and receiving signals to other neurons. Glial cells provide structural and support for the neurons. The main parts of the neuron are the dendrites, the soma, or cell body, and the axon (Figure 2.1). The dendrites are small branching structures attached to the soma that…

Words 1476 - Pages 6

Essay on Criminal Law I

other jurisdictions – Canada, New Zealand Summary/ indictable offences : summary – minor offence – Courts of Summary Jurisdiction – Magistrates Court : indictable – major/ serious offence – only triable by a higher court (District or Supreme) – heard with judge and jury : provisions allow stand alone where approved by prosecution and defense : numerous able to be tried both ways – often tried as summary – conviction/ penalty less for summary offence – trend continued in s 5 CC – result…

Words 3511 - Pages 15

Essay on Assnmnt 1 V2

Natasha Mazzitelli November 4, 2014 210990570 MODR1730 Prof. Stefan Rodde Assignment #1: Standardization and Cogency “Every Cigarette is Doing You Damage” - Cogent Summary 1. This ad, aired by the National Tobacco Campaign of Australia that launched in 1997, is one of many aimed primarily at assisting smokers aged 18-40 years to quit smoking. It begins with a mother (who appears to be in her early or mid-30s) exiting her home to light up a smoke, her two children left playing together…

Words 1952 - Pages 8

Ancient Greek Medicine Essay

person. Via vivisection, anatomists found that the heart pumps blood, humans breathe through their lungs, they cut flesh from animals and watched it move independently from the heart as proof of arteries and discovered the nervous system from live brains. Greeks knew that health and fitness (philosophy regimen) affected their quality of life. Most people became concerned with the amounts of exercise they had, what they ate, drank and made sure they had enough sleep. Ancient Greeks started healing…

Words 1530 - Pages 7

Biology Of Addiction Essay

understanding the relationship between the actions of the brain, the environment and human behavior involves important theoretical foundation knowledge for Social Work practice with substance abusing individuals. 4. Guest Lecture: Overview: Brain Chemistry, Behavior and The Environment Guest Lecturers: C. Robin Timmons & Leonard W. Hamilton, Authors of Drugs and Behavior published by Prentice Hall, 1990. TOPIC: BEHAVIOR AND THE CHEMISTRY OF THE BRAIN A. HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENTS Preamble The birthplace…

Words 2337 - Pages 10

Paragraphs Chernobyl Essay

radiation affected the children. Many were born with birthdefects. Such as brain tumors and mutations to the body. The radiation affected mobility and brain functioning. Even after 20 years the effects of the Chernobyl accident are still there. Vanessa: Operations in the reactor at Chernobyl resulted in a runaway power surge followed by steam and hydrogen explosions and fire in the reactor. The explosions forced radioactive material from the…

Words 2563 - Pages 11

Summary of Prevail and Transcend Scenario in Radical Evolution Essay

Summary of Prevail and Transcend Scenario In chapter six of Radical Evolution, author Joel Garreau shows through various interviews and examples that even though technology may be rising on an exponentially increasing Curve, humans may still be able to change the effects of technological advance in unpredictable ways. Deemed the Prevail scenario, it is also characterized by humans slowing down once-viewed inevitable change viewed as negative and speeding up positive change. Another great theme…

Words 1441 - Pages 6