Susannah Cahalan's Brain On Fire

The Quiet Room: A Journey Out of the Torment of Madness is an insightful book which revolves around Lori Schiller, who at age 17 started her downward spiral into psychosis induced by schizophrenia, and subsequently recovering enough by her early thirties to regain control over her life. The book is a culmination of Lori’s experiences and those close to her during her treatment. In her note to the reader, Lori explains that the variation of ‘voices’ in the book is to give an accurate recollection of her life since her illness and subsequent treatment distorted her memories. Lori and her family’s experiences progress in a mostly linear progression from before the schizophrenia appeared with her slowly loosing independence as the schizophrenia began to reign out of control. The experiences in the book revolve around mental hospitals, healthcare workers, as well as societal stigmas from both her family and acquaintances that Lori and her family encountered about mental illnesses.

The Burning of Bridget Cleary by Angela Bourke tells the investigation of a death of an ill woman whom was believed to have been abducted and later killed by fairies. The young vibrant Bridget Cleary became suddenly ill after receiving a chill while traveling to a relative’s house. After walking a total of 8 miles in the cold she later fell sick with bronchitis and pneumonia. These signs of weakness spread rumors around a small town with a population roughly around 100 people. Suddenly Bridget Cleary went missing, and her body was found a few days after she reportedly walked out of the house to later return. The Burning of Bridget Cleary by Angela Bourke asserts that the burning of Bridget for being a fairy was a response to anxiety and fear

“You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them”, says Maya Angelou, an American poet, memoirist, and civil rights activist. This quote reflects to Sarah’s journey in the novel Sarah’s Key by Tatiana De Rosnay, since the main character, Sarah, faces events that affect her well being, as they make her both weaker and stronger. These events causes her to lose her innocence, makes her persistent, and then eventually drives her to be pessimistic. Sarah experiences traumatic events through her journey, which leads her to change both in a positive and negative way.

For extended care patients, this healing process is a long one and many turn to books for comfort. For one patient I know, reading is not just a pastime, it is her life. When I came around with the daily book cart, she would always select five or six at a time, requesting authors including Nora Roberts, James Paterson, Patricia Cornwell and Stephen King. With these patients in mind, I carefully selected quotes and passages from books by respected authors and several of today?s

Her neuropsychological function were not able to process information as a typical person would. Other issue that Andrea faced at time was frustration due to not get proper help and support for her mental health issues. Given, the time period view on mental health, and the religious and societal views on what a mother should be we could see why Andrea engaged in her criminal behavior. She struggled thought it a lot, and regrettably ended up killing her children while in state where she lacked empathy. Although, now Andrea lives a left one could assume full of regret, she continues to speak out for mothers with postpartum depression. She and her husband have started a nonprofit to bring awareness to the issues, and Andrea sells homemade items from her mental health facility to help support the non -profit. Although, this was tragic Andrea is trying to raise awareness and prevent this type of thing from occurring again. Although, Andrea’s crime was horrible, and tragic one must look at the factors that impact her choice to participate in this activity. It’s unfortunate, that our mental health system wasn’t as supportive as it should have been. This crime thought made society take meatal health more seriously and the awareness of how to combat these

Life changing experiences Elies Story Many people turn into brutal savages due to the inhumane treatment that they might have gone through. It does not matter if it’s physical, mental or even a combination of the two. Being treated badly or seeing something that isn’t right can scar a person and change them forever. There are many people that go through crazy situations in their lives that can be life changing. Many of these people grow, learn and even become stronger from those experiences.

If you went through a month of madness, in which it took over twelve doctors to diagnose a disease for, how would you view American Healthcare? Susannah Cahalan, author of the book Brain on Fire, went through a month of madness fighting Anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis. This diagnosis was not reached for over a month after her first visit to a doctor. In this time, she saw over twelve doctors and received many misdiagnoses for her disease, such as mono. Due to her poor experience with American Healthcare, Susannah Cahalan portrays the state of American Healthcare as negative in her book, Brain on Fire.

Several books, movies, plays, or even music lure people into escaping the monotonous nature of reality. In spite of these attention sucking media, Susannah Cahalan’s book Brain on Fire was an extravgant, advetourous, horrifying adventure through her life and how she filled in the gaps as she went along through out her journey. We all lose track through our daily lives and do not always realize that others have it worse than we all do, especially dealing with our health on a day to day basis. Cahalan had no clue on what she had endured until she was cured and use books that her family wrote to fill in the details on what she does not remember. I thought, overall, her book was very truthful, but to what extent do we believe what her book says

In the book, Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness, by Susannah Cahalan, one of main conflicts is explored at the start of the book between Susannah’s family and a doctor. The disagreement is about whether or not Susannah has a severe illness. This conflict arises when Susannah’s friends, family, and even Susannah begin to notice her acting odd and unlike herself. She begins to experience hallucinations, paranoia, mixed episodes, lack of sleep, seizures, and other strange symptoms. Her friends and family decided that she should see a doctor as soon as possible.

For some, a life time of devotion does not start with birth. A lifetime may not even start until later in life. For Phillip M. Gattone, his life’s work had not begun until his mid-thirties. Woken up by one of his infant son’s crying, he found his son Phillip, who was four at the time, seizing on the floor with eyes rolled back and lips turned steel blue (Condor). Epilepsy had just entered his life. Phillip Gattone is an average weight, healthy, white American man who grew up in the Chicago area, and is unassuming in demeanor. Easily perceived as an average businessman, he does not play sports or do much of anything outside of running the Epilepsy Foundation. Since waking to the nightmarish scene of his son in a seizure, Mr. Gattone’s life purpose has been dedicated to epilepsy research, awareness, and treatment progress. Through his hardship, he has founded the Center for Epilepsy Education in Batavia, became chairman of the Epilepsy Foundation of Chicago, and is now the CEO

She was for sure the that pests had attacked her studio even though the exterminator found no sign of bedbugs, but Cahalan insisted to spray for them just in case. She hid her bug bites from her co-workers. She had a fear that they would judge her if they thought she had bed bugs. She began to get scared and hallucinate. Susannah’s love ones all began to see Susannah that they didn’t know in the past, she had mental and emotional issues. As the disease worsen, her movements became awkward, her speech became slurred, and having seizures. Doctors kept on saying she was normal and no type of disease would show up on her results. A doctor admitted her into New York University medical school hospital. Cahalan was in the hospital about a month before the accurate diagnosis, prior to the other doctors thought of a plethora of conditions and a bipolar disease and schizophrenia to dire physical ailments including cancer. There was a doctor named Dr. Najjar who was known for solving medical mysteries and didn’t take long to figure out what was the problem. He gave her a simple clock test and ask her to draw a clock with all the numbers. When drew the full clock, he knew immediately that the

n October 8, 1871 a tragic disaster happened in Chicago. It is said that Mrs. O’Leary was in her barn milking her cow (Daisy). Daisy supposedly kicked over the fire lantern and that was what ignited the gigantic fire. But we can’t just blame the cow, there are actually other theories to this fire. Like how remains of a meteor lighted the ferocious fire. Another theory is Daniel Sullivan “Peg leg” started it. It is said that he visited Mr. and Mrs. O’Leary that night and then went home, when he went home, he was smoking a pipe and suddenly seen smoke rising from Mr. and Mrs. O’Leary’s barn. But the main theory is that daisy started the fire.

In his short story, “Bullet in the Brain”, Tobias Wolff manipulates the course of the plot in order to exemplify the life and style by which Anders lives. As the story begins, the reader is immediately drawn in. The way in which Wolff alludes to what is about to happen gives the reader an idea of what is going to take place. Through the use of vivid imagery and immediate conflict the reader can tell that the “murderous temper” (1) of Anders will do everything to place him in trouble.

Brain injuries, though more common than one might think, don’t always lead to serious damage for a lifetime. Even less likely was Henry Molaison, who became one of the world’s most famous brain patients after the removal of his hippocampi in order to stop his constant and severe seizures destroyed his ability to create memories.

It is quite shocking how a single day can change multiple lives in just one instant. Unfortunately, this was true the night of my mother’s accident. A simple fall that should not have taken more than a few months to recover led to our discovery of her neurological disorder, Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy Syndrome. Not only did this event alter my daily life, but it also shaped my short and long term education.