Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness by Susannah Cahalan

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 out of 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

An award-winning memoir and instant New York Times bestseller that goes far beyond its riveting medical mystery, Brain on Fire is the powerful account of one woman’s struggle to recapture her identity.

When twenty-four-year-old Susannah Cahalan woke up alone in a hospital room, strapped to her bed and unable to move or speak, she had no memory of how she’d gotten there. Days earlier, she had been on the threshold of a new, adult life: at the beginning of her first serious relationship and a promising career at a major New York newspaper. Now she was labeled violent, psychotic, a flight risk. What happened?

In a swift and breathtaking narrative, Cahalan tells the astonishing true story of her descent into madness, her family’s inspiring faith in her, and the lifesaving diagnosis that nearly didn’t happen.

I absolutely loved this book! I had seen advertisements for the movie which were what initially drew me to it.  Someone told me that Brain On Fire was about a woman with Schizophrenia  which is not necessarily the case.  It is about a woman and her loved ones attempting to navigate her descent into madness without having any clue why. 

I was immediately drawn into Susannah's story from the first page. Her journey was fascinating, gut-wrenching, and powerful in its message of fighting for those you love and for yourself even when you no longer recognize that person anymore. I hope that everyone reads this book not only for the important messages but to understand more about medical science. We have come a long way but doctors can still take a dangerously long period of time to diagnose and treat illnesses. 

The only negative remark I can make in that there were points in the book when I became a little overwhelmed with facts and figures to do with different diagnoses and illnesses. That being said, the information added to the book as well to show the frustration and danger involved.