Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness

by Susannah Cahalan

I have felt that odd whirr of wings in the head. —VIRGINIA WOOLF, A Writer’s Diary: Being Extracts from the Diary of Virginia Woolf

Though there didn’t seem to be much of a connection among my bedbug scare, my forgetfulness at work, and my sudden instinct to purge my files, what I didn’t know then is that bug obsession can be a sign of psychosis. It’s a little-known problem, since those suffering from parasitosis, or Ekbom syndrome, as it’s called, are most likely to consult exterminators or dermatologists for their imaginary infestations instead of mental health professionals, and as a result they frequently go undiagnosed.

“Oh, come on,” she countered. “All women, especially New Yorkers, do that, Susannah. We’re competitive.

We are, in the end, a sum of our parts, and when the body fails, all the virtues we hold dear go with it.

He told me to get a puzzle and that was smart because he too thinks in puzzles (the way things fit together).”

If it took so long for one of the best hospitals in the world to get to this step, how many other people were going untreated, diagnosed with a mental illness or condemned to a life in a nursing home or a psychiatric ward?

This explained why social situations were so rough on me: I was aware of how slow and strange I appeared to those around me, especially people who had known me before my illness.

When the brain is working to remember something, similar patterns of neurons fire as they did during the perception of the original event. These networks are linked, and each time we revisit them, they become stronger and more associated. But they need the proper retrieval cues—words, smells, images—for them to be brought back as memories.

all autoimmune diseases in general as being about two-thirds environmental, one-third genetic.

Two particular fields of study, schizophrenia and autism, will likely gain the most from this landscaping of the elephant. Dr. Balice-Gordon believes that a percentage, albeit a small one, of those diagnosed with autism and schizophrenia might in fact have an autoimmune disease.

The same goes for schizophrenia. Many of the adults ultimately diagnosed with anti-NMDA-receptor autoimmune encephalitis first receive the diagnosis of schizophrenia (or other related mental disorders, such as schizoaffective disorder, in my case). Statistically there must be some people who receive a diagnosis of psychosis or schizophrenia and never get the proper help. Even if it’s only 0.01 percent of patients, it’s still too many. Unfortunately, for most people suffering from severe psychiatric conditions, it’s nearly impossible to give everyone the proper testing to diagnose and treat autoimmune diseases. PET scans, CT scans, MRIs, IVIG treatment, and plasmapheresis can cost upwards of thousands of dollars each.