5/12/2023 0 Comments Brain on fire cahalan![]() ![]() “The Great Pretender” also happens to be the title of Cahalan’s new book. She was only the 217th person in the world to be diagnosed with the disorder and among the first to receive the concoction of steroids, immunoglobulin infusions and plasmapheresis she credits for her recovery.Ĭahalan’s condition is what in medicine is called a “great pretender”: a disorder that mimics the symptoms of various disorders, confounding doctors and leading them astray. In plain English, Cahalan’s body was attacking her brain. Instead, as she recounted in “ Brain on Fire,” her best-selling 2012 memoir about her ordeal, she was eventually found to have a rare - or at least newly discovered - neurological disease: anti-NMDA-receptor autoimmune encephalitis. Had it not been for an ingenious doctor brought in to consult on her case, Cahalan might well have ended up in a psychiatric ward. ![]() She spoke in gibberish and slipped into a catatonic state. She believed she could age people using just her mind. She believed her father had tried to abduct her and kill his wife, her stepmother. She believed an army of bedbugs had invaded her apartment. Ten years ago, Susannah Cahalan was hospitalized with mysterious and terrifying symptoms. ![]()
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