Brain on Fire

The title of this book caught my eye - Brain on Fire - what a read and I've still got a few nights worth left to go!

She was a successful journalist for New York Post, then things started to go wrong…

She started to feel paranoid.

She started to have seizures.

She felt numb in her arms.

She stopped needing to sleep.

She started forgetting things.

She started struggling to talk. 

She was taken into New York University Hospital. As I read, her situation started to feel familiar to me. First, her parents and boyfriend effectively moved into her hospital room in the same way my parents did.

Her parents started making notes on paper about how she was doing. That's exactly what Paul and my parents did. I think it was almost their coping mechanism, especially when I was in a coma. Maybe it was their way of trying to control the situation somehow.

The doctors at NYU did endless tests and nothing came back to give a diagnosis for a long time. Then eventually one of the professors had a hunch. Which was right.

Susannah had a problem with her NMDA receptors in her brain, causing NMDA receptor encephalitis. Suddenly it felt as though the book was talking my language!

NMDA receptors are glutamate receptors and are a crucial part of the brain. Oh my goodness. Before my brain injury, I did a postdoc in Glasgow Uni for 4 years on schizophrenia research. I was looking at the potential genes that may influence the development of the disease.

Looking at these changed genes, I put together a story about how these changes might all happen in schizophrenia - and it all revolved around the NMDA receptor! I felt really excited about this possibility, as it made perfect sense with the results I got in the lab. I ended up presenting this work at a few conferences and at a seminar in Melbourne Uni when I first got there.

Suddenly I enjoyed reading the book. I haven't finished it yet, but I'm looking forward to finding out what happens to her next...