This mysterious, recently discovered disease affects mainly young women and is very difficult to recognize. The first cases appeared in Philadelphia, these patients claimed that their brains were "like on fire."
The disease begins with personality changes. The woman begins to behave like an obsessive, ends up in the hospital and, after a while, falls into a catatonic stupor. She may seem completely normal and behave completely normal, but at some point, for no reason, she becomes insane.
“At any second I could go into hysterics, burst into sobs, and the next moment, the same hysterical laughter,” says one of the patients from New Jersey, Suzanne Kahalan.
“I was haunted by fears. It was either paranoia or mania. Something was wrong with me. I felt like I was being chased by trucks,”recalls Emily Gavigan from Pennsylvania.
Emily was a sophomore at Scranton University when she showed signs of a strange illness. When she was taken to the hospital, she had no control over her hand movements. After that, convulsions began. Ventilation of the lungs was required. Parents watched in horror as their child slipped away from life, and had no idea how to help.
“She was between life and death for several weeks,” said Emily's mother.
“We realized that we were losing her. And they could not do anything,”added the girl's father.
The doctors threw up their hands, no one could understand what kind of attack it was.
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“I started to make strange movements with my hands, stretching them in front of me. At times I was normal, and the next minute I began to hallucinate, and I screamed that I was kidnapped by my own father,”recalls Suzanne.
It turned out that neither Suzanne nor Emily were mentally ill. They both suffered from an autoimmune disease called "Anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis," in which antibodies "attack" the brain, causing a tumor to form.
Suzanne recounted how the doctor explained her condition to her parents: "He said my brain was on fire."
This rare brain inflammation almost exclusively occurs in young women. Nobody knows why.
“Most often, doctors mistake this disease for a mental one. I think there are many such patients who have been misdiagnosed. - explains Dr. Josep Dalmo from the University of Pennsylvania.
Susan and Emily were lucky - they were correctly diagnosed and were able to help. However, there is no cure yet to guarantee a complete recovery. Both girls are warned that a relapse could occur at any time.