'Her brain is on fire': Neurological condition affecting young women discovered that makes them hysterical, then catatonic



A illness newly discovered by Philadelphia doctors is leaving young women dazed, restrained to hospital beds, and finally catatonic.



Doctors say it's as if your brain is on fire.



'One minute I’d be sobbing, crying hysterically, and the next minute I’d be laughing,' said Susannah Cahalan, of New Jersey, who suffered through the disease.



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Burning: Susannah Cahalan would go through incredible mood swings and lose control of her body

Recovered: Today a health Susan has written a book about her experiences

“I was very paranoid and manic,' said Pennsylvania's Emily Gavigan, who also battled the illness. 'There was something wrong. I thought trucks were following me.'

Gavigan was a sophomore at the University of Scranton when she was hospitalized with the disease.

She was unable to control her arms, experienced seizures, and even needed a ventilator.



'It was life and death for weeks,' said mother Grace Gavigan.

'We were losing her,' added her father, Bill Gavigan. 'This is something that I couldn't control.'

At first doctors didn't know what the affliction was.



Susannah said she had abnormal movements and was out of control of her own body.



Inferno: Emily Gavigan's battle with the disease was so serious she was put on respirators

'I was a relatively normal person, then the next minute I’m hallucinating and insisting that my father had kidnapped me,' Susannah told CBS Philly.



Finally doctors discovered that both women had an auto immune disease called Anti-NMDA Receptor Encephalitis, causing the antibodies to attack the brain which would then swell.



Doctors told Susan's parents: 'Her brain is on fire.'

The break came when Susannah put all the numbers on one side while drawing a clock, indicating the issue was neurological.

'Nobody knew about the condition,' said Dr. Josep Dalmau, a neurologist with the University of Pennsylvania who discovered the disease in 2007.

Dalmau said patients are often diagnosed as having a psychiatric disorder.



After Susannah and Emily were diagnosed they were treated with immunotherapy.



Treated: Gavigan hopes to educated women about the disease as there is still no cure

Susannah is fully recovered and just published a book on the ordeal titled, Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness.

'You know, thousands of people have now been diagnosed, so it’s a rare condition, but it’s not exceedingly rare. It’s not as rare as initially thought,' Susannah said.



Emily hopes to warn others.

'There could be people in comas right now or people stuck in psych wards that have this disease and aren’t being treated properly,' she said.

There is still no cure, and both women could relapse and be forced to undergo another round of treatments.