So I was scrolling through YouTube last night when this documentary popped up about “Brain on Fire” disease. Honestly never heard of it before, so I got curious. Grabbed my laptop and started digging.
My Research Process
First thing I did was open three different medical websites. Started typing “brain on fire” into the search bars, getting frustrated when autocorrect kept changing it to “brain freeze.” Eventually found its real name: anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis. Sounds super complicated, but basically means the body attacks its own brain cells.
Then I called my nurse friend Sarah – woke her up at 11pm oops. She told me she’d only seen one case during her internship. Said the patient was a college kid who suddenly started acting paranoid and having seizures outta nowhere. That’s when I realized how serious this stuff is.
What Actually Causes It?
After reading like twenty articles (my eyes were burning by this point), here’s what I pieced together:
- Your body just goes haywire – For some damn reason, your immune system starts treating brain proteins like enemies. Like when your phone glitches and deletes your own photos.
- Tumors can trigger it – Especially ovarian tumors in young women. Your body tries to fight the tumor but ends up attacking your brain instead. Total friendly fire situation.
- Random infections might set it off – Read about this teenager who had flu-like symptoms for weeks, then bam! Started hallucinating that spiders were crawling on her.
Got kinda depressed learning that sometimes they never find the cause. Like that poor guy in the documentary – doctors still don’t know why his immune system turned traitor.
The Scary Part
What freaked me out most? The misdiagnosis rate. So many people get labeled as mentally ill or drug users at first. One article said it takes average 3 months to get proper diagnosis. Imagine suffering seizures while everyone thinks you’re just crazy.
Around midnight, I remembered my coworker’s sister spent months in psych ward before they found her brain swelling. Felt stupid when it clicked that might’ve been this disease.
My Takeaways
First thing this morning I texted my siblings: “If I ever start acting hella weird, get a brain scan ASAP.” Seriously though, this whole rabbit hole taught me two things:
- Our immune systems can turn against us anytime for no clear reason
- Doctors need way better tools to spot this early
Gotta admit I’m paranoid now. Every time I get a headache I’m like…”is this it?” But knowledge is power I guess. Definitely donating to encephalitis research next paycheck.