Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness: Chapter 8 Summary & Analysis

Susannah tells the reader that she woke Stephen up that night with low moans, squeaks, and then grunts. He thought that Susannah was just grinding her teeth, but rolled over to see her sitting with wide, unseeing eyes. Susannah didn't answer any of his questions and turned to face him, looking possessed. Her arms whipped out in front of her, her body tensed, and blood and foam spurted out of her mouth. Horrified, Stephen stared for a moment before laying Susannah down on her side and calling 911.

Susannah explains that she never regained memories of this seizure, or the others to come. This seizure marks her line between sanity and insanity. Much of what follows is pieced together from outside sources, as she remembers little but hallucinations and paranoia.

Susannah says that this seizure was just the most dramatic of a number of seizures she'd been experiencing for days. She explains that when neurons misfire or fire all at once, seizures can result. She experienced a "tonic-clonic" seizure, which is characterized by a loss of consciousness, rigid muscles, and strange movements. Other people experience more subtle seizures that look like staring episodes or repetitive mouth or body movements. A seizure's type and severity depends on where in the brain the neurons are malfunctioning; i.e. if the visual cortex is to blame, the person experiences visual hallucinations.

Susannah explains that she'd also been experiencing partial seizures from overstimulation in her temporal lobe, which explains her euphoria, mood swings, her sense of alienation in the bathroom at work, the expanding hallway, and her light sensitivity in Times Square. She says that some people who experience temporal lobe seizures also have out-of-body experiences.