{"id":15095,"date":"2020-09-15T08:22:00","date_gmt":"2020-09-15T12:22:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=15095"},"modified":"2020-09-30T18:36:17","modified_gmt":"2020-09-30T22:36:17","slug":"dr-bailey-neurologist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/dr-bailey-neurologist\/","title":{"rendered":"Dr. Bailey: Neurologist Can&#8217;t Diagnose Susannah"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Who is Dr. Bailey the neurologist in <em>Brain on Fire<\/em>? How does he attempt to diagnose Susannah Cahalan?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dr. Bailey, neurologist, is one of the first doctors to see Susannah. He considers several incorrect diagnoses for her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Read more about the tests run by Dr. Bailey the neurologist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Dr. Bailey, Neurologist<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Dr. Bailey the neurologist is a grandfatherly man. His demeanor makes Susannah want to reassure him that everything\u2019s fine. When she tells him she has a weird numbness in her hand and foot, he asks if she\u2019s ever had Lyme disease, which she has not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Bailey conducts a routine neurological exam, testing her reflexes and muscle strength, seeing if her pupils constrict. He declares everything is normal, <\/strong>though he says he wants to do some bloodwork and have her take an MRI.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Dr. Rothstein tells her the results of the MRI are normal, then suggests that Susannah has a virus, possibly mono.<\/strong> <strong>She\u2019s relieved to finally have a diagnosis.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Settling into her mom\u2019s home in New Jersey, Susannah tries to work on an article about a troupe of disabled dancers, but she\u2019s unable to write. Desperate to tell her mom and Allen about this new breakdown in her abilities, Susannah wanders to the family room, where she has another hallucination and goes into a trance. Her mom and Allen make an appointment with Dr. Bailey for the following day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dr. Bailey does another basic neurological exam and once again concludes that Susannah is \u201cnormal.\u201d He asks Susannah how much she drinks, and she tells him she usually has two glasses of wine a night, adding that she believes she has bipolar disorder. He says it\u2019s a possibility and refers her to a psychiatrist. Before they leave the office, Dr. Bailey tells Susannah\u2019s mom that Susannah is working and partying too hard and not sleeping enough. Like Susannah, her mom is filled with relief. That the diagnosis isn\u2019t serious is exactly what she wants to hear. Only later will Susannah learn that Bailey missed many important details, like where she was when she had her first seizure.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Who is Dr. Bailey the neurologist in Brain on Fire? How does he attempt to diagnose Susannah Cahalan? Dr. Bailey, neurologist, is one of the first doctors to see Susannah. He considers several incorrect diagnoses for her. Read more about the tests run by Dr. Bailey the neurologist.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":15293,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,33],"tags":[130],"class_list":["post-15095","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health","category-people","tag-brain-on-fire","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v24.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Dr. Bailey: Neurologist Can&#039;t Diagnose Susannah - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Dr. Bailey, neurologist, is one of the first doctors seen in Brain on Fire. Despite his best efforts, he is unable to diagnose Susannah.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/dr-bailey-neurologist\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Dr. Bailey: Neurologist Can&#039;t Diagnose Susannah\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Dr. Bailey, neurologist, is one of the first doctors seen in Brain on Fire. Despite his best efforts, he is unable to diagnose Susannah.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/dr-bailey-neurologist\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Shortform Books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-09-15T12:22:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-09-30T22:36:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/brain-on-fire-dr-bailey.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1298\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"760\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Rina Shah\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Rina Shah\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/dr-bailey-neurologist\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/dr-bailey-neurologist\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Rina Shah\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d07435826f13a8f422d5d333dceac287\"},\"headline\":\"Dr. Bailey: Neurologist Can&#8217;t Diagnose Susannah\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-09-15T12:22:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-09-30T22:36:17+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/dr-bailey-neurologist\/\"},\"wordCount\":362,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/dr-bailey-neurologist\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/brain-on-fire-dr-bailey.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Brain on Fire\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Health\",\"People\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/dr-bailey-neurologist\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/dr-bailey-neurologist\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/dr-bailey-neurologist\/\",\"name\":\"Dr. Bailey: Neurologist Can't Diagnose Susannah - Shortform Books\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/dr-bailey-neurologist\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/dr-bailey-neurologist\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/brain-on-fire-dr-bailey.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-09-15T12:22:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-09-30T22:36:17+00:00\",\"description\":\"Dr. Bailey, neurologist, is one of the first doctors seen in Brain on Fire. 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