She arrived at the emergency department because her family said she had suddenly stopped speaking and would eat only brown rice. Doctors did what the situation demanded. Blood work, a metabolic panel, urine tests, a drug screen, thyroid function tests, a head CT. Then a brain MRI and an EEG. An intravenous lorazepam challenge. Two psychiatric medications.
Everything came back normal apart from laboratory evidence of starvation. She still did not speak.
