Unwritten

"Unwritten" is the third episode of the seventh season of the American medical drama House. It originally aired on October 4, 2010. Plot When children's author Alice Tanner (Amy Irving) inexplicably suffers from a seizure during a suicide attempt, the Princeton-Plainsboro team must evaluate both her underlying medical conditions, as well as her unstable psychological state. Because of her suicide attempt, House can hold Alice in the hospital under psychiatric hold for 72 hours, but Alice is uncooperative and the team must diagnose her before she is allowed to leave. Meanwhile, House takes Cuddy on a double date with Wilson and his girlfriend, Sam (guest star Cynthia Watros). When the team gets Alice an MRI, three metal screws are ripped out of her leg by the strong magnetic field. She claims they are from treatment following a skiing accident. House is convinced that the key to unlocking the mysteries of Alice's condition lies in the pages of her most recent novel and suspects that fictional character Helen Rutherford's symptoms are actually Alice's symptoms that she's been writing about in her book. The symptoms all point to lupus, but House is unhappy with the diagnosis as it's not curable and he wants to take her pain away. Later, House suspects the screw implants were actually from a car accident, and that the seat belt damaged Alice's thyroid glands. Taub suggests a post traumatic syringomyelia that grew over the years and pressed on her spine, causing all her symptoms. When the team can't find her old medical records, Cuddy suggests that Alice Tanner may be a pen-name.