Balls and Walnuts
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Lisa Nowak: a medical hypothesis
The television talking heads are trying their best to figure out Lisa Nowak, the diaper-wearing stalker/astronaut, but to my knowledge, no one has suggested the possibility of a medical explanation for her breakdown. The possibilities are endless — tumor, heavy metal intoxication, adverse drug reaction. Lots of things can tweak the mind. But here’s one idea.
This is the “butterfly rash” of systemic lupus erythematosus:
Older photos of Ms. Nowak show no rash:
But recent images of Ms. Nowak, particularly her mug shot, suggest a classic malar “butterfly rash”. Here’s another suggestive photo:
If Ms. Nowak has lupus, it raises the possibility of lupus cerebritis. Among the potential neuropsychiatric manifestations:
Mood disorders such as anxiety and depression are frequently reported.
Cognitive disorders may be variably apparent in patients with SLE. Formal neuropsychiatric testing reveals deficits in 21-67% of patients with SLE. Whether this represents true encephalopathy, neurological damage, medication effects, depression, or some other process is unclear.
Psychosis related to SLE may manifest as paranoia or hallucinations.
All I’m saying is there may be more to this story than a love triangle gone bad. When family, friends, and coworkers react the same way, remarking how vastly out of character her recent behavior has been, you have to entertain the medical hypothesis. News organizations are talking to PSYCHOLOGISTS, for heaven’s sake — no MDs.
Stay tuned.
D.
PS: In other news, The Aristocrats has the inside scoop on how the medical community healed Ted Haggard of his gayness.
Not to get all Frist on you, (I’m not an MD) but it could also be rosacea, couldn’t it? I think a thorough physical is in order whenever an astronaut drives in a diaper for 900 miles. Just saying.
I’m tweaked over this because it seems everyone assumes she’s gone nuts, everyone assumes it’s a case of love-madness, and no one in the media even contemplates what you and I are both suggesting: that we should reserve judgment on this woman until her physical status has been determined.
Rosacea is a possibility but it favors older men over younger women and it usually does not spare the tip of the nose, in my experience. This rash in a young woman makes me want to order the appropriate labs for autoimmune disease, SLE in particular.
The NASA press conference is going to be on in a moment.
Leaving aside lupus for a sec, because you really know more about it than I do, I would default to simple mania or previously undiagnosed bi-polar disorder.
There’s a part of me which thinks that a lot of very high profile, very high intensity people are operating in a form of mania half the time. Wouldn’t someone with tendencies towards delusions of grandeur basically self-select for a career as an astronaut? Why not be a commercial airplane pilot? Why an astronaut?
And the planning of the murder seems manic too. Pepper spray and a mallet? And then she sprays the victim through the window of a car in a parking garage? Jeez, I’m not planning on offing anyone anytime soon, but even I could have seen the flaw in that plan. (Victim, although in pain, simply drives away from you and your mallet.)
I don’t see it as just a love-triangle either. There’s something else there. But don’t expect the media to ferret it out.
Interesting press conference. From the reporters’ questions, it still seems to me and Karen that people are assuming (A) Lisa Nowak has always been nuts, and NASA ‘missed it’ somehow, and (B) Lisa Nowak had an affair with that other astronaut — which I believe has not been established.
I realize I’m making assumptions, too, but I would rather be in this camp — giving Ms. Nowak the benefit of the doubt — than be one of the bottomfeeders who are dying for this to be a tawdry story.
Suisan, I agree BPD is a plausible possibility, but I hope you’re wrong. It would play in to the media’s prejudices too much and I would rather see them with egg on their faces.
The diaper. Did we need to know about that?
Very sad case. The dumb asses in charge should get some MDs on board ASAP and rule out some of the basics first. Even the news reports comment on her weight loss. Her face is flushed if you compare her pictures. Looks like that starts around 2006. I’m really glad the other woman wasn’t hurt but you know her behavior must have been noticeably aberrant for a while. Why didn’t anyone do anything?
I don’t know. Don’t we all have a little diaper-wearing stalker astronaut in all of us?
Looks like rosacea to me. I have it, and it’s pretty common for fair-skinned women.
She has some on her nose too, fwiw.
My point is, I’m sick of all this “love triangle” bullshit, and all the crass criticism this gal’s getting when the facts are not all in. Lupus cerebritis is just ONE possibility, as I said.
The media is really pissing me off. They’re laughing at this woman. Even Jon Stewart is laughing at this woman. Would they laugh at her if she had a brain tumor? There’s cruelty behind a lot of humor, but this all seems excessive.
I too favor a medical explanation of this and after seeing some pics today of her butterfly or wolfbite rash, I immediately thought of Lupus. thus Googling her name + lupus, I found your site.
I’m intrigued to watch this all play out with the differing opinions being offered. That’s almost as interesting as the story itself.
I hope she gets all the medical care she can get…because, boy!, does she look unwell!
She does not have lupus or rosacea. She likely has keratosis pilaris, easily identifiable with a visit to a dermatologist, who can confirm the diagnosis with a visual exam on the backs of her arms and thighs. Any mental disorder she may have has nothing to do with her skin affliction.
Thanks, janedoe. I’m not familiar with that diagnosis, so I googled it (to look at some images) and I see the possibility. The butterfly distribution still gets me, though.
Nevertheless, so much time has passed on this story, if there were a medical angle we probably would have learned of it by now.
She doesn’t have a malar rash. The redness on her face crosses over her nose – this is how I know whether or not I had a little too much sun or I have a flare coming on.
I could see though how even nasa could miss lupus in one of their own. It often doesn’t manifest any symptoms until late in life, resulting in a sudden on set of the disease. Also, there is no easy test. Fortunately for me, I exhibited a whole set of symptoms at once. Most people suffer for years before doctors can put the pieces together.
I could see Ms. Nowak having random fatigue, joint pain or rashes and her medics at Nasa thinking nothing of it.