Does this sound like a possible Aneurysm? I hope not.. please help I have no insurance

[xxAmeliaoo]

A little over a week ago I looked in the mirror and noticed that my right pupil was two times as big as my left.  I was so scared.  I am a stay at home mom and my fiance takes the car to work everyday and I have no family in the area so I had to call around for a ride to the ER.  Two hours later I get to the ER and they check me out. By the time I get there my pupil has returned to it's normal size. They run a CT [no contrast btw] and send me home saying I'm just fine.  The next day I started noticing 'flashing' going from the right side of my left eye vision to the left side in the shape of a little bean.  It was CONSTANT.  I saved up money and went to an Ophthalmologist; he looked in BOTH of my eyes and said both of them are completely fine and suggested I follow up with him in 3 weeks.  While I was at this apt my pupils were normal although on the ride over my right pupil dilated huge just as it did before.  The Ophthalmologist said that whatever was going on with me had nothing to do with my eyes.  Now it is a week later and I see sparkles in my perifial vision of my left eye.  When I cover my right eye I notice that my left eye's vision is more blurry and darker and things seem more close up.  My right pupil still dilates sometimes.. although I have pretty much stopped looking in the mirror because it just freaks me out.  I have noticed that the right pupil now stays slightly bigger than the left MOST OF THE TIME.  Not always though.  They say this amount of uneven dilation is normal although I beg to differ since it has come on suddenly.  I know no one can diagnose me but I am so stressed out.  I have a beautiful 2 year old and I want more than anything to see her grow up.  I am 2 weeks away from getting married.  I do not want to die.  I have done a lot of research online and the only thing I am coming up with is an aneurysm.  Can anyone tell me any different.  I would love to have someone tell me they have had symptoms similar and come out of it just fine!  A neurological exam just to be checked out is 180$ and we are poor.  Besides I am sure that if I went in to get an exam my pupils would be even and it would just be a waste of money.. please someone help me...

[hoops50]

Hi I am very sorry to hear you are having such a terrible time.  I had an aneuyrsm 5 years ago and had none of your symptoms, mine was behind the optic nerve.  All i can tell you is i got the WORST headache of my entire life and would of jumped in front of a truck to stop the pain luckily i blacked out and was airlifted to the nearest neurosurgeon.

I would still go to a neuro doctor though but sounds to me like you have some sort of migraine which is by no means a minor thing i am told they are just horrible.

All the best of luck to you x

[xxstacersxx]

I'm not a doctor, but your symptoms sound like a Occipital lobe migraine.

As for the aneurysm fear. I have Panic disorder and having a bleeding aneurysm is one of my greatest fears, so I know A LOT about them. And if I were you I wouldn't stress out too much about it.
99% of unruptured aneursyms cause no symptoms, and on the rare occassion that they do, flashing lights in vision is not one that I've ever read. Also the few that do cause symptoms are because they are leaking, and you said that you have had the symptoms for over two weeks? If it was an aneursym it would have ruptured by now.

Like I said I'm no doctor, adn you should definately insist on an MRI or MRA if these symptoms and your worries persist, but I honestly don't think you have an aneursym.

[StampyJen]

Hi there,

My best advice would be to see a neurologist.  They can tell you what's going on.  It could be an aura migrane - which doesn't always have pain associated with it.  

If and when you see a neurologist, insist on having an MRA done - or at least an MRI. I would suspect that the Doc would send you anyways just to rule out things like Aneurisms, plaques etc.

Good luck with everything. One word of advice though is to try to stay calm and reduce stress wherever you can.  Allowing yourself to become too stressed out will only make things worse and possibly make you paranoid.  Keep seeing doctors. Go to your family doctor, or to a free clinic and talk to them about it. It's good that your CT scan came back normal.  That's a good thing.  I would take the doctor's advice, but also keep asking them questions and update them on any new developments.  That's the best you can do.  

I hope that helps a little. I'm rooting for you! Take care.
Jenny

[xxAmeliaoo]

It's not a migraine.  I have had these same symptoms for almost two weeks now.  It started with the flashing lights in the left eye along with the enlarged pupil in the right eye and now it is loss of vision in the left eye along with the enlarged pupil in the right eye.. I call it a loss of vision but a better way to describe it is when I cover my right eye and just view through my left eye its like 100's of little grey dots.  So my vision in my left eye is basically a few shades darker.  It seems to very slowly be getting worse although I am not sure because maybe I was not paying enough attention at first to notice that.  I just don't see the flashing in the left eye anymore jus sparkles in the perifial vision along with the grey 'spots'.  My right pupil has never been enlarged before.  This came on all the sudden.

[navywife91]

Eye pupils can be different sizes. Flashing lights can be a migraine. I hope it is not an aneurysm. Is that your only symptom? When you flash a light into your eyes do your pupils go the the same size? If they do then your eye that the pupil gets bigger has probably gotten weaker and you just never notice it.

[xxAmeliaoo]

I went to the ER again last night because of a headache behind my left eye and my right eye was dialated.  It's funny because they keep saying Probable Adies pupil but I HAVE a knee jerk reflex and when I look in the mirror and my right pupil is HUGE sometimes i can see it get slightly smaller then bigger than smaller then even bigger right in front of me.  I have these docters stumped.  I am going to save up money and go to a nuerologist on monday but I have a feeling that he is going to be just as confused.  The nurses thought I was on drugs last night because of my eyes and were asking me if someone put something in my drink.  I ended up having the worst panic attack I have ever had and thought I was about to pass out.  They ended up sending me home after 5 hours with a prescription for xanax..

[nickppatel]

Sorry to hear of your troubles. Was the ct of your entire head? I'm guessing that's what you'd want to rule out an aneurysm. There are programs out there to help the indigent.  Focus your efforts on finding such a program near you (maybe at a university hospital).