One Pupil Dilated

[TheCFiles]

I went to a Sleep Center yesterday for a sleep disorder, and the Dr. examining me noticed that my left pupil was dilated about twice the size of the right one.

He asked if anyone had told me that-and they haven't.  I have never noticed that to happen ever before in my life.

I asked what it meant, and he was rather dismissive and didn't seem to take it too seriously.  But he was interested enough to make his two residents look at my pupils.  (This was a University affiliated Medical Center, a teaching hospital).

He did tell me that if it was sudden onset, it could be something dangerous like a brain bleed or a stroke.  He rather offhandedly suggested I might want to tell my Dr. and have an MRI done.  But again, didn't seem overly concerned.

So naturally this scared me and I did research online.  Almost every case with my symptoms seems to indicate a ruptured Aneuryism or stroke.  But, some research did say it could be due to stress and sleep deprivation, both of which I had a great deal the last few days due to anxiety about this appointment.  But I noticed I was having a lot more physical anxiety than usual the night before and day of this appt. yesterday, and a great deal of confusion and trouble processing information.  I felt horrible.  My mind was very confused and perceptions distorted, as in physical anxiety being acute.

I am guessing it's probably more due to stress and sleep deprivation.  I tried a Lunesta the night before, and it only gave me 3 hours of sleep before causing so much anxiousness I couldn't sleep the rest of the night.  I later found out a great deal of the physical anxiety/confusion I have been experiencing is likely due to side effects from the Lunesta, as a lot of people have the same problems and it was noticeable compared to normal.

Should I be worried about the dilated pupil?  It's still there.  I am also having a really bad headache, but feels more like sinus but it's painful.  I am very dizzy, and eyes are extremely light sensitive all of a sudden.  I can't tell how much of this is stress/sleep deprivation and/or side effects from the Lunesta, which can cause similar symptoms.  My father currently has a bad head cold, and I figured I was catching it as some sort of URI or sinus thing.

Any ideas?  I did try calling my main Dr. to ask his opinion about the pupil, and whether I should check it out with a Neurologist but he never called me back yesterday.  I am leery about spending a lot of money on a Neurologist and  MRI without health insurance (2 to 3 grand maybe?) if it's not really necessary.  But the pupil is lasting a long time, since it was diagnosed this morning so I am wondering.  Also-the research said sometimes higher doses of antihistamine could cause one dilated pupil, and I did take two doses of Benedryl to sleep that night.  But it's never done this before and it wore off hours ago.

What should I do?  Just watch and see what happens?  If it were something as serious as a stroke or brain bleed, wouldn't I know by now?

Thanks for any help.

[Trian2]

Well google brought me to this post. I am going on about 3 months now with my left eye dilated roughly twice the size of my right eye. When I close my right eye and look out of my left, anything that is about 1-2 feet in front of me gets all fuzzy and my eyes tries to focus, but it can't. I cant feel a slightly weird sensation when this happens. At the time this started happening I was not getting enough sleep and I figured that once I got about 8 hours a night again it might go away, well it hasn't and I am REALLY worried. Is it a brain tumor? Is it diabetes? I have no idea and the worst part is that I flat out cannot afford to even see a doctor about this. I keep thinking it's just going to go away after a certain good night's sleep, but here I am about 4 months later and I look in the mirror and it's still dilated.

I guess posting this is kind of therapy for me. I don't know what to do because I am dead broke, unemployed (can't find a job ugh) and I have no money to see anyone about this. God I hope this goes away. I can see crystal clear anything 3 feet past me, but get any closer and that left eye just can't focus, right eye is perfect though.

Not sure what I should do or what this could be.

:(

[lancaster590]

To TheCFiles,am wondering what the latest is with your eye?

[Cdent]

Reading Cfiles posts has made me think a lot about what is going on with my own body.  I am 36 yo male dentist.  I first started having a heart flutter they diagnosed as supraventricular ectopic beats in 2002 when I was going thru boards.  It wasn't tachycardia but would feel like my heart would pound really hard then skip a beat before getting back to its normal rythm.  Very unsettling, takes your breath away and causes lightheadedness.  They put me in a monitor for a month for the diagnosis. (idiopathic and benign).  Meaning they don't know what caused it or how to fix it but it won't kill me.  They put me on a beta blocker and chalked it up to stress.  The syptoms went away but reoccured every once in while.  Fast forward to 2008, just opened a practice, 1 child with one on the way, dizzyness starts, tension headaches (like a band around my head), and one day I noticed one pupil dialated more that the other.  Still responsive to light and constricts normally.  GP diagnosed anxiety and put me on several meds that I just could not take due to side effects.  Tried cymbalta, zoloft, and several others that made me nauseous and sleepless.  Now take .5 mg lorazepam per day and seemed to work OK.  Saw Opthamologist and he saw nothing wrong, especially with normal dialation (did have lasix surgery that didn't seem to be a factor).  GP decided to do CT scan justi in case and came back inconclusive.  I do have a brain but nothing wrong that they can see.  Symptoms subsided.  March 2009 noticed red splotches on my skin on my back.  Waited a couple of weeks and did not go away so went back to Derm. who diagnosed me with Morphea, a rare skin disease that spread throughout my entire torso, back to front.  He gave me triamcinalone cream and said there is nothing I can do about it but wait until it burns out.  Whatever that means.  Decided he was a quack as it got worse.  Went to a second Derm who confirmed first Derm was a quack and did not treat it aggressively enough.  Put me on Vanos Cream, Prednisone, then Methotrexate.  The Spread seemed to stop but the scarring it left is still quite there and I can't bring myself to take my shirt off when I'm at the pool with my kids.  Hey ,at least it hasn't spread to my face like some poor people,  yet.  This summer has been quite depressing due to this, having always kept in shape and feeling like I was in the best shape of my life.  Then my shoulder starts to hurt, more than usual.  MRI found degeneration b/w C4,5,6 with slight bulging of disks.  Will need surgery, not now, but eventually.  I guess being a dentist does this to your body ,but I am way ahead of schedule with this kind of degeneration.  Now we come to present day.  Along with depression comes what?  Stress.  That's right...anxiety, heart palpatations, shortness of breath, light headedness, pupil starts dialating in right eye more than left-a lot more, blood pressure spikes (which I never have high BP) and i have a panic attack ending up back in the GP office.  R U kidding me.  Now I'm off all caffine and on a beta-blocker......@36 yoa.  I find it hard to believe that all these things are not connected reading your posts.  From theCfiles to tiadrop, feel like I have so many of the same things going on.  It has to stem from this autoimmune disorder taking its toll over years and years.  Either that or stress can now cause skin disorders.  Sorry to go on a rant but I don't know what to do to make things better.  

[tiadrop]

hi my name is tia marshall 7 weeks ago i had an accident and broke my c7 vertabrae in my neck today i woke up and my left pupil was dialated and the other was normal..iv been geting bad pain in my left side of my neck and head..i went to the hospital strate away they did a scan on my brain but found nothing so they sent me home and told me if it gets worse or doesnt go away then to go bak and see them. what do u think this could be ?? will my pupil go bak down to normal
thankyou

[Benhay]

I too have recently had similar problems. I was looking in the mirror one night and noticed that my left pupil was bigger than than the right. Strait away i knew something was wrong and remembered reading about the possible brain functions connected with pupil change, so I went to A and E (accident and emergency - the British version of ER). They were skeptical (as the eyes now appeared normal), but one doctor urged me to see my GP. I did so and he immediately referred me to an eye specialist. After some basic tests she ordered a CT scan just in case, and they found a medium size aneurysm on the right side of my brain...

Right now they cannot connect the two, as the aneurysm is too low to be putting direct pressure on the nerves concerned with pupil contraction etc, but they remain open to ideas.

I have always had sinus problems, multiple infections etc, and recently have had ongoing mild infections, which i failed to treat and rather ignore, but after reading the above post it could be seemingly possible that my pupil dilation is due to sinus issues rather than brain issues. In any case, i would URGE you to have a CT scan. I was lucky that a doctor picked up on mine, and that everything is free in the UK. This was three weeks ago and i am no waiting on a procedure to explore the exact dimensions of the aneurysm and possible treatment options.

[TheCFiles]

Sorry it's been so long, quick update.

Still haven't had a chance to get my left eye checked out with the Eye Doctor.  I really need to, the pupil is still quite dilated and the eye has been inflamed several times.  But problems with sleep and skin flaring make it exceedingly difficult to make that appointment.  Very frustrating.

Have a great referral to a very good Ophthamologist, but just can't seem to get there.  Hoping things improve soon, this is starting to alarm me.  First diagnosed December 3, 2008 and still dilated.  The fluctuating inflammation in the eyeball comes and goes, can sometimes be painful and quite noticeable.  But this makes me think probably not anything neurological, but more related to inflammation in the eye.