Dilated eye/headaches - anyone else?

[swissyrolly]

Hi, I'm new, and hope this is the right place to post this! I become very paranoid about my health due to my anxiety and was wondering if anyone else had experienced this.

I see my doctor every week for general checkups and observations, obviously due to the anxiety and everything that comes with it, and in the past 6months or so... the headaches!
Always assumed I get the headaches/migraines (from my neck up along the right side of my head) because I tense up when I'm anxious and I get the nausea and sensitivity to light with it also.

But what's worried my doctor recently is that she's now noticed that one of my eyes (the right-hand one) stays dilated more than the other sometimes.. almost so large that you can barely see the blue of my eye.. just the black pupil that's so large! Sometimes it goes back to normal within 5minutes, at other times I've had it for 2 days.
She thinks maybe it's a sign of something more sinister to do with the headaches and sent me to a neurologist to have tests done but just my luck that my eye was acting perfectly normal on that visit! He did normal tests to see if I'd had a stroke/anuerism/tumour etc.. but as my eye was perfectly fine that day there were no problems. So I'm being referred to a migraine clinic.

HOWEVER!!.. I've been researching online about it and other people say that one of their eyes gets dilated when they feel a rush of adrenaline! And I thought maybe this could be the cause of mine (I much prefer that compared to the whole stroke/tumour thing) and wondered if anyone else here has noticed that it happens to them too during the times they feel most anxious/pumped? Or anything similar?

[Peter_Scott]

Hi OP,

I have suffered migraines all my life but over the last few months these have become daily. I had an MRI about a year ago which showed an abnormality on my brain stem. I have to have a new MRI in the next week or so to see if there is change.

Migraines can do funny things to the eyes, one eye can get blurry in the corner, and in 2002 my optic nerve looked swollen in one eye, after many tests it was put down to complicated migraines. Migraines are a diagnosis of elimination so I suspect it maybe best to do an MRI first just to rule out other problems,

Peter

[Utility]

Hi

If you look under the "Symptoms" section it tells you all about dilating pupils. Quite common as being a symptom of anxiety.

[guitarpants]

There is actually a type of headache that can cause this. If I can find it again I'll post the information here.

[swissyrolly]

Thank you for the replies! What Mousey said sounds very familiar with what I have, especially if I look at bright sunlight/look out window, and then look back into my room, i have the large 'light circles' in front of my eyes and it stays like that for far longer than I think it should.
The neurologist did say he'd send me for an MRI scan if my eye stays dilated for more than 3 days at a time and stops reacting to light properly... luckily it's not that bad but i would prefer a scan just to make sure nothing is wrong as I've never had a scan before. I'll be starting to see a new doctor next week and my previous doctor has written a lengthy letter to give to them detailing everything about my health including my eye so they can decide what would be best for me.

And thank you ninja, that'd be really helpful :)

[dazzammm]

dilated pupils can be of a result of anxiety - probably explain the light sensitivity too

[guitarpants]

I'm not sure I can find it again, but headaches.org is a great resource.

[IllegallyBlond]

Hi. I have the same headaches you do, and noticed one day that my pupil on the left side was larger than my right. I called the doctor right away and she referred me to an optometrist. He gave me an eye exam, and said there was nothing wrong with it, it's just the way my eye is. He said that my pupil had probably been like that all my life. Sure enough I looked through older pictures, and it was. It's called Anisocoria. I have no idea what causes it. The migraines on the other hand is probably due to your anxiety. I have them all the time, and have the same fears as you. Hope I helped...
:hugs:

[guitarpants]

A good neuro-opthalmologist can give you good answers too.

[thexx]

definitely have had this, one eye dilated more, it's rather strange...but i've also had a weird feeling as if i can't really take things in around me the way i did before...not really derealisation just almost an unfocused, unsharp... neurological problem?