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Pupil Dilation


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HI. My name is Chrissy. I am brand new to this Forum and have not been officially diagnosed. My tilt table test was positive and the results said "autonomic dysfunction". So then I started the internet search and found this forum. Thank Goodness!!! I appear to have POTS but I have had many, many symptoms for the past 6 months. The most recent of them is that on May 28th, my pupils dilated and have been that way ever since. I was wondering if anyone else has experienced that. The cardiologist that did the table test just told me that I have a "condition that caused the blood to pool to my lower extremeties" and that I need to take 20 mg of Lexapro and eat lots and lots of salt. That was all he said other than make a follow up appt for 3 weeks from now. My mom picked up the results of the table tilt test from the hospital. I had been seeing a neurologist for the severe head crushing pain I have had since February. But my first symptom was the major chest pains (like I had been hit with a baseball bat) since December 04. After reading lots of info, I am wondering if all this is due to a mono episode 5 years ago. I am 17 and will be 18 in July. Many days I cannot get off the couch. My waking bp the past few days is 93/55. But once I get up and move around it regulates. The only reason I ended up at the cardiologist is because I fainted (one time only). I have lots of pre-syncope but then I sit down. Thank you for any info you can share that will help me understand what I have to "look forward to". What do you think will be my next step, medical testing wise? I have read of so many different specialist that so many of you are seeing. By the way, I did have an MRI when no one could figure out what was causing the severe head pain and there is a small spot in the "deep cavity of the brain". I was told to ignore it b/c it was not big enough to cause my symptoms. I am going to request that they redo it to make sure it has not grown over the past 2 months. I look forward to meeting many of you in this Forum and sharing stories. Thank you! Chrissy

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Hi Chrissy

Welcome

This is going to be a shortish response, having a "POTSy" day, it's a little hard for me to focus. POTS is a group of symptoms and is a type of autonomic dysfunction. Sometimes the cause is known, and sometimes not. Many of us here have other medical stuff going on, and since the classification of POTS is fairly new, we don't always know the connection. Sometimes autonomic dysfunction can go away if a known underlying condition is properly treated. I also have some neuro stuff going on in addition to the POTS, and what was making diagnosis difficult is that autonomic dysfunction can cause many multifocal symptoms. My doctors didn't know where to look first, but now that I have an autonomic dysfunction diagnosis, we're focusing on the symptoms that are unlikely to be caused by autonomic dysfunction. So the autonomic diagnosis will probably be helpful to the greater diagnosis by process of elimination.

I think you are very wise to follow up on the mri, especially as other symptoms are showing up. Please try to find a good family practitioner to "direct traffic" and to direct you to the proper specialists. While you wait, I know for myself the best thing is to try to surround myself with positive people who see me when they look at me, not just an illness.

:P Ariella

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Hi Chrissy,

welcome aboard! I'm glad you found us! My dysautonomia seems to have started after surgery, but looking back, I found out that I have had problems for a much longer time! My PT send me to my PCP because I had severe chestpain when trying to exercise. My cardiologist knew about POTS (which is a miracle in my country!).

I hope you'll get answers to all your questions. You'll find a lot of warm and friendly people here!

Take care,

Corina

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Guest Mary from OH

Chrissy-

Hello and Welcome!! I have dilated pupils frequently. I also have severe migraines. This can exaccerbate that problem. I would just make sure that they are following up on it, which it sounds like they are. Have you ever been diagnosed with migraines?

Good luck along your journey!

And yes, mono can bring on POTS in some people, so no, you aren't going nuts!!

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Chrissy,

One of my first symptoms of POTS was that my left pupil would dilate at times. As stated in previous posts, the ANS controls the pupils so for them to constrict or dilate abnormally is a common symptom. I can actually tell when my left pupil does this as it feels dry and is sensitive to light. Another strange symptom :rolleyes:

Dawn

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