Eye Symptoms Anyone? Heavy Eyebrows, Lid Drooping? Pulling/tugging Feeling

[Lindz]

Hi everyone,

Sorry Ive been a needy Nellie lately with all my posts... Im mid diagnosis right now, still waiting for test results of ANS testing...

Okay, so one of my big issues has always been head pressure and eye pressure. The eyes feel like someone has marionette strings and I feel tugging or pulling behind the muscle. Lately when I feel like I have attacks of burning eye where my eyebrows or one eyebrow/eyelid will droop a little - its almost like a bells palsy but not that noticeable.

I know some of you have discussed blurry vision. Just wondering about the eyelid. I heard it can be from autonomic dysfunction as well.

[dkd]

I associate eyelid droopiness with myasthenia gravis. Have you been tested for that?

I don't have that, but I have the head pressure

I was checked for MG, and it was negative.

[ks42]

I agree that drooping eyelids can be a sign of Myasthenia Gravis, although there are many other causes (like Horner's syndrome).

I personally had this symptom pretty severely when I first got sick a year and a half ago - I'd get everything you describe (the head pressure, eye pressure, tugging, pulling, and a sensation of drooping slightly). I had a very thorough battery of tests (ophthalmologic, neurologic, and so on) and no cause turned up. My POTS doctors don't think those are necessarily symptoms of the autonomic dysfunction itself, but probably symptoms of the underlying cause (infection or exposure of some sort). Fortunately, these symptoms have gotten a lot better. Now I only get them very rarely, which is really nice, but it took at least six months before they started improving.

[Katybug]

I have significant eyelid twitching, as well as swelling and drooping (the drooping actually involves the whole rt side of my face). It is directly related to my migraines.

[Lindz]

Thanks everyone. Between the symptoms and the crushing and overwhelming anxiety of not being diagnosed, taking and waiting for test results Im falling apart. Its horrible feeling so bad and getting no answers. I wish something were clear in my case. The only test result that keeps coming back is low C4 and very low normal levels of C3. And a raised IgM. Clearly my immune system is on alert to something but no one can tell me what. Im off to an immunologist in two weeks. And having nerve issues all over and guess what - my EMG was normal. I have no idea how I can be in so much nerve pain with a normal test. I was sure I had a neuropathy. They are taking the biopsy for small fiber next week, so maybe thats it.

[fitnesskelly]

I haven't had the eye issues that you've had, but I do have eye symptoms. Just this year, I will get occasional very inflamed eyes, almost like a sudden extreme allergy response without any rhyme or reason (I thought maybe seasonal allergies, but it's happened at times when pollen is low). Also, I can barely tolerate contact lenses anymore.

[Guest ANCY]

Fitnesskelly, can you elaborate on your eye inflamation/allergy reaction?

I have occasional eye inflamation problems that don't coincide with allergies. It was really bad right before I started having Dysautonomia symptoms 4 years ago.

Following a sinus infection I developed a persistent eye problem (rash, inflamation, increased ocular pressure, drainage, pain in and around my eyes) that did not go away with antibiotics. I saw an Opthamologist several times and he believed it was some kind of autoimmune problem and so he started me on heavy-duty steroids and referred me to a Rumatologist. While waiting for the appointment I developed more and more symptoms of dysautonomia. Blood work for autoimmune came back positive but did not point in any specific direction. Eventually the eye problem went away on its own although i still have mild recurrences of this problem and still have not identified the cause.

Best wishes to all of you, eye problems are so irritating!

[fitnesskelly]

Sure ANCY!

One minute my eyes will be fine, the next minute they will either itch like crazy or will start stinging and burning (usually one eye is affected at a time). I will look in the mirror to see if anything is stuck in the eye(s) and will see that they are bloodshot and yellow (maybe the combo of normal eye whites and bloodshot?). Last time it happened, I also noticed a swollen bump on my eye. I just happened to have some medication to treat conjunctivitis in the house and I use that and the problem usually clears within a day (maybe a coincidence and time clears the problem, not the medication). It happens randomly with no warning. We've invested in a lot of hypoallergenic stuff for the home, like latex bedding and organic cotton sheets (mostly because I've always had pretty bad allergies). I do own cats, but have owned cats all my life and never had a problem with them - the eye problems just started happening this year! I haven't talked to my eye doc about it...I guess I should. I also happen to have eye floaters in my right eye that go from almost invisible to bad and extremely visible. That one makes no sense to me either. Seems like they would be constant.