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Pupil Dilation during seizures....

Sun, 07/29/2012 - 09:25

Background:

So, have been having simple Partial and Partial-Complex seizures (with loss of awareness/loss of consciousness) since 2008.  All earlier EEG tests (sleep deprived, standard, 48 hour ambulatory) all came back normal.  MRI came back with a slight abnormality.  Have lengthy psych history before seizures started (had head on car collision in 2007) and so, with normal EEGs - Neuros I've seen say "psychosomatic".

I've not had a video EEG due to lack of insurance/money, repeated job loss, and no family to sit round the clock, or in shifts, for upwards of 3-5 days (of which Neuros insist upon).  My seizures are not weekly or daily; randomly and sporadically - menstural cycle cause has been ruled out due to I keeping a calendar template of seizure vs. menstrual cycle. 

So, pinpointing and scheduling that 3-5 day inpatient time is dicey and I've been told that if no activity is presented during.. "we'll just either continue as we've been OR we'll schedule another inpatient stay."  I have no insurance/money and repeated job loss (at moment unemployed)... repeated inpatient stays are out of the question.  Such is the medical system for the poor and unemployed/underemployed in the U.S.

However, since 2011... I've entered peri-menopause and well.. seizures have intensified with frequency and intensity.  I have more Partial than PC, thankfully, due to topiramate 50mg per day (cannot tolerate anything higher), but they are occuring more in "clusters" over a period of days.. AND I'm having more and more "NIGHT" seizures... which, initially, I never had. 

So... the seizures have changed since initial presentation in 2008.  I believe the change has been primarily due to the ongoing treatment with topiramate AND the occurance, now, of peri-menopause (a.k.a. irregular lengthy cycles).

Now... to the Pupil Dilation:

Now that I am apparently having more Partial seizures; they are being witnessed more by family members and others.  What they have told me is that at some point in the process;  my eyes become FULLY dilated which has tended to "freak" those who've seen, out.

They have said that it happens rather suddenly and the seizure, itself, only lasts a few seconds "maybe a minute", that they've noted.  The pupil dilation, however, is something I was not entirely aware of.

I've noticed, shortly after my seizures the last year or so (when being sick, stomach/bowels and in a state of fog, groggy, confusion)... that my eyes are huge & blackened, as if fully dilated, for a time.  Prior to; I hadn't ever really LOOKED at myself or caught myself in a mirror, etc... didn't think to and having had so few and sporadic seizures before... had only been told by any who witnessed, that my eyes were opened but I wasn't there.

It's just that recently.. more folks have noticed the pupil dilation OR have noted it to me as being "freaky".

Does anyone else have pupil dilation OR have been told their pupils FULLY dilate during seizures?

 

Comments

Re: Pupil Dilation during seizures....

Submitted by Noa on Sat, 2012-10-20 - 00:57
Pewter, I haven't technically been diagnosed, but I do get the pupil dilation you're talking about. Have been accused of drug abuse, etc (which is not the case) due to these episodes, but they are typically associated with significant memory deficits and loss of time as well as most of what you mentioned. Definitely not normal! Good luck! Noa

"Altered pupillary behavior

Submitted by mikhail_lewis@yahoo.com on Sun, 2019-01-27 - 22:28
"Altered pupillary behavior is commonly present during and following epileptic seizures." (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1528-1167.2011.03137.x)

My boyfriend gets the grand

Submitted by Carito_5c881c6e31ff4 on Tue, 2019-03-12 - 16:54
My boyfriend gets the grand mal seizures a few times a year and I have noticed his pupils dilate quite enough to turn his blue eyes into black before and after the seizures ....I can always tell when he’s not “feeling well” through his pupils....he’s been on CBD oil and pills as well as trying the keto diet and a portion of his seizure meds and he hasn’t had a seizure in over 6 months..... and at times when he’s had auras I give him higher doses of CBD along with his seizure meds and he never ends up seizing. The eye thing is creepy though he doesn’t look like himself at all that’s how I can tell if he’s not feeling well before he even notices it himself 

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