What Causes Pinpoint Pupils And Disoriented Behaviour?

Posted on Thu, 24 Jul 2014

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Thu, 24 Jul 2014 Answered on

Tue, 19 Aug 2014 Last reviewed on

Question : a coworker became sluggish, with slurred speech, disoriented, and with pinpoint pupils. what could this be?

Answered by Dr. Karl Logan (59 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
Opiate based drugs

Detailed Answer:
Hi thanks for your questions,

the symptoms that you describe are consistent with the secondary effects of opiate drugs or those related to the morphine family. I would question whether your co-worker is taking any such drugs for medical reasons.

There are other possibilities but generally a patients pupils would not be pinpoint. One might consider a mild stroke called a transient ischaemic attack.

I hope this answers your question.

Best wishes

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Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar