I forgot to add the autoimmune diseases more commonly found with type 1 diabetes. These conditions must be considered in regards to your symptoms.
Graves disease
Hashimoto's thyroiditis
Addison's disease
Coeliac disease
Autoimmune pernicious anaemia
Vitiligo
Myasthenia gravis
Vitamin B12 is a definitely worth testing. The problem with testing vitamin B12 serum is that the reference range is far too low. Symptoms do occur in low normal levels. An optimal B12 serum is above 800pg/mL or 600pmol/L. Serum Homocysteine and Methylmalonic acid levels are considered more reliable indicators of B12 deficiency.
Besides autoimmune pernicious anaemia (antibodies attacking instrinsic factor/parietal cells), vitamin B12 deficiency is also commonly found with hypothyroidism - most cases due to Hashimoto's (this is due to low stomach acid) and coeliac's disease (intestinal damage).
I have had the shortness of breath for the last five years and some....so that has been a continuous problem for me.
They have me going to do a tilt table test that I think addresses the blood pressure at various stages between standing up and laying down.
The dizziness/swaying only started occurring about 3 months ago maybe.
I just finished my Roaccutane cycle last week, my skin was horrible and I tried everything from skin care systems to antibiotics and creams etc prescribed by a dermatologist. The Roaccutane was the only thing that worked, the only side effect that I experienced to my knowledge was the dry lips.
The Cardiologist at Cleveland clinic said that the MVP wasn't an issue as far as he knew.
And I was looking into all the symptoms of a B12 deficiency and pernicious anemia as these all fit as well.
I do appreciate all the help and I am going to the doc on Monday, so keep all this info coming in so I can discuss it all with her.
Hi, I know u tried everything but try this;
u will need a vitamin store or online for a decent price;
buy Pro-biotics enough to take 200 BILLION cultures daily for 2 months, cut to 100 billion x2 months, 50 billion x 2 months and stop and stay at 25 billion daily
In your immune system which is in your gut there should be TRILLIONS of probiotics but meds such as antibiotics kill bad bacteria AND KILL good bacteria needed for life, G.I. functions, skin, acne, hair etc.
you should see a difference in a week but stay on them
good luck
Based on your symptoms, medical conditions and drug treatments: biotin deficiency, vitamin A excess, magnesium deficiency are good possibilities.
Accutane side effects list biotin deficiency and hypervitaminosis A (too much vitamin A). Accutane is a form of vitamin A. Biotin deficiency causes hair breakage. Too much vitamin A causes many symptoms but include increased changes in skin, hair, and nails, dizziness, fatigue, blurred vision, elevated cerebrospinal fluid pressure (intracranial head pressure).
Low magnesium is common in conditions linked to chronic inflammation, including heart disease, hypertension and diabetes. Hydrochlorothiazide can also lower blood potassium, sodium, and magnesium levels.
Magnesium deficiency is a known cause of Mitral Valve Prolapse and asthma. Magnesium deficiency symptoms are many but include feeling off balance/vertigo, blurred vision on and off, shortness of breath/unable to take a deep breath, no stamina/energy, wheezing (may not be full blown asthma symptoms), low libido. Magnesium also plays a significant role in the proper function of the inner ear. Only 1% of magnesium in the body is actually found in the blood and only 0.3% is found in blood serum, so clinical blood serum testing may not successfully identify magnesium deficiency.
I believe there are many different things happening to you but the most concerning is the symptoms described that seem to be cardiac or vascular in nature. Being a diabetic for so long, predisposes you for significant cardiac problems. The most concerning is the shortness of breath and the feeling that you have to expand the rib cage to relieve pressure within your chest.
"I also have most relief lying flat on my back with my arms extended so I feel like I am opening up my rib cage. When I lay on my side I can barely breathe because it is like my rib cage is collapsing and can't expand to get air in." and " when I bend down to wash my face and get back up or bending over to brush my teeth or even just closing my eyes, I sway all over the place."
These sound like perfusion problems e.g., blood flow. Lying on your back with your arms out changes the intrathoracic pressure, relieving the feeling of compression. Also you stated: "It felt as though an elephant was sitting on my chest and I couldn't get the deep breath in." That is "textbook" or a cardinal cardiac sign.
Pulmonary or lung issues relating to shortness of breath are usually worse by laying down and people feel the need to sit up and forward to breathe. That is opposite of what you seem to be experiencing.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right-to-left_shunt
Right-to-left shunt
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A right-to-left shunt is a cardiac shunt which allows, or is designed to cause, blood to flow from the right heart to the left heart. This terminology is used both for the abnormal state in humans and for normal physiological shunts in reptiles. Commonly found in turtles.
Human medical
A right-to-left shunt occurs when:
there is an opening or passage between the atria, ventricles, and/or great vessels; and,
right heart pressure is higher than left heart pressure and/or the shunt has a one-way valvular opening.
Small physiological, or "normal", shunts are seen due to the return of bronchial artery blood and coronary blood through the Thebesian veins, which is deoxygenated, to the left side of the heart.
The most common cause of right-to-left shunt is the Tetralogy of Fallot, a congenital cardiac anomaly characterized by four co-existing heart defects. The four defects include:
Pulmonary stenosis (narrowing of the pulmonary valve and outflow tract, obstructing blood flow from the right ventricle to the pulmonary artery)
Overriding aorta (aortic valve is enlarged and appears to arise from both the left and right ventricles instead of the left ventricle, as occurs in normal hearts)
Ventricular septal defect (an abnormal hole between the ventricles)
Right ventricular hypertrophy (thickening of the muscular walls of the right ventricle, this is a result of the increased amount of work the heart has to do)
I think this is something worth looking into: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Platypnea
Platypnea
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In medicine, platypnea refers to shortness of breath (dyspnea) that is relieved when lying down, and worsens when sitting or standing up. It is the opposite of orthopnea. The word is derived from the Greek platus (= flat) and pnoia (=breath).
Causes
left atrial thrombus
left atrial tumors
pulmonary A-V Fistula
Platypnea is due to either hepatopulmonary syndrome or an anatomical cardiovascular defect increasing positional right-to-left shunting (bloodflow from the right to the left part of the circulatory system). These defects include rare syndromes in which the venous blood from the liver does not pass through the lungs, or if venous blood from the portal circulation reaches the inferior vena cava without passing through the liver (Abernethy malformation, type 1).
Insufficiency of abdominal muscles causes lower diaphragm position and dyspnea. In clinostatism, abdominal organs push the diaphragm in its normal, upper position, reducing the respiratory effort.
Please keep me posted!
Have you been checked for autoimmune disease/disorders? You have a lot of symptoms that indicate one. Here is a check list that you may feel helpful http://www.thyroid-info.com/articles/autoimmune-checklist.htm You can have flare ups for years and it is never caught because all labs differ on what a normal range is for the TSH level. Best wishes.
Sissie