Teamwork mends family’s head of household
Constant headaches and whooshing sounds plagued Kathryn Caplan for five years until she turned to physicians at Hackensack Meridian Mountainside Medical Center who gave her hope after other physicians couldn’t identify the issue.
“I could feel my blood pumping through my head,” she said. “It was causing bad headaches and a whooshing sound in my ear that was driving me mad.”
Caplan’s family witnessed the discomfort impacting her mood and overall health.
“My children noticed I was cranky because I was exhausted from not sleeping well,” she explained. During that same period, Caplan also complained about the lack of strength and sufficient blood pressure in her left arm.
When Caplan went to her annual physical last year with Ashany Sundaram, MD, a physician at Mountainside Medical Center, there was hope for the first time.
“My head was pounding as I drove to the office. The sound was especially loud that day. When Dr. Sundaram entered the treatment room, I said, ‘You have to listen to this.’”
Dr. Sundaram leaned in so their ears were next to each other. Dr. Sundaram suddenly exclaimed, “Oh my, what is that?”
Caplan replied, “I was hoping you could tell me.”
Dr. Sundaram couldn’t identify the source, but she passed a recording of the whooshing sound to a neurologist who then sent it to vascular neurologist Ahsan Sattar, MD, also at Mountainside Medical Center.
Together they diagnosed Caplan with Pulsatile Tinnitus, caused by an aneurysm that produced a partial blockage in the main artery that traveled near her ear. The aneurysm kept the blood flow bottled up for a time but then would rush past the blockage, causing headaches and the whooshing sound. It also caused her left arm weakness and lack of sufficient blood flow.
“I was so relieved when Dr. Sattar told me these issues could be fixed,” Caplan said.
To fix the problem, Caplan underwent a cerebral angiogram to determine the exact location of the aneurysm. A month later, Dr. Sattar performed the necessary surgery to repair the aneurysm and install a coil and four-inch stent to prevent it from forming again. A couple of months later, Dr. Sattar also placed a stent in Caplan’s left side to ensure that blood flowed freely to her left arm. One final angiogram confirmed that everything was working as it should.
“The Mountainside doctors made the difference because they felt comfortable calling someone else and saying, ‘Hey, I don't know what this is, but maybe you do?’ They really put the patients first.”
