At 6 feet, 140 pounds, Jenn S. — a former NCAA Division I volleyball player — still has an athletic profile. But doctors once told this 42-year-old Scottsdale woman to accept she could no longer function normally after her blood pressure suddenly skyrocketed. None of the 18 doctors she saw could find a definitive cause or treatment.
That is until she found her way to the HonorHealth Research Institute and a clinical trial supervised by Taral Patel, MD.
A self-described Type A personality — who graduated summa cum laude as a triple major — Jenn is the global marketing director for a non-profit trade association that promotes exports of products to more than 50 countries.
“I love my job, especially traveling the globe and talking to so many different people,” Jenn says. “One day I’ll be in a Mississippi cotton field talking to a farmer, and the next day be at a Paris fashion show talking to a designer.”
Health problems begin
After a business trip to Dubai and then going to Disneyland with her family, Jenn started experiencing agonizing symptoms. “I was so fatigued it was hard to stand up,” shares Jenn. “I couldn’t even raise my hands over my head to wash my hair in the shower.”
This was a huge shock to Jenn, who did Pilates daily. She abruptly became exercise-intolerant, woozy and fainted at the playground with her two young boys. Her tongue, hands and arms became numb and tingly with no apparent cause. “Moving my arms up, it felt like I was lifting a million pounds,” Jenn adds.
Suddenly, her already high blood pressure was through the roof daily. The question was why; what was the cause?
Doctors diagnosed her with everything from hypothyroidism to hyperadrenergic postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), a condition that causes a rapid increase in heart rate when you transition from lying down to standing up, leading to dizziness, brain fog, chest pain and shortness of breath. She underwent countless tests – blood work, X-rays, CT scans, MRIs, ultrasounds, biopsies and genetic tests.
“No one could tell me why this was happening,” explains Jenn, who just wanted to get “back to normal.”
She had six surgeries in just under a year, including a total right knee replacement and an emergency appendectomy. Jenn developed shingles on her face and incessant mouth sores. “I spent so much time in the hospital that I still know the HonorHealth patient meal menu by heart,” she recalls.
Finally making progress
An endocrinologist suggested her adrenal glands (located atop the kidneys) were causing her resistant high blood pressure, but testing ruled it out. Her HonorHealth cardiologist, Christina Reuss, MD, immediately put her in contact with the HonorHealth Research Institute, where she met Dr. Patel about undergoing renal denervation.
“I instantly felt at ease with Dr. Patel and trusted him completely,” explains Jenn.
Dr. Patel performed a renal denervation, a minimally invasive procedure used to treat hypertension, by using a catheter to send ultrasound or radiofrequency energy to the renal arteries. Jenn said that after her renal denervation, she finally felt cautiously optimistic that her illnesses could improve.
“I adore Dr. Patel as he is so comforting, caring, honest and intelligent — one of the best doctors I’ve ever had,” Jenn shares. “Now, seven months later, my blood pressure has miraculously normalized. I’m forever grateful to Dr. Patel and Dr. Reuss for bringing back ‘the old Jenn.’”
Offering patients innovative treatment options
The HonorHealth Research Institute is at the forefront of today’s most important health questions. Established in 2005, the Institute has become a patient destination for treatments often available nowhere else.
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