A 40-year-old woman who splits her time between North Carolina and the US Virgin Islands claims ChatGPT helped detect her hidden cancer after doctors initially misdiagnosed her symptoms as rheumatoid arthritis and acid reflux. Lauren Bannon turned to the AI chatbot when doctors dismissed her rapid weight loss and severe stomach pains, leading to the discovery of thyroid cancer.
Bannon, who owns a marketing company, decided to consult ChatGPT after becoming frustrated with her medical care. The AI platform suggested she might have Hashimoto’s disease and recommended specific thyroid tests.
Despite her doctor’s skepticism about the possibility of Hashimoto’s disease due to no family history, Bannon insisted on getting tested. The subsequent thyroid scans revealed two small cancerous lumps in her neck.
“I felt let down by doctors. It was almost like they were just trying to give out medication for anything to get you in and out the door… I needed to find out what was happening to me, I just felt so desperate. I just wasn’t getting the answers I needed,” Bannon told Mirror.
“So that’s when I pulled up ChatGPT. I already used it for work. I started typing what mimics rheumatoid arthritis and it popped up saying ‘you may have Hashimoto’s disease, ask your doctor to check your thyroid peroxidase antibody (TPO) levels’. So I went to my doctors and she told me ‘I couldn’t have that, there was no family history of it’ but I said ‘just amuse me’.”
“I didn’t have the typical symptoms of Hashimoto’s disease, I wasn’t tired or feeling exhausted. If I hadn’t looked on ChatGPT, I would’ve just taken the rheumatoid arthritis medication and the cancer would’ve spread from my neck to everywhere else.”
“The doctor said I was very lucky to have caught it so early. I know for sure that cancer would’ve spread without using ChatGPT. It saved my life. I just knew that something was wrong with me. I would’ve never discovered this without ChatGPT. All my tests were perfect.”
Bannon now advocates for others to use AI platforms for health concerns while exercising caution. “I would encourage others to use Chat GPT with their health concerns, act with caution but if it gives you something to look into, ask your doctors to test you. It can’t do any harm. I feel lucky to be alive.”
The early detection of her cancer through ChatGPT’s suggestion allowed for timely medical intervention, potentially preventing the spread of the disease to other parts of her body.
