When in doubt, go see a doc!
As people who read my weeknotes will be aware, I’ve got some kind of undiagnosed heart condition going on at the moment. This has meant that I’ve gone from running three times per week (20-25km) and hitting the gym three times a week, to not being able to walk very far without my heart rate spiking.
This week, I’ve had Angina and arrhythmia ruled out, but I’ve got to have further tests such as an echocardiogram and MRI. The consultant said that he was going to be “open and honest” with me that “it might take a long time” to figure out what’s wrong with me, and that I’m going to have to make some “lifestyle changes.”
NHS staff are under pressure and, for the most part, do a great job. They don’t have a long time to spend with patients, which is why I’ve started using AI tools such as Perplexity to investigate my symptoms. It’s important to know that this is alongside the tests I’m having done; unless I go private (not going to happen) I’ve got a bit of wait time before my next tests.
I know that some people reading this will be shocked that I would discuss my health details with an LLM. But, I would say, don’t knock it until you’ve tried it. I run one of the world’s most secure operating systems on my mobile device, but I’m telling some AI about my medical issues? Yep. I contain multitudes.
In the post I’ve excerpted below, Brett McKay from The Art of Manliness gives 30 ways in which AI can help make your life easier. I’ve used about half of them. But, even if you use private mode, a temporary window, a local LLM or some other way of obfuscating your identity, I’d give it a try.
There are some legit concerns to have about AI, to be sure. It’s not always accurate and not yet great at everything. But if used in the right way and with the right stance, AI can be really handy, improving your life and making it better and easier. It’s like having a personal assistant without paying personal assistant prices.
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Figure out a health issue. I’ve replaced Dr. Google with Dr. ChatGPT. I’ll just type in my symptoms (and sometimes upload a picture — don’t forget that AI can analyze images!) and ask ChatGPT about the potential causes. For example, I’ve been having some pain in my quads lately. I couldn’t determine if it was a muscle strain or a tendon issue. So I told ChatGPT where my pain was, what the pain felt like, when I experienced it, and what precipitated the pain. ChatGPT helped me figure out that I’m dealing with a muscle strain and not a tendon issue. My daughter had some bumps show up on her foot the other week, and I couldn’t tell what it was. So I snapped a pic, uploaded it to ChatGPT, and asked, “What is this?” ChatGPT ruled it a bug bite. Should you rely on ChatGPT to diagnose you for big issues? No, but it can help you troubleshoot minor problems and know when to consult a healthcare provider (when in doubt, go see a doc!).
Explain medical test results. I’ve used ChatGPT to help explain medical test results I’ve gotten in terms I can understand. My father-in-law recently got an EKG and the cardiologist only spent a few minutes giving him a cursory explanation of the results. My FIL then went home and ran the results through AI, which gave him a lot more details.
Source: The Art of Manliness