A mother revealed how her son’s three years of chronic pain and countless visits to medical specialists were finally resolved after her instructions on ChatGPT revealed the correct diagnosis.
During the COVID-19 quarantine, as reported Today, Courtney, who did not reveal her last name, bought a bounce house to entertain her young children. Soon after, her then-four-year-old son, Alex, began to feel pain, and the family nanny informed Courtney, “I have to give [Alex] Motrin every day, or have these gigantic meltdowns,” according to the media outlet.
Courtney reportedly took her son to the dentist for the first time when he started chewing things and his parents were concerned that he was having problems with his molars or tooth decay.
This appointment at the dentist began three years of visits to 17 different doctors in all areas of specialty.
Mom noticed that her child was behaving strangely. A few days later, she revealed it was stage four cancer (exclusive)
A mother who couldn’t find a medical diagnosis for her son’s chronic pain (not pictured) finally found an answer using ChatGPT.
Getty
“Our sweet personality … (the child) dissolves into this crazy person who had tantrums that didn’t exist the rest of the time,” Courtney said. Today.
The dentist suggested that Alex see an orthodontist specializing in airway obstruction. While the orthodontist determined that Alex’s palate was too small for his mouth, making it difficult for him to breathe at night, the expander she placed in his palate helped only briefly.
“Everything was a little bit better,” Courtney recalled. “We thought we were on home turf.”
A short time later, Courtney noticed that her son had stopped growing. They reportedly visited a pediatrician, who suggested the pandemic affected Alex’s growth, referring him to physical therapy for an imbalance between his left and right sides.
Around the time he was due to start physical therapy, Alex started having headaches, and a visit to a neurologist determined that the young man had migraines. He also saw an ear, nose and throat specialist to determine if his sleep problems were due to his sinus cavities.
Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
“We saw so many doctors. At one point we ended up in the emergency room. I kept pushing, Courtney told the paper.
“No one is ready to solve a bigger problem,” she added. “No one will even guess what the diagnosis might be.”
Frustrated Courtney was on the edge of her seat when she said she created an account on the AI-powered bot program ChatGPT to share her son’s symptoms and information she gathered from his previous MRI.
“I went line by line through everything that was in his (MRI notes) and plugged it into ChatGPT,” she said. “I put a note on there about… so he wouldn’t sit cross-legged on the applesauce. For me, that was a big trigger (that) some structural thing could be wrong.”
When ChatGPT suggested that Alex was suffering from tethered cord syndrome, “it made sense,” his mother admitted.
According to the American Association of Neurological Surgeons, tethered spinal cord syndrome is a neurological disorder caused by tissue adhesions that limit the movement of the spinal cord within the spinal column. These attachments cause abnormal stretching of the spinal cord.
ChatGPT Hosts Colorado Wedding: ‘We’re honored and grateful,’ says Bot
With this information provided by ChatGPT, Courtney found a Facebook group for families of children with tethered cord syndrome and was able to make an appointment with a neurosurgeon who reviewed Alex’s MRI images and knew exactly what was wrong.
“She bluntly said, ‘Here’s the spina bifida eye, and here’s the spinal cord,'” Courtney recalled.
When Alex was finally diagnosed, Courtney said she experienced “every emotion in the book, relief, validation, excitement for his future.”
Following his diagnosis, Alex underwent surgery to repair his tethered cord syndrome, and while he is still recovering, Courtney said sharing his story could help other parents facing similar issues, insisting that “you have to be an advocate of your child.”
Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education