Welsh Woman Finds Diagnosis with Help from ChatGPT

After enduring years of misdiagnoses, a woman from Wales turned to ChatGPT for help—and surprisingly, the AI found the answer when her doctors couldn’t.

Phoebe Tesoriere, hailing from Cardiff, had been grappling with seizures, balance issues, and falls for a long while. Despite her struggles, she was told she was merely anxious, depressed, and even epileptic, with doctors cautioning her against visiting the emergency room too often, as reported by the BBC.

Her health problems began in childhood, with balance issues surfacing first.

“All my childhood I had a limp,” Tesoriere recalled. “I was born without a hip socket and underwent surgeries as a baby, so I thought that was the root of it.”

When she was 23, she was evaluated for dyspraxia, a condition affecting coordination, but tests came back negative.

At 19, after collapsing from a seizure, she was again dismissed as being merely anxious, a conclusion that left her skeptical.

“I had no history of anxiety. I was a really happy, bubbly person,” she stated.

In 2022, she was diagnosed with epilepsy and started medication, yet her condition deteriorated further, and she faced an increase in seizures.

Then, the doctors diagnosed her with Todd’s paralysis, a condition linked to epilepsy.

In January 2025, she fell down some stairs, resulting in a three-month hospitalization filled with numerous tests that yielded inconclusive results.

Seven months later, a seizure put her in a coma for three days, yet doctors insisted it was anxiety again.

Feeling desperate and isolated, Tesoriere reached out to ChatGPT for advice. The AI suggested she might be experiencing hereditary spastic paraplegia, a genetic disorder that leads to muscle stiffness and weakness in the legs.

Taking this information to her doctors, genetic tests were ordered—and confirmed ChatGPT’s suggestion was accurate.

Now using a wheelchair, Tesoriere is managing her symptoms with physical therapy. Although she can no longer work as a teacher, she is pursuing a master’s degree in psychology to “do something that helps people.”

A spokesperson for Cardiff and Vale Health Board, part of the National Health Service in Wales, expressed regret regarding Phoebe’s experience during her treatment.