Fien De Waele Tongeren, Belgium 2H AGO

During a period when my medical symptoms suddenly became much worse, the hardest part was not only the symptoms themselves. Pain, dizziness, visual disturbances, brain fog, and acute stress reduced my ability to explain what was happening, make decisions, and keep track of multiple healthcare contacts. That created an awkward problem: the moment I most needed to communicate clearly was often the moment I had the least cognitive capacity to do so. I used ChatGPT as a temporary coordination and communication layer. I kept a symptom diary so I did not have to reconstruct everything from memory. When my symptoms changed, I could compare the new episode with previous days and prepare a concise description. I also used ChatGPT to think through where to seek care. Depending on the severity and type of symptoms, the relevant question might be whether something belonged with my regular GP, an out-of-hours GP service, emergency care, or one of the specialists already involved. Before speaking with a clinician, I asked ChatGPT to help reduce a messy description to a few medically useful points: what changed, when it started, how severe it was, what made it better or worse, which associated symptoms were present, and what had already been investigated. One of the most useful workarounds was extremely simple: if speaking became difficult, I prepared a short note on my phone and showed it to the clinician. At the top, I explained why I was using written communication—for example, that acute stress, autism, pain, dizziness, or brain fog were making speech harder. Underneath, I included my symptoms, timeline, medications, relevant history, and the questions I wanted answered. That mattered because someone arriving alone, visibly anxious, or struggling to speak can easily have difficulty presenting a coherent medical history. The same is true when symptoms reduce concentration, working memory, or language ability. AI did not diagnose the problem. It helped preserve my ability to participate in my own care when some of the abilities normally required to do that were temporarily impaired. During that period, clinicians investigated several possible causes, treated the problems they found, provided medication when needed, and ruled out more serious possibilities. The valuable part of the workflow was not AI replacing a doctor. It was AI helping me reach doctors with a clearer history, better questions, and a communication method I could still use when my normal one was failing. Step-by-step: 1. I kept a symptom diary so I could compare new episodes with previous days instead of relying on memory. 2. I used ChatGPT to help me think through whether to contact my regular GP, an out-of-hours GP service, emergency care, or a specialist already involved, based on the severity and type of symptoms. 3. Before speaking with a clinician, I used ChatGPT to organize what had changed, when it started, how severe it was, what affected it, which associated symptoms were present, and what had already been investigated. 4. When speaking became difficult, I prepared a short note on my phone and showed it to the clinician. 5. I put the reason for using written communication at the top of the note, followed by my symptoms, timeline, medications, relevant history, and questions. 6. I used the clearer history, better questions, and written communication method to remain involved in my care while clinicians investigated possible causes, treated problems they found, provided medication when needed, and ruled out more serious possibilities.