How ChatGPT saved my life on Thursday night

Welcome to AI Collision 💥,

In today’s collision between AI and our world:

• What a weekend!
• The best doctor assistant ever
• Cuddly Mike

If that’s enough to get the check in the A&E happening, read on…

AI Collision 💥

Something didn’t feel quite right…

It was pain, but not a pain like I’d had before.

Something was…off.

So, I pulled out my phone, opened up ChatGPT and gave it my symptoms.

It instantly provided me with an answer…

Get to the hospital emergency ward, NOW!

This is the story of how ChatGPT helped save my life (sort of) on Thursday night and over the weekend…

On Thursday afternoon, I went to my son’s school for an assembly. He was getting an award this month. At the assembly I started getting some stomach cramps.

Didn’t seem to out of the ordinary for the time being.

But by the time I we got home, got him dressed and to his karate lesson after school, my stomach cramps had gotten decisively worse.

It was a pain I’d not had before, but kind of had an inclination as to a possible cause…

While he was practicing his karate class I pulled out my phone and opened my ChatGPT app.

How will I know if I have a burst appendix?

The answer came instantly,

Warning Signs of a Burst Appendix

These typically come after the early signs of appendicitis and may signal that it has ruptured:

• Sudden relief from intense pain: Ironically, when the appendix bursts, the sharp pain might temporarily subside — this is a red flag.
• Severe, spreading abdominal pain: Pain may shift from the lower right abdomen to the entire belly and become more diffuse.
• Rigid or hard abdomen: Your stomach might feel stiff or board-like to the touch.
• High fever and chills: A sign that infection (peritonitis) is spreading.
• Nausea, vomiting, and loss of appetite: These may worsen.
• Rapid heartbeat and breathing: Your body is reacting to a serious internal infection.
• Confusion or lightheadedness: A late-stage sign of sepsis or shock.

⏳ Early Symptoms of Appendicitis (Before Rupture)

• Dull pain around the belly button that shifts to the lower right
• Worsening pain over several hours
• Pain that gets worse with movement, coughing, or pressing on the abdomen
• Low-grade fever
• Nausea or vomiting
• Constipation or diarrhea
• Bloating or inability to pass gas

✅ What To Do

If you have severe abdominal pain — especially with fever, nausea, or swelling — don’t wait. Get to an ER or call emergency services. Don’t take laxatives or painkillers unless a doctor advises, as they can mask or worsen symptoms.

Would you like a quick symptom checklist you can keep for reference?

Ok, so for the time being, I knew I didn’t have a burst appendix. But I was meeting a couple of the checklist items from the appendicitis checklist.

And the critical thing there too, what the “What to do” section and a quick symptom checklist. It let me know that the important thing to do was to get to A&E (ER as the Americanised ChatGPT runs with) and go from there. But also gave me a chance to run through where I was currently at.

So, I did…

Run me through a checklist that I can answer yes or no to to diagnose if I might have it

Again, the answer came instantly,

Absolutely — here’s a Yes/No self-checklist to help you assess whether you might have appendicitis or a burst appendix. This is not a substitute for medical diagnosis, but it can help you decide whether to seek urgent care.

It ran me through four questions, each with four sub questions. And then at the end of it all said, “If you answered YES to 3 or more, especially to the pain location, spreading pain, and fever — you may have appendicitis or even a rupture.“

I had answered yes to three or more. Particularly a question it had about the pain starting in the belly then moving to the lower right abdomen and the onset of chills.

Karate was now over, and we were home. I said to my wife, I’m pretty sure I’ve got appendicitis, I need to go to the A&E.

So, I did.

On the way to the A&E I asked it a bunch more questions about it all, it advised me on what to expect when I got to A&E the tests they would run to see if it was appendicitis or acute appendicitis, and what would be the process from there.

This included a checklist of things to prepare to take to the hospital, time in the hospital should surgery be required, depending on the kind of surgery and what to expect at the hospital.

It also gave me clear guidance as to the situation if my appendix ruptures, what to expect and how to know. The situation would be substantially more serious had it ruptured but based on all the information I was now armed with, and my current symptoms, I was confident it hadn’t ruptured, and I was getting to hospital early to get the right treatment.

In a sense, albeit a bit of a stretch, ChatGPT saved my life. Ok, that’s a big stretch, but armed with instant accessible information like this I knew to go to A&E early.

At the hospital, I checked myself in, explained to triage the specifics of my symptoms (provided by ChatGPT) to help them more easily understand my situation. I was then seen to by the doctor, monitored, had blood tests, a physical inspection and a CT scan, all of it exactly as predicted and explained to me in detail by ChatGPT.

At one point they told me they were going to take more bloods and run an ECG to test my heart. They said sometimes the heart is under stress and they needed to check it. And then they left.

Why would they take more bloods to test the heart and run an ecg?

The answer came instantly,

Excellent question — if you’re in the emergency room with abdominal pain, chills, and tenderness, and they also decide to run blood tests for your heart or an ECG, it can seem unexpected. But here’s why they might do it — and it’s usually just part of safe, thorough care, not necessarily because something’s wrong with your heart.

🫀 Why they might check your heart (blood tests + ECG):

1. Chest or upper abdominal pain overlap

• Heart attack symptoms can sometimes mimic indigestion or upper abdominal pain — especially in older adults or women.
• They want to rule out cardiac causes if there’s any chance your pain is radiating, central, or unusual.

2. Chills + elevated heart rate = infection… or cardiac strain

• A high fever, dehydration, or sepsis (from a ruptured appendix, for instance) puts stress on the heart.
• If you have a fast heart rate, chest discomfort, or low blood pressure, they’ll want to make sure your heart isn’t struggling.

3. Routine screening when someone is acutely unwell

• It’s common in the ER to run basic heart checks (ECG + troponin blood test) anytime a patient presents very sick, to rule out multiple possibilities at once.
• Especially true if you’re over 30, have any shortness of breath, or if your vitals are abnormal.

4. Medication safety before surgery

• If you’re going to have an appendectomy, especially under general anesthesia, they’ll want to be sure your heart is stable and can safely handle it.

🩸 The Heart Blood Test: Troponin

• Troponin is a protein released if the heart muscle is damaged.
• Elevated levels could mean a heart attack or heart stress from sepsis or low oxygen.

📈 The ECG (Electrocardiogram)

• A quick, painless test to check your heart rhythm and electrical signals.
• Can detect:
  • Heart attack or ischemia
  • Irregular heartbeats
  • Signs of electrolyte imbalance (common in severe illness)

✅ Bottom line:

It doesn’t mean they think you’re having a heart attack. It means they’re being thorough — ruling out worst-case scenarios while they work toward a diagnosis. Especially if your vital signs are off, or you look more unwell than expected, it’s a smart, precautionary move.

I provided the full answer to that one because I want you to take note of the detail it provided. It’s that kind of detail that most often you don’t get from the hospital. They simply don’t have the time to explain it like this to every single person they need to deal with.

They’re already overrun, overstretched and trying to see as many people as they can. They shouldn’t be expected to provide that level of detail, and I guess now, they don’t need to.

And after each step I explained to the AI what had just happened, and it began to reassure me that I was getting the exact gold standard of care I should expect with appendicitis. I was in the waiting rooms before I got to a hospital bed for a while and the AI constantly reassured me that everything was going to plan. It was like having my own personal doctor right there next to me the whole time.

By the time I got a bed, and the surgeon came to me to explain I would need a laparoscopic appendectomy I already knew what was coming. ChatGPT had precisely predicted that’s what I would get and the process that would take. And that’s exactly what happened.

It explained everything to me from the terms they would use to explain the CT scans, to how the appendectomy would go and what they would do. It explained the IV I was getting, and the antibiotics and painkillers I was receiving.

It got everything 100% right.

Of course it wasn’t treating me, and I didn’t use it to question the doctors because everything they said and did, it had already told me was coming, and that it was the best possible way to get treated.

As such, I’ve been in hospital since Friday and over the weekend. The surgeons kept me in an extra day in order to make sure there was no infection from surgery, again ChatGPT agreeing with that as the best form of car to ensure I didn’t need to come back.

And now I’m at home it’s helped map me out a rest and recovery plan to ensure I don’t do too much too soon (to avoid things like a hernia), but enough to get back to normal quickly.

So, that’s why there was no AI Collision on Friday.

But it’s also probably the most real-world experience I’ve had with AI in a directly beneficial way to my own health. It’s the best $20 a month I’ve spent to have that reassurance and peace of mind during a situation like this where often you don’t get answers and explanations and detail that you need.

AI is very much changing the way in which we live in the world. And I expect that you might even find when you’re admitted to hospital, you’re given your own ChatGPT handheld device as your own personal assistant to help guide you through. Or maybe that’s asking too much of the hospital system…?

What I would suggest is get ChatGPT for your phone. Sure it’s $20 a month for the upgraded version, but I’d rather have paid $20 to have the assistance I did that not.

What it’s also done is further my belief that we are truly at a tipping point of how humanity functions. That AI technology will change our world is ways for the better and level up living standards as a result. Add to the mix humanoid robots coupled with AI and the world as we know it will be radically different within a generation.

It can be easy to get swept up in the things that are dangerous about it, but overall, the net benefits far exceed any potential downside, by some margin.

Anyway, I’m in rest and recovery mode, but I’ll be back again on Wednesday with another AI Collision, and maybe something a little more related to how to profit from this AI revolution.

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Boomers & Busters 💰

AI and AI-related stocks moving and shaking up the markets this week. (All performance data below over the rolling week).

Boom 📈

• Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) up 10%
• Palantir (NASDAQ:PLTR) up 7%
• Micron (NASDAQ:MU) up 6%

Bust 📉

• iRobot (NASDAQ:IRBT) down 18%
• C3.ai (NYSE:AI) down 8%
• UiPath (NYSE:PATH) down 7%

From the hive mind 🧠

• Going from AI in my phone to help at the hospital to actually using robots in a hospital setting for already overstretched medical services is the most complete no-briner in history. Maybe humanoid will be the biggest industry ever.
• While I was holed up in an hospital bed I saw this on the news. And it seems America isn’t the only place big companies like Amazon are spending up big on their big AI ambitions.
• AI to detect authenticiy of artwork and solve 500 year old art mysteries. Yes please, more of that!

Artificial Polltelligence 🗳️

Weirdest AI image of the day

ChatGPT’s random quote of the day

Thanks for reading, and don’t forget to leave comments and questions below,

Sam Volkering

Editor-in-Chief

AI Collision