A woman in Wales says she finally received the correct diagnosis for her long-standing medical condition after consulting ChatGPT, following years of inconclusive and conflicting assessments from doctors.

Phoebe Tesoriere, a 23-year-old from Cardiff, had endured seizures, frequent falls, and ongoing balance issues for years. She said medical professionals had attributed her symptoms to anxiety, depression, and epilepsy, and warned that repeated visits to the emergency room could result in her being treated as a mental health patient, according to the BBC.

Her health struggles began early in life, with balance problems emerging during childhood.

“All my childhood I had a limp,” said Tesoriere. “I was born without a hip socket and had operations as a baby, so thought it was to do with that.”

At one stage, she was evaluated for dyspraxia, a condition that affects coordination, but testing did not support that diagnosis.

When she was 19, Tesoriere experienced a seizure that caused her to collapse. Doctors again linked the episode to anxiety, though she questioned that conclusion.

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

In 2022, she was diagnosed with epilepsy and prescribed medication, but her condition continued to deteriorate, with increasing difficulty walking and more frequent seizures.

Doctors later suggested she was experiencing Todd’s paralysis, a condition sometimes associated with epilepsy.

In January 2025, she fell down a flight of stairs and spent three months in the hospital. Despite undergoing numerous tests, doctors were unable to reach a definitive diagnosis.

Several months later, she suffered another seizure that left her in a coma for three days.

Even then, she said, doctors continued to attribute her symptoms to anxiety.

Feeling desperate, isolated, and “lonely,” Tesoriere turned to ChatGPT, which suggested she might have hereditary spastic paraplegia, a genetic disorder marked by progressive stiffness and weakness in the legs.

She brought that suggestion to her medical team, who ordered genetic testing that ultimately confirmed the condition.

Now using a wheelchair, Tesoriere is managing her illness through physical therapy. She is no longer able to continue her work as a teacher, but is pursuing a master’s degree in psychology with the goal to “do something that helps people.”

In a statement to the BBC, a spokesperson for the Cardiff and Vale Health Board said: “We are sorry to hear about Phoebe’s experience while in our care.”