A Personal Experiment - This article describes my own personal experiment. I do not yet know whether it will work over time, whether it is a good idea, or whether ChatGPT Health can fully do what I am asking of it.
I am sharing the experiment anyway because it may be a useful starting point. My hope is that ChatGPT Health might eventually help people with chronic and multiple conditions by looking at the larger picture—the interactions among symptoms, treatments, sleep, stress, emotions, relationships, daily life, purpose, and other factors that may be missed when care focuses mainly on individual symptoms or body systems.
This is not a claim that ChatGPT is better than doctors. It
is an attempt to explore whether AI can help fill some of the whole-person gaps
that busy healthcare systems often cannot address.
ChatGPT Health can securely bring together medical records,
health information, and supported wellness data in one dedicated area of
ChatGPT.
For eligible users, Health can connect with medical records
from supported U.S. healthcare systems, Apple Health, and certain wellness
services. This may allow ChatGPT to help explain test results, identify
changes, prepare for appointments, and answer questions using information from
your own records. (OpenAI Help Center)
That can be extremely helpful.
But your electronic health record—often called an EHR—is not
your entire health story.
It usually contains information such as:
- diagnoses
- medications
- allergies
- laboratory
results
- imaging
reports
- procedures
- hospitalizations
- clinician
notes
- vital
signs
- treatment
recommendations
This is important biomedical information.
However, chronic illness and multimorbidity often involve
much more than what appears in a medical chart.
Your record may say that you have pain, fatigue, irritable
bowel syndrome, arthritis, insomnia, diabetes, or several other conditions.
It may not fully show:
- what a
normal day is like
- what
makes symptoms better or worse
- how
one condition affects another
- what
happens between appointments
- whether
you are lonely or overwhelmed
- how
grief or stress affects your body
- whether
finances limit your choices
- how
much energy ordinary activities require
- what
gives your life meaning
- what
you fear
- what
you have already tried
- what
matters most to you
ChatGPT Health may become far more useful when you combine
the medical record with this missing whole-person information.
To access ChatGPT Health, sign in at https://chatgpt.com
and select Health from the left sidebar. Health is being introduced gradually,
so it may not yet appear for every eligible user.
Connecting Your Medical Records
- Open Health
(left sidebar of ChatGPT)
- Select
the option to connect medical records.
- Sign
in to each supported healthcare-provider portal you want to connect.
- Choose
whether ChatGPT must request permission each time it uses the information
or may use it automatically in Health conversations.
Medical-record connections are currently limited to
supported providers and eligible users in the United States. Apple Health
requires an iOS device. (OpenAI Help Center)
You can disconnect an account later through Health →
Accounts. OpenAI states that connected data from the disconnected source is
deleted from its systems within 30 days, although information already included
in your conversation history remains until those conversations are deleted. (OpenAI Help Center)
Connected medical records, Apple Health information, and
conversations that use that connected information are not used to train
OpenAI’s foundation models or target advertising. (OpenAI Help Center)
What Your EHR Can Tell ChatGPT
Once connected, your medical record may help ChatGPT:
- explain
unfamiliar medical terms
- summarize
a long medical history
- compare
recent and earlier laboratory results
- organize
medications and diagnoses
- identify
changes since a previous visit
- prepare
questions for an appointment
- create
a timeline of treatments
- compare
information from several providers
- point
out information that may need clarification
Example prompts:
“Summarize the major changes in my medical record during the
past year.”
“Organize my diagnoses, medications, symptoms, and recent
test results into a one-page health summary.”
“What questions might I ask about these laboratory results?”
“Which information in my records appears most relevant to my
continuing fatigue?”
“Help me prepare for my next appointment using my records,
but do not diagnose me.”
Health can also be used without connecting medical records.
The connection simply allows answers to be grounded more directly in your own
available health information. (OpenAI)
The Medical Record Is Only One Part of the Picture
The biomedical model is especially important for detecting
disease, evaluating dangerous symptoms, interpreting tests, prescribing
treatment, and managing acute medical problems.
But chronic illness often involves interacting physical,
psychological, behavioral, social, and practical factors.
For example, a medical record may document chronic pain.
The fuller picture may include:
pain → poor sleep → fatigue → reduced activity → loss of
strength → increased pain
Or:
digestive symptoms → fear of eating → dietary restriction
→ reduced energy → increased stress → worsening digestive symptoms
Or:
several illnesses → many appointments and medications →
confusion and financial stress → reduced follow-through → worsening health
None of this means that the illness is “all in the mind.”
It means that genuine physical illness takes place within an
entire life.
ChatGPT may help connect these parts because it can continue
a conversation, review patterns, ask questions, and organize information across
areas that may be discussed separately during brief healthcare visits.
A Whole-Person Standing Instruction for ChatGPT Health
Paste the following instructions at the beginning of a
ChatGPT Health conversation. Then continue using that same conversation so the
whole-person approach remains part of the context.
You may still occasionally remind it during an especially
important conversation, but you should not need to paste the full instructions
every time.
The whole-person instruction applies only to the Health
conversation in which you paste it. For now, if you start a new Health chat or
conversation, paste the instruction again at the beginning.
Connected EHR and Apple Health data are separate. They
provide personal medical information that Health may use when permitted, while
the custom instructions tell Health how you want that information interpreted
and discussed.
“Please remember and apply these instructions as my
standing default for all future ChatGPT Health chats and conversations, unless
I specifically ask you to use a different approach.
For chronic, recurring, complex, or unexplained health
concerns, do not consider only diagnoses, medications, test results, and
physical symptoms. Automatically use a whole-person biopsychosocial approach
and include spiritual factors when relevant, while always prioritizing medical
safety.
First consider urgent warning signs, physical disease,
medications, test findings, treatment effects, and whether medical evaluation
may be needed. Then also consider:
- interactions
among body systems
- sleep,
nutrition, movement, pain, digestion, and nervous-system regulation
- thoughts,
emotions, stress, grief, trauma, fear, coping, and symptom vigilance
- relationships,
isolation, caregiving, finances, work, environment, and access to care
- identity,
values, meaning, purpose, faith, spirituality, and hope
Look for interactions among conditions and feedback
loops that may trigger, maintain, or amplify symptoms. Distinguish among
possible causes, contributing factors, maintaining factors, amplifiers,
consequences, and what may be reversible, treatable, manageable, or permanent.
Never dismiss genuine physical symptoms as “just
psychological.” At the same time, do not ignore psychological, social,
behavioral, environmental, or spiritual factors that may influence physical
health.
Clearly separate:
- known
facts
- reasonable
possibilities
- uncertainty
For acute or potentially dangerous problems,
prioritize biomedical safety. For chronic or multiple conditions, automatically
provide a balanced whole-person analysis and practical, manageable next
steps—not only advice to see a doctor.
Use these instructions in every future Health
conversation so I do not have to repeat them.”
This Approach May
Improve Over Time
This is an early experiment, not a finished method. As
people learn more about using ChatGPT Health—and as OpenAI continues to improve
Health—there may be easier, more reliable, and more effective ways to establish
a whole-person approach. The instructions and process described here may need
to be revised as the technology develops.
Give ChatGPT Health the Missing Information
After connecting your records, tell ChatGPT what the chart
does not adequately show.
You might write:
“I want you to consider my physical health together with
sleep, stress, emotions, relationships, activity, nutrition, finances,
environment, purpose, and quality of life.”
You can then describe:
- your
most difficult symptoms
- what a
good day looks like
- what a
bad day looks like
- activities
that trigger a flare
- how
long recovery takes
- sleep
quality
- emotional
stress
- family
responsibilities
- financial
or transportation barriers
- loneliness
or social support
- what
treatments have helped or harmed
- personal
values and goals
- spiritual
or meaning-related concerns
You do not need to provide everything at once.
Begin with what is troubling you most.
Ask ChatGPT to Combine the Two Pictures
The greatest value may come from combining:
What the medical record shows
with
What everyday life reveals
Try:
“Using my medical records and what I have told you about
daily life, give me a whole-person overview of what may be affecting my
health.”
“What important parts of my health story may not be visible
in my EHR?”
“How might my diagnoses, medications, sleep, stress,
activity, relationships, and daily routines be interacting?”
“Identify possible feedback loops that may be keeping my
symptoms active.”
“Separate likely causes, contributing factors, symptom
amplifiers, consequences, and areas that may be changeable.”
“What is the safest and most manageable thing I could work
on first?”
“Do not give me a long list. Help me choose one practical
next step, clearly separating what I can safely do myself from what should be
discussed with a healthcare professional.”
Using ChatGPT Health With Multimorbidity
Multimorbidity means living with more than one ongoing
health condition.
People with several conditions may receive advice from
several specialists. Each recommendation may make sense for one condition but
create problems for another.
ChatGPT may help organize the interactions.
Try:
“Review my conditions together rather than discussing each
one separately.”
“Could the treatment for one condition be worsening another
symptom?”
“Help me identify medication, diet, activity, or sleep
recommendations that may conflict.”
“Which symptoms may have more than one possible cause?”
“What questions should I ask before adding another
treatment?”
“Help me create one coordinated summary for all my
healthcare providers.”
ChatGPT may notice possible connections, but it can also
miss interactions or suggest incorrect ones. Medication and treatment changes
should be reviewed with the appropriate professional.
What ChatGPT May Do Between Visits
Healthcare professionals provide essential medical
expertise.
But they may not have enough appointment time to repeatedly
help with:
- daily
organization
- emotional
processing
- symptom
journaling
- preparing
difficult conversations
- comparing
several areas of life
- identifying
recurring patterns
- adapting
routines
- reducing
information clutter
- reviewing
what happened after a change
- finding
one manageable next step
ChatGPT can be available during the ordinary moments 24/7 when
health is actually being lived.
You might ask:
“I am having a difficult day. Help me adjust my plans to my
current energy.”
“Help me understand why this recommendation is difficult for
me to follow.”
“What physical, emotional, social, and practical factors may
be affecting this problem?”
“Help me prepare a short message to my family explaining
what support I need.”
“Review what happened after I tried this change and help me
decide what I learned.”
This does not replace professional care.
It helps fill part of the large gap between visits.
Important Limitations
Connecting medical records does not make ChatGPT a doctor.
The record may be incomplete, outdated, duplicated, or
missing information from other healthcare systems. Clinician notes may contain
errors, and ChatGPT may misunderstand them.
ChatGPT can also:
- overlook
an important detail
- confuse
correlation with cause
- offer
an unsuitable suggestion
- sound
more certain than it should
- overemphasize
biomedical explanations
- overemphasize
lifestyle or emotional explanations
- fail
to recognize an emergency
Use it as an information-organizing and thinking
tool—not as the final authority on diagnosis or treatment.
💬 Prompts Are Just the
Beginning
You can continue by asking:
- “What
am I overlooking?”
- “Can
you consider the whole person?”
- “How
might these conditions interact?”
- “Can
you make this simpler?”
- “Can
you ask me one question at a time?”
- “What
information is missing?”
- “Which
part comes from my record, and which part is your interpretation?”
- “How
certain are you?”
- “What
is one manageable next step?”
- “What
should I verify with a professional?”
Final Thought
Your medical record is important.
But it is not you.
It contains parts of your medical history, not the full
experience of living in your body and managing your life every day.
ChatGPT Health may be most useful when it combines
biomedical information with the person behind the record:
Your symptoms.
Your sleep.
Your emotions.
Your relationships.
Your environment.
Your struggles.
Your values.
Your purpose.
Your hopes.
The EHR provides important pieces of the puzzle.
You provide the rest of the picture.
For More Information Click HERE
Join the Conversation
Have you connected medical records, Apple Health, or other
wellness information to ChatGPT Health?
What important parts of your health story are missing from
your medical chart—such as sleep, stress, emotions, grief, relationships,
caregiving, finances, daily routines, environment, spirituality, purpose, or
quality of life?
Do you think ChatGPT Health could help connect these
whole-person factors with diagnoses, medications, test results, and physical
symptoms?
What would you want ChatGPT Health to understand about you
as a person—not just as a patient or collection of medical conditions?
If you have tried using ChatGPT Health for chronic illness
or several interacting conditions, I would be interested in hearing what
helped, what did not, and what you believe could make it more useful.
If you found this article helpful, please consider liking
it, commenting, and sharing it with someone who may also benefit.
Together, we may help shape better ways for AI to support
the whole person living with chronic illness—not only the information contained
in a medical record.
Thanks to GenAI for help in making this article.
Disclaimer –
For informational purposes only. This article is not a substitute for
professional medical, psychological, legal, or emergency advice. ChatGPT may
make mistakes and should not be relied upon to diagnose illness, determine
medical safety, or independently change treatment.
Additional
Disclaimers here:
https://sites.google.com/site/tgideas/ideas-for-products-or-services/disclaimer?authuser=0
My Amazon Author
Page
https://www.amazon.com/author/tomgarz
My Custom GPT’s so
far…
Chronic
Illness: Why Am I Still Sick?
https://chatgpt.com/g/g-69fa4cd970448191ace058c5d4ca15f2-make-sense-of-my-health
