There have been stories over the years of how the Apple Watch has proactively alerted its users to potentially life-threatening health issues.
Now the latest story comes from an Australian nurse, who has realized that data from her Apple Watch could help her to detect a rare thyroid disease more quickly after months of worsening symptoms.
Launching from 9to5mac in an interview with the New Zealand Herald, the nurse, Lauren Rebecca, explained that she was diagnosed with thyroiditis in December.
This diagnosis came after Rebecca experienced symptoms of fatigue, temperature sensitivity, and weight gain for months. Initially he felt that the symptoms he felt were only fatigue due to many COVID-19 patients. But his symptoms worsened so he decided to consult a doctor.
He also performed an ultrasound. Rebecca was also sentenced to develop thyroiditis, which is when the thyroid gland becomes inflamed and causes the symptoms she suffers.
And two months after her diagnosis, Rebecca saw Apple Health, a wellness app that had a wealth of information including a record of dramatic changes in her health and prompted her to seek medical help.
"I noticed there was a warning at the top of the app that never shows up as a notification because I didn't turn on notifications... I checked it and that's when I could see the trend that my Vo2 max had been dropping, literally in a matter of days." he said.
Vo2 max shows how well the human body absorbs oxygen during exercise. So with that drop, Rebecca suddenly couldn't breathe as well as before.
Through her TikTok account, Rebecca also shared her findings. He wants to tell fellow Apple Watch users to turn on all notifications on their Apple Watch.
"Instead of me waiting for the symptoms to get really bad, I can go to the doctor in October when there's a dramatic drop in days," explains Rebecca on TikTok.