![\"Phoebe](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1_Woman-uses-Chat-GPT-to-uncover-rare-diagnosis-after-she-was-told-it-was-anxiety.jpg\")
<\/p>\nPhoebe Tesoriere, from Cardiff, was told she had Hereditary Spastic Paraplegia despite initially being misdiagnosed with countless conditions, including anxiety<\/p>\n
Phoebe Tesoriere, pictured before she was diagnosed, wants to raise awareness(Image: Phoebe Tesoriere \/ SWNS)<\/p>\n
A young woman used ChatGPT<\/a> to help uncover her rare diagnosis<\/a> \u2014 after she was initially misdiagnosed with anxiety.<\/p>\n Phoebe Tesoriere, 23, inputted her symptoms, including stiff legs and hair loss, into the AI tool, which pointed to Hereditary Spastic Paraplegia. She took her findings to her GP and underwent genetic testing, which confirmed she had the complex quadriplegic type of Hereditary Spastic Paraplegia.<\/p>\n The group of rare inherited disorders cause weakness and stiffness in the leg muscles, with symptoms gradually get worse over time. Phoebe, from Cardiff, has seen her condition deteriorate and it now affects all four limbs.<\/p>\n But Phoebe, who can no longer work as an SEN teacher due to the condition, had spent four years being misdiagnosed with countless conditions \u2014 including anxiety and Todd’s Paralysis \u2014 where your legs can become tied and stiff after seizures.<\/p>\n READ MORE: ‘I had same cancer as Mel Schilling and six strange things happened to my body’<\/a>READ MORE: Sanfilippo syndrome – tragedy of \u2018childhood dementia\u2019 and its early warning signs<\/a> Pictured in hospital, the graduate has spoken of her ordeal(Image: Phoebe Tesoriere \/ SWNS)<\/p>\n Phoebe, from Cardiff, received countless misdiagnosis over the years(Image: Phoebe Tesoriere \/ SWNS)<\/p>\n Phoebe became so frustrated she asked ChatGPT the harrowing questions about her symptoms, which eventually led to her diagnosis. She said: “It was such a bittersweet moment to be diagnosed after being told it was anxiety. To go from that to matter of weeks later being told actually you’ve got this condition which will change your whole life. It’s one of those things where I’m happy to have my diagnosis because it made sense but I’d rather it be anything else but this.”<\/p>\n The young woman, who is now fundraising to afford a special wheelchair to help adapt to her diagnosis, had always struggled with abnormal walking but it was initially put down to the absence of her left hip socket which she has since had bone grafts to restore.<\/p>\n The former teacher continued to struggle with an abnormal gait and, despite a seizure in 2025 landing her in a coma for 48 hours and struggling to walk, she was discharged and sent a letter by the doctor stating if she was to return to hospital she was to be treated as a mental health patient.<\/p>\n The 23-year-old woman was at first told she had anxiety(Image: Phoebe Tesoriere \/ SWNS)<\/p>\n Speaking today, Phoebe continued: “People think ‘oh she just can’t walk’. Or ‘it’s a massive thing she’s had but at least it’s not a spinal cord injury’. It is, and it’s progressive.<\/p>\n “At night I have to wear splints on my arms to keep them functioning as long as possible. There is no treatment but my doctors hope they can slow the progression, but there’s nothing they can do to stop it.”<\/p>\n But when Phoebe collapsed in February 2022 amid her struggle to get a diagnosis, she was taken to hospital where she was told she had “probably just got anxiety”. After struggling to walk, she says doctors also told her she had Todd’s Paralysis in December 2024.<\/p>\n She added: “It turns out I had MRSA as a baby and when I spoke to a specialist in it he said basically there was an MRI when I was 15 on my hip that showed signs of my nerves deteriorating in that, but doctors would not have known to pick it up.<\/p>\n “There are loads of side effects like speech issues and early dementia. It’s such a rare disease nobody knows about it and mine is one of the rarest you can have.”<\/p>\n Phoebe’s hair started to fall out (Image: Phoebe Tesoriere \/ SWNS)<\/p>\n Her sister Yasmin, 32, has set up a fundraiser to help buy a specialised wheelchair for Phoebe. Phoebe said: “I need a specific back on my wheelchair to support my spine and stop it deteriorating. I want to stay as independent as I can and obviously the type the NHS<\/a> give you, you can’t push yourself”. You can donate to the fundraiser here<\/a>.<\/p>\n A spokesperson for Cardiff and Vale University Health Board said: “We are sorry to hear about Phoebe’s experience while in our care and recognise how difficult the process of obtaining a diagnosis has been for her and her family.<\/p>\n “As it would be inappropriate to comment on an individual patient case, we are unable to comment further. Phoebe is welcome to contact our Concerns Team should she wish to discuss any aspect of the care she received at Cardiff and Vale University Health Board.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Phoebe Tesoriere, from Cardiff, was told she had Hereditary Spastic Paraplegia despite initially being misdiagnosed with countless conditions,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":517211,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[733,2188,1921,59,102,2196,56,54,55,1220],"class_list":{"0":"post-517210","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-artificial-intelligence","9":"tag-cardiff","10":"tag-chatgpt","11":"tag-gb","12":"tag-health","13":"tag-hospitals","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom","16":"tag-unitedkingdom","17":"tag-wales"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/517210","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=517210"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/517210\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/517211"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=517210"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=517210"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=517210"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Pictured](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1775546829_54_1_Woman-uses-Chat-GPT-to-uncover-rare-diagnosis-after-she-was-told-it-was-anxiety.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Phoebe,](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/2_Woman-uses-Chat-GPT-to-uncover-rare-diagnosis-after-she-was-told-it-was-anxiety.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1775546830_391_1_Woman-uses-Chat-GPT-to-uncover-rare-diagnosis-after-she-was-told-it-was-anxiety.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Phoebe\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1775546830_362_1_Woman-uses-Chat-GPT-to-uncover-rare-diagnosis-after-she-was-told-it-was-anxiety.jpg\")
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