Ada – check your health 17+

I don’t usually leave reviews, but this app has been incredibly helpful for me. For some reason this past year I went through a few rough illnesses, one in particular that no one was able to accurately diagnose. I was in the worst pain I have ever been in and everyone kept telling me that it was nothing, or that they weren’t sure what was causing it. With nowhere left to turn I decided to downloaded this app put my symptoms in to try and find out something about what might be going on. The app makes it clear that this is not a true medical diagnosis and that you should always seek help from a doctor in person when you can, but even still it came up with a few possible diagnoses that I was curious about. Nearly a week later, when my condition finally got bad enough a doctor was able to figure out what was causing the pain and it turned out to be the same diagnosis this app suggested as the most likely cause of my symptoms. Since this incident I have used the app a few more times and it has been very helpful and incredibly informative.

I’m diagnosed with bipolar disorder and ada has been able to help me distinguish between when I’m having an anxiety attack or when my muscle aches and pains were more than just side effects of my meds. However, I believe that ada could be improved if we were able to add pre existing conditions to our profiles, in addition to our prescriptions actually factoring into the reports. Am I feeling fatigued because of my meds? Or is it something else? Pre existing conditions and medications can make it that much harder to question if it’s more than a side effect. And especially in the times of Covid seeking medical help is just getting more expensive in the US. But ada has helped me see when I should and shouldn’t go to the doctor (they helped me recognize the symptoms of pneumonia in time for me to get diagnosed before my lungs would be damaged any further than they were). I love this program, I just wish we could add the illnesses we already have and the effects our meds have on us. Of course the devs can’t list every medication, but letting us list the symptoms those meds cause should be factored into ada’s reports. There’s more conditions other than smoking, diabetes, etc that ada currently lists, and I feel the preexisting conditions are very limited. And I hope my thoughts on this are seen by the devs and can be brought into consideration.

For someone like me, who’s always worrying about having the most major sickness when I only have small symptoms, ada is a lifesaver. Anytime you feel sick and anything hurts, you can use ada to type your symptoms down and answer a few questions about how you’re feeling. This includes things like, “how are your symptoms changing over time?” and if you have any other symptoms. It lists a number of different things you could have, some of them are less likely then others. You can read about the sickness and it even gives you remedies to treat it. This app has helped me a number of times, and it’s also very easy and simple to use. You can get a symptom assessment done in only a few minutes because the questions are simple and straight to the point. Still, you should always see a doctor if you’re worried, and I’m happy to say ada does also remind you that. I have nothing bad to say about this app at all. It even checks up on past symptom assessments to see if you’re doing okay!