Released in 2015, the Apple Watch is a wearable smartwatch that allows its users to accomplish a variety of tasks that can be done on a smartphone, such as reading emails, making phone calls, and sending text messages.

And since the device is conveniently placed on your wrist, it can also perform health-related tasks such as checking your blood oxygen levels, keeping track of your heart rate, measuring your respiratory rate during sleep, and even encouraging you to regularly wash your hands!

With all these amazing features, it’s no wonder that many people all over the world are considering the Apple Watch to be a huge help in potentially preventing life-threatening health problems that may go undetected along the way.

Such as the case of this one young woman from Sydney whose Apple Watch helped her detect major changes in her health prior to her alarming diagnosis.

However, one small detail in her watch settings made her miss all the warning signs from the device.

Lauren Rebecca is a nursing student from Sydney and she was diagnosed with Thyroid hemiagenesis in December.

This diagnosis, however, was made after suffering for months from symptoms that include fatigue, temperature sensitivity, and weight gain.

At first, the 21-year-old student simply thought she was just “burnt out”, after serving as a nurse through much of the COVID-19 pandemic.

When her condition worsened in December, she finally decided to see a doctor who then gave her the alarming diagnosis.

An ultrasound of her neck revealed that she “had half of her thyroid missing,” which is described as “a rare congenital defect known as Thyroid hemiagenesis which only affects about 100 Australians.”

Fast forward to February, two months after the diagnosis and much longer after the onset of her symptoms, Lauren shared that her Apple Watch had actually detected the “dramatic change in her health” months prior to her diagnosis.

However, her notifications weren’t turned on so she never received the alert notifications from the Apple Health app. If she had known earlier, Lauren admitted that she would have gone to the doctor earlier than she did, as it had medical consequences.

Lauren took to TikTok to share her findings and the health information gathered by Apple Health, showing how her oxygen consumption and heart rate dangerously changed.



Lauren also told her viewers that even though their Apple Watch may not always be considered an accurate source for medical advice, it can still come in handy as a tool to help them track their health progress and allow them to seek professional medical help if needed.

Several people commented on her TikTok video, saying how the device has greatly helped them in the past as well.

One woman called her Apple Watch her lifesaver. “As someone with a cardiac condition, it literally monitors my heart all day and gives me peace of mind,” she said.

A second woman agreed and called the smartwatch a lifesaver for her as well. “I got high heart rate notifications so I saw a doctor and he diagnosed me with Graves Disease,” she said.

“My heart rate was so high that I would’ve had a heart attack by the time I was 20 if I didn’t have the watch, and I'm only 17!!”

Another person said that the constant heart rate monitor from the device helps doctors a lot too, especially in tracking their patient’s progress.