Doctor GPT: My Journey Using AI to Support Holistic Health

As I logged into the virtual AI summit, I felt a mix of excitement and vulnerability. My name is Mayim Vega, and I’m a naturopathic herbalist, holistic life coach, and former NASA computer scientist. I was thrilled to share my presentation, “Doctor GPT: How to Use and Not Use AI to Support Your Health and Healing,” with an audience of entrepreneurs eager to explore AI’s potential. This talk was deeply personal, rooted in my own health struggles and my experiments with AI tools like ChatGPT and Google Gemini. Before the summit, I conducted tests to see how these tools would handle my past health challenges, and I was ready to report the results—warts and all.

From NASA to Motherhood: A Health Crisis That Changed Everything

My journey began in an unexpected place: the NASA Ames Research Center in California, where I worked on a small team developing iLab, a virtual testing tool for aircraft, spacecraft, and even nanotechnology. It was exhilarating work, but everything shifted when I became a mother in 2003. I now have seven biological children and two adopted children, and balancing motherhood with a demanding career felt impossible. After the birth of my first child, I quit NASA to become a work-from-home entrepreneur, building websites and apps for Silicon Valley startups.

But soon, debilitating migraines derailed my life. They were so severe I couldn’t work or care for my kids properly, and sleep became a distant memory. In 2003, I landed in the emergency room, convinced I was dying. The doctors ruled out a brain tumor but had no answers, sending me home with Valium. I knew in my gut that my migraines weren’t caused by a Valium deficiency. Frustrated, I vowed this would be my last brush with a medical system that seemed more interested in masking symptoms than finding root causes.

I dove into self-directed research, studying nutrition, herbalism, and holistic health. My breakthrough came when I discovered that my migraines were linked to a vitamin B12 deficiency, common among vegetarians like me aspiring to be vegan. By supplementing with B12 and adding animal products to my diet, I found relief that no prescription could match. This experience not only healed me but also inspired me to launch Arukah.com in 2009, where I now coach others to become confident holistic healers.

Testing AI: Can It Solve My Health Puzzle?

As a former computer scientist, I’m no stranger to technology, and I’m an avid AI user. When I saw a post about the AI summit in a Facebook group, I knew I had to share how I’ve used AI in my health journey. Before the talk, I ran experiments to test how ChatGPT and Google Gemini would handle the health questions I faced years ago. I wanted to see if these tools could have pointed me to B12 or if they’d fall short, and I was eager to share the results with the summit audience.

In one experiment, I queried an anonymous ChatGPT session, pretending I was back in 2003: “I have a terrible migraine. What can I do?” The response was generic—find a dark room, use compresses, take pain relievers. Solid advice, but it didn’t address the root cause. When I asked about supplements, it suggested magnesium, riboflavin, and omega-3s but missed B12, despite B12 deficiency being a more common migraine trigger. I even asked, “What are the top deficiency causes of migraines?” ChatGPT listed B12 as number six but recommended omega-3s (number eight) earlier. Why the discrepancy? I suspect it’s because AI reflects the biases of its data, often skewed by pharmaceutical influences that dominate mainstream health information.

Google Gemini didn’t fare much better. It offered similar suggestions but also failed to highlight B12. These results confirmed what I’ve long believed: AI can be a helpful starting point, but it’s not a doctor. You need to be your own advocate, cross-checking outputs with trusted sources or personal expertise.

That said, AI has its strengths. I often use ChatGPT to research medication side effects, and it’s reliable for listing common issues like Valium’s drowsiness or headache risks. In another pre-summit experiment, I uploaded a four-page blood test report from a time when I was recovering from an infection. I prompted ChatGPT: “You are a doctor. Explain these test results.” The response was impressive, translating complex data into plain language and confirming my recovery from hypothyroidism and vitamin D deficiency. I double-checked with two holistic doctor friends, who agreed the analysis was spot-on, though they advised me to monitor my blood sugar levels.

Google Gemini shines when I upload documents to a specific folder and query it to pull answers only from those sources. This feature is a game-changer for me as a holistic healer, letting me bypass mainstream biases and rely on trusted references. ChatGPT, on the other hand, sometimes ignores my instructions to stick to specific websites, which can be frustrating.

The Bigger Picture: Holistic Health in a Biased World

My experiments underscored a broader truth: AI, like much of the internet, is shaped by pharmaceutical lobbying and mainstream medical narratives. When I asked ChatGPT why I, as a vegetarian, got migraines while others didn’t, it correctly pointed to stress as a factor, which I later confirmed through my studies. Coupled with my B12 deficiency, the stress of entrepreneurship and motherhood had pushed my body to its limit. By addressing both—through diet and mindset shifts—I healed myself.

But getting to those answers required digging beyond what AI or doctors initially offered. The summit audience echoed this frustration. One attendee shared how she overcame diverticulitis with probiotics after doctors insisted she’d need medication for life. Another emphasized parasite cleanses, a critical step in holistic healing that I include in my herbalism training, inspired by pioneers like Dr. Hulda Clarke.

These stories reinforced my mission at Arukah.com: to empower people to trust their inner healer. My program teaches naturopathic herbalism, nutrition, orthomolecular medicine, and holistic life coaching, blending science and spirituality. Unlike many holistic schools that lean vegetarian, we focus on bioavailable nutrition, including animal products when needed. Our students learn from top healers—naturopaths, nutritionists, even neuroscientists—many of whom have been censored by social media for challenging mainstream narratives.

A Call to Holistic Success

As I wrapped up my talk, I left the audience with a core belief: success is holistic. Health, wealth, and relationships are intertwined, and without health, the others lose their shine. My journey from NASA to naturopathy taught me that true healing comes from addressing root causes, not masking symptoms. AI can be a tool in that process, but only if we use it wisely—questioning its outputs, seeking trusted sources, and listening to our intuition.

I invite you to explore this path at Arukah.com, where we train people to become confident holistic healers, guided by Hippocrates’ wisdom: “The greatest medicine is teaching people how not to need it.” Together, let’s build a future where health is about prevention, empowerment, and trusting the doctor within us all.

Connect with me at www.arukah.com to learn more about our certification program and start your holistic healing journey.