Apple Watch unexpectedly saves woman's life by detecting thyroid condition

Medical technology has emerged over the past few decades to considerably aide effective diagnosis of several conditions. But in some cases gadgets not specifically meant for the task can end up helping people get required treatment for their ailments.

In a similar case, a woman’s Apple Watch saved her life by detecting a life threatening thyroid disease even as she didn’t have any symptoms. Heather Hendershot suspected that her device was malfunctioning when it notified her about abnormally high heart rate as she had always been healthy.

But as the beeping continued for 24 hours, she visited the hospital only to find she had hyperthyroidism which was driving her towards fatal arrhythmia. Heather bought the watch hoping to track her health, but never expected it will help diagnose a condition which posed a threat to her life.

Hyperthyroidism is hard to detect as it often comes under the guise of another condition with very subtle symptoms like overactive reflexes, moist and warm skin and trembling in fingers.