Paisley Dylan, a 30-year-old from Cwmbran in Wales, spent her 20s feeling self-conscious, living with agonising back pain and intensely painful periods where she couldn't even tie her own shoelaces.
Although she visited two different GPs about concerns she had over the size of her stomach, on both occasions she was told it was nothing to worry about, and she should lose weight.
While Paisley lost three stone in a bid to shrink her stomach it made no difference at all. It had grown to a point where one woman asked her if she was expecting triplets.
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However, the issue was not due to weight, as it turns out over the course of seven years, an ovarian cyst had been growing inside of her.
The cyst, which has now been removed, was made up of 42 litres of fluid - a total of around six and a half stone in weight.
Talking about the years leading up to the discovery, Paisley told Wales Online: "I have always had problems with my period, whenever I would go to the GP for that I was always told to lose weight, that will help. When my stomach started getting bigger, I blamed it on that."
The effects of living with the cyst were detrimental to Paisley's mental health.
She added: "I didn't leave the house. Every time I left the house people were looking at me. People would ask if I was pregnant. I could not tie my own shoelaces.
"People would come up to me and say 'When are you due?', it's embarrassing when you have to say I am not. One woman approached me and asked if I was having triplets. It is embarrassing for me, it's embarrassing for them, it is all around an awkward situation."
Paisley first visited a GP about her concerns when she was living in England.
She described her stomach as feeling solid and added that if you pushed, it would push back, however, she was told then it was just fat and to lose weight. She did, but nothing changed.
"During the first lockdown, I went to stay with my parents in Anglesey. I lost around three stone, and my stomach was not changing. I went to see the GP to see if it was just weight or something more sinister.
“They made me lie down on my back and they pressed on my stomach and they said it was just weight, and that it would take a while to come off my stomach."
In February 2021, Paisley was told she has diastasis recti. This is when your abdominal muscles separate, which usually happens during pregnancy. It tends to cause a visible bulge just above or below the belly button.
Following this diagnosis, she began exercising and losing weight, but after a couple of sessions, she realised that it wasn't that.
She also sought help from a lifestyle coach which helped her get more active for a bit. In January 2022, she completed 15,000 steps a day every day, but nothing helped.
She said: "My parents were worried and fortunately we were in a position to go private for a scan.
“When I first walked into the clinic the doctor said straight away 'That is not just weight'. My stomach was so big it would not go in the machine properly.
“The scan showed two cysts, one bigger one and a smaller one. But they said the scan was compromised so they couldn't see the accurate size."
Following seven years of being told to lose weight, the scan in October 2022 confirmed Paisley's concerns and she finally underwent an operation to drain the cysts in April at Ysbyty Gwynedd.
"It was a relief and not. It was a relief that it was not just weight and it could be fixed then I was worried about why it got so big.
“They said they were going to do the operation through keyhole, and told me it would only take two to three hours, but it took seven.”
Paisley did not think she had any symptoms of anything else at the time, painful periods were normal to her, and the back pain crept in so slowly that she didn't notice it had gotten any worse.
But now the cyst has been drained, she can't get over how different she feels.
She said: "There were not many symptoms because it came on so slowly, I didn't notice it. But now, I am not in pain all the time.
“I did have symptoms, I just didn't know. I was saying to my family, I can't believe that everyone finds life this easy.
“After the operation, I was still coming around and I remember my parents being there and I looked around, I was like I can see my feet, it is just crazy the difference. I don't feel like everyone is staring at me. It is much better than I thought it would be."
Paisley has dropped five dress sizes after the operation, and where previously she would wear clothes size 28/30 she recently purchased a pair of jeans in a size 20, the first pair she has owned for years.
However, she admitted she doesn't know whether she feels anger or frustration at how difficult it was for her to get a diagnosis.
She is sharing her journey through an Instagram page, @if_you_incyst.
She said: "There's going to be people with the same issue and they are going to the GP to be told the same thing.
“A lot of people won't be able to afford to go private. I'm sharing my story to get people to realise that you have to push if you feel like something is not right. I didn't push, but they knew what they were talking about."
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