Yahoo News Gym-goer could not understand why she was putting on weight - until doctors found a foot-wide cyst
A woman could not understand why she was putting on weight while on a diet – until doctors found a foot-wide ovarian cyst.
Sarah Upton says she ‘looked heavily pregnant’ and couldn’t understand why she was piling on the pounds.
The 29-year-old estate agent even gave up milk and bread and hit the gym three times a week – but her tummy still got larger.
It was only when a gym instructor pulled her to one side to ask if she was pregnant that she went to the doctors and discovered she had a 27cm cyst on her left ovary.
Sarah had the cyst removed and instantly lost a stone-and-a-half in weight.
The operation was left with a huge scar and may not be able to have children.
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Sarah from Derby said: ‘I thought I had put on a bit of weight with age but began to worry when it kept growing.
‘I had to start wearing baggy clothes because I couldn’t fit into my outfits.’
Sarah noticed her stomach start to swell around five months before the cyst was found.
After realising she could no longer fit into her size eight jeans, Sarah stopped drinking milk and eating bread, fearing she was lactose intolerant or had IBS.
Sarah – whose weight went from 8st 7lb to 10st – lost her appetite, felt sick when she ate and had sharp shooting pains in her abdomen.
Sarah and partner Daisy Pridden, 21, became increasingly confused by her stomach’s growth despite the amount of exercise she was doing.
She added: ‘They wanted to monitor me closely and by this time I was experiencing a lot of pain in my left side and was being sick after every meal.
‘I had a really healthy appetite before hand I’d always be hungry and I loved food. I ate really well and ate large meals in the evening.
‘I knew whatever I had was really affecting my appetite. Before I’d found out I had the cyst I began to lose my appetite.’
She went to the doctor – who asked her to do a pregnancy test – and was referred her to hospital specialists after the question at the gym.
Sarah underwent surgery on August 29 but was admitted to hospital five days earlier and put on a drip after the cyst ruptured.
She now has a distinct scar from her belly button down to her bladder but is ‘relieved’ to be free of sharp shooting pains and more than a stone in body weight.
‘After it was removed, doctors told me they couldn’t weigh it because it had ruptured and this was contributing to the pain.
‘Doctors said I would struggle to have children without the left ovary but I won’t be having children anyway.
‘I’m very relieved the ordeal is over.’
