She thought something might be wrong when she started to feel pain.
What an Alabama woman thought was just excess weight was actually a 50-pound ovarian cyst.
Kayla Rahn, 30, said her stomach first began bothering her in September 2017. She was experiencing shortness of breath and abdominal pain, but thought it might just be from putting on weight.
"I went from a busy job to a desk job so I thought it was catching up to me," Rahn told InsideEdition.com. “I started trying to lose weight but it wasn’t coming off.”
Rahn said she went to several doctors who told her to "change her diet" and "lay off the sodas."
But when the weight didn't come off and the stomach pain persisted, she began to think something else might be going on.
“My stomach was really hard, it was starting to get difficult to movie,” Rahn said.
Her confidence took a hit as the weight continued to pile on. To add to the concern, people had asked on several occasions whether Rahn was pregnant and her clothes no longer fit.
After Rahn’s mother heard her complain for a year, she encouraged her daughter in May to go Jackson Hospital. There, doctors gave her a CT scan. They found a giant mass, and informed Rahn she would need to have surgery the following day.
Doctors said the mass was likely benign, but were still unsure what it was. It turned out to be a 50-pound cyst on her ovary.
Gregory Jones, an obstetrician-gynecologist at the hospital, said it was good that Rahn knew something was wrong.
“She was seeking help from multiple physicians, and we had missed it — as a medical community, we had missed it," Jones told The Washington Post. “What was interesting is that she never had the shock and awe; she had this relief, like, 'Of course there's a mass.'”
Doctors successfully removed the cysts and Rahn has lost 75 pounds since her May 26 surgery. She said she’s happy and feeling much better.
“Her advice to others is to “be your own advocate," adding, "If one doctor doesn't listen, go to another. Don’t give up."
Ovarian cysts are common in women and are usually harmless. However, they can be dangerous if they grow larger, often causing pain and bleeding that can force the ovary to twist or rupture.
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