Woman’s ovarian cyst grew so big people thought she was pregnant

By Nia Price via SWNS

A mom claims a giant 20-pound ovarian cyst that made her look pregnant was removed before it crushed her lungs and she was "suffocated from the inside out."

Kenya Smith said she started having trouble going to the loo, could no longer sleep on her stomach and had discomfort after eating, last May so visited a doctor.

The 27-year-old claims she saw various specialists to try and get to the bottom of her strange symptoms but doctors were left scratching their heads as her stomach continued to balloon.

The horrified real estate professional said that her tummy eventually became so big that she was constantly mistaken for being pregnant - and was asked around 50 times when she was due.

After several months passed with no answers, the content creator booked her own ultrasound and CT scan, which revealed she had an ovarian cyst - a fluid-filled sac on her right ovary.

Kenya claims that at its largest, she was in pain as it crushed on her ribs, she became exhausted and survived on smoothies for three weeks as there was no room in her abdomen.

The mom-of-three eventually had the life-saving surgery in November to drain 10 liters of liquid from the cyst before it was removed along with her right ovary and fallopian tube.

Since the op, Kenya says she feels "like a new person" and is now urging women to advocate for themselves and their health, given that we know our bodies better than anybody else.

Kenya, of Orem, Utah, said: "It was life-saving surgery. If it wasn't treated it would have kept on growing and crushed my lungs, so I would have suffocated from the inside out.

"For me it was an emergency to get it out because I literally was starving because I couldn't eat anything because there was no more room in my abdomen for my stomach to grow.

"I was in so much pain and so miserable at the end. I was drinking smoothies for around three weeks, taking laxatives and was so malnourished.

"My stomach was growing at a really fast and alarming rate the last few weeks before my surgery. It was really scary.

"It was like having a pregnant belly but it was soft and squishy, so it didn't feel like one. I was bigger than when I was nine months pregnant.

"People constantly mistook me for being pregnant. I probably got asked over 50 times when I was due or if I was having a boy or a girl.

"I felt bad because I finally stopped telling people that I wasn't pregnant because it would make them feel so terrible because I did look pregnant, I would have thought that I was too."

Kenya said that she had her youngest last March and that her stomach never really went down after she gave birth.

But it started getting bigger once she stopped breastfeeding around six months later.

Kenya said: "The main symptoms that made me go to the doctor were having a hard time going to the bathroom and I like to sleep on my stomach sometimes and I couldn't lay on my stomach.

"Every time I'd eat I'd have discomfort where I'd feel really full.

"I had no idea what the symptoms were. I was wondering what was going on because I'd never had anything like this before.

"I thought maybe it was a gastro problem, my abs didn't come back together after having a baby or that maybe I'd developed a food allergy.

"I went to five different specialists - an obstetrics doctor, pelvic floor specialist, an allergist, a naturalist, a gastroenterologist, before I finally scheduled my own ultrasound and CT scan.

"I was pretty persistent even before it started to get bigger - I was at the doctor, googling everything and using social media to ask for help.

"I saw a girl whose stomach looked very similar to mine and she had fibroid, which are benign tumors that can grow on your uterus.

"I thought 'oh my gosh, that looks like my stomach'. That initially made me think I don't have time to wait for all these doctors to figure it out, I needed an ultrasound as soon as possible."

The TikToker had the surgery at the beginning of November and said that the last time her stomach was measured it was 35cm vertically.

Kenya said: "I have a newborn and two toddlers that I'm keeping up with and taking to all their activities. Physically, it was exhausting, especially toward the end.

"When it started to crush my ribs it hurt so badly. Physically it was hard, but mentally I think it was the hardest. I felt like my body was foreign and not my own.

"I couldn't get doctors to figure it out, that was the most frustrating part.

"They'd be like 'ok, we'll see you in a month' after a check-up and I was like 'let's not wait a month, let's figure this out now or tomorrow'.

"I didn't ever stop going out but towards the end when I was very large I definitely didn't go out as much.

"I didn't want people to keep asking me how far along I was and when I was going to have this non-baby.

"I felt really good and like a new person the day after my surgery. The relief I felt was huge."

The mom-of-three regularly shares TikTok videos about her ovarian cyst and has amassed over 130,000 likes in the process.

Kenya said: "I feel like a lot of times, women push through things because we really are so strong.

"Women handle things well and deal with pain well - we have menstrual periods, cramps, babies and other health things.

"I think sometimes we push through pain and symptoms but I also want to really encourage women to advocate for themselves and push for their health and the things they need.

"We know our bodies better than anybody else - better than any doctor or professional.

"We know when there's a problem and we can't let people gaslight us or make us feel like we're being oversensitive because most of the time we're not, because women are strong.

"We deal with a lot of really hard things so when there's something wrong we need to advocate to get the help we need."

WHAT IS AN OVARIAN CYST?

• Most ovarian cysts occur naturally and go away in a few months without needing any treatment.
• An ovarian cyst is a fluid-filled sac that develops on an ovary. They're very common and do not usually cause any symptoms.
• Ovarian cysts may affect both ovaries at the same time, or only one. An ovarian cyst usually only causes symptoms if it splits (ruptures), is very large or blocks the blood supply to the ovaries.
• In these cases, you may have: pelvic pain, pain during sex, difficulty emptying your bowels, a frequent need to urinate, heavy periods, irregular periods or lighter periods than normal, bloating and a swollen tummy, feeling very full after only eating a little or difficulty getting pregnant – although fertility is usually unaffected by ovarian cysts.
• The two main types of ovarian cyst are functional ovarian cysts – cysts that develop as part of the menstrual cycle and are usually harmless and short-lived; these are the most common type or pathological ovarian cysts – cysts that form as a result of abnormal cell growth; these are much less common.