I was told to lose weight after strangers asked if I was expecting triplets – it was NEITHER
Doctors told a woman to lose weight after strangers asked her if she was expecting triplets – but neither was the case.
Paisley Dylan actually had a six and a half stone ovarian cyst filled with 10 gallons of fluid, although she had no idea.
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She and several GPs mistakenly believed she was simply fat.
The now 30-year-old spent most of her 20s worrying about people staring at her.
She also suffered from excruciating back pain, extremely painful menstrual periods, and a belly so big she couldn’t even tie her own shoelaces.
But despite losing 3rd place, the bulge remained just as big as before.
It had gotten to the point where a woman asked her if she was pregnant with triplets.
It was only seven years later that she discovered the truth during a scan: two cysts were growing inside her.
Paisley, from Cwmbran, south Walestold Wales Online: “I’ve always had problems with my period – when I went to the GP about it, I was always told to lose weight, that would help.”
“When my belly started getting bigger, I blamed that.”
It got to the point where Paisley never left the house.
“Every time I did that, people would look at me,” she said.
“They asked me if I was pregnant. People came up to me and said, ‘When is your due date?’
“I couldn’t tie my shoelaces myself. It was embarrassing for me, it was embarrassing for her, it was an awkward situation all around.”
Paisley first visited her GP at the age of 23 when she noticed her stomach was tight.
She was told it was just fat and she needed to lose a few pounds. She did, but nothing changed.
During the first lockdown she went to live with her parents in Anglesey where she saw another GP who again dismissed her as overweight.
People came up to me and said, “When are you due?”
Paisley Dylan
Then, in February 2021, she received another misdiagnosis when she was told she was suffering from diastasis recti — a separation of the abdominal muscles that usually occurs during pregnancy, causing a visible bulge just above or below the belly button.
Paisley exercised and even sought help from a binge eating counselor, but quickly found that wasn’t the case either.
A lifestyle coach also helped her in January 2022 to take 15,000 steps a day, but that didn’t help either.
Her concerned parents signed her up for a private scan, which eventually got her some answers.
“When I first walked into the clinic, the doctor immediately said, ‘It’s not just the weight,'” Paisley said.
“My stomach was so big it didn’t fit properly in the machine.”
The scan showed two cysts, one larger and one smaller, and she underwent surgery to drain them in April 2023.
Paisley, who shared her journey on Instagram, said: “It was a relief and not.”
“It was a relief that it wasn’t just the weight and it could be fixed, but then I worried as to why it was getting so big.”
“They said they would do the surgery through the keyhole and told me it would only take two to three hours, but it took seven.”
She is now thrilled to be living happily and pain free and having gone from size 30 to 20.
“I can’t believe everyone finds life so easy,” she added.
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