Fitness Trainer Didn’t Go to the Doctor for 7 Years Despite Strange Symptoms. Turns Out, She Had a Cyst the Size of a Baby (Exclusive)

Apart from visiting an optometrist, Megan Johnson hadn’t seen a superior attraction expert aliases gynecologist successful astir 7 years. 

With nary wellness insurance, a fearfulness of aesculapian bills, and a history of antagonistic experiences pinch doctors, nan individual trainer avoided seeking master help.

Trusting successful her ain judgement and online research, nan 28-year-old from Chattanooga, Tenn., thought she had uncovered nan main origin of her symptoms: diastasis recti.

It wasn’t until she shared her communicative connected TikTok that everything began to displacement arsenic followers flooded her comments pinch concern and encouragement to activity existent answers. What she discovered aft yet taking herself to nan emergency room near her stunned, but someway relieved. 

“My tummy was getting bigger and conscionable wider,” Johnson tells PEOPLE exclusively. She first began noticing insignificant changes successful 2021 aft forming a cyst, which ended up rupturing. 

Two years later, she started experiencing terrible bloating and achy periods arsenic good arsenic weight summation astir her stomach. She realized thing was disconnected erstwhile her belly fastener started shifting from an innie to an outie, and nan mediate of her abdomen seemed to split.

Curious to cognize much astir her symptoms, she searched nan net and discovered diastasis recti – a information wherever rectus abdominis muscles separate, according to nan Cleveland Clinic. 

After learning really to trial astatine location utilizing a two-finger method, Johnson was convinced diastasis recti was to blasted for her symptoms. She became wished to negociate nan information arsenic champion she could connected her own. 

She avoided some gynecologists and regular doctors owed to past experiences wherever she felt dismissed. After losing wellness security done her parents, and later astatine her job, she chose not to renew her coverage. “I conscionable felt for illustration it was a discarded of money and truthful I conscionable stopped going,” Johnson reveals.

Over time, she started to judge that diastasis recti, coupled pinch visceral fat retention and hormonal imbalance, were causing changes to her body. In little than a year, Johnson had gained complete 10 pounds and could nary longer fresh into her aged clothes. 

However, complete a five- to six-month span, she began noticing drastic maturation astir her abdomen, leaving her unrecognizable and filled pinch self-doubt, particularly successful her career arsenic a beingness trainer.  

Johnson ate patient and weight trained, but contempt doing everything "right," thing seemed to work. That disconnect near her emotion for illustration a “fraud.”

“Feeling for illustration I'm not capable to thief myself makes maine consciousness unqualified to thief different people,”  Johnson admits. “It was decidedly thing that knocked my assurance a lot.” 

In April 2025, she took to TikTok to talk her struggles successful hopes of getting immoderate extracurricular opinions.

Almost immediately, online strangers flooded Johnson’s video pinch their thoughts, pinch immoderate moreover questioning whether she was pregnant. The comments provided a much-needed wake-up call, and it was past that she realized diastasis recti mightiness not beryllium nan sole guidelines of her wellness problems.

“It was insane. This service of women came to my rescue, you know, saying, ‘this is precisely what I experienced. You look for illustration maine whenever I had that,’” she recalls.

“So erstwhile I sewage confirmation from different people, it gave maine nan assurance to beryllium like, okay, you cognize what? This really mightiness beryllium a bigger rumor than I thought. I'm gonna spell get it checked out.”

As followers became much invested successful her wellness journey, Johnson continued to archive nan full acquisition connected TikTok. She started by taking them connected a travel to nan emergency room connected May 1st. 

“This is not anybody’s responsibility but my own,” Johnson said successful a TikTok video while packing to time off for nan ER. “My ain pridefulness sewage successful nan measurement of maine getting thief because I would warrant my symptoms - ‘like nothing’s incorrect pinch maine and I cognize best.’ ”

After a number of tests and scans, it was confirmed that she did person diastasis recti. However, she was besides diagnosed pinch an ovarian cyst adjacent to nan size of a newborn baby.

Johnson publication nan results retired large successful a video, stating that she had a “massive cystic wide extending from nan near precocious quadrant to nan level of nan pelvis measuring up to 48 centimeters.”

With nan news, galore followers questioned why she hadn’t seen a expert sooner. She likened her wellness travel to a “toxic relationship,” noting really it's easy to deliberation everything is good erstwhile alteration happens complete time.

Things didn’t autumn isolated overnight, but done mini changes that added up. By nan clip she noticed, it was clear thing had to change.

“Ya’ll are really giving maine a reality check,” she said successful a video responding to comments. “I consciousness for illustration I person a bunch of large sisters that are getting connected to maine but successful a loving measurement – calling maine in, not calling maine retired – and I perceive you.” 

With nan thief of societal media, Johnson was capable to find nan assurance to see a gynecologic oncologist, who decided nan champion people of action would beryllium to surgically region nan cyst. Instead of emotion overwhelmed, nan trainer felt relieved. 

“I person immoderate satisfaction…because I cognize that nan point that I've been dealing pinch for nan past 4 years, that I thought I would beryllium struggling pinch for nan remainder of my life, there's a solution, and, like, 1 time I won't person to struggle pinch it,” she tells PEOPLE. 

Throughout her journey, Johnson has remained committed to staying affirmative online. She tried to make ray of nan business by making sex uncover cupcakes and naming her ample mass, “Cysterella." 

“I really consciousness like, nary matter really it turns out, it's going to service a bigger intent than conscionable maine and that gives maine a batch of hope,” she shares. Much of her power and optimism comes from her beardown faith. Johnson believes that each experience, whether bully aliases bad, has nan imaginable to lead to a meaningful takeaway.

On May 22, Johnson underwent a successful surgery pinch 27 pounds of fluid being drained out of her body. 

Unfortunately, nan doctors had to region an ovary and a fallopian conduit successful nan process of pulling retired nan cyst, which Johnson knew was a possibility. Regarding her diastasis recti, Johnson’s doctors are hoping it heals complete time, particularly now that nan main origin of each her issues has been resolved. 

By sharing her story, she remains hopeful that others will study from it and usage it arsenic an opportunity to self-reflect connected their ain wellness journeys. 

“Don't suffer successful silence,” Johnson emphasizes. “Don't conscionable beryllium backmost and hide your shame aliases embarrassment astir what's going connected pinch your assemblage because astir group are doing nan champion that they can, and we can't thief it.”

Johnson has decided that she will support up pinch her yearly checkups and support a person oculus connected her health.

“I've seen truthful galore different comments of group saying that they are now scheduling appointments wherever they're gynecologists aliases nan expert aliases nan master aliases whoever because of me, and because of that, it makes each of this worthy it,” she said in a TikTok video.

“If I had to spell backmost and spell done everything that I did for nan aforesaid result, I perfectly would," she added. "And now that I cognize better, I'm gonna do better.”