A teenager who spent two years thinking she was just gaining weight was stunned to realize she had a 3-liter cyst that made her look heavily pregnant.
Teagan Edwards, 18, started to notice that her stomach was growing larger in 2023, but she simply put it down to weight gain. She told Newsweek that she presumed she was eating too much junk food and “was just getting fat.”
However, by May 2025, it wasn’t just the unexplained weight gain that she noticed. Edwards, of Toronto, Canada, began to experience back pain and nausea, and she would get full after just a few bites of food.
It wasn’t long after when Edwards also noticed a lump near her pelvis, making her realize something was seriously wrong.
“By May, I noticed that I had a bit of a bump,” Edwards said. “I also had back pain, nausea and vomiting, discomfort and pain from eating, pressure and overall discomfort, and pain in my rib cage.
“When I found the lump, it was located under my belly button, where your pelvis would be, on the right side. I thought something was wrong, but I wasn’t ready to know, so I didn’t think about it very much,” Edwards added.
After getting the lump checked eventually, she was told that it was likely an endometriosis cyst, although it wasn’t clear whether the lump was located on her ovaries or her stomach.
Following that, the discomfort progressed, and Edwards was in constant pain. Not to mention, her stomach continued to grow, to the point where she looked heavily pregnant.
“I had three ultrasounds and one CT scan, and I also did a lot of blood work,” Edwards said. “It was so uncomfortable, I couldn’t even get comfortable lying in my bed most nights. I work at a restaurant as a server, and all the regulars were gossiping about me being pregnant or congratulating me.”
By August 2025, Edwards finally got some answers as to why her stomach kept expanding, while her weight remained the same everywhere else. She learned that she had a large cyst in her stomach which was over 8.5 inches wide and almost 10 inches tall. It also had a depth of more than 4.7 inches.
It was a shocking moment for the 18-year-old to learn that a large cyst was the cause of her painful symptoms. It was a relief to know that it could be removed—although Edwards had to wait until November for the surgery.
By that point, the cyst continued to grow, and a surgeon told Edwards that her bump resembled that of a woman 30 weeks pregnant.
Edwards told Newsweek: “This shows just how much women are overlooked in the health-care system, and how someone can just be told they need to eat better without being looked at.
“When you’re gaining weight in your stomach, everyone’s first reaction is that they need to go to the gym, but there could be serious issues being overlooked.”
Edwards had surgery on November 21 to finally remove the cyst. Surgeons drained 3 liters of fluid from the cyst, highlighting just how large it had become.
Edwards is still in some pain and discomfort from the surgery, but, overall, she is doing much better. Now, she can eat without pain and is back to a much-healthier weight.
Following the diagnosis, Edwards shared the story of her “cyst baby” on TikTok (@teaganedwards3) and it has stunned internet viewers. In a matter of days, a video showing how large her stomach became has gone viral with over 460,000 views and 33,000 likes at the time of writing.
Edwards hopes her experience can help others advocate for themselves and ensure their concerns aren’t dismissed.
She said: “A lot of people have been sharing their stories of similar situations, and it’s honestly been great because I had nobody to talk to about this. It’s not talked about that much, but I feel like I’m helping in a very small way to educate people on women’s health.
“Women are always overlooked in the health-care system, so I’ve been convincing a lot of people to go to the doctor and be persistent when they know something is wrong.”
The size of Edwards’s cyst has certainly shocked viewers, leading to almost 300 comments on her TikTok video so far.
One comment reads: “I’m so happy ur [you are] okay friend because what omg [oh my God] that’s so scary.”
Another TikTok user wrote: “Thank you for sharing. I think we women often ignore symptoms too much.”
A third person replied: “Omg what if it had ruptured?”
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