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)
Megan Johnson is a personal trainer from Chattanooga, Tenn.
The 28-year-old self-diagnosed herself with diastasis recti, the separation of the rectus abdominis muscles, after not seeing a doctor in years
After sharing her story online, Johnson realized her symptoms required medical attentionApart from visiting an optometrist, Megan Johnson hadn't seen a primary care doctor or gynecologist in nearly seven years.
With no health insurance, a fear of medical bills, and a history of negative experiences with doctors, the personal trainer avoided seeking professional help.
Trusting in her own judgment and online research, the 28-year-old from Chattanooga, Tenn., thought she had uncovered the main cause of her symptoms: diastasis recti.
It wasn't until she shared her story on TikTok that everything began to shift as followers flooded her comments with concern and encouragement to seek real answers. What she discovered after finally taking herself to the emergency room left her stunned, but somehow relieved.
'My stomach was getting bigger and just wider,' Johnson tells PEOPLE exclusively. She first began noticing minor changes in 2021 after forming a cyst, which ended up rupturing.
Two years later, she started experiencing severe bloating and painful periods as well as weight gain around her stomach. She realized something was off when her belly button started shifting from an innie to an outie, and the middle of her abdomen seemed to split.
Curious to know more about her symptoms, she searched the internet and discovered diastasis recti – a condition where rectus abdominis muscles separate, according to the Cleveland Clinic.
After learning how to test at home using a two-finger method, Johnson was convinced diastasis recti was to blame for her symptoms. She became determined to manage the condition as best she could on her own.
She avoided both gynecologists and regular doctors due to past experiences where she felt dismissed. After losing health insurance through her parents, and later at her job, she chose not to renew her coverage. 'I just felt like it was a waste of money and so I just stopped going,' Johnson reveals.
Over time, she started to believe that diastasis recti, coupled with visceral fat storage and hormonal imbalance, were causing changes to her body. In less than a year, Johnson had gained over 10 pounds and could no longer fit into her old clothes.
However, over a five- to six-month span, she began noticing drastic growth around her abdomen, leaving her unrecognizable and filled with self-doubt, especially in her career as a physical trainer.
Johnson ate healthy and weight trained, but despite doing everything "right," nothing seemed to work. That disconnect left her feeling like a 'fraud.'
'Feeling like I'm not able to help myself makes me feel unqualified to help other people,' Johnson admits. 'It was definitely something that knocked my confidence a lot.'
In April 2025, she took to TikTok to discuss her struggles in hopes of getting some outside opinions.
Almost immediately, online strangers flooded Johnson's video with their thoughts, with some even questioning whether she was pregnant. The comments provided a much-needed wake-up call, and it was then that she realized diastasis recti might not be the sole root of her health problems.
'It was insane. This army of women came to my rescue, you know, saying, 'this is exactly what I experienced. You look like me whenever I had that,'' she recalls.
'So once I got confirmation from other people, it gave me the confidence to be like, okay, you know what? This actually might be a bigger issue than I thought. I'm gonna go get it checked out.'
As followers became more invested in her health journey, Johnson continued to document the entire experience on TikTok. She started by taking them on a trip to the emergency room on May 1st.
'This is not anybody's fault but my own,' Johnson said in a TikTok video while packing to leave for the ER. 'My own pride got in the way of me getting help because I would justify my symptoms - 'like nothing's wrong with me and I know best.' '
After a number of tests and scans, it was confirmed that she did have diastasis recti. However, she was also diagnosed with an ovarian cyst close to the size of a newborn baby.
Johnson read the results out loud in a video, stating that she had a 'massive cystic mass extending from the left upper quadrant to the floor of the pelvis measuring up to 48 centimeters.'
With the news, many followers questioned why she hadn't seen a doctor sooner. She likened her health journey to a 'toxic relationship,' noting how it's easy to think everything is fine when change happens over time.
Things didn't fall apart overnight, but through small changes that added up. By the time she noticed, it was clear something had to change.
'Ya'll are really giving me a reality check,' she said in a video responding to comments. 'I feel like I have a bunch of big sisters that are getting on to me but in a loving way – calling me in, not calling me out – and I hear you.'
With the help of social media, Johnson was able to find the confidence to see a gynecologic oncologist, who decided the best course of action would be to surgically remove the cyst. Instead of feeling overwhelmed, the trainer felt relieved.
'I have some satisfaction…because I know that the thing that I've been dealing with for the past four years, that I thought I would be struggling with for the rest of my life, there's a solution, and, like, one day I won't have to struggle with it,' she tells PEOPLE.
Throughout her journey, Johnson has remained committed to staying positive online. She tried to make light of the situation by making sex reveal cupcakes and naming her large mass, 'Cysterella."
'I really feel like, no matter how it turns out, it's going to serve a bigger purpose than just me and that gives me a lot of hope,' she shares. Much of her energy and optimism comes from her strong faith. Johnson believes that every experience, whether good or bad, has the potential to lead to a meaningful takeaway.
On May 22, Johnson underwent a successful surgery with 27 pounds of fluid being drained out of her body.
Unfortunately, the doctors had to remove an ovary and a fallopian tube in the process of pulling out the cyst, which Johnson knew was a possibility. Regarding her diastasis recti, Johnson's doctors are hoping it heals over time, especially now that the main cause of all her issues has been resolved.
By sharing her story, she remains hopeful that others will learn from it and use it as an opportunity to self-reflect on their own health journeys.
'Don't suffer in silence,' Johnson emphasizes. 'Don't just sit back and hide your shame or embarrassment about what's going on with your body because most people are doing the best that they can, and we can't help it.'
Johnson has decided that she will keep up with her yearly checkups and keep a closer eye on her health.
'I've seen so many other comments of people saying that they are now scheduling appointments where they're gynecologists or the doctor or the specialist or whoever because of me, and because of that, it makes all of this worth it,' she said in a TikTok video.
'If I had to go back and go through everything that I did for the same result, I absolutely would," she added. "And now that I know better, I'm gonna do better.'
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