I was ‘six months pregnant' for years and had no idea – I thought I had PCOS but the truth was far more terrifying
HORROR FIND I was 'six months pregnant' for years and had no idea – I thought I had PCOS but the truth was far more terrifying
A WOMAN has shared the horrific ordeal she went through after discovering she had been 'pregnant' for years without her knowledge.
Darcie Kitchener went to her GP last year, after struggling with irregular periods and hair loss.
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Darcie went to the doctor as she thought she had PCOS, and discovered something horrifying
Credit: tiktok.com/@audhdarcie
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She had been gaining weight for years and had no idea why
Credit: tiktok.com/@audhdarcie
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Teratoma can have teeth bone and hair
Credit: Jam Press
Her symptoms aligned with those of PCOS, so her GP referred her for a blood test and an ultrasound so that doctors could investigate the issue.
Darcie was nervous during the invasive procedure, but her anxiety started to skyrocket after the doctor looked at the ultrasound screen and simply said: "I'm just going to get my colleague."
The doctor brought a colleague over, whose jaw dropped when they too saw what was on the screen.
"You should have the results in a few days", the second doctor said, without giving Darcie any inclination as to what they had found.
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A few days later, Darcie is called by the doctor, who informs her that "it's not just PCOS", and that she needs to come in and see the doctor again.
Following an MRI scan, Darcie was informed that she had a teratoma, which is a rare type of germ cell tumour that can contain teeth, hair, bone and muscle.
Teratoma are usually benign, and can go unnoticed for years, while they grow and grow inside you.
Darcie's teratoma was a whopping 22cm, making it roughly the same size as a six month old foetus.
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"I'd been consistently gaining weight since I was about 20, and I never understood why", she said.
Darcie had put the weight gain down to a number of health issues and the fact that she "loves McDonald's", so had never properly investigated it.
Understanding Teratoma Tumors
She had also never questioned why her stomach was "hard", around the area where the cyst was growing.
Darcie's teratoma didn't have any teeth, but did have lots of bone and hair.
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"We named her Gemma", she said.
"I spent months in pure terror, just knowing that this was existing inside me.
How serious are teratoma tumours?
A teratoma is a rare type of germ cell tumour that can contain teeth as well as more complete body parts.
They start in your reproductive cells, like the eggs and sperm.
This is why they can turn into many different types of tissue, like hair, muscle, liver, brain and even eyes.
Most teratomas are benign, meaning they are noncancerous.
However, it's still important to have them removed.
If not removed, they can rupture and cause infection.
In some cases, they can turn malignant (cancerous).
Malignant teratomas require chemotherapy to get rid of.
In most cases, these tumours don't spread like aggressive cancers.
As a result, most teratomas — even cancerous ones — have excellent survival rates with early diagnosis and treatment.
What are the symptoms?
People with teratomas may not show any symptoms at first.
Once symptoms develop, they can vary significantly depending on the tumour's location.
General teratoma symptoms may include: Pain
Bleeding
Swelling
Slightly elevated levels of the hormone BhCG (beta-human chorionic gonadotropin)
Slightly elevated levels of tumour marker AFP (alpha-fetoprotein)
But you may also develop specific additional symptoms based on the location of the teratoma tumour.
Source: Cleveland Clinic
"It was just horrific to know that this thing was in there, and I had no idea what it was".
Darcie had to live with "Gemma" inside her for five months before she was able to get surgery to remove it.
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"Everyone keeps asking me how I lost weight", she said.
"Erm, childbirth. I birthed a baby named Gemma who was full of bones and hair and who is obviously no longer with us."
Darcie's (@audhdarcie) video has likely left many open-mouthed, as it has gone viral, racking up over 1.1million views on the video sharing platform.
TikTok users raced to the video's comments section to share their thoughts on her horrific ordeal.
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One person said: "This happened to me
"It was so scary. Apparently mine had a lot of teeth."
A second person said: "My dad had a teratoma in his leg and he used to say it was his evil twin."
A third person said: "New fear unlocked."
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Scottish Sun
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If I can help just one person question what they're seeing, stop comparing, or avoid going down the same path I did, then it's worth it. My goal is to cut through the noise and expose the problematic messages so many people don't even realise they're absorbing.' According to 2023 data from Statista, 63% of TikTok users are between the ages of 18 and 34. This overlaps with the age group most vulnerable to developing eating disorders. In fact, a 2020 study found a significant link between social media use and disordered eating among middle school students, suggesting that the impact begins far earlier than previously thought. I asked Dr Charlotte Markey, a world-leading expert in body image research and author of The Body Image Books, for her viewpoint. 'WIEIAD videos are problematic,' she told me. 'Our food choices are driven by a variety of forces – appetites, cultures, resources, activity levels – and so much more. 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'We know that up to 90 per cent of the UK population are not meeting their fibre goals and in all my videos I show how I can hit this, easily. I share ideas and simple recipes to help them too. It can be a visual way to encourage more plants and fibre. It's also really important to remember we are all individuals and our needs and requirements vary considerably and so these videos need to highlight this and that they are simply there for ideas and inspiration.' Nasse believes the issue isn't the format, it's creator specific. 'Firstly, I think it's important to know the background of the influencer that you are following. Are they a medical doctor, registered nutritionist or dietician and are they credible?' Nasse hasn't seen her clients bring up her WIEIAD videos when discussing body image, but clients do cite them as sources of inspiration or education: 'clients say that they found it helpful to see how I used an ingredient or how they tried a particular recipe or learnt a new fact about what the science says.' Ghiacy agrees, and says she finds some of these videos 'refreshing'. She has seen WIEIAD videos that celebrate food, showcase cultural diversity and promote joy, nourishment, and the reality that thinness is not the same thing as health. She believes that this kind of content is 'powerful and important'. Nasse believes those making WIEIAD videos have to be very careful, and highlight that they are just examples to inspire. 'Some influencers who have no credentials in health and wellness have shared videos with very low calories, demonising ingredients and promoting unachievable and unrealistic lifestyle habits that you absolutely do have to be careful and aware about. On the flip side we can use these videos as a tool to help and inspire others, helping them get more goodness into their diet, showing how simple swaps and changes can have a big impact.' The toxic load This all points to a bigger issue with social media wellness trends: it's easy for health misinformation to thrive. 'Even if WIEIAD videos are not mentioned directly, many young people in particular get ideas about health and nutrition from social media,' highlights Dr Markey. 'Often this information is taken as fact when it is not at all evidence-based information. Anyone can suggest health information online, facts can be distorted, research misinterpreted and disinformation is presented with the aim of selling health-related products.' WIEIAD videos often reflect deeper cultural anxieties about health, beauty and control. They are a window into our food culture's extremes – from 'clean girl' smoothies and supplements to fast-food-only diets. These videos thrive in the extremes and the really viral ones often don't feel realistic or resemble how anyone I know in real life eats. Although they wouldn't admit it, a lot of infamous WIEIAD creators are trying to rage bait audiences for views, whether that's through spreading misinformation or pretending to eat differently on camera than they do in reality. Ghiacy warns that the language of diet culture is "incredibly loaded," pointing to seemingly harmless phrases like "clean eating," "being good," or having a "cheat day" as examples that "attach morality to food and by extension, to the people eating it." This moral framing, she explains, can have a powerful impact. 'When someone labels their food as 'clean' and it looks nothing like what you eat, it's easy to internalise that and start feeling like you need to change your habits to be a 'better' person.' Over time, she says, this reinforces the idea that 'our worth is tied to what we eat' – a message perpetuated across social media, films and even everyday conversations. This dynamic, she adds, is especially evident in the wave of WIEIAD videos. 'Whether it's the creator labelling their meals or the comments praising someone for not eating certain things, we start to build our identities around those patterns,' Ghiacy says. 'And that can be incredibly damaging, especially for young or vulnerable people trying to figure out who they are and where they belong.' Of course, there are creators, like Nasse and Ghiacy, who are providing educational content via the WIEIAD trend. And there have been times where I've turned to Doctors or nutritionists online, to learn more about what I should eat. For example, I have Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS), which requires me to focus on certain foods more than others – watching other people with PCOS, or medical experts, demonstrate how they cook with the condition is useful and at times, inspiring. But it's also essential to maintain perspective, something that a lot of social media users don't do, or are too young to know how to do. Just because someone with a similar diagnosis eats a certain way doesn't mean their approach will work for you. These videos should never replace proper medical advice or nutritional support. So what's the answer? I don't think we can, or should, ban these videos altogether. Like all content genres, they exist on a spectrum. But we need to be more conscious about how we consume them. And those creating them need to be held to higher regulatory standards.
