A former lingerie model from the UK has to fight an incurable condition that makes her look pregnant most of the time.
Carla Cressy suffers from frozen pelvis disease - a severe complication of endometriosis, reports the Daily Mail. The rare condition fuses together her uterus, bowel, fallopian tubes and ovaries. Tissue that is meant to grow inside the uterus is growing outside of it, which causes inflammation, pain and scar tissue.
The 25-year-old faces daily excruciating pain caused from consuming a variety of foods like pasta or coffee. This makes her vomit or look nine months pregnant. “Within half an hour of eating I blow up like a balloon and my belly swells up straight away. I get headaches and dizziness and terrible backache," she told the Daily Mail.
Size eight Carla says she looks like a size 12 when her stomach swells and she is unable to fit into her jeans. Her diet now only consists of fruit, vegetables and meat.
More than 10 years after of battling the condition that caused her six-week periods, doctors diagnosed her with endometriosis in 2016. Carla, who now runs a hair and beauty business, was rushed to hospital when medics found several cysts that were attached to her organs and up to 9cm wide.
Cressy has already undergone three operations to take out the build up of cysts that fill her stomach. However, after each surgery the cysts grow back and doctors feel she will have to have an operation to remove them every six months for the rest of her life.
While the operations have saved her she bears a C-section scar and will most likely be unable to have children, which she has longed for. The illness forced Carla to give up her career as a model and left her stuck at home. Carla was diagnosed with the most severe form of endometriosis in January 2017. She numbs the pain she feels in her back and stomach by taking morphine and eight codeine painkillers.
