‘The Bachelor’s’ Daisy Kent Opens up About Meniere’s Disease Diagnosis: Is There a Cure?
On this season of The Bachelor, Daisy Kent aims to find her forever love in Joey Graziadei. But she will also use her platform to shine a light on Meniere’s disease, a health condition she has battled since her teen years. What is Meniere’s disease, is there a cure, and will it affect Kent as she competes against 31 other women for Joey Graziadei’s heart?
Daisy Kent shares her Meniere’s disease journey
Before debuting as a contestant on season 28 of The Bachelor, contestant Daisy Kent, 24, was already familiar to social media users. She has shared her hearing loss journey on TikTok and Instagram, opening up about her health condition, Meniere’s disease, and living with a cochlear implant.
Kent shared her story with the San Diego, California news station CBS8. She revealed that her hearing loss began at the age of 15. She realized she couldn’t hear her father when he tried to wake her up one morning.
“He was shaking me, and I was like, ‘This is weird,’ she recalled. “I looked at him, I couldn’t hear him, then sat up and realized something was wrong with my left ear,” she said.
“It was super isolating,” she continued in the early days of realizing she had hearing loss. “When you’re going through something like that, you feel alone because it’s your way to communicate with people and express yourself.”
When Kent was 17, doctors diagnosed her with Meniere’s disease. Four years later, tests confirmed she also had Lyme disease, which Kent believes likely caused her Meniere’s disease.
What is Meniere’s disease? Is there a cure?
Meniere’s Disease is a disorder of the inner ear. Mount Sinai‘s website cites most cases of Meniere’s disease have no known cause.
It typically affects men and women equally between the ages of 20 and 50. Its symptoms include vertigo, hearing loss, tinnitus, and inner ear pressure.
There is no cure for Meniere’s disease. It is a lifelong condition causing permanent hearing loss. The disease can only be managed. Treatment includes medication and sticking to a low-salt diet.
However, when those processes fail to work, some patients, like Daisy Kent, rely on cochlear implants to help restore some hearing in their affected ears. Other methods of managing the disease include injections in the ear and surgeries that can help control vertigo or shut down the affected ear entirely.
Will Daisy Kent discuss her disease on ‘The Bachelor’?
Daisy Kent will openly discuss her disease on The Bachelor. She is an outspoken advocate for those who have the health condition.
Kent was a candidate for a cochlear implant. This medical device can assist those with severe to profound hearing loss by allowing them to hear sounds.
She will also show that those who have Meniere’s disease can live an ordinary life despite its many debilitating symptoms. Per Reality Steve, her journey on the series goes very far.
Viewers will get to know a lot about Kent and her journey as her relationship with Joey Graziadei evolves. He was the first runner-up on Charity Lawson’s season of The Bachelorette.
Kent is an account executive for a mortgage software company. She enjoys traveling and founded a nonprofit called Hear Your Heart, which supports children with autoimmune disorders or hearing loss.
She is also the author of a book titled Daisy Doo: All The Sounds She Knew. The children’s book follows the story of a young girl named Daisy Doo as she relearns her favorite sounds thanks to a cochlear implant.
The Bachelor debuts season 18 tonight beginning at 8 p.m. ET on ABC. The series will air the next day on Hulu.
