'The Bachelor's Daisy Kent Has Ménière's Disease—What To Know About The Condition
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The Bachelor's season 28 has already introduced us to plenty of new fan favorites, including Lexi Young and Maria Georgas. But, one of the buzziest new ladies is 25-year-old Daisy Kent, who's an outspoken advocate for hearing loss.
In an Instagram post celebrating International Cochlear Implant Day, Daisy—who rocks a cochlear implant herself—got emotional about her journey, writing, "Losing my hearing has been the loneliest pain I have experienced."
"I pictured myself in a glass box since I was 15 and I’m pounding on the walls screaming and terrified," she said. "People are looking in at me and they can’t hear me. I can’t hear them. I am alone with one of the most dangerous things—my thoughts. I can still go back to the feeling of confusion. I was quite frankly pissed off."
But now, Daisy has turned her pain into purpose, ultimately writing a children's book Daisy Doo about her experience and founding the nonprofit Hear Your Heart, which supports children who have autoimmune disorders or hearing loss.
"Losing my hearing helped me see my ability to connect with people," she added. "It unlocked the ability to feel more, love more. I thought I was this little girl who grew up and on the way lost herself and who she so badly wanted to be. I realize now I didn’t lose her, I was just a girl who was kind to everyone but herself. Losing my hearing taught me how to fall back in love with myself."
Prior to her arrival on the show, the Minnesotan shared that she has Ménière's disease, an inner ear disorder, as well as Lyme disease, and profound hearing loss. In 2023, Daisy explained to CBS 8 that she received her Ménière's disease diagnosis when she was 17, and that her doctors suspect that her Lyme disease led to the development of that condition.
Daisy's story raises a lot of questions about Ménière's disease. Here’s what you need to know about the chronic disorder.
What is Ménière's disease?
Ménière's is a disorder of the inner ear that causes symptoms like dizziness, ringing in the ears, hearing loss, and a feeling of fullness or congestion in the ear, according to the National Institute of Health’s National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders. The condition typically impacts one ear.
What are the symptoms?
The Mayo Clinic breaks down these symptoms of Ménière disease:
Dizzy spells: This spinning feeling starts and stops suddenly, usually lasting anywhere from 20 minutes to 12 hours.
Hearing loss: Hearing loss can come and go but, it can be long-lasting and not improve with time.
Ringing in the ear This can sound like ringing, buzzing, roaring, whistling, or a hissing sound in your ear.
Feeling of fullness in the ear: This can also feel like pressure.
What are the causes?
The exact causes of Ménière's disease aren’t known, but there are some theories. It could be due constrictions in blood vessels like those that cause migraine headaches, or a result of viral infections, allergies, or autoimmune reactions, the NIH says.
The disease runs in families and may also be due to genetic variations, the NIH says.
Can you go deaf with Ménière's?
Yes, Ménière's can cause someone to become deaf. While hearing loss with the condition may be mild or fluctuate at first, it can become severe and permanent over time, Mount Sinai says.
Is it curable?
Ménière's disease isn’t curable, but there are treatments available that can help, the Mayo Clinic says.
What are the treatments?
There is a broad range of treatments that can help patients cope with Ménière disease, according to the NIH. Those include:
Medications. These are usually for dizziness and include prescription drugs like meclizine, diazepam, glycopyrrolate, and lorazepam.
Salt restriction and diuretics. Limiting salt and taking water pills can also help with dizziness by lowering fluid volume and pressure in the inner ear.
Dietar changes. Limiting caffeine, chocolate, and alcohol may help.
Cognitive therapy. This may help patients deal with the unpredictable nature of the disease.
Injections. Getting injections of the antibiotic gentamicin into the middle ear can help with dizziness but raises the risk of hearing loss. Some doctors may inject a corticosteroid instead, which doesn’t have the risk of hearing loss.
Pressure pulse treatment. An FDA-approved device fits into the outer ear and gives intermittent air pressure pulses to the middle ear to lower the risk of dizziness.
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