‘The Bachelor’: Daisy Kent’s Lyme Disease Procedure Questioned, Fans Call It Dangerous ‘Pseudoscience’

ABC’s The Bachelor Season 28 introduced fans to Daisy Kent. Daisy had a cochlear implant following hearing loss that she started experiencing in her teens. She later received a diagnosis of Meniere’s disease, which she believes Lyme disease caused. Daisy opened up to Joey Graziadei about the treatment she received for Lyme disease while on a one-on-one date. But some fans are calling the procedure “pseudoscience.” Here’s why.

‘The Bachelor’ Season 28 star Daisy Kent opened up about Lyme disease treatment

Daisy Kent opened up to Joey Graziadei about her Lyme disease diagnosis on the first one-on-one date of The Bachelor Season 28. While she didn’t want her cochlear implant to define her, she opened up about the implant over dinner. She also explained to Joey that she went to Germany to receive treatment she couldn’t get in the U.S. While the treatment was out of the ordinary, it worked for her. Many of the symptoms that she associated with Lyme disease, like extreme fatigue and seizures, went away.

Boston 25 News covered the controversial Lyme disease treatment. Dr. Freidrich Douwes, who treated Daisy, was an oncologist treating cancer patients with hyperthermia. Then, he discovered that the treatment also helped patients with Lyme disease. Patients treated with hyperthermia were sedated in a tent that would heat their bodies to 107 degrees Fahrenheit. According to Douwes, the high temperature kills the Lyme bacteria. Patients paid up to $40,000 for the experimental treatment.

The National Library of Medicine published an article stating that leading Lyme Disease organizations don’t support hyperthermia as a treatment. “Lyme advocacy organizations such as the Lyme Disease Association and the International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society dismiss the wackier treatment options such as fever therapy (hyperthermia), bee venom, and antioxidants, but both strongly support the option of long term or repeated courses of antibiotics for some patients,” the article reads.

Many fans on Reddit agreed with the National Library of Medicine article. “I cannot STAND the fact this pseudoscience is being projected on TV,” one fan wrote.

Other fans defended Daisy’s choice. “I understand that chronic Lyme disease is a heated topic, but so many times, when you have a chronic illness, and you are time and time again dismissed by doctors, shuffled around from provider to provider … and you are finding no relief, you are forced to find alternative therapies,” another fan wrote.

Daisy Kent said the infusions ‘damaged’ her veins

The Bachelor Season 28 star Daisy Kent overcame a lot since dealing with Lyme disease and Meniere’s disease. In 2021, she posted to Instagram about her treatments in Germany.

“My veins are scarred and damaged from the infusions and amount of blood I’ve had drawn over the last year of my life, so it’s hard to find spots to put in my infusion IV as well other places to draw blood,” she captioned a post showing her in the hospital. “In the next few days, they will be putting a central line below my collar bone, so I can handle some of the infusions.” She added that “everything” put into her body is “monitored,” including the type of toothpaste she used.

“The U.S. is not educated enough on this disease, and it breaks my heart knowing the number of people who are taking all these drugs with the hopes they will work only to be hurt more,” she continued in her post. “I’ve been there, I’ve done that, and I know how much it hurts your body physically and mentally.”

In another post, Daisy detailed her experience with the hyperthermic treatments. “Been a rough day today and was a lot harder than I thought it would be,” she wrote in August 2021. “About 30 hours ago, I got heated up for seven hours, and they were able to keep me at 107.6 degrees for four hours, which is really good.”

Bachelor Nation contestant Kelley Flanagan posted that her brother likely went to the same facility

The Bachelor Season 28 star Daisy Kent isn’t the only Bachelor Nation star who knows of this Lyme disease treatment. Kelley Flanagan from Peter Weber’s season of The Bachelor posted to Instagram that her brother likely went to the same facility.

“I think my brother went to the same facility in Germany,” Kelley posted to her Instagram Stories, according to Reddit. “They use ‘Whole Body Hyperthermia,’ which is raising your body temperatures up to life-threatening levels to try to kill off the Lyme bacteria.”

The Bachelor Season 28 premieres on Monday, Jan. 22, 2024, at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.

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