Ben Higgins Reveals Secret Health Ailment He Battled The Entire Time He Was On ‘The Bachelor’

Ben Higgins’ journey to find a wife on The Bachelor didn’t work out — he split from fiancee Lauren Bushnell earlier this year—but he was devoted to the process at the time, stomach knots and all. Now, Higgins reveals that the entire time he was filming The Bachelor, he was battling a parasite.

In a recent post on his blog, The Mahogany Workplace, Ben Higgins revealed that he picked up the parasitic roundworm Strongyloides while in Honduras for a friend’s wedding a month before he started filming The Bachelor. Higgins was one of 50 wedding guests who performed some pre-wedding volunteer work in the villages in Honduras with Humanity and Hope United. The Bachelor star revealed that he thinks he picked up the parasite after touching contaminated soil while working in the villages.

“You didn’t know I had a parasite on The Bachelor?” Higgins wrote.

“I’ve never talked about it publicly. But I want to share the story with you because it shows how much I believe in love and relationships… even when it doesn’t work the way I plan.”

According to Higgins, the nasty parasite causes symptoms like swelling, itching, and bloating, and can also lead to tissue damage, ulcers, and sepsis. In addition, the Bachelor star was unlucky enough to pick up an especially rare parasite that can continue auto-infecting its host and has been known to live in humans for up to 65 years.

At first, Higgins attributed his knotty stomach to his high-profile role as The Bachelor, where he was dating more than two dozen women as ABC’s cameras filmed his every move. It took Ben months to find out that he was actually experiencing a real health crisis.

“My stomach was in knots for months and there was nothing I could do about it,” Ben wrote.

“To complicate matters, I was dating 26 women at the time, so I wasn’t surprised that my stomach felt uncomfortable sometimes. Four months after I finishing filming I realized something was really wrong and saw a doctor.”

Higgins revealed that before his problem was treated with two strong rounds of anti-parasite medicine, he lived for seven months with a constant stomachache. As for the lingering effects, the 28-year-old Bachelor star still can’t drink beer or eat eggs. Still, while he can no longer brunch or brew, Higgins feels it was all worth it because it led him to where he is today.

“It cost me a lot, but I gained even more,” Ben wrote.

“I know what it’s like to live with a constant stomachache. I know that millions of people have to live with the same pain, but no hope of fixing it. I know that I will forever be a better advocate for those who are hurting. Was it easy? No. Was it worth it? Yes, because the pain I went through, physical and otherwise, will always connect me with people who are also broken.”

Ben Higgins has done a lot of self-reflection since his time on The Bachelor. While his relationship with Lauren didn’t work out, it sounds like he truly believes that everything happens for a reason.

For more on Ben Higgins and his life after The Bachelor, check out the video below.

[Featured Image by Rick Rowell/Freeform]