Bachelor in Paradise alum Joe Amabile has revealed his ongoing struggles as he continues to heal and recover from brain surgery.
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In the new video, Joe shared, "Overall, I'm doing wonderful, but has it all been great? No, there are things I struggle with."
Joe went on to describe how he experiences "over-stimulation," especially when he's "scrolling too much on social media" on his phone.
"I have a big TV... and if I watch it for too long, I do get a little lightheaded and I have to go in my bedroom and turn the lights off," Joe explained.
"Socializing is another thing I'm hesitant to do. I'm starting to get back in to it, and next week, there's going to be a lot of people in New York. I've been on the more cautious side."
Joe also explained how he struggles with anxiety, although he's already "been dealing with that" for most of his life.
"But it's definitely ramped up now," The Bachelorette alum confirmed.
"Any time I read anything about the certain tumor that I have, my hands sweat and I get anxious. I feel 100 percent at times and then I do tend to overdo it. I'm an overdoer. I'm struggling to make this video, is what I'm doing."
Joe also said that while he has a history of "being able to operate on very little sleep," that's no longer the case.
These days, post-surgery, Joe revealed, "I can't do that anymore, at least not right now. So I need my sleep. My sleep is really important."
Joe also recently opened up about his anxiety via Instagram Stories.
RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELOR' FRANCHISE COUPLES NOW"Been up since 4AM because of anxiety. But that is what it is. Some nights it's worse than others," Joe stated, according to BachelorNation.com.
"Just went on a 3-mile run, my third run. And I feel good. I feel good now, but probably going to rest the rest of the day."
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Joe also explained how he takes an anti-seizure medication once a day in the morning.
Joe revealed to Good Morning America last week -- about three weeks after undergoing brain surgery -- that his speech hadn't fully returned yet.
"I still struggle a little bit," Joe told GMA at the time.
"I could think of what to say, but I would have a hard time vocalizing it. And I would say I'm about 90% back."
Despite the challenges that are still ahead of Joe, his doctor, Dr. Alexandra Miller -- the chief of neuro-oncology at the Perlmutter Cancer Center in New York -- said he has a "good prognosis" and "it was a really good thing and very lucky that he was able to find it early."
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Joe has been documenting his health crisis on social media for weeks.
The Bachelorette 14 alum explained of his decision to be so candid about his experience with fans, "I think being able to share so other people can relate, and people who are going through it, I think is, it's super important."
Shortly after having 23 staples removed from his head, Joe revealed on social media last month that he was able to run over three miles and hopes to participate in the 2026 New York City marathon.
Joe was discharged from the hospital post-surgery on August 6, and on August 12, he said that he was already off heavy painkillers.
"They did get the whole thing. When it comes to malignant brain tumors, they don't know what's left over, so I will be going on treatment," he previously shared.
Joe explained that his treatment going forward will be a pill "every day for the rest of my life to put the bad cells to sleep."
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"And hopefully they stay asleep. And that's it, that's all I can do," he concluded.
Joe first revealed his brain tumor diagnosis to the world on July 13.
"I had to go get a brain MRI, and there was a blueberry-sized lesion in my brain that looks to be a glioma, which is a tumor," he told his fans via Instagram last month.
Joe said he "definitely wasn't expecting" to need brain surgery.
"I think it's one of those things where you're like, 'Oh, something like this would never happen to me,' and here I am. They say it's really early stages. I hope they are able to get it all, and I'm fine," he shared.
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The Bachelor in Paradise couple shared how they both had full-body MRI scans with Prenuvo -- with whom they were doing a professional partnership -- just to be proactive about their health.
About two days later, Joe said he received a phone call and thought he was going to be told he had an enlarged prostate because he tends to pee a lot during the night.
But when Joe spoke to his doctor on the phone, the Bachelor in Paradise alum was informed he had "a lesion" in his brain about the size of a marble or small grape.
"It's in the frontal lobe of my brain. The doctor was pretty alarming where he was like, 'You've got to go get this checked within the next week or two. It's urgent,'" Joe recalled.
Joe therefore scheduled another MRI, after which the radiologist characterized his lesion as an "early-stage glioma, which is a tumor." Joe said they believed it was Grade 1 or 2 at the time.
Joe said the news was pretty shocking because, "for the most part," he wasn't experiencing any symptoms.
"Now I kind of feel like I might have symptoms, but some of them are self-induced. So that's a difficult territory," Joe admitted.
He elaborated, "The symptoms I'm having now are more like lightheadedness, and I think a lot of it now is more anxiety, I believe. But who knows? What I would be experiencing more of [based on] where it is in my brain would be lack of motor skills, personality changes, and memory loss."
Joe acknowledged at the time that a craniotomy is "very dangerous" and "scary," and Serena added how titanium screws were going to be used to close up Joe's skull.
"Even though it's slow-growing, the likelihood of it growing into something aggressive or problematic is very high," Serena noted. "They are amazed we caught it so early... so that's good news."
Joe found fame when he competed on Season 14 of The Bachelorette starring Becca Kufrin in 2018.
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After Joe and Kendall split, Joe looked for love on Season 7 of Bachelor in Paradise in 2021 and found it with Serena.
Joe and Serena quietly tied the knot in a New York City courthouse in 2022 before having a bigger "magical" wedding for family and friends in South Carolina in September 2023.
Joe also previously competed on Season 27 of Dancing with the Stars and placed fifth with pro Jenna Johnson.
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About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski
