Women claim seizures, weight gain and heart problems were caused by contraceptive jab linked to brain tumours

Women have alleged that the contraceptive jab, which has been linked to brain tumours, left them suffering debilitating side effects that, in some cases, ‘ruined’ their lives.

Posting on social media, a number of patients have said the injection triggered heart palpitations, anxiety, weight gain and extreme mood swings, with many wishing they never took it.

The jab, administered to some 5 million women in the UK, is given every three months and stops reproduction by preventing eggs from being released by a woman’s ovaries.

But its safety has recently been called into question after studies found the injection, known by the brand name Dep-Provera, raised the risk of brain tumours five-fold.

Researchers found those who had the jab were far more likely to develop a meningioma, a type of brain tumour that is non-cancerous but can kill by compressing the brain and nerves if it grows too big.

Last October, UK watchdog the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Authority called for the injection’s manufacturer Pfizer to include a warning about the risk in patient information leaflets.

Pfizer, the drug firm behind the jab, also wrote to NHS doctors urging them to stop women from using Depo-Provera immediately if they were diagnosed with a meningioma.

On Wednesday, it came to light that some 200 UK women who feared the jab was to blame for their meningioma are now considering legal action. 

About 400 US women have launched a class action against Pfizer and other generic makers of Depo-Provera.

Now, women have taken to social media to complain of a range of health problems they believe were caused by the jab.

In one TikTok video a women named Emily Rose said the shot ‘completely ruined’ her life.

In the caption of the video, she wrote that she wouldn’t recommend it unless you’re ‘prepared to do your research’.

She claimed to have suffered heart palpitations, anxiety, loss of appetite, and described feeling like ‘a complete stranger’ to herself.

Others echoed her experiences in the comments section.

One mother said getting the contraceptive jab was ‘literally the worst mistake’ she has ever made, while another told of ‘skyrocketing anxiety’, ‘headaches from hell’ and visual disturbances. 

‘I regret it so much,’ she added. 

In another TikTok video, a women named Calyssa described ‘life-ruining’ withdrawal symptoms when she stopped having the jab. 

Specifically, she claimed it was responsible for extreme weight gain—causing her to gain more fat than she did during pregnancy.

In the caption to the video she said: ‘The Depo-Provera birth control I can say ruined my life and body. 

‘Getting off of it made conceiving take longer and my body had withdrawal effects where the weight gain went up before it went down.

‘Plus, I was always moody and rageful with it. It gave me rage.’

Elsewhere, in a Reddit post shared late last year, a 24 year-old woman with no prior health issues shared her suspicions that two seizures she suffered may have been linked to the jab. 

The woman claimed she had an initial seizure in June 2024 while driving ‘out of nowhere’, which landed her in the back of an ambulance. 

While she remarkably sustained no injuries, her car was ‘totaled’.   

The hospital carried out tests which all came back clear, but one week later she claimed that she suffered another seizure.

‘My body was hot, heavy & tingly, and then my boyfriend said I went “lifeless” in my eyes and started to seize,’ she wrote.

The only common theme she claimed she noticed was that she had received her Depo jab a week before each seizure.

Sherry Brown, of Louisiana in the US, is one of the women who believe the contraceptive jab left them with a life-altering brain tumour.

She told MailOnline that she started taking Depo-Provera in 2001, when she was drawn to the jab for its convenience compared to the pills she took before. 

However, she stopped taking the injection in 2003 due to weight gain, staying off other birth control until undergoing a hysterectomy in 2004 when she was 27. 

Brown thought nothing of her time on Depo-Provera until she randomly passed out in 2019 and hit her head. 

Doctors discovered a meningioma in her brain, though they decided not to start any treatments due to its small size.

Two years later, in 2021, Brown lost her sense of smell. She also suffered regular memory lapses, taking several minutes to remember routines she had spent years perfecting.  Scans revealed a second meningioma. 

Though the newer tumour was too small for doctors to risk removing, her primary growth had grown to about 1.5 inches, roughly the size of a silver dollar coin.

Earlier this year, at age 47, Brown underwent a gamma knife procedure, which uses radiation to stop tumour growth without making any incisions.

She will have scans later this year to see if the procedure stopped the primary meningioma from growing. If it is unsuccessful, she will likely have to have brain surgery to remove either one or both tumours.

‘It’s a constant fear and thought in the back of my mind: Are the tumors going to grow? Is either one of them going to grow?’ Brown said.

Pfizer has been approached for comment.