A nurse was diagnosed with a brain tumor which made her think people were speaking a different language – and she blames it on taking HRT. Lucy Woodhouse, 43, says she experienced severe headaches which felt like hangovers and struggled to read aloud. But then in a meeting with colleagues she found herself unable to understand what they were saying, and tests revealed she had a golf ball-sized tumor.
She says she believes the meningioma tumor is linked to the Depo-Provera contraceptive injection, rounds of IVF she had and HRT medication – all of which contain the hormone progesterone. She says she had the Depo-Provera injection multiple times in 1997, and in 2013 underwent three rounds of IVF over two years. She had the progesterone Mirena coil inserted in 2021 when she started HRT medication – which doctors have now told her not to take because of connections to meningioma tumors, she says.
Meningiomas, the most common type of brain tumor, are a mostly non-cancerous brain tumor and are nearly twice as common in females as males. In 2013, scientists from the Danish Cancer Research Centre found a link between post-menopausal hormone treatment HRT and meningioma. Meningiomas are also commonly found among women who are pregnant or having fertility treatment, as oestrogen can interact with the tumor and potentially make it grow faster according to a 2012 study.
And a study published in the British Medical Journal this year found prolonged use of certain progesterone medicat.