Popular birth control pills have allegedly caused serious side effects in many users, such as pseudotumor cerebri or “false brain tumor.” These false brain tumor symptoms have been experienced by women who use birth control products such as Yaz, Mirena IUD, Depo-Provera, and others.

What is Pseudotumor Cerebri?

Pseudotumor cerebri is also called idiopathic intracranial hypertension. It is a condition that literally mimics a brain tumor. The cerebrospinal fluid, used to protect the brain and spinal cord, builds up and creates severe cranial pressure headaches in addition to tumor-like symptoms. Pseudotumor cerebri causes the body to fail to absorb the cerebrospinal fluid which increases the pressure on the brain.

Symptoms of pseudotumor cerebri may include:

• Frequent headaches or migraines that may originate behind the eyes and worsen with eye movement
• Ringing in the ears that pulses in time with a woman’s heartbeat, creating a “whooshing” sound (pulsatile tinnitus)
• Feeling dizzy or nauseated
• Vomiting
• Blurred vision, double vision, blind spots
• Vision loss affecting one or both eyes
• Difficulty seeing to the side
• Seeing light flashes (photopsia)
• Neck stiffness
• Neck, shoulder or back pain
• Problems walking
• Forgetfulness
• Depression

While these pseudotumor cerebri symptoms may be caused by other conditions, they may also be birth control side effects. An MRI or CTC scan, spinal tap, or an eye exam will determine if the condition is truly intracranial hypertension or another condition. Due to the similarity in symptoms to an actual brain tumor, it is important the condition is diagnosed correctly and promptly. Pseudotumor cerebri may lead to blindness, due to an increase in pressure on the optic nerve, if the condition is not treated in enough time.

Birth Control Lawsuits

Many women have claimed that their birth control caused them to develop pseudotumor cerebri, which can have a serious, negative affect on an individual’s life. Birth control products named in pseudotumor cerebri lawsuits against the birth control manufacturers include:

• Yaz
• Yasmin
• Beyaz
• Ocella
• Mirena
• Depo-Provera
• Implanon
• Nexplanon
• NuvaRing
• Ortho Evra
• ParaGard

A birth control class action lawsuit investigation has also been launched to determine if a class action lawsuit would be a good choice for many women who have suffered from pseudotumor cerebri due to birth control side effects. Allegations may include failure to warn against severe pseudotumor cerebri symptoms and that birth control manufacturers were aware of the potentially painful side effects and still aggressively promoted their birth control products all the same.

Potential birth control class action plaintiffs may include women who have used one of the listed forms of birth control and who were later diagnosed with pseudotumor cerebri or intercranial hypertension. Birth control lawsuits have already been filed claiming that birth control manufacturers failed to adequately warn women using their birth control about negative birth control side effects, such as pseudotumor cerebri.