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‘My Daughter Died From a Brain Tumour After Taking the Contraceptive Injection’
Kim Lewis loved butterflies — at home, they’ve multiplied in her absence. They decorate the garden where the urn containing her ashes rests, as well as the skin of her parents Tricia and Alan, who each have commemorative tattoos. Kim died in December 2023, just eight days after being diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumour. Now, her mother Tricia is among hundreds of women in the UK seeking legal advice after learning there may be a link between the contraceptive injection Kim had been given for years and the tumour that killed her.
We cannot know for certain whether Depo-Provera caused the brain tumor; but Tricia fears that without it Kim would still be here. Tricia was one of the dozens of people who contacted ITV News following our previous report on the issue; many more responded with their own experiences online. Kim had lived with complex medical needs since birth. She had a rare chromosomal condition and cerebral palsy. She required round-the-clock care, but despite her profound disabilities her mother says she was a “happy-go-lucky little girl”.
GOP Lawmakers Block Bill to Drop School Mandate for Meningitis Vaccine
A proposal to roll back requirements for the meningitis vaccine in Louisiana schools stalled this week after facing opposition from medical professionals and lawmakers in both parties. House Bill 737, authored by Rep. Beryl Amedee, R-Houma, failed in the House Education Committee on an 8-4 vote.
Six Republicans voted to preserve the requirement for the meningitis vaccine. They were Reps. Laurie Schlegel of Metairie, Reese Broussard of Jennings, Kim Carver of Mandeville, Barbara Freiberg of Baton Rouge, Vincent St. Blanc of Franklin and Phillip Tarver of Lake Charles. The bill received support from Amedee and Republican Reps. Charles Owen of Rosepine, Kathy Edmonston of Gonzales and Josh Carlson of Lafayette.
The bill sought to remove the state requirement that students receive the meningitis vaccine, though it would not have banned the vaccine or prevented pediatricians from administering it. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, many Republican legislators in Louisiana have voted against mandatory immunizations. Amedee framed her measure as an effort to expand parental choice. “Send the clear message that in Louisiana, we trust parents to make the best health decisions for their own children,” she said during testimony.
What Is ‘Ozempic Personality,’ and Why Does It Make Life Feel ‘Meh’?
Korrie Stevenson had been feeling off for months. She would look at a gorgeous birthday cake or walk outside to a pink-and-purple streaked sunset, but not really enjoy them. The 51-year-old mother of two had similar feelings about sports, something she had loved since she was a child. But it wasn’t depression, she said. Everything was just “meh.” “Like you’re trying to be excited about a moment but can’t fully connect to it,” she said.
Then one day, she was driving near her home in Winter Park, Florida, when the thought came to her: Was it a side effect of her GLP-1 medication? Doctors say they’ve begun hearing similar accounts: a kind of emotional flattening, a dulled response not just to food but to other sources of joy such as reading, listening to music, dancing, gardening — or even sex. Some users also blamed the medications for falling out of love.
Online, the phenomenon has taken on a name — anhedonia — and, more colloquially, “Ozempic personality.” There is, for now, more observation than explanation. The new class of GLP-1 drugs — built around compounds that mimic hormones involved in appetite and blood-sugar regulation — are generally considered safe. Their metabolic effects have been scrutinized in studies, but their psychological impact is far less understood.
Trump to Sign Executive Order on Psychedelic Drug Used Abroad to Treat PTSD
A psychedelic used in some countries to treat post-traumatic stress disorder is expected to get a closer examination from the federal government on its safety and effectiveness, sources told CBS News. The White House is drafting an executive order that would signal the Trump administration’s willingness to further U.S. research into a drug called ibogaine.
Ibogaine, a naturally occurring compound from a shrub native to Africa, is used to treat depression, anxiety, addiction, post-traumatic stress disorder and brain trauma. Because it’s illegal in the United States, Americans have been traveling to unregulated clinics, often in Mexico or the Caribbean, to take the drug. The Trump administration doesn’t plan to reclassify the drug for medical use at this time — it will remain a Schedule I drug.
President Trump intends to sign the executive order as soon as this week, two of the sources said. White House spokespeople didn’t immediately comment. The action on ibogaine is meant to open the door to federal funding for further research on its effectiveness with PTSD and traumatic brain injuries, especially among veterans, several sources said.
Drugmakers raised prices on hundreds of meds despite Trump deals, Senate Democrats’ report finds
The report — released Thursday by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., the ranking member on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, ahead of a hearing focused on drug prices — found that companies that signed drug pricing deals with Trump have raised the cost of hundreds of medications and launched new ones at an average price of $353,000 a year.
“American people continue to pay by far the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs, and that was true before President Trump was president. In most cases, it is even more accurate today,” Sanders said at the hearing. The price hikes include expensive gene therapies, cancer medications and multiple sclerosis drugs. The report also said the companies that signed deals with Trump have made huge profits during his second term in office.
In 2025, the companies made a combined $177 billion in profits, up from $107 billion the year before. It comes as Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is set to testify Thursday in back-to-back hearings on Trump’s budget, first before the House Ways and Means Committee and later before the House Appropriations health panel. He is likely to face questions on Trump’s priorities, including lowering prescription drug costs.
