Scarleteen

Hi all, I've recently traveled back to my home country due to the coronavirus epidemic. During my travels, I left my birth control pills in my checked-in luggage. Also, when I got home, I had my luggage open and the pills were in a compartment facing a window. The temperature was pretty high outside (around 33-35 celsius or 90-95 Fahrenheit) and it felt warm inside as well. When I finally remembered to take out my pills they did not feel warm to the touch and were all still left in the box. I was wondering if they are still safe to take? Thank you!

Hi there Ghostwriter,

Unless your pills are visibly disintegrated -- broken, dissolved, etc. in any way -- it should be just fine to take as normal. If a pill ever is disintegrated in some way, you can treat it like a missed pill in your pack (even if you take what is left of it) to ensure that you're safe.

From our article Birth Control Bingo:

If you ever do miss a pill, be sure to follow the instructions in your patient information and make it up as soon as you know you have missed it. If three or more pills in a pack have been missed or taken late, emergency contraception is advised.

I'd also like to mention that because of the pandemic, it is not a safe time to have sex with anyone you don't live with because of social distancing (as much as we know that sucks). But obviously if you are on a regular birth control regimen for that or any other reason, continue to take it as normal.

<3