Are broken birth control pills effective?

Question

This week my girlfriend was taking her pill and as she tried to get it out of the container it broke into a few pieces. She took what she could of it, but I was wondering if this is still effective or is it considered a missed pill?

Answer 1

Birth control pills are basically synthetic hormones and what they do is keep a females body from releasing an egg, thus not being able to become pregnant. It really doesn't matter what shape or form the pill was in as long as she took most of it. She should be fine. It's not considered a missed pill since she took what she could of it. She should be fine just make sure not to have sex until the next day when she takes her pill or use protection. The pill must be taken every single day at the same exact time to be 99% effective. Try not to worry, everything should be fine.

Answer 2

Gel capsules are formulated not to look pretty or gather the ingredients together, but for the calculated slow release into the digestive tract for maximum efficiency/dose delivery. And sometimes the pre-mature release can be harmful to other paarts of the body, or simply not react as they were formulated to do. In otherwords it's safer to discard broken pills and just take another, or hold off that activity until you can. (better than teh headache excuse anyways).

Answer 3

The pill doesn't have to stay intact to be effective. You could crush it entirely and it would still work, as long as you took the whole thing. I think she should probably be safe, but maybe you should take extra precautions just be be sure.

Answer 4

Most birth control is in tablet form which means they are solid. It doesn't matter how that pill gets in. If she got the majority of it her hormone levels should stay the same. It is most likely that she fine.

Answer 5

i think it was a missed pill

Answer 6

she probably got enough of it, but just use a 2nd form of protection for the next week or so if you're worried