Left My Birth Control In A Hot Car

Thanks for reaching out to us!

Storing a prescription medication (such as Yasmin) outside of the manufacturer's recommended storage conditions can be problematic, but if you left it in a hot car for only a short amount of time, it's unlikely it wasn't affected in any significant way.

Nevertheless, let's talk about, what can happen if a prescription medication is stored outside the recommended conditions.

it is certainly possible that I drug could:

• Become less stable (i.e. the actual drug or dosage form could degrade)
• Become less potent, leading to therapeutic failure

With birth control pills, we are especially concerned about a potential loss in therapeutic effect.

How Should Yasmin Be Stored?

First, how should Yasmin be stored?

Per the manufacturer, Yasmin must be stored as follows:

• Store at 25°C (77°F); excursions permitted to 15-30°C (59-86°F) [see USP Controlled Room Temperature].  

Unless a birth control product is supposed to be stored in the refrigerator (e.g. Nuvaring), these storage conditions are generally consistent for all birth control products.

Left In A Hot Car

From your question, you say the medication was left in a car at 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit).

That is right at the end of the "excursion" range given by the manufacturer (an excursion is defined as removal from the set storage conditions for no longer than 24 hours).

The problem with your situation is that the medication was left in a car.

More likely than not, the temperature in the car was much higher than the temperature outside, putting the medication well outside the storage range.

Due to this, it is hard to know the exact state of your medication and give you a good recommendation on exactly what you should do in this situation.

On the whole, it is unlikely they are affected in a significant way. The problem is, we just don't know for sure.

It is important to note though, that when it comes to non-refrigerated solid oral dosage forms such as tablets or capsules, storage conditions are set with more concern for the integrity of the actual product (e.g. capsules melting) rather than a loss of stability to the actual drug.

In fact, many studies on stability have shown that most products that experience temperature excursions for a short period of time will be minimally affected and will still provide a therapeutic benefit.

This is especially true of medications that are not refrigerated.

If your medication was affected by the temperature, we may expect a loss in potency and for you to experience certain side effects such as spotting and bleeding as a result.

The fact that you are not is a good sign. 

Final Words

There is some ambiguity in the situation and we just don't know the state of your birth control.

It, more likely than not, is not affected to the point where it will have a noticeable loss of therapeutic effect.

For peace of mind, however, you may want to use a backup birth control method, take emergency contraception or talk to your doctor about starting a new pack of birth control pills.

Your doctor may also give you a recommendation on your best course of action.