Expired birth control pills

[oopsiedaisies7.livejournal.com]

I recently re-discovered two packs of Ortho-Cyclen that I never took (I was on the pill 2-ish years ago). I had been keeping them in case I wanted to manipulate my cycle to prevent an ill-timed period or something, but I just noticed that they expired 7 months ago. So now that I can't take them, I don't want to keep them (obviously).

So, what's the deal? Can I just throw them away?

Comments

[realt-stea.livejournal.com]

you should be able to bring them to your local pharmacy and they will dispose of them for you. just don't flush them :)

[sekaijuuni.livejournal.com]

At the risk of sounding stupid, why can't they be flushed or tossed out?

Maybe I once got a chain email about higher estrogen levels(?) in residents of some American cities because of all the BC hormones that get peed out into the water supply, but if I did, I ignored it.

[knittinggoddess.livejournal.com]

It does get into the water supply, but as this article argues, (http://www.rhrealitycheck.org/blog/2010/11/17/birth-controltainted-ladypee-water-myth-menace) hbc is only a small fraction of the synthetic estrogens we pump into the environment, and there's some misogyny in the hoopla.

Of course, that's not to say you should go drop those pills in salmon spawning grounds. I agree, getting your pharmacist to dispose of them is the enviro friendlier way.

[realt-stea.livejournal.com]

that is exactly why :)

[oopsiedaisies7.livejournal.com]

That's what I figured! Thanks!

[myrcwood-rose.livejournal.com]

Do you have houseplants? My grandmother uses expired bc in her houseplants like fertilizer, she just pokes one into the dirt every other day.

[oopsiedaisies7.livejournal.com]

What?! Seriously? I've never heard of that.
I have one pitiful begonia that's on its way out...I am super duper terrible at keeping houseplants. Maybe I'll attempt to revive it with the pills.

[knittinggoddess.livejournal.com]

An old (ancient Greece?) pregancy test was to pee into some freshly planted seeds and see how lushly and quickly they germinated. Lusher and quicker meant the pee came from a pregnant lady.

It wasn't a time-efficient test.

[knittinggoddess.livejournal.com]

Oh, it was ancient Egypt, and they didn't plant the seeds first: http://thisisdiversity.com/articles/all/3359/ancient-egyptian-grain-based-pregnancy-test-found-to-be-70-accurate/

[oopsiedaisies7.livejournal.com]

Neato!! I'm glad we can just pee in cups to find out nowadays. I'd be sick with anxiety if I had to wait for a plant to grow (or for a rabbit to die) in order to get peace of mind every time my period was a little late...

(Of course, the hormones found in oral contraceptives are not the same as the hormone produced in pregnancy (hCG)...although I suppose pregnancy and the pill do have progestogens in common. My inner scientist just got an urge to do experiments. Ahh.)

I've also heard of people emptying their menstrual cups in their houseplants. Apparently we're just full of fertilizer!

[oopsiedaisies7.livejournal.com]

Oh, duh. I just read the article. Apparently it probably the estrogen, which is obviously also present in high amounts in pregnancy. Still want to do experiments.