I (19m) think my girlfriend (20f) is sabotaging her birth control but I can’t be sure and I need help. Preferably from women who know birth control

Throwaway because reasons. My girlfriend and I have been together for two years now, and having sex for most of that time. She’s been on the birth control patch (it’s called Xulane) for over a year now and we’ve never had a problem until recently. She moved into her own apartment a few months ago and I’ve basically all but moved in with her. A few weeks ago she put her new patch on like normal, and I went to the bathroom brushing my teeth. I’m pretty sure she was waiting for me to leave, because I watched her dig in her purse and take a new patch out of the protective foil and tuck it behind the plant on her windowsill (I could see her reflection in the mirror with the beat the door was cracked). She seemed jumpy when I walked out but didn’t say anything and I didn’t either. I had no idea what I saw or why.

I’ve checked there every week since and she’s been doing this consistently, always making sure that it’s out of the foil wrap and laying in the direct sunlight for days at a time. I decided to google the patch itself and one of the number one things it says not to do is have the patch in direct sunlight. You’re not even supposed to wear it in direct sunlight, and she’s got it baking in the sun for a week at a time! I know my girlfriend has read the insert, and it even says so on the box (I’ve checked!) so I have no idea what she’s doing but I’m afraid she’s being dishonest given the fact that she’s going out of her way to hide it. I’ve tried looking online but I can’t find a reason for why the sunlight is an issue, or if it effects anything as far as effectiveness or if it just makes it harder to stick to skin. Does anyone have any experience with the patch who can shed some light on this for me? (No pun intended). I’m afraid she’s tampering with it somehow and is trying to get pregnant, but I want to run this by other minds before I start making accusations. She’s very sensitive so if she thinks I don’t trust her, she’s going to get upset.

Tl;dr: girlfriend is doing weird things with her birth control that the directions specifically advise against, I think she might be tampering with it but I don’t know enough about birth control.

Submitted November 30, 2018 at 03:50PM by Birthcontrollmadness https://ift.tt/2zCnaFj