When to Take a Pregnancy Test
From LoveToKnow Pregnancy
Knowing When to Take a Pregnancy Test
If you’re sexually active, knowing when to take a pregnancy test is important. Generally, you should take a pregnancy test if any of the following conditions apply:
- You’ve had unprotected sex or have a reason to believe your birth control has failed.
- You have early pregnancy symptoms such as nausea, fatigue, and tender breasts.
- Your period is late by one week or more.
Buying a Pregnancy Test
Home pregnancy tests can be purchased at any drug store. Most tests cost between $6 and $18, although a higher price does not necessarily mean the test is more accurate. Some tests are more expensive because they are heavily advertised. Others contain more than one test in a package.
The EPT pregnancy test, First Response pregnancy test, and Clear Blue pregnancy test are three of the most popular brands of home pregnancy tests.
Taking a Pregnancy Test
Taking a home pregnancy test is surprisingly easy. In most cases you should urinate briefly and either hold the test stick under your urine stream or collect urine in a cup before dipping the test strip into the cup.
Most tests take only a few minutes to provide the test results. Lines or slashes are often used to show the result. One is used as a control to determine that the test is working properly. The presence of a second line or slash is used to show that you are pregnant.
Since instructions can vary according to the brand of test you have purchased, read the enclosed pamphlet carefully before you begin your home pregnancy test. If you have questions about when to take a pregnancy test, visit the manufacturer’s website or call the customer service hotline.
Pregnancy Test Accuracy
Home pregnancy tests are 99% accurate when used correctly. To get the most accurate results, remember the following tips as you’re deciding when to take a pregnancy test:
- Wait until your period is at least one week late. Testing on the first day of your missed period reduces the test accuracy to about 80%.
- Home pregnancy tests are typically most accurate when taken in the morning.
- Follow the directions carefully. Instructions for completing a pregnancy test can vary according to the brand you have purchased.
- Avoid reading the results of your test too early or too late. If it says to wait three minutes for the results, wait three minutes.
False Positives and False Negatives
A home pregnancy test works to detect a hormone in the blood called Human Chorionic Gonadotropin (HCG). However, sometimes the test fails to accurately detect this pregnancy hormone. When this happens, you may get a false positive that says you are pregnant when you are not. You could also get a false negative that says you aren’t pregnant when you really are.
Pregnancy test false negative and false positive results are fairly rare. Most are caused by impurities in the urine sample, failing to read the test instructions, using an expired pregnancy test, or trying to take the test too early. However, certain medical conditions and prescription drugs can sometimes affect your pregnancy test results.
If you have doubts about the accuracy of your home pregnancy test, reread the instructions and try to take another test. If you’re still not confident you’ve received an accurate result, contact your healthcare provider. He/she can schedule a blood test to clear up any confusion.
Comments
Nix, although not common, there are several reasons that a woman could get a [Pregnancy Test False Positives|false positive]] on a pregnancy test, including impurities in the test, taking certain medications like anticonvulsants, or even having a tumor. Some women misinterpret an evaporation line on a pregnancy test as a positive, leading them to think they are pregnant. You're correct that fertility treatments can cause a false positive if taken too early, but they are not the only cause of a false positive.
As for your second comment, Pregnancy Bleeding is common for many women. However, I would need to know specifically which article you are referring to so I can accurately respond to your post.
-- Contributed by: HollySwansonHollySwanson
I am sorry to dispute Danahinders article and some of your responses but there are some glaring inaccuracies:
The only way to get a false positive on one of these tests is if you have had fertility treatment and were required to inject HCG hormone before the eggs were collected. If you test too early after treatment then the home pregnancy test may show a positive reading from the HCG that you injected and not from an implanted embryo. The rule of thumb is that the HCG injection is processed by your body at an average rate of 1000iu a day. Therefore if you injected 10000iu, you should wait a minumum of 10 days before doing an HPT, otherwise any positive result cannot be relied upon. Also some people may process the hormone more slowly and therefore are still at risk of a false positive which is why most clinics will advise you to wait a minimum of 14 days after the injection before testing. Once the embryo has implanted you should start producing your own HCG which will, on average, double every 48 hours and it is this which indicates a pregnancy. So to sum up, you can get false negatives for the reasons that were suggested in the article, but NEVER a false positive as an HPT is only set up to detect HCG and cannot give a positive result for a hormone that isn't there!
Secondly, you told a questioner that it was unlikely she was pregnant as she'd had some bleeding. You went on to specify that unless it was very light implantation bleeding, then it must have been her period, therefore she probably wasn't pregnant. (I am not quoting word for word here so forgive me if I am not accurately representing exactly what you said, but that was the general gist of it). Ladies, please be advised that it is possible to bleed THROUGHOUT pregnancy and still give birth to a healthy child. There are many do...ented cases of this and a quick read through the chat boards of my particular favourite fertility site (fertilityfriends.co.uk) shows many individuals who have experienced this personally. Bleeding, even heavy bleeding is NOT proof that you are not pregnant, a negative/very low quantative Beta HCG blood test is. This blood test tells you the precise amount of the HCG hormone in your blood as opposed to an HPT which only tells you whether it's there or not, but not how much. And a depreciating Beta, sadly, indicates an imminent miscarriage. So if you have reason to believe you may be pregnant, even though you are bleeding you should ideally do an HPT and if there is any lingering doubt ask your doctor/clinic for a beta HCG blood test.
Kind regards
-- Contributed by: NixPrivate, the day after you have your period is not really a good time to take a pregnancy test. If you suspect that the period was actually spotting related to pregnancy or implantation, you should wait at least another week or so and take a test then.
As you noted, it's unusual to get a positive result right after your period, but it happens for some women.
-- Contributed by: HollySwansonThis page has been accessed 15,615 times. This page was last modified 20:20, 30 August 2006.
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