Missed periods, nausea, morning sickness and breast tenderness are some of the symptoms of pregnancy. The first thing that you need to do is to check it using a home pregnancy tester before seeking the help of your trusted Ob-gyne. There are some instances in which you can doubt the reliability of this little tool. It is good to know certain information about that accuracy of pregnancy tester so you can avoid the hassle of repeating the tests and raising your hopes due to some false positives.
A pregnancy test usually works by detecting a certain hormone called human chorionic gonadotropin or hcg for short. This is usually secreted when a woman is pregnant. This is usually produced by the cells found in the uterus. It gives signal to the ovaries to give off estrogen and progesterone that can help the fetus grow. This usually rises as the pregnancy progress. HCG is usually detected in urine and blood pregnancy test.
The urine test or home pregnancy tester is one of the most common ways to detect pregnancy. There are lots of different brands of urine tester found in the market today. Each has its own sensitivity level and can able to detect hcg as low as 15 ml/u. The procedure is very easy to perform. Read the instruction carefully and follow it step by step.
Over the year people have relied to the accuracy of this pregnancy tester. Some products claimed to be 99% accurate. Of course mistakes are inevitable and the accuracy of it is sometimes dependent on how it is performed. In most cases, it is advisable to wait for a week after the period has been delayed before testing allowing the hcg to build up for more accurate result. The best time to do it is during the morning because the urine is still fresh and most likely to get a good hcg build up.
False positives usually happen as a result of defective faulty strips. There are times when you leave your pregnancy test too long causing to give a positive result. Make sure to follow the instructions well. A pregnancy tester also gives wrong results when the person is taking medications containing hcg. These drugs are commonly found when a woman is undergoing fertility treatments. It is better to ask the doctor if the medicines you are taking can affect a pregnancy test result.
False negatives on the other hand are also possible. It can occur if you have undergone a test that is pretty early in the stage of pregnancy. If this is done earlier there may not be enough HCG in the urine or blood. Try repeating the test few days later.
There are lots of factor that can affect the accuracy of a pregnancy tester. The main reason is usually because of human error. Another is taking the pregnancy test at the wrong time. Some are caused by improper testing and not following instructions well. A woman can also have a chemical pregnancy or miscarrying during the early stages of her pregnancy. This is common during first time pregnancies. Before purchasing a pregnancy tester make sure to see the expiration date of the product because this can greatly affect the results.
If you happen to think that you made a mistake, try again in a few days. Try not to be dependent too much on it. It is better to visit the doctor and get a blood test that is proven to be more accurate than the home pregnancy tester.
