A pregnancy test can confirm whether a woman is pregnant or not. This test can be performed at home or medical center. If women miss a period or late are signs to suspect that she may be pregnant and it is a good idea to take a test. And women need to identify the pregnancy as early as possible as they need to take care of their health and change the usual life style if required.
What is a pregnancy test and how does it work?
A pregnancy test is checking the levels of a hormone called human chorionic gonadotropic (HCG). HCG can be detected in the blood and urine around 10 to 14 days after conception. A pregnancy test is performed by checking pee or blood for the HCD hormone. This hormone is made by your body after a fertilized egg is connected to the wall of the uterus.
Levels of HCG hormone are rising quickly and this occurs about 6 days after fertilization and HCG hormone level is doubling every 2 to 3 days.
However, due to some medications and conditions, the reading can be false or inaccurate. And each brand of pregnancy test may work differently and the instructions must be read before use. If the pregnancy test is used properly, results can be 99 percent accurate.
What are the types of pregnancy tests available?
There are two types of pregnancy tests available which are blood tests and urine tests.
Blood tests
A blood test is performed at the doctor’s office but this type of test is not used as often as urine tests. A blood pregnancy test detects the pregnancy earlier than the home pregnancy test which is around 6 to 8 days after ovulation.
There are two types of a blood pregnancy test are,
A quantitative HCG test called beta HCG check the exact amount of HCG hormone in your blood and detect even low levels of HCG in the blood. Problems during pregnancy can be tracked by these tests. Your doctor may use these tests after a miscarriage when the HCG hormone level falls quickly or to rule out an ectopic pregnancy when the fertilized egg implants outside of your uterus.
A Qualitative HCG Test simply detect for HCG hormone and answers the question “Are you pregnant” with
“yes” or “no”. Doctors recommend this test to confirm ectopic within the day after conception.
Urine Test
A urine pregnancy test can be done at home or in a medical center. A home pregnancy test is quick and easy to use and these are very accurate if you follow the direction properly. This can be done by testing pee in one of these ways:
- Hold the pregnancy test stick in your urine stream
- Collect pee to a container and use a dropper to pour it into another cup.
- Collect pee in a container and dip the pregnancy test stock into it.
- Then wait for several minutes to see the results. And after taking the test see a doctor confirm your results and they will perform more sensitive pregnancy tests.
Accuracy of pregnancy tests
Urine home pregnancy tests are said to be 99% accurate. And blood test results are even more accurate.
- A home pregnancy test accuracy depends on the following procedures.
- How soon test will be done after pregnancy
- Pregnancy test’s sensitivity
- How closely you follow the given instruction on different brands
- how soon the egg implants and when you ovulate
Some pregnancy test can detect HCG hormone when women miss a period. But the results of the test can be more accurate if you wait for starting day of a missed period.
If the test is done the first thing in the morning, the results of the test will be more accurate when your urine is more concentrated compared to other times of the day.
Home pregnancy tests can bough from a drugstore without a prescription and the cost of the product is depends on the brand. But most pregnancy tests aren’t very expensive.
Let’s look at how the pregnancy test shows the results. Results will be shown as a color, line, or symbol such as “+” or “–“sign. Digital test displays the words such as “pregnant” or “not pregnant”. And it is important to understand what a negative and positive result means.
If you receive positive results then it says you’re pregnant. This is the correct statement no matter how blue or faint the color, line, or sign is, if you get positive results you should meet your doctor to discuss what comes next in the process.
In very rare situations, someone can have a false-positive result in the test. This means you’re not pregnant but the pregnancy test says so. If you got blood or protein in your pee, you could have a false-positive result. Certain drugs such as hypnotics, tranquilizers, anticonvulsant fertility drugs could cause false-positive results.
If you get a negative result from the test then you are probably not pregnant but maybe pregnant due to reason such as if the pregnancy test is expired, you perform the test in the wrong way, you tested too soon, your pee is too dilated if you drank too many fluids right before the test or if you are having certain medication such as antihistamines and diuretics
If you get negative results try again and retest after a week to confirm your results. Some home pregnancy tests recommend checking at least twice no matter what your first results are. If you get different results on two tests then it is time to go for a blood pregnancy test and contact your doctor. And if you get negative results but still get signs and symptoms of pregnancy, you should retest after a week or get advice from a doctor about a blood pregnancy test instead.
Some modern pregnancy kits and tests can show an estimate of the consequent due date and conception date. However, these details may not always accurate.
If you got any questions about the pregnancy test or results meet your doctor or telephone the number list with the test.
- Pregnancy tests, homes pregnancy tests, Urine pregnancy test, the blood pregnancy test, pregnancy, HCG hormone,
Comments
Post a Comment