Excited to confirm your pregnancy? Cannot wait for your doctor’s appointment? There are many techniques that you can use at home to know if you're pregnant. Most of test devices can be purchased from any pharmacy without any medical prescription. Many women prefer to do the test at home. It is a quick test and gives a qualitative result: positive or negative. It is not as accurate as the blood test.
What are the different types of test kits?
Strip or dipstick: These devices are usually immersed into a cup containing urine or just adding to them some drops of urine. The strips change color in case of pregnancy.
Powder test kits: They require mixing urine with the powder. A chemical reaction happens and the liquid changes color in case of pregnancy.
You have to read carefully the instructions before performing the test. Some kits require a specific time, sample amount and materials. Always check for the expiry date and the package condition.
How these kits work?
These kits detect the pregnancy hormone called Human Chorionic Gonadotrophin (HCG) in your urine. HCG is released when the embryo is implanted in your uterus. Usually we recommend performing the test early in the morning; since urine accumulated overnight in your bladder contains high hcg levels.
There is another hormone, H-HCG, which is released directly after fertilization. Some kits are sensitive to H-HCG which gives an early positive result.
You should be careful when you perform the test. The results can be inaccurate if you perform an early test on a device sensitive only for HCG.
What is the best time to perform the test?
Usually you have to wait for a day after your missed period. An early test may not detect the HCG hormone and shows a negative result.
If your cycle is irregular, you will have to wait for the longest cycle you usually had.
If you cannot resist waiting, we recommend that you perform blood tests which gives you an accurate result about your pregnancy.
A positive result means that you are definitely pregnant and you will have to contact your doctor for an appointment. A negative pregnancy test is variable. If you think that you are pregnant you have to wait for a week to do another test or see your doctor.