Can home pregnancy tests be wrong ?

18/03/2009 by admin.

Just been asked this very question

I did a pregnancy test recently and it was positive, then 2 days after I did another one just to verify and it said negative ! What does this mean ? Can the pregnancy test be wrong ?

Possible explanations for getting a positive home pregnancy test followed by a negative

1) You may have made a mistake interpreting the test

This is more common than you may think. Pregnancy tests should not be left for too long before reading the result. Make sure you read the instructions and use a timer if possible. we all have busy lives & it is so easy to get side tracked (for example by the phone, the postman or the computer or just life in general) while waiting for the pregnancy test result and then read it too late.

You can not interpret a positive home pregnancy tests result that appears outside of the test time. If this happens the pregnancy test should be discarded and another test performed (ideally on a first morning urine sample-hcg usually more concentrated)

On some home pregnancy tests if the test is left too long a faint line can appear due to the dried urine on the test. This is known by many as an ‘evaporation line’ & can cause confusion .

 If you have concerns about interpreting the results of the home pregnancy test then go for a brand with a digital readout such as the Clearblue Digital Pregnancy Test

Click her for more information on Clearblue Digital Pregnancy Test or to buy

2) False positive pregnancy test.

Possible causes of a false positive on a home pregnancy tests are:

• recent miscarriage
• some hormone treatments used for infertility treatments eg hcg injections. If you are having fertility treatments check with your clinic as to whether these can cause a false positive on a pregnancy test
• recent pregnancy (ie postnatally)

3) You have had a very early pregnancy that was picked up on the pregnancy test but has sadly failed.  This is known as a ‘chemical pregnancy’

Home pregnancy tests now detect very low levels of hcg so these very early failed pregnancies are now picked up more often. This is quite common. Often the pregnancy test is positive before we have even missed a period. In our mothers day they would not even have known they were pregnant. This can be one of the down side to testing before you have missed your period.

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