When to Take a Pregnancy Test – The ideal time to take the pregnancy test depends on what type of exam you will be doing. There are two types: the pharmacy test, which is done with the urine, and the blood test.
Both are effective because they measure the amount of human chorionic gonadotropin hormone (hCG), which is only produced in the body during pregnancy, except in rare cases. Certain fertility drugs contain the hormone, for example.
How do pregnancy tests work?
Pharmacy pregnancy tests detect the presence of hCG in your urine. Depending on the brand, one test may be more sensitive than the other.
The most sensitive can detect levels of 20 IU / l of hCG in the urine (others detect from 50 IU / l).
Unfortunately, the packaging of tests sold at pharmacies does not usually specify the sensitivity of the test. The most sensitive tests are more expensive, but this is not necessarily the rule.
With the most sensitive pharmacy tests, it is possible to detect the pregnancy about 12 days after ovulation, that is, a few days before the menstrual delay happens.
The most guaranteed, however, is to take the exam at least from the first day of delay (about 14 days after ovulation).
If you test positive, according to the test instructions, it is almost certain that you are pregnant. If you give negative, maybe you can still be. There may not yet be enough hCG in the urine to be detected by the test.
The hCG levels double every two or three days, so if your period does not show up, wait several days and try again.
The blood test to detect pregnancy can be of two types: qualitative or quantitative. The qualitative only says whether or not you are pregnant (negative or positive), as in the pharmacy test.
The quantitative shows precisely the concentration of hCG in the blood (blood tests measure the beta subunit of hCG, so they are sometimes known only as “beta”).
The exams consider pregnant women who have at least 25 IU / L of hCG in their blood.
If possible, ask to do the quantitative, as information about the amount of hormone may be useful for your doctor.
Ideally, the blood test should be prescribed by the doctor, but most of the laboratories do the examination even without medical request.
Which pregnancy test is most accurate?
The blood test is more accurate because it is independent of other factors such as urine concentration, for example, in pharmacy tests. It can detect pregnancy from about 12 days after ovulation.
Attention: Remember that each organism works at its own pace and that it is almost impossible to determine the exact day of ovulation.
It may be that you ovulated later that month, and then the hormone production in the case of pregnancy will also happen later.
If menstruation does not come, wait a few more days and try again. And make sure you make an appointment with your gynecologist.
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