Pregnancy

 

Finding Out the Truth with a Pregnancy Test

Pregnancy is for many a much-sought after event, which is much celebrated when it happens. How can a woman be sure that she is pregnant? There are a number of tell-tales signs such as morning sickness, breast tenderness, absence or delay in menstruation, sudden change of food preferences, sudden aversion to certain foods, and so on.

Trust Only the Pregnancy Test Results

The most common pregnancy symptoms could mislead you. Each one of the above symptoms can be also be due to other ailments and reasons. In this case, the only way to ensure whether you are pregnant or not is to undergo a pregnancy test. The simplest way is the home pregnancy test, which is available everywhere as an over-counter kit. Most of these kits will give you an accuracy of about 97 percent.

Most of the home pregnancy test kits usually check for the existence of HCG or Human Chorionic Gonadotropin which is produced by the body when the egg gets attached to the walls of the uterus. This happens usually some 5-6 days after conception. Hence, the pregnancy test will work best if used two weeks after the missed period date.

Often, when the home pregnancy test shows negative results, you will need to repeat the test to re-confirm the results. There is no need, however, to repeat tests when the results are positive. It is not possible for the test to show positive results by mistake. Doctors, however, will insist that you undergo a normal lab test before he or she will provide you with the required medication.

The most accurate among all the pregnancy tests is the blood test. This is because this test can isolate the tiniest content of HCG in the blood and hence be able to confirm pregnancy when all other tests would fail. The disadvantage about this test is that it has to be done only at a clinic, while all other types of test can be administered at home.

To summarize the above, the home pregnancy test is the best of all when it comes to privacy, cost efficiency, and even accuracy of the results. Among all the choices available, this choice is also the most convenient. The most accurate is the blood test because it is highly sensitive to the slightest possible quantity of HCG in the blood. There are the urine and saliva tests as well, which are conducted in clinics on the same premises as the home based kits. You may now choose whichever suits you the best.