Search:

Early Pregnancy and Home Pregnancy Tests

By: Amber Lowery Is your period late and are you curious how soon you can get accurate results from a home pregnancy test? If you go to the drugstore, you will see plenty of products that claim that you can get accurate results as soon as the day you miss your period. Find out exactly how accurate that is and what could happen if you take the test too soon.

If you go to the drugstore to purchase your pregnancy test, you may notice several kits claiming you can get accurate pregnancy test results if you are as little as one day late. In fact while your pregnancy can be detected by the test this early, it won't be all the time.

You may take one of these over the counter tests as soon as your period is late, but it might be too soon and the test may give you a false negative result. It is thought to be best to wait a week or so after you miss your period to take one of the OTC home pregnancy tests.

An additional way to increase the chances that you get the best reading is to take the test just after you wake up when your urine has been in your bladder for a longer time. The first urine of the morning has the strongest concentration of the hormone human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) which is what most of todays home pregnancy tests read for.

Be sure to understand and follow the specific directions that came with the home pregnancy test. Every test varies and some tests have specific things you must do.

Generally, taking a pregnancy test at home is easy. Simply hold the device under your urine flow for a few seconds. Then, you just wait a bit for the results. Check the example that was included in the test to know exactly what to look for in the test.

If you test negative and you still have not had your period after another few days, you can always take another test or call your doctor. Doctors offices use urine testing but may also do blood testing that is more precise at detecting early pregnancy.