When planning pregnancy, any woman wants to quickly confirm the fact of conception. These days, thanks to modern test strips, it is very easy to find out about the onset of pregnancy, even in the early stages. Such test systems quickly and easily confirm the fact of pregnancy at home, even before the examination by a gynecologist. But to avoid disappointing results, it is important to use tests correctly. For the correctness of the result, the time of the examination also matters.
How to confirm pregnancy?
There are several ways to make sure that conception has occurred. One of the most reliable is an ultrasound examination, but at the very early stages it may not show a fertilized egg. And therefore for an earlier diagnosis, special tests were created that respond to changes in the body of a pregnant woman that occur from the first days after conception.
Such tests detect human chorionic gonadotropin. This hormone begins to be produced in the body of the expectant mother some time after conception - about a week later. First, its level rises in the woman's blood, and then in the urine.
At the same time, normally such a hormone in a healthy woman should not be detected either in the blood or in the urine.
If you take a blood test, an increase can be detected even before the first day of the expected period. However, such an examination is expensive and not available to all women, so the use of home tests that detect chorionic gonadotropin in the urine is more popular.
Similar tests are sold in all pharmacies and large stores. They are usually individually packaged test strips, but they also come in the form of plastic test kits. Some of them need to be dipped in urine collected in a sterile cup. Other tests are jet tests, that is, they are placed under the stream of urine, which is more convenient for many women.
When will the test show the result?
The principle of operation of all tests is the same - the reagent applied to the paper reveals the pregnancy hormone present in the urine. If its level is high, a woman will see two stripes, a plus sign or a smiley. In the first case, the test should have a bright control strip, which confirms the correct operation of the device. Next to it, pregnant women will have a second stripe, the brightness of which depends on the amount of hormone in the biomaterial.
Most tests for home use show pregnancy when the chorionic gonadotropin content exceeds 20-25 mIU per milliliter of body fluid. This content of the hormonal substance usually occurs from the first days of delayed menstruation, which corresponds to 12-14 days from the moment of conception.
They also produce more sensitive test systems that detect the hormone in a concentration of 10-15 mIU per 1 ml. They are able to confirm successful conception already a few days before the end of the menstrual cycle.
If the menstruation is already 5-7 days late, then the presence of pregnancy will show any of the tests, even a low-sensitivity one.
But for the results of testing to be accurate, it is important to comply with certain conditions... Depending on the type of tester, it is lowered into the urine to the control line or placed under the stream. Then the device is left on a flat, dry surface and wait for the time specified by the manufacturer. Even if the second strip is pale and indistinct, such a test is considered positive.
If the result is negative, you need to repeat the test the next day or a few days later. The same actions are recommended when in doubt.
What time of day to do?
It is noted in the annotation to all diagnostic devices that the best time for a survey is in the morning.
To identify chorionic gonadotropin, it is advisable to take the first urine that a woman has excreted after a night's sleep. In this portion, the concentration of the hormone will be maximum, therefore, the accuracy of the test increases many times over.
This is due to the absence of urination at night for about 6-8 hours, due to which the chorionic gonadotropin accumulates in sufficient quantities. In addition, doctors take into account the biological processes that take place in the female body during pregnancy. In particular, the growth of the hormone is observed precisely during the night period, therefore, in the first portion of urine it will be the most. Additionally, we note that no special preparation for the test is needed.... An examination on an empty stomach is not required, but it is usually done before breakfast.
Many women are eager to find out about the good news as soon as possible, so they are interested in whether it is permissible to do testing in the afternoon or in the evening. Usually doctors do not recommend doing this, especially if there is no delay yet or it is small. The liquid drunk during the day will certainly affect the content of the pregnancy hormone, so an error is possible even with the most sensitive tests. In the case when the test would show a weak second stripe with morning urine, with daytime or evening urine it is likely to be false negative.
However, many modern tests, the sensitivity of which is 10 mIU / ml, are able to show pregnancy both at lunchtime and in the evening, but with some reservations.
First of all, such testing is recommended after a delay. If there are still a few days before the expected date, the test may be in vain.
Besides, for an accurate result, a woman should not drink a lot during the day, and also often go to the toilet... There are recommendations for a "dry" regime for four hours before the examination. Experts believe that this time is enough for the accumulation of a sufficient amount of the pregnancy hormone in the urine and the reliability of the result will increase.
As for the delay in menstruation for more than five days, then in this case a positive result is possible with a device of any sensitivity and at any time of the day. For a period of more than 5 obstetric weeks, the amount of chorionic gonadotropin is already so large that a negative result is unlikely. For testing at this time, it no longer makes a difference whether the woman does the test in the evening and whether she drinks a lot during the day.
Some women also ask if morning urine can be collected and tested later, for example, after 1-2 hours. Experts do not recommend doing this and consider such tests unreliable. If it is not possible to do an examination in the morning with fresh urine, it is better to postpone the manipulation for the next day or use a highly sensitive device at any time of the day.but take into account that the result in this case may be false negative.
In order for an early pregnancy test to show the result correctly, it is recommended to do it in the morning.
Such advice from doctors and manufacturers of test systems is associated with the characteristics of the production of human chorionic gonadotropin. This hormone begins to be produced soon after conception, increases its concentration every day and is detected in female urine in the maximum amount in the morning, immediately after waking up. Therefore, if testing is performed with a morning portion of urine, then its effectiveness will be the highest.
