With the development of technology, a lot of things have fallen into place. There are tons of pregnancy kits available under several brands, which have ensured that it is not hard to find out if you are pregnant as well. Not many of us are aware of how each pregnancy test is different from the others, if at all they are different, and not many of us know how these kits. Let us find out what we need to know about pregnancy tests.
All Tests Are Just The Same
The first thing you need to know is that no matter which brand you are using, all pregnancy kits work the same. Whether you buy an expensive one or a cheap one, all the tests work the same way and will give you the best result. All of these measure the same hormone called human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG). HCG is already present in our body in certain amounts. However, once you get pregnant and the fetus grows, your HCG level in the blood and urine takes off. Once the hormone’s level gets to 25 International Units (IUs), it means that you are pregnant.
It Is Only A Morning Test
There is a reason behind why they work the best in the morning. HCG gets a chance to build up in the urine when it is stored in the bladder, which means that it builds up after you sleep for several hours. When you do not urinate for a longer time, the HCG in your urine gets concentrated and is more likely to give you a positive result, since you need 25 IUs for the test to turn positive.
Your Doctor’s Test Might Be Different
The urine tests that you do are qualitative in nature, which means that they only indicate the presence of HCG after it hits 25 IUs. However, there are quantitative tests too, and these indicate the amount of HCG in a person’s bloodstream. Doctors recommend a quantitative test to see if the fetus is maturing and is mostly done when pregnancy complications arise. It has been found that once the number gets to 1800, the fetus is visible, and once it hits 2500, the fetal pole can be seen and sometimes, also the heartbeat of the fetus can be heard.
Test Results Are Affected By Your Health
There are certain medications, mainly those used for fertility, which increase the level of HCG in the urine. If you are on a certain medication, you might be fooled to thinking that you are pregnant even if you are not. You must also remember that rarely, cases of pituitary disorder or germ cells cancer, which might happen because of the formation of tumors in the testes or ovaries, might also elevate the level of HCG in your urine.
Always Believe The Test Results
This is something most of us hesitate to do: believe the test results. We must always trust what the results say, be it positive or negative. If you cannot trust it once, do it twice but not thrice. If the results are positive twice, then you must be sure that you are pregnant. Initially, the doctor too won’t do any other test, and if you come to the doctor to test if you are pregnant again, the results will be the same as you have seen when you did it yourself. So, always trust the test if you get the same result twice.
Next time you have a doubt about which brand to pick, pick any, and if the test says twice that you are pregnant, prepare yourself to become a mother!
