How Soon Can You Take a Pregnancy Test? Consider All the Options

Every woman wants to quickly confirm the fact of conception. For this purpose, doctors recommend doing a pregnancy test used to confirm pregnancy in the early stages. Such tests react to the content of a particular hormone – HCG (human chorionic gonadotropin). But is it possible to get clear results?

HCG is produced in scanty numbers, even in non-pregnant women. But soon after fertilization, its amount starts to increase rapidly. By creating a reagent that is capable of responding to the presence of HCG in the urine of women, scientists have made a huge step forward. Now any woman can define a pregnancy at home. But in order to get reliable results, you must follow the instructions given therein. In particular, you should know how many days after intercourse you can do a pregnancy test and does it is necessary to do a test after a delay of menstruation.

How Many Days Should Pass to do a Pregnancy Test after Unprotected Intercourse

Thus, a pregnancy test contains a reagent that is manifested in the form of a second strip if HCG is present in the tested urine – if a woman is pregnant. But this requires that the amount of HCG has had time to grow to a certain level at the time of the test. For this reason, you can get false-negative results at too early testing. So, do not rush, otherwise, the test will not show pregnancy.

There are only a few days in each menstrual cycle when there is a chance of getting pregnant. If unsafe or insecurely protected sexual intercourse took place in the period of ovulation, it makes sense to carry out a pregnancy test not earlier than 10 days after sex. It will be more accurate 14 or more days after.

The fact is that the HCG begins to produce only from the time of implantation of the ovum in the uterus 5-7, and sometimes after 10-12 days after intercourse. On the first day after fixing the egg in the uterus the amount of HCG is still too little for the test to identify him. This is only possible a few days after implantation.

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When to do a Pregnancy Test With a Different Sensitivity: Before or after a Delay

The minimal concentration of gonadotropin in the urine, which a pregnancy test is able to determine is 10 mIU / ml. These are hypersensitive tests that can be carried out before the delay of menstruation. Tests with a sensitivity of 10 mIU / mL or 15 mIU / mL are able to show a pregnancy 10-12 days after ovulation (in some cases even after 7 days from the moment of conception) – a few days before the anticipated start of the period.

A pregnancy test with a sensitivity of 20-25 mIU / ml depends on the day of doing such a test. The indicated concentrations of HCG in the urine reach only after 2 or more weeks from conception. That is why the results of such tests can be considered valid only if they are carried out on the second or third day of delay. If you want to get the most truthful result, you should do a pregnancy test not earlier than on the 5th day of delay. The research results show that tests held on the first day of delay indicate the presence of a real pregnancy only in 16% of the cases, despite the encouraging promises of manufacturers.

When to do a Pregnancy Test after Conception

All cited figures and dates are rather conventional. In each case, the difference may be a few days, and it depends on a large number of factors: the date of ovulation in any of the cycles may be displaced, the fertilized egg due to various reasons can get to the uterus longer than usual, etc. These and other details can affect the rate of production of HCG. Therefore, the timing is sufficient for a test to determine. Physiological cycle fluctuations can occur absolutely in every woman, even if she has always a clear and regular cycle before.

Modern tests declare the validity of the results as about 99%. But numerous studies show that the false results are significantly higher. The most common reason for this is too early stages of testing. Even a difference of one day plays a big role. Note, that the concentration of HCG, after fixing the ovum in the uterus doubling every day – increasing very rapidly.

For this reason, doctors recommend testing no sooner than the first day of delay. For greater reliability do a test 2-3 days after the expected start of menstruation. Moreover, whatever the result you get, there is no guarantee that it will be truthful. We recommend you repeat the test at least once more after 2-3 days.

When to do a Pregnancy Test, If The Cycle Is Irregular

With an irregular menstrual cycle, it is difficult to calculate when to do a pregnancy test. In this case, ovulation occurs every time in a different period. Therefore, to do a test before the delay does not make sense. Pregnancy tests in women with irregular cycles are most often wrong.

Doctors recommend doing a pregnancy test at an irregular menstrual cycle, not earlier than 16-17 or more days after unprotected intercourse, using ultra-sensitive tests, or not earlier than 14 days or more after ovulation, taking as a benchmark the longest of all the cycles. The fact is that even with a very long or short cycle, periods always occur after approximately two weeks after ovulation – lengthening or shortening of the cycle always takes place due to its first phase.

If you see the first signs of pregnancy, do a test – it will also be appropriate.

Women with irregular menstrual cycles should immediately visit a gynecologist if the results of a pregnancy test are positive or even if a second stripe is pale.

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When to do a Pregnancy Test after Ovulation

It is believed that the tests with a high sensitivity of 10 mIU / ml, which specifically include inkjet pregnancy tests, can be used at any time. Nevertheless, there are specific medical facts that the more concentrated the urine is, the easier it is to detect HCG and thus determine pregnancy. So to improve the reliability of the results it is better to do a pregnancy test in the early morning just after waking up. At least, do not urinate for 4 hours or more before the test. With the same purpose,  exclude the admission of diuretics and the use of diuretic products on the eve of the test.

When to do a pregnancy test – in the morning or in the evening – if the delay is already a few days or weeks, does not matter. At this stage, it is possible to determine a pregnancy even with the low-sensitive test.

When to do a Pregnancy Test While Breastfeeding

Very often, menstruation does not occur during lactation. In such circumstances, a woman can get pregnant and does not even know about it. Gynecologists advise doing a test during breastfeeding every month – for reassurance.

When to do a Pregnancy Test After Insemination, and after the Injection of HCG

Despite the fact that with insemination the conception occurs without intercourse at all, subsequent processes of conception and implantation of the ovum occur similarly to natural fertilization. The test for pregnancy after insemination can be carried out only 18 days after the procedure. But the blood for HCG you can check earlier – after 14 days. In the case of an unsuccessful attempt, your period starts 12 or more days after insemination.

If there was a stimulation of pregnancy, and a woman received injections of HCG, any test carried out after that will seem positive. So to obtain truthful results, we recommend doing a pregnancy test not earlier than after 15 days.

When to do a Pregnancy Test After IVF

The processes of generating HCG with IVF occur in exactly the same way as in natural conception. If the embryo in the uterus takes root, it will immediately begin to produce HCG. That is why after 2 weeks from the transfer of the embryo it is already possible to start doing tests. But for a more reliable result, doctors advise giving blood on HCG in a clinic.

When to do a Pregnancy Test After Abortion

After the abortion, the level of hormones, which have been actively produced with the onset of conception, including HCG level, would remain high for some time until the hormonal background stabilizes and recovers.

If this question interests you for the reason that you want to make sure that the uterus is left of membranes, it is better does not to rely on tests. Only intravaginal inspection is able to determine the state of the genital tract of women and to identify the possible complications. It is better to visit a gynecologist. But in general, after 2 weeks of abortion HCG usually returns to a norm, and the test has to be negative.