Pregnancy Tests and You
While the internet and the Dima website is a great source for lots of information, it’s definitely not where you should be looking to figure out if you’re pregnant—or should I say, if you’re pregananat. When you need to know if you’re expecting, skip Yahoo! Answers and take an over the counter pregnancy test.
How Do Pregnancy Tests Work?
Over-the-counter pregnancy tests detect human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) hormone in urine. HCG is produced by the body only during pregnancy, starting from when a fertilized egg attaches to the uterine lining.
Where Can You Get A Pregnancy Test In The Philippines?
Pregnancy tests are available at any pharmacy, as well as through online options like Dima, and don’t require a prescription. They can range in price from around P50 to P200, but price is not an indicator of pregnancy test accuracy. As long as you take it correctly and at the right time, most tests claim a 99% pregnancy test accuracy rate. Our pregnancy tests only cost 58PHP!
When To Use a Pregnancy Test?
You can take the test as soon as there’s enough detectable HCG in your body. Many tests, including the Dima health test, say you can reliably take it as soon as on the first missed day of your period.
Knowing when to use a pregnancy test might be trickier if you have an irregular period (or don’t get your period at all), or if you’re on hormone treatment. This timing also may not work if you’re a long way from your next period and need to know sooner rather than later. In these cases, it’s recommended that you wait 2-3 weeks after sex to take a test. This is because fertilization and implantation can take up to 6-10 days to happen.
How To Use a Pregnancy Test?
Firstly, check the packaging! Read the instructions carefully and make sure your test isn’t expired. The best time to take the test is in the morning, as your first pee of the day would have the highest concentration of HCG.
Avoid touching the part of the test where the sample is taken (sometimes this is a dropper or cup) both before and after taking your sample, and take your urine sample midstream. Lastly, make sure you wait for the correct amount of time for the test to work.
What Are The Chances Of A False Negative?
Your body produces more HCG the longer you’re pregnant—in fact, its HCG concentration doubles every 2 to 3 days. This means that over the counter pregnancy tests are more accurate the longer you wait. This also means that, inversely, the chances of a false negative go up the shorter you wait after having sex. So make sure you know when to use a pregnancy test to avoid a false negative.
If you want to be extra sure about your results, it’s best to take more than one test, a week or two apart from each other.
What Are The Chances Of A False Positive?
False positives are much less common than false negatives, but they do happen. Taking fertility drugs that contain HCG, having a miscarriage, or having an ectopic pregnancy could all result in a positive test result.
I Got My Results…. Now What?
If your test comes out negative and you’re not confident in the pregnancy test accuracy, you can take another one in a week or two, when (assuming it’s a false negative) there would be more HCG in your system to be detected.
If it’s negative and you’re confident in the result, then you’re not pregnant. If this is good news, then great! If you were hoping for a positive and are having trouble conceiving, consider talking to a doctor about your options.
If your test comes out positive, it’s time to talk to a doctor. There’s now a tiny future person growing inside you, and it’s important to start a prenatal program to keep you both healthy. Hopefully, a positive test is good news but, if not, you can also talk to your doctor about what options are available to you.
How Do I Avoid Getting Pregnant?
There are many different strategies to avoid pregnancy, ranging from abstinence to natural family planning (NFP) options like the rhythm method and withdrawal. These NFP options don’t have the best success rates though. For example, out of those practicing the rhythm method, up to 24 out of 100 still get pregnant each year.
The safest way to ensure you don’t get pregnant accidentally is really birth control, birth control, birth control! On top of that, and especially if no other birth control options are available to you, make sure you also use barrier methods like condoms (bonus: condoms are the only contraceptive to also protect from STIs).
Remember folks, safe sex is good sex!
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Published on
August 14, 2020
