No pregnancy hormone level present 1 red line in the control window (C) means that your pregnancy hormone levels are falling and the products of conception has been passed. One line may be lighter than the other they do not have to match. Pregnancy hormone levels present – 2 red lines in both the test window (T) and control window (C) means you may have retained products of conception. Some positive results may be seen in 1 minute or less.ĭo not read the test result after 10 minutes.
If no red line appears, wait one minute longer. Wait at least 3 minutes for the red line(s) to appear. Step 6 – As the test begins to work, you may notice a light red flow moving across the Test and Control windows. Step 5 – Lay the test on a flat surface with the Test and Control window facing upwards and then begin timing. Step 4 – After at least 10 seconds, remove the test from your urine and immediately replace the thumb grip cap back over the absorbent tip. Step 3 – Hold the test by the capped Thumb Grip with the exposed Absorbent Tip pointing downwards directly into your urine stream for at least 10 seconds until it is thoroughly wet. Step 2 – Remove the cap and place it on the thumb grip end. If after reading it you have any concerns or require further explanation, please discuss this with a member of the healthcare team who has been caring for you. It is not intended to replace the discussion between you and your doctor but may act as a starting point for discussion. Most of your questions should be answered by this leaflet. This leaflet has been produced to give you general information about performing a pregnancy test. Need some help choosing a language? Please refer to Browsealoud Supported Voices and Languages. A negative result is only valid as long as you have not tested too soon.You can translate this page by using the headphones button (bottom left) and then select the globe to change the language of the page. The bottom line: A positive result means that you are pregnant. That’s because it will take that long for the HCG level to drop back under 25. You can have a miscarriage and your pregnancy test will remain positive for days or even weeks. It cannot tell you whether a pregnancy is healthy or whether you have had a miscarriage. Once the HCG is level is above 100 (usually within 3 weeks after conception) any pregnancy test will turn positive.įinally, it is important to remember that a home test only measures the presence or absence of HCG. An individual test stick may be negative, even though another test stick will be positive because the HCG level really is 25 or above.Īll these caveats apply only in very early pregnancy. So while the average pregnancy test of a brand that claims it can detect HCG as low as 25 may be able to do so, individual tests may not reach the same level of quality and may not register positive until a higher level of HCG is reached. If you are pregnant, the test should turn positive in that time.įinally, not all tests meet the sensitivity levels that are claimed by the brand. If you have a negative test, but suspect that you are pregnant, you can test again in 2-7 days. In a normal pregnancy, the HCG level doubles approximately every 48 hours. Again, a negative test may be wrong because it was done too soon. Therefore, it is impossible to identify the day when a pregnancy test will turn positive if they are indeed pregnant. Many women have irregular periods and they don’t know when they could have conceived. If you test before then, and you get a negative result, it is meaningless, since you may have tested before the HCG level was high enough to detect. Therefore, most pregnancy tests cannot pick up a pregnancy until the day you miss your period. This level is reached at about 14 days after conception, which is usually the date on which you expect your period.
Each brand of test has a lower limit below which it cannot measure HCG. If your test is positive, you are pregnant.Ī negative test is far less accurate for several reasons. Unlike blood tests for HCG, which measure the actual amount of hormone, home pregnancy tests just register the presence or absence of HCG.Ī positive home pregnancy test is quite accurate because the test will not register the presence of HCG unless it is actually there. Home pregnancy tests work by measuring HCG (human chorionic gonadotropic, the pregnancy hormone) in the urine.