Having suspected that she is pregnant, the first thing a woman goes to buy a pregnancy test. When choosing it, she often focuses on the advice of girlfriends, fashion magazines or a pharmacy pharmacist.
Types of tests
Modern manufacturers offer to determine pregnancy using three types of tests - strips impregnated with a reagent for hCG hormone, urine jet tests and tablet tests with two windows. The test strips must be dipped in the urine that has been previously collected in a container. The pregnancy test will show the result after 4-6 minutes. The strips belong to the cheapest category of tests, but have a large error and high sensitivity to the hCG hormone.
The sensitivity of the tests shows the amount of the hCG hormone, which increases during pregnancy, so they show the most accurate result only from the first day of the delay. It makes no sense to conduct a test before the expected day of the arrival of menstruation.
Tablet tests are more expensive than test strips, but they are less sensitive to the pregnancy hormone, making them more accurate and of better quality. Tablet pregnancy tests consist of two strips, one of which is pipetted with urine, and the other is expected to show the result.
Inkjet tests are the most expensive and most effective because they contain a special layer of blue particles that attach to the hCG hormone and show the result after a minute. A good inkjet test will detect pregnancy as early as a week after conception.
Choosing an accurate pregnancy test
In order not to be mistaken when choosing such an important product, you need to follow several rules. First of all, when buying, you should pay attention to its expiration date. The lower the sensitivity of the test to the hormone hCG (the lower it is), the earlier the pregnancy test will show an accurate result. With a delay in menstruation, it is quite possible to use a test strip or tablet test, since the hCG hormone will already be sufficient for reliable diagnosis in the body.
To increase the reliability of the result, it is advisable to purchase several pregnancy tests from different manufacturers.
You should not buy the cheapest tests from an unknown manufacturer - they, most likely, may show an inaccurate result or distort it. It is also worthwhile to correctly carry out the procedure of "testing" for pregnancy, as closely as possible following all the instructions indicated on the packaging of the purchased test. If, after contact with urine, the test shows one bright strip and an almost imperceptible second, this is hardly a test error, most likely the woman is really pregnant.
