Sooner or later, many women face the most important question, the answer to which can change their whole life - this is the question of a pregnancy that has come. Fortunately, modern medicine gives us a chance not to be tormented by painful conjectures and not burn out with impatience - it’s enough to get the usual pregnancy test and immediately get an informative result. But before you run to the pharmacy, it does not hurt to understand the huge assortment of this type of product, its features and the principle of operation.
What are pregnancy tests?
Today, there are three main groups of pregnancy tests: strip tests, tablet and inkjet tests. The principle of action for all of them is the same and is based on the chemical reaction of the reagent that is used to soak the test and the hormone human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), which is present only in the urine of a pregnant woman. The most affordable option is the usual test in the form of a small paper strip, which must be lowered into a container with urine. After five to ten minutes, the number of colored strips will determine if pregnancy has occurred. For all its apparent simplicity, there is an important point here - the results of such a test can often be unreliable. This can happen if you overexposure a strip in the urine for longer than the required amount of time, or, for example, the test indicator is not colored enough and misleads you.
A more expensive option is a tablet test, which differs from the test strip in the way it is used. This is a test of a more complex design, which has two windows: several drops of urine are introduced into one of them with a pipette, and in the other after a while the result will be visible.
However, the most effective in modern pharmacology is the jet test, which does not require any additional containers to determine the results - just place it under the stream of urine and in a minute find out the answer to the main question. The high reliability of such a test is explained by the fact that its surface is covered with a layer of special blue particles. If there is an hCG hormone in the urine, these particles attach to it and immediately show the result. The only drawback of this group of tests is their rather high price.
What is the most accurate pregnancy test?
If you doubt the choice of the test and want to get the most accurate of them, then you should consider the following points:
• any test you choose with high reliability will show a true result if you use it correctly and according to the instructions;
• The expiration date of a pregnancy test plays an important role for its veracity;
• A pregnancy test will be more accurate the higher its sensitivity. This indicator is always indicated on the package. For example, the already mentioned inkjet tests are considered the most accurate - their sensitivity is sometimes about 10 mIU / ml, which allows you to determine pregnancy within a few days after conception, when the level of hCG hormone is still very low.
When can I do a pregnancy test
When should you start using a pregnancy test so that it shows an accurate result? For this, it must be borne in mind that the hCG hormone already known to us appears in a woman’s urine and, accordingly, can manifest itself with a test reagent, only 7-10 days after implantation of the embryo in the uterine cavity. That is, you won’t be able to find out whether a pregnancy has occurred immediately after the intercourse that caused doubt — you will have to wait at least a week for this. It is also important to consider that the level of hCG hormone in a woman’s body grows gradually, so that in the very early stages of pregnancy, the test may show an erroneous negative result due to the low content of gonadotropin in the urine. Highly sensitive inkjet tests are able to determine the onset of pregnancy several days before the expected start of menstruation, and the rest, cheaper tests, after the first day of delay. So, if you want to dispel all doubts, it is better to use several tests with an interval of three to five days, starting from the eleventh day after the onset of the last ovulation.
How to use a pregnancy test
A very important point that determines the reliability of a pregnancy test is its proper use. After all, even the most expensive test can be mistaken if it is carried out in violation of these requirements. Before proceeding directly to the test itself, be sure to read the instructions that are in the package. As a rule, the use procedure is almost no different for different types of tests and involves opening an airtight package, ensuring contact of urine and reagent, and evaluating the final result. Please note that for the most accurate result, it is necessary to conduct a test at the time of the day when the level of hCG hormone in the woman’s urine is the highest, namely in the morning. Before use, it is also worth evaluating the integrity of the dough packaging and its shelf life. Compliance with the time frames specified in the instructions is very important for evaluating the result, so do not be too lazy to notice the time from the start of the procedure. If the gestational age is still very small, then the second strip can appear very weakly. But even a barely distinguishable strip indicates fertilization has come, so you should not postpone a visit to the doctor.
Folk "tests" for pregnancy
Pregnancy is a condition that entails many changes in the life of every woman. Therefore, I want to know about its occurrence or absence as early as possible, without suffering from ignorance. Knowing the impatient nature of women, one should not be surprised at their desire to determine their condition with the help of folk methods, without waiting for the time indicated in the instructions for medical pregnancy tests. The veracity of such "grandmother" methods, of course, has not been scientifically proven, and nevertheless, they were used in ancient times.
Many well-known folk methods for determining pregnancy were based, as in modern science, on the mandatory participation of urine. One of them was this: it was necessary to collect the urine of a woman and drop iodine into it. If the drop immediately spreads out, then the woman is not pregnant, if she remains on the surface - wait for replenishment. The color of urine was also evaluated - it was believed that in pregnant women it had a saturated dark yellow hue. They even advised combining urine with wine in equal proportions - in non-pregnant women it becomes cloudy and kind of “curds”, in pregnant women it remains transparent and clean.
Another interesting method for determining pregnancy was that a woman planted two bulbs in two glasses of water. One glass was designated as "pregnant", the second - no. The feathers of which bulb quickly reached a height of 4 cm, such was the answer.
Dreams portend pregnancy
And, of course, great importance was attached to the dreams of women. A harbinger of pregnancy was considered a dream in which there was a fish and clean ponds. It doesn’t matter if you eat fish, catch it or just watch it - if you dream about it, then you are pregnant! Many women still trust this method.
Using a modern pregnancy test or ancient folk methods is a personal choice for every woman, because, anyway, over time, you will still know the right result. The main thing is that this result is desired for you, then everything will turn out in the best way, which is what you want!
Comments
