Taking Early Pregnancy Tests

Are you experiencing some of the early signs of pregnancy and wondering if you really are pregnant? Some women won’t notice the signs of pregnancy before their missed period, and some women experience several early signs. Either way, you may wish to test for pregnancy a little early. But how early is too early?

Is it too early for you to test? Early in pregnancy, a woman’s body produces the hormone human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG). This hormone is present in small amounts when the fertilized egg is implanted to the uterus but increases rapidly after that.

Pregnancy tests work by detecting hCG in the urine. Because hCG increases over time, these tests are more accurate the longer you wait to test. However, many women want to test early.

Some pregnancy tests say that you can test up to four days before your period. Other tests claim that their tests work on the first day of a missed period. But either way, your results won’t be as accurate this early in pregnancy. Even though most pregnancy tests claim 99% accuracy, this claim isn’t valid if you test early. The first day of your missed period is still early if you wish to take a pregnancy test.

Even though you may not get completely accurate results if you test early, many women choose to do so. If you do take a pregnancy test early, you will probably want to retest in a week or two, especially if your results were negative, in order to make sure your results are valid.

It can be difficult to wait to take a pregnancy test, especially if you feel that you are experiencing early signs of pregnancy. Take an early pregnancy test if you need to, but make sure to retest later. Early testing is just not accurate enough to rely on.

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