HCG Blood Test Pregnancy, Home Kit – £55

Pregnancy exam: how does it work, and after how long to do it?

The exam is the most important tool for knowing if you are pregnant. Sold in pairs, they are generally performed on urine, only in specific cases on blood. And they are highly reliable.

A fundamental moment in the life of a woman and a couple, it is the most effective tool for determining if you are pregnant: «Its reliability is around 95.99%, a percentage that is equally valid for tests bought in pharmacies much on those in the supermarket.

Which therefore makes them all very reliable,” explains Dr Elisabetta Colonese, a specialist in gynaecology and obstetrics in Milan and consultant of the Mustela portal. But how does it work, and above all, how long do you have to wait before taking the exam?

What should you do for it to be effective?

«The basis of methods, both on urine and blood, is the detection of beta HCG, a hormone produced by the trophoblast, the first cells of pregnancy. Generally, this hormone begins to be present around 7-10 days after conception,” explains the expert who makes a necessary clarification: “In this case “conception” means the union between the spermatozoon and the oocyte. Only then does the trophoblast begin to produce it.”

This is why it is done with urine: in fact, this is where the first signs of conception are found. Furthermore, given the timing, it is necessary to wait at least until the first day of delay of the canonical 28-day cycle to take the exam: «It is always a good idea to wait until there are at least one or better two days of delay to do a urine version. If you normally have a 28-day cycle, the sampling can be done from the 29th day, but if it is always 35-40 days, wait between the 36th and 41st day before taking it.”

What changes between urine and blood exams?

However, not all exams are the same. The one done on blood is faster, in this case it can be carried out between seven and ten days after conception. Thanks to this characteristic, these exams can be done with venous sampling and even with a finger prick, to be carried out easily at home.

The peculiarity of this exam is that, in addition to having a qualitative relevance, i.e. indicating whether it is present, it also gives the possibility of a quantitative value, making it a very reliable evaluation.

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But not all women have to do it: «In fact, those who have to take a sample are mostly patients who have had problems in the past such as spontaneous abortions, biochemical pregnancies, multiple miscarriages or extrauterine pregnancies including salpingectomy (a surgical operation which consists in the removal of the salpinx or the uterine tubes).

Another example is when it has been sought for a long time.

When the patient takes the urine exam, I also ask for the dosage to have a quantitative value and understand how the pregnancy is going. The value must have more than doubled after 48 hours.”

Instructions for use:

Generally, the kits are sold in pairs because once the first one is positive, another is immediately done, and also because «sometimes the first one can fail or can’t be performed very well. It may be the first time the patient has done it, the hand may tremble, the strip on which you have to urinate may not be centered. For this reason, I recommend using a sterile urine jar to insert the sample directly into the jar and be safe.”

Is there a more suitable time of day?

«Generally, you go crazy with the first urine sample because it is the most concentrated. But kits are now so reliable that they can be done at any time of the day.”

When can the results be unreliable? “It happens, for example, when the kits have expired or have been stored poorly, or if it is done poorly, perhaps due to emotion, or even too soon, thus creating a false positive.”