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Are Home Pregnancy Test Kits Reliable?

Posted on Wed, 27 Jul 2016

Question: The girl i am seeing is 3 weeks late on her period. Her last period was May 9th. She says she usually is regular. And so she missed her XXXXXXX 9 period. There was some episides of unprotected intercourse and she did not take emergency contraception. 2 weeks ago however she did take the morning after pill. She has taken 5 hpt tests all after her missed period and all are negative. The most recent two were 2 and 3 days ago, which would be 3 weeks after missed period, and with the most sensitive otc hpt kits i could buy based on research i have done. It was the First response early detection test. Most of her tests were taken at random times of the day but the last one was taken with her first morning urine and negative still. We just want to be sure we can trust all these negative results and move on without worry.

Answered by Dr. Ramadevi Wani (21 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
The girl you are seeing is not pregnant.

Detailed Answer:
Hi,
Welcome to Healthcare Magic.
I am Dr Ramadevi Wani. I will be answering your concerns.

The home pregnancy test kits are quite reliable. Since you have done several times and all are negative she is not pregnant.
When was the last time you had unprotected intercourse? If it is more than two weeks, she is definitely not pregnant. You can trust these results and move on with your lives. She can consult doctor and take progesterone to start her period.
If the episode of unprotected intercourse is less than two weeks, then there is a slim possibility of pregnancy which cannot be detected at this time. You need to repeat the pregnancy test again.
I hope this is helpful.
If you have further concerns, I will be happy to answer.
Best wishes,
Dr Rama

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Prasad

Follow up: Dr. Ramadevi Wani (2 hours later)

The episodes of unprotected intercourse were more than 2 weeks ago. I have just heard of times when women get false negatives when they are pregnant for many weeks or months sometimes. Not sure if that is rare but thats they only reason we are still worries even after all 5 of the hpt have been negative and even the one 2 days ago with the first morning urine. Just still concerned since she is going on one month without her period. You still believe she is in fact not pregnant based on the test results? Thank you again, its a very stressful scary time for us.

Answered by Dr. Ramadevi Wani (5 hours later)

Brief Answer:
She is definitely not pregnant

Detailed Answer:
Hi
Welcome back.
She is definitely not pregnant.
It is true that sometimes there can be false negatives. But it does not happen all the time. You have repeated the test several times.

If you still need further confirmation you can do a blood pregnancy test.
The second option is let her take Progesterone daily for 5 days. She will start her period.

I hope this is helpful.
Best wishes,
Dr Rama

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Priyanka G Raj