Whether you take urine or blood HCG pregnancy test it is possible to have a negative result and yet still be pregnant. This is possible especially if you forgot to take note of the factors needed to get an accurate result.
This can seriously pose harm for you and your baby thinking you are not pregnant because of a false negative result. So to prevent you from making that major error here are some things you need to know to ensure that you get an accurate HCG pregnancy test.
Relatively both a blood HCG pregnancy test and urine HCG pregnancy test is accurate; the difference is that blood HCG can detect pregnancy earlier than that of a urine HCG pregnancy test; but both tests can still give you a false negative result if not done correctly.
Factors Causing False Negative Home HCG Pregnancy Test
HCG pregnancy test too early – This is a common mistake causing false negative HCG pregnancy test.
Remember that a blood HCG pregnancy test can be done earliest within the 6th to 8th day after your perceived conception day and for a urine HCG pregnancy test it is usually 14 days after conception.
If an HCG pregnancy test is done any time earlier than those days it will give you a false negative result. Date of the test is very important to ensure that you have enough levels of HCG to get an accurate HCG pregnancy test reading.
Incorrect specimen collection and technique – Another common mistake that gives a false negative HCG pregnancy test is the wrong specimen collection that states it should be the first morning urine; to allow enough HCG levels to settle together with the urine.
Wrong technique means you may have failed to dip well the HCG pregnancy test strip or if you are using a different HCG pregnancy test kit, you may not have placed enough amount of your urine to get an accurate reading. All these errors will affect the HCG pregnancy test and give you a false negative result.
Missed HCG reaction time – HCG pregnancy test kits have a particular processing and reading time so be sure to follow them; otherwise the results will be inaccurate and will give you either a false positive or false negative result.
An HCG pregnancy test kit for home use is 97% accurate as long as the kit is not expired, you take the test at the right time and you use a quality brand. It is also important to be familiar with the line test interpretation as they may appear differently for different brands and an incorrect reading may also give you a false negative HCG pregnancy test result.
If you are certain you did everything right and still get a negative HCG pregnancy test and are still in doubt of the result because you are experiencing signs and symptoms that you may be pregnant the best thing to do is to visit your health provider. Your obstetrician may perform more accurate tests like a pelvic internal exam and a pelvic or a transvaginal ultrasound; these tests have greater accuracy than the home HCG pregnancy test.
The HCG pregnancy test will also be done in a series with different intervals to confirm varying changes in the HCG levels, which may increase or decrease over time. HCG pregnancy test is also used to diagnose abnormal pregnancy conditions like a miscarriage or a condition called H-mole where a positive pregnancy test reading actually means an abnormal pregnancy hormone activity.
