How accurate are home pregnancy tests?

Home pregnancy tests are very accurate - especially when you get a positive response.

A negative response doesn't mean that you're definitely not pregnant. It could also mean that you tested too early - that the hormone level is too low for the test to detect it.  Sometimes ovulation can occur later than you thought, so your best bet is to wait to see if your period is late and to test again if it is.

Good luck :-)
Rachel

I always thought they were very accurate until I recently used them.  I got not 1, not 2, but

False positives are rare but can occur for one of the following reasons:

• chemical pregnancy - a pregnancy started but didn't continue to develop (it may be that by the time you took the blood test, the hormone levels were too low to be detected).
• misreading the test results - reading the test when the results are no longer valid or misinterpreting an evaporation line as a second line.
• taking a medication that contains hCG (these can be given to stimulate ovulation & take up to 2 weeks to be completely out of your system.

how soon should you get a blood test after you get a positive?  I got the first one and made an apppointment the next day for the following week.  Until I got to my appointment, I got two other positives (it was a digital test so there was

I don't know how digital tests work, so I don't know what could cause them to give a false positive - maybe the tests you had were faulty.

If you had a chemical pregnancy, you could still just have a normal/heavy period afterwards.

How long should you wait to have a blood test after a positive? I don't know. Some women never have a blood test and some women only find out they're expecting when they're far enough along in their pregnancy to have an ultrasound - so I don't think there's any rule.

I'm sorry to hear about your experience. It must have been devastating.

Rachel
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