No matter if you look forward to the big news or hope to avoid this, you shouldn’t do a pregnancy test too early. Otherwise, a false negative result becomes more than probable. So choosing the right moment is essential.
Before we get down to explaining when it’s time to take a pregnancy test after unprotected sex, let us explain the way a pregnancy test works.
The ABC of a Pregnancy Test. When It’s Time to Check?
Tests you can do without visiting a doctor are urine tests. Their task is to detect a pregnancy hormone (human chorionic gonadotropin). The HCG levels grow exponentially in the first days following conception, so they are the only reliable indicator of whether you are expecting a baby. Just pee on the test stripe or immerse it into urine to get the answer.
Still, home pregnancy tests will show two strips not sooner than the day your period is due. There also exist sensitive pregnancy tests that will provide precise results 14 days after unprotected sex. This time is the minimum required for a fertilized egg to root into the uterus lining, so there’s no way to find this out faster.
The Reliability of Home Testing
The accurate results are the thing every woman hopes for when testing for pregnancy. But nothing is perfect and the possibility of getting a false negative is always present.
This may happen for a variety of reasons. Below you’ll find some of them.
- Not sticking to the recommendations on the package. It’s advised to do the testing on the wake up. This time of the day is believed to be most informative as the HCG is peaking in the body fluids.
- Personal sexual health peculiarities. Some women may ovulate later than in the middle of the cycle. In such a case, the term can be too small to be detected.
- You ignore the timing recommendations and do the test earlier than advised.
Some people mistakenly believe that emergency contraception can influence the test result. However, it’s far from the truth as this type of birth control should be used within 72 hours post-coitus, while the test is useless at this point.
Another misbelief is all women have pregnancy symptoms. In fact, some of them may not know about their state until the second trimester, so a pregnancy test is a way to know about it for sure.
How soon after Unprotected Can I Test for Pregnancy? – Summing up
Hastening to know if your unprotected coitus ended up in conception or not, you won’t help the situation. Time is decisive here. So you’d better keep calm and wait for the best moment to know if it’s yes or no.