False Negative Pregnancy Test
What is a False Negative Pregnancy Test?
Human Chorionic Gonadotropin (hCG) pregnancy tests or home pregnancy tests determine pregnancy through the detection of the hormone Human Chorionic Gonadotropin (hCG) in a woman's urine. A false negative pregnancy test is an hCG based pregnancy test which shows up negative when, in fact, you are pregnant. You can still be pregnant but have a negative pregnancy test. Doctors recommend that you wait until you have missed a period to take a home pregnancy test. If you can not wait that long to find out and you know the day you may have conceived, then the earliest you can take a test would be 14 days after possible conception. Home tests are usually 97% accurate when all instructions are followed correctly and the results are read on time. Some kits come with two tests so in case you made a mistake, you may take the home pregnancy test again, preferably at a later date and with the first morning's urine. You need a high enough blood and urine hCG pregnancy hormone level to get a positive pregnancy test.
If you get negative results but you still think you could be pregnant, wait a few days and try again, and make sure that you take the test in the morning. Keep in mind that test strips, midstream tests, digital tests have different sensitivities which means they show a positive at different amounts of hCG in your urine. Some HPTs are highly "sensitive" to hCG and detect a relatively low amount of hCG while others require higher amounts of hCG in the urine before showing a positive result.
