Using a Pregnancy Test Kit for Privacy and Convenience
Overall, a pregnancy test kit and a laboratory test have their own advantages. Women using them need to be aware and know when to use what. It is good to seek out health care advice too.
A couple of decades back, a pregnancy test kit was unheard of. Most of the times, women didn't even know they were pregnant until they were experiencing mid pregnancy. However, we now have all kinds of titers, kits and tests to diagnose pregnancy very early. Earlier, the only way of determining pregnancy was going for a proper medical examination in a clinic. This is in stark contrast to the present day where women can test themselves for pregnancy right at home using a simple pregnancy test kit.Several times, when a period stops, women perceive they may be pregnant, especially if there were sexual relations earlier. However, despite common belief, stoppage of a period doesn't always indicate pregnancy. There are other reasons too for a missed period like stress, change of day / night schedules, illness, medications, being overweight, peri-menopause and menopause. Since the reasons for missing a period can be as long as the earlier list and considering that women are not always aware, it makes sense to use a pregnancy test kit to determine if there is pregnancy onset.
A test kit is available in several types in your drug stores without any prescription. A pregnancy test kit measures a hormone called human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) present in urine. However, the results produced by a pregnancy test kit are qualitative and not quantitative. The results essentially are either positive or negative for pregnancy. For that reason, even though a pregnancy test kit may be popular, yet a lab test using a blood sample is more accurate and sensitive test of pregnancy. The advantage of lab tests are that they are also quantitative by way of not only determining hCG but also the quantity of hCG. If a woman is pregnant, this is confirmed by the increasing levels of hCG in the first 2 - 3 weeks of pregnancy. A lab test using a quantitative approach takes advantage of this to predict pregnancy accurately.
However, this does not underscore the importance of a pregnancy test kit to women. Obviously, many women prefer a pregnancy test kit since it is convenient, provides privacy and generates quick results. A test confirmed positive through a pregnancy test kit can be followed up by a visit to your health care provider who can predict it even more accurately also identifying if the pregnancy is progressing in a healthy manner.
As indicated earlier, a test kit measures hCG that is normally detected in urine around 2 weeks post conception or when the egg is fertilised by sperm. All that is required for the test to be effective is following instructions printed for it, to the dot. Usually, this is done by dripping a drop of urine onto a chemical strip which takes around 2 minutes to generate the result.
Overall, a pregnancy test kit and a laboratory test have their own advantages. Women using them need to be aware and know when to use what. It is good to seek out health care advice too.