Anyone who has ever taken a pregnancy test at home knows it’s not easy. The anticipation alone can make it hard to concentrate on using one of these tests properly. One might be tempted to just dip the test in their toilet water after going to pee, but can toilet water cause a false positive pregnancy test?
Toilet water can absolutely cause a false positive pregnancy test, and it can also produce a false negative as well. You shouldn’t ever be testing your toilet water because it doesn’t have a high enough concentration of urine to give you accurate results. Your toilet water could also contain other elements that will throw off a test’s reading since these pregnancy test kits are very sensitive.
Pregnancy tests have to be taken in a very specific way in order for you to have the best chance of getting the right result. Most pregnancy test kits are similar, but even the slightest variations in testing methods need to be taken into account to avoid a false positive pregnancy test.
Can Toilet Water Cause A False Positive Pregnancy Test?
You should never be using toilet water to test for pregnancy as it’s very unlikely you’ll get a positive result. There could be a lot of things lurking inside your toilet water that can cause an inaccurate reading of these fragile, at-home pregnancy tests. Additionally, the water itself is going to dilute any pregnancy hormones that might be present in your urine.
An at-home pregnancy test is trying to detect the hCG hormone, otherwise referred to as the pregnancy hormone. Depending on how far along one is in their pregnancy, they could have high enough levels of hCG in their blood that it can be detected in urine. As soon as that urine comes into contact with toilet water, however, the hCG can dissipate due to water dilution.
If you happen to accidentally drop your test inside your toilet as you’re trying to use it properly, it would be a good idea to either complete a second test at home or have a blood test done just to make sure you get the clearest results possible. Even a small amount of toilet water could end up impacting your results.
How To Test For Pregnancy At Home
Your urine needs to come into direct contact with the test strip at the end of a pregnancy test. These strips are very small and very thin, and they need to be able to get saturated in order for the test to start working. Pregnancy test sticks are usually made of some kind of plastic, so they can be slippery and hard to handle if they accidentally get wet.
Most people will try to squat over their toilet with the pregnancy test sitting under them to try and direct as much urine onto the test strip as possible. While this is a good tactic, it can also be a very messy and difficult one. It’s also nearly impossible to get a good enough visual to make sure you’re actually peeing on the strip.
If you don’t end up getting enough urine on the stick, you may not get any test results at all. If you end up getting urine in the wrong place, it might also make your results difficult to read. Getting the stick wet doesn’t make your results less accurate, so you don’t have to be concerned if you get it wet.
In order to make testing as easy as possible, consider using a disposable cup to collect your urine over the toilet. It can still be a little messy, but it’s much easier to get enough urine collected inside of a cup than on a test strip. Once you have your sample, you can dip your test strip in the cup as required based on the test you’re using.
Tips For Getting The Most Accurate Pregnancy Test Results
It’s highly recommended that you opt for testing for pregnancy first thing in the morning when you’re ready to do your first pee of the day. It’s believed that at this time, any potential pregnancy hormone that’s circulating in your body’s blood will be the most concentrated at this time.
You want to try and avoid eating or drinking anything before you take your test in the morning. Many are tempted to chug water to make themselves have to go pee, but it’s best to just wait until nature calls.
Even consuming large amounts of water can end up diluting your urine, which means you may not have enough hCG in your urine stream to get accurate test results.
Even if you’ve taken your fair share of pregnancy tests before, you should be aware that not all at-home test kits work the same. It’s crucial that you read the instructions thoroughly before you use one of these tests and follow the instructions to the letter. If you read your results too early or too late, you run the risk of interpreting the results incorrectly.
How Accurate Are At-Home Pregnancy Tests?
Even if you do everything right when it comes to testing for a pregnancy at home, you can still end up with a false positive or false negative test. Urine pregnancy tests are anywhere between 90% to 99% accurate, but there are many factors that can influence accuracy rates.
How Advanced Are At-Home Pregnancy Tests Today?
There have been some pretty fantastic advances in at-home pregnancy test options that can make getting accurate test results a lot easier. There are even some digital pregnancy test kits that are able to detect very small amounts of the pregnancy hormone. However, some of these tests can be very expensive, which can make taking multiple tests inaccessible.
If you think you could be pregnant or you get mixed results with your at-home pregnancy tests, it’s always advised that you contact your doctor for a blood test. Pregnancy tests have come a long way in terms of accuracy and early detection, but a blood test will always be the most accurate method since the pregnancy hormone is in your blood.