I saw an ad for First Reponse's new 'Early Result' Pregnancy Test the other day on TV. I was intrigued. According to the ad, you can find out if you are pregnant '5 days earlier' than you normally would (i.e. before you are due to have your period). So, intrigued as I was, I decided to go to the manufacturer's website to find out how this test really works. The early detection test is more sensitive to pregnancy hormones in your urine than 'normal' pregnancy test (and most women have enough of the pregnancy hormones at least 4 days before their period is due). However, and this is why I think the 'early detection is totally futile', in the instruction manual online in a section about how to read the results, the manufacturer says this if the result is 'negative':
"You may not be pregnant, or it may be too early to tell. If you do not get your period within 7 days, you should retest with another FIRST RESPONSE® Early Result Pregnancy Test. It is possible that you miscalculated the length of your cycle or your urine may not have had enough pregnancy hormone for the FIRST RESPONSE® Test to give a positive result. If you retest and again no hCG is found, and your period still has not started, you should call your doctor."
Okay. So what is the point of spending money on an 'early detection' test if, logically, there is a good chance it is too early to tell if you are pregnant and you have to spend more money to test at a later time? How is knowing that your pregnant 4-5 days earlier in the month going to change anything?
Just another way to get women to spend more money on products they don't really need. And you know what else really annoys me? First Response also sells ovulation kits so women can test when they are ovulating 'to increase your chance of becoming pregnant'. However, why is it that the onus is always on women to spend money on fertility (and even more on infertility)? Why are women always induced to monitor fertility when 40% of the time infertility is attributed to the male? Where are the over-the-counter sperm tests?
3 comments:
I need to find out early if I am pregnant so I can start Lovenox (blood thinner) injections which will help prevent miscarriage. I miscarried twice before learning through testing that I needed Lovenox (plus one baby aspirin per day) during pregnancy. Once using Lovenox, I had a healthy baby boy. My reproductive endocrinologist will not prescribe Lovenox before a positive pregnancy test.
Well, I took an early test because my husband and I were actively trying (as opposed to just seeing what happens) and I was dieing to find out. Also, we were going to visit my mother and I wanted to be able to tell her in person rather than on the phone if it was positive.
4 days before my expected period and the test was positive. I think if the early tests are negative there's a chance it's wrong. But, if it's positive than it's gotta be right.
Speaking as someone who is currently trying to get pregnant ...
* A woman who is trying to conceive usually wants to know as soon as possible when she gets her "BFP" (big fat positive). Those of us who use fertility awareness or other methods of tracking our cycles may start taking HPTs as soon as 8 DPO ("days past ovulation") and then testing regularly until getting a BFP or a period.
Personally, though, I wait until I'm late before I even consider testing—saves money and the heartache of a blank, negative test. Also, I have short cycles and tend to start spotting by about 10 DPO anyway, so there's really no point in testing.
* Ovulation predictor kits (OPKs) aren't a measure of a woman's overall fertility status—they're a tool used to predict when a woman will ovulate within a given month. It measures the level of luteinizing hormone (LH) in the urine—that's the hormone that helps push out the egg. When the LH reaches a certain level, the OPK is positive, and ovulation will likely occur within 24-48 hours. So it's a very useful tool for timing intercourse when trying to get pregnant.
Of course, OPKs alone don't tell the whole story. I use them in conjunction with BBT charting. The OPK (along with my cervical fluid—"egg white" type CF means I'm in the fertile stage of my cycle) helps predict when I'm going to ovulate, and the temperature shift provides evidence that I have (a woman's average temperature rises by 0.5 to 1 degree F after ovulation and remains higher until just before her next period).
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