Women living with PCOS often experience irregular periods, making it hard to know when or if to take a pregnancy test. Pregnancy tests rely on measuring levels of the hormone hCG to ascertain whether or not someone is expecting.
Many gynaecologists advise taking a pregnancy test at least 48 hours after your expected date of your next period. This helps avoid false negative results with early-result tests that provide results quickly.
1. The day after your period
PCOS may cause your periods to be irregular and it can be challenging to know when and if to take a pregnancy test. As PCOS can alter hormone levels and impact the accuracy of pregnancy tests, it’s generally best to wait at least 6 days between tests taken before your missed period and any that claim to detect hCG six days in advance.
Though not recommended, taking a pregnancy test on the day after your period can still be beneficial, as implantation usually occurs seven days post-ovulation and this timeframe provides the most accurate indicator of whether you’re expecting or not. Furthermore, it’s wiser to test early because a negative result could indicate too low hCG levels making a positive result harder to see.
Negative results can be emotionally taxing, especially after making efforts to become pregnant for some time. But remembering that just because your pregnancy test yielded no result does not rule out being pregnant; false negatives could occur for various reasons such as low levels of HCG or the inaccuracy of home pregnancy tests.
Women living with PCOS often exhibit pregnancy-like symptoms, including bloating, fatigue and breast tenderness. Unfortunately this could make you mistake these signs with those of your condition and assume you’re not expecting even though unprotected sex was used and regular periods occurred in the past. Keep in mind that home pregnancy tests might not always detect all symptoms; should any doubt arise it would be best to undergo a blood test for more accurate results.
Pcos can make false negative pregnancy tests much more likely, although false positives still occur occasionally. To ensure an accurate reading and ensure enough hCG levels for a positive result, retest a few days later with another brand of at-home test to check your accuracy and verify results.
2. The day before your period
Women living with PCOS often experience irregular periods, making it hard to tell when ovulation has taken place. If you had unprotected sex two to three weeks ago and still haven’t started your period, taking a pregnancy test may be worth your while – although early result tests claiming to detect pregnancy 6 days before missing periods should generally be avoided because they’re often inaccurate and false negative results can occur with such tests.
Home pregnancy tests work by detecting human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), or human chorionic gonadotropin, in urine samples taken after ovulating. When women ovulate, their levels of hCG double; since menstrual cycles in women with PCOS are irregular it’s important that home tests be taken approximately two weeks post ovulation to improve accuracy.
As part of your PCOS treatment, it is wise to forgo at-home ovulation prediction kits as these devices may give misleading readings due to relying on basal body temperature as an indicator for when women ovulate. With PCOS, your basal body temperature may spike during ovulation due to fluctuating hormone levels affecting it – however the device may fail to recognize this because of fluctuations in hormone levels caused by PCOS.
Waiting a few days before taking a home pregnancy test may provide more accurate results. Women who suffer from PCOS often produce false-negative test results due to imbalanced hormones; therefore it would be worthwhile taking another test later that day in case there was indeed no pregnancy present in your system.
PCOS doesn’t mean that ovulation or pregnancy are impossible; however, it may make tracking these processes more challenging. One effective strategy to help track ovulation and the progress of pregnancy is tracking your period using a chart and taking pregnancy tests each time your period misses its due date; additionally an ovulation monitor can show when your cycle starts.
3. The day of your period
Women living with PCOS often have irregular periods, making it hard to know when they’re ovulating. Since ovulation is the main way of becoming pregnant, keeping track of your period and ovulation cycles will allow you to identify fertile windows more accurately and increase chances of conception.
Day one of a menstrual cycle marks the initial instance of bleeding. This may be light or heavy and even include spotting; though spotting is more difficult to identify due to intermittent drops of blood that come and go over time. Therefore, if you’ve engaged in unprotected sexual activity and you can’t seem to pinpoint when exactly day one begins for yourself, taking a pregnancy test just in case may help clarify matters.
However, it is still wise to wait until your period has become more regular before taking a home pregnancy test. Women with PCOS are more prone to false negative test results which can be very disheartening; taking an early test may not detect enough human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG).
Women with PCOS may experience false negative results on early response tests like digital tests or rapid response tests due to low hCG levels being too low for detection by these early-response methods.
Therefore, strip tests provide the clearest picture of your hCG levels and are therefore best used when testing for pregnancy. If you’re trying to conceive, blood tests provide more precise results and increase your chances of positive pregnancy test results; however it should be noted that chemical pregnancy can occur even with home tests, so if a positive result appears it is important to seek medical advice immediately if that occurs.
4. The day after you’ve had unprotected sex
Women living with PCOS often exhibit symptoms that mimic those associated with pregnancy, making it hard to tell whether they’re expecting their period or pregnant. This is especially true if their menstrual cycles vary significantly; periods may even change dramatically from cycle to cycle! In fact, PCOS-sufferers could see positive pregnancy test results 7-10 days post ovulation!
As it’s important to keep STI (sexually transmitted infection) tests at bay during pregnancies, and as they take anywhere from two weeks to six months for full completion, getting checked two weeks post unprotected sex may help ensure you’re not exposed and can seek immediate treatment if any exposure does occur. Medical Services offers both appointment screening as well as drop-in testing options for your convenience.
Given that pregnancy tests detect human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), or “pregnancy hormone,” it’s no surprise that people engaging in sexual activity for the first time may receive early false negative pregnancy test results and risk miscarriage. Luckily, your chances of an early false negative and miscarriage decrease substantially if emergency contraception is used to protect yourself.
Although PCOS-related miscarriage is less likely, women still may experience false negative pregnancy tests due to low levels of hCG in their bodies. A more sensitive test will ensure an accurate result.
If you suspect pregnancy, it is wise to wait at least three weeks after your expected period to take a test and allow enough hCG levels for it to show up in your system and for detection by a test. This allows time for your body to build up enough for accurate detection by the test.
Monitoring your menstrual cycle to help determine when you ovulated is another excellent way of detecting an early pregnancy risk. If unsure, tracking ovulation cycles through an app is recommended as this will give the best insight. Also keep in mind that using morning-after pills after sexual contact doesn’t always end an already established pregnancy, so take precaution by using them promptly after engaging in sexual activity.