Is 10 days after conception too early for a reliable blood test?
What is a pregnancy blood test?
A pregnancy blood test or a pregnancy serum test is a test that measures the exact amount of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) in the bloodstream of a woman. If there is a sufficient amount of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), then the test is returned positive. This means that you are pregnant. If however, there is an inadequate amount of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) in your blood, the test results are negative. And this means that conception has not occurred.
Is 10 days after conception too early for a reliable blood test?
Human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) is a hormone that is produced by the placenta of women who are pregnant. It is detectable in the blood and urine only within 10 days of fertilization. All blood tests can give you reliable results only after these first 10 days. After the fertilized egg implants, or attaches, to the inside of the uterus or other structure inside the mother, the levels of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) rise rapidly. The levels continue to increase throughout the first trimester of pregnancy and reach a peak 60 to 80 days after the fertilized egg implants.
Many women have found that their early attempts at detecting pregnancies with home pregnancy tests result in a positive if they have indeed conceived. But even in such women blood pregnancy tests can return a negative. This can be reasoned by understanding that blood pregnancy tests are less sensitive than home pregnancy tests. But they are much more accurate. In simple words, though there is a chance that home pregnancy tests may tell you that you are pregnant, a blood test will tell you are not because they read different parameters of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG). Your best bet is to either repeat the home pregnancy test for a sure result or to wait till at least 10 days past conception to take another blood test that can be relied upon. You may want to read more about how different are home and blood pregnancy tests in another article that deals with it in detail.
What signs should I look out for to help me with early pregnancy detection?
If you are trying to get pregnant, your anxiety about finding out whether or not you are pregnant is only natural. Though blood pregnancy tests have their limitation, there are many ways of assessing pregnancy at an early stage. Some of the most commonly applied techniques for assessing pregnancies are looking out for the various signs that are a sure give away. Here are some of the most common and early symptoms of pregnancy:
- A missed period is the first sure sign of pregnancy.
- Sore breasts or darkened areolas.
- Implantation bleeding or a brownish discharge.
- Frequent urination.
- Morning sickness or nausea.
- High basal body temperature.
- Fatigue and a dull feeling.
- Food cravings and binges.
- Headaches.
- Seeing spots before eyes.
- Constipation.
Read about how accurate are blood pregnancy tests as compared to home pregnancy tests.
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