Can a girl take a pregnancy test during her period?

What result should you expect?

The question of the possibility of testing during menstruation is not as ridiculous as it might seem at first glance. A reasonable question arises: why do a test at all if the onset of menstruation is a clear sign of absence of pregnancy. This is true. But there is another truth in which testing during this period may be necessary. For example, a woman may suspect that she did not actually have her period, but menstrual-like bleeding , that there was a frozen pregnancy, or that the embryo was rejected in the very early stages.

In these cases, there is usually a delay in menstruation, sometimes quite long. Signs and sensations could indicate an “interesting situation” had arrived, and even tests could be positive or weakly positive. The sudden onset of bleeding in this case becomes unexpected, and the woman wants to get an answer as to whether there was a pregnancy at all.

Of course, in such cases, donating blood to determine the exact quantitative indicator of hCG in it will be more informative and accurate. But you can do a test if you want.

A positive result is a result in which the two stripes are equally brightly colored. It is unlikely that you will get such a result when your period begins. It is most likely that there was no conception at all - and then the test result will be negative (one line). But a weak second line (weakly positive test) is also likely if pregnancy occurs, but is interrupted at a very early stage and the embryo is rejected.

Human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) is produced by the chorionic villi after implantation, which usually occurs 6-9 days after fertilization. If the baby’s development was impossible for some reason (harmful external influences, maternal infections, gross chromosomal abnormalities), then the embryo stops developing and gradually begins to be rejected. But the hCG level could already be elevated by the time the embryo dies, and then traces of the hormone will remain in the urine during menstrual bleeding.

Another situation that needs to be discussed separately is an abnormal pregnancy. Often, bloody discharge from the genital tract is accompanied by the threat of miscarriage, uterine hypertonicity, and hormonal deficiency (lack of progesterone).

In this situation, the discharge is not similar to menstruation, it is more scanty, and there may be nagging pain in the lower abdomen. The test for such discharge is positive.

Does menstruation affect accuracy?

Menstrual or menstrual-like bleeding itself cannot affect the accuracy and result of the test. Systems for home detection of pregnancy are based on detecting high concentrations of human chorionic gonadotropin in the urine. Neither red blood cells, which can enter the urine during bloody discharge from the genitals, nor the hormonal background that promotes the onset of menstruation, affect the test zone of the system with the reagent applied to it. Therefore, you can trust a test conducted during menstruation in the same way as when testing at other times.

Is there any possibility of error?

None of the test manufacturers provides a 100% guarantee of the reliability of the results. There is always the possibility of error. Testing can be erroneous or positive. and in the negative direction.

Reasons for a false positive result:

1. Taking medications that contain hormones.
2. Recent abortion or miscarriage.
3. Pathology of the female genital organs, in which hCG is produced.
4. The ovaries are not working properly.
5. The device is of poor quality or has expired.

Reasons for a false negative result:

1. Failure to follow the instructions for use.
2. The pregnancy period is still too short and the concentration of the hCG hormone is not enough to determine.
3. Disturbances in the functioning of the endocrine system.
4. Frozen or ectopic pregnancy.
5. The procedure was carried out incorrectly.
6. The test has expired.

If a girl is suspected of being pregnant, then regardless of the test results, it is worth visiting an antenatal clinic. Only a doctor can accurately answer the question of whether the patient is pregnant. If the period is still too short, then pregnancy can be determined by the presence of human chorionic gonadotropin in the blood, since its concentration there is higher than in the urine.

To do this, the girl’s blood is taken from a vein and a special analysis is performed.

How to diagnose?

If you need to take a pregnancy test while you're on your period, remember the simple rules that will help you make the diagnosis correctly.

• Use the morning portion of urine for testing - it is the most concentrated, dense, the amount of hCG, if any, is always higher in the morning portion.
• Please read the test instructions before use. Different systems have their own nuances in application: some need to be immersed in urine, others need to be instilled with urine, there are also digital and inkjet tests. Violation of instructions and errors during use are a common reason why the test may show an inaccurate result.
• Collect urine in a clean and dry container, before doing this, perform hygiene procedures for the external genitalia and insert a tampon into the vagina to prevent contamination of the urine sample with blood.
• Do not keep the strip in the liquid for longer than the specified time, and do not wait for the result to appear longer than the time recommended by the manufacturer. What the test shows in the first 5-10 minutes is the real result; after this time, as the strip dries, a grayish ghost strip may appear, which does not mean anything, being only a trace of the application of the reagent.

If you receive questionable results, if there is reason to think that the test was wrong, visit any clinic and do a blood test for hCG. This analysis is much more accurate than any test systems. It will accurately help to establish the fact of pregnancy or its absence, both during menstruation and during lactation, breastfeeding, when the hormonal background differs from normal.

A blood test will help to detect even a slightly higher level of hCG, as it may be in case of an early termination of pregnancy.

And monitoring the hormone level for 2-4 days (if tested again) allows us to establish the dynamics of an increase or decrease in hCG, which is also important for establishing the correct diagnosis and maintaining women’s health.

Features of the procedure

As mentioned above, menstrual blood does not affect the test result. But if a girl is worried about this, then you can close the vagina with a tampon and then the discharge will not get into the urine being tested.

To ensure the most reliable result, several rules should be followed:

• When purchasing a device at a pharmacy, be sure to look at the packaging for its integrity and check the expiration date of the device;
• if urine needs to be collected in a container for analysis, it must be sterile - it is best to purchase it at a pharmacy;
• after the device comes into contact with the biomaterial, it must be placed on a horizontal surface - it must be flat and clean, since dirt distorts the result;
• the wetted device must not be turned over with the receiving end up;
• Carry out the procedure strictly following the instructions included with the test.

Pregnancy test during menstruation

Delayed menstruation is the most characteristic, universal and common sign of pregnancy in the early stages. In the overwhelming majority of all cases, women begin to suspect that conception has occurred precisely because of the absence of the next menstruation on time. But the opposite cases also often happen: when a woman who is almost sure of pregnancy suddenly begins to menstruate. Is it possible to check the real picture, and will a pregnancy test during menstruation show a true result?

Is it possible to take a pregnancy test during your period?

Let's start with the most important and exciting thing: you can take a test during your period. Moreover, menstrual bleeding does not affect its plausibility. As you know, a pregnancy test responds to the level of hCG (human chorionic gonadotropin hormone), which first rises in the blood and then begins to increase in the urine. In this regard, a blood test for hCG levels is considered the most informative in the early stages of pregnancy.

If you resort to a home test, then remember that the probability of a true result is higher, the longer the pregnancy, and besides, different tests have different sensitivity. Therefore, if the test shows a negative result, then it makes sense to verify its veracity by conducting another test a week later.

Please also note that a pregnancy test can be false positive and false negative: such “errors” are influenced by many different factors. And, by the way, menstruation can also affect the result if the test is carried out in violation of sterility rules. But the fact of the onset of menstruation does not change the test result.

So, for a pregnancy test to be true, it is necessary to carry it out after a missed period (and in our case, after it starts) in the morning, using the first portion of urine. Try not to drink a lot of liquid at night so that the concentration of hCG is quite high. And be sure, when doing a pregnancy test during menstruation, toilet the genitals and insert a tampon into the vagina to avoid blood getting into the urine vessel (which should also be sterile clean).

But it is best to wait until your menstrual bleeding ends to test, or repeat the pregnancy test after your period.

Causes of menstruation during pregnancy

In addition to elevated hCG levels, there are other signs of pregnancy:

• frequent nausea or even vomiting;
• sudden mood changes;
• frequent urination;
• change in taste - for example, you may want the hated fried potatoes or, on the contrary, you will turn away from your favorite borscht;
• state of fatigue and eternal desire to sleep;
• increase in breast size;
• pain in the lower abdomen and nagging pain in the lower back.

If a girl has several signs from this list, but her period has arrived, then the likelihood that the girl will soon become a mother still exists. It is best to contact a gynecologist and find out the nature of the bleeding.

In some cases, blood comes out of the vagina due to implantation of the egg into the endometrium. This type of bleeding is called implantation bleeding and does not pose a threat to the mother and fetus. This phenomenon is quite rare and the amount of blood is limited to a couple of drops.

Bleeding is also provoked by various diseases of the female genital organs, such as inflammation or infection. If the expectant mother has cervical erosion, then she also sometimes bleeds.

Most often, bleeding in a pregnant woman signals the threat of miscarriage.

The reasons for this may be:

1. Insufficient production of progesterone - if the uterus does not have enough of this hormone, it rejects the fetus (with timely diagnosis, the doctor will prescribe drugs with progesterone to the girl in order to save the child).
2. Excessive levels of male hormones in the mother’s body.
3. Failure of embryo implantation is more common in women with fibroids or endometriosis.
4. Placenta previa, that is, its location is too low, blocking the entrance to the cervix - most often occurs in women after cesarean section or abortion.
5. Multiple pregnancy - bleeding in this case means that not all embryos develop normally; the uterus rejects the undeveloped fetus.

Will the test show pregnancy during menstruation?

Many women planning motherhood keep a menstrual calendar in order to control cyclicity. They count the days until the delay in order to use special means to find out whether the egg has been fertilized. However, it often happens that instead of the long-awaited conception, desquamation begins. Today we will talk about whether it is possible to do a test during menstruation and how to carry out this procedure correctly.

What result will the test show during menstruation?

When a female reproductive cell meets a male one, conception occurs. The body of a woman whose egg has been fertilized produces a large amount of the hormone progesterone, which prepares the body for gestation and childbirth.

During this period, the same symptoms appear as before menstruation. Therefore, it often happens that expectant mothers have no idea about their new situation and wait for the onset of their critical days. Having detected a delay, they check whether the test will show pregnancy during menstruation. This can be done not only in a medical facility, but also at home.

The test shows the level of human chorionic gonadotropin in the urine. By the first day of desquamation, it is not yet high enough, so the test used may show an incorrect result and not determine conception.

When a woman becomes pregnant, she does not menstruate until she gives birth. A delay of more than 7 days is one of the main signs of fertilization of the egg. But it often happens that there is spotting or bleeding from the vagina. This may indicate:

• for the normal course of pregnancy. Light discharge in the first trimester is rarely accompanied by discomfort and deterioration in well-being;
• miscarriage. Heavy bleeding after a delay, accompanied by severe pain in the ovarian area, is the main sign of a miscarriage. After embryo implantation, hCG levels increase;
• gynecological disease. Some types of tumors can produce hCG.

Can I get my period during pregnancy?

The inside of a woman's uterus is covered with endometrium (mucous membrane). It contains many blood vessels. Due to the hormone progesterone, useful substances necessary for conception accumulate in the endometrium.

If fertilization does not occur, the amount of progesterone decreases, the endometrium atrophies and stratifies. The vessels are exposed and injured. The blood mixes with parts of the endometrium and exits through the vagina. This is menstrual blood. This physiological phenomenon occurs during each month, or rather, the cycle.

If fertilization is successful, progesterone continues to be produced and the endometrium is not destroyed, which means that menstruation does not occur during pregnancy. Bloody discharge from the vagina of the expectant mother is of a different nature than menstrual blood. And the degree of danger of such bleeding depends on this nature.

Is there any point in taking a test on critical days?

When carrying out such diagnostics, one should not exclude the possibility of error. It is possible to test pregnancy during menstruation, but the results obtained are not always true. We have found that such a test can lead to an incorrect answer due to the low concentration of hCG in the early stages.

Speaking about whether the test can show an incorrect result, one cannot fail to mention dangerous gynecological pathologies, the development of which provokes increased production of human chorionic gonadotropin by the body.

As you know, all methods for diagnosing conception are based on measuring its level in urine.

Every person has this chemical. After a woman becomes pregnant, its concentration increases significantly.

Representatives of the fairer sex who want to know whether it is possible to take a pregnancy test during menstruation should remember that bleeding in itself is not an obstacle to the procedure. However, if conception has occurred, then with a high probability the diagnostic result will be positive.

It is recommended to take a pregnancy test after a week's delay. If it is positive, the procedure must be repeated after 1 week. If you get a similar result, you should visit a gynecologist.

It is advisable to diagnose conception in the presence of obvious symptoms of pregnancy, such as:

1. Delayed menstruation and the appearance of scanty bleeding 2 weeks after intercourse.
2. Darkening of the navel and nipples.
3. Spasm of the uterine cervix.
4. Lack of sexual desire.
5. Morning sickness.
6. Prostration.

Sometimes a woman can observe a different picture: a delay in menstruation with a negative test. This situation in some cases may indicate the development of pathology, so we recommend reading more detailed information on this topic.