Can Drinking Water Dilute A Pregnancy Test?
Women have so many questions when it comes to using home pregnancy tests. Women who want to become pregnant are impatient and anxious to take a test, and they want to know what’s going to affect the results, when it’s the right time to test, and how soon they can find out whether or not they’re expecting. It is nothing short of one of the most exciting moments in a woman’s life to take a home pregnancy test and see a positive result. It can induce tears of joy, shock, happiness, disbelief, and even the sudden urge to take three or four more tests just to be certain this one is correct.
However, it’s one of the most devastating moments in a woman’s life to see a negative result after so much build up and anticipation. The excitement of creating a new life is so overwhelming that seeing a negative test result can actually cause feelings of depression, stress, and anxiety in many women. Even if you are realistic knowing that you might not become pregnancy right away or that there are certain factors that can affect the outcome of your test, it’s not easy to see a negative result.
With that in mind, what can affect a home pregnancy test? One of the biggest factors to consider when taking a home pregnancy test is what you have to drink before you test. If you read the instructions on every pregnancy test on the market, you know you’re supposed to use your first urine of the morning to test for pregnancy. Perhaps you’ve never considered why or maybe you find yourself wondering why you have to use the first urine of the morning. The answer is simple; it’s less diluted than urine the rest of the day. Drinking water – and anything else – dilutes your urine and can cause a negative pregnancy test result even if you are pregnant. Your best bet is to avoid drinking water before bed or getting up in the middle of the night for a glass of water so that your urine is not diluted when you wake up. It could make the difference between a positive pregnancy test and a negative test.
Will Drinking Too Much Water Affect A Pregnancy Test?
Yes, drinking too much water can affect your pregnancy test. However, it won’t affect your test immediately. It takes a little while for the water you drink to make its way into your bladder, which means you have nothing to worry about if you forget you’re not supposed to drink any water before you test. You need only test as quickly as possible after drinking a glass of water to ensure it hasn’t had time to enter your bladder in the morning.
To ensure you get the most accurate result on a home pregnancy test, you need to make a few considerations. The first is to wait until the first day of your missed period. Even though pregnancy test boxes state that they are 99 percent accurate and they can detect pregnancy as many as five or six days prior to your missed period, that accuracy rating is only valid on the first day of your missed period. Secondly, you’ll need to use the first urine of the morning to ensure that your pregnancy test is not affected by diluted urine.
Drinking too much water, coffee, juice, milk, or anything else can affect the levels of hCG detectable in your urine. This is especially true if you are testing for pregnancy prior to missing your period. Diluted urine can cause your test to show a negative result even if you are pregnant. By taking into account these two very important factors, you can increase your chances of a positive pregnancy test result as early as possible. If your test is still negative, it’s nothing to worry about. You might not have enough hCG in your urine to detect at this point. Wait approximately two days and try to test again.
What To Drink Before A Pregnancy Test?
You will become accustomed to the feeling of a full bladder when you become pregnant. The weight of your unborn baby and the pressure from your uterus on your bladder is going to make you feel as if you need to use the bathroom constantly, even if you have very little urine in your bladder. Your doctor will tell you to show up for ultrasounds and to your appointments with a full bladder because you will have to provide a urine sample at each visit. However, the one time you do not need to drink anything prior to taking a urine sample is when you’re taking a pregnancy test.
Drinking water or anything else is going to affect the outcome of your home pregnancy test. For this reason, do not drink anything prior to taking a home pregnancy test. In fact, do not even take a test during the day unless you are testing first thing in the morning with your first urine of the day. Since you don’t drink much – if anything – during the night, this urine is not diluted. Chances are better that you will see a positive result with undiluted urine than you will using urine you collected after having a few beverages.
Since home pregnancy tests detect the pregnancy hormone in your urine, you will want it to be as free of water and other liquids as possible. Drinking does not remove the pregnancy hormone from your urine, but it can dilute the levels found by a pregnancy test. The last thing you want to do is take a test and receive a negative result because of a silly mistake such as drinking a few glasses of water or coffee prior to taking your pregnancy test. Give yourself the best possible chance of a positive result; do not drink anything, use your first urine of the day, and try to wait until you’ve missed your period to test.