How Soon After Sex Can I Take A Pregnancy Test?

Last updated on July 27th, 2018 at 05:07 pm

Question: How soon after sex can I take a pregnancy test?

If you are trying to conceive, pregnancy test immediately after an unprotected sexual intercourse will get you disappointed.

Likewise, if you routinely had unprotected sex with your boyfriend, and tested negative to pregnancy days after, It still does not exclude pregnancy.

The truth is you will always test negative for pregnancy if the test is carried out immediately after intercourse.

Either way, it’s important that you have some patience and test at the recommended time.

Depending on the pregnancy kit used, it’s possible you could detect pregnancy few days before your next period. Some pregnancy kit can detect pregnancy as early as five days before your period.

Though this is not 100 percent accurate, it may ease anxiety in women who are trying to conceive.

If you test positive before your next period, it’s more likely you have a baby coming. On the other hand, a negative pregnancy test after sex is likely not accurate.

There are different ways to test for pregnancy. Either by using a urine or a blood sample. The later will require visiting a hospital for a test and it is more accurate than the urine test.

With many over-the-counter pregnancies strips in the market, you can test from the comfort of your bedroom. However, depending on when you test after intercourse, you may have a false result.

Generally, it takes some days for pregnancy to be detected in a urine strip and accuracy is less than a blood test. In most women, a blood pregnancy test will detect pregnancy 3 – 4 days before period.

How soon after sex can I take a pregnancy test?

How soon you can take a pregnancy test depends on when you had sexual intercourse and the sensitivity of test strip available.

However, most over-the-counter test strips will be accurate after 14 – 21 days after unprotected intercourse. This may vary from woman to woman depending on the length of your menstrual cycle, when you had intercourse or if you used an emergency contraception after intercourse.

The menstrual cycle is the number of days between your periods. This means that if your period started on July 1st and you had another period on the 28th of July, then you have a 28 days cycle.

It’s important that chart the first day of your period over several months. This helps you identify if your menstrual cycle is regular or not

My menstrual cycle is regular, when can I test for pregnancy?

If your menstrual cycle is regular, it means you can easily predict your next period and ovulation.

Between 2 periods, a woman is more likely to conceive if unprotected intercourse occurs during your ovulation period.

Your ovulation period is six days within which you can get pregnant — Five days before ovulation and a day after ovulation.

There are different ways you can tell when you are ovulating. During ovulation period, your usual sticky or thick discharge becomes watery, stretchy and egg white. This usually occurs some days before ovulation.

Another sign you’re in your fertile period is your urge to have intercourse. During your fertile period, estrogen hormone pushes your nerves for increased sexual desire. This usually occurs about a week after your period ends.

Other ways you could tell if you’re in your ovulation period are light vaginal spotting two weeks before your next period, low abdomen pain that is more on one side of your abdomen and breast pain.

If you’ve had sexual intercourse during your ovulation period, it easily increases the chances of your man’s sperm to fertilize your egg.

Anatomically, the uterus is made up of different parts. The body – which houses the embryo during pregnancy, The fallopian tubes – which connects the body of the uterus to the ovaries, and the cervix.

Usually, fertilization occurs in the fallopian tubes and takes about 6 – 12 days after ovulation for the embryo to be implanted into the body of the uterus.

Implantation means pregnancy is now successful after the fertilized ovum burrows into the blood thickened endometrium.

Signs of successful implantation or pregnancy are

• Brownish, pinkish, or black vagina discharge that comes from your vagina few days before period
• Light, low abdomen cramps in your abdomen
• Feeling tired easily
• Vomiting and nausea
• Your breast gets heavy with pain
• Breast soreness
• Your nipple now itch
• You experience mood swing

You should know it’s possible for some women to have these symptoms while expecting their period. This guide explains the difference between pregnancy signs and period symptoms.

What happens after implantation and when should I test for pregnancy?

After implantation occurs, your body will start secreting – Human Chorionic Gonadotropin (HCG).

This hormone can be found in both your urine and blood if pregnant. In fact, if you’re planning on taking a blood test, this hormone can be detected as early as 3 – 4 days after implantation or 4 – 5 days before your next period.

If you are planning on using a urine test kit, this may not be as sensitive; Though it’s possible to detect pregnancy 1 – 5 days before your next period, depending on the sensitivity of strip used.

Can I test positive when am not pregnant?

There are different reasons your blood and urine test will come positive when you’re not pregnant. This can occur if

1.  You did not read the instructions on your strips before testing.

If you are yet to confirm pregnancy with a test strip, you should read the instruction to ensure the test is carried out the right way. Most test strips will confirm pregnancy in 3 – 5 minutes. If you let your test run longer than required, it may cause a false positive pregnancy test result.

2.  You are currently trying to get pregnant and using fertility injections.

If you’re receiving injections to boost ovulation (Pregnyl), it likely your test will come positive due to high HCG hormone.

3.  You are currently on methadone or promethazine.

Both medications can push HCG levels up resulting in a positive test when you’re not pregnant.

When can I test negative when am pregnant?

1.  Pregnancy test was carried out too early

If you’ve taken a test very soon after intercourse, it will result in a negative pregnancy test. Remember that your HCG level will need to rise and be detected in these strips. If you test before implantation occurs, it will come negative.

On the other hand, it possible that you will have symptoms of pregnancy and still test negative. This only means your HCG hormone is still low. It can happen sometimes and does not indicate you a problem.

2.  You are not using a sensitive pregnancy strip?

Pregnancy test strip varies in sensitivity. If you do not use a very sensitive pregnancy strip, it’s likely you will get a false negative result.

3.  You did not follow instructions on your strip

If instructions are not met, you are likely to test negative. One standard instruction is to use a concentrated urine (early morning urine). If you are testing negative hours after taking lots of water, it will result in a false negative result.

Can you take a pregnancy test after a week of intercourse?

It’s possible you can test anytime after an unprotected intercourse; However, it most likely will be negative if done in a weeks time.

This is because it takes at least 1 – 2 weeks for fertilization, implantation, and rise of HCG hormone to occur.

Therefore, if you are testing negative a week after intercourse, it still does not exclude pregnancy.

Can you take a pregnancy test two weeks after intercourse?

Yes, you can. Depending on when you had intercourse, and type of pregnancy test kit used, you may test positive if pregnant.

In fact, most pregnancy test strips will likely detect pregnancy two weeks after ovulation. However, if you’ve had intercourse days before ovulation, it’s advisable you wait another week to confirm.

Can you take a pregnancy test 3 weeks after intercourse?

Yes surely. You will be more accurate at this time if the test comes out negative or positive.

The best time to get a pregnancy test is a week after you missed your period.

Want to take a pregnancy test now? Any reason you are worried? Ask Us!!!