Some women who have not used contraception during sexual intercourse or are in the preconception stage can use a pregnancy test stick for self testing in order to know if they are pregnant as early as possible. However, many women are not sure at which stage the results of using a pregnancy test stick are more accurate. So, how long can a pregnancy test stick be used?
Generally, around 12 days after unprotected intercourse, self testing can be conducted using a pregnancy test stick. If pregnant, a positive or strong positive reaction may occur when using a pregnancy test stick. The main reason is that after sexual intercourse, the combination of sperm and egg will cause significant changes in hormones in the body, which will be manifested in urine. However, this process takes more than ten days, and the initial results can be obtained through a pregnancy test stick.
In order to make the test results more accurate, it is recommended to collect urine for the first time in the morning and try to interrupt the urine collection as much as possible. This can reduce the contamination of urine by other factors and make the test results more accurate.
If testing is conducted less than ten days after sexual intercourse, there may be false positives due to low levels of hormone secretion during pregnancy. In addition, if there is a positive reaction during the initial test, it is necessary to go to the hospital for further examination, such as urine or blood tests for HCG, which can more accurately diagnose whether pregnancy has entered the stage.
