can you not be pregnant if the test is positive?
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It's possible to have a positive pregnancy test even if you aren't technically pregnant. This is called a false positive. It's sometimes caused by a chemical pregnancy. A chemical pregnancy occurs if a fertilized egg, known as the embryo, is unable to implant, or grow, very early on.
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This is why a positive pregnancy test result will mean you are almost certainly pregnant. However, in rare instances, you can get a false positive from: a recent pregnancy (e.g. after miscarriage, recent birth or termination) some rare ovarian cysts.
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Yes, wrong pregnancy test results can and do happen. In fact false negatives – where the pregnancy test says you're not pregnant but you actually are – are more common than false positives.
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Yes. Even a faint line on the stick is a positive result and means you are pregnant. Pregnancy tests pick up on the pregnancy hormone hCG (human Chorionic Gonadotrophin), which your body starts making when you get pregnant.
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A pregnancy test works by detecting the hCG hormone, which is usually only present in your body if you're pregnant. A positive result—even a faint line—on a pregnancy test means you're almost certainly pregnant.
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1 Pregnancy tests can be negative However, in some rare cases, you may be pregnant, but not have enough HCG in your system – which means you won't get a positive reading.
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False Negative Pregnancy Tests However, this is not always the case. False negative pregnancy tests do occur. In fact, it is possible to have a negative result on a pregnancy test and actually be pregnant.
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False positives are rare. If you take a test and it's negative and then take another test a few days apart and it's positive, it's possible you are pregnant and just didn't have enough hormones in your urine when tested earlier.
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Cue: panicked visit to your ob/gyn, only to learn that you're actually not pregnant and had nothing to stress about. Thankfully, false-positive pregnancy tests are rare, but they can happen. Here are some of the most common causes of a false-positive pregnancy test.
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What can cause a false positive? Getting a true false positive – one where you were never pregnant in the first place – is incredibly rare. Pregnancy tests detect the hCG (human Chorionic Gonadotrophin) hormone in your body, which is only present when you're pregnant.
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Early Pregnancy So theoretically, if you're pregnant, and you use an ovulation test, you may get a positive result. However, it's also very possible for you to be pregnant and for an ovulation test to not return a positive result. You might think you're not pregnant when you really are.
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Yes, it is possible. Getting a negative result doesn't mean you're not pregnant, it may just mean your hCG levels are not high enough for the test to detect the hormone in your urine.
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False positive pregnancy tests are possible but rare. There are some medications and medical conditions that can cause a false positive. For example, if your fertility treatment included a "trigger shot" of hCG, you could get a positive pregnancy test result that doesn't actually indicate pregnancy.
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Not Believing Positive Test Results If you are not pregnant, a false positive pregnancy test result is unlikely. The more likely explanation is that you had a chemical pregnancy (which produces enough hCG to turn a pregnancy test positive but miscarries shortly after) or a very early miscarriage.
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They're not foolproof, however. It is possible to get a positive result when you're not actually pregnant, which is called a false-positive. If you've been looking forward to a positive pregnancy test result, a false-positive is disappointing. The good news is they're rare.
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Positive test results If the test result is positive, you're almost certainly pregnant. Contact your GP surgery as soon as possible. Because home pregnancy tests are so accurate, your GP may not repeat the test.
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Your hCG levels will slowly start to fall naturally, but a pregnancy test, may detect residual hCG levels and give a positive result, even though you're no longer pregnant. If you continue to see a positive result on pregnancy tests and are concerned, see your doctor.