Many of us drink alcohol, and not only the male half of humanity, women also do not mind tasting this wonderful and intoxicating potion. At the same time, many of them are interested in a question of this kind - does alcohol affect the pregnancy test? But situations when a woman may need to conduct such studies can be very different.
For example, someone woke up with a terrible feeling of nausea, and indeed, as the personal calendar shows, the last menstruation should have come yesterday. In this case, the first thing that comes to mind is a possible pregnancy. But is it possible on the eve of the taken portion of alcohol to affect the effectiveness of the test? That's just what we will understand. And for starters, a little theoretical part about the threat posed by alcohol.
About how alcohol affects the female body
It's no secret that alcohol negatively affects not only the functioning of the human body, but is also able to have a negative effect on its mental state. Ethyl alcohol spreads very quickly through the circulatory system, in particular, the stomach, intestines, liver, heart are under serious blow.
How does alcohol affect a pregnancy test? To answer this question, one point should be noted. Compared to the male body, female drinks have a much greater effect. And if the representatives of the weak half of humanity begin to drink alcohol on an ongoing basis, then it is becoming increasingly difficult for them to get out of hard drinking. Not to mention completely eliminating this negative factor. Perhaps for this reason women are considered to be the weaker sex, although some of them may be clearly stronger than men.
Double responsibility
And if the pregnancy test shows a positive result, now the woman has a double responsibility: not only for herself, but also for the future, not yet born child. And this is not only about stopping the use of alcoholic beverages for all 9 months (or even more).
It is necessary to strictly adhere to certain rules:
- follow a diet;
- conduct quality control of the products used;
- to live an active lifestyle;
- most of the time to be in a good mood;
- if necessary, immediately seek medical help (even with the slightest symptoms);
- regularly attend antenatal clinics and take necessary tests;
- observe the pregnancy process;
- Strictly comply with all the recommendations of a doctor.
It is clearly not worth ignoring the recommendations listed above, because the fetal development of the fetus depends on this.
Danger of alcohol to the fetus
Can I do a pregnancy test after alcohol? We know the threat posed by alcohol-containing drinks for the body, although we cannot always deny ourselves such joy. At the same time, every woman who is preparing to become a mother should be aware of the harmful effects of alcohol on her small life.
An irresponsible attitude on the part of the expectant mother can result in rather serious complications:
- Mutational processes at the gene level.
- Malfunctions of the internal organs of the child.
- The development of pathology of the nervous system.
- Development of birth defects that cannot be corrected (cleft lip).
- Children after birth are short.
- The acquisition of specific features of appearance is a flattened face or narrow palpebral fissure.
- Children can be born low in weight.
- The development of heart defects and other internal organs may begin.
- The lag in mental and physical development cannot also be ruled out.
You will learn about the effect of alcohol on a pregnancy test a little later, but for now, you should familiarize yourself with the fact that not only alcohol has an effect on the development of the fetus. But to overcome the placental barrier is not difficult!
The standard in the blood breaks down with the formation of acetaldehyde, and its liver in a pregnant woman is not able to neutralize. In addition, he is also free to reach the fetus. And just this substance is the most dangerous than ethyl alcohol!
Variety of tests
Diagnose for pregnancy at home is not difficult. There are a variety of tests:
- Special paper strips with divisions, which are characterized by maximum ease of use.
- There are tests enclosed in a plastic case, which has a lid and a window to visualize the result.
- Inkjet varieties that are no less usable and also reliably determine the result. And much faster than other options.
With strips, everything is simple - even after drinking alcohol, a pregnancy test is enough to immerse in urine to the indicated mark and wait a while (each test has a different waiting time). After that, one mark will appear at the site of the control site (there is no pregnancy) or there will be two (successful conception). If there are no marks at all, then you need to retake the test.
Using the tablet option is no more complicated - a few drops of urine are applied to the window. The result appears on another window next to it. Such tests have a fairly high level of confidence.
There are also jet types of tests that allow you to see the result almost immediately. To do this, just substitute the sensitive strip under the stream.
Important point
It is not so much important to know whether alcohol affects a pregnancy test, how much to understand the correctness of its implementation. To avoid mistakes during home testing, it is necessary to familiarize yourself with the instructions before using any tool selected. It is equally important to pay attention to the expiration date of the pharmacy test, since the reliability of the result also depends on this factor.
If it comes to an end or has already ended, then a special chemical reagent loses its sensitivity. In this regard, the test is simply not able to show the correct result.
In addition, it is necessary to comply with all instructions, namely to withstand the time specified in the annotation (regarding mainly budget test options). The correct result is guaranteed only if the instructions are followed!
The principle of home tests
To understand whether you can do a pregnancy test after alcohol or not, you should know the principle of its work. Regardless of the types of funds sold through a network of pharmacies, they all function according to a single principle. Special reagents are applied on the strips, which are able to enter into a chemical reaction with human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG). This hormone appears in a woman’s liquid biological environment when the egg has been fertilized, and it has become fixed on the uterine wall.
At this point, the period of the introduction of the future embryo into the endometrium begins, hormonal restructuring occurs in the female body, which entails changes in the composition of blood and urine. In this case, the concentration of hCG increases exponentially, based on the period of implantation of the egg. It is in determining the presence of this hormone that the tests work, as well as the essence of blood and urine tests to fix the fact of pregnancy.
When should a test be done?
It is not enough to know whether alcohol affects the result of a pregnancy test or not, it is worthwhile to understand when it is better to conduct it. As world practice shows, any time is suitable for this. At the same time, there is one clarification - if the time is too short, testing should be done early in the morning. At this time, the concentration of the hormone in the blood and urine is still maximum. But during the day after eating food and drinks, the amount of hCG will be reduced, which can give incorrect interpretations.
In other words, after the alleged conception, it is possible to detect “pregnancy hormone” in the urine not earlier than a week, or even 10 days. In some cases, an accurate result can only be obtained after 14 days. It is worth noting that at a gestational age of 4 weeks and later, the test will show a one hundred percent result, no matter what time it is performed.
The human hormone, or hCG, reaches its maximum concentration by the arrival of the next cycle. That is, the test, in fact, can still be used after the first day of menstruation. But for reliability, it is better to conduct a home study after 7 days, starting from the beginning of the cycle.
You will learn more about alcohol and a pregnancy test a little later, but for now, something about what every woman needs to consider ...
Important Caution
All women need to know something about conducting tests at home. The result can be positive not only in case of successful conception, which indicates the fact of pregnancy. In some cases, a positive result makes it clear that the development of a malignant neoplasm has begun in the cavity of the genital organ.
In this regard, women after passing the home test in any case, you must consult a doctor. The specialist will prescribe additional studies if necessary.
The effect of alcohol on home research
Many medical experts are inclined to the general opinion that neither alcohol, nor nicotine, nor even narcotic substances are able to influence the result of a test that determines pregnancy. The fact of successful conception will be confirmed in any case, no matter how much alcohol is drunk.
Therefore, the result should not be in doubt. That is, a pregnancy test will correctly show everything. It is not worth paying attention to the alcohol consumed before this. But not only alcohol (in particular, this refers to strong drinks, more on this below) is not able to influence the results of home testing. Taking medication does not distort the data either. However, if it is not about hormonal medications. During therapy with their use, they just contribute to the fact that the test result will be positive.
On a note
As shown by a number of studies, alcohol molecules are not able to contact with hormones. In addition, they also have no effect on their number. This once again shows that when the test is not pregnancy, the result will not be false. Therefore, a woman can not worry about alcohol - a pregnancy test, if she drank alcohol, will still be valid.
Nevertheless, there are exceptions to the rules. If a woman prefers beer, and it has a diuretic effect, then the concentration of hCG in the urine will be reduced. Consequently, the test can show a negative result, which, however, cannot be called valid.
In addition, white wine also has diuretic properties. In this regard, with a large amount of this drink drunk, the test result will also be invalid.
What is the result?
What conclusions can be drawn as a result? But most importantly, does alcohol affect a pregnancy test? As we now find out, it is better not to conduct a pregnancy test after 10 days after unprotected intercourse. Moreover, if the day before the woman did not drink beer and other diuretic drinks. Strong drinks, as a rule, do not distort the results, which cannot be said about taking hormonal drugs (if such therapy is prescribed by a doctor).
If a woman has doubts about the result of a home test, she should consult a gynecologist for medical advice. If necessary, the specialist will send a potential mother to remake the test in the laboratory. At the same time, even if the test at home shows a positive result, you still have to turn to the gynecologist for timely registration with the antenatal clinic.
In conclusion
Now everything falls into place, and you can summarize. Does alcohol affect a pregnancy test? Strong drinks are not able to distort the result, but because of beer and other diuretics, on the contrary, the data will be unreliable. But this is not the most important thing! If the test at home shows the presence of pregnancy, and yesterday a woman drank a fair amount of alcohol, then it is necessary to deal with the excretion of ethanol decay products from the body.
For this, it is worth using the help of sorbents, you need to rest as much as possible, sleep, drink water. And if it is in the woman’s interests to keep the pregnancy and give birth to a healthy and strong baby, it is necessary to completely abandon any kind of alcoholic drinks over the next year and a half, no less!