How Common

A friend of mine was two weeks late, took many home pregnancy tests (all negative) but she had every pregnancy symptom. She went to the doctor and they confirmed with a blood test.

They're pretty accurate, but if you don't use first morning pee or you use too much pee, they can have user error. If she wants to confirm, she can go with a blood test, which can also tell her about her hormone levels, whereas a HPT is just yes/no.

I agree with wickerparkergirl that she may want to see her doctor for various reasons, because if she's not pregnant, but has been doing questionable things, she may have other issues.

With my second I was dizzy as all get out and went to the ER. They did a test there and it was negative (urine). I went to my regular doctor for a follow up a few days later and they did another test, negative (urine).

I made fajitas about a week later and as soon as they were done I wanted to get sick. I went to the store, got a test, and have my 6 year old :).

A blood test will show much sooner than a urine test and I'm convinced that had any of those doctors done a blood test they would have known I was pregnant.

All three of my kids, I had a feeling I was like the week I MUST have gotten pregnant. I had to wait and usually I was too excited. I would always go get the first responses. I would do the max 5 days before a period should start. That has like a success rate of 70%. It always came out a burning POSITIVE... like un mistakable. I never got false negative or false positives. It has to do with the hormone you carry. If she is low on this hormone, SO low in fact to give her a false negative, then she likely will have problems carrying the child anyway. In this case I do suggest she go get a blood test, However I requested this once as well, and they told me they dont do blood tests anymore unless my symptoms occurred like this over a months time. They gave me the pee test, and of course that was positive, and that was it. They sent me to a nutritionist, and said dont come back till 12 weeks. So I would be surprised if the give her one, and if they do insurance may not cover it and blood work is not cheap. If she has poor judgement on choices, does she have poor judgement on her finances. Why cant she just wait till her period comes or doesn't, re take the test. 8 days isnt that far off for a late period. Stress and diet and age can contribute also. Having sex can throw off a period as well. She should just wait till next month. By the way there are venereal diseases that can delay or stop periods as well.

with my youngest child, both home tests were negative. Took a blood test at 3 weeks overdue to confirm pregnancy.

Poor judgement can often lead to feeling stressed out. Being stressed out can make even "clockwork" periods skip a week, or a whole month until the next one is "due".
On the other hand, it's been my experience that home tests are very accurate, but if it's really wearing on her mind, then going to the doctor for a better test is how you set your mind at ease. Stressing out over the "what if" isn't going to help the stress of poor judgement go away.

My home test was more reliable than the doctor's test for my first. Home test showed up at 2 weeks pregnant, the doctor's test almost came back negative.

No sure how old your friend is, but our bodies change... our cycles change... If it's a week past and she's getting negatives, my guess is that she's not pregnant - just having a funky cycle.

With my last pregnancy I was two weeks late and it never showed up on a urine test that I was pregnant. It only showed up in blood tests. It's not that uncommon.

The home tests are pretty reliable. If it's too early, the blood test is best.

Try googling the home tests and look at the FAQ's. I'll bet it addresses how soon the test should be done.

Dawn

A blood test is a lot more sensitive than a urine test, so it can detect pregnancy sooner than a urine test. Sometimes in very early pregnancy it will show up as a negative on a urine test, but the blood test will be positive, just still to early to show up in the urine at this point. Most of the time if someone is a week late then if should show up in a urine test, but not always. I work in a lab and we see this all the time.

The urine test that the Dr uses is the exact same quality as the OTC (over the counter) tests, so it is highly unlikely that if she is not getting a positive at home that she would get a positive urine test at the Dr *** unless there is a time lapse, therefore allowing her urine to build a higher concentration of HcG.

However, for a variety of reasons sometimes women produce false negatives on a urine test. So, she can have the OB/GYN do a blood test which will tell her with 100% accuracy if she is, in fact, pregnant. There are times that you can have a negative urine test and test positive (correctly) with a blood test.

However, if she is REALLY 8 days LATE and not showing + on a urine test that tells me there may be a variety of things going on for which she really does need to see a Dr. to confirm + or -. By 8 days late you would almost certainly have a high enough HcG level to test positive on a pregnancy test (as most are sensitive enough to tell 10 days post conception - or 5 days BEFORE you should start.) So, certainly by now if everything is progressing as it should, she should be showing a + if she is pregnant.

You can tell your friend that if she is regular 'like clockwork' and she is 8 days late but NOT pregnant that the increased level of hormones in her body may increase PMS symptoms or give her some that she generally doesn't experience (like sore boobs). If she is using bad judgement that includes drug (use or something equally as physically stressfull) that can DEFINITELY affect her cycle, even if she is not pregnant.

Home test then get a blood test at an OB's office. I don't really know what your asking in the last question.

I would help her find the nearest county health department. They might have free pregnancy testing. Otherwise she needs to go to the doc to make sure so she can get on vitamins and stuff.