Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are a common medical occurrence that impact many women each year. More than 50% of women have gotten at least one UTI in their lives. While UTIs are painful and can become serious, they are typically treatable with the proper antibiotics.
Taking a pregnancy test at home can be an emotional experience. If you’re taking a pregnancy test, you want to ensure that the results you’re getting are accurate. However, if you have a UTI and want to see if you’re pregnant, you might be wondering, “can a UTI mess up a pregnancy test?”
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If you are concerned that a UTI could cause a false positive or negative result with your pregnancy test, let us help put your mind at ease so you can feel confident in your results. Here is what you need to know about taking a pregnancy test when you have a UTI:
Can a UTI Mess Up a Pregnancy Test?
It’s unlikely that a UTI will affect the results of your pregnancy test, such as giving you a false negative. However, there are some circumstances that could cloud the results of your pregnancy test.
First- How Pregnancy Tests Work
Hormone levels drastically change when you are pregnant. The main hormone that changes is human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG).
Women have HCG in their bodies at all times. When you become pregnant, your HCG levels increase dramatically. Pregnancy tests work by detecting HCG levels, determining pregnancy status based on how high they are.
There are two different types of pregnancy tests. They are:
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Urine
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Blood
When a woman is pregnant, her urine and blood will contain high amounts of HCG. You can take a urine test at home or in the hospital. Blood tests are typically only available at your doctor’s office, and are not available as at-home tests. Both blood or urine pregnancy tests will provide you with a positive or negative test results based on how much HCG is in your urine. So basically, a pregnancy test is just measuring hCG levels.
How Can UTIs Give a False Pregnancy Test Result
UTI Antibiotics
If you have a UTI, it’s likely you were prescribed antibiotics to clear the infection.. Thankfully, antibiotics have not been shown to impact the accuracy of an at-home pregnancy test. It’s very unlikely that the treatment for your UTI would cause a false result on your at home pregnancy test. If you are concerned that the results of your test are not accurate, a blood test at your doctor’s office is always the best option to confirm an at-home pregnancy test result.
OTC Meds for UTI
Over the counter medications to help with the discomfort of UTIs (like AZOs) can make a pregnancy test difficult to interpret because of the dye that works to soothe the urinary tract lining, which can make the result window very difficult to read. The medications typically dye your urine an orange-red or sometimes blue color. If you’ve had UTIs frequently you are probably familiar with the tell tale stain it leaves in the toilet. Needless to say, a dye in your urine could cloud the results of your at-home pregnancy test.
Goldilocks… too much, too little, or just right?
One of the side effects of UTIs for some women is difficulty or pain controlling urine flow. At home pregnancy tests require urine to measure how much hCG is present, and too much or too little can impact the accuracy of the results. . Excessive urine on the stick could affect the test results by not allowing the test strip to bond to any of the hCG molecules in your urine.
You might receive a negative test result if you aren’t able to collect enough urine on the pregnancy test strip. .
Increased Water Intake
Drinking a lot of water can help with UTI symptoms, and is recommended by doctors to help flush out the bacteria causing your discomfort. But if you are planning on taking a pregnancy test at home, drinking too much water can dilute your urine and make the at home test less accurate.
If you are wanting to take an at-home pregnancy test, it is recommended that you not drink more water than you normally would in order to avoid a false negative result due to dilution of your urine. Seems like contradictory advice, right? The best time to take a pregnancy test is first thing in the morning, when your hCG is most concentrated in your urine.
What Other Factors Can Contribute to a False result?
If you suspect you are pregnant and got a positive result, it’s still recommended to get a blood test to confirm you are pregnant, whether or not you have a UTI. Blood pregnancy tests can detect very low levels of HCG, and are much more accurate than the at home pregnancy tests. The same goes for if you have a negative result but still suspect you may be pregnant.
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If you didn’t get the result you expected from your at home pregnancy test, the following reasons may be to blame:
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The pregnancy test is expired (yes this is actually a thing!) Check the expiration date on the box the pregnancy test came in before testing.
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You may have peed too much or too little on the test, or didn’t catch ‘midstream’ urine. Reading the instructions carefully will help determine what the test requires or recommends to ensure the most accurate result.
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You may be too early. SincehCG levels rise quickly, you can wait a few days when your levels have had the opportunity to become high enough for the at home test to detect.
Can UTIs Cause False Positive Results?
It’s very unlikely that a UTI would cause a false positive test result. UTIs don’t raise HCG levels in your urine, and antibiotics have not been shown to interfere with an at home pregnancy test result
How MyUTI Can Accurately Test You for UTIs
MyUTI is an advanced UTI test that you can take at home. It gives you a comprehensive insight into your history of UTIs and what treatment path you can take. Some of the ways MyUTI can provide you with relief include:
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Testing for the top twelve UTI symptoms causing pathogens – including Group B step common during pregnancy.
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Discovering if your infection requires antibiotics
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Receiving a personalized treatment plan
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