Pregnancy Tests

If you have experienced any of the symptoms above and suspect that you may be pregnant you can purchase a pregnancy kit at your local drugstore and test yourself in the comfort of you own home. There are several types of tests that you can take. There are tests with absorbent tips or "urine wells" where the woman holds the stick in their hands and pees on the other end. These tests also work if the woman pees in a cup and puts the tip of the stick in it. Other tests are more complicated and require collecting urine, mixing and adding urine in vials and using a test strip.

Pregnancy tests can take from 2 to 18 minutes to show the results. The times of popular brands of tests on the market are:

* EPT 2 min
* Be Sure 7-8 min
* Confirm 5 min
* Advance 5 min
* Answer 4 min
* Answer Plus 5 min
* Precise 3 min
* Clearblue Easy 3 min
* Q Test 10-18 min
* Fact Plus 7 min

Prices range from $8.00 to $13.00 for one test kit. Prices ranged from $12.00 to $18.00 for a 2-test kit. If a patient thinks that they might be testing more than once, they should be advised that buying 2 kits (in the same box) is a much better buy. You don't need to have parental consent to buy a pregnancy test.

Most of the pregnancy tests available are easy to use and interpret. The Q Test and Answer Plus kits both involved more steps, and more complex directions. The Q Test results were also more difficult to interpret.

If you take a pregnancy test and discover that the test is positive, the next step would be to consult your family doctor.