Will Alcohol or Drugs Affect A Pregnancy Test?

Something many people want to know when taking a pregnancy test is whether or not outside factors can affect the outcome of the test. Are results going to change if a woman had a glass or two of wine before taking the test? Is she going to have a different result if she is on drugs prescribed by her doctor? There are a number of questions regarding whether or not drinking alcohol can affect a pregnancy test.

Can Alcohol Affect A Pregnancy Test?

Alcohol cannot affect a pregnancy test result. If you find yourself asking, "Can alcohol affect a pregnancy test?," after taking a test and wondering if your results are accurate, the answer is no. Alcohol cannot affect the outcome of your test. The way that pregnancy tests work has nothing to do with the amount of alcohol in your bloodstream. It has everything to do with a chemical that's in your urine. This is a pregnancy hormone. You might know it more as hCG as that's how it's most commonly referred.

Alcohol consumption does not affect the amount of hCG found in your urine if you are pregnant. However, if your levels are below 5 mIU, you are not pregnant and a positive result will not appear on your pregnancy test. Naturally, it takes the female body a week or more to begin producing hCG after an egg is fertilized. From that point, it takes even longer for the hCG levels in a woman's urine to rise. In fact, it takes anywhere from two to three days for levels to double. Since they start so low, it can take a few weeks before they are high enough to be detected by a home test.

Will Alcohol Affect My Pregnancy?

While alcohol will not affect your pregnancy results, it will affect your pregnancy. Before you begin to panic thinking that you've harmed your unborn child, it is important to understand that many women consume light to moderate amounts of alcohol in the earliest weeks of pregnancy as they have no idea at this point they are expecting. Provided you drink no more alcohol once you find out you are pregnant, your baby will likely be completely fine.

However, if you do continue to consume alcohol throughout your pregnancy, your baby is at risk for many different issues that stem from fetal alcohol syndrome. These can include anything from premature labor to low birth weight to learning disabilities and many other birth defects. If you are trying to become pregnant, stop drinking. If you weren't trying and it happened regardless, don't let a few glasses of wine cause you to panic thinking that you've harmed your baby. In fact, call your doctor and discuss this with him or her to help you ease your fears and continue with an otherwise healthy pregnancy.

Can Taking Drugs Affect A Pregnancy Test?

There is one fact you should know about drugs; whether they are legal or illegal, they will not affect the results of a pregnancy test. However, you should not engage in illegal drug use while pregnant or at any time in your life. The risks might not include an inaccurate pregnancy test result, but they are far worse.

Many women who are attempting to become pregnancy wonder if they would take drugs if it would affect the result of their pregnancy test. Drugs will not do this. On that note, however, it's also important to discuss that some prescription medications can affect the results of an at-home test for several reasons.

Can Fertility Drugs Affect A Pregnancy Test?

Many woman face troubles becoming pregnant with a child they so desperately want. Some are over the age of 35 and find that they need the assistance of fertility medications to help with their conception. Others have fertility problems in their own bodies and have to take fertility drugs to help increase their chances of becoming pregnant.

If you are taking fertility drugs to become pregnant, your doctor will discuss with you the risks you take if you decide to use an at-home pregnancy test. Since pregnancy tests are designed to help stimulate egg production in the female body, they often come complete with their own levels of hCG. When the pregnancy hormone is present in your body, it's going to show up in your urine if the levels are high enough.

For this reason, doctors who deal with women on fertility medications discuss with their patients the importance of not taking at-home tests for fear that a false positive pregnancy test result will occur. A false positive test is one that shows you are pregnant even though you are not. It's exceptionally rare for this to happen, but it does happen to women who have hCG in their urine for reasons other than pregnancy; the most common reason for this is the use of fertility drugs.

If you are using fertility drugs and attempting to become pregnant, do not take an at-home pregnancy test. Wait to see your doctor of a blood test in his lab to determine pregnancy. There are few things in life more devastating to a woman who wants a child than a negative pregnancy test. However, one of those few things is a false positive. To think you are pregnant only to find out your test was incorrect can cause a level of heartbreak that you may not currently understand.

In short, drugs and alcohol will not affect your test results unless those drugs are prescription fertility drugs. However, this is not a permission to indulge in recreational drug use or the consumption of alcohol if you suspect you are pregnant. On that note, take the aspirin you need to cure your headache or the cold medicine that's going to get you back on your feet. They will not affect your pregnancy test results in any way. Nor will they affect your overall health in a negative manner.