Can a pregnancy test be positive if it's a hysterical pregnancy?

Answer 1

No, if you think you're pregnant and are getting the symptoms of pregnancy, you will NOT get a positive on a pregnancy test unless there is another reason. This would be called a false positive. A false positive pregnancy test is when the test says that you are pregnant but actually you are not. This is a one off case and a positive pregnancy test is a pretty good indication that you are pregnant. False positive pregnancy tests are rare - though there are instances and conditions where they can occur.

HCG pregnancy tests or home pregnancy tests determine pregnancy through the detection of the hormone Human Chorionic Gonadotropin (hCG) in a woman's urine. Doctors recommend that you wait until you have missed a period to take a home pregnancy test. If you can not wait that long to find out and you know the day you may have conceived, then the earliest you can take a test would be 14 days from possible conception. Home tests are usually 97% accurate when all instructions are followed correctly and the results are read on time. Some kits come with two tests so that in case you have made a mistake, you may take the home pregnancy tests gain.

There are things that can cause a home pregnancy test to indicate pregnancy when you are not actually pregnant:

• In some cases, you might have a chemical pregnancy. You might be experiencing evaporation lines, or drugs that you use for fertility may interfere with your test.
• A chemical pregnancy is, essentially, a very early miscarriage. Some studies have suggested that as many as half of all first pregnancies end in miscarriage, and this often happens in the first few weeks of pregnancy. In this situation, without a home pregnancy test, the mom-to-be would never have known she was pregnant to begin with.
• Evaporation lines are created on a pregnancy test as the urine stream crosses the test. The urine on the test sometimes evaporates, and leaves a mark on the test results area. This typically shows up as a faint, grey or even colorless line in the test area. It is easy to mistake this line as a positive result when you may not actually be pregnant. No particular brand of home pregnancy test is immune to evaporation lines, although some home pregnancy tests may be better than others at avoiding these.
• Finally, the use of some medications, especially fertility medications, have the pregnancy hormone hCG (Human Chorionic Gonadotropin). This is the hormone measured by a home pregnancy test, and such medications could affect the accuracy of a home pregnancy test. Some of the fertility medications that could give a false positive might include Profasi, Pregnyl, and Novarel, but only if the test is taken within one to two weeks of getting the shot.