False Positive on Test?

[RLTMommy]

Have any of you ever heard of someone having a false positive on a home pregnancy test? ---And they weren't on any medication. A friend of mine says she has heard of this happening. I have not.

[_army_wifey_]

A family friend of mine, which was a doctor told me once that there are some defective over the counter pregnancy test, some will even show up positive when they aren't.

[mom2aboy]

I have always read that there are not false positives, only false negatives. But who knows. I was under the impression it could not happen.

[NoAdditives]

It is not possible to ever have a false positive result from a pregnancy test. Ask any doctor and they will tell you the same thing. A pregnancy test, whether it's an OTC urine test or a blood test from a doctor, measures the human chorionic growth (hCg) hormone. It is only ever present in a woman's body when she is pregnant. There is no time, other than pregnancy, when the body makes this hormone.

I suppose it's possible to get a "false positive" if the woman has just had a miscarriage and there are still high levels of hCg in her system. But she could probably mistake the miscarriage for her period if she didn't know she was pregnant and then most likely would not take a pregnancy test.

[nkrumpfer]

I've always heard that there are no such thing as false positives. And that they only way to get a positive test is if there is the presence of the pregnancy hormone. I guess it is possible to recieve a false pregnancy for people with the condition pseudocyesis, false pregnancy, where they mentally, physically, and clinically appear to be pregnant.

[NoAdditives]

In cases of pseudocyesis, which is very rare in humans, human chorionic growth hormone is not present. A woman simply experiences many of the physical symptoms of pregnancy.

[big-mouth-burgher]

Exactlly, you can't get a false positive. And yes, if you have a miscarriage, your pregnancey test will come up positive for a few days after the miscarriage. My doctor had me do a home pregnancy test once when I wasn't sure if my period was really late or if I was having a miscarriage. I was afraid to take a test when I first missed my period b/c my son was very little and I wasn't ready for another one. It came back negative, but my doctor told me if I was having a miscarriage it would be positive.