By: Bindu Raichura
Every woman has an intuition before confirming the pregnancy with the doctor. Certain symptoms, including missed periods, sore breasts, and tiredness, hint at the possibility of pregnancy.
The most common method to confirm pregnancy at home is the pregnancy kit available at the stores. But, do you know you can also confirm the pregnancy using other methods and procedures? Yes. The bleach pregnancy test is one such method where you can check for pregnancy at home. Let’s look more into the process and how does it work.
Bleaching Powder Pregnancy Test: What does it Mean?
As the same suggests, we use bleaching powder to determine if you are pregnant or not. During pregnancy, the body produces a pregnancy hormone called Human Chorionic gonadotropin (HCG). In the bleaching powder pregnancy test, one needs to mix the bleach and urine. The bleach will react to the HCG to determine if you are pregnant or not.
What Happens During this Test?
In this bleach pregnancy test, the bleach reacts with the HCG hormone in the urine. The results are assumed to be positive if the reaction makes the mixture foam up. If there is no foam formation but just bubbles in the urine, the pregnancy result is negative.
Which Bleach is Used for Bleaching Powder Pregnancy Test?
It is always recommended to use regular bleach without ammonia or coloring agents. This is because the inclusion of ammonia and coloring agents might affect the reaction of the bleach with the urine.
As said earlier, you need to mix the urine and bleach and allow it to react. So the step by step procedure would be as follows:
- Take a cup and label it as A. Collect a fresh sample of your urine. The early morning urine tends to contain high levels of HCG. This method requires too much urine for a pregnancy test.
- Now, take another cup and label it as B. Next, fill a quarter of the cup with bleach.
- Transfer the bleach from B slowly to A.
- Complete the procedure and wait for the time when the bleach ends its reaction.
Does No Reaction Mean No Pregnancy?
Generally, if there is no reaction, it means you are not pregnant. However, there might be other circumstances as well where there might be no reaction:
- The bleach you have used might contain ammonia or coloring agents.
- There are chances that you might be pregnant, but the hormones have not produced enough to react with the bleach.
- Your urine might not be fresh. It may have been diluted.
As discussed, the bleach pregnancy test results could be either positive or negative. But how accurate is the bleach pregnancy test depends on several factors, including the quality of the bleach, fresh sample of urine, gradual mixing of the bleach, and clean container. Therefore, there are high chances that you might get a false positive on a bleach pregnancy test and vice-versa.
Bleach and Urine Pregnancy Test: Are they Accurate?
The answer would be straightforward – not accurate. No studies or evidence are proving it to be accurate. Further, no medical organizations recommend the bleach pregnancy test.
Firstly, bleach is a chemical and is not produced for determining pregnancy hormones. Secondly, no chemical research proves that when urine is mixed with bleach, it won’t result in a foamy reaction. What if it is just a natural reaction and has nothing to do with the pregnancy hormones?
To be more precise, there are more chances of getting a false result. So, there is no reliability on the final result, either positive or negative.
Side Effects of Bleach Pregnancy Test at Home?
The most important fact to keep in mind is, bleach is a chemical. Imagine what happens when you pee in bleach. When it reacts with urine, which contains ammonia, it might result in chlorine gas. Chlorine gas is hazardous, especially for pregnant women. Further, the use of bleach for pregnancy and the pregnant woman has not yet been tested. So, if you feel any of the following symptoms while taking up the bleach pregnancy test at home, please get away from the place:
- Irritation in the eyes, nose, and throat
- Cough
- Shortness of breath
- Nausea
- Chest pain
Above all, the most significant risk in a bleach pregnancy test is the risk of a false result. There are chances of getting both false-negative and false positive.
The false-negative could delay the prenatal care to be taken. A false positive can actually take a toll on your emotional stability and can cause distress.
Does Health Supplement Affect the Test Result?
The health supplements that contain HCG are banned in the market. So, taking health supplements cannot result in a false result. However, if you are under fertility medications and treatments, there might be a false result because fertility treatments and medicines increase the HCG levels.
The bleaching powder test is just another easy homemade pregnancy test with bleach, which helps you find out if you are pregnant. It is highly preferred by many because of its cost-effectiveness and easy procedure. But, this method is not proved to be accurate. It is also a risky job to deal with chemicals, especially when expecting a positive pregnancy. Therefore, if you think you might be pregnant, you can look out for more accurate alternatives or head to the doctor right away and start your prenatal care. There is no need to risk your health when you are pregnant.
Source: https://www.beingtheparent.com/bleach-pregnancy-test-procedure-results-risks/
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