Honestly I do not think it makes much of a difference, I've had 3 pregnancies, 2 births, all three got positives with dollar store tests but i always double checked with a higher end one after the dollar store one would give me a positive. The only exception to me getting the same results with dollar store and higher end test was my second pregnancy, my miscarriage. I felt very pregnant for weeks on end but something was different was definitely a more.. "intense" pregnancy from the very beginning(like SOON after conception) with that pregnancy due to how extreme symptoms were, how sick I was, etc, etc.. my family insisted on getting the higher end test, and it was negative, waited 4 days and bought another, negative, DOCTOR did urine test, negative,about a week later bought one at the dollar store, POSITIVE, told doctor who didn't believe me, ultrasound showed peanut and fetal doppler found the heart beat, unfortunately at about 17 weeks I miscarried, I did however take a few more tests in the few weeks I knew I had a confirmed pregnancy, just for fun, and oddly enough the only ones showing positive were the dollar store ones, doctor could never explain it, said the dollar store one may be more or less sensitive to picking up the pregnancy hormones but for whatever reason no other tests were registering anything was there. I will definitely never be a brand name only shopper. Lol
When it comes to health, I will always buy from a drugstore and never from a dollar store. There have been some cases of fake medicines making rounds nowadays and I don't want to be caught up in it, even for something like a pregnancy test kit. It is the quality that we should value more and the assurance that what we're using is worth the money we paid for. Pregnancy test kits are made to be able to detect hCG so we need to be really sure that the ones we're using will do just that.
Phew! Thankfully there is a sensible answer!! All home pregnancy tests are made the same way, just the same as urine test strips in hospitals, they measure the levels of hormone in the the urine as @Destiny stated above. You only pay more in pharmacys and larger stores for the brand and packaging. It's the same as seeing a packet of Ibuprofen for 19 pence and then a packet of Nurofen (brand name) for £3, the active ingredient is exactly the same. I think reading these comments people are confusing more money with better quality. I work in a hospital--the pregnancy tests we use don't come in fancy packaging, they are not individually wrapped, they are just strips that come in large quantities in a big box, doctors use the same ones, they are far far cheaper than a dollar store pregnancy test--do you think that doctors surgeries and hospitals will pay $15 for a single test strip? No, they don't, and the ones the doctor has are no more effective either. Not all test strips are accurate, that's because in very early pregnancy your hCG levels may still be too low to show up on the test, also, many tests will recommend you take it in the morning, this is because the urine is more concentrated in the morning because you haven't been drinking in your sleep and therefore diluting your urine. The only 100% test a doctor can do in the early stages is a blood test.
This is past my line but I guess those pregnancy tests are okay as far as preliminaries are concerned. It is one way of making you excited on the anticipated pregnancy. As per the advice of the pharmacists, the accuracy of those litmus test is not 100% and they are only used as a sort of alert for something that is probably. In other words, once you get a positive result, you have to go to the doctor for confirmation. And sometimes the pregnancy also fails on the other condition, that you are pregnant but it doesn't say so, then you go to a doctor if you feel that the reading is wrong. And for those expecting pregnancy, I guess the cheap pregnancy test kits are just fine to use.
Hmm, good question. Buying a pregnancy test from a dollar store is like buying a lipstick and it works okay from a dollar store, but I'd do both and go to a doctor too to find out if I was pregnant. The dollar store is just another convenient store to get things cheaper, so I'd trust it, but I'd go to a doctor too...it's just so cheap so why not if you'd like to find out if you're pregnant right away.
I did not know that you can even buy pregnancy tests at a dollar store. Even if they would have it there I would not buy it because I would not trust it being accurate enough. I would buy anything from the dollar store but definitely not a pregnancy test!
Well, personally I don't think I would use one myself, because I just feel as though this is too important to risk an incorrect result on! But at the same time, surely these items must go through a lot of testing before they are able to be sold? So perhaps they would be fine, as they couldn't sell things that just don't work, whether it's for a dollar or not!
In this circumstance, I would NOT trust a pregnancy test (unless it was brand name) from the dollar store. I need an answer that I can depend on.
I did, as soon as my girlfriend told me she thought she was pregnant, that's the first place I went. I wasn't paying no $7 or $10 dollars for a test anywhere else. I felt like if they were selling them then they obviously worked. I asked the clerk where they were and she had them at the counter. I asked for 7. She told be they were $3 dollars each, I got out the credit card. Went home and they all turned out to be the sign that tells you your not pregnant. They all can't be wrong right?
