EPT - Accurate, But not the best
Written: Apr 27 '03 (Updated May 15 '03)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: It's accurate
Cons: expensive and hard to read
The Bottom Line: The EPT is accurate, but there are better pregnancy tests out there.
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| jillmkk's Full Review: EPT |
Warning – The following epinion mentions various pregnancy symptoms. It also mentions urine and peeing in both a stick and a cup and menstruation. If you don’t want to read about these things, stop now! Ok, you have been warned…
My husband and I had always wanted a large family. There had been various problems, but we still have 3 beautiful children. My youngest just turned 2 a few weeks ago. Since her birth, we hadn’t really been trying to get pregnant again, but we hadn’t really been doing anything to stop it either. Nevertheless, I wasn’t prepared for the unexpected.
Last Thursday morning started out as any other day. It was the last day of Passover, and I was looking forward to eating some real food again after a week of Matzoh and various Matzoh products. In addition my husband’s birthday was the next day and the kids were all going to my in-laws for the weekend. So, I was looking forward to some time off alone with my husband.
My stomach had been a bit upset for the past few days, but it was Passover. Everybody’s tummy gets a bit upset during Passover. There was no reason to think that anything was wrong. My monthly visitor was due any day as well, and I was having some PMS type symptoms too. But again, no reason to think that this was anything out of the ordinary.
Thursday afternoon, I was walking through the grocery store, buying some real non-Passover food, when I noticed that my breasts were a bit sore. This is not a normal PMS symptom for me, but it is a normal early pregnancy symptom for me. For a split second, out of nowhere, the fleeting thought went through my head “Maybe I am pregnant?” I laughed it off, but it began to nag at me as I walked down the aisles. In an impulse buy, I threw a cheap generic pregnancy test into my cart- just to prove to myself that I wasn’t.
Imagine my surprise when the test came back POSITIVE almost immediately??? A deep, dark positive absolutely no question about it!! I decided that it was just a cheap test, and couldn’t possibly be right. I went out to the store again, and bought some more expensive tests – including a 2 pack of EPTs. Four tests later, I had a whole bunch of little lines screaming “POSITIVE!” at me, and it began to sink in that #4 was on the way sometime near the end of the year.
(Note - I had a miscarriage last weekend at 8 weeks. However, this does not change any of the information in the review.)
Now that I have used a generic test, as well as EPT and First Response Pregnancy Tests I thought I would compare and contrast them.
First, let me just say that all of the tests I took gave me the same answer. They all said I was pregnant, and so all were accurate. Basically, you can buy any home pregnancy test on the market today and get an accurate result. The only differences are in ease of use, comfort, readability, and price.
How these tests work:
When you are pregnant, your body releases the pregnancy hormone HcG . The ONLY time anyone ever has this hormone in their system is when they are pregnant. Pregnancy tests look for HcG in your urine. If it finds it, the test gives a positive result, if it doesn’t it gives a negative result.
The only exception to this would be in certain fertility patients, they are often given shots of HcG to help aid in ovulation and implantation. If you have taken HcG you should discuss with your doctor when you can take a pregnancy test. A general rule of thumb is that it is 1 day after every 1000 IU of HcG. So if you took 10,000 IU, a pregnancy test would not be accurate for at least 10 days.
Because HcG is only present in pregnant women, a false positive test is almost unheard of. If you did get a positive result, and then started your period a day or two later, what is more likely is that you had an early miscarriage. It is estimated that about 25% of pregnancies end in miscarriage. Most of the time we are unaware of them as they happen so early, we just mistake them for a heavy period - or don’t notice them at all. Unless, you are purposely watching for early miscarriages, it is generally better to wait to test after your period is due.
Although false positives are next to impossible, false negatives are not. Your HcG levels need to reach a certain amount before the test can detect them. This level varies from test to test and can be anywhere from 10 IU to 100 IU of HcG. So, even if you are pregnant, if your HcG level has not yet reached the necessary level, your test can still come back negative. If you get a negative test and your period has still not arrived in a few days (and you are sure when you ovulated), you may want to test again in a few days.
Using the tests:
There are a couple of different styles of Pregnancy tests. I prefer the kind where you pee directly on the stick, so all three tests were that kind. They seem the easiest and the least messy. But you can also choose to pee in a cup, and either dip the test in or buy a kind of test where you need to use an eyedropper to drop urine on to the test.
The test is generally very easy to use. At one end of the stick is a thumb grip, where you hold the test. At the other end is the “absorbent tip” for you to pee on. In the case of the EPT test, there is a purple cover over this that you need to take off before you pee on it, and then put it back on after you have pee’ed. On the front of the test are 2 little windows. There is a little square ‘control’ window, and a bigger round ‘test’ window. The control window should always get a line in it after you take the test. This proves that the test did work. If there is absolutely no line in the ‘test’ window then no HcG was detected and the test was negative. If you get even the very faintest of lines in the test window however, the test should be considered positive.
Once you have pee’ed on the test, you should replace the cover and then lay the test flat while you wait for the results. The EPT test can take up to 3 minutes to give a positive result. Trust me, these will be the longest 3 minutes of your life.
If neither line shows up, then the test was defective and you will need to test again.
You can test at any time of day. However if you are testing fairly early, it is probably better to wait until the first morning urine. That way the HcG has had the longest time to build up in your urine (overnight) and you will have a better chance of getting an accurate result.
The EPT test is very easy to use and does come with full instructions in both English and Spanish. In addition, they have a 24-hour toll free number you can call with questions about the test at 1-800-378-1783. From 8:30 to 5:00 PM weekday, this line is staffed with registered nurses. The rest of the time recorded help is available.
Comparing the EPT to the other tests:
Of the 3 tests I used, EPT was without a doubt the worst one. It came out positive, so I would use it again if I had to, but there are better choices out there.
As I said early, since pretty much all tests are accurate, I look to things like comfort, readability, ease of use and cost as to decide how much I liked the test.
1) Comfort – The EPT has a fairly small thumb grip. I didn’t drop it in the toilet or anything, but compared to the generic brand I used, it was much smaller. The thumb grip though is a bit more concave than the others, so maybe that makes up for it.
2) Readability – The EPT was the hardest to read of all three tests. It wasn’t just that the test line was faint; the control line was also very faint and unclear. I was beginning to think I had a defective test. At first I thought it was me. Because I wanted to do both an EPT and a First Response Test at the same time, I chose to pee in a cup and then dipped the tests into the urine. The EPT needs to be in a urine stream for 5 seconds. I decided that I may not have held it there long enough and maybe that was the problem. The next morning I did another EPT test, this time holding it directly in my urine stream for longer than 5 seconds. The lines came out a bit darker that time but were both still very faint. If that was the only test I had, I definitely would have questioned its accuracy.
3) Ease of Use – They are all very easy to use, however the EPT takes the longest to give results. Both the First response and the Generic brand promised results within 1 minute –and gave them. The EPT needs 3 minutes, and at least in my case it took all 3 minutes.
4) Cost – The EPT was the most expensive test I used. It cost $9.99 each compared to the First Response at $8.50 and $7.99 for the generic. I think it was a rip-off.
Because the generic brand I used is not available in the epinions database, I would like to add that it was far and away the best test I used. It is sold in my local grocery store and Brooks Pharmacy as “Inverness Medical Early Pregnancy Test”. It is also available at drugstore.com as the “Accu-Clear Early Pregnancy Test” You can find it at: http://www.drugstore.com/qxp75337_333181_sespider/inverness_medical/early_pregnancy_test_bonus_pack.htm
The generic test not only gave me the results the fastest, but also had far and away the clearest lines. It also had the widest thumb grip making it the most comfortable and easiest to hold. Probably its nicest feature is that right next to the test windows, it has a little chart showing what both a positive and a negative result would look like. I think that this was a great feature and was the only test that had it. This test will always be my first choice from now on.
Final Thoughts:
I had always thought of the EPT as a high quality test. However, after comparing it to others I realize that there really are better choices out there. Since any test will be accurate, I am not going to waste my money on this one anymore
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My review of the First Response Early Pregnancy Test can be found here: http://www.epinions.com/content_97444269700
Recommended:
No
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jillmkk
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Location: Massachusetts
Reviews written: 92
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Empowering Families Through Education
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