This is reported as one of the most frequently asked questions by people who are in the verification phase of the pregnancy results. It is curiosity or anxiety about the positive or negative results of the pregnancy. Similarly, it is the most common myth or misconception that people have in their minds that a pregnancy test is affected by drug or alcohol use. To know the facts, one has to understand the actual concept behind it.
Pregnant women have a special hormone in their urine called HCG and the consumption of alcohol and its content in the bloodstream has nothing to do with the pregnancy test. The hormone is still produced regardless of the fact that you have consumed liquor. However, consumption surely affects your baby adversely.
Although alcohol use does not affect the results of a pregnancy test, many other factors do influence research that can be misrepresented as a change due to alcohol use. Therefore, it is necessary to understand the actual time it takes to conceive after intercourse and the time it takes for your body to pass it on when you are trying to find out with the help of a pregnancy test.
Since a sperm cell lives for 5 days once it enters your body, it is difficult to assess your precise date of conception. The sperm could have entered and stayed in your body 5 days ago and may try to fertilize an egg today. An egg released today can unite with a sperm after a couple of days of sexual intercourse, as it can live for 24-48 hours. However, fertilization of the egg or conception are not enough to obtain positive results in pregnancy tests. Again, it takes some time to show up as HCG is not produced as soon as you get pregnant and it is usually a week after conception that it is released into the body.
This is still not enough to give a positive pregnancy test, as the amount of HCG produced in the body is not enough to rule out a positive pregnancy. The hormone usually multiplies its content in no less than 2-3 days and therefore usually after 10-15 days after conception, a pregnancy test can give you the actual result. The longer the time after intercourse, the more likely the results will be accurate on the test you perform yourself.
Since the above information explains everything, we can now establish the fact that alcohol and drug use does not affect the pregnancy test in any way, but can cause fatal congenital diseases for your baby. A woman who consumes alcohol or is under drug abuse potentially increases the risk to her fetus. Addiction can jeopardize the growth of the baby’s cells. Deficiencies in the brain and spinal cord can occur due to damage caused during pregnancy by alcohol use. Furthermore, it is an established fact that a woman who quits addictions even before getting pregnant has a better chance of having a healthy pregnancy and therefore having a healthy baby. Therefore, health professionals always suggest kicking the addiction before planning a pregnancy.
