Silly question....  When do you recommend taking an at-home pregnancy test (factoring accuracy asa well as your personal feelings)?   For example, is it best to wait maybe a week after your missed period or the day of your missed period?   I'm so afraid of a false positive result... 

I'm on the same boat!  I just don't wanna get my hopes up...but I think I'm gonna do it a day after....eeek!!!

I wasn't regular with my cycle yet (that I know of) but took the test on the day I thought I should have gotten it.  I had done it earlier and was a BFN.  Usually there aren't false positives.... Only false negatives.

I would probably do it the first day my period was supposed to start, but that's just me.  I'm pretty impatient.  I'm pretty sure that unless you are taking hormones, false positives are EXTREMELY rare.  False negatives are much more common.

thanks guys!  :)

oh dear. .. so then does that mean the at home pregnancy tests are not reliable? how will you really know if you are or not pregnant yet? (sorry for the frantic tone!)

@phimai: The trick to home pregnancy tests are that you have to have a certain level of the pregnancy hormone in your system before it will give you a positive.  So you could be pregnant, and get a negative from the test because your hormone levels are too low.  This is usually because you are testing too early (especially if you aren't regular so you only kinda know when you should start).  Each women is different, so her hormones are different, so some women have enough hormones to get a positive result earlier than others (like a couple days before their period is supposed to start vs. a couple of days after).  But unless you are on hormone treatments trying to get pregnant, it's practically impossible to get a positive test unless you are pregnant.  Make sense?  So if you get a positive, it's pretty much a guarantee that your preggers.  If you think you might be, and get a negative, wait a couple days and retest, it could be too early because you ovluated late and your period is just supposed to be later or something.

phimai98----- I think it's different for everyone.

When implantation has occured there is a hormone that is released in the body that signifies pregnancy.  This hormone is what is detected in an at home "pee on a stick" pregnancy test.  The date/time in which this hormone is released within the female body varies from person to person.  Some people can take a test 7 days before their expected period and get a positive....some won't take the test until after their expected period and get a positive then.  It all depends on the individual.  There are some tests out there that claim to be able to detect the "hormone variant" 5 days before your expected period (I think that may have been a direct quote from the commerical!!)

So....I guess if you are wondering if you are pregnant or not (not sure if this is what you were asking) I wouldn't test any earlier than 5 days before you expect your period...and even then it could be wrong.  Best idea is to just wait and see if you get AF and then test. 

I hope that helps??

just realized meanyprice and I were posting at the same time...and basically said the same thing!

thanks so much ladies for the clarification!! i think to be safe, I'll wait until AF doesnt show up before I start testing.