When to test?

[Sunshinebaby84]

Hi everyone, how soon into a late period can you do a pregnancy test? I'm normally pretty regular give or take a couple of days but I'm about 4-5 days late and getting worried. I'm not in the right place to have a baby - I've only been with my boyfriend a couple of months and am getting stuck into my 2nd year at university but I can't stand even the thought of a termination and at 25 I think I'm too old to play the 'too young for a baby' card.
I would like to have kids one day but not this day and I'm getting myself very stressed about it all and would really like to know one way or the other so can anyone advise me on times to test?
Thanks

I would test now - the tests can pick up the pregnancy hormones from the day your period is due. I hope you get the answer you want. Take care x

You can reliably test from the day your period is due. Some tests are fairly accurate even before this. For example, I tested positive 5 days before my period was due (I was trying to get pg though).

Do a test and find out either way and then come back here and/or talk to rl friends/family if you are pregnant.

It isn't the end of the world if you are but you need to find out. It doesn't have to be a fancy or digital test btw. Supermarket/chemist's own will be fine especially as you're already late.

Thanks, guess I'm off to the chemists then :s

Negative and I bet now I've spent £6 on a test And been glared at suspiciously by old ladies in the chemist (I have been blessed/cursed with young looks and still don't look older than 18 and the tests are behind the counter so you have to ask for one) my period will turn up by lunchtime. I'm very grateful for the help though ladies, I'd still be sitting here worrying if you hadn't replied so promptly.

Hope your period turns up soon - always the way, peeing on an expensive bit of stick always brings on my period. I take it you're pleased with a negative?

Very pleased like I said now is not the right time for a baby so I'm relieved and £6 isn't too much for peace of mind in the long run.

Aww, that's great news. Usually a delayed period (when not pregnant!) is due to delayed ovulation so if you were poorly or under stress or something big was happening in the middle of this cycle then that most likely delayed ovulation and this in turn delayed your period. Frightening though when your period doesn't turn up as expected.

I'm pleased it was the result you wanted.

Ok now I will freely admit to being a worrier and after the initial 'well thank goodness for that' reaction I've begun to worry a bit again because I've still got what are apparently typical pregnancy symptoms - queasy all day, exhaustion, over emotional, constipation, (sorry tmi) and of course the lack of period. So do I just have to keep worrying until either my period turns up or I pop a child out? Is there something else I can do?
Sorry for all the worrying and moaning - I've got a lot of Christian friends and my parents are fairly conservative and none of my close friends have had kids so don't quite know where else to go.

Ok now I will freely admit to being a worrier and after the initial 'well thank goodness for that' reaction I've begun to worry a bit again because I've still got what are apparently typical pregnancy symptoms - queasy all day, exhaustion, over emotional, constipation, (sorry tmi) and of course the lack of period. So do I just have to keep worrying until either my period turns up or I pop a child out? Is there something else I can do?
Sorry for all the worrying and moaning - I've got a lot of Christian friends and my parents are fairly conservative and none of my close friends have had kids so don't quite know where else to go.

Whoops sorry about that

I would think that a pregnancy test when you're a few days late will give a positive if you are pregnant, so you can probably trust the negative.

However. It's entirely possible you did ovulate late this cycle and until your period turns up you just don't know.

Are you quite stressed? As SoH said this can delay things.

Are you having regular unprotected sex? Because really the window for conceiving in any cycle is quite small (only a few fertile days), and even then sex in that time is not guaranteed to lead to pregnancy.

Really I would try not to stress over it. Periods just can go missing and turn up a week late.

Don't google pregnancy symptoms as you'll immediately get them and worry yourself, and tbh they're often equally symptoms your period is on its way - I was trying to conceive for over two years and so taking note of my cycle/symptoms etc and I had lots of symptoms every month and wasn't pregnant, they were just symptoms my period was due.

I'm not unduly stressed - no more than any student normally is anyway though I have been doing some very depressing research on 'race', class, disability and educational attainment which would probably make anyone stressed!
We are very careful about using protection but they do say it's not 100% effective and we're probably not as careful as we should be when were having os or 'fooling around'.
I noticed some of the symptoms before I realised my period was late but just put it down to the funny eating, sleeping and travelling times that being at uni has caused.
Thanks for the reassurance I shall just throw myself into my studying and hope that if I stop stressing things will sort themselves out.

If you got a negative test when your period is late, it's extremely unlikely that you're pregnant. Pregnancy tests are very accurate.

The chances of getting pregnant for a young, healthy, fertile couple having sex at exactly the right time is around 25% so your contraception would have to fail (small percentage) and you'd still have to do it on the right day and beat the 3/4 odds that a sperm won't fertilise an egg anyway.

It's normal to have an anovulatory cycle sometimes as well when you don't release an egg and that could delay your period. If you're feeling queasy and constipated, it's possible that you've had a virus brewing and that's delayed ovulation- illness as I said will do that. They're also signs of an impending period. And tbh if you went on symptoms alone, I'm constantly pregnant. There's always something- nausea, sore breasts, funny taste in mouth, aversion to smells/taste, stomach ache, fatigue, bad skin, good skin, needing to wee and on and on and on and on.

Please try not to worry. You aren't pregnant. I'm almost positive.

Ha ha ha thanks. I shall try not to think about it especially given those odds!