Hook Effect??

[May55]

Is it real? I never really heard about it aside from seeing people talk about it here and there throughout the 15 months ttcing.. Im an IDIOT and took a test at 7 weeks 2 days (WHY !?!?) on a FRER and although the 2 lines are both very very dark, the test line is a little lighter than the control now, only by the slightest amount...when 2 weeks ago it was much darker than the control. NO MORE TESTS FOR ME I KNOW lol

 

[malia]

I'm really skeptical about the hook affect. I just did a test, out of curiousity, at 14 weeks, and it's still just as dark as the control. I don't think line strenghth is a reliable measurement of anything.

 

[Yo_Yo]

Think it's real! I did a clearblue digital at 8 weeks with dd2 and it was 1-2 weeks! Boy was I panicked!
Edit-I googled it and got this;

To make this easier to understand, and to apply it's relevance to testing for pregnancy, basically what this means is that the Hook Effect occurs when the levels of HCG are so high in a pregnant women, that they can not be bound to the test antibodies and therefore the test is unable to process effectively.

So it's caused by high hcg levels confusing the test!

 

[May55]

Yea I guess it really cant tell anything, I just find it strange because the frer now is lighter but i have 3+ on clearblue... the frer that was darker from 2 weeks ago was taken with a 2-3 result on clearblue..

 

[Moom7900]

Yes, what lots of women see with hpts is called the variant hook effect, and it's definitely real and I've experienced it in both this pregnancy and my last. At around 6-7 weeks, my lines were lighter than before and then were darker after diluting the urine.

Try it yourself...do a concentrated sample and test, then dilute by 50% with water, and then dilute even further. The photo I have attached was at approx 7 weeks - the top test was concentrated urine, second was 50:50 urine and water, third was 25:75 urine and water, and the bottom one was dipped in the toilet bowl, and as you can see, they got darker as the urine became more diluted xxxxxx

 

[May55]

wow thats awesome to actually see.. I would have tried but I had no more tests :/ thanks a lot!

 

[May55]

Ill add that the line is basically just as dark as the control but 2 weeks ago the test line was much darker than the control, it used all the dye and the control line was quite faint... thats why i found it odd.