Q: I am three weeks late and I have taken two pregnancy tests and I followed the instructions to the letter. Both were negative and I even left it a few days between taking the second one. Is it possible I could still be pregnant?

A:

A missed or late period can be the result of many different factors, stress being one of them, and so try not to worry about your situation at the moment.

These days most pregnancy tests claim to be 99% accurate, but it is still possible for them to give a false-negative result if your hormone levels are not high enough to register on the test.

I do not know what type of test you used but there are tests on the market that you can use from the first day that you would normally expect your period to start, and waiting a few days before repeating a negative test is also a good idea as this gives your hormone levels chance to increase. See http://www.clearplan.com for further information on a common brand of pregnancy test.

If you have taken two tests since you expected your period to start, and these have both returned a negative result, then I doubt that you are pregnant, but you could visit your doctor or local family planning clinic for a further test to be sure. This will also put your mind at rest and you will be able to discuss how you feel about the result, whatever it may be.