E-mail from Clearblue.

[MissJuly10]

Hi ladies, I know a few people (like myself) who have used digi's and got BFNs have then taken them apart and seen lines.

I e-mailed the company to double check that the lines meant nothing, just thought I would share their response with you all....

Thank you for your Clearblue online enquiry.

We hope that you find the following useful. One of our advisors has based their response upon the information that you have provided:

This test is very different to other tests and the lines on the strips inside cannot be read by eye. Instead the test uses an optical system to measure the density of the lines – converting it into an electrical signal, to give you the result in words. Attempting to read the lines by eye can lead to mis-interpreting the results and is therefore not recommended.

Hope it helps.

x x

 

[JJ Mum]

Blimey, that still reads In my thinking , that a line would be still a line? If it's reading the density of the line, then if too faint then then it wouldn't get picked up by optical thingy , but could by eye

Is that how you interpet it? Think the 2WW ladies on here will be pleased

 

[MissJuly10]

I wondered the same thing. The line I got was a couple of shades lighter than the control. But I've read that the test also reads LH so maybe that's a factor too?

Hmmm!

x

 

[maybe baby]

That's a load of bollocks, I did 4 diggis over 6 days and I could see the different strengths of the lines.

I also got a pregnant 1-2 when my HGG blood test was 12 miu.

I only got lines on one of the strips, I reckon the other comes into play when your HCG is much higher.

I do wonder whether they could be LH but I reckon probably not but then if you have lines Miss J then maybe.

At the end of the day the density of the line is the same as the darkness.

I know a way to find out, do one with man pee and see what happens, I would but I don't have any in my drawer.

Everyone who does one should open it up and see what happens, hopefully we can get to the bottom of it ourselves!

xx

 

[lanny]

I think it's saying there is always two lines but depending on the density of the line that then give the results in words so e.g not very dense not pregnant, more dense 1-2wks and so on????? Do you think

 

[lanny]

I've just opened mine the lines are gone and the pregnant 3+ on the front is gone two it is over two wks old tho lol

 

[MissJuly10]

When I did my digi and opened it up, I saw two test strips. On one, I had two lines, on the other, I had one.

On the strip where I had two lines, I assume one was the control as it was darkest, then I had another next to it of the same thickness, just a couple of shades lighter. On the other strip I had one line identical to my other one. Slightly lighter than control line.

The e-mail from Clearblue doesn't really make me feel like my question has been answered. Perhaps I'll be more blunt in my reply.

x

 

[MissJuly10]

Forgot to add, my digi said Not Pregnant. It took AGES to come up though. x

 

[Lander]

I read on another site, that as Clear Blue use the same basic components/parts for their opks as for their hpts, they both contain testing strips (?) for LH and HGC, so, I think that may explain why you had one bit with a pair of lines (for you would always have some LH, as evidenced by faint lines on ic/opks) and another with only one (the control line for the hcg and a 'negative' test line).........

Hope I'm making sense..........

Lxx

 

[MissJuly10]

Ohh.. So one line is kinda like an opk, the other a hpt? In very basic terms? And one has obv measured my LH. That does make sense...Now I wish I'd looked properly! x

 

[Cazzlou]

I have a research doc on the laptop of the digi and the lines etc will dig it out I remember something about 3 lines on them at some point. Will post link when I'm on laptop

 

[Olive]

Hey ladies,

Read this http://www.peeonastick.com/hpt/digitalsecret.html copied some of page below...

In simple terms, the digital test stick sucks up urine like a "regular" HPT. The test has a control line like every other HPT, to indicate the test worked properly. Then there is a "results zone" where a second line may or may not appear. Here's the difference: the second line may appear even if you are not pregnant, because the antibodies in the "results zone" are NOT testing ONLY for pregnancy hormone. Drumroll please. The "results zone" detects not only hCG (pregnancy hormone) . . . but also LH (luteinizing hormone.) LH is found in women's bodies almost all the time in some quantitity. (See the Fertility Info section for the nitty-gritty.) So, depending upon where you are in your cycle, how much LH your body produces normally (which can be thrown off by conditions like PCOS), you may see a second line even when there is no hCG ("Not Pregnant.")

Next question: Why does this HPT detect LH as well as hCG? After all, the presence of LH (or lack thereof) has no bearing on pregnancy detection.
Well, the best I can do there is quote the patent itself: "The determination of the presence of more than two (is multiple) [sic] analytes in any sample may have significant clinical utility." (Then it cites some examples in tests for heart disease and diabetes.) It does not elaborate further on the hCG/LH connection . . . so, in light of the fact that Clearblue just came out with a (disposable) digital ovulation predictor kit, my guess is the technology is the same in both tests and the company can use interchangeable parts and have the same patent cover both products.
Last question: How does the digital reader know what the result is? Here's the patent again: "... a standard curve can be generated by running strips with samples with known concentrations of E-3-G BI [the antibody "cocktail" with the dye/antibodies that detect the hCG and LH]. The colour at the immobile zone can be read, for example using a Minolta chromameter, and the concentration of E-3-G calculated by extrapolating from the reflectance value." In other words, your pee reacts with the reagents, makes a line (or doesn't), and the digital holder reads the specific intensity/color of the line, NOT SIMPLY determining whether a second line exists. (A "chromameter" just measures the shades of various colors-- so when teeth-whitening products say they'll lighten your teeth "at least two shades," they're basing those measurements of shades on a chromameter's reading.)


To recap: most women will normally see 2 lines on the Clearblue Digital test, pregnant or not, simply because of the normal, average, boring presence of LH. Our naked eyes cannot determine the "shade" or "intensity" of the second line, meaning our naked eyes can't make heads or tails out of the result. When the display says "Not Pregnant," believe it, until proven otherwise. (Note: Clearblue publishes the sensitivity of the digital test at 50 mIU/mL, but when questioned on their 800 line, they say 25. e.p.t. Certainty publishes their sensitivity as 50 mIU/mL as well. See the HPT FAQ for more info on why different tests work at different times-- and also why it is possible to receive a negative result and still be pregnant.)​

xxx