Foretel Ultra Warning I second Sammi-j!

I am a newbie here and have suffered a rather disappointing blow. I've registered to second Sammi-J's warning about Foretel Ultra (the 'sensitive' 10 mlu/ml ones). I took four of the Foretel Ultra tests (I live in remote WA and that was the only brand Woolies had in stock) over the last 5 days (from 13DPO until 18DPO -> it was an estimated DPO as we weren't actually consciously TTC so judging by my cycle the last four months, my AF was due on Sunday April 29th) and i had 3 BFP and 1 BFN. I was really excited as my fiance and I were actually TTC for 6 months last year and had no luck. We'd stopped TTC and thought we'd just see what happened without the whole basal temperature charting, stress and pressure thing. I excitedly made a doctors appointment and braved a blood test, only to receive a phone call from the doctor this afternoon to tell me that it was negative :( . The blood test I tood was a Quantitative (beta) blood test, so there's not really any chance that it was wrong. I'm really bitterly disappointed, I wrote an email to the managing diretor of the company that makes them and am awaiting a reply. I just didn't want this to happen to any of you, so I thought I'd start another thread seconding Sammi-J's comments. Has anybody else suffered the same thing? The lines that came up for me were faint, but they clearly showed up within a couple of minutes so I don't think they could have been evap lines.

I wish all of you the very best in conceiving your dreams xxxxxxxxx

Hi Spuddles,
Yep, I had 2 BFP's with these test's last month at about 12 and then 14 DPO, but I was not pregnant. Same thing, the lines were faint, but came up right away and were definetly there. I will never ever buy them again.

I am sorry to hear about your disappointing experience. Is a 'Quantitative (beta) blood test' the one that counts the exact amount of hcg 0+ or the one that gives a false / positive result above 10 hcg?

I used Fortel Ultra and got a faint positive line. (about 10 days after ovulation ... approx.)

I also used several other brands including the one in the doctors clinic - they all came up negative.

I was very confused and presumed that the fortel ultra had given me a false positive BUT I was actually pregnant and got a positive test a day or so after my period was due on a standard pregnancy test (25mg hcg)

The quantitative blood test measures the exact amount of hCG in your blood. Generally speaking if you have less than 5 mIU/ml present then it's a negative, if you have between 5 and 25 mIU/ml present it's equivocal (can be either positive or negative) and if's it above 25 mIU/ml then it's a BFP. If you go through the discussion boards then foretel ultra can test positive if you are pregnant too, but they seem to have the highest track record of false positives than other brands going by the posts on various forums.

People say 'there's no such thing as a false poitive' and I thought so too, but they were definitely not evap lines as they came up straight away. Perhaps with Foretel, only trust dark positive!!

Congratulations seventh_heaven!! I wish you all the best with your pregnancy. It'll happen for me when it's meant to, I'm sure :)

I share your pain Bailey - I will never puchase Foretel Ultra again either. I believe that lullaby conceptions is the way to go, so once we suspect again I'll just buy them online. Best place for everything when you are livig in the middle of the desert!

Good luck to you all TTC! xxxx

Just FYI guys ->

I got a message back from the managing director of the company that manufactures Foretel Ultra, Marco Soldatic. He is very nice and responds to his emails almost immediately which is a nice surprise. He said that "Unfortunately levels can rise and fall; and obviously this is more so during the early stages." Which is spot on. Perhaps the test is so sensitive it picks up the tiniest of traces of hCG which can be a little misleading where the pathologist is really looking for results that are over 25 mIU/ml.

Good luck to you all. If you'd like further information about Foretel Ultra, I suggest emailing Marco Soldatic directly. He'll no doubt be happy to discuss any problems you guys have had with the tests. At the very least, it'll give him an idea of the problems we are all facing with the Foretel Ultra tests and perhaps it will instigate an investigation which will see the problem resolved. His emailaddress is available from the Foretel website which is on the information leaflet from the Foretel Ultra pregnancy test box.

Perhaps the ultimate message here is to try and be patient and test a week after your missed period with a less sensitive test if you've experienced what I have.

Good luck! I hope this has been helpful for you.

Have you had your AF yet? If not you may still be pg but your HCG levels have just not risen yet.... it's happened before. The other thing is is could have been a chemical pregnancy... not sure of the details on that but I think they end quite early and the HCG levels don't rise... just a thought.

Spuddles I'm sorry you have had a hard time with questionable test results.

I don't think that it was my comments that you were seconding because in this recent thread HERE I posted this:

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I had no problems with the Fortel Ultra.

Had a weak +ve at 12 dpo and every day after that it got stronger till I went to the Drs and had my PG confirmed.

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It's good to hear that you had such a quick reply to your question from the managing director.
All the best for your TTC journey and I hope it is not too long before you have an accurate positive test :)