Pregnancy symptoms begin to appear in women after the sixth week, according to books about babies. So, upon missing a period, you may expect two weeks of feeling quite normal, followed by pregnancy cravings, nausea, and aching boobs.
It’s not that easy in reality. Many women “know” they’re pregnant before they get a positive pregnancy test result. They are aware of early symptoms or have a gut sense. It’s aggravating, but it’s fairly common to be pregnant despite a negative pregnancy test. Read on to find out what may be happening.
Can you be pregnant and still get a negative test?
Although false-positive pregnancy tests are pretty uncommon, false-negative pregnancy tests do occur frequently, particularly in the initial few weeks. This happens even when you’re already experiencing early symptoms. There are a variety of reasons why you may feel pregnant despite a negative pregnancy test.
The majority of false negatives are caused by women testing too early. HPTs look for the hormone hCG, which is produced by your body when a fertilized egg implants in your uterine wall and the placenta begins forming.
In early pregnancy, HCG levels climb exponentially (the level in your urine doubles every 2-3 days) but this means that the levels at the start are often too minimal for the test to detect.
One reason why a test can turn out negative is if you had an irregular cycle and ovulation didn’t happen when you expected it to. Less than 13% of women have a 28-cycle. Implantation, which is responsible for hCG production, can occur anytime from 6 to 12 days after ovulation happens. Some factors that can disrupt your cycle include weaning off birth control, stress, travel, and illness.
Here are some guidelines you should follow even if you’re sure about your dates:
- Take the test first thing in the morning since it is during this time that your urine has the highest hCG levels.
- Wait as long as you can before taking the test. This means don’t rush to take the test- wait for your menstruation to be genuinely late.
- Read instructions on the test. The line takes time to appear, but don’t wait too long in case an “evaporation line” appears, which may look like a positive result.
- Make sure to use the pregnancy test before it expires, and at room temperature.
You’ll have the best chance of avoiding a false negative pregnancy test if you follow all of these measures.
Negative pregnancy test and loss of pregnancy
Early pregnancy loss and symptomless miscarriage are unfortunately fairly prevalent. According to figures based on blood tests conducted shortly after implantation, up to 30% of pregnancies result in miscarriage. About a week before a typical HPT would provide precise results.
If you’re attempting to conceive and taking HPTs around the time your period is due, a negative result doesn’t always mean you’ll lose the pregnancy. A positive result backed by an increasingly weak line if you tested again in the days that followed would be the only unambiguous indicator of miscarriage, that would still need to be verified by a doctor. This would signal that your hCG levels were dropping rather than rising in your body.
Can you get a negative pregnancy test at 5 weeks?
A five-week pregnancy is three weeks after ovulation and five weeks after the first day of your last period, which makes you a week late. Your hormone levels will be rising, but they might be too low to register on an HPT.
Is it possible to be two months pregnant and still get a negative pregnancy test?
A negative pregnancy test after two months almost generally suggests that your period is late for another cause. Despite the fact that hCG levels rise to a high and then decline, they normally continue to rise until the end of the first trimester.
If you’re six weeks late, you’re testing negative, and you were also testing negative earlier in your cycle, it’s certainly time to see your doctor. This is particularly if you’re experiencing any strange symptoms.