You have skipped your period. You are feeling kind of weird. You think you are feeling nauseated and you think your breast may be a little tender.
You are worried you could be pregnant. So now what do you do?
Obviously the next step is to take a pregnancy test. So you buy yourself a pregnancy test…. follow the directions…and pee on the stick. You just know you are 100% pregnant….but the test comes back negative. Now what? Are you really pregnant…or not? Should you go to the doctor for a pregnancy blood test?
Our office A Personal Choice, is dedicated to helping women become pregnant through tubal ligation reversal surgery. Most of our patients desperately want another child. They are actively trying to become pregnant after reversal surgery. Our patients often perform many…and we mean many… pregnancy tests. Many of them will swear they are pregnant and will contact us telling us their pregnancy test is negative but they are wondering if they actually could be pregnant with a negative test result.
This article is written with our patients in mind and we will attempt to answer this very important question.
If you are just randomly surfing the web trying to determine if you can be pregnant with a negative pregnancy test, then just keep reading and your question will be answered.
Can You Be Pregnant With A Negative Pregnancy Test?
If you think you are pregnant but your pregnancy test is negative you probably are not pregnant…but there is always a chance!
There are several reasons why you could have tested and gotten a negative test result:
You tested too early
You misinterpreted the result
You bought a crappy test
The two most common reasons for a negative pregnancy test are: 1) you are actually pregnant but tested too early (and your hormone level is too low to be detected) or 2) you are actually not pregnant despite what your symptoms may be suggesting.
What Is The Best Pregnancy Test?
The best pregnancy test may surprise you because the best pregnancy test is not a blood test.
Yes…you read this correctly: THE BEST PREGNANCY TEST IS NOT A BLOOD TEST!
It is true a blood pregnancy test can be very accurate, but a blood test can commonly give falsely positive results and mislead you into thinking you are pregnant. Why?
All pregnancy tests will detect pregnancy hormone Human Chorionic Gonadotropin or HCG. This hormone is produced by the pregnancy, circulates in the blood, is removed from the blood by the kidneys, and is excreted into a woman’s urine.
Some people have other proteins in their blood which can be very similar to HCG. This condition is called phantom HCG.
Occasionally when blood pregnancy tests are done on these patients the test may pick up these phantom HCG blood hormones and give a falsely positive test result. Since the kidneys filter the blood and excrete pure HCG into the urine a good quality urine test will give you a better test result than the blood test.
If you did not follow the above explanation…then understand this: your kidneys filter the blood and excrete concentrated chemicals/hormones into the urine. The urine is better for testing if you are trying to pick up on certain hormones. The kidneys help provide a more pure and concentrated specimen for testing. The urine should be considered a purer, more concentrated substance to test. Blood has all kinds of different things in it…so always test your urine first.
A good quality urine test is the best test to give you a ‘yes or no’ answer to let you know if you are pregnant.
If you really want to understand the pregnancy test in greater detail then read this article: Pregnancy testing for tubal reversal patients: What does it really mean?
If you dont like to read and understand things in greater detail then don’t go to the above link and just keep reading this article.
False Pregnancy Test: Can A Pregnancy Test Be Wrong?
No test is perfect and a pregnancy test can always be wrong.
There are many different kinds of urine pregnancy tests on the market. Some can detect very low levels of HCG (early HCG tests) and others can not. Some may be cheap and poorly made and others may be more reliable.
Any urine pregnancy test that can detect HCG in the urine when the HCG blood level is in the 20-50 mIU/ml range is considered a good quality pregnancy test.
These are the levels of your pregnancy hormone about a week before you miss your period.
The early detection urine test sold in most drug stores can usually detect these low levels of pregnancy hormone.
A good early detection test can usually detect that you are pregnant about ONE WEEK BEFORE you miss your period….but don’t always count on it. It is always better to wait until you miss your period, use a morning urine sample, and follow the instructions in the pregnancy test package.
Am I Pregnant With A Negative Pregnancy Test?
If you think you are pregnant and your urine test is negative then these are the steps you should take:
Step 1. Make sure you are using a good quality urine pregnancy test
Step 2. Repeat the test just to make sure you did not read the result incorrectly
Step 3. Wait a week and repeat the test again to confirm the result
If you do all of the above and your test does not turn positive then very likely you are not pregnant.
Missed A Period With A Negative Test After Tubal Reversal
If you missed your period and your pregnancy test is negative then you should follow the three steps provided in the section above.
If your test is persistently negative, your period is late, and you are having ‘weird’ symptoms then the reason for all of this is you likely did not ovulate (release an egg) the month before and this is the reason for your symptoms and a negative test result.
If you would like to learn more about not ovulating and skipping periods then read this very informative article: Missed Period And Negative Pregnancy Test: What The Heck Is Going On?
Why are you have symptoms if your pregnancy test is negative? The mind is a very powerful thing!
The joy of expecting a pregnancy or the fear of being pregnant can contribute to the perception and anticipation of symptoms.
If you are skipping periods on more than one occasion then you should make an appointment with your doctor and ask for an evaluation for irregular periods. Often they will do a blood test to check your hormone levels. Your doctor should perform a good quality pregnancy test and also check your thyroid and prolactin hormone levels. They should be able to provide advice and treatment to help make your periods more regular and prevent this from happening again.
Pregnancy Test Advice If You Missed A Period
If you are reading this article and want to know if you are pregnant with a negative pregnancy test or why you are skipping periods then we encourage you to follow the advice in this article.
If your pregnancy test continue to be negative then you should follow-up with your doctor for testing and evaluation for missing periods.
If you followed our advice and repeated your pregnancy test with a good quality test after one week then you can be very confident you are not pregnant.
If your repeat test is positive…then you are pregnant! If you want to be pregnant…then congratulations! If you don’t want to be pregnant…then we are sorry but it will be okay…just hang in there!
