Pregnant With A Negative Test? Decoding Early Signs And Symptoms

Can you still be pregnant if your pregnancy test says negative?

July 7, 2020

Is your body showing you early signs of pregnancy but your pregnancy test is coming up negative? Things get really confusing when you think you are pregnant and your period is late and you still have a negative pregnancy.

Maybe you want to be pregnant or maybe not, either way, it can be a stressful situation. Modern Home Pregnancy tests are quite reliable, these tests use the human urine sample to detect the HCG hormone to confirm your pregnancy.

Most of the time, a negative pregnancy test means you are not pregnant. But there are some situations in which a pregnant woman can get a false negative pregnancy test. The best thing is that you can confirm your pregnancy or get your period within the next few days. If you have a negative pregnancy test but you think you are pregnant then you should wait for at least one week before testing again.

But what about the days when you are waiting for the news to be confirmed? It is an emotional challenge to deal with this condition.

If you haven’t gotten your period for more than a week and still have a negative pregnancy test, there might be some reasons behind it.

Reasons for a missed period but a negative pregnancy test

• Not enough HCG in your body

The Human Chorionic Gonadotropin or HCG is the pregnancy hormone that starts stimulating in your body right after you conceive. HCG hormone level increases throughout your pregnancy, and you can get a positive result after a few weeks of conceiving. Pregnancy tests are more reliable and accurate when you wait at least a week or two after you missed a period, before testing.

If you don’t have a positive pregnancy result, you might be pregnant but you are taking the pregnancy test very early. It means your pregnancy hormones (HCG) are still not enough to show up in the test result. Another reason for the negative pregnancy result is the low amount of HCG in the urine. This happens when you drank a lot of water before taking the test. [1]

• The higher level of HCG

There is another rare case in which you may get a false-negative test result because of the higher HCG hormonal level. If you are pregnant with twins or triplets, your HCG level gradually increases, and it may show a false-negative test result. [1]

• Problem with HCG hormone

In some situations, the HCG hormone doesn’t react with the anti-HCG chemicals in the pregnancy test. If this is the case, you may need to wait a few more days to get a positive result or can take a blood pregnancy test. [1] • Ectopic Pregnancy; If a woman is dealing with an ectopic pregnancy, she may also get a negative pregnancy test, but as your egg is fertilized you will miss your period. An ectopic pregnancy is the one in which the embryo implants outside the uterus and can affect the production of HCG. This results in the negative pregnancy test result even if you are pregnant. [1]

• Stress

If the pregnancy test is negative and you haven’t got your period yet, there might be a chance that you are dealing with stress or anxiety. Stress is considered as one of the most common reasons to change your menstrual cycle. It can mess up the hormonal stimulation in your body which sometimes results in a missed period. If you are dealing with emotional stress in your life or experiencing despair, your period may be delayed, and you can even miss your period. [3]

• Poor diet

Changing diet patterns can also affect your menstrual cycle. If you are not taking good care of your diet, your period and ovulation date may changes. Not only restricting food can bring changes to your cycle, but overeating can also cause an irregular or missed period and infertility. Your missed period and a negative pregnancy test can be the result of your poor diet. If you want to get pregnant, you must gain a healthy weight and adopt a healthy lifestyle before you start trying for a baby. [3]

• Late Period

In some cases, women are not pregnant and their period is late because of some other reason. The late period is commonly observed in women of all ages, especially women who are aged more than 35 years.

The most common reason is the late ovulation because of stress, anxiety, depression, or poor diet. Your late period may be a sign of menopause if you reach a certain age, it is normal to have occasionally off-cycle once or twice a year. [1]

• Test Errors

Test error means the fault in the apparatus, which is being used for testing pregnancy. There may be a technical error in the test kit or strip you are using. It is also possible that your strip is expired. It is also observed that if your period is months late and you take a home pregnancy test, it may show a negative result.

The HCG molecular structure is quite complex and it changes over the period. Home pregnancy tests are designed for early pregnancy tests and they may not show later HCG molecules. To avoid this confusion, you can take a blood pregnancy test that is more reliable and accurate. [1]

• Personal Error

You might get a false negative pregnancy test if you are not conducting the test properly. It is possible that you are not doing it right. Sometimes, you are not using enough urine on the test stick or not waiting long enough to see the results. [2]

• Testing late in the day

Pregnancy test results also depend on the time of the day you are taking it. In some cases, women may drink a lot of water at the start of the day and take the pregnancy test in the afternoon or evening. It can cause a false-negative test result because the urine is diluted, and it is difficult for the test strip to determine the presence of HCG. To avoid any confusion, it is better to take the home pregnancy test early in the morning. [2]

If you still have any doubts about your pregnancy test results, then you can contact your health care provider for a proper check-up and ultrasound to confirm your pregnancy.