The Pregnancy Test Cant Detect Pregnancy Hormones Because The Levels Are Too Low
It takes at least ten days after conception for your body to produce enough of the human chorionic gonadotropin pregnancy hormone for a home pregnancy test to detect .
There are several reasons hCG levels can be too low to register a positive result, and they include:
- You tested too early
Even if youve already missed your period, you can get a false-negative result. Its not common, but it could happen if ovulation occurred later in your cycle than usual.
For example, you usually ovulate on day fourteen of your cycle. But this month, you were under a lot of stress and ovulated on day twenty instead. So, if you became pregnant, it would have happened about six days later in your cycle than usual, which means you wont get a positive pregnancy test until six days later.
If you get a negative result and suspect youre pregnant, try testing again in a few days if you still dont get your period.
- Your urine was diluted
You can also get a false-negative result if your urine is too diluted when you take your pregnancy test. For this reason, its best to use first-morning urine or test after you havent had any fluids to drink for about six hours.
A rare phenomenon called the hook effect can also lead to a false-negative pregnancy test result . A hook effect occurs when hCG levels are so high that the pregnancy test cant read it.
Situations that could cause a false-negative pregnancy test due to a hook effect include:
Youre Having An Ectopic Pregnancy
An ectopic pregnancy happens when a fertilized egg impacts in a womans body outside of her uterus.
A baby cannot grow outside the uterus so an ectopic pregnancy will not develop into a healthy fetus.
During an ectopic pregnancy, the body produces lower levels of hCG than in a healthy uterine pregnancy.
You wont have your usual period, but these low levels of pregnancy hormones mean that a home pregnancy test is less likely to detect them.
Read our blog post which answers 7 common questions about ectopic pregnancies to understand more about ectopic pregnancy, how to find out if youre having one, and how it will be treated when you go to the doctor.
Can A Negative Pregnancy Test Be Inaccurate
A repeated negative pregnancy test even with a missed period typically means that you are not pregnant. A negative pregnancy test a week or more after your missed period indicates that your chance of being pregnant is less than 1-2%. A positive pregnancy test usually means that you are pregnant. However, sometimes it is possible to be pregnant even though you had a negative pregnancy test.
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Reasons For A Missed Period And Negative Pregnancy Test Result
Susana has worked extensively with pregnant women and families. She runs a pregnancy website and a pregnancy support group on Facebook.
Reasons for a negative pregnancy test result
Do you feel sure that you’re pregnant but ended up with one or more negative pregnancy test results and still no period? You’re not alonegetting a negative test with a missed period is more common than you might think.
Many women become concerned about the reasons for a negative test when they feel sure they are pregnant.
For instance, that a medication they’re taking could affect the pregnancy test resultwhich is extremely rare but not impossible. .
Often the answer as to why a pregnancy test is negative is more obvious.
While home pregnancy tests have improved over the years and are an extremely accurate predictor of pregnancy, there have still been many instances of a test giving a false negative result.
How Soon After A Missed Period Can I Take A Home Pregnancy Test And Get Accurate Results
Many home pregnancy tests claim to be 99% accurate on the day you miss your period. But research suggests that most HPTs do not consistently spot pregnancy that early. And when they do, the results are often so faint they are misunderstood. If you can wait one week after your missed period, most home pregnancy tests will give you an accurate answer. Ask your doctor for a more sensitive test if you need to know earlier.
When a home pregnancy test will give an accurate resultdepends on many things. These include:
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Why Is My Period 10 Days Late But Pregnancy Test Negative
Can pregnancy test be negative 10 days after missed period?
If you think you may be pregnant after a missed period but got a negative result on your pregnancy test, wait a few days. Then retest. If you continue to miss your period, be sure to talk to your doctor to rule out any complications.
Why is my period 10 days late when I’m not pregnant?
Missed or late periods happen for many reasons other than pregnancy. Common causes can range from hormonal imbalances to serious medical conditions. There are also two times in a woman’s life when it’s totally normal for her period to be irregular: when it first begins, and when menopause starts.
Can you get a false negative at 10 days late?
The earliest time to test for an accurate result is 7-10 days after a missed period. The best time of day to take a pregnancy test is first thing in the morning when a woman’s urine is highly concentrated. Because urine may be less concentrated later in the day, the test may not be able to detect the hCG hormone.
You Are Still Testing Too Soon
In order for a home pregnancy test to detect the life growing inside you, a number of days must have passed since ovulation. Technically, your pregnancy starts at that point, not when you conceive. Sometimes, we ovulate later than usual, due to overtraining in your fitness program or increased stress. So if this is the case, your period isnt even late yet .
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How Home Pregnancy Tests Work
At-home pregnancy tests work by testing a small sample of urine for hCGhuman chorionic gonadotrophin. hCG is the pregnancy hormone that is produced by the developing embryo and, later, by part of the placenta.
Measuring the hCG via home pregnancy tests is qualitative, which explains why the results are a plain yes/no or negative/positive.
Early Result Pregnancy Tests
Some pregnancy test kits boast early results that promise an answer three or four days before your missed period. These tests assume a 14-day luteal phase, which is the time between ovulation and when you get your period. The problem is that you may have a shorter or longer luteal phase.
If your luteal phase is usually 12 days, four days before your missed period would be nine days after ovulation. Thats way too early to test. For you, taking the test four days before your missed period would be pointless.
If you have a luteal phase of 15 days, four days before your missed period is 12 days after ovulation. You still may not have enough hormones that early. However, you have a better chance than someone with a shorter luteal phase.
If youre having fertility treatments and you have had an hCG trigger shot, then you should not take an early pregnancy test. An early test may detect the remains of fertility medication.
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You Stressed Yourself Out
If you had strenuous academic, emotional or physical stress for a long time, your body reacts by sending signals to your brain, where ovulation and period are controlled.
Stress may not always mean getting physically work-out. If you are worried either psychologically or emotionally, your hormones may be secreted in an abnormal way
The body hypothalamus may not work properly by either blocking or reducing hormone release.
8 signs you could be stressed without knowing are
- Memory problems
- Lack of sexual desires
What steps may help out?
Ways you can get your period back is by talking to a therapist, taking some time off to relax, or talking to friends and family about issues bothering you.
When Should I See A Doctor
If two weeks have passed since your estimated period date and you still havent gotten a positive pregnancy test, you should seek help. Minor issues like stress or diet changes which affect your cycle could be masking a bigger problem, or lead to one later on and honestly, it just sucks not knowing for sure.
Youll also need to seek care from an OB provider as soon as possible if youre expecting, so the sooner you find out yes, youre having a baby, the better.
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Medications Or Drugs And Smoking
Any medicines or drugs that are not prescribed by a doctor can also cause late period negative pregnancy test. Smoking is a cause of infertility in women. Taking drugs and other illegal stimulants is a reason for late period negative pregnancy test.
Drugs make conceiving hard. Even if you get pregnant, the drugs can damage your pregnancy.
Am I Having A False Pregnancy
According to infertility specialist Dr. Mark Trolice, “Pseudocyesis is a rare disorder in which the woman who is non-psychotic believes she is pregnant and experiences signs/symptoms despite a negative pregnancy test.” This occurs when an intense desire for pregnancy tricks the body into thinking it is carrying a baby when it is not. The body will respond to this psychological desire by producing all of the typical pregnancy symptoms, such as a missed period, weight gain, nausea, tender breasts, sore nipples, or even fetal movement. Some women may only experience one of these symptoms at first and may have such a strong assumption she is pregnant that her mind tricks her endocrine system into producing more pregnancy-like symptoms. Your urine test should be negative if it is a false pregnancy, however, an ultrasound is the only guaranteed confirmation.
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You Are Not Pregnant And Your Period Is Late For Other Reasons
There are several other medical conditions that can result in a negative pregnancy test and no period, which is why it’s always wise to see your doctor if this occurs.
Some conditions that may cause your periods to stop unexpectedly are ovarian cysts, hyperthyroidism, polycystic ovarian disease, high follicle stimulating hormone , menopause, anorexia, secondary amenorrhea, obesity and adrenal cancer.
Changes in your diet can also result in changes to your menstrual cycle. The ketogenic diet or any diet that puts your body into a ketogenic state on a long term basis can affect your cycle.
One study in teenagers who ate a ketogenic diet to control a particular type of epilepsy found that 45% of subjects reported menstrual changes as a side effect.
Doing Too Much Exercise
The stress that intense physical activity places on your body can affect the hormones responsible for your periods. Losing too much body fat through intense exercise can also stop you ovulating.
You’ll be advised to reduce your level of activity if excessive exercise has caused your periods to stop.
If you’re a professional athlete, you may benefit from seeing a doctor who specialises in sports medicine. They’ll be able to give you advice about how to maintain your performance without disrupting your periods.
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Wait Until At Least 24 Hours After Your Period Should Have Started
While some tests that claim to work days before your period is even due, a test cant force your body into making hCG, and it doesnt know when you ovulated.
If you decide to try those early detection tests, be prepared for a potential false negative. If you get one, relax until at least a day after your period shouldve started. I know waiting is the hardest part, but it will save you time, money, and your sanity.
Mishandling Of Pregnancy Test
If you do not know how to take a pregnancy test you will certainly get a late period negative pregnancy test. In this case, it may be that you are pregnant and you have a late period false negative pregnancy test.
Mishandling of pregnancy tests includes reading results after allotted time. Read pregnancy test instructions thoroughly before conducting the test.
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You Didnt Follow Instructions Correctly
Read the instructions on your home pregnancy tests package carefully so that you can administer the test properlythe test is only as good as your ability to follow the instructions! Since the tests are qualitative, this makes them sensitive to the process of testing.
Most home pregnancy tests ask you to hold a test strip in urine, and pee on it while on the toilet. Some make you dip the test strip in a clean cup where you have collected the urine .
These are the main reasons for a missed period and negative pregnancy test but there are others. Periods can be late for a number of reasons.
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How Do Pregnancy Tests Work
What pregnancy tests do is measure the concentration of the HCG hormone in our body. This hormone, naturally, is only produced when we are pregnant, so if there is a hormone, there is a pregnancy in principle. It can be an ectopic that would not thrive, a hollow egg that would not continue, or a regular and current pregnancy.
This hormone is secreted during pregnancy, although its levels are not stable. So we start by segregating a little bit, and things are increasing dramatically up to three months. After that, there is a slump in the second trimester, and it goes back up a bit at the end. I already copied the table of the quantities that we segregate on another occasion, but I copy it again.
What tests do is detect the presence of this hormone in the body. So the hormone is detected earlier in the blood. And it takes a little longer to be excreted in the urine. So, hence, we always have to wait longer for a urine test than for a blood test, because especially in the initial stages, it is likely that we are pregnant and not yet have reached the urine.
The hormone values should grow exponentially during the first weeks. After that, it is probably a hollow egg, and the doctors will keep it under control. But it will not be your safety case. There is nothing worse than obsessing.
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Missed Period And Negative Pregnancy Test
It is possible to get a negative result on a pregnancy test even if you are pregnant. The following reasons may be why the test is negative.
- If youve tested too early and your levels of pregnancy hormones may be too low. If the levels of human chorionic gonadotropin in your urine are not high enough then the test might not pick it up and return a positive result. If you are experiencing early pregnancy signs like nausea, tiredness or tender breasts wait a few days and try again.
- If you dont follow the test instructions properly. Take care to read and follow the instructions that come with your test.
- If the test is very old and has expired.
- If the test has not been stored properly.
- In the rare instance that you have an ectopic pregnancy that does not produce a positive result on a pregnancy test. An ectopic pregnancy occurs when a fertilized egg implants and grows outside of the uterus and it can be life-threatening. See your healthcare provider if you have symptoms like pain in your lower abdomen, dizziness, bleeding, spotting, and nausea and vomiting.
If your period is very late or youve missed it altogether and you still have a negative result, then its unlikely that you would be pregnant.