Pregnancy Symptoms But Negative Pregnancy Test: Am I Pregnant?

Last updated on July 27th, 2018 at 05:02 pm

Question: Why do I have pregnancy symptoms but negative pregnancy test?

Because we are all human, it’s natural to become very watchful for pregnancy signs when we are trying to get pregnant.

Any body changes or unusual feeling may easily be interpreted as a pregnancy sign.

While it’s possible you could be pregnant without knowing, most women always get this strange feeling in the very early days of pregnancy.

Symptoms will vary from woman to woman, though a lot of women will experience body weakness, light abdominal pain with nausea and vomiting that may get worse after waking up.

Other symptoms you may experience if pregnant are increased awareness of your breast as it gets heavier and painful, belly cramps, food aversion, increased urge to pee and excessive white watery discharge.

If you are having these symptoms but still test negative to pregnancy, it can be frustrating; Especially when you’ve done everything right to get pregnant.

By now, you’ve learned your menstrual cycle and know when you are most fertile. You’ve also had intercourse during your most fertile period. After trying, you still test negative.

The truth is that most women that test negative to a pregnancy test are not pregnant.

If your period is approaching, you can expect to have signs that may mimic pregnancy.

Breast tenderness and pain, abdominal cramps, change in mood, low concentration than usual, acne on the face, abdominal bloating, sleepless nights with feeling fatigued are signs that tell a woman her period is close by.

A majority of women will have any of these symptoms a few days before menstrual period, and this is so because of the effect of female period hormones – estrogen and progesterone.

On the other hand, if you are expecting, it’s possible you are pregnant; So don’t lose hope.

Taking a pregnancy test earlier than recommended, or using a cheap and less sensitive pregnancy urine test may cause you to test negative.

This article explains possible reasons you have pregnancy symptoms but negative pregnancy test.

What causes pregnancy symptoms but negative pregnancy test?

If your test came out negative but feel pregnant, these are the possible reasons

1.  You are pregnant

Without a doubt, if you are experiencing pregnancy symptoms, there is a chance you are pregnant.

During early days of conception, after the sperm fertilizes the egg in the oviduct, it takes about 6 – 12 days for implantation to occur.

Implantation means your baby (the embryo) burrows into the endometrium and starts growing.

When this happens, your body without delay starts producing a hormone that tells if you are pregnant or not.

Human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) is produced by the placenta cells as soon as your baby is attached to the endometrium.

This hormone will be detected on urine strips if you are pregnant. On the contrary, if this hormone is not detected in your urine or blood, your test result will appear negative.

Generally, in pregnant women, HCG will continue to rise during pregnancy in the first trimester. In fact, there is an estimated range of HCG for each week of gestation.

If your HCG levels are rising as it should, it can quickly get to the level when it can be picked up by your test strip.

This implies that if you’ve tested few days after implantation or many days before your next period, you will likely get a negative result.

Another reason you could test negative is not taking into consideration instruction in your test strips.

Commonly, you are advised to take a pregnancy test with your first-morning urine.

Urinate into a container, get your strip and dip the arrow-end into the urine specimen. After 5 – 10 seconds, you can now remove your strip and observe for a while.

Usually, most test strips will show result within 5 minutes. A single line means you are not pregnant while double line on strip means you are pregnant

If you wrongly dip your test strip or read pregnancy strip result longer than suggested, your result may be inaccurate.

2.  You are not pregnant and your period is coming

After ovulation, if there is no waiting viable sperm in your fallopian tube, your body begins to prepare for your next period.

Your body hormones – progesterone, causes increased proliferating of the endometrial cell that covers the inner wall of the uterus.

About a week to your next period, estrogen and progesterone level will begin to drop after corpus luteum gets absorbed. This may cause women to start having period symptoms.

At this point, you will notice abdominal pain, headaches, sleepless nights, body weakness, hot flashes, decreased concentration, change in your mood and feeling weak.

These are all signs your period is coming and may mimic pregnancy symptoms.

One other way to tell if you are pregnant or your period coming is your vaginal discharge.

Vaginal discharge volume and thickness will vary from time to time during your menstrual cycle.

Normally, in the first days of your menstrual cycle, after you’ve completed your period, vaginal discharge is usually thick, creamy and white. This type of discharge will also be seen few days before your next period.

If you now feel dry down there or with a sticky, creamy discharge, it’s because your period is coming.

On the other hand, an excessive watery clear discharge may indicate you are pregnant

If you have pregnancy symptoms but test negative with increased vaginal discharge few days to your period, it’s a sign you could be pregnant.

What to do if you think you are pregnant but test is negative?

If you expecting to conceive and now test negative but feel obviously pregnant, it’s important you follow these steps

1.  Did you take a pregnancy test 3 – 6 days before you’re expecting next period?

Testing early before period is not 100 percent accurate and you may get negative results. You can sit out for a few days and try testing a day after next period date or a week after.

If you get no period, it’s is more reason why you are pregnant. Immediately after missing your period, you can test again for pregnancy.

Most pregnancy kit at this stage is reliable and can tell if you are pregnant.

2.  Are you dipping test strips in urine for without following instructions?

Most pregnancy test kits require that you lower and hold strip for about 5 – 10 seconds.

If you just lowered and removed your strips without following instructions, you will get an inaccurate result.

3.  Are you reading your test strips too early?

If you are reading the result within a minute or two and discarding your strip, you may get a negative test result.

Most test strips require that you wait for 3 – 5 minutes to read results

4.  Are you reading your test result too late?

Just like reading to early is inaccurate, reading very late, may also give a wrong result.

5.  Are you testing in the morning?

The best time you should try taking a pregnancy test is the morning after waking up. At this time, HCG level is concentrated in your urine and can easily be detected.

I have pregnancy symptoms but negative test and bleeding

If you have pregnancy symptoms but testing negative with vaginal spotting before your expected period, it could mean you are pregnant.

Important questions: How long did the bleeding last? Is it light or heavy? Is it continuous or intermittent?

After implantation, women may experience slight brown stain or spotting few days before period. This is called implantation bleeding, and in a third of women may be the earliest pregnancy sign.

However, if you missed your period, bleeding may indicate the start of your period or you have an early miscarriage. Ectopic pregnancy may sometimes cause women to bleed too.

Menstrual period blood is a continuous flow of bright red blood that will require the use of pad.

If bleeding is light, on and off, with mild cramps few days before period, it could be pregnancy.

You should wait a few days after missed period and try testing again.

I have pregnancy symptoms but negative test and no period?

If you have pregnancy symptoms but test negative and yet no period, it’s very likely you are already pregnant.

This truth is that not all women will have HCG hormone rise at the same rate. If HCG levels are not rising fast, it may not be detected until a later date.

At this point, talking to your doctor and using a blood test may be necessary. A blood test is more accurate.

This guide explains reasons you’ve missed your period and test negative; If you are having abdominal pain, you can read this guide.

Still worried why you test negative and feel pregnant? Ask Us!!!