Tell me to calm down - worried about ectopic pregnancy

JoAnna914

My understanding about HPTs has been that a line is a line, and that the faintness should not matter.  But now I am really concerned after reading one thread yesterday about how the line should get darker, and then reading about women who did not get a BFP until later in their cycle who ended up with ectopic pregnancies.  I tested with a Wondfo test strip at DPO 12 and got a BFN, but then got a very faint BFP on DPO 14.  I am now at DPO 17, and tested again this morning and got the same faint line (not a squinter, but not prominent at all).  The line is not getting darker.  I haven't had my blood test yet (I'm getting that Monday morning), so I have no idea about my betas.  

I am concerned - should I be? 

mabst196

No.

JoAnna914

mabst196:

No.

 

Thanks, oh woman of few words, lol.  I need to stop reading the internet and step away from the HPTs.  

kelly321

A line is a line. If it makes you feel better, get a digital. There's no darker or lighter to the word "pregnant." :-) Plus if you get a digital with the weekly thing (that tells you how many weeks since conception) you can sort of self-monitor your hcg levels.

JoAnna914

kelly321:

A line is a line. If it makes you feel better, get a digital. There's no darker or lighter to the word "pregnant." :-) Plus if you get a digital with the weekly thing (that tells you how many weeks since conception) you can sort of self-monitor your hcg levels.

Oooohhhh, I didn't even know those existed!  Is there a particular brand that makes them or that you would recommend? 

msabol2077

No. i had faint lines with this preg and last.

SockMonkeySam

A Pregnancy test will not tell you how pregnant you are. Some tests have some dye, some tests have a lot of dye. Just how they are made. And a line on a test will not determine if it's a ectopic pregnancy.

If you are stressing so much go to your doctor and ask to have your HCG tested 2-3 times. To make sure that your levels are raising.

octbride2006

I just read about the test with the indicator, this is amazing.  Here is the link:

https://www.clearblue.com/uk/new-clearblue-digital-pregnancy-test-with-conception-indicator.php   

I may go out and get this too!

octbride2006

octbride2006:

I just read about the test with the indicator, this is amazing.  Here is the link:

https://www.clearblue.com/uk/new-clearblue-digital-pregnancy-test-with-conception-indicator.php   

I may go out and get this too!

Sorry, this link is for the UK.  I had googled it,and that is what I found.  I don't think that they make it here in the US.  It is pretty amazing though, I wish they would have it here in the US.

JoAnna914

SockMonkeySam:

A Pregnancy test will not tell you how pregnant you are. Some tests have some dye, some tests have a lot of dye. Just how they are made. And a line on a test will not determine if it's a ectopic pregnancy.

If you are stressing so much go to your doctor and ask to have your HCG tested 2-3 times. To make sure that your levels are raising.

Thanks - I think that I've been reading too many anecdotes, and that I just need to get myself more educated, so I may have my doctor do that.

Ihme

please calm down and do not worry. let me tell you smthg very odd- when i had an ectopic- (last pregnancy) the line was so dark that i thought i had two babies on the way. but for this pregnancy (which is not an ectopic) my line was very, very faint. and when i went for my blood test, my HCG was a whopping 9,000! so do not worry my dear. only worry if you have cramping and abdominal pain, etc, the telltale signs the doctors tell you to look out for. a happy mamma makes a happy bean xo

Killer Tomato

If it makes you feel any better, i had been using IC and dollar store tests, and my line wasn't getting any darker. I also was worried about ectopic (as well as chem preg), but i went out and got a FRER yesterday night and took it this morning (16 DPO) and the line was dark. I tested another IC strip with the same urine, and it came up the same way they have all been coming up...more than "faint," but NOT dark by any stretch of the imagination. So what everyone says about different tests having different amounts of dye is certainly true. (And then there is how diluted your pee is/when you pee/etc.)

Good luck on monday, and try not to worry!  

 

Killer Tomato

A quick response to lhme's comment of "only worry if you have cramping and abdominal pain, etc,":

Just in case anyone is going to take this and hop on the worry train, some cramping is normal. I believe you are supposed to worry only when you have constant cramps or cramps that are much worse than your usual period cramps.

 

And, lhhme- i had stopped worrying about ectopic w/my newly discovered darker line. Now you've got me started again...lol.  

JoAnna914

Love you guys.  Thank you so much for your thoughtful, comforting responses and for sharing your experiences.  I am very jumpy right now because I feel incredibly old (37, 38 in April) and so I worry about that being a risk factor for every known problem under the sun.

Ihme

Killer Tomato:

A quick response to lhme's comment of "only worry if you have cramping and abdominal pain, etc,":

Just in case anyone is going to take this and hop on the worry train, some cramping is normal. I believe you are supposed to worry only when you have constant cramps or cramps that are much worse than your usual period cramps.

 

And, lhhme- i had stopped worrying about ectopic w/my newly discovered darker line. Now you've got me started again...lol.  

Hi Killer Tomato- sure, some cramping is normal, but a lot of cramping should be discussed w your doctor- he may just tell you everything is A-OK   I always err on the side of caution. 

  

LaraMichaelW

Hi, I just had to respond, because I had all the same concerns when I first found out I was pregnant!  You might laugh, or think I'm crazy, but I had the faint line as well which led me to taking about 9 more HPT's from about 5 different brands/types.  I would make my husband check the line to make sure I wasn't seeing things, and then I would take another one the next days following to see if it got darker.  never really did.  but the digital tests DID make me feel much better  (that was when I finally believed it and did the whole jumping around crying thing).  I was also worried about ectopic because I had implantation bleeding (actually just spotting) for almost the entire 5th week.  When I told my doctor she said I should worry only if it was more than light spotting accompanied by severe cramping, which never happened and the spotting finally went away.

 So, I totally understand your concern, but after worrying about it day and night, I must say I feel pretty silly about it.  After I finally had my blood test results and got a few more weeks under my belt, my worries finally subsided and I feel much healthier now without putting the unnecessary stress on myself. Good luck!! 

funkymonkeyohyeahhh

I was diagnosed with an ectopic pregnancy last week at 6 weeks, 3 days pregnant and will tell you there are a few things in this thread that stick out to me-

-I had a BFN at 12DPO, and my period was 2 days late. I had what I thought was a period for 4 days (I thought I started a new cycle but I was wrong).  My luteal phase is always 12 days, but this cycle I didn't start bleeding (with what I thought was my period) until 14DPO.  I tested again at what was actually 29DPO because I was having extreme pregnancy symptoms (the same symptoms I had with my previous chemical pregnancy, but they were much more intense due to being further along than I was with my chemical pregnancy).  On the first test I took (First Response brand), my line was as dark as the test line. A day later, my line was much darker than the control line (same brand of test). 

-I also had dark, dark brown spotting at what would've been 4.5 weeks pregnant (for 3 days), and then it started again at 6 weeks pregnant which so many ladies here will tell you is "perfectly normal" because it's dark brown and no pain accompanied it. Apparently, according to my OB, intermittent spotting is typical of ectopic pregnancies.

-My betas increased as normal, and were quite high. An abnormally increasing beta is not necessarily an ectopic, and a normally increasing beta is not necessarily a normal pregnancy. 

-I had NO cramping or pain whatsoever. Ectopic never crossed my mind because of this. I was surprised when the ultrasound revealed the ectopic pregnancy.

I say all this not to scare you but to tell you that you really CANNOT self-diagnose. Definitely do not believe everything you read online.  Step away from Dr. Google and just enjoy your pregnancy.