Secondary IF
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The darkness of the line
I know the saying "A line is a line". However, I don't understand it. When I test out my trigger, my second line starts out dark and gets lighter with smaller amounts of hcg. So if it's just the dye, then how come the change in darkness? My RE told me when I got a BFP from the trigger shot that if it was real, the line would get darker. But if it's from the trigger, it would get lighter. She was right. It got lighter and it was from the trigger. I understand that seeing the second line means your pregnant (meaning a simple yes or no), but people I talked to who tested after they were pregnant told me the line got darker after a few days. I'm confused.
Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all."
-- Dale Carnegie
DS: Born 2007
TTC #2- Diagnosed with secondary infertility, after 18 months and failed IUIs, we achieved success with IVF #1
DD: Born 2011
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Re: The darkness of the line
What's your question?
In general, a line SHOULD get darker as a pregnancy progresses because of the amount of HCG getting higher. But, people write posts all of the time telling people not to worry if a line gets lighter. In my opinion, their reasoning is one of the following:
1. Different tests DO have different amounts of dye in them. But, in general it's about the same amount.
2. Your urine is diluted at different amounts and it can vary on the day. Did the person drink more water? Not wait as long? etc....
3. Honestly, people on these boards are just very very positive. The 'don't worry, that's totally normal' comments are free-flowing. Maybe I am just too jaded after having so many miscarriages, but I WOULD worry a bit if my lines kept getting lighter and lighter........and I WOULD worry if I was FULL of symptoms and then all of a sudden they were ALL gone. These scenarios have all happened to me and others I know while miscarrying. Obviously they turn out ok too..........
I was wondering why people say "it's just the dye" when my RE told me the darkness of the line over a period of time DOES matter in most cases. I was getting conflicting information. I guess people are just trying to be positive.
I see posts all the time about symptoms suddenly going away and unfortunatly the same thing happened to me with my m/c in 2009. When other people tell them it's completely normal I always cringe, because it really could "not" be normal. (But the stories of ladies who are ~30 weeks and had lost all their symptoms at 8 weeks and all was well is pretty reassuring). It sucks either way.
I was very skeptical when my lines were very light and kept getting lighter, I was sure I was miscarrying. I've seen that a lot with chemical pregnancies on this board. However my pg made it to 10 weeks (so far) so in my case, it was fine. I used same box of tests, all FMU.
You can m/c, stop bleeding, and have your HCG drawn and still have a decent level that you have to wait to drop (that's one of the reasons they tell you to wait a while before trying - your body is confused. Its also why a lot of women get PG the cycle after a m/c because your pituitary gland is expecting and used to pumping that out....it'll "grab onto" a slightly implanted PG easier... HCG, even if 0 by the time of conception, was just at + levels very recently.
Anyway, I personally think its archaeic and ridiculous for an RE to say "watch your line get darker" when we have betas, early u/s, etc.
And I also agree that a lot of people on these boards are sally sunshine most of the time (when it comes to responding to other's posts) but the darkness of the line does NOT = level of PG. diff dye lots, diff brands, blue vs pink/red, etc....too many variables!