False positive

stephanie6607 · June 2014

I had a mc in April. Was told to wait for one cycle before trying again. So we tried to May. Now June is here. Took a test three days before my period was due. It was positive. Four days after that I started bleeding. It was super light and had a blood test done and everything came back negative. The nurse said it's probably my period. It's so light a panty liner does just fine and it's all pretty much brown and dark red. Nothing bright red. Anyone go through something similar?

janda426 · June 2014

stephanie6607 said:
I had a mc in April. Was told to wait for one cycle before trying again. So we tried to May. Now June is here. Took a test three days before my period was due. It was positive. Four days after that I started bleeding. It was super light and had a blood test done and everything came back negative. The nurse said it's probably my period. It's so light a panty liner does just fine and it's all pretty much brown and dark red. Nothing bright red. Anyone go through something similar?

Sounds like a possible chemical pregnancy, I'm sorry

Have you taken any tests recently? What did your doctor say?

stephanie6607 · June 2014

No I haven't taken any test. I didn't speak or see my dr. The nurse practitioner had sent me for the blood work and called and said it was negative. I was just in shock that I said okay and that was it. I didn't give myself a chance to ask questions. What exactly is a chemical pregnancy? I've read about it just not quite sure. The egg doesn't attach?

stephanie6607 · June 2014

The nurse just said it was a false positive. How fast do your levels go back to 0?

augusta17 · June 2014

I agree with the PPs on the CP. I'm sorry that you're going through this.

stephanie6607 · June 2014

Do you think I should bring it up to my doctor about the possibility of a cp? Or just let it go since the nurse told me a false positive and every thing was negative

janda426 · June 2014

stephanie6607 said:
No I haven't taken any test. I didn't speak or see my dr. The nurse practitioner had sent me for the blood work and called and said it was negative. I was just in shock that I said okay and that was it. I didn't give myself a chance to ask questions.

What exactly is a chemical pregnancy? I've read about it just not quite sure. The egg doesn't attach?

How long did you bleed? Was it spotting or a full on period bleed? A CP is when the egg is fertilized but doesn't implant and the cycle ends in your period.

chaysefaith · June 2014

stephanie6607 said:
The nurse just said it was a false positive.

How fast do your levels go back to 0?

It varies.

I had a miscarriage just shy of 20 weeks at the end of January. I took tests in March, April, May, and June. June was the only one that didn't give a (very) faint line.

I'm very sorry for your losses.

janda426 · June 2014

stephanie6607 said:
The nurse just said it was a false positive.

How fast do your levels go back to 0?

The nurse sounds ignorant. Chemical pregnancies are a thing, the positives are definitely real but unfortunately the HCG levels decrease instead of going up.

As for the levels going back to 0 I have no experience with that but I know some people here have had a CP and gotten pregnant the next cycle.

Trampslikeus · June 2014

A false positive is a lot less likely than a chemical pregnancy. Sorry

stephanie6607 · June 2014

I'm still bleeding. I wouldn't even call it that bc it's just brown discharge. Maybe some dark red/brown blood but not really. It's way lighter then a period

divinemsbee · June 2014

I'm so sorry for you loss. Possibly this was a chemical pregnancy, which is an early miscarriage (one before there is anything visible in the uterus). If you were just being given a negative/positive blood (also known as qualitative beta) or urine pregnancy test then your levels would have to be less than whatever number your hospital uses as positive. For mine it's around a 20. So you can still have some hCG in your blood but not turn that test. You would need quantitative betas to track all the way to zero. For my chemicals my levels never got really high and dropped pretty quickly (from a 50, which can turn a urine test easily to a 7 in a matter of 2 days).

lovemybellag · June 2014

Sorry I don't have any experience but wanted to say I am very sorry. Hope you find answers.

TheBorg7of9 · June 2014

janda426 said:

stephanie6607 said:
No I haven't taken any test. I didn't speak or see my dr. The nurse practitioner had sent me for the blood work and called and said it was negative. I was just in shock that I said okay and that was it. I didn't give myself a chance to ask questions.

What exactly is a chemical pregnancy? I've read about it just not quite sure. The egg doesn't attach?

How long did you bleed? Was it spotting or a full on period bleed? A CP is when the egg is fertilized but doesn't implant and the cycle ends in your period.

-----
I'm sorry. I don't think that's right. If there was no implantation, then the hpt would never have been positive. A cp is just an early miscarriage.
Op, sorry for your loss. I think your nurse was wrong.

4RingCircus · June 2014

I'm sorry for your losses. I was also too upset when I got the call about my blood work & had to email my Dr. all of my questions. With my CP I had spotting early on & then a full flow about a week or so later. My Dr. Tracked my blood work down to zero to make sure it wasn't an ectopic pregnancy. But everyone's experience is different so You may want to ask your Dr. more questions.

themrsJRD · June 2014

This may not be relevant, but did you actually have a period after your MC? Is it possible it was HCG left over from that? I didn't see any details about whether your levels were tracked back down to 0 in April.

If they were confirmed to be back at 0, then I agree that you likely are experiencing a chemical pregnancy, which is a very early loss. I'm so sorry. And your nurse misspoke or is misinformed.

Pintobean39 · June 2014

I'm sorry for your losses.

One of my cp it only took a couple of days for a blood test to show up negative. If I wasn't going to an RE and had blood test early I probably would have even known. I had a couple of days of positive test and the blood test showed HCG of 8, which is considered pregnant but very low. 2 days later my HCG was 0.

janda426 · June 2014

TheBorg7of9 said:

janda426 said:

stephanie6607 said:
No I haven't taken any test. I didn't speak or see my dr. The nurse practitioner had sent me for the blood work and called and said it was negative. I was just in shock that I said okay and that was it. I didn't give myself a chance to ask questions.

What exactly is a chemical pregnancy? I've read about it just not quite sure. The egg doesn't attach?

How long did you bleed? Was it spotting or a full on period bleed? A CP is when the egg is fertilized but doesn't implant and the cycle ends in your period.
-----
I'm sorry. I don't think that's right. If there was no implantation, then the hpt would never have been positive. A cp is just an early miscarriage.
Op, sorry for your loss. I think your nurse was wrong.

---end quote---

2 different websites I looked at said CPs are a failure of the egg to implant on the uterine wall. I'll accept it if those websites are wrong but long ago when I was looking up what CPs are that's what I found. I mean it's the first answer that comes up in google so it's easy for that misinformation to be spread. My apologies if that was incorrect information.

icaughtfire · June 2014

themrsJRD said:
This may not be relevant, but did you actually have a period after your MC? Is it possible it was HCG left over from that? I didn't see any details about whether your levels were tracked back down to 0 in April.

If they were confirmed to be back at 0, then I agree that you likely are experiencing a chemical pregnancy, which is a very early loss. I'm so sorry. And your nurse misspoke or is misinformed.

This. If your levels weren't traced to 0, it's very possible to be left over from your mc. I had a missed miscarriage in early May, after 2 D&C's my HCG was still at 11 as of yesterday. Each person varies as to how quickly their levels will drop. I was at 20 the previous week and the week prior I was still able to turn a test positive. I'm very sorry for your loss.

Pintobean39 · June 2014

janda426 said:

TheBorg7of9 said:

janda426 said:

stephanie6607 said:
No I haven't taken any test. I didn't speak or see my dr. The nurse practitioner had sent me for the blood work and called and said it was negative. I was just in shock that I said okay and that was it. I didn't give myself a chance to ask questions.

What exactly is a chemical pregnancy? I've read about it just not quite sure. The egg doesn't attach?

How long did you bleed? Was it spotting or a full on period bleed? A CP is when the egg is fertilized but doesn't implant and the cycle ends in your period.
-----
I'm sorry. I don't think that's right. If there was no implantation, then the hpt would never have been positive. A cp is just an early miscarriage.
Op, sorry for your loss. I think your nurse was wrong.
---end quote---

2 different websites I looked at said CPs are a failure of the egg to implant on the uterine wall. I'll accept it if those websites are wrong but long ago when I was looking up what CPs are that's what I found. I mean it's the first answer that comes up in google so it's easy for that misinformation to be spread. My apologies if that was incorrect information.

I think it's best to say failure to implant correctly. Sometimes the embryo can start to implant which is when the HCG is produced but then never fully implants so your lining sheds and you have a period. A lot of times it's more than likely a genetic reason it doesn't implant. The embryo just isn't dividing correctly and can't fully attach. I asked my RE about progesterone problems than can also cause the lining to shed prematurely not alloying the embryo to implant correctly and he said it does happen but sometimes the low progesterone is a result of a genetically abnormal embryo to begin with.

I read a statistic once that 60% of pregnancies end in mc but most of the time no one ever even realizes because it's so early. In my experience with my cp's my period was really right on time but I just had positive pregnancy test in between because I need to go to POAS anonymous. I just had a more painful period and I wonder sometimes how many cp's have I actually had but never knew, because of only here recently have I had this POAS problem.

Regardless, I think the whole cp term just sucks! You had an egg that was fertilized and you have a baby growing but something happened. The term itself makes it sound like it was nothing and hearing false positive is just as bad. It is something and I think Dr's need to look at them as a pregnancy. My RE takes them seriously because he wants to know why it happened even though the answer may never be found but it gives a little more insight to what can be causing the problems and help with future pregnancies.

Sorry I'm just rambling. I get so aggravated at the term chemical pregnancy.

MamaBina · June 2014

I cannot even big to imagine what it is, but either way I am really sorry. That has to be an insane emotional roller coaster.

DenaMaree · June 2014

If it's a false positive you don't have to wait for your HCG levels to go to 0 because they wouldn't have risen enough to be considered a factor. Perhaps you could call that same nurse back and request bloodwork for a HCG test! If your levels are above 5 (you unfortunately had a MMC) then you would have to wait until they hit negative and expect a cycle within a couple of weeks. As long as they are below 5 then a period is in the near future and it can be considered a chemical or MMC. If they are already negative then there was never a pregnancy and there is no waiting involved, your just watching for a O or a cycle.

janda426 · June 2014

@Pintobean39‌ thank you, that makes a lot more sense. I know google isn't always the best but when like 4-5 sites say the same thing I have to wonder.

And, as always, ::hugs:: for you. I'm so sorry you've had to experience all that.

themrsJRD · June 2014

DenaMaree said:

If it's a false positive you don't have to wait for your HCG levels to go to 0 because they wouldn't have risen enough to be considered a factor. Perhaps you could call that same nurse back and request bloodwork for a HCG test! If your levels are above 5 (you unfortunately had a MMC) then you would have to wait until they hit negative and expect a cycle within a couple of weeks. As long as they are below 5 then a period is in the near future and it can be considered a chemical or MMC. If they are already negative then there was never a pregnancy and there is no waiting involved, your just watching for a O or a cycle.

I'm not sure I agree with most of what you're saying. Also, she already said she had a blood HCG test.

Pintobean39 · June 2014

DenaMaree said:
If it's a false positive you don't have to wait for your HCG levels to go to 0 because they wouldn't have risen enough to be considered a factor. Perhaps you could call that same nurse back and request bloodwork for a HCG test! If your levels are above 5 (you unfortunately had a MMC) then you would have to wait until they hit negative and expect a cycle within a couple of weeks. As long as they are below 5 then a period is in the near future and it can be considered a chemical or MMC. If they are already negative then there was never a pregnancy and there is no waiting involved, your just watching for a O or a cycle.

A MMC is totally different than a chemical pregnancy. It's when there is no sign of a miscarriage. It can sometimes be because the embryo didn't develop and there is an empty sac or there may be a heartbeat detected but weeks later there is no longer a heartbeat.

A CP is a pregnancy that ends before a gestational sac can be see on an us.

Ladymouse · June 2014

It's happened to me twice, turning a HPT, then AF coming a day or two late. It is pretty awful when TTC, and why I wait until I have strong positive tests to even tell DH. I'm sorry.

catlover790 · June 2014

I just want to say I'm sorry for your loss. I would definitely call the dr back and try to get more information. I'm sorry you are going through this and to all the PPs who have experience with this.

buggirl72 · June 2014

Pintobean39 said:

If it's a false positive you don't have to wait for your HCG levels to go to 0 because they wouldn't have risen enough to be considered a factor. Perhaps you could call that same nurse back and request bloodwork for a HCG test! If your levels are above 5 (you unfortunately had a MMC) then you would have to wait until they hit negative and expect a cycle within a couple of weeks. As long as they are below 5 then a period is in the near future and it can be considered a chemical or MMC. If they are already negative then there was never a pregnancy and there is no waiting involved, your just watching for a O or a cycle.
A MMC is totally different than a chemical pregnancy. It's when there is no sign of a miscarriage. It can sometimes be because the embryo didn't develop and there is an empty sac or there may be a heartbeat detected but weeks later there is no longer a heartbeat. A CP is a pregnancy that ends before a gestational sac can be see on an us.

What pinto said.

A CP is a pregnancy that can only be confirmed by chemical means (urine or blood test) and cannot be visualized by an u/s. Once a pregnancy can be visualized by an u/s, then it becomes a clinical pregnancy. My understanding of an MMC is that the body fails to recognize the loss. You will often see women on TTCAL who had an MMC say that they went in at x number of weeks for an u/s but the baby had stopped developing a few weeks before that.

Also, your first sentence about false positives does not make any sense. If it's a false positive it means that there was no HCG whatsoever in her system so they would have risen zero. Also, how can you tell OP that she will get her first period post loss within two weeks after hitting zero? You don't know this. It's okay to just give a (((hug))) or offer words of support. It is not okay to just spew out things that you seem to have made up.

OP, I am so sorry for your loss. You could call the nurse to verify whether you had a quantitative or a qualitative HCG done which would at least let you know if your HCG was zero or just not high enough to be considered pregnant. It's an important thing to clarify.

My only other question OP is, did you read the test within the time frame? If you did not, then it could be an evap line or a legit "false" positive. If you took the test per instructions and read it in the time frame and had a second line, even if faint, then I agree with the PPs that said a false positive is not very common - it is more likely a CP. Again, I'm sorry for your loss.

redheadscu1 · June 2014

I am sorry for your loss.

FWIW the bleeding you're describing sounds exactly like my first post-MMC period. Did you ever get a negative HPT after your MC (to indicate the HCG was gone)?

Either way, I am just sorry. (((HUGS)))

stephanie6607 · July 2014

I had asked the nurse if any of the hormones could be left over from the miscarriage & she said she didn't think so because when they had checked them they were at a 5.

So my question is if it's a CP do you need a D&C?

raelynn71109 · July 2014

It sounds like you already bled and that the blood tests were negative afterwards, so I don't think you need a D&C.

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