Unhelpful craze for early pregnancy testing

[LittleLottieChaos]

I think that there is a hugely unhelpful side to being on here. The early pregnancy testing craze... before discovering this notion of testing before a missed period I had quite happily waited and if my period arrived then I wasn’t pregnant, if it was a week late then I tested. (I have one toddler and sadly has one termination for medical reasons). Now after reading all those threads... even I was considering testing before my period & I did - it was as expected negative, and my period arrived 2 days later.

Does anyone else think that testing early is absolutely a stress and a waste of time? Of course it’s a negative you’re testing far too early. Why torture yourself?

Chuck in bad for the environment and a waste of money, these test making companies are rubbing their little hands together profiteering from suggestible desperate people.

Or am I misreading something? I know ‘each unto their own’ will be the response to this thread, but I would like to say to these lovely women, just stop doing it- you’ll be happier and you likely will conceive, testing repeatedly before a missed period is asking for disappointment.

(Duly note not a single acronym appeared in this post as they are also massively unhelpful)

Hmm interesting. I think as long as manufacturers are producing tests that are sensitive enough to pick up a pregnancy before a woman's period is due, then women will keep testing early.

Aside from actually having a chemical pregnancy, the most damaging thing is the fear your BFP might turn into a chemical and worry over 'line progression'. Once I was aware that women take tests every day to make sure the HCG is getting stronger, it felt like something I should be checking too. Brilliant for First Response, not so brilliant for mental health.

The conception boards are really supportive, which is great as TTC is something most couples avoid talking about with family and friends. But many new posters quickly go from a relaxed approach to tracking ovulation, taking suppliments, checking mucus etc when all most of us have to do is have sex regularly. I include myself in this 🙂 I do think it fuels obsession, but at the same time the community does provide reassurance for lots of women too.

@LittleRa

A (more recent?) thing I have seen that seems to cause anxiety is women using the Clear Blue Digital Weeks tests, where it displays “pregnant 1-2 weeks” or 2-3 weeks or 3+ weeks. If they get a positive test stating 1-2 weeks, they’re happy but not satisfied until they keep continuing to test each to see “progress” to 2-3 and then 3+. If their tests don’t progress they see this as a sign there’s something wrong or the pregnancy not viable, same if they have worked out their weeks and the numbers on the tests don’t reflect that.

Actually this is where I agree it can be unhelpful.
I'm a good example- after my FRER was positive 6 days before my period, I tested with those CB digital ones for the next few weeks (whilst waiting for my early scan to confirm the pregnancy). I never got past the 2-3 week display - it never changed to 3+. I panicked a bit as I wasn't "progressing" so assumed this might be a chemical pregnancy. But this is indeed a healthy pregnancy and I'm due to give birth in a few months. So it meant nothing really.

I took two years to conceive and didn't even have a test in the house until I was finally a few days late. I remember buying it in a City branch of Boots and the lady at the counter quietly saying "I hope you get the result you want". I was so touched.

I lost that baby at 12 weeks and never conceived again (I'm not out for sympathy I'm fine with it). I only tested twice after that but that was in my 40s approaching perimenopause and my periods were becoming slightly erratic so I tested just to check I wasn't pregnant.

I knew every month I wasn't pregnant when my period arrived like clockwork. Endless negative test results as well would have done my head in.

I understand It's horses for courses and people can do what works for them but I do wince at the terrible waste.

I agree with @October2020 that it's much less horrible to get a negative than to wait for your period.

When I'm TTC I have to take blood thinners, which you inject with single-use syringes. If I know I'm not pregnant, I can stop, and I promise you, the waste from one or two tests is a heck of a lot less than two weeks' worth of unnecessary injections (never mind what that's doing to my body).

I expect there are a few people who test early for the fun of it, but this thread is quite nasty really.

Genuinely obsessive behaviour around getting pregnant (ie using loads of testing kits very early every month and mentally struggling with the roller coaster of emotions that causes) is a symptom of anxiety. The existence of the tests aren't the cause of the anxiety.

The phrase 'testing craze' does not describe the experience of women genuinely struggling with infertility.

If you got rid of early testing kits there's still charting, ovulation sticks and mucus watching which produce the same awful self torture if you're getting obsessive.

Can you tell i've been there?

It's entirely your choice. I couldn't wait and it would stress me out not knowing. Its who I am. I have my ovulation and pregnancy tests in the baby book and I love that you can see the progression of my baby settling in.
It was also handy to know that I'd had an early miscarriage earlier. And I've known a few women be put on medication earlier than they would have been by showing they have recurrent early miscarriages. No one's making you test early, but you shouldn't judge people who do.

And as someone up thread said. A negative test hurts so much less than watching for your period.

Ass firmly on fence here.

Environmental waste? Totally. Unnecessary rollercoaster of emotions? Totally. £££? Totally. And tbh I personally find some of the MN TTC boards unhelpful, because a large group of women all fretting over temperatures and mucus and eating pineapple cores and brazil nuts and whatever at exactly two minutes past ovulation, can suck in other anxious women who for the most part just need to have regular sex but now wonder if these things are necessary.

But I also think it's very stressful and anxiety-provoking not knowing whats going on in your own body, or feeling that you're going mad because you think you feel nauseous or bloated or whatever, so I understand why you'd want a test to settle the issue. Let alone when you've had a loss which has cranked up your anxiety levels. Or when you've been trying for a long time. Obviously when the tests weren't available/were prohibitively expensive it wasn't an option, but now it is and people use it.

It is extremely difficult when you can’t conceive - I certainly lost my senses at times.

I do feel that early testing is really detrimental to your mental health though - trying to spot faint lines, knowing you’re pregnant at a point where there’s a strong chance it will fail. It’s all consuming and causes more pain in my view / experience. I know it’s very hard not to though.

@flashbac

I agree OP, and what a bloody waste of plastic! The horrible images of 3+ pregnancy tests laid out in a row with a "can you see a line?" No we flipping can't cos it's far too early love. There was one poster who planted a tree in memory of a 'loss' which was in reality a chemical pregnancy. I really had to sit in my hands to stop myself replying to that one. Glad she's planted a tree though I suppose (although it probably won't make up for all that plastic in landfill). If women are that anxious and testing multiple times and getting more anxious and upset the cortisol levels in the body mean pregnancy is going to be tougher to achieve in any case.

What a bitchy comment, mocking someone who suffered a loss. And a ‘chemical pregnancy’ is a miscarriage

Of course you can understand why people want to know as soon as possible but yes, I don't think squinting at tests every day from ovulation or testing before you're due is helpful. It's crazy making.

I have been pregnant 4 times (ttc for 3.5 years) and have no living children. With my early / chemical loss I didn't test until my period was due and got a faint line, but I knew it wouldn't be a successful pregnancy and miscarried at just under 5 weeks. I rarely tested early before I'd ever been pregnant.

I'm now on a cocktail of mediations and my specialist wants me to test early at 10 days past ovulation to add in more medications to stop my body attacking a pregnancy. If I'm not pregnant, I have to stop certain medicines. I'm now finding negative tests extremely triggering and would much prefer to wait until my period is due. But the alternative is I concieve, test late and then lose another baby, so testing early and dealing with the outcome is what I have to do. I'm grateful there are tests that can pick up hcg so early to enable me the chance to have my baby.

It's not a "craze" by the way. Early testing was part of some fertility protocols when I had ivf 18 years ago.

Personally I wouldn't be able to repeatedly test early as I know I would become obsessed and it would be damaging for my MH. Others may be fine with it.
What came as a surprise for me was women repeating clearly positive tests to see if they became stronger or wanting to get 3 weeks+ on a digital.

Personally I always found a negative test worse than my period turning up. Periods happen, I'm used to those, but a big blank space felt so much harsher.

I certainly don't agree with people moralising it (obviously, it's MN) with complaints about it being "competitive" or "instant gratification". What the fuck. Of course people who are trying to conceive want to know as soon as possible. It might be unwise for anxiety and mental health reasons but it's not a sodding moral failing.

This was a "thing" 20 years ago when I was failing to conceive, on the "Fertility Friends" forums. When you're so desparate to conceive that you're already setting your alarm for 5.30am every day so you can take your temp and chart your mucus and cervix position it's just the natural next compulsion.

The only reason I wasn't constantly testing before my period was due was because I couldn't afford to spaff money on tests which I knew realistically were likely to be negative anyway. If I'd had the funds to do so, I'd have tested every month, believe me.

It's not helpful, it's a form of obsessive compulsive behaviour in my view (not always, just when you've been TTC for so long without success that your MH is suffering.)

YANBU, although I can understand the temptation. Many early positives turn into chemicals that wouldn’t have even been picked up on had the tester waited for their due date. It seems to cause unnecessary upset.
And if the pregnancy sticks there is then obsession over line progression etc.
Surely a blazing positive a couple of days after due date would be more exciting/reassuring.
But like I said I do understand the temptation.

Yanbu I didn't know it was a thing until joining Mumsnet. All the 'line eyes' posts, asking about when they should test etc. It seems to be an unhealthy obsession.
Honestly when I had kids you just did a test when your period was late and that was it, I've only taken two tests in my life. It's such a waste of tests and plastic too.

I think if it drives you crazy then don't do it, if it helps then do and it might be different for different people. After my son, I had 3 miscarriages before a successful pregnancy. Some months I tested earlyish and some months I waited depending on how I was feeling and various other factors. I didn't find early testing any more stressful than waiting tbh - it's a stressful time regardless. And as others have said it can be useful to find out if you're having chemical pregnancies as there might be something that needs treatment.

I can well understand people being so anxious to be pregnant - or excited about it - that they test so soon, but when so many conceptions evidently end in a very early miscarriage it does seem daft - not to mention so often going to end in dreadful disappointment.

Before tests were available to buy, people generally assumed that they’d had a late period. You had to wait until two periods had been missed before getting a test at the GP.

Though having said that, I’m sure I’d have done a very early test with my first, if they’d been available. Not with my 2nd, though, since there was an unmistakeable very early sign, same as I’d had with the first.

I used to test early when I first started TTC. It was excitement, mostly, and impatience. Realised pretty quickly what an expensive habit it was and stopped doing this in month 3. Subsequently, good decision for me - took me 10 months with the pregnancy I miscarried and a further 4 months after that with my daughter. Cannot imagine how much I would of spent over that time on first response which are not cheap.

However, people can spend their money on what they want. If it helps people who are going through what can sometimes be a real agonising journey, then do what you got to do.

I agree. I dont think there is anything wrong with testing on say the day your period is due or late a day. But better to wait until it's late. I did test the day after my period was due, but for me it was important to up some meds asap so wouldn't have wanted to wait a whole week.

I think YABU. Many women on the TTC board have been trying for a long time and are pretty much desperate. Bully for you if you could wait for however long.

I have tested early and I've tested when I've been late. Sometimes it's easier to test just to stop the overthinking.

I used this type on both my pregnancies,not on purpose just the one I picked up,I saw 6+ and that was it,I did tear 3 times on my first but the first 2 were line ones and I didn't trust myself as it was an unexpected pregnancy I was on contraception,but after that I just made an appointment with my GP to be referred to the antenatal clinic (I'm in Ireland),those test are expensive,once I knew I just let nature take its course,no point to follow up, pregnancy is full of anxious moments as it is no need adding more stress to it