Positive FRER after negative HGC blood test

[nextchpter]

Hello. I got a faint positive FRER on Wed FMU, Thurs FMU and Fri lunchtime. Friday night was admitted to A&E for abdominal pain (not in gynae area, higher up). I told them I was v early pregnant so they did a urine test (negative) and then an HCG count (which they said was negative as less than 1). We were devastated and confused as it was only a few hours between the positive FRER and the blood test - how could all the HCG disappear?
I then did another FRER this morning and it's still a faint positive. How is this possible if the test is positive greater than 25miu and the blood work showed less than 1. Could I still be pregnant?

Hi @nextchpter - FRERs are very sensitive, from memory I think they're 6miu (as opposed to the likes of Clearblue Digital, which are 25miu).

Early pregnancy is so hard (I've been there several times, but no baby yet, although I'm now 23 weeks after years of heartbreak) and chemical pregnancies are common - where an egg fertilises and implants but then (for a multitude of reasons) fails and hcg falls again.

I don't know what's happening in your case, it's a bit odd that you've got a faint line on a FRER and a -ve blood result, but as tough as it is, I think you should wait a few days and then try a FRER again. Good luck 💐

I’ve had 2 lines on first response before and then blood test and drs pregnancy test has shown up as negative taken on the same day as the test which was very confusing. I put it down to a bad batch of tests but would be intrigued to see if you find anything different.

I've read FRER can actually detect any level of hcg in your system ie 1 and above which is why they don't actually publicise what their hcg threshold is

If your tests aren't getting darker I would say this could be a chemical but I would also contact FRER directly with the evidence

I had FRER tests detect hcg in my system at just 5 and a blood test showed less than 5 less than 24hrs later, which was negative/not pregnant (however, this was a few weeks after a MC and I thought it was purely coincidence that the blood test was done within a few hours of my levels finally dropping back down to the usual of between 0 and 5). Those tests are extremely sensitive, the hospital suggested to me not to use them as levels of hcg are between 0-5 in non pregnant women and the tests can sometimes show positive on women who between 1-5miu in their system but cause false positives. Maybe wait a few days and avoid FRER tests, I've learnt to wait and use other type of tests after being caught out using them before.

Interesting. Thanks for your replies. I had another blood test and it's confirmed zero hcg again so I just have to accept that if there ever was a pregnancy it is lost but there is a chance it was never there I suppose. I agree maybe it's worth using less sensitive tests to not get our hopes up...

@Irishgene this makes sense now. Interesting that the hospital said not to use them. I’m only going to use less sensitive tests now to avoid any confusion otherwise I’m just going to constantly get false positives as every time I’ve used them so far I’ve had 2 lines and not been pregnant!