Chemical pregnancy

[PumpkinEverything]

This is something that I had never even heard of until very recently and I’m still trying to understand it.
I understand a miscarriage can happen mostly in the first 12 weeks, but a chemical pregnancy seems to happen earlier and you usually don’t know until around the time of your missed period. (Something like that, I’m finding it hard to explain and understand!)

At what point can you stop worrying about a chemical, and more be thinking about it as a miscarriage instead?

I feel like this isn’t such a positive post, but I’m just trying to understand!

Chemicals are picked up on a pregnancy test before af is due, the test is often faint and may become negative, then your af will arrive as normal or by a few days later than normal. I would say it's an early miscarriage when your af is late and pregnancy confirmed by a test on or past your af due date.
I think I had a chemical last month, had a couple of very faint positive 11po then showed negative, af was 3 days late and heavier bleeding than normal.

Hey!

My dr said a CP is a positive before AF is due, followed by a negative and AF arrives near enough in time. A miscarriage is from 5weeks to 20weeks

A Chemical Pregnancy is one that happens before 6weeks.

Most common time for a Chemical Pregnancy to occur is around the 5week mark.

Hi all I think I'm having a chemical pregnancy as had a positive test last night at 10dpo (two days before period) and this morning the test was fainter / not there. Is there any chance the hcg levels fluctuate daily and it might be positive this evening? Thank you x

Im sorry @sionemam but it does sound like a chemical. Hcg doesn't really fluctuate but the diluteness of the urine sample can effect readings

@Sionemam I tend to get stronger positives later in the day rather than with FMU. This is actually more common than people think. Plus you're only 11dpo and have tested with cheapies. I'd get a FRER personally.

Thank you both so much for responding. It’s hard isn’t it. I’ll test this evening but I know it’s early and chemicals are common. It was nice to get a line at all :-)

In my personal experience of chemical pregnancies mines went like this....

First chemical - I got a positive preg test 5 days before period was due and it never turned negative, stayed positive but never got darker. Period turned up the day it was due.

Second chemical - I got a positive preg test 9 days before period due and again it never got negative but remained faint for 9 days and period turned up day it was due.

Hope that helps x

@Butterfingers0 thank you so much for sharing your experience and I'm so so sorry about your two losses, I hope you're ok.

It's really helpful to hear how yours went as there is not much publicly available detail on experiences of it when you look for online articles and stuff, they just say 'the blastcyst is 'unviable'' and a very basic descriptions like 'get a positive test and then get a period' no details. Thanks so much.

Just wanted to say, my GP and the early pregnancy unit said to always class CPs as MCs as they are MCs.

The early pregnancy until told me I should have stated my CP as a MC rather than not mention it at all as then I could have been eligible for earlier scans and help from the reoccurant loss clinic sooner.

The consultant who took care of me during my last pregnancy said exactly the same too when I gave her details of my history with pregnancy and loss.

@PumpkinChai

Just wanted to say, my GP and the early pregnancy unit said to always class CPs as MCs as they are MCs.

The early pregnancy until told me I should have stated my CP as a MC rather than not mention it at all as then I could have been eligible for earlier scans and help from the reoccurant loss clinic sooner.

The consultant who took care of me during my last pregnancy said exactly the same too when I gave her details of my history with pregnancy and loss.

Oh! This is very useful to know - thank you x

@PumpkinChai

Just wanted to say, my GP and the early pregnancy unit said to always class CPs as MCs as they are MCs.

The early pregnancy until told me I should have stated my CP as a MC rather than not mention it at all as then I could have been eligible for earlier scans and help from the reoccurant loss clinic sooner.

The consultant who took care of me during my last pregnancy said exactly the same too when I gave her details of my history with pregnancy and loss.

I had a "chemical" and the midwife completely dismissed it and said it wasn't even worth documenting on my notes when I was at my booking appointment with my first. Not sure it was even classed as a chemical to be honest but I missed a pill without really realising, felt like I may have been pregnant for about 10 days before finally giving in and testing, had positives for 14-15 days then started to bleed. I didn't even mention it this pregnancy (different midwife). I wish I had though!

Thank you @PumpkinChai really useufl to know and makes sense to me as could be to do with progesterone etc

Just to update it was a chemical as got another faint line on Friday 11DPO and then got my period today bang on time. Will note the dates in case I go to the Dr in future @PumpkinChai Also wondering if it's to do with still breastfeeding my girl, as I seem to be fertilising eggs but not holding on to them so could be low progesterone which is linked to breastfeeding. Going to try and stop before next ovulation date. If I do go the Dr I'll let you know what happens in case it's useful info. Thanks for the messages ladies x

Sorry to everyone who’s had losses on here.

I think I had a chemical this month. I had lots of symptoms I wouldn’t normally have. I also had the faintest of lines on a test and a late period however now it’s arrived and it’s much heavier and more painful than a normal period.

Is there anything that I should be doing differently next time or is it just one of those things

Hi @Bergerdog I’m so sorry and feel for you. Getting that positive then losing it is so hard, rollercoaster. I think, without being an expert, that chemicals are very common. 1 in 4 pregnancies miscarry, most of them are in the first trimester and most of them are chemical I think. So is something that happens a lot often because of chromosomal issues. My fertility nurse friend says our bodies are really clever and just know when it’s not a good blastocyst. So nothing you can do differently. As @pumkinchai said you can log it as a miscarriage and if it happens three times the your Dr might look into it. I’ve had two in two months of trying so thinking there is something amiss but might not be, might be one of those things. Just going to give the breastfeeding end a go (it’s time to stop anyway) xx

Sorry for your loss.

I had a CP 2 weeks ago. I had taken 6 tests over a week as the line didn’t seem to be getting any darker so I took two digital tests and the weeks calculator came back as 1-2 which didn’t add up with my dates? I didn’t know CP were a thing so just assumed a faint line is a line and my dates were wrong. Then AF came. It’s devastating as we’ve been TTC for 5 months now and people fall pregnant without trying or tracking!!

Worried it’s going to happen again - when I asked the dr they said the best thing is to not test early? But I would rather know (even though it’s upsetting) incase something is wrong.

Hi @Bonniecolou sorry about late reply I don't always get a notification when someone posts. I'm so sorry to hear about your CP it's such a hard rollercoaster when you see that positive and then lose it. And completely understand the worry it will happen again. Here are my thoughts on testing early good and bad:
Good - I have now had three CP in a row. I told the Dr and she has referred me to the gynaecologist unit, I'm on a long waiting list - I'm guessing 3-6 month waiting list. So I now have maybe six months of trying naturally (I'm 37 so after 6 months I'm meant to get help as anyway 😂) then I'll be checked out. If I fall pregnant in that time, great, if not I've worked my way up the waiting list. This is why I think it's good to test early, not mega early but one or two days before period. Otherwise if there's something amiss I'd have another 3-6 months to wait.
Bad - it's heartbreaking and I don't want to know! From now on I won't test early because I'm on the waiting list, I hope to god I don't get the same symptoms as the last three times so that I don't know as it's awful. So practically it's good psychologically it's very bad!

Other stuff I have learned that might help others looking on this thread:

• take conception vitamins
• take vitamin D
• some women take magnesium after a few CPs
• some take aspirin to cover the blood clot issue (but research this as is usually a very low dose and some don't recommend it)
• some early research makes a link between CPs and having Rhesus negative blood (even with the anti-D injection)
• under active thyroid worth testing for
• Drs don't prescribe progesterone anymore, new research says it's not a thing according to the miscarriage association

I’ve just had my 3rd chemical this morning after getting faint lines since 10 Nov on pregnancy strips.

I don’t feel like I’ll ever carry to term and it’s making me really sad, I can’t seem to get past AF date let alone anything else.

What is wrong with me 😔 awaiting gynaecology referral so will also update once I actually get an appointment which could be months and months x

Hi @BriocheBuns I know it's so hard, chemicals don't even allow you to start worrying about early MCs, it's a hurdle some people don't have to jump, but don't despair. They really are so common having a few might not mean anything for your chances. And things look better a bit later in the cycle, the day AFTER comes and ye few days after things look most bleak, but by your next ovulation I'm sure you'll feel a bit better. Sending sympathy and empathy x