Do you think that early pregnancy tests have caused more trouble than they've solved?

[BigFluffyHoodie]

It seems to me that these early tests show "chemical pregnancies" that weren't ever going to progress. And for millennia women have just had a heavier period, and known nothing about it. But now it's a thing? Rather than just a natural process that peters out.

Well plenty of clinical researchers disagree with your sister. Maybe you should widen your knowledge pool and see what other people think too. Be interesting to know who your sister is. Many of us who have experienced loss are pretty familiar with the names of significant researchers and groundbreakers.

I would never test before my due date so the super early ones make no difference to me.

Without home pregnancy tests I wouldn't have been sure if I was pregnant or not until I miscarriaged a baby I lost. I could never have mistaken it for a heavy period (at least I had never experienced a period like that, some women might), so I would have known but at least I wouldn't have got attached to the idea of my baby first.

? I know when you have a period!

A chemical or early miscarriage is still one that happens past the stage most women have missed a period.

If someone wishes to have an abortion, or needs to take specific medication (or stop other medication), stop drinking, stop taking recreational drugs, change the job role etc then they are good reasons to know before you are five weeks’ pregnant.

Not heard of implantation bleeding? Can be just like a normal period.

What a strange thread. So.
I'm off now, so I'll just add a good luck to anyone trying to conceive. It can be a tough journey 🌷

I'm torn. Having had 4 miscarriages including a chemical I'm not sure if it would have been better to just not be aware. Ignorance is bliss. We are still TTC now.

I completely agree with you OP.

We weren't using contraception for 3 years before I conceived (partly actively trying, partly just letting nature take its course).

I only ever tested if my period was late. To do otherwise had the potential for totally unnecessary angst and heartache.

I don't think they've helped, people still had phantom pregnancies, and people were still seen after a period of time if they've not fallen pregnant.

But omg the misery on this board! The obsession with line progression and the early testing and disappointment if they don't get a line. It makes TTC a battle zone and traumatic.

Err... No implantation bleeding is supposed to be spotting. If it's as heavy as a period you need to see a doctor.

I don’t think chemical pregnancies are a medically recognised thing are they ? I remember reading on here that someone’s GP said to them that it’s a term that was basically ‘made up on MN’. I do think testing before a missed period is silly and unnecessary. It absolutely causes more problems than it solves. I’ve had 4 pregnancies with varying outcomes. If people think a ‘chemical pregnancy’ is a medical event then they will be sorely disappointed if they ever have a miscarriage. At 12 weeks miscarrying 1st pg I was told by GP to go home and have a cup of sugary tea. I was outraged at the time but now realise it was actually quite good advice.

I am American and moved to England in the 90's. I missed a period, did a home pregnancy test and it turned out positive so I went to the surgery to have my pregnancy confirmed. The doctor sighed and rolled his eyes at me. He told me that "Americans are notorious for being so hasty and testing this early is unnecessary. I'm surprised you waited a month and not come in the day after conception. Come back to me IF or WHEN you miss a second period."

This was in 1997 and yes, the surgery policy was two missed periods and yes, he was an asshole doctor. When I missed a period in 2001, I waited two months and got yelled at because the surgery policy changed. I just couldn't win.

I'm convinced early detecting tests are a money making con.

They know people are desperate to find out so will sell them playing on that mind thought

Early detecting first help, it sent me into a whirlwind of paranoia.

Fucks sake no edit on app, doesn't help

Yes, finding out so early has only increased the heartache for women (specifically) I disagree strongly with the early tests, always have.

I would quite happily not known so early. It has made waiting through the first trimester agonising, after a previous MC. I think we have too much information available on everything TTC, pregnancy and baby related these days. My mum said she never worried about anything as she just didn’t know, I’m envious of that!

A challenge of any pregnancy loss is that there is so little information about it. Until I had two MMCs I had no idea that a MC wasn’t a ‘single event’, I had no idea that there was so little research into how or why pregnancy loss happens, had no idea of the pain and PTSD I’d suffer afterwards. Like birth, it is poorly depicted in popular media, and still rarely discussed.

I am guilty of underplaying the trauma of MC before having one, buying into a common narrative that it’s ‘just’ a heavy period. Whilst you may have a point that not knowing if you’ve had a chemical pregnancy may lessen that trauma, @BigFluffyHoodie, nicely - I wonder if it’s best not to appear to minimise the experience of a CP if you yourself have not gone through one. It is clear from this thread that many women have had helpful diagnoses off the back of early testing and CPs, and in my book any information that gives women power is worth it.

Given so many women have experienced CPs and the trauma attached and many may still be TTC, I also wonder if this board is the best place for this conversation or if it might be more sensitive to ask for it to be moved?

I think in a lot of cases yes. However I had six or seven ‘chemicals’ before dd1. I started taking aspirin and then I had her, whether the aspirin made the difference I don’t know. I suppose I wouldn’t have known I was conceiving but having problems carrying if it weren’t for the tests.

Dear lord the bullshit being spewed on this thread. A chemical pregnancy is a pregnancy which has been detected by increased hcg but not detected by an ultrasound so basically up to 6 weeks. So that’s up to 2 weeks after a missed period at which point I’m pretty sure most people would have tested…
So glad there’s women out there policing how far the pregnancy has developed and whether it’s far along enough for the woman to feel upset or if she should actually just beat herself up for testing too early.

I don't agree.

I have not used early tests yet, but it's good that the choice exists for women now.

I think pregnancy loss is upsetting at however many weeks.

I had an early miscarriage. It was not just like a heavy period and I needed a scrape. It was unplanned but I found out just before I lost it and was pretty gutted. Also shocked at the callous and uncaring manor the nurses at hospital had for me. I was only 20.

Well that’s strange - my DD was conceived in 1984 and my GP carried out a test after missing 1 period.

I agree. It has caused a lot of stress and obsession around early testing. All this line eyes stuff. Its ridiculous.

I think the point the OP is trying to make is that 40 years ago, women didn’t have the option of early pregnancy testing - you had to have missed at least 1 period and the tests were done generally at the GPs, so in reality you could be 6/7/8 weeks pregnant by the time it was confirmed. Therefore, it’s likely that many early miscarriages happened before a woman even knew she was pregnant, and it would have generally been seen as a late period. I know I had a couple of late periods before I conceived in 1984. In hindsight, they may have been early miscarriages. At the time I remember being gutted at not being pregnant. When I had an actual miscarriage at 8 weeks in 1988, I was absolutely devastated. My response to each situation was different because of the information that was available to women at that time. I still think, and feel a bit sad, about the pregnancy I lost at the time of the year when the baby would have been born. I can’t ever recall the 2 occasions when I could have been pregnant and miscarried early.
Not knowing that I was probably pregnant saved me from a lot of heartache.