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.

I've had about 40 chemicals I think. Three miscarriages and five live births. Shit happens. I didn't want five kids. I set out to have one. Still happy as a pig in shit mind.

Shit! Sorry, I've got the wrong thread. Similar topic. Sorry!!!!

Back in the day we just did a pregnancy test ,if positive great and then waited for scan at 12 weeks 🤷‍♀️Definitely think tracking HCG levels and mumsnet makes pregnancy more stressful!!

Agree ! It’s all about money.

Totally agree op. I didn't test until I'd missed 2 periods - I had PCOS so it was usual for me. I've been pregnant twice, once resulted in a child, once was a MC at 11 weeks, which I cannot be sad about because it was not a baby and it was not meant to be.

Yes. I had multiple miscarriages. I stopped testing. I think I had another miscarriage but can’t confirm it because I didn’t test. That made it easier for me to deal with. Then I got pregnant with DD. I tested. Not an early test - my period was about a week late. I cried because I was expecting another miscarriage.

It took a good few months before I realised that you might actually have a baby after getting pregnant.

Not using early tests would have saved me from a lot of heartache but not from all of it (also lost pregnancies at around 6 weeks, 9 weeks and 13 weeks).

How incredibly rude. I'll discuss what I want, thank you.

Lots of interesting input, some of it quite rude and dismissive 😒, but all very interesting.

The reason I started the thread was it's something that I've been pondering for a while.

Do people think this thread should be moved? I didn't mean it to be insensitive to people who are TTC.

It's insensitive to all manner of people OP, not just those who are TTC.

I don't understand how when people say they didn't test til a week after their missed period it makes any kind of difference. I would know I was pregnant by then, test or no test, because I track my cycles and they run like clockwork.

yes and no

i had a straight forward pregnancy with my son but then had 6 mc ( 3 of these were chemicals technically) before I had my daughter

the three years of recurrent miscarriages were pure hell and I tortured myself with pregnancy tests .

I think they have a place but the clear blue weeks indicators ones are the worst and cause so much stress

I've had 4 miscarriages and the CB with weeks indicator correctly predicted my MC every single time.

For me that was preferable, I'd rather know what was happening than have false hope.

I don't think this conversation should be shut down. We're allowed to consider the pros and cons of these things.

I've had one and would still rather know. Even with early miscarriages the bleeding isn't necessarily like a heavy standard period. When I first realised I was bleeding abnormally I was concerned it could be cervical cancer related. A sensitive test detected hcg, which at least saved me unnecessarily having further tests for abnormal bleeding and more worry.

There is also a lot of symptom similarities between very early miscarriages and ectopic pregnancies, which I don't think is widely enough known. Bleeding/on going spotting and levels of hcg that are lower and not rising normally could actually be an ectopic rather than a chemical pregnancy. Therefore early tests can also help to pick up ectopics earlier by detecting that hcg is present and getting checked out if these don't fall to non pregnant levels after a miscarriage, rather than risking waiting for the pregnancy to grow enough to rupture and potentially be life threatening.

it isn't though, a miscarriage is a lost pregnancy. These were never established pregnancies, so they are not miscarriages.

Most conceptions don't become established pregnancies. Almost every mother on earth ever, has had "chemicals" but luckily 99.9% of them have never known.

I think early tests are great, anything that gives women knowledge is a good thing. If they don't work for you, then don't use them.

I do think there should be more awareness around miscarriage and the fact that having one or two on the way to an average sized family is very normal.

But repeated early miscarriages (and that's what chemicals are, your GP should record them as a miscarriage although not all will) are not normal and as others have said that's useful information as conception is quite complicated and it's not always easy to pin down the problem.

Sorry but recurrent miscarriage clinics do consider chemical pregnancies to be miscarriages.

yes, I have never heard of a chemical, and do not know what it is

In my day you had to wait until 2 weeks late and then either go to docs for a test or pay a fortune for one of the newfangled tests from Boots which were about £12, a lot of money then

I missed a period once when I was young and it was REALLY heavy the next month, I always wondered if this was a miscarriage but I will never know. I was always regular.

I did have a miscarriage once when I fell down the stairs and landed on my bum, I did not realise that I was pregnant but started spotting for about 2 weeks, I finally went to docs and I was about 11 weeks and my cervix was open and I had to have a D&C after a scan

It just never entered my head to get a test, probably cos they were so expensive

I think if you are just casually ttc then there is no need to know (but some women want to know and that's ok). However if you are at the stage when you are having treatment or tests then I think it can be helpful to know if you have a problem getting pregnant or if your problem is staying pregnant.

I disagree. I had multiple chemical pregnancies / early miscarriages all before 5 weeks. Knowing that I was able to get tested and be treated with medication and immediately had healthy baby to having dealt with the problem

But repeated early miscarriages (and that's what chemicals are, your GP should record them as a miscarriage although not all will) are not normal

That's partly my point though - maybe they are normal? And it's only in the last few years that tests have been sensitive enough to detect them.

Of course it was a pregnancy. You don’t produce HCG until you are pregnant. That’s the chemical part of ‘chemical pregnancy’.

Well done for minimising early miscarriage through.

We do know that they aren't though.

And if two different women go to a fertility specialist, both have been testing regularly and one has had no positives and the other multiple chemicals, then that tells the specialist that they likely have different problems as in one of them the sperm is meeting the egg and fertilising it.

If you prefer not to test that's fine, but don't try to deny other women that information.

Yes … because we have the science now to pick up problems early.

There is nothing normal about miscarriage. Miscarriage is the result of a medical problem.

I think I’m out now. I’ll leave you posters who want to minimise pregnancy loss, tell women that their 11 week loss was ok because it wasn’t a baby, and insist that it’s our own fault we are upset because we are testing early to it.