Early pg tests 'causing unnecessary m/c grief' - MN gets a mention, too.

[suedonim]

What does everyone think about this article on the new early pg tests now available? Mumsnet and Justine get a mention further down.

Although I agree with edam about home testing kits. Very dodgy area.

I don't disagree that very early tests set women up for heartache - and I don't see the need to keep developing tests that women can use earlier and earlier in their cycles. The earlier we can test, the more of us will go through being aware that we have lost a pregnancy.

BUT I am offended by the medical sophistry that suggests that these are not 'real' miscarriages. Of course they are, and there is no need for any other name for them. When this happened to me, after years and years of trying to achieve pregnancy, I was of course aware that very many pregnancies end at this stage, but it would NOT have helped for some smart alec to tell me that I shouldn't be upset because I had not been 'really' pregnant. Renaming this experience won't lessen the pain of it. Helping women to understand the emotional risks of compulsive early testing, and the very high incidence of very early miscarriage, might.

Edam - what would you suggest to someone like me, who doesn't have a missed period to go by, and had a very overdue baby (and was very ill after delivery) because my dates weren't the same as their scan?

Early tests can cause heartache, but in my case I have had the reassurance that there is no disputing my dates, and that my baby is safer as a result.

"BUT I am offended by the medical sophistry that suggests that these are not 'real' miscarriages"

Aren't these what the term 'chemical pregnancy' was devised for?? There's an American woman who keeps a very savage but quite funny blog called Chez Miscarriage about her conception / miscarriage / pregnancy problems, onto which I stumbled once, ages ago. She is suffering the aftereffects of DES exposure in her mother and has had loads of early miscarriages. She amusingly wrote an entry about how the only true chemical pregnancy is the one where you're given a shot of hcg in the a*se.

Edam: vaguely remember hearing about that scratch and sniff test - really appalling. My mother hasn't had a sense of smell since she was in her teens (on the other hand... )

I think I may have had a very early miscarriage the other month. I was convinced I was pregnant (very long list of symptons) despite being only 10 days from ovulation. I did a reg pregnancy test and got a neg then a couple of days late got my period (which was unusually heavy). I was surprised to get my period (despit the neg) as I was so sure I was pregnant and had just tested too early. If I had got a positive I would have found the period/miscarriage upsetting.
It was only in retrospect when I thought about all the symptons I had (enlarged tingly breasts, up 3 times a night to go to the loo) that I realised that I probably had been pg. Am so glad I didn't have to go through the highs and then lows of knowing I was pregnant and then losing it.
My only wish to know is that it would be useful in living your day to day life. Am currently being good in the weeks between ovulation and period just in case I have conceived - so no alcohol or aspirin and gentle exercise only (I only do yoga but even that you're not supposed to do for the first 14 weeks!). If I have to keep going like that for a month till I'm sure I'm pregnant it could get to be a bit of a drag!

I had a similar experience - a fairly faint +ve and then a very period-like bleed a few days later - except it wasn't an early hpt and I tested 5 days after the last possible day my period would normally have come. My dr did an hcg test just after the +ve and the levels were low, but he reckoned I had ovulated later than usual - with hindsight we now know the pregnancy was already failing at that point. So I can see there's something to be said for not testing, if ttc, until 6 weeks or so (not that I learned from it - next time I tested the day after my period was due and got a +ve, this time with the happy outcome of ds). I definitely class my experience as a m/c though and didn't appreciate the attitude of the dr at the hospital who made very light of the whole thing (incl shoving the now -ve pg test in my face and telling me I was young and could have another so should stop making a fuss).

Mmmmmm I think it is definately setting yourself up for the fall but defy any woman who would like to be PG, with access to an early pregnancy test not to do one.

But then you would definately feel you had lost a baby.

I just did an ordinary test today, 2 days late. It was positive and I feel noticeably more pregnant today than yesterday, although clearly i'm not and it is still v. early days.

Personally I wouldn't take an early pg test. I would wait until my body says I migt be pg (eg missed period) I am sure that I may have gone through a few early misscarriages if I think about it. Periods a few days late and then heavy with achy boobs. However I wouldn't have occured to me to think I was pg. BUT that is me, not others and I can understand why people do early tests. Not say I approve tbh except in certain circumstances

Congratulations, Flum!

oh good o Flum

I deliberately didnt do a test till my period was due even though I knew I was pg as I was worried that if I found out for sure and then got my period I would feel that I had had a m/c.

I took one this time 3 days after I was due found out I was pregnant then started to bleed then it was major panic and up and down to the hospital

with my other two I didnt find out till I was 8-9 weeks so there wasnt this anguish I bled in both of those too

and they are trying to say my dates are different than they are even now but still

at dates arguing why can they never just let the mum decide what her dates are??

Yay to Flum

I think they definately cause misery, I have a had 2 positve tests which then went negative and although the 2nd time it was not as shocking as I had read up on it and knew it was likely. There was disapointment as I had dreamed of the 'baby' for a few days each time. I have a 6yr old now, but am experiencing "baby madness" at the moment again and am kind of ttc since april. Again I am early testing and obsessing just like the 1rst time which took 3 year to concieve and early hpts make it worse!!! but they are irresistible!

i'm not a fan of pregnancy tests at all!!!
My first test was daunting with DD1, i did'nt have a clue i was pregnant but due to all the signs i thought i'd better check!!! It came back negative so i was OK about it, but then 3 weeks after test i had severe stomach pains and was admitted to hospital to find out i was 4 months pregnant and i was having a bad case of cramp!!!!
After having DD1 i went on the Depo. Any way about 2 years later i started getting the signs i had first time round and couldnt believe it as i was on the depo, so i did 5 tests which all came back negative so carried on as normal until i was admitted to hospital again due to being violently sick. Guess what, i was 4 months pregnant!!!!!!!!!
Any way, thats why i don't like them and i agree that they can cause a lot of unneccesary heartache for women all over the world.
Butty.xx

I think the doctor at the end had a point about it being important for infertile people knowing whether they can actually conceive or not. Although the tests themselves must be 100% accurate first.

Normal pregnancy tests give you a strong positive immediately (I tested at 5 weeks and got an immediate answer twice now). I have also spent a fortune on negative tests as I was ttc for 4 years before this pregnancy and have incredibly irregular periods.

As for having pregnancy symptoms and then a heavy period, you may not necessarily be pregnant. Just 2 months before becoming pregnant this summer I had very strong pregnancy symptoms (sore breasts etc and felt awful and "full") and despite a normalish period I did a test - negative. And within days had a terribly heavy period. I bled for 3 weeks in total. The doctor told me that even if I was having a miscarriage the pg test would have still been positive and she referred me for a scan and I had a large ovarian cyst. The following menstrual cycle it had gone (thank goodness) and that was the month I conceived.

So despite suffering very badly and worrying about the cyst, it kick started my reproductive system and I managed to conceive.

It is very important that I know when I am pregnant as soon as possible as I am diabetic and must work extremely hard throughout pregnancy. It isn't just a case of letting nature take its course as I would have a deformed baby if a live one at all. There are other people who must be vigilant through pregnancy too, epileptics and asthmatics etc, so early knowledge is vital.

Thank god we aren't all left to get on with it like our mothers' were.

I suffered two early (9-11 weeks) 'missed abortion' type miscarriages when TTC my now five year old son. I was late thirties and told if i did not conceive naturally no help would be forthcomng as I was too old. Now I think I have had a number of earlier misses over the years, but because I was not testing and not TTC I was not upset. I think if I had known I was pregnant I would have ben upset so have saved heartache, but on the other hand if I had known I had a problem much earlier, maybe I could have sought help and had more than one child. Sooo... testing yes, but earlier than your period due?....no I don't think so.

Also I think I should add it can be pointless to test too early and then you dont believe the negatives as it could still be too early for the test to show positive yet so you test again and again before your period is even due hoping that it was just to early and that there might still be a chance. so you're no more enlightened either way and you might as well have waited untill your period had the chance to be late. I have already done three negative tests and my period is not late yet so probably a complete waste of time and Money!!!! and emotional energy