No HCG in pregnancy - truth or myth?

[Ells0204]

I’m looking for, if anything, if someone could enlighten me on how it could be possible that some women could make it to 6, 8, 12 and even more weeks of pregnancy but are unable to get positive urine or blood tests.

There seem to be a hell of a lot of women online (they all seem to hang out on forums?) who claim they could never test positive until a lot further along into their pregnancy. Never tested positive on a home test, even blood tests at the Drs, yet when they went for a scan they saw a 12-week old baby bobbing around.

Say a standard home test as a sensitivy of 25. That would mean up until 3 months gone their HCG is below 25, how on earth do you sustain a pregnancy with a beta of less than 25 for the first trimester?

So...truth or myth?

By the way, reason for this is I am on CD47 with no period but negative tests. Slowly succumbing to the fact I am not pregnant, my body has just decided to F with me. I refuse to be one of those poor people that become convinced they’re having a pregnancy with no HCG and are crushed when they eventually get a period or are told by a Dr they are clinically NOT pregnant! Giving it until CD60 before I see a GP to investigate and hopefully kick start things along.

My mum never got a positive test with me

Was only confirmed with a scan

So I think it can happen but is incredibly rare

Soubriquet

How long ago was that though? 20 years? 30 years?

They hang out on forums to peddle false hope!!

@Soubriquet @ThatOneHurt I can understand it a bit better if we’re talking years ago. I imagine home tests were probably not great quality in the 80s or 90s

But in this day and age I just can’t get my head around why HCG wouldn’t show?

Another thought is most people probably assume these women aren’t tracking properly and ovulated later, but I can’t see how someone could ovulate 1 or 2 months later and not realise. And that’s very very late for ovulation especially if they are regular.

I miscarried twice with very low HCG and they appeared on tests!

Anyone else got any stories or theories?! Medical explanation would be even better!

@physicskate my thoughts exactly! It’s always a friend of a friend or an auntie or sister in law

Most of the time it’s to do with improper use / cheap /expired pee on a sticks. Nobody gets zero hcg on a blood test. Also, remember that internet forums often contain a lot of people from other countries some of whom might not even know what hcg is. It’s very possible that the person posting that they didn’t have enough hcg is actually talking about progesterone (actually I would bet that in 50 percent of cases they are).

Ah yes would have been 30 years ago yep

No one ever gives proper details either. I just assume many of them test too soon and then don't test again and say 'I tested negative until XYZ'. It's always someone's relative or someone with really vague details who never answers any questions so I'm really sceptical about it. Perhaps a small minority get caught by the hook effect (so don't test until they have really high HCG and get a false negative). But the negative blood tests are a mystery as I've no idea how anyone could be pregnant and not have HCG in their blood.

@celebelly I agree

I read something online (more of an article but with no source of the information or research to back) that if a mother conceives at a stressful time, the baby “lies low” in order not to cause her any more stress and therefore miscarry. It’s meant to be like a survival tactic where the body favours the mother rather than the baby, so no HCG which means no symptoms. Not sure how much of that I believe either!

Load a crap I reckon

So, verdict is Myth!

Unless anyone still wants to step up and prove truth 😂

Aaaaaand my period’s just shown up on CD48. On to the next one! Lol

No, 6 weeks maybe but deffo not 12.. and if u are very far along a home pregnancy test may say negative but I don't think a blood test would..

Good luck for next cycle! I had an 80-day cycle once a few years ago for no real reason that I could fathom, but it's especially not helpful when you're TTC and your body plays tricks on you!

@Celebelly ahh thank you! I know what a pain, I’m embarrassed to admit I used my last test this morning JUST in case...and of course AF showed up a few hours later!

I’ve never temped before so I’m going to give that a go especially since this cycle was so off.

Thanks for messaging back!

I didn't get a BFP on a cheapie till I was, what I thought, 6.5 weeks pregnant (closer to 6 weeks actually it turns out from scans, but was tracking and thought I knew when I ovd) and even then it was faint!

Luckily was also using FRERs so saw BFP on day I thought AF was due.

I wonder if many of the women not getting BFP till late are also using cheapies? I was hanging about on the TTC board for a while and saw quite a few actually not getting a BFP till a week or two later than you would expect.

I am sorry though OP about how shit TTC is and how your body can fuck with you like this. When I had an oddly long cycle and went to GP I was just told it was stress from TTC and need to relax (well... easier said than done!) I suppose at least AF has shown up, rudely late, but yeah give temping a go for sure.

Temping saved my sanity I think when TTC. My cycles have always been pretty irregular, although thankfully they were relatively stable when TTC but certainly not like clockwork. Knowing when I'd ovulated and when to expect my period reduced a lot of stress as I knew when I would actually really be late. Also helped with knowing we'd nailed (no pun intended) the timing correctly (and could stop bloody shagging at long last!)

Low hug is certainly a thing for me. Just been for an "early" scan to date this pregnancy- I have pcos and irregular cycles but was guessing around 7 weeks, going off when I had my first (very faint) btp. So surprised to see a 13 week bubba on the scan! I must have been about 8 weeks when I got the faint test. Using cheapy tests so that may have something to do with it? Thinking back, last pregnancy I got a late btp too.

*bfp not btp!

@Celebelly Didn’t do this morning because I was up at 4:30am to use the loo (thank u PMS) then up again at 6:25 when OH’s alarm went off so wasn’t sure when to take it. Will start tomorrow properly and hopefully I get an undisturbed sleep!
And my god the shagging. When we started it was so fun and exciting and bought us so close together. 11 months in and jeeeeez this is a ride I can’t wait to get off (also no pun intended)

@twittlebee @threetwins I think there is definitely a trend going on with these internet cheapies as I also read many women say they didn’t get BFPs on them until 6 weeks! I also personally never really got a positive on an IC (with the ones I MCd) but congratulations on your pregnancy you’ve given me hope!