Dye stealers have stopped & tests are lighter 6/7 weeks

[EllieJade95]

Hi everyone,

Looking for some reassurance because I am a total mess right now. I found out I was pregnant last Thursday and am either 6 or 7 weeks (I have irregular periods so not entirely sure). My lines have been progressing and getting darker since Sunday on the cheap pink sticks you get from Amazon, they have been strong enough to show the first line is a lot darker than the 2nd line which I was really happy with.

I took one last night (I know I need to stop doing them) and noticed it wasn’t necessarily very light, but it was no longer a dye stealer. I then did another one a hour and a half later and noticed a clear difference - I went into absolute panic and suddenly felt like I couldn’t feel my sore boobs anymore. That came back within a hour or two and now can feel them and the test I did before bed did have darker line than the other but just not as much as normal. I then test this morning with my first wee and it’s definitely not darker and I’m scared it’s going lighter and this could mean a miscarriage. I had also been having twinges most days but haven’t had any since Wednesday. I have seen about the hook affect but I tried the diluting and it didn’t really make a difference.

I’m terrified right now I may have an impending miscarriage 💔 has anyone had this exp before and been fine? I still have the sore boobs but nothing else (I haven’t really had much since the beginning anyway)

1st pic is from Wednesday
2nd is when I tested about 6pm last night
3rd is last night before bed about 11pm
4th is this morning
5th is another pic of this morning where it looks a lot lighter

I know it’s already been said but you need to stop testing. Go and throw out any tests you have if you can’t resist the urge. By 6 weeks mine we’re getting lighter. Had a scan at 8 weeks and all was fine. Tests aren’t designed to measure progression. This level of anxiety really is not good for you. Get rid of the tests, book yourself an early scan and speak to your midwife as soon as you can about your anxiety levels as you will likely need extra support measures in place

@Twoinapod Thank you for your advice - I’m definitely going to do that as I was already dealing with a bit of anxiety from having no symptoms and then that’s made it worse! Unfortunately I haven’t been able to speak to a midwife yet, but I’m sure when I do that will make me feel better x

Well, I'm a midwife and first - congratulations!
Second - stop testing FFS.
It doesn't change the outcome, and neither does having a scan.
And despite what you say about dopplers, you're exactly the kind of anxious mother who would buy one. So please don't.
And please throw your tests away.

@TheShellBeach Thank you for your message and congratulations. I haven’t said I thought they would change the outcome, but it’s a bit difficult when you find out your pregnant, can’t work out how many weeks, haven’t heard back from midwife and have no symptoms you may try and cling onto something to not drive yourself insane but obviously it can backfire. I will stop testing now.

I appreciate your comment but you will have seen in my previous comments I have mentioned I am concerned with a lack of symptoms & my twinges going. As a midwife, it would have been nice to have a comment of reassurance about that opposed to saying I’m “exactly the kind of mother” who would buy a doppler. I’ve said I wouldn’t, I would have absoloutely no idea what I’m looking at or listening for

@TheShellBeach I know scans don't change outcome but they do provide a level of reassurance, I have had a scan at the time that my last pregnancy stopped progressing and I'm having another one one on Wednesday at over 8 weeks pregnant which is when I found out about miscarriage the last time. I'm having it at EPU and what made me ring was the fact my nausea subsided so they gave me an appointment.

Early pregnancy anxiety is awful and people do illogical things, I'm suffering terribly with it, people do things that are probably even damaging to try and help themselves. I don't think I'll buy a dopper if this pregnancy progresses as I think it would cause more worry than help based on what others have said, but I'm not there yet and God knows what I would do if I was anxious enough.

You say you already feel negative/you need something to tell you you’re positive, but this is despite already having a shit ton of positive tests so I really don’t see the reassurance from a positive early scan lasting long for you.

Symptoms come and go at this stage, in fact for me the pregnancy I lost I had super strong symptoms from day 1, whereas the pregnancy where I had virtually no symptoms is now 3 months old and currently fighting a much needed nap!

I get what you’re saying about the midwife, but this early on you might not hear from them quickly. In your shoes I’d book an appointment with your GP and speak to them about how to get a handle on things.

Hi @EllieJade95 just wanted to say that I totally understand testing daily. I've had previous miscarriages and during my pregnancy's after I have always tested to see that line get darker. I also had my clearblue digital stay at 2-3 weeks for a couple of weeks which sent my anxiety through the roof. The pregnancy went on perfectly fine and my daughter is now 5.

Like others have said, your HCG is so high now that the variations in darkness will be variations of how much dye each individual strips holds and how dilute your urine is. If anything was to go wrong with the pregnancy it would take a long time for lines to fade.

Congratulations on your pregnancy. I hope you find some relief at your 8 week scan so you can relax and enjoy it. Those first few weeks I'm always a nervous wreck too so I totally understand how you're feeling.

Good luck. Xx

I don't know if this will help or make it worse, but I found it helped me when I was worrying about miscarriage.

https://datayze.com/miscarriage-chart

@PointyMcguire Yeah, it probably won’t. I’m sure I will be quite anxious throughout its just atm I have nothing to go on so I’m just hoping I actually am pregnant!

Yeah I know I probably won’t hear from them yet so I will speak to a GP. I just didn’t know pregnancy would feel so nerve wracking & that actually there is no way to have security - I didn’t even know a miscarriage could be missed or blighted ovum etc! So I think I have overwhelmed myself with that and now just thinking negatively.

@MixedUpChameleon Thank you so much for your message, I really appreciate it 💕 I’m just praying I have a successful pregnancy and thinking of all the negatives as that’s how my mind works xx

Sorry, OP.
I want trying to be snippy. I can see that my comment wasn't very helpful.
When I was pregnant myself (many times - lots of miscarriages and four live babies) I found that my symptoms were different each time. They did come and go, even in the pregnancies which were successful.
I honestly feel that you're torturing yourself with all the tests.

@TheShellBeach Thank you and I do agree I think I’m torturing myself as well so I will stop them - I think it just threw me off & I didn’t expect it but I’m hoping it is just cause my levels are rising.

I’ve got to just accept that at the moment I need to continue with my life & whatever will be, will be. It’s my first pregnancy, I didn’t even think I’d be able to conceive & just feel overwhelmed! I have a huge anxiety of turning up for a scan and either no baby or no heartbeat, but I know there’s nothing I can do about it just finding it really hard to think about if that happens.

I do appreciate your comments and they make sense. In terms of symptoms I’ve now seen lots of people say they had no symptoms (and people say they were super strong but still had a MC) my mum had no symptoms with me or my sister until 13 weeks with me she started getting nausea. I think it was more I only had 2 days of twinges and then went - my mind told me surely if my body was adapting to pregnancy etc it wouldn’t of gone so quickly but I will just have to try and learn to deal with it!

I think it’s safe to say with all those positive tests you’re definitely pregnant 😉

Try to take each day as it comes and remember that people often post about the bad stuff, and that whilst miscarriages, blighted ovum, ectopic pregnancies etc do happen, there are equally lots of unremarkable successful pregnancies happening too that don’t get spoken about as much as there’s very little to comment on/you don’t need the same support/advice/reassurance when everything is going swimmingly.

Personally I found a lot of comfort in the miscarriage chart that someone posted upthread. I also found a nice 1st trimester mindfulness meditation on YouTube that I did religiously in the early days as it felt like I was doing something to help the pregnancy stick (of course I know it wouldn’t really affect the outcome, but it felt good to feel like I was doing something to positively impact the pregnancy and on a practical note helped lower my stress/anxiety). My 8wk scan was great to a point, but it wasn’t long before my anxiety reared it’s ugly head again and I was still convinced that things would have all gone wrong by the 12wk scan, which is why I caution against relying too heavily on an early scan to allay fears.

I know it’s easier said than done but try to enjoy the moment. I promise when you’re struggling to get off the sofa/put socks on/walk/sleep etc in the 3rd trimester you’ll look back on those early days and wish you’d just enjoyed the symptomless pregnant days rather than worrying over things outside your control.

@EllieJade95 how are you getting on now?
I'm in a similar boat at 8 weeks, my symptoms have reduced and my tests got lighter... making me worried! Hope things are looking better for you at the moment ❤️

@Growinganaries Hey! Congratulations on your pregnancy. Unfortunately this pregnancy ended in a miscarriage but it was nothing to do with the tests as they did actually get darker again after this post. I am pregnant again (just over 14 weeks) and I stopped testing at 6 weeks 5 days when I had a good scan. I just didn’t see the point anymore because I obsessed initially over these ones and realised it meant nothing - I could have ended up having lighter ones and I wouldn’t have known. In terms of symptoms some of my symptoms came and went and came back again (like now my nausea has completely stopped) I think there is no real explanation but personally believe when they say “if your symptoms suddenly stop it could be a miscarriage” I think that’s only if it’s paired with bleeding, as realistically the hormones are still in your body so why would they suddenly stop?
During my miscarriage I still had symptoms even though baby had stopped growing 3 weeks prior & had symptoms still until about a week after my surgery. I know it’s so much easier said than done but bin the tests! Have you had a scan yet?

Thank you so much for your helpful reply ❤️❤️❤️

So sorry your pregnancy ended in miscarriage, sending you lots of love and hope you're feeling ok. Congratulations on this pregnancy! It must be a conflicting time of emotions for you! Sending you lots of good wishes!!

Thank you that's really helpful. I do wish I hadn't tested. Definitely brought a lot more anxiety. I had a scan two weeks ago at 6w3d and saw a wee heart beat everything seemed ok at that point.

Such a terrifying and out of control tjme isn't it. All I can do is hope I guess!
I have another scan with NIPT at 10w 5d so I think I'm gonna try and hold off until then unless I get and bleeding etc.

Xxxx

@Growinganaries Thank you for your well wishes 😘
I totally get it but my advice would be the same as everyone’s, try your very best to stop doing the testing. If I compare my anxiety from my first pregnancy to this, whilst I have anxiety this time because I had a missed miscarriage I think stopping doing the testing at 6 and a half weeks made me a lot less anxious. What I learnt is that by 8 weeks, you already have so much of the hormone in your body (even if you doubled every 3 days instead of 2, like I think I did this time) that a pregnancy test is not an indication of a healthy pregnancy. I truly believe the only time a lighter test perhaps indicates anything is in the early days when you could of had a chemical, but realistically unless you had symptoms of a miscarriage e.g bleeding as well as a lighter test it won’t mean anything. Even with my MMC I had symptoms everyday 4 weeks after the baby stopped growing & even after I found out AND after my surgery to remove. I know everyone says the same thing but when you actually think of it logically your pregnancy test wouldn’t get lighter due to something being wrong unless you had started having a physical miscarriage.

Good luck for your 10 week 5 day scan! You will be so surprised how much they grow and change in that short space of time 🥰 are you doing NIPT privately? I ended up opting out of the combined testing for my 12 week scan as I read loads of stories of women that had been given a higher result, spend the whole pregnancy depressed and anxious just to find baby was born with no health issues.. and also women they were told were low risk and still did! I just thought it would make my anxiety worse and potentially ruin the pregnancy but I think the NIPT is a lot more accurate than the NHS screening!

I’m sure everything will work out perfectly fine for you ❤️

Thank you so much for your advice - so helpful & appreciated! I'll try to just go with the flow! Plus I'm feeling mildly anxious right now woooo!!

Yeah I'm paying for my NIPT same place I got my early scan. Decided to do it for a few reasons... I have a lot of family in other countries and it's fairly standard practice of 1st trimester care so seems more normal to me. It's still only a screening tool, but you're right it is more accurate than the nhs ones AND can be done earlier. I'f I came up high risk on nhs ones id want this noninvasive version before amnio/cvs. Plus if there may be a problem id quite like to know sooner rather than later...

Also it does the sex chromosomes too as bonus if you want them... weird to think I'll know the gender in 2 weeks!!

So pleased your feeling I'm a good place :)))

@EllieJade95 meant to say I'm feeling mildly nauseous not anxious 😂😂😂😂 that too! 🤪

Ok, so I know you commented this a while ago but I saw your comment and I was like no way!! Haha! Omg I've just done it thinking it sounds ridiculous... and it worked hahaha!!

Hi all. Hoping for some advice regarding tests getting lighter.
I had my peak dye stealer at 6/7 weeks. For some reason yesterday I felt so much less pregnant (if that makes sense) than I had been. Symptoms felt less and I decided to do a test this morning. It was so much lighter and I’m quite worried. I’m 9/10 weeks now. Any one had similar experiences that can let me know their outcome?

The advice is stop testing!!! Tests at 9 or 10 weeks pregnant are still showing you are pregnant, so chances are you are doing OK. You only have a couple of weeks to go till your 12 weeks scan, so please step away from the tests.

thank you for putting what we are all thinking