Please help- bizarre line progression

[ExhaustedPigeon1988]

Hello, I have been to EPU, 3rd April HCG was only 22.6, and 5th April it was 36…. They won’t test again until 12th and I’m going crazy…..

the lines clearly lighten, was expecting a chemical- but it’s now getting darker again- is this even a thing? Anyone have any experience?

ivf pregnancy, I’m 4 weeks 4 days- and bloody terrified!

I think this is possibly a result of over testing and inconsistent samples at different times of the day.

If you look at your first morning urine (FMU) samples each day then the line progression looks more normal.

And it is faint as you started testing so early, so actually the latest line looks quite ok for 13dpo.

Your HCG will tell the real story though, so wishing you good luck for your next test.

Hope all works out ok. Doubly difficult when you've been through all you have to get to this point...

Thank you, it’s nice to have someone look at it who’s not invested if that makes sense? It’s 13days past transfer, so would be 18dpo, which is another reason I’m worrying how light it is x

There are huge ranges of normal HCG for each week of pregnancy. There are lots of tests very close together so that's why they're all so similar I reckon! HCG only doubles every 48 hours so testing morning and evening won't show a significantly darker line.

Wishing you well, I know how nerve wracking it is in the early weeks!

I completely appreciate this is IVF and you really want this to be ok, but testing 3 times a day won’t change the outcome and it’s clearly just adding stress.

You’re not really tackling this in a logical way, so the results are not going to make logical sense. it’s a completely unscientific experiment you’re creating because you’re testing at all sorts of different times, when you will be at different levels of hydration, and when you will have been the toilet at different times (eg 8 hours previous vs 1 hour previous) and then you’re expecting the results to be the consistent.
as difficult as it may be you need to stop testing. Or at least just test once a day with fmu and track that instead. Then you have to just try to stay busy this week until your appointment. Good luck op, hope everything’s ok and wishing you a happy healthy pregnancy

Agree with others that you can't look at the lines throughout the day and expect to see a pattern. Test at the same time every day and if you must line watch, watch from there.

I also had an IVF pregnancy that ended up being ectopic (which I didn't even know was possible from an IVF pregnancy!). I tested from 5dp5dt and the line varied wildly between then and test day (12dp5dt). Some days light, some days dark. My clinic agreed to do HCG tests early (at a cost) to put my mind at ease, not it just uncovered the issue earlier.

i hope that's not the case for you, but sensible to have it in mind!

I found only testing with FMU and only comparing every second day made it more obvious if there was line progression, doesn't guarantee anything but comparing different times of day and so close together, the tests just aren't accurate enough to give you any peace of mind.

Also, I had a dye-stealer by 16dpo with my first pregnancy but barely got a faint positive at 16dpo this time round so every pregnancy is different!

Thanks everyone- I’m so anxious. Having had many chemicals and miscarriages previously I worry so much, 1 successful pregnancy with my son, and the lines were much darker and progression was regular…. Making me even more worried. Doesn’t help HCG tests have both been very low, and EPAU won’t test again til Friday which seems like a life time away x