early pregnancy symptons that you *don't* read about in books?

[BlingDreaming]

I keep seeing references on MN to symptoms of pregnancy that may or not be scientific/imaginery/anecdotal and thought it would be interesting to gather them in one place.

I remember one person who had a theory that her one ankle would swell almost immediately, or something similar.

What little body quirks did you notice shortly after you became pregnant?

Oh and LittleOtik I got that one too!

Felt like I was coming down with a bad cold.

Early pregnancy I felt cold and shivery all the time.

I would wake up during the night and have a strange sensation in my arms. I can't really describe it- like a sort of heat in my arms. I would sit up for ages trying to work out what it was, if it was something worth worrying about, and trying to find words to describe the sensation to myself. Really odd.

I couldn't bear the smell of the fridge.

Constantly burping throughout. I've put that down to excessive consumption of antacids though.

Dry skin.

Spots disappeared.

cups of tea smelt like raw chicken. yuk.

I became short-sighted. My first pregnancy symptom was when I couldn't read the specials board in a pub! Unfortunately I didn't know I was pregnant and proceeded to drink 4 pints in said pub
My eyesight went back to normal sometime after delivery-I just borrowed DH's glasses for the duration!

definite metal mouth and totally hyper sense of smell

we were in Richmond Park and I had to leave because of all the smells from the Red Deer - I felt like a proper animal!

Aversion to coffee and alcohol, metallic taste in the mouth and all consuming tiredness - all from around a week after I think I conceived.

shooting pains in my fanny which re-appeared later in pregnancy as ligament stretching, plus horrendous nightmares for the first few weeks. And a headache - I NEVER get headaches so it made me wonder....

I had hyper smell too. And felt a bit dizzy and odd from about the time of conception for a few days...

arcadie I didnt know ibuprofen could cause miscarriage, I am glad I didn't at the time as for about a week before I knew I was pregnant I had wisdom tooth issues and was shovelling ibuprofen like it was candy. eek.
(there is a nearly 4-week old baby snoring on the sofa next to me so all was well in the end)

Gorionine my DH called me the 'queen of burps' for the first 3 months. So, no, you're not the only one!

Dandruff and massively itchy irritated scalp - definite pregnancy symptom as I have had it in 2 pregnancies and it went away immediately after first miscarriage. I look like a chimp scratching for fleas!

I've never encountered anyone else who had this one which I always get when pregnant: my leg hair stops growing or grows really fine. I hardly have to deal with my legs at all when pregnant.

Lower back pain and my eyelashes go white. I thought the eyelash thing was a bit of a one off with dd but has happened all 5 times and they have gone back to normal following m/c or birth.

I find I have to shave less often as well becky.

Epilating my legs didn't hurt much at all.

DH and I are ttc 1st baby and so I'm reading anything conception related on MN and furiously looking for symptoms.

This thread had me lmao many times and has cheered me up so much!

Keep the advice coming please!

Eczema which had troubled me since childhood totally disapeared and has never come back - that was the good one - also got the metalic taste and feeling that breasts had quadrupled in size and very visibly throbbing from day 1.

my ears keep going blurry... like when you get water in them.... but it would happen for hours at a time throughout the first 2 trimesters every time, not a day would go by without it happening.

also superhuman sense of smell, weird metal taste in mouth, leg hair stops growing (weirdly not underarm hair or bikini line ) and an inability to keep food down or stay awake for longer than 10 mins at a time.

thank god i'm not doing it again

I'm so glad to hear the leg hair thing isn't just me! When I told my mum she looked at me as if I were barmy! It's funny that it doesn't affect underarms or pubes too.

The metallic taste is the most unpleasant one I think. I'm ten weeks now and it has gone now, I think (I hope).

How about the insomnia? Pregnancy books go on about how tired you'll be, which is true, except at 5am!

I had the super-human sense of smell from day one as well (which, might i say, is a really crap super power to have!!!), and funny butterfly feelings in my stomach... then had to wait 2 1/2 weeks before i could take a test

Just to ask - where did you hear that ibuprofen can cause miscarriage? The paramedics told me i could take it at 5 weeks pregnant. They said the only issue with it was that it could sometimes cause stomach upsets.

One that I've never read in the books is the shivers. I got pregnant last August and it was reasonably warm but I was cold all the time. To the point of needing a hot water bottle. It really did feel like I was coming down with flu with the added bonus of feeling sick all the time too.

And the other is the absolutely disgusting taste in my mouth which has never really gone away and I'm now 40±5. It just tastes like something has died in my mouth and no amount of mouthwash or toothpaste can get rid of it. YUK.

Finally I agree with the burping and general unsettled feeling in the stomach. Again, YUK!

Farting pretty much constantly, and the especially smelly, something crawled up there and died kind. Every. Single. Day. That was from about 4-13 weeks. I only have the odd day of it now.

The same woman's been waxing my legs for years and says the hair's just not growing as fast. Woo hoo. Unfortunately it seems to have migrated to my chin and the mole on my neck...

Burps, headaches, boobs seem to have expanded sideways into armpits, constipation.

We're all so glamourous, eh? I thought being PG would be like an Isabelle Oliver advert.

glamorous.

Also baby-brain is not a myth. I am dizzyingly meandering through my once-efficient days.