Hi, Anon, and welcome to EmpowHer. Thanks so much for your question.
Most home pregnancy tests are set up to be accurate only after you are late for your period. They measure a hormone in your urine called HCG for short. HCG only shows up in your urine when you're pregnant. If you test too soon, there may not be enough of it for the pregnancy test to detect.
A lot of things can cause us to be irregular, even when we're usually as accurate as a clock. Stress, changes in temperature, changes in activity, nutrition or medicine. My thought is that the fact that you stopped your birth control last month means that your cycle is a little off from that -- and that could explain why your premenstrual symptoms (or the lack of them) are different as well. You are used to what they are while taking the pill, but they may be different as your body settles in to do its own hormonal work.
If I were you I would wait at least until the 24th or 25th before taking another HPT, and use a test that says it is accurate if you're just late by a day. (I would tell you to wait a little longer, even, but I don't think you'd be able to. =)
Hang in there, be patient (I know, I know, it's so easily said and so difficult to do) and give it a few more days at minimum. And be sure to come back and update us, OK?
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Hi, Anon, and welcome to EmpowHer. Thanks so much for your question.
Most home pregnancy tests are set up to be accurate only after you are late for your period. They measure a hormone in your urine called HCG for short. HCG only shows up in your urine when you're pregnant. If you test too soon, there may not be enough of it for the pregnancy test to detect.
A lot of things can cause us to be irregular, even when we're usually as accurate as a clock. Stress, changes in temperature, changes in activity, nutrition or medicine. My thought is that the fact that you stopped your birth control last month means that your cycle is a little off from that -- and that could explain why your premenstrual symptoms (or the lack of them) are different as well. You are used to what they are while taking the pill, but they may be different as your body settles in to do its own hormonal work.
If I were you I would wait at least until the 24th or 25th before taking another HPT, and use a test that says it is accurate if you're just late by a day. (I would tell you to wait a little longer, even, but I don't think you'd be able to. =)
Hang in there, be patient (I know, I know, it's so easily said and so difficult to do) and give it a few more days at minimum. And be sure to come back and update us, OK?
June 20, 2009 - 6:48pmThis Comment
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