Many women experience the disappointment of a negative pregnancy test when they are trying to have a baby. Sometimes, even along with the negative pregnancy test, they may have symptoms of pregnancy, and this can be very confusing. If you have a negative blood test but still feel pregnant, let’s take a look below for some reasons why you may be feeling this way.
I Had a Negative Pregnancy Test but Still Feel Pregnant—Why Does This Happen?
1. The Test Is Done too Early
Pregnancy tests look for the pregnancy hormone HCG. This takes time to build up in the system, if the test is done before there is enough of this hormone, it will be a false negative. This usually happens when women test before they even miss their period. If you wait a few days after you have missed your period, a negative test should not be a false negative given the high sensitivity of the tests.
2. Variations in the Time of Ovulation
If you don’t have regular cycles and possibly ovulate late in your cycle, then you may be testing too early. Once in a while, even women with regular cycles can ovulate late in the cycle. Therefore, it could delay the detection of HCG levels. HCG is detectable around 8 days after ovulation but up to two weeks after you conceive. Wait a little while and test again if your period has not started.
3. Miscalculating Your Period
You may get a negative pregnancy test if you are miscalculating your period, especially when you forget the date of your last period. If your partner has healthy sperm and conditions are just right, there is a 3-day window when you can get pregnant around the time of ovulation. You may ovulate, but conception occurred a few days after. If you think you have a negative result due to miscalculation of dates, wait a few days and test again.
4. Diluted Urine When Testing
This happens when the test sample somehow gets diluted, making the testing device fail to pick up the HCG in the blood. If a pregnancy test is negative, it should be followed up by a physical examination and/or ultrasound for confirmation.
5. High-Dose Hook Effect
I Had a Negative Pregnancy Test but Still Feel Pregnant—What Should I Do?
So what you can do if you have a negative blood test but still feel pregnant. It really depends on whether you are expecting your cycle or not. There is a 50-50 chance that the test could be false negative if you are not expecting you period. Just wait for a few days to have another test.
You should repeat a test after two to three days if you missed the period several days ago and got a negative test result. However, if your period came and you still feel pregnant, you should wait until several days after the menses to take another test.
It may indicate there are other causes of your missed menses if you got a negative test again. You can repeat the test one more time if you want. But if you get a negative test this time, it almost means for sure that you not pregnant. You may “feel pregnant” for other causes that need you to go to see a doctor. Also, it could be just too hard for you to accept a negative test if you tried really hard to get pregnant.
Personal Experience of Others
You’re not alone if you have a negative blood test but still feel pregnant. There are many women that experience pregnancy symptoms but have negative tests. Here are a few cases of women who had negative pregnancy tests, symptoms of pregnancy and then a positive test later on, sometimes much later.
Case 1 “I’m pregnant and have been since the start of June. I took my first blood test on June 23rd to see if I was pregnant, even though I had my period that month because I had been throwing up for 3 days. But the result was negative.
Then in the middle of July, I started to get sick every single morning. I went to the doctor and he told me I was either pregnant or allergic to something I was eating. Later that night, I took a pregnancy test at home and it was positive. I went back to the doctor (a different doctor) and he did an ultrasound and found out I was pregnant! The period was actually implantation spotting.”
--Anonymous
Case 2 “I had a positive pregnancy test the week of my missed period. And 8 weeks later, I went to my doctor and took a blood test which came out negative. I had pregnancy symptoms and I could feel my body changing. The doctor had me come back two weeks later and my blood test was finally positive. It took time for my hormones to build up in my body. I knew I was pregnant and I was right! Good luck to everyone and hopefully this will not drive you crazy like it did to me.”
--Anonymous
It is important to trust your instinct when you think you are pregnant. There are a lot of women that just “know” they are pregnant right from the start. Your friends or family may tell you it is “all in your head”, but you know better than anyone else about your body. Most often, women with a strong suspicion of pregnancy turn out to be right!
