Hello all!

[MarkThing]

Hey everybody,

Just thought I’d introduce myself - my name’s Mark, I’m 21 years old, I’m from sunny (yeah right!) England and I have a questions that I wasn’t sure where to ask – may as well ask here and see if anybody can help.

My girlfriend has had the hormonal contraceptive implant inside her arm for about 18-24 months now, and as far as I’m aware she has had no issues with it apart from the well-known side affects. We are currently doing the long distance relationship thing and we only get to see each other every 2-4 weeks. Recently (within the last week), since we last had sex about 2 weeks ago – she has been feeling nauseous for no apparent reason (has been sick once so far), she was feeling very faint/light-headed last night, hasn’t been eating properly and has mentioned tender/sensitive breasts. The implant means that she hasn’t had a period in some time, so there is no indicator there.

My question – do these sound like typical pregnancy symptoms? My girlfriend is practically refusing to look into it, placing absolute faith within this contraceptive implant, which I don’t have quite as much faith in, discovering recently that it has an effectiveness rate as follows: 1/100 people having regular sex over the space of a year fall pregnant with it. I’m worried that she could be pregnant, however she keeps telling me to stop worrying and she won’t even do a home pregnancy test or go to doctors to determine the cause of her symptoms – so I’m trying to do a little research on her behalf so that I can convince her at least to take the test. I’m using the internet at work so I can’t get access to any other websites for some reason.

My second question may be a little trickier to answer maybe – I have read somewhere that home pregnancy tests can be ineffective at determining pregnancy for some reason (one I’m not aware of). Anybody have any experience with this?

Maybe it’s something completely different and I’m just worrying waaaaay to much – after all, the chances of pregnancy are slim. Like I said, I’m having to do a bit of research on behalf of my extremely stubborn girlfriend at the minute, and where I can do my research is extremely limited – if I can find enough out to convince her that she could well be pregnant, I should be able to convince her to take the test and we can take the steps from there (if she is) to looking towards raising a child.

Hope you don’t mind me popping in to ask a couple questions!

Thanks in advance,

Mark

 

[Vickie]

They can be pregnancy symptoms, unfortunately though no one can say for sure until she consents to a test or to go to the doctors. Pregnancy symptoms vary greatly from person to person.

 

[maz]

Hi Mark

They could be pregnancy symptoms, then again, she may just be under the weather.

As for pregnancy tests not being effective, sometimes they would register a negative result if the hormone levels are not high enough, in which case it may be advisable to do another test a week or so later, if symptoms continue.

If your girlfriend is sure she's not pregnant, would she not do a test to prove to you that she is not pregnant, and put your mind at rest?

Good luck

 

[Ria_Rose]

They do sound like pregnancy symptoms, in fact exactly like them. But it would be best to be sure.

Is there any chance the hormons in the patch could be providing her with pregnancy symptoms?

Also, have you considered that your girlfriend may be in denile. Or perhaps she really does have total faith in her chosen method of contraception, but nothing is ever 100%, so it doesn't hurt to do a test just to make sure.

Pregnancy tests, as Maz said, depend on hormon levels so early on sometimes you can get a negative by mistake, however, a positive, is a positive. Doctors now believe home testing kits to be so accure they don't bother to do a test themselves after you have had a positive result at home.

Good luck, you seem to be a really careing guy to be doing this much research for your Girlfriend.

 

[lynz]

welcome to baby and bump

 

[leeanne]

Welcome to the forum!

Unfortunately, I can't say much more than what has already been said. Hope that you can sit and talk to her about testing.