Pre-implantation pregnancy signs

[WantsALittle1]

I posted in the TTC forum about very early pregnancy symptoms, but thought I might have more luck over here.

Most of us think that it's impossible to have signs of pregnancy before implantation--that the body can't possibly know we're pregnant until hCG rises. However, I just read online that there is a hormone in maternal blood approximately 48 hours after fertilization called Early Pregnancy Factor. I had never heard of this before. The hormone has been detected in scientific studies, and has been shown to be a solid indicator of pregnancy, well before implantation. Unfortunately it is very hard to test for and so they don't really test for it.

While it can't explain progesterone-related symptoms like cramps, bloat, gas, sore breasts, etc., apparently Early Pregnancy Factor does do something to change the woman's body: it suppresses the immune system. So could this be a possible explanation for the very widespread reports of colds, stuffy noses, fatigue, etc., within days of fertilization?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GroES


Add to that this article (https://m.humrep.oxfordjournals.org/content/12/12/2607.short)...

and it seems possible that women who feel like something is just off, and different, at only 2-3 DPO, might be onto something...?

 

[Essjay86]

Thats really interesting!!

 

[CWB86]

I dunno I think my own personal opinion sometimes with women that's ttc symptom spotting kinda takes over even when you try not to.
So a sniffle /a cold etc that normally you'd just get on with/not really notice, you relate to being an early sign
Theres also a large percentage of eggs that are fertilised that then don't implant, so a lot of 'non pregnant' women would also experience this

Just my thoughts x

 

[Heatherga2015]

well i hope you are right because im 2 dpo and my throat is scratchy and sore.....fx

 

[JLM73]

Wants - very interesting. I am always reading up on things- I've been in the med field most my life but Labor & Delivery was by far my fav section.
I am well read in most things related to the field, but this is really interesting.
No doubt the mind can convince the body to "act or feel" certain ways, but I think as humans we are in general just nosey and want to have a reason for everything hehe.
I guess some things in the universe will always been not completely understood, but if they have found it then it surely could cause some type of effect on the body, else wth is it only there after fertilization??
Hopefully one day they narrow down a test to save us all time and $ ...and sanity lol

 

[WantsALittle1]

Thank you everyone for having a read and replying.

I do think you all make good points about looking for signs, and looking for explanations of what's happening in us. What prompted me to do this reading was not being able to accept that all those women who undeniably feel something different during conception cycles could all be wrong.

I do agree that, as people, we are capable of creating symptoms by being super focused on our bodies. At the same time, I know that my own experiences have been so real, so true, that I believed there had to be an explanation for it, and when I searched the net for information on whether it could be possible, it seems totally likely that it could be!

The combination of EPF, the higher progesterone/estrogen almost immediately post-ovulation in pregnant women, as well as one article that said that the pre-implantation embryo *does* communicate with the uterine lining, even though the mechanism is unknown... It really does make the whole symptom spotting thing seem not so useless!

 

[JLM73]

True. I think the body always knows whether or not fertilization occurred, we just don't know it yet in the mind ( the brain/body know, but we are not conscious of it yet.)
Otherwise - if the body had to actually wait until implant for the embryo to communicate " Hey I'm here! Don't sweep me out!" lol man would the body be playing catch up.
Not to mention if it required our awareness in order to know we were fertilized and about to implant...well heck all those women who are in denial about their pg would just Wish it away...Yes...I am thinking waaay too deep

 

[DobbyForever]

My gyn says a fertilized egg produces very small amounts of hcg even before implantation, and I know I am very sensitive to hcg. However, symptoms are so common and caused by so many things I honestly think anything pre implantation is just coincidence.

 

[WantsALittle1]

JLM so true about the body needing some warning! In all these articles about EPF, they hypothesize almost exactly that--apparently there needs to be some way for the body to know that there is a fertilized egg coming, to suppress the immune system, to even facilitate implantation. Otherwise I assume the minute the blasto touched the uterine wall, the uterus would think it's an infection or something?

Dobby, that's interesting. I wonder whether that very small amount of hCG ever makes it into the mom's blood or whether it's just free-floating around in the tubes in the area right around the egg

 

[DobbyForever]

Well, it came up because I had one squinted pregnancy test then all bfns followed by a wretched period. She said the fertilized egg produces hcg but likely I didn't implant correctly so had a cp. So maybe if it is enough then it can? Who knows.