Pregnant with no hCG? UPDATE: Took a pink dye test...Do you see anything

[Mer12345]

I am so confused and was hoping to get some help and possibly clarification.

A bit of a backstory first...

My husband and I have not been TTC, in fact, I have been on birth control. To be honest, I forget to take my birth control on the regular, and at the beginning of my last BC pack, my pharmacy didn't have it ready so I couldn't get it on time or start taking it. It was 6 days after I should have started taking it that I was able to...
This month, hubby and I decided that I would go ahead and get off the pill, and let my body adjust to not being on, and get ready to TTC in a month or two. I have now been off the pill for 2 weeks.

The problem that I am having is that I am now 3 weeks late for my period. I should have started my period before I got off the pill, but it never showed up! The week before my period was due, I had a tiny bit of spotting, which was only a very light brown mucus when I wiped, this happened 3 times in a period of 2 days. I have never ever missed a period before, or been this late. The latest I have ever been is 3-4 days.

Now, since I missed my period, and was having pregnancy symptoms I thought there was a chance that I was pregnant since we likely had sex during ovulation, but since I wasn't tracking it, i'm not 100% sure. The week after I realized I missed my period I took a couple HPT and all were negative. I even got a blood test done and the hCG was <1, making it negative.

So I guess my questions for you all is, do you think my period was that bit of brown mucus? Is there a chance I am pregnant with no hCG? If that is the case, how would I ever know? Is pregnancy with no hCG common?

Sorry for this post being so long! Hopefully it makes sense to everyone.

 

[happycupcake]

Google 'cryptic pregnancy'. I haven't read anything in detail, but from the brief overview I saw on Googling 'can you be pregnant without hCG', whilst it seems to be rarer it appears it is possible.
But like I said, I haven't read up properly, so have a good read on a few different websites to get a good, clear idea of this and if it seems a possibility for you.

Having said this, I think what is far more likely, is that you aren't pregnant. The majority of women will see a positive pregnancy test, some won't see a positive urine test but positive blood test, this isn't unheard of. The fact is the pill, or any hormonal contraceptive, can mess up your body's fine balance of hormones. It can throw it off for some time after stopping it, and even whilst you are using it it can change from having regular periods to having irregular or missing periods altogether. My sister has seen this happen to her a few times since taking the pill, and she has been using it for quite a few years.
When you stop bc, it's common to feel what appear to be pregnancy symptoms. I was convinced I was pregnant after having the implant removed! I had literally every symptom under the sun but I wasn't pregnant. I got my period and was fortunate to have a bang on 28 day cycle from then onwards, until falling pregnant on my third cycle.
I think it's likely your bc has messed about your hormone levels and they take time to settle back to what they should be. You could try a number of supplements to help level things back out sooner, if you don't already take any, and especially if your diet isn't spot on. Give it a few weeks. If you don't see your period arrive, and you don't see a positive pregnancy test, see your doctor.

Also it's worth remembering you weren't taking it as prescribed, in other words, you were missing some here and there, which will almost certainly have had an impact because you won't have been receiving a steady release of hormones, so instead of things being as level as they could be whilst on bc, it would have been up and down, with the likelihood of you seeing odd periods and missing them more likely

 

[xMissxZoiex]

Hey!,

I've never heard of anyone being pregnant with out producing any HCG, some peoples levels rise differently to other, someone I know didn't get a bfp until 21dpo while myself and many others have had them at 8/9dpo, but never none at all.

I think its far more likely your body needs time to adjust, I was told my doctor that it can take up to a year for the pill to get out of your system completely and start ovulating regularly again.

good luck with your TTC journey. x

 

[happycupcake]

Hey!,

I've never heard of anyone being pregnant with out producing any HCG, some peoples levels rise differently to other, someone I know didn't get a bfp until 21dpo while myself and many others have had them at 8/9dpo, but never none at all.

I think its far more likely your body needs time to adjust, I was told my doctor that it can take up to a year for the pill to get out of your system completely and start ovulating regularly again.

good luck with your TTC journey. x

Completely agree this is the most likely thing. It can take months and months for your body to adjust after bc! Sometimes it's the opposite and you adjust quickly, some ovulate immediately after stopping bc but I reckon it's more common for it to take a few months to get back to regular cycles.
I think the cryptic pregnancy thing must be incredibly rare, on Googling this was the first I have heard of it! Worth researching more into but taking time to readjust is the most likely reason

 

[Mer12345]

Thank you all for your reply! The only thing is, I missed my period 2 weeks before I stopped the pill! However, I took two pregnancy tests tonight and both appear to be positive: what do you all think?

 

[Mer12345]

Thank you!

 

[happycupcake]

They do, but these have a pretty rocky reputation so can you test with a more reliable pink dye test like a FRER? Preferably the flat test rather than curved. Or a pink dye sensitive cheapie?
They do look positive but there have been a fair few false positives with these

 

[zoe2010]

This sounds very similar to what happened to me last year around this time. I started my BC 7 days late and then skipped a few pills in between. I swore up and down I was pregnant. Even had a faint positive on a FRER. (Turned out to be a false positive on a new curved FRER THEY SUCK) anyway turns out my hormones were so out of whack from messing up my birth control. I didn't get a period for nearly 2 months. I bet that's what's happening with you. And to tell you the truth. Every blue dye test I take turns into an evap after about ten minutes they are terrible for evaps.

 

[Mer12345]

I took a cheap test. I have never taken one of these before, do you all see anything?

 

[Mer12345]

This sounds very similar to what happened to me last year around this time. I started my BC 7 days late and then skipped a few pills in between. I swore up and down I was pregnant. Even had a faint positive on a FRER. (Turned out to be a false positive on a new curved FRER THEY SUCK) anyway turns out my hormones were so out of whack from messing up my birth control. I didn't get a period for nearly 2 months. I bet that's what's happening with you. And to tell you the truth. Every blue dye test I take turns into an evap after about ten minutes they are terrible for evaps.

Thank you so much for your response! Couple quick questions for you if you don't mind me asking.

Was that the first time you had skipped pills or started your BC late?

Do your blue dye tests ever show up immediately?

 

[zoe2010]

This sounds very similar to what happened to me last year around this time. I started my BC 7 days late and then skipped a few pills in between. I swore up and down I was pregnant. Even had a faint positive on a FRER. (Turned out to be a false positive on a new curved FRER THEY SUCK) anyway turns out my hormones were so out of whack from messing up my birth control. I didn't get a period for nearly 2 months. I bet that's what's happening with you. And to tell you the truth. Every blue dye test I take turns into an evap after about ten minutes they are terrible for evaps.

Thank you so much for your response! Couple quick questions for you if you don't mind me asking.

Was that the first time you had skipped pills or started your BC late?

Do your blue dye tests ever show up immediately?

Yes that was the first time I had messed it up that bad. I had skipped a pill here and there before, but that particular monthI started 7 days late and then skipped like 4 pills throughout my cycle. And no they never show up immediately. Its stark white and then after about 5 minutes the line will start to appear. I had two that did that back in October and it was very convincing.

 

[Mer12345]

This sounds very similar to what happened to me last year around this time. I started my BC 7 days late and then skipped a few pills in between. I swore up and down I was pregnant. Even had a faint positive on a FRER. (Turned out to be a false positive on a new curved FRER THEY SUCK) anyway turns out my hormones were so out of whack from messing up my birth control. I didn't get a period for nearly 2 months. I bet that's what's happening with you. And to tell you the truth. Every blue dye test I take turns into an evap after about ten minutes they are terrible for evaps.

Thank you so much for your response! Couple quick questions for you if you don't mind me asking.

Was that the first time you had skipped pills or started your BC late?

Do your blue dye tests ever show up immediately?

Yes that was the first time I had messed it up that bad. I had skipped a pill here and there before, but that particular monthI started 7 days late and then skipped like 4 pills throughout my cycle. And no they never show up immediately. Its stark white and then after about 5 minutes the line will start to appear. I had two that did that back in October and it was very convincing.

Okay, thanks so much for that information!!! I appreciate it a ton

 

[xMissxZoiex]

I do see a very very faint line on the blue dye test but almost every blue dye looks like that, its really frustrating, I wouldn't trust that until it was blazingly positive.

I don't see anything on the pink test thought. I hope you get an answer soon. Its so frustrating not know whats going on with your own body. xxx

 

[Cppeace]

I see something very very light on the pink test and one of the blue tests. I'm the queen of limbo and know it can be insanely frustrating. I hope you get an answer sooner than I did last year.

 

[happycupcake]

I do see something but the photo is quite bright and dazzling so it's hard to see if the line has colour or precisely how thick it is

 

[StillPraying]

to be pregnant without HCG? no. Most of what I read on cryptic pregnancies is that its linked to mental disorders so I don't think that's whats happening. You CAN have negative urine tests and get positive blood tests though.

Like the other ladies said, BC and going off or missing pills can mess you up, and it varies on how long it takes your cycle to fix itself.

The generic blue dyes are notorious for fake lines. I have had awesome luck with the Clearblue Plus ones though. I think I see something on your cheapie test, but the light is washing the test out so hard to tell.

 

[happycupcake]

I haven't read anything about cryptic pregnancies being related to any mental disorder. I haven't looked at every page on the web but from the various links I have looked at I haven't read a single thing being mentioned about mental disorders.

But, I think this kind of thing is incredibly rare and this is much more likely due to bc.

Any update?

 

[StillPraying]

I haven't read anything about cryptic pregnancies being related to any mental disorder. I haven't looked at every page on the web but from the various links I have looked at I haven't read a single thing being mentioned about mental disorders.

But, I think this kind of thing is incredibly rare and this is much more likely due to bc.

Any update?

Did you notice that the sites on the web aren't backed by medical professionals? The information I read was from my Dr. Not the internet.

 

[Mer12345]

Okay, so a quick update.

I spoke with my doctor yesterday since I was suppose to start my second period this week, and still have not. I told her that I have taken about 8 or 9 HPT and 4 of them have been positive, but all the positive ones have been blue dye. She said that even though they are blue dye, a positive should still be a positive, especially since my blue dyes have been showing up immediately, not after a couple minutes of waiting. She also informed me that some people do not test positive on HPT until later in their pregnancy, 8 or so weeks. She immediately scheduled me for a blood test, not urine, and I went in for the test today and waiting to hear back from them!

I also told her all about stopping my birth control pills, and she said it was a VERY Good thing that I stopped taking the pills when I did. Also said that I should have at least spotted by now since its been a couple weeks since I stopped taking them. She doesn't think my birth control has anything to do with my missed period since I was already 2 weeks due past my period when I stopped taking them!

I am really trying hard not to get my hopes up, but it's very hard not to do! I Will update everyone when I get the results.

 

[StillPraying]

Keeping my FX for your blood test! So glad the Dr got you in. I'm one of those that got positive blue dyes and negative frer so I'm hopeful for you