The Hook effect?

[Autumn82]

I'm hoping that I'm getting the hook effect. I'm 34 and I got my first ever positive test on July 23rd. I tried for years and years, but never got lucky and gave up hope.

In June I had my normal cycle with my average three day period. July 5th I had a weird one day period but just put it down to the stress of buying a house and planning a move across country.

On July 14th we packed up the moving truck and started driving. I also started spotting, and I continued spotting everyday. This hasn't ever happened to me and is why I took the test. I was shocked when I got two very clear lines. But then I kept spotting until August 5th when I bled for the whole day, but never any bad cramping or clotting.

I have an appointment with the Dr on Friday, but yesterday I took the last test I had and it came up negative. I'm thinking that I'm nine weeks and really hoping that I'm experiencing the hook effect. Dr. Google says it's when you have to much HCG in your system and it can no longer attach to the test strip correctly and therefore gives a false negative.

Has anyone ever experienced this? I'm starting to get depressed and have really high anxiety about the appointment on Friday. If the test comes up negative at the office as well will they even do anymore test to check or will they just dismiss me as crazy?

Any advice would really be appreciated.

 

[corrie anne]

What you can do now is pee on a stick straight away after emptying your bladder or if you do a hold them dilute your urine.
But I've never seen one completely negative. Its usually just fainter than it should be. I would call and ask to be seen a day earlier or just run in for blood work before your app so you know what's going on by the time you have your app

 

[maryanne1987]

Try diluting your urine but I have to agree with pp that I've never had a test go completely negative from the hook effect. Lighter yes but not totally negative. I agree with asking for bloods sooner. The results should be in then before your appointment.

 

[sevenofnine]

Same experience as those above. If it comes up negative at your appointment Friday, they should do bloods.

 

[3chords]

It should not be negative, the hook effect does not invalidate the test. I would try another test in case you had one that was faulty.

 

[MindUtopia]

I would see a dr and ask for an ultrasound and blood tests. If you very clearly were pregnant and have had minimal bleeding (one day with no cramping I would class as minimal and relatively common in early pregnancy, I had about 2 weeks of spotting and 3 days of bleeding around 7-8 weeks but I'm still very much pregnant with a healthy baby), then you can't just become un-pregnant. Even with a miscarriage (which you would know was a mc) hcg stays in your system sometimes a month or more and you continue getting positives. Do you feel pregnant? I would try a test with diluted urine to see what happens but definitely get yourself to the dr. Hope you find an answer soon.

 

[karoolia]

This sounds very strange to me. Like the other ladies said, hook effect should be lighter, not a complete negative.

But even if you miscarried (crossing all my fingers this isn't the case), it shouldn't be completely negative. I lost my last baby at 8 weeks. We discovered the loss at 10 weeks. I had a D&C the next day and they got everything. It still took me 4 weeks after that to get a true negative test.

If I were you I would test again to see if maybe that was a bad test. I would also request an ultra sound to see what is going on.

I hope you get some answers on Friday. Wishing you luck.

 

[Talia12]

I agree, even if you had had a miscarriage, I'd be surprised if it was negative so quickly. Faulty test? Hope you get some answers soon. Must've been horrible getting the negative test.

 

[JPARR01]

How did your appointment go?

 

[heaveneats]

i had it happen to me but it never went negative it just went lighter than it was, when i diluted my urine is came up darker. I would say you are doing everything right doing to see your doc i hope that this all works out for you, you definitely deserve it after so many years, lots of hugs xxx