Any other way to know for sure if im pregnant

October 9, 2007 5:48 PM

any way to find out if im pregnant sooner

i have taken a urine and blood test to see if i am pregnant both were negative but the doctor said it is too early to know i am having some symptoms of pregnancy: headaches, sore breasts, nausea, food cravings, ditaste in food, and some others off and on the doc told me to treat it like i was pregnant but i want to know for sure and i cant wait 3 more weeks is there any other way i can know?

posted by unvivid to health & fitness (16 comments total)

Blood tests are the earliest way to find out.

If your period isn't due for three more weeks, the fertilized egg may not have even had time to implant yet. Real pregnancy symptoms won't show up until later.
posted by streetdreams at 6:03 PM on October 9, 2007

I tested positive with an EPT before I even missed my period with my second pregnancy. But some women test negative for months. When did you expect your period to come? How long since your last period?

And also, some women feel the whole rush of symptoms right away, but a lot of women don't feel much at all until their hormone levels are elevated a bit more, especially things like nausea and food cravings/aversions. In the early days/weeks, most women are just really fatigued a lot.
posted by padraigin at 6:05 PM on October 9, 2007

Also, if your period isn't due for three more weeks--how long is your cycle? Is it usually regular? Did you just have your period a week or so ago?
posted by padraigin at 6:06 PM on October 9, 2007

my last period was very spotty and lasted about a week in a half the full normal one i had was the end of august
posted by unvivid at 6:08 PM on October 9, 2007

Is there a reason you can't wait? And why three weeks?

Uh, so on preview, if your last period was five a half weeks ago but both blood and urine tests are negative for pregnancy, I'd say you're not pregnant. Because if you were pregnant you'd be (er, math here) about 10 days past your normal period, which should be enough time for blood/urine tests to detect it. Unless you have really long cycles--is that the case? Or unless you had a very early miscarriage, but I'm not sure how/whether those show up in pregnancy tests.
posted by cocoagirl at 6:27 PM on October 9, 2007

From what I remember, pregnancy isn't detected until two weeks after your period is due. Which would mean your normal period is due next week, and you would have ovulated a week ago (even a spotty, short period can include an ovulation). So you would only be a week pregnant. If this is the case, then it is still too early to tell. Blood tests are the fastest, most accurate detection.

And speaking from personal experience, getting stressed over the possibility of being pregnant can often cause symptoms of being pregnant.
posted by rhapsodie at 6:30 PM on October 9, 2007

The unusual period you describe could have been pregnancy spotting, or a very early miscarriage, or a hormonal hiccup that is also causing the current symptoms (which are also PMS-like).

There is no more reliable tests than blood, and urine tests are pretty advanced these days as well. So, no, there's no other way to find out at this point. If you are a few days pregnant, you've still got 10-14 before it will show up on tests, with blood tests edging out urine by a few days. If you are several weeks, you'd have tripped the blood test even if you got a negative urine.

Even if you are several weeks along, an ultrasound would likely be inconclusive still. Unless you have a medical condition that makes pregnancy dangerous, there's nothing that can't wait a couple more weeks to find out, as much as that sucks. It's safer to assume that you are, lifestyle-wise, and be wrong than to assume you're not until proved otherwise, which is why your doctor gave you that advice.

Hang in there, you'll get an answer soon.
posted by Lyn Never at 6:49 PM on October 9, 2007

Your profile and previous questions imply that you're a dude. Are you asking for your girlfriend/is your girlfriend posting under your login to ask this question?
posted by padraigin at 6:50 PM on October 9, 2007 [1 favorite has favorites]

Call your doctor and ask to be seen, or go to Planned Parenthood. In the future, if you have sex without contraception, you can take Plan B up to 5 days after intercourse to help prevent pregnancy.

This is not medical advice, it is general education; I am not a doctor, I am not your doctor; you are not my patient.
posted by gramcracker at 7:06 PM on October 9, 2007

Sigh.

If your last period was actually in August, and you've had a negative pee *and* blood test, then no, you are not pregnant.

What you had at the end of September, however, sounds like a period to me. If you are under stress, have recently started or gone off any form of hormonal birth control, then that can account for a wonky period. Also, they just happen.

So we're going to assume that you had a period at the end of September. It is now the 10th of October. Even if you are a very early ovulator and therefore even could be pregnant, you cannot *possibly* get a reliable test result this early.

It is also WAY too early for any kind of pregnancy symptom, so write those off to being in your panicked head.

You may feel like you cannot wait three weeks, but you're going to have to wait. Either way, there is nothing you can do this early - its far too early for a termination, and obviously way too early to give birth.

Count 28 days from the first day of your last period, go to the Dollar Store and buy a fat pack of tests, and start peeing on one each morning from Day 28 until you get your period. Between now and then, use condoms.
posted by DarlingBri at 7:49 PM on October 9, 2007

There are 212,311 questions similar to "Am I pregnant?" archived, with their answers, in the Yahoo! Answers pregnancy category, which I recommend for both information, education, and entertainment.
posted by kmennie at 8:00 PM on October 9, 2007

Answered here.
posted by Ironmouth at 8:48 PM on October 9, 2007

MeTa
posted by Neiltupper at 9:04 PM on October 9, 2007

For what it's worth, I've started having early-pregnancy like symptoms like you describe every month for about a week, from a week and a half before my period to about four days before. Other hormone fluctuations could cause them.

I'm not sure about your timing/cycle, but when I had my son, all the dates/measurements once they did an ultrasound were more than 2 weeks off, suggesting that I got pregnant something like 29 days after my last period--not everyone is on that exact cycle or would test positive right after a missed period. That said, it doesn't sound very likely that you're pregnant if you had a spotty period within the last couple weeks.
posted by Cricket at 11:38 PM on October 9, 2007

From what I remember, pregnancy isn't detected until two weeks after your period is due
This is not true. Most pregnancy tests are accurate from the day of the expected period. Some claim they are accurate before that, but the chance of false negatives increases.
posted by davar at 4:51 AM on October 10, 2007

To complicate matters re: pregnancy tests, different tests are sensitive to different levels of the hormone produced during pregnancy. So while one test may be accurate the week after conception, another may not be able to detect traces of the hormone until the missed period. This website/list may be able to provide extra information.
posted by soviet sleepover at 11:38 PM on October 10, 2007