Pregnancy Concerns: Late Period & Possible Symptoms - What Should I Do?

Question
ok this is kinda long but i need help.i stoped taking my birth control at the being of July 08 and i had unprotected sex with my faince many times throughout july and now im 1 week and 5 days late and i have taken couple of pregnancy test but they all came out negative but yet im havin alot of signs.i was spotting for like 10 mins after havin sex with my faince about 6 days ago and i have headaches,lower back pains,started cramping sore breast and sore nipples i have nausea,and im cranky and more tired and i pee alot. so could i be pregnant or what.im kinda confused so please help me.


Answer
Dear Blair,

If you have had unprotected sex during the last cycle or two, you cannot dismiss the possibility of pregnancy.

The symptoms you describe are hormonal in nature and can also be related to hormone fluctuations within your cycle. That is why it so difficult to "diagnose" a pregnancy based on symptoms alone.

You did not give the date of your last menstrual period, but I would suggest waiting another five days and testing again. Although some tests claim accuracy on the first day of a missed period, I usually suggest that women wait until the week after a missed or spotty period before testing for pregnancy. This tends to minimize the incidence of false negative results and also avoids wasting money on a test for a simple delay of a period by a few days. When/if you test make sure to use 1st morning urine to get a concentrated sample for the most accurate results. If those results are negative, you can either wait for the next cycle to see if your periods resume or have your doctor's office do a quantitative blood pregnancy test (serum beta hCG). That test will give an actual amount of hCG in your bloodstream rather than just a positive/negative result. Any amount of 25 mIU/ml or more would be considered positive for pregnancy.

I hope this has helped you and answered your question. I am sorry for the delay - the system should have had me on vacation, so I was not checking in. I wish you well.

Brenda