Early Pregnancy Test & hCG Levels: Understanding the Timeline

Question
Hello Brenda,
   I read your bio, so i know I will be asking someone with plenty of experience. I am a little confused about when I ovulated, therefore a little confused about my conception date. When I THINK I was 7-8 DPO I had a very dark line on my pregnancy test and my Hcg levels were at 350. Is this possible??? All of the charts I have seen put that at 13-15 DPO. In your experience have you ever known a pregnancy test to be that dark, that early, and with HcG levels that high so early? Thanks


Answer
Dear Amanda,

It would definitely be unusual for hCG levels to be at 350 mIU/ml at 7-8 days after ovulation/conception. In fact, many times the fertilized egg has barely implanted into the lining of the uterus at that time. Laboratory values to tend to vary, but the "norm" is most assuredly less than 50 mIU/ml for 7-8 days DPO.

Twin pregnancies tend to show higher HCG levels on any one given day of pregnancy.  BUT twin HCG levels do tend to fall within the normal range of single pregnancies, so you can't assume anything based on one level alone.  A higher level on a given day does increase your chances for twins, but there's no level above which you're guaranteed twins.

It may also be that you ovulated 4-5 days earlier than you think you did, which can make a big difference because the range of normal for hCG levels is so broad. For example, the normal range for 3 weeks from LMP is 5-50 mIU/ml, while the normal for 4 weeks is 5-426 mIU/ml. An initial ultrasound will be useful in helping to determine accurate dating, especially if done around 5-6 weeks.

I hope this has helped you and answered your question. I wish you well.

Brenda