Am I Pregnant? Understanding Negative Pregnancy Tests & Delayed Periods

Question
I still have not missed my period...i am about 8 days away from missing it. i think that i am pregnant because we are trying. i went to the doctor last night and he did a blood test (kyle is in the army so it is free at the hospital) the results were negative. Im really sad now. i was wondering if i should get my hopes up again since i havent even missed a period or is it a definant negative.

Answer
Dear Jessica,

Well, you certainly should not be discouraged. You need to wait until you miss your period before testing.

Here's the deal - at 3 weeks from LMP, we'd expect hCG (the pregnancy hormone)levels to be 5 - 50 mIU/ml. A pregnancy test - whether it is a urine test or a qualitative blood pregnancy test - will only read positive at 25 mIU/ml or above. A quantitative blood pregnancy (serum beta hCG) test will give you an actual number amount and for that any AMOUNT over 25 mIU/ml would be considered positive. So, you can imagine the amount of false negatives there are early on. In fact, there are many false negatives even during the week of a late period. My advice is always to wait until the week after a missed or spotty period before testing to minimize the incidence of false negatives.

Now - you may or may not have conceived already. It takes the average couple 3-6 months to conceive. But you should not get discouraged based on this very early test!

I hope this information has helped you and answered your question. I wish you well and the result you're hoping for!

Brenda