Pregnancy test came back negative but still have symptoms

Experiencing morning sickness, missed periods and swollen breasts, yet getting a negative pregnancy test? Instant pregnancy test kits are quite reliable and often deliver the correct message. In order to be absolutely certain, you can try taking the test 2-3 times at different intervals, which will confirm whether you are actually pregnant or not. Here are some reasons due to which you might feel pregnant but actually aren’t. Early test
Often taking the test too early might reflect that you aren’t pregnant. You must go through the instructions given on the package to test yourself on the correct date. If you still come out as negative, you can easily test yourself again after a gap of a few days.

Overly hydrated

Often drinking too much water can lead to wrong pregnancy test results. This happens because the urine gets diluted after drinking excess water which reduces the accuracy of the test. Best way to ensure that you get the correct result is by not drinking excess water at night and by taking the test in the morning.

Faulty test Testing through expired or broken tests can also lead to wrong results. Storage conditions also play a part in determining the correct result. You must store the kit in your bathroom cabinet or closet and prevent its exposure to too hot or cold conditions.

Hormonal imbalance

Often missed periods raise an alarm and might give you an impression of pregnancy. If your test comes out as negative, then you are most probably ovulating or are about to get your period soon. If your periods are delayed by more than 2-3 weeks, then you must contact your doctor. If you are suffering from PCOD, then the delay could be longer.

Drug side effects

If you have been using pills regularly or other contraceptive medicines, then they can interfere with your pregnancy results as well. These drugs are hard on the body and not only interfere with the menstrual cycle but can also pose a problem while conceiving. Your doctor or gynecologist would be the best one to consult in such a situation.

End of the article

Kierstin has taken probably every single brand and style of pregnancy test that exists. Twice, they turned positive.

Photo by Elijah M. Henderson on Unsplash

You're gagging at the smell of your coworker's lunch and skipping yoga because you're just too tired to do anything in leggings that doesn't involve Netflix, so you take a pregnancy test because you're obviously pregnant except...you're not? The test is negative. WHAT IN THE ACTUAL?!

Here are some reasons you might be feeling pregnant with a negative test:

• You're not pregnant, your symptoms are from something else entirely (like maybe not wanting to chat with Orchid about her enlightening trip to three wineries over the weekend).
• You're pregnant, but it's too early to test so you got a negative result.
• Your urine is diluted from drinking too much water in preparation to take the test.
• You're ovulating, so those surging hormones are making you feel rough.
• You really want to be pregnant and your body is playing tricks on you.
• You're taking the wrong test and you need to use one that'll be accurate at this stage in your cycle.

You’re Not Pregnant

This is the most likely scenario, since oftentimes, once you’re experiencing noticeable pregnancy symptoms, the hormones are built up enough in your body to produce an accurate positive result.

So, if the test is negative and you’re feeling sick, it could be that you’re dealing with PMS symptoms. Remember, PMS symptoms and early pregnancy symptoms often overlap.

Symptom Spotting

Before I became pregnant for the first time, I didn't notice much besides some extra bloating and hunger before my period was supposed to start. I wasn't thinking about getting or being pregnant so any unpleasant stuff like random nausea, dizzy spells or using the bathroom more frequently just got written off.

But after my first pregnancy, I noticed allllllllll of the symptoms - the sore throat, the runny nose, the achy legs - everything became a possible pregnancy symptom.

Symptoms Shared Between PMS and Early Pregnancy

So what symptoms commonly happen during both early pregnancy and PMS? According to Count Down to Pregnancy's surveys of pregnant and non-pregnant women, at 12 DPO (days past ovulation), which is usually two days before your period is supposed to start, it's common for both pregnant and non-pregnant women to experience:

• Tiredness. I'm always so, so tired in the day or two leading up to my period. Likewise, I found myself worn out just from doing my hair in the morning during the early days of both of my pregnancies.
• Slight cramps. With my first daughter, I had so many signs that I was about to start my period that, including cramps that felt just like the start of my menstrual cycle, that it didn't occur to me to take a pregnancy test until I was already late.
• Gas and bloating. If you're suddenly bloated and gassy it can be easy to suspect pregnancy, but these symptoms are also super common right before your period starts.

If you're wondering why so many PMS symptoms are similar to early pregnancy symptoms, it's because progesterone (which is responsible for the fatigue, cramps, bloating and gas you're experiencing) increases before your period starts and it increases in early pregnancy. So whether you're pregnant or not, there's certain symptoms you're almost certain to experience right around the time your period is due each month and oftentimes the only way to tell if they're due to pregnancy or PMS is if you miss your period.

You’re Pregnant, But It's Too Early to Test

Some women are really good at noticing the subtle differences in their body and hormones when they’re newly pregnant - even before a pregnancy test can. Some of the more nuanced symptoms that I experienced in early pregnancy which tipped me off to taking a test was that everything suddenly tasted so salty it made my tongue burn and I felt rather giddy and positive during times of the month when my hormones often made me feel more somber and anxious. Still, just because you are pregnant doesn't mean you have enough hormone in your body to take a pregnancy test.

When to Test

No earlier than 4 days before your expected period. If you’re more than four days from the day of your expected period, then there’s a solid chance you could be pregnant but you’re not far enough along for the test to turn positive.

In my own experience, I once tested around five days before my period was due to start because I just felt very pregnant. I used a Clearblue test that said it could be used like five days before my missed period. Yet, the test came out negative. Undeterred, two days later, I tested again only to find that the test was obviously positive and I was indeed pregnant. So learn from me to hold off and try again in two days, since the pregnancy hormone HCG, which is what your pregnancy test depends on to turn positive, doubles every 48 hours.

You're Too Hydrated

Another reason you might be feeling pregnant yet getting a negative pregnancy test is that your urine is too diluted when you test it.

Why It's a Problem

The more water, juice, etc. that you consume, the more hydrated you become. The more hydrated you are, the less concentrated your pee will be. And, when your pee isn't concentrated, there's less pregnancy hormone (HCG) in it. Especially in early pregnancy, when HCG is often scarce, it's important to take your test at a time when there's enough hormone for the test to read.

So, though it's tempting to take a test in the middle of the day after running out to the drug store, if you're testing before your period is even supposed to start, or just a day or so after you've missed it, you really should try to hold off and test straight away in the morning before you've had anything to eat or drink, ensuring that your urine is concentrated.

Drinking a bunch of water or apple juice so you can muster up enough pee to take a pregnancy test? Stop! Concentrated urine is the most accurate when detecting early pregnancy.

Photo by Mitch Lensink on Unsplash

Symptoms During Your Cycle

You're Ovulating

Surprise! Ovulation can actually make you feel really awful. For many of us, Mittelschmerz and ovulation sickness are a very real thing that happens midway through our cycle (about two weeks after our last period started and two weeks before the next one is supposed to start).

As your body readies itself to be fertile you might experience pain on either side of your abdomen, lower back pain, nausea, hunger, bloating and fatigue. It doesn't mean you're pregnant, it just means you're at the right time to become pregnant and your hormones are doing their lovely (awful) thing!

How to Know That You're Ovulating

• Period Trackers You can use a period tracker (I have one on my Fitbit app) to track when you're supposed to ovulate. Supposed to ovulate, because these trackers just take a guess based on your last period. If you want to know for sure the day that you ovulate, this isn't the most trustworthy route.
• Basal Body Temperature You can also track and chart your ovulation based on basal body temperature. Here's how to do it. If you're actively trying to conceive this can be an effective way to track your ovulation. But if you don't do it precisely you might not track accurately at all.
• Ovulation Tests These work a lot like a pregnancy test, except for ovulation. Dip the test strip in urine and wait for the two lines to appear. Just because there's two doesn't mean you're ovulating. You'll know you're ovulating when the second line turns as dark as the control line. These ones come in a pack of 40 (plus 10 pregnancy test strips which I've used in past cycles).

You Really Want to Be Pregnant

Your coffee tastes bad, you woke up with a headache, your stomach made a weird noise, you farted, you cried during a Tampax ad - these must be early pregnancy symptoms, right? Eh, maybe.

It's called symptom-spotting and anyone whose ever Googled "Am I pregnant?" has done it and according to my analytics that's a lot of people, me included.

Unfortunately, there's nothing more convincing that you're pregnant than really, really wanting to be pregnant. Since we're human, and no matter how many of the right foods we eat, exercises we try out or brisk walks we take, there will always be aches, pains, hiccups and waves of nausea and dizziness. This means that if you're looking for pregnancy symptoms, you can almost always find them - even when you're not pregnant.

If you're timing that baby dance down to the hour, your mind could be playing tricks on you with each little twinge.

Photo by Andres Jasso on Unsplash

You're Taking the Wrong Test

Not all tests are created equal!

The first thing you need to consider before you even buy a pregnancy test is "Where am I at in my cycle?"

For instance, if you're not supposed to start your period for another four days, you don't want to buy a rapid response test because it's meant to read your urine quickly and will need a really high amount of HCG, normally found after your missed period, to even read it. Likewise, if you're still a few days out from starting your period, you don't want to mess with a digital test because those also take higher levels of HCG to produce a positive result. Taking one of these tests early on and getting a negative result doesn't actually mean you're not pregnant, it means the test isn't right for you at this stage of your pregnancy. Instead, you need an early result test - one that tests for low levels of HCG.

What Kind of Pregnancy Test Should I Take and When?

Use this guide to figure out what test is going to be most reliable for you at each stage of your cycle.

Could I Still Be Pregnant With a Negative Test?

What's the best pregnancy test for early detection?

That table above will give you an idea of the different types of tests you can take at each stage of the waiting game. However, I've always preferred First Response Early Result tests over every other type/brand simply because they're easy to interpret (two pink lines means you're pregnant, one pink line means you're not) and in my experience, have given me the earliest results. I feel comfortable testing with these four days before my period is supposed to start and if I get a negative I trust it's probably going to stay negative. With blue dye tests I've had false positives (ugh) and with some of the cheaper ones it feels like a gamble on reliability.

Why do I always feel pregnant right before my period starts?

Ever taken a pregnancy test because you felt so sick and then wiped only to realize that you just started your period? Nope, those weren't pregnancy symptoms at all, they were premenstrual symptoms which, thanks to a rise in progesterone can make you feel, among other things, nauseous and tired.

Why do I have a negative pregnancy test but no period?

There's a lot of reasons your period could be late besides pregnancy including stress, getting over a bug, or a treatable condition that's made you ovulate late or not at all.

What if the pregnancy test just has a really, really faint second line?

Annoyingly, the internet will tell you that any faint second line means your test is positive, but that's just not true. Here's some ways you can tell if that faint second line is actually an early positive:

• You're using a pink dye test. The dye on these tests is much more reliable than blue dye tests, which often leave a vague second line even when they're negative.
• You don't have to hold the test up to the light to see the second line. If you're doing that, then you're just backlighting the indent that already exists for the dye of a true positive to pool into. If the only way you can see your second line is by holding it up to the light, consider it negative and try again in a few days.
• The second line appeared within a few minutes of taking the test. Some tests take longer to develop than others (up to ten minutes) but if you're pulling a test you took yesterday out of the trash and just now noticing a second line then it's probably an evaporation line and the test isn't a true positive.

Less than 40% of couples will successfully conceive in the first month of trying.

Photo by NeONBRAND on Unsplash

I'm having lower back pain, missed my period, yet have a negative pregnancy test. What's going on?

A few different things could be going on. Here are the most common culprits of a missed period with pain when you're not pregnant:

• You have a urinary tract infection. Do you have a fever or pain when you're urinating? Keep an eye on your symptoms and if they continue or worsen call your doctor. Urinary tract infections are easy to treat but will make you feel awful the further they're allowed to progress without an antibiotic.
• You ovulated late and your period is gearing up to start. If you don't have any other symptoms of a UTI, chances are that you just ovulated late and your period is about to come on. Lower back pain is sometimes a pregnancy symptom but it's also a common PMS symptom.
• You're pregnant but it's too early to test. For some of us, we'll feel a plethora of symptoms and even miss our period before a test shows up positive. It comes down to how quickly the pregnancy hormone builds in your system and it's possible there's just not enough of it built up yet to give you your BFP.

I had sex during my fertile days and I'm still not pregnant. Why?

There are so many answers to this question that it would be impossible for me to say for sure. Keep in mind though that it takes healthy couples an average of six months to conceive when they're trying. That's six fertile cycles before they successfully conceive! In fact, it's rare to make that baby on the first cycle, with less than 40% of couples finding out they're pregnant within the first month of trying.

Before you check in with a doctor, make sure that you're properly charting your cycle so that you know when your fertile days really are. An app isn't a great way to check your fertility since it bases your fertile days on a woman's average cycle - not when you've actually physically ovulated. To know when you've actually ovulated, you'll need to either chart using a Basal Body Temperature thermometer or ovulation tests (which you can find at just about any drug store).

If, after a year of trying you're still coming up with negative tests it's a good idea to let your doctor know so you can get down to the bottom of things.

I experienced a late period with light bleeding and a negative pregnancy test. Could I really be pregnant and testing too early or was that just a weird period?

That depends on when you took the test. If you took the test while you were still bleeding or just shortly after, then it's possible that you tested too early and that what you experienced was actually implantation bleeding. A good way to tell the difference between implantation bleeding and a light or wonky period is A) How heavy the bleeding is (heavy bleeding with clots is not implantation bleeding) and B) How long the bleeding lasts. Typically, implantation bleeding is only going to last a day or two. Anything more is likely a period.

If you tested at least four days after the bleeding ended and your test was still negative then you're probably not pregnant.

This content is accurate and true to the best of the author’s knowledge and does not substitute for diagnosis, prognosis, treatment, prescription, and/or dietary advice from a licensed health professional. Drugs, supplements, and natural remedies may have dangerous side effects. If pregnant or nursing, consult with a qualified provider on an individual basis. Seek immediate help if you are experiencing a medical emergency.

© 2019 Kierstin Gunsberg

Stella on August 18, 2020:

I am having some pregnancy symptoms and most especially the light pink one day spotting period which is called implantation bleeding but I got a blood negative pregnancy test result. I'm in back pain, loss of appetite and feeling tire and bloated everyday I feel very different this days. What are the symptoms for

Opal on July 25, 2020:

Am bloating n sometime my breast hurt i also have alot of back pain my belly hurt sometimes wen i eat a feel bad but i do a pregnancy test n it come out negative..

Shiela on June 24, 2020:

This is my first time that I feel bloated everyday and feel nauseous all the time. If this is what they called morning sickness I experience that all the time and It makes me feel sick. I lost my appetite. And all my favourite foods are gone. I don't like them anymore. I feel so tired everyday. I frequently go to the bathroom to pee. I ALMOST have all the symptoms for pregnant woman and I'm not sure if I had my period last month coz it supposed to come 2 weeks ago and I'm still delayed. If ever I had a period last month then I'm 2 weeks delayed. I'm thinking that I'll do the test at the end of this month to make sure that I got the accurate result and it's not false pregnancy. But I have a feeling what do you think guys?

Susan on June 01, 2020:

I've the same symptoms as Tam, it's been 28th days today since i'm in pain abdominal & lower back, cramps in my womb, loss of appetite, craving magnesium & coconut water, nauseous, dizziness, frequent urination, mood swings, hair loss,shortness of breath, the smell of perfume or any sweet or high smell get me sick,tender breast.... i saw my period on the 5th of may & it came on the 30th of may, i had sex the 22nd of April... I'm checking everything possible of what may cause these symptoms, i also went by d doctor took a blood test & i took 4 home tes all negative but not feeling any better, don't no wat to think

Joy on May 30, 2020:

Had sex last two month, since then my period came as normal,but the last period was kind of a light flow,had done home and blood test both twice but came back negative,the problem here is that I feel a kind of swollen in my stomach which is unusual does it mean am pregnant

Tam on May 28, 2020:

For some weeks i've been realizing that my energy level has been very low so i thought i might just need some vitamins. In March my mentrual came n lasted 7 days as usual then was late in April with a side pain in my lower abdomen i also travel with Chronic Migraine n alleey which was affecting me at the time so i went to the doctor n told him of all my complaints he did a pregnancy test which came back negative n prescribed something for the migraine n allergy n i left this was on the 22nd of April. Then the following day the 23rd my mentrual came n lasted 7 days as usual after it ended on the 29th of April i realised i started spotting on the 9th of may n bleed for 3days then stopped. I went back to the doctor n explained to him n he said it could be that something is resting on my womb but it's also a sign of pregnancy n could be implantation bleeding so he then ran a second pregnancy test which came back negative again n all he said i was to do is watch it n see how it goes cz my cycle can just be changing. During this time i was already spitting frequently, having frequent urination, getting upset as if i want to vomit with the smell of perfume and certain foods, constant backache, bloating n fatigue i've been mostly in bed to how weak this made me feel at times.. Now since lately new symptoms arrived burning with urination, heaviness n pain in the vagina n white discharge. I'm in eager to know what's wrong or if it's nothing serious.

Mamaoftwo on May 14, 2020:

I look and feel like I'm 3 months pregnant. I'm neausious and moody and low back pains my stomach is very itchy. Always tired. Weird cravings and can feel small movements in my stomach. My breast hurt daily. I've been this way for 3 months.

Queen on April 09, 2020:

I tested positive with a faint line but the line kept on fading the more I tested and now it negative but have been going through pregnancy symptoms and I’m a day late

I have cramps especially at night too

Mariel Maloom on April 08, 2020:

I am A month delayed and tested negative on a pregnancy test. I'm having cramps and backaches, gas, vomiting. and sore nipple. but the HCG test keep on negative result. can i still be pregnant? i feel like my period is coming soon. because of my symptoms.

Amelia Arnold on March 13, 2020:

Hi everyone please help me understand what is going on with me today so I am having mild cramping right now and started feeling nauseous and I took first response and it is negative what do I need to do please help me understand. Thank y’all

Thilani on February 05, 2020:

I have all symptoms of pregnant. Today is my expecting period day. So i checked pregnancy test using clear blue digital. But it showed me NOT PREGNANT. But still i didn’t get my period. What should i do. ?

Christina on February 01, 2020:

I have been feeling very pregnant for about a week, nausea food aversion and I am 10 days late. Just took a HPT came back negative however I drank a ton of fluids and probably diluted my urine to much...was not thinking and got excited to test

Danyelle on April 03, 2019:

Hi Ladies;

I unsure what’s going on; my breasts occasionally feel like tingling, as does my lower abdomen. I have had headaches, my breasts have gotten darker and I have little tiny bumps that have shown up around my nipples in the last 4 weeks, I have had indigestion, bloating, been gassy and “tasted metallic taste in my mouth oh— last month my period stopped 2 days short and this month I’m late my 4 days?

I have been under a lot of stress from work and frustrating circumstances, lately. I have taken 3 pregnancy tests 2 negative and 1 invalid only the control window darkened.

I once had psychology teacher who said, “If you get a negative pregnancy test, you may still be pregnant if you get a positive you’re definitely pregnant!” Getting the faint-line is A positive result. The lighter line just means you are excreting less of the hormone; but you’re expecting—-Congratulations!

Hayley Dodwell on January 25, 2019:

An extremely interesting read, thank you!

Brianna from Alabama on January 17, 2019:

Been feeling suuuper pregnant lately and test say "nope!" And not too sure if it'sme being anxious or not. I'm just gonna wait it out a bit for another test. Thank you for being thorough!

Why am I getting pregnancy symptoms but the test is negative?

Can you have pregnancy symptoms and test negative?

How common are false negative pregnancy tests?