Neko-chan
Lovin' The Homestead
...
Ladies only!!! - talk me down!
- Thread starter tortoise
- Start date
patandchickens
Crazy Cat Lady
It's really not uncommon. (Maybe uncommon for YOU but not for women in general, especially as Time Passes). Most often (AFAIK) what happens is that your body does not reach quite the necessary hormonal peak to cause ovulation, so it has to wait and try again, and possibly again, or possibly *not* try again for a while, resulting in no period but sometimes some spotting due to fluctuations in the hormone levels responsible for maintaining the endometrium.
Unless you are one of the minority of women whose basal body temperature does not reliably track ovulation, you can recognize these type events by noting that even though it is beyond when you'd normally be "scheduled to" ovulate and then get your period, your temperature has not gone up. Of course that does not help if you do not have enough history of tracking basal body temperature to know what yours *should* be, but if you *do* then it's a quick thing to check as long as your BBT changes have been fairly reliable in the past.
(I have known some women who get in the habit of tracking BBT not because they are particularly wanting to achieve or avoid pregnancy but just because situations like your current one drive them NUTS and they'd rather KNOW
) (Actually, having done the BBT thing while I was trying to get pregnant in the past, I have to say I've made use of it this way a couple times since then, just to make sure what was going on 
)
Pat
Unless you are one of the minority of women whose basal body temperature does not reliably track ovulation, you can recognize these type events by noting that even though it is beyond when you'd normally be "scheduled to" ovulate and then get your period, your temperature has not gone up. Of course that does not help if you do not have enough history of tracking basal body temperature to know what yours *should* be, but if you *do* then it's a quick thing to check as long as your BBT changes have been fairly reliable in the past.
(I have known some women who get in the habit of tracking BBT not because they are particularly wanting to achieve or avoid pregnancy but just because situations like your current one drive them NUTS and they'd rather KNOW
) (Actually, having done the BBT thing while I was trying to get pregnant in the past, I have to say I've made use of it this way a couple times since then, just to make sure what was going on )Pat
lwheelr
Lovin' The Homestead
You may have been pregnant, and you may be about to miscarry very early. This happens WAY more than women know.
You can start feeling hormone responses within 24 hours of conception. Most pregnancy sources say that you don't get a hormone response until after the baby implants, but that is not true, it can come way before that (I have known with every pregnancy within 24-48 hours - and I've been pregnant about 60 times, most of them very early miscarriage, 8 live births, 5 - 2 month miscarriages, 1 - 5 month miscarriage). I know many women who know immediately because they get tired, hungry, and cranky, or they get nausea and soreness right away.
Here's the calendar...
Two weeks after last period - approximately - conception. So you may feel transient nausea or moodiness, or extreme tiredness, hunger, etc, within 24-48 hours of that. You may spot a few days BEFORE this, some women do a few days before ovulation.
Three weeks after last period - give or take 2-4 days - implantation. This is where many women start to feel it, because this is where the baby starts pumping hormones directly into your blood stream, and pulling nutrients directly out. You may spot a little when the baby implants. You may feel ligament pain beside the uterus when rolling over in bed, or changing positions if you've had more than a few kids, as early as two or three days after this. Ligament pain feels like a sharp lingering pull, down low on the right or left side. Breast soreness usually starts around this time.
Four weeks after last period - approximate - period due. Some women may spot when their period is due - this can happen especially if two eggs were fertilized but one died, but may also happen for other reasons.
Now, things often go wrong - especially when harsh medications are involved.
If the baby is conceived, but dies before implantation, you'll have symptoms that stop fairly quickly, and the period may be a little heavy, but not usually late.
If the baby TRIES to implant, and fails, your period may be a day or so late, and heavy, but symptoms will usually stop within 24 hours of when the baby dies.
If the baby implants, but then implantation fails for some reason, symptoms will gradually taper off. Hunger and sleepiness seem to stop more quickly than the sore breasts, which can continue even after your late period occurs. You may feel ligament pain as the uterus starts to shrink back down - ligament pain seems to happen most when the uterus is growing, or shrinking. Generally, if the baby implants at all, your period will be 5 days or more late, and much heavier than normal.
This is really common with auto-immune disease, or when there are medications involved, high caffeine usage, chemical exposure, etc, because anomalies are introduced so early on, causing catastrophic damage that the baby cannot survive. It is also common with damage from medications or chemicals that damage the eggs that are in production - and that is much more common than doctors acknowledge also.
Now, pregnancy tests are not accurate for diagnosing very early miscarriage, because the hormones will increase up to the point that the baby dies, and then they'll drop rapidly. In many cases, when the pregnancy is going to fail, the hormone levels are lower than normal to begin with (because at that point the baby is producing the hormones, so if it is struggling, it does not produce enough) - you'll have enough to cause symptoms, but low enough that they drop out rapidly after the baby dies.
Pregnancy tests are not generally accurate until at LEAST several days after implantation - that is what triggers the hormone production that pregnancy tests look for, and the earlier the test, the higher the degree of inaccuracy. So if the pregnancy starts to fail shortly after implantation, a home test won't tell you anything useful.
If you did end up pregnant, there are some things you can do to help manage things in the mean time, so it does not have to get that bad. I'll not go into it deeply here, but I have a daughter with a diagnosis of BPA, secondary to Fetal Drug Effect. I was prescribed drugs, which actually kept me from losing the pregnancy, but which interfered with her brain development. It ALSO interfered with her bowel development - her bowels look normal, and she tests "ok" on nutrient level tests (they are notoriously inaccurate), but she does not absorb some nutrients well - just enough to be chronically low, and that affects her mental and behavioral state. It is VERY common for people who have brain development issues which make them susceptible to behavior and mental disorders to also have poorly developed intestinal tissues, because those two things form at the same time in utero. It is also extremely common for people with behavioral and mental diagnoses to have brain development issues.
The ones that are MOST common to be likely to not absorb well, and which affect mental health with deficiencies that do not show up on blood tests, are Magnesium, B6, and Niacin. They work together, and they affect the metabolism of many other nutrients, so if one goes off, your hormones, concentration, thought patterns, moods, nerves, digestive absorption, etc, all start getting really off kilter. Everything is just enough off to add up to a serious problem, but not enough for any single thing to be diagnosable or measurable by a doctor.
I doubt that it finding ways to increase absorption of those nutrients would provide a total solution, but it might allow you to reduce your meds day to day, or to survive a pregnancy without things getting too bad.
You can start feeling hormone responses within 24 hours of conception. Most pregnancy sources say that you don't get a hormone response until after the baby implants, but that is not true, it can come way before that (I have known with every pregnancy within 24-48 hours - and I've been pregnant about 60 times, most of them very early miscarriage, 8 live births, 5 - 2 month miscarriages, 1 - 5 month miscarriage). I know many women who know immediately because they get tired, hungry, and cranky, or they get nausea and soreness right away.
Here's the calendar...
Two weeks after last period - approximately - conception. So you may feel transient nausea or moodiness, or extreme tiredness, hunger, etc, within 24-48 hours of that. You may spot a few days BEFORE this, some women do a few days before ovulation.
Three weeks after last period - give or take 2-4 days - implantation. This is where many women start to feel it, because this is where the baby starts pumping hormones directly into your blood stream, and pulling nutrients directly out. You may spot a little when the baby implants. You may feel ligament pain beside the uterus when rolling over in bed, or changing positions if you've had more than a few kids, as early as two or three days after this. Ligament pain feels like a sharp lingering pull, down low on the right or left side. Breast soreness usually starts around this time.
Four weeks after last period - approximate - period due. Some women may spot when their period is due - this can happen especially if two eggs were fertilized but one died, but may also happen for other reasons.
Now, things often go wrong - especially when harsh medications are involved.
If the baby is conceived, but dies before implantation, you'll have symptoms that stop fairly quickly, and the period may be a little heavy, but not usually late.
If the baby TRIES to implant, and fails, your period may be a day or so late, and heavy, but symptoms will usually stop within 24 hours of when the baby dies.
If the baby implants, but then implantation fails for some reason, symptoms will gradually taper off. Hunger and sleepiness seem to stop more quickly than the sore breasts, which can continue even after your late period occurs. You may feel ligament pain as the uterus starts to shrink back down - ligament pain seems to happen most when the uterus is growing, or shrinking. Generally, if the baby implants at all, your period will be 5 days or more late, and much heavier than normal.
This is really common with auto-immune disease, or when there are medications involved, high caffeine usage, chemical exposure, etc, because anomalies are introduced so early on, causing catastrophic damage that the baby cannot survive. It is also common with damage from medications or chemicals that damage the eggs that are in production - and that is much more common than doctors acknowledge also.
Now, pregnancy tests are not accurate for diagnosing very early miscarriage, because the hormones will increase up to the point that the baby dies, and then they'll drop rapidly. In many cases, when the pregnancy is going to fail, the hormone levels are lower than normal to begin with (because at that point the baby is producing the hormones, so if it is struggling, it does not produce enough) - you'll have enough to cause symptoms, but low enough that they drop out rapidly after the baby dies.
Pregnancy tests are not generally accurate until at LEAST several days after implantation - that is what triggers the hormone production that pregnancy tests look for, and the earlier the test, the higher the degree of inaccuracy. So if the pregnancy starts to fail shortly after implantation, a home test won't tell you anything useful.
If you did end up pregnant, there are some things you can do to help manage things in the mean time, so it does not have to get that bad. I'll not go into it deeply here, but I have a daughter with a diagnosis of BPA, secondary to Fetal Drug Effect. I was prescribed drugs, which actually kept me from losing the pregnancy, but which interfered with her brain development. It ALSO interfered with her bowel development - her bowels look normal, and she tests "ok" on nutrient level tests (they are notoriously inaccurate), but she does not absorb some nutrients well - just enough to be chronically low, and that affects her mental and behavioral state. It is VERY common for people who have brain development issues which make them susceptible to behavior and mental disorders to also have poorly developed intestinal tissues, because those two things form at the same time in utero. It is also extremely common for people with behavioral and mental diagnoses to have brain development issues.
The ones that are MOST common to be likely to not absorb well, and which affect mental health with deficiencies that do not show up on blood tests, are Magnesium, B6, and Niacin. They work together, and they affect the metabolism of many other nutrients, so if one goes off, your hormones, concentration, thought patterns, moods, nerves, digestive absorption, etc, all start getting really off kilter. Everything is just enough off to add up to a serious problem, but not enough for any single thing to be diagnosable or measurable by a doctor.
I doubt that it finding ways to increase absorption of those nutrients would provide a total solution, but it might allow you to reduce your meds day to day, or to survive a pregnancy without things getting too bad.
Bubblingbrooks
Made in Alaska
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Here is a thought. We just went through a very strong moon cycle with the eclipse.
Messed me up too!
Messed me up too!
CJW
Power Conserver
I hope you get it figured out!
When I was having crazy cycles, my naturopath recommended "What your doctor might not
tell you about premenopause". (Not peri-menopause)
When I was having crazy cycles, my naturopath recommended "What your doctor might not
tell you about premenopause". (Not peri-menopause)
- Thread starter
- #36
tortoise
Wild Hare
Sorry for not updating - blood serum hCG was negative, so unlikely an early miscarriage either. But my period is usually heavy this time!! Even if I have a really long cycle - like 52 days, I don't get heavy periods like this. Ah well. Not pregnant either way.
lwheelr
Lovin' The Homestead
So how do you feel about that? Relieved? Disappointed? A little of both?
- Thread starter
- #38
tortoise
Wild Hare
It was one of those things where I knew I would be upset about it either way.lwheelr said:
Since looking at the budget more carefully, it's a good thing I'm not because that would force my fiance to put us under his health insurance which would def. put us in the red. (The reason we haven't gotten married or even set a date is because of health insurance. Mine is FREE and covers EVERYTHING, adding us to his would be $450/month plus co-pays!)
