HPT BFN when you're actually pregnant: How often do you think it happens?

I'm currently ttc.... 12 days late and getting BFN's.
I have heard of a few other people getting early BFN's when they are actually pregnant.... But I often wonder, how often does it happen?
All the boxes like to say they're 99% accurate, but then all these people I hear of getting BFN's. One lady I know, right up into her 6th month, she was still getting BFN's on HPT's despite knowing she was pregnant because a blood test had told her so. She just wanted to know how long it would take the test to register.

So is it more of a rarity and some people are odd, or it happens more often than the manufacturers want people to think?
What do y'all think?


ETA: My doctors clinic is the only bulk billing clinic in town and is very overbooked. Telling me to go to the doctors... not helpful. Thats not what this thread is about. I'm curious on peoples opinions regarding whether or not negative HPT's when you're actually pregnant, are possible. I ask because yes, I am experiencing negative tests, and I'm aware I need to see a doctor, but thats not what I'm here asking for.

hi moondance..
first i just wanted to welcome you to bellybelly and wish you luck for your ttc journey.
i just wondered if you were on the pill and if this is your first cycle off the pill. my first cycle off the pill was 5 months long... it went very slowly.
good luck hun

No, I haven't touched the pill since I was 16 years old, now 28.
Last year, my menses settled down to a 40 day cycle which at first I thought odd, but then when 5 months later, it was still a 40 day cycle I figured thats just where my body settled. It never bothered me, it meant I got my periods slightly less. I hate periods, so no.... not anything to do with the pill.


but the only reason I gave the info as to me being late was for background as to why I'm asking... but thats NOT what I'm here for.... I'm here looking for statistics, articles, personal stories, about whether false negatives are more prevalent than we hear they are. I didn't come here for advice for me personally. Thats not why I'm asking.

if i was you i would go to the dr and ask for some blood test. first to find out if you are preg, but also your hormone levels to see if you are ovulating coz from your charting im not sure if you are. also accupuncture is great to regulate and shorten cycles.

The tests are realistically about 99% accurate if used properly and not faulty.

What you have to remember is that they can only pick up hormone levels once they reach a certain level within the urine - and it is different for the various brands of tests. And then they rely on averages for hcg levels (the hormone that they pick up) when they talk about which days after your period is due that they will pick up a pregnancy.

There will always be people that for whatever reason they don't work for - most likely because there is something else in the urine that is interfering with the test - that is why they aren't ever given 100% accuracy.

So, in answer to your question - the tests are actually really good and have all passed really strict tests for accuracy before they are approved for sale in Australia (yep - there is a govt department that employs people to make sure that pregnancy tests are accurate!) - no guarantees if you buy imported ones off ebay or the like.

Most false negatives are because the person is not using them properly or it is just too early to pick up the pregnancy (which is why the suggest on the packaging that if you get a negative but suspect that you are preg you should retest several days later).

False positives (that are actual false positives rather than very early miscarriages and chemical pregnancies) are extremely rare and are caused by a faulty test (which isn't unheard of) or if the woman is excreting something in her urine that replicates the hcg - some powerful prescription medications (can't remember which ones this minute) are known to have this effect.

Hope that this helps.

I didn't even realise they sold home pregnancy tests on ebay! LOL

And hey, of course my chart isn't going to give you all the info regarding my ovulation... I wasn't temping until about the 19th of January.... so of course, no info there from that long ago...

Moondance, its is very possible that you can be pregnant and be negative on your HPT. My best friend was 12 weeks pregnant before she confirmed at the doctors that she was pregnant - she had PCOS, and all her HPT were negative - she did about 6 or 7 over a 8 week period. It wasn't until she got a blood test at the doctors that she found out that she was pregnant.

This is because you're kidneys actually break down some of the hcg (which is the hormone that is released when your are pregnant). Depending on the individual, depends on how much and how quickly your body breaks down the hcg. I would never be happy with a negative HPT if my period was late - you should really go get a blood test - there's no need for a quanitivative (how much hcg) unless your having a miscarriage. A qualitative (pos or neg) is sufficient.

This happened to my friend - she got a bfn and she would have been just under 6 wks pg. She tested again at about 7.5wks and it was positive

The reason people would be telling you to go to the doctors is because you opened with;

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I'm currently ttc.... 12 days late and getting BFN's.

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If that is not the reason you posted don't put it in your post. Don't get narky at our members for responding to your post with care.

If you want statistics, try a google search, go to your doctor and ask them.

Being only 12dpo and getting negatives tells me you're either not PG or it's just too soon to test.

I have +ve home tests but -ve Drs tests till over a week past AF was supposed to be due. Sometimes it just happens like that. My Dr told me to wait till AF was 2 weeks late so you get a definitive result because sometimes with the early tests it can pick up a bit of hormone from the fertilised egg but it doesn't implant for whatever reason. Only 1 in 3 embryos will implant so the odds of a false +ve with a home test are higher than a false -ve.

HTH :)

moondance im sorry if i offended you with my post about ovulation. it wasn't the intention.
i'll step out of this issue i think.

One of my girlfriends was still getting BFN on POAS at 3 months pregnant. The Drs ended up confirming the pregnancy. So yes it can happen.

my stepmum also for negatives when she was preg with 2 of her 4 kids

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The reason people would be telling you to go to the doctors is because you opened with;

If that is not the reason you posted don't put it in your post. Don't get narky at our members for responding to your post with care.

If you want statistics, try a google search, go to your doctor and ask them.

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I mentioned it briefly me personally getting negatives when I may be pregnant it is the reason I am curious about the issue of how widespread false negatives may actually be. But I didn't create this thread to talk about myself, I created the thread to hear others stories, speculations and theories on the issue of the possibility of false negatives, not to talk about me.