In high school, one of my friends used to freak out every month that she’d had sex in (and some that she didn’t!) and worry she was pregnant. Invariably, she would take a home pregnancy test, get a negative and her period would arrive the next day. Stress can delay periods, and there’s no stress quite like thinking you’re possibly a pregnant teen.
Now that I am a young married woman, I hang out on another board that has members mostly around my age and many are trying to have babies. I have observed many of them reeling off all the signs and symptoms that mean they might be pregnant, but they magically clear up when their period arrives. Wishful thinking - or paranoia - can make you think you’re experiencing things that you aren’t. That’s why it’s pretty much impossible to diagnose pregnancy by symptoms alone - if they were accurate indicators, then I know a couple of girls who’ve been pregnant every month for the last year or two.
Several acquaintances have discovered to their complete shock that they are not just pregnant, but four, five or six months pregnant. A family friend didn’t know she was expecting until she went into labour. Some people don’t notice any symptoms whatsoever.
In conclusion, the only way she can tell for sure is to test. Stressing out and obsessing over potential pregnancies may just muddy the waters by causing her body to react in unfamiliar ways. Meanwhile, other people have no early warning signs of pregnancy at all. A home pregnancy test will give a fairly good indication, and if that’s negative but she’s still worried, a doctor can arrange a blood test to answer the question once and for all. Home pregnancy tests are pretty reliable these days and can give an accurate result very early. Remember: you can get a false negative, but a false positive is a rare event indeed.
kittenblue, this kind of stuff is EXACTLY what friends exist for. Why in the world should this girl not go to her friends for support?
I’m a fairly nervous person, and I have learned to love the pregnancy test. I will sometimes have irrational worries I’m pregnant, and instead of freaking out and sitting on it, I’ll just take a test even though I know I’m not pregnant. Voila, instant peace of mind, for the low low price of 8 or 9 dollars.
Actually, that’s fairly common. A lot of the very early symptoms of pregnancy–tender breasts, nausea, etc.–are also symptoms of PMS. And of course PMS always magically clears up when your period starts.
In my personal experience, just about every time I take a pregnancy test, I get my period the very next day. The one time it was positive, I pretty much already knew it would be, but the funny thing was, morning sickness started the very next day.
What is it about the results of those tests that can affect us so dramatically?
BTW, I’m keeping my fingers crossed for your friend. An abortion is a terrible experience, I wouldn’t wish it on anyone.
In our case, four years having sex thrice a month during the fertile period (and at other times as well), we apparently had a less than 1 in 144 chance of getting pregnant - during fertile times, while ovulating with predictor tests and on Clomid.
Its a sensitive subject the other direction as well.
Assuming you are fertile, the odds of getting pregnant on any one cycle if you have sex during peak ovulation times without protection are supposed to be about 25%. I have a girlfriend who says hers in 100% - everytime they’ve tried, she gets knocked up. But she has had two early miscarriages and three children.
Because friends don’t always stay friends and there might come a day when you’re running for an elected office and discover you should have paid in cash and used a false name. Unfortunate, but true. Hopefully, Turkey Curse’s friend won’t have any regrets or become a politician.
Still far better advice to the young lady is don’t accept free drinks. And get so used to using condoms you will use one even while drunk.
It is my firm belief (and I told her this a couple of times) that her body was delaying the period for when our group of friends (including boyfriend) get back to town for fall semester. This ain’t the first time her period has waited until just before she sees him again. Needless to say, those of us that know are quite relieved. I made her vow to be extra, super careful from now on. That doesn’t mean much, of course, but it’s all a third party can do.
Grandmother, that is excellent advice. I will definitely pass it on.
The night before my last period started, I had this awful dream about going from drugstore to drugstore trying to find one that carried the home tests. I guess, on some level, I was worried, pill or no pill. I don’t want to think about how I’d worry if I’d had sex without contraception.
Please do. Just my own experience, but it is quite possible to get so used to using condoms you’ll use them *all * the time. I can think of several episodes of really drunken sex with my ex that he’s wake up (come to?) the next morning with the condom still on. Probably not comfortable, but that’s his problem. <cackles evilly>
Pill and condoms would be better, both for pregnancy prevention and anything else. I have no worries about anything else with my boyfriend but it’s the double barrelled approach and nothing less. Paranoid? Heck yeah.
[QUOTE=LaurAnge] kittenblue, this kind of stuff is EXACTLY what friends exist for. Why in the world should this girl not go to her friends for support?/QUOTE]
I think I explained my reasons pretty well in my post, but if it wasn’t clear, check what The Devil’s Grandmother said above.
Turkey Curse, I’m glad the problem has resolved itself; I hope you stick around. Fifteen bucks comes down to just over a buck a month. How much crap do you waste a buck a month on? IMO, it’s well worth it!
Hey, question: I have heard that if you are pregnant but on the pill, you can still get your period. Is it true? Will the period you get seem normal? As heavy as usual?
It has nothing to do with being on the pill as far as I am aware. Some women still get periods in early pregnancy regardless. Just like the pregnancy symptoms, there is no hard and fast rule to what those periods may be like. I had a friend who still got her period for 6 months while pregnant, so didn’t know she was until she started to show and feel movement. I still got my first period when I was pregnant, but it was only three days and light. (I know at least 3 other women for whom that was also the case.) I probably would have had more than just the one, but after that I took progesterone support, which prevents that bleeding.
Well, given the comments you made afterward about stress and wishful thinking, I thought maybe you were going for stress, psychosomatic symptoms, wish fulfillment, or maybe just commenting on a phenomenon you’d noticed. Sorry.
I’m just throwing in as someone who has had a scare like that (lost condom), stressed out to the point of being sick and late, but turned out to be a false alarm.
I’m glad all’s well that ends well. (I could hope that such a scare will have your firend considering extra contraception, or the possibillty of using the so-called “morning-after” pill, but well, not my business at all, so I am jsut glad for her, that’s al. Not to mention pretty impressed at the concern you show for your friends, TurkeyCurse
Tee hee - a user name involving “Curse” is almost funny in the circumstances.
