I Feel Pregnant: Why Did I Get a Negative Test?

Are you experiencing bloating, cramping, nausea, and fatigue but your pregnancy test is coming back negative? There are several reasons why you may 'feel pregnant.'

When you're trying to conceive, experiecing cravings, nausea, and fatigue can be cause for excitement. You feel pregnant. You have signs and symptoms of pregnancy, but then, your period arrives—or you get a negative pregnancy test—and you're left wondering what does it all mean.

It's not uncommon to experience pregnancy symptoms and with a negative test. Spend any time on fertility forums or social media sites and you're bound to hear members refer to "imaginary pregnancy symptoms." Are these feelings all in your head? Maybe not. But what are the sure signs you're not pregnant? How can you tell the difference between phantom pregnancy symptoms and real ones—save for a positive result? Read on to learn more.

graphic of person holding pregnancy test
Photo Illustration by Michela Buttignol / Getty Images.

Why Do I Feel Pregnant If I'm Not Pregnant? 

Many people experience what seem to be pregnancy symptoms shortly before their period arrives. This happens because the hormone progesterone rises both during early pregnancy and in the premenstrual period. In short, PMS symptoms and early pregnancy symptoms can sometimes be exactly the same.

The time between ovulation and your expected period is when you're most likely to be anxious about whether or not this month will be the month. This is also the time when you may be more likely to experience tender breasts, fatigue, bloating, emotional sensitivity, light cramping, and even food cravings. These could be signs of early pregnancy, yes, but also fluctuating premenstrual hormones.

The Difference Between PMS and Pregnancy 

Sometimes, sensations that seem like pregnancy are actually hormones in your body that are preparing for a possible, if not actual, baby. The human body is optimistic when it comes to pregnancy potential. As soon as ovulation occurs, the body starts preparing for a new life. This occurs even if conception did not take place.

One of the hormones responsible for maintaining a healthy early pregnancy is progesterone. Progesterone levels rise after ovulation, with peak progesterone levels being reached on day 21 of your cycle. If you become pregnant, progesterone levels will continue to rise as your body gets ready to support a developing baby. If you don't conceive, your progesterone levels will dip back down when your period arrives.

Surging progesterone can make you feel tired and emotional. This hormone is also responsible for tender breasts, constipation, and fluid retention. These symptoms may be quite prominent even if you aren't pregnant, especially if you are sensitive to progesterone. If you have conceived, these symptoms are likely to progress, since progesterone levels climb steadily throughout pregnancy.

Some Fertility Drugs Can Mimic Pregnancy Symptoms 

If you are working with a doctor to improve your chances of conceiving, it's important to know that fertility drug side effects can sometimes be mistaken for early pregnancy symptoms. Progesterone supplements can cause nausea and a frequent urination. Controlled ovarian hyperstimulation (COH) treatments like oral clomiphine citrate drugs or injectable gonadotropin may lead to moodiness, sore breasts, and bloating.

Be sure to keep in close touch with your fertility specialist to understand all possible side effects of any medications you are taking. This is a good idea to not only ensure you are in good health throughout treatments, but to also help temper expectations month to month.

Understanding False Pregnancy, or Pseudocyesis 

Rarely, someone can have very real physiological manifestations of pregnancy and not be pregnant at all. This psychiatric condition is known as pseudocyesis.

In pseudocyesis, people may have observable symptoms of pregnancy, including missed periods, nausea, breast and belly growth, sensations of baby kicks, and even labor pains. Now rare in developed countries due to wide access to prenatal care, pseudocyesis is still not fully understood by doctors. Research suggests that people with pseudocyesis may experience hormonal fluctuations that stem from stress related to pressure to conceive.

Other reasons for pseudocyesis include:

  • Strong desire to become pregnant
  • Multiple miscarriages and/or the loss of a child
  • Infertility
  • Depression and/or anxiety
  • Emotional trauma
  • Sexual abuse

Can You Be Pregnant and Test Negative?

So, you're feeling pregnant, and maybe you have even missed your period. But your over-the-counter pregnancy test is still negative. Are you or are you not pregnant?

The answer is it depends. Feeling pregnant doesn’t mean you are, but a negative pregnancy test can be wrong. A study by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine revealed that up to 5% of pregnancy tests return results indicating a person is not pregnant when, in reality, they are.

There are a few reasons you receive a false-negative test result. You may have tested too early, so the pregnancy hormones aren't high enough to be detected by the test.

  • There isn’t enough pregnancy hormone hCG in your urine yet.
  • The test has malfunctioned.
  • You’re not pregnant.
  • You are pregnant, but something is wrong.

There are other rare reasons you may get a negative test but actually may be pregnant.

Can You Get Pregnant On Your Period? 

It is possible to be pregnant and get your period. This leads some to hold onto hope that they may still be pregnant. Odds are thought that, if you got your period, you’re not pregnant. Feeling pregnant on your period could happen due to:

  • Normal hormonal fluctuations during menstruation
  • The flu or another illness
  • Fatigue or queasiness for other non-pregnancy reasons

Just like feeling pregnant before your period doesn’t mean you’re pregnant, feeling pregnant on your period also doesn’t indicate you’re expecting.

If your period is very different than your usual, then you may want to take a pregnancy test or call your doctor.

For example, you might consider taking a pregnancy test if your period is:

  • Abnormally light for you
  • More like spotting than a period
  • Much shorter than it usually is

There are non-pregnancy reasons to have an off period. Anything from stress to illness can cause one irregular menstrual cycle.

What Spotting May Mean

Pregnancy symptoms plus spotting can lead many who are trying-to-conceive to worry about early miscarriage. Spotting is a possible early pregnancy symptom. It’s also possible to spot and have a healthy pregnancy. It doesn’t mean you’re going to have an early miscarriage.

Spotting that occurs about 6 to 12 days post ovulation is sometimes called implantation spotting. Whether it's actually caused by an embryo implanting into the uterine lining is questionable.

Spotting can also be caused by things other than pregnancy. It’s possible you are spotting, having “pregnancy symptoms,” but not pregnant.

Key Takeaway

You probably know at least one person with a "feeling pregnant" story that came true. Maybe one particular symptom was stronger, they were extra tired, or they were craving some food they'd never eat otherwise. But here's the thing: these individuals are putting much more weight on the one time they felt pregnant and actually were pregnant over the dozens of times those same feelings didn't indicate pregnancy. What's more, the symptoms of early pregnancy are practically indistinguishable from 'normal' premenstrual symptoms. The only way to know if you're pregnant? Take a pregnancy test.

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Sources
Parents uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
  1. Detection of ovulation, a review of currently available methodsBioeng Transl Med. 2017.

  2. Premenstrual syndrome. Society for Endocrinology. 

  3. Progesterone support in assisted reproductive technology. The National Infertility Association. 

  4. Thinking about fertility treatment. March of Dimes. 

  5. Endocrinology and physiology of pseudocyesisReproductive Biology and Endocrinology. 2013.

  6. Flaw in many home pregnancy tests can return false negative tests. Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. 

  7. Strips of hope: Accuracy of home pregnancy tests and new developmentsGeburtshilfe Frauenheilkd. 2014.

  8. What are some common signs of pregnancy? National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. 

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