Expert: Bob Kambic - 5/9/2007

Question
I got my IUD removed on 4/27/07 and had sex the next day and every night after that for a week.  It is now 5/09/07 and I took a pregnancy test 9 days after we thought we concieved.  Since then I've been feeling dizzy, fatigued, nauseous, and having a dull pain in the lower left side of my stomach.  The pregnancy test came out negative.  I've heard you have to wait at least 4-6 weeks to take a pregancy test, or it will show up negative.  I was wondering if all my symtoms could be from my body returning to normal, or if I could really be pregnant this soon. Please respond ASAP!!

Answer
Some IUDs leak hormones into your body. In that case it might take your body a bit of time to adjust to normal cycling. If it was a regular IUD you should have been cycling normally all along. Home pregnancy tests can be inaccurate. You need to be sure that the test has not expired and that you take it exactly according to directions.

Here is information that I give to women coming off the pill and who are trying to get pregnant.
First when 100 couples try to get pregnant, no pills, no birth control, at the end of a year 80 will be pregnant. Some get pregnant the first month, some the second month, etc. It is impossible to predict which couple will get pregnant when. The 20 couples not pregnant after a year are considered infertile and usually go for medical help. You can't tell where you are until you try.

Now second, coming off the pill is similar. Some women return to normal cycling with no problem, others take sometime to resume normal cycling. You can't predict what will happen because as you say, all women are different.

So putting the two issues together, coming off the pill, first you will have to resume a "normal" cycle, then you will have to try to get pregnant. I suggest monitoring fertility will increase your understanding of all this and your confidence that your body is working correctly. Check http://www.irh.org/nfp.htm

http://www.fertilityfriend.com/HelpCenter/FFBook/ff_fertility_signs.html

Be sure to try to get a teacher to work with you until you really understand your fertility.

Your symptoms could be caused by some anxiety about your condition. It also is  possible that you are pregnant and the test was wrong. If you really want to know, go to your provider for a test.