Tuesday, February 1, 2011

HCG and Fat Pregnancy

So the question arises to me, does it take more HCG (the pregnancy hormone) coursing through a fat person's body to trigger a positive pregnancy result on a home test?  When I was pregnant with Jacob, it took 11 days after my missed period to get that freakin' plus sign.  And now I'm at 12 days and counting and still no plus sign.  It's pretty frustrating, especially since your skinny (who thinks she's fat but is NOWHERE near fat) friend finds out DAYS before missing her period that she's up the duff.  I did a search online but noone seems to have an answer.  The only thing I could find was people asking the same question, and a few people saying, 'no, it shouldn't make a difference.'  But I think it does.  And I'm curious who I could ask to find out.  Because if the answer REALLY is no, then what's wrong with ME?  So at the moment, for those of you out there crossing your fingers for me, it's a big "I dunno."  I won't say I'm not until I've started bleeding (crass, I know, but that's just me) and I won't say I am until I get a positive pee stick.  Do the limbo!!
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4 comments:

  1. Momma, PhDFebruary 2, 2011 at 10:55 PM

    I'm way overweight (5'3" and 245lbs) and I got a positive 1 day before my period was supposed to start. And it was a really obvious positive.

    I'm not sure if being fat should require more HCG. If the fat absorbs the hormone, that could do it. I've heard of adipose tissue storing hormones (like estrogen) which can explain why some overweight women have trouble conceiving (the fat releases the hormones and blunts that rise/fall that would produce ovulation, etc), but weight loss allows them to become pregnant. But I haven't heard of fat tissue storing HCG.

    Since the tests measure a blood concentration and fat women have the same blood volume as skinny women, I'm tempted to say that it shouldn't matter your weight as to when you get a positive.

    It may just be that your embryo is taking its time producing HCG? Probably also there is a range of levels that are expected- hence when women undergo fertility treatments their docs always look at the doubling time of the HCG hormone as an indicator of the health of the pregnancy- and don't just look at the absolute number. (Although very high HCG numbers or faster doubling times is an indicator of multiples).

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  2. AnonymousFebruary 3, 2011 at 12:46 AM

    Augh! How exasperating. For something people sure are willing to lecture you about, there is a disappointing dearth of factual information about pregnancy. Get on this, scientists!

    love,
    Romie

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  3. Momma, PhDFebruary 5, 2011 at 3:03 AM

    Haha! I am a scientist! I went and looked on PubMed and couldn't find ANYTHING!

    The best I could do was:

    Human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) is the hormone produced by the body when pregnant. Both blood- and urine-based pregnancy tests measure levels of hCG. Low levels of hCG may be a sign of a number of situations.

    Late Ovulaton
    1. A low level of hCG may mean that ovulation occurred later than expected. Since sperm can survive for up to 72 hours, this means that conception may have occurred later than originally assumed.
    Late Implantation
    2. Implantation can occur as soon as seven days after ovulation but may take as many as 12 days to complete, resulting in less hCG being present.


    Read more: Why Have I Got Low Levels of HCG? | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/facts_5592627_got-low-levels-hcg_.html#ixzz1D39A6Mcs

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  4. Momma, PhDFebruary 10, 2011 at 8:26 PM

    I FOUND ONE! I actually stumbled on a study that looks at BMI and HCG levels! (it wasn't the only thing they were looking at, but that did look at it)

    http://humrep.oxfordjournals.org/content/21/3/823.full

    They found that absolute HCG levels were "significantly lower for patients with BMI >30 kg/m2. "

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