HCG Hormone & Stress
HCG is the abbreviation for human chorionic gonadotropin, the pregnancy hormone produced by the placenta during the implantation of the embryo on the uterine wall, which occurs about one to two weeks following fertilization. Psychological factors such as stress were long thought of as affecting hCG levels during pregnancy, but recent findings have shown otherwise.
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Identification
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According to the American Pregnancy Association, levels of hCG hormone can first be detected by a blood test approximately 11 days after fertilization and by a urine test 12 to 14 days after fertilization. HCG levels usually double every 72 hours, peaking at 8 to 11 weeks of pregnancy and steadily declining afterwards. Only fertility treatments can interfere with hCG levels, while antibiotics, pain relievers, contraception or other hormone medications do not.
Stress and HCG Levels
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Since hCG levels are measured by pregnancy tests, a good way to see if psychological factors such as stress can affect hCG levels are your pregnancy test results and their accuracy. As explained on babyhopes.com, stress cannot affect the outcome of a pregnancy test, no matter how nervous you might be over the possibility of being or not being pregnant. Some women mistakenly think that their stress levels can affect their pregnancy test results when it is simply not the case.
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Stress-Related Complications
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One concern for many expectant mothers is that stress can complicate their pregnancy, affect their hCG levels or hurt the baby. Research on stress and pregnancy is done by asking subjects about their perceived levels of stress and by measuring physical markers of stress. As explained on drspock.com, in cases where mothers experienced high levels of stress in early pregnancy, a greater risk of miscarriage in the first trimester and more incidences of birth defects have been reported. In other instances, premature or smaller babies were born to mothers who experienced severe stress like the loss of a first child.
Conflicting Findings
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As suggested on drspock.com, findings on the relationship between stress and pregnancy are conflicting, since many women who experienced traumatic events during pregnancy had perfectly normal babies. Indeed, many women who have been pregnant and given birth to healthy babies may recall close friends or relatives saying that their stress-related crying spells, increased heart rates or stress hormones could make them lose their babies. So, no one knows for sure how stress, pregnancy and hCG levels affect each other.
Considerations
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As can be read on drspock.com, drawing early conclusions about stress, pregnancy and hCG levels may lead us in the wrong direction. In the unfortunate event of a miscarriage, hCG levels may drop steadily over a period of four to six weeks, so stress in itself does not cause hCG levels to drop but miscarriage does. Therefore, even if stress may cause certain pregnancies to go wrong, it does not mean that stress affects hCG levels.
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References
- Photo Credit Waiting image by Kristin Skipper from Fotolia.com
