Advice

What is the difference between PMS symptoms and pregnancy symptoms?

Miss Nicole
Question

What is the difference between PMS symptoms and pregnancy symptoms?

The difference is that PMS⁠ symptoms won't cause your pregnancy test⁠ to turn positive.

Using symptoms to determine if you're pregnant is really unreliable. If you absolutely must know if you're pregnant, wait 10 to 14 days after the sexual⁠ encounter in question then take a pregnancy test using the first urine of the morning (it's the most concentrated). False positives are exceedingly rare, so if it's positive, then you're mostly likely pregnant. You can go to the doctor for a follow-up blood test to be sure.

As for PMS symptoms, there are a variety of remedies out⁠ there to help you with that. These range from the ever-popular Midol, to various herbal teas, meditations, or chocolate mini-binges.

So, did you have a real pregnancy⁠ risk? Figure it out with: What's the Risk? Easy Pregnancy Risk Assessments

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Toni Weschler is the author of Taking Charge of Your Fertility: The Definitive Guide to Natural Birth Control, Pregnancy Achievement and Reproductive Health, which is pretty much THE book for people who want to chart fertility, and the book I used to learn how to do it well in my 20's. She also wrote a great book about menstruation and charting for teen women, called Cycle Savvy: The Smart Teen's Guide to the Mysteries of Her Body. She's an amazingly dedicated and energetic person who also just happens to really, really like chocolate croissants.