False Positive?

So I have an IUD, and am not TTC. I’m in grad school, I don’t live my partner, and am generally just not set up for a baby right now. I wouldn’t be devastated but it would super unplanned.
I have been having a lot of cramping, some spotting, and have had to pee constantly for the last few weeks. I’ve been super fatigued and generally just not feeling well. I thought I might have COVID, I don’t, so I went to the doctor and they did a pregnancy test. They called and told me the first time they tested it it came back positive and the second time it came back negative. I’m getting blood work tomorrow to confirm. I took an at home test and it was negative as well, but I took it around dinner time and I’m reading that it could be less accurate especially if I’m not far along. Theoretically.
Is it possible that it could have been anything other than a false positive? I’ve never had a false positive before. I am sure it’s fine but I’m just freaking out. Also, as much as I’m not TTC I’m going to be a little sad if I’m not. I know it’s not safe to get pregnant on an IUD so I’m hoping it’s negative obviously but still.

I don’t have any experience with this, so my only advice would be to mentally prepare yourself for either outcome. Easier said than done, but right now there’s no way for you to know for certain.

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I have no experience with false positives other than I’ve been told it’s not unheard of but definitely not common.
If it eases your mind IUD’s aren’t ideal for pregnancy but often a healthy pregnancy can still develop with close monitoring or removal of the device. I don’t want to cause any extra anxiety especially if it’s only a false positive but if it is positive (especially with the cramping & bleeding) my dr. Warned me when discussing birth control, If you get a positive with an IUD make sure you get an ultrasound as soon as possible, as correctly placed IUD’S ARE pretty effective at preventing pregnancy within the uterus, but don’t prevent ectopic pregnancies (this is very rare, but something to be aware of)

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Could be a false positive (increased likelihood of ectopic pregnancy with an IUD so I second the advice to get an ultrasound if the blood work comes back positive). Could also be a very early miscarriage, sometimes known as a chemical pregnancy? This is where the egg is fertilised but fails to implant properly into the uterus lining so whilst you’re technically pregnant for a few days and your hormones start rising accordingly, once your body recognises that the egg isn’t implanted then it moves onto the cramping, start of the next cycle phase. Or thirdly it could be a true positive but you are very early on. If you are very early still then the levels of hormones in your urine are still low and the quality of the urine sample decreases with time which might explain why there was enough of the hormone to be picked up in the first test but not the second test from the same sample. For example at home test results always say to use a fresh sample of urine to test with rather than saving it in a cup for several hours before doing the test.

Thinking of you- the mind games these situations throw up are horrible x

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It’s completely possible that it was a false positive. If you’ve been feeling sick “for weeks” and you think you’ve been pregnant for a few weeks then you would still get a positive at night because your HCG levels would be much higher being that far along. So if they got a positive, then a negative, then another negative that makes me think that the repeating negatives are more convincing than the one positive.

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I got my blood test results back and I’m definitely not pregnant, I’m pretty bummed to be honest even though I should be relieved. Thanks everyone

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