Most women can mistakenly consider the symptoms of pregnancy with the period for most of the times. But, usually, most of the menstrual symptoms can be similar to the early signs of pregnancy.
When you are trying to conceive, you may be on the lookout for any pregnancy symptoms. Most confused early symptoms of pregnancy with period symptoms include tender breasts, headache, lower backache, nausea, bloating, spotting, darkening of the skin around the nipples, frequent urination, food aversions and cravings.
Most commonly mistaken symptoms of pregnancy with period symptoms
Unfortunately, most of the early pregnancy symptoms are also a signal that indicates your menstrual period is about to start. When you are near to your menstrual cycle, you may experience several pre-menstrual symptoms like bloating, mood swings, and breast tenderness.
- Some women may also experience headaches and backaches as part of their pre-menstrual symptoms.
- Spotting is another early symptom of pregnancy that can be most commonly considered as the start of your menstrual period. If you are really pregnant, spotting can be the indication of implantation. Most women may also experience nausea prior and during their periods due to the hormonal changes.
- Breast tenderness can be a symptom of PMS or pregnancy. There is no particular detail or characteristic of breast tenderness alone that can differentiate PMS from pregnancy.
- Appetite changes or food cravings are both the symptoms of pregnancy and PMS. However, there are no particular foods that can distinguish PMS from pregnancy. The most common food cravings that you experience prior to your period start include chocolates, comfort foods, salty or sweet junk foods. In case you experience any craving that you never experience before can indicate the existence of a pregnancy.
- Low back pain is also a common PMS and pregnancy symptom. However, when it comes to pregnancy, you may experience this symptom during the second and third trimester of pregnancy. But PMS lower back pain is like a shooting quality pain, which often due to abdominal or pelvic pain radiating to the back.
- Fatigue can also be a sign of both PMS and pregnancy. However, fatigue can be the result of several causes. Anemia is one of the most common causes of fatigue during the later stages of pregnancy. Some women may experience fatigue as the first sign of pregnancy. Fatigue during the pre-menstrual period can be most common and can get better with the onset of your period. If the fatigue becomes worse with the blood loss during your period, then it can be a sign of severe anemia.
- Mood swings are also the common symptom of pregnancy and PMS. But the severity of mood swings during pregnancy is ten times more than the severity involved in PMS.
The only foolproof way to determine whether you are pregnant or not is to take the pregnancy test. Most of the home pregnancy tests are very accurate, so when you get a positive result in your home pregnancy test, then pretty sure you are pregnant.
