Phantom Pregnancy: Symptoms, Causes, and Treatment

If you have all the classic early pregnancy symptoms but get a negative test result, there’s a chance you have what’s called a phantom pregnancy, or pseudocyesis.

While this condition is rare, phantom pregnancy is a real phenomenon. Let’s dig into it a little deeper, explain what causes it, and what you should do if it happens to you.

A phantom pregnancy is when it feels like you’re pregnant, but you’re not. This means that, by definition, its symptoms resemble the ones you’ll experience when you’re actually pregnant.

You might experience: 1

• Menstrual changes, like missing your period
• Breast pain, tenderness, enlargement, and changes to your nipples
• Belly growth that mimics the appearance of a pregnant abdomen
• Morning sickness (feelings of nausea)
• Sudden and unexplained weight gain
• Strong cravings or food aversions
• Fatigue
• The need to pee more often than usual

Many women even feel like they have a baby kicking or moving inside them, making their phantom pregnancy all the more convincing.

Phantom pregnancy is considered a somatoform disorder, meaning a mental disorder that causes physical symptoms. It can stem from one or both of these root causes: 1 2

Psychological factors

If you’re desperate to get pregnant, you may be more likely to have a phantom pregnancy. Struggling with infertility, recovering from a previous miscarriage, or dealing with social pressure all have the potential to trigger a response in your body that mimics pregnancy symptoms. 3

Interestingly, the reverse is also true: you might also experience pseudocyesis if you have an intense fear of conceiving.

Hormonal imbalances

Conditions that affect your endocrine system, like ovarian tumors or a pituitary disorder, can cause hormonal changes in your body that mimic the feeling of being pregnant. 1 A rare form of cancer can also cause you to secrete pregnancy hormones.

For obvious reasons, this can make you more likely to believe that you’re pregnant when you aren’t.

If you’re getting those telltale early pregnancy symptoms, your first step should be to take an over-the-counter home pregnancy test.

These tests detect the presence (or lack) of the hormone human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) in your urine, which your placenta begins producing after you conceive. 1

If you have a phantom pregnancy, you’ll get a negative test result. This condition can’t cause a false positive on a pregnancy test.

What if your test is negative but you still have pregnancy symptoms?

If your test comes back negative but you still have symptoms that can’t be easily explained (i.e., nausea that lasts longer than a normal stomach bug), make an appointment with your doctor.

Assuming your doctor rules out a real pregnancy, they’ll check if you’re suffering from any underlying medical or psychological conditions that could cause a phantom pregnancy.

They may also conduct a blood or urine test or even perform an ultrasound to visually show you there’s no fetus in your uterus.

It’s worth noting that a phantom pregnancy is different from two other, similar conditions: delusional and chemical pregnancies.

• Delusional pregnancy: With a delusional pregnancy, you might emotionally “feel” like you’re pregnant without experiencing any pregnancy symptoms. More often than not, a mental health condition of some sort is to blame when something like this happens. 5 The right move is to see a therapist or a psychiatrist.
• Chemical pregnancy: A chemical pregnancy, on the other hand, is when you miss your period and take a pregnancy test that comes back with a positive result. However, your OB finds no baby when examining you via an ultrasound. It’s essentially an early miscarriage that happens when the embryo does not properly implant or fails to grow. 6

Dealing with a phantom pregnancy isn’t easy, especially if you’ve been trying to get pregnant. You may feel confused, frustrated, angry, or even embarrassed.

First of all, know that you don’t have to deal with a phantom pregnancy alone. Reach out to your loved ones and your doctor for support, and try to stay tuned to your own mood.

Getting medical treatment

As mentioned, your doctor will rule out any medical conditions that could have caused your phantom pregnancy. If they catch something abnormal or serious, like a hormonal imbalance or a tumor, you’ll need treatment.

Mental health support

If psychological factors caused your phantom pregnancy, you may need to speak with a therapist or counselor to address whatever issues were responsible for it.

Look into cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), where you can talk through your experience in a safe space and come to terms with what happened. 7

You could also look into medication if you’re battling anxiety, depression, or another severe mental health condition. Have an open conversation with your doctor or a psychiatrist about which medications may be right for you.

Whether you were looking to get pregnant or trying to avoid it, feeling confused and frustrated after finding out your symptoms were caused by a phantom pregnancy is entirely valid.

While phantom pregnancy is still somewhat mysterious, your doctor will be on call to guide and support you throughout it.