If you’ve ever seen a faint positive pregnancy test, only to start bleeding soon after, you’re not alone.
It’s heartbreaking, confusing, and often dismissed.
This is what’s known as a chemical pregnancy—a very early miscarriage that happens before most women even get a chance to confirm their pregnancy on ultrasound.
It’s more common than people think, but that doesn’t make it feel any less devastating. And it certainly doesn’t mean we should stop asking why.
In this week’s Fertile Friday newsletter, we’re walking through what a chemical pregnancy really is, the most common root causes we see in practice, and what you can do to support your body moving forward.
A chemical pregnancy happens when an egg is fertilized and implants, but the pregnancy ends very early—usually before five or six weeks. In many cases, the embryo begins producing hCG, but development stops before a heartbeat is detected.
You might experience what feels like a heavier or late period, especially if you weren’t tracking your cycle closely. But if you’ve ever had a faint line on a pregnancy test, that was real. And while most people will hear, “Just try again,” what you really need is a deeper look at what your body might be telling you.
While we can’t always pinpoint the exact reason, here are some of the most common (and most overlooked) factors we consider when a client experiences an early loss:
This is the most common reason. If the embryo has too many or too few chromosomes, development typically stops very early. This can be due to the egg, sperm, or a combination—and it’s often random. But if this has happened more than once, it’s worth looking at factors that influence egg and sperm quality.
Progesterone is the hormone that keeps the uterine lining stable and supports implantation. If levels are too low after ovulation, the body may start the next cycle too soon. We see this often in women with spotting before their period, short luteal phases, or symptoms like poor sleep, anxiety, or PMS.
Supporting adrenal health, eating enough, and replenishing minerals like magnesium, B6, sodium, and potassium can all help support natural progesterone production.
Chronic inflammation—whether from gut issues, mold exposure, autoimmune activity, or even unaddressed trauma—can interfere with implantation and early development. This is one of the most overlooked root causes we see in women with repeated chemical pregnancies or early loss.
We often explore this with GI-MAP testing, mineral analysis, and a full symptom history inside our Nurture Your Fertility program.
Your baby relies completely on your thyroid hormones in the first trimester. Even small shifts in thyroid function can affect implantation and increase the risk of miscarriage. We look for TSH between 0.5 and 2.0, along with healthy Free T3 and Free T4 levels—not just “normal” TSH alone.
Low thyroid function is often connected to mineral deficiencies (like selenium, iodine, and zinc) and adrenal fatigue, which is why we always look at the full picture.
This is often left out of the conversation, but sperm contributes half of the embryo’s DNA. If there’s high DNA fragmentation or poor morphology, it can absolutely impact early development.
We’ve seen couples have repeated chemical pregnancies, only to discover through advanced testing that sperm quality was the root cause. Oxidative stress, inflammation, nutrient deficiencies, and lifestyle factors (like alcohol, lack of sleep, or toxic exposures) all play a role in sperm health.
A chemical pregnancy doesn’t mean your body failed.
It means your body tried.
And something got in the way.
When we slow down and listen, your body will always give you clues.
Inside our Nurture Your Fertility program, we help you uncover those clues through functional testing, personalized protocols, and a full year of support from our team.
You don’t have to “just try again” without answers.
There is hope. And there is a path forward.
If you want to dig more into fertility as well as sperm health, check out our fertility podcast series here.
