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Try to keep calm, as hard as it may be. I'm 38. My doctor advised against even doing the AFP because she said at my age it will not come back normal and that there are also a ton of false positives. She doesn't think the AFP or screening test are of much use at our age range, and states that all they do is cause more stress because more often than not the positives are wrong. I've had two Level 2 Ultrasounds with Doppler and 4-d instead. One at 17 weeks, and one yesterday at 29 weeks. They both have indicated a normal, healthy baby. There is a better chance your positive is wrong than right. Hang in there and good luck!

K, thank you so much for your response, I really appreciate your time. You have definitely helped to ease my fears, unfortunately my OB had no comments about the accuracy rate of the AFP. I will keep you posted. Happy Holidays

Hi I just wanted to let you know I also had a positive on the afp screening it was for trisomy 18 1/41 I am 35yrs old and this is my 3rd well to make a long story short it turned out to a false positive I opted not to have the amnioentesis done I had two level 2 ultrasounds done which showed a healthy baby boy...with trisomy 18 it is much much worse than downs and in most cases the baby does not even live to be born and if it does then not more than a day or two so I was scared to death but when I got my level 2 done they did not find not one soft marker for trisomy or downs but the worst part was the waiting so I know how you feel just try to hang in there if this helps when I was waiting I did tons of research on the afp test and found in most cases only 1 in about 100 that get a positive result find out that their baby really has a problem and also the genetic cousorler told us that even with a 1/41 result that only put me at a 3% chance of having a baby with trisomy 18 which means that 97% of a healthy baby but like I said everything has turned out well I am really surpised your doctor had you do the afp test in most cases I read about they usually don't recomend that women in their 40ies take the test due to the fact that you will only get a positive result but I do know what you mean about the doctors not saying much about that when I found out about mine I asked the doctor about the false positives and she told me "oh we don't have hardly anyone getting a positive result here" I go to a group of doctors and that was my first time seeing that doctor so she did not really care how she made me feel but just hang in there and good luck sorry this is so long but when something like this happens it is really scary and I feel very strongly about this subject since it did happen to me I wish they would stop with the afp test also I found out that even if you get a fine result it does not mean there is nothing wrong there are false negatives as well with this test and alot do not beleive that but all you have to do is research it well again good luck and I hope all turns out well for you

Sheila, I too am facing an AFP test on Tues. I'm not going to pay too much attention to the results and am only doing it because the doctor doing my 20 week ultrasound has requested it so she can get a better idea of things to pay closer attention too based upon the results. I had my 1st trimester a couple of weeks ago which showed I had a 1/16 chance of Downs Syndrome. The odds scared me so much, I had a CVS done. The preliminary results have come back showing this is more than likely a false positive (we should be getting the final results after X-mas). I am 36 and completely understand what you are going through...just hang in there and have a happy holiday season. Good luck on you amnio.

Thanks Toni for your support. Good luck with your AFP results. I will keep everyone posted. Happy holidays.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!!!

Sheila, I haven't had my AFP yet, I have it on January 16th. My OB/GYN said that he guarantees it will be positive simply because I am over 35 years old. They take age into consideration when they calculate your odds. Your testing may have come out perfectly normal, but because of your age, it WILL be positive. I am having a Level II at 20 weeks.

Hi Sheila, I am 42 and 5 mths with a healthy baby boy. after talking to my doctor i opted out of all test except the amnio. I knew that based on my age most tests would come back with high odds, and remember it is just odds. I had the amnio at 16 weeks (it was fast and painless) results withing 10 days and 99.9% . All the best, I am sure you will be fine Cheers