Recently, Clearblue rolled out their new “Clearblue Menopause Stage Indicator,” a urine test that claims to determine your menopause stage. However, according to the menopause guru, Dr. Jen Gunter, this test is not worth the investment, and consulting an expert healthcare professional is the only evidence-based method to diagnose menopause.
As the author of the Menopause Manifesto explains, diagnosing menopause is not done through blood or urine tests. Instead, healthcare professionals rely on clinical evaluation, considering factors such as age, menstrual status, and symptoms.
1. Hormone Tests Are Not Useful:
One of the primary reasons blood or urine tests are not used to diagnose menopause is that there is no single hormone value that definitively indicates menopause. Follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), often measured in the Clearblue test, is not a reliable marker for menopause. Its levels vary greatly from person to person, and some individuals may experience low FSH levels even after their final period.
2. Hormone Tests Can Be Unreliable:
In addition to the inconsistency of hormone levels, hormone tests can be unreliable due to the unpredictable ups and downs within a menopause hormone trajectory. An individual may have several months without bleeding and seemingly high FSH levels, only to resume ovulation unexpectedly. Therefore, healthcare professionals wait for a year of no bleeding before confirming menopause, as testing cannot accurately predict the unpredictability of the last year or so of ovulation.3.
3. Neither Hormone Levels nor Phase of Menopause Matters:
Healthcare providers base treatment decisions on symptoms rather than hormone levels or specific phases of menopause. Whether you are one year before or after your final period does not significantly impact the treatment approach. Precise determination of menopause is only crucial for evaluating abnormal bleeding or deciding when to discontinue contraception, but even in these situations, hormone levels are not relied upon.
Starting therapy based on the menopause continuum is not recommended by menopause societies, such as The Menopause Society (formerly known as The North American Menopause Society).
Diagnosis and treatment should be based on symptoms rather than test results. Additionally, the test can lead to confusion and potentially difficult interactions with healthcare providers. Patients who have spent money on this test may feel frustrated when they discover its limited value, potentially creating a gap in care where alternative providers and questionable supplements step in.
On the bright side, the creation of this test indicates that powerful companies are finally seeing the market gap for menopause care. But buyer beware!
Thank you, Dr. Gunter, for continuing to provide your expert opinion about evidenced-based care for those in the perimenopause stage.
Check the full (and educational!) blog post here:
