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Menopause Home Testing

Home kits are available for testing your follicle stimulating hormone level, which indicates whether you are in menopause. However, the reliability of these home tests is still in question by some medical professionals.

  1. Questionable Reliability

    • Dr. Carolyn Janet Crandall, an associate professor of medicine at the UCLA School of Medicine, isn't convinced that the home tests are accurate. She notes that the "first trap" is the urine test might not be a reliable marker for detecting menopause. Crandall explains that blood FSH levels don't correlate well with menopause symptoms so she questions whether using urine is a reliable source for predicting a woman's status.

    FSH Levels Vary Greatly

    • Crandall further explains that follicle stimulating hormone levels vary greatly, particularly when a woman's periods have become irregular, which might be right before menopause commences, so it might be difficult to get an accurate and reliable reading. She explains that a woman pretty much knows that she is menopausal if she has gone 12 straight months without a period.

    Types of Urine Tests

    • The urine tests available in the United States, according to Medscape.com, include Menocheck (Synova), which reportedly has a lower efficacy rate than the other tests according to the FDA, Estroven (Amerifit Nutrition) and RU25 Plus (Hormone Check), both of which have easy to read indicators. If you use Menocheck, you must determine whether the test line is lighter or darker than the control line. That might be difficult for some to determine.

    Brands for Saliva Tests

    • Those available for saliva testing include Saliva Test Kits (ZRT Laboratory), Female Check (Body Balance of Genova Diagnostics) and Menopause Hormone Profile (North Bay Diagnostics). These tests require interpretation by a health care professional so must be sent to a lab.

    Symptomatic but FSH Levels Say Otherwise

    • Dr. Crandall suggests that if a woman is having menopausal symptoms, such as hot flashes, night sweats and sore breasts, she should make an appointment with a physician. It is possible that a woman can be peri-menopausal and exhibiting the above symptoms yet her FSH levels might not be in the menopausal range. But that doesn't mean that she is not peri-menopausal. If a woman isn't having any symptoms, Dr. Crandall says not to worry about FSH levels. She further advises that a woman should not decide that she is no longer capable of conceiving, and abandon contraceptives, based on a home menopause test.

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