What if you could find out that you’ve reached menopause with an at-home test? Pharmacies sell over-the-counter test kits that claim to assess hormones in the urine to determine whether a woman has entered menopause.

But don’t expect an at-home test to provide a definitive answer. It isn’t possible to verify the presence of menopause with a blood or urine test.

“The diagnosis of menopause is clinical, so even clinicians shouldn’t rely on lab tests to make the final diagnosis,” said Jessica Chan, MD, a reproductive endocrinologist at Cedars-Sinai. “It’s a diagnosis you make in retrospect, when a woman hasn’t had a menstrual cycle in 12 months.”

Read: Menopause Matters

On average, American women reach menopause at age 51. Before menopause, women typically experience two to five years of perimenopause, a period during which menstrual cycles change due to hormonal shifts.

During perimenopause, your menstrual periods may arrive earlier or later than usual, or you may go months between periods. You may also experience menopause-like symptoms, such as hot flashes and vaginal dryness.

Menopause is reached after 12 consecutive months without a menstrual period. In menopause, estrogen levels drop, and levels of follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) rise.

At-home menopause tests check the levels of FSH in the urine. However, because FSH levels fluctuate during a woman’s cycle, it’s not possible to get an accurate snapshot of someone’s menopause status by checking these hormones.

“In menopause, FSH goes up and estradiol levels drop low, but in a normal cycle, FSH fluctuates anyway, which could make at-home test results inaccurate,” said Keren Lerner, MD, a Cedars-Sinai OB-GYN.

At-home menopause test kits may appeal to women who are curious about their health and want answers quickly, but such kits are not intended to replace medical care. If you’re experiencing changes in your health, you should see a doctor, Chan said.

Read: Perimenopause Explained

The most reliable way to determine whether you’ve reached menopause is to track your menstrual periods. If you go an entire year without a period, you’re in menopause.

OB-GYNs ask patients about the timing of their menstrual cycle to try to pinpoint when they may be entering perimenopause and when they reach menopause.

Based on the information patients share, physicians can often predict when a woman may reach menopause.

“If, for example, a patient in her late 40s is experiencing an irregular cycle and missing her period for months, her last period is probably going to happen in one to three years,” Lerner said. “It’s the natural trajectory of things.”

Women who have had a hysterectomy but still have their ovaries won’t get menstrual periods, but they will reach menopause. Testing may determine whether they’ve reached menopause, according to Lerner. If the patient uses an at-home test, OB-GYNs may still order lab tests to confirm.

Women who wonder about their menopause status may be experiencing hot flashes or other symptoms. Instead of reaching for an over-the-counter test, they should visit their OB-GYN, who can treat symptoms.

“If you’re concerned enough to consider getting an at-home kit, you should instead seek help from a clinician who can clarify what’s going on and help with your symptoms,” Chan said. “Hot flashes, night sweats, painful intercourse, vaginal dryness, recurrent urinary tract infections—those are pretty classic menopause or perimenopausal symptoms.”

Different women may have different experiences during perimenopause and menopause. Doctors can help everyone through the transition.

“Some people are in full-blown menopause with no symptoms, while some people in perimenopause are really struggling and suffering,” Lerner said. “It’s less about what the labs show about hormone levels and more about how a woman feels during that time.”

If you’re enticed by the prospect of using an over-the-counter product that reveals your menopause status, it’s better to rely on your OB-GYN for accurate information, not an at-home menopause test kit.

“It’s more gimmicky than anything else,” Lerner said. “There may be some really useful at-home test kits, but this isn’t one of them.”

Read: Why Hot Flashes Occur and How to Treat Them