OVULATION TESTS

One woman who later became a freelance writer happened to view the development of ovulation tests from two very different perspectives. She first learned about ovulation tests while the patient of a group of specialists who had offices at a medical school in Philadelphia. Later she worked as a technician in a division of medical research, one run by the same group of specialists.  It happened to contain a number of labs, one of which analyzed the levels of two different female hormones. The following short article looks at the ovulation test from the perspective of the patient, and considers how that relates to the doctor-patient relationship.

Ovulation tests normally require a minimal investment by the test subjects. Traditional ovulation tests took the form of a reach for the thermometer every morning for several months. In that way, the female test subject could chart the changes in her basal body temperature (BBT). Of course, the expense of that test could increase, if the test subject were to repeatedly drop the glass thermometer.

More than thirty-five years ago, when a future freelance writer became the subject of a series of ovulation tests, glass thermometers were the normal way to take a temperature at home. Although the future writer took an interest in charting the changes in her BBT, she did not enjoy her own clumsy handling of the glass thermometer. On several mornings it dropped on the floor and broke.

Eventually, the future writer could provide her doctor with a chart of her BBT over a three to four month period. As the doctor put the young lady on certain medications, her chart began to look more “normal.” It began to show a peak every 28 days or so. That peak represented a temperature rise, following a surge of luteinizing hormone (LH) in the young lady’s body.

Yet the doctor realized that the charted BBT provided only part of the information that he needed. The chart suggested that the young woman had begun to develop a predictable cycle. Her chart provided evidence of an LH surge once a month. That LH surge would follow the development of a mature egg, a maturation triggered by follicle stimulating hormone (FSH).  Yet her chart did not reveal the amount of LH released during each surge.

The absence of that information, underlined the weakness in all of the traditional ovulation tests. They did not tell doctors how much LH had been released into the woman’s bloodstream. She would need a certain, minimum level of LH in order to pass through the stage of ovulation, i.e. the release of the matured egg into the fallopian tube.

The young woman’s physician knew a way to obtain the information that he needed, but he realized that he would need further cooperation from his patient. The doctor planned to carry-out a second type of ovulation test. That test would require collection of the patient’s urine for a specified 48 hour period. The doctor then planned to have the laboratory measure the LH level in the urine from that 48-hour period. 

Compared to the present-day ovulation tests, that test demanded extensive preparation. The doctor needed to provide his patient with many different plastic containers. Then he had to explain to the patient how the containers were to be labeled. Unfortunately, the final results from the lab proved inconclusive. They underscored the need for simpler and more efficient ovulation tests.