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  4. Would you recommend doing the DUTCH test while pregnant or nursing?
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  4. Would you recommend doing the DUTCH test while pregnant or nursing?

Would you recommend doing the DUTCH test while pregnant or nursing?

 

Chris Kresser:  Sure, but you have to take into consideration that the patient is pregnant or nursing, and you have to consider what your interventions are going to be. They are going to be limited. The adaptogens and some of the other supplements that we use in HPA axis treatment are not tested. We don’t know if they’re safe during pregnancy or nursing, but certainly all of the diet and lifestyle modifications that we talked about could be beneficial, and it certainly can be helpful to know what’s going on. The cortisol picture, I’m not sure how much—I mean, certainly that can vary throughout pregnancy and nursing, but it still can give you good information. Obviously, the sex hormones are going to change dramatically throughout pregnancy and in the early stage, you know, the postnatal period, so I’m not sure how useful those sex hormones will be.

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