Overnight Dexamethasone Suppression Test

ACTH Suppression Test, Cortisol Suppression Test, Dexamethasone Suppression Test (DST), DST (Dexamethasone Suppression Test)

What Affects the Test

Reasons you may not be able to have the test or why the results may not be helpful include:

• Pregnancy or extreme obesity.
• Severe weight loss, dehydration, or acute alcohol withdrawal.
• Severe injury.
• Diabetes.
• You take medicines, such as barbiturates, phenytoin (Dilantin), birth control pills, aspirin, morphine, methadone, lithium, monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs), spironolactone (Aldactone), and diuretics.

Some people may quickly process (metabolize) the dose of dexamethasone. In these people, cortisol levels will not drop unless a higher dose of the medicine is given.

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Author:	Sydney Youngerman-Cole, RN, BSN, RNC	Last Updated August 3, 2006
Medical Review:	Caroline S. Rhoads, MD - Internal Medicine David C.W. Lau, MD, PhD, FRCPC - Endocrinology & Metabolism
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