This concept of a "relative glucocorticoid deficiency" might also explain why the observed variation in disease activity seems to be restricted to the postpartum period, because Magiakou and co-workers [41] showed that hypothalamic CRH secretion in healthy pregnant women is transiently suppressed at 3 and 6 weeks, recovering only at 12 weeks postpartum. The gene discussed is CRH; the disease is familial glucocorticoid deficiency.