Persistent Fatigue & Health Concerns: Understanding Potential Causes

Question
Hi Maggie
Was wondering if you could shed some light on this for me, most of this year my health has been poor with various small things, I am suffering from depression and have been for 6 years but only just been diagnosed and started taking prozac since April, all year I have been missing periods, tired ,headaches, generally feeling unwell and tired almost constantly, the doctor assures me its just my body settling down as been theough a lot of stress but I am a bit of a worrier and I'm worried its more than that, any ideas? If you need any more info let me know.

Any help you can give would be appreciated

Regards
Clare

Answer
I would get some lab work done by my PCP if I were you.  Things they could look for are lyme disease, chronic mononucleosis (forgot the common name--it's what Cher suffers from) and anemia.  Being tired and missing periods make me think you've got a physical problem going on.  If you are obese, that can cause you to miss periods, feel tired and depressed.  Obesity inhibits the normal functioning of hormones in your body, although it's not clear to researchers how this occurs.  If that's the case, you should start to try to lose weight.  Doctors blame a lot on stress, and I think it just gets too easy to say "it's stress" instead of investigating further.  

Best wishes, Clare!