I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gone to the doctor in the past 28 years and had them want to prescribe antidepressants. I was there complaining about feeling tired all the time. They basically said it could just be depression.
And yes, depression felt right. But I knew it wasn’t just depression. It was much more than that.
(I just want to clarify that depression is a very serious mental health condition, and you should seek help to manage your symptoms. I’m not attempting to downplay the severity of this challenging mental illness. But for the sake of this article, I’m focusing on the potential misdiagnosis of depression when a person actually has chronic fatigue syndrome or another condition with similar symptoms.)
Over nearly three decades, doctors put me on various antidepressants and anti-anxiety medications. They seemed to have little to no effect on my mood or energy.
I saw therapists, psychiatrists, holistic nutritionists, chiropractors, primary care physicians, and life coaches. I even became a certified integrative nutrition health coach myself.
I went as far as to go in for an overnight sleep study where all kinds of nodes and wires were attached to me while I slept at the hospital.
They found nothing. But the fatigue was still there.
Once I found the right therapist in my late thirties, I found it immensely helpful in giving me perspective on my life challenges, but it didn’t alleviate the bone-crushing fatigue I felt every day. I would head over to my therapist’s office after work and practically collapse onto the couch, hardly able to keep my eyes open.
Was I depressed? Yes. I had just experienced one of the worst traumas I could imagine, so it was no surprise that I was struggling with my mental health. But that didn’t account for the symptoms I had experienced since I was young.
I can recall episodes of anxiety as a child and many depressive episodes as I entered my teens. It wasn’t until I was 17 that I noticed the fatigue creeping up. And it never left.
It got to the point where I had trouble keeping my eyes open in my college classes and even started to doze off while driving. Was I getting enough sleep every night? Not always.
But my life circumstances have changed throughout the past 30 years, and even when I made every effort to get plenty of sleep at night, I still woke up feeling like I’d barely slept at all.
Even during the times I was on antidepressants. Even while getting therapy. And even while receiving alternative therapies like chiropractic and acupuncture.
Yet, every time I went to the doctor, they would ask if I was taking an antidepressant. And if I was, they would talk about switching to another one. I’ve tried a bunch, and still no change.
So, to have someone, whether a professional or not, tell me that it’s “just depression” is incredibly frustrating. To me, it sounds dismissive. Like they just want to be able to write me a prescription for another antidepressant and send me on my way.
Thankfully, I did come across a few providers who could give me a name for what I was experiencing.
At the age of 20, a primary care physician mentioned chronic fatigue, which I was vaguely familiar with. Mind you, this was back in 1998, so there wasn’t much mainstream information readily available. His advice: get plenty of rest, exercise regularly, and eat a healthy diet. Basic health recommendations. And, of course, I tried those, but I still felt like something the cat dragged in.
Fifteen years later, I met a holistic nutritionist who told me I had adrenal fatigue. She put me on a very strict low-carb diet. I was miserable and still didn’t see any improvements.
Shortly after that, I was introduced to a holistic chiropractor who literally said, “Your adrenals are shot.” Although the homeopathic medicines and chiropractic treatment made me feel better while I was in the office, they didn’t offer lasting relief.
So what gives? Even after trying many different therapies, diets, and holistic treatments, I still felt exhausted and experienced brain fog that made it difficult to get through work each day.
Could it really just be depression? I don’t believe it is. But chronic fatigue syndrome, as diagnosed by my doctor nearly 30 years ago, fits.
Many people with this condition continue to feel symptoms their whole life; it’s just a matter of trying to reduce the severity and impact on your life. There is no pharmaceutical (that I’m aware of) that can treat chronic fatigue syndrome effectively. That explains why all the antidepressants and anti-anxiety medications I took didn’t help me feel much better.
That isn’t to say that every person who feels tired has chronic fatigue. They very well may be struggling with depression, and that could be the cause of their fatigue. But it’s important to get a proper diagnosis so you know. Then, you can figure out how to manage it.
This WebMD article does a nice job of breaking down the differences between chronic fatigue syndrome and depression.
There are plenty of overlapping symptoms, but people with CFS have a tendency toward swollen lymph nodes, sore throat, pain, and post-exertional malaise (worsened fatigue after physical activity).
Don’t let a doctor tell you it’s just depression if you believe in your heart that it’s more than that. Many chronic illnesses are not properly diagnosed the first time around, so you may need to visit multiple doctors or give some pushback if your symptoms are relentless despite taking the prescribed medications and attending therapy sessions.
And regardless of what condition you actually have, it is worthwhile to implement healthy lifestyle changes. They may not eliminate your symptoms, but they can help minimize them. For example, I know that getting a good night’s sleep won’t help me bounce out of bed in the morning, but it will certainly help keep me from feeling even worse.
Above all, take good care of yourself. Whether you have chronic fatigue syndrome, depression, or a combination of the two, your daily habits will have an impact on how you feel overall.
