I was really skinny as a child, all the way through high school, until I went on the pill. In those days, the hormone mix for the Pill was pretty crude, and I gained a lot of weight, which I fortunately lost when I went off of it. But before the pill, I was scrawny, although my appetite was normal. I even tried downing milkshakes with raw eggs to gain weight, but I was still stick thin.

Once I hit 30, my metabolism slowed down, but I still had no problem keeping the weight off when I put my mind to it. My Multiple Sclerosis did put an end to aerobic exercise for me, but I've still been able to lose weight when I get serious about it, and sometimes even when I'm not trying. I ended up weighing less a few months after Lawrence was born than I did when I get pregnant with him. I was too busy to snack and I was running up and down stairs a lot.

The number of troops diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder jumped by roughly 50 percent in 2007, the most violent year so far in the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, Pentagon records show.

In the first time the Defense Department has disclosed a number for PTSD cases from the two wars, officials said nearly 40,000 troops have been diagnosed with the illness since 2003, though they believe many more are likely keeping their illness a secret.

"I don't think right now we ... have good numbers," Army Surgeon General Eric Schoomaker said Tuesday.

For pregnant women diagnosed with major depressive disorder, treatment with omega-3 fatty acid supplements may reduce depressive symptoms, according to the findings of a small clinical trial.

"Perinatal depression is common, and treatment remains challenging," Dr. Kuan-Pin Su, of China Medical University Hospital, Taiwan, and colleagues explain in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry.

When a pregnant woman needs to be treated for major depression, "the possible risks and benefits of antidepressant medication are considered to have significant impacts on both mother and baby," Su commented to Reuters Health. "Many women and their health care providers prefer the use of non-medication treatments," Su added.

Depression increases the risk of stroke in people with heart disease, results of a Dutch study indicate.

In a study lasting 9 years, the presence of depressive symptoms was associated with a greater than twofold higher incidence of stroke in elderly patients with heart disease, but such symptoms were not significantly associated with stroke in elderly patients without heart disease.

Similarly, the severity and chronic nature of depressive symptoms were significantly associated with the development of stroke among patients with heart disease, but not among patients without heart disease.

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