Grief, depression or peri-menopause?

I really don't know what's going on, so I have NO CLUE what board I should post this under!

My Dad died about two months ago. Since then I've been really tired and really irritable. I don't sleep well but I want to sleep all the time. My period was really late (it did finally show up). I feel like I can't control my body temperature. I have a LOT of trouble concentrating. I'm really cranky and I get mad really easily. There's nothing I really want to do.

It's not like BAD depression. More like the edge of depression, if you know what I mean. Not hopeless, not despair. More like an itchy sweater - nothing's right and I can't get comfortable and it's wearing me out a little at a time.

I don't have a therapist now because we can't afford one. I make too much money to qualify for any kind of assistance, but I just don't have enough to spare to pay $50 a week. I could see my pdoc - if I had $330 lying around. I can have some success with self-help stuff, but I'm not sure which way to go after this. I mean, this could be mental, or it could be that my body's starting to slowly change as I age. If this is hormones, then I don't think any amount of psych work is going to have any effect. But my GP has told me before that there aren't any tests for menopause until you get further along than I would be. And I'm only 42, so that leads me back to whether it's mental.

I just don't know. How would you go about figuring out what's wrong and what would you do to get feeling better?

Sound like a combination of events and biology---I am well past menopause but your symptoms sound very much like the mix of hormones in transition attached to understandable daily frustrations (financial barriers/whatever) and loss of someone important.
Are there activities that you do enjoy? (she asks plunked on the couch bidding time till work asserts itself)---Some women find (I did) physical activity (a combination of aerobic and relaxing/stretching/yoga type) helpful and I have been reading about some recent studies on some herbal treatment of menopausal symptoms that sound promising----you might want to get on the women-'focused support group to talk with women who have similar issues. Wish I had the magic formula

Sounds like you have all of the above. The only thing I can think of is schedule another appointment with your GP, and try to get a referral.