hello Relay for life, I'm sure that this is the million dollar question that we often ask ourselves, but before we start to take any medication for our depression we are so low not only to be able to function, but mentally we feel incapable of doing anything, so when we start to take AD it has an enormous job to try and stabilise our mind, only because it's unbalanced, so it does take awhile for us to begin to recover, however some people are fortunate enough to get the effects almost start away.
You may not feel normal because not only is this medication trying to work, but you yourself have to overcome a great deal of what has been going on, and what you have been struggling with, so it's not like taking a headache tablet where your headache immediately goes away, these particular medications only work slowly and there's a reason for this, because if you or anybody got a 'high' from them, then that would not serve their purpose and not their intention.
It's very possible that your doctor will increase the dosage, as long as you don't have any adverse reactions to them, but it should be done by small increases and if there is not any improvement.
Trying to overcome our depression doesn't mean that it's going to be smooth sailing, because there will be times when feel awful, I'm sorry to say, because you're battling a very difficult illness, so take some pride when you have your good days. Geoff.
