I hate feeling this way.

I am a 21 year old male, I have been diagnosed with depression, anxiety, social anxiety and OCD. I had been in a relationship with a girl I believe suffers from a BPD, HPD or a combination of the two. She left me a few months ago, and I have been seeing a therapist since. I finally went to my primary care doctor a week ago and was prescribed Fluoxetine.I believe I have been depressed since my early teens, but her leaving me made it a lot worse. I had felt great the first couple of days after starting my medication, I felt happy, I was socializing a lot more, I was able to concentrate, I had motivation, I actually felt normal.

The medicine was giving me pretty vivid dreams for the first couple of days. Sunday I woke up and felt like crying, all I can vaguely remember from the dream is me saying "I love you" and she said to me "I don't love you anymore", upon waking up I also for some reason had the feeling that she had been sexually active with a new guy at the time telling me this. She told me straight to my face already that she stopped loving me, and it never had that kind of effect on me, so I am wondering why my dream provoked such a response. Most of the day sunday I was okay, I spent the majority of the day with my friends at an amusement park, I had a great time, but I was thinking about her some and missing her, she loved amusement parks.

Monday I felt down again, i was home by myself most of the day, I went and had breakfast with my mother, which made me feel better. Here it is Thursday and I am still feeling down, I feel like something is just missing in me still. I have a lot more energy, I am starting to find real enjoyment in things I used to, and I actually feel motivated, but I still feel like something is missing.

How long does it generally take for an anti depressant to start working? I absolutely hate feeling this way, I want to be happy, confident, and I want to enjoy life, but it just seems so hard, I have so much to live for. I am 21(soon 22) I have my own house, I have a family who loves and supports me, I have one of the greatest friends in the world, I have a nice truck, I have a healthy savings account(even after my wife left me), I have great credit for my age, I have a good job with a good future. I am not the best looking person, but I am not obese, but i'm not skinny, I have been told I am really cute, and nice. I have so much to live for, but I just don't feel like I do, I feel like i'm missing something major in my life.

Hey there, sounds like you do have a lot of positive things going for you and I think its great that you're aware of them & can acknowledge them. Keep that up, as this is a good way to stay motivated! Often, most anti-depressants take between 1-2 weeks before you notice a change, however discuss this with your doctor, not every medication works the same for everyone and some times the Dr might need to experiment to see which one works best. Psychotherapy is often best to accompany the medication, particularly cognitive-behavioral therapy is effective in conjunction with medication in treating Depression/Anxiety.

Good luck!
-Dan.

I believe what you are feeling is completely normal considering the circumstances. I suggest you copy this post under the "relationships forum" where you will get more related replies. Have you seen the articles in the relationship forum on the "7 stages of grief after a breakup" and "How to survive a breakup"? When I was in the same situation as you are I found them insightful and helpful. I hope you feel better soon and I can totally relate to how you are feeling. Good Luck and stay strong!