How long should it take for medicine to work?

[becky808]

I feel like ****. I was on 20 mg of Prozac for 4 weeks. Increased it to 40mg. 3 weeks later I still feel bad. Not as terrible. I can sleep at night, but still so tired and down.
How long do I wait before I call my Dr again?

Thanks.

[melmarv]

You should notice a difference.  Call your doctor today.  It sounds like it is not the right medication for you.  A good rule of thumb is that after a month on the med and you still are feeling bad, it is not going to help by increasing the med.  I would call your doctor and say that it is not working and you want to try something else.   Sometimes it helps to get on a new medication by taking an anti anxiety med like xanax to release the stress of a new med.  What were you on before prozac?

[becky808]

Nothing before Prozac. I have an appointment in 2 weeks. I don't know if I should wait a little bit more or what.
I do feel better. I just still don't feel like myself.

[claudicakes]

Hi becky

I know what you mean, about feeling a little better, but still NOT LIKE YOURSELF...i was in a depressed state for about 2 months so me feeling a little bit better bc of the meds is still not enough for me, the problem is we want to jump back to being the people we were before the depression and I know how that feels...I would give it more time bc the ER doctor told me these meds take like 3 months to reach their full benefit..its patience really, if you feel it making a difference its working, my meds put me through 3 phases..the initial phase of starting w depression, then feeling a bit better but still not like myself, and finally the 3rd when you do end up like the old you..give it time hunni , as long as you are not feeling worse its okay..

[becky808]

Thanks. I will. I've just never been like this before.
I've taken antidepressants before. The way I feel NOW is the way I would usually feel when I go get help. I just didn't know if I waited way too long without noticiting something was wrong this time or if I just got REALLY depressed really fast. It's taking a really long time to crawl back out this time.I really don't know what happened to me.
My dog died. My daughter was sick. She got tubes and she's better. My husband had bronchitis and got over that. I had skin cancer. That's gone and taken care of. Our house flooded, that was fixed. It was a lot of stuff at once, but we got through it all and it wasn't THAT bad.
Everything seemed like it was finally all back to normal and I crashed. Really hard.
Now everything is back to normal except for me.