Everyone is different in their reaction to medications. You're going to see both extremes - extremely sensitive to meds and extremely resistant to meds. You can't know your reaction until you try it, and you shouldn't give up on the first med if it doesn't work.

My doctor would prefer to have me on an activating med because my form of depression makes me very apathetic, but I'm so sensitive to those meds that I need to be on a calming med. What that does is at least settle any anxiety I have about the depression so I'm not always feeling on edge. And it's great when the household gets hectic, I can let the little nuisances roll off my back instead of getting uptight and making a mountain out of a molehill.

At least a cup of strong coffee in the morning gets me moving.

Please don't be so quick to dismiss even the idea of medication. If you had an illness that affected your body (and most likely your emotional well being as well), would you shun all medication even though it meant your quality of like would improve?

There comes a point in any illness where we realize that fighting it in a negative way is more detrimental than letting go of the denial that we'll get better overnight if we ignore it.

Just my two cents.