It's good that you are checking with the Dr. re the depression meds. You might ask him about side effects. They work differently for different people. On one of my son's anti-depressant prescription bottles, it said that it "may cause suicidal thoughts" in younger persons and you can be sure we talked to the doctor on that one! My son was on Wellbutrin (aka Bupropion and Sertraline) as well as Zoloft. As to the big question "when", after the end of treatment, for many it gets worse before it gets better, but it DOES get better! It's been less than a month since the end of Gordon's treatment so he's probably at the worse of it now and he could start feeling better soon. It took Paul (my son) a couple of months before I started seeing small improvements. I found quotes from other posters here that really helped us to look for the "light at the end of the tunnel" and to stay positive for Paul. It kept me from going bananas many times! Please keep coming back here and let us know how you and Gordon are doing.

Actually, Gordon is now 3 months past the end of treatment. There have been some small improvements, but not enought to suit him! Of course, he also hasn't read anything about the whole process, so doesn't have a realistic view of what to expect.
From what I've heard, one has to try a few different anti-depressants before landing on one that works. Having a Dr. that won't budge is counter-productive and even harmful to the patient. Apparently there are newer drugs called SSNI's that have less side effects and work better (or so we've been told).
Thanks again for your suggestions and support,
Anne

Anne, I'm sorry, I must have read your signature info wrong about Gordon being 3 months past the end of treatment. Recovery can be such a slow process and it can seem even longer than what it is especially with the Pneumonia added in. My son never celebrated the small improvements the way I did. He never wanted to read anything about it either. I think he was afraid of getting bad news and he didn't have a lot of confidence in my telling him what I had learned on this site. So when I found things I thought would really help him, I printed it out and just left it by his bed. That way, it would seem like someone else was giving him info and not just me. I don't know if it was the anti-depressant meds finally kicking in or what but his attitude did improve. Nobody deserves to go through this without the right meds though and I do hope Gordon can find the anti-depressant meds that will be right for him. Do let us know how that goes.

Anne-Marie, that's a really good idea to provide something in print rather than verbally. At some point, I think people stop listening, probably because it's too frightening and stressful. This way, they can go back to it when they're ready. I tend to forward helpful posts from here to Gordon, as long as they don't have anything really scary about recurrence or post-treatment side effects. I know he reads them and occasionally asks me questions about them. So, indirectly, he's getting some benefit from me having found this Forum. Anne