Prozac and its metabolites have a long half-life in the body (weeks); relative to other SSRIs Prozac is a rough ride but the natural tapering makes discontinuation easy. Other SSRI drugs (e.g. Sertraline, Lexapro, ...) are also off-patent and are pretty good.
Successful treatment with antidepressants will involve waiting a week or two, probably increasing the dose and trying other medications if the one you are using doesn't work or has side effects.
Effexor is also available in generic and it is an SNRI that hits receptors and overall is more effective, but it is harder to quit.
The big negative for some people is that SSRIs suppress the sexual response. This could be anything from "My girlfriend thinks it's great because now I can for two hours" to "I took one tab of Lexapro and I didn't have sex, think about sex, look at porn, anything for a week"
Some people won't care, some people will get into trouble with their partner, some people might get along better with their partner. The effect is dose dependent.
You are living in the 21st century and can partake of it's advances. But also try these other things:
* exercise (if you could two hours of cardio most days that would be ideal)
* psychotherapy
also things that work for some people:
* pets (raising chickens is a common southeast asian treatment for depression)
* going to church (if you get something out of it and it may or may not be Christian)
* volunteer activities: (Most of the Christian churches in my area run a soup kitchen; the lady who used to run it is scheduled for sentencing by a federal court because of what she did at an anti-war protest; it is a mellow scene where nobody will trouble you about religion but will recognize that "good works" can be meaningful to people)
* audit use of alcohol and other drugs: many people have problems