I'm another who has done well on TCA's. I first had bad depression (and anxiety) in 1988, eight months after the birth of my second child but it was also the beginning of CFS (which I didn't know about at the time). It began when I couldn't sleep and I just got more and more run down and depressed. I didn't sleep for 4 months, then I changed Dr's and began on Prothiaden, which did nothing for me even at 100 mgs. I switched to Doxepin (75 mgs) and started sleeping after the third night then soon after that my depression started to lift. I was able to discontinue the AD's after a few months.
After I was diagnosed with CFS in 1995, I went back onto Doxepin 10mgs (the lowest dose) and have been on and off this med since then. Recently Doxepin was discontinued so I switched to Amtriptlyine 10mgs.

My Dr once tried me on an SSRI and I was climbing the walls with anxiety after one tablet! I decided then that they were not for me!

I'm quite sure my depression was triggered by the CFS (a neuroimmune/autoimmune disorder). It was interesting to read what your wrote about that in your post.