Oh yes. When I was misdiagnosed as MDD (by a GP out of her depth) and given only ADs (various ones, combos and dosages), I was a mess. The first one (Lexapro) had me up -too up- by day 2. Let the rapid cycling begin. Like you, my cycling had previously been very much longer lasting--on both ends. Citalopram (for me) was the worst. It made me even more suicidal than ever, which hardly seemed possible. Wellbutrin was not very problematic (for me), but everyone is different of course!
Yup. BPII here, and that was definitely my experience. Tailspins and ups really got out of hand. It'd been bad before, but it really got...yikes.

Hope you can get it sorted soon, melissa. Even if you don't have an appointment till late April, is it possible to make a call? Perhaps if you describe the basics of what is happening, maybe they wouldn't be adverse to letting you taper down (or off) before the appt., due to the severity of your symptoms, and that the timing of introducing the med coincides with them. (In a similar situation, I was able to adjust dosage and timing this way - via phone, so it's sometimes possible. When she heard how bad the effects were, she totally agreed an adjustment would be ok to try.) They well may not go for it, but they might -- of course with the clear understanding that you would contact them if this was not helping.