I have been diagnosed with bipolar by a few therapists and two psychiatrists I've seen.

For roughly 5-7 years I was on Lexapro an Seroquel. I would always be sleeping. I was still depressed, and didn't like the way I felt, but I managed. If I remember correctly, my doctor STARTED me off at 200mg of Seroquel, and I eventually tapered down to to 12.5 mg, and still had the same effect. Which makes me believe it was built up in my system for so long, that even the smallest dose has the same effect. I actually abruptly stopped the Lexapro and Seroquel, which caused me to go into a manic episode for one day. I'll never forget that day.

After that I was put back on lexapro and trazadone. Then the trazadone stopped working (which was given to me for sleep) It caused my head to feel so stuffed, I would cry from the pain. Eventually I was hospitalized. Out of the hospital, I was put on Cymbalta from my new doc. Everything was great. Well, not great, but much improved. I was able to use only that med to manage. Which was amazing. I lost interest in most activities I once loved, but I was able to function better, so I took it. However, every night I would get suicidal thoughts hoping I wouldn't wake up in the morning, but I knew to expect that and just shrug it off.

But then the exercise and dieting came, and I felt great! But I wasn't sleeping as much. And the it turned to full blown insomnia and the Cymbalta feeling like it was frying my brain for the lack of a better term. But as of now, I feel like I'm on a stimulant, yet Im not taking any drug. My brain and heart feel like I did some cocaine, but the rest of my body hurts because it's so tired. Even when I start yawning I can't sleep. I don't feel that depressed or anxious, but it's lingering.

One thing I did notice when I was getting off the cymbalta (I skipped a day and the next dose I took half) is that that when I took that half dose, it make me SO emotional. Crying and the whole nine. But it would eventually wear off.

My theory is that because Cymbalta has an affinity for norepinephrine, when I worked out I was just getting too much of it. And now I have too much of it in my system, even though I've been off Cymbalta for almost 8 days. The only drug that will put me to sleep is Xanax. I tried Ambien and OTC meds. I know lithium lowers norepinephrine, so I might ask my doc for that.