Having also been through the mill with benzodiazepams and an SSRI, my suggestion would be to not use those until you have explored other things first. I've also experienced the severe akathisia Justy mentioned. It was a horrible experience and I'm not sure how I lived through it either. I'm currently on a 5 year taper off Zoloft and will hopefully be off that for good at the end of 2017.
In general, it sounds like your daughter could use some counseling to help her deal with her loss of her former active life. I did this the first several years I was sick and it was very helpful.
Physically speaking, there could be problems with the thyroid and/or adrenals which could cause anxiety/depression. In that case, you would want to treat those. See the Stop the Thyroid Madness website for more info.
Since she has POTS you would want to make sure that's under control. There are medications to help with a racing heartrate or low blood pressure. Treating the adrenals could also be helpful.
Other than that, I can suggest consulting with integrativepsychiatry.net. They would likely have you do a neuroadrenal profile, which is a test for neurotransmitters and saliva cortisol for adrenals. Then they can prescribe supplements based on that.
Another option is working with a methylation doctor. It could be she has some gene mutations such as MTHFR causing problems. Supporting the methylation cycle could help. Many of us on here have this.
Another option is a William Walsh practitioner such as Dr. Mensah. They specialize in supplementation for mental health also based on methylation, but they come at it from a different angle than regular methylation doctors.
Beyond that (and this is more of a long term solution), you can check for the presence of mercury or other toxic metals with a hair toxic metals and essential elements test. If these are present you would chelate them out. The only type of chelation I would suggest is Andrew Cutler's frequent dose chelation.
I have links for methylation doctors and Cutler in my signature link.
If you do decide to go the psych med route, nowadays you can get gene testing to see which meds are compatible with your body and most likely to be effective before you take them. This should cut down on bad reactions or lengthy time spent trying different medications until you get one that works.
ps. one other possibility is your daughter could be having rebound (withdrawal effects) from the clonazepam. If she is a fast metabolizer, one dose per day would wear off in 6-8 hours and she could have withdrawal effects after that (usually panic/anxety). If she's a slow metabolizer, even at one dose per day, it could be hanging around in her system too long causing problems (usually things like fatigue and getting worse and worse).
thanks for all the details. Counselling has been and is provided. It doesn't really help a brilliant young person, whose friends have all gone on to become highly accomplisished, one now being proposed to become the youngest dean in his faculty, several medical specialists, etc. While she sits at home with an aging Mum, nursing pain. She has done some research and published articles, but that's not a real life. No relationships, no physical touch, except from family, no outings, no career, no self realization, just house arrest. I guess people deal with things differently. Some accommodate to a situation, others become frustrated and want to end their lives.
She is on Cortef for the adrenals, something I I now really regret. But every physician insisted it was safe.16 mg per day. And weaning off is not easy. Various supplements have been included.
What we need is to find a caring doctor who will say to her: I'll take care of you, and th problems you face. We are Canadians, from Quebec. And I have travelled all over, and somehow I have not been clever enough to find this sort of Doctor.
If anyone out there knows of a gifted physician, who is really caring, and willing to help with this demon illness, please let me know. Cancer patients are treated with great seriousness, and they are helped. I know this as a family member is now going through this. But walk in with this nightmare illness and you leave with a bag of supplements, which are often of questionable value.
I really need to find a good doctor soon.