Anxiety and Panic Attacks getting out of control

So I was DX'ed with depression, panic disorder and ADD as a teenager. My meds for over a decade were Zoloft, Klonopin and Adderall. I'm 27 now btw(28 in Aug).

A couple years ago I lost insurance and went off all meds. I did okay up until a few months ago. My depression is really bad and I am having frequent panic attacks. My overall anxiety is so bad that I almost never leave my home. It even freaks me out when people come over and I find myself hiding from them in my bedroom and relieved when they are gone. On average I am having 3-4 panic attacks per week.

On top of this, I started having gastro problems about 3 months ago. I have constant diarrhea sometimes up to 15-20 times a day. I've been to the ER multiple times with colitis and my GI doctor has diagnosed me with UC. Just this past week I was admitted to the hospital for 5 days because of the colitis. My symptoms of that are the frequent diarrhea, abdominal pain and blood in my stools.

I have also been experiencing severe fatigue, joint pain and I just can't seem to think normally. I was in college working on a degree in computer networking. I was doing great with a GPA of 4.0 up until I started taking Gen Ed courses. Because of the gastro and anxiety/depression/ADD symptoms, I had to withdraw from all my courses this last semester and I cannot keep a job either.

My GP doc started me on 50mg Zoloft 1xday and 5mg Valium 2xday this past December. After a couple months I had some improvement, but asked about ADD treatment and told him I always did better on the Klonopin than I have been doing on the Valium. He referred me to a psychiatrist and I was taken off the Zoloft and put on Wellbutrin SR 100mg 2xday and Valium was reduced to 5mg 1xday.

Everything went downhill fast after that. My gastro problems flared up horribly, which landed me in the hospital for 5 days. I had unpleasant side effects from the Wellbutrin SR(jittery and headaches). I stopped taking that after I called the psychiatrist. I told him about the increase in anxiety and panic attacks and he wanted to prescribe hydroxyzine. I have tried that and buspar in the past. The hydroxyzine heavily sedates me to the point that I am completely non-functional. The buspar caused extreme dizziness even after 2 months of taking it. The dizziness was so bad that I was losing my balance and falling while just walking around the house.

So now my GP wants me to go back to the same psychiatrist since that is pretty much the only one around that takes my insurance(Illinois medicaid). I really don't know what to say to him because he is pretty much against benzodiazepines. They are the only thing that has ever helped my anxiety and prevented panic attacks. Also, I get no side effects from them..not even drowsiness. The only way I can even tell I have taken something like a mg of klonopin, 5mg Valium or a mg of Xanax is that my level of anxiety is lowered or they stop an ongoing panic attack.

I really just need some advice as to how I should approach these issues with this psychiatrist or maybe even some suggestions as to other methods that could help. I have never had any type of therapy from a psychologist so I really wouldn't know what type could help.

Thanks for the reply. I will ask my doctor about that therapy. I've never abused benzos before, I really don't even see the abuse potential because like I said I get absolutely no side effects at doses that other people say they can't handle because of sedation or dizziness. But I also don't get the 'pleasurable' side effects from pain meds I have taken. Things like codeine and Vicodin really don't even help with pain for me. After surgeries, the doctor has to give me percocet just to take the edge off of post surgical pain, but nothing I have ever taken reduced pain drastically like other people claim...not even IV morphine. I've never felt that I could get the pleasurable effects people talk about from rx meds, but I guess everyone's body is different and I have never deliberately taken more of a med than what the bottle says I am allowed.

I am the type that I research every med I am prescribed and I would be too scared to take more than prescribed of anything.