I think with AD's (unfortunately) sometimes there is some "trial and error". I have been on Lexapro for 16 months and honestly, it saved my life. My anxiety had reached a point where I was pacing around my house, for sometimes 12 hours a day, trying to ward off panic attacks due to stress from my divorce. In fact, I was diagnosed with a situational panic disorder and hospitalized. I was under 100 pounds, my hair was falling out in clumps and my lupus was spinning out of control. I was scared to death to take any sort of meds but really, had I not I am not sure if I would still be standing right now. Of course, once the meds helped me become balanced everything I was learning in C'ing made sense!
I have never had one bad side effect from Lexapro but I know other people have.
Klonopin is not an AD and should NEVER be used as one. It is not a "fool around" kind of drug and is VERY powerful. I took it for some time and I agree, it's not easy to get off of. Most people dont know that Xanax (the wonder drug that so many people love) is highly addictive and it takes only 14 days to develop the addiction. My psych calls Xanax "the devil drug" and he won't prescribe it or take you on as a patient until you are "Xanax free".
I certainly respect anybody who has strong feelings against AD's (I used to be one of them) but for me, they saved my life. It is scary to start taking them!
You will make the right decision but IMO it's not a bad option to at least examine if you really are having a very hard time!