Anxiety and Fear of Exercise

[alk263]

Hi there,
I'm new to this forum, but I've recently found that anxiety, panic and fear are starting to steal away even more of the things that I love... one of which is exercise. A few weeks ago, I had my first panic attack while exercising. Which is supposed to help anxiety, right? Well now my latest obsession is my hear rate and I pay attention to it non-stop. It feels elevated after I climb one set of steps and I don't know if this normal or if I'm just noticing it now because of my panic and fear. After my first panic attack last November and visit to the ER, I had everything checked out. I wore a heart monitor, had an EKG, and an echocardiogram... everything came back normal, but I don't seem to be getting any relief from that information. I don't want to stop exercising and I don't want to stop hiking for the fear of an elevated heart rate that sets me into a panic attack. This is such a crazy, vicious cycle. Can anyone offer any advice or relate?
By the way, I am seeing a therapist, just started a low liquid dose of lexapro about a month and a half ago.

Thanks for any help.