Rabies worry help

[Scottyboy]

Hi everyone

I’m having a bit of a moment and could use some rational thought. I’m out camping with some friends and we were drinking last night. We were standing in the dark and I felt something sharp on my ankle like a bite.

Of course the following day I look at it and it’s two little marks so of course I think that a bat somehow climbed on my ankle, from the ground while I was standing there and bit me and it was too dark to see so I didn’t notice. Of course now I think that I have to find the bat crawling around on the ground somewhere. I’m afraid of rabies.

This is really irrational right? What else could explain those two marks. They’re long too and next to each other I don’t think an ant or wasp could have done it.

[NervUs]

I think the first step is just accepting that you will never know what left those marks. People get unexplained marks ALL THE TIME and they go about life without needing to know. Get yourself comfortable with uncertainty and learn to let questions like that go.

Was it a bat? No one can tell you yes or no but the circumstances suggest absolutely not. If there was a bat in your campsite, and you were with a group, someone would have noticed if you yourself did not.

I know what rabies fear is like, but there is absolutely no reason to jump to rabies exposure unless you are aware a bat was on you or if you woke up to a bat in your room. That is not your situation, so a bat bite is pure fantasy on your part. I'm sure you can think of something better to fantasize about, right?

[Scottyboy]

Ya you’re right. It’s my ocd kicking in. I am just freaking out because it’s very dark out here and I would not have been able to see if a bat crawled on my leg.

[MagpieWitch]

Hi everyone

I’m having a bit of a moment and could use some rational thought. I’m out camping with some friends and we were drinking last night. We were standing in the dark and I felt something sharp on my ankle like a bite.

Of course the following day I look at it and it’s two little marks so of course I think that a bat somehow climbed on my ankle, from the ground while I was standing there and bit me and it was too dark to see so I didn’t notice. Of course now I think that I have to find the bat crawling around on the ground somewhere. I’m afraid of rabies.

This is really irrational right? What else could explain those two marks. They’re long too and next to each other I don’t think an ant or wasp could have done it.

Hey, longterm rabies fearer here!
The chances for that are almost non-existential!
A bat will need to climb on your leg even if a bit and you would feel its tiny claws and leathery wings and fur. It would'nt just climb on you like that, most animals will avoid you if they can. You would definetly feel it. It's no vampire out to just bite you and vanish into the night.

It could be a mosquito because sometimescthey don't itch until a day or so later, a ant (they sometimes only leave a bump with no itch) or maybe you just poked yourself against some weeds or thorns.

If it was a bat you really would've seen and/or heard it. I once saw a bat that had fallen and was being preyed upon by few cats and it was flapping so much even on pavement that it draw my attention from my headphones and music. Also a bite would bleed because it has depth so you'd have at least a bit of blood spilling.

Just everything about this tells me no rabies!

[nomorepanic]

Hi

This is just a courtesy reply to let you know that your post was moved from its original place to a sub-forum that is more relevant to your issue.

This is nothing personal - it just enables us to keep posts about the same problems in the relevant forums so other members with any experience with the issues can find them more easily.

Please also read this post:

http://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=213239

[Scottyboy]

Thanks for the note. Like I said, my irrational mind is trying to convince me that I was too drunk to notice a bat crawling on my ankle because I keep telling myself it was dark and I couldn’t see it. I know it’s completely crazy. So frustrating the tiniest scratch or bug bite or whatever can send me over the edge and ruin a fun weekend.

---------- Post added at 21:39 ---------- Previous post was at 18:38 ----------

I am thinking that I will go request a PEP shot. I don’t know what bit me and it resembles a bat bite on google.

[Scottyboy]

Hi everyone

So on Sunday night I went to the emergency room to tell them I was potentially bite by something but I’m not sure what. The doctor told me to go play the lottery when I told him about my concern that it was a bat. He said it’s so uncommon in Canada and the circumstances were just not realistic. Someone would have seen or heard something. He was not concerned at all and basically laughed. Said if it was him he’d move on with life.

Anyways, this week I’ve been engaging with CBT work and radical acceptance but my mind keeps trying to get me to worry about it. I’ll push it out of my head for a bit but it keeps coming back. I keep feeling like the area is tingling and painful and burning which are all bad signs of course according to google. I feel like my brain is making it up and I can’t stop worrying again. I can push away the worry for a little bit but then my foot does something funny and it comes back with a vengeance. Can your brain fabricate symptoms?

---------- Post added at 02:17 ---------- Previous post was at 02:09 ----------

I don’t know why I cannot trust the doctor.

I found this comment on another thread from used NervUS, seems apt:

HOw do you get over this? Well, for starters, you need to stop checking yourself. You have a ludicrous rabies fantasy playing in your mind and the self-checking is actually giving it credibility. This is not a quick fix at all but, everytime you go to check, tell yourself, "I'm not falling for this" and set your mind very deliberately to something else. It will take a lot of effort but, little by little, your brain will stop going to the rabies fear because it knows you are fighting back and not giving it the stimulation (i.e. indulging the rabies fantasy) it wants. Logic won't get you out of this, reassurance won't get you out of this. Fighting back against your fear might, although it's work and a hard thing to do.

[paranoid-viking]

I thought Canada was declared a rabies free country. It is right?

[MagpieWitch]

Your brain can and will fabricate symptoms cause you are focusing on that part of your body. During my rabies fear the site where I was scratch was itching burning and poking and my hand was tingling and I was writing my will. As you can see a month later I am here.

The doctor was right theres no way it was a bat and that bat in particular had rabies. But it's good that you are looking into CBT I fully support that!

[Scottyboy]

Your brain can and will fabricate symptoms cause you are focusing on that part of your body. During my rabies fear the site where I was scratch was itching burning and poking and my hand was tingling and I was writing my will. As you can see a month later I am here.

The doctor was right theres no way it was a bat and that bat in particular had rabies. But it's good that you are looking into CBT I fully support that!

Good to know. I figured as much but it’s still such an odd concept. I’ll just be sitting at my desk and then my ankle will do something weird. It’s also feeling overly sensitive like my shoe is annoying it. It doesn’t surprise me as I remember having other odd feelings in the body during bouts of anxiety.

I guess it is just my brain trying to get me to worry about it. And it’s odd as well. Like last night I was in an absolute worried state about it, this morning I felt great and had no sensations there, then this afternoon the odd sensations came back (accompanied by a rise in my anxiety). I don’t even know what brought it on.

[Fishmanpa]

So on Sunday night I went to the emergency room to tell them I was potentially bite by something but I’m not sure what. The doctor told me to go play the lottery when I told him about my concern that it was a bat.

Smart Doctor! Sorry, but that's pretty much what everyone is telling you :winks:

Positive thoughts

[Scottyboy]

Could anyone recommend steps for dealing with the urge to entertain that worry when it arises?

I am really trying to put some space between myself and that thought.

At the moment I have a sentence or two that says I noticed I’m worried, my brains just trying to look out for me.

[Crevan]

I completely understand your fears; I'm currently in therapy over rabies fears that are plaguing my life. What helps me most when I start worrying is to remember I brought my concerns up to a doctor (actually to a doctor, an ER, a veterinarian, and the state health center), and all of them have said I do not need to worry about my fears. The thing I try to remind myself when I start getting really worked up is that none of these people would tell me that if there were ANY doubts. It helps calm me down; but I am still not able to remove these fears from my daily life. Therapy has helped tremendously so far and I've only been in it for a few weeks. Before therapy I was hardly able to function because my body was so stressed.

Also, keep a diary of your thoughts. It might sound silly, but it really helps because you can look back and see how your thoughts have progressed or stayed the same. This especially helps if you have any symptom related problems.

I wish you the best!

[Fishmanpa]

I completely understand your fears; I'm currently in therapy over rabies fears that are plaguing my life. What helps me most when I start worrying is to remember I brought my concerns up to a doctor (actually to a doctor, an ER, a veterinarian, and the state health center), and all of them have said I do not need to worry about my fears. The thing I try to remind myself when I start getting really worked up is that none of these people would tell me that if there were ANY doubts. It helps calm me down; but I am still not able to remove these fears from my daily life. Therapy has helped tremendously so far and I've only been in it for a few weeks. Before therapy I was hardly able to function because my body was so stressed.

Also, keep a diary of your thoughts. It might sound silly, but it really helps because you can look back and see how your thoughts have progressed or stayed the same. This especially helps if you have any symptom related problems.

I wish you the best!

Excellent advice!

Positive thoughts

[Scottyboy]

I want to thank everyone for their helpful comments.

I have a pretty good script going at the moment I thought that I’d like to share:

“I notice I am having the thought that...

I am aware that I am having the feeling that...

I notice I am having that sensation that...

I notice I am having the memory that...”

... I have been using this every time the urge to worry about R comes up. It’s tough, it lurks in the background, my brain keeps trying to say “what if it really was a bat? You’ll neve know”. This script has helped buy me some time, putting space between myself and the thought. I hope that it’ll help me with the next few weeks as I know I will continue to worry until a decent amount of time has passed.

[Scottyboy]

Well it has been a good and not so good week with this fear. On one hand, I have been pretty good at not falling into the spiral of worry about my foot/ankle (it keeps coming up in my brain). However what I can’t seem to shake is that my foot feels so sensitive and irritated. Like my shoe and sock touching it makes it feel irritated and stinging. It’s not on the injury site but close by maybe 5cm (the bite has completely healed). Of course my beak keeps focussing in on the irritation: “I’ve never felt this sensation in my foot before”, “these aren’t new shoes so why are they bugging me”.

So what gives? Did my mind fabricate these symptoms in my foot. Is it possible that reading all of the crap online about rabies made my mind imagine these sensations in my foot? Now my ankle feels hyper sensitive to everything including my sock etc.

It’s funny because I have come to terms with what happened but now my mind seems to be tuned into my foot nonstop checking for feelings and sensations. Did the focus on my foot make it feel hypersensitive? Am I going crazy?

[Crevan]

You can 100% feel symptoms that aren't actually there. I recently had a similar scare where I found 2 bite looking marks on my foot and whenever I think about it, my foot suddenly starts feeling itchy/numb/painful, but I don't notice it at all when I am busy doing other things. If it were truly a bite, it would have hurt when walking and such, I'm sure! Though it will start to hurt after I've poked at it several times trying to see if it hurts LOL I'm causing the irritation myself, have you been doing similar?

Even if you think you've come to terms with it, your subconscious will continue to say that you need to be afraid.

I am speaking from such a very similar feeling at the moment, I'm having a rough time as well. While it's easy to tell others that they are fine, I 100% understand the feeling since I think I'm not fine! As much as I would never wish for anyone to suffer from health anxiety (especially over something so ridiculous, as we both know it is ridiculous!), it is comforting to see that I'm not alone in this, especially considering our current situations are very similar.

[Scottyboy]

Thanks for the comment. Yep, 100% the same for me. If I’m bored at work or not challenged during the day my mind will focus on that worry. However if I’m out enjoying myself and I’m busy I don’t even notice it. It’s crazy.

Ah yes I was poking myself a lot as well. I actually caused a bruise on my foot!

[Crevan]

Yep, I've caused bruises on other marks/spots that I was worried about with this concern. (I'm up to 4 spots that I still will focus on from time to time).

[Scottyboy]

Hi Everyone,

Just an update: I have been getting treated for OCD with a therapist, using a combination of ACT and ERP.

Things are improving in that I'm no longer obsessed with Rabies but it still rears it's head once in a while in very irrational ways. I recently cut my finger on a bottle opener when I was opening wine. I was not even outside (it was a bottle opener from the kitchen) and my mind keeps going back to rabies - trying to get me to ruminate about it and to reflect on whether there was animal saliva on the opener (which is IMPOSSIBLE). It tries to get me to imagine saliva on all sorts of things (door handles, kitchen items, blankets, etc). In short, the irrational worry has morphed to the fantastical - almost delusional. At this point I've learned to not even entertain it and to ignore it, but it's still frustrating. I know that cutting my finger on a bottle opener is a 0% chance of rabies infection but my mind still keeps trying to force me to worry about it. It's extremely frustrating.