View Full Version : Rabies fear
Hi guys, I have had a big big rabies fear from about June-July 2020 which has been plaguing me for a little while now. In Sept/Oct 2020 I had a big panic related to this which led me to get the post exposure rabies vaccine in the UK which consists of 4 vaccines. Along with this I did talk to a therapist (and was diagnosed with OCD and Health anxiety) which did help me for a while however I feel like I was somewhat using the therapist for reassurance and I have started to somewhat relapse again. The past month my fears of rabies have been coming back slowly. A second look here, another check there, a gnawing worry every other day. This led to me eventually having a massive panic yesterday. A few days ago I was walking home from work as always and saw something back falling above and about 1.5 metres in front of me as I looked up. I froze up and looked around but I was not sure what it was or where it went, I only saw it for a split second and I do have some floaters which do sometimes do make me think something is there when it wasn't however from what I remember this seemed bigger. At that time I managed to get past that fear quite well however yesterday I saw some red spots on my elbow, 1 of which was particularly noticeable and looked like it could be a scratch, they were positioned in almost a square shape which immediately made me thing of a bat bite. This together with the fact I cannot remember what exactly I saw has me panicked and considering paying for a vaccine booster. It's honestly driving me crazy and I am hoping for some advice on how to alleviate these fears. My OCD feels otherwhelming sometimes, I was supposed to go out with friends this evening but my mind is telling me to go home and look for a bat on the way and look at things on the internet when you get home to make sure it wasn't a bat or anything like that.
I guess I am just venting and hoping someone can tell me I am being ridiculous but I know my mind won't believe that and will carry on stressing. The thing is I don't want to go for another vaccine or another check as I know this just reinforces the bad habits but it is so difficult. I have read the thread on this so may times but just can't seem to kick the fear. Has anyone managed to get rid of this worry.
Edit: Just also wanted to mention that I was worried I may not have felt the pain as it was on the elbow which is mostly numb to pain.
Some points to consider:
1. You will absolutely feel a bat bite, especially if you are awake and walking around.
2. Rabies in humans is super rare in the US, and even more rare in the UK.
3. You've had the vaccination. So even if you did happen to get bitten by a rabid bat without knowing it (rare in itself), you are protected. Rabies vaccines last a ridiculously long time.
Try to calm down and fight your fears with logic.
Thank you for taking the time to send a message Poppy, I do see how I am being irrational which is the worst thing about this. For example just yesterday after I was coming home and checking that there were no bats where I walked past when I reached my home I noticed on my foot there was a brown part with quite a few red dots in it and freaked out that it could have been a bat as I was walking however this did make me feel like I am in just a panic mode and it is highly unlikely I was actually bitten.
I think sometimes it is just difficult to think clearly when you are in that anxious mode.
chinesewall
10-09-21, 21:48
Hi Jamie! I completely understand your fears - I too have OCD and can still go through bad bat anxiety at times. What's helped me is recognising that the bat fear is actually shorthand for something else, some other stress trigger that produces a stream of bat thoughts. It can be incredibly difficult to resist but it is possible (at least some of the time).. Example: I've been having a pretty difficult time on a number of personal issues for the last 6 weeks and was wondering when the ninja bats would make an appearance. This afternoon I was walking through St James Park in London thinking about entirely different things. Whereupon I felt something like a drop of rain fall from a tree on to my head. AAARGH BAT screamed the OCD brain (regardless of the fact I'd seen no bat and bats tend to be larger than raindrops}... Three years ago I'd no question have been obsessing. These days I tend to deploy two techniques from the Ten Percent Happier app: 1. Welcome the bat thought to the party while recognising it is just a thought and 2. reply with an even more ludicrous thought - one of my favourites is 'my 'airdo is magnifique' in my best cod french accent... A bat thought is just a thought. We both know that were we actually to get close up and personal with a bat and feel a bite we would be off to A&E to get the jabs. Bat thoughts are just thoughts. It's our brain overreacting to a perceived danger or threat. That's ok. It's a question of recognising it and moving on. Good luck - you can do it.
Hi Jamie! I completely understand your fears - I too have OCD and can still go through bad bat anxiety at times. What's helped me is recognising that the bat fear is actually shorthand for something else, some other stress trigger that produces a stream of bat thoughts. It can be incredibly difficult to resist but it is possible (at least some of the time).. Example: I've been having a pretty difficult time on a number of personal issues for the last 6 weeks and was wondering when the ninja bats would make an appearance. This afternoon I was walking through St James Park in London thinking about entirely different things. Whereupon I felt something like a drop of rain fall from a tree on to my head. AAARGH BAT screamed the OCD brain (regardless of the fact I'd seen no bat and bats tend to be larger than raindrops}... Three years ago I'd no question have been obsessing. These days I tend to deploy two techniques from the Ten Percent Happier app: 1. Welcome the bat thought to the party while recognising it is just a thought and 2. reply with an even more ludicrous thought - one of my favourites is 'my 'airdo is magnifique' in my best cod french accent... A bat thought is just a thought. We both know that were we actually to get close up and personal with a bat and feel a bite we would be off to A&E to get the jabs. Bat thoughts are just thoughts. It's our brain overreacting to a perceived danger or threat. That's ok. It's a question of recognising it and moving on. Good luck - you can do it.
Thank you for your message, I will try to do this. I work near St James Park so it's also really interesting to hear you were there because it shows that it is a small world. I have been having an incredibly tough time of late with this fear but I can only hope it stops eventually.
Hi guys, I have had a big big rabies fear from about June-July 2020 which has been plaguing me for a little while now. In Sept/Oct 2020 I had a big panic related to this which led me to get the post exposure rabies vaccine in the UK which consists of 4 vaccines. Along with this I did talk to a therapist (and was diagnosed with OCD and Health anxiety) which did help me for a while however I feel like I was somewhat using the therapist for reassurance and I have started to somewhat relapse again. The past month my fears of rabies have been coming back slowly. A second look here, another check there, a gnawing worry every other day. This led to me eventually having a massive panic yesterday. A few days ago I was walking home from work as always and saw something back falling above and about 1.5 metres in front of me as I looked up. I froze up and looked around but I was not sure what it was or where it went, I only saw it for a split second and I do have some floaters which do sometimes do make me think something is there when it wasn't however from what I remember this seemed bigger. At that time I managed to get past that fear quite well however yesterday I saw some red spots on my elbow, 1 of which was particularly noticeable and looked like it could be a scratch, they were positioned in almost a square shape which immediately made me thing of a bat bite. This together with the fact I cannot remember what exactly I saw has me panicked and considering paying for a vaccine booster. It's honestly driving me crazy and I am hoping for some advice on how to alleviate these fears. My OCD feels otherwhelming sometimes, I was supposed to go out with friends this evening but my mind is telling me to go home and look for a bat on the way and look at things on the internet when you get home to make sure it wasn't a bat or anything like that.
I guess I am just venting and hoping someone can tell me I am being ridiculous but I know my mind won't believe that and will carry on stressing. The thing is I don't want to go for another vaccine or another check as I know this just reinforces the bad habits but it is so difficult. I have read the thread on this so may times but just can't seem to kick the fear. Has anyone managed to get rid of this worry.
Edit: Just also wanted to mention that I was worried I may not have felt the pain as it was on the elbow which is mostly numb to pain.
Apologies for the continuous messages here I understand it looks stupid but I am still quite worried about a development in the situation.
The other night when I went to look near the tree I was worried about there being a bat near originally there were quite a few fallen leaves and I was pushing them around to see if there is anything underneath, when I did this I saw something moving under the leaves and it was actually moving some of the leaves as I believe it was pushing them. I saw this seemed to he some kind of small beetle and as I saw the leaves move I then pushed them and saw the beetle scurry out and then into another leaf which again moved and I pushed to see the beetle again. After I came back home from that I did notice a brown spot on my leg with red dots throughout which to most might look like an abrasion but to me it immediately brought the fear of a bat and this made me worry that I was not sure if a beetle can move/shake a leaf just by walking into it/onto it so what if there was actually a bat underneath which I did not see. I did go back yesterday and did not find anything but there will always be that thought that I just didn't see it or that it was gone by the time I went again.
I was however wearing shoes and trousers so I doubt a bat would have climed on my shoes under my trousers to bite my ankle.
This seems like such a weired question but do you guys believe a beetle could have caused the movement in the dried out leaves? I'm not sure why but my mind seems to be stuck on this aspect.
I did come back with another small red cut/scratch on my other ankle after looking around there the second time however I was scratching that side to see if it would replicate anything like what I had on the other side just before I went out so I do believe this could have been due to that.
Thank you guys for any replies. I have contacted my GP again and will be trying some ways to alleviate this but I am just trying to find some short term reassurance as I am really stressed out right now.
I am just trying to find some short term reassurance
Why would need any reassurance for something so ridiculous? :huh:
FMP
I think bats are larger than you think they are. Definitely bigger than a beetle, and they aren't really that good at hiding - if there was one in the leaves you would have seen it. If there was one walking/clinging to your pants you would definitely see it, full stop.
Edited to add: bats can carry rabies, especially in the US, but they aren't vicious creatures. They're not flying around trying to bite humans, they'd honestly prefer to be left alone. People are bitten if the bat feels threatened and like they need to protect themselves. They don't just fly out of the sky and bite people for the fun of it.
Why would need any reassurance for something so ridiculous? :huh:
FMP
Hi FMP, thank you for once again replying to one of my threads full of silly worries I am convinced are true. I understand it may seem very stupid but I am having a real hard time with this as my mind keeps telling itself that such a small bug (about 2/3cm long) could not move a whole leaf and there was something else there.
Hi Poppy, the thing is I know the beetle itself is not a bat however my worry is that if a bat was somewhere underneath then I may have missed it and it may have bitten me without me seeing as unlikely as that is. From what you are saying I guess my worry correlates with the fact I disturbed the bat below the leaves and it bit me as a defence as unlikely as that may sound. I am trying to get it into my head that it is still unlikely to climb my shoe to bite me in the ankle even if it was disturbed especially without me noticing however my mind is telling me the fact it is possible is worrying enough. The fact I did go back and find nothing did give me some reassurance however I am still concerned with the fact something was moving underneath the leaves the first time I was there when it was relatively dark out. I think this is largely due to my inability to deal with uncertainty, whenever I am not sure of something I can assume the worst case scenario and tell myself it has to be true. I have been looking at the statistics for the effectiveness of a vaccine after 1 year to try and calm myself however even at 90% efficacy I will still have that worry.
Hi FMP, thank you for once again replying to one of my threads full of silly worries I am convinced are true. I understand it may seem very stupid but I am having a real hard time with this as my mind keeps telling itself that such a small bug (about 2/3cm long) could not move a whole leaf and there was something else there.
From an outside perspective, this is one of those situations where you believe the sky is green when its so obviously blue. I've read rabies worries threads for years and again, there are just no such things as Ninja bats. I truly have a difficult time understanding how irrational fears like this manifest themselves in the minds of those that fear it but I guess that's part of the mental illness.
FMP
For me I think part of it is the fact I have never seen a bat up close and am not sure if I have ever seen one at all but hearing that they exist in my area caused me to be worried. For example if you asked me if there was a bird under the leaves I discussed I could immediately tell you no but with bats I have never truly seen the size of one except for on videos and they look small enough to be unnoticeable at times.
For me I think part of it is the fact I have never seen a bat up close and am not sure if I have ever seen one at all but hearing that they exist in my area caused me to be worried. For example if you asked me if there was a bird under the leaves I discussed I could immediately tell you no but with bats I have never truly seen the size of one except for on videos and they look small enough to be unnoticeable at times.
I'm sorry but that's nonsense as well :lac: For all the rabies/bat fears here, there's no way you can logically rationalize the fear. Perhaps some real life help or a lesson in zoology is in order?
FMP
I don't disagree that it may be nonsense and that there is no way to rationalise it but I just think that is the reason my fears can continue to lead me on with this.
I don't disagree that it may be nonsense and that there is no way to rationalise it but I just think that is the reason my fears can continue to lead me on with this.
So you're saying you agree that it's nonsense and irrational and that's why you continue to fear it? :huh:
FMP
From an outside perspective, this is one of those situations where you believe the sky is green when its so obviously blue. I've read rabies worries threads for years and again, there are just no such things as Ninja bats. I truly have a difficult time understanding how irrational fears like this manifest themselves in the minds of those that fear it but I guess that's part of the mental illness.
FMP
I think it stems from the fact that, as rare as it is, rabies is scary. At least that’s the struggle for me.
You absolutely would see a bat, and if you didn’t, you would definitely feel it. Full stop.
If it helps, I work in research admin on a university campus with a vet school. I know the people who run the rabies lab here, in fact, one guy in my office volunteers there. They take in animals from around and just test for rabies (bats in houses, raccoons people have killed, etc). It’s notable when they have a positive result. I hear about every single one and it’s not very frequently at all that it happens. And this is in the US where rabies is much, much more prevalent.
also- one year for a rabies vax is cautious but not necessary if they are the same as over here. Here they are boosted every 3 years, and in humans that work in that lab they usually don’t bother, they titer test to see if it’s necessary and it usually isn’t for 5+ Years.
You absolutely would see a bat, and if you didn’t, you would definitely feel it. Full stop.
That's my whole point. There are no such things as ninja bats.
FMP
What I am saying is that it is extremely unlikely but the fact there have been cases of people who have no history of animal contact who have rabies is the thing that really gets to me and I am guessing everyone who has these worries to do with bats. Of course this seems very silly especially since I have seen more worried posts here about rabies from the UK than there have been cases in the last 120 years but the issue is our minds don't work rationally in these situations. So even though I do see where you are coming from and why you would say that I cannot get my mind to just cancel out the intrusive worrying thoughts.
Yes I think it is that fact. Along with this the fact it is something which is preventable if you do something about it but are in trouble if you don't makes it the perfect storm particularly for me as my OCD tends to focus on things which I can take action on as my impulsive thoughts push me to take action to try and fight these things.
Poppy thank you for writing about your colleague. This has given me some reassurance as in the UK there are only a small number of positive bats (I think it was roughly 30 out of 15,000 tested) from the bats they have been able to test (I believe usually sick or dead ones as in the UK they are protected). On the government website it does show the areas where the rabid bats are discovered and none of them have been near me which is also reassuring.
Right now I just have a feeling my mind is really struggling to keep it together. It is weird because I can see my mind is just jumping from on worry to the next. One scratch to the next. One pinch to the next. For example today I went out looking again and every pinch as my clothes pulled on a hair as well as every discomfort in my foot led my mind to bats. I think I did tire my mind out a little bit as now I am exhaustedly less worried but I know it will come back. I even started worrying that a bat bit me then went down a drainage shaft because my foot felt cold near it (2 pairs of socks on and trousers on top:doh:
With regards to the vaccine I think I read in quite a few places that it is somewhat likely that it is still effective but the vaccination schedules which have been studied seem to be mostly different from the one I had (I had day 0,3,7,21 vaccines) and in most places boosters are still recommended which has been giving my mind more cause for concern however I believe this is for extreme caution due to the severity of the disease. Do you know if the guy you referred to has been vaccinated at all and how often they need to have boosters? In some places it says 3 months in others 6 months and in others a year or more. I have been calmed a little also by one study I read which showed that from around 500 people most still had vaccine effectiveness over 3 years and even though some of the people got bitten and did not have a booster no on died in that study which is somewhat reassuring.
As I am typing this however I feel the pinching feeling in the top of my back, the discomfort in my upper thigh and the tingling in my feet so I don't think I am over it yet.
I'm truly sorry you're suffering and feeling this way. I can't even begin to imagine suffering like this over something that by all means isn't a blip in the universe. Hope you feel better soon.
FMP
Thank you FMP, I appreciate your words. I truly do want to fully take in everything you are saying and snap out of this nightmare but I don't think I would have these issues in the first place if I could be just remove these anxious thoughts from my mind.
Health anxiety is awful. I have absolutely been down that well and it is not a fun place to be. The only thing for me to help combat it when I am struggling is to fight my wild ideas with facts and ground myself. There are days I have to repeat it over and over and over again but it does get easier. Medication has helped me a ton as well.
I seriously doubt that there are stories of people with no animal contact contracting rabies - they have to get it from somewhere. They may not remember the incident or may just have written it off but it doesn't just spring up.
Yes, my colleague has been vaccinated as has another of my colleagues who works in animal research. They don't get scheduled boosters, they get titer tested yearly I believe and once it dips below a certain level they get their booster. They were just discussing the other day if we we would move toward Covid titers or just consistent boosters, who knows. :roflmao:I do know that it is much more than a year before they have to get their boosters due to low titer levels; the actual amount of time varies from person to person. I know in animals here they give boosters every three years and that is purely due to precaution as the vax lasts much longer than that period of time.
nomorepanic
14-09-21, 18:25
Bats don't randomly attack people - I know cos I sit outside at night and they fly around my garden and do fly towards me as a heat source then quickly fly away.
Rabies is so rare it isn't worth thinking about.
Thank you Poppy, I have calmed down a bit not from this and feel a little more secure, I am however very much still on the lookout for bats so that has not subsided but I feel like I am much more accepting of my situation even though I still feel I need to look absolutely everywhere to make sure I didn't accidentally see or step on one
I do feel like the vaccine will probably still be active from what I have read and thanks to you as the fact that even your colleagues only get checked once a year even though they work with animals makes me feel more calm.
I really appreciate your help.
Thank you Nicola, I understand they wouldn't but my worry was more as I was walking around leaves and if a bat was present in them and I didn't see it, then it could have bitten me out of self defense.
Hey guys, I have been doing quite a bit better these past few days. I have still been having worries about rabies but have managed to keep them away however I had a scare earlier so I wanted to post to get it out of my head and see that I am being unreasonable. Earlier I was on the bus coming home and already had my mind somewhat on rabies and bats as it was quite late and so I was worried about having to walk home because of a bat I wouldn't notice biting me. On the bus I was quite happy and felt comfortable but as I was getting off I see something small underneath the seat on a bit of a curved surface and I immediately start panicking in my mind. This thing seemed small but I wanted to make sure it wasn't a bat as I know how my mind can be so I tried to push it behind and went to look so I stepped on it and noticed it left a brown trail (meaning it could have been tree bark or mud or something) but then I could no longer see it so became worried about where it could be but I tried to pull myself away and say that it was just some tree bark or something but as soon as I got home the questions started. Could you not have noticed it being a bat? What if I didn't see it properly. I know bats can be as small as 3.5cm so what if it was a small bat I didn't judge as being big enough to be one. I also notices one of my shoes had wet patches on the sole so i thought what if that was bat blood from when I stepped on it. I am trying not to panic but this reoccurring fear is really affecting me these last few weeks and I am considering getting a booster for my rabies vaccine as that was the only time where I felt free from this fear, would you guys think this is a good idea? I am in contact with mental health services but am still waiting for a call from them so am trying to deal with everything by myself in the meantime.
It's good you're seeking help. Some logic for now:
- Bats don't ride the bus.
- Even if there was a bat on the bus, somehow, it didn't bite you so you are fine. Rabies is not airborne.
- The rabies virus only lives outside the body for a few seconds, max, so even if there was a bat on the bus and you were covered in its blood, you still wouldn't get rabies.
- You don't need a rabies booster. Those things last a ridiculously long time, you are fine even if you were exposed, which you were not.
It's good you're seeking help. Some logic for now:
- Bats don't ride the bus.
- Even if there was a bat on the bus, somehow, it didn't bite you so you are fine. Rabies is not airborne.
- The rabies virus only lives outside the body for a few seconds, max, so even if there was a bat on the bus and you were covered in its blood, you still wouldn't get rabies.
- You don't need a rabies booster. Those things last a ridiculously long time, you are fine even if you were exposed, which you were not.
Hi Poppy, thank you for your many helpful messages. I appreciate everything you are saying and it has helped me realise that I was probably being irrational and I am trying to convince myself that if no one has gotten rabies in the UK in 20 years then I (vaccinated and less likely to get it) are probably unlikely to get it in my lifetime. However I can also see that my issues run deeper. Every hour there is a new worry. For example just this morning I went into the bathroom and felt itchiness and discomfort in the back of my ankle from my sock being tight but ofcourse it was bats and this morning as I was awake early I head some noises (probably chirping as from what I have heard on youtube bats sound similar to birds at times) from outside my window and immediately connected the two as being a bat which bit me as our bathroom window was open with no screen. I was doing well with not being as stressed yesterday but have woken up today and am back with this rubbish again, I am so tired. I am trying to address this with getting a therapist however here in the UK it takes a while to get in touch with one. Hopefully I can find a way to get out of this as it has been a nightmare.
Hi guys, I am feeling quite a bit better now that I have been started on fluoxetine however I am still having some anxieties occasionally but I expect this to get better with time and as I start therapy. The past 4 days I have been feeling amazing and even enjoyed some time with my friends however this morning I was back on the anxiety train a little bit.
I was feeling behind my ear just as I was looking at my computer at work and felt some small bumps. Upon taking a picture I noticed it looked like 4 puncture marks in a relatively normal rectangle just behind my ear. I am attaching a link of the picture (not for diagnosis but just so you guys can see what I mean) https://imgur.com/a/zyt3ZIS. Now I am not sure if this could be a bat bite but I believe the shape is what has caused me to be concerned. I know I have occasionally scratched behind my ear on that side so that could be the cause but every time I look at the picture the shape and size of the puncture wounds sends me into a bit of a panic. The room I sleep in has all the windows covered with a screen but I remembered that yesterday as I was walking outside I felt like I heard something buzz past my ear on that same side and checked the ground and didn't find anything but I it was broad daylight and I did not see anything else so I don't think it was a bat but my mind is telling me it could have been. I have seen a lot of bat bites online during my worries and have noticed they are at most only 2 marks which has reassured me somewhat but I am not sure if this is just the case in those I have seen. If anyone knows anything about bat bites or can help me find some reassurance on this I would be very grateful.
I am vaccinated however I believe my concerns also stem from the fact I have been referred for a lupus test to check if I have it and I understand this can cause you to be immunocompromised so changes your rabies vaccine schedule and this is another part that is not letting me just brush this concern off as I feel like I may still be vulnerable.
Okay, here's a question: would you notice if someone threw a pencil at you and it hit you behind the ear?
Hi BlueIris, the weird thing is that the rational side of me thinks that of course I would feel, just this morning I heard a large leaf falling above me and dodged it so it didn't land on my head. Unfortunately the questioning side says "What if you were focused on something else or were walking and didn't notice it".
Think of a bat as a furry pencil. It might not weigh much, but if it landed on you and bit you you'd definitely notice.
Thank you BlueIris, thinking about it this way it does seem unlikely that something bit me or even landed on me. I did also notice that the area which is scratched is just under where my mask strap sits so it is possible that it caused that area to itch and me to scratch it. However there will always be some thought in me that it could have been a bat, if not in that situation then in another which resulted in what is seen in the picture, it happens every time I go out anywhere. This time what has been and is currently causing me a slight anxious feeling is the shape of it as it looks like something biting down from the top and bottom but I understand even a scratch from myself could have any shape it's just that with that comes the feeling of it possibly being something dangerous and also the potential thought that something could have landed on my mask or near my mask with me thinking it was the actual mask.
I think I just have to learn to sit with the discomfort and be confident in what I have seen and felt and accept that certain things in life are going to go unexplained sometimes (random knocks and cuts) but currently it is still quite difficult.
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