A positive thread for Rabies HA sufferers

Thought I would post this story with the huge influx of rabies-related posts on the HA boards lately.

Before joining this board this year, I dealt with a pretty bad bout of the rabies HA throughout the spring/summer of 2017 after being scratched by a cat in my parents yard. While it first started with just the cat, after it became pretty obvious that she did not have rabies I then became obsessed with what I call "invisible bat syndrome", basically I was constantly afraid that I had had somehow been bitten by a bat, even when I had absolutely no proof of this occuring, every mark on my body was thought to have been from a bat. I live in an area where bats are present and literally every time I saw one fly overhead I would start a new countdown until when I was "safe" from this "Rabies exposure", I'm embarrassed to even think of the amount of countdowns I had created on my old cell phone using a countdown app meant for happy things like birthdays and vacations.

Anyway, over the months my rabies fear began to fade, but my unease around bats never really did, I still felt creeped out by them, I would worry about them or become convinced one may have been near me, that bats might be in my home, work etc.

Tonight I was outdoors with my mom helping her put some sea shells outside in her yard when she pointed out that she had just seen a bat swoop by and eat a bug out of the air, I looked up and sure enough there were two bats swooping around catching some bugs and zipping up to the trees around my parents house. My mom LOVES nature so she was super excited to get to watch the bats do their thing for a little bit and I even joined her! I didn't freak out, didn't worry about them having rabies, didn't run into the house, didn't obsessively check myself for "bites" afterwards, didn't create any countdowns, I simply watched the bats with her and moved on with my evening. I'm moving out next week so I was happy to get to spend time with my mom and conquer something that used to bother me endlessly, I feel like I'm starting a new chapter away from this fear! :yesyes: