cant sleep because of rabies worries, PLEASE REPLY

[paranoid-viking]

Rabies shots themselves are pretty awful, so the hospital staff have to weigh that up. It's not like prescribing a dose of antibiotics.

Severe anxiety about an illness can mimic symptoms of that illness.

Actually no. Not anymore. The rabies shots used to be awful; in the old days when you had to have a shot in the stomach. Not so anymore these days; when it is an uncomplicated shot in the arm like other vaccines. It has less side effects than previous rabies vaccines as well. Mostly a sore arm and that`s it.

[LavenderRain]

Saw a doctor and a therapist today and they want to put me on sertraline/zoloft for my anxiety. Does anyone here have any experience with it and was it a good or bad experience? I have been prescribed it before but never took it because I was afraid of the side effects.. I also still have the rabies worries because my symptoms have gotten so much worse especially since last night. The flu like symptoms are unbearable right now and I have a slight fever. My gums are all red and swollen and bleeding and my throat and even my lips have been spasming. I am dead for sure if it is rabies.

[Fishmanpa]

I took Zoloft (100mg) for 6 months for some depression after my first heart attack. Other than a dodgy tummy, I had no other side effects an and it took the edge off while I worked on my depression in therapy. It acted as the crutch I needed until I could walk on my own.

Everyone is different but it was very beneficial for me.

Positive thoughts

PS: you don't have rabies!!!

[LavenderRain]

Thank you, I think I will give it a try.. I've been having tingling in my left foot for a while now too and its also getting to me :/

---------- Post added at 22:42 ---------- Previous post was at 20:44 ----------

I have to ask one more thing, if any of you know the answer. I don't believe the bat that I encountered bit me if I didn't feel anything, and I don't remember feeling anything. But I get random little sharp pains from clothes sticking to me and stuff like that all the time. So.. What if the bat really did bite me but it was such a miniscule pain I just disregarded it at the time and can't remember feeling it? Or would it have been a big ordeal? Also, I am aware that most bats infected with rabies are very obviously infected to the point of not even being able to fly, but the thing that truly worries me about this bat is that bats normally don't just fly right up to people and make loud screeching noises.. I was on a swing moving back and forth very fast. If it was healthy wouldn't it have noticed I was there and tried its best to avoid my path? Please respond.

[hanshan]

Thanks, Paranoid-Viking. I didn't know that about the rabies vaccine, and it's good to hear that it has improved.

[paranoid-viking]

Thank you, I think I will give it a try.. I've been having tingling in my left foot for a while now too and its also getting to me :/

---------- Post added at 22:42 ---------- Previous post was at 20:44 ----------

I have to ask one more thing, if any of you know the answer. I don't believe the bat that I encountered bit me if I didn't feel anything, and I don't remember feeling anything. But I get random little sharp pains from clothes sticking to me and stuff like that all the time. So.. What if the bat really did bite me but it was such a miniscule pain I just disregarded it at the time and can't remember feeling it? Or would it have been a big ordeal? Also, I am aware that most bats infected with rabies are very obviously infected to the point of not even being able to fly, but the thing that truly worries me about this bat is that bats normally don't just fly right up to people and make loud screeching noises.. I was on a swing moving back and forth very fast. If it was healthy wouldn't it have noticed I was there and tried its best to avoid my path? Please respond.

Well, it seems like you already answered the question yourself. Apart from that there it not som musch that I can add as I am no excpert on bats.
But are you sure it was a bat at all? Could it just have been a bird?

[LavenderRain]

It was definitely a bat. I've never seen a bird flying around at like midnight that wasn't an owl or something before, much less one that screeches so loudly.

[LavenderRain]

Sorry to dredge this up again, but my headaches and nausea have gotten a lot worse and tonight it looks like everything is spinning and warping. I want to start my meds but I don't want to lose the ability to feel emotions or have sex or enjoy anything.. I suppose its better than believing I am about to die all the time but I am still apprehensive about it.

[Bantam]

Hello! I know you posted this a while ago, but I've just stumbled across it. How did the sertraline go for you> In my experience the side effects are a bit crappy for the first few weeks but then settle down. The reason I looked at the thread, though, is that I thought I was alone in the whole "rabies anxiety" scenario and it was actually such a relief to see that I'm not! I know my phobia is illogical, but on holiday in Romania I became convinced I was going to catch rabies just from stroking stray cats! I managed to formulate this scenario whereby the cat had licked itself and its saliva was on its fur and that somehow transferred to my and got into my bloodstream through the bits of skin I'd picked around my fingernails! Needless to say I am still alive...
Sending you reassuring hugs

[paranoid-viking]

Sorry to dredge this up again, but my headaches and nausea have gotten a lot worse and tonight it looks like everything is spinning and warping. I want to start my meds but I don't want to lose the ability to feel emotions or have sex or enjoy anything.. I suppose its better than believing I am about to die all the time but I am still apprehensive about it.

You have had the "symptoms" so long now that it is impossible that it could be rabies. Let me reimind you again that as soon as symptoms appear in a rabies victim they will be dead within a few days; and a horrible death it is. But you are alive and healthy enough to sit and write online something close to three weeks after you first experienced "symptoms". That would not be possible in a real rabies victims. It sounds like my exerience back in 2003. Dont remember everything; but I guess I had a common cold in between it all and you bet I got hysteric.