The story of a rabies scare

[ThaAnimeGumpster]

Ok, I feel like I should talk about this. I am perfectly fine, but you should tell my brain that...

Shortly after Thanksgiving, about three weeks ago, I had a sore throat and a stuffed up but not runny nose. I shrugged it off, As i develop nasal issues during the winter and had lived with it my entire adult life. Then around this week, I started to feel weaker than usual. My left leg and foot is vibrating. I get dull pains, pins and needles everywhere. My stool breaks apart when I flush it, but I have not lost my appetite (In fact, I just had a steak dinner) I've been through two other rabies scares before, but after the 10 days I am fine. None of those scares ever went as this one, however. I guess the trigger for all of this came sometime in September, when I saw some bats flying around the steeple of the church close to my house. I walked to the parking lot to get a closer look I think I was there for about a few minutes before going back. I had felt no visible signs or scratches nor had one bitten me. I had also been sleeping on the floor inside my room for about a year. I had just got an bed, and I am trying to get used to it.

I have been dealing with hypochondria since I was 18. Now I'm 29. I am typing this about to fix herbal tea. It has helped me somewhat. Rasin Bran with non-lactose milk helped my bowels get back on track.

I am typing this story because it has made me forget about it in the past when I was part of Anxiety Zone. Also I realize that the chances of me getting rabies are slim to zero, but my hometown has had one close call late last year when a rabid raccoon was caught near my old elementary school. Maybe I'm just being hyperaware.

[Stecakes]

you're right, you are just being hyper aware.
rabies in humans is very very rare, and you would have to be bitten
to contract it

[ThaAnimeGumpster]

Oh, geez. What a difference a few months makes. Just as I was kicking my previous rabies scare, here comes another one, and this one was getting so painfully close to the edge.

Last Monday I brewed myself some tea. I used a Powerade bottle to drink the tea and a bigger bottle to brew it. The Powerade bottle I dropped on the floor in my room several time, all by accident. This instance I was mixing my the tea in the Powerade bottle when some of the milk tea launched out of the bottle and into my right eye. Pretty harmless, so I brushed it off. Then I remembered the floor in my room is heavily trafficked. I walk along the neighborhood quite a bit and I always notice some cats lying about. They belong to one of my neighbors, who begrudgingly told me were up to date with their shots. Then it came to the point that one of the cats were rabid and that some fresh shit was on the floor when the bottle fell so many times, ready for me to be infected by it.

OH HERE WE GO AGAIN!

Since then, I have gone through the symptom merry-go-round. As I am typing this, my neck area is buzzing all around. I just feel that this time my luck has run out. I've been to one ER who told me I am fine, and gave me some Xanax, but I have not been eating at all lately, so I didn't take them, thinking I would vomit and would further add to my anxiety. I know that a non-bite exposure is rare, but all of my reason seems to have just flown out of the window. SOMEONE PLEASE SNAP ME OUT OF THE NIGHTMARE!

[LavenderRain]

Hey, I realize this is a bit of an old thread but are you doing alright? I've been through the rabies horror too and I'm just now starting to get over it after wasting nearly 7 months of my life freaking out. I don't want to see anyone else go through that. I promise you will be okay.

[GlassPinata]

Weird, I had a bit of the same scare yesterday. My son's teacher happened to mention that a dead rabbit had been found on the playground several days ago, dead without a mark on it. She felt that it should've been tested for rabies.
I asked if my son or any other children touched the dead rabbit, and she said no, but didn't sound too sure.
I later reasoned that if my son had even seen it, let alone touched it, he would've told me about it. He's only four, and we're quite close. He tells me about everything, and certainly would've mentioned a dead animal, if he'd seen one.
But then I thought, what if he didn't actually touch the rabbit, but what if some of the germs were left in the grass or something, and he touched those?
Then I thought, "Who the hell ever heard of a rabid rabbit anyway? And what is wrong with that teacher, telling me such a thing?"
But of course she doesn't realize I have anxiety. I guess this is the type of thing normal people just take in stride.
I can't sleep right now, for worrying about it.

[LavenderRain]

Despite the stuff it can do to you if you're bitten, rabies is actually a pretty fragile disease. It can't survive on surfaces for very long. And even if you are literally bitten by a rabid animal, the chances of it transmitting the disease to you are still pretty low. Rabbits and squirrels and other small animals aren't usually known to transmit rabies to people because they tend to die during the attacks from larger animals. If there weren't any marks on the rabbit I doubt it was rabies. There are many other illnesses that can affect rabbits and the people who get diseases like rabies were usually messing with animals they shouldn't have been.

[ThaAnimeGumpster]

Hey, I realize this is a bit of an old thread but are you doing alright? I've been through the rabies horror too and I'm just now starting to get over it after wasting nearly 7 months of my life freaking out. I don't want to see anyone else go through that. I promise you will be okay.

Hey Lavender, thanks for your concern. I am doing just fine, and my mind has not gotten the better of me yet. A little follow-up is in order...

As the New Year dawned, I was relaxed enough to attend festivities and a fireworks show. The scare was hardly on my mind, as the November 2016 scare left my mind. But around late January, I was peak rabies panic again. I then subjected myself to a marathon of ER visits, each more ridiculous than the last. After the second ER visit in twelve weeks, I scheduled a appointment with my primary care doc. She nearly assured me that I was being nuts and arranged a meeting with a mental health specialist. I have calmed down by the time the appointment date came, however, that I never went.

Sometimes your brain like to assume the worst. I kept myself busy doing the works I love - novice game development and 3D desktop publishing. I am alright now, and hope to stay this way for the remainder of the year.

Sorry it took so long to respond - obvious road to recovery stuff.

[chrismex89]

Rabies in humans is very rare and especially in developed countries, but in health anxiety is very common choose catastrophic diseases like rabies to fear, you need to accept the fact that all anxiety and follow the treatment, regards.

[paranoid-viking]

Despite the stuff it can do to you if you're bitten, rabies is actually a pretty fragile disease. It can't survive on surfaces for very long. And even if you are literally bitten by a rabid animal, the chances of it transmitting the disease to you are still pretty low. Rabbits and squirrels and other small animals aren't usually known to transmit rabies to people because they tend to die during the attacks from larger animals. If there weren't any marks on the rabbit I doubt it was rabies. There are many other illnesses that can affect rabbits and the people who get diseases like rabies were usually messing with animals they shouldn't have been.

Hi, Lavender. It is good to read that you overcame your fear and choosen rational thinking. Hope you are fine with life these days.