Terrified of Rabies from Thailand

[claire92]

Ok soooo..... I'm living in Mexico at the moment and a last night a dog licked my leg. There was no broken skin but I went to the doctor to check all was good this morning. She said no problem at all, I'm all good and I was reassured on that part. BUT now another incident has crept into my mind that has made me really scared...

About 10 weeks ago I was in Bangkok, near Khao San Road and a dog brushed my leg. I'm pretty sure it didn't lick me, there definitely wasn't any damage to the skin. I was a bit freaked out at the time and later was worrying about some tiny scabs I had on my leg, I think from shaving. By tiny I mean the size of a pin prick. My friend who I was with pointed out that they weren't even near where the dog brushed me. He's quite good at reassuring my HA so at the time I managed to make a conscious decision to stop worrying.

But now it's come back into my mind... and of course my anxious brain is wondering if I remembered the details right. I know that most cases show within 10 weeks and it's highly unlikely, but I am freaking out. Where I'm living there is no rabies after shots available so I'd have to travel to another city to get them and I'm guessing it's too late for an incident 10 weeks ago anyway. Does anyone have any words of comfort?

[nomorepanic]

You do not have rabies trust me

[Fishmanpa]

Respectfully... I know you're actually scared and panicked about this, but from a rational point of view, I just can't wrap my head around this fear

What you're afraid of... getting rabies from a dog lick or a brush on the leg when it's "fact" that 1. The animal has to be infected and 2. It's transmitted into the blood by coming in contact to an open wound or bite. None of which actually happened. There are no "what ifs" or "yeah buts" here. It's like saying you're afraid of getting sunburn from laying out under the moon

Positive thoughts

[paranoid-viking]

Ok soooo..... I'm living in Mexico at the moment and a last night a dog licked my leg. There was no broken skin but I went to the doctor to check all was good this morning. She said no problem at all, I'm all good and I was reassured on that part. BUT now another incident has crept into my mind that has made me really scared...

About 10 weeks ago I was in Bangkok, near Khao San Road and a dog brushed my leg. I'm pretty sure it didn't lick me, there definitely wasn't any damage to the skin. I was a bit freaked out at the time and later was worrying about some tiny scabs I had on my leg, I think from shaving. By tiny I mean the size of a pin prick. My friend who I was with pointed out that they weren't even near where the dog brushed me. He's quite good at reassuring my HA so at the time I managed to make a conscious decision to stop worrying.

But now it's come back into my mind... and of course my anxious brain is wondering if I remembered the details right. I know that most cases show within 10 weeks and it's highly unlikely, but I am freaking out. Where I'm living there is no rabies after shots available so I'd have to travel to another city to get them and I'm guessing it's too late for an incident 10 weeks ago anyway. Does anyone have any words of comfort?

Yes. It is not that easy to contact rabies. Rabies does exist in Thailand but it is not wodespread. And I am pretty sure that the dog that came across you did not have rabies cause of a dog has rabies it is obvious and visible. Same with the licking. Dont worry about it.

[claire92]

Respectfully... I know you're actually scared and panicked about this, but from a rational point of view, I just can't wrap my head around this fear

What you're afraid of... getting rabies from a dog lick or a brush on the leg when it's "fact" that 1. The animal has to be infected and 2. It's transmitted into the blood by coming in contact to an open wound or bite. None of which actually happened. There are no "what ifs" or "yeah buts" here. It's like saying you're afraid of getting sunburn from laying out under the moon

Positive thoughts

Thankyou, it's actually really good to hear that you can't wrap your head around it haha. I think it's an OCD thing as well as HA, as I'm thinking 'was there something there that I missed' etc. Of course, it's very hard to reassure myself in that way because it's difficult to remember something that didn't happen! I just keep telling myself that of course if there had been anything to worry about I would have got it sorted and it's not relly something you miss. I just feel like I'm having a constant battle with my rational and irrational mind and I'm banning myself from google now... thanks for the response it's really appreciated

---------- Post added at 15:09 ---------- Previous post was at 15:04 ----------

Yes. It is not that easy to contact rabies. Rabies does exist in Thailand but it is not wodespread. And I am pretty sure that the dog that came across you did not have rabies cause of a dog has rabies it is obvious and visible. Same with the licking. Dont worry about it.

Thankyou for the comment. Yes my rational self knows that there's no way, I just keep having an OCD freak out 'what if I missed something' but I know deep down that you don't miss things like that. Very true about the dog he was a lot more chilled than other dogs I saw in Thailand. Now to work on some ways to calm my OCD and irrational thoughts! I'm happy to say I'm on a CBT programme at the moment.

[claire92]

Ok, me again. I know I shouldn't still be thinking about this... but for some reason the worry has reignited today after me being able to think rationally yesterday.

I just keep thinking what if there was some sort of mark that I missed - did it scratch or bite me without me realising? (Highly unlikely, as I examined the whole area, my HA was just as bad just then) This is a false memory caused by my OCD I think, it's just so hard to reassure myself.

And my other worry is what if the dog did actually lick me (again false memory, I don't think it did but I can't remember) and it somehow got into my bloodstream through the little shaving scabs I had? Again, I can remember pointing a couple out to my friend and him saying 'that's not even where the dog bumped into you was it' but there could have been others. They weren't open or bleeding or anything they were just tiny little pin prick size scabs.

I know I'm looking at crazily small possibilities, and it will have been 10 weeks tomorrow, but I'm still getting myself into too big a hole with this. I'm trying to replace the irrational thought "what if XYZ happened and it's one of the instances where symptoms show late" with "obviously the fact that I haven't shown any symptoms means I don't have it". Does anyone have any other ideas for rational thoughts I can repeat to myself?