Health Anxiety - Rabies and Bats

[mn_guy]

At least you do realise; as I understand from your post that deep down you know that this is just anxiety and that your anxious mind is playing trick with you. GOOD! And this is where you must work from. Diarreah is the most common symptom caused by anxiety itself. Anxiety certainly messes up the bowel system - or at least it do so with me.

It's probably more accurate to say that I'm "fairly sure" that this is anxiety (possibly combined with some unrelated ailments - everyone gets sick from time to time). I might even go as far as to say I'm 99% sure - it's that 1% that gets me.

I just keep repeating (to myself) the statistic from the Canadian study (that I can't link to b/c I don't have enough posts): the odds of getting rabies in a situation where you encountered a bat in the house but didn't have direct contact with it are between 1 in 330,000 and 1 in 2.4 million. In the US the health departments are even more conservative and paranoid than in Canada, and they thought my encounter was low risk enough to not recommend the vaccine.

---------- Post added at 07:38 ---------- Previous post was at 07:34 ----------

So sorry you're going through this. It is simply unfair to get sick in the midst of a rabies panic!

Hopefully, your stomach will settle down (anxiety can definitely bring that on) tomorrow. Try to eat gentle foods to see if that helps too. The sore throat is a stinker, but I have had a mild scratchiness too-and it seems like a lot of people are getting colds.

Unfortunately, you are going to have to wait through this but, remember, note any improvement in symptoms b/c that is 1000% evidence that you do not have rabies. I also hope the meds help.

Keep us updated!

Thanks for the encouraging words! Today is somewhat better. My heart rate has settled down and the diarrhea has gone away. I still have no appetite (which is a symptom of rabies!) but this is exactly how things have gone any time I've had food poisoning or a stomach bug in the past. I'm hoping to start my SSRI later today but may hold off until Saturday if my stomach is still messed up. One of the big side effects of escitalopram that the pharmacist warned me about is upset stomach and the last thing I need right now is more of that.

[mn_guy]

Figured I'd post a reply so everyone knew I was still alive.

My nausea did end up being either food poisoning or a stomach bug as I was able to eat full meals starting at lunch Saturday and the nausea is completely gone today (Sunday).

The one "symptom" that is driving me the most nuts at the moment is a low-grade scratchy/sore throat that I've had for just over two weeks now. I did some quick searching and it seems this might be caused by anxiety? The weird thing is that it went away when those two blisters on my hand started itching and didn't come back until after my doctor's appointment when she said that there was no way there were bat bites. The sore throat also went away (or I just stopped noticing it) once the nausea from the food poisoning started, and came back right after I finished my first full meal and the nausea largely went away. This is highly suspicious, but it doesn't change the fact that there is a tightness in my throat, my mouth/throat are dry, and my throat feels a little scratchy from time to time.

I also think the lymph nodes below my jaw might be swollen, but I've never thought much about them or tried to feel them while I'm healthy so I don't know for sure. I doubt that they would be swollen unless I was really sick with something, but my kids have had colds in the last few weeks so I could just have a mild cold or be getting over one.

For the tingling in my arm I had gone to a doctor previously and she thinks I have cubital tunnel syndrome from sleeping on my arm with it bent, over-using arm rests, and poor posture while biking. Will be working with a physical therapist to get all that sorted out.

I also started 5mg of Lexapro on Friday and will up to 10mg next Friday (which I discuss more detail in a different thread). Hopefully it kicks in soon and the anxiety eases up. Overall I'm feeling OK but I'd be a lot happier if I could go a week or two with no scratchy throat or any other ambiguous symptoms.

[venusbluejeans]

Yay glad you are still alive

[KK77]

[AntsyVee]

KK, what is that thing and why is it half naked?

[KK77]

KK, what is that thing and why is it half naked?

It's the Googly-Eyed Rabies beast of course....it escaped from the Complaints Lab out of its Petri dish. It should NOT be approached as it will try to eat you like a ravenous virus.

Don't be fooled by its googly eyes either!

[paranoid-viking]

It's probably more accurate to say that I'm "fairly sure" that this is anxiety (possibly combined with some unrelated ailments - everyone gets sick from time to time). I might even go as far as to say I'm 99% sure - it's that 1% that gets me.

And I know with 100% certainty you dont have rabies. Plese re-read the sticky thread on rabies and re-read the post there over and over to you realise how crazy this fear is.

[mn_guy]

And I know with 100% certainty you dont have rabies. Plese re-read the sticky thread on rabies and re-read the post there over and over to you realise how crazy this fear is.

Thanks for the encouragement - your thread is helpful to put it in perspective. I've read quite a bit of information describing how rare it is to contract rabies, especially without a known bite or even known direct skin contact with a bat. Anxiety is of course all about doubt and worst fears, so even logically knowing that everything is fine doesn't fix the anxiety unless you can prove it 100%.

I am feeling better overall this week though. The dry mouth/throat is pretty annoying but it seems somewhat better today than yesterday (and may be either caused by anxiety and/or exacerbated by the Lexapro I started taking, even though it started earlier than that).

[AntsyVee]

It's the Googly-Eyed Rabies beast of course....it escaped from the Complaints Lab out of its Petri dish. It should NOT be approached as it will try to eat you like a ravenous virus.

Don't be fooled by its googly eyes either!

Ahhh... so it’s not an invisible bat biting everyone, it’s just that thing!

[mn_guy]

Figured I'd post an update on this thread. After two weeks on 5mg of Lexapro, the irrational rabies fear has receded quite a bit. I still get some spikes of anxiety when the eczema on my hand tingles or itches excessively, but even that has gone down a lot in the last few days.

One huge piece of advice I'd give to people who are suffering from this or similar fears is to see a psychiatrist if the fear goes on for more than a week or two. Reading the statistics about the rarity of a given condition is somewhat helpful but since anxiety is all about doubt it probably won't help much if you have a real anxiety disorder. In my case medication seems to have helped quite a bit so far; for others some kind of therapy might work well. Ultimately recovery comes by being willing to accept whatever small/infinitesimal degree of uncertainty your mind might have rather than trying to prove to yourself 100% that you aren't sick with whatever condition, and you might need medication and/or therapy to help you do that.