Rabies worry help

[Scottyboy]

Hi everyone

I’m having a bit of a moment and could use some rational thought. I’m out camping with some friends and we were drinking last night. We were standing in the dark and I felt something sharp on my ankle like a bite.

Of course the following day I look at it and it’s two little marks so of course I think that a bat somehow climbed on my ankle, from the ground while I was standing there and bit me and it was too dark to see so I didn’t notice. Of course now I think that I have to find the bat crawling around on the ground somewhere. I’m afraid of rabies.

This is really irrational right? What else could explain those two marks. They’re long too and next to each other I don’t think an ant or wasp could have done it.

[NervUs]

I think the first step is just accepting that you will never know what left those marks. People get unexplained marks ALL THE TIME and they go about life without needing to know. Get yourself comfortable with uncertainty and learn to let questions like that go.

Was it a bat? No one can tell you yes or no but the circumstances suggest absolutely not. If there was a bat in your campsite, and you were with a group, someone would have noticed if you yourself did not.

I know what rabies fear is like, but there is absolutely no reason to jump to rabies exposure unless you are aware a bat was on you or if you woke up to a bat in your room. That is not your situation, so a bat bite is pure fantasy on your part. I'm sure you can think of something better to fantasize about, right?

[Scottyboy]

Ya you’re right. It’s my ocd kicking in. I am just freaking out because it’s very dark out here and I would not have been able to see if a bat crawled on my leg.

[MagpieWitch]

Hi everyone

I’m having a bit of a moment and could use some rational thought. I’m out camping with some friends and we were drinking last night. We were standing in the dark and I felt something sharp on my ankle like a bite.

Of course the following day I look at it and it’s two little marks so of course I think that a bat somehow climbed on my ankle, from the ground while I was standing there and bit me and it was too dark to see so I didn’t notice. Of course now I think that I have to find the bat crawling around on the ground somewhere. I’m afraid of rabies.

This is really irrational right? What else could explain those two marks. They’re long too and next to each other I don’t think an ant or wasp could have done it.

Hey, longterm rabies fearer here!
The chances for that are almost non-existential!
A bat will need to climb on your leg even if a bit and you would feel its tiny claws and leathery wings and fur. It would'nt just climb on you like that, most animals will avoid you if they can. You would definetly feel it. It's no vampire out to just bite you and vanish into the night.

It could be a mosquito because sometimescthey don't itch until a day or so later, a ant (they sometimes only leave a bump with no itch) or maybe you just poked yourself against some weeds or thorns.

If it was a bat you really would've seen and/or heard it. I once saw a bat that had fallen and was being preyed upon by few cats and it was flapping so much even on pavement that it draw my attention from my headphones and music. Also a bite would bleed because it has depth so you'd have at least a bit of blood spilling.

Just everything about this tells me no rabies!

[nomorepanic]

Hi

This is just a courtesy reply to let you know that your post was moved from its original place to a sub-forum that is more relevant to your issue.

This is nothing personal - it just enables us to keep posts about the same problems in the relevant forums so other members with any experience with the issues can find them more easily.

Please also read this post:

http://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=213239

[Scottyboy]

Thanks for the note. Like I said, my irrational mind is trying to convince me that I was too drunk to notice a bat crawling on my ankle because I keep telling myself it was dark and I couldn’t see it. I know it’s completely crazy. So frustrating the tiniest scratch or bug bite or whatever can send me over the edge and ruin a fun weekend.

---------- Post added at 21:39 ---------- Previous post was at 18:38 ----------

I am thinking that I will go request a PEP shot. I don’t know what bit me and it resembles a bat bite on google.

[Scottyboy]

Hi everyone

So on Sunday night I went to the emergency room to tell them I was potentially bite by something but I’m not sure what. The doctor told me to go play the lottery when I told him about my concern that it was a bat. He said it’s so uncommon in Canada and the circumstances were just not realistic. Someone would have seen or heard something. He was not concerned at all and basically laughed. Said if it was him he’d move on with life.

Anyways, this week I’ve been engaging with CBT work and radical acceptance but my mind keeps trying to get me to worry about it. I’ll push it out of my head for a bit but it keeps coming back. I keep feeling like the area is tingling and painful and burning which are all bad signs of course according to google. I feel like my brain is making it up and I can’t stop worrying again. I can push away the worry for a little bit but then my foot does something funny and it comes back with a vengeance. Can your brain fabricate symptoms?

---------- Post added at 02:17 ---------- Previous post was at 02:09 ----------

I don’t know why I cannot trust the doctor.

I found this comment on another thread from used NervUS, seems apt:

HOw do you get over this? Well, for starters, you need to stop checking yourself. You have a ludicrous rabies fantasy playing in your mind and the self-checking is actually giving it credibility. This is not a quick fix at all but, everytime you go to check, tell yourself, "I'm not falling for this" and set your mind very deliberately to something else. It will take a lot of effort but, little by little, your brain will stop going to the rabies fear because it knows you are fighting back and not giving it the stimulation (i.e. indulging the rabies fantasy) it wants. Logic won't get you out of this, reassurance won't get you out of this. Fighting back against your fear might, although it's work and a hard thing to do.

[paranoid-viking]

I thought Canada was declared a rabies free country. It is right?

[MagpieWitch]

Your brain can and will fabricate symptoms cause you are focusing on that part of your body. During my rabies fear the site where I was scratch was itching burning and poking and my hand was tingling and I was writing my will. As you can see a month later I am here.

The doctor was right theres no way it was a bat and that bat in particular had rabies. But it's good that you are looking into CBT I fully support that!

[Scottyboy]

Your brain can and will fabricate symptoms cause you are focusing on that part of your body. During my rabies fear the site where I was scratch was itching burning and poking and my hand was tingling and I was writing my will. As you can see a month later I am here.

The doctor was right theres no way it was a bat and that bat in particular had rabies. But it's good that you are looking into CBT I fully support that!

Good to know. I figured as much but it’s still such an odd concept. I’ll just be sitting at my desk and then my ankle will do something weird. It’s also feeling overly sensitive like my shoe is annoying it. It doesn’t surprise me as I remember having other odd feelings in the body during bouts of anxiety.

I guess it is just my brain trying to get me to worry about it. And it’s odd as well. Like last night I was in an absolute worried state about it, this morning I felt great and had no sensations there, then this afternoon the odd sensations came back (accompanied by a rise in my anxiety). I don’t even know what brought it on.