Bat or Not a Bat?

[Nile]

Hey, everyone!

This is my first time posting here. I usually just read and lurk, but I’ve found that the reassurance and advice given on this website has really helped me through some intense panic attacks. (Usually, I find someone who had an experience similar to mine, and then take the advice of the commenters.)

I also find that writing out my worries and having others read them really helps me calm down. I begin to realize how outlandish it sounds after that because, when it just festers in my head, I convince myself that it somehow makes sense.

Basically, what happened is my husband was working with my dad in the garage on a car around 6pm (sunset here is 5:15pm) and I went out there to see how they were doing. As I opened the door, I saw a black flash out of the corner of my eye. I turned and looked around to see what it was, but didn’t see anything flying around. (Mind you, this was INSIDE the garage, not outside.) I did, however, see the black seat of a bicycle hanging on the wall. I figured that the seat was probably what I saw, since it was in the corner of my vision, and it probably seemed like a flash because I was moving.

I’m trying to overcome the fear, but my OCD is creating false memories and making me think I saw a bat and it escaped the garage without being spotted somehow. (Note: neither my husband nor my dad report having seen a bat in the garage while working.) I’m trying to trust them and my own rational mind, but I’m really struggling. I’m jumping from one thing to another: I first thought it was a bat, then I worried it was flying around my husband without him knowing, and then I worried it bit him without him knowing.

I’ve been worried about bats since June of this year and I haven’t been able to shake it completely. I know it’s November now and, like, 35 degrees Fahrenheit outside, but I still look for bats around every corner. I’m terrified of my husband getting bit by one. (Ironically, LOL, I don’t really care about my own safety. Just his.)

It’s completely irrational to think I saw a bat, right? If there was one in there, it probably would have been spotted by someone other than just me, right? I remember my husband looking at me when I opened the door and came into the garage, so I have to assume he would have seen it and said something if it flew by me.

Thanks for any help!

[nomorepanic]

What is your worry about bats?

[Nile]

What is your worry about bats?

I’m worried about them biting my husband without him noticing. I’ve had a phobia about unfelt bat bites since 2014, but it recently got really bad over this summer. (In 2014, I got stuck in a cave full of bats in China, LOL. Been terrified of them and rabies ever since...)

[nomorepanic]

ahh ok rabies - I will move your post to the relevant forum and please read the sticky thread.

[Fishmanpa]

It’s completely irrational to think I saw a bat, right?

If you've been lurking and read some of the rabies threads, you know full well the answer to that.

Positive thoughts

[MyNameIsTerry]

A sudden black flash past us over here as it's going dark, usually accompanied by a shrill shrieking, is a blackbird on his way home for the night.

Aside from all the logical stuff which I'm sure you already know, consider this is of massive importance to you. Your subconscious is seeing a potential threat and reacting as it has learned to from observing your building fear (conscious reaction shows a fear is important and subconscious knows to reinforce it from there). So, you are on the lookout for associations to your fear, and your subconscious is too, and it's common to see things out of the corners of our eyes that we can't quite make out. Like you said, you have a bicycle seat that colour in that place so it could easily be that flashing through the edge of your vision.

[Nile]

ahh ok rabies - I will move your post to the relevant forum and please read the sticky thread.

Thanks! Sorry, it was my first time 😓

---------- Post added at 02:30 ---------- Previous post was at 02:29 ----------

If you've been lurking and read some of the rabies threads, you know full well the answer to that.

Positive thoughts

Yeah... It’s just nice to hear it from someone else, though. I tend to distrust my own judgement so much. 😓

---------- Post added at 02:34 ---------- Previous post was at 02:30 ----------

A sudden black flash past us over here as it's going dark, usually accompanied by a shrill shrieking, is a blackbird on his way home for the night.

Aside from all the logical stuff which I'm sure you already know, consider this is of massive importance to you. Your subconscious is seeing a potential threat and reacting as it has learned to from observing your building fear (conscious reaction shows a fear is important and subconscious knows to reinforce it from there). So, you are on the lookout for associations to your fear, and your subconscious is too, and it's common to see things out of the corners of our eyes that we can't quite make out. Like you said, you have a bicycle seat that colour in that place so it could easily be that flashing through the edge of your vision.

Yeah, that makes sense. Definitely. I’m primed to see bats everywhere because wherever I go I’m thinking, “Are there bats here?!” So of course every little flash I see I assume is a bat. Also, the bat cave I was in in China had bigger bats—fruit bats, I guess, since they were the size of large birds—so I keep worrying the bats here in the USA are too small to notice. LOL.

[MyNameIsTerry]

I think you would definitely notice a bat, especially if close. I've been on bat walks at night, been in bat houses at zoos and seen many bats when out on my walks at night. Ours are the common ones and they are small. If they get anywhere near you it's not something you miss as the way they fly isn't like a bird when they zoom past at light speed.

[Nile]

Hey there!

I’m in the midst of an anxiety attack right now. I just got out of the shower and noticed a pile of foamy liquid on the rug. I have an elderly cat that throws up a lot and he was in the bathroom, but he’s usually very loud about it and I didn’t hear him while I was in the shower. Only other thing I can think of is that it’s soap. I may have dropped some hand soap (the foaming kind) on the rug before showering. I tried to smell it (OCD MAKES ME DO SUCH DUMB THINGS, GAWD) and it didn’t smell like anything. I can’t decide it that’s a good sign or a bad sign.

Basically, I’m worried it’s rabid bat saliva. Sounds stupid, I know, but my OCD centers on bats and rabies. I “see” bats all the time and assume rabies is on every surface I touch.

I didn’t see a bat and have never seen a bat in the house before. I have four cats, and the bathroom is connected to the laundry room/litter room, so they go through there a lot—and I find it REALLY hard to believe there could be a bat in the bathroom with me 1) without me knowing and 2) without my cat knowing.

I’m being illogical, right?

Someone tell me it’s probably just soap!

[nomorepanic]

Your thought pattern on this one is really skewed.

How can it possibly be bat saliva - think about it long and hard.