Scared of having a bat bite

[ESTheComposer]

So to preface this, I take 10mg of Lexapro every day. For the last month, I’ve either not been taking it every day, or I’ve been taking it at night, due to my fasting during Ramadan. Due to this, I’ve been having some vivid dreams.

About a week ago, I either had a vivid dream, or I actually woke up to a bat flying at me. I slapped the bat away with my hand, but not before I felt a stinging/hot pain in my ankle. The next day, I noticed that I have bites on my ankle that were itchy. (Images in link) I immediately started panicking and thought that the bat was for real, however I couldn’t remember for the life of me whether I had already been scratching my ankle before the dream. In addition, I remember from a year ago where sometimes I would feel pain in a dream, and I would wake up, and it would be my cat nipping at me. So what Id like to chalk it up to is bug bites, or my cat nipping at me at night and me mistaking him for a bat (he’s a black cat), but my anxiety ridden mind can’t get over the thought that it might be a bat that bit me and gave me rabies :( To be clear, I made 3 posts on reddit, where one person responded on each saying they were bug bites, and then I went to an ER I’m Puerto Rico (where I’m at currently for vacation), where 2 nurses and the doctor told me they were bug bites (they didn’t even submit me in the system because they thought it was such a minor thing), and basically all my friends and girlfriend have told me it looks like bug bites. Help a hypochondriac brotha out?

Pics
https://imgur.com/gallery/cPw6tck

[nomorepanic]

Nope not possible it was a bat at all.

You can post on as many sites as you like and you will get the same answer - IT WAS NOT A BAT

Are you treating the HA though?

[Fishmanpa]

If you've read any of the threads in the rabies here in the sub-forum, you would see that your fear is as fantastical as any other. You have medical professionals backing it up so....

Positive thoughts

[ESTheComposer]

@nomorepanic Yes, I was seeing a therapist before for a short while, but I’m moving to another city soon and I’m going to have to find a new one there. I just can’t help panicking and thinking the worst :/ After remembering that I batted the bat away with my right arm I checked my arm and found these above the inside of my right elbow and I’m freaking out even more now:

https://imgur.com/gallery/3LZQYiP

Not sure what to do except sit here and wallow in fear

[BlueIris]

Not sure what to do except sit here and wallow in fear

Work on the anxiety, maybe? That's far more of a problem than imaginary bats.

[NervUs]

There is probably nothing that will help you through this. Your mind is going to want to revisit this as often as it can until it moves into something else That could be a day, or a year...so you need to do what you can to disrupt the thoughts when they arise. You need to resist any temptation to see a doctor about this again. You should probably stop posting and looking for reassurance. You should definitely not google. And, when thoughts arise, immediately try and shift to deep concentration about something else. If you find a substitute for rabies thoughts, you will disrupt the pathways in your brain, and your brain will gravitate to the new train of thought.

[ESTheComposer]

I ended up going to another doctor in Puerto Rico who told me that he was pretty sure I was fine, but to check with my city officials about bat incidences when I got back to the states. Once I got back, I got in touch with the city rabies expert and told him what I told the doctors over the phone, and he was very kind and patient.

He basically told me that if a bat bit me the way I thought it did, I would’ve found a body, or at least some evidence. He said if the doctors said they were bug bites, then they were probably bug bites. He also told me I have a better chance of flying to Mars tomorrow than having been bit by a bat 😂

I also went to my GP when I got back, and he also said the bites look like bug bites. Even after all of this, I still have anxiety, and it’s hard to let go of the thought that I might have rabies.

I haven’t been sleeping well, and I’ve been waking up in the middle of the night, I have headaches and pressure in my head, as well as dizziness, and I have diarrhea now too. All of this is worrying me :/

I’m seeing a therapist soon but I’m not sure what to do in the meantime