Rabies from Bats (real bite marks)

[BlueIris]

Bats have mass, though, and they're clumsy in tight spaces. There's zero chance one could have been under a crowded table without anybody noticing, and that's leaving aside the fact that most bats aren't rabid.

[NervUs]

I just don't know what to do. When the fear is so strong, what else can I do to assure myself?? I do have a bite mark- this is something I can't shake off. What should I think? I keep thinking what if it was a bat..what if?? What should I think?  Online everywhere is saying a lot of times you don't even feel a bat biting you because it can be painless ..

I have been where you are.

This is harsh and hard...but...when I have been where you are, at the bottom of the pit, giving into the thought that "I am going to die" settles my brain. When you are what if, what iffing every two minutes, you are keeping yourself in panic.

When you accept that the worst is happening, and stop the thoughts with "yes, I'm going to be dead of rabies in 2 weeks," you are depriving your brain of what it desires, which is the constant omg, omg omg. It's a way of stopping the adrenaline that comes from taking yourself down the road of the firing squad of questions and prolonging the panic and drama.

I won't bore you with all the details of our story-- and all of the subsequent rabies paranoia it unleashed-- but I was absolutely convinced my child was going to die. There had been a significant delay between the exposure and getting the shots (like a very long delay, well within the incubation period). Not fighting it allowed my brain to move onto other things, like she's ok today. OK today got me through. And I know you feel like you are not OK today, because you think you have muscle pain. My daughter, while all this was going on, woke up one day with a terrible flu and mental confusion and photophobia. She was 4 and talking jibberish and screaming at me about the lights, and omg, that is the last thing a person in a rabies panic wants to hear, lol.

It wasn't rabies, though. She just had a different virus. I waited it out. The confusion and photophobia passed.

You are in a situation where you need to do something to jolt yourself out of your emotional state. Getting the shot might do it and might not. You need a mental health solution. What I did was kind of like exposure therapy, I guess. Trying to use rational thought is another. Don't know if either will work, but you need to experiment with what gets you to a point of being able to function and squash the thought as suddenly as it enters your brain. Only you know what has worked for you in the past. I find that true acceptance is what makes me functional.

[woaidelrey]

I have been where you are.

This is harsh and hard...but...when I have been where you are, at the bottom of the pit, giving into the thought that "I am going to die" settles my brain. When you are what if, what iffing every two minutes, you are keeping yourself in panic.

When you accept that the worst is happening, and stop the thoughts with "yes, I'm going to be dead of rabies in 2 weeks," you are depriving your brain of what it desires, which is the constant omg, omg omg. It's a way of stopping the adrenaline that comes from taking yourself down the road of the firing squad of questions and prolonging the panic and drama.

I won't bore you with all the details of our story-- and all of the subsequent rabies paranoia it unleashed-- but I was absolutely convinced my child was going to die. There had been a significant delay between the exposure and getting the shots (like a very long delay, well within the incubation period). Not fighting it allowed my brain to move onto other things, like she's ok today. OK today got me through. And I know you feel like you are not OK today, because you think you have muscle pain. My daughter, while all this was going on, woke up one day with a terrible flu and mental confusion and photophobia. She was 4 and talking jibberish and screaming at me about the lights, and omg, that is the last thing a person in a rabies panic wants to hear, lol.

It wasn't rabies, though. She just had a different virus. I waited it out. The confusion and photophobia passed.

You are in a situation where you need to do something to jolt yourself out of your emotional state. Getting the shot might do it and might not. You need a mental health solution. What I did was kind of like exposure therapy, I guess. Trying to use rational thought is another. Don't know if either will work, but you need to experiment with what gets you to a point of being able to function and squash the thought as suddenly as it enters your brain. Only you know what has worked for you in the past. I find that true acceptance is what makes me functional.

Thank you so much for this ❤️ I can't thank you and can't express my appreciation enough for these words.

I read these paragraphs so many times and am now trying to come up with my own solutions to address my profound fear. Right now my plan is two fold (1). Accept that I am most likely going to be fine being that nobody saw the bat that day and I didn't feel nor seeing any bat that day. If I was bitten, then everybody else there could have been exposed as well. The chances are really small and the odds are on my side seeing there is only 1-3 cases per year in the US. (2). Accept that if really I am the unlucky one against all the odds- being afriad of rabies in the first place, didn't see any bats biting me, nobody else saw- then I really have nothing that I can do and that it is my fate then.

After writing this down and telling myself these, I am feeling a little better and not in a panic state as much. I know that in the future weeks, I am still going to panic about any little symptoms I may feel, but I really have to practice this and do this for myself.

This morning, I was even thinking about quitting my job that I worked so hard for, because I really thought I couldnt take it anymore and that I am not able to function anymore. This is my darkest phase and the worst I've ever felt in my whole HA journey and I am praying that I will go through this ordeal this time just like any other time.

I am thankful for your kind words. And I will keep you updated

[woaidelrey]

My sciatica pain that started last night got a little better this morning, so I'm guessing this is a good sign that it's not R related? Hoping today will be a good day.

[woaidelrey]

Hi guys,

I'm at work and am in the middle of another panic attack. I am trying very hard to keep it together.

The reason why I'm having a panic attack is because I suddenly have a feeling of "going crazy, losing control". My head just feels funny. I have also been experiencing body aches today.
All these symptoms are making me feel like I am starting to experience symptoms and it terrifies me so much because i know if it is, nobody would be able to help.

All these symptoms are really scaring me. I'm a guy and I feel like I just want to cry and leave work.

This is the worst I have ever been. I really didn't feel anything biting me that day and didn't see any bats that day. I really really hope I didn't get bit by a bat that day. If I get through this fear, I will cherish life much more and know that fear of cancer or other diseases are just much less scarier than this big R. Please pray for me as I am going through these stranger symptoms.

[Fishmanpa]

Respectfully.... a little bit dramatic don't you think under the circumstances? I'm a Stage IVa Head and Neck cancer survivor. Take into account I had an unknown primary which accounts for 1% of ALL Head and Neck cancers, I had a less than 50% chance of surviving 1 year and less than that 5 years and I'm 6 years out. I find your post incredibly self absorbed and insensitive. What I had was real. What you're imaging is not! Please seek real life help for the illness you do have.

Positive thoughts

[woaidelrey]

Respectfully.... a little bit dramatic don't you think under the circumstances? I'm a Stage IVa Head and Neck cancer survivor. Take into account I had an unknown primary which accounts for 1% of ALL Head and Neck cancers, I had a less than 50% chance of surviving 1 year and less than that 5 years and I'm 6 years out. I find your post incredibly self absorbed and insensitive. What I had was real. What you're imaging is not! Please seek real life help for the illness you do have.

Positive thoughts

Don't know why Everytime I edit, it keeps deleting.

I didn't mean to disrespect anybody. All I meant was that because I had a lot of cancer fears before as you are able to see from my post history, I have realized that the R fear is really a beast of its own... Didn't meant to put anybody down but to reveal my own feelings/thoughts on this for this moment... Sorry if it was offensive..

[BlueIris]

Speaking from years of personal HA experience, the scariest disease in the world at any given point in time is the one you're convinced you have.

[woaidelrey]

Speaking from years of personal HA experience, the scariest disease in the world at any given point in time is the one you're convinced you have.

That's very true!!!!!!!

[woaidelrey]

These two days have been a little better. The fear is definitely still there whenever I have any symptoms (headache, tingling of the leg, cloudy head". But I have been able to managing it much better now with rationalization. I keep telling myself that there was no way a bat could have flew under the table without being frantic and bit me and flew away without me or anybody noticing. Even if the bite doesnt hurt, but I/we would have felt or seen something. So this has helped a little. I would still think of the horrible images of R, but every time I thought of it, I just tell myself that the chances are so small and that I wouldn't be the unlucky one and then move on to another thought.