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Thread: Walkin' on rabies

  1. #21
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    Aug 2017
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    251

    Re: Walkin' on rabies

    “Rabies can’t live in salt water.”- does that work for
    You?

  2. #22
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    Aug 2013
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    24,661

    Re: Walkin' on rabies

    Quote Originally Posted by golddustgirl1000 View Post
    “Rabies can’t live in salt water.”- does that work for
    You?
    How hard was that? Sorry to make you face facts and reality... There are no possible "yeah buts" or "what ifs" either

    Positive thoughts
    __________________
    "Eat. Drink. Enjoy the work you do. Be thankful for the blessings God gives you in this life. Live, love and seek out the things that bring your heart joy. The rest is meaningless... Like chasing the wind." King Solomon

    The best help is the help you give yourself! http://cbt4panic.org/

  3. #23
    Join Date
    Aug 2017
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    251

    Re: Walkin' on rabies

    Lol it would be easier if all of me believed it...🤦🏼*♀️

  4. #24

    Re: Walkin' on rabies

    Quote Originally Posted by golddustgirl1000 View Post
    Lol it would be easier if all of me believed it...臘*♀️
    One of the best realizations I've had during my latest OCD flare-up is that I should give up on total certainty. My brain will always find a way to doubt.

    I've read through most of the rabies threads here, including yours, and I really do feel your pain. I've had the rabies obsession for about 7 months now and during that period I've been "exposed to rabies" hundreds of times. Every time I spend anywhere from seconds to days ruminating, replaying events, and a few times calling someone (who I am now on a first-name basis with) at the health department for advice. Every time I've finally concluded I probably haven't had a real exposure and I'm relieved, until the next "exposure." It really stinks because I love the outdoors and enjoy photography, which often includes camping and hiking in the dark. Now I'm on edge whenever I'm in the woods.

    I am seeing a therapist, taking medication, doing ERP and all that, and overall I'm making progress. I'm trying to instantly blame my feelings of doom and dread not on real external triggers but on the same mental disorder that has in past decades caused me to obsess about house fires, relationships, and religion. As so many experts say, "It's about the anxiety, not the content."

    I know it doesn't help to be told that bats don't live on the ground, or don't come out in the day, or that the virus can't survive outside the host, because I've read all the terrifying things you probably have. Sick bats might be floundering around on the ground during the day, and the virus can survive for variable amounts of time in saliva and dead tissues.

    So, here's what's helped me: The fact is that almost nobody in the US dies of rabies. One to 3 people a year out of 328,000,000. And those are usually because the person ignored an exposure that you or I would never ignore. Everybody else is either not exposed or is exposed in such an obvious way that they know to get treated -- and that includes kids, apathetic people, people who know nothing about rabies or bats or anything. People like I was just a year ago: I'm 45 and since childhood I had explored the outdoors without ever thinking about rabies. Some adult probably once said, "Yeah, if you're ever bitten by an animal, let us know," but that was it.

    True, every couple years someone dies of rabies and no one knows how they got it. Assuming those really are unrecognized exposures, that means your odds of getting rabies and not knowing it in any given year are about 1 in 656,000,000, if I'm calculating it right. (Scroll halfway down this page to help visualize one million.) So if you behave like a normal person and do not obsess about every conceivable exposure, there's a 655,999,999 chance out of 656,000,000 that you'll be just fine. Given that there's a much greater chance I'll choke to death on my next meal, I can live with those odds regarding rabies.

    Bottom line, if I have a strong trigger, I try to honestly consider whether a normal person would run off and get vaccinated. If I'm not sure, I ask my poor wife, and one eyeroll is usually all I need. For a really tough one, or a truly questionable one where even an average person is not sure, I'll call my new friend at the health department to see what the protocol is. And then I take her at her word, accepting but ignoring the intrusive thoughts that try to tell me she doesn't understand the situation, or I didn't present it accurately, or she doesn't know what she's talking about, or whatever. I accept that I've done what the average citizen would do and there's a 1 in 656,000,000 chance I'm making a mistake.

    Of course most of this is probably a form of reassurance-seeking and I don't want to live the rest of my life doing it. My goal is to get comfortable with uncertainty and once again be able to discern what's a real rabies exposure and what's not on my own. I'm getting better at doing that for small triggers, but for really upsetting ones this line of reasoning has helped me move on and not spend days ruminating. I hope maybe it helps you some too.

  5. #25
    Join Date
    Aug 2017
    Posts
    251

    Re: Walkin' on rabies

    Moth, thank you for understanding and fo approaching from an angle of not necessarily fighting off the thought completely, but rather embracing the likelihood- there is a chance a meator could come through my roof right now but I don’t worry about that.

    Yes I’m a full-time photographer and specialize in editorial portraits specifically within nature... so yes trapsing our into a field in knee high grass- that I just found out is a home to rattlesnakes in the spring ( good thing we went in winter)....

    You are right in what your conselor said- the first thing mine ever said was “anxiety had to have something to attach itself too”.

    I think I struggle with numbers and statistics because I tend to be the 1%... I never have anything super bad happen- but over the past ten years I’ve had many conditions that are hard to diagnose, Benign, and what Drs tell me are 1/1000... I have 4 off and on health conditions that are “rare” but happen to be one....so much of the time ( even with this coronavirus, which I’m actually controlling my anxiety quite well on) even Id the odds are in people’s favor.. I’m usually the 1%..... but they do still help.. I just need to get my brain to not think I will be the 1%.

    Lol my husband is so gracious too- now when I tell him about my rabies scare he just stares at me for a few seconds and says... “really?” 😂

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