Quote Originally Posted by paranoid-viking View Post
At least you do realise; as I understand from your post that deep down you know that this is just anxiety and that your anxious mind is playing trick with you. GOOD! And this is where you must work from. Diarreah is the most common symptom caused by anxiety itself. Anxiety certainly messes up the bowel system - or at least it do so with me.
It's probably more accurate to say that I'm "fairly sure" that this is anxiety (possibly combined with some unrelated ailments - everyone gets sick from time to time). I might even go as far as to say I'm 99% sure - it's that 1% that gets me.

I just keep repeating (to myself) the statistic from the Canadian study (that I can't link to b/c I don't have enough posts): the odds of getting rabies in a situation where you encountered a bat in the house but didn't have direct contact with it are between 1 in 330,000 and 1 in 2.4 million. In the US the health departments are even more conservative and paranoid than in Canada, and they thought my encounter was low risk enough to not recommend the vaccine.

---------- Post added at 07:38 ---------- Previous post was at 07:34 ----------

Quote Originally Posted by NervUs View Post
So sorry you're going through this. It is simply unfair to get sick in the midst of a rabies panic!

Hopefully, your stomach will settle down (anxiety can definitely bring that on) tomorrow. Try to eat gentle foods to see if that helps too. The sore throat is a stinker, but I have had a mild scratchiness too-and it seems like a lot of people are getting colds.

Unfortunately, you are going to have to wait through this but, remember, note any improvement in symptoms b/c that is 1000% evidence that you do not have rabies. I also hope the meds help.

Keep us updated!
Thanks for the encouraging words! Today is somewhat better. My heart rate has settled down and the diarrhea has gone away. I still have no appetite (which is a symptom of rabies!) but this is exactly how things have gone any time I've had food poisoning or a stomach bug in the past. I'm hoping to start my SSRI later today but may hold off until Saturday if my stomach is still messed up. One of the big side effects of escitalopram that the pharmacist warned me about is upset stomach and the last thing I need right now is more of that.