mucoff
11-08-2013, 10:37 AM
Hi all, I stumbled across these forums last night and thought I'd post what I'm currently anxious about :)
14 days ago whilst on holiday I was bitten by a feral (seemingly feral anyway - not neutered...) cat on my hand, enough to break the skin and draw a little blood. It wasn't acting hugely strange, but one minute he was loving the attention, the next he had his teeth sunken into my hand! He then proceeded to try and bat my leg away when I stood up to wash my hand.
Anyway, my wife jokingly said "You better hope it doesn't have rabies!" and that was it. Ever since then it's been my number one concern, it's all I can think about.
Since I've got back from holiday I've been to see my GP, Nurse Practitioner and the local walk-in centre. My GP said not to worry, and passed me on to the Nurse Practitioner who gave me a tetanus, polio and diphtheria booster jab as I haven't had one in a while, told me that France is a low-risk country for rabies and that I didn't need post-exposure treatment. I was after a second opinion so I went to the local walk-in centre two days after my visit to the GP & Nurse, they said the nurse should have given me anti-biotics as cat bites are nasty, but that as France was a low-risk country for rabies, not to worry and that I didn't need post-exposure treatment.
Despite the above, it's still all I can think about.
The usual protocol for a suspected rabies bite is to quarantine the animal for 15 days to observe it's behaviour, and now that I'm thousands of miles away back home, I can't really do this. Also, with the human incubation period for rabies being 2 weeks to a year, and today being the start of the two weeks... it's worrying me more! I'm worrying so much that my left hand & arm is in constant pain (at least I'm pretty sure it's down to anxiety/worrying...) and the only relief I get is when I sleep. As soon as I wake back up I'm thinking about it again.
Anyway, that's what I'm currently anxious about. I'm already on 20mg of citalopram per day for my anxiety which usually quashes the day-to-day anxiety but this is a whole new level.
Any suggestions guys?
Cheers,
mucoff.
14 days ago whilst on holiday I was bitten by a feral (seemingly feral anyway - not neutered...) cat on my hand, enough to break the skin and draw a little blood. It wasn't acting hugely strange, but one minute he was loving the attention, the next he had his teeth sunken into my hand! He then proceeded to try and bat my leg away when I stood up to wash my hand.
Anyway, my wife jokingly said "You better hope it doesn't have rabies!" and that was it. Ever since then it's been my number one concern, it's all I can think about.
Since I've got back from holiday I've been to see my GP, Nurse Practitioner and the local walk-in centre. My GP said not to worry, and passed me on to the Nurse Practitioner who gave me a tetanus, polio and diphtheria booster jab as I haven't had one in a while, told me that France is a low-risk country for rabies and that I didn't need post-exposure treatment. I was after a second opinion so I went to the local walk-in centre two days after my visit to the GP & Nurse, they said the nurse should have given me anti-biotics as cat bites are nasty, but that as France was a low-risk country for rabies, not to worry and that I didn't need post-exposure treatment.
Despite the above, it's still all I can think about.
The usual protocol for a suspected rabies bite is to quarantine the animal for 15 days to observe it's behaviour, and now that I'm thousands of miles away back home, I can't really do this. Also, with the human incubation period for rabies being 2 weeks to a year, and today being the start of the two weeks... it's worrying me more! I'm worrying so much that my left hand & arm is in constant pain (at least I'm pretty sure it's down to anxiety/worrying...) and the only relief I get is when I sleep. As soon as I wake back up I'm thinking about it again.
Anyway, that's what I'm currently anxious about. I'm already on 20mg of citalopram per day for my anxiety which usually quashes the day-to-day anxiety but this is a whole new level.
Any suggestions guys?
Cheers,
mucoff.