NY02
05-20-2014, 04:41 PM
This is my first time posting here but I have been lurking for a while. As like some of you, I have a fear of rabies. It started when I was around 10 after a wilderness awareness lesson at camp. From that point on to about my senior year in high school, I had a debilitating fear of contracting rabies. I started on SSRIs which helped greatly for the next 10 years.
Recently, I have had multiple new stressors in my life which have caused my fear to escalate once again. Seemingly benign situations are now causing extreme panic, such as finding a scratch or cut on my body that I have no idea of where it came from. My latest issue is that I was outside in the middle of the day unloading things from my trunk. As I was bending over, I felt something hit me in the back of my neck/upper back area. I looked around and saw nothing but sticks and the pollen stuff that is falling off the trees. Having a fear of rabies, I instantly thought that it was a bat that flew into me. Panic set in as I had my girlfriend inspect my hair and neck. Of course nothing was found. I convinced myself that I was fine but I couldn't get the thought out of my head. Two days later, I experienced shoulder, back and neck pain, which I know are symptoms. This caused my anxiety to spiral out of control. Soon my throat tightened up and I no longer felt like eating or even drinking. It's been about 5 days up to this point and it's affecting my quality of sleep and life.
With school starting up again soon, I can't keep worrying about this, yet I can't get the "what if" out of my mind. I'm embarrassed to go back to my doctor since I feel like I'm being ridiculous. However if these are in fact symptoms, it's already too late. I appreciate everyone taking the time to read my novel and any support would be very helpful!
Recently, I have had multiple new stressors in my life which have caused my fear to escalate once again. Seemingly benign situations are now causing extreme panic, such as finding a scratch or cut on my body that I have no idea of where it came from. My latest issue is that I was outside in the middle of the day unloading things from my trunk. As I was bending over, I felt something hit me in the back of my neck/upper back area. I looked around and saw nothing but sticks and the pollen stuff that is falling off the trees. Having a fear of rabies, I instantly thought that it was a bat that flew into me. Panic set in as I had my girlfriend inspect my hair and neck. Of course nothing was found. I convinced myself that I was fine but I couldn't get the thought out of my head. Two days later, I experienced shoulder, back and neck pain, which I know are symptoms. This caused my anxiety to spiral out of control. Soon my throat tightened up and I no longer felt like eating or even drinking. It's been about 5 days up to this point and it's affecting my quality of sleep and life.
With school starting up again soon, I can't keep worrying about this, yet I can't get the "what if" out of my mind. I'm embarrassed to go back to my doctor since I feel like I'm being ridiculous. However if these are in fact symptoms, it's already too late. I appreciate everyone taking the time to read my novel and any support would be very helpful!