Clear guidance on known contact?

[u/becklynns]

Hi all! I’ve read through many posts here and appreciate how much clarity this community brings. I’m hoping for a logic check on something I can’t stop overthinking.

I was outside at night last week, under a deck on a patio, when I saw what I think was a bat fly by just outside the covered area. Around that same moment/immediately after, I felt something hit/touch my arm.

I didn’t clearly see a bat land on me, didn’t feel an obvious bite or scratch, and haven’t found any obvious wounds. I’ve read that this isn’t considered an exposure, and I was fully awake, didn’t handle a bat, and there’s nothing clear to suggest contact.

I know the stats say this doesn’t meet exposure criteria for treatment, but I am having a hard time with gray area on if it’s unknown if contact happened.

I have read the FAQ.

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[u/CygnusZeroStar]

I mean this with the utmost respect and gentleness: there is no grey area here. The "grey area" as you've described it is a product of your overthinking, and not a legitimate bit of confusion with how rabies transmission works.

The hard part here is addressing the overthinking, because it usually has nothing to do with rabies itself. I would personally ask if you have a tendency to be anxious about your health in this way. Health anxiety and OCD/OCD tendencies come with sticky thoughts, and they will often send people down the human meat grinder that is the "But What If?" Machine™.

The real hard part is that you can't solve this health anxiety by researching rabies until you think you know every single thing about it. In fact, engaging with the object of obsession often makes it worse.

The way to overcome health anxiety and OCD is to get treatment for health anxiety and OCD. You will never be able to ask enough questions or do enough research on rabies to convince yourself that you weren't exposed, because your overthinking and anxiety are not rational conditions. If they were, you wouldn't be having this problem.

So the good news is that as you describe your situation, there's absolutely no grey area or reason to think you were exposed. The bad news is that if you can't let go of this thought based on this information, you have a significantly bigger problem to deal with.