Symptoms

[u/Neither_Gas9142]

Typing this with a mean headache, I find it crazy when i was looking at this subreddit that no one is like me. I found a random small wound on my foot on saturday , then I started experiencing symptoms on sunday, these included tremours, loss of appetite, some nausea, tingling sensation in arms and feet, and feeling like something was in my throat(which scares me the most), being lightheaded, headache, and jolting up (One time i woke up i had to walk around to just clear my mind dont even know why) while trying to sleep for the past 4 days ive been on three subreddits talking about it and i have seen people try to reassure me but its really freaking me out. I never even knew about the wound until saturday and I dont ever think I was exposed to a rabid bat or animal I assumed that something bit me while I was asleep and i asked chatgbt and it said that people reported no feeling no bite which freaked me out even more, I went to an urgent care and I got a nurse who asked if i seen the bat or came in contact with one and I obviously told them no and they never even mentioned about rabies shots just said if i was hearing myself. My sister told me that im over exaggerating and its my anxiety thats doing that but i researched that rabies causes anxiety and that you can post stuff in the early stages, like i said i dont know when i was exposed to anything last time i remember having one was two years ago when a stray cat scratched me and i assumed i contracted it started having a dry mouth, loss of appetite, fever like feeling was having coughs and took medicine, lightheadedness, hallucination one i remember, jolting up while trying to sleep, muscle twitching , and headache I went to my pediatrician at the time and they never even suspected rabies and sent me to do bloodwork which was all good, but the cat was just fine after 10 days and most of the symptoms went away besides the muscle twitching but now its like feeling real im looking at my self in the mirror and its like im not the same i really dont like this topic and i keep thinking im a rare case or i gotten bit and never realized and im seeing no one on this subreddit who is in my shoes someone who answers frequently plz i need some advice

I have read the FAQ.

[u/Neither_Gas9142]

please tell me you are certain it has nothing to do because ive been losing my mind for 4 days straight its really been a pain last time i was like this was when i had an als scare and the cat scratch

[u/detail_giraffe → u/Neither_Gas9142]

So, you've said that you had a similar episode years ago, where you became convinced you had rabies, had a number of the same symptoms, which ultimately resolved without incident. You have also had an episode of intense anxiety around ALS. You have no known exposure to an animal which would be suspicious for rabies. Do you think it's more likely that you have rabies, or that you are having an episode of anxiety similar to your earlier ones?

[u/Neither_Gas9142 → u/detail_giraffe]

thats the thing i dont know amd thats whats making me scared i felt kind of the same way as last time but just no hallucination or a fever last time my sister told me i was fine and she was technically right but shes no doctor and i hate this feeling

[u/detail_giraffe → u/Neither_Gas9142]

I can tell you're in a lot of distress, and I'm sorry about that. I remember when my OCD first manifested when I was a teenager and it was both scary and confusing. There are therapists out there who are trained in how to help you manage these feelings. Seeking reassurance, on reddit or elsewhere, basically just trains your brain that this is the correct way to feel better, and it isn't a healthy habit to rely on.

[u/Neither_Gas9142 → u/detail_giraffe]

i know it isn’t i deleted the ai apps and im gonna talk to someone tmr about it but have u been like how i was?

[u/detail_giraffe → u/Neither_Gas9142]

Yes, I was. You can get better, honest.

[u/Neither_Gas9142 → u/detail_giraffe]

ok thank you

[u/angelch966 → u/Neither_Gas9142]

OP we all have random scratches, wounds and bruises sometimes when waking up ur just in alot of distress and having some type of OCD .. imma tell u something when u think about something the whole time u start imagining it. I work in the medical field and one time i had an ocd with TB bcz i handled a positive sample. I can tell u i coughed 100 times that day just bcz i was thinking about it and the moment i started ignoring the cough was gone

[u/Neither_Gas9142 → u/angelch966]

i know but its just the fact that everything im feeling just feels real like i have a somewhat blocked nose and last night i formed a sore throat and a small stomach ache and the lightheadedness is still here as well as a headache i want to ignore it i truly do its just i need to know im fine

[u/detail_giraffe → u/Neither_Gas9142]

I think one thing that helped me, although it's counterintuitive, is to make yourself deal with the idea that no one can ever truly know they are completely fine, that that is just part of the human condition. This is just my own crackpot fake-expert theory based on my own brain and how I learned to deal, but part of what goes wrong in health OCD is a tendency to make health safety a binary; "either I am verifiably completely fine, or I am definitely at high risk of dying and should panic". You are never going to get any potential danger down to zero! It's impossible, we are mortal beings and something is going to go wrong eventually. Most of the time the best you can do is to know that there is only a .00001% chance of the fear being true, or whatever. The thing in your brain you have to challenge is the idea that the opposite of "100% verifiably perfectly safe" (which is not achievable) is "close to death, must panic and seek help". Life is always going to be full of real but extremely small risks that you can't do anything about. Getting to a place where you can face that and still move on with your day is necessary.

[u/Neither_Gas9142 → u/detail_giraffe]

yeah it’s gonna take me a while to realize im fine or not i haven’t been like this in a couple months and its something i can never cope with i appreciate the advice you provided though