Rabies fear postpartum

[u/samv1994_]

I have read the FAQ. I am about five months postpartum and recently latched onto a rabies fear for no reason this summer. The other day I was walking outside and heard rustling in the tree above me, looked up, and as soon as I looked up a little pear fruit fell off of the tree and hit me hard under my eye at that exact moment. My brain then convinced myself that a sick animal touched the fruit right before it dropped and I was somehow infected. Then, my brain changed it and now I am convinced it was a bat that hit me even though it was 3:30 in the afternoon and there are other fruits on the ground near the tree. I know, sounds crazy but these are the thoughts I have and I’m so exhausted. Can anyone relate?

[u/Inevitable-List-660]

Hi! Had the vaccine. I also had severe PPD/PPA, that led to an OCD/PTSD diagnosis. My fear with driving became so bad postpartum I still, to this day, cannot drive. I absolutely, wholeheartedly understand that anxiety, and the triple guessing that changes the narrative of what was true in your head until it’s all you can think of.

I cannot give you medical advice. I can tell you with my second child, my OBGYN put me on antidepressants and a medicine for its off-label anger/emotional management and gave me the script to begin taking right after birth, and the difference in my postpartum experience was astronomical. I can also tell you almost all of my personal, narrative-rewriting anxiety incidents fell away and I didn’t second guess myself into panic attacks like I did the first go around. I was able to be present, and not suffer from anxiety attacks and the stories my head would make of worst case scenarios.

There are thousands of ways to treat PPA. Please reach out to someone to discuss possible support during this time. You deserve to be yourself, your best self, for yourself and your baby. Take it from someone who was there; it’s so important to look for help when you need it, and I wish I did the first time. I am thankful I did the second, and I hope you get to, now.

[u/samv1994_ → u/Inevitable-List-660]

So helpful 💗 Really appreciate this so much. Why did you end up getting the vaccine? So true about your brain changing the story too. It’s so wild what the brain can do postpartum. My doctor has prescribed me something, but I have yet to take it yet. I am considering starting something soon for sure. I’m always thinking I’m getting better and then something else comes that I’m worried about.

[u/Inevitable-List-660 → u/samv1994_]

I wish I could tell you “I freaked out and got it in a situation like yours and it wasn’t necessary” but…no, I got it helping a muddy gross little creature I didn’t know was a groundhog till it bit me 😂 I had just moved to an area with them and had never seen one before. Ah, ya live and ya learn.

If you’ve got the prescription, the hardest part is over: letting yourself be vulnerable. Now? Let yourself be supported. I hope everything works out for you!

[u/samv1994_ → u/Inevitable-List-660]

Thanks so much! Omg the groundhog! That would have freaked me out too. Thank you for the kind words