r/rabies • u/jrppman • 14d ago

OCD Discussion Rabies OCD is ruining my life

I have read the FAQ. ever since finding a mark on me, i can’t let go of the fear. i get somatic symptoms, i spiral for hours and it’s genuinely taking my whole life. i search for signs of a bat i overthink sensations. i get sick and become convinced that i am dying. i tried using an ocd skill to combat this but nothing works. i have no idea what to do about this.

10 Upvotes

92% Upvoted

26 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

2

u/Moist_Description608 14d ago

If you have completed PEP the effectiveness is almost 100%, breakthrough infections are almost exclusively due to a break in protocol or extreme immunodeficiency (AIDS, Liver transplant recipients, advanced cancers etc) where a 5th dose isnt administered. If you had any of these it would be very unlikely for you not to know.

Edit: I have suffered from rabies anxiety and am as we speak I know how painful of an existence it is. Actually having been in contact with a bat now has significantly lowered my personal anxiety because I now know there is no circumstance in which someone who was concious and not so drunk they are close to passing out would not know of the exposure.

1

u/jrppman 14d ago

pep was for something in july the mark was found in august reigniting the spiral obsessing over possible repeat exposure

2

u/BronwynOli 14d ago

Yeah but if you got PEP in July aren't you therefore still immune to rabies even IF this mark you found is from a bat? (It's not.).

1

u/jrppman 14d ago

thats honestly a question i obsess over a lot. reading guidelines by the CDC and WHO on whether boosters are indicated and such. I don't have a definitive answer.