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Recently came across a post about risk of rabies from bat bites and I remembered coning across a bat during a tour of an old building just under a year ago. The thing I was reading was saying that you can't always tell if you've been bitten by a bat and to assume you have been if unsure. Now, I had assumed after this length of time I'd have known by now if I'd got it, but was reading it can take up to 2 years to become symptomatic. So now I'm very anxious about whether I need to do something about this or seek advice. I don't think the bat came near to me but it was dark on the tour (at night, disused part of building), so couldnt be sure.

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Hi Annie,

I do understand why you are feeling uncertain with this, but I am guessing by the fact you have asked the question you are partly thinking this is your OCD talking, is that right?   What are your thoughts?

Ashley :)

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I guess I hope that it is.  But I don't know how likely it is that you could get bitten in such a scenario and not know or also how likely it is to become unwell after an extended amount of time. I've also had a baby recently and so considering the impact on her also

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9 hours ago, AnxiousAnnie said:

I guess I hope that it is.  But I don't know how likely it is that you could get bitten in such a scenario and not know or also how likely it is to become unwell after an extended amount of time. I've also had a baby recently and so considering the impact on her also

As soon as you said BUT that was all the proof you needed that this is indeed OCD.

Learn to recognise the pattern. You get an answer, OCD immediately adds a BUT... and the worry starts again. So when you hear yourself say 'Yes, BUT...' treat everything that comes after the 'but' as OCD. :)

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There isn't though.  I mean I could tell you that 'blah blah blah rabies risk in the uk is tiny etc etc' but that isn't really the point here.  The point is you have a fear that you are feeding into by needing to be sure you've never touched a bat.  Which, unless you can remember every second of you life since you were born you've got absolutely hee haw chance of knowing and trying to assess whether you have or have not touched a bat constantly is only serving to keep your fear alive.

The fact is fixating on rabies is something you are doing to cope with something else and the more you fixate the more the actual problem beneath the fixation goes unanswered.  It's a cycle of self abuse.  

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2 hours ago, ocdjonesy said:

The fact is fixating on rabies is something you are doing to cope with something else and the more you fixate the more the actual problem beneath the fixation goes unanswered.  It's a cycle of self abuse

Not sure what you mean, I can't see that this is helping me to cope with anything, rather making everything else harder.

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1 hour ago, AnxiousAnnie said:

Not sure what you mean, I can't see that this is helping me to cope with anything, rather making everything else harder.

Yeah sorry I was tired when I wrote that post so I didn't explain myself particularly in depth.  

If you carry your fears about rabies through to the end what's the story?  You contract rabies and then what happens?  How bad do things get?  What's the If you follow that narrative through to the end you generally find the fears behind the behaviour that are actually bothering you into performing the compulsions.  

If you look at OCD as a (very poor) coping mechanism or a form of self regulation you can start to see it as a way of dealing with a yourself or a given scenario or whatever it is that's at the heart of the issue that instead of providing a workable solution keeps you trapped in a cycle of constant fear.  By performing the compulsions like mental checking - as you're doing by trying to remember if you touched a bat or not - you're keeping yourself hyper aroused and fearful instead of taking a step back, unpacking the fear you feel and trying to look at it objectively and by doing so giving yourself the chance to come out of that hyper aroused state.  

If you follow your narrative through to the end - you get rabies, you get sick, etc etc - you should be able to expose the issues at the heart of the matter and deal with those head on rather than getting caught up in the cycle of OCD.

(not that it's that easy - it's something that may always be there for you but if you know what it is and how to deal with it by recognising it and acting accordingly you should be able to navigate things a little more easily and spend less time worrying about bats to the detriment of the rest of your life.)

 

 

 

 

 

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I guess following it through to the end then I would die and likely my youngest as I've had her since then so she would be affected also. So the fear is harm / death coming to me and a loved one. Not sure how knowing that helps though. And it feels like maybe in this case there is / should be something I could do about it 

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