Rabies or Anxiety??? PLEASE respond ASAP Please!!!!!

hey im 17 years old and i have mild anxiety. about 2 months to 3 months ago i got a tiny scratch on my wrist from a neighborhood cat that my family and I adopted that used to always walk around the neighborhood. it used to be an old friends cat that lived a few houses down. they gave him rabie shots about 4 to 5 years ago maybe a little more. he was not foaming at the mouth or acting strange or any different than he usually does. My mom claims the cat has scratched her and my sister multiple times before while playing with it but nothing has happened priror to the scratch they got from him and do not suspect me of rabies nor themselves and believe im just having anxiety. we also went a month ago to the vet to get it all its shots so now its our cat officially. I never noticed any symptoms before hand of any rabies at all. iv had panic attacks for the past month due to my anxiety and i had extremely bad heartburn last night after eating mexican food. i have gerd and possible ibs and so i have been having anxiety about my pains all week. and now today i felt a little hornier than normal and i havent masturbated as much as i usually do which is about 1 to 2 times a day and i skipped a couples days this week due to my anxiety but today i noticed i had an increased sex drive and i masturbated once and then about 5 mins later i also masturbated. this scared me because i saw an article of a lady who had an extremely crazy increased sex drive right before she was diagnosed with rabies and passed away. do you think i might have rabies? my anxiety is going through the ceiling and im panicing and i just started to notice as i type this that it seems theres all of the sudden a thick coating of mucus in my throat. please help me and respond asap. do you think its rabies? or is my anxiety causing an increased sex drive and working myself up too much?

[anxiety90]

I have had anxiety for about 11 years now, I am sure its just your anxiety.  People get scratched by cats all the time.  Your mom even said so.  The hormons you are 17.... I would say thats pretty normal. Can cats even give you rabies?? I don't know... I have been scratched by plently of cats running around the neighbor hood trying to catch them when I was little.  Your mom is thinking logical and telling you, you are ok you have to believe her.

[anxiety90]

plus the cat had it shots 4 to 5 years ago!

[al259]

you think so? im just really worried im sick of this all. also all day today iv had a sour taste in mouth and i looked it up and i guess if you have heartburn and gerd you can have a sour mouth? also i have seasonal allergies to pollen and to dogs and cats and i remember waking up last night in the middle of the night with a stuffed up nose and then went back to sleep so do you think maybe mucus accumulated in my throat from post nasal drip?

[anxiety90]

Anxiety can cause MANY symptoms I have had it for 10 or so years.  I have been CONVINCED i was sick, my mom said I was ok.  I went to the docotors anyways.. what do you know she was right. I was fine.  It was my anxiety taking over. Are you on any medication? you don't have to answer. I personally am and it does help.  (prozac).  Try deep breathing,   Heres a story for you too.  My girlfriend just got a cat, was previously found in the garbage, running around the streets.  The cat scratches everybody!  And I don't know if a cats claw can give you rabies.. it has scratched your mom and sister they are fine!

[anxiety90]

you have a cat and you are allergic to cats... I bet that can also give you symptoms.  Try not to look stuff up on the internet.. It will keep your mind racing on the topic and not help your anxiety at all. You need to get your mind off the topic.

[al259]

thank you man that really helps and no im not on any meds i dont consider my anxiety very severe enough to where i want to pursue treatment with meds but perhaps if it were to get horrifically out of control then I guess that would be my only other option but I keep a good confidence level of not letting my anxiety get that bad. it used to never be bad in my life until last year sophomore year in high school I went on ADHD med "Vyvanse". I started at 18 mg the lowest dose, and then worked my way up to 60 mg throughout 2 to 3 months or so. Once I started to get huge mood swings and withdrawals from the stimulant, I wanted to just deal with my adhd on my own, I was taken off meds. A while after that i started to get very anxious and "bored" of life because meds made me feel amazing and made it seem like i was invincible and it was a great feeling. i was so used to that feeling that i had to re adjust to normal level life. I would say im 70% there now with back to feeling normal but I still clearly remember how good life was on the meds. I assume its just going to take time but my anxiety's also increasingly better since iv been taken off meds. Im WAY better than I was at first now its just simple health related fears that triggers me easily but I am getting better at controling it. Sorry to take your time to read my story but yeah thats what started me with anxiety. Hopefully its just the meds that got the best of me and soon in the comming years as I grow older my anxiety will increasingly diminish.
P.S Thank you for your help and knowledge it inspires me to hear from someone else who also suffers from anxiety.

[al259]

by the way, i forgot to add. i used to be an avid pot smoker since the beginning of freshman year up until the tail end of sophomore year almost into summer. I am now a junior but have quit smoking weed. I believe that weed too has probably triggered some anxiety along with the meds I took. I guess the moral of the story and to life is dont do drugs.

[greenlydia]

First of all, one must be BITTEN by a rabid animal, not simply scratched, for the virus to be passed.
Secondly, this cat is not feral, it has been a housecat with people who got it vaccinated and now your family has officially adopted it and gotten it vaccinated. If your cat was sick, especially with rabies, your vet would have realized it was sick during the examination. He/she might not know if it was sick with RABIES, but further testing, which they would have done, would have shown the virus to be present. If rabies was suspected, which it wasn't, the cat would have been confined for 10 days of observation. In that  time, if the animal did not show signs of worsening illness, it could be safely assumed the cat was rabies free. Although your cat was not confined, your family has had ample opportunity to watch it's behavior and it has obviously not shown any signs of being sick.
The virus can be dormant in humans for an extended period of time, so if you are extremely anxious about this "tiny scratch" having infected you, take your cat to the vet, who will euthanize it, remove it's brain and send it to a lab, which is the only way to determine if the animal is rabid before symptoms appear.
If you are allergic to cats, why did your family adopt it? Some people with feline allergies who receive even a very small scratch can develope an infection, but it will NOT be rabies.
I would like to know your source which stated that people with rabies have a sudden increase in sex drive. Rabies is NOT the cause of your increase in masturbation. Being 17 IS.
If you have GERD and IBS, what the heck are you doing eating Mexican food? Care to take a wild guess why you'd have stomach pains that have increased your anxiety?
To answer your questions:

1) No, I do not think you have rabies.
2) No, I KNOW your anxiety is not causing your increased sex drive.
3) Yes, without a doubt, you're making WAY too much out of nothing and THAT is what is driving your anxiety higher.

You seem to have a slightly anxious personality which could be a contributing factor in the GERD and IBS. Perhaps it would be good for you to talk with your parents about seeing a therapist to deal with your anxiousness before it really gets a choke hold on you.
I wish you the best but do advise you stay out of bat caves.
Peace
Greenlydia  

[austii]

Anxiety is the root of all disease even i was bit by a stray cat a year back.But nothing has happened.Ill ask all the readers to follow an exercise to get rid of anxiety completely.
1.Sit comfertably ,close your eyes
2.Concentrate in all the body parts one by one.and evaluate which are the parts which are making you anxious or feel heavy.
3.Once you have evaluated them feel those parts one by one,give them a name talk to them,make them your freindz tell them that its ok they can be with you.
4.Talk to them when ever you feel anxious.(We always avoid our anxiousness which leads to become more anxious and ends in panic attack).
5.By loving them and feeling them you will see that negative energy will change into positive energy
6.Do this exercise every day and whenever you feel anxious and very soon you ll be anxiety free.Please note avoidence triggers our unconsious mind .which makes us panic.
7.Meditation will only give you temporary relief because it will only make you more anxious later on.
8.For IBS and Gerd take Homeopathy medicines in One month time ull be Fine