I think it might be rabies and i'm scared.

I was fostering a dog in december. name was ramone.  he had behavioral issues.  we found him a home and he was sent back to me because he ruined the old peoples house.  then i found him a new home and he was there until feb. he bit the owner in the leg and then was sent to a shelter where he was adopted again by someone else.  In june he bit the guy again and they put him to sleep.  He was quarantined for 10 days and I was told that he didn't show signs of rabies.  He also had his rabies shot before i got him.  he was found roaming the streets of new york.

Anyway, i came down with symptoms shortly after having him.  the symptoms are similar to rabies and i've been sick for 5 months.  What makes me think that it's rabies is sensitivity to light, irrational fears of illnessess that i've been having.  grouchiness. And flu-likesymptoms that i had in march.  Now I feel pain in my nerves after the joint pains subsided.  i though for a long time that i had hiv but then realized that my behaviors and severe head symptoms might be do to rabies.  I now started feeking like i have hydrophobia after reading about it.  But i've been getting severe neck pains for a month now with unbearable headaches and flashes.

The hospital sent me home with panic and anxiety a couple of times.  no one believes me because the vet told me that an animal can infect only within the short period that the dog is still alive.

Even though that's good news.  With the vaccinations the dogs had and the whole 10 days thing, I'm convinced i have rabies and keep thinking that i'm going to die soon.

The dog just scratched and licked me a lot and everywhere.  my face, mouth even my *** while i was asleep.lol

I'm freaking out.

could it be a possibility that what I'm feeling is rabies?  should i trust in the vet?  he was given his shot in early november.  he didn't seem to have been bitten.  the dog was put to sleep in june.  He always had behavioral issues.

The doctor told me that i would have been dead by now.  That once symptoms kick in that the person would die in a week or two.

HELP!!!!!! I'm trying to convince myself that i don't have rabies but I'mscared I do.  I keep swolling my spit and feel like my throat is closing up. it happened last night and tonight and all my nerves and organs hurt and I'm not getting a diagnosis.

[Ghilly]

Mammals (including people) can harbor the rabies virus for as long as two years after being exposed to it, however, the doctor was right, after symptoms of physical illness start, the victim only lives from two to ten days.  So it's EXTREMELY unlikely that your problem is rabies, because there is no way you would still be alive after all that time if you were actually rabid.

Please don't think that I am belittling you or making fun of you in any way, because I certainly am not.  But I think that you have gotten yourself so wound up worrying about this that now you have become a hypochondriac when it comes to reading about the symptoms, and have convinced yourself that that's what you have.  It's VERY possible to do that, because I have a cousin who has diagnosed herself with everything from AIDS to Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever to Dutch Elm Disease (yes, she thought she had something that only a TREE can get).  The mind is a very powerful thing, and when it starts to run wild, it can wreak all kinds of havoc.  

It IS entirely possible, however, that you have Lyme Disease or even Fibromyalgia Syndrome.  A lot of the symptoms that you have described, even the difficulty swallowing, occur with both of these diseases, but especially with the Fibromyalgia.

I would make an appointment with a doctor.  Sit with him and tell him EVERYTHING.  Ask him if he will run complete blood panels to test for Lyme Disease and if he will test you for Fibromyalgia.  BEG him to check you over as thoroughly as possible because you need to get to the bottom of whatever if is that is causing you to have the symptoms you're having.  Please let us know how you make out.  I feel so badly for you, I can FEEL your fear through the words you have written.  I can't tell you what you DO have, but I can be 99.9% certain that it is NOt rabies.  Good luck and I hope you get to the bottom of it.

Ghilly

[Jaybay]

GREAT response there Ghilly!  

undiagnosed81 - Ghilly is right.  Sustained anxiety for any reason can result in very real physical symptoms.  The sensation of your throat closing off is even part of what can happen in an anxiety-induced panic attack.  

For now, I think you can safely assume your symptoms are in no way related to rabies.  Even if you think your docs are full of baloney about stress and anxiety, go ahead and get treated for it.  If nothing else, it will be ruled out as a cause if you don't improve.  Take the meds and start seeing a psychologist.  I see one myself for my chronic pain issues, and it's done me more good than all the pain meds I've taken over the years.  The mind is a very powerful organ, and it doesn't just deal with thoughts and emotions.

[peekawho]

When I was in nursing school, I had the symptoms of every single disease we ever studied.  The mind is indeed, a powerful thing.

You've gotten great advice.  Best of luck.

[undiagnosed81]

Maybe I amlosing my mind.  I've ended up in the dogs community. oh boy.

When I wake up when I'm asleep, I'm all cringed and stiff.  I'm now having troubles walking and I think I'm scarying myself into not being able to drink water.  I feel handicapped and I was so normal just 5 months ago until my body had a severe immune response to something.  It was the slow decline in vision that started it all.  I seriously hope and pray every night.  I need help.  I was actually thinking about admitting myself into a mental institute here in jersey.  Just so that I could be monitored by proffessionals.  I just hope that they'll eventually release me.  I don't like rules.

I wish I can just forget about all of this.  BUT HOW?  Even my toes feel pain and spazy.  

Anyway, thanks for helping me out about the whole rabies thing.  Even I know that it's impossible that it's rabies but I'm still concerned about that ..01%  Everyone around me now is saying that I'm crazy.  If only I can afford to see an infectious desease specialist, a GI specialist, A Rheumotologist, Optomotrist and a neurologist.  I can't even work anymore.  I'm like a malingerers dream come true.

[heartfluttersflyawayplz]

you need to get help for the anxiety now, if you let it go on it just gets worse and ytou will homebound yourself and its not a fun life.