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Fear of rabies...stupid I know
This fear is more than likely laughable but I need some help in getting over it. I won't go into the details of why but I was drinking the other night and eventually blacked out. I later learned when I woke up that I was walking around town all night. I have a bunch of scrapes on my elbows and forearms from what I guess was a fall as well as lots of sore spots, which I'm guessing I got from the fall. Needless to say my anxiety took over and has now convinced me that all the scrapes, bruises, and cuts are from a rabid animal. Since I have no memory of what happened last night I can't just convince myself that I'm alright. So...how likely is it that I was attack by some rabid animal...? I'm in Colorado if that helps at all.
Fear of rabies isn't an uncommon thing, believe it or not. Many people with OCD find themselves obsessing over rabies. Have you been diagnosed with any kind of anxiety disorder, like OCD?
It's HIGHLY unlikely that you came in contact with a rabid animal. If you did, like maria has said, you would likely see some obvious injuries. Rabies is also less common than many people think, and is hardly EVER contracted by humans. There is usually a handful of people annually with reported rabies cases. That's it. This is directly from the CDC's documentation:
"Summary
—During 2010, 48 states and Puerto Rico reported 6,154 rabid animals and 2 human rabies cases to the
CDC, representing an 8% decrease from the 6,690 rabid animals and 4 human cases reported in 2009. Hawaii and
Mississippi did not report any laboratory-confirmed rabid animals during 2010. Approximately 92% of reported rabid
animals were wildlife. Relative contributions by the major animal groups were as follows: 2,246 raccoons (36.5%),
1,448 skunks (23.5%), 1,430 bats (23.2%), 429 foxes (6.9%), 303 cats (4.9%), 71 cattle (1.1%), and 69 dogs (1.1%).
Compared with 2009, number of reported rabid animals decreased across all animal types with the exception of a
1% increase in the number of reported rabid cats."
http://avmajournals.avma.org/doi/pdf/10.2460/javma.239.6.773
That's it, out of the whole US and PR, there were only TWO cases of rabies transmission to humans in 2010. That should illustrate for you how rare it is. And, the numbers continue to decrease.
Obviously, it goes without saying that drinking to excess to the point of blackouts is VERY unwise, for a whole host of reasons. One, you're leaving yourself vulnerable to become a victim of a crime or injury, you open yourself up to legal problems (run ins with the police when that drunk won't go in your favor), and also alcohol fuels anxiety something terrible. It's obvious you are an anxious person, so drinking alcohol isn't something you should be doing too often, certainly not to the point of excessive intoxication. That will exacerbate your anxiety and leave you feeling terrible for DAYS after. Not worth it, is it?
I would recommend browsing the OCD forum. You'll find many threads about the fear of rabies there. You can search the forum by clicking on the magnifying glass icon on the top left of the OCD forum page. I would pay close attention to the advice given on those threads. The community leader of the OCD forum JGF is excellent and gives wonderful advice on how to address the intrusive thoughts that come with anxiety.
Also, if you haven't already, you need to be evaluated by a mental health professional, to nail down exactly what's going on with you, so a treatment plan can be formulated.
Hang in there, stay distracted, and MOST importantly, do NOT search the internet about rabies. You will scare the crap out of yourself. Seriously. I cannot stress that enough. Turning to Dr. Google for an anxious person is the WORST thing they could do.
Update us when you can!
It's HIGHLY unlikely that you came in contact with a rabid animal. If you did, like maria has said, you would likely see some obvious injuries. Rabies is also less common than many people think, and is hardly EVER contracted by humans. There is usually a handful of people annually with reported rabies cases. That's it. This is directly from the CDC's documentation:
"Summary
—During 2010, 48 states and Puerto Rico reported 6,154 rabid animals and 2 human rabies cases to the
CDC, representing an 8% decrease from the 6,690 rabid animals and 4 human cases reported in 2009. Hawaii and
Mississippi did not report any laboratory-confirmed rabid animals during 2010. Approximately 92% of reported rabid
animals were wildlife. Relative contributions by the major animal groups were as follows: 2,246 raccoons (36.5%),
1,448 skunks (23.5%), 1,430 bats (23.2%), 429 foxes (6.9%), 303 cats (4.9%), 71 cattle (1.1%), and 69 dogs (1.1%).
Compared with 2009, number of reported rabid animals decreased across all animal types with the exception of a
1% increase in the number of reported rabid cats."
http://avmajournals.avma.org/doi/pdf/10.2460/javma.239.6.773
That's it, out of the whole US and PR, there were only TWO cases of rabies transmission to humans in 2010. That should illustrate for you how rare it is. And, the numbers continue to decrease.
Obviously, it goes without saying that drinking to excess to the point of blackouts is VERY unwise, for a whole host of reasons. One, you're leaving yourself vulnerable to become a victim of a crime or injury, you open yourself up to legal problems (run ins with the police when that drunk won't go in your favor), and also alcohol fuels anxiety something terrible. It's obvious you are an anxious person, so drinking alcohol isn't something you should be doing too often, certainly not to the point of excessive intoxication. That will exacerbate your anxiety and leave you feeling terrible for DAYS after. Not worth it, is it?
I would recommend browsing the OCD forum. You'll find many threads about the fear of rabies there. You can search the forum by clicking on the magnifying glass icon on the top left of the OCD forum page. I would pay close attention to the advice given on those threads. The community leader of the OCD forum JGF is excellent and gives wonderful advice on how to address the intrusive thoughts that come with anxiety.
Also, if you haven't already, you need to be evaluated by a mental health professional, to nail down exactly what's going on with you, so a treatment plan can be formulated.
Hang in there, stay distracted, and MOST importantly, do NOT search the internet about rabies. You will scare the crap out of yourself. Seriously. I cannot stress that enough. Turning to Dr. Google for an anxious person is the WORST thing they could do.
Update us when you can!
I'm a city girl & all we'd have around here would be a raccoon. Rabid raccoon's are nasty & would take a chunk out of you. So, it would be my best guess that any animal that attacked you would have at least bitten you once. Do you have anything that resembles a bite mark? Also we can call the city for a report of any rabid animal, is that possible?
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