So scared... Someone help!

[lovely260]

Here I go again with my rabies fear. I was fine for a week until I pet this owners dog today at the mall. The dog was friendly and super cute. I pet his head and later realized I have a cut on my finger. It's a small cut I got yesterday from my razor and I'm afraid that maybe the dog lickedy wound and I didnt realize. I am so terrified. I had a decent week til now. The dog was also licking the owners face and mouth. I was thinking if it's rabid, the owner would know that it's dangerous. I am so so scared. Someone tell me if i should visit a doctor? Should I alsoget a tetanus shot from tha razor? Geez. My anxiety is tearing me apart. Idl what to do anymore.

[gcalex]

The only doctor you should see is one who can help you with your anxiety.  I am not going to give you reassurance because ultimately that is not what you need.  Instead,
I am going to ask you to do a little exercise.  Ask yourself whether, if 50 people you knew were in that mall with you and had that dog lick their finger, how many would be thinking of going to the doctor.  What's your answer and what does that tell you about whether you should?

[lovely260]

I really did think about that earlier. Especially when I saw that dog licked his owner many times. Idk. I ruined my day. I shouldn't have touched the dog.

[gcalex]

Millions of people pet dogs every day.  Think about it.  It is your thinking about it that is wrong, you have to recognize that and challenge it.

[lovely260]

it's true but then I think those people might not even have a cut like me.

[gcalex]

OK let's try this approach.  What are the odds that a dog walking around a mall happily with its owner who doesn't seem at all concerned about the dog and is encouraging people to pet it has rabies.  One in how many zeros can you put after the 1?  Virtually non-existent.  The fear is only the first step in this process.  You must recognize it, then challenge it, then challenge it again, instead of running for reassurance, because reassurance is like a drug -- it will give you a fix but won't help your addiction. 

[waterspirit]

Rabid dogs aren't happy dogs!! If it had rabies, you would know it. Rabid animals are violent and have many other symptoms you would notice. After all, since you notice every small thing on your own self (just like me  ) wouldn't you agree you would notice something strange on a dog?

[lovely260]

OK let's try this approach.  What are the odds that a dog walking around a mall happily with its owner who doesn't seem at all concerned about the dog and is encouraging people to pet it has rabies.  One in how many zeros can you put after the 1?  Virtually non-existent.  The fear is only the first step in this process.  You must recognize it, then challenge it, then challenge it again, instead of running for reassurance, because reassurance is like a drug -- it will give you a fix but won't help your addiction.

That's very true. I did ask if I could pet him and the owner said yes and smiled. The dog was dressed in a small little hoodie and the owner was holdin it as the girlfriend or wife was playing with the dog. It licked her on her face and lips and licked the owner as well. I was thinking he had his shots. It really was the cutest thing. Idk why all of a sudden I let it ruin my day. I just thought wow.. What if he licked my hand. And I don't even think he did. I am assuming. The dog didn't directly lick my cut. I pet his head and he looked up and his tongue cane out a little.

[gcalex]

What if it did lick your hand, so what?  If I were your therapist I would make you find 10 dogs to lick your hand and then 10 more and when nothing happened you would learn a valuable lesson that your fear was a cognitive distortion, an irrational trick of your mind.  Do not accept the way your mind works.  Challenge it.  Take it to task.  Restructure it.

[lovely260]

Well, I like dogs. Ive just been so paranoid about this disease. It's ruining my life.

[gcalex]

Correction, you are allowing it to ruin your life.  We do not have to be the passive victims of this disorder, we have within ourselves the tools to fight it and to turn it around.  I did not say it is easy, it is not.  I did not say it is not unpleasant, it is.  But you can do it.  You already are taking some steps to challenge your thinking -- that is good!!!  That is the right approach, not to feel sorry for yourself and to ask for reassurance, because that road is going to be endless rewind repeat.  You will move on from rabies to another fear and then another, you must break the cycle and you can only do it by forcing yourself to challenge your thoughts and by forcing yourself to confront and to do the things you fear doing.  Do not fall into the victim trap. 

[lovely260]

The cycle never ends. After one disease is over, another new one sets in. I've had 4 diseases the past few months. Ive been ok though until I saw Something about rabies that freaked me out. But it's making more sense to me day by day.

[gcalex]

That is the nature of this disorder, the fears migrate, the symptoms migrate, and the first step on the exit ramp  is to recognize the pattern.  Believe me I have been there done that and have a whole list of things I convinced myself that I had -- but didn't. 

[lovely260]

I feel a little better today but from time to time, i get so paranoid.

[lovely260]

I sctually have a headache now . and i am dizzy.

[lovely260]

Someone help.

[Hton24]

Its your anxiety.... Not rabies......the more u think about the symptoms the more symptoms you'll feel...relax you're fine

[gcalex]

You aren't listening, but that's ok.  You need to be able to do this for yourself.  If you run to the internet for reassurance every time you have a symptom you are just getting a fix and prolonging your problem and you will just move on to the next symptom and next feared disease.  You know this.  Read my thread called My advice I put most of what I know about how to beat this disorder into it and maybe some of it will resonate with you.

[lovely260]

I knowww. I just keep coming up with crazy ideas that maybe the owners found the dog in the streets amd took it in with rabies. And ok, ill see it.

[gcalex]

You are not going to get better or feel better until you start challenging those ideas.  The ball is in your court. 

[sixpack]

I  am  THRILLED with ALL of gcalex posts on this thread.    YEP very very important information for any and all peeps that are letting their faulty thinking taking them to Catastrophicville...


AND, urgh, just about any peep posting about rabies are in Catastrophicville listening to the loons that run the place.  In other words absent REAL evidence that one has been near a rabid animal (walking in the woods and a racoon attacked them or one was in a cave and bats landed on them and BIT them) your thoughts are illogical and irrational and you'd be better off seeing a therapist and taking proactive steps (and we know what those steps are even though they aren't easy and take time  ) rather than sitting around entertaining a whole host of  " what if" scenarios.  JUST because you have a "fear thought" doesn't mean you have to give it any credence.  ANXIETY LIES