Actually bitten by something last night. Here we go again.

[MyMiddleNameisHypo]

So in short, last night I was laying in bed on my computer. All the lights in the house were on. I got up to let the dogs in from outside and sat back down.

All of a sudden I felt this mild burning/stinging/itching on my wrist. I looked closely and there were two tiny pinpoint punctures - 3mm to 4mm apart. No blood. I put rubbing alcohol on them - and it didn't sting.

So now here I am replaying the moment over and over in my head to what in the heck it was that could have bit me. There was nothing crawling on me or flying around the house other than a moth (and they don't bite).

But of course - in my mind I just keep thinking that some bat incognito has bitten me and is either dead somewhere in the house or flew back outside when I let the dogs in. I don't know if I should just bite the bullet and get rabies shots - I don't even know if a bat bite is 3mm to 4 mm in length. This morning there are two little tiny scabs over the bites. When squeezing them a small amount of clear fluid comes out.

[Evap]

I don't think a bat is capable of sniping your wrist without your notice. It could have just been a really aggressive mosquito. Lol

[kmwondering]

What are you doing for your anxiety?

[MyMiddleNameisHypo]

Evap: No mosquitos this time of year. It didn't swell up or itch (as bad) as a mosquito bite.

Kmwondering: Medicine, therapy.

[ihsg1001]

Are you sure it wasn't marks from resting your wrist on something while using the computer?

[MyMiddleNameisHypo]

ihsg1001: No, it's further down on the wrist. About 3" down. I just don't know what to do. I don't know if I should go get a rabies shot or what.

[sixpack]

soooo  you've decided you've been, once AGAIN, bitten by a bat?  Now how many times have you decided this?  How many times have you actually been bitten by a bat? 

so now you are wondering if you should just go and get the rabies vaccine?  really?, honestly? 

middlename....  I understand you have this IRRATIONAL fear.  you also understand that this is irrational.  but do you know what irrational really means?  It means that the fear is not based in any reality.  NONE. so it means you do not need a rabies shot.  I don't CARE that you have two little marks on you that look like, to you, that it could possibly be a bat bite. You know, I know, we all know, that your rabies fear gets you believing all manner of the far fetched. You don't give rabies vaccines based on far fetched fantastical fears.

[mollyfin]

I would wager on a spider.  A very small one who didn't break the skin.  I got bitten by one not long ago because she was in my bed...the exact color of my sheets...I tried to put her outside but I think I killed her, poor thing.  You couldn't have been bitten by a bat only for it to vanish.  Bats are conspicuous furry flying mammals.  I get that it's an irrational fear, but...it definitely is irrational.  No way it could've been a bat.

[MyMiddleNameisHypo]

Sixpack: This is the 2nd time - in 28 years.

Mollyfin: I initally thought it didn't break the skin but for there to be scabs then it must have.

[mollyfin]

I missed that part; my bad.  Would still bet on a spider bite though, since those little buggers have fangs.  I can buy that you might not notice a bat biting you, somehow, if you were actively handlig a bat, but I REALLY think you would know if you had a bat in the room with you so close by, and freaking out enough to bite.  A cousin of mine had a bat invade his bedroom once.  It was not shy about making its presence known - it was flying around freaking out trying to get the heck out of the house! 

[sixpack]

second time in about 2 months.

*this is an irrational fear.

*you don't need rabies vaccine and am almost 100% sure you never will.

*we live where bats fly overhead all summer looking for bugs.  they are actually HELPFUL to our world.
 
*NEVER has one swooped down when we were outside.

*my daughter camped out in a tent with a friend over the summer.

*in my last neighborhood several homes---5 or 6 as I recall---had a colony of bats take up residence in the attics.  one home actually had a bat get into the interior of the home.  All neighbors had the houses bat proofed as there was some kind of vent in the attics that allowed them in.  TWO of the homes (actually good friends of mine) had bat houses put in the backyards to attract and/or keep the bats in order for them to reduce the bug population.  NONE, ZERO, NADA of any of these families were ever bitten or scratched or even swooped upon.  NO neighbor in the entire hood were bitten or scratched or swooped upon.  NO ONE ever had rabies or even needed the vaccine.

*was in a state park in October.  there were postings around the park that some raccoons  turned up rabid in the area.  We were told that if we saw any odd behavior from the wildlife to call the state park authorities.   NO one was ever reported as being bitten or attacked by any rabid animals.


***this is an irrational fear you've talked yourself into****

[mollyfin]

I hate to derail the actual conversation but I'm so jealous that you live in a place where you can watch bats at dusk!  My parents had a house in upstate NY and for years we could sit out and watch the bats...then they dumped pesticides all over the area.  No more bats, no more GOOD bugs...just mosquitos and daddy longlegses as far as the eye could see.  I don't think that plan went as they'd hoped. 

[sixpack]

we live in upstate NY too.  actually live just a few miles from Lake Erie.   

the 'hood we lived in where the bats got into was in the Baton Rouge, La area.  I get not wanting them taking up residence in the house though.  I mean they leave all kinds of droppings and, well, you don't want wild animals living in your house    As I recall, too, the neighbors that put up bat house, none actually ended up having any bats take them up on the offer. 

[Echo Hotel]

Mymiddlename, it seems interesting to me that this has happened right as you are finally nearing the end of your original 100 day "count down" from the last time you thought you may have been bitten by a bat. I think you should consider the possibility that your mind is trying to find a reason to continue this fear, which sounds counter-intuitive, but ask yourself if there is any reason or even perceived benefit in your mind for holding onto this anxiety. I know that, for me, and for a lot of people, anxiety is an unconscious way for a person to give themselves an excuse to avoid something that they fear.

I don't know you or your situation, obviously, but this is my two cents.

[MyMiddleNameisHypo]

I think you've all made very valid points and I appreciate you all taking the time to respond to my post.

Echo, your statement really made me think. You are very right. I am nearing my 100 days from my incident on October 18. I never thought of it that way. It's amazing that since I was actually bitten by something on Friday night that I have completely stopped thinking about the thing from October. I have been doing a little bit of soul searching since reading your post - trying to find out WHY I am holding on to this fear/anxiety/phobia.

However, I find my brain playing the same tricks on me yet again. It's harder for me this time because I WAS actually bitten by something. The marks are still there - two puncture wounds (now scabbed over) that are nearly 4mm apart.

I'm still fighting with myself mentally whether or not I will have rabies shots done. My boyfriend thinks I should not. I know from my previous research that you only have 10 days to get them after exposure. I just don't know what to do. I literally don't. I don't know if I should just write it off as an insect bite even though there was nothing crawling on me OR if I should just play it safe and get the shots.

I am trying to think rationally about this whole situation. I just don't want to suffer.

[Echo Hotel]

I think you should see this latest incident as a test and NOT get the rabies shots. That would be a strong step towards getting better. If you get the shots you are telling your mind that there is a real reason to be afraid and you will just further entrench yourself in your anxiety.

I sincerely hope that you feel better about this soon 

[MyMiddleNameisHypo]

I just cannot stop replaying in my head - "If this really is a bad bite, and I don't get the shots then I will die from rabies. This could have all been avoided if I just got the shots."

I don't know what to do. I just keep looking at the little pinpoint scabs - the more I look at them, the more I get anxious.

A little voice inside my head keeps telling me that I would have seen the bat - however, a louder voice keeps saying that it HAS to be a bat, what else has 2 fang marks like this? I didn't feel anything crawling on me.

I know that it is winter and bats are usually in hibernation or they've migrated but it HAS been an unseasonably warm winter. (70-80 degrees, high humidity).

I just want all of this to go away. I'm really at a cross road because I don't know what to do. I feel like I'm damned if I do, damned if I don't. If I get the shots and I wasn't 100% sure if was a bat bite then I'll just be giving in to my anxiety. If I don't get the shots and it IS a bat bite then I'm doomed.

[kmwondering]

There are very few things I am certain of. I am certain you were not bitten by a bat. You know this too.

[tnlady10]

I agree that it was probably a spider or some insect. Once I got bitten or stung by an insect (that I never saw) and my finger turned BLACK.  My point in telling you that is to show you that it is really easy to get bitten by something tiny and never notice it. A bat....unless you actually SAW a bat, I think it is pretty much impossible that one bit you. Remember, they are way more scared of you than you are of them, they wouldn't just come, bite you, and then fly away.

[sixpack]

REALLY?  I mean REALLY you are still fretting over whether you need a rabies vaccine?

good heavens....


you don't want to see anything but your fear.  you only find credibility in your irrational and illogical fear. Since this is the case, go ahead and get the blasted vaccine. However you DO know that comes with a boat load of issues don't you?  AND you realize that once you finish the series, that it won't solve your issue?  you'll simply get "bitten" once again by the "bat".  OR you'll find more issues to fret over with the completely unnecessary vaccine that you talked yourself into getting.  Which, honestly, you may have some reason to fret then.  The vaccine is not like swallowing a multi-vitamin.

good luck with whatever you decide.  My hope is that you opt for a more reasoned choice.

[sassparella]

You say you didn't notice anything crawling on you to make the bites, but which do you think is most likely missing an insect crawling on you or missing a bat crawling on you? Think of it logically you would have felt a bat crawling on your hand and you would have felt the bite. You weren't bitten by a bat. I get insect bites all the time and don't feel anything crawling on me, it's most likely an insect or a spider.

[MyMiddleNameisHypo]

Sassparella,

You are right. I was just sitting on my bed when - I got up to let the dogs in from outside and came back and sat down when all of a sudden I had this stinging/itching/burning on my wrist. I looked and there were 2 little puncture wounds.

I never saw anything at all that could have bitten me but because of the shape/size/type of "wound" I could only think it would be a bat. There is nothing else that would cause two pinpoint pokes, of the exact same size, 3-4mm apart.

[mollyfin]

Spider bites have two holes.  Fangs.  And I've been bitten by the same bug more than once...never piss off a wasp, btw

[MyMiddleNameisHypo]

Just wanted to make a one week update on all of this.

The wound is healing however, I have been experiencing tingly/itching sensations in the entire hand and arm the bite is on. This has been taking place for 3 days now.

I called my doctor today and spoke to him explaining to him the exact situation I told all of you. He asked me what the bite looked like - I explained it. He told me that spider bites do NOT leave two holes that are that far apart. He told me the spider would have to be the size of a tarantula (spelling?) to leave wounds that large. He then mentioned a potential bat. He told me that bats are commonly seen around here this time of year because of the migration from the North.

I asked him about the shots - he told me the shots need to be administered within 24 hour of the bite occuring.

None of this is what I wanted to hear and now I am kicking myself for not going to the hospital last Friday. I should have listened to my gut instinct.

[sixpack]

uh did you tell him that you have an irrational fear of rabies and that this is the second time you've gone through this irrational fear in the last couple of months.  did you tell him that you thought you were bitten by a bat flying around you when you woke from a dead sleep a couple of months back? with this last bite fear did you say that you were in the house and all of that?

you didn't get bitten by a bat.