trigger warning: talking about rabies ocd

Im sorry you are going through the rabies fear- I had the very unfortunate experience of living in a house with bats living in the roof, moving to get away from them..only to move to a house that also had bats living in the roof. I lived with bats for about 8 years. It was not fun to say the least. Living with them, and not being able to "get away" easily becuase of the housing crisis in my area in the USA meant that I had to just simply tolerate living in proximity with them- it was like 24/7 ERP. I did come up with specific rules for when I was "allowed" to seek medical attention- these rules were based on what my doctors suggested which was, if I had confirmed direct physical contact with a bat, then I would seek medical care. I was lucky in that my OCD didnt escalate to false memories, or extreme checking complusions. I didnt know I had OCD at the time, and there were quite a few safety behaviors I did to manage. My partner was very helpful in keeping me grounded durring spirals. Ultimately, I just had to accept that there was a very tiny ( but not zero) chance that I could get rabies, and just go about my life as usual. I have recently moved to a house (without bats!), so I am much less triggered. But I still struggle with fears around rabies. Its a scary disease that OCD seems to love grabbing hold of. I think the worst compulsion for me was over-researching about rabies on the internet, especially reddit. Having other peoples opinions about what I "should" do made me feel like I was going to ruin my life if I didnt get straight the emergency room and demand a rabies vaccine. Being an American, it is actually not easy to get a vaccine- they will not administer them unless you fit specific criteria. So in a way, our dysfunctional healthcare system helped me keep some complusions in check. I think the fear of rabies means that we really care about staying alive! I am working on thanking my mind for caring so much about me, and letting it know that we dont have to go looking for danger- we are capable of dealing with legitimate threats appropriately, when they show up. I hope you keep going on night time walks!