Originally Posted by Batbite24 (Post 1261138)

Glad you found this community, and welcome to a small, exclusive group you never wanted to join. Take a deep breath, hope for the best, and realize that each person's experience may be a bit different. The great majority of us have come through and are much better. Improvement takes a long time, and sometimes things get worse before real improvement sets in. My bat bites were in the back and palm of my right hand, the tingling and burning began in the palms of both hands, and eventually the feet, it all has to do with the nerves being affected not so much by the bite as by the vaccine. I can't address your titer questions as I never had a titer done. Hopefully other veteran posters are still checking in and will contribute. The anxiety can be horrendous, and I think some of it is a natural response to a truly frightening situation, and some of it is neurological caused by the vaccine. Hope it doesn't get too bad for you. For me it was like riding out a hurricane in a rowboat, but that storm has passed. I'm now 15 months out and doing well. At this point I'd call it tiny setbacks and large improvements. I'm much stronger, less fatigued, and have only tiny little reminders of this whole experience when I really push myself very, very hard physically. Hang in there, and hopefully the course this runs with you will be mild. We're here for you.

Originally Posted by Batbite24 (Post 1264917)

I'm an anxious mess again. I do tend to become anxious easily. Today I walked around the block again...made it, but the left leg was slightly problematic, not really bad. Tried to take a nap this afternoon, but the myoclonus is back too, and jerked me awake every time I began to drift off. Doing something I promised myself I wouldn't and looking up sites on rabies, rabies case studies, rabies incubation times.....on and on and on driving myself crazy. I keep coming back to the same conclusion; unless I develop a raging fever and encephalitis/meningitis symptoms, just keep plowing forward. If anything bad happens at this point, there's nothing to be done anyway...what a comforting thought that is! But at least it sets my psyche into "the only way is forward, don't let this paralyze you psychologically again" mode. This experience surely brings home the point of what a precious gift each day is. Today's date; 7/7/18. Again, so thankful for this forum.

Originally Posted by Hope21 (Post 1264973)

@BatBite24, I sometimes get similar thoughts around long incubation periods, but I always think back to my doctor's words. He said the vaccines are 100% effective and they're conducted fairly often (with vets and people who've been bitten by confirmed rabid animals, getting them regularly and not developing rabies), so it's unlikely it was not effective. He also said that the vaccine prevents the virus from incubating, so it's not possible for the virus to be "dormant" and suddenly awaken after the vaccine titer levels in your blood go down. He specializes and has over 20 years of experience in Infectious Diseases and works at the UChicago Hospital, specifically in their Travel Clinic too, so he's a credible source! Hopefully this helps. If there's anything that takes your mind off of things, like reading or even watching a tv show, maybe that'll help calm you down during your anxious moments too! Will be praying and hoping the best for you! :hug: