Drink spiked?

[Laddy Muck]

I am very worried about a friend who has sustained multiple injuries as a result of sudden collapse following a few drinks at the pub. She does not remember how she got home or anything between some time at the pub and being found unconscious at home with various injuries. Is it possible that her drink was spiked? I was with her most of the time and saw nothing untoward, and she really did not consume that much alcohol (2.5 to 3 pints of cider over a period of several hours). I have seen her drink far more with no effect. And how prevalent is the spiking of drinks anyway?

I should also add that we didn't speak to any strangers, though we sat at a very crowded bar. Various scans/X-rays since have shown no abnormalities to the head/brain etc.

Is there another explanation for this? The thought that someone may have interfered with her drink is, frankly (for me), too horrible to contemplate.

Has anyone any experience of such a thing. Or are there any doctors who may have an opinion on what could possibly have happened? I honestly don't know what to think.

Thanks:'(.

[*Bob*]

Quite possible, unfortunately.. at least four or five people I know have suffered 'spikings'.. Mrs *Bob* included.

More likely in pubs/bars/clubs with a high arsehole content. Don't leave your drink unattended.

[Laddy Muck]

May I ask what happened *Bob*? E.g. were you with others? Did you speak to strangers etc? Did you see anything suspicious? And how did you find out for sure (e.g. blood test)? Sorry, but I am really worried about my friend.

[sophiesofa]

Oh my goodness how horrible. I'm guessing you've already asked the pub if they have cctv and spoken to the police? Is she worried that some kind of sexual assault might have happened? My only knowledge on this is from tv (so extremely unreliable) but I always got the impression the these kind of drugs left the system really quickly so really hard to trace but if she was planning on getting checked, if not done so already, she should go asap.

I hope your friend gets some answers as it must be truly horrible having no idea what happened to her.

[*Bob*]

Didn't find out as such, only assumed in the light of no other evidence or reasonable explanation. I don't even know if it's possible to test for most of the likely substances after a day or two has passed, even if you wanted to.

Experiences ranged from something identical to the circumstances that you describe (waking with no knowledge of the night before.. in one case - in a police cell) to others having more memory of what happened - knowing that you're going out of control for no reasonable reason - with others obviously seeing it happen, all of a sudden.

TheMissus remembers leaving her drink alone for a while when it happened to her..

[Laddy Muck]

Gosh, how awful. Thanks *bob*.

Thanks SS. Fortunately, I don't think sexual assault is involved. Thank heavens.

No police involved - only paramedics/hospital staff. The possibility of spiking has only just occurred to us following much head-scratching. As you say, too late for blood tests etc. It may well be that there was no interference whatsoever - and I truly hope there wasn't - in which case what else could have caused this? I realise it is probably too late for investigation(s) as this happened last week, but I just wanted to explore the possibilities. At the moment it makes little sense to me.

[EDOliver]

It's a long shot but how about speaking to the bar/pub owner and possibly viewing CCTV? looks like you've nothing to lose.

To be completely honest I'm a little bit sceptical when people say they had their drinks spiked. I'm really not doubting what any of the above posts are saying but know from my own experiences of drinking. I often find that various factors (how tired I am, what and how much I've eaten, what mood I'm in, do I feel fatigued etc etc) can make a massive difference as to what effect a few bevvy's might have.

Anyway, I hope you're friend is ok. My mate had a similar experience about 2 years ago whereby we had a modest

amount of beers (certainly not a session) and he became worryingly sick: constant vomiting for 3 hours, triple vision,the feeling of being out of body. An aweful experience for him and his mates!

[Alan Medic]

Laddy, just trying to get the full picture. How much time elapsed between the pub and being found at home? What sort of injuries were they? Is it a fair assumption that given her condition someone might have escorted her home? Did you leave the pub together?

If there wasn't a third party involved by spiking her drink, she must have a medical condition she is unaware of. If you google 'why do I have a blackout' you will see quite a few possibilities.

[Frankito]

That is awful, very sorry to hear that news. Spiked or not, you will probably never know for sure however I would urge you to make the police aware as you never know.

Raising awareness of such issues is never a bad thing; it is sad that we live in a world where such evil uncertainties exist...

[DulwichFox]

Sorry to hear about your friend. Hope she has recovered.

You say she drank 2.5 to 3 over several hours. So amount unsure. Might of been more as the time ticked by.

No Sambuccas, ?? Jaeger-Bombs ?? people tend to forget to count them. (?)

A lot of bars these days sell Strong Cider.

1 pint of Ordinary Cider has about 2-3 units whilst the Strongest cider is 5.7 units

So 3 Pints Cider will contain between 6 - 17.1 units.

17 units is like drinking 8.5 pint of normal stregnth Beer or 5-6 pint of Lager (Peroni)

Did your friend eat any food. ?

Drinking over long periods without food will speed up absorbsion of alcohol into your blood.

Think it unlikely she was spiked if nobody else was involved in your company.

Probably need to re-calculate just how much she drank and how strong it was.

Fox.

[Otta]

My first thought was like Alan Medic, it could have been some medical condition you friend has not been aware of. That said, it is not out of the question that her drink was spiked. Where were you? If it was the back of stab and wine, I'd say chances it was a spiking probably increase.

[huncamunca]

withoiut meaning to dismiss peoples experiences, it is rather unlikely that a drink has been spiked, say 99% likely it was not so. Roofies and otc stuff like GHB are not used as much as the press would like to make out.have a check over to see if there is an underlying issue.

[*Bob*]

The most common stuff to get spiked with is of course that old favourite, 'booze'..

In one of the incidents, we had two of our group go down in a spectacular way at the same time, quite early in the evening, about an hour after getting into a shite bar in Clapham. Not booze on that occasion. Of course if you spend several years holed-up in bars and clubs for half the week then it's more likely to happen than if you only pop out for a few on Friday night.

Admittedly having the weekend streets filled with teenagers with their pants on their head after happy hour, trying to kiss lamp-posts and waking-up in a ditch has not helped claims of spikings, but that still leaves a whole lot of people (in our case, fairly familiar with the effects of most recreational drugs) who know what's normal and what isn't with regards to their own body over the course of an evening!

[Lying Toad]

Toad Speaks!

Such terrible news.

A colleague had the same symptoms 2-weeks ago, both a urine & blood sample were taken by a GP the next day and confirmed the drug used. Apart from losing the strength to stand, the other symptom is that you know what you want to say to someone, but you just can't communicate.

Toad.

[ianr]

"Flunitrazepam [Rohypnol] has a long half-life of 18?26 hours and an active metabolite which has a half life of 36?200 hours, which means flunitrazepam effects after nighttime administration persist throughout the next day." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flunitrazepam

Half-life means the time taken to halve in quantity within the body. So even after three half-life periods, there's still in theory one eighth of the intially available amount present. No harm in putting a urine sample in a sterile sealed bottle/jar, even now, and keeping it in the fridge.

[Lying Toad]

Great advice Ian.

Toad!

[JohnL]

Thats what happens to me after 15 pints.

Its not just drugs which spike - I've seen so many boys at the bar sticking vodkas etc in other peoples pints.

Lying Toad Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Toad Speaks!

>

> Such terrible news.

>

> A colleague had the same symptoms 2-weeks ago,

> both a urine & blood sample were taken by a GP the

> next day and confirmed the drug used. Apart from

> losing the strength to stand, the other symptom is

> that you know what you want to say to someone, but

> you just can't communicate.

>

>

> Toad.