Could my 54 year old husband have had his drink spiked tonight

[MadKitty]

Just that really. He went for drinks after work with a colleague. We don’t drink much in general, maybe a couple of units a month. I picked him up from the station at 11pm, all the other passengers left and I could see on my phone that he was still on the platform. Called him and he was barely coherent. Saw him staggering down the platform holding onto a railing.

After 10 mins he gets in the car, he’s soiled himself, grey and uncommunicative. Talking weird and not making sense. Walked in the house and literally dropped to the floor. I know, I know….. you’re thinking he’s been on a bender. He’s had less than a bottle of wine, maybe 3 glasses from what I’m gathering. This is the opposite of who he is and how he drinks.

Nearly 3 hours later he’s still lying on the floor with his head in a bowl. He’s so confused and unlike him. 111 tell me he’s just drunk. I’m hoping in the next hour I can get him standing so I can get him in the shower. He said this came on suddenly during the 20 min train journey. Could this be spiking?

Anyone around who might have some insight?

Yes of course. Why are you posting on Mumsnet when you should be in A&E?

Just to add my husband (57) had his drink spiked on a lunchtime get together with two old work mates. He never drinks much. He was incoherent and kept falling. Those people saying it’s rare are completely out of touch. I’m a supervisor in a university and it bloody common and quite sickening.

If you have any pedialite or Gatorade I’d try and get some down his neck when you think he might keep some of it down

I'd take him.to A&E. I'd say in this case it could be a sudden allergic reaction to the wine or alcohol, or it could be his heart or anything.

Spiking is not rare though. DD1 has been needle-spiked even, but had good mates with her and was fine, thank God.

Could it be methanol poisoning? IE the bar uses knowingly, or unknowingly, cheap brands which have been made by unscrupulous business like in Cambodia etc?

Please don't make things up.
3 people, all in their freshers week, this month, have been spiked. All separately in different cities. All verified with blood tests.

Its horribly common.

This is absolutely not true.

It’s a particularly stupid post from @Lostsadandconfused because most people who think they may have been spiked aren’t even tested to see whether they have been spiked. There’s a short window where medical tests to confirm can be carried out otherwise there is no evidence. So how can this poster confidently state that it’s “rare” or “almost always” is alcohol when spiking tests are not routine?

There’s literally serial offenders who have been able to get away with spiking hundreds of people, because the drugs are hard to detect.

You should have driven him to A and E.

To LOSTANDCONFUSED I was spiked when i was 17 (38 yrs ago) when me and two female friends I was with had our handbags stolen from a night club in Cheltenham. We found them with their contents tipped out minus housekeys and purses. During this time we'd been helped to find our handbags by three lads who were at the club also. They had been buying us drinks and dancing with us.

At the same time we found our handbags our 'rescuers' offered us their house to stay the night in. We were all 17 and very naive and trusting. The lad who lived their had parents who were on holiday, I can remember being carried to a bed and coming down the stairs later on my bottom as i couldn't walk properly. I remember a big jug of 'water' on the table in the lounge and a jug of orange juice which I mixed with the water and drank from a glass. Two of us woke in the morning with literally no memory of the night before and with a strong conviction that we'd been raped. I was very sexually active at the time but knew I had not consented to sex that night with a stranger, nor had I ever gone to bed naked in my life having always worn pants and I found myself completely naked.

I still to this day am convinced we were spiked and that our bags were 'stolen' by those lads to ensure we could get home and that their friendliness and concern was just a rise. I hope your husband is okay OP.

3 hours is enough time to have sobered up, especially if he just had 3 glasses of wine, so I would agree with others that a trip to A&E is a good idea. Could he have hit his head or got injured some other way and not remember it? Or had an allergic reaction? The incontinence sounds more like a stroke than just being out drinking. The drinking could just be coincidental.

What’s needle spiked

Needle jabbed in her leg in a club with god knows what in it.

How scary for you. Unlikely to be spiked.

Either one of those nights when alcohol hits hard as he has not eaten properly before or potentially a TIA.

Can you ask him to speak to you now? He may sound slurred due to tongue muscle weakness (dysarthric) or may be getting the sounds and words in the wrong order/jumbled up (dysphasic).

When you give him water can he drink it without coughing/throat clearing? If so that is a good sign he’s not dysphagic (swallowing problems).

Hope all is ok.x

Could he have tried drugs and reacted badly OP?

3 glasses of red wine, which is often a higher percentage than white in bars is quite a lot on an empty stomach for someone who rarely or never drinks. Especially in a short space of time. If they were large glasses that’s a full bottle. I’ve also had extreme reactions to wine before where it’s then transpired it’s coincided with an illness coming on. I remember being horrendously unwell after a similar amount and it turned out I had a bout of tonsillitis coming on. It certainly wouldn’t do any harm to have him checked over though. I agree that spiking is probably unlikely. He’s not really the typical target and was with others and has all his things. I’d definitely be more vigilant for a medical reason perhaps exacerbated by an unusual amount of wine

I think the assumption he's not been spiked because he's male is quite shocking. Plenty of males have been spiked!

Who made that assumption?

Have you gone grey, become unable to communicate coherently and shit yourself on a car ride home?

OP should have taken him to A & E.

I have worked in A&E it happens. But I would question why someone would spike the drink of a 54 year old man

Could be as simple as the drink was intended for someone else

OP says maybe 3 glasses. 3 large glasses would be 9 units of alcohol. Without eating this would be enough to make me very ill.

Shitting yourself in the car, going grey, being unable to manage a coherent sentence then passing out ill?

OP should have taken him to A&E. Even if it was alcohol abuse, or bad luck, or a combination of alcohol and something else he could stil be dying. People DO die from alcohol abuse.

It's not normal to shit yourself, go grey, become incoherent then pass out, no matter what the reason is, and it's not safe.

OP should have taken him to A&E

Op you know your dh. He is 54. If this was my dh I would he calling an ambulance because he would never ever get drunk under any circumstances. Your dh sounds the same, it could be his heart or a stroke.

The paramedics will check him over. I think it is safer to call them.