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?

Hi @MadKittyi hope you got him to A&E, I would deffo be worried about my husband ending up like that and he does drink!

It’s means a bollocking, basically.
Very common phrase in our family. I’m guessing not in others…!

Thanks! Every day’s a school day.

It’s a Scouse phrase, isn’t it? Though I think I’ve heard it in Ireland too

OP, i hope your husband is ok and please come back and give us an update when you can

I would have taken him to A&E myself. Hope he’s ok op.

People do get spiked.

My 22 yr old DD went out for a couple of drinks with a friend in the pub round the corner from her new flat a couple of months ago, walked the 200 yards home, had a chat with her housemate, all fine. Wasn't out on a bender, wasn't drunk. Went upstairs feeling tired and within 15 mins was dizzy, vomiting, slurring speech, having palpitations, sweating, then had explosive diarrhea.

Her housemates took her to A&E where they said they don't have the stuff to test for spiking and to go home and sober up. Fortunately one of her friends had some urine test strips for spiking and they did their own test in the morning - which detected a substance DD has never knowingly ingested. She went to the police who said there was nothing they could do as a home test wasn't evidence. But she knows she was spiked, and what with.

So anyway @MadKitty this sounds a lot like what happened to your DH with the time delay etc - and I'd totally believe he was spiked tbh. A&E don't take it seriously but I think that's because medically speaking it isn't usually that serious. Obviously it's a crime, and it can lead to very dangerous situations, but if the person is safe now then A&E don't seem to be interested and unfortunately neither do the police.

How can you know that? If you have a link to studies or official reports please share them.
I agree that spiking may be used as an excuse for out or control behaviour from excessive drinking, but I am certain it’s not an urban myth. I’ve heard nightclubs are closing because people are scared to go there. And my best friends brother has been permanently disabled by spiking leading to a serious stroke.

Where do you live? I live in a large city, and personally know 3 women who have been spiked, one who doesn't drink alcohol at all, so your sneering assumption that they are all lying simply doesn't stand up. Far from being an urban myth, it's very prevalent, ask any police officer or casualty staff. Mostly for nefarious reasons, or sometimes just because the perpetrator thinks it's funny, so all ages and sexes are vulnerable.

Yes, I believe it is a scouse phrase 😀(we are pretty close to Liverpool)

could you contact one of his work colleagues and ask if he drank much

That does sound like a worrying and very extreme reaction. I also would have gone to a&e. I hope he’s ok now @MadKitty .

I think it looks quite different though, doesn't it? DH really doesn't drink much. A can of fancy beer once a fortnight with dinner. He went a craft beer microbrewery with his brother and had 4 half pints. I'd made him a chilli before he went, but used brown rice, which takes a while to absorb. DH felt quite unwell when he got home. But he was coherent, he knew the beer had gone to his head, he was able to get himself a bowl and tell me about his night.

People who have been spiked often don't remember what happened, and they're incoherent, and their behaviour doesn't fit with the level of alcohol they've had.

Either way, if @MadKitty 's DH was grey and lost control of his bowels after 3 glasses of wine, I think the alcohol is a red herring.

I'm pleased you have so little experience and appalled you are so certain with so little knowledge in equal measures

We think my DH was spiked last Christmas. He'd been out with some old work colleagues and was given a lift home. I found him sat on the downstairs toilet, diarrhea everywhere, barely able to speak and unable to lift his arms. He later said he knew what he wanted to say but couldn't form the words

He had no idea what was going on and hadn't drunk much (of course, I'll never know this for sure) but I've seen him drunk and this was different. He was cold and clammy and looked terrified.

My concern was: do I dismiss this as mere drunkenness or am I potentially ignoring a stroke.

Anyway, 111 sent an ambulance and they agreed there was aphasia present so we went to A&E. The paramedics said it looked like drink spiking, but as a 50 year old male with no sign of assault, he was an unlikely target

He hadn't had a stroke and they don't test for spiking at our A&E. He thinks that perhaps one of his ex-colleagues put something in his drink, because a couple of them are somewhat odd with vicious senses of humour.

We'll never know but he doesn't drink alcohol when out with that bunch any more.

My (now ex-) H and I had just got in from an evening out, son was throwing up violently and screaming in pain, then fell straight backwards, luckily H broke his fall. He was talking about a man in the pub he’d played pool with, we drove him straight to A&E. He was in a really bad way, they put him on a drip then we stayed the night with him on a sofa in a side room for monitoring. Turned out my son had one drink with the game of pool then felt really ill, the man put his number into son’s phone. I’d texted my son on the way home from night out and had mentioned to ex that the wording of the reply didn’t sound like him. Luckily my son had the fight or flight response and said he just ran all the way home, he couldn’t explain why he felt like this. There were messages from the man in his phone asking why he’d run and to “come and finish the party at my place”. Staff in A&E said that by the time police arrived the spiking would’ve worn off so wasn’t worth contacting them. It really tarnished his idea that, once he was 18, he could just pop into a very local pub and play pool.
i was spiked 2 years ago this month and I’m late 50s. I was so ill, spent the night in hospital on a drip.

Oh god I hope you've went to a&e with him by now.

Get to a&e or get an ambulance out.

“My partner had a sudden onset neurological event, yes he has had 3 glasses of wine over 3 hours. I was worried he was drunk but grey palour and soiled himself”

You could save his life. Or he could be totally fine.

This is such bullshit.
I take it you basically never go out to bars and clubs
It's actually quite common and the effects are absolutely nothing like having a few drinks on an empty stomach 🙄
OP I hope that your DH has either come round or you are at the hospital for checks. Can you contact the colleague he was drinking with for further information?

It is a few hours since ce you posted.
How is your husband. I hope he is ok.

How is he today @MadKitty?

Yeah my brother had his drink spiked at party. The issue when you are spiked is you aren’t prepared for it and so you don’t know why you are feeling so awful. He was ill for days and it was only when he went to the doctor because he was feeling so bad that they questioned if he had taken anything that he worked out what had happened. Didn’t know the signs at all.

I genuine think my drink was spiked in the village pub a few years ago. I was with a friend , we had exactly the same amount to drink, we’d shared a bottle of wine and then had 2 beers each. I have no recollection of getting home, I woke up at 4am on the kitchen floor, dh said he couldn’t get me upstairs. My friend was absolutely fine and out to the gym at 8am and I spent the day in bed feeling horrendous.

I hope your OH is now at the hospital and that he is ok OP. What’ a horrible shock for both of you.

Many years ago my fil came stumbling out of a restaurant, threw up and collapsed on some bin bags. People walked past because they assumed he was a drunk. He was actually having a heart attack. People do have medical emergencies that happen to take place when they’ve had a drink. Hope you have gone to A&E.

I hope your DH is OK?
I have a story : I went out to dinner (I’m old enough to be a Grandmother,) & drank half a bottle of wine over dinner with my bff. Afterwards we went to a street bar (in this seaside town full of tourists). & had a G&T because it was early & we hadn't finished putting the world to rights !
The first sip tasted “strong” or maybe like cheap Gin, or even another spirit, (Tequila ?)
When we went to leave, friend went in to pay & chat to the owner who she knew vaguely as she had been there before.
When I got up I literally fell off the terrace, (no big damage fortunately) , I was helped up by a bunch of men sitting at the next table, (locals known to the owner). I was mortified, but standing.
Bff came out & we walked off, this rapidly became a stagger, I was holding her up & we had a mile to walk back to her house. At one point she fell & hit her head, unconscious, in a puddle if blood.
I called for an ambulance, some teenage boys passed by on their bikes & asked if I needed help. I handed them my phone & they were able to guide the ambulance as I had no idea of the road name & little knowledge if that part of the town & was almost unable to speak
Bff taken to hospital, (with her keys so I couldnt go to her place as planned.)
I made my way back to my car & was lucid enough to know to snooze in it.
She called me later & said, “you can come in and get me”, to which I said, “You went in an ambulance & you'll have to get a taxi I can’t drive”.
She had no memory if the walk, her fall or the ambulance.
We are seasoned drinkers, a half bottle of wine over dinner & an unfinished G&T doesn’t touch the edges.
I maintain the drinks were spiked. But Why would you do that to 60 year olds ? We aren't prime cuts !
btw, I had massive bruising the next day.