I think my drink was spiked

LegacyUser

Was out Saturday night with friends in a busy city centre pub and I'm starting to worry that my drink was spiked. I know it's too late to test it now but I'm freaking out a little. I didn't drink a whole lot but I have had a nasty two day hangover that left me sicker then I have been in years and years. I shared a bottle of wine with a friend so would have left the glass down when I went to the ladies. There were so many people around it could easily have happened.

I did some totally uncharacteristic things like decide to go home without telling my friends. I didn't use Hailo (I always do) and I didn't send any texts or messages from the taxi. All not like me at all. I'm in my 30s and not a silly teenager. I'm trying not to beat myself up over this but none of it is making sense to me. I have no recollection of leaving the pub or anything after that and I genuinely didn't drink enough to get myself into a state like that. I did make it home and I don't feel like anything sinister happened but I'm still freaking out.

Obviously I'll be super cautious from now on. I'm not a town drinker much, give me dinner with friends over a night in a pub anytime. Any tips to help me stop fixating on this. It's keeping me awake at night trying to remember what happened.

LegacyUser

Sometimes alcohol can just hit you harder than other times. You wouldn't be the first person, particularly true of people that aren't 'big town drinkers', that got unexpectedly drunker than usual on half a bottle of wine on a night out and can't remember how they got home. Probably significantly more likely than the 'someone must have secretly randomly put a mystery drug that produced effects that perfectly mimic the effects of excessive alcohol consumption in my drink for absolutely no discernable reason while I was in the toilet' explanation.

Just chalk it down to experience and forget a out it.

Hemerodrome

Obviously I have no way of being certain, but that doesn't sound like being spiked, that just sounds like the drink hit you harder than it usually would. Spiking is nothing like as common as people believe, unpredictable reactions to alcohol are extremely common. This month will see this kind of thing repeated thousands of times all over the country. I think you're not used to a binge and not used to the fear that's an integral part of a hangover, so you're overreacting. Walk it off, you don't appear to have anything to worry about.

njs030

You need to remember op that someone who spikes another person's drink does so for a reason, buying drugs isn't cheap.
It would have been pointless for someone to spike your drink for no apparent reason, all that happened is you went home!

I agree with the others that for some reason the alcohol affected you badly this time. Maybe steer clear of wine for a while.

ManOfMystery

How alcohol effects you can be horribly inconsistent. There's times I've had 4 or 5 pints and not felt any different whatsoever, and other times I'm already feeling very tipsy - depends what you've ate that day, how much sleep you've been having, any medication you're on and so on. Not to mention, the type of alcohol in question.

As said above, just chalk it down to experience. I had a similar experience a good few years ago - out with friends, had no more than 3 pints in the bar up to 10pm or so and then bang - next thing I remember is waking up in my bed, fully clothed the next morning. No hangover whatsoever. Friends said I walked out of the bar about 10:30, said goodbye to them all and seemed fine, but to this day I have no recollection of it. My immediate reaction was to assume I was spiked, but in all reality, I was tired that week and must have just had some kind of temporary memory lapse once I'd had a few drinks.

johnnyskeleton

Presumably if l a stranger was messing around with your drink your friend would have seen it. Think about the reaction if someone came up and tried to steal a drink from a table. It would take even longer and be more obvious if someone came up to a table, figured out whose drink belongs to which person, spiked it, mixed it in so as to be unnoticeable and then left.

It is far more likely that you are just a little unwell/rundown and didnt realise it. Your body was working full time to get better and so a small quantity of alcohol floored you.

blue note

It's possible you were spiked, but I'd say much more likely the alcohol just hit you. Happens me from time to time, so I try to be vigilant about it. If I'm tired, have exercised, in a particular mood, or sometimes for no reason I can think of I can be drunk after 3 or 4 pints ( I'm a guy).

It's something to be mindful of. It would probably be most common for me on weekday post work drinks, probably the worst time to get drunk! And people mightn't even cop that you are drunk since you haven't drink much.

suicide_circus

As others have said, sinister strangers putting free drugs in random drinks is very very unlikely. You could ask the venue you were in to review CCTV if you're worried.

fits

The best way to spike someone would be with strong alcohol so wouldnt have to be a drug. Agree its probably not a regular occurrence though.

OP i was out two weeks ago and had one beer and half a bottle of wine with a good dinner. I spent all the following day getting sick when i would normally be ok. Alcohol can hit hard and probably isnt always uniform in quality either.

seamus

It's also possible it coincided with a sickness - norovirus is like a really bad hangover, goes from zero to 100 in a matter of 3/4 hours and the effects going through it include confusion fuzziness, sleepiness, etc.
Throw two glasses of wine on top and you may as well have drank a whole barrel.

ScumLord

Most other drugs don't come with the nasty hangover you get from alcohol. So the hangover is more than likely all alcohol.

Most drugs also leave you in no doubt you're on a drug. I really don't think people are doing much spiking in pubs. If they spike a drink with something that knocks a person out how are they going to get this unconscious person out of the pub? If they spike the person with a party drug, that person isn't going to want to leave the dancefloor.

Ever since I moved onto ales I've found that when I go drinking pints in a pub I end up with a horrible hangover, which I think is down to the gas they use in the taps. Bottom line is, I think the quality of drink in pubs is abysmal.

iusedtoknow

sounds a bit like a blackout. Haven't had one for years (i don't drink anymore...due to blackouts and 2 day hangovers) but entire nights are complete blanks for me where I would either act completely like myself, just a bit tipsy or act completely out of character and not remember a thing about it - how i still have friends or am married is beyond me. This could happen sometimes on as a little as a couple of glasses of wine or sometimes just wouldn't happen at all despite having a skinful.

You may have had an underlying issue that day (anything from your cycle to trying beat off a cold or a bug) can affect how your body processes alcohol on any given day. Think you just need to chalk it down to a one off and carry on. TBH, you'd have had your drink spiked for a reason, the drugs aren't cheap and people usually want something else from you rather than doing it for the fun of it....

LegacyUser

Thanks everyone. Posting helped take some of the stress away and your answers helped put my mind at rest.

I remember plenty of the night up to a point just before I left so it's not a blackout. Most likely a reaction to a very stressful week in the middle of two terribly stressful months, even with vitamins I know I'm run down and am living for the Christmas break.

Thanks so much for helping me put Saturday night behind me. Onwards and upwards!