The bar staff not letting her leave seems much more likely that she appeared to be extremely drunk and they would not let her leave to go to her car.
And “They’re watching me,” sounds like paranoia from someone who is under the influence of something and doesn’t really know what is going on. If she looked to be so drunk that they had to keep an eye on her and stop her from going to her car, then that doesn’t seem at all strange to have someone watching her.
Neither of these two points seem to suggest her being drugged as opposed to drunk.
I agree with you on those points and, in fact, I was pleased that the bar’s staff was paying attention. But she was outside. This is not an outdoor venue. I find it hard to believe that the bar spared a staff member just to watch my wife. This place doesn’t have a bouncer that stands outside, at least not in my experience.
Drinking can also increase your chances of having a stroke, because drinking too quickly can temporarily raise your blood pressure, which itself can lead to stroke. My best friend recently had a massive stroke that put him in a coma and it was caused by hypertension. (Drinking wasn’t a factor in his case though.)
That seems more like an argument for “maybe it was a medical issue/reaction” as opposed to one for it being an international drugging.
Regardless, it sounds like a shitty and discomfiting thing to have experienced. I’m glad she’s all right. But, as I move into my 40s and discover my body continuing to change and fail me in new and unexpected ways, I second the recommendation to bring it up with a doctor, just in case.
I’m curious as to what your reasoning is here. If she never felt that way before, even many years earlier when she was in high school and caroused more, how does that make a medical issue more likely than a spiked drink? What about this makes a spiked drink less likely?
I just think that if having had experience with a number of different drugs, and this not feeling like any of them would lead me to any conclusion, it would be that maybe, as this didn’t feel like any drug-based reaction I’d felt before, it might have been something medical instead.
“I’ve had experience with a number of different drugs, and this didn’t feel like any of them” doesn’t support a conclusion of “more likely this was a drug and not a medical episode.”
Maybe it’s just me, but I suspect that for any woman, as she gets older the odds become higher that something like this would be caused by a medical issue rather than a stranger wanting to drug her.
Of course. My main point was that if something like this happens to you, the older you are, the more likely it is a medical issue. I’m in my mid 40s and lately I’ve dealt with a lot of issues out of nowhere that have never been a problem before.
In addition, my total speculation is that in a bar or club or similar environment, a creep would be more likely to spike a younger woman’s drink than an older woman’s. Not just due to attractiveness (which of course is subjective) but also because a younger, less-experienced woman would theoretically be an easier mark.
(Of course a woman seen to be alone would be more likely to be a target, I will admit that.)
I don’t think it matters how savvy a woman is before her drink is spiked. The drugs seem to do a pretty good job of wiping out whatever street smarts she may have accrued. There are a number of accounts of women over 50 getting roofied. In this one the victim says her doctor said rohypnol and GHB are difficult to find in blood tests–her blood was tested shortly after an ambulance brought her to the hospital–and that that’s one reason they’re used.
If people are more likely to assume someone drank more than they thought or merely had a medical issue, I’m sure that’s so much the better as far as the culprit is concerned.
I’d also like to say again that the objective is not always sexual assault. Some creepers apparently like to mess with people’s minds–literally.
That’s going down a paranoia rabbit hole though. “They want you to think it’s a medical issue!” She should just get checked out by a doctor, I sure as hell would because if I experienced something like this I would be terrified that there was something medically wrong with me.
I agree and said in my first post she should get checked out to [hopefully] rule out any medical issues. I don’t think any of us know the odds of the OP’s wife having a sudden-onset diabetic or hypoglycemic episode that happens for the first time while she is drinking mildly alcoholic beverages. It’s surely not zero. I wouldn’t assume, though, that those are more likely than her having had her drink spiked.
And from the linked article in my previous post:
After I took the urine test, the doctor said if it was a date-rape drug, such as Rohypnol, GHB or Ketamine, it might not show up, which is why people choose those substances in the first place.
It’s no more “paranoid” to think the effects getting mistaken for other conditions (including severe intoxication) is an attractant than it is to think the fact it might not show up in a blood test is. Both mean a possible delay in suspecting foul play.
The thing that caused my spidey sense to go tingly was the paranoia OP reported her suffering, combined with the confusion. It could just be too much drink, she could have been drugged, but in my personal sphere of experience I had a few relatives in the middle age or later stages of life who had incidents of paraonoia/confusion, and each time it was a somewhat concerning medical issue ultimately at play. Anecdote != data, so take it for what it’s worth, but that’s why I got worried when I read the OP, some of his wife’s behaviors reminded me a LOT of the sort of behavior I had seen in people in my life in years past, and those incidents ultimately were medical in origin.
I have suggested going to a doctor, but my wife has vetoed the idea. Being as it is her body and health, she has ultimate veto power over this issue.
She has an appointment with a therapist tomorrow afternoon. The therapist is an LPC, but she may recognize a medical issue. Perhaps if she says to go to the doctor, my wife will agree.
Huh, that kinds of sucks. Has she explained WHY she doesn’t want to see a doctor?
Also, while it’s true that it is her body and no decent person endorses controlling behavior by a spouse, as her spouse you aren’t exactly unaffected. If she lets a medical issue go until treatment is less effective, then you will be affected too. Being her husband gives you the right to participate in her decisions, at least.
Perhaps you could make a deal with her - “if it happens again, promise me you WILL see a doctor, period.” Would that work?
Yes, if you wait until next day, many drugs are more difficult to detect, particularly in spit/urine tests. Other things, like arsenic and marijuana, are easily detectable long after. However, the reason for choosing a popular date-rape drug like alcohol isn’t just that it wears off the next day: the point is that it’s fast acting.