Suspect You’ve Been Roofied? Signs to Look for Addiction Treatment

The day after being spiked, a person may feel very confused, nauseous, drowsy, and anxious. Rohypnol also makes it harder to think clearly or make decisions, which can put users in dangerous situations. It does this by increasing the effects of a chemical called what is being roofied GABA, which makes you feel very relaxed and sleepy.

• In the United States, for example, flunitrazepam is classified as a Schedule IV controlled substance, meaning it has a recognized medical use but also has the potential for abuse.
• However, with roofies, a person might have nausea and vomiting even if they have only had one or two drinks.
• If you are unsure about any steps, consult with healthcare professionals or organizations specializing in assisting survivors of sexual assault.

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This is one of the reasons why it is so important to get help from someone you trust and to get to a safe space if you have been roofied. If you have been roofied, you should have someone trustworthy with you throughout the night to make sure you are okay. Roofies can also cause a person to become incapacitated, which can put them in very dangerous situations. Going to a hospital can help ensure a person gets proper care and monitoring to make sure they are safe. Often, a person who has been roofied doesn’t remember what happened to them. Once taken, roofie drugs can cause effects that put someone in danger very quickly.

Signs of Being Roofied

After regaining consciousness, some people who were roofied may only recall what happened before the drug took hold and never recall what happened after they were drugged. Blurred sight, tunnel vision, or double vision are all common symptoms of being roofied. Victims often report “blackouts” or periods where they have no recollection of what happened.

Symptoms of Being Roofied

If you suspect that you may have been roofied, it is important to take immediate action to ensure your safety and well-being. Trusting your instincts, seeking help and support, and preserving any potential evidence are crucial steps to take in such a situation. Benzodiazepines, including Xanax and Valium, are potent depressants that affect the central nervous system. They are known for inducing drowsiness, confusion, and memory loss beyond the expected effects of alcohol consumption.

Being aware of roofied symptoms is crucial in identifying such incidents and ensuring timely intervention and support. If you suspect you’ve been drugged or your loved one, consider seeking addiction treatment, proper healthcare, or detox services. Substance misuse, whether intentional or involuntary, can have severe consequences on mental health and overall well-being. Additionally, if symptoms are severe or if there’s a risk of overdose, seek emergency medical care immediately. It’s important to inform the medical staff that you believe you’ve been drugged so they can conduct appropriate blood tests and provide necessary treatment. You should also contact law enforcement to report the incident and collect forensic evidence that could be used in legal proceedings.

• It can happen when someone is drugged with substances like roofies (Rohypnol) or alcohol to make them unable to resist.
• However, this is not a reliable way to tell whether your drink has spiked.
• More elaborate hair follicle testing can be conducted after 72 hours but may produce a false-positive result if other benzodiazepines are present in the system.
• The first signs of being roofied include dizziness, disorientation, and difficulty concentrating, which develop into an intense brain fog.
• This depends on the amount of drug that has been slipped into their drink and the amount of alcohol they’ve been taking.

What to Do if You Think You’ve Been Roofied

Besides these, other drugs can also be misused in similar ways, highlighting the importance of awareness and caution. Additionally, there are various substances used to spike drinks, which further emphasizes the need for vigilance. Illicit drugs like Rohypnol, GHB, and Ketamine are often used to spike drinks and facilitate sexual assault. It’s easy to lose consciousness very quickly after being drugged, so taking action is essential.

If you suspect you’ve been roofied, take immediate and deliberate actions to protect yourself and preserve any potential evidence. Many common date rape drugs come in the form of pills, powders, or liquids. They are often odorless and colorless when added to food or beverages. In many cases, it’s difficult to know when a drink or food item has been roofied. Roofies are dangerous because they often involve central nervous system depressants, which can significantly impair your ability to function and react. These drugs, designed to sedate and incapacitate, are commonly used to facilitate crimes like sexual assault.

Some side effects can be long-lasting, depending on how much of the drug you ingested and how your body reacts to it. Although anyone can get roofied, women are more likely to get roofied than men. Teens and women younger than 30 are at a higher risk than older women. Rohypnol is a central nervous system (CNS) depressant, which means that if you have been roofied you will often feel overly relaxed, sleepy, disorientated, and calm. In a study of college students, more than 1 in 13 reported being drugged. “It’s scary how fast you can be drugged unknowingly, even when you think you’re being alert and aware of your surroundings,” she said.

How Common Is Being Roofied?

Getting roofied can cause extensive physical and psychological damage, especially if you don’t notice the symptoms early enough. Contrary to expectations, you don’t have to be at a bar or club to get roofied. A family member or romantic partner can slip a roofie into your drink when making or holding it for you. Moreover, you can get roofied even if you’re just drinking water or juice. A 2016 study found that 7.8% of female college students and 8.5% of non-college women in the U.S. are victims of being roofied. If you notice these symptoms, seek immediate help and stay away from the person you think is trying to assault you.

Ketamine is a dissociative drug that can create a sense of detachment from reality, hallucinogenic effects, amnesia, and loss of consciousness, depending on the strength of the dose. Veterinarians use ketamine as an anesthetic, and doctors sometimes prescribe it in supervised settings to address treatment-resistant depression. Ketamine is also called vitamin K, special K, Kit Kat, and cat valium. It can be found in liquid and powder forms that can be mixed into drinks, and it is more easily detectable because it has an extremely bitter taste.

Its effects, like sedation and memory loss, usually last 6 to 12 hours. In blood, it can be found for about a day, and in urine for a few days. Being roofied can make a person really sick, especially when they are given a drug in combination with alcohol, or they are taking prescription drugs already.

If you’d like to learn more about healthcare, check out our in-depth interview with Ian Kroes, MD. Your initial support helped get us here and bolstered our newsroom, which kept us strong during uncertain times. They can also perform drug and alcohol testing using blood or urine specimens. Stick with your group and don’t go anywhere alone with someone you don’t know.

By taking the above preventative measures and knowing the signs, you can better protect yourself. If you’re struggling to recover from the trauma, FHE Health may be able to help. Seeking immediate medical attention also helps if the victim decides to pursue legal recourse. If the person has been sexually assaulted, they’ll need to go to a hospital so the facility’s sexual assault team can collect forensic evidence. The effects of being roofied can vary depending on the drug used and individual factors. It’s important to seek medical attention regardless of the duration of symptoms.