How to Know If You Were Roofied: Signs and Symptoms

It takes hold within 30 minutes, and the effects can last for several hours. Sexual assault is an awful crime that can be devastating for its victims. Like the article says, it really is a danger even if there’s no bad men and dangerous places. We had gone out to a bar to see a friend’s band play and in total, I had 4 beers that night. There was a really sweet girl that had been sitting with a group of guys next to us and she asked us for a cigarette and then came over to our table and hung out.

Signs of Being Roofied

Repeated exposure or self-medication with drugs and alcohol necessitates professional addiction treatment and detoxification to manage withdrawal symptoms and begin recovery. By following these steps, you can provide immediate and effective assistance to someone who may have been roofied, ensuring their safety and helping them get the medical care they need. If you suspect someone has been roofied or given a date rape drug, there are a few critical steps you can take to ensure their safety and well-being. If you suspect you’ve been roofied, take immediate and deliberate actions to protect yourself and preserve any potential evidence. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, sexual violence occurs to millions of individuals in the United States every year. About half of women have or will experience sexual assault that involves some form of physical contact over the course of their lives.

When a person gets roofied, they may feel extremely drunk and “blackout,” where they temporarily lose memory or consciousness. A roofied drink occurs when a drug has been slipped into a person’s drink without them knowing it. Rohypnol causes extreme drowsiness, blackouts, reduced inhibitions, impaired judgment, and overall debilitation that can make a person unaware and unresisting to sexual assault. If you believe you’ve been roofied, it’s important to seek help immediately.

Avoid leaving the person alone and contact emergency services if necessary. When ingested, roofies can cause a range of symptoms that severely impair a person’s ability to resist or recall a sexual assault. These symptoms include extreme drowsiness, confusion, and significant memory loss. The drug’s effects on the central nervous system can leave the victim disoriented and defenseless, unable to protect themselves or remember the events that transpired. Understanding the nature of roofies and their impact is crucial in recognizing and preventing drug-facilitated sexual assault. When attending social gatherings or events, it’s important to stay with trusted friends or individuals you feel comfortable with.

Stay with Trusted Friends

By being aware of these symptoms, individuals can recognize the potential presence of a roofie and take immediate action to ensure their safety. Even when people have no recollection of what happened while they were drugged, they may feel a sense of wrongness after they regain consciousness. The aftereffects of being roofied can be similar to a bad hangover.

Physical Symptoms

Someone who’s been roofied may suffer from memory loss, making it hard to remember events that occurred even before ingesting the drug. When learning how to recover from being roofied, you may experience unpleasant flashbacks, anxiety attacks and even PTSD. A 2015 study found that more than 30% of sexual assault incidences involve drugs used to roofie. Consequently, most drugs used to roofie people are date rape drugs. As a trusted Georgia recovery center, we are dedicated to serving our clients through various alcohol and drug addiction programs. We have a firm belief that it is possible for YOU to achieve and sustain long-term recovery.

What Does a Roofied Drink Look Like?

• These terms all point to the same dangerous practice of slipping a sedative into someone’s drink.
• Some of the residual effects, such as memory loss and confusion, can last 12 hours or more after administration.
• It is also critical that you seek out therapy and other mental health services to help you to process the trauma of what has happened to you.
• If you feel comfortable, consider contacting a professional for further support.
• These signs may indicate that you or someone around you has been roofied.

Reporting the incident to the authorities and seeking medical attention are essential steps to take in such situations. Additionally, documenting the details of the incident is important for future reference and potential legal proceedings. This article delves into what happens when someone is roofied, the common symptoms, the substances involved, and the necessary steps to seek help and medical care. Additionally, we’ll explore how to prevent these incidents and the support systems available for survivors of drug-facilitated sexual assault. If you’ve been roofied or suspect your drink may have been tampered with, you might experience mental fog, muscle relaxation, and even blackouts. These symptoms can feel similar to being overly intoxicated, but if they are unexpectedly strong based on how much you drank, you may have been roofied.

• Spiking a drink, like any other form of abuse, is about asserting power and control over another person.
• In fact, despite being a Schedule IV substance, possession, distribution and manufacturing of Rohypnol carry the same criminal charges as Schedule I substances such as heroin.
• This depends on the amount of drug that has been slipped into their drink and the amount of alcohol they’ve been taking.
• Have you ever felt completely disoriented or found yourself in a situation that doesn’t add up?
• At Greater Boston Addiction Centers, our Addiction Therapy Programs provide trauma-informed care to help individuals process their experiences and find healthier ways to heal.

Roofies typically take around 20 minutes to kick in, and side effects can last up to 12 hours. Sometimes, a bitter or salty taste to your drink can be a sign that someone has added something to your drink without your consent. The attacker may also use force, threats, or take advantage of the victim’s impaired state to commit the assault. We do not receive any fee or commission dependent upon which treatment or provider a caller chooses. Calls to numbers marked with (I) symbols will be answered or returned by one of the treatment providers listed in our Terms and Conditions, each of which is a paid advertiser. If there are any concerns about content we have published, please reach out to us at

One of the major Roofied symptoms is a feeling of overwhelming sleepiness. Sleepiness combined with dizziness is considered symptoms of being drugged. Most people know their bodies pretty well and if you suddenly become very tired after having a drink and usually do not experience that type of response than you may have been drugged. Yes, the trauma of being roofied can sometimes result in substance misuse as a coping mechanism.

Once their victim is defenseless, they can rob or physically or sexually assault them. The average predator may wait until you’re distracted to put drugs into your glass. Someone more experienced can use a sleight of hand to spike your drink, so you may not even notice that your drink is drugged until it’s too late. The word “roofied” refers to getting drugged without your knowledge or consent. You may exhibit roofied symptoms when someone tampers your drink by spiking it with drugs.

Detection of Rohypnol is possible up to 60 hours after the drug is ingested. Once intoxication sets in—roughly minutes after ingestion—a person will pass out and remain unconscious for at least a few hours. If you want to talk confidentially about what happened, Dr. Albers recommends contacting the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN). It’s the same organization that runs the National Sexual Assault Hotline.

Treatments

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. If you suspect someone’s been roofied, the first thing you should do is have them drink as much water as possible. Make sure they’re safe from any possible predators who may have slipped them the drug, and get medical treatment as soon as possible.

Paranoia or Confusion

Therapy and support groups can provide the necessary support and understanding to help victims regain confidence and enjoy social occasions once again. While these symptoms closely resemble the effects of a hangover from alcohol, many victims do not identify that they have been raped. However, symptoms of getting roofied if you are in any doubt as to whether you have been the victim of date rape then you must contact the emergency services to report a potential crime and to seek medical attention. Because of the powerful effects of these drugs, many people don’t realize they’ve been roofied until the next day. It’s not uncommon for those who’ve been slipped drugs to never really know what actually happened to them. It’s typical (and frightening) to have partial or total memory loss after a roofie attack.

This drug also impairs motor coordination and relaxes muscles, making it difficult to move or stay alert. Noticing roofied symptoms right away can save lives and help protect against sexual assault and other drug-related crimes. Unfortunately, roofies are commonly used to make victims weaker to sexual assault. It is also a term to refer to substances that are slipped into people’s drinks without them knowing. The sedative effects of Rohypnol are up to 10 times stronger than Valium.