If you or a loved one needs treatment or support to overcome substance use disorder, find the help you need at First Step Behavioral Health. Contact our specialists now to learn about our programs or to schedule an intake appointment. You may not know where you are, how you got there, or what time it is. Disorientation is especially concerning when you’re in a familiar place or with people you know — but everything feels foggy.
Being “roofied” — the common term for unknowingly ingesting a drug like Rohypnol or another substance used to incapacitate — is a traumatic and disorienting experience. The effects can be frightening, often leaving the individual confused, scared, or even in danger. Sadly, these drugs are frequently used in situations involving sexual assault or theft. Recognizing what happened is the first step toward safety, recovery, and, when necessary, seeking treatment for substance use disorders. If you suspect you were roofied, it can be a chilling experience.
The strongest physical effects are usually felt within the first 6 hours and typically wear off around 12 hours after ingestion. The risks of Rohypnol are both physical and psychological, with potentially life-threatening consequences. Physically, it can cause severe sedation, dangerously slow breathing, and a drop in blood pressure. Other benzodiazepines and date rape drugs can also show up on a blood test panel. These kinds of tests may also detect the presence of these substances even with the presence of alcohol.
Roofied symptoms often include sensations such as sudden dizziness, confusion, nausea, difficulty breathing, and loss of consciousness. It is also important to seek medical help, especially since you don’t know what you have been given and how your body may react to it. Roofies usually don’t have a taste, which can make it difficult to tell if a drug may have slipped into your drink.
Or, you may wake up in an unexpected location and not remember how you got there. Today, there are blue-colored tablets formulated to be visible in a drink, as well as the colorless Rohypnol tablets. Perpetrators will use the colorless tablets to conceal their aims. They may also crush and dissolve the pills or tablets in a strong-flavored alcoholic drink. A roofie is a central nervous system depressant that, much like the prescription medicine Valium (diazepam), slows down the brain and relaxes the body. The important difference is that a roofie is much stronger than Valium.
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Stick with friends and those you trust to ensure your safety in party situations. These drugs are odorless, tasteless, and colorless — making them virtually undetectable in beverages. Their primary effects are sedation, memory loss, confusion, dizziness, and loss of control — often within 15 to 30 minutes of ingestion. If you think you’ve been roofied or raped, call 911 or seek medical attention immediately. Try not to urinate, bathe, shower, douche, wash your hands, brush your hair, change clothes, or have anything to eat or drink. The FHE Health team is committed to providing accurate information that adheres to the highest standards of writing.
Symptoms of Being Roofied: How to Recognize, Respond, and Stay Safe
- Additionally, its impact on mental health can result in depression, cognitive decline, and an increased risk of self-harm.
- Taking pregnancy prevention medication is usually advised in this scenario, and hospital staff can use a rape kit that can help prove the guilt of the person who assaulted you.
- The day after being spiked, a person may feel very confused, nauseous, drowsy, and anxious.
- Roofies cause extreme drowsiness, blackouts, reduced inhibitions, and impaired judgment that can make a person unaware and unresisting to sexual assault.
Most criminals who use roofies on rape victims will do so by picking targets in bars or clubs and spiking their alcoholic drinks with the drug. Repeated exposure or self-medication with drugs and alcohol necessitates professional addiction treatment and detoxification to manage withdrawal symptoms and begin recovery. When CNS depressants like Rohypnol, GHB, or Ketamine are ingested, they disrupt normal brain activity, causing significant impairments. These drugs can induce drowsiness, relaxation of muscles, and a state of disorientation, making it difficult for the victim to function normally or even remember what happened. 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.
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This can lead to struggling with work and school obligations, an inability to form and maintain positive relationships and using drugs and/or alcohol to self-medicate. However, it’s more common for victims to experience psychological issues such as post-traumatic stress disorder. The first sign of being roofied is the onset of extreme brain fog.
Is Spiking a Form of Sexual Assault?
In blood, it can be found for about a day, and in urine for a few days. If you have been sexually assaulted, it is also important to seek medical help so you can get care and also take exams if you do want to report the assault. When a person is roofied, the effects commonly begin within 10 to 20 minutes.
- If you think you or a friend has been spiked, it is important to call the police or go to the hospital.
- Since it can be so hard to tell if a drink has been roofied, it is important to keep your own drinks close to you when you are going out and to not accept drinks from strangers.
- Take care of yourself and trust your instincts; they often guide you right.
- Physically, it can cause severe sedation, dangerously slow breathing, and a drop in blood pressure.
- The strongest physical effects are usually felt within the first 6 hours and typically wear off around 12 hours after ingestion.
- Treatment for being roofied will look different for every victim.
Being watchful in crowded places helps reduce the risk of being victimized by people with harmful intentions. Knowing about the ways someone can administer roofies will help you protect yourself better. Not just Rohypnol but also GHB and Ketamine are all commonly used as date-rape drugs to incapacitate people in social settings where they are the most unprotected.
What Does a Roofied Drink Look Like?
The drug most commonly used in roofies, Rohypnol, is illegal in the United States and is classified as a Schedule IV substance under the Controlled Substances Act. The only sure way to tell if you have been roofied is by seeking medical help and getting tested for any drugs in your system. Sometimes, a person who has been roofied may be extremely drunk.
In high doses, a person can become unconscious and may not remember what happened to them. Other commonly used street names of Rohypnol include roche, ruffied, ruffles, and forget-me drug. Rohypnol, or Flunitrazepam, is a central nervous system depressant that belongs to a class of drugs called benzodiazepines. The term roofies also usually signs of being roofied implies that someone was given a drug to make them more vulnerable to a crime. In low doses, ketamine causes a euphoric high and dissociation (feeling like you’ve disconnected from your thoughts or sense of self).
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