Danish Nikoline Ypkendanz (20) is constantly reminded of the evening in February 2022 that changed her life.
She still wakes up nauseous and with severe stomach pains, she tells Dagbladet.
– I am still very affected by the incident, because I am reminded of it all the time.
The incident happened at a nightclub on Gran Canaria. It was the last evening, and Ypkendanz and her friends were going to have a nice trip to town.
– We hung out with some Norwegian girls and Danish boys whom we had met several times on holiday. The evening was basically good, she says.
Then, unbeknownst to her, the 20-year-old believes that someone has put something in her drink, against her will. The evening for the six Danish friends therefore ended in the emergency department, and the incident has been very dramatic for both Ypkendanz and the friends, she says.
It was Danish TV 2 who first mentioned the matter.
Football talent Daniel (23) near death after city trip
Vomited and screamed
Ypkendanz had only drunk a few units before the gang of girls went on to the club.
The last thing she remembers was buying a drink at the bar and instinctively putting her hand over it. She was in the habit of doing that, because she has previously heard stories about other girls who have been drugged at home in Denmark.
The rest of the evening and night is completely out of her memory, so she has been told the sequence of events by her friends.
– When we were going home from the club, I threw up time and time again. I was shaking and had convulsions, so my friends drove me home to the house we had rented, she says.
But when they got out of the taxi, Nikoline kept throwing up and started screaming. Previously, she could barely walk, but suddenly she lost control of her body. She had a cramp and couldn’t hold her head up, so she hit her head on the ground, the 20-year-old was told by her friends.
HOSPITAL: Nikoline Ypkendanz (20) was taken to the hospital in Gran Canaria. Photo: Private Show more
She could hardly breathe, and at one point there was blood when she vomited, her friend Ida Nørgaard tells Danish TV 2.
– Then it really dawned on us how serious it was, says the friend and adds:
– I was afraid that she would die and we felt very alone with a great responsibility.
Bring signs of life
Resting heart rate of 111
Nikoline was finally taken to the hospital on Gran Canaria, but there they allegedly did not take any tests for narcotic substances, according to the record that Danish TV 2 has seen.
The following day she was discharged from the hospital after observation for an hour and a half, and the group of friends were to fly home the same day.
– During the journey home I threw up time and time again. From the plane they called paramedics who were supposed to receive me at the airport in Copenhagen, says Ypkendanz.
When she got off the plane, she was met by four paramedics and her parents.
Her resting heart rate was measured to be 111, which is far above a normal resting heart rate of around 70. She was therefore taken further to the hospital.
– I told them that I thought I had been drugged, and the doctors also believed that it could not just be alcohol. But it was too late to test me for drugs, so they cannot determine it with 100 percent certainty, she says.
AT THE AIRPORT: Nikoline Ypkendanz (20) was met by her parents and paramedics at the airport in Copenhagen. Photo: Private Show more
Nevertheless, the doctors believe, according to Ypkendanz, that it is likely that she has been drugged with the substance GHB, which is also called “rape drug”.
GHB (gamma hydroxybutyrate) is a potent and dangerous drug that has an anesthetic effect on the central nervous system, so that we become relaxed and lethargic. The substance is found naturally in the body in small doses, but can be synthesized and is used as a sleeping and anesthetic agent, according to The pocket doctor.
Sounding the alarm about «zombie drugs»
Happens in several countries
In eight travel guides from the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, it is stated that there is a risk of being drugged, according to Danish TV 2.
The popular holiday destinations include Egypt, Greece, France, Spain and Bulgaria. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs warns against accepting drinks from other people.
Since that holiday to Gran Canaria, Ypkendanz has both attended folk high school and started work.
But she tells Dagbladet that she and her friends are still deeply affected by the incident.
– I have often thought about why it happened. That someone would hurt me. I have received help from a psychologist and am in contact with the doctor on average a couple of times a month, she says.
She also says that it is difficult to hear from her friends that they still have trauma after the evening on Gran Canaria.
The 20-year-old tells Dagbladet that she did not think of reporting the case to the police in Gran Canaria, because she was so ill that she could not think of anything else.
– Today I think I should have reported it to the police, but at the same time I couldn’t do much other than what I did, she says.
2023-07-14 20:10:54
#Drugged #holiday
