Relationships are tough in normal times, let alone during a pandemic.
But a recent story about relationship difficulties on Reddit takes conflict management to a whole new, and frankly disturbing level. A woman, who goes by the username throwramerr, was drugged by her boyfriend so she wouldn’t be able to argue with him anymore during a long car trip to another state to self-isolate.
The story appeared in the Relationship Advice subReddit—where people can post their romance-related conundrums—and it had people raising their eyebrows to say the least.
The Original Poster [OP] titled her post:
“My boyfriend (35m[ale]) drugged me (26f[emale]) with Benadryl because we got into an argument before our road trip and he wanted me to sleep the whole time.”
She explained:
“Monday we decided to make the 8ish hour drive back to our home state and quarantine there instead for a few months. Right before leaving, we got into a big fight because I wanted to stay at my mother’s house for a while, he doesn’t want me to, among other things I won’t get into.”
“Well, before leaving we decided to eat dinner so we didn’t have to stop anywhere.”
“Fast forward to our drive and not long after hitting the road I passed out. Don’t even really remember falling asleep. Woke up one time for a while, drank some Gatorade which he gave me, and then I fell asleep again.”
“I thought this was extremely weird because I wasn’t tired hardly at all and we didn’t even leave super early. I kept commenting on how weird it was that I was tired the whole drive and slept 90% of it.”
“Yesterday the tension eased a bit and he made the offhanded comment that he wishes he could drug me more when I ‘act out’ and argue with him.”
“I ask him what he’s talking about. Proceeds to tell me he put Benadryl in my drink and that’s why I slept, so he didn’t have to deal with me.”
“He literally said this as though it wasn’t that big of a deal!”
“I’m still reeling from the conversation and completely floored. I don’t know if I’m overreacting or not but something tells me I’m not, and it’s extremely fuc*ed up to put medicine in drinks.”
“I don’t know what to do.”
Luckily, OP’s fellow Redditors had plenty to say—and they were unanimous in being horrified.
“Listen, leave now.”
“As a woman who has been there and didn’t leave when I should have. LEAVE…” —titsmcgee84
“Yes, do what you wanted originally and stay at your mother’s for a while. Like until you find a new place on your own.”
“Who knows how he might react next when you ‘act out?’ Children act out. He has zero respect for you.” —everypossum
“…That’s incredibly unsafe, and abusive. Get out of there.” —lolaotus
“Leave him. That is a very big problem. Now he knows how to keep you at bay, he may exploit it for his gain.” —Boston_Strong_CQB241
“Seriously, you need to go NOW. Drugging someone is wrong and he could have seriously harmed you. This dude needs to be dumped ASAP, and you need to talk to a doctor and possibly police. You are under reacting if you are still with him.” —BadgerHooker
“…If Im not mistaken, what he did to you can also be highly illegal.” —Sweetragnarok
“…report him to the police.” —Sayale_mad
“Call the police and file a report” —nuclearwomb
“Ummm?? That’s terribly messed up. Get out of that relationship now. Don’t be around a guy who thinks it’s OKAY and WANTS to drug you!!” —throwraconfuzzled
“Like, F’king run away. That is horrendously dangerous and wrong. YOU DESERVE BETTER.” —RunnerMomLady
The OP has not provided an update yet, but Redditors are hoping she gets out of the situation as soon as possible.
It seems the lesson here is to always follow your instincts. And if something seems like it’s not right… well, it probably isn’t.