I suspect one of the students on my floor is putting nasty stuff in my food and drink

I live in the halls of residence and they are six of us living on the floor. For the past two months, I've been experiencing stomach aches, dizziness, nausea and vomited on a couple of occasions. Another student complained that she has been getting stomach aches and went to A and E.
Four of the students on my floor have gone home for Christmas. It's only me and another student on the floor at present (I'm going home on Thursday). Weirdly enough I haven't been sick since some of the students departed and I suspect a student on my floor is probably putting some deadly stuff on some of our foods and drinks when a few of us are not around.
I'm thinking about how I can catch the perpetrator. Or maybe I'm being paranoid.

Reply 1

the bear

20

Original post by princess pokey

I live in the halls of residence and they are six of us living on the floor. For the past two months, I've been experiencing stomach aches, dizziness, nausea and vomited on a couple of occasions. Another student complained that she has been getting stomach aches and went to A and E.
Four of the students on my floor have gone home for Christmas. It's only me and another student on the floor at present (I'm going home on Thursday). Weirdly enough I haven't been sick since some of the students departed and I suspect a student on my floor is probably putting some deadly stuff on some of our foods and drinks when a few of us are not around.
I'm thinking about how I can catch the perpetrator. Or maybe I'm being paranoid.

this is a matter for the police.

Reply 2

(づ￣ ³￣)づ

16

Would a camera not be the obvious answer?

If you suspect food / drinks are being tampered with, it's definitely worth it.

(edited 5 years ago)

Reply 3

obstruct

11

oh no that doesn't sound good

first thing that comes to mind would be your GP. book an appointment when it next happens and let them know of your suspicions, they can then do a blood test to determine anything in your blood stream.

contact your campus wardens/ residential support team and see what they suggest. it could be you've just had an on and off illness due to weather or whatnot which makes you suspicious, or you may have had an illness and then got food poisoning or whatever.

don't do anything without support of campus team I'd say. deffo don't put a camera in off of your own back; you may be doing more damage than good. and don't confront ppl unless you're 100% sure

best of luck, stay safe x

Reply 4

Bio 7

21

Getting a test done if it happens again is probably best. If it comes back with something then contact someone about it, they have no idea if you are allergic to anything and it could cause serious problems.

Reply 5

princess pokey

OP

8

Thanks for the suggestion. I will get a blood test done if it happens again.

Reply 6

999tigger

19

Original post by princess pokey

I live in the halls of residence and they are six of us living on the floor. For the past two months, I've been experiencing stomach aches, dizziness, nausea and vomited on a couple of occasions. Another student complained that she has been getting stomach aches and went to A and E.
Four of the students on my floor have gone home for Christmas. It's only me and another student on the floor at present (I'm going home on Thursday). Weirdly enough I haven't been sick since some of the students departed and I suspect a student on my floor is probably putting some deadly stuff on some of our foods and drinks when a few of us are not around.
I'm thinking about how I can catch the perpetrator. Or maybe I'm being paranoid.

All sounds pretty wild.

Camera plus diary, plus id which foodstuffs you suspect are contaminated . Get the suspected foodstuff tested. Go and see your GP. Its a serious offence.

Reply 7

Bio 7

21

I don't think you can go putting up a camera but you should check your food. See if anything looks tampered with. If it is closed up then you will be fine but be wary of any leftovers.

Reply 8

username1976009

15

I really don't want to come across as rude but do you leave your food lying around for someone to contaminate it? If you can, try and eat food away from people in your flat and when possible investigate and bring the matter up with someone in authority.

Reply 9

Pinkisk

18

It could be a matter of an unhygeinic environment that caused you the problems. But ya this sounds kind of weird...the way more than one of you is complaining of the same symptoms and how you stopped having problems after some of your housemates went back home....but this could be caused by the unclean person or the source of contamination leaving rather than them tampering with your food.

keep us posted with updates.

(edited 5 years ago)

Reply 10

DrMikeHuntHertz

16

Get your own personal mini fridge?

Reply 11

Sinnoh

22

If you don't want to use a camera, or it's not feasible, then here's my idea:
Put your food in tupperware boxes or something like that and then place a bit of talcum powder or a hair in the hinge or between the lid and container. That way you'll be able to see if it's been opened

Reply 12

thaliaevelyn

16

You can tell if some stuff is tampered with - stuff in jars comes with a seal that tells you if it's already been opened, bottles have the plastic ring attached tot the lid that separates when it's opened first time, with things like cans and yogurt it's also obvious if it's been opened beforehand. IDK about other stuff but things like pasta/rice and veggies seem really hard to tamper with before cooking. Once the others come back, if it starts up again, and until you can figure out who, stick to stuff you know hasn't been touched. And maybe offer to do the cooking...
Although it might also be worth getting an allergy test done. As someone who's allergic to pepper, I probably got sick 2 dozen times before I realised that one of my friends thought that by "allergy" I meant "fussy eater" (once he realised he apologised but like that was... a thing that happened)

Reply 13

RedGiant

22

Paying 9k a year to be poisened by flatmates... I'm in.

(edited 5 years ago)

Reply 14

thaliaevelyn

16

Do you have a rota in terms of cooking? Because if everyone gets sick the day after the same person cooks that's kind of a red flag... Still, it might not be poison. That person might just not know how to cook properly and be giving you improperly prepared/underdone meat or something similar because they don't know better.

Reply 15

Joleee

19

do you share plates, utensils or cookware ? do your flatmates clean up and sanitise the counters after cooking? how are you storing your food, especially meat and dairy? what's your fridge look like?

i'm thinking cross contamination and foodborne illness by accident. ignorance and laziness is much more common than maliciousness. imho

Original post by DrMikeHuntHertz

Get your own personal mini fridge?

Stuff like that isn't allowed unless it's PAT tested, it's a fire risk

Reply 17

Notoriety

22

You've been ill for 2 months and not been to your GP yet. OK.

Original post by CoolCavy

Stuff like that isn't allowed unless it's PAT tested, it's a fire risk

Just shove it in the cupboard when your room is inspected. Just hope there isn't a fire, cos you'll be sued into another dimension.

Reply 18

DrMikeHuntHertz

16

Original post by CoolCavy

Stuff like that isn't allowed unless it's PAT tested, it's a fire risk

Then get it PAT tested?

Reply 19

Pinkisk

18

Original post by DrMikeHuntHertz

Then get it PAT tested?

In most universities accommodation does not allow students to have their own fridges in their rooms. The official reason that they give for this is fire and electrical safety. The actual reason is to save money for themsleves on the electrical bill.

I suspect one of the students on my floor is putting nasty stuff in my food and drink

Quick Reply

Related discussions

Latest

Trending

Trending

Articles for you